Stallion of Tomorrow

by Jade Dawn

Chapters

LexCorp
More Powerful Than a Locomotive
After the Bombshell
Making Plans
Suspension
Facts and Logic
Parks and Reminiscence
Hijack
Bulletproof
Two and Two Makes...
Smallville
The Star-Borne Colt
Shattered Facade
Overcast
Protector
Welcome to the Planet
Unto the Breach

LexCorp

A “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic” Fanfiction

Written by Jade Dawn

Ha-La, Kal-El...

Who are you?

Ha-La Kal-El, don Jor-El va Lara-Lor-Van-Vax-El...

I can't understand you, please…

El-Kor...El-Eoeo...Kelex-I...

Please, tell me...who are you? Who am I?!

Ha-La, Kal-El!

Dawning Hope awoke with a start, bolting upright in his bed as he reflexively clutched the sheets. He breathed heavily as his racing heart slowed back into a normal beat, his fur slightly damp from sweat. Gradually he worked himself back into a calm state.

He then realized that he’d fallen asleep still in his cloak and shirt. Luckily for him, last night had been uneventful, but the worries of the day had left him so tired that he must have just wandered to his bed once he’d gotten back and just went right to sleep without undressing.

And more importantly, he’d gone to sleep still wearing the crystal.

He’d heard those kind of voices before. They were always very vague and distant, like a hoarse whisper in a deep cavern, but they were usually more of the same; utterly incomprehensible to him. They didn’t come often–this was the first one that he’d heard them in months–but when they did, they always only came when he was in close proximity to the crystal. He didn’t know why, nor did he know exactly what he was hearing.

But he had a few ideas.

Now fully awake, Dawning crawled out of bed and got to removing his outfit. He noticed that, luckily, he hadn’t bolted awake so hard that he went through the ceiling, wincing as he remembered that one time where it’d happened in Dodge Junction. That hadn’t been fun to try and explain. Once the cloak and shirt were off he checked his bedside clock, realizing that he was getting dangerously close to running late for work. He walked briskly into the kitchen and pulled out a couple slices of bread from the bread box, giving each a good toasting with his heat vision and wolfing them down.

As he ate he wondered if he should just bring his outfit along. He normally didn’t bring it with him when he went out in broad daylight; he preferred to operate at night. And besides, he wasn’t planning on doing any sneaking into the LexCorp complex yet. Not to mention that he’d be with the very ponies that had been sent to look for him for most of the day, so there was a risk in that.

But then again, if he did decide to do some snooping around in areas that his press pass normally wouldn’t allow him into, it might be a good idea to just bring it. Just in case.

Having finally made up his mind–or at least having gotten to the point where he wouldn’t argue with himself too much about it–he finished the last of his toast, then went and dressed himself in his usual shirt and tie, putting on his glasses last. Once finished dressing, he stuffed the shirt and cloak into the very bottom of his saddlebags, and then packed his usual wares on top.

Just in case.

As he slung his bags over his midsection, he took one last glance at the clock. He had just enough time to get to the Planet, meet up with Lucky and Quicksnap, and then head on over the the Manefair Hotel to meet up with the Element Bearers.

“It really sticks out,” Rainbow said.

Rarity tilted her head as she observed the structure before them. “Hmmm…yes, it does clash with the architecture a fair bit, doesn’t it?”

The three were standing outside one of the city’s many terminals for the new tram line, just a few blocks down from the Manefair Hotel. And as Rarity had noted, it did indeed clash with the surrounding structures of the city; a glossy white elevated platform on pylons about thirty feet off the ground, lined with glass railings and a black-tinted transparent roof.

“Shouldn’t Lucky and her friends be here soon?” Fluttershy asked.

“Yeah, they oughta’ be,” Rainbow replied, scanning the ever shifting crowds of ponies on the sidewalks and streets of the late morning rush. Finally she spotted them stepping out of a taxi carriage a little ways down the street. Quicksnap had his camera bag and Dawning had a pair of saddlebags hanging from his sides. All three had press badges hanging around their necks.

Lucky spotted the three almost immediately and quickly made her way down the street to them, Dawning and Quicksnap following behind. “Nice to see you again!” she chirped happily as she came up to them. “And of course you’ve already met my underlings here…” she gestured to the two with a chuckle.

“Oh, I didn’t know that you two would be joining us,” Fluttershy said, smiling a bit as she looked at Dawning. “N-not that I’m complaining, of course, it’s…it’s nice to see you again.”

“Yeah, uh…nice to see you again too,” Dawning replied.

“So,” Quicksnap said. “You ready to go Supermane hunting?”

“Ah ah ah, first things first, Quicksnap,” Lucky reminded him. “Whiteout wants us to pander to Lex’s ego a bit; then we can start looking.”

“Oh yeah, sure. Either way, I think we’re gonna get some great things out of today.”

“Well, I sure hope so,” Dawning agreed.

“So are we gonna get going or what?” Rainbow asked.

Lucky nodded. “The tram should be arriving in just a minute. Now if you’d just follow us upstairs…”

“Lead on, Miss Lead,” Rarity said.

Lucky led the five up the steps to the tram terminal. They saw that a number of benches and vending machines were lined around the roof’s support pillars and along the glass railings, and further up on the pillars were large screens that displayed news bulletins, weather reports, and a map of the tram’s route around Manehattan. From speakers located somewhere out of sight, they could hear a feminine voice announcing tram arrival times, and occasionally relaying facts about the tram itself, more often than not about how generously it had been provided to the city by LexCorp Industries.

The tram was just pulling in as they arrived; a sleek vehicle comprised of multiple long cars, each with a glossy white body and black-tinted windows. The foremost and rearmost cars sloped down into an aerodynamic form at the front and back ends respectively. It came in with barely more than a low hum, with none of the loud clanging and whooshing of a usual train. From underneath it at various points were what appeared to be large clamps that wrapped around the single rail of the line; these were the hover units that elevated the train and ran it along its path.

The doors automatically opened with a soft whoosh, disgorging its previous passengers onto the terminal and allowing a stream of new ones to enter. The group joined with this crowd, Dawning stepping aside as he approached.

“Oh, please, after you,” he said, letting the group pass on in before him.

Rarity stopped by him as she entered. “My, such a gentlecolt,” she said, playfully batting her eyes at him. “Any more like you where you come from?”

Dawning found himself blushing. “Um…maybe?”

Rarity chuckled as she passed by into the tram, Dawning following behind her. The edge of his saddlebags clipped the edge of the doorway, and he got stuck for a moment before pulling loose and joining the group.

Lucky shook her head at him with a little smile. “Dawning, you’re a nice guy and a good reporter, but you overpack.”

Dawning shrugged. “Just want to be prepared is all.”

“What do you even have in there?” Fluttershy asked as she eyed his saddlebags, noticing how stuffed they looked.

“Oh, y’know, pencils, pens, notepads…” Dawning’s glasses slid down his nose a bit and he stopped to readjust them. “…a couple granola bars, extra pencils, a tape recorder or two, and, uh…paperclips. Y’know, just, um…journalist supplies,” he chuckled lightly.

They sat down on the soft blue-colored seating alongside the windows, Dawning setting his bags down beside him and Quicksnap doing the same with his camera, pulling out some kind of flat, glassy-looking rectangle that lit up on one side when he pushed a button along the edge. The doors closed with a hiss, and the tram began to pull out of the station. Fluttershy internally marveled at how smooth it was, even as the thing began to pick up speed and the buildings outside passed by faster and faster; it barely felt like they were moving at all.

“It’s like we’re sliding on air,” Fluttershy said aloud.

“No engineers?” Rarity asked.

“Oh, no,” Quicksnap said. “The trams are run by onboard computers in the front and back. If they need to alter their programming in any way they can do it remotely from the control center back at the main hub.”

“It’s actually pretty impressive,” Lucky said, although the way she said it it sounded like it bothered her to admit it. “For all of his ego, Lex does sometimes put out some pretty good stuff…when his price can be afforded, of course.”

“But who exactly is this Lex guy?” Rainbow asked. “I’ve been hearing you say that name a lot, but, like, who is he?”

Lucky, Dawning, and Quicksnap all looked at her like she’d said the stupidest thing in the world.

“Uh, Tech Lexicon?” Quicksnap prodded. “LexCorp Industries? Not ringing any bells for you?”

“Tech Lexicon…” Rarity repeated. “Hmm…you know, I think I remember meeting somepony of that name a few years back at a Grand Galloping Galla, if memory serves.”

“You’ve met him?”

“I believe so. Some kind of technological entrepreneur, if I remember him right.”

“Curly red mane and an ego that poured out from the seams?” Lucky asked.

Rarity thought for a moment. “…well, yes, I do remember he came across as quite sure of himself…”

“Yup,” Lucky said. “Sounds like Lex. Must’ve been back when he was still building up capital for LexCorp.”

“But who is he?” Rainbow asked again.

“Hoo boy…” Lucky shook her head as she leaned back in her seat. “Where do I begin?”

“Well,” Dawning said, trying to help the conversation. “He’s a businesspony for starters…”

“The businesspony,” Lucky interrupted. “Tech Lexicon is only the most wealthy and influential pony in all of Manehattan right now, and he will not let you forget it.”

“Why ‘Lex’, though?” Rainbow asked.

Lucky shrugged. “It’s just what he prefers to be called.”

“And LexCorp is his company?” Fluttershy asked.

“What tipped you off?” Lucky snarked. “Anyway, LexCorp’s a technological research company; their whole thing is inventing new technologies and selling them to the public or any other interested parties. They’ve done a whole lot; basic appliances, airship engines, computers, power plants…heck, this monorail and the system it runs on was donated to the city by LexCorp. It’s all run on his tech. Even minor stuff they’ve got a hoof in, like entertainment.”

“Yup,” Quicksnap said as he held up the tablet he was tapping on. “LexPad 1.9.8. It’s basically a personal computer; you can store files on it, write on it, play games on it, all that cool stuff. Camera kinda sucks, though…”

“And that’s not all,” Lucky continued. “All that is only half of what they’ve been up to these past few years. Lex’s big focus right now is in weapons tech.” She chuckled dryly. “You would not believe some of the stuff he has cooked up in those labs of his. You’ll probably see a good deal of it today, actually.”

“Weapons?” Fluttershy repeated, feeling herself growing a bit uncomfortable.

“But I haven’t heard anything about this Lex guy or LexCorp or any of that before,” Rainbow said. “I mean, I don’t exactly follow that stuff, but still, I feel like I’d have heard of them before now.”

“Well, to be fair,” Dawning said. “LexCorp wasn’t really a big name until a couple years ago. Oh, sure, they were around and growing, and they were definitely attracting some attention. But their big popularity boost didn’t come until relatively recently.”

“What happened?” Rarity asked.

“The Storm King. That’s what happened,” Lucky replied. “Lemme’ put it to you this way; an enemy invasion force sweeps across Equestria, barely detected until the last minute. They capture major cities, lock the Princesses in stone, enslave the populace, all that evil empire jazz. The Royal Guard is helpless to stop them, and that’s putting it lightly. Eventually it blows over and the heroes–that’s you–swoop in and save the day…but that doesn’t change the fact that they got that far. I don’t know if you saw much of it, but I remember ponies around here were mad. There was a stretch of a week or so where you couldn’t go one day without seeing at least one crowd in the streets holding up signs and shouting and all that.”

“Oh dear,” Fluttershy murmured.

“But then here comes this guy, and he comes with all sorts of promises of better defenses and first-response weaponry, throws up some pictures of ponies in muzzles and cages and says ‘never again’, and boom…now that he’s hit on what the ponies want, he’s got a whole new wave of investors and interested parties.”

Rarity nodded. “Yes, I…I can see how that sort of thing would get him so much attention.”

“Oh yeah, it worked like charm. And of course, LexCorp’s usual sales pitch helped ‘em a lot too.”

“And that is?”

“Well, you see,” Dawning said. “LexCorp focuses a lot of their products on what they call ‘the common pony’. Basically the idea is that their technologies can be used by just about anypony or anyone, no matter what race or species.”

In spite of herself, Rainbow found herself nodding. “Not a bad pitch.”

“Sounds like something that would appeal to a lot of ponies,” Fluttershy added.

“Oh, believe me, it is,” Lucky replied. “Heck, just take a look at Manehattan; this city has about eighteen million ponies living in it, and about forty to fifty percent of them are earth ponies. Pegasi, unicorns, and other non-pony races make up the other fifty percent, and no matter who or what they are…well, no offense, but none of them are exactly like you or your friend on the throne.”

Fluttershy frowned. “I never really thought of us as better than anypony else because of our adventures or what we do…”

“Maybe not, but I think you can imagine how popular it is.” She shook her head. “Which makes the whole thing all the scummier.”

“But how so?” Rarity asked. “I should think something like that would be a good thing.”

Lucky chuckled. “If it was anypony else, maybe I’d believe it. But this is Tech Lexicon we’re talking here, and everything that that name brings to the table.”

“Why? What’s wrong with Lexicon?” Rainbow asked.

Dawning rubbed the back of his neck. “He’s…a character.”

“He’s a bit braggy,” Quicksnap added.

“He’s a smarmbag,” Lucky said. “He’s arrogant, smug, full of himself, just an all around narcissist. Just take a look at his company and everything it owns; LexAir, LexCom, LexCrop, that stupid LexPad Quicksnap’s got, and don’t get me started on those rumors of a LexMart…the guy can’t make one thing without his name on it.”

“Sheesh. Talk about cocky,” Rainbow said. She shot a preemptive look at Rarity. “And before you say anything, yeah, I’m fully aware of who’s saying that.”

Rarity ignored her. “You were saying, Miss Lead?”

“I was saying that Lex doesn’t really give a care. Not about ‘the common pony’ or whatever prose he waxes with. The only thing he really cares about is making a profit and pandering to his own ego. Unfortunately, he’s got enough goodwill and followers by now that nopony’s gonna see that until he screws them over.” She sighed. “You know, in the old days ponies in power would oppress those who were weaker or had less than them. Nowadays they make ‘em think they care for a cheap buck. So yay for progress, I guess.”

Quicksnap looked out the window. “Hey, speaking of Lex, we’re getting close to LexCorp Plaza.”

Dawning and Lucky turned to look themselves. “Ah, perfect timing,” Lucky said, then turned back to the Elements. “Get yourselves ready for some pure unfiltered ego.”

It was just a few minutes later when the tram and its passengers arrived at their destination, and the Elements and Daily Planet crew stepped out to behold the gigantic LexCorp Tower and plaza beyond. While not quite as tall as the Crystaller Building, the tower was easily a close contender for Manehattan’s tallest skyscraper; a looming structure of shimmering metal and glass, with the top-most portion of the building above the logo consisting of a structure that, when looked at from a certain angle, almost resembled a giant “L”; Tech Lexicon’s penthouse suite. Beneath this and above the rest of the building was the LexCorp company logo, plastered along the side of the building in neon background lighting.

Stretching away from either side of the tower, running parallel to Manehattan Island’s coast, was a large wall intermittently broken up by large gates and adjacent security booths. Several of these were wide open, allowing vast lines of ponies to stream in, an the six fell into line with the rest of the crowd. Flanking the gates, one on each side, were guards dressed in army green and black kevlar armor, their faces obscured by black-visored helmets. Slung over each of their backs were heavy-looking grey assault rifles, and at their waists were smaller pistols.

Looking at those silent, faceless guards made Fluttershy uneasy, and she found herself shying away from them and ducking her head as she passed. Dawning seemed to notice her discomfort and came alongside her.

“Don’t worry about them. They’re mostly for show,” he whispered to her. He took another glance at them and then added, “Not that I blame you.”

In spite of herself, Fluttershy smiled a little. She still felt a bit nervous around the guards, even more so after hearing about their employer, but she appreciated Dawning’s attempts at comfort. As she lifted her head back up and looked away from them, though, she didn’t catch Dawning cast a little glance of his own back to the guards as he adjusted his saddlebags a bit.

The group passed through the gates, beyond which was the area dubbed LexCorp Plaza; a monstrously huge, vaguely polygonal platform of concrete, pavement and steel that jutted out from the coast into Manehattan Bay. But it was so massive in size that if one were to stand in the midst of it, they’d likely forget it was an artificial construct. The center portion of the Plaza was open, ringed by a number of office and laboratory buildings, behind which were warehouses and a pair of docks beyond. This open area was dotted about with various exhibits, and a stage with a podium and back-projector screen currently displaying the LexCorp logo had been erected in the middle. At the far end of the plaza was a huge building with some kind of large dome that was just barely visible over the edge of its walls. The presence of scaffolding and a few cranes nearby betrayed the fact that the building wasn’t quite finished yet.

“Holy cow…” Rainbow gawked, her mouth agape. “It’s so big.”

“Pretty cool, isn’t it?” Quicksnap replied. He’d already taken his camera out and was snapping pictures of the crowded Plaza.

“I can’t imagine what it must’ve cost to build all this…” said Rarity.

Lucky shook her head. “A lot of bits and a whole lot of sweat and tears.”

As they descended into the Plaza, their eyes were drawn to the various exhibits throughout the area, each displaying something unique and surrounded by crowds of onlookers. At one nearby tent, a pretty young mare was showing off a set of crystalline slabs that were labelled as the next version of the LexPad. In a large fenced-off area a little ways away was a gigantic, four-legged walker topped by a head-like cockpit, and they saw it rear up to grip a large box with its forelegs, which morphed from hoof-like endings into gripping claws as it did so. A rhythmic whirring sound drew their attention to a large helicopter, far larger than the pedal-powered kind that some ponies flew–like the one Fluttershy knew Cherry Berry back in Ponyville owned–and an announcer’s voice boasted that it was electric powered and could carry at least ten passengers at a time. Over the heads of the crowd, the top of some kind of greenhouse could be seen, displaying the latest in technological agriculture breakthroughs.

It wasn't even half of everything on display.

In spite of what Lucky had told them on the tram, the three Element Bearers could hardly contain their wonder as they found themselves staring with wide eyes at all that was on display. The reactions of the Daily Planet reporters varied; Quicksnap had become fully engrossed in his task, snapping pictures of just about everything they passed by. Lucky kept her face stoic, as though uninterested or bored by the whole thing. Dawning kept looking around in different directions, occasionally adjusting those large round glasses of his.

“Are you alright?” Fluttershy asked as she took notice of the latter. “You look like you’re looking for something.”

“Hm?” Dawning shook his head, sounding like he’d just been pulled out of some inner contemplation. “Oh, no, just taking it all in, that’s all. I mean…it is kind of amazing, isn’t it?”

“Oh, um, yes,” Fluttershy replied. “I suppose so.”

“You suppose so?” Rainbow interjected. “This stuff is friggin’ awesome!”

“I do have to admit,” Rarity added. “I can see why ponies are so taken with this company.”

“Ah, you’d better watch out; the Lex Effect is starting already.” Lucky dryly chuckled.

“Speaking of which, where is Mr. Lexicon?” Fluttershy asked.

“Oh, he’s probably around here somewhere,” Quicksnap said. “At every Lexpo there’s always one big product announcement that he does personally, so…”

And then over the sounds of the throng they heard somepony shout “Here he comes!”. And with that the crowd erupted into the sounds of cheering and stomping and clapping of hooves. The sea of bodies began to part, and through the open path came a small knot of ponies, most of them wore dark suits and black sunglasses. But one in particular, the one they crowded behind, stood out. He was a tall, light gray earth pony stallion with a short, slightly curly red mane and tail, dressed in a dark blue business suit that partially obscured the electrified Tesla coil he had for a cutie mark. Two piercing green eyes looked out on the world, and his chiseled face bore a smile that was at once confident, self-assured, and haughty.

Tech Lexicon in the flesh.

Directly behind him, standing in the midst of the suited ponies surrounding Lex and dressed similarly to them, was a tall, lean-looking pegasus mare with a cream-colored coat and a dark yellow mane, her eyes masked by her sunglasses. As they looked at her, the Elements found themselves internally likening her build to that of Tempest Shadow.

“That’s Merciful Grace,” Lucky whispered to them. “Lex’s head flunky. Don’t let the name fool you, there’s nothing merciful or graceful about her.”

The crowd continued to cheer as Lex stepped up onto the stage. Merciful followed him up and stood just off to the far side of the platform, while the rest of the suited security agents silently took up positions around the base. Lex approached the microphone and tapped it a little, and at the small boom the echoed through the adjacent loudspeakers, the crowd fell silent. The only sounds that could be heard were a few murmurings and the occasional sounds of camera shutters clicking, Quicksnap taking part in the latter.

Still bearing that smile, Lex cleared his throat and started to speak.

“Fillies and gentlecolts,” he began. “First off, I’d like to thank all of you for this wonderful turnout. You know, if anypony told me a decade ago that I would have this much of an audience one day…well, I’d take it with just a little bit of salt, but I don’t think I’d necessarily rule it out.”

A laugh went through the crowd, and Lex chuckled with them before continuing.

“But really, I like to think that I’ve earned this admiration of yours. I hoped I would. From the very beginning, I envisioned LexCorp as a company that would serve the interests of the common pony; an organization that would fight to make all ponies equal. Earth pony, pegasus, unicorn…I wanted each and every one of you to be able to share in what I could offer the world. Nopony left out, nopony left lower. Nopony less than. And if I may brag just a little, I think we’ve done a darn good job of doing that, don’t you think?”

Cheering and shouts of praise came up from the crowd. Lex let it go on for a bit before raising a hoof for silence.

“And today…today, I come to you offering more.”

The screen behind him changed to display a slideshow of images, all taken from the Storm King’s invasion. Photographs of airships over smoking cityscapes, blurred images of Storm Creatures stalking through streets, and pictures of cages and harnesses in piles flashed by.

“Almost two years ago now, I stood before you with these sights in mind and made a promise: never again. Never again would Equestria fall to attack. Never again would we be tread upon. Not on my watch. And here at LexCorp, we’ve heard the cries of the masses, and we’ve listened. So today, I am proud to officially announce that the first fruits of our Guardian Angel Initiative are nearing completion; in fact, many of them you might have already seen on display here today.”

The pictures of the Storm King’s terror were replaced by images of blueprints and technical schematics of varying subjects. Some displayed hoof-held weaponry or artillery weapons. Others displayed armored vehicles of various types, some ground-based, others airborne. The Elements and the Planet reporters instantly recognized the weapons the guards had carried and the four-legged walker among them.

As the crowed ooh’ed and aah’ed at the displays, Lex continued on. “The latest and most advanced in defense and security technologies. The absolute peak of modern weapons and artillery development. All for a safer and more secure Equestria, one ready to counter any hostile threat that comes the way of the free world.”

The crowd erupted into cheers. The Planet trio looked on grimly. Rainbow felt torn between getting excited at the sheer awesome on display and the ramifications of what it could actually be used for. Rarity and Fluttershy, the latter in particular, felt a distinct sense of unease as they watched.

“But,” Lex continued as he looked out over the crowd. “All of this is probably well known to you by now. After all, I’ve been promising this for years now. No, today…” For just a moment he abruptly stopped, right at the moment his eyes passed over where the Elements were standing. Then the moment passed and he resumed. “…today, I come before you to personally announce a brand new endeavor, one that our brilliant LexCorp scientists have been working on in secret for years. Something that I hope will usher in a new era of power generation for Equestria and lands beyond for years to come. So without further to do, fillies and gentlecolts, I present to you…the LexCore!”

Murmurs of curiosity and wonder rose while the screen displayed schematics of a large structure that bore a striking resemblance to the domed building on the other end of the Plaza, right behind the stage and screen. The display zoomed in on an area deep beneath the building, showing a large, spherical area surrounding a platform of crystals. Eight lasers, four on the bottom and four up top, were mounted within the sphere, projecting tight white beams at the crystal pile, which in turn generated animated waves that were seemingly absorbed by some kind of panels lining the interior of the sphere.

“The very latest in crystallic fusion reactor technology,” Lex boasted. He was grinning wide now, barely trying to keep it restrained. “Built around a special crystal power source–researched and developed by our most brilliant scientists–the reactor uses high intensity lasers to agitate the crystals’ structure, creating radiation emissions that are then absorbed by the panels you see there and converted into energy. And rest assured, this radiation is completely harmless to the biologies of ponies and any other terrestrial creature.”

He leaned forward. “Under this process, we’ve been able to achieve power outputs far beyond those of conventional power plants, and well beyond even those projected by theoretical nuclear reactors, and with none of the pollutive or toxic drawbacks of either. This single LexCore alone is capable of powering the entire city of Manehattan by itself with minimal strain…which is precisely what I intend for it to do.”

The crowd roared. Lex stood there, still grinning, and even from where the Elements and reporters were standing they could see that he was absolutely basking in their worship.

“As we speak, LexCorp is finalizing deals with city council to transfer the city’s power grid entirely to the LexCore. Six months from now, the entire lower end will be hooked in and receiving power from its new source. In about a year, all of Manehattan will be lit up by LexCore-powered lights. And one day, I hope there will come a time when all of Equestria’s major metropolitan centers are run by our miracle power source.”

Lex gestured out to the crowd. “This is my latest gift to all of you, one that you all can share. It’s what I’ve always sought to give to the world; power to the average pony. All will be able to take a share of what I have to offer. No one will be left less than. No one will be powerless. Because here at LexCorp…we aim to make sure all of ponykind can run with the mighty!”

Thunderous applause. Smiling and soaking it all in, Lex gave a bow. As the crowd continued to applaud him, he stepped away from the podium, Merciful and his other guards following behind him as he left the stage. Even after he’d disappeared the noise of the crowd blared over the Plaza, as ponies excitedly chatted the newest offering or went back to exploring the exhibits.

The little group, though, was quiet for a moment as they took it all in.

“So,” Lucky prompted. “Tech Lexicon. What do you think?”

“I think Dawning’s right,” Rainbow replied. “He is a character.”

“He’s very, erm…” Rarity paused as she tried to find the right word. “Charismatic, shall we say.”

Fluttershy shuffled her hooves. “Um…the power plant seems like a good idea, but the weapons…oh, I really don’t know what to think about that.”

“Lex in a nutshell,” Lucky said. “For every almost good thing he does, there’s always a dark side to it somewhere. Sometimes it takes a bit of thinking and looking, but it’s there.”

“What about you, Dawning?” Rarity asked. “What’s your take?”

Dawning blinked. “Um, well…well in a way, I almost think it’s a pity. I mean…” He paused for a moment. “…he’s smart, there’s no getting around that. And a lot of the stuff he’s put out over the past few years has been pretty useful, but, well, then there’s his ego, and…well, if he could get over that, he actually might be really something.”

Lucky chuckled. “Never change, Dawning. See, that’s what I love about this guy,” she told the Elements. “He tries to look for the best in everybody…even scumbags like Lex.”

“Did you notice how he paused when he looked over this way?” Quicksnap asked. “I think he noticed you.”

“Oh dear,” Fluttershy murmured. “What would that mean?”

“It means he’s probably gonna want to ingratiate himself to a couple of Equestria’s heroes, that’s what,” Lucky said. Then she frowned as she spotted something behind them. “Oh, speak of the devil…”

They turned to follow her gaze. Sure enough, Tech Lexicon, still being flanked by Merciful and the guards, was making his way through the crowd toward them, his head held high and wearing his best charming smile.

“Well this is certainly a pleasant surprise,” he said as he came up to them. “If I’d known that three of Equestria’s national heroes were going to be attending my little event, I’d have prepared something a bit more extravagant. Oh, do forgive me, I don’t think we’ve formally met.” He gave a little bow. “Tech Lexicon. But please, feel free to call me Lex. It’s a bit catchier, I find,” he smirked.

“It’s, um, a pleasure to meet you,” Fluttershy stammered.

“Oh, please, the pleasure’s all mine. Ah, and I see you’ve already met my best critic and her minions,” he said as he looked at the Planet reporter trio. “Hello, Miss Lead. So nice to see you again.”

“If I told you likewise would you believe me?” Lucky asked.

“Hmm…not really,” Lex said with a chuckle.

“Um, I don’t mean to be rude,” Dawning interjected. “But I kind of wanted to get a look around the exhibits, get some statements…anypony mind if I…”

“Yeah, I was gonna go get some pictures myself,” Quicksnap added.

“Oh no, not at all, you boys go do your job,” Lex said. “You ought to check out the agriculture section while you’re wandering around; might pick up something interesting.”

“I’ll, uh, keep that in mind. Thanks,” Dawning replied as he and Quicksnap moved off and disappeared into the crowd.

Lucky gave Lex a disapproving look. “You know just because Dawning comes from a farming community…”

“Miss Lead, I think you and I both know that if I wanted to insult somepony I’d be far more open about it. But anyway…” He returned his attention to the Elements “…anyway, I can’t believe you’d come all this way to see my little showcase. So forgive me for prying a little, but are you just visiting or is it something more…official, shall we say?”

Rarity was at first unsure if she should answer, but eventually replied with, “Um, official, in a sense…”

“We’re looking for a certain urban legend around here,” Rainbow blurted.

“Ah, yes,” Lex nodded. “The so-called ‘Supermane’. Yes, I’m quite familiar with that one. Your friend on the throne finally decided to investigate all those stories, I presume?”

“Something like that, yes,” Rarity replied.

“Do you think he exists?” Fluttershy asked.

Lex shrugged. “Maybe, maybe not. I can’t say I’ve been too terribly focused on urban legends of an invincible earth pony vigilante. I will say this though…” He turned to Lucky with a not-so-friendly smirk. “…you couldn’t have picked a better mare as an ally in your search. She’s been writing pieces on him whenever a new whisper of his supposed heroics comes down the street…when she can spare time from writing about me, of course.”

Lucky met his smirk with one of her own. “Oh, you’ve certainly been keeping me busy, Lex…like trying to remind everypony of how many families were relocated from the coastline to build this floating concrete peninsula of yours…”

“Whom all have been provided for and placed in new living arrangements…”

“…that are of lesser qualities that the ones you booted them from. Not to mention the disruption it’s made to the shipping lanes going in and out of the bay. And don’t even get me started on half the stuff you’ve just showed off that everypony seems to be swallowing up without a second thought.”

“Ah-ha. I knew you were going to get to that eventually.” Before Lucky could answer, though, he’d turned back to the Elements. “Tell me, as some of Equestria’s best defenders up until now, what do you think?”

“Well, it is pretty cool, not gonna lie,” Rainbow replied. “But, um…”

“Is all of that really necessary?” Fluttershy asked. “It just…I mean, no offense, but it just seems a teeny bit, um–“

“Overkill?” Lex asked. “Oh, don’t look so surprised, I’ve heard it all before. And yes, it is a bit drastic; in a sense, that’s the whole point of our work here. For the past decade or so, Equestria’s been a practical doormat for every supervillain to come down the pike. And please, I don’t mean any offense to you ladies or your heroic efforts, but…well, you have to understand, some of us don’t like waiting on the sidelines for the heroes to save us. Some ponies would rather the nation grow itself a spine, and that’s what I hope to provide; a suitable defense to keep the nation safe in times of crisis.”

“This goes way beyond ‘suitable defense’, Lex” Lucky interjected. “This is pretty much an entire army you’ve got in your basement. You could wipe the floor with the entire Royal Guard if you really wanted too.”

“I know. Tragic, isn’t it?” Lex chuckled. “And you’ve heard what their ‘newest defenses’ against intruders are, right? Fans on the rooftops? Geese? I mean, sweet Celestia, as a citizen I’d expect our military to put in some amount of effort.” He gave his best impression of a sorrowful sigh. “Unfortunately, there are some ponies who share your concerns to a much greater degree. Truth be told, I’ve been pitching my wares to Princess Celestia for a long time, but regretfully she hasn’t been too receptive of the whole thing. And so far it seems she’s taught her successor a little too well in that regard.” Then the smile came back. “Ah, well. Defense isn’t LexCorp’s only invested interest as you can see.”

“Like the LexCore?” Rarity asked.

“Oh yes, especially that,” Lex nodded. “I don’t mean to sound excited, but I expect big things to come out of this little venture of mine. It’ll completely change power generation as we know it. A whole new slew of possibilities right at our hoof-tips.”

“Like the possibility of you monopolizing the city’s power grid for one,” Lucky pointed out. “You do realize that’s what you’re essentially doing, right? And what about all the ponies that’ll be put out of their jobs when you put their companies out of business?”

Lex shrugged. “Well, I suppose I could just buy them, now could I?”

At this point, none of the ponies knew if he was joking or not.

“But anyway, I’m very much optimistic for the possibilities that LexCore will bring. And so are a great many other ponies, it seems. You know I’ve already got my teams working on contracts for ones in Fillydelphia and Baltimare? It’s already building up interest across the board.”

“And you mentioned other customers,” Rarity said. “I take it you’re planning on expanding outside Equestria’s business opportunities at some point?”

“Oh yes, absolutely, when I can. I’ve heard whispers that the Griffons in particular have taken an interest in what I have to offer.” He looked at Lucky with that same old smirk. “What do you think, Miss Lead? ‘LexCorp International’…I think it has a nice ring to it, but what say you?”

“I think it sounds like a corporate nightmare, Lex.”

Lex laughed–not just a chuckle, an actual laugh. “I knew I could count on you for an honest opinion. Take it up with Luna.”

Behind him, Merciful Grace was listening to something in a little device in her left ear. She tapped Lex on the shoulder and whispered something to him. They watched Lex nod as he listened, and after a moment he turned back to them.

“Well, I’m sorry, but it seems that some business has arisen in one of the labs. If you don’t mind, I think I ought to be taking my leave. Ladies…” he bowed again. “…it was a sincere pleasure meeting you in the flesh. And Miss Lead, always a pleasure to bump into you.”

“Likewise,” Lucky replied with a gritted smile.

They caught a glimpse of one last smirk from Tech Lexicon as he, Merciful, and the rest of his entourage turned and headed off in the direction of the LexCore building, disappearing into the churning crowd of visitors.

Only after they’d disappeared did Lucky let her smile drop into a grimace. “Up yours, flankhole,” she muttered.

Rainbow shook her head. “I don’t think I like this guy.”

“You don’t think?”

“He’s definitely got a kind of charisma to him,” Rarity said. “And not in the best way. What say you, Fluttersh…are you alright, darling?”

Fluttershy had her head and ears lowered as she nervously rubbed her forelegs together. “Um, I don’t know…I guess I just feel a little…uneasy about all this.”

“Would you prefer to leave?” Rarity asked in concern.

“Oh, I wouldn’t want to take the rest of you away from your tasks. I know Lucky and her friends need to cover this, and…”

“Ah, don’t worry about holding us up,” Lucky said. “You do you.”

“Hey, tell ya’ what,” said Rainbow Dash. “How about you and I go out and get an early lunch, maybe walk around the city for a bit, then meet up with the gang after their done here so we can actually get down to talking Supermane. Sound good?”

“I…I think that’d be nice,” Fluttershy said.

“Alrighty then, sounds like a plan. Rarity, Lucky, tell the guys we’re heading out for me, ‘kay?”

“No problem at all, Darling.”

“Great. See ya around, then.” With that, she and Fluttershy left the two and began heading back towards the tram terminal outside the Plaza, leaving the corporate world of Tech Lexicon behind them.

Dawning Hope was only half paying attention as he listened to the mare at the greenhouse drone on about the improved of wheats and vegetables that LexCorp’s scientists had bred, taking down shorthoof notes as she talked. From the way she talked, he could easily tell that she’d rather have gotten one of the more exciting exhibits. He certainly didn’t blame her. Smallville may have been a farming community indeed, but the agricultural stuff didn’t exactly jump out of him as a tie to home or anything. Besides, he knew one of Lex’s jabs when he heard one.

At least Quicksnap seemed to be happy, or at least enveloped in his element; he was content with going around the side of the exhibit snapping pictures of the vegetation on the other side of the glass for now. As long as he got good pictures for the paper, he seemed to be happy enough.

Dawning took a glance over his shoulder, peering straight through the bodies of the crowd to see if he could catch a glimpse of Lex. Finally, he spotted him and his entourage as they made their way to the glass-doored entry to the LexCore reactor building, and once he saw that he devoted his full attention to it. The exhibition mare seemed oblivious to his lack of attention as she dully prattled on.

Dawning felt a growing sense of anticipation as he watched Lex’s group cross the lobby to a set of elevators; anticipation and tension. This just might be it. He’d been waiting to get a good look at the LexCorp plaza for a while, and now his best chance to get in and have a good look around without raising suspicion had finally come. What came next depended on whatever he saw while he watched Lex descend into the depths of LexCorp’s labs.

He watched through the walls of the building as Lex and Merciful split away from the other suited guards, stepping into the elevator as they chatted between themselves. The tension in Dawning’s chest kicked into overdrive as he watched the elevator descend, going down past the first lower floor, then the second, then–

–and then suddenly the elevator disappeared behind a thick, solid gray lining beneath the ground.

Dawning blinked in confusion. He focused his vision harder, but still the gray layer remained. He pushed himself harder still, yet for all his efforts he couldn’t pierce this barrier.

Then it hit him. It’s lead. That was why he couldn’t see through it; because of that stupid inability to see through lead.

Dawning turned away, disappointed. He almost felt he was being taunted. He knew it was there, maybe even right below his hooves somewhere in the lower labs. But that lead barrier just had to be there and throw him off the trail.

And the worst part was that, in a way, he could actually find a justifiable reason for it to be there. Lex had said that the LexCore reactor’s emissions were harmless, but they likely didn’t want to take any chances of irradiating the city. Not to mention other, more toxic technologies they likely tested under there.

But even then, Dawning felt bitterly disappointed. He was so close, and yet so far all at once.

As he felt the extra weight in his saddlebags, he wondered why he’d even bothered bringing the cloak and shirt at all. Even if he had found it down there, he wasn’t sure now if he would have been able to slip away to sneak in, let alone how to actually get in without being spotted. He began to wonder if maybe this setback wasn’t all that bad, then; it’d give him more time to properly plan.

But right now, he had a job to do. So he pushed Lex and the lead layer and everything else to the back of his mind and returned his attention to the exhibitor mare as she talked.

Author's Note

Who is truly more evil? Villains who twirl their mustaches and openly proclaim hatred, or tricksters with silver tongues who make the masses think they care for their own gains?

A few notes on Tech Lexicon: for one, I wanted a name that I could plausibly shorten into Lex. And yes, he's got a full mane in this version. Humans pull off baldness better than ponies do. But who knows, things change...

I'd actually intended to show exactly where Lex and Merciful are going initially, but I decided to sacrifice that bit for now to keep this chapter below 10K words. Not sure how long the next chapter will be, though; it's an event chapter, and more importantly it's where the story really starts to kick into high-gear, so it'll probably be a bigger chapter.

At any rate, thank you for reading...and for putting up with Lex's smarm. Fun guy, ain't he?

And by the way, yes, the LexCorp logo is my own design.

More Powerful Than a Locomotive

A “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic” Fanfiction

Written by Jade Dawn

The lobby of the LexCore facility’s upper floors was large and spacious. The glass front wall and doors allowed streams of sunlight to pour inside, bathing the area in warm light and reflecting off of the tiled floor and reception desk in the center of the room.

Tech Lexicon and Merciful Grace split away from the rest of their group and headed to one of the five elevators along the far side of the room. When they entered, Lex pushed a button for the sub-level laboratories, and the doors slid shut with a smooth electronic whirr. The elevator began to descend, a little chime going off as they passed each floor.

Merciful dropped her usual stoic expression after the doors closed, replacing it with an almost sultry smile as she scooted a bit closer to Lex. “You were great out there,” she said to him.

Lex smiled back at her. “Aren’t I always?”

“Of course you are. Just paying you a compliment.”

“Which I will forever appreciate,” Lex said as they both chuckled.

Lex sighed contentedly. “I tell you, Mercy, I’ve got probably the greatest feeling I’ve had in a long time. All of this, this whole empire I’ve built up all these years, it's all coming together…I’m finally on the cusp of truly achieving my destiny, I can just feel it.”

“Assuming that Planet reporter doesn’t spook everypony away,” Mercy noted. “She could stir up real trouble for us. I really don’t see why you keep playing with her. You know, I could have her taken care of, if you want…”

“Oh, please,” Lex said with a dismissive wave of his hoof. “Lucky Lead may fancy herself as a crusader for truth and justice and all that, but really she’s just a mild nuisance at worst. She’s not worth my worry or your efforts. Really, she’s more amusing than she is a serious threat to business.” He shook his head with a mocking chuckle. “Besides…whatever credibility she may have had was thoroughly blasted when she started writing about Supermane.”

“Speaking of Supermane,” Mercy said. “About the Elements of Harmony…do you buy their story about coming all this way to Manehattan to look for this guy?”

“I don’t see any reason why I shouldn’t. If I honestly thought somepony was trying to dig into LexCorp’s closets, then I’d have had you looking into it by now, don’t you think?

“Fair enough. And Supermane himself?

Lex raised an eyebrow. “What about him? He’s an urban legend, Mercy. A very charming and quaint little story, perhaps a bit empowering to the earth pony population if you want to get analytical, I suppose…but an urban myth all the same. Miss Lead and whomever else wants to believe in him can do so for all I care. But believe me, Mercy, Supermane is the least of my concerns right now.”

The elevator chimed, and the doors slid open into a steel corridor stretching off into the distance. Metal pipes ran along where the walls met the ceiling, and every ten feet or so was a grille revealing wires and other electronics beneath. They were deep beneath the Plaza now, below even the riverbed that it was built on. It was in these lower levels that LexCorp had its most secretive laboratory complexes, out of sight of the public eye and secure from all but the most resourceful of intruders…and even they weren’t likely to get too terribly far should such a situation ever occur.

Two guards, clad in similar armor to those at the gates above, stood on each side of the elevator, and they nodded to Lex and Mercy as they strode past into the corridor. As they walked, a green earth pony in a lab coat with a disheveled blonde mane and a microscope on his flanks came hurriedly down one of the adjacent corridors, holding a clipboard in one hoof. His ID denoted him as one Dr. Green Vale.

“Oh, Mr. Lexicon, sir,” he called as he spotted the two and caught up with them. “I was actually just looking for you, I have a status update on the data transfer…”

“In a moment, Dr. Vale,” Lex said, his voice now all business. “First I want to hear about your progress on replicating our K643 supply.”

Dr. Vale’s face fell. “Uh, yes, about that…”

Lex stopped in his tracks, and so did Mercy shortly after. As he turned his head to look at Dr. Vale, the poor scientist felt his eyes burning right through him. “What about ‘that’, Dr. Vale? Come on, spit it out.”

Vale gulped. “W-well, you see…our replication trials have been, um…unsuccessful, sir…”

“‘Unsuccessful’?” Lex echoed. “Unsuccessful how?” His voice had taken on a dangerous tone now, as if daring Dr. Vale to disappoint him.

“Well, sir, y-you have to understand…the K643 we have on hoof comes from meteorites–“

“I know where it comes from, Vale, I was there when it came down. What I’m trying to get to is why the supposedly brilliant scientists I’ve hired are ‘unsuccessful’ at making more of a meteorite mineral.”

“T-that’s just the problem, sir,” Vale stammered out. “I-it’s not really a mineral…it’s not like any single material we’ve ever encountered before, it’s…it’s almost like a conglomerate material of some kind. L-like a whole range of substances fused into one element, and…it’s like a little bit of everything. I-it’s just impossible for us to replicate with our current scientific understanding of it.”

Lex shut his eyes and let out a deep, frustrated breath. “Hence your unsuccessful trials.”

“Yes, e-exactly, sir. I mean, we could try recreating it magically, but without knowing everything that makes up its fused structure, we can’t–“

“Dr. Green Vale,” Lex said as he snapped his eyes open, resuming his stare through Vale’s soul. “Do you know why K643 is so vital to LexCorp?”

Vale nodded shakily. “Y-yes, sir.”

“Do you really? Would you mind being a bit more specific?”

Vale was shaking like a leaf now. “It…it’s the fuel source for the LexCore reactor, sir…”

“Exactly,” Lex said, taking a few steps closer to the trembling scientist. “The very pinnacle of our public research efforts. The very thing that I just announced to a good sized portion of this city’s population…are you starting to understand the problem you’re leaving me with here? Am I getting through to you, Dr. Vale?”

Vale was almost too nervous to answer. For just a moment he found himself glancing away to Mercy, watching the whole thing with her usual stoic face, before looking away from her. He knew for a fact she wouldn’t save him.

“Ponies want the LexCore,” Lex continued. He was right in front of Vale now, his voice turning into a snarl. “They’re asking for them in Baltimare and Fillydelphia, Canterlot, even as far out as Las Pegasus. Do you know that even the Griffons already want one?”

“B-but sir–“

With another step Lex was right in his face, looming over him. “I’ve promised the world power, Dr. Green Vale. A power that I can put into their hooves that they or I can control as seen fit to do so. So do you really want to be the pony that forces me to go up in front of those teaming masses and tell them that I’m oh so sorry, but I can’t. Do it. Again?”

Dr. Vale seemed to shrink as Lex towered over him, clutching his clipboard to his chest as if that would help still his racing heart. “W-we just need more time...” He straightened up a bit. “I-I think if we could have, um, maybe a year or so–“

“You and your teams have six months,” Lex replied. “Six months and then I want to see something on my office desk. Now then…” He turned away and he and Mercy resumed their walk down the hall. “I hope what you had to tell me is more positive in nature.”

“Oh, oh yes,” Vale stuttered as he scrambled up off the floor and caught up with the two. “I-I was coming to tell you that, um, the transfer harness has been attached to the ship’s mainframe and our computers are ready to begin data mining.”

Lex mulled this over. “Dr. Vale,” he said. “You may just redeem yourself yet.”

They approached a sealed metal door at the far end of the corridor, flanked by another pair of armored guards. Lex waved them aside and stepped up to a hoof scanner beside the door, putting a foreleg onto the electronic pad until it beeped. The door opened with a hiss and a whirr, and Lex and Mercy stepped through into the room beyond, Dr. Vale following close behind.

Beyond the door was a metallic balcony overlooking a spacious two-story laboratory room, its dull gray walls and floors lit by quartz light from above. Arranged in a half-circle around the room were various tables bearing keyboards and monitors, with a number of servers lining the walls on the far right side. The machines were manned by a number of ponies in lab coats going to and fro, checking the computers or going through notes. Directly across from the main entrance on the other side of the room were a pair of large, hangar sized doors that stretched from the floor to the ceiling; these led to a separate transit corridor that further stretched into the bowels of the facility.

But it was the object in the center of the room that demanded the most immediate attention, and what all of the equipment in the room seemed to surround. It began as a rounded, smooth oval shape, about ten feet from end to end. Behind this first portion was a large manta-like body with two rounded wings, the far ends of which stretched into pronged tails that tapered away to points at the end of the object. Between these two prongs and just before the rest of the body was a kind of sphere lined with an array of spikes that grew bigger and longer as they neared the back center of the sphere, exposed between the two tail prongs. This spiked sphere was a kind of dull yellow color, while the rest of the object’s hull was a crystalline silver hue. End to end, the whole thing was about thirty to forty feet in length. It hung suspended above the laboratory’s floor by a crane, and a large clamp-like device had been attached to its underside just behind the oval portion, connected to the surrounding computers by a tangle of thick cables.

Lex, Mercy, and Vale descended to the lower level by way of a metal staircase. Vale split away to confer with his fellow scientists, while Lex and Mercy approached the object itself. Lex smiled as he came up beneath it, reaching out with a foreleg and running his hoof along its smooth, glass-like surface as though he were caressing a loved one.

“Twenty five years,” he whispered, a reminiscing note to his voice.. “Twenty five years and it still feels like just yesterday.”

He still remembered the day the ship had come to him all those years ago, way back when he was still a colt trapped in some little town whose name he didn’t bother to remember, living under the roof of a drunkard of a stallion who couldn’t even begin to fathom what his own son could truly be. It had quite literally changed his life forever. The day it had come to him, and when he had begun trying to understand it, had been the day that he had finally realized his true potential. That he could be somepony in the world.

Tech Lexicon had never believed in any sort of higher power. He’d barely even believed in Celestia–she’d never swooped in to save him from Daddy’s hoof. But that day, he’d almost believed something out there had seen his miserable existence and decided to give him a boon.

He’d gone to great pains to hide it from the world, studying it in private, working out whatever he could with limited resources–all the while planning out his future. When he’d reached maturity and founded LexCorp, he’d finally begun to get the proper resources to examine the ship in earnest…and put its secrets to work for him.

Those secrets had served him in good stead. For almost five years now, LexCorp had been incorporating little bits of reverse-engineered technology from the ship in just about all of their products; the sensor systems in their drones, the levitating engines of the new monorail, the crystalline circuitry in almost everything they made these days…a great deal of it had its origins within that ship.

But just examining a hull could only get one so far. Lex wanted information; the data stored within the vessel’s computers that had the potential to give LexCorp whole worlds of new knowledge to put to their use. And it was this goal that today’s experiment hoped to reach.

“You’ve given me so much already,” Lex whispered to the ship, smiling at his prize. ”Let’s see what else you have to offer...”

“Mr. Lexicon?” Dr. Vale called from among the computer scientists. “Um, we’re almost ready to begin here.”

“Ah, very good,” Lex replied, giving the hull one last stroke before heading over to the computers. He and Mercy stood behind the scientists, almost hovering over them as they worked. This certainly wasn’t lost on them, and more than one took nervous glances over their shoulders.

“Data mining program is online,” one mare announced as she looked at the readout on a monitor. “Servers are ready to receive information…all systems are go.”

“We’re ready when you are, sir,” Dr. Vale told Lex.

Lex nodded. “Do it.”

Dr. Vale took a deep breath, then tapped out a set of commands on his keyboard. The computers beeped and hummed, internal fans whirring as they went to work. On a large screen in the center of the arranged monitor tables, a window popped up:

XENODATA TRANSFER IN PROGRESS. LexOS SYSTEMS RECEIVING DATA.

DOWNLOADING…

DOWNLOADING…

DOWNLOADING…

“We have connection!” Dr. Vale announced, his voice a mix of nervous relief and genuine joy. Around him, his fellow scientists cheered and patted each other’s backs, while a few–including Vale himself–wiped sweat from their brows as they watched the numbers increasing and speeding up as the computers soaked in more and more data from the ship.

Lex, for his own part, was grinning from ear to ear as he watched. His mood was sufficiently cheery now that he felt like indulging Vale in a bit of complimenting. “Well done, Dr. Vale.”

“Oh, um…thank you, Mr. Lexicon, sir…”

But Lex had already moved on from him. Now his mind was spinning with the possibilities of what they might find buried in the ship’s computers. They’d already gleaned so much from the body alone, but he was almost frothing at the bit to know what else they could get. The possibilities were endless, and not even the sky was the limit anymore…

The moment of rapture was suddenly cut off when an error message flooded the screens, and a repeated beeping rang out. With a jump the scientists rushed to their keyboards, hooves flying over controls and speaking worriedly with each other.

Lex frowned. “What’s this? What’s happening?”

“Some kind of firewall in the computer systems,” one of the technicians said from his seat. “Attempting to bypass now.”

Lex rolled his eyes. Setbacks. Lovely.

“It’s to be expected, sir,” Vale reminded him. “An advanced computer system like that, I imagine they’d have–“

“I’m aware of that, Vale,” Lex said in annoyance, and Vale promptly shut his mouth.

Lex was beginning to feel that restlessness that he got in moments of sufficient annoyance, and he began to tap a hoof against the floor. Of course the ship’s computers would prove difficult to pierce. Nopony needed to tell him that. Any civilization advanced enough to send a ship like that through the stars would likely be smart enough to have some level of protection on their computer systems.

That didn’t mean he had to like it, though. However briefly, this would delay the process. And it wasn’t like they could just tell the ship that its creators weren’t around and expect it to open up…

“Alright, we’re through. Resuming sequence.” On the screen the error messages disappeared and the data size counter resumed its climb. Sighs of relief echoed throughout the lab as the computers went back to work…

…for all of twenty seconds before the alarms sounded again as they hit another firewall, and the scientists scrambled back to their keyboards.

“For goodness sakes…make it quick!” Lex barked. “I want to download as much information as we possibly can get.”

“We’re working on it,” one of the scientists replied. “It keeps blocking us out at almost every turn.”

“Mr. Lexicon, please,” Dr. Vale said. “This is an alien computer system that we only barely understand, they’re doing their best–”

“They’re supposedly some of the best computer scientists LexCorp has on staff,” Lex hissed back, beginning to pace. “I expect them to be doing their best.”

“Lex?” Mercy said, her voice oddly concerned. Lex stopped and looked up to see her staring at the ship and pointing at the ship, and followed the direction of her hoof towards it.

He saw that there was now a red glow coming from deep within the center of the vessel’s crystalline hull, spreading through the silvery structure in line-like patterns that he saw slowly creeping from the center outward. The spiked amber ball towards the end was glowing a dark yellow, slowly beginning to rotate in place where it hovered. A strange noise had begun too; it began as a faint hum, but steadily grew into an ever-louder droning sound, like some kind of generator powering up.

“Oh dear…” Vale whispered.

“Mr. Lexicon!” Another scientist shouted from the far end of the row. “We’re reading some kind of energy build-up with in the ship; it’s spreading all throughout the hull!”

“What kind of energy build-up?” Lex shouted back.

“I don’t know sir…it’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before!”

“Some kind of defense mechanism?” Mercy whispered.

“Just keep probing the thing!” Lex shouted at the scientists. He watched the scene before him unfold; the scientists were frantically working the computers and typing on keyboards, desperately evading firewalls, but the ship was throwing them up about as fast as they could work through them. Others yelled out warnings as the anomalous energy signature increased. The red glow within the crystalline hull had spread to all over the vessel, and the drone morphed into a sound like a roaring hurricane.

It was like the ship was angry at them.

“It’s still throwing up firewalls!” Somepony cried. “We’re barely able to keep up and hack past them!"

“Energy signature continuing to rise! Hull temperature increasing…”

“We have to abort!” Vale called out over the sound. “Shut down the program and–“

“DON’T YOU BUCKING DARE!” Lex roared, racing past Vale and shoving aside the scientists at one of the nearest terminals, beginning to work the program himself. He certainly knew how; he’d partially designed it himself.

This close to the ship, though, he could feel the heat now radiating from it, and felt hair on the back of his neck tingle as he came close to whatever exotic energy field the ship was radiating. The glow was now as bright as a raging fire and felt like it, too.

Lex paid it no mind. He threw his mind and self into the program, battling alien code and firewalls in a frantic struggle to keep the data stream flowing, honing all of his mental energies into pillaging the ship’s information.

He’d waited years to be able to do this.

He would not be denied now.

His concentration was momentarily broken when he felt Mercy tugging at his shoulder with a hoof. “Sir, we need to go, right–“

“NO!” He shoved her away and without bothering to look to where she fell turned back to the screen, frantically trying to salvage the data stream. Off in a corner of the screen, a little pop-up window was rapidly flicking through images and lines of data drawn from the ship, most passing by too fast for him to properly glimpse; star charts, alphabets…

But then, just for a fraction of a second, a brief burst of red on the window suddenly caught his eye. By the time he’d turned his gaze to look at it it was gone, but some part of his mind told him that he’d seen that particular image before.

What was–

He heard Mercy scream “LEX!”, and then in the span of an instant, the ship’s red light flashed into a brilliant white. A sudden, unseen force slammed into Lex, forcing air from his chest as it threw him backwards across the lab. He landed with a hard thud on his back, and as a result had a good view of the ceiling above as the overhead lights blinked out, plunging the room into total darkness.

“…and with this impressive speed combined with its vertical takeoff and landing capacities,” the showmare said while the pony sized, quad-rotored drone hovered and whirred up in the air above the stand. “The PRS-110 Parasprite is capable of maneuvering with all the speed and efficiency of a normal pegasus, with none of the drawbacks or limitations. Questions? Yes, you there.” She pointed at Dawning Hope’s raised hoof.

“Um, yeah,” Dawning began. “As, uh, as I understand it, these drones of yours are meant for long-distance aerial cargo hauling, right?”

“That will be one of their functions, yes.”

“Got it. So I take it LexCorp intends these to ultimately supersede pony mail carriers? Does LexCorp plan on its own mail delivery service?” There was no accusing tone in his voice–it was a genuine question–but it had just enough punch to get a few members of the crowd murmuring amongst themselves.

The showmare cleared her throat. From the sound of her breath and the way her heart jolted just the least little bit, Dawning could tell that she didn’t like having to address that question. “W-well, we’re not fully certain how the introduction of our drone tech will impact the Equestrian Postal Service as of now, so, it’s really more of a ‘we’ll see’ matter. Uh, next question?”

Quicksnap leaned close to Dawning. “Looks like you got her kinda flustered,” he whispered. “You been taking hints from Miss Lead?”

Dawning chuckled. “Yeah, I guess I have been…”

Then he heard the first whispers of consternation echoing from the deeper floors of the Plaza’s labs. They were distorted and muffled by whatever shielding was in place below the surface, but he’d heard enough by now to know that those were the sounds of mounting concern.

He focused on his ears, mentally filtering out the sounds of the crowd and showcase attendants, trying to listen in on the voices. Concern became alarm, alarm became panic…and then suddenly a burst of surprise and fear. Almost instinctually he turned and tried once more to visually pierce through the shield.

He’d just started filtering through into the electromagnetic spectrum when his vision was suddenly filled by a blinding wall of white coming straight up out of the ground. It was like staring right into the sun; a brief moment’s look at that wall of light blinded him and he shut his eyes tight and turned away. A strange shiver, like the feeling of something passing through him, went through his body, and then he began to hear the sounds of concerned murmuring from the surrounding ponies.

Dawning opened his eyes. Around him, the crowd was looking between themselves worriedly. All of the LexCorp devices had stopped; moving machines had frozen in place, lights were dimmed, and their attendants were looking them over and talking to each other in confusion. He saw some of the guards trying their shoulder-mounted radios, to no effect.

It was like every electronic in LexCorp Plaza had just gone dead.

And then he remembered the drone. He looked up to see that it’s rotors had stopped and it was falling to the ground, the crowd near the stand fleeing as it came down…right towards Quicksnap.

“Quicksnap, look out!” Dawning yelled, charging into the young hippogriff and plowing him out of the way just as the metal flier crashed to the pavement, shattering into pieces. The two rolled across the ground before coming to a stop, panting and staring at the wreck.

Quicksnap’s eyes were wide. “Holy…dude, you just…”

“Don’t mention it,” Dawning said as he helped him up. Still numb, Quicksnap raised his camera to get a shot of the wrecked drone, but then stopped with a frown.

“Hey, what the heck? My camera’s not turning on!”

“Isn’t that the new digital one?” Dawning asked.

“Yeah, it is,” Quicksnap replied as he fiddled with the buttons. “But I made sure to charge the batteries before we left, it should be good for hours!”

Rarity and Lucky Lead came running up through the uneasy crowd to them, looking about as worried as everypony else. “Did you see it?” Lucky asked as she skidded to a halt before them. “Everything just went out. The robots, the electrics, everything.”

“We know. We almost got hit by a drone when it fell,” Quicksnap said as he gestured to the fallen machine. “Even my camera’s not working anymore…geez, I hope the pics don’t get lost…”

“Oh dear,” Rarity murmured worriedly. “What in Equestria could be going on?”

“I don’t know,” Dawning said as he looked around at the scene. “I really don’t know…”

The blackout didn’t stop at LexCorp Plaza. It spread out at a rapid pace, sweeping through the city within seconds in a manner that suggested an unseen circular shockwave. Lights blinked out, appliances stopped working, whatever computers were being used shut down. The giant, colorfully lighted billboards of the Bridleway Theater District went dark. Police officers tried to call headquarters, only to find their radios completely silent without even any static. At Manehattan General Hospital, the staff tried to remain calm as they went to emergency generators, only beginning to openly panic when they discovered that these too refused to activate.

In short, if it was electric, it went completely dead as the invisible wave spread across the city.

Another such casualty was the LexCorp monorail. Rainbow Dash was napping and Fluttershy was watching the skyline go by when it hit. All at once there was a sudden jolt and a groaning of metal as the hover engines cut out. The tram lurched as it ground to a halt, throwing passengers from their seats, Dash and Fluttershy tumbling over each other with frightened yelps as they hit the floor. The interior lights flicked off, leaving only sunlight to illuminate the tram.

Rainbow picked herself up off the floor. “Holy cow…what the…oh geez, Fluttershy!” She bent down to help Fluttershy to her hooves. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?”

“I-I’m fine,” Fluttershy said as she shook herself out of a daze. “Just surprised…what happened?”

“I dunno…it looks like we lost power.”

“Oh dear…I hope that doesn’t mean we’re stuck here…”

“Eh, I wouldn’t worry about it. Trust me, they’ll have it back in a couple minutes max. And if they don’t then they’ll send somepony to come get us.” She said it in an unworried tone of voice, but as she looked up and down the tram at the confused and murmuring passengers, she felt worried as well. From the way everypony was acting, it was obvious that this was about as much a surprise to them as it was to her and Fluttershy.

“…just went completely dark…”

“…never happened before…”

“…Lex said this was guaranteed…”

“…get it back on again, don’t worry…”

Suddenly the lights flashed back on again, and everypony aboard blinked in the glare for a moment. The hover engines hummed as they came back online, and the tram began to move forward as it resumed its course on the track again. The passengers sighed in relief, some of them chuckling a little, as they took their seats again, while a few others still murmured in annoyance.

“There, see? What’d I tell ya?” Rainbow said to Fluttershy as they sat back down. “Nothing to worry about.”

“I’m just glad its over,” Fluttershy replied. “I mean…I know it was probably just a hiccup, but…”

“Still a bit spooky, yeah. I get ya, Flutters. Anyway, now that that’s over…” Rainbow crossed her hind legs, leaned her head back on the seat, and shut her eyes again.

Fluttershy, meanwhile, turned to look out the windows as the sights outside passed by again. The buildings of Manehattan’s skyline whizzed by in blurs, the blue sky and white clouds above repeatedly cut off from view as they went. The ponies on the streets below became colored bars streaking past, and she could only get fleeting momentary glimpses of things as the tram went on its speedy way.

In fact, now that she thought about it…

“Um, Rainbow? Rainbow…”

Rainbow groaned as she opened her eyes. “Hmm, what? Sorry, was just drifting off, what is it?”

“M-maybe it’s just me, but…are we going a bit faster than we were before?”

“Wha?” Rainbow waved a hoof. “Nah. It’s just your imagination. C’mon, don’t let the blackout spook ya. We’re moving just as fast as we were before.” Then she frowned as she thought. “At least I think we are…actually…hey, you!” She pointed at the nearest passenger, an earth pony mare. “Is it just me or is this thing going faster than it should be?”

A nervous look crossed the mare’s face. “I…I think so, actually…I’ve ridden this tram dozens of times by now, but it does feel like…”

“Oh dear…” Fluttershy murmured. By now the other passengers were clearly beginning to notice, and the sounds of worried conversation began to fill the tram.

Rainbow looked towards the front windows. “W-well, look. We’re just getting to the next station, so I’m pretty sure we’ll stop once we get there…”

Fluttershy nodded, but she could tell from her voice that Rainbow was trying to reassure herself as much as she was everypony else.

Everypony on the train watched with bated breath as they approached the station. It was only less than a minute away now, but it felt like an eternity. Some of the passengers sat down again, a few visibly clutching the edges nervously. The rest stood around, either silently watching or talking to each other, in equal measures of comfort and concern. Fluttershy, for her own part, scooted a bit closer to Rainbow Dash.

They were thirty seconds away from the station now. The train kept up its speed.

Twenty five seconds.

Fifteen.

Ten.

Still no sign of stopping.

By the time the monorail went whooshing on through and past the station, so fast that it was a half-second blur that came and went in an instant, everypony on the tram realized exactly what was happening.

And with that realization, concern became outright fear.

“We didn’t stop! Why didn’t we stop?!”

“We’re going too fast!”

“Somepony do something!”

“Rainbow!” Fluttershy wailed, her heart pounding, her breath beginning to come out in ragged gasps.

Rainbow was just about to say something when suddenly the track curved to the left. And with the tram going at the terrific speed it was, the sudden swerve caused everypony inside to be violently flung against the opposite walls of the train. Fluttershy cried out as she smacked into the glass windows, Rainbow landing on top of her, and the two slid down tangled together.

Fluttershy was very close to hyperventilating now. As a pegasus she and Rainbow–mostly the latter–were used to high speeds. But now they were locked in a metal tube hurtling down a track at over a hundred miles an hour, and her terror was extreme.

“I don’t want to die!” She cried to Rainbow. “I don’t want to die!”

“We’re not gonna die!” Rainbow yelled, barely able to hide her own panic. “They’ll get it shut down, they’ve got to…I mean, the track loops back around to where it started, right?”

She directed this last question to the other passengers nearby. The only responses she got were silent, wide-eyed stares.

And then the screaming began in earnest.

“…oh crap.”

The control room for the LexCorp monorail system was a large, dark room akin to that of a space center’s mission control. Around a dozen ponies went to and fro between its desks, each lined with computers and monitors that tracked the system across the city, while a master screen against one wall provided a view of the whole line.

Right now the controllers were in full panic mode. The blackout had already thrown things in disarray, but the situation they had now was nothing short of a nightmare come true.

“What do you mean Tram 04 isn’t slowing down?” Rail Iron, the manager, barked to one of the technicians.

The young stallion at the console was sweating, the droplets lit up by the glow of his screen. “W-when the power came back the onboard computers didn’t restart properly. The program is frozen!”

Stupid automation, Rail Iron thought to himself. “Can’t you shut it down from here?”

“I’m trying, but I can’t access the computer! The whole thing's frozen up!”

“Well…where is it now?”

Tram 04 showed up as a blinking red light on the map of Manehattan. “Right here, sir,” said a mare at the next desk over. “Just turned into Midtown East and heading into the Upper East…Side…” She looked at Rail Iron with a look of horror on her face. “…that segment of the line isn’t finished yet, sir.”

“Mother of Celestia…somepony call the police! There’s going to be an accident!”

Rarity looked around the LexCorp Plaza as she stood with Dawning, Lucky and Quicksnap. Everything was still offline, and LexCorp personnel were weaving in and out of the crowd as they apparently tried to figure out what was going on.

“I do hope the girls are alright,” she muttered. “Do you think the monorail isn’t working either?”

“It looks like the whole city’s out,” Lucky replied. “Then yeah, the monorail’s probably out too.”

“Oh dear…to be stranded in the middle of the track like that…”

“I-I’m sure they’re fine,” Dawning said.

Around them, the display screens suddenly lit back up. There was a loud whirring of hydraulics as one of the quadrupedal mechs reactivated nearby and was righted by its pilot. From around the plaza came the sounds of relief as power was restored and all of LexCorp's displayed marvels came back to life.

Rarity chuckled. “Oh, what a relief…for a minute there I was actually getting nervous–“

“IT LIVES!” Quicksnap cried, happily holding his digital camera. “Now I just hope that…nooo, no no no no…everything got erased!”

“Oh geez…I’m sorry, Quicksnap,” Dawning said.

“Hey, look on the bright side, kiddo,” Lucky told him. “At least the blackout story’s gonna be a more interesting scoop than the Lexpo. A lot less ego, too.” She chuckled a bit. “Oh geez, I can’t wait to hear Lex try to explain…hey, what’s going on over there?”

They saw crowds of ponies hurrying out of the Plaza gates back to the monorail station, and the group followed them out. When they arrived there was a scene of commotion; ponies were crowding and shouting around the terminal, and they could see a LexCorp pony standing on one of the benches as she tried to calm everypony down, even though they could see that she was worried at whatever was happening herself.

“What’s happening?” Lucky asked. “What’s going on?”

“The monorail went crazy when the power came back!” Somepony shouted to her amidst the crowd. “It’s going too fast and they can’t shut it down!”

“Oh Celestia, look at that…” Quicksnap muttered as he pointed to one of the display screens. The edges of the digital map were now illuminated with flashing red “TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES” messages, and they could see a single bright red dot speeding down the track lines throughout the city, ever closer to a point further down where the track apparently stopped.

Rarity gasped in horror as it sank in. “Rainbow Dash…Fluttershy! Sweet Celestia, if they’re on that thing…”

“Oh, horseapples…” Lucky muttered.

Quicksnap turned to look at Dawning, only to find that he wasn’t at his side. “Hey…where’d Dawning go?”

Lucky shook her head absentmindedly. “Must’ve gotten lost in the crowd…” Then she suddenly pushed her way forward, heading to the exit of the station that led back out to the city streets. “Come on, we’ve got to catch up with this thing!”

Dawning hadn’t been fully thinking when he’d silently backed away from his friends and disappeared into the churning crowd of ponies. It had been more involuntary than anything else. An instinct.

That instinct.

Because even now over the roar of the mob, he could hear the panicked cries of the passengers onboard the runaway monorail. He could pick out every single voice inside of it. Every frightened scream, every little prayer for some form of rescue…

…and he heard Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy among them loudest of all. Whether because they actually were the loudest or because he was honing in on them the most he didn’t know.

But he did know what he was doing now. What he had to do. He didn’t even consciously think of it; that little instinct deep inside of him knew what he must do now.

So he slipped between the ever moving crowd, ducking his head to keep a low profile, looking for a corner to slip into. Eventually he made his way past the largest concentration of bodies into a kind of alley between two of the LexCorp Plaza’s buildings. He went down to the far end and turned a corner, then kept going until he was certain he was alone, giving the area an x-ray sweep to make sure there were no guards or cameras within range. There were none, and so he stopped and set his saddlebags down on the pavement.

The glasses came off first, exposing his bright, sapphire-like eyes to the world. Next came the shirt collar and the tie. He stuffed these three aside into one bag, and then opened the other, the one containing his costume, and reached in to pull it out with both hooves.

In the light of day, the navy blue shirt and mahogany cloak and hood looked dull and drab; they were really better suited for his nighttime patrols. But the crimson “S” painted on the shirt stood out in a bright flare of color, almost radiant.

And as he held his ensemble aloft and that bright red “S” caught the light of the sun, he suddenly stopped. The instinct was overridden by conscious thought.

Thought and worry.

Supermane was about to show up in broad daylight in full view of very likely the entire city. There was no way he would be able to hide himself now, no way he could generate enough mystique to have ponies still write him off as an urban legend. The hood wouldn’t even mask his face as well as it did in the dark of night. They’d all see him for sure. If he wasn’t careful they might even get a good look at his face.

And then it’d all be over. They’d ID him, hunt him down, maybe capture him and cart him off to some research lab somewhere. They’d figure out exactly what he was, and his entire quest of two years would come to an end.

And even if that worst case scenario didn’t happen, they’d still see him.

You take this genie out of the bottle, Dawning, and he can never go back in.

For a moment, Dawning Hope lingered as he stared back at the crimson symbol. He felt his forelegs begin to droop by just a little, subtly lowering the costume back into the bag.

But then the sounds of fear and terror from the train came to his ears again. The sounds of Fluttershy and…

…and it wasn’t a debate anymore.

He pulled his clothing out of the bag entirely and got to putting it on, slipping the shirt over his torso and draping the cloak around himself, making sure the hood was up as far over his head as it could go without obscuring his vision. After that, he bunched up his saddlebags and made sure they were well-hidden below a grating in the pavement.

Dawning Hope, now clothed in the garments of Supermane, stepped into the middle of the alleyway, and steeled himself for what he was about to do.

One last time his anxieties reared their heads. They’ll see you. They’ll find out who you are. They’ll find out what you are and–

–and if I don’t do something then ponies will die.

Supermane took one last deep breath, crouched down…and then with a kick of his hind legs he leapt.

Up, up, and away.

Lucky, Rarity, and Quicksnap had left the LexCorp Plaza by now, and were running down the streets beneath the monorail line as fast as their hooves could take them. Quicksnap panted as he tried to keep up, gripping his camera bag tightly in his talons. Even with flying with his hippogriff’s wings he ended up lagging behind a bit.

“Do we…even have any idea...what we can actually do?” He panted as he flew behind them. “And…and where’d Dawning go?”

“He can catch up with us later!” Lucky shouted back. “We’ve got to catch up with it now!”

“For the love of Celestia, we have to do something!” Rarity cried.

There was a sudden gust of wind as something came whooshing over the three’s heads, blowing manes and feathers and bringing them to a skidding halt on the sidewalk. There were sudden yells of awe and wonder from the surrounding pedestrians, and the three looked up to see a fast moving, red and dark blue blur flying at breakneck speeds overhead.

This blur happened to look very much like a pony.

The trio’s mouths hung wide open as they watched the pony-shaped blur disappear around the side of a building.

“Holy spit…” Quicksnap whispered.

Rarity turned to Lucky. “Ms. Lead, do you think that could have been…”

But Lucky Lead was silent. Slowly, very slowly, the edges of her mouth curved up into a grin.

Fluttershy was in hell. She’d never actually say that word aloud, but it was the only way she could describe it if she could. It was an enclosed, cramped, tube-shaped hell that roared down a track at what felt like lightspeed. It rocked and rumbled in an unstable way, throwing her from her seat to the floor to the walls and back again as she screamed and cried.

She wasn’t alone in this hell. Dozens of other ponies shared her same terror. Most were screaming with her, gripping tightly to their seats or overhead straps as they to keep themselves from being battered against the walls. A few others, Rainbow Dash included, were frantically pulling and clawing at the doors in a vain attempt to pry them open. She saw one terrified stallion slamming his hooves against the windows, trying desperately to break them to make an escape.

But they couldn’t get out.

They were traveling over a hundred miles an hour in a long metal coffin heading to an end in the track, and they couldn’t get out.

The train jolted again and Fluttershy was hurled against one of the side windows. A stab of pain went through her muzzle as she smacked into it. She felt liquid beginning to run down from one nostril, and tasted blood against her lips shortly after. Outside, the city of Manehattan became a psychedelic blur of dull colored blocks flashing past her line of vision.

Help. Somepony. Please. I don’t want to die. Not like this.

Then through the blur of buildings she saw a point of red and dark blue streaking towards the train. Instinct told her that it was a bird. Half a second later she realized that it was a pony in a dark red cloak and dark blue shirt. A pegasus?

No. Not a pegasus. This pony flew with no wings, no glow of a magical aura. And then as he came nearer to the runaway monorail she caught a glimpse of the vibrant red symbol on the chest of his shirt…

…and she knew.

“Oh my…”

Wind slammed into Supermane’s hooded face as he flew alongside the track, and his red cloak flapped like mad behind him as he approached the speeding tram.

Catching up with the monorail and keeping up with it was easy. The real problem on Dawning Hope’s mind was how to stop it.

He remembered reading a superhero comic as a kid where the hero of the story had stopped a train by simply punching it. As a colt, especially when he’d started realizing how strong he was, he’d thought that was the coolest thing ever, and in a child-like way he’d always wanted to try that. But as he’d grown up and come to better understand his powers, he knew now that that was the worst possible thing to do in that situation.

Comic books didn’t have to worry about things like physics or momentum. He did right now. If he just slammed into the train full force like that, he’d either go right through it or smash it to pieces entirely. Lifting it off the track wasn’t an option either; this was a four-car train, and they’d all just end up slamming together from the new center of gravity.

Luckily, he did have something of an idea of how to go about this. At least a little bit of an idea.

Keep pace with it, Dawning. Match its speed.

He flew himself right up to the front of the train and slowly began to veer towards it. A second later he reached out with his front hooves and grabbed onto the sloping edge of the tram’s front end, pulling his whole body right on the very front of it, just beneath the forward window. Only when he was in actual contact with it did he begin to push it back.

It was a lot heavier than he’d thought it would be. He’d lifted things that most ponies couldn’t lift, but he’d never done anything quite like this before.

He continued to push against the tram’s front, feeling it begin to slow little by little…and not nearly fast enough for his liking. He reached down with his hind legs and let his hooves touch the track, feeling the intense heat of friction as they scraped into its surface. And still he pushed against the tram, beginning to feel strain.

Then there was a crunching sound as the metal beneath his hooves began to dent inward. A crack began to form in the front window. When this happened he relaxed his push against it, but still clung on.

This wasn’t working. They were still going too fast and he wasn’t slowing it down enough to make a noticeable difference. And they’d hit the end of the track very soon.

Actually, how close are we to the end? Dawning wondered as he turned his head over his shoulder to check. …oh.

Without even boosting his vision in any way, he could already see that they were rapidly approaching the end of the line. At the speed they were going they’d hit it in about two minutes, maybe less.

Dawning looked back to the partially crumpled front end, frantically thinking. He needed to find some way to slow the tram down without risking wrecking it further. If he could somehow turn on the brakes or deactivate the engines or…

Wait a minute…

He pierced his gaze through the front of the tram, going right through it until he rested his eyes on the forward hover engine. It illuminated the track beneath a bright blue, and he could see the strange crystalline circuitry within that he knew LexCorp used in a lot of their newer products.

That’s it. Please, let this work…

He willed heat into his eyes, letting it stream in shafts of rippling air from his glowing pupils. The metal of the front of the tram turned red and began to melt. He pushed more heat into his vision, and the rippling air became tight beams of shimmering red light as his eyes grew as bright as miniature suns. The metal turned white hot and two holes opened as he pushed the beams through the front, through a small section of the tram’s floor, right down through the whole of the thing until they hit the circuits of the hover engine. His eyes burned, but still he fired his heat vision through the tram into the engine, watching through red-tinted sight as it began to glow and smoke.

And then the engine suddenly exploded into a shower of sparks and soot that rained down into the street below and disappeared. With nothing to keep the front-most tram car up, it dipped down onto the track itself. Sparks flew and an ear-piercing shriek of metal on metal filled the air. The bottom of the tram was thick; it’d get scraped up by the time this was over, but it would hold.

Dawning cut off the heat and began pushing on the tram again, pushing his back hooves into the track as well. But now with the added friction he could feel it slowing down a lot faster.

He might just do it, maybe.

But then he looked back at the end of the track again. They were only seconds away from it now, and the barricade on the track was looming ever closer. He threw all of his energy into his hooves and pushed as hard as he could.

The tram slowed more but still kept going.

They were twenty seconds from the edge now.

Supermane kept pushing. He heard the terrified screams of the ponies inside.

Ten seconds.

Come on, Dawning, you can do this…

Five seconds.

Oh, Celestia, please!

He felt the barricade smash into his back as tram and Supermane went crashing through it. Two seconds later he felt the track suddenly disappear from his hooves and he slipped, gripping on as tight as he could with his front hooves.

The front car of the tram slid out over the end of the track and the street below as it finally slowed to a stop. Too far over. It began to tilt downward, beginning to slide forward.

Still hanging from its front end, Dawning began to lift upward. He felt the weight of it crush against his front hooves as he pushed it back, the nose of it crumpling in further. The front window cracked to pieces entirely, and shards of black tinted glass rained down around him as screams echoed from the ponies inside.

At this point he couldn’t lift it back up onto the track, but he could make sure it settled down gently.

Still fighting the weight of the tram, Dawning held it up in his hooves as the two of them slowly lowered to the ground. At last he felt his hooves touch the pavement of the street, and standing on his hind legs he began to step back and lower the front of the tram down to the ground in his hooves. It felt like forever, but at last he set it gently down and stepped away, dropping back to all four hooves as it settled.

The front car of the tram was now hanging slanted almost vertically from the track above, resting on the ground by its nose.

But it stayed where it was and didn’t move.

Dawning gave the tram an x-ray scan, taking a look at the ponies inside. Plenty were injured, bruised and a little bloodied in some instances. A good many would need medical attention from being thrown around inside.

But they were all alive. He could see the lights of their body heat and magic shining bright, and heard the sound of their hearts pumping loud and clear, still beating in shock at what had just happened.

Everyone would be alright, and Supermane sighed in relief.

Around the end of the track was a variety of construction materials; metal beams and support columns, stacks of trackway, various construction implements. Dawning slowly walked to a pile of piping and leaned against it as he caught his breath. He felt tired, more from the stress of the situation than any sort of physical exertion.

As he watched he saw that rescue crews were already arriving on the scene. Police ponies, firefighters, ambulances, the works. Civilians and reporters began to crowd around the base of the track as well, looking up at it in awe as pegasi flew over the scene up above.

“Wait…is that Supermane?”

Dawning didn’t know who had said that, but as soon as he heard it a jolt of terror went through his chest, and he staggered back up to his hooves.

The crowd had begun to notice him now, and slowly the teaming mass began to turn their attention and discussions. Eyes went wide, jaws dropped, and hushed murmurings began drifting from the gathered throng.

“Holy spit, he’s real?!”

“…thought he was just a myth…”

“…I told you, didn’t I??”

“…stopped the whole train…”

“Who is he?!”

Dawning began backing away, nervously glancing at the approaching wall of ponies. Then from somewhere in the back he saw Quicksnap, Rarity, and Lucky pushing their way through the crowd.

He felt a light breeze brush against his mane and the fur of his face, and he suddenly realized that his hood had been blown back during his struggle with the tram.

Oh no…

When the front end of the tram had gone down, Fluttershy had slid down to the front end with it, managing to save herself from going out the forward window when it shattered by clinging to one of the seats. Now that it had settled, she was sitting on what ordinarily would be a backrest as she stared out the gaping hole where the window used to be, feeling her heart gradually slow from its terrified pounding.

In any other situation she might have been trying to find Rainbow Dash, or clambering out of the tram as fast as she could, or wiping the blood away from her muzzle.. But right now, she was frozen in place as she gazed through the broken window at the pony beyond, slowly letting the reality of it all sinking into her mind.

Supermane was real. He had flown in from out of nowhere and stopped the tram.

He’d saved their lives.

He’d saved her life.

He looked almost exactly the way the newspapers had described. A tall, well-built stallion of tan fur and black mane, clothed in a mahogany cloak with a hood and a dark blue shirt, on which was painted that vivid red “S” shield. His hood was down, and she saw him looking at the approaching crowd in fear, like he was afraid that they’d seen him in full.

Then as he looked around his eyes met her, and for a moment her cyan gaze was locked with his sapphire blue eyes. They were unlike any other blue she’d ever seen in her life, deep and vibrant like some exotic crystal. She saw his ears flatten as she met his gaze.

Fluttershy opened her mouth to call out to him; a “thank you”, a “hello”, just something. But before she could think of what to say, Supermane frantically reached up with his hooves to pull his hood back over his head, staggering away from the tram and the crowd in the process.

Just then, Rainbow Dash slid down. “Fluttershy! Oh geez, your nose is bleeding, are you okay…what are you looking at?” She followed Fluttershy’s silent gaze and found herself watching Supermane, just in time to see him finally get his hood back over his head and turning away from the crowd.

“Hey! You, wait! Hold it right there, buster!”

She leapt out the broken window and flew straight at Supermane. Just before she reached him, he kicked himself up into the air and shot away like a rocket, arcing up over the nearby buildings.

“Oh no you don’t!” Rainbow yelled as she banked up to follow him. The sounds of the astonished crowd were drowned out by the rush of wind in her ears as she pushed herself faster in pursuit of the flying earth pony.

He was fast. Rainbow wasn’t sure what she had expected–definitely not for Supermane to be a real pony–but he was far faster than she had expected, easily keeping his distance and actually getting farther from her. He suddenly banked to the right around a building, obviously trying to shake her. Luckily for her she was able to match the turn and keep on his tail, and when he tried turning to the left she was able to follow him again.

“I don’t care how fast you are!” She shouted. “I’m still the fastest flier in Equestria!”

Then all of a sudden he stopped in mid-air, and Rainbow went whooshing past him before she realized what he’d done. When she did figure it out she quickly turned around…

…only to find that he was gone.

“…huh?! Where’d you go?!”

She flew over the streets and buildings, looking this way and that for any sign of her elusive target. She found none, and it slowly sank in that she had lost him. She began to fly back to the crashed monorail, unable to believe what had just happened.

Supermane was real. And he had outflown her.

In little time she had returned to the scene of the accident. Rescue operations were in full force by now. Wounded ponies were being led away by medics, one or two on stretchers. Rarity, Lucky, and Quicksnap were with Fluttershy just next to the tram, the unicorn fashionista holding Fluttershy in a tight hug. Rainbow heard Lucky asking questions at a mile a minute as she landed nearby them.

“…how fast was he flying?! Did you see how he blew the engine out?! It was the laser eyes, wasn’t it? It had to have been the laser eyes! Oh, oh, did you get to see his face?!”

“Ms. Lead, if you don’t mind…” Rarity admonished.

“I-I’m sorry, I’m just…still a little shaken up,” Fluttershy added.

To her credit, Lucky seemed to back off a bit. “Sorry, sorry, this is just so big…hey, you! Rainbow!” Quick as a wink she was up in Rainbow Dash’s face, something very close to a smug grin on her face. “You saw him didn’t you?! Come on, you were the one who didn’t believe me, you were the one who thought I was crazy, didn’t you?! Come on, look me in the eye and tell me you saw him!”

“I…y-yeah, I did, I–“

“YES!” Lucky yelled, throwing her hooves up in the air and almost dancing with pure joy. “YES, YES, YES YES YES! I knew it! And everypony was thinking I was crazy, but here we are! HAHAHAHAAAAAA!!!”

Lucky’s triumphant laughter echoed down the street and up the walls of the surrounding buildings…including the one that Dawning Hope was hiding on top of. After he’d shaken Rainbow Dash he’d looped back around to see how they were handling the accident. He didn’t dare risk showing himself again, though. Instead of peeking over the edge he was simply x-raying through the building to get a view of the ground below, keeping one hoof reflexively gripping his hood as though it would blow away again.

Supermane was an urban myth no longer. Now he was a very real pony that the citizens of Manehattan knew about…and one that they’d now be looking for.

They’d all seen him fly after the train and save it from certain destruction. They’d all seen his face when it was over.

Lucky Lead and Quicksnap had probably seen him too. Fluttershy had seen him for sure. And if they knew what he looked like without the glasses…

This wasn’t just bad. This was a disaster.

But…at least he’d prevented one. He’d saved the tram and everypony onboard. They were all alive, and they’d all be fine.

And that was what mattered most.

…right?

Tech Lexicon returned to consciousness to the sight of the harsh lights of the lab, the feel of hooves frantically pushing against his side, Merciful Grace’s frantic voice in his ears, and a general aching feeling all over.

“Lex? Lex, can you hear me? Are–“

“I’m fine, I’m fine!” Lex snapped as he batted her hooves away, then rolled off of his back to push himself back into a standing position. He groaned as he stood on his hooves, feeling sore all over. His reddish mane was disheveled, and his business suit was rumpled and dirty from being hurled across the floor.

“Where…what happened to the…”

Mercy silently pointed behind him, and Lex turned to look himself.

The lab area was a mess. Tables and monitors were overturned, papers, notes, and pens scattered everywhere. The crane that had held up the ship was twisted and crumpled, and the data transfer harness that had been attached to the underbelly of the ship lay on the floor in a smoking, near-molten slag.

The ship itself was now floating about ten feet off the floor. The red glow was gone, replaced with a faint blue color beneath the silvery crystal hull. The amber spiked ball in the tail was spinning now, glowing bright yellow-orange and letting out a pulsating hum as it spun around.

The vessel slowly drifted away from the remains of its restraints. Around the room, scientists and guards, still dazed by what happened, scrambled away for cover, terrified of what it would do next. It rotated itself around, like a head looking around the room, and finally stopped facing in the direction of Lex, as though glaring at him. Lex, in return, stared back at the vessel, making no sound save for that of his breath.

Then the craft rotated itself forward, dipping its nose and raising its pronged tails into the air until it was pointing vertically from the front up, its bow a paltry few feet above the floor. A white beam suddenly erupted from the rounded front end with a harsh crackling sound, creating a glowing snowflake-like pattern on the floor that expanded outward beyond the ship. White particles of light drifted upward from the pattern in a spiral direction, growing ever more numerous in their rotating paths and drawing closer, coalescing until they obscured the ship in a cone of bright white energy. Everypony in the lab either shut their eyes or squinted at the sight. There was a strange cracking noise, like the sound of ice rapidly freezing.

Then the noise and the light died away, leaving a twisting crystalline cone behind. The structure towered up to almost the ceiling of the lab, glinting in the lights, and the faint glow of the ship could be made out deep within.

“No…” Lex growled, shaking his head. “No, no, no no no no NO!” In a rage he charged at the gigantic crystal and hurled himself at it, frantically pounding on its hard, unyielding surface with a hoof as though he could smash through it and get to the ship within.

This went on for almost a minute before he finally gave up, panting for breath as his bout of anger subsided a little. He turned to the surrounding scientists, ignoring the shocked and disturbed looks they were giving him.

“Get another research team down here,” he said. “Tell them I want this thing drilled through as soon as possible. We’re going to get that ship back out.” Without waiting for a reply he marched back up to Dr. Green Vale. “Dr. Vale, would you mind explaining to me what in the hell just happened here?”

Vale adjusted his lab coat’s collar a bit. “I-I’m not entirely certain but…I think it fired off an electromagnetic pulse of some kind…I mean, it shorted out our systems for a time…probably decided to go for that when it realized we weren’t going to pull back.”

“No kidding,” Mercy muttered.

“An EMP…” Lex echoed as he wiped his brow. “Dr. Vale, you’d better hope to Celestia that we still have the data that we did extract from the stupid thing.”

Nervously muttering unintelligibly, Vale scurried over to one of the still-intact computer terminals. After a tense moment–for him–he sighed in relief.

“Okay…it appears that we still have everything we pulled from the ship’s computers.”

Lex sighed. “Well, at least we have that to show for…wait a minute…”

He suddenly remembered the image he had seen earlier. The one that had caught his eye before the ship had fired off its EMP.

“Let me see that,” Lex said as he began walking towards the terminal.

Vale looked confused. “Uh, sir?”

“I said let me see that!” Lex snarled as he pushed Vale aside, beginning to dig through the vast swaths of data that LexCorp’s computers had managed to extract. There was a lot to go through, much of it unsorted as of yet. But it didn’t take long for him to find what he was looking for and pull it up onto the screen.

Everyone–Lex, Mercy, Dr. Vale, the few other scientists that had been brave enough to gather close–stared at the screen in utter disbelief of what they saw.

It was an image of a red, vaguely diamond shaped outline. Within it was a curving symbol of the same color that looked very much like some kind of “S”.

In fact, as the little group looked at it they realized that it bore an uncanny resemblance to…

“…Supermane’s symbol?” Vale said aloud. “What in the world is the symbol of an urban myth doing in an alien compu…ter…”

Before he’d even finished, he’d started to put two and two together. And as the implications began to sink in, Vale slowly turned to look at Lex…and found himself in equal awe at what he saw from him.

Tech Lexicon’s green eyes were wide, his pupils shrunken. His mouth hung wide open, his jaws twitching ever so slightly. His breath was slow and quiet as he stared back at that strange red symbol on the screen.

Dr. Vale had seen Lex in a variety of moods. Egotistical joy, snarling rage…but never in his life had he ever seen Lex’s face with the same look of pure horror that he saw on it now.

“Lex?” Mercy whispered.

Suddenly Lex turned tail and bolted, charging across the lab to one of the exits on the other end. He threw the door open wide, entering one of the adjacent maintenance corridors, then slammed it shut behind him and leaned against it, sliding to the floor as he began to breathe heavily.

Tech Lexicon couldn’t remember the last time he had felt such terror as that he experienced now. Literally, he couldn’t. He’d grown so powerful and confident in himself that he’d almost forgotten what fear truly felt like.

But he sure as anything felt it now.

Because suddenly everything made sense in his mind. The secrecy…the powers…the timing…Supermane was no mere urban myth, no wild fantasy of an overeager reporter. He was all too real, and Lex knew exactly what he was.

And what he had come to Manehattan for.

“He can’t…” he whispered. “…he won’t!”

Author's Note

"You are revealed to the world. Very well. So be it."
–Jor-El, Superman: The Movie (1978)

So at last Supermane has been definitively proven to be real to the citizens of Manehattan and Equestria at large...at the risk of his true identity and his vague-but-likely-obvious-to-the-audience-at-this-point motivations. And Lex...well, he isn't gonna be looking at him as a "least concern" for very much longer, that's for sure.

I feel a bit more justified in making this chapter over 10k words than I did chapter 2 because this is an "event chapter" for lack of a better term; a point in the story where a major event or turn happens. "Welcome to the Planet" was more intro than anything, I feel.

Also not gonna lie, I feel kinda bad for putting poor Fluttershy through all that...

Anyway, kudos to you for coming back and reading again. Make sure to comment! ;)

After the Bombshell

A “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic” Fanfiction

Written by Jade Dawn

Before he had even reached the runaway train, the news had begun to spread. By the time he had slowed it to a halt and set it down at the end of the track, everypony in the city knew it was true. Stories of a red and blue blur streaking through the skyline and excited accounts of witnesses to the rescue itself began coursing through the streets, to the ears of pedestrians, law enforcement, reporters, and so on. The news of Supermane’s sudden appearance and rescue of the LexCorp monorail had started and spread throughout Manehattan like a wildfire.

And this wildfire had long since consumed the Daily Planet in its wake. By the time the group made their way back to the Daily Planet building, the newsroom had turned into a buzzing hive of movement and activity. Everypony was talking or shouting excitedly, phone lines were ringing nonstop, and radios and a few TV sets scattered around the room were blaring with sound and light. The hustle and bustle came to an abrupt halt as the elevator disgorged Lucky Lead and her companions; Quicksnap was utterly silent and his eyes were still wide in shock, while Rarity and Rainbow Dash were huddled around Fluttershy, now nursing her bloodied nose with some tissues. Dawning Hope was not with them.

Almost as soon as the doors had opened, the crowed swarmed around Lucky as she strut into the newsroom, head held high and unable to keep the grin off her face as they bombarded her with praise, congratulations, and other responses.

“Can’t believe you were right…”

“Scoop of the century right here, Miss Lead! Congratulations!”

“…so sorry, I thought you’d actually gone nuts…”

And Lucky just kept up that smug grin as she calmly replied. “Course I was right, I know when I’m right…aw, gee, thanks…oh, don’t feel so bad, I’m not going to hold it against you…hey, Goal Post! You owe me a hundred bits and I expect to see it on my desk by next week!”

She made a beeline through the crowd right to Whiteout’s office, the others trailing behind her as she threw open the door with enthusiastic glee. A radio on his desk was turned on, a reporter’s voice talking a mile a minute about Supermane while Whiteout listened in jaw-slacked silence. He looked up at them and shut the radio off as they entered, but before he could say anything, Lucky was already leaning over the desk into his face.

“You heard, didn’t you? Oh, of course you did, who am I kidding? It’s all over town by now!”

“Lucky–“

Lucky ignored him and kept rambling excitedly. “Didn’t I tell you I was on to something?! Didn’t I?! Well of course you knew, you wouldn’t have let it get printed otherwise…”

“Lucky…”

“And oh-ho-ho, they called me a crazy tabloid writer, they called you crazy for printing my stories, and yet here we are!” Suddenly she leapt from the table and rushed over to a nearby window, throwing it open and sticking her head out over the street far below.

“YES EQUESTRIA, THERE IS A SUPERMANE!!!”

Her jubilant shouting was cutoff when Whiteout pulled her back inside and shut the window. “Alright, alright, Lucky. I get it, you’re happy–

“‘Happy’? Chief, I’m friggin’ ecstatic!”

“And that’s great, but for goodness’ sake, calm down before you hurt yourself. Now what about our honored guests, are they alright?” He took on a look of concern when he saw Fluttershy. “Good grief, are you–“

“I’ll be fine,” Fluttershy replied. “J-just a bloodied nose, nothing really bad. I’ll be alright, really.”

“We just got a little shaken up,” Rainbow added. “Nothing we can’t walk off. Besides…” She put a wing around Fluttershy’s side. “She’s got us to help her.”

Whiteout nodded. “Alright, if you say so…” He turned to Quicksnap next, the concerned tone of voice immediately replaced with a stern one. “Quicksnap, tell me you got a picture of him.”

Quicksnap nervously chuckled. “Yeah, uh…about that…”

Whiteout groaned. “Great Caesar’s Ghost, boy, you have one job–“

“Now hold on just a minute, Mr. Whiteout,” Rarity interjected. “His camera went out when the power did and Supermane was moving far too fast for him to have gotten a good picture anyway.”

“Yeah, c’mon, chief,” Lucky added. “Don’t come down so hard on him.”

Whiteout sighed. “Alright, fine. I’ll let this one slide. But listen, kid…” He stepped up to Quicksnap and glared intensely at him, the young hippogriff gulping nervously as he did.

“You’re going to get me a picture of Supermane before this whole thing blows over," Whiteout said, his voice low and intense. "And I don’t mean a half-flanked pic of a red and blue blur, I’m talking about a bona fide photograph of this guy in full view. Get him to pose for you if you have to. You want a job here? Then consider this your first big assignment. Am I getting through to you, kid?”

Quicksnap nodded. “Yes, Ch–I mean, sir. I-I got it. Won’t let you down, sir.” He gave a little salute.

“Humph.” Whiteout snorted. “Now go on, get out of here, go make yourself useful somewhere.”

“R-right, got it,” Quicksnap stammered as he went out the door, stopping to wave back to the three Bearers. “Uh, see you around, ladies, or, ma’ams, or…” he trailed off as he left.

After he’d gone, Whiteout turned to the Lucky and the other three. “Alright then, so what’s the plan between you four right now?”

“Not sure just yet, Chief,” Lucky answered. “We were kinda planning on talking it out when we got back from the Lexpo, but then that all went pear-shaped…” she looked at the trio. “Unless anypony here wants to start making plans?”

“In all honesty, Miss Lead,” Rarity replied. “I think the three of us need a bit of a break after everything that’s just happened. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash more than myself…”

“I mean,” Fluttershy murmured. “I wouldn’t want to slow things down or anything…”

“No no, it’s fine, that’s fair,” Lucky said. “You lot take some time to decompress and then we’ll try again tomorrow. Besides, us newsponies are probably gonna be up to our ears for the rest of the day thanks to our friend in the big red cape.”

“You can say that again,” Whiteout muttered as the group went out the door. The five ponies passed out of the office and back through the sea of desks, Lucky smiling as the occasional word of praise was thrown her way, while Whiteout reminded everypony to keep to what they were doing.

They’d just gotten to the elevator doors at the far end when Dawning Hope suddenly stepped out, skidding to a halt right in front of them as he came out of the doors before them. His shirt collar and tie looking a bit disheveled and his glasses slid down his nose a bit, as if he’d been in a hurry to get back.

“Oh, there you are!” Lucky chirped. “I was just starting to worry about where you’d gotten off to, you missed the whole thing!”

“O-oh!” Dawning stammered, hurriedly adjusting his glasses. “L-listen, I’m so sorry I got separated, but I heard about what happened, I’m sorry, I couldn’t–I mean, I'm sorry about…oh geez, you’re bleeding…” He looked concernedly at Fluttershy.

“It’s okay, it’s not bad,” Fluttershy assured him. “I’ll be alright, don’t worry.”

“A-are you sure?” He asked as he looked her head up and down. “I’m…I’m really sorry I…”

“Hey, don’t worry about it, Dawning,” Rainbow said. “She’s got us looking out for her.”

“We’re all fine, Mr. Hope,” Rarity affirmed. “Nopony was seriously hurt, and Fluttershy is in good hooves. We were just heading back to the hotel to decompress for a bit, as it were.”

“Oh,” Dawning replied. “A-alright then. Please, don’t let me hold you up.” He stepped aside to let them through into the elevator.

“A gentlecolt as ever,” Rarity chuckled as the three went inside.

“Um…” Dawning started. “Did you, uh…see him? Like, up close?”

“Fluttershy and Rainbow did,” Rarity replied.

“Mm-hmm,” Rainbow nodded. “Chased him over the city for a bit. Geez, he was fast.”

“And, uh, what about you?” Dawning asked Fluttershy. “Did you…”

“I saw him after he set the train down,” Fluttershy answered. “He…he looked pretty close to what everypony else was saying he looked like. But his hood was down, so I got a better look at his face…he had these big blue eyes, and, um…”

“Didn’t look like anypony you’ve seen before?”

“Can’t say he did, no.”

“O-oh, I see.” He shook his head. “Anyway, sorry, I’m keeping you up, I’ll, uh, let you three go on your way…g-glad your alright, though!” he added as he waved goodbye. Fluttershy had just enough time to wave back at him before the doors shut and they disappeared.

After they’d left he turned to Lucky and Whiteout. “So, uh, what’d I–“

“You two,” Whiteout said sternly. “My office. Now.” He turned and walked away without waiting for an answer, and the two quietly followed behind him, Dawning’s ears flattening as he walked. The elder stallion led them to his office and shut the door behind them, taking a seat at his desk, Dawning and Lucky standing before him.

“Two things,” he began. “First of all, Lucky, when I partner you up with other ponies around here, I expect you to work together. That means you don’t go running off and leaving ponies behind for the chance at a scoop.”

Lucky was about to respond when Dawning spoke up. “Sir, the fault is mine, really. Lucky didn’t–“

“And secondly,” Whiteout interrupted. “What exactly were you up to when the biggest story since Twilight Sparkle’s coronation flew right over our heads and bench pressed a whole train?”

Dawning shuffled nervously. “Yeah, I-I’m sorry…after everything started up I sorta got lost in the shuffle and then…well, it all happened so fast…b-but I did make myself busy on the way back…” He set his saddlebags down and began to rummage through them while Whiteout and Lucky watched.

“See…oh, wait, it’s in the other one…” Dawning muttered as he went from one saddlebag to the other and began rifling through that one. “See, on the way back, I, um…I stopped by the Department of Energy, talked to a few ponies and a couple managers there and…ah! Here we are.” He pulled out a notepad from the depths of his saddlebags. “Anyway, they’re saying…and you know, they’re still not a hundred percent sure what caused the blackout in the first place, but anyway, they’re saying that it started at, um, LexCorp.”

Lucky blinked. “…you’re kidding.”

“N-no, um…they’ve been comparing reports of when the blackout hit. It’s all in a matter of seconds, of course, but by comparing the times that power went out in each part of the city they were able to trace it in a, um…” he made a circular motion with a hoof. “…a sort of circumference going inward and, uh, LexCorp was in the center. S-so whatever happened, it started there, and…i-it’s all there if you want to look it over, sir.”

Whiteout took the notes from Dawning’s hoof and looked them over quietly. “Dawning,” he finally said when he’d finished. “Do you know what this means?”

Dawning fidgeted with his tie a bit. “Um…”

“It means that LexCorp is gonna have a lot of explaining to do to just about the whole city,” Lucky said with a grin. “Oooh, I can’t wait to see Lex squirm about this! Dawning, seriously, if this ends up leading to where I think it’s leading to then you’re gonna be my hero.”

“Assuming it really does lead where you think it’s leading,” Whiteout pointed out. “I’m not trying to knock you, Dawning, this is good work, but we might not want to outright pin it on LexCorp until we know more. I don’t want to jump to conclusions and fuel rumors and then have to print retractions later…even for somepony like Lex.”

“O-of course, sir,” Dawning replied. Lucky just huffed.

“And besides, the real story here isn’t the blackout. And actually…” He got up and walked to the door, throwing it open and clearing his throat loudly to get the attention of the rest of the newsroom. The clamoring and murmuring dropped to a silence as Whiteout raised his voice.

“Now listen up, all of you! Alright. Supermane is real and our friend Lucky was right on the money. Now, we’ve been giving this city and Equestria at large exclusive coverage of this guy since he first showed up here, and I intend to keep it that way, you understand? I want the names “Supermane” and “Daily Planet” to go together like toast and butter! Friendship and magic! The Royal Guard and defeat! You got that? I want the real story about this guy! Where does he live? Does he have a family? A special somepony? What does the “S” stand for? What’s he got under that cape of his, batteries? If he’s just an earth pony then where do the powers come from? Why did he only show up in broad daylight now? Where was he for the last half-dozen catastrophes Equestria’s been hit by? I want to know it all! Everything! From this point on, Supermane is going to be our page one. Understand?”

There was a chorus of “yes sirs” and nodding heads.

“Great. Now get back to it!” He turned back to Dawning and Lucky. “And that goes double for you two. When those three feel ready to get going on their search, you two are going to be right there with them all the way. Supermane was your story, Miss Lead; I expect you to follow it to the end. Got it?”

“Believe me, chief,” Lucky replied. “Between the four of us plus Dawning and maybe Quicksnap, we’ll find him before you know it. This doesn’t end until I’m right in front of him ready for an exclusive interview. Right Dawning?”

“Uh, y-yeah, right,” Dawning nodded. “You can count on us, sir.”

“Never thought I couldn’t. Now, then…get back to it, you two.” With that he left them and went back into his office, leaving the two standing alone between the door and the rest of the newsroom.

As soon as the door shut Lucky leaned forward and gave Dawning a little peck on the cheek. The stallion blushed and folded his ears back. “W-what was that for?”

“That,” Lucky smiled as she straightened his tie a bit. “Is for giving me even just a little bit of a reason to make Lex squirm for real. For getting lost you sure put yourself to some good use.”

“Oh, I don’t know…” Dawning said as he adjusted his glasses. “Just doing my job, I guess…”

“And doing a doggone good job of it.” She chuckled a bit. “Between Supermane finally showing himself to the world and knowing LexCorp’s gonna have to eat crow for all this, my day has been made.”

“Well, I’m, uh…I’m glad to see you’re happy about it all.”

“That I am indeed,” Lucky said, beginning to walk past him to go back to her desk.

“Uh, Lucky?” Dawning called to her.

“Hm?”

“You, uh…did you get a good look at him? Like, I know he was in broad daylight, but…you know what I mean?”

“Yeah, yeah. I’d say I got a decent enough look at him. Pretty much what I've been told.”

“And…what did you see?”

She shrugged. “That he’s tall. And tough-looking. And he’s got these big blue eyes like you’ve never seen in all your life…” she trailed off and then chuckled. “Geez, the way I’m talking it sounds like I’m in love with the guy, doesn’t it? Anyway, does that answer your question?”

“Uh…well enough, I guess.”

“Great. Now as much as I like chatting, I think we’ve got business to attend to, don’t we? Besides, I’ve gotta go and bask in my rightfully earned glory.” With a last wink she turned and headed back to her desk.

Dawning quietly returned to his own, slumping down in his chair and sighing in a mixture of relief and stress.

Well…at least the enchantment’s still holding up, he thought to himself. They still haven’t found Supermane in Dawning Hope yet…so I suppose I’ve got that to be thankful for. Just gotta make sure it stays that way, and that might be tough with how I’m supposed to be helping to look for…well…me. Oh, Celestia, what have I gotten myself into?…

He reminded himself again of the lives he’d saved on the tram, and what might have happened had he not stepped out and done something. He tried to hold on to that and convince himself that this was all actually a good thing.

It wasn’t easy, and he hated that it wasn’t.

“…and as evening falls and today draws to a close, reports still continue to stream in of eyewitness accounts of the incredible tram rescue earlier today by none other than Supermane. The once-urban legend seems to have taken Manehattan by storm, with hundreds of stories of both seeing him flying overhead to the scene of the accident or the actual rescue itself. And despite not being seen since the dramatic events of earlier today, countless citizens have been reported watching from their windows or camping out on rooftops, hoping to catch a glimpse of this elusive vigilante…”

“Rainbow Dash, would you be a dear and turn down the radio?” Rarity asked.

“Oh, yeah, here ya go,” Rainbow replied as she adjusted the knob on the radio sitting on the bedside table, lowering the volume to a much more quiet tone.

“Much obliged, darling.”

The three had returned to their room at the Manefair Hotel. Evening had fallen on the city and was steadily shifting into night. Out the window, the last traces of orange and red light from the setting sun cast the Manehattan skyline in darkened silhouette, broken up by the lights of buildings blinking on to shine in the falling dark. Rarity and Fluttershy were sitting on one of the two beds in the room, the white unicorn checking Fluttershy’s nose and muzzle after giving it a proper cleaning earlier.

“I told you, Rarity,” Fluttershy said. “I’m alright, really. It was just a little bleeding, that’s all.”

“Well…alright,” Rarity finally said as she finished. “Just wanted to make sure there wasn’t any damage.”

“There might have been if it weren’t for…well…for Supermane.”

“Agreed,” Rarity replied. “A lot more ponies than just us owe him their gratitude for what he did today.”

“I still can’t believe it…” Rainbow murmured to herself as she sat down on the other bed.

“What, about Supermane?” Rarity asked. “Rainbow Dash, we all saw him. He save you and Fluttershy’s lives, how can–“

“No no, I don’t mean like that,” Rainbow replied. “Like, alright; I didn’t really think he was real before, but boy do I know. But…geez, Rarity, he was so fast! Like…I knew about the hovering and stuff but I never imagined he could fly like that!”

“And completely without wings,” Rarity added. “It’s definitely strange, for sure.”

“How do you think he does it? Like, is it natural somehow? Or magical? Is he some kind of super magical earth pony or is there some kind of artifact involved here?”

“I really have no idea,” Rarity replied. “However he does it, he does it…another mystery about him for us to unlock, I suppose.”

Rainbow was about to respond, but then looked past Rarity. “Hey, Fluttershy? You okay?”

The yellow pegasus had moved from the bed to one of the windows, opened it, and was staring out at the view beyond. She didn’t respond to Rainbow at all, as though lost in her own thoughts.

The other two mares came up beside her. “Fluttershy?” Rarity asked. “What’s wrong?”

Fluttershy was silent for another moment before she finally answered. “He looked scared,” she said softly. “Like…like he didn’t want us to see him. I-I know we all saw him fly away, but when I looked at him it was like…well…”

“Well why in Equestria would he not want anypony to see him?” Rainbow mused. “He’s a friggin’ superhero! He was bound to be seen one way or another, and he was already doing stuff out in the open…”

“At night,” Fluttershy pointed out. “In the dark.”

“Well, yeah, but…well, I guess if you’re right and he didn’t want to be seen, then why go around with a big “S” on his chest and all that?”

“I don’t know,” Fluttershy answered. “I guess…I guess a part of me wonders if we should just, well…leave him alone. Maybe…maybe he’s just a nice pony who’s trying to help anonymously and…maybe we should let him stay that way.”

The three were silent for a while as they ruminated on that.

“Well…” Rarity said. “Regardless, we have a task to accomplish. He’s out there somewhere, and it’s our job to find him. And if he does really want to be left in peace, well…I suppose we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”

The three ponies dropped into silence for a while as they looked out at the vast urban landscape beyond. The radio continued playing its report at a barely audible level behind them.

“…and in related news, authorities have not yet identified the cause of the mysterious blackout which triggered today’s events in the first place. However, unconfirmed rumors have been circulating that the blackout originated from the LexCorp Plaza, sparking further whispers that the event was somehow caused, either accidentally or otherwise, by LexCorp. Neither the City Department of Energy or LexCorp have provided comments on this, and company CEO Tech Lexicon was unable to be reached for a word on the matter either. According to sources close to LexCorp, he has not been seen since his appearance at the announcement of the LexCore reactor earlier today just before the incident…”

“Where is it?” the robed alien snarled as it held Lex up by the neck with one hoof. He would have responded–with a plea, with a curse, with anything–had the alien not been squeezing his throat so tight that it felt like he would snap his neck like a twig at any second. All he could manage were choked, pitiful gasps.

“You have something I want. And I will find it. You can’t stop me. Nopony can.”

Then the alien’s eyes flared a bright red, and a searing heat like Lex had never felt before cascaded across his head, setting his mane and fur on fire, melting his flesh–

Tech Lexicon snapped awake with a start, clutching the bed sheets tightly against his pounding chest like a frightened child. He panted uncontrollably, and felt his fur dampened by sweat. His eyes gradually adjusted to the darkened penthouse bedroom around him, and he felt the comfortable feel of the bed beneath him as he tried to calm his nerves.

“Lex?” he heard Mercy ask from beside him as she lifted her head up. “What’s–“

“I’m fine, I’m fine…” Lex murmured. He threw the blankest off of himself and stood up, trotting over to the great floor-to-ceiling window overlooking the city beyond. Mercy, to her credit, didn’t try to follow or pry, simply remaining in the bed as he leaned his forehead against the window, feeling the cool chill of the glass and gazing out at the cityscape while he took deep, slow breaths.

But looking out at Manehattan didn’t help either.

Many a night he loved to look at the city. He loved this place, this little empire he’d set down for himself. The ponies and the city they lived in out there…they were his to grow and cultivate as he so wished. He had their adoration, their worship. And why shouldn’t he? He’d given them what they wanted, showering his technological blessings upon them like a benevolent god. He deserved their worship. And he’d had so much more planned…

But now as he looked at the shimmering towers and structures of the city, he couldn’t focus on the artificial beauty they offered. No, now as he looked his mind saw the glowing eyes of an alien being looking back at him from any number of nooks and crannies in the darkness.

He was out there watching him. Lex knew this for a fact. There was no reason why he shouldn’t be. Lex knew now why he was here and what he wanted. But where was he? Where was he hiding? Was he staring back into his gaze from some far away corner of the city even as Lex stood there trying to avoid trembling?

Or perhaps he wasn’t even out there. What if he was…

By a sudden impulse, Lex shot his head up and looked frantically upwards, but only found the darkened ceiling high above his head. No cloaked aliens up there.

As he lowered his gaze he saw Mercy quietly watching him from the bed, propped up on her two front legs, the blankets draped over her back. And even though she was the only other pony in the room, he felt embarrassed that somepony had seen him like this. He broke off from her gaze and hurried to the bathroom, shutting the door behind him and flicking on the lights. He somehow felt a little bit better in here, between the more confined space of the room and the brighter beige and white tones of the walls and floor in the light. He felt a bit safer, and his heart and breathing began to slow a bit.

Lex staggered over to the mirror and looked at his reflection. The pony he saw staring back at him looked haggard and exhausted; his curly red mane was disheveled, and he could see bags under his now bloodshot green eyes.

Sweet Celestia, I look awful.

He turned on the faucet at the sink and dipped his hooves under the cool running stream, splashing and washing his face with it and taking a towel to dry himself.

When was the last time he’d gotten nightmares? Tartarus, when was the last time he’d felt fear like this? He honestly couldn’t remember, but it had to have been sometime during childhood. But nothing he could remember had ever cut him to his core the way today’s revelations had.

He was Tech Lexicon. He was one of the wealthiest ponies in Equestria. He had legions of scientists and soldiers and workers at his beckon call, and technology that would soon one day rival magic in terms of prowess. He could get whatever he wanted almost without effort. Nothing scared him.

Until now.

Until Supermane.

I should have known…from the moment he came to Manehattan I should have known why he was here…

He was after the ship. There was no question about it. He knew Lex had it, and now he was coming to claim it.

But he couldn’t have it. It belonged to Lex. It had awakened his true genius, shown him his true destiny. He’d built LexCorp off of it. The whole of his life as it was now came from that ship and the secrets he’d pulled from it. It wasn’t the alien’s anymore.

Lex finally finished drying off his face and put the towel down…and then out of the corner of his eye he saw a flash of red and he whirled around with a frightened cry and–

…no. Wait. It wasn’t the alien’s red hood and cape. It was just the shower curtain. Nothing more.

As the jolt of fear that had pierced his chest began to die away again, Lex found himself chuckling at how silly the whole thing was. He’d been spooked by a shower curtain of all things.

Just a red shower curtain, nothing more. Nothing more.

…he’d been spooked by a bucking curtain!

The chuckle suddenly turned to a wild scream of rage as Lex hurled himself at the curtain, ripping it down from the rings holding it up and throwing it to the floor. He pounced at it like a wild animal, gripping it in his hooves and his teeth and tearing it into shreds with primal fury, throwing the pieces aside and stomping them as he tore the curtain apart.

Somewhere along the way, a part of his mind imagined that it was flesh he was tearing.

He didn’t know how long he spent ripping apart the curtain. All he knew was that when he finally stopped the thing had been shredded to tiny bits, and his throat was hoarse from all of his feral screaming. He slumped down to his haunches and panted as he glared down at the red shreds.

It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t any damned fair! Not when he’d come so far, not when LexCorp had grown how it had! He was only just getting really started! And what did he want with the ship anyway? He hadn’t cared about it for the past two decades and now he thought he could come along and rip out the heart of Lex’s empire…why now? Why now?!

He couldn’t have it. No, “couldn’t” wasn’t good enough. He would not have it. Lex wouldn’t let him have it.

Gradually, Lex began to calm down. Or at least his rage began to subside. Now his energy began to go to his mind, and all the wheels in his head were beginning to turn. There was no sudden dawning realization, no moment of eureka. He just began thinking of the how. Even as he slowly picked himself up and made his way to the door, still shaking, his mind was going to work on ideas and plans, all with one single outcome.

He knew what his new mission was. And he would not rest until he’d accomplished it.

He numbly pushed open the door and stepped back into the bedroom. As he wandered back to the bed, he was only vaguely aware of Mercy still sitting upright, watching him with concern. She’d worked with Lex and been around him long enough to know that look in his green eyes when she saw it.

“Sir?” she asked quietly.

Lex blinked and looked at her. He stared for a moment before finally speaking, his voice low and soft.

“I’m going to kill him, Mercy. I’m going to kill Supermane.”

Author's Note

Shorter than the other chapters save for the prologue, but I think given what's been decided at the end here, it's going to prove to be a pivotal one.

Anyway, thanks for coming back! Next time the hunt for Supermane starts for real. Our heroes get to searching, and our villain gets to plotting...

Making Plans

A “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic” Fanfiction

Written by Jade Dawn

The Planet reporters and the Elements met up at the Cantering Cook restaurant the next morning, primarily at Rarity’s suggestion. The latter group arrived first, reserving a table for six and looking over the menu while they waited.

Fluttershy looked around the open space of the rooftop restaurant. More than a few patrons were looking out over the balcony at the surrounding city; or to be more precise, looking over it. Some were carrying binoculars or telescopes. It didn’t take too much thought to gather what–or who–they were looking for.

“They’re really anxious to see him, aren’t they?” Fluttershy mused.

“Can you blame ‘em?” Rainbow said. “The guy flies like a billion miles an hour and juggles trains in his bare hooves. Of course they’re gonna be looking up for him.”

“He’s become a sensation,” Rarity added. “And I highly suspect that this is only the beginning. Hmm…I wonder if there’s a new fashion trend to be made out of this…some superhero-inspired line, perhaps?”

“Uh, hello?” a familiar voice called. The three turned to see Dawning Hope and Quicksnap, the latter with his trusty camera bag slung over his shoulder, making their way over to their table.

“Oh, greetings, greetings!” Rarity chirped. “Please, do have a seat. Plenty of room.”

“Hey, where’s Lucky?” Rainbow asked.

“Oh, she’ll be along in a few minutes or so,” Quicksnap replied as he and Dawning each took a seat. “She said she wanted to bring along a few of her notes…of course with how much stuff Miss Lead’s done on Supermane, I can tell you it’s going to be a lot more than just a few.”

“So…” Dawning asked. “…how are you doing after yesterday?”

Rainbow shrugged. “Totally fine. Walked and slept it off.”

He nodded. “And, uh, Miss Fluttershy, are you doing alright?”

“I’m fine. Wasn’t really hurt all that bad. I think I was more scared than anything,” she replied. “And, uh…you don’t have to call me ‘Miss’. Just Fluttershy is fine.”

“Oh…I’ll, uh, keep that in mind,” Dawning said. He took a glance at the sightseers looking at the balcony. “Didn’t know birdwatching was this popular here.”

Fluttershy chuckled. “I guess it helps that it’s a very rare bird they’re looking for.”

“Y-yeah, you could call him that, couldn’t you?” Dawning stammered. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Rarity watching the two with a bemused look on her face, and Dawning found himself blushing a bit.

“Hey, random thought,” Rainbow prompted. “You think Supermane can change the weather?”

“Change the weather?” Rarity repeated.

“Yeah, like how pegasi can. I mean, I just was wondering since he flies and all that, maybe he could…”

“I don’t know,” Dawning said. “I never–well, I mean, I never really gave that much thought or anything.”

“Hey, maybe you should remind Ms. Lead to ask him if we ever catch up with him,” Quicksnap suggested. “I mean, when we catch up with him.”

“Speaking of Ms. Lead…” said Fluttershy as she looked past the others. They turned and saw Lucky Lead approaching their table, a heavy bag that looked almost bulging with whatever what was inside slung over one shoulder.

“Sorry I’m a bit late, everypony,” she said as she took a seat. “Wanted to make sure I had everything.”

“Weren’t you just getting onto me about overpacking yesterday?” Dawning said, his voice carrying just a hint of playful sarcasm with it.

“Oh, hush you,” Lucky shot back with a little good-humored smirk.

“What’s all that stuff in there anyway?” Rainbow asked.

“Notes,” Lucky replied as she hoisted the bag up onto her lap. “Notes, notes, notes galore…almost everything I’ve jotted down about Supermane sightings over the past six months and farther back across Equestria. Here, make sure I’ve got room here, there’s a lot…” She reached into the bag and pulled out a set of huge manilla folders that were almost full to bursting with their contents, slamming them down on the table with a thud.

“I was thinking…” Lucky said as she spread the folders out and opened them, revealing stacks of papers and notes stuffed within. “…I was thinking that we’d start by getting you three all caught up on what I have so far and then try to work our way out from there. Sound good?”

The three Elements nodded and “mm-hmm”’d.

“Great. So…” Lucky began rifling through the various piles of papers. While she did, a waiter came up to the table.

“Have you decided what you want to…” he trailed off when he saw just how covered the table was. “…or do you need a bit more time?”

“Uh, I’ll just have water if you please,” Dawning said.

“Orange juice,” Lucky told him, not looking up from the papers. “Freshly squeezed.” The waiter nodded and left.

“Okay,” Lucky said to the others. “Working our way back in time a bit…I don’t think I need to remind you of his last big outing, of course.”

“Yes, we had something of a first-hoof experience with that,” Rarity said.

“Right. And you’ve read about the mugging he stopped a night or so before that. Have you read anything else about him before then?”

The three Bearers shook their heads. “We didn’t even know about him until Twilight told us,” Fluttershy said.

“How much else did he do before then?” Rarity asked.

“Quite a bit,” Lucky replied. “Most of it was…well, I guess you could call it ‘low level’. Street muggings, a few robberies, that was the kind of stuff he’d usually swoop in for.”

“Basically he did enough stuff to get ponies to know he was out there or at least think that he was,” Quicksnap added. “But nothing really as big as what happened yesterday.”

"I see," Rarity said. “Um…when was the first Supermane sighting?”

“That one’s kinda tricky to pin down,” Lucky replied. “I’ve gotten a few stories from around the same time, but I’m not sure which one would really be the actual oldest. There may be some I haven’t gotten yet. But he definitely only showed up about six months ago, that much I know for certain. At least in Manehattan, anyway.”

“You think he’s shown up in other places?” Rainbow asked.

“Oh, he has,” Lucky said. “I’ve been tracking stories from as far as…actually, hang on, let me show you what I’ve got mapped out…” She stopped as she reached back into her saddlebags. While she did, the waiter came back with a tray bearing Dawning’s water and Lucky’s orange juice, and he set them down on the table as best he could through the maze of papers scattered throughout. Dawning nodded in thanks as he left.

Finally Lucky came back up holding a map of Equestria, laying it down on top of her other notes as the other ponies leaned in to see. A large, almost reverse “L” shaped area had been crudely circled in red marker around Equestria’s eastern coast and jutting into its interior. The whole area covered several cities and towns, including Manehattan up at the top of the encircled area. A few of the locations were marked with little S’s.

“So this here,” Lucky started, taking a little sip of her juice before continuing. “This here is where I’ve marked down either confirmed or possible Supermane sightings across Equestria. You see you can kinda get a general sense of where he’s stuck around up until this point before settling up here. I’ve been trying to pin down where he might have come from, but I haven’t gotten much luck yet.”

“Fillydelphia, Baltimare, Whinnyapolis…” Fluttershy murmured as she read the names of the marked-off cities. “Has he been in all of these cities too?”

“I think so, yeah,” said Lucky. “Found some reports of, quote, “bizarre occurrences”, unquote, that match up pretty closely with what he’s been doing here in Manehattan. More of the usual crime stopping and rescues…heck, found one of some chemical spill in Baltimare that almost contaminated the whole Horseshoe Bay if a mysterious “something” hadn’t welded the containment tank shut. And wouldn’t you know it, the place was owned by LexCorp.”

“Yikes,” Rainbow muttered. “Talk about a close call.”

“Mm-hmm. And then, I think the earliest one that I think could possibly be traced back to our guy in the red cape…ah, here we are.” She pointed on a spot on the map, along the northernmost border of the desert before the Macintosh Hills and Badlands beyond. “Right here. Dodge Junction. When the Storm King’s army came through two years ago, that was one of the places they took on the way up to Canterlot. Then about three days later, well…they all pulled back. Nopony was really sure what happened, but something cut through their ranks and gave them a big spook and sent ‘em packing. The story kinda got lost in the shuffle of…well, what you and your friends did up in Canterlot, but…”

“But you think this might have been one of Supermane’s early ventures?” Rarity asked.

“Maybe, maybe not,” Lucky answered. “It could definitely have been him–the timing kinda lines up from when some of the earliest reports started cropping up–but I’m not entirely sure. Keeping it on file just in case, though.”

“Yeah, that’s…probably wise,” Dawning said.

“Of course it's wise. Gotta get whatever possible evidence we can. Of course, sometimes you have to rule out stories that don’t line up with everything else…”

“Such as?” Rainbow asked.

“Such as this,” Lucky said as she pushed a newspaper clipping forward. “Another one from two years ago, about a couple months before the Storm King invasion and all that. An Ursa Minor wandered into a little town named Smallville…actually our pal Dawning’s home turf.” She gave Dawning a good-natured pat on the shoulder. “Anyway, the thing turned up dead. Broken bones, damaged organs, burned across one side…”

“Oh my…” Fluttershy whimpered.

“Yeah. Now, you could assume that that was him, but think about that again and tell me what’s wrong with that idea.”

“Uh…he killed it?” Rainbow guessed.

“Bingo. And that's the big sinker for this one. It’s one of his most consistent traits that we’ve been able to nail down; Supermane does not kill. Never. He’ll rough ponies up a bit and he absolutely could splatter a pony's skull like jello, but in every story I’ve seen and heard he hasn’t. So this couldn’t have been him because it doesn’t make sense with what we know about how he acts. Honestly, it could very easily have been, say, a dragon or something.”

“Makes sense,” Rainbow agreed.

“Um, Dawning?” Fluttershy asked. “You came from Smallville, right? Were you there for that?”

“I, uh…” Dawning turned away and rubbed his shoulder as if anxious. “Y-yeah…I remember it. I remember it coming in all broken up and…and burnt…” He trailed off for a moment. “B-but Lucky’s right, I think. It couldn’t have been Supermane. He…he doesn’t do those kinds of things. So, uh, she’s got the right of it, I’d say.”

“Geez…” Quicksnap said. “I don’t remember you ever telling me that story. Sorry you had to see that, bud…”

Fluttershy tilted her head. “Are you okay? You look…”

“I-it’s just not one of my most pleasant memories,” Dawning answered. “That’s all.”

Fluttershy nodded. “It’s alright, I understand. I don’t blame you…”

Dawning nodded in kind, taking a sip from his glass of water.

“Well, anyway…” Lucky said as she began gathering up some of the papers back into her folder. “You’re pretty much up to speed on how far I’ve gotten, at least as far as tracking his origins goes. I wish I could say I had more, but there you go.”

“On the contrary,” Rarity said. “This has been most informative.”

“Okay, so now that we’ve gotten through the history lesson, are we finally gonna go start looking for him?” Rainbow asked.

“Yeah, we’re getting to that, don’t worry,” Lucky assured her. She put the papers back into the first folder and opened up a second one, significantly less stuffed, revealing a set of maps of Manehattan. Like the broader maps of the country before, these were marked with S’s in various districts of the city.

“Now,” said Lucky. “What this is is a map of the parts of the city where Supermane sightings have occurred over the past six months or so; basically an outline of his general range. So what my idea was that we could start looking in these areas here, ask ponies around about if they’ve seen or heard anything odd and…”

“And basically narrow our way down to find out where he lives in the city,” Rainbow finished.

“Right. And hopefully give us a better chance of pinning down who he actually is.”

“Sounds like a reasonable enough plan to me, Ms. Lead,” said Rarity. “Of course, I imagine it might take a little while, but even so…”

“I’m down for trying it,” Quicksnap added. “Seems like really the best way to do it until we know more.”

“Uh, question?” Dawning interjected. “How do we know that he even, um, lives in the city? I mean, what if he lives in the suburbs outside, o-or even farther out? Not saying this is a bad idea or anything, Lucky, just pointing out that we could be setting ourselves up for a goose chase here.”

Rainbow raised a hoof as she readied a response, but then stopped and thought about it. “…yeah, I’m actually gonna have to side with Dawning on this one. Like, he’s a superhero. How do we know he doesn’t have some…I dunno, some secret Supercave or Fortress of Justice or something to go hide in?”

“Well then if we look around and come up with nothing with this plan,” Lucky replied. “Then we’ll start thinking about that. But as of now I don’t see any particular reason why he doesn’t have a home and a secret identity right here in Manehattan.”

“And you do think he disguises himself as an ordinary pony by day?” Rarity asked.

“Yup. In fact, I think it’s kinda logical; like, here’s a guy who’s going out of his way to help ponies, but also trying to stay hidden while he does it. Superhero or no, there’s no way anypony could do that twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. He’s gotta have some way of living as close to normally as he can, if only to keep the stress down.”

“I guess that makes sense,” Fluttershy agreed. “It’s what I’d try to do if I were him.”

“Mm-hmm. Now, unless anypony has any questions, I think we can…hey, what’s going on over there?”

The ponies looking out over the restaurant balcony were now peering over the side down at the street, pointing and murmuring to each other. Several more patrons had risen from their seats to join them in observing whatever was going on, and soon enough the five ponies and singular hippogriff had gotten up to see for themselves, squeezing their way through the crowd to see.

They saw it almost instantly. A long, sleek, black vehicle was cruising down the street, pulled by no ponies in front but seemingly guided by some internal power on four wheels near the front and back, the sound of an electric engine humming in the air as it went along.

“Whoa…” Rainbow murmured in awe. “Is that a car? I’ve never seen one out in the open before…” Cars were not an unknown to Equestria, but practically speaking they were still relatively new, and mostly relegated to experimental test models or rare luxuries for the upper class.

“Not just any car,” Quicksnap said. “That’s Tech Lexicon’s limo!” He raised his camera and began snapping pictures of the vehicle as it passed by and disappeared into the distance down the street.

“I was wondering where he’d gone off to after yesterday,” Rarity mused. “Where do you think he’s going?”

“Just a quick guess?” Lucky offered. “Probably city hall to get the dressing down he’s got coming after yesterday. He usually takes the limo out when he’s heading to a meeting outside of LexCorp’s offices. Oh, and to think I’m not gonna be able to see it…”

“Well he’d better get some kind of talking to,” Rainbow snorted. “If only for how that stupid monorail of his went crazy.”

“Oh, he deserves a talking to for a lot more than that. It’s just a pity it took this long for ponies to realize maybe–just maybe–he isn’t the right guy to trust.” Lucky rolled her eyes. “Just a pity nopony tried to tell them that, but no no no, I’m just the crazy kook who’s head over heels for Supermane…” she mumbled.

“Last night on the radio they were saying there’s rumors that the blackout started at LexCorp,” said Fluttershy. “Is that true? Do you think he caused it?”

“Well, nopony’s really sure of anything,” answered Dawning. “But from what we can tell, it did start from the Plaza, so…”

“I doubt Lex himself caused it,” Rarity put in. “He may be egotistical, but he hardly came off as a monster.”

“Oh no no, Lex is a monster,” Lucky corrected. “But…okay, I’ll be fair and say that he’s not that kind of monster. He’s a cocky jerkwad of an upper class stallion, but he’s…I guess a more down-to-earth kind of bad. At least he’s not some death-ray tooting mad scientist or anything.” She sighed. “Thank Celestia for small mercies, at least…still bummed that I won’t be able to see that smug attitude of his get taken down a few pegs for once.”

“You’re kidding. You’re kidding, right?”

“Now Mr. Lexicon, please, try to understand from our point of view…”

“I understand perfectly, Mr. Mayor,” Lex interjected. “Don’t think I don’t. You’re telling me to delay the LexCore’s public launch after drumming up hype for it for months and what should have been a perfect unveiling yesterday.”

“Just to make sure the thing is safe…”

Lex barely tried to mask a huff of irritation as he sat at an oval-shaped table in one of City Hall’s meeting rooms, the soft lighting and oak wood decor doing nothing to ease the tension that permeated the room. Mayor Sound Policy, an older graying stallion, was at the far end, flanked by his younger Deputy Mayor Running Candidate. Seated around the table as well were Grounded Rod, head of the Energy Department, Greyhound, head of Public Transportation, and various other members of the Manehattan city council as well.

Lex had a kind of love/hate relationship with them, and with politicians in general. On the one hand, more often than not they were fairly easy to use and mold when you knew how to do so. It was just a matter of figuring out what they wanted and appealing to it. Keep it quiet, being just submissive enough to get it through their heads that they were the ones with the clever ideas and power. There were times when he honestly enjoyed playing his little games with them. Sometimes it was almost too easy. Sound Policy was a good example. He’d eaten up almost every single one of Lex’s proposals and requests, practically ogling over the benefits that LexCorp would bring to Manehattan. He’d gotten his endorsement relatively quickly. Some of the others, like Running Candidate, were a bit trickier to deal with; they were more wary, more distrustful. But with time, he had put them in check and wrapped them around his hoof as well like all the rest. They became soft, malleable, easy to herd into the right directions; how else could he have cleared out space for LexCorp and spread its embrace through the city?

But then there were other times when something would spook them enough to snap out of it. When they had the nerve to actually start thinking. When they stopped to have concerns. Usually when enough of the common ponies out there on the streets began to voice concerns of their own, and there were concerns of protests and elections and a thousand and one other political details.

And it was especially maddening when it was over a load of stupid rumors…

“Need I point out,” Lex asked. “That you’re basing this on unfounded rumors, on hearsay? Think about it, is that really the kind of ground you want to base such a costly decision on?”

“You can’t expect us to not be concerned about some kind of connection between the EMP and your company, though,” Grounded Rod pointed out, her voice level-headed but firm. “Every bit of evidence we’ve seen so far points to the pulse having started somewhere beneath LexCorp’s facilities.”

“Not to mention the effects it had on your monorail system,” Greyhound added.

“Oh, for the love of–“ Lex murmured. “What happened with the monorail was not directly caused by the EMP. It was a computer error that happened when the system came back online. My programmers are looking over the software as we speak, and I can assure you that when the monorail is restored by next week there will be absolutely no chance of it happening ever again.”

“That doesn’t make things better,” Running Candidate said. “Ponies almost died yesterday because your tech went wrong.”

“But they didn’t, did they?”

“Well, no…” The Mayor said. “But only because of…well…”

“Because of Supermane,” Lex grumbled. “Just say it. Supermane saved them from my monorail. I know that. The media’s been talking their jaws off about him nonstop since it happened.”

The Mayor adjusted his tie a bit. “If, um, if we could just get back on topic here…the reactor–“

“There’s nothing wrong with it,” Lex insisted. “Nothing at all. We’ve done test after test, inspection after inspection. All of these rumors are completely false. The LexCore reactor did not cause the pulse. It’s not even capable of doing that!”

“Well maybe we’d believe you a bit more if you were more open about the details of how it works,” said Grounded. “Or if you told us what this “miracle power source” of yours actually is.”

“I’ve told you before, I am fully willing to provide greater details on our process once we get it patented…”

“You’ve been saying that since the beginning, Lex,” Running interrupted. “It’s not good enough for us anymore.”

“Well I can’t help that,” Lex said. Before Running could respond, Lex had already turned his attention back to the Mayor. “Mr. Mayor, I implore you; LexCorp has spent months drumming up attention for this project and our other ventures. Setting it all back now over these…these falsehoods would be a blow to what we’re trying to do. It may even scare the public away from us entirely. And I think after all of our negotiations, all of our talking and planning to have LexCorp power this city, I should think you’d want to be careful of that.”

“I understand your concerns, Mr. Lexicon, I really do…” began the Mayor.

“And if this deal falls through, then really, who else could you get to replace LexCorp? Moon Enterprises? Cord Technologies? Those freelancers at S.T.A.R. Labs? I’ll be courteous and admit that they’re decent, but let’s be honest, none of them can equal what I can provide for you.”

“I know, Lex,” The Mayor answered, almost apologetically. “I know. But look…we’re trying to give you the benefit of the doubt here. I don’t want all this to be set back any more than you do. But the fact of the matter is that ponies are scared and concerned, and what they need most right now is reassurance. We don’t even have to bring the police or the guard into it. Just…we just want you to be able to reasonably dissuade these concerns. Who knows? Just saying it’s being looked into might tell ponies that things are under control, build some confidence in your company back up.”

Or it’ll make them more suspicious and only prove to them that we did have something to do with it, Lex thought inwardly. But as he looked at the Mayor’s almost pleading expression, and at the other members of the council surrounding him, Lex knew he wouldn’t be able to debate his way out of this one. No, the only winning move for now was to bend a little.

And so after a moment’s hesitation, Lex affected a sigh of capitulation and said, “…very well. We will…postpone the public launch of the LexCore until we can get this…this matter settled.”

The Mayor’s posture seemed to relax a bit. “Thank you, Mr. Lexicon. We appreciate your cooperation.”

Oh, don’t you just?

A few minutes later Lex exited the City Hall building, heading down the stairs to the street where his limousine awaited him. He looked down at the ground as he walked, his face bearing a brooding expression. Yes, he’d capitulated to the council’s requests, but that didn’t mean he had to be happy about it. No matter what they tried to reassure him with, this whole thing was a blow to LexCorp’s public opinion and everypony knew it.

The fact that several pedestrians and passersby were looking at him and murmuring to themselves as he went, with none of the usual awe or admiration that he’d heard so many times before, only confirmed his worries. He didn’t look up at them or acknowledge them in any way as he stepped up to the car and opened the back passenger door. Merciful Grace was inside, sitting on the pale lime leather seating and dark green-lined interior of the vehicle, and she scooted over to the side a bit as Lex stepped in and slammed the door shut. A few seconds later, there as a whirr of an electric motor as the car began its journey back to LexCorp.

For a long time, Lex said nothing, quietly watching and glaring out at the buildings as the car went along its way. Mercy was silent as well, knowing better than to say anything that might set him off.

At least somepony still knows how to listen.

After a while Lex felt like talking a bit. “How much progress have they made on getting through to the ship?” he asked.

“It hasn’t been going well,” Mercy reported. “The usual tools couldn’t penetrate the crystal shield at all, and when they tried the heavier machinery the ship started heating up again and they stopped. They didn’t want a repeat of yesterday.”

Lex grumbled. “Fine. When we get back tell them to halt efforts on that for now. Tell Dr. Vale and his teams to prioritize decrypting the information we gathered.”

“Yes, sir.”

Lex turned away from her and looked back out the window, retreating into his introspections once again.

Everything had gone wrong. Horribly, horribly wrong. First the damned ship with its firewalls and the EMP, now city hall with its demands for the LexCore’s delay. It felt like the whole world was rising up to conspire against him, and he would have none of it.

And then there was him. And the looming threat that he presented was the most lingering thought in Lex’s mind. If Supermane was truly in Manehattan to take back the ship, then Lex would need to come up with a plan to kill him fast.

At the very least he hadn’t come smashing his way into LexCorp to steal it. For whatever reason, he seemed to be taking his time. A small part of Lex didn’t quite know why. Surely he knew Lex had the ship. Why else would he be here? He must know. Or perhaps maybe he didn’t know exactly where in the city it was, and only had the most general idea of where to find it. Perhaps he was taking it slowly, cautiously looking around for it. In that case, it meant that Lex was on borrowed time before he eventually put two and two together.

And as much as he hated to admit it, Lex actually had no idea where to start on killing him. Oh yes, he knew he was powerful and could fly and could shoot rays of heat from his eyes, but that was just what everypony else already knew. Lex needed to know the science behind him. How did he work? Where did the powers come from? Were they magical somehow? Did his kind’s earth pony equivalent have magical abilities like that? If Lex was going to kill him, he needed to know exactly what kind of creature he was trying to kill.

So that was the first step; getting to know what he was and how he ticked. He just needed to work out how to do it…

As he watched the concrete and brick structures flash by the limo as it drove, he spied the Bronclyn Bridge off in the distance, the massive suspension bridge spanning the entire width over the river between the island Manehattan rested on and the mainland beyond.

And the more he looked at it, the more an idea began to form in his mind…

“Mercy,” he suddenly said. “The Bronclyn Bridge. The city’s supposed to be doing some renovation work on it, are they not?”

Mercy thought for a moment. “Yes, I believe they are…why?”

Lex didn’t respond, continuing to observe the bridge as he thought.

Yes…yes, this could work. Set it up in just the right way, get the right kind of observations…and if LexCorp could step in to take care of the damages, then the public…

Yes. This would work. If he played his cards right, he might be able to get a good shot at two birds with one stone.

“Mercy, do me another favor when we get back. Go down to the bridge and see if you can find any information on who’s working on it.”

Mercy nodded. She was no stranger to gathering dirt on ponies for Lex. “Will do. May I ask what you’re looking for?”

“A weak link. Somepony we can use.” He began to smile as he looked at the bridge. “I think it’s about time Supermane made his next public appearance…and with much better camerawork this time.”

Author's Note

This chapter took entirely too long to put out, and I'm sorry for that. I've tried to maintain a once-a-month chapter release schedule for this thing, but I absolutely dropped the ball. Partly it was my own procrastination, part of it was real life stuff. Then last week my confidence in Fimfic was shaken by a certain incident (which I will not elaborate on further here) that left me a bit rattled and contemplating my outlook on the site before I pulled myself back together and finished the chapter.

So here we are. The cast is finally starting to investigate Supermane wholesale, some possible set-ups for future revelations, and Lex getting a wonderful awful idea.

But before I thank you for bearing with me once again, there is something I would like to address. Recently, Richard Donner, director of the much-beloved 1978 Superman film starring Christopher Reeve, passed away at age 91. Say what you will about how the movie has aged–I know I've got the odd gripe about it here and there myself–but it cannot be understated how much of an impact his movie and its reverence to Superman had on the movie industry. He proved that yes, superhero movies can work. He made us believe a man can fly. That movie was my childhood introduction to Superman and his world, and whatever nit picky critiques I may have grown to levy at it, it will always be an integral part of my life that I will forever cherish.

Rest in peace, Mr. Donner. Thank you for making us believe.

Suspension

A “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic” Fanfiction

Written by Jade Dawn

“Gooood morning, Manehattan! The sun is up and we’re back for another round of Manehattan News Now, the Big Apple’s premier news radio program! As always, I’m your host Open Mic. This morning the business world is still discussing the sudden news from LexCorp Industries’ publicity department yesterday, when they revealed that the launch of the tech company’s newly announced “LexCore” reactor would be delayed to a yet-to-be-determined date. This announcement comes hot off the heels of the blackout that knocked out the city’s power grid two days ago now, and spurring on recently circulating speculation that LexCorp was responsible for the power outage in some way, either accidentally or, more maliciously, on purpose.

What? Yeah, yeah, I’ll say it, keep your hat on. Now, uh, all that being said, MNN would like to remind its listeners that these claims are as yet unsubstantiated, and due to the rigorous standards of journalistic ethics we strive to uphold, we mention them in our report purely for the sake of completion and without any sponsor–I mean, personal biases in mind.

Uh, and speaking of the blackout, the surprise hero of that day has been in the news nonstop as well. Although Supermane himself still has not been seen in the flesh since the day of the blackout, the whole city has been absolutely buzzing with excitement over his now keenly felt presence. These past two nights have seen dozens of ponies turning out on rooftops or in the streets looking for a glimpse of him as he passes, albeit with little luck. We’re getting word that there’s been a run on binoculars, telescopes, and other long-distance viewing equipment at various outlets across the city, to the point that there’s actually a reported shortage! And now that the Pony of Steel has made the jump from urban myth to reality, more and more ponies are coming out with stories of encounters or rescues by the enigmatic hero.

And while there’s been no immediate response from either the Royal Guard or Princess Twilight Sparkle on Supermane’s presence and activities, there are whispers that at least three of the Elements of Harmony are in the city searching for the red-caped hero on behalf of the Princess, further adding to the mystery and scope of Supermane’s impact…”

“It was just one second. One second I turned my back, and then the next thing I heard was my little filly scream and I turn around and she’s not on the balcony anymore. But then before I could do anything else there was this…I don’t know, something swooshed upwards and suddenly she was back. She was dazed and shocked, all three of us were. We didn’t know what it was back then, but now…it was him, I know it was.”

“He, uh, helps ponies…and he flies…and…he helps ponies.”

“Well, um, yes, he does do that…”

“He’s a vigilante. Plain and simple. I don’t know how he can do all that stuff with the powers, but he’s got no license, no authority, no right to be taking the law into his own hands and doing whatever he wants. The stuff he does, that’s a job for the professionals; the police or the Guard or somepony like that.”

“…are you for real? Do I really need to remind you of the dozens of lives he saved on that tram? Or in other would-be-accidents where the authorities couldn’t have stepped in in time?? He doesn’t just round up crooks you know, and it’s not like he goes after ponies who don’t deserve it or anything!”

“W-well, yes, I know that, but–”

“But what?”

“Uh, Miss Lead, let’s maybe not start a fight here…”

“He’s an alien, I tells ya! He’s the first of ‘em, some kinda scout, and then they’re gonna come down in their flyin’ saucers and suck us up to put their eggs in us with these big probes right up our–“

“Ooooookay, I think we get the idea, 'bud...”

“…kids and I were backed up against the wall, they were swinging their crowbars at us and calling us deceivers and infiltrators…and then suddenly this red and blue blur drops down from above, and then next thing we know the three of them were knocked out and the crowbars melted together. I remember we were afraid, we didn’t know what he’d do. But he just asked if we were alright. He took a look at Anther’s leg and told us it wasn’t broken. And maybe it was the terror of the moment, but I asked him why he’d go out of his way to protect a family of changelings like us after everything that…well, you know. And he just looked at me and said…he said, ‘I don’t care. You haven’t done anything to deserve this’. It…even after Thorax took the throne, it hasn’t been easy for us changelings trying to live in Equestria. Every once in a while you’ll come across somepony who doesn’t care if you’re trying to be better. But him? He…he just saw we were in trouble and helped because he could. I can’t say I know who Supermane is, but…he’s got our support, and I think the other changelings around here will be with me on that.”

“Of course I know he seems to mean well, but…well, I’d be lying if I said it didn’t spook me just a bit. They say he can read minds and move faster than light…I shudder to think what a less moral pony could do with all that, and the fact that he’s just so secretive doesn’t help much. I know he hasn’t really done anything bad, but still…”

“Afraid of him? What do I got to be afraid of him for? He’s a nice guy who saves ponies from getting hurt or stops ‘em from hurting others. And all the weird powers? Like, I’ve heard a few complaints, but c’mon, how different is that from magic? The princesses are crazy powerful too and nopony I know’s afraid of them. Heck, I think I’d feel safer with Supermane than I would with the princesses!”

“Wait…holy cow, you’re Rainbow Dash! Sweet Celestia, Rainbow Dash is looking for Supermane! Hey, is it true that he’s as fast as you are?”

“Hey hey hey, I’m the one asking the questions here, bub.”

“Did you see where he went after that?”

“Ah, afraid not. It was dark out and he moved so fast that I lost sight of him almost the second he jumped up. I’m sorry, ma’am, but…”

“…I’m afraid I just…”

“‘…don’t know where he could have gone’,” Rainbow grumbled as she leaned her head against the wall of the hotel room. Her five compatriots, new and old, were gathered with her, taking time to settle down after another day of fruitless searching and questioning.

“Two days!” Rainbow moaned. “We’ve been at this for two days and nothing! Zilch! Nada!”

“Nopony ever said that this was going to be easy,” Rarity reminded her. “Or that we’d just happen to stumble across him right away.”

“He’s probably trying more than ever to hide himself now,” Fluttershy added. “If he didn’t want to be seen in public before, I can’t imagine how desperate he must be to stay hidden with everypony in the city looking for him…especially us.”

“Believe me, Rainbow,” added Lucky. “I totally get it. Heck, look at me; I’ve been looking for him for months and I still haven’t come up with much beyond what we already know.”

“Did you have to put up with some yahoo blabbing about how he’s a space alien?” Rainbow asked.

“Oh please,” Lucky scoffed. “Today I had to listen to some idiot go on and on about how he shouldn’t be out there because ‘d’oh, he doesn’t have a license!’.” She rolled her eyes and chuckled dryly. “Like…for crying out loud, the guy’s out there saving lives and that’s what ponies are concerned about?”

“I, uh, I wouldn’t let it bother me,” Dawning said. “You’re always gonna get that one pony who’s…well, okay, maybe a couple. A-anyway, you…you know what I’m getting at, right?”

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Lucky sighed. “And…y’know, you’re right.”

Dawning shrugged. “Just, um, calling it as I see it.”

Lucky gave him a little smile. “Do the world a favor and never stop being so humble, okay, mister?”

Dawning shuffled a little and returned the smile. “I’ll, uh, see what I can do.”

“Well anyway,” Quicksnap said as he looked over the photos he’d taken that day. “I just hope we can find some pointers to him somewhere. The sooner I can get a good picture of him for the Planet…right now all my shots are looking like a travel pamphlet…oh wait, I think I got him!” He held one of his pictures up and out for the others to see. “Look, look! Up there in the top right, that blur! You see it?!”

Fluttershy leaned in and took a look. “That’s a bird, Quicksnap.”

“…oh.” The young hippogriff’s face slowly fell as he put the photo back into his little pile, his feathers and ears drooping sheepishly. “Uh, heh, s-sorry…”

“Apology accepted, kiddo,” Lucky replied.

“Well, uh, if nopony objects,” Dawning started as he went to the door. “I think I’m gonna move around a little bit, uh, stretch my hooves, all that. I-if you need me I’ll be up on the roof.”

“No objections from me,” Lucky said. “But if you see Supermane come by you come down here and tell us as fast as you know how, you got it?”

“Uh, yeah,” Dawning said with a little chuckle. “I’ll, um, I’ll do that.” With that he left and shut the door.

Rainbow shook her head and chuckled as she sat down on one of the beds. “Imagine thinking Supermane is a space alien…of all the dumb comic-bookey…”

The top of the Manefair Hotel had a kind of open-roofed terrace for guests to come up to and look out on the cityscape if they so wished. This late at night, though, the terrace was empty. As Dawning Hope stepped out into the open area and walked past the tables, lounge chairs, and the little hot tub off to the side, he could see that he was alone up here.

Fine by me. I could use the solace for a while. Dawning slowly walked up to the edge of the terrace, resting his forelegs on the rails and leaning his head down on them as he looked out at the world beyond. Night had fallen once again, and Manehattan’s towers gleamed like pillars of jewels against the dark. Instead of admiring the city, though, Dawning turned his gaze upwards to the night sky above. Despite the light pollution of the city, he could see the stars shining bright like distant, tiny diamonds, and could vividly make out the cratered white-and-gray surface of the Moon.

As he looked up at the Moon for a moment, he remembered the days of his youth when the Mare in the Moon still stood etched into its surface, when Princess Luna–former Princess Luna, he reminded himself–was still bound in exile within the great celestial sphere. He remembered seeing the huge gray image disappear one night, and hearing the news of Nightmare Moon’s escape, subsequent defeat, and Luna’s return by the hooves of the newly revealed Elements of Harmony, and how he’d marveled over the tales of their heroism and courage in the face of danger. He’d still been a teen then, and in that period of adolescence, he’d found the stories of the Element Bearers' adventures to be nothing short of inspiring. Something to learn from and take note of. Especially with all he’d discovered he had.

Life had been a lot more simple then.

Now he cast his gaze out past the great satellite, looking out into the dark void of space beyond. He let his eyes soak in the field of stars sprinkled across the night sky, picking out all their different colors; red, yellow, blue, white…and as he watched them he found himself wondering the same question he’d asked himself countless times before.

Which one’s mine?

If nothing else, it seemed that he’d at least have more time to figure that out. As worried as he’d been since the Elements’ arrival, and even with the added pressure and publicity from his unintentional reveal to the world two days ago, the fact was that they’d accomplished very little in actually finding out who Supermane truly was. All they’d done was simply put themselves in the same rut as everypony else. And as long as they didn’t find anything that might clue them into connecting the Pony of Steel with mild-mannered Dawning Hope, and as long as he could keep up the act, he felt he had a good chance of remaining hidden.

And he had experience, of course. Acting like one of them–No, not “one of them”, that’s too arrogant sounding, he thought–like everypony else in Equestria was rather easy for the most part when he knew what to do. He knew which parts of his personality and mannerisms to emphasize and put forward, and which parts to downplay and keep hidden. Sometimes there was the occasional slip or near-slip, but for the most part he’d been successful in living a persona that nopony, or at least very few, would think to connect with Supermane.

Then again…living that way had been all he’d ever known and remembered. He put up his facade of normalcy every day, but he still had yet to know what that facade was actually hiding. Dawning Hope was a mask that sought the face that wore him.

Just as long as other ponies could be reasonably convinced that the mask was really him, he thought he could stay in the clear.

But what if they do begin to think it’s me? He began to wonder. What do I do then? Do I go out of my way to throw them off the trail? Do I try to steer them in the wrong direction? Do…do I lie? He shook his head in agitation. No, who are you kidding? You’re lying to everypony every time you put on the glasses and pretend to be a bumbling stammering dork. But…that’s not the same as the other thing…how deceitful do I have to get? Ugh, sweet Celestia, this feels wrong…

His ears perked up at the sounds of somepony trotting up the stairs and opening the doors to the terrace, heard seconds before a normal pony would have heard it. Still on edge from his musings, Dawning spun to face the door…only to see Fluttershy quietly stepping out onto the open roof, halting in her tracks when she saw Dawning turn to face her.

Dawning relaxed when he saw her. “Oh, s-sorry Miss–I mean, Fluttershy. Just, um, wasn’t expecting anypony else up here…”

Fluttershy shook her head apologetically. “No no no, the fault’s mine. I didn’t mean to startle you. I-if you’d rather be alone…”

For a moment, Dawning briefly considered telling her that he really would have liked to be alone, but realized that he really couldn’t bring himself to justify it. “No, it’s fine…not my roof anyway.”

“Oh…well, alright. Thank you.” She trotted up to the railing, Dawning moving over to the side a bit to give her room to stand next to him. “I just thought I’d come out and get some air myself.”

“All good,” Dawning replied. “It, uh…it is a nice night.”

The two sank into silence for a while, quietly looking out over the lit towers of Manehattan, feeling the cool night air against their fur and the occasional breeze in their manes.

Eventually the silence was broken by a sigh from Fluttershy. “You know…as nice as it is to visit every once in a while, I don’t think I’d like to live here.”

“Why’s that?” asked Dawning. “Not judging, just curious.”

Fluttershy shrugged. “It’s just…a bit too hectic for my liking, I guess. Not really a fan of all the hustle and bustle. I’m more comfortable in a smaller town like Ponyville all things considered. And even then I live on the outskirts in my cottage.”

Dawning nodded. “Yeah, I get that. If, um…if it’s any consolation, I kind of had a bit of a rough time adjusting to living here myself.”

“You were born in a small town, right?” Fluttershy asked. “Uh…Smallville, was it?”

“Yeah, that’s it. Little farming community southwest of the east coast cities. I didn’t come here right away, though. Kinda wandered around freelancing for a while before I decided to settle down here and joined the Planet. It was…kind of a big transition, putting down roots in a big city like this.”

“I’ll bet. What helped you get comfortable?”

“Time. And meeting the right ponies.”

“Like who? Miss Lead?”

“Actually yeah. She…she really made sure I found a place to fit in when I started working. Stuck her neck out for me with the early hazing, got me introduced to sources, just…just generally tried to be there for me.” He stopped for a moment. “You know, I know she probably seems a bit…well…a bit overeager at times. A bit zealous maybe. But you know, she’s really a good mare deep down. She…she really does care about making the world better where she can. It’s, uh, it’s why she harps on ponies like Lex so much.”

“And why she admires Supermane?”

“…y-yeah, him too. She looks at...at him and I guess she sees some mysterious hero knight fighting for the right thing.”

Pity that’s not what you are, isn’t it?

“Do…do you think he’s not?”

A little jolt of worry went through Dawning’s mind. Had he made a slip somewhere? Had he let something show? “Uh…what makes you think that?”

“I don’t know, just…just something about how you say it–“

Suddenly there was a flash of light in the distance that made the two’s heads snap up to look. A second later, a loud boom echoed across the city. As they looked they saw a large cloud of dark smoke beginning to rise into the air over the skyline, lit from beneath by flickering red light. All of a sudden, Dawning and Fluttershy completely forgot where their conversation had been going.

Fluttershy stared, her mouth agape in shock. “…w-what happened?!” she suddenly cried, her voice filled with terror. “What is it?!”

“I-I can’t tell,” Dawning stammered as he leaned over the railing, peering out into the distance trying to see the source of the explosion. “There’s too much smoke, I can’t see…oh sweet Celestia, that’s the Bronclyn Bridge!”

“Oh gosh…w-what do we–“

But Dawning was already running back to the exit of the terrace, talking very fast as he passed by her. “Go down and get Lucky and your friends, tell them what happened…I’ll meet you there!”

“Dawning, wait!” Fluttershy called as she ran after him. But Dawning had a good head start, and by the time she’d passed through the doors and descended downstairs back to the upper hallways, he had disappeared from her view.

But she couldn’t wonder where he’d gone now. Bridge. Explosion. Danger…she ran the whole thing over and over again in her mind. It all had started so fast, but now the fear of what was happening seemed to consume her as she bolted down the floors of the hotel, skidding to a halt in front of the door to the Elements’ room and frantically throwing it open. The others were already up and looking out the window, and when Fluttershy came in they turned to her and began to hail her with questions.

“Just heard a bang…”

“…were up on the roof, did you see it?”

“What the heck’s going on??”

Lucky Lead asked, “Where’s Dawning?”

As with the blackout before it, a great deal of Manehattan’s denizens heard the sound of the explosion. Residents peeked out their windows and pedestrians ran desperately to try and get a better view of where it had come from.

Very few ponies noted the pony-like shaping darting across the sky towards a certain little apartment building in the Hooflyn district.

Dawning flew fast, almost frantically, his tie flapping in the breeze, keeping one hoof tightly on his glasses to prevent them from flying off of his face. He tried his best to slow down as he streaked towards his apartment, but was going fast enough that he couldn’t help slamming into the side of the building just next to his window when he came in, although he fortunately managed to slow his approach to not crack the masonry too hard as he did. He quickly reached for the window and forced it open, snapping the lock in the process–I’ll put it back together later–and stumbled into his apartment. Within moments he’d bolted to his bedroom and threw open the closet, digging through clothes and boxes to get to the chest that contained his costume.

And all the while he cursed himself for it. Stupid, stupid, stupid…why are you going back for the stupid costume, just get out there already! And yet in spite of his self-berating he hurriedly unlocked the one chest and squirmed into his shirt and cloak in seconds.

As soon as he was finished, Dawning ran back out into the living room and shot himself right out the window, darting over the city at breakneck speed. He felt the sudden rush of wind knock back his hood, and with one hoof he pulled it back up and held it in place. He wasn’t going to risk a second exposure. Not even at night, when he was usually most comfortable with going out as Supermane.

In less than a minute Dawning had cleared the distance between his apartment and the Bronclyn Bridge, slowing to a hover high above the huge suspension bridge. He wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting, but regardless of expectations he could see that it was bad. Very bad. Whatever had exploded had done severe damage to one of the two support towers rising up from the river that kept the bridge up, the one closest to the city’s side of the river. Part of the tower had collapsed, and the piles of rubble and debris that spread across one half of the now sagging bridge were burning in a hellish inferno, spending black clouds of smoke up into the air and painting the once placid night sky a nightmarish red.

Dawning scanned the bridge, staring through all manner of light spectrums and beyond. The bridge had been packed with hoof traffic when the explosion had gone off, and he saw the heat and light of at least a dozen ponies buried beneath the rubble. Others not wounded or shocked enough to keep moving were trying to get past the flames and digging through the fallen stone where they could, but without much luck.

From what he could see there had been no fatalities. Not yet. And he didn’t plan on watching anypony die tonight.

Dawning swooped down towards the burning section of the bridge. As he did he opened his mouth and began to take deep breaths, flooding his lungs with as much air as he could take. Which was a great deal more than a normal pony could breath in. Another of the gifts of being…whatever he was.

Supermane flew down right over the flames, and just as he did he released all the stored-up air with a loud whoosh as a near gale-force burst of air exploded from his mouth across the flames. The ponies below on the bridge flinched and shut their eyes in the, their manes blowing in the sudden gust. And as the inferno was struck, the hellish flames suddenly billowed and winked out of existence, leaving nothing but smoke and charred ashes blowing away in the residual breeze.

Dawning shot through the cloud of smoke before turning around and looping back towards the bridge, landing amidst the crowds of survivors. He pushed past them and ignored their stunned stares as he ran to the largest piece of the fallen tower, shoving his hooves beneath it and beginning to lift it up. He felt the immense weight of the stone pressing down on him, about as much as or perhaps even more so than the monorail, but still he pushed upwards, maneuvering himself further beneath it the more he lifted. Finally he reached the point where he felt confident in actually lifting it off the ground, slowly willing himself up into the air and heaving the massive chunk of stone up above him. It tilted and swayed a bit in his hooves as he balanced out its center of gravity, but he kept a firm grip on it, feeling flecks of debris and dust patter down on him.

Dawning looked down. He was now well above the bridge, high enough to look down and get a good look at the survivors that he’d unearthed from beneath the rubble. They looked battered and dirty, but fortunately were still alive, looking up at their rescuer with wide, disbelieving eyes as he held the great piece of the bridge over his head.

He turned his head and looked down to the remaining crowd. “Get them out of here and get off the bridge!” he shouted. “Now!”

Nopony stopped to gawk. There was no time for pointing and crying “It’s Supermane!” now. Instead, almost as one, the remaining ponies on the bridge rushed forward, picking up the survivors and digging out any who hadn’t been immediately exposed already. They carried them off to safety as they themselves began to flee across to the now-opened road back to the city, where swarms of police, firefighters, and medical teams awaited them.

Dawning, meanwhile, continued to heave up the massive stone chunk through the air, waiting until he had gotten a safe enough distance from the bridge before tilting his hooves forward and letting it slide away, watching as it fell into the river with a great splash and whoosh of spray and foam. He wouldn’t have been able to piece the damaged portion of the bridge back together, not the way it was. He couldn’t just repair it good as new at super-speed, and he certainly didn’t have some “wall-repairing vision” like he’d seen in one of his foalhood superhero comics.

Sweet Celestia, that one was dumb…

Dawning allowed himself a moment to take a breath, rubbing his foreleg muscles a little as he did. He’d just begun to listen in on the crowds of emergency responders when he found himself faintly hearing a strange, rhythmic, and vaguely electronic sounding noise. He mentally tuned his hearing to hone in on the sound, and realized that it was coming from within the structure of the bridge itself…

Beep…beep…beep…

Dawning’s blood ran cold, and his heart skipped a beat. The explosion suddenly made sense now, or at least partially. He didn’t need to think twice about what that sound could be.

Where is it?

Dawning darted back towards the bridge, swooping back and forth along its length and scanning through it with his x-ray vision, trying desperately to find the second bomb. He saw the steel supports of the bridge’s structure, little tools and equipment that had been used for renovations, piping for electrical wires…but no bomb.

And yet still he heard it beeping, growing steadily faster as it went.

Beep, beep, beep, beep…

Dawning felt himself beginning to panic. Where is it?! Come on, find it!…he hovered over right next to the bridge and swept his x-ray gaze over it once more, looking for something, anything that looked like a bomb. He was right on top of it, he knew it, but where was it?

Then he looked through the bridge at the electrical conduits within again, and he suddenly realized that he couldn’t see through them. They must have been lead-lined. And as soon as he realized that he suddenly knew…

With another tuning of his ears he’d pinned it down. It was in the lead conduits. Near the center of the bridge.

He’d just willed himself forward through the air when the second bomb went off in a flash of incandescence and a deafening roar. Dawning’s super vision flared blinding white as his eyes were bombarded with light, and his ears, tuned to focus on the normally imperceptible, were flooded and drowned in the loud boom of the bomb’s detonation.

It took only moments for his sight and hearing to clear, but it felt to him like a short forever. But he found no relief in what he saw when it did. The explosion had split the center of the bridge in two, and the ends were now beginning to sag down into the river below. The ponies that had not yet gotten off, either to one side or the other, began to slide back towards the edges…

No!

Supermane dove down under the two severed halves of the bridge, putting his hooves against the lower edge of one and beginning to push it back up. He reached out with one foreleg towards the opposite section, stretching the limb out as far as he could until he felt his hoof make contact, and beginning to lift it up as well.

Come on, come on…please don’t slip, please don’t slip…

Slowly–painfully slowly–Dawning was able to lift both halves of the bridge back up to something at least close to level with each other, holding them up and together as best he could. He x-rayed through the bridge, watching the remaining stranded ponies hastily flee off the stricken structure.

Okay, good…but just to give them some extra stability to work with…

Dawning willed intense heat into his eyes, casting shimmering red rays at the enormous crack between the two halves of the bridge. Concrete and steel melted and turned molten, blending together and reconnecting the bridge. Then Dawning cut the heat off and took another deep breath, releasing the cooled air in little puffs across the length of the glowing, molten line.

Can’t cool it down all at once…it’d turn brittle and then I’d have just made it worse…

At last the heated materials hardened and cooled, fusing together enough that Dawning felt confident in releasing the structure. It wouldn’t hold forever; probably not even the whole night, and he certainly couldn’t just repair the whole thing at super-speed or something. But it would at least provide the remaining ponies that had been trapped on the bridge with enough stability to escape. Sure enough, as he gazed through the bridge’s structure he could see the last few ponies making their way off.

Beep…beep…beep…beepbeepbeep…

There just had to be a third one to round it all out, didn’t there?

Dawning flew up over the bridge again, sweeping his vision all over the structure and listening as hard as he could as he tried to pin it down. Come on, where is it?…

But fortune had decided to give him a little smirk. After a few seconds of searching he finally spotted it, nestled within the still-standing support tower on the farther end of the bridge. A quick guess deduced that it was meant to do the same thing as the first bomb that had gone off.

Buck that. Dawning shot forward, smashing through the stone masonry of the tower and grabbing the bomb in both hooves before ramming out the other side, all within the span of a second. He’d left a rather big pony-sized hole in the tower…but it was small fry compared to what it would have looked like had he left the bomb in there, much less next to what the bridge had already suffered. Dawning turned upward, taking himself and the bomb high up into the night sky.

Beepbeepbeepbeepbeep…

Dawning looked down at the bomb, a large, metallic sphere shape, almost featureless save for a few numerals on the casing and a port that he assumed was for accessing the machinery inside. More than anything he wanted to get a better look at it; maybe it would give him a clue as to who planted it, something Supermane could anonymously turn in to the police. But if the last bomb was any indication, he didn’t have much time left before it detonated. Not enough time to properly disarm it, much less examine it properly.

No, there was only one thing he could do with it in the paltry few moments remaining.

With both hooves, Dawning hefted the bomb up and hurled it into the air. He watched it zoom up and away from him for a fraction of a second before it vanished and was replaced with the bright flash and cracking boom of an explosion. He shut his eyes out of pure instinct, and felt little bits of shrapnel hit his face and cloaked body an instant later.

It was done.

Dawning looked down at the scene far below. Whatever fires remained from the explosions were being dealt with by firefighters, either on the Manehattan side of the bridge or from boats on the river. Crowds were beginning to gather near the bridge as the police tried to form a perimeter.

He also saw Lucky, Quicksnap, and the Elements pushing their way through the crowd, no doubt looking for him in addition to investigating the scene for themselves.

Dawning turned away and began flying back towards his apartment to retrieve his civilian clothing. His shirt and cloak were dirtied by soot and dust, and his mane and fur equally so. He wouldn’t have time to properly clean up, and he began thinking of how he could explain himself.

The five felt a markedly different atmosphere from the scene of the rescued train compared to what they saw now. While that past incident had been superseded by the thrill and awe of Supermane’s revealed existence, there was a more distinct feeling of shock and bewilderment here. All around them they saw tired-looking ponies sitting on sidewalks, some wrapped in blankets or drinking offered beverages, being consoled by friendly relief workers or fellow pedestrians. The more wounded of the survivors were being escorted to ambulance carriages, some on stretchers, many bruised and bloodied and wrapped in bandages by medical teams. The police officers forming the perimeter would occasionally cast worried looks over their shoulders at the half-ruined bridge behind them. The acrid scent of smoke and dead flames hung over all, and black wisps blotted out the stars above.

Fluttershy’s heart ached. Rainbow Dash and Rarity took the scene in quietly. Quicksnap solemnly took a few pictures of the scene, making a point to keep the flash off on his camera to avoid causing discomfort. Even Lucky Lead seemed to be taken aback by it all.

“Holy Celestia…” Lucky murmured as she looked around. None of the excitement she’d shown back at the monorail was present in either face or voice. “This…this could have been…”

“Worse,” Rarity finished. “A lot worse. Thank Celestia nopony seems to have been killed, but…”

“W-where’s Dawning?” Quicksnap asked. “You…oh geez, you think he could have–“

“I’m sure he’s fine,” Fluttershy tried to assure him. “At least, I hope he is…Rainbow, can you see him?”

Rainbow was hovering a few feet above the ground, looking this way and that through the shifting crowd. “Nah, I can’t. Too many ponies. Geez, the dark doesn’t help much either…”

“Perhaps we should ask somepony?” Rarity suggested.

Lucky was ahead of her though, worming her way through the shifting crowd to the police barricade, where she approached a tall older-looking stallion dressed in the garb of a police captain. “Officer? Hi, Lucky Lead, Daily Planet, can I–“

“Ma’am, if you’d please,” the officer said irritably. “We’ve got a lot on our plate right now, you can come back for interviews later.”

“No no, that’s not what I’m looking for…for once…a-anyway, I just wanted to know if you happened to have come across from another guy from the Planet? Tan stallion, black mane, kinda on the tall side, wears glasses…”

But the captain was looking past Lucky now. “You mean like him?”

Lucky and the others turned to see Dawning Hope stepping through the crowd to meet them, his mane looking like he’d been through a high wind and covered with a light coating of dust. Lucky turned away from the officer and bolted up to him.

“Oh, Celestia, Dawning! You look a mess, are you okay? Are you hurt?”

“Oh no, no, I’m fine,” Dawning assured her, wiping a bit of dust from his brow and adjusting his glasses. “J-just took a lot out of me getting here and then when I did the next explosion went off and, well…”

“But you’re okay,” At Dawning’s reaffirming nod, Lucky let out a sigh of relief and relaxed. “Okay. Okay, good. Just heard about the explosion and that you’d run off ahead and got worried…”

“Did you get to see Supermane?” Quicksnap inquired. “Was he out again?”

“Did you see what caused the explosions?” Fluttershy asked, concern in her voice.

He shook his head. “N-not really, sorry…” But deep down a part of him wanted to tell them the truth. A bomb. Actually three bombs. This wasn’t an accident like the monorail; somepony planned this. But of course he wouldn’t be able to prove it without outing exactly how he knew all that.

And then there were his worries of who might have planted them for whatever reason.

For just a moment, Dawning’s eyes flicked up to the towering, glowing skyline of the city, shining against the now smoke-blotted sky. Amidst the towers he could just make out the top of the LexCorp building, and he felt sick inside.

The news of the latest disaster and Supermane’s heroism therein spread throughout the city. All over Manehattan, ponies did whatever they could to catch a glimpse of the scene from however distant they were from it. Some looked at the smoke in dread. Others cast their eyes upwards to the night sky, hoping to catch a glimpse of Supermane flying by this time.

Only one looked at the distant scene with shame.

His name was Girder. A stocky, dull orange earth pony stallion, and a construction worker by trade. He watched the scene of the burning bridge from the confines of a coast-side alleyway, doing his best to stay hidden amongst the shadows.

Girder had been one of the ponies working on the bridge renovations. How else could he have put the bombs in at where they needed to be? Whomever his…his “benefactor” was, he’d clearly wanted somepony who knew where best to put them.

The worst part was that Girder knew it was wrong. That ponies could be hurt. That ponies could have even died. And yet…he’d done it.

He tried to justify it to himself. Played back every possible reason in his mind why he’d taken the offer, every word that his benefactor had told him. But no matter what he tried to think, that feeling of guilt weighed in his chest like a stone.

What have I done?

Eventually it became too much, and Girder couldn’t take the sight of his handiwork anymore. Hanging his head in remorse, he turned away and began to slowly walk back down the alley. All he wanted to do was go back to his family in their run-down apartment they called “home”, slip under the covers of his and his wife’s bed and try to forget the awful, terrible thing he had helped do.

But he didn’t get too far down the alley before he bumped into something blocking his way. Girder leapt back in startled fright, and found himself staring up at two stallions, one an earth pony, the other a unicorn, both dressed in dark suits and sunglasses, staring down at him emotionlessly.

Girder shuddered. He knew who these two had to be working for. Had he done something wrong? Was he going to disappear tonight on top of everything else?

The unicorn lit up his horn and pulled out a small radio-like device from his breast pocket, clicking a button on the side and holding it in front of Girder’s face.

“He wants to talk to you.”

Still trembling, poor Girder took the radio in his hooves and, voice hoarse and quivering, spoke into it. “H-hello?”

“Mr. Girder?” said a sickeningly pleasant voice from somewhere on the other side. “Ah, so good to hear from you again.”

“It’s…” Girder felt like he was choking the sentence out. “It’s done, sir.”

“Yes, I can see it from here. Well done, Mr. Girder. You’ve done me a great service tonight, and I shan’t forget it.”

“So…the money…”

“Already being forwarded to your bank account as we speak. I believe that should be more than enough to keep your family going for another few years. Just don’t spend too much of it at once; you wouldn’t want your wife to ask questions, now would you?”

Girder swallowed nervously before asking his next question. “A-and…and the treatments?”

“Yes yes, my contacts in Manehattan General will be receiving the treatment plan and instructions shortly. You needn’t give your little colt another thought, Mr. Girder. Thanks to you he’s just netted himself a long, happy, and very much leukemia-free life.”

Another pang of guilt stabbed through Girder’s chest. “T-thank you, sir…”

“Oh please, think nothing of it…”

“…the pleasure’s all mine,” Tech Lexicon said, unable to keep a little smirk off his face. “Now go home and relax; you deserve this, remember?” With that final, almost mocking word of encouragement, Lex clicked off the bedside intercom and rolled onto his back in his penthouse bed, sighing contentedly. Merciful Grace was once more beside him, looking at him with a smile of her own. From outside the penthouse suite’s gigantic windows, they could easily see the dimming glow of the bridge’s flames melding with the usual shining lights of the city.

“A most useful find, Mercy,” he told her. “My compliments.”

“There were a lot like him, actually,” Mercy replied. “Plenty I could have gotten to do it. There's a lot of ponies eager for a cash boost after getting booted for the Plaza’s construction.”

Lex smirked. “Well…I do love a good bit of amusing irony now and then. You just keep an eye on him, though…make sure he doesn’t decide to squeal.”

Mercy nodded. “I’ll have my teams watching him, don’t worry.”

“Good mare.” Lex rolled over and clicked on the intercom again. “Dr. Vale.”

“Y-yes, sir?”

“How did our drones do? Any sign that he might have seen them?”

“No sir. They were far enough away and the stealth devices seem to have kept them hidden. I don’t think he saw them.”

“And the scanning? How did that go?”

“Uh, distance from the bridge and his speed made it a bit difficult, but we got some good scans of him to work with.”

“Good. Compile what you have and prepare a report for me. I want to see you first thing tomorrow morning about what we’ve just learned about him.”

“Y-yes, sir, Mr. Lexicon.”

Lex thought for a moment. “Oh, and…bring up whatever information you’ve managed to decrypt from the ship so far. Flight plans, star charts, anything you have along those lines. It might prove useful in determining what sort of environment he came from.”

“Yes sir. I’ll…I’ll get it together tonight and have it ready by morning.”

Lex didn’t bother responding anymore, instead shutting off the intercom and rolling back into the bed again.

“Almost a pity it got cooled down so fast,” Mercy said, watching the bridge from out the windows. “Would’ve made a nice fireside scene.”

Lex chuckled. “It would have, wouldn’t it? Some nice atmosphere for the evening…but I’ve got what I want. My first move. First pieces of real information about him. I know myself, now I just need to know my enemy…and how to win.”

“Of course, sir.”

Lex’s voice dropped to a more serious tone. “And he won’t win. You hear me, Mercy? I won’t let him win against me.”

“I know you won’t,” Mercy replied calmly. She reached out with a white-feathered wing and wrapped it around him. “Why don’t you forget about him for a few hours? Put him out of your mind, get some peace for the night…”

“Is that your professional suggestion?”

Mercy gave a little shrug and smirked as she wrapped her wing around him just a bit tighter. “Something like that.”

Lex sighed. He loved her wings. All of her, really, but the wings especially. So soft…in stark contrast to the kind of mare they belonged to.

“Well…maybe for a little while.”

Lex rolled toward her, but not before taking one last, loving look at his city and what he had cast upon it.

Author's Note

The game's afoot. And it's a most dangerous game indeed.

This chapter ended up being a bit shorter than I thought it would be. The opening news report and "pony on the street" stuff wasn't something I had in mind going into this chapter, but I decided to do it because I wanted to flesh out various public opinions on Supermane, just to remind y'all that the world of this story is populated by more than just the main characters.

Next time, science with Tech Lexicon!

Facts and Logic

A “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic” Fanfiction

Written by Jade Dawn

Dr. Green Vale leaned against the side of the elevator as it steadily rose up the many floors of the LexCorp building, absentmindedly listening to the little pings of the display screen as it went up, up, up to Tech Lexicon’s penthouse at the very top. The green earth pony scientist adjusted his grip on a briefcase tucked under one foreleg, and with his other hoof he wiped a bit of nervous sweat from his forehead and blonde mane.

He felt tired. The poor scientist had stayed up all the previous night going over data from the LexCorp drones at the Bronclyn Bridge, compiling every scrap of information they’d gathered and readying it for a report to Mr. Lexicon, not to mention going over decryptions of the alien ship’s data up until the last minute. He’d only lasted through to this morning by the grace of the holy nectar that was coffee. The fear of failure had been a big help too.

There was a time when he’d have been kept awake by the sheer thrill of the pursuit of science. When the mere prospect of being able to study a being of extraterrestrial origin would have brought him to levels of excitement he could barely contain, let alone the vessel that he’d allegedly come to Equestria in. And if he’d been working anywhere else he probably would be that excited.

But alas, he worked for Tech Lexicon.

“Get a job at LexCorp!” his peers had told him. “They work with all the stuff you love to study and research, you’ll thrive there!” And he, the young naive fool he’d been, had listened and sought out LexCorp. But Vale hadn’t thrived. What had actually happened was that he’d just learned how to survive. And so it was that he found himself here now, helping plot the endangerment and potential death of countless innocent ponies, all for the sake of killing one alien.

He couldn’t understand the ones who happily worked for Lex. What did they get out of it? How could they live with themselves?

The elevator made a little pong sound as it came to a stop, and Vale flinched as the doors slid open. The den of the lion lay beyond. He took a final deep breath, steeled his nerves, and stepped forth into the valley of death.

If ever there was a singular space that could bring the term “luxury” to life, Tech Lexicon’s penthouse was it. A vast, opulent suite of intricate tiled floors, lusciously colored walls, curtains, and pieces of furniture, gigantic floor-to-ceiling windows, and an assortment of artistic pieces and exotic trophies that Lex had accumulated for his personal collection over the years. A display case bore miniature replicas of some of LexCorp’s technological accomplishments; the LexWing supersonic jet, the TRK-426 “Centaur” mech, even one of the LexCore reactor. Vale noted a painting of the darkness-shrouded figure of Grogar looming over the diminutive figure of Gusty the Great, who glared up defiantly up at the overwhelming odds before her. Vale had seen this painting before, and a part of him wondered if Lex somehow identified with it in some way; as the once simple unicorn had risen up against Grogar’s dark powers, so had Lex, a simple earth pony, risen up amidst the arcane might of the alicorn Princesses and the Elements of Harmony.

He made his way to Tech Lexicon’s office, dominated by an ornate work desk set in front of one of the giant sets of windows that looked out the city. Mercy was already there, setting up a ring-shaped device on the floor before the desk. Vale knew it to be a holographic display emitter.

The scientist coughed nervously. “Uh, g-good mor–“

“Mr. Lexicon will be ready shortly,” Mercy said, not looking up. “Get yourself ready.”

Vale silently nodded. As Mercy finished arranging the emitter, he set his briefcase down and opened it, revealing a laptop computer and several sheets of papers and notes within. Next he pulled out a small USB-like object and separated it in two, connecting one piece to his computer, the other to the hologram emitter; this would allow him to sync the laptop’s data with the device.

He’d just finished setting up and loading his files when Tech Lexicon himself trotted into the room, his red mane and gray fur looking cleanly brushed. “Ah, Dr. Vale,” he said as he went to his desk and took a seat. “So good of you to join us this morning. I take it last night’s research yielded some results?”

Vale nodded. “Y-yes sir.”

Lex got comfortable in his seat, while Mercy came up next to him to lean against the desk. “Now then…you did work on getting some sort of idea of where he came from, did you not?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Good. Let’s begin with that, then.”

Dr. Vale reached down and tapped a few keys on his laptop. “The data we pulled from the ship before it closed us out was somewhat spotty,” Vale said as he worked. “Several portions of what we extracted are incomplete. But we at least were able to pull a reasonably complete flight plan from the computers, among other things…ah, alright, here we are.”

The center of the hologram emitter began to glow blue, and soon a three-dimensional image was being projected in mid-air before the desk, showing what seemed to be a map of a solar system laid against a grid. A red star dominated the center of the system, surrounded by seven planets orbiting around it, each of various sizes and forms. Scattered amongst the grid were clusters of illegible text; a strange written language of lines, dots, and occasional other shapes like squares, diamonds, and circles.

“S-so what you see here is a map of the ship’s system of origin,” Vale began pointing to various parts of the system with a hoof. “The, uh, the star here, by our best guesses it’s a class M3 red dwarf. Um, the inner five planets you see here are all rocky terrestrial planets, then the outermost two are gas giants…well, actually one’s a gas giant, then this outer one’s technically an ice giant, and then of course there’s a variety of asteroids and comets and, uh, other little sub-planetary objects beyond that…j-judging by our best understanding of the flight plans, the whole system is about twenty lightyears off from us, give or take a few.”

Lex nodded. “And which one is his planet?”

“Ah, just a second,” Vale said as he tapped on his keyboard. “Yes, here we are, this one right here.” The hologram zoomed in, focusing in on the fourth planet from the alien star; a world of shimmering deep blue seas tinted purple by the light of its red sun, broken up by large continents and small islands covered in dark forests and reddish deserts, haloed by a rosy atmosphere.

Lex leaned forward in his chair, peering at the glowing image of the strange alien world. “So…this is where he comes from.”

“I-it would seem so, Mr. Lexicon,” Vale replied. “It’s of course well within the star’s range of habitability, atmosphere is a very close match to our own…a-at least going by Supermane’s comfort in ours. It’s bigger than us, though; I-I’d say it’s about maybe twice the size of our own Equus, and of course with the larger mass it’s gravitational pull would be greater, probably would have a denser atmosphere than ours too…”

Lex stood up from his chair and stepped in front of the desk, beginning to pace in a slow, steady circle around the hologram. He stared into the floating image of the alien planet, letting its reflection dance across his piercing emerald eyes as he thought to himself, his mind beginning to put the pieces together.

“Higher gravity, denser atmosphere, dimmer red sun…” He mumbled out loud. “Hmm…yes…yes, I see how he could…hmm…Dr. Vale, would you be kind as to bring up the footage we gathered from last night?”

“Uh, r-right, yes sir.” The alien system disappeared and for just a moment the hologram blinked out. A second later it was back on, now displaying a series of framed videos from the Bronclyn Bridge “disaster” the night before. Some were overheads taken from high above the city, watching as a great cloud of smoke rose and spread over the river from the glow of the burning bridge. Others were close-ups, showing the hooded and cloaked Pony of Steel swooping around the bridge, blowing out the fire, lifting rubble, welding damaged sections back in place with red beams of heat from his eyes, and darting straight through the bridge to remove the final explosive and carrying it high into the air to harmlessly detonate in the sky.

“He made a pretty good showing last night, I guess you could say,” Vale said. “Pretty much all of his reported range of abilities, even a new one or two…that, uh, that breath of his, we weren’t expecting that, so that was a surprise there…”

Lex didn’t reply. He just gazed into the repeating holographic videos, peering intensely at the image of his adversary. He watched every movement Supermane made, every tiny little action, every minute detail that the resolution of the recordings would allow him to see, marking it all down and running it by what he now knew of the world of his birth.

“What’s he doing here?” Lex suddenly asked aloud.

Vale blinked. “Hm? What, where?”

“Here.” Lex said with a bit of irritation as he pointed a hoof at one of the floating video displays. Within the frame, they saw Supermane sweeping up and down alongside the bridge, just before the second bomb exploded and rent the middle of the bridge asunder. “He keeps going back and forth just before it goes of, like he’s looking for the bomb but can’t find it.”

Vale trotted around to Lex’s side. “Ah, yes, we noticed that too. Not quite sure what to make of it–“

“But then just a bit later, right here…” Lex pointed at another display showing Supermane streaking right through the remaining intact support tower and taking the bomb with him into the air. “…he finds the last one almost instantly without any trouble. Why? How?”

Mercy stepped past the desk and walked up to look for herself. “You know, the way he’s turning his head it almost looks like he’s listening for something.”

“You…you think he could somehow hear the bombs?” Vale asked. “From that distance?”

“Or he’s trying to see them,” Lex said. “Many of the stories about him say he’s somehow aware of objects not immediately within his line of sight, sometimes through several walls or floors away from him. Or perhaps it’s a combination of both.”

“But how? Without magic it’s impossible to see through a structure like that.”

Lex raised an eyebrow. “So you’ve confirmed that he’s non-magical, then?”

Vale nodded as he went back to his laptop. “We had the drones equipped with our best thaumic sensors, and…well, perhaps you should see for yourself.” With another tap of buttons, the images went through a sudden shift in appearance, now rendered in startling displays and layers of color. The visual effect was not unlike that of a thermal image, but in actuality it displayed concentrations of magical energy. They could see a faint blue glow from the planet’s ambient magical fields, the bright glows of the ponies on the bridge, dimmest in earth ponies, brightest in unicorns…

…but Supermane’s form was completely dark.

Lex narrowed his eyes at the displays. “Incredible...”

“Nothing?” Mercy said, her voice betraying a hint of surprise. “No magic at all?”

“We double and triple-checked our data. There’s no question about it; his levels on the Starswirl Scale are an absolute zero.”

The Starswirl Scale was a measurement of a pony’s magical capabilities. Where a pony fell on it depended on a case-by-case basis and often varied, but generally speaking most earth ponies tended to be around the lower end of the scale, around a ten to a twenty or so. Pegasi usually fell into the middle thirty to fifty, and unicorns could take up almost anything from fifty to an eighty. Twilight Sparkle’s Starswirl Scale rating was estimated to be somewhere around ninety-nine, with only Starlight Glimmer rivaling her, and Celestia and Luna being somewhere over a hundred.

But for a pony to register as a zero was almost a complete anomaly. It meant that either something was seriously wrong with their magic…

…or they weren’t a pony at all.

“Well well well…” Lex muttered as he took this new revelation in. “…right. Alright, I see how he works now.”

Vale blinked. “Y-you do?”

“I do. As a matter of fact, it’s fairly obvious once you stop to think about it.” He stood up from the desk and began to trot around the hologram. “Now think. We are dealing with a creature who very much resembles a pony in almost every possible outward way, to the point where it looks so much like one of us that anypony who doesn’t know better would assume that he is a pony. Now, consider the environment that would have spawned him. A high-gravity habitable world dwarfing our own, orbiting a star emitting only the dimmest of red light…”

“W-well yes, but–“

“Don’t interrupt, I’m trying to teach you something here,” Lex said. “Really, try to pay attention, this is the kind of science I’m paying you to tell me about. Got it? Good. As I was saying…we all know by now what the general range of Supermane’s abilities are. He’s incredibly durable and fast, he can control his personal gravity field, project beams of thermal energy from his eyes, and so on and so forth…based on all this, his lack of magic of any kind, and what we know about the world of his birth, I believe that we can pin down the origins of his powers right down to the environment he came from, and how his body interacts with our own.” He shot a patronizing glance at Vale. “Are you getting this, doctor? Are you beginning to comprehend what I’m saying here?”

Vale paused as he thought, focusing less on his employer’s patronizing tone and more on the science at hand. “…I…I think so, yes…coming from a higher gravity world he’d have a much stronger skeletal and muscular system than us…he’d be able to run faster and jump higher…denser atmosphere would mean a higher lung capacity so that could explain his super breath…under a dimmer star his eyes would probably be adapted for normally darker conditions so his vision would be quite acute…”

“Yes?” Lex goaded. “Keep going, you’re getting warmer.”

“And…theoretically he might also have a denser molecular structure, which would make him more resilient than our bodies.”

“There you go, Vale, now you’re getting it.”

“Now wait, hold up,” said Mercy. “More durable, a better jumper, better senses? Okay, I can believe that. But flying and shooting lasers? Look, I’m no scientist, but there’s something missing here. Even taking his native biology into account it still doesn’t explain him to that degree.”

“Exactly,” Lex said. “You are absolutely right, Miss Grace.” He looked back at Dr. Vale. “Now see, she’s realized that we’re missing a crucial factor here. How do we bridge the gap between a simply more powerful pony and Supermane? He’s already better than us on a base biological level…but where is he getting the power to make him truly super? Think, Vale, think hard…the answer’s literally a part of everyday life.”

Vale frantically wracked his brains…partially out of a legitimate mental search for the answer, and partially because Lex’s emerald green eyes were boring holes through his soul. And then suddenly–mercifully–it dawned on him.

“The sun!” he exclaimed. “His cells are drawing in excess solar energy and that’s where he’s getting the power for his abilities! Under his native red sun he would have absorbed far less and thus remained comparable to our own physiology, but with our yellow one he’s taking in an exponentially greater amount of solar radiation and...”

“Yes!” Lex cried. “Exactly! This is the kind of science I pay you for, doctor!”

“W-well, from a theoretical standpoint it could work–“

“‘Theoretically’, Dr. Vale?” Lex asked. “Only theory? My dear Dr. Green Vale, this is fact. This is reality. It’s staring right at us with those sapphire-blue eyes of his, this is far beyond theoretical.” He turned to the holographic images of Supermane. “Oh, of course some of it will take longer to figure out…I’d be extremely interested to know how he flies, for instance, and perhaps his heat vision is excess energy being converted to heat…but yes, the answer lies in the sun. His cells must be positively soaking in its radiations…strengthening his muscles, his skin, his senses…” He pointed a hoof at Supermane’s seemingly frantic search for the second bomb. “Just imagine what that kind of a power boost is doing to his hearing, his sight…it already would have been more advanced on his homeworld, but now…do you realize that it’s entirely possible that he’s seeing spectrums of light that our own eyes could never come close to seeing? Infrared, ultraviolet? He’s practically staring right through the bridge itself.”

“I, erm, I suppose that would explain his supposed precognitive abilities,” Vale offered. “It’s not that he has a sixth sense; he’s literally seeing through walls and hearing sounds ponies normally can’t hear. Still don’t quite understand why he couldn’t find the second bomb…it looks like he heard it but for some reason even with all that he couldn’t see it in time.”

“Mercy, do you know where our dear Mr. Girder put the second explosive in?” Lex asked.

“He said he’d put it in some electrical conduit running through the bridge,” she replied. “Lead-lined. They were getting removed for better and less potentially toxic materials as part of the bridge renovations.”

Lex nodded. “Lead…yes, I believe I shall have to make a note of that. It could very well be useful.” He waved a hoof at Vale. “Thank you Doctor, this has been most informative. You may leave now.”

“I, uh…y-yes sir. Thank you sir.” Dr. Vale meekly went about disconnecting his computer from the hologram, watching it flicker out one last time as he packed his things.

But then Lex had a sudden last thought. “Oh, doctor, one last thing I meant to ask about…how far have your teams gotten in decrypting their language?”

“Language? O-oh, yes, that…” Vale scrounged around his briefcase for a sheaf of notes buried within. “Yes, we’ve, erm, we’ve been working on that…it’s, um…it’s been slow going, unfortunately, we are dealing with a completely alien written language of course. B-but we think we’ve managed to get a reasonably solid translation of at least one word. It appears in the star charts like the one you saw…seems to be in reference to the aliens’ home planet.”

“I see. And what might that be?”

“Um…” Vale flipped through his notes. “…’Krypton’. Keep in mind, our translations are still rough, but this is the best we could do.”

Lex nodded, looking once again like he was more thinking to himself. “Alright…thank you Dr. Vale, that will be all. You may go.”

Vale nodded, quietly repacking his notes and heading back to the elevators. Lex, meanwhile, sat back down in his seat behind the desk, tapping his hooves together as he mulled things over.

“Feel any better, sir?” Mercy asked.

Lex shrugged. “I feel better knowing a bit more about what makes him tick, yes. Knowing’s half the battle, after all. Know your enemy and you can get a reasonable head start on figuring out how to tear them apart at the seams.”

“Right…so what’s our next move?”

“Hmm…I’m going to have to dwell on that one for a bit. We know he’s very resistant to damage. Those bombs were able to blow through solid concrete and metal and he shrugged them off without any trouble. Of course, we have plenty of weapons that are capable of much more damage…just need to think of a way to be able to try them on him without linking them back to us. Ah, and that reminds me…” He glanced down at a wristwatch around his foreleg, then stood up and adjusted his tie with a little smirk. “It’s about time I head on down for this morning’s press conference. I think it’s about time LexCorp bestowed another act of generous charity upon this fine city of ours.”

BRIDGE BOMBING AVERTED BY SUPERMANE
POLICE INVESTIGATE POSSIBLE TERRORIST CONNECTION

Story by Lucky Lead and Dawning Hope

“Good job, both of you,” Whiteout said as he looked over the mock-up of the morning paper, congratulatory in his words, solemn in tone over the topic. “Lucky, good writing, Dawning, nice job on getting those quotes.”

“Just doing our jobs, sir,” Lucky said, her voice sounding a bit deflated.

Dawning couldn’t help but frown a bit. Ordinarily Lucky would be eating up Whiteout’s words of praise no matter how gruff or reluctant. But here and now she came across as a lot more sullen than usual.

She’s worried too, Dawning thought.

“You too, kid,” Whiteout told Quicksnap as he looked over the printed photographs of the scene. “Good pictures.”

“I’m, uh, I’m sorry I couldn’t get Supermane,” Quicksnap said apologetically. “It was dark and everything was going crazy at the bridge…”

“No no, I get it,” Whiteout sighed. “I’ll let this one slide. But you remember–“

“I’ll get it chief–I mean, sir. One way or another, I’ll get that picture of him for you, I promise.”

“Hmph. You see that you do…and don’t think I didn’t notice that ‘chief’ there, kid. Now…go on, back to it, you lot.”

The three left Whiteout’s office and headed back into the busy newsroom, Quicksnap going his own separate way while Dawning and Lucky walked back to their respective desks together.

“You…you okay, Lucky?” Dawning asked.

“Me? I’m fine. It’s what happened last night that’s not.”

“Mm-hmm. You, uh…you seemed a lot more bothered about the bridge than you did about the train.”

“Because the train was an accident, Dawning,” Lucky replied as she stopped and turned to him. “A big oversight on LexCorp’s part that almost cost lives and one that they should be held accountable for? Yes, but it was still a technical malfunction, and nopony was hurt or killed because Supermane was there to save them. But the bridge was bombed; and yeah, Supermane saved everypony there too, but the fact that it was bombed that all but says that somepony planned it out. And that bothers me.” She pursed her lips. “And…okay, maybe I was kinda caught up in the moment of Supermane showing up in public…”

Dawning was about to reply when somepony from across the room shouted out, “Hey, guys! Lex on the radio and he’s talking about the bridge!”

There was something of a clamor as ponies left their desks to crowd around the radio set in the far corner of the room. Lucky Lead pushed her way to through to the front of the gathering, Dawning following close behind. From the radio’s speakers they could hear the ever-so-recognizable voice of Tech Lexicon loud and clear.

”…the events on the bridge last night have left this city scared and trembling, and crying for justice against those who committed this shameless and brazen act of terrorist aggression. I know many of you want answers, and…I wish I could provide them, truly. Unfortunately, I cannot. I can, however, offer some small help in this time of crisis. And so it is with something of a melancholy half-pleasure that I announce that LexCorp is in talks with city council to take control of repairs to the Bronclyn Bridge, under the supervision of our LexConstruct subsidiary company. Our brave law enforcement officers will ensure that the guilty are apprehended…and I will ensure, as I have always done, that this city and its residents will be cared for.”

Lucky scowled and shook her head as a round of applause echoed from the set. “Of course. Of friggin’ course. Tragedy strikes and all he sees is the chance for a PR stunt like this…” She sighed in irritation. “So much for holding him accountable for the blackout.”

“I dunno…” Dawning said. “I’m sure ponies will still–“

“They won’t,” Lucky interrupted. “You know they won’t. Because now that Lex gets to play the hero role again, everypony’s gonna forget about how that tram of his went wrong.” With that said, Lucky turned away from the radio and started making her way back to her desk, Dawning following close behind.

“Um…Lucky?” Dawning asked.

“Yeah, what?” Lucky said as she stopped to listen to him.

“Well…I’m not saying that I’ve got anything to support it or anything, or even a hunch, just hypothetically, like…what if Lex…you know?”

“What if Lex what?” Lucky asked. Then after a moment she got it, and a look of concern crossed her face. “Oh…oh geez…there’s a scary thought.”

“You…think he’d be capable of that?”

“As far as resources go? Absolutely…but sweet Celestia, I hope not. He’s a cocky rich smarmbag and I’d love nothing more than to see him get knocked down a few pegs…but good grief, not because he went and did something like that.” She shook her head. “B-but you know, really thinking about it, it doesn’t make sense…Lex is kinda more an opportunist. He’d sooner jump on a tragedy and take advantage of it than he would deliberately cause one. At least, I hope he wouldn’t…anyway, I don’t think Lex would purposefully bomb the bridge just to make a showing for himself out of it. And I really don’t want to be proven wrong…”

Dawning quietly nodded. She was right, he thought. Even for a crack at a public relations stunt it would be extreme for him, so if Lex really had planted those bombs it probably wouldn’t have been for that.

But that didn’t improve Dawning’s inner mood much. Because he had a pretty good idea of just why Lex–if it really had been him–had planted those bombs in the first place; he had wanted to draw Supermane in, either in the hopes of killing him with the explosives or perhaps other reasons.

Either way, if Lex really was connected with the bridge bombing, then it meant that he was now fully willing and able to kill ponies and sweep it under the rug just to get to Dawning. Which also meant that he knew now that Supermane and the ship were connected. Which would in turn confirm that he had the ship, or at least access to it.

It was bad any way you looked at it. And as Dawning thought about everything that had happened to him over the past few days–the Elements coming to search for him, his public mystique destroyed, and now Lex putting ponies in danger just to take a shot at him–he began to feel a growing sensation of helplessness.

What am I gonna do?…

Author's Note

I wasn't kidding when I called this "the technobabble chapter"...and truth be told, in spite of pulling the general gist of the explanation for Supermane's powers from the comics, I'm still not 100% sure it'll slide.

See that's the funny thing about technobabble; the more you try to explain things "scientifically", the more risk you run of making it sound more convoluted or just flat out impossible and nonsensical. Case in point: Star Trek. At this point it's really just easier to either not think too hard about how it's supposed to work or just say that the transporter runs on sorcery.

Anyway, hope this made a reasonable amount of sense. Fingers crossed...

Parks and Reminiscence

A “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic” Fanfiction

Written by Jade Dawn

“Well, good afternoon, listeners. I’m Open Mic, and welcome back to Manehattan News Now. All of Equestria is still reeling from the near tragedy that took place a day ago on the Bronclyn Bridge, when a series of explosions heavily damaged the structure and threatened the lives of dozens of pedestrians on the bridge. Luckily, the disaster was greatly mitigated by the arrival of none other than the super-powered vigilante Supermane, and with his help all of the ponies stranded on the bridge were able to make an escape to the waiting hooves of emergency services on either side, before he himself once again disappeared into the night.

“Yet in spite of this stroke of fortune, as well as LexCorp Industries’ pledge the morning after to contribute to repairs and renovations, the incident has left lingering questions and a sense of unease. While there were thankfully no fatalities, the Bronclyn Bridge itself has partially collapsed and what remains has been left extremely damaged. The sudden loss of the bridge has put a strain on traffic going to and from Manehattan Island, with other bridges now experiencing severe congestion, while ferry and airship services are now reporting an exponential increase in customers and service to almost non-manageable levels.

"More concerning still is the nature of the disaster itself. The Manehattan Police Department has confirmed that these explosions were not the result of a fluke or accident, feeding into already circulating fears of terrorist activity, and the Department has announced that it is launching an investigation into the matter. And while no groups or parties have claimed responsibility, all manner of possible suspects and culprits have been suggested, albeit many without basis.

"Earlier today, Princess Twilight Sparkle made a public statement in Canterlot about the disaster, which MNN reporters were able to be present for. The next voices you hear will be that of Princess Sparkle and our reporters.”

“My fellow Equestrians. As you all know by now, last night the city of Manehattan was struck by an unexpected act of armed aggression, threatening the lives of dozens of the city’s citizens. And while luckily the only losses were in physical infrastructure, the ordeal has greatly troubled us all. I cannot say who was behind this attack or what their motivations were; I wish I could. All I can do is reassure you that we are looking into the matter, and we hope to have whomever committed this act of terrorism brought to justice as soon as possible.

Now, I understand that there’s been some hoof-pointing going around directed at some of our non-pony citizens; particularly our Griffon and Changeling immigrant populations. And I want to call this out specifically. Now is not the time to allow ourselves to succumb to fear and mistrust of each other. Equestria was founded on the values of friendship and cooperation. Don’t loose sight of that because of the fear that this disaster has brought upon us. We’re better than that. Be there for each other in this time and others like this. We lend helping hooves to one another–or talons or claws or hands–and we’ll get to the bottom of this and come out the other side that much faster. And that much better.

This is…all I really had in mind to say at the moment. I’m open to questions, so…uh, please, one at a time, one at a time please…uh, you there, down in front there.”

“Uh, yes Your Highness, Truthful Report from Manehattan News Now here. It’s widely understood by now that it was primarily Supermane who is responsible for the amount of rescued lives from both the Bronclyn Bridge and the LexCorp city tram disaster a few days ago…what is the Crown’s stance on Supermane’s activities? Is he approved by the government or is he operating on his own?”

“Well, unfortunately Mr. Report, I’m afraid I can’t offer much in the way of what authority he answers to. He doesn’t work for the government, I can confirm that; he’s acting completely on his own free will. I will say this for him, though, I certainly can’t say that I disapprove of his actions. He’s saved over a hundred ponies’ lives between the bridge and the monorail, not to mention the countless others from past reported sightings, and I’d be remiss if I didn’t commend him for that. Other than that, though…I’m afraid we know about as much about him as everypony else as of now. But I assure you, the matter is being looked into. I have no intentions of putting him under arrest. But I do hope that we will have a better idea of who he is and what his motives truly are in the very near future.”

“…he was just about to hit me again when there was this…this loud crash and a burst of wind. And then all of a sudden he’s in our apartment, all cloak and glowing red eyes, and he just grabbed up Clay by the scruff of his neck and hurled him out the window. Threw him right into the dumpster two floors down.”

As Dawning listened to the young mare’s story, he heard the shudder that had been in her voice while she told of her abusive husband die down when she got to Supermane’s entrance. Beside him, Lucky was listening just as closely, writing down notes. Fluttershy, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash couldn’t keep away looks of quiet sympathy. Quicksnap was off in back, gripping his camera in one talon and throwing occasional glances up at the sky.

They were in the midst of Manehattan’s Central Park; a vast expanse of grassy fields and hills, trees, lakes, and streams intercut with winding paths and rest areas dotted about, all coming together to form a welcome naturalistic respite from the concrete jungle that was the rest of the city. Plenty of ponies besides themselves were out here, either reclining on benches or out on picnic blankets, or frolicking around the park. They’d found their current interviewee on one of the side paths, under a canopy of trees that provided a nice amount of cool shade, the leaves up above rustling in an occasional breeze.

“What happened after that?” Lucky asked the mare.

“W-well, he told me to call the police, so I did that, of course. And he…he stayed with me until they came. To make sure I wasn’t alone or that Clay wouldn’t try to come back, even if I don’t think he could have after that. But he didn’t leave until the police finally came, and…it was strange, I was so scared but I felt so safe around him all at once. Like…I knew he wasn’t there to hurt me. He was there to help."

“And…after that?” Dawning inquired.

The mare shrugged. “Turned to look when they knocked on the door, and when I looked back he was gone. Just a breeze in the curtains.” She paused. “Things started looking up after that. Finally was able to get a divorce, found a place at a mare’s shelter for a little while…if he hadn’t come in, I don’t know where I’d be. I…I’m sorry, I know that’s probably not what you’re looking for, but…”

“Oh no no, darling,” Rarity said reassuringly. “Nothing to be sorry for.”

Lucky nodded in agreement. “We appreciate you sharing your story with us, we really do.”

“Well…thank you,” the mare replied. “I’m just sorry I couldn’t give you more. Good luck on finding him, though. And, um…if you do, tell him I said thank you.”

“We’ll remember to do that,” Dawning told her.

The young mare smiled, turning away and trotting off down the path. Dawning watched her go.

You’re welcome. Just glad I could help. I couldn’t just stand by.

Dawning wished he could actually say as much out loud to the young mare. But he could at least take comfort in knowing that her life had turned around after he’d rescued her from her husband. He still remembered that night vividly; hearing her terror and pain and his own anger deep within. He sometimes thought that in hindsight, maybe throwing Clay out the window into the dumpster hadn’t necessarily been the best call, but…well, he couldn’t deny it to himself. He’d been absolutely furious at what he’d seen. Not furious enough to go so far as to take the stallion’s life, but enough to give him a good scare and as much of a walloping as he could afford with a more fragile creature than he.

Dawning turned around to see that the group had started to trot down the path at a slow pace, and he jogged a few steps up to rejoin them. He caught up just as they stepped out from under the tree canopy and back into one of the open grassy expanses of the park. Dawning took a moment to relish the warmth of the sun against his fur, the sounds of the breeze blowing through the grass, and the contented noises of the ponies in the park, their heartbeats, their breathing.

Through the glowing, ethereal world that his sight and hearing created for him, a dozen little moments came and passed through him. A small group of foals playing a ball game in a field. A little griffon child perking up with a smile as a colt offered him a place in a game of tag. An elderly mare on a bench, smiling as she read through a small leather-bound book in her lap. A young stallion, trembling and smiling nervously as he opened a little box to the mare of his dreams, letting the diamond ring inside glint in the sunlight, and breaking into tears of joy as she threw her forelegs around him and embraced him.

He never spent more than a moment on each–to avoid eavesdropping–but instead let each come by and tell its brief story before vanishing again, forming a kind of mosaic of the lives of the park-goers in his mind. The extra things he saw through his senses, the glowing of body heat and magic, the rhythmic pulsing of lungs and hearts, heightened it all into an experience that he would have struggled to truly convey in its fullest to anypony who asked him to describe it.

For a few moments he let himself bask in this little sensory world of his own, letting the sounds and colors soothe his nerves and offer momentary distraction from his concerns.

At least, until he heard Lucky sigh. “This isn’t working,” she said discontentedly. “We’ve been trying this pony-on-the-street angle for three days now and we’re no closer to finding Supermane than when we started.”

“Yeah, you’d think it’d be a bit easier now that he’s out in the open,” Quicksnap added.

“Maybe we’re just not looking in the right places,” Fluttershy suggested.

“Fluttershy, I was asking everypony I could get to if they knew anything before the whole world saw him,” Lucky replied. “I figured that maybe now he’s out in the open maybe somepony would’ve figured something out or would be more willing to talk…but I guess I was wrong on that front.”

“What about the police?” Rainbow offered. “Or like, city hall or something?”

“That’s a possibility…but after the bridge bombing they’re probably going to be focusing most of their energies into finding out who set that up, though. I mean…ordinarily I could probably push my way to a few interviews, but I kinda don’t want to try that right now.” She gave a little snort. “Heck, I’m almost half-tempted to go poking into that myself…”

“If I may offer a suggestion, Ms. Lead,” Rarity said. “Sometimes when I’m faced with a rather daunting project, and if I’m not on a short deadline, I find it helps tremendously to take a step back from it, just for a little while. Very often afterwards I come back to things with a fresher set of eyes.”

“So…what? You’re suggesting that we take a pause?”

“Something like that. A temporary reprieve, more or less.”

Lucky thought on that. “Hmm…yeah, I suppose we could swing it by Whiteout. Heaven knows we’re not getting anywhere fast with the Supermane story. The Planet’s not gonna sell papers with a void in the news like that.”

“Great,” Quicksnap said. “All we need is a story to cover.”

“Hey, I saw that there’s a buckball game coming up at the stadium,” Rainbow said. “Maybe we could check that out? Entertainment and a story for you guys to write about.”

“Nah,” Lucky replied. “The Planet’s got a set of sports writers that could cover that, if they’re not planning to already.”

“Aw,” Rainbow mumbled disappointedly.

“It was a good idea, though,” Dawning assured her. “Heck, I’d have loved to go. Used to love playing buckball as a colt.”

Rainbow stopped in her tracks. “Whoa, wait. Seriously? You’re a buckball guy?”

“Um…y-yeah, sort of…” Dawning stammered, looking suddenly a bit embarrassed somehow. “I mean, I haven’t played it since I was young, but–“

“Dude, that’s awesome!” Rainbow squealed excitedly. “Another pony of culture!”

“Well, for a given value of ‘culture’…” Rarity murmured under her breath.

“I didn’t think anypony besides the Apple family really played buckball until a few years or so ago,” Fluttershy said.

“O-oh yeah, it was a little thing some of the farming communities across the country had going on,” Dawning replied. “It’s been, uh…kinda neat to see the old game get popular, actually…”

“Yeah, I’ll bet,” Quicksnap added. “Oh, what position did you used to play?”

“Uh, kicker–“

“Were you good at it?” Rainbow asked.

Dawning didn’t answer right away. “Um…”

His hind legs slamming into the ball and sending it shooting right through the basket in a horizontal blur. Woven Light yelping and ducking as wooden splinters rained down from the almost perfectly circular hole it had made on impact, letting it slip from her magical aura to fall down to the field. Flax staring in stunned silence between Dawning, the basket, and the now-mulched bush where the punctured ball lay, and finally gasping out “Holy buck!”.

“…pretty good, I think.”

Lucky chuckled a little.

“W-what?”

“Oh, come on, Dawning,” she said with a little smile. “We all know that when you say something you do is ‘pretty good’ that just usually means you’re ‘really good’ at it. Trust me, I know what your work looks like. You’re a habitual self-underseller.”

He shrugged. “Doesn’t mean you know how good I used to play buckball…”

“Well of course I don’t, not personally,” Lucky replied. “Heck, I didn’t even know about it up until just now. You never tell me anything about when you were a kid.”

“She…kinda has a point, Dawning,” Quicksnap agreed.

“Wait…seriously?” Rainbow asked as she raised an eyebrow. “You’ve been working together for like, what, a couple months now? And you haven’t told her anything about what it was like growing up?”

Dawning shrugged. “It, uh, just never really came up. What, you, uh…you want me to ramble about it?”

“Oh, no,” said Fluttershy. “Um, that is to say, not if you don’t feel comfortable with it, I mean…”

“But we wouldn’t mind getting to know you a bit better,” Rarity said gently. “You are a companion in our quest here, after all.”

Dawning looked around at his companions, suppressing an urge to squirm and shuffle in his nervousness. Their looks were completely innocent and friendly, but he felt like their eyes were boring holes through him. Faust, is this what ponies feel like when I see through them?

Maybe…maybe it’d be alright, just telling them a little. Just gotta make sure not to leave any hints or room for guessing about–

“Soooo…’Smallville’.” Rainbow prompted. “Guessing with a name like that it’s not the biggest place in Equestria?”

Darn it, Dawning, just talk. It’ll be less suspicious than if you don’t. “N-no, not really. It’s…average size, I guess. Sure didn’t feel that way growing up, though.”

“A lot bigger when you’re small, right?” said Lucky.

Relax. Try to focus on the good memories, avoid…avoid the other ones. But relax.

Dawning finally allowed himself to smile a little. “…yeah, yeah it was.” He walked over to a nearby bench alongside the bath and sat down, making himself comfortable in an effort to disarm his stresses. “When I was a little colt, it felt like the whole world to me. I mean, I knew it wasn’t, but…”

“It was everything you knew,” Fluttershy finished.

“Yeah.” He looked around at the expanse of green nature surrounding them. “I kind of like places like this, where it’s less urbanized. Reminds a little me of home, I guess. I mean, different in some ways, obviously. We didn’t have too many hills or anything; it was mostly flat. The tallest things for a good couple miles around were the trees and the forests. We had some pines and redwoods growing nearby.”

“It sounds lovely,” Fluttershy said.

“What about your folks?” Quicksnap asked. “What were they like?”

“Them? Oh, they were great. Dad’s name is Cornstalk, Mom’s is Amber Grain. They own a farm on the outskirts of town.” He smirked a little. “Guess you could say I was literally raised in a barn.”

“Oh, I think I know a mare who’d like you,” Rainbow said with a little grin of her own.

Rarity rolled her eyes. “You were saying, darling?”

“Uh, yeah, Mom and Dad’s farm. Wasn’t the biggest in town, but it was there. Heck, most years Mom and Dad could bring the whole harvest in by themselves with maybe a couple volunteers. And of course when I got old enough I pitched in, too.” He sighed and smiled a little. “Lot of good memories from that old place…a couple odd happy accidents…”

He found himself remembering the one year when he’d discovered how fast he could really move, and he’d tried to do a small section of the corn harvest at super-speed just to show Dad that he could. It had ended up turning into an object lesson; he was durable and could take those speeds, but a lot of things in the world weren’t and couldn’t.

“You have any playmates?” Lucky asked.

“Mm-hmm,” Dawning nodded. “Kids around there were generally pretty good most of the time. Or well-raised, however you want to call it. Had a couple close friends that I’d hang out with most often. One was a colt named Flax. He was always a pretty fun guy to hang around. I remember helping with his student body President campaign back in high school.”

“Did he win?” Quicksnap asked.

“Yup; in a landslide. And then, uh…the other close friend I had was a filly named Woven Light. Her family owned the farm neighboring ours, and she was one of the few unicorns in a town of mostly earth ponies. Grew up wanting to go to Celestia’s school, but last I heard she’d started waiting at one of our restaurants and being on call for harvest volunteer. I remember, she…sometimes she’d tell me about how it felt being a bit different from anypony else. Not in a bad way or one that she was shunned for, just…she was born a bit different from most of the rest of us, and she’d tell me it sometimes got lonely for her.”

“Doesn’t sound like she was all that lonely to me,” Rarity smiled. “Certainly not if she had a nice colt like you to confide in.”

A faint tinge of red appeared on Dawning’s tan cheeks. “Well, I…I tried to be there when she needed it. Just what friends do, I always thought. And I think…I think in a way I could kind of understand how it felt.”

“How so?” Rainbow asked.

A small jolt of fear went through Dawning. Uh oh. That was a mistake. Um… “I…I don’t know, just…felt like I got where she was coming from, is all.”

“So empathy,” Fluttershy said.

“I guess, yeah.”

“What about your folks?” Lucky inquired. “You get along with them?”

“Are you kidding?” Dawning replied. “I loved them, I…”

Dawning trailed off. A hundred memories had suddenly flooded into his brain. Many good, but many painful as well. And recent. Dawning suddenly had a desire to not want to talk anymore. Never mind keeping his secret; now he just wanted to avoid going back to that turning point in his life…

But everypony was expecting an answer from him, and he couldn’t deny them now.

“…they were great. They taught me everything I know. Everything I believe in. I…really can’t think of many moments where I didn’t feel like they were there for me, or that I could go to them and talk honestly about a problem I had. I could, and…” He finally looked back up at his companions. “…I love them. And they loved me. And…it all worked. I’m sorry, I know that sounds kind of sappy, but…”

“Oh no no,” Fluttershy said reassuringly. “It doesn’t sound sappy at all, really.”

“It sounds genuine,” Lucky told him. “Like…from-the-heart kind of stuff.”

Dawning smiled a little, feeling somewhat relieved. “Well…I mean it, really…”

“I’ll bet they were proud of you when you set out,” Rarity said.

Another pang shot through Dawning, and he fought to not let it show. “Yeah, they…they were,” he told them. “Sad I was leaving Smallville, but…I think I always wanted to be a writer more than I did a farmer, and…they were at least understanding of that.”

“Well, that’s good,” Rarity nodded. “Do you still talk?”

“Mm-hmm. We still write back and forth when we can…”

But you still threw them away, a part of him told himself.

“…um, then after that I kind of freelanced for a while. Wrote for a few papers and outlets across the country, built up a resume, and…well, one thing lead to another and somehow I ended up here working for the Planet.” He perked himself up enough to direct a little smile at Lucky. “With some help, of course.”

“Oh, I remember now,” Fluttershy said, turning to Lucky. “You helped him get settled in, right?”

Lucky chuckled and nodded. “Yup. Figured somepony had to be there for the newbie.” She came around to deliver a friendly pat on the shoulder to Dawning. “I mean, c’mon, I know potential when I see it. Snappy, punchy prose style, honest-to-Faust the fastest typist I’ve ever known…this guy here belonged at the Planet and I wasn’t gonna let it lose him.”

Dawning’s cheeks flushed by a bit and his ears folded down a little. “W-well…”

“Oh, don’t look so embarrassed; you know it’s true.”

“I, uh…” Dawning stammered. “…w-well wait a minute, uh…how did we get on talking about my life story here?”

“Uh…” Quicksnap thought for a second. “We were trying to figure out what we can cover while breaking from Supermane for a bit, Rainbow Dash brought up buckball and so did you and it kinda spiraled from there.”

“Oh, uh, yeah…so we did." Dawning got up off the bench and stood to his hooves. "We should, uh, probably get to looking for something we can run by the Chief.”

“Indeed,” Rarity agreed as the group began to head down the path again. “Of course, in a city like this, an event of importance shouldn’t be too hard to find…ooh! Ooh! Hold on a mo!”

Before anypony knew what she was doing, Rarity had broke away and bolted to a large, roofed noticeboard off to one side of the path. Pasted across its surface was a large map of the park, and flanking that on both sides were various flyers and posters for events around the city. Rarity’s head bobbed up and down as she scanned across the board, and she did a little hop of excitement as she seemed to find something. As quickly as she’d went she turned and came rushing back to the group.

“Ooh, I think I’ve found the perfect thing!” She chirped. “A chance to relax and a solid social event to write about!”

Lucky raised an eyebrow. “Uh, okay…what are you–“

“Now now, hold on,” Rarity said, raising a hoof. “Don’t want to get anypony too excited on the off-chance I can’t get us in…and oh! I’ve got arrangements to make, maybe a few favors to call in…listen, I’ll meet you back at the hotel later and hopefully all will go well!”

And with that, Rarity turned purple tail and darted off back down the path, leaving the other five staring in mild confusion.

“Is, uh…is she always like that when she gets excited?” Quicksnap asked.

“Only when it involves something really fancy,” Rainbow replied.

Lucky nodded. “Kinda guessed. What do you suppose she’s roping us into?”

Dawning Hope, meanwhile, allowed himself a quiet sigh of relief, now feeling grateful for the distraction from both himself and the hunt for Supermane. Whatever Rarity had in mind, at least it could provide a much-needed relief for a little while.

He just hoped it wasn’t too much to ask that things went more smoothly from here.

“Yes, of course I want gold trim on the decor as well, it’s in the company logo,” Lex said into the phone receiver, spinning his chair to look out his expansive office windows. “…well obviously it’s going to look opulent, I want this all to look nice…after all, what is LexCorp but comfort and convenience for the masses?”

He was currently on call with LexCorp’s public relations department, making plans for a public charity ball to be held later next week. The company and Lex himself were no stranger to hosting these; the proceeds for this one would go to funding the repair of the Bronclyn Bridge as he had promised yesterday.

On a more business-tactics level, though, it was to help further restore the company’s image after the tram incident. Stepping in to take care of the bridge had been a big first step, and this would help to reinforce things. Luckily, it was already working. Lex had been hearing less and less talk of the LexCorp tram incident over the past forty-eight hours, which was absolutely fine by him.

And comparatively speaking, as many details as there were to go over, it at least provided a small break from concern over other matters.

“Now then, about the desserts…we’re going to need cake, obviously, so perhaps something like…forty, as a starting number? Yes, I think–” Lex stopped as his attention was caught by a blinking light on the desk intercom. A small rectangular screen denoted the new caller as Dr. Vale.

“Hold on, I’ll get back to you on this,” Lex said, not waiting for a reply as he replaced the phone receiver and reached over to tap the intercom. “Vale. Progress on the weapon retrofits.”

“Uh, we’re almost finished with that, sir,” Vale’s stammering voice crackle back from the speakers. “The main components have functioned just fine during testing and should operate at one-hundred percent capacity in, um…in the field.”

Lex nodded to himself. “And the self-destruct mechanisms?”

“Y-yes, vaporization charges have been installed in almost all of them. Just putting in the last few adjustments on everything–“

“Good. Make sure it’s done by later today; I want to have things ready for when my contacts arrive for their briefing.”

“Right, right…s-sir, I have to ask, are you sure they’re going to fall for this–“

“Dr. Vale,” Lex growled. “Do you really think that I would have put you to work making this come to fruition if I didn’t think it had even a chance of working?”

“U-um…no sir.”

Lex smirked. “I didn’t think so. Now then, anything else you have to report?”

“O-oh yes, actually…I, uh, took the liberty of examining some astronomical reports, and I think I may have found some more potential information about Krypton.”

Lex raised an eyebrow in interest. “Really? Do tell.”

“I, um, I have some data I can show you…if you wouldn’t mind me sending it up to your computer–“

“Send it.” He pushed a small button on the desk, and a translucent rectangular screen slid up from a slot in the middle with a mechanical whirr, lighting up in a desktop display once it had fully emerged. After it had finished, a notification for a file delivery appeared in the upper right corner.

“Alright, I just sent it up to you…can you see it?”

“Yes, I just got it,” Lex said. He tapped the notification with a hoof, and it expanded into several documents of astronomical data; star charts, spectrum analysis, and various other displays and graphs.

“Okay, so…I cross-referenced the data we took from the Kryptonian ship with Equestrian astronomy reports, and, well…it seems that there was a star system detected a few years ago in the approximate vicinity to that given in the ship’s star charts…can you see it?”

“Yes, indeed I can,” Lex said as he examined the data. On one part of the screen was a comparison of two star charts; one from the Royal Equestrian Astronomical Society, the other pulled from the Kryptonian ship’s computers. And indeed, when put next to each other, the system Vale pointed out occupied a very similar position to that Krypton’s sun apparently did.

“Now, um, h-here’s where it gets interesting. They first detected a planet roughly the size and mass of Krypton via transitory dimming, and, um, apparently had enough data to roughly calculate it’s orbital time…”

“Yes?”

“Well, uh, about two years or so ago they looked back at the system to observe it again, and, um…it didn’t show.”

Both of Lex’s eyebrows went up. Now this was interesting, at least if he thought it was going the way he thought it was. “Oh really, now?”

“Yes, sir. I checked about every report I could get access to. They went back and checked and re-checked all their data as thoroughly as they could, and they were still certain they’d predicted its orbit as accurately as possible. They, uh, didn’t find anything except possible bits of particulate matter, thought they may have been Trojan asteroids. So, um, either there’s something else they haven’t accounted for, or–“

“It’s not there anymore,” Lex finished. His eyes wandered up from the screen to stare into empty space, while he became immersed in mulling this new information over.

Perhaps it had been an intellectual failing on his part, but in all his years of owning that strange crystalline spacecraft, he hadn’t ever really devoted much thought into why it had come down from the stars to Ponykind’s pale blue dot in space. But as he thought of the size of the ship now, and especially the passenger compartment within–assuming, of course, that Supermane’s species had a growth rate comparable to that of an Equestrian pony–it made a kind of sense now that he really looked at it.

“…Mr. Lexicon?”

Lex blinked. “Erm, yes, Dr. Vale. Thank you for sharing this with me. In the meantime, you and your teams keep at your work.”

“Uh, yes s–“

The intercom was clicked off before Vale could finish. Lex silently rose from his chair, trotting over to the windows and staring out and Manehattan beyond, so close to the class that his reflection seemed to form a giant, ghostly apparition of himself over the cityscape while he thought.

If all this was true…then it meant that there was a good chance that Supermane was totally alone here. Maybe there were others like him around, or maybe–with any luck–he was truly the last of his race. Totally alone in the vast spaces of the universe.

It made Lex smile a little. A lovely thought.

Manehattan didn’t have any sort of definable “slum” area as most would call such a thing. It did, however, have a few scattered areas of particular seediness that some ponies preferred to avoid, and where others would gladly flock to go about their particular breed of business; darkened back alleys, a few older and more dilapidated buildings and blocks, the odd sewer tunnel, abandoned warehouses, things of that general nature.

That in mind, it wouldn’t have been particularly eyebrow-raising for anypony traversing a certain back alley near the waterfront to notice a pair of stallions making their way down to some destination and purpose known only to them. One was a light-gray pegasus with a black mane, marked across his flanks with a white swirl amidst a cloud. As he walked beside his companion, his head turned this way and that, as though playing the part of lookout for the both of them. The other was a taller stallion of yellow-brown fur and a light-brown mane and tail, with a face that some would describe as bearing a certain rugged handsomeness to it, his flanks marked by a dagger. He kept his head up and his eyes forward as he walked, leaving his companion to watch out for potential threats as they went.

Under normal circumstances, Bronze Corsair would have never considered coming to Manehattan or approaching Equestria’s eastern coast at any close distance, save for perhaps up in Trottingham, where the crime rate was higher and smugglers from abroad more easily welcomed. He much preferred the more wild and far less urbanized seas surrounding the Colto Maltese archipelago in the Celestial Sea. He had a solid niche carved out there, as both a mercenary for hire and a successful pirate captain in his own right. He had respect, he had wealth, he had connections, he had every pleasure a stallion could have at his hoof tips. It was a good life. Good enough.

But in the months since the coronation of Twilight Sparkle as ruler of mainland Equestria, things had begun to change for the worse. One of her biggest changes since taking the throne had been the appointment of Tempest Shadow as Captain of the Royal Guard, and the former Storm Army commander had wasted no time in beginning to make some changes to how they operated. The worst was still to come, but already the patrols in the Celestial Seas had gotten bolder, more eager to hunt down pirates and smugglers. And whereas the underworld had taken root and flourished around Colto Maltese, once overlooked by the mainland in favor of more immediate pressing matters, there were now whispers and fears that soon the powers that be would more actively seek them out.

And while Bronze would never admit it out loud to anyone–he was much too proud for that–he himself had begun to feel that existential dread creeping into him. If the end for the little dark world he lived in was truly coming, then that meant being prepared to take measures he wouldn’t ordinarily consider, even at his boldest and most brazen.

So when word had come to him that a certain party in Manehattan was in need of his and his crew’s particular set of skills, and willing to pay them very handsomely, well…it would be wise to at least know what was being put on the table.

Bronze just hoped that this would be worth his trouble. He didn’t much like Manehattan at all. Never mind the distance from his usual territories or its proximity to the government that would very likely put a warrant on his head soon, if not already. The whole environment was just uncomfortably alien to him. Too artificial, too compact, too…stuffy.

Distaste and risks aside, he and his second-in-command White Wind had made it into the city without any trouble so far, and soon enough they found themselves finally arriving at their destination; an out-of-use warehouse, one of many along the city’s southern river, and the one designated by the anonymous request for a meeting.

Stepping through one of the backdoors–the one they’d been told would be unlocked just for them–the two found themselves navigating through a maze of tall, thick floor-to-ceiling shelves, all empty. It didn’t take them too long to come to a cleared out area in the middle of the structure’s interior, the only part of it lit by harsh yellow lighting from the ceiling. Standing in the light was a tall, tough looking white pegasus mare with a dark yellow mane and tail, both short, dressed in a business suit and black sunglasses that hid her eyes. Two stallions, looking equally tough and similarly dressed, stood on each side of her. Surrounding the three were an assortment of large boxes; not wooden crates, but heavy-duty looking things of metal and plastic.

“Bronze Corsair?” The mare asked as the two entered. Her companions were silent, only tilting their heads to look at the newcomers behind shaded eyes.

Bronze regarded the mare. It was obvious that she was the leader amongst these three, or at least a spokespony for their group. Or whomever they worked for. His instincts told him to be cautious, wary. He and White were still in risky territory and not yet aware of just what–or who–they were dealing with. Still, it would probably serve them best at the moment to be diplomatic and not let their concerns show, and Bronze could easily manage that.

It helped that this one didn’t look too bad as far as middle-pony negotiators went.

So he put on his best charming smile and replied, “The one and only, ma’am. And I have the pleasure of addressing, ah–“

“My name is not important, and my employer wishes to remain anonymous at this time,” The mare said curtly.

Bronze frowned. While he wouldn’t mind admitting to himself that he rather liked her assertiveness, he didn’t much care for being left in the dark so early on. “Mm, well, that might be a little bit of a problem for us here. Y’see, I kind of like knowing who’s asking me to do a job for them before I go trotting myself or my boys into anything. Just a, ah…basic informational requirement, you might call it.”

There was no visible facial reaction from the mare. She just continued to look back at him through her sunglasses, stoicism remaining firm. “Then perhaps you might be able to forgive our anonymity after we present our offer to you.”

Bronze scoffed. “You lot must think you’re pretty important if you think you can play with me like this.” He paused to flash a little patronizing smirk. “But alright. Just for now I’ll play along. Now, what could a bunch of secretive mainlanders want with a pony like me?”

The mare held out a hoof to one side, and one of her stallion cohorts silently gave her a manilla folder. She opened it up and turned it towards the two, revealing pictures of a large, luxurious-looking airship, clearly a cruise liner of some kind.

White Wind let out a low whistle. “Now there’s a pretty looking floater.”

“The SS Constitution,” The mare said. “A newly-christened luxury airliner, top-of-the-line of her class. Her maiden voyage is going to be a cruise around the city’s coastlines next evening after tomorrow–”

“And you want us to hijack her for you, right?” Bronze interjected. “Come on, lady, don’t think I don’t know where you’re going with this.”

The mare paused for a moment. There was a slight pursing of her lips. “In a word, yes. After your acquisition of the vessel, we want you to bring her out to these coordinates and hold her there for our retrieval.” She pointed at a map in the folder, at a spot well out to sea from the city. “You may help yourselves to whatever valuables you wish to take, but we want the ship itself.”

Bronze took the folder from her hooves and looked over the contents. The Constitution was certainly a big ship, and given how high-class she was he could only imagine what the haul would be like. That was certainly enticing…perhaps a bit too much so.

He looked back up at the mare. “So let’s reiterate; you want us to slip aboard a large-scale luxury liner flying right on the coast of one of the country’s major cities and expect us to slip her out from under everypony’s noses?”

“Are you not sure you can handle it?”

Oof. Going for his confidence and ego. Nice try, he thought. “Lady, listen. My crew and I are good at what we do, and I mean damn good…but I’m not stupid. Now taking a hold of the ship isn’t going to be a problem. That’s going to be holding off whoever tries to come after us when we, y’know…swipe something as big as that from a major port.”

“We have some extra precautions that my employer will provide you with to make sure you get the job done.” She stepped over to one of the crates. “Open it up.”

Bronze raised an eyebrow. Extra precautions? Where was she going with this? Nevertheless, he nodded to White Wind and the two stepped up to the crate, unlatching the metal clasps holding it closed and lifting the heavy lid up.

Bronze and White both went stock still at what they saw inside.

Resting in the foam-padded interior of the crate was a gun. A very large, heavy-looking gun, so big that it came with its own harness to help the operator hold it up. In fact, calling it a gun was probably an understatement. This was more like a personal cannon. The rounds they saw packed inside along with it were big as well; they looked like some kind of armor-piercing ammunition.

Bronze Corsair was no stranger to the concept of a gun. They were a lot more common in the criminal rings outside Equestria than they were within it, and he’d used more than his fair share of them in battle. But even though he’d only seen this one for all of a few seconds so far, he instantly realized that he was looking at easily the most powerful personal gun he’d ever seen in his life.

“Holy spit,” White Wind whispered. He reached a hoof into the case and gingerly ran it across the barrel of the thing. “This is…what a beauty.” He looked up to the mare. “Uh…m-mind if I give her a try?”

“Only if you want to blow apart this building and the next two down,” The mare said flatly.

“Is…sweet Faust, is this really as powerful as…?”

A silent glance from the mare answered in place of words. White looked back down at the gun. “Holy spit…”

“We have several more just like this one that we’re willing to loan to you. Some even more powerful. Do the job well enough and we may even let you keep a few, provided you don’t tell anypony where you got them from.”

“Where we…” Bronze started. The sight of the huge weapon had sent his brain into a scramble as he tried to think. This was too much. “No. No no no no. First hijacking a ship so close to civilization and now offering us weapons to pull it off with?” He shoved the folder back into the mare’s hooves. “What are you setting us up for here? Who the buck are you working for?”

The mare remained undeterred. “Somepony who can easily erase all of your financial and resource concerns in one fell swoop, Mr. Corsair. Trust me, we are very aware of your current situation. And we are more than willing to provide you with enough wealth to ensure that you and your operations can stay active for far longer than they could without us. Name what you want in return, and it will be given to you. All we need from you…” She reopened the folder and turned it back to him. “…is your expertise. If you’re truly as ‘damn good’ as you say you are, then help us. And we will reward you handsomely for it. It’s as simple as that.”

Bronze’s eyes flitted back down to the image of the Constitution. He felt torn in two. Every sensible part of his mind was screaming at him that something was wrong, that he was being played, that he was being left in the dark, to walk away and back out while he still could.

And yet…he also knew that he could conceivably pull this off. It would be difficult, most likely one of the tougher heists he and his crew would undertake, if only for being able to get the ship out of range of Manehattan before the authorities caught on. But he knew his crew and he knew himself. It was entirely possible for them to do it.

And he also knew that if this mare and her oh-so-vague “employer” were going to stick to their word, then he could use every bit of cash that he could get his hooves on. He didn’t plan on being hunted down by the Equestrian navy and hauled off to prison anytime soon, and at this point he was willing to take any chance he could to ensure his survival.

Even, perhaps, a gamble as risky as this.

“…fine. Let’s talk business, shall we?”

Author's Note

Why did this chapter take so long, it's not even a major chapter, I have no excuse for making you wait so long for this, shame shame, I'm a bad boy–

*ahem* Excuse me.

I'm very very sorry for the delays. First it was just plain slacking off, then it was my semester finishing up. I feel awful that I let my schedule slip this bad. I'd intended the next big chapter to be the Christmas release chapter, but...alas.

Regardless, I'm glad to have finally got this out. I wanted to take a moment to drop further hints at Dawning's past, and also to set up the next big action scene of the story. And it's going to be a very different beast than before.

Supermane's snatched up petty thieves and crooks, stopped trains and saved bridges from bombs...but now how will he fare in an actual full-on fight with a more organized offending force, and armed with advanced military-grade weaponry to boot? A new experience for him indeed.

Next chapter will most likely come sometime in January, seeing's how big it's likely going to be–y'know, providing I don't fail y'all again.

Keep looking up, true believers.

Hijack

A “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic” Fanfiction

Written by Jade Dawn

The Constitution had been hailed by her builders as one of–if not the–largest and most luxurious cruise airship yet built. And seen in person, she definitely seemed to deliver on that promise. Over 1,000 feet from the bow to stern of the craft’s upper dirigible section, she was decked out with all of the pleasures that a ticket to board could buy; the finest furnished rooms, a restaurant and bar stocked with the best foods, a pool and hot tubs…if it could be named it was probably there. It was plain to see that this was no mere passenger ship.

No, the Constitution was a vessel clearly built for the well-to-do. And indeed, most of the guest list for her inaugural cruise around Manehattan Bay consisted of the crème de la crème of pony society. Some were wealthy businessponies or philanthropists, others artists or well-known personalities. Some where even local politicians. All very upper class, or at least well off enough to have been able to afford the ticket prices.

Which may have explained why Dawning Hope felt so uncomfortably out of place standing on her upper decks amidst the crowds of guests trotting about around him. He felt even more out of place than he usually did amidst this gathering of a social class higher than his own. Not that he held any particular ill will or distaste towards them–most of them, anyway–but it wasn’t any more his comfort zone than…well, pretty much anything had been these past two years.

Still, he knew Rarity had pulled in quite a few favors to get them tickets aboard, Daily Planet press passes notwithstanding. She’d even gone to the trouble of gifting formal wear to the reporters; tuxedoes for him and Quicksnap, and a yellow evening gown for Lucky. And he didn’t want to squander the opportunity for everypony else by looking like he wasn’t enjoying himself. So he did his best to look like he was, putting up his best perky-but-not-overdoing-it face as he hung around one of the food tables off to one side of the main deck.

At least his companions seemed to be fitting in well enough. Rarity, dressed in an extravagant purple dress, had spent most of the trip so far chatting with fellow socialites, some old acquaintances, others newly met. Rainbow Dash, who’d earlier been griping about the blue outfit that Rarity had selected for her, was leaning against the railing surrounded by a small group of ponies, eagerly listening to her talk with a grin. From what Dawning could pick up, the topic was herself. Even Fluttershy, clad in a green dress that vaguely suggested a forest-like look, was doing alright in this environment, having found someone with a keen interest in animal shelter support to talk with. Meanwhile, Quicksnap was going around taking as many pictures as he could, while Lucky seemed content to keep close to Dawning and Rarity. He knew that she probably felt more uncomfortable with this crowd than he did.

“Your suit fitting alright, darling?”

Oops. Rarity must’ve seen him tugging at the collar of his tuxedo. “Uh, no, no, suit’s fine…um, thank you again for getting it.”

“Oh, please, think nothing of it, Dawning,” Rarity replied with a wave of her hoof. “I’m more than happy to provide a few favors to friends. And, uh, if I might be so forward, you look rather dashing in it.”

“Erm…thanks,” Dawning nodded. In truth, he really was happy that she’d gotten it. For whatever reason, either gut instinct or paranoia he really couldn’t say, he’d decided to bring his Supermane outfit along out on the trip tonight. And as it so happened, with a little adjusting and tucking in here and there, he was able to reasonably hide it beneath his dress suit.

Just in case.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Lucky shoot a brief glare at Rarity before quickly suppressing it. “Nothing quite like it, eh?” she said, in a way that sounded a little less than impressed. “Pomp and circumstances, all that…stuff.”

“You don’t sound particularly thrilled,” Rarity noted.

“Let’s just say the upper classes aren’t exactly my favorite group to hang around.” She shrugged. “But hey, don’t let my personal prejudices get in the way. At least some of us are having fun.” She nodded over to a little ways off, to where Rainbow Dash was still surrounded by her little personal crowd.

Rarity nodded. “Hmm, understandable…but then again, there are certain advantages to this kind of company, I’m sure we can both agree.”

“Such as?”

“Oh, you know…connections, opportunities…” Rarity flashed a knowing smile. “I seem to recall you were wishing for a way to get some choice statements from a few certain ponies?”

She nodded her head to one side, still smiling. Lucky followed, looking through the churning crowd of guests until she finally saw; Mayor Sound Policy, his gray head suddenly sticking out to her as she locked on.

Lucky slowly turned back to Rarity. “…you…you genius.”

Rarity’s shrug was modest, but her smile was a little self-congratulatory. “I have my moments, darling.”

In spite of everything else, Lucky chuckled. “You’re a lifesaver…Dawning, let’s go get us a comment. Kid, get your tail feathers over here!”

“Oh, right away, Miss Lead!” Quicksnap chirped as he fell in behind Lucky, who was all but prancing her way along.

Behind them, Dawning stopped to give Rarity a questioning look. “Did you have this planned from the start or was this just a lucky coincidence?” he asked.

Rarity smiled. “Oh, please, Mr. Hope…a lady must be allowed some secrets, hm?”

“Dawning, come on!” Lucky called.

Dawning gave Rarity a little nod of thanks before going to catch up with Lucky and Quicksnap. It didn’t take them too long for Lucky to lead them through the churning crowd to the opposite end of the deck, where Mayor Sound Policy stood near one of the beverage tables by the railing. A young blonde-maned filly in a little yellow frock dress stood close by, all but hugging his legs, while Running Candidate seemed to be just finishing a conversation with Policy, nodding and giving a champagne glass a brief raise before turning away. It was exactly the kind of opening that Lucky was looking for.

“Mayor Policy, sir?” Lucky called out as they approached.

Policy turned his head at her voice. He smiled, but it did little to mask the subtle displeasure in his eyes. “Ah, uh, good evening Miss Lead…forgive me, but I wasn’t quite expecting to see you and your partners here.”

“Friend of ours got us on board. Also, y’know…” Lucky held up her press pass with a little smirk.

Policy nodded. “Uh, yes, of course…and good evening to you Dawning, um, Quicksnap, was it?”

“Yes sir, Mr. Mayor sir,” Quicksnap said, stepping up beside Lucky and raising his camera. “Hey, mind if I get a picture for the Planet?”

“Uh–“

SNAP!

“Thanks!” Quicksnap beamed.

The little filly near Policy giggled as he blinked spots out of his eyes. “Daddy, come on, it’s just a picture.”

Policy stifled a grumble, putting on his best politician’s smile. “Oh, do forgive me. This is my daughter, Goldenrod,” he said as he pulled her into a shoulder hug. Goldenrod, for her own part, looked a little less than pleased. “Thought I’d take her out on a special little outing this evening.”

“Nice,” Dawning nodded. He looked down to Goldenrod. “Having fun?”

“Not really,” she answered. Dawning fought to keep the childish bluntness of the reply from making him giggle, and he could hear that Lucky was having less success than he was.

The Mayor held a purse-lipped smile as he looked between his daughter and the reporters. “Well, erm…say, uh, I’m going to be a bit occupied with more, um…grown-up talk…” He shot a quick glance Lucky’s way. “…so why not go and find some of the other children on board to play with for a while, hm? Maybe make some new friends?”

Goldenrod shook her head. “They don’t like me.”

“Oh, I can hardly believe that…why ever not?”

“They think I’m dumb.”

Policy let out a soft chuckle, the disbelieving kind. “Well that’s absurd…why would they think that?”

“Their folks say that you’re dumb and they think I’m dumb too.”

No amount of politician’s acting could hide the embarrassed blush that flared up across Sound Policy’s face. Lucky finally lost her grip and let out a snort.

Policy pulled himself into a gritted-toothed smile. “Well, just…give it a shot anyway, why don’t you? It can’t hurt to try, now can it?”

“But Dad–“

“And listen, while you’re going that way…” He shot a glare at Quicksnap. “Maybe this fine young hippogriff would like to accompany you? Maybe he’d like to get some photos of some of the other party-goers on board, and I’m sure he could use some help finding some of Daddy’s other friends, hm?”

“You sure, sir?” Quicksnap asked innocently. “I mean, if Ms. Lead needs–”

“Actually,” Lucky interjected, sensing the Mayor’s annoyance. “Actually that’s a great idea. Faust knows we’re going to need as many photos of this night as we can get, so maybe…” She put a foreleg around Quicksnap’s shoulder to turn him away. “…maybe you should go and do that while we get our interview, ‘kay, kid?”

“Well…if you say so, Miss Lead. But if you need me for anything–”

“I’ll holler, don’t worry,” Lucky said with a pat on his back to send him on his way. Goldenrod sighed before slowly trotting off, Quicksnap following along.

Policy sighed, rubbing his temples with a hoof. “Kids…”

“Oh, I’m sure she doesn’t believe really believe that…” Dawning said comfortingly.

“Anyway,” Policy said, clearing his throat. “Miss Lead, Mr. Hope, is there, ah…” He forced a politician’s pleasant smile onto his face. “Anything you’re looking to ask of me this particular evening?”

“Well, um, we were hoping–”

“Oh yes,” Lucky jumped in, pulling out a notepad. “Yes there is, quite a bit, actually.”

Policy grumbled softly. “Well listen, if it’s about this whole business with LexCorp I can assure you–”

“Oh no no, I’m actually not interested in Lex tonight…although if you want, we can come back around to him later. Actually, um…” She paused, savoring the tiny bit of suspense. “…tonight I’m more interested in Supermane.”

Policy blinked. “…Supermane?”

“Well, Mr. Mayor,” Lucky said, dropping the snark and slipping into business mode. “You can hardly deny that Supermane’s been taking up quite a bit of news lately, between his rescues of the LexCorp tram and the Bronclyn Bridge and, well…ponies want some answers.”

“You want to know what I think of him.”

Lucky shrugged. “Would be a nice place to start.”

Policy pursed his lips. Dawning watched him as he held his pen ready, feeling a bit anxious. He knew the police had been trying to hard to hunt him, but that was when he was still an urban myth to the world. But now that he was more public, and if the city officials wanted him brought in, then they could easily call in the Royal Guard to come help find him, and if the government–even under Twilight Sparkle’s reign–got serious about trying to find him, never mind the Element Bearers already being on the case…

Finally Policy coughed, straightening himself up, going into speech mode. “Miss Lead, I’d like to think that myself and the rest of this city’s council are proponents of law and order…”

“Mm-hmm,” Lucky murmured, nodding to Dawning to start taking notes. He started writing, his reporter’s experience allowing him to do so while only occasionally glancing down at the pad as he watched and listened to the Mayor talk.

“…and well…Supermane is saving lives, I’ll give him that. I don’t think even his harshest critics will deny that he’s prevented the deaths of hundreds between the tram accident and the bridge bombing.”

Okay, so far so good… Dawning thought. …so why do I feel a “but” coming up?

“However…”

Dawning stopped writing. And here it comes…

“However,” Policy continued. “I think we must all keep in mind that Supermane is still very much a vigilante, operating without supervision or accountability to the police or the Royal Guard or any recognized governing authority.”

“Uh-huuh…” Lucky murmured sourly.

“And yes, of course he has helped…but why? How is the common pony to know what his real intentions are? As an elected official, I’m afraid I simply cannot put my wholehearted trust into somepony who acts outside the confines of the law.”

Dawning sighed internally. Oh boy…

“You getting this so far, Dawning?” Lucky asked.

“What? O-oh, um, yes, Lucky,” Dawning hurriedly said as he jotted down Policy’s comment, holding back a wince as he put the words down on paper.

Lucky turned back to the Mayor. “So you disapprove of him, then?”

Policy raised a hoof. “Miss Lead, I never said I disapprove of the pony, please do not misquote me on that. What I said was that I, as a city official, I simply cannot condone him running about taking the law into his own hooves. The tram and the bridge rescues are one thing, but going after criminals is another.”

“I…see,” Lucky nodded slowly. “So, with that in mind, what exactly do you plan to do about him?”

“I plan to petition Princess Twilight for a formal Guard investigation into his whereabouts and identity, and bring him in for questioning,” Policy answered. “I can see that she’s made a start, what with sending her, ah, friends here…” He nodded into the crowd of churning party goers where Rarity, Fluttershy, and Rainbow were still chatting around.

“And what makes you think that they’re here for Supermane?” Lucky asked.

“Well, Miss Lead,” Policy replied. “You can hardly expect me to believe that no less than three of the Elements of Harmony would come out all this way to Manehattan on a mere social call…especially out to you and your paper.”

“Okay, fair enough. And, uh, you don’t think their involvement is enough?”

“Not necessarily, but I think it’s time we launched something more proactive in light of the current circumstances. I’ve already authorized the police precincts to begin searching around the city and track his known areas of operation–”

“Have they found anything yet?” Dawning suddenly blurted out. The Mayor raised an eyebrow at him, and Dawning struggled to not visibly flinch. Darn it, too jumpy sounding…

“…no, we have not. And, uh, with all due respect,” He turned back to Lucky. “If we were to come up with any relevant information like that, well…I personally wouldn’t be too keen on making it public knowledge until we’ve found him.”

In other words, you’re not going to be any help, Lucky thought. What she actually said, however, was a simple, “I see.”

Dawning, meanwhile, was beginning to feel a knot forming in his stomach. This was everything that he had been afraid was going to happen once he stepped out into the open. Now it wasn’t just Lex clandestinely gunning for him, now the authorities were prepping to hunt for him too. At least when the Elements and Lucky had been looking for him he’d felt safe, because, of course, he’d been with them every step of the way. He could keep an eye on them, work out their movements, and compensate when he could. But if the Manehattan police or the Royal Guard decided to really throw their resources into hunting him down…he honestly wasn’t sure if he could really evade them if they seriously tried.

Tartarus, they might even get Lex to study me when they find me… He thought to himself. Oh Faust, if I’d just stayed off to the side and let the tram–

His train of thought came to a screeching thought and his blood ran cold. Oh, no, no no no no…where had that thought come from? It had just been for a second, but now as he realized what he’d been thinking, he felt utterly repulsed by that little burst of selfishness.

For Faust’s sake, ponies had almost died. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash had almost died. And the only reason they all were still alive was because he had stepped in and done something when nopony else could have. He couldn’t bear to think of what might’ve happened if he hadn’t.

And yet, just for a moment, he’d wished he didn’t have to…

Dawning was just about to shove his inner turmoils off to the side and focus back on work when…something…reached his ears. A noise, a voice, he wasn’t sure which, but a sound of some kind for sure. And there was something about its tone that he didn’t like. Something that triggered that instinct deep inside him. He began to focus his hearing to take in everything going on around him, beginning to filter through the hundreds of voices from all over the ship to pin it down.

And as he did so, he slowly, almost as though in a trance, stepped away from Lucky and the Mayor and headed into the crowd of partygoers.

Lucky watched him in confusion. “Dawning? Hey, Dawning? Where are you going? Come back, I need you–” She reached a hoof out to him, but too late; he’d already disappeared into the crowd. She could only turn back to the Mayor and shrug in bewilderment at his own confused look.

Dawning slowly trotted straight ahead, barely looking where he was going, devoting his full attention to his hearing as he tried to pin down the sound that had troubled him. It wasn’t easy; with all the voices and sounds coming from the ship, and with so many clustered together like this, filtering through them took time. The talk he picked up from the upper class guests did little to ease his nerves.

“…certainly wouldn’t have believed it, coming from that Lucky Lead mare. Between her harassing honest businessponies like Mr. Lexicon…”

“…made a confounded symbol out of him, the ponies love him…”

“…just going to let him run about doing whatever he feels like. Absolutely disgraceful…”

“…really want him around, then Policy should at least deputize him or something, make it nice and legal…”

“Dawning?”

That one had been right next to him, and the sudden proximity made Dawning jump. He quickly saw that it was Fluttershy, looking at him with concern.

“O-oh, uh, Miss Fluttershy, I’m sorry, I didn’t see you there…”

“It’s okay…are you alright?”

“No, I–I mean yes, I’m doing fine, just…moving around, looking for potential quotes…”

Fluttershy tilted her head. “I thought you and Lucky were talking to the Mayor.”

Dawning felt himself beginning to sweat, from both Fluttershy’s prying and from whatever bad feeling was setting him on edge. “Oh, uh, yeah, we were, but we got that wrapped up…”

“Lucky’s still over there talking with him,” Fluttershy answered. Dawning quickly flicked his eyes back to where the Mayor stood. And indeed, Lucky had resumed her questioning.

“…oh…”

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Fluttershy pressed, leaning forward to check him over. “You look…distant. Is something bothering you?”

Yes, please leave me alone so I can find out what.

The thought had scarcely crossed across his mind when he heard it again. Instantly he focused all of his attention into getting a good lock on it, and at last–and to his horror–he realized what it was.

The sound of a gun cocking. Dawning knew well enough what those sounded like. He hadn’t been shot with by too many, as few ponies, even criminals, used them in mainland Equestria, but he was very familiar with them by now.

Someone on the ship had one. Maybe multiple someones.

And now that he had a lock on the sound, he looked down and began to x-ray through the floors of the ship–he faintly could make Fluttershy trying to ask him what he was doing, but he ignored her–until he finally found himself seeing into the engine room far at the bottom-most levels of the ship towards the aft.

The engineering crews were now huddled whimpering in a corner. Surrounding them, closing in and pushing them further back, was another group who decidedly were not any members of the crew, from both their lack of uniform and the weapons they were aiming at their captives; guns, many of them larger and more powerful-looking than any of the models Dawning had seen before.

“Oh Faust…”

“Dawning?” Fluttershy asked again, now starting to sound nervous. “What’s–”

Without warning, the night air was suddenly filled with a loud cacophony of bursting gunfire from all around. Panic broke out in seconds as the partygoers on deck erupted into a swarming, screaming stampede. Dawning’s concentration was shattered as the sounds flooded his ears and he felt bodies jostling him around. In spite of everything, he reached out and wrapped a foreleg around Fluttershy, now whimpering in full terror, and pulling her close.

Meanwhile, Quicksnap had been taken completely off-guard by the sudden chaos, and was now frantically trying to get a good picture between being knocked around in the chaos. Under the circumstances he could barely get a good look at the screen to see what he was getting, but if he lived through this and had to go back to the Chief with a bunch of blurs–

Suddenly he heard a voice from amidst the stampede, young and wailing. “Daddy! Daddy!”

Oh feathers, the Mayor’s kid, he realized. She gets caught up in all this… He began forcing his way through, trying to find her. Soon enough, he found himself stumbling up alongside one of the beverage tables. The little filly was huddled up beneath it, crying miserably.

Quicksnap ducked his head down. “Hey! Hey…” Darn it, what was her name again?…Goldenrod, that’s it. “Goldenrod, right?”

The little yellow filly stopped crying for a moment, turning to look up at him with tear-filled eyes as he extended a foreleg to her.

“Hey, it-it’s okay…I’m gonna get you outta here, okay? Just take my talon here…”

Silently, Goldenrod reached out and grasped Quicksnap’s talon in her hoof. He pulled her out from under the table and held her close, unfurling his wings around the two of them to offer her further protection. “It’s gonna be okay,” He told her. “It’s gonna be okay…” I hope…

Lucky Lead, meanwhile, was doing her best to keep her nerve as she was looking around, trying to see what was going on and where her companions were. The same couldn’t be said for Mayor Policy, who’d collapsed onto his haunches with his hooves clapped over his ears.

Finally, coming up from the sides and from hatches and staircases on the deck, she saw them. More than two dozen in number from who she could see alone. Most of them were ponies of the varying tribes, but there were other creatures mixed in among them as well; griffons, donkeys, hippogriffs, a couple zebras and minotaurs, even a few bizarre creatures that Lucky couldn’t name off the top of her head. The walking bipedal shark…thing stomping up on deck drew particular immediate attention. Their clothing, for those who had any, was rather ragged and sparse; simple shirts or vests, some bandanas here and there. They all had various bladed weapons–knives, swords, even some axes for some–hanging at their sides, but the vast majority of them were carrying an assortment of firearms.

Everything about them screamed “mercenary” in Lucky’s mind. Or perhaps “pirate” was a more relevant term here.

Lucky suddenly flinched as she felt something metal poke roughly at her back. She turned to see a tough-looking gray pegasus mare, forehead wrapped in a red bandana, pointing her weapon at Lucky and the Mayor. “Move,” she snarled.

Lucky’s eyes flitted down to the gun the mare held. She wasn’t exactly an expert on firearms, but she’d learned enough about them to recognize this one as some kind of submachine gun. And that alone felt off to Lucky, because while she couldn’t guess exactly where these pirates had come from, the fact that they were wielding such modern weaponry made her–

The mare jabbed Lucky in the chest with the barrel again. “I said move.”

“Alright, alright…” Lucky murmured, starting to step backward.

Policy straightened up, putting on as brave a face as he could muster. “N-now see here,” He said, his attempted stern tone broken by a stutter.

The other mare didn’t even reply verbally this time. She just raised the gun to point between Policy’s eyes and shot a glare at him, and that was enough to get him cowering back with ears folded as he turned away, sticking close beside Lucky as they were herded forward.

“Oh Celestia, Celestia…” He whispered. His eyes widened. “Goldenrod…oh Faust above, I sent her away and now…”

“We don’t know if they’ve done anything to her,” Lucky whispered back. “She’s probably alright, at least for the moment…but for goodness’ sake, keep it together.”

Policy just pursed his lips, nodding silently. In spite of herself and whatever she may have felt for the pony in any other situation, Lucky couldn’t help but pity him now. At least a little.

The other pirates had begun surrounding the deck crowd, barking threats and poking with the barrels of their weapons as they herded the panicking ponies into circular groups. Lucky and Policy soon found themselves clumped into one as well, surrounded on all sides by their armed captors as the former partygoers stood packed together.

“D-do you see…?” Policy nervously asked.

“I’m looking,” Lucky replied, turning her head as she tried to find the others.

“Let me at ‘em!” She suddenly heard through the din. She turned to see Rainbow Dash and Rarity in another group nearby, the latter desperately holding the former back by her dress as she angrily swiped at the pirates with her hooves.

“Rainbow, for Celestia’s sake…” Rarity hissed as she held on, for her own dear life and Rainbow’s. “Look at them, they have guns, you can’t possibly take them on–”

“Watch me.”

Another cracking gunshot pierced the air, causing the crowd to collectively wince and go quiet. As it echoed, all eyes slowly turned up to the source.

Two stallions were standing at the top of the staircase leading up to the bridge and officer levels. One was a gray furred, black-maned pegasus holding a rather heavy looking shotgun pointed upwards in one hoof, its barrel smoking. The other had a kind of yellow-gold mane color with a light brown mane, garbed in an ornate green captain’s coat with a sword hanging at his left side. He smirked down at the gathered hostages with a cocky look in his green eyes.

“Good evening, fillies and gentlecolts,” Bronze Corsair purred, his Aushalyian accent tinged with a faux-cordiality. “Allow me to introduce ourselves; we’re tonight’s entertainment.” He descended down the steps as leisurely as one of the guests might have done just minutes before, White Wind following just behind him as they walked through the assembled pirates and the hostages they surrounded. “Now, I’m very sorry for this rather, ah…abrupt interruption, but as you can probably tell, there’s been a little change of plans for this evening’s cruise.”

Suddenly, Mayor Policy pushed his way through the crowd, mustering up as much anger into his voice and face as he pressed through to the edge of the circle. “Who are you?! What do you intend to do with us?!” He shouted. “I demand that you–”

Two pirates, a unicorn and a griffon, both raised their assault rifles simultaneously to aim one barrel at each of his eyes. Policy’s bout of righteous fury dissolved as quickly as it had come, and he slunk back into the crowd.

“Anyway, as I was saying,” Bronze continued. “We’re just going to be taking a bit of an impromptu detour, you could call it. Now I know this must be something of an inconvenience to you lot, but don’t worry…if you’d all be so kind as to stay calm, cool and collected, then we can get this whole deal all wrapped up without much fuss at all.” He flashed a little smile. “And nopony has to get hurt too badly.”

The crowd murmured in fright. Off in their own group, Goldenrod buried her head into Quicksnap’s shoulder with a frightened whimper.

Dawning Hope kept his head lowered, his gaze flicking between all directions as he counted off the pirates on the ship. About two dozen up here above, a little less than twice that number scattered throughout the ship on her various decks, all similarly armed. All vital areas of the ship were covered. He was totally surrounded and in full view.

Need to slip away so I can take care of this, he thought desperately. But how…? Can’t just zoom off at super-speed, I’d just kick up wind doing it and there’s no way they wouldn’t notice…

He suddenly felt hooves roughly shove him and Fluttershy forward, and he turned to see a unicorn stallion pointing his weapon at them. “Come on, git in line!” He barked. He jabbed the barrel of his gun into Fluttershy’s chest, knocking her back hard enough to send her stumbling onto her haunches with a yelp.

Before even Dawning himself realized it, he’d suddenly leapt between Fluttershy and the pirate, grabbing his hooves and forcing the gun downward. “Leave her alone,” he growled.

For a second the pirate actually looked surprised, but he quickly regained his composure and forced his hooves loose with a snarl, ramming the stock of his gun upward into Dawning’s chin with a resounding crack.

For a moment Dawning stood staggering as though stunned…

…and then limply fell to the deck with a thud.

Fluttershy gasped in horror as she watched him fall. As the ponies nearby went into a new round of panic, she scrambled back up to her hooves and tried to rush to him, only to be held back by the surrounding pirates.

“Dawning!” she cried, struggling fruitlessly. “Dawning, oh no!…”

Meanwhile, Bronze Corsair shook his head and clicked his tongue in mock disappointment as he watched. “There’s always that one, isn’t there?”

“What do you want us to do with him, Cap’n?” White asked.

“Oh…” Bronze waved a hoof dismissively. “Toss him over. It’ll stick the point home.”

White nodded. “Toss him over, boys!” He called out.

It was Lucky Lead’s desperate shout of “NO!” that rang loudest among the new round of screaming as two of the pirates took Dawning’s unconscious form between their arms and dragged him towards the railing. “LET HIM GO!” she screamed as she struggled against her captors. “DON’T DO IT, DON’T YOU BUCKING DARE DO IT!”

For all her screaming, though, the pirates just ignored her. They lifted Dawning up, both grunting as they did–he was heavier than they expected–and pushed him over the side.

“DAWNING!” Fluttershy cried. Lucky screamed something incoherent. Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Quicksnap all gasped in horror as the crowd’s cries reached a roaring crescendo.

Another upwards-aiming gunshot from White Wind’s shotgun sent everypony into silence again. Bronze cleared his throat. “See? This was all completely avoidable, really. It really isn’t that hard to listen, now is it?” he chuckled. Then he narrowed his eyes and dropped his voice into a more authoritative, menacing tone. “Now…stay in line, stay quiet, and nopony else has to die tonight. And you lot,” he called out to his crew. “Make sure they actually listen this time. If someone acts up again, feel free to provide another example.”

The two pirate leaders turned away from the now cowed crowd and started making their way back up to the bridge. “You made sure to cut off their distress call?” Bronze asked White.

“Got to ‘em before they had a chance,” White replied. “As far as harbor control on the mainland knows, it’s all smooth sailing.”

“Good,” Bronze smiled. “Very good. Now…tell the boys at the helm to take us out to the coordinates our, eh…benefactors provided. I want to get this boat pawned off and us out of here sooner rather than later.” He cast a glance at the distant, gleaming skyline of Manehattan glowing against the dark night sky. “We’re doing a lot better than I thought we would, but I don’t want to push our luck.”

As they ascended the steps, the other pirates on deck returned to their guard duties. All except the one who’d clobbered Dawning, who was now looking over his rifle in confusion. He could’ve sworn the stock hadn’t been bent like that before…

Dawning kept his eyes closed and his body limp as he felt himself tumble down through the air towards the ocean below, fighting every instinct to simply fly up. He hit the cold water with a splash. Even with his resilience, it still shocked him to a degree on impact. He let himself sink for a bit; he couldn’t breathe underwater and still needed to breathe like anypony else, but he could hold his breath for a long time, and could survive for a much greater length of time without air besides.

As Dawning went down, he looked up through the water to make sure the pirates were convinced that he was gone. He hated scaring the others by playing possum like this, and he knew that when this was over he’d have to explain that Supermane had rescued him just in the nick of time. But under the circumstances, it had been the only way he could think of to get away and change.

At last he saw the pirates move away from the railings, and he felt confident enough to move. He kicked himself up to the surface, took a breath of air, and willed himself upwards, keeping low over the water to further avoid being seen. The wind against him blowed against his damp fur and clothing as he flew.

In under a minute he’d sped his way to one of the many docks on Manehattan’s coast. Ducking beneath a pier, he pulled off his soaked tuxedo, bundled it up and laid it against one of the support columns, making a note to retrieve it later. Next he unfurled his red cloak, gave it and his shirt a drying off with his heat vision, and pulled the hood up over his head.

At least bringing the costume turned out to be a good idea after all, he thought.

Dawning looked across the bay at the ship in the distance. This…wasn’t going to be easy. It could easily be the toughest challenge he’d yet faced. He’d dealt with plenty of crooks before, some with guns. He’d fought the soldiers of the Storm King at Dodge Junction. But a veritable army of pirates armed with weapons like he’d seen them packing?

And keeping his identity secret in the fray…

Stop worrying about yourself, he mentally chided. Ponies are in danger. Your friends are in danger. And if you don’t get back out there, they may very well die.

Dawning took a deep breath as he steeled himself for the coming fight. Little particles of sand and gravel rose up around his hooves as he lifted up into the air…

Author's Note

I'M BACK.

SIX MONTHS AND ONE FINAL SEMESTER OF COLLEGE LATER AND I AM BACK.

Good Lord, getting back my momentum has been a nightmare...

This chapter was originally going to be a 10K+ event, but by last week I'd pretty much slowed to a crawl. Then my dumb brain finally realized: "cut the stupid thing in half, leave it on a cliffhanger. It'll kill 'em to wait longer, but now you've got all that extra weight sliced off so you can focus on the fight."

So sorry, you're gonna have to wait with bated breath until next chapter to see Dawning kick some proper flank. I know, painful after the six month wait.

But...I'm back. Supermane is back.

And everything is going to be fine.

Bulletproof

A “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic” Fanfiction

Written by Jade Dawn

“Well, well,” Tech Lexicon purred. “It seems Captain Corsair really is as good as his word.”

He was reclining in a chair before the desk in his penthouse office, leaning back in it as idly rubbed a hoof across his lower lip. His desktop computer displayed drone camera footage of the Constitution and the ponies on the deck, with adjacent monitors that had been set up showing radar of the surrounding area, infrared scans, and so on. The lights in the office were dim, leaving only the brightness of the computer screens to illuminate the room, casting shadows on Lex’s face and lighting up his emerald green eyes. Merciful Grace and Dr. Green Vale stood beside him, the former watching the radar screen, the latter shifting uncomfortably on his hooves.

“They’re turning away from the city,” Mercy said. “Heading right out for the coordinates we gave them. Still no comm traffic between the ship and shore, sir.”

Lex smiled. “Good, good…”

“That poor pony…” Vale murmured.

“They’re pirates, doctor. How did you expect them to respond to resistance?” Lex snorted. “Besides, it adds stakes. More of a chance that he’ll show up now that somepony’s actually been killed.” He chuckled. “But oh, the look on Lucky’s face…Mercy, remind me to send flowers to Dawning Hope’s family or something.”

“And what if…”

Lex shot a glare at Vale, who flinched before spitting the rest of it out. “…what if he doesn’t show up and this was all for no–”

“He’d better come, Vale,” Lex growled. “He’d better.”

Suddenly the radar beeped. “We’ve got something coming in,” Mercy announced. “Heading towards the ship at approximately…” She looked up and glanced at Lex. “…very fast, sir. It’s him.”

Lex leaned forward. On the screen, he saw a blinking green dot approaching the ship, speeding towards it like a bullet.

“Here it comes, fillies and gentlecolts…Vale, all drones on him, watch him carefully. I want to get every second of how he takes this.”

Vale quietly nodded, tapping buttons on an adjacent keyboard as he sent new commands to the cloaked drones.

Lex folded his hooves together and narrowed his eyes. He felt his heartbeat increase slightly as he tensed with anticipation. Supermane was about to go up against some of the best infantry weaponry in LexCorp’s arsenal; assault rifles, grenade launchers, RPGs, armor piercing personal cannons; if it was one of their kinetic weapons they probably had it. He’d hesitated to give them some of the more advanced energy weapons, though. Those would be more easily traceable back to LexCorp and would arouse suspicion. The people would have a better time believing that the pirates had cobbled these together themselves, and the self-destruct modules they’d installed would ensure minimal evidence remained after the fact. Tartarus, he could loan some of his own weapons developers for expert consultancy; get them to write of the self-destructs as some enchantment or another.

This was a big night. He knew Supermane was resilient, enough to take a blast from the bridge bombs. But those had been crude explosives. Actual directed weaponry was another matter. At best he hoped to at least hurt him. But to outright see him killed tonight? That would be even better.

Come on, Corsair. Make him bleed for me.

“They killed him…” Fluttershy sobbed as she clung to Rarity, burying her head in her shoulder. “He was just trying to…and they killed him…”

Rarity just held her close, gently rubbing her shoulder with a hoof. She didn’t say anything; what was there to say? They’d just watched a new friend, who by all accounts seemed to be a nice, gentle and good pony, thrown cruelly to his death for the crime of stepping up in somepony else’s defense. She was just as internally terrified and grieving as Fluttershy was.

“I’m gonna kill ‘em…” Rainbow growled through gritted teeth. “I’m gonna kill ‘em–” She crouched and started up for a leap into the air–

–only to be caught and held down by her tail in Rarity’s magic. “Rainbow Dash, for Celestia’s sake, don’t…” She swallowed. “…don’t make us lose another friend, please.”

Rainbow snarled and shot Rarity a glare over her shoulder. It quickly faded at Rarity’s pleading look in return, like fire dousing in water, and she settled for hanging her head in silent, restrained fury.

Rarity sighed. “Miss Lead…are you–”

“What do you think?” Lucky spat bitterly. She sat facing away from the three, hugging her shoulders with her forelegs. Her head was lowered and she stared blankly at the ground, her face in some blurred line between quiet rage and deep sorrow. “I stuck out my neck for that guy…made sure he felt like he belonged here…gave him pointers, helped proofread his stuff, not that it ever needed any…went out for lunch breaks, had our laughs and good times...we…we had a good thing together…how in Tartarus do you think I’m feeling?” She squeezed her eyes shut and whispered under her breath, “I never even got to tell him…”

Fluttershy lifted her head out from Rarity’s shoulder, the fur of her face now thoroughly dampened. She looked out mournfully across the crowded deck to the side where Dawning had been thrown from…then suddenly went still, her look turning quizzical.

“…look,” she whispered.

“Hm?” Rarity asked.

“L-look…out there, up in the sky.” She lifted up a foreleg and pointed, the others following to look for themselves.

Out on the horizon, backlit by the lit Manehattan skyline in the distance, was a small, dark object darting towards the ship at high speed. They could just make out something dark red trailing from behind it as it dove down below the railing and disappeared from view.

“Is…is that him?” Rainbow wondered aloud.

Lucky nodded. “It’s him.” Then in a whisper: “Supermane, if that’s really you out there and you can hear me, please…help us.”

Crossbolt sat on his haunches, back leaned up against one of the steel support columns that stretched from the floor to the high, high ceiling of Constitution’s main engine room, while he idly turned his rifle over and around in his chocolate-brown hooves while looking it over. Around a dozen of his fellow crewmates shared the spacious room with him; most were at the control panels that operated the engines, other guarding the engineering crew, about ten total tied up in a tight circle in one corner, while the remainder watched over the room from the catwalks that criss-crossed high overhead.

Like the majority of Bronze Corsair’s crew, Crossbolt was born of the area around the Colto Maltese islands; in an environment rough at best, outright lawless at worst, the lengths gone to for survival were mere practicalities. When he’d joined Corsair’s crew not three years ago now at the age of seventeen, morality wasn’t ever part of the question. It had been a simple matter of coin in his saddlebags and food in his stomach, and Corsair paid well in both. All he requested in return was loyalty and efficiency. It was win-win for all involved, and thus far it had worked out immensely in their favor thus far.

Still, Crossbolt shared the sense of background unease felt by a some of the crew with this latest heist. Times were getting rougher as the Guard put on more pressure, and some measures not previously thought of were understandable, but this was rather pushing it–

Suddenly a blinding red light flashed in his left eye and he instinctively yelped as he shut it tight.

“Whoop, sorry there, mate.”

Grayback. One of the griffons among the crew. Crossbolt blinked his eyes in irritation. “Damn it, Grayback, are you trying to blind me?”

“Oh relax, boy. Just checkin’ out the features on this lovely little thing,” Grayback replied as he turned off the laser sight on his assault rifle, practically fawning over it. “Automatic fire, laser sights, even a grenade launcher…I dunno who Captain made a deal with, but if it means getting more of these then I’d looove to stay in business with ‘em.”

Crossbolt rolled his eyes. “Assuming we actually get away with this.”

“Hey hey hey…risk is part of the game. Take chances, get rewards. Can’t take it, then…” he paused, suddenly sniffing. “…what the hell?”

Crossbolt took a sniff too, quickly picking up on the acrid scent in the air. “Is that the engines?”

“Oi, down there!” called a pegasus mare patrolling up on one of the catwalks, pointing down with the barrel of her rifle at the smooth metal floor. Crossbolt and Grayback sat up, and immediately saw the problem.

A large, glowing red spot had suddenly manifested in the floor, smoking and hissing as it grew larger and brighter, going from red to burning orange.

“Son of a…” Grayback grabbed up his rifle. “On your legs, we’ve got a boarder!”

Every pirate in the room, whether they’d noticed yet or not, raised their weapons and turned to aim down at the circle of rapidly liquefying metal. Grayback had one talon ready at the trigger of his grenade launcher, while Crossbolt did his best to keep his cool as he held his pistol in both hooves.

The spot turned to bright yellow, then blinding white at the last second before the shape of a cloaked pony suddenly burst up from it like a knife through melted butter, liquid metal sloughing down off his cape as he hovered up between the catwalks, while the pirates on them collectively did a double take as he did.

“Tartarus, who the buck is that?!”

“H-he’s floating! How the hell is he floating?!”

“Don’t give a damn about that, waste the mother–“

Supermane darted down before the pirate even had a chance to finish, pulling his gun from his hooves and batting him in the head. He hadn’t even hit the steel catwalk’s floor before Dawning Hope leapt airborne again and shot towards the zebra on the neighboring catwalk. A stomp of a hoof crushed her gun into the floor, and a second later she was sent skidding unconscious down the catwalk. The next one, the pegasus who’d noticed the melting floor in the first place, at least had the sense to fly upwards before Dawning could reach her and managed to get a single shot off from his pistol. Dawning easily dodged to one side though, and in another moment the pegasus had been struck from the air and landed hard over the catwalk railing.

It had all taken only five seconds, tops.

“Fire, fire, fire!”

Dawning, still in midair, whirled around just in time for the pirates on the deck below raise their weapons and open fire, peppering his body with a hailstorm of rapid-fire ammunition, flooding the engine room with flashing lights and deafening gunshots.

Being hit by bullets was an…interesting experience for him. It was like little pebbles hitting his body very hard, very fast all at once. He felt little bursts of pain and flinched a little with each hit–it was probably a good sign that he could feel pain, all things considered–but they never did any actual damage to his body. He held firm against the barrage, the bullets not even scraping his shirt for being so close to his fur and skin. Even so, just from the feel he could tell that these guns were hitting a lot harder than the cruder ones he’d had crooks pull on him once or twice in the past…

“–bouncing right off–”

“–how the buck–”

Dawning held in the air just long enough for them to start to realize that they were only making him flinch, then shot downward in a blur, hitting the floor hard enough to stagger the pirates with the shock of impact. He rose up and gave one a hard side hit with a shoulder. Headbutt another hard enough to send him sliding into the side of one of the engines. Punched the third into a bulkhead, then pounced on the one farthest to the right, gripping the fur of his chest in his teeth and lifting him off the ground as he screamed. The pony struggled and squirmed, desperately punching at him with his hooves as Dawning whirled around and threw him. He spun through the air in a mass of flailing limbs, striking his two compatriots hard and sending them all tumbling to the floor in a tangled heap.

Then he felt something explode against his back with a loud burst, staggering him for a moment. He whirled around through the residual smoke to face Grayback, one talon clutching the trigger of his gun’s grenade launcher as he stared in shock.

“Holy…how is he not–”

Crossbolt grabbed his shoulder, tugging frantically at him. “Gray, c’mon, let’s get out of here–”

Dawning leapt towards them like a pouncing tiger. Crossbolt yelped and bolted for the doors, while Grayback opened his beak to scream as Dawning seized him. The griffon flailed his wings and legs wildly as Dawning spun back around and threw him down to the floor, and then went still on impact.

Dawning stopped to breath. Less than ten seconds. Nopony killed, but all either unconscious or incapacitated. Some moaned in semi-lucidity on the ground.

“Holy Faust, look what he did…”

Dawning looked towards the still-bound engineers. None of them looked hurt too badly, but they were all clearly rattled, and staring at their enigmatic savior with wide eyes, looking almost as afraid of him as they were of the pirates. Doing his best to move gently, Dawning walked up to the bunch and grabbed the ropes in one hoof, pulling them apart with a single tug as though they were tissue paper. The engineers slid free, numbly rubbing their forelegs and bodies as they stared up at Dawning.

“Any of you hurt?” he asked.

One older-looking stallion in their midst, wearing a uniform tag that named him Chief Engineer Steamer, shook his head. “They threatened us and shoved us around, but…” He rubbed a shoulder. “Nothing too bad, I suppose…w-what about them, are they–”

“They’ll live,” Dawning answered. “They’ll hurt a lot when they wake up, but they’ll live.” He nodded over to what remained of the ropes. “Make sure they’re secured. With any luck, the authorities will be here soon to pick them up. Can you still operate the engines?”

“Well of course, but–”

“Good. Put them in reverse and do whatever you can to get the ship back towards the coast.”

“T-they’ll notice,” one of the younger engineers blurted out. “They’ll send more down here and there’s no way you can take them all on…”

“Don’t bet on that,” Dawning replied, shooting him a glance that sent the young engineer’s ears folding back.

Dawning’s ears flicked beneath his hood towards the main doors out of the engine room. Indeed, more of the hijackers were already coming, and fast. He hadn’t heard any alarms being raised across the ship, so he guessed that they must have heard the gunfire from engineering.

“I’ll take care of it. Move, now,” he barked. As Steamer and the other engineers scrambled back to their posts, Dawning strode towards the doors, his bullet-ridden red cloak trailing between his hooves as he stepped over the unconscious pirates along the floor. It didn’t take him long to reach the doors, and he made sure to close them behind him after he’d stepped into the brightly-lit maintenance corridor beyond.

He’d only just turned from the doors as a fresh wave of pirates stepped out from a left-turning corridor farther down. As soon as they saw the hooded pony before them, they raised their weapons and started shouting at him.

“Drop on the ground, pretty boy!”

“I’ll blow your face off with this thing, don’t think I won’t!”

Too bright in here, Dawning thought. His eyes glowed red as he sent rippling beams of heat vision across the ceiling, blowing out the overhead lights one by one down the length of the corridor. Sparks burst and rained down, and nearby pipes burst and spewed steam as the hallway was plunged into darkness save for small red emergency lights along the floor. The pirates’ aggression quickly shifted to surprise and panic.

“The lights, what’d he do to the lights?!”

“–steam’s everywhere, I can’t see–”

“Oh Faust, why are his eyes glowing–”

His eyes still burning bright, Dawning crouched and leapt forward through the darkened, smoke and steam filled corridor like a wraith out of nightmares. Even through the darkness, most of the pirates found the sense to leap back into the corridor from where they’d come. Two, however, didn’t make it back in time.

He didn’t touch them. He didn’t need to. The rush of air from his sudden acceleration did all the work for him, picking the two up and throwing them down in his wake like ragdolls. One hit the wall of the corridor and was knocked out instantly, his gun clattering out of his hooves. The other one kept going, helplessly flailing his wings, while Dawning whirled around and held out a foreleg, letting the pegasus smack into it face-first and go down, out cold.

He let him slide to the floor before darting back around the corner. The remaining group were backing away down the hall, staring up at him as they shakily pointed their weapons.

“H-he’s floating…how is he floating?!”

“Somebody just kill it already!”

The three pirates at the forefront of the group opened fire; the griffon on the right with a shotgun, the two earth ponies to her left with machine guns, filling the hall with flashing lights, the acrid scents of smoke, and the cacophony of gunshots.

Dawning simply hovered through the barrage, feeling the bullets ricochet off his body, the only damage being done to the ends of his cloak, frayed by deflected fire. Quicker than the blink of an eye, he reached out with both hooves, crushed the barrels of the left and right guns in his grip, dragging their owners still clinging to them up into the air and slamming them together against the earth pony pirate in between. He let go and all three fell on top of each other in a crumpled heap while he floated on past.

By now the remaining group was scrambling desperately down the hall as they shouted amidst each other; some for more weapons, others for reinforcements, and all in some measure of horrified disbelief. Only a few still bothered to fire shots over their shoulders as they collectively turned tail.

“He’s just a pony…just one earth pony!”

“Someone tell the Captain–”

“…said these would work, why aren’t they working?!”

While the group fled, one pirate tripped and fell to his side in the corridor. It was Crossbolt; Dawning of course didn’t know his name, but he recognized him from the engine room. As his companions galloped and ran away ahead, he looked up to see Dawning floating towards him. Staring in pure terror, he scrambled for a fallen gun–an exceptionally long-barreled thing–and unloaded it straight into Dawning’s chest.

“Stay away from me!” he screamed. “Don’t touch me, please–”

Dawning’s response was only to float through the barrage and grab the barrel in a hoof, crushing and bending it and cutting off the hail of bullets. Then he reached with his other foreleg and gripped it further down, crumpling it further. And then again with the first, now lifting the big gun up into the air while Crossbolt still held on to the barrel, frozen in terror.

“I’d think about letting that go if I were you,” Dawning told him.

With a whimper of fright the young pirate released his grip, falling to the floor with a hard thump. He looked up with wide eyes and a quivering lip as Dawning finished crumpling up the gun and tossed it over his shoulder.

“H-how…” Crossbolt whispered. “Y-you’re…you’re just a pony...”

Dawning reached down and picked up the shaking stallion in one hoof, making ready to knock him unconscious with the other.

“Mister, you have no idea how wrong you are.”

Bronze paced around the bridge of the Constitution, passing by members of his crew now operating the ship’s controls, overseen by White Wind as he looked out at the distant lit Manehattan skyline. The navigation systems were, of course, far more advanced–and decidedly more electronic–than what they usually worked with. But his crew were a resourceful bunch, and they’d grasped how to sail a vessel like this rather quickly. Still, it was a fair bit different from operating a conventional sailing vessel or even the kinds of airships they were used to. They didn’t usually have enclosed bridge compartments like this one did; much easier for looking out at one’s surroundings and getting a feel of the air.

Mainlander pansies.

Despite the teething stages of figuring how to handle the ship, and aside from the rabble raised by that one stupid pony with the glasses, this whole caper had gone off without a hitch. In an hour or two they’d return to their own airship, parked at the rendezvous point that had been arranged. From their they’d turn the Constitution over to their benefactors, collect their pay, and make a silent exit from Manehattan’s waters.

So far so good.

And yet paradoxically, their success thus far was also concerned him.

Years of living a life of piracy and smuggling had taught Corsair to pay attention to gut instinct, even when immediate circumstances suggested that all was well. It could mean the difference between anticipating an unseen threat or being taken by surprise. Not paranoia, but a constant subtle vigilance. Bronze put up a confident game, but his instincts were telling him to stay on full alert. Especially under the given circumstances.

Try as he might, he couldn’t pry a single scrap of information about who their anonymous “employer” for this operation was. They had to be wealthy; he knew that much at least, at the very least from the quality and power of weapons they’d been given, and he’d put enough pressure on their representatives to make absolutely certain that the money was legitimate.

So it wasn’t all that surprising to him some little voice in the back of his head–far from a conscience, just instinct–was insistently whispering that there was a setup buried in this somewhere. And if not that, then at the very least there was some part of it about to go wrong.

Corsair made another pass around the bridge. He went past helm and navigation, took a glance out on the deck to make sure everypony was still in order, looked out at the Manehattan skyline again–

And then he felt it. He felt it in his hooves a fraction of a second before he realized he was seeing it.

“…we’re changing course. White?”

“It wasn’t us, Captain,” White Wind replied, frowning as he looked at the controls. “Someone just put the the ship in reverse from engineering.”

“Bloody hell…” Bronze leaned forward to one of the panels and switched on the intercom. “Cog, you and your boys mind explaining to me why the whole ship’s suddenly going in reverse?”

There was no reply. Nothing but the soft hiss of static came from the speaker.

Bronze frowned and tried again. “Cog? Grayback? Damn it, somebody answer!”

Static silence.

White shook his head. “This isn’t right, there should be someone answering…”

Bronze snorted. “No sh–”

Suddenly the intercom crackled. A lighted label up above identified it as coming from one of the corridors a few decks above the engine room. The voice on the other end was frantic, desperate, and drowned out by the sounds of shouting, screaming, and gunfire in the background “–ptain! Captain–”

Bronze and White exchanged glances before the former slammed his hoof back down on the intercom button. “I hear you, what’s happening down there?” Bronze barked into the microphone.

“–came through the hull–throwing around like–flames shooting out of his eyes–just bouncing off of him, we need…oh Faust, NO!”

There was a sudden sound of rushing wind and the intercom went silent again.

“Hello? Hello? What is it?!” Bronze shouted as he tried to reconnect. No matter how much he tried, nopony on the other end would answer.

“…orders, Captain?” White asked.

Bronze straightened himself up, clearing his throat and putting a note of authoritative confidence into his voice. “White, you and me are going to take anyone we can spare from the deck out there and go down below, see just what in Tartarus we’re dealing with. The rest of you lot, stay up here and get this tub back on course.” As he talked, he grabbed a submachine gun, loaded it and holstered it beneath his coat. Then he turned back to the intercom and set it to address all decks.

“Fillies and gents, it seems someone has decided to board us, so if you aren’t already rushing down to blow them to Tartarus with everything we’ve got, then please…”

“…feel free to do so,” Bronze’s voice finished with a crackle of static through the speakers.

A hush fell over the gathered hostages on the main deck, as though collectively holding a bated breath. Some began whispering and murmuring amongst themselves, afraid to arouse the irritation of their captors, but too excited by this sudden development to stay quiet. Meanwhile, the Elements and Lucky huddled close together.

“Sheesh,” Rainbow whispered. “He must be giving them Tartarus down there…”

“Oh, speak of the devil,” Rarity said in a hissed whisper as she nodded up to the bridge. “Here comes ‘tonight’s entertainment’.”

Bronze and White were coming down the stairs again, and this time they didn’t look nearly as smug or confident. The captain began calling the pirates on deck, with most going to form a ring around the two while others stayed behind on guard, looking between each other and their hostages clearly trying to look unconcerned as they titled their ears and heads to listen in.

In short order, the gathered crew began breaking off and heading downstairs. They were bringing down the exceptionally large weapons now, the ones so big that it took either a unicorn’s aura or the bipedal members of the crew to hold.

Rainbow, in spite of the situation, she couldn’t help but look at the size of their artillery in a kind of awe. “Faust, they could punch a hole in a battleship with one of those things, I’ll bet.”

Fluttershy turned to Lucky. “Uh…he can resist a shot from one of those, right?”

Lucky thought for a moment. “I know he’s been shot at before, and he took one of the bombs on the bridge at point blank, so…it’s possible…”

“Well even if he can,” Rainbow interjected. “We can’t just sit here and let him fight these guys all on his own.”

“And do what?” Rarity replied. “Take on all these pirates? The ones with guns?”

“Rarity, c’mon, we’re the Elements of Harmony! We’ve fought armies of changelings and the Storm King’s mooks! We’ve had worse odds; what are a few guns thrown into the mix?”

“I…” Rarity huffed and turned to Lucky. “Miss Lead, help me talk some sense into her here.”

Lucky pursed her lips, staring down at the deck before she spoke. “…they killed Dawning. I don’t know about anypony else, but I want at least one personal crack at ‘em for him.”

“Exactly.”

“For Celestia’s sake…”

“But–” Lucky added. “We should wait for the right chance. Supermane’s probably going to be up here in the next few minutes and he’s going to raise Tartarus when he does. All eyes will be on him. If we wanna level the odds out on our own, I say we wait for that.”

Rainbow nodded. “Fine. That works.”

Rarity sighed. “Alright…then we’d best make sure we’re ready for when our chance comes, if ever…”

Fluttershy said nothing. She sat quietly, looking around between her friends and the pirates, thinking silent prayers for them, for Supermane…and for Dawning.

The sounds of frantic gunfire rattled from behind the tall, ornately-carved doors to the main dining hall. Suddenly the doors were thrown open by a frightened hippogriff pirate. She scurried through into the hall, turning to look over her shoulder…just in time to scream once as the body of one of her fellow crew ponies was hurled into her, knocking her down hard onto the floor beneath his bulk. She scrambled desperately to free herself, kicking her hind legs and scratching at the smooth, polished floor with her talons. She hadn’t made much progress before a twisted, vaguely pretzel-shaped metal mass that used to be two machine guns came bouncing into the room, striking the hippogriff on the head and knocking her out.

Dawning stepped through the doors, his cloak and shirt now starting to show much more wear and tear than they had when he’d first broken in. He took a moment to scan the two to make sure they were unconscious, then leaned against the doorway to catch his breath and shake a few crumpled bullets out of his mane and shirt sleeves.

He’d been cutting his way through the pirates’ ranks fairly well up until now. By just a rough mental count, he’d taken down around half of their numbers so far, leaving them unconscious in the halls and decks behind and below, their weapons crushed to uselessness. And if he remembered the layout of the ship right, the dining hall wasn’t too far down from the top deck.

It never crossed Dawning’s mind to count any of this as “good progress”. He wouldn’t allow himself to relax until he was absolutely sure that the pirates corralled for the authorities to bring in, and the passengers were out of danger–especially Lucky, Quicksnap, and the Bearers.

The one thing he really took comfort in was that as torn as his cloak had gotten, at least the hood was still mostly intact. If he played it right, he could still make sure ponies got as few glimpses of his face as he’d let them.

His eyes wandered over to the crushed guns on the floor, and he began to wonder about them. He knew that plenty of pirate crews operating beyond the Equestrian borders were known to use guns, but mostly simple flintlocks. The ones he’d seen this crew armed with were much more advanced than that, expertly designed and clearly factory assembled. He supposed that they could have just had them stolen and smuggled to them, but even then, something didn’t quite sit right with him about this…

And why make a raid so close to a major city like Manehattan? He thought. That’s not just playing with fire, that’s practically guaranteeing arrest, coming in as close as this. They’d have to be either really desperate or–

His ears perked up. Footsteps. Lots of them. More reinforcements were coming. Fast. He whipped his head around to face the doors at the far end just as they was broken open, a fresh new wave of pirates streaming in with weapons at the ready. They clearly didn’t expect to find him so far in by now; the cat-like Abyssinian at the lead did a double take before shouting to her comrades.

“He’s here, torch him!”

But Dawning had already leapt to the side as the hail of gunfire blasted across the room, demolishing the doors he’d just been in front of. The extra second let the newcomers spread out into the room in full force, and for Dawning to plan out his next move while they did.

He picked a zebra mare off to the far right first, just alongside a row of tall windows to the outside; she didn’t even have time to let off a shot from her machine pistol before he’d thrown her to the floor. A burst of bullets along the floor at his hooves alerted him to the shotgun-wielding unicorn stallion just to his left; he leapt, crumpled the front end of the gun into the floor, and then downed the pony with a blow to the head. Kicked a donkey’s machine gun into his face, while his weapon let off one last burst into the ceiling.

“Flank him, flank him!”

You can try.

Dawning kicked out with his hind legs, hooves connecting with a minotaur and sending him clear across the hall. There was a loud crash and smashing of wood and shattering glass; it sounded like he’d crashed through one of the tables. Two, actually, from the sound of it.

Then he heard a loud yell as a hippogriff raised the butt of his gun in the air to strike him–why he’d try that, he couldn’t imagine–and turned just in time to catch it in both hooves. Before the hippogriff could pull away, Dawning had wrapped his forelegs around his arms and forcibly turned him towards the row of windows. Even as the avian struggled, Dawning forced a hoof down over his right talon, making him squeeze down on the trigger. The assault riffle’s barrel exploded with repeated gunfire, shattering the glass and sending a glowing line of bullets off into the dark waters and sky beyond. Dawning felt bullets peppering his back, but he kept his grip until the gun stopped firing and only clicked, before throwing it and its owner into a heap in the far corner.

“–the sluggers, hit him with the sluggers!–”

Dawning turned to see three of the pirates–a minotaur and two unicorns–were advancing from the scattered group, carrying the biggest guns Dawning had seen out of the whole crew. They were thick and heavy, with large circular magazines hanging beneath them. They were so big that they were literally strapped to the chests and shoulders of their wearers, the two unicorns using their magic for additional support, while the minotaur held his up in his arms.

Simultaneously, Dawning crouched for a leap as he began wondering what these weapons were for a fraction of a second.

At the same time, the minotaur in the middle of the three opened fire.

The next thing Dawning knew, something heavy and fast had slammed into his torso; the sensation was rather similar to how he’d always imagined being punched in the gut would feel…but on several orders of magnitude greater. Before he could even gasp, the shell had exploded with a loud and terrible blast. The remaining port windows of the hall were shattered by the burst of force before Dawning’s body had even hit them, leaving him only the decorative wood paneling and the outer hull to go crashing through to the outside.

He spun head over heels in the night air, his now tattered cloak flopping and flapping into his face as he tried to control his flight, fighting through the harsh stinging sensation that burned across his stomach and chest from the impact. Finally, he managed to slow his airborne spiral and steady himself, coming to a stop hovering in midair and finally allowing himself to let out a pained breath.

“Aaaugh…what the…?”

Then as the ringing in his ears faded: “…it hurt him…h-hey, yeah, it hurt him! C’mon, quick, hit him with those again!”

Another BOOM of one of the sluggers firing, the whistle of a speeding shell. The instant Dawning heard it he dove sharply to the right, feeling wind at his tail and hind legs and the whistle reach a crescendo as the shell sped past him and off into the distant black waters. As he turned to head back inside the ship, he saw that the force of the one that had hit him had been enough to blast a wide hole in the side of the dining hall. The entire port side of the room was now exposed, and the upper wall and hull of the deck beneath it had been practically erased as well.

Faust above, how powerful are these things? Where’d they even get firepower like this? The other weapons he’d seen so far, he could believe them getting a hold of–he dodged another shell and sent it spiraling off into the ocean with a kick as he flew–but something like these “sluggers”? No, he couldn’t believe that pirates with the capabilities they were known to have could get something like these easily. There was something much more wrong with all of this than just a cruise ship hijacking.

And now that it was crossing his mind, he was getting a nagging sensation that he’d seen these weapons somewhere before…

Later, Dawning thought as a fresh wave of gunfire sprayed across his chest and shoulders. Come back to it later.

He landed on the broken edge of the dining hall floor, blowing aside splinters, shards of glass and other small debris in a circle as he touched down. He quickly scanned the area around the three “slugger” pirates, looking for anything in the local environment that he could use to his advantage. His eyes locked on to a crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling above, half of its glass shattered away and framework slightly bent from the blast.

And in just the right spot over the three sluggers.

Perfect.

A quick flash of heat vision, barely enough to make the air glow red, and the main support of the chandelier had been severed neatly in half, sending the structure plunging downward.

“CRAP, LOOK OUT–”

The cried warning came too late. The chandelier crashed down atop the left-side unicorn and the minotaur, the remaining glass splintering apart as they were pinned down beneath the structure. The hall’s floor, already damaged, shuddered and creaked in protest beneath everyone’s hooves or feet. The remaining slugger operator was staggered, the weight of his weapon forcing him to fall to the floor as he dropped it from his aura and hooves.

Alright, now just let me have that thing so I can ARGH, DARN IT! He felt another grenade explode against his back from behind, smoking hot shrapnel tearing through his cape and shirt and stinging his flesh.

Dawning whirled on the pirates who’d already gotten their footing back. The female Abyssinian that had led them in was fumbling to reload her grenade launcher while the others fired, peppering bullets across his muzzle and chest.

Amidst the assault, Dawning planted his hooves, took a deep breath, and exhaled a burst of air at the pirates. For a moment, the dining hall’s atmosphere was churned into a windstorm, sending the few still standing flying and spiraling around in the air. They screamed and flailed helplessly as they were flung against walls, ceiling, and tables, while smoke billowed around in spirals and debris was blown airborne and fluttered about.

Dawning only let it go on for a few seconds before stopping, letting the now thoroughly winded raiders fall to the floor with a number of thuds, the ones still conscious moaning from the ordeal. One was the Abyssinian, who tried to feebly crawl forward and retrieve her grenade launcher.

She’d just touched the bump stock of the weapon with the ends of her claws when Dawning stomped down on it with a hoof, crushing it like tinfoil. “I don’t think so.”

Then his ears twitched as he heard the sound of hooves and metal clacking against the floor. The last slugger-wielding pirate had gotten back up, and was lifting his gun to take another desperate shot. If he hits me at this range with everyone else nearby…

Dawning leapt, crossing the distance between them in a second. But the sudden force of him colliding with the pirate, combined with the latter’s already weakened and terrified state, caused the unicorn to topple backwards, the big heavy weapon tilting upward even as Dawning reached to pry it away from him.

In a second, two things happened. The first was that Dawning saw the unicorn’s hoof instinctively squeeze down on the trigger.

And the second thing was a realization in Dawning’s mind.

He had seen this kind of weapon before.

The Lexpo–

And then the world roared and went white.

Quicksnap held Goldenrod close, the young filly now staring wide-eyed and hushed-breathed at the pirates going to and fro, and once or twice stopping to glance down nervously at the deck. They were starting to hear gunfire echoing up from beneath the deck, and the pirates were looking noticeably more troubled as time went on and more and more went downstairs with their big heavy weapons. More were coming down from the bridge now as well; evidently, repelling the intruder was taking greater priority than even the ship’s course by now.

Quicksnap, meanwhile only watched half-heartedly, absentmindedly holding the young pony nearby. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t push aside the image of Dawning Hope being thrown off the side of the ship.

He’d come to the Daily Planet only a month or so after Dawning did. Both were the fresh blood of the bullpen. But while Dawning was always kind of shy and reserved, it never seemed to the young hippogriff that he ever really felt out of place working there. Quicksnap, meanwhile, felt like an alien adjusting to life in Equestria. He supposed he should’ve expected that feeling more; he literally had come from another country and culture entirely, one that had been particularly reclusive for a long time until just a few years ago. Between that feeling of isolation, the hazing he’d experienced and still did, and just the general pressures of the job, there had been days when he often thought about calling it quits and returning to Mount Aris.

But then, he had Lucky and Dawning looking out for him, but more so the latter, he’d always felt. He remembered one particular evening when he’d confessed to Dawning that he was thinking of going back home, that he couldn’t make it in Manehattan. Dawning had understood completely, but then there was something he’d said…What was it?

“You know, I don’t really have all that many friends around here either. It’d be a shame to lose one of the few I’ve got.”

Something about the way he’d said that, it had made him feel…welcome, he guessed. Like even with how he felt, there was at least one pony he could be sure wouldn’t let him go through life here alone. Somepony he could look up to, even.

And now he was gone.

“Mister Hippogriff?”

Quicksnap looked down. “Um…hm?”

“Is Supermane down there?” Goldenrod asked. “Is he coming to save us?”

Quicksnap hesitated, unsure himself. “I…yeah,” He finally said. “He’s gonna come, don’t worry. You’ll see, everything’s going to be–”

He was just about to say “okay” when suddenly, the center of the deck erupted upwards with a mighty explosion. Pirate and hostage alike were catapulted screaming and flailing into the air. Burning debris and splinters flew and rained back down as smoke poured from the gaping wound in the ship. The surrounding floor, rendered dangerously unstable by the blast, began to crumble and fall into the smoking hole, expanding while everyone nearby frantically backed or scrambled away.

Quicksnap felt Goldenrod clutch his body tightly, her scream drowned out by the cries of dozens more. Pandemonium broke loose as ponies began stampeding in all directions around the deck once again, jostling each other, Quicksnap and Goldenrod…and the pirates, who were caught off guard and found themselves getting knocked and bounced around just as much as everyone else, too startled to even raise their weapons at first. Everything suddenly became a rushing blur of motion and sound, and Quicksnap grabbed Goldenrod close and ducked underneath a nearby table for shelter.

Then through the din he heard the Captain shout out. “–damn it all, fire, shoot them all!”

“NOW!” Hollered somepony else, and in a second he realized that that was Lucky who’d shouted.

Quicksnap poked his head out from under the table, just in time to see a rainbow streak cut upward through the air, uppercutting two pirates into simultaneous arcs across the deck. The rainbow arced 180-degrees, shedding a torn mess of blue fabric as Rainbow Dash swooped down for another strike with an excited cry.

“Shoot her!” White Wind yelled, firing blast after blast from his shotgun. His fellow crew aimed their weapons up to shoot at the pegasus as well, their bullets only hitting rainbow streaks as she dodged and looped around.

“Sorry, bozos!” Dash crowed as she socked an earth pony in the jaw… “Supermane isn’t the only pony…” …swooped beneath the legs of an Ornithian and tripped him into falling flat on his beak… “…with super-speed in these parts!” …and plucked a rifle from the aura of a unicorn and walloped her over the head with it. “…and I’m the OG!”

Quicksnap couldn’t help but break into a grin as he pumped a fisted talon in the air.. “Aw, yeah!”

“Is it Supermane?!” Goldenrod cried over the noise.

He was just about to answer when something grabbed his attention out of the corner of his eye. A small group of pirates were sneaking their way alongside the deck railing, out of the way of the bulk of the chaos. From the way they were raising their weapons, Quicksnap assumed that they were going to try and take Rainbow by surprise while she was distracted.

Gotta do something, he frantically thought. Thinkthinkthink… He went to wring his talons together, bumping his camera as he did–

…his camera.

“Kid, stay here and don’t move,” He told Goldenrod before crawling out from under the table and pulling the covering down to hide the young filly. Quickly, he checked the camera, readied the flash, and stood up in full view. For just a moment the band of pirates glanced down at the hippogriff that had just jumped into their path and–

“Hey, scallywags! SMILE!”

SNAP!

“GAH! What the–”

SNAP!

“AAH, my eyes!–“

SNAP! SNAP!

“–can’t see–”

The pirates squealed as Quicksnap snapped pictures at rapid-fire speed, staggering backward and desperately shielding their eyes as they were bombarded with flash after flash. He couldn’t help but grin as he watched them writhe through the viewfinder screen.

Suddenly a rainbow-colored blur swooped down into frame, ramming into the pirates at full speed and knocking them to the deck like bowling pins. Upon stopping it turned into Rainbow Dash, who gave Quicksnap a smile and a wink.

“Thanks kid–AH!” She yelped as the camera flashed.

“Sorry!” Quicksnap apologized. “Instinct!”

“Agh…no hard feelings,” Rainbow replied, blinking spots out of her eyes before kicking back up into the air. She looped around over the young hippogriff’s head and dove back into the fray with a fierce battle cry.

Across the deck, Fluttershy stood frozen still against the railing, fighting the urge to curl up in terror, but also hesitant to join in the fighting. Yells, cries, and gunshots echoed in her ears, flashing gun muzzles and rushing bodies flashed across her line of sight. It was all starting to blur together in one assault on her senses.

It was too much. Too much…

Don’t panic, don’t panic, don’t panic…

“FLUTTERSHY!”

The cry of her name snapped Fluttershy back to full awareness as a blue shield of magical energy flashed up in front of her eyes. A hail of bullets peppered across the glowing arcane surface, and small cracks began to form as they bounced off. Fluttershy scrambled back, startled.

“D-darling…” She heard Rarity grunt from beside her, her voice strained as she did her best to hold the shield up. “If you…would be so kind…as to, erm, stare these ruffians down, I’d…ungh!–”

Fluttershy glanced between the unicorn and the pirates firing upon them. She knew Rarity had taken shield-casting spells from Twilight, and while she was getting better, she wasn’t a master with them yet. They probably only had a few seconds before it cracked.

It was up to her now.

Fluttershy took a breath and shut her eyes, calling up to her mind everything these pirates had done. They’d attacked an unarmed ship for no other purpose than greed and pleasure. They’d…they’d killed one of her friends.

How dare they.

And she snapped her eyes open and stared.

The barrage against Rarity’s shield suddenly ceased. The three pirates who’d only moments ago been shooting stared back at the yellow pegasus, as first confusion, and then fear crept into their faces. Their weapons dropped and fell from their hooves, and they began to shiver and shake as a terror like they’d never known clutched their hearts. They looked as though the wrath of Faust herself had unfurled before their eyes.

“W-what’s she doing…oh gods, what is she doing?!”

“I-I can’t look away–”

“Make it stop, make it stop!”

Then the air was pierced by a fearsome cry, and suddenly one of the long food tables on the deck came crashing down on top of the three, squashing them into the deck like a flyswatter as wood splintered and desserts splattered.

Rarity huffed as she cut off her magic, letting the remains of the table fall from her dissipating aura. “And let that be a lesson to you!” she barked, glaring daggers at the now-unconscious three. Then she straightened herself up, sniffing primly as she brushed off some debris from her shoulder. “Uncouth barbarians…”

Meanwhile still, Lucky Lead snuck, crawled, and dodged around through the chaos like a predator in a stampede. Despite all the movement, both around her and her own, she kept her eyes firmly focused on her target.

Captain Corsair had clambered up on top of one of the tables in an attempt to stay above the churning throng, furiously shouting out orders over the screams and yelling…No, more like desperately, Lucky thought to herself. With all the noise of a “big tough stallion” who’s losing control.

He didn’t even see her coming. She was only a few yards away from him by now and he still hadn’t noticed her. Perfect. If she could catch him by surprise, then maybe taking the head of this operation would get the rest to stand down. Maybe.

And if that didn’t work, well…at least she might be able to take him down with her.

And with Dawning.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity of covering ground, she at last found herself crouched right next to Corsair’s perch, practically at his hooves, still unseen by him. That’s right, big guy…just keep looking out across the deck, don’t mind me…keep looking out that way aaaaand…NOW!

Lucky turned and bucked the table’s legs, toppling it over and sending Bronze tumbling to his side on the deck. She darted forward, grabbing the hilt of his sword in her teeth and quickly pulling it from his scabbard, then gripping it in her right hoof as she stepped back and pointed the blade straight at his muzzle.

“Where’s your pirate’s swagger now, Captain?” Lucky half-growled, half-chuckled at him.

Bronze stared at the tip of the cutlass, slowly pushing himself back to his hooves while Lucky kept the sword trained on him. “You, uh…don’t really strike me as the sword type, little miss,” he said.

“Oh, trust me,” Lucky replied. “I know all about how to use one of these babies. Dad was in the Guard. Picked up all sorts of things from him.”

“Ah,” Bronze nodded, reaching up to sheepishly straighten his coat…except too late Lucky realized that he wasn’t, he was reaching beneath his coat. His hoof darted in and out, there was a glinting of metal in moonlight, a flash of a muzzle and two rapid gunshots, and the next thing Lucky knew she felt the sword be knocked clean out of her hooves, spinning past her head and just narrowly missing her right ear. It happened so fast she barely had time to count the seconds before she was glancing back and forth between her empty hoof and the pirate captain.

Corsair smirked as he leveled the machine pistol to point between her eyes. “Guard brat, eh? I could tell.”

The fallen support beam groaned and buckled as Dawning pushed it up from underneath. At last he shoved it to the side, where it fell to the floor in a flurry of burning embers and splinters. He breathed heavily as he recovered, the acrid scent of smoke and flame stinging his nostrils and throat.

The dining hall had been almost completely destroyed by the blast. Whatever windows were still left had been blown out. The bodies of the pirates lay scattered around him. None killed, mercifully enough, but plenty severely injured. He’d only just barely turned in time to shield the unicorn who’d fired the slugger from being blown to bits by his own blast. Half the room was on fire now. The ceiling had caved in all the way up from the top deck, smoke and ashes rising up through the hole. Between the heat of the fires and the choking smoke, the dining hall had become a furnace.

But it wasn’t just the temperature that made Dawning’s insides seethe. He wasn’t sure of it before, but he was now.

The pirates’ weapons–from the conventional guns to the heavier weaponry like the sluggers–had come from LexCorp.

He’d seen the designs for them at the Lexpo during Lex’s speech. Briefly, yes, but he remembered them. The “Guardian Angel Initiative” or whatever Lex had called their defense research program. And Dawning knew that Lex was far too protective of his technology to just allow it to be stolen. Which meant that if the pirates really had gotten their weapons from Lex, then he must have given them to him.

This was a set-up. The pirates were just unwitting pawns. They hadn’t decided to take a ship this far into Equestrian waters on their own. They couldn’t have. No pirate could possibly so stupid, especially not with the Guard starting to crack down more on anti-piracy measures. Which meant that they must be desperate. Desperate enough to conceivably take a well-paying but risky offer, and Lex was certainly rich enough…

There wasn’t any potential benefit of the doubt to be had anymore, not like there had been with the bridge bombing.

Lex was behind all of this. And he didn’t care who would get hurt if it meant either testing or destroying Supermane before he got to the ship.

It made Dawning’s blood boil. So many ponies, so many unsuspecting lives, so many who’d done nothing wrong…all in danger now because of him.

And because of me…because I went and showed myself off to the whole damn world…

Then the crackling sound of another support beam falling from the ceiling nearby reminded Dawning of the current situation. Focus, Dawning…the fires first. He pushed himself up off the ground and flew in an arc around the room, blowing gusts of air across the fires. The frigid winds smothered the fires out in seconds, and smoke and embers billowed en masse out the gaping holes where the windows used to be. In moments, the blaze was extinguished.

With the roaring of the flames now gone, Dawning turned his attention to listening for what was going on up on the main deck. The presence of the massive hole blasted through the ship certainly helped in its own way; he didn’t even need to focus his hearing to tell that panic had once again broken out on the deck above. For a moment he heard Rainbow Dash’s voice, and then the sounds of erupting gunfire.

Oh Faust… Quickly, he focused his x-ray vision up through the decks…and found himself relieved to see that Rainbow seemed to be handling herself fairly well, looping through the air, dodging bullets, and landing hits where she could. Quicksnap was distracting some of the pirates with his camera flash, while Rarity held up a shield as Fluttershy glared daggers at a small group now quaking in frozen terror. Her infamous “Stare”, Dawning presumed.

So they’re all holding them off, but where’s–

“Where’s your pirate’s swagger now, Captain?”

Lucky. He found her in seconds, holding a sword towards the Captain’s throat. He knew that smug look all too well; that was the look she got when she knew she had somepony cornered.

“You, uh…don’t really strike me as the sword type, little miss.”

“Oh, trust me, I know all about how to use one of these babies. Dad was in the Guard. Picked up all sorts of things from him.”

“Ah…” The Captain slowly reached up to tug at his coat…and all too late Dawning saw the gun holstered inside, and his heart skipped a beat as the Captain quickly drew it and fired a shot–

“LUCKY!”

–and knocked the sword right out of her hooves. He saw Lucky staring, dumbfounded and terrified, as the Captain pointed his weapon right at her head.

“Guard brat, eh? I could tell.”

Dawning felt his fury rekindled as he crouched for a leap, his vision turning red as he let heat flood into his eyes…

“Come on now, luv, what really was your plan?” Bronze Corsair purred, keeping the machine pistol steadily trained on Lucky’s brow. “What, did you think nobody was going to see you trying to play the hero? Or that they’d all just give up seeing me at sword-point?”

Lucky had her hooves raised now, mostly out of pure instinct. She felt her forehead and temples beginning to sweat as she fought to keep herself from looking as scared as she was. “It was…worth a shot, right?”

Bronze scoffed. “C’mon, no shame in admitting it now. You had absolutely no clue what you were going to do, did you?”

Lucky swallowed. “How about we catch up to the present…you really want to add another body to tonight’s count?”

“Oh, please,” Bronze shrugged. “Like I actually care how many ponies get killed. It’s nothing personal; just part of the business.” He flashed her a smirk. “Gonna be honest though, in your case it’s a bit of a pity. You don’t know how to plan an attack worth a damn, but you had spunk. I like–”

Suddenly a shimmering, red shaft of heat cut upwards through the deck between them, neatly slicing the gun in half. Corsair yelped and leapt back in alarm, dropping the molten bisected sidearm to the deck. It wasn’t even a second later before something erupted up through the floor, knocking Bronze back and to the ground as it did while splinters and debris rained down.

All around the deck, the sounds of panic and gunfire came to an abrupt halt as everyone stopped and stared. Most, both pirates and partygoers included, looked up at the hovering figure in silence. Rarity and Fluttershy let out stifled gasps. Rainbow Dash and Quicksnap couldn’t help but grin by just a little. Goldenrod poked her head out from under her table and her jaw slowly dropped in quiet wonder.

“Leave. Her. Alone.”

Lucky Lead suddenly found herself staring up in awe as Supermane floated just in front of her, glaring with burning red eyes at the pirate captain who’d just had her in his crosshairs. His cloak was half-shredded, his shirt tattered, he was covered with soot and ash all over and he looked like he’d been to Tartarus and back, but it didn’t matter at all to her.

Celestia above…he’s right here in front of me… She’d never ever gotten this close to him–heck, the last time she’d actually gotten to see him like this was back at the monorail and only for a moment–but here he was, closer and more real to her than ever. She almost forgot that just a second ago she was about to be shot through the head.

“Supermane, I knew it had to be you down there, I–”

He snapped his head around and shot her a still-glowing glare over his shoulder. “Not now, Miss Lead.”

Lucky felt like her insides were withering as she cringed. “S-sorry…”

Bronze grunted as he picked himself back up. Now it was his turn to try and hide his fear as he stared up at the Pony of Steel. “You’re, uh…you’re our mystery boarder, I take it?”

“One chance, and one chance only,” Supermane growled, floating down to his hooves on the deck and slowly advancing towards the captain. “Tell your crew to put down your weapons and stand down…” His eyes flickered, and for a moment the air around them sizzled like the warning sound of a rattlesnake. “…or I break whatever you have left.”

Corsair glanced around. “Ah…well, see, about that, erm…Bruce!”

The captain suddenly scrambled to his hooves and bolted. Lucky saw Supermane was just about to launch into a pursuit when she felt the deck rumble beneath her, something heavy thudding loudly behind her as some of the party guests shrieked in terror. On instinct she leapt out of the thing’s way, just in time for the most bizarre member of this crew that she’d seen tonight to come stomping past.

Her first thought was to internally call this…thing a shark. It certainly had the head, dorsal fin and gaping toothy maw of one. But instead of fins or a tail, it’s body turned into a hulking torso with muscular arms and legs, clad only in a pair of torn shorts. Its mouth was curled in a sadistic grin, baring those big sharp teeth for all to see as it strode up towards Supermane. Where the buck were they keeping this guy all this time?!

And even with his face shrouded by his hood, Lucky could make out an unmistakable look of “oh crap” on his face as he turned and looked up at the behemoth.

The thing roared as it swung its huge left fist at Supermane, missing him by inches as he darted back out of the way. It threw another punch at him with the other fist, which Supermane ducked as he moved to swoop around behind the creature–

–only for it to grab the trailing end of his cape. In a blur of surprising speed, it swung around, flipped him over its back and slammed him face down into the deck. Lucky winced as she saw the deck planks crack under the force of the impact and a shudder go through the floor. Around her, she heard the pirates’ stunned silence transform into raucous hooting.

“Y-yeah! Whoop his flank, Bruce!”

“C’mon, c’mon, bite his bucking head off!”

Supermane started to push himself back up onto his hooves…just as the shark thing grabbed him by the shoulders in both of its big hands. Lucky heard it let out a rapid series of growls that sounded vaguely like laughter as it lifted the pony up into the air, then gasped in horror as she watched it open its toothy jaws wide and bring them down over Supermane’s front half–

KK–RUNCH!!!

For a moment, all went into a tense silence. The shark thing’s eyes grew wide, while Supermane’s hind legs and cape hung limply out of its mouth.

Then the first few teeth and drops of blood started falling and dripping from the mouth, and the shark thing opened its maw to wail. It spat Supermane back out onto the deck as it staggered off, clutching its broken jaw with its now half-toothless gums, crying and moaning like a cowed pup.

Supermane, meanwhile, landed back on all four hooves, shaking off slobber, blood, and shark teeth as he glared around at the staring pirates, the fire in his eyes rekindled. Little wisps of steam rose up and faded as whatever remaining liquids around him were vaporized in the ambient heat coming off of his eyes.

“How about…we not try that again?” he growled.

The surrounding pirates just stared at him in absolute horror and bewilderment, nervously fidgeting with their weapons. The surrounding civilians watched with bated breath. For a minute, the Constitution’s upper levels fell into a thick, tense silence, broken only by Bruce’s child-like moaning off from one corner.

Bronze Corsair glanced around at his crew. “…g-go on! Shoot him, kill him!”

Whether by a collective regaining of nerve or instinct to follow orders, the crew once more raised their weapons and cut loose with a barrage of gunfire at Supermane.

Lucky only had a millisecond to feel a wave of terror at the oncoming hail of bullets, before she suddenly felt strong hooves gripping her barrel and a hurricane’s worth of wind against her face. The next thing she knew, Supermane was crouched over her on the deck, an overturned and rapidly deteriorating table serving as the only other shield between her and death by swarms of lead. Even with her shoulder up against his chest, she could feel the thud-thud-thud of the bullets peppering him across the back.

“When I tell you to run,” she heard him say into her ear. “Find cover right away and stay there. Don’t let me see you trying to kill yourself playing hero again.”

“A-alright,” Lucky squeaked out, her voice lost in the roar of the storm. Then she suddenly remembered Dawning. “W-wait, there was–”

But Supermane had already moved on from talking, kicking the table with one hind leg and sending it flying across the deck. It slammed through the gathered cluster of marauders, the already damaged piece of furniture shattering into broken splinters as it bashed them aside.

“Go, now!”

Lucky nodded quietly, scampering off to one side as Supermane leapt back up into the air. The pirates didn’t bother following her as she bolted. They had their eyes on more dangerous game now, letting waves of gunfire follow the flying pony as he swooped over the side railing and arced out over the ocean. Bullets pinged and bounced off of his body as he turned around and dove back towards the ship.

Good, good… Dawning thought to himself. Keep aiming at me, forget about everyone else…

Then he saw some of the pirates raising up long, heavy metal tubes over their shoulders. There was a cluster of loud BOOMs as he saw two–no, three–bursts of light erupt from the tubes. Rocket launchers. The projectiles glinted in the moonlight as they streaked towards him.

Great…more heavy weaponry…

Dawning dove down, away from the ship and towards the ocean below as he heard the rockets whistle over him. He looked over his shoulder to see if he’d lost them…only to feel his heart sink a little as he saw the three rockets had arced down too, following hot on his trail.

Guided missile launchers. As if he needed more proof that these weapons came from LexCorp…

Dawning leveled off just over the surface of the water, his hooves leaving a white wake of foam as they skimmed the surface, whatever remained of his cape flapping like a torn, ragged flag. Still the missiles followed in his trail, engines whining as they gained on him.

Damn, they’re persistent…need to find some way to–

Suddenly his mind flashed back to just after the monorail. When Rainbow Dash had come after him.

He stopped abruptly in midair, and sure enough, the missiles shrieked right on past him, their guidance systems momentarily confused by his sudden stop. Two seconds later they realized what had happened and began arcing around…

…but that was all the time Dawning needed.

His eyes flashed red, bombarding the missile to the far left with heat vision. It went off in a blinding explosion with a sound to match, and Dawning found himself quietly relieved that the Constitution was so much higher up; if it had been closer it might’ve done further damage to the hull.

Dawning let the next missile close in on him, then rolled out of the way and delivered a kick to it with one hind leg, sending the thing spiraling off into the waves below. It splashed beneath the waters before going off, blowing up a slurry of white sea foam and glinting shrapnel.

And the third…Dawning looked back and realized in an instant that this one was about to find its target. All he could do was mentally brace to be blasted like with the sluggers…

He felt the tip of the warhead hit, crumple against his chest, and then explode all in a second. Once again Dawning found himself thrown backwards, his ears ringing, letting out an instinctive gasp…but this time, he found that righting himself in the air was quicker, easier, that the force of the blast didn’t leave him stinging and aching quite as much, and the ringing in his ears died away much quicker now.

Maybe because I was expecting this one? Dawning wondered as he shook himself off. Did…preparing for it actually help my body take it better–no. Theories later.

Dawning swooped up from underneath the Constitution and hovered above the deck. Most of the hostages had either fled below decks with the pirates now otherwise occupied, the remaining stragglers–the Element Bearers and his Planet co-workers included–having found cover wherever they could. Rainbow Dash had resumed her flyby assault on the pirates; half of them were shooting at her again, while the Corsair and the others looked over the side where Dawning and the missiles had gone.

Only a few heard the whooshing noise of him darting down towards the deck again; just in time to cry and point out, too late to do anything before he swept over the missile launchers and rained a cascade of heat vision down across the weapons. They were bisected instantly, sending their operators scrambling back, clutching burnt limbs in pain.

An instant later, Supermane slammed down onto the deck with a hard THUMP, shaking the floor and sending the pirates unlucky enough to be close by tumbling off their legs.

“About time you came back up!” Rainbow chirped as she hovered overhead. “I was beginning to–”

“Go to the others,” Supermane interrupted, barely giving her a glance as he watched the pirates regain their footing. “Make sure they’re alright, keep them out of the way…yourself included,” he finished, with just a little bit of a forceful note in his voice.

Rainbow frowned a little as she backed off. “Okay, okay…”

“Back up, I got this!” a thick voice rumbled behind Dawning.

Pirates scattered as the speaker let out a bellow that seemed to shake the sky. Heat assaulted Dawning’s back as an anomalous purple light cast his shadow before him. Dawning turned around and his eyes widened again. Ah, darn–

He took to the skies as a wave of purple flames washed over the space where he had been floating a moment ago. The fire cascaded over the floors, crackling as it greedily devoured the wood.

“Hold! Still!” the nirik pirate shouted, glowing eyes blazing with hatred amidst the flames that covered his body. He took in another inhalation as the pirates opened fire once more, the rattling of their gunshots blending with the renewed screams of whatever patrons still remained above deck, and the crackling of the fire. Another surge of flames chased Dawning as he flew in a circle over the pirates, bullets whistling in his wake.

All the while, Quicksnap was crouched behind a table off on the sidelines, camera in his talons, one claw tapping the shutter button so fast that it was almost a blur, and grunting in annoyance all the while. Goldenrod was hiding beneath the tablesheets of a buffet table a scant few feet away.

“Shouldn’t you be hiding?” She asked.

Quicksnap kept his eyes glued to the screen as he continued snapping photos. “Gotta…get…just one…good…pic of him…okay, okay just please stay there…aw, son of a–“

“Bad language,” Goldenrod warned. Quicksnap just grumbled in frustration and shut his beak.

Meanwhile, the nirik had figured out how to lead his target. Dark purple obscured Dawning’s vision as he was surrounded by a pervasive heat that seemed to dig into his bones; he tried to scream, but opening his mouth drew the arcane fire into his lungs. Bullets hammered at him as the pirates concentrated their fire, while the heat and pain of the nirik’s flames forced him to fall to his hooves on the floor.

“We got him!” He heard Corsair shout.

Don’t…count…on it.

Dawning pressed against the floor and rocketed back up into the air. Clean, cool air filled his lungs as he took in a deep breath, then turned and faced the nirik. More magical fire raced at him with a roar, and he met it with a mighty exhalation of his own. The icy wind met the nirik’s fire with a great hissing and an explosion of steam…then pushed the flames back, washing over the nirik and the other pirates. Cries of shock and pain were suddenly cut off as the clouds washed over them, turning into a low crackling.

When the steam cleared away, both the nirik and his comrades were now encased in pillars of ice. The fires had been doused in the arctic blast as well, leaving only a faint acrid odor to mark their former presence.

Dawning landed hard back on the deck. He breathed heavily as he stood up, air hissing through gritted teeth, smoke rising from his body and clothing, eyes glowing red again as he looked up to glare at the remaining pirates.

Including Bronze, there were only a scant few who were still standing. Only one remaining griffon among them still had a slugger. As they stared back into Supermane’s glowing, angry red eyes, none of them could keep their terror from showing on their faces any longer. They’d played their last cards, and they all knew where they stood.

He.

Was.

Done.

Supermane took a single, silent step forward–

And then somebody shrieked out “FIRE, FIRE!” and the remaining pirates cut loose. The air was shattered by the thundering hail of gunfire. Streaks of light flew at Supermane’s body, collided, and bounced away in different directions, bullets pinging against the deck or whistling through the air.

Dawning walked through it all. He leaned forward into the barrage, legs pushing against the force of the weapons’ firepower, his black tail and the tattered remains of his cape billowing as in a tempest. He kept his body and muscles steeled, willing himself to stand and push through. He became as an unbreakable stone in a pounding surf.

The lone griffon raised up his slugger and fired. The shell struck and exploded against Dawning’s chest, tearing up the deck paneling around him…but this time he was ready for it. This time he stood firm and braced against the force of the explosion, only being knocked back slightly by the blast.

The cloud of smoke around Supermane was lit up by flashes of yellow and white from the gunfire…and then red as his eyes lit up. Ghostly, crimson beams of heat flashed out and struck the slugger, and the griffon howled as he dropped it and clutched his talons.

The lead hailstorm began to trickle and diminish, the piercing ratatatat of gunfire slowly giving way to hollow clicks. One by one, ammo clips produced their last bullet, and the guns went empty as the last of their contents were fruitlessly fired into Supermane’s body. The last one to go was Bronze Corsair’s, as he fired off whatever rounds he had left from a spare pistol he’d taken.

BANG!

Click. Clickclickclick.

And with that, the last gun went silent–

“…oh, you’re screwed now,” Rainbow Dash whispered from the sidelines.

–and Supermane leapt like a tiger towards them.

The remaining pirates scattered and fled in all directions, Corsair included. He turned tail and bolted down the deck, the ends of his coat billowing out behind him, hearing the whooshing of wind and the screams of the crew behind him as they were taken down one by one. He was at last at his wits’ end, and all he could think about was getting as far away as he could from the…the thing who’d cut them down in a matter of minutes.

Bronze turned his head back to look over his shoulder, just for a moment. It was just enough time for him to careen at full speed into a pair of bodies, tumbling head over hooves and smashing into a table as he fell, caught in a tangle of limbs. He kicked out instinctively–“OW, MY BEAK!”–and an orange-and-red hippogriff went staggering down to the deck. As Corsair picked himself up, he heard something yelp in terror and felt frantic kicking at his chest. A young filly.

Corsair only glanced down at her for a moment before a last, desperate idea flashed into his brain…

SMACK!

A donkey fell to the deck, knocked out cold by a back-hoof from Dawning. There was only one pirate left standing for him to take care of now, a white-colored pegasus that he recognized at the captain’s side from earlier in the night. The pegasus’s wings nervously twitched; Dawning could tell that he wanted to try flying, but knew it’d do him no good. He made ready to pounce–

Suddenly, a shrill scream pierced the air, and Dawning’s head snapped around to find the source. As soon as he found it he felt his blood, fired up with adrenaline and fury just seconds before, suddenly chill.

Farther down the deck, he saw Bronze backed up against the railing, a little filly struggling as she dangled from one hoof. Goldenrod. From nearby, he saw Quicksnap scrambling up from the deck at Corsair with a cry of “Let her go!”, reaching to pull the filly out of his clutches…only to get floored by another kick from the captain’s hind leg.

“Put me down!” Goldenrod wailed. “Help!”

Dawning’s brow furrowed into a glare, ducking his head low as he began to creep towards them. “Let her go. Now,” he growled.

Corsair looked into Supermane’s eyes from across the distance between them, his face somehow a mixture of anger and terror. “Let me and my mates walk…” he growled. “…or I throw her over.”

“NO!” Shrieked the voice of Mayor Policy. Rarity and Fluttershy were just barely holding him back off to one side, while the older stallion struggled and squirmed. “NO, PLEASE, NOT MY LITTLE FILLY–”

“THAT GOES FOR YOU TOO!” Corsair roared at him, holding Goldenrod over the side of the railing. “ANYONE TRIES TOUCHING ME I’LL THROW HER, I SWEAR TO FAUST!” The child’s screams and pleas became shriller, sobbing dryly as she stared down at the water so far beneath her.

The surrounding ponies stared, wide-eyed and tense to see what would happen. Dawning stood in place, glaring at the mercenary as he considered his options. At this point he absolutely believed that the captain would do it. And in truth, part of him wasn’t sure what to do. Heat visioning a gun out of someone’s hoof or claw was one thing, but this was a young child that was being held, and he didn’t want to risk accidentally burning her. He knew he was fast enough to cross the distance between them and snatch her away. But on the other, if he was too slow by even a second–or worse, grabbed her the wrong way while going so fast…

He shuffled his hooves, just ever so slightly…

It wasn’t clear if Bronze actually thought he was about to make a move, or if he just lost his nerve at around the same time. Whichever the case, the next thing everypony knew, he’d let Goldenrod fall over the side of the ship while he turned and bolted towards the bow. The crowd erupted into horrified screams, Policy’s the loudest and most despairing of all. Several rushed towards the railing, not that there was anything they could do.

But Supermane was faster than them, and he was over the side in a blur and a gust of wind and darting down after the falling filly before any of them even got there.

The screams faded, replaced only by Goldenrod’s as Dawning flew down after her, the wind in his ears. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Corsair leap over the side himself. The white pegasus swooped down and caught the captain, turning and banking around into a nearby cloud cover in the opposite direction.

Damnit… He’d have to track them down later…

He flew down past the flailing filly, then banked up and came up to meet her at a slower pace, his forelegs held out gently. Goldenrod landed in his grasp with a grunt, the same hooves that lifted a train not so long ago receiving her like a pillow. Her wide, tear-streaked eyes looked up at him in awe and disbelief.

“It’s okay,” Dawning whispered, gently ascending back up to the ship. “I’ve got you. You’re safe.”

Her tiny forelimbs wrapped around his neck. “Thank you!” she cried. “Thank you, thank you! You’re a hero!”

Hero. There was something about that word that felt like a sting in his chest, and Dawning found himself hating it. He’d never wanted…

Stop it. She’s safe. You got to her before it was too late. That’s…that’s all that matters.

Except even his own conscience didn’t sound so firm on that either…

They were met with a moment of astonished silence as Dawning crested the side of the airship, the crowd of ponies parting as he gently alighted on the deck. He’d only just touched down when he saw Sound Policy pushing his way through. “Goldenrod!”

“Daddy!” Goldenrod cried, leaping out of Supermane’s arms and bounding across the deck to her father. Mayor Policy grabbed her up in a tight hug like she was the most precious gem in the world, gasping in relief as he buried his face into her shoulder.

“Oh Faust, oh Faust, I thought I’d lost you…oh Faust…”

Dawning couldn’t help it; in spite of whatever he’d felt seconds earlier, he found himself smiling now.

But it faded back into that same discomfort just as quickly when Mayor Policy looked up at him, the fur of his face stained with tears as he looked at Supermane like some kind of angel. “Thank you…thank you…”

Somepony started clapping their hooves. Then another. Then three more. And before Dawning knew it, everyone on the deck was applauding loudly for him.

Dawning stepped back a little. His eyes scanned across the crowd until they found Lucky and the Elements in their midst. Rarity, Rainbow, and Lucky were all applauding along with everypony else, Lucky the hardest and loudest of all. Only Fluttershy didn’t join in; instead, she stood quietly staring at Supermane, head tilted ever so slightly to one side.

Dawning fought the urge to tug at his hood, reassuring himself with feeling it against his ears and the top of his mane. It’s alright…you’ve still got it up and it’s still dark out…they can’t see it’s you…

Meanwhile, Quicksnap scrambled back up, absentmindedly wiping some blood from his beak as he stared up at Supermane. He sighed in relief when he saw Goldenrod safely in the arms of her father…and then, with a suddenly growing excitement, realized that at long last Supermane was standing perfectly still. Finally!

He raised his camera, suppressing a tremble; he might never get a chance this good again. He took careful aim at the caped figure and tapped the shutter button.

Click.

Quicksnap blinked in confusion and looked at the screen, his eyes widening in dismay at the message displayed.

Card Full.

“…oh, come on!”

Dr. Green Vale had scooted away from the desk, staying as far away from Lex as he could. He didn’t want to be anywhere near the burning, silent glare that the businesspony wore on his face as he stared into the drone feed.

But he could see its reflection in the monitor. And that was enough to send shivers down his spine.

“Nothing,” he suddenly growled. He abruptly stood, with such speed that Vale flinched and hurriedly scooted himself off to the side as Lex turned and walked away from the desk. “Absolutely nothing.”

He began to pace, nostrils flaring as he breathed in and out like an enraged bull. That had been his best military-grade personal weaponry, as much as he dared throw at Supermane under guise of a pirate raid…and it had done nothing. And even when it had, it still wasn’t enough. The guided missiles, the concussion cannons…Tartarus, even the basic weaponry! Those bullets had been designed to crack dragon scale and they’d just bounced right off!

Faust above, he’s invulner–no. No. Don’t you dare sink to using that word, nopony is ‘invulnerable’…

“S-sir?” Dr. Vale squeaked.

“What?” Lex snarled.

Vale cringed. “T-the weapons…we’re going to need to figure out how to–”

“Destroy them,” Lex snapped, turning away and marching off into the depths of the penthouse. “Destroy them all.”

“N-now?” Vale asked. “Sir, there’s still dozens of passengers near–AH!”

Merciful Grace shoved past him towards the computer, hovered the mouse cursor over a window marked Self-Destruct, and clicked.

“Um, excuse me…p-pardon me, sorry…”

Fluttershy wormed her way through the crowd, head ducked meekly and ears flattened against the auditory barrage of cheers and hooves clapping. Despite the noise, she pushed through as best as she could.

She had to get to Supermane. He was right here, and this was their best chance yet to get to talk with him.

At last she broke through the maze of bodies to at least be able to see him again. Mayor Policy had stepped forward and was shaking his hoof with grateful vigor. Supermane’s hood was still up; she couldn’t see his face clearly through the shadowy shroud it cast over it, but she could’ve sworn that he looked uncomfortable. She could see him shuffling his other three hooves, but only just so, like he was trying to hide it.

“I-I can’t thank you enough,” the Mayor was saying . “I really can’t…oh Faust…”

“Uh…you’re welcome, sir…” How he talked drew Fluttershy’s attention too; something between a properly spoken reply and a grunt. He sounded as uncomfortable as his body language suggested, but he was trying to mask it by being polite. It was something she herself was well-acquainted with. He didn’t like the attention. Now that the immediate threat was dealt with, he wanted to be anywhere but here. Fluttershy could tell that much.

Supermane stiffened, and she heard him clearing his throat underneath the hood. “Mr. Mayor, I–”

“Supermane!”

Lucky Lead squeezed past Fluttershy and hurried up to the cloaked stallion. Fluttershy saw him flinch and step back a slight bit as she skidded to a halt before him.

“I-I’m sorry…we had a friend with us, one of my coworkers. Dawning Hope. Tall stallion, tan fur, glasses…they…they threw him over–”

“I know,” Supermane replied curtly. “I found him on the way in, he’s safe.”

Lucky sighed in relief. “Oh Faust, thank you…”

Supermane turned back to the Mayor. “Sir, there’s something–”

He abruptly stopped, suddenly turning his head from one side to another. Fluttershy barely had time to wonder before there was a loud bang that made her jump with a yelp. She whirled around to see a molten, smoking mass of red-hot metal that had once been a gun laying on the deck a little ways away.

The crowd hadn’t even lapsed back into full panic mode before another discarded weapon suddenly exploded into sparks and smoke.

And then another. And another. And then they started hearing muffled booms and pops from the decks beneath. All throughout the Constitution, the pirates’ fallen weapons flashed white hot and burst into a moment’s worth of flame, like a trail of firecrackers strewn across the ground.

Fluttershy instinctively dropped to the ground, holding her hooves tight over her head and ears amidst the renewed chaos. It didn’t last long. In about ten seconds it was over, and where it not for the sounds of screaming and stamping of hooves, the ship would’ve been silent again.

Somepony reached down and pulled her up to her hooves. “Fluttershy darling, are you hurt?!” Rarity asked, worry in her voice.

“N-no, I’m not…” Fluttershy shakily replied.

Rainbow Dash came up to them, looking around in shock. “They…they just exploded! All the guns and stuff, they just…buckin’ blew up!”

Fluttershy looked around. Smoke rose in thick wisps from the destroyed weapons, some still glowing a dull red. The passengers were settling down now–slightly, anyway–and wisely keeping their distance. Some looked like they’d been caught too close when the weapons went off and had been either burned or hit with debris; fortunately, nopony seemed to have been seriously hurt or worse, at least. Fluttershy saw several ponies grabbing table cloths and even ripping up their evening wear to serve as bandages where needed. The Mayor was holding Goldenrod tightly. Quicksnap was frantically trying to insert a new card into his camera.

Lucky ran up to them, out of breath. “Did you see that?!” She panted. “Faust above…I knew something was fishy about that kind of firepower, but that…I don’t know if they were enchanted or…wait…” She looked around quizzically. “…where’s Supermane?”

There was a whooshing of air overhead, and a gust of wind that blew the four ponies’ manes. They all looked up just in time to catch a glimpse of the tattered end of Supermane’s cape as he swept off over the waters, towards the lights of Manehattan in the distance.

“He’s heading back to the city!” Rainbow cried as she unfurled her wings. “If I hurry maybe I can–”

“Wait,” Fluttershy said, hopping up into the air and hovering in front of Rainbow. “Let…let me go after him.”

Dash blinked in confusion. “What? Flutters, no offense, but…why you–”

“I…” She looked over her shoulder. “…no time to explain, I just think it might be best if I’m the one who tries talking to him. I-I’ll be back as soon as I can and let you know!”

She didn’t wait for any more debate. With a flap of her wings, Fluttershy turned and flew off into the night after Supermane, as fast as her wings would allow her.

Lucky ran to the railing. “Hey, wait! I’ve got questions I want asked…oh, at least come back and take a notebook…or a tape recorder?…”

Bronze Corsair’s hooves clattered against the smooth tiles of the rooftop as White Wind set him down. The two sat in silence for a while, panting heavily, sucking in the cool night air, trying their best to suppress the shudders running through both of their bodies.

It was a couple minutes before the young first mate started to speak. Or rather, stammer. “Wha…the hell…how…”

Bronze shook his head. “I don’t know, White…I don’t know and I don’t want to know…”

He shakily stood to his hooves, slowly walking to the edge of the roof. White had set them down back in the city’s harbor district, flying as best he could in the hopes of shaking the…the thing that had come after them. The sea was to their backs, the Constitution’s lights glowing like a beacon in the night.

Bronze looked out across Manehattan, trying to figure out where to go next. At this point, all he could think about was getting out of the damned city, getting back out to their ship, and then high-tailing it out of Equestrian waters.

They could take the pay and shove it for all he cared.

At last he thought he’d worked out a plan, and identifying a path to escape gave him a slight bit of relief. A little gust of breeze at his back helped relax him.

“Alright…I think…I think if we can cut across to the opposite side of the island, we can get a boat at the harbors on the other side, shake ‘em off along the way…” He turned back to White.

…except White Wind wasn’t there anymore. Corsair suddenly realized that he was all alone on the rooftop.

He felt his heartbeat start to quicken, his muscles tensing, his breathing picking up speed. He rapidly glanced around in all directions, beginning to instinctually back towards the center of the roof. He reached beneath his coat for a gun, only to remember that he’d lost it when–

Then something sharply tugged upward at his shoulders, and he suddenly couldn’t feel the ground beneath his hooves anymore. He looked down to see Manehattan dropping away from him at break-neck speed; in less than five seconds, he began to feel the wispy moisture of clouds against his fur.

He was so shocked by the sudden ascension that he didn’t think to start screaming until a full two seconds into the upwards flight.

Abruptly the ascent stopped, and Bronze was forcibly turned around, held up by the collar of his coat. The next thing he knew, he was staring at the dark, hooded head of the flying pony, narrowed blue eyes glistening in the shadows, the Moon’s glow framing his shrouded head like a halo.

“Who gave you those weapons?”

Bronze’s jaw worked like a gasping fish. “Wha…wha…”

“The guns,” the stallion growled again. “Who. Gave them. To you?”

“I…I…” Bronze swallowed, sweat running in streams from his forehead. “I don’t know, I…I don’t know…”

The stallion shut his eyes, and Bronze felt the warm breath of an exhale.

“I consider myself a patient pony. There are very few things that can move me to anger.” The stallion’s voice was now dangerously, hair-raisingly calm. “Putting other ponies’ lives in danger…” His eyes snapped wide open, pupils and irises glowing like embers. “…especially children…is very high up on that list.”

“Ch…child…” Bronze stammered. “T-the filly?…w-wasn’t personal, w-what was I–”

The stallion titled his hooves ever so slightly. Bronze’s coat slipped out of his grip.

And then he was falling, wind screaming in his ears and drowning out his shriek of terror, tumbling head over hooves as he fell, vision spiraling between the rapidly rising city below, and the red-eyed angel of judgement hovering in the pale moonlight.

Somehow in the midst of panic, in the middle of being certain that his life was about to end, Bronze willed himself to shut his eyes tight…

…and then felt something grip him by the tail and slow him to a stop.

Whimpering and shuddering, he slowly opened his eyes again, and found his vision filled by the sharp, angular stone edge of a rooftop. Were he an inch or so closer, it would have been touching his head.

Right between the eyes.

Bronze felt himself being lifted back up into the sky again, still being held by the tail, left to dangle as he watched the city shrink away once more.

“That filly was almost ten,” he heard the stallion say. “Maybe younger. She almost died tonight, and she’s going to remember that for the rest of her life.” His voice dropped back into a growl of barely-held fury. “I don’t have to catch you. I could easily just let you fall and not do anything. There are plenty of ponies who would say you deserve it. The only reason I haven’t is because I choose not to. I’m being more merciful to you than most would say you deserve. So with that in mind…”

The stallion tossed Bronze up into the air and grabbed him by the neck, holding him close enough that Bronze could feel the heat radiating from his eyes. “Tell me. Who gave you. Those weapons?”

“I DON’T KNOW!!!” Bronze cried, trembling uncontrollably, tears flowing now. “I don’t know, I really don’t know! T-they came and found me, they never said who they worked for! I-I-I tried to find out, I did, I wanted to know, but they…I don’t know…please…”

The stallion didn’t reply. He just shut his eyes, and Bronze felt him huff in frustration. He didn’t like what he had heard, and it was terrifying.

“P-p-please…I don’t know, I really don’t…w-wait…where are we…what are you…no. No, wait!…”

Wish I could’ve gotten a coffee…Copper Top thought to herself as she paced back and forth along the barricade.

By now, word of what was happening aboard the Constitution had started to reach the mainland, in no small part due to the ship’s crew regaining control of the communications systems and finally getting an SOS out. While it was now generally known as well that the pirate threat had been neutralized by Supermane, the police were still mobilizing in full force, and other emergency crews were on stand by to render assistance to the wounded.

It also meant that waves and waves of sight-seers and media ponies would come pouring in from all over to catch a glimpse of the scene. Which meant that they’d need to be kept safely out of the way so the authorities could do their work.

Which was how Copper had been one of many off-duty officers who’d been called in to provide backup along the barricades they’d erected to keep the gawkers out until they could get a handle on the situation.

Ah well. Duty called.

But when this is over I’m getting myself a–

Something came whooshing overhead with enough force that it almost knocked Copper’s cap off, and there was a loud crash and splintering of wood that made her jump. She quickly spun around; the back door of one of the police wagons just behind her had had its door smashed inward, like something had been thrown through it.

Copper with drew a baton from her utility belt and extended it, slowly approaching the wagon, flanked by two other officers. With the tip of the baton, she pushed open the remnants of the door.

Laying inside on his back was Bronze Corsair, his mane disheveled, hooves wrapped up in his own belt, panting for breath and shaking like a leaf.

“Uh…do we tell him to freeze?” Copper asked aloud.

Fluttershy crouched behind a rooftop air conditioning unit, watching Supermane as he arced overhead towards the next roof over. His shredded cape billowed as he landed, raising a foreleg like he was about to stomp a hoof in frustration. But he held back, and eventually settled for sitting down and hanging his head. Fluttershy could just make out the faintest echo of a sigh from beneath the dark red hood.

It had taken tremendous effort for her to keep up with him. She could fly fast if need be, but she was no Wonderbolt. Still, she had kept up as best as she could, taking cover first between clouds, then flying low between the upper floors of buildings in an effort to stay out of sight.

Fluttershy had hoped that she could perhaps follow him back to wherever it was that he lived, or failing that, somehow find a way to get his attention and try talking to him. But that had been before she watched him snatch up the captain. When she saw Supermane drop him from such a height, her heart had practically leapt into her mouth, and it took all the effort she could muster to hold back a scream. For those fleeting few seconds, she genuinely thought she was about to watch Supermane kill somepony.

He hadn’t. But seeing him that furious with somepony gave Fluttershy a shock of fear.

And she knew that he was still fuming. Watching him now, she could practically feel how angry the ordeal with the pirates had made him. He seemed to be trying to calm himself down now, taking deep breaths, occasionally pawing at the rooftop with one hoof or another. But even from a building away, she knew he was still tense.

It was at this point that she thought about this pony, who could fly faster than even Rainbow Dash, who had lifted a tram and half a bridge with his bare hooves, who she’d seen shrug off bullets and explosives, who could melt steel with a glance, and who was very much not having a good night, all of that…and began seriously reconsidering her plans to make contact with him.

No, this…this isn’t a good time...best to just leave him alone…

Fluttershy slunk back behind the unit and slowly turned around. She didn’t dare take flight from here. If she could reach the opposite edge of the roof and get out of his line of sight–

“I can hear you, you know.”

Fluttershy jumped, instinctively scrambling back against the air conditioning unit, wincing as she felt the metal lightly clang against her back and unfurled wings. She struggled to control her breathing, fighting panic.

“I can see you, too,” She heard Supermane call out again. “You’re hiding behind the AC unit. Sitting down, back pressed up against the side, back hooves off the ground. Wings open–you just stretched them outward by two inches.”

Fluttershy’s heart raced. She began to sweat, glancing around in fright. How is he seeing me?!

The next few seconds were agonizingly silent, and Fluttershy was left with only her heartbeat and panicked breathing to hear.

Then, from behind the unit, she heard the sound of hooves lightly touching down on the stone masonry. When Supermane spoke again, his voice was even, calm, gentle.

“Come out, Miss Fluttershy. I want to talk to you.”

Author's Note

I cannot put into words just how goooood it feels to have finally gotten over this hill after four months. This chapter's been a long time coming, far more than I ever intended to take, and I hope it's been worth the wait. I can't remember the last time I wrote a fight like this–if at all–so navigating how to go about it effectively (assuming I have) took a while to iron out.

And if you're reading this, I apologize again for the size of the chapter. I've always kinda braced for these "event chapters" to be longer than the norm, but I never really intended it to be this long. I can only hope that I've written it well enough that it doesn't blend together into a lengthy slog in the mind of the reader.

I'd also like to give a shoutout to PonyJosiah13 for, in addition to being a general source of encouragement and advice, agreeing to partially take over some of the writing for the latter segment fight and taking some pressure off my mind until I could come back and edit it. The kirin/nirik was his all his idea, and I'm very much grateful for his contribution.

I'm gonna take a little breather after getting over a hill like this, but not too long; I wanna at least try to get things back on a monthly release schedule, and the next chapter's going to be far less intense anyway.

Well, at least as far as action goes... :raritywink:

All in all, thank you for holding out and reading. It's good to be back again.

Two and Two Makes...

A “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic” Fanfiction

Written by Jade Dawn

“Come out, Miss Fluttershy. I want to talk to you.”

Of all the things Fluttershy had expected Supermane to say–either in general or as a product of her panic–she wasn’t at all prepared for that. It was such a surprise to her that she actually froze completely; even her shivering came to an abrupt stop.

He…actually wants to talk? But why now? What about? Her mind raced as she tried to make sense of this sudden turn of events. Did he actually want to open up now? Or was there something else, some other motivation that she wasn’t aware of?

Whatever this was leading to, though, she knew she couldn’t wait on Supermane forever. Especially not when he could somehow see her right through solid objects. She’d come following him in hopes of finding a chance to talk to him. And although her expectations of leading whatever conversation came had been subverted, that chance had just presented itself on a silver platter.

And so Fluttershy took a deep breath, pushed the fear and the tension as far back in her mind as she could, and began to creep out from behind the AC unit.

As she crept out and stood up, she allowed herself to get her first look at Supermane up close. The dark of the night and the hood over his head cast a shadow over his face so that it was mostly inscrutable. But the rest that she could see, dark as it was, was as she remembered seeing just after the tram rescue; a tall stallion, perhaps a slight bit taller than average, with a black tail and mane. Now that she had a better look at him, she could see how simple his outfit really was. His shirt was just a simple navy blue t-shirt, and the red S-and-diamond shield looked as though it had been crudely painted on. His mahogany hood and cloak–or at least, what was left of his cloak–was equally simple as well. It was a wonder to her how his shirt had held up much better than the cloak had under all that gunfire.

And once again she found herself drawn to his eyes. Even shrouded in the shadow of his hood, they seemed to glisten like sapphires, deep and vivid crystalline blue. Fluttershy couldn’t remember seeing eyes like that in any other pony, outside of maybe the Crystal Ponies.

Maybe…maybe he’s part Crystal Pony? Mixed heritage…no, probably not. The Crystal Empire hasn’t been back nearly that long for someone like him to grow up–

Her train of thought was interrupted when Supermane spoke again. “Thank you. I’m sorry I startled you. Are you alright? Are you hurt?”

Fluttershy struggled to form words for a moment. “U-um, yes and no…I-I mean, yes I’m alright, no I’m not hurt, um…” She gestured to the AC unit. “You could see me from…”

“Not from. Through.”

“You…you can see through walls?”

Supermane’s head nodded beneath the hood. “Yes. I can see through most solid objects when I want to.”

Fluttershy briefly wondered what didn’t qualify under “most solid objects”. “You said you could hear me too…was I just making too much noise or is your hearing, uh…’super’ too?”

“It’s…well, yes. I actually heard your heartbeat first.”

Fluttershy nodded. “I see…so, heightened senses. I guess that explains how you know where you need to be. And how to find Dawning…he is alright, isn’t he?”

“You don’t need to worry about him,” Supermane said reassuringly. “I got him before he hit the water. He should be with the emergency teams right now.”

Fluttershy sighed in relief. She’d heard his quick answer to Lucky back on the Constitution, but getting another confirmation put her at ease on the manner. “So…your senses. Most ponies seem to think you’re, uh…clairvoyant, I think is the word. Or you have some kind of ‘sixth sense’.”

“I know,” Supermane replied. “I just don’t particularly care to correct them on that.”

“Why not?”

This time Supermane didn’t answer. He stood quietly, and Fluttershy began to feel her apprehension creeping back. Had she pushed too far somehow?

“I’m actually glad you were the one who followed me,” Supermane finally said, taking a step closer. “Maybe you’ll be able to understand better.”

“Um…understand what?”

Another pause. “I know why you and your friends are here in Manehattan. Or rather, why Princess Twilight sent you here. And…I want you to stop.”

Fluttershy felt her heart start to sink. “S-stop…”

“Looking for me. I want you and your friends to leave me alone.”

Her heart dropped like a stone, along with all her building hopes that he might finally have decided to open up.

“O-oh…I…w-we don’t want to…I mean…” She shuffled on her hooves, trying to form a response. “We’re…we’re not trying to arrest you or anything, please don’t think that. We just want to know more about you, that’s all. So does Twilight…I mean, you must know a little about what she’s like. She wouldn’t want to hurt you or anything…”

“It’s not Twilight I’m worried about,” Supermane replied. “And I’m sorry, but I have no wish to be exposed. Not to the Princess or to anypony else.”

“Well, um…” Fluttershy stopped for a moment, glancing up and down between the roof beneath her hooves and Supermane himself. He didn’t move; he just stood there patiently. “I mean…isn’t it a little bit late for you to worry about being exposed? They all stopped writing you off as just an urban legend after the train, and Lucky Lead was already…”

She stopped as she heard a distinctly exasperated sigh coming from under Supermane’s hood.

“I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to–”

Supermane shook his head. “Don’t apologize, just…Lucky Lead is a talented reporter, but I didn’t ask for her to be my publicist. I…” Another pause. “I didn’t want to be known. At least, not as much as I am now.”

Fluttershy didn’t immediately reply. For a moment she thought about where they currently were.

Here Supermane was, saying how he didn’t want the attention that he’d gained. He didn’t want to be known. And yet…

“You…you still stepped in at the train, though.”

Supermane shuffled his hooves ever so slightly. “I…I did, yes.”

“Well…why?”

His sapphire eyes blinked. “…what do you mean ‘why’? Ponies would have died. You would have died.”

“You still didn’t have to, though. If you wanted to keep whatever secrecy you still had, you could have chosen to let the train go.”

“No,” Supermane said, shaking his head. “No…I had to.” He sighed beneath the hood, lowering his head and muttering. “How can I explain…”

Fluttershy waited patiently. She knew that she probably sounded callous, and in almost any other situation she might’ve felt bad for it. But there was an angle she was working towards; some unspoken conflict within Supermane that she’d started to catch onto as they talked.

Supermane looked up again. “Look out there. Across the city. Nowhere in particular, just in general. Tell me what you see.”

Fluttershy turned and, on a whim, decided to stare out towards the west. The buildings here weren’t as tall as downtown, but still they rose up against the moonlit sky, their lighted windows glistening like cubic amethysts. Off in the distance, she saw the illuminated hull of the Constitution, slowly drifting through the sky towards the seaboard. The stars twinkled, fighting the lights of the sprawling city to peek through and join the Moon.

“I see, um…buildings. The airship coming back in. The sea, the Moon…”

“Okay. And what do you hear?”

Fluttershy leaned forward and listened for a few moments. “I hear the wind and…” She winced. “Sirens, heading towards the coast. Voices from the street. I can’t tell what any of them are saying.” She turned back to Supermane. “And you?”

Supermane’s blue eyes emotionlessly stared out in the same direction as her; he might as well have been staring at a blank brick wall instead of a churning, loud, living, thriving metropolis. His ears swiveled forward, taking in the sounds of the city.

“I see everything, Fluttershy,” he said. “I hear everything. Every cry, every frightened heartbeat, every gasp for breath, every…all of it.” He drew a breath. “Can you imagine what that’s like, Fluttershy? To see and hear the world like nopony else can? To know that at any moment you could hear someone else in danger or distress? Could you stand by knowing that every single day and night?”

For a moment, Fluttershy let his words sink in, trying to wrap her mind around the weight of what he’d described.

She couldn’t, and she softly shook her head.

“Exactly.” Supermane turned back to her, eyes haggard and cold. “That’s what I have to live with, Fluttershy. Knowing that at any time, I could…I could hear something. And I…I just can’t ignore that. Ever.”

Fluttershy stared at him for several long seconds of silence as she processed what he’d said. Supermane turned away from her, continuing to stare out into the city, his face expressionless beneath the shadows of his hood.

“…you think of it as a burden, don’t you?”

Supermane stiffened and turned back to Fluttershy. Her expression and voice hadn’t changed at all, but her words seemed to cut through the air like a knife.

“Are you helping solely because you feel like you have to?” she asked. “Because you think you don’t have a choice?”

“I…it’s…I don’t…” Supermane stammered, suddenly unable to meet the pegasus’ eyes. “No, it’s not that…”

“Then what is it?” Fluttershy pressed. “Do you think it’s a distraction? Is putting yourself on the line to help ponies getting in the way of something else you want?”

Supermane didn’t reply. Instead, Fluttershy saw his crystal blue eyes glance downward amidst the shadows, continuing to avoid looking directly at her.

“…Supermane, what’s the matter?” she asked softly. “You don’t have to hide away from everypony. You don’t have to worry like this. We can help you. Please…won’t you let us?”

Still Supermane was silent. Slowly, he lifted his gaze back up to look her in the eyes. His sapphire-like blue gaze met her aquamarine, and for a moment–just a moment–Fluttershy saw a flicker of desperation in his eyes; a silent, hidden longing to accept, to reach out, to at last open himself up to the world.

And then with a blink of his eyes, the moment was gone. He straightened back up and his gaze hardened. “No. I can’t. What I’m after is my secret to keep. And I can’t deal with it if your friends, or the Princess, or anypony else are questioning me or trying to turn me into a lab rat.”

Fluttershy’s heart sank all over again. “Wait...please…Twilight wouldn’t–”

“I’m sorry, but I’m just going to have to be a mystery that remains unsolved,” Supermane replied, adjusting his hood to cover more of his face as he turned and trotted towards the edge of the roof. “Leave me alone, Miss Fluttershy. I won’t ask again.”

“Wait…please don’t go–“ Fluttershy protested, stepping forward after him and reaching out a hoof. But by then he’d gently kicked himself up into the air, his shredded cape swaying behind him.

At the last moment, though, he stopped and turned back to look at Fluttershy. “If you want an actual mystery to solve, something actually important and life-threatening…you can see about getting those pirates’ weapons checked. And maybe look into the bridge bombing again too, while you’re at it. I think you’ll find that what’s been happening this past week runs deeper than you think.”

Fluttershy stopped. She opened her mouth to ask him what he meant…

…but in the span of a blink, he was gone.

Lucky Lead couldn’t get down the ramp fast enough; it was all she could do to hold back and let the emergency crews cart off the more severely wounded ahead of everypony else who was eager to finally get off the ship. As soon as she saw an opening, though, she practically bolted down the ramp to the airship dock, Rarity and Quicksnap following behind her as fast as they could.

The scene on the dock around them was eerily similar to the one they had beheld after the Bronclyn Bridge explosion, yet seemingly magnified somehow. Maybe it was the greater number of gathered responders and the gawkers watching from the sidelines, or the number of winged officers hauling the unconscious or semi-conscious forms of pirates off to the many police wagons parked nearby, or the group of suited bodyguards that hurriedly escorted Mayor Policy and Goldenrod off to a waiting carriage nearby. Or maybe it was the simple fact that this time, the little group as a whole had actually been through the ordeal itself, not watching from the sidelines. Either way, the feelings of lingering anxiety and exhaustion were decidedly not second-hoof this time.

At least, not for Rarity and Quicksnap. Lucky, on the other hoof, wove and squirmed her way through the numerous ponies going to and fro, only stopping to lift her head and call out when she could. “Dawning?! Dawning?!”

“Lucky!”

Lucky’s ears shot up as she whirled towards the source of her name’s call. Dawning Hope, clothes and fur damp and glasses askew, shakily squeezed his way through the crowd towards her. “Oh, thank Celestia, there you ACK!”

He’d barely spoken before Lucky shot her way over at a speed that would’ve made even Rainbow Dash gasp, and pulled Dawning into a hug so tight it may as well have been a death grip. She squeezed him like that for a solid five seconds before pulling back and glaring him dead in the eyes.

“DON’T YOU EVER SCARE ME LIKE THAT AGAIN, DO YOU HEAR ME MISTER?!”

“Uh…s-sorry?…”

Lucky sighed, face softening as she pulled him back in for a much more gentle hug. “Just…Faust above, I thought we’d lost you…” She released him, looking him over up and down. “Are…are you hurt? Anything broken, glasses alright…”

Dawning shook his head. “Uh, no, I’m…I’m okay, as far as I can tell. I, um…don’t fully remember what happened actually, it’s all a blur, I just remember falling and just hitting the water when…” He shrugged. “I-I dunno, I’m just suddenly back at the waterfront…”

Lucky nodded. “It was Supermane. He got to you when he was heading for the ship.”

“O-oh, really? Well, uh…guess that explains–”

“DAWNING!” Quicksnap cried as he flew into Dawning at full speed, knocking the stallion flat onto his haunches with an “oof!” as he tackle-hugged him. “Holy buck I thought you were dead, sweet Ziz almighty I thought you were actually dead…”

“Hey, be careful with him, kiddo,” Lucky cautioned with a slight giggle. “I already gave him a ‘thank goodness you’re alive’ squeezing.”

“And, uh…” Dawning offered. “Might want to be careful with that camera, I’m still a little damp here…”

“Oh…oh!” Quicksnap released Dawning and scrambled back, checking the camera still hanging around his neck. “S-sorry…”

“Mr. Hope, darling!” Rarity panted as she caught up. “Goodness gracious, are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” Dawning replied as he stood back up.

“He’s–” Lucky started at the exact same time. “…yeah, that.”

“Thank Celestia,” Rarity sighed in relief. “We were all so worried…”

“H-hey, speaking of,” Dawning asked. “Where are Rainbow and Fluttershy?”

“Fluttershy flew off after Supermane,” Quicksnap told him. “Wanted to see if she could get him to actually talk with us. And Rainbow Dash, um…” He looked around. “…actually, where did she go?”

“I…I believe she went down below decks,” Rarity replied. “She broke off while we were making our way to the ramp, but she said she wanted to make sure the pirates were all subdued for the police to collect. Something about the guns…”

“What happened with the guns?” Dawning asked. “I-I heard they blew up or something–”

“They did,” came Rainbow Dash’s voice as she hovered down into the group’s midst. She was carrying something long and heavy in her hooves, wrapped in what looked like a torn piece of table cloth from one of the buffet tables. “I checked over each and every gun they left lying around…or at least, whatever’s left of ‘em. I don’t know what they did, but every single gun they had just completely melted itself into slag.”

“Darn it…” Lucky huffed. “I thought there was something off about them, but without any actual evidence…”

Rainbow smirked. “Yeah, that’s the thing. Every gun I found was completely destroyed…except for this one."

She unwrapped the table cloth, revealing a long, thick machine gun held within. It was partially crushed and crumpled, especially around the barrel and the midsection just in front of the trigger, but it was decidedly more intact than the other weapons that had been left behind.

Lucky’s eyes lit up. “Oh, good, good find, Rainbow!”

“Where’d you find it?” Dawning asked, leaning closer to examine the weapon.

“In one of the corridors leading to the engine room,” Rainbow replied. “I don’t know what Supermane did to it, but it doesn’t look like it went off; whatever made the others go up in smoke, it didn’t work with this one.”

“Maybe it’s got something to do with this?” Dawning pointed to the gun’s crushed midsection, and the others leaned in to see as well. Between the low light and the damage to the gun it was hard to make out, but there, just barely poking out between the twisted and torn metal and plastic of the weapon, was a small bundle of charred, tangled wire.

“Are you sure that isn’t just part of the gun?” Rarity asked.

“I dunno…” Quicksnap said, raising his camera and zooming the lens in. “I’m not an expert on firearms, but I don’t know too many that use electronics…”

“Neither do I,” Lucky agreed. “I don’t like it one little bit, and not just because we almost got killed by these things.” She shook her head. “Well…we can pass it off to the police when Fluttershy gets back. I know a pony or two in the force who could probably help look deeper into it.”

“Speaking of Fluttershy…” said Dawning.

Fluttershy gently alighted on the dock nearby, head down and eyes nervously glancing up at the group, rubbing one foreleg with her other hoof as though sheepishly. “H-hey everyone…”

She didn’t get much farther before the rest of the group practically swarmed her. Only Dawning held back behind the rest.

“Did you see him?!” Rainbow excitedly asked.

“I-I did…”

“Was he anypony you recognized?” asked Quicksnap.”

“Um–”

And then Lucky squirmed to the front of the group. “Did you get to talk to him? What did he say?”

Fluttershy kicked at the ground. “Um…about that…”

…we on? Are we live now? Oh-oh right!

Ahem, good morning Manehattan. Welcome back to Manehattan News Now, I’m your host, Open Mic…well, uh…mere days after the explosion on the Bronclyn Bridge, the city once again finds itself rocked by the aftermath of disaster, with last night’s pirate attack on the newly-christened SS Constitution shaking Manehattan into a rude midnight awakening, with many of the city’s upper-class–including Mayor Sound Policy–put under threat by the assault.

That said, uh, furthering the string of events plaguing Manehattan over the past few weeks, Supermane once again showed himself to handle the threat. Eyewitnesses reported seeing him, um…“wading through gunfire”, “dodging missiles”, and “breaking the jaws of a shark-beast five times his size”, yikes…um, thanks to his efforts, there were zero reported fatalities, and his quick work in neutralizing the hijackers aboard the Constitution freed police and naval authorities to easily seize the pirates’ home vessel off-shore.

However, the incident has still left citizens all across the country with even more questions than before, both about Supermane himself and recent events in Manehattan. There have been an increase in calls and protests demanding for better Royal Guard response, and the proximity of the Bronclyn Bridge bombing and the raid on the Constitution has left many postulating a connection between the two, not helped by several of the arrested pirates having been found to be known operatives in the vicinity of the Colto Maltese archipelago, long the target of controversy due to high occurrences of piracy and alleged drug outsourcing…

“–used to feel safe in this city. I-I mean, when all the villains came around it was scary, and I remember when the Storm King’s army came through here…but now we’re having accidents and bombings and now terrorists every other day now…what are we turning into, Trottingham?!”

“So these crooks go around preying on merchant ships and everypony shrugs, but when it’s the upper-crust that gets threatened that’s when ponies start to worry? Yeah, sure, real fair…”

“–just saying, he’s been there for every major disaster over the past few days and nopony’s thinking to question it–”

“Well yeah I’m scared, ah’ve got family up that way! I don’t wanna wake up one morning an’ hear that somethin’s happened to Babs…”

“–this one pony goes in and takes them down single-hoofedly, where the hell’s that kinda response from the Guard?”

“As city Mayor, I am not normally one to condone individuals law enforcement into their own hooves. But…in light of recent circumstances, I cannot deny how much of a help Supermane has been to our city, even with his anonymity. And…yes, I will admit that some of it is personal, very much so, in fact; I would’ve lost my little filly last night if it weren’t for him. Supermane, if you’re out there listening to this…thank you.”

“Rainbow, would you be a dear and turn the radio down a bit?”

“Hm? Oh yeah, sure, on it…”

“–sources claiming that the government does indeed intend on committing to a complete reorganization and expansion of the Royal Guard…”

“How’s that, that better?”

“Much better, thank you. Now Fluttershy, darling, where were we?”

“Oh yes, square the jaw a little bit…not that much, a little softer…there, more like that, that’s closer.”

“Alright…and the mane, does that look like what you saw?”

“Um…yes, that looks like what I could see underneath the hood.”

The three Element Bearers, Lucky Lead, and Dawning Hope were all huddled around a table in a boardroom adjacent to the Daily Planet’s main newsroom. The blinds were open to allow the mid-day sun to pour in and warm the room, and the door was left slightly ajar for Quicksnap, who’d gone out for another beverage run for the group. Around them, some on the table, some on the floor, and only a few actually in the nearby trash can, were a little more than a dozen paper cups, long since emptied of coffee.

Nopony had gotten much sleep the previous night. The pirate attack had left them all much too rattled, and news of Fluttershy’s brief conversation with Supermane himself, despite the less-than-ideal response she had gotten, had left them all much too excited to boot. They’d gotten to work by the crack of dawn, turning over the discarded intact gun to the police department, interviewing whatever witnesses they could.

Technically speaking, they were no closer to unraveling the mystery of Supermane than they had been since the monorail accident. But by now, they were more determined than ever to finally solve it.

Most of them were, anyway.

The little group watched as Rarity put a couple final touches onto a sketch she had drawn on a stray napkin, at last putting her pencil down and turning to Fluttershy. “So, darling, what do you think?”

Fluttershy looked over the sketch; the head and face of a stallion, his mane shaded in dark. Fluttershy nodded. “That’s him. Or, um, at least close to what I could make out, anyway. Close enough.”

“And you’re sure his fur was tan?” Lucky asked.

“Mmhmm.”

“Right, right, that matches…and you didn’t get a look at his cutie mark?”

Fluttershy shook her head. “Um, no…I couldn’t see any underneath the cape.”

“Well, great,” Rainbow said, a little sarcastically. “Now all we need to do is go looking through the entire population of this city until we find a match for this guy.”

“…should we?”

The group turned towards Dawning. He was the only member of the group that hadn’t been huddling over the table as Rarity drew, instead standing just behind everypony else in a little patch of sun coming in from the windows.

“Um…how do you mean, Dawning?” Fluttershy asked.

“Yeah, what do you mean ‘should we’?” Rainbow questioned with a raised eyebrow.

“Dawning, finding Supermane is the whole reason why these guys came here,” Lucky said. “Heck, it’s what we’ve been trying to do for the past couple months, why the sudden cold hooves?

“He did save your life, Dawning,” Rarity pointed out. “Wouldn’t you want to thank him for that?”

“Well…well yeah, but I’d rather…” Dawning said, adjusting his glasses a little. “I-I mean, what I mean to say is, well…he asked us to not. Like, not just running and hiding, he’s actually asked us to leave him alone. I guess, just…” He shuffled his hooves. “…why not respect that?”

Suddenly from outside the door came a loud crash and a double thud, and the sounds of paper cups clattering and liquid spilling against linoleum.

“Ack–what the hell, feathers?!”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry!”

“–got it all over me, why don’t you actually look where you’re going for a change?!”

“I’m sorry, Goal Post, I’m so sorry!”

The force of the impact had caused the partially ajar door to swing open fully, allowing a view into the hall. Outside, a buff, cobalt-blue stallion was looming over a cowering Quicksnap, clutching an empty tray and shaking talons, both of them drenched in spilled beverages and surrounded by fallen cups.

All of the group thought of stepping in at the exact same time. Except, somehow, it was Dawning Hope who was standing between Goal Post and Quicksnap before any of them even had the chance to finish thinking it, standing up tall and glaring sternly at the other stallion from behind his glasses.

“That’s enough, Goal Post,” Dawning said firmly. “Back off.”

Goal Post took a step back, angry expression unchanged but ears folding back slightly. “Wh–Hope? Where–”

“It was an accident, Goal, and you know it. Just an honest accident, and a couple of spilled drinks. It’s not going to wreck your day if you decide to just let it go, apologize, and not let this escalate to where Whiteout needs to hear about it. What do you think?”

Goal Post pursed his lips and hung his head, ears flattening back. He didn’t answer.

“Well?”

At last Goal exhaled through his nose and flicked his eyes up to Quicksnap. “…sorry, fea–”

Dawning cleared his throat. Loudly. His eyes narrowed further.

“…sorry, kid.”

“Better. Now go and clean yourself off. If you really want to be helpful, maybe come back with some paper towels or something.”

Goal Post nodded quietly, turning and walking back down the hall with all the energy of a shamed colt. Dawning watched him go, not relaxing until he saw him turn down a corner out of sight. He sighed, turning around to Quicksnap. “You okay?”

Quicksnap shakily nodded, a couple drips falling from the tip of his beak. “Y-yeah…s-sorry about the–”

“You don’t need to apologize, you’re fine.” He looked back to the group in the boardroom. “I’m, uh, gonna stay out here and help him clean up, don’t mind me.”

“Sure,” Lucky said with a nod. “Take your time.”

Dawning nodded back. “Just give me a sec, I’m gonna run down to the janitor’s closet and see if I can get some stuff…”

As he went down the hall, the other four ponies turned back to the table. “Asshole…” Rainbow murmured. “Uh, the other guy, I mean, not Dawning.”

Lucky sighed. “Yeah, that’s Goal Post in a nutshell on a bad day…anyway, where were we?”

“Dawning was just raising some objections,” Rarity said.

“Oh, right…” Lucky shook her head. “I don’t know what’s gotten into him all of a sudden, I really…uh, Fluttershy?”

Fluttershy had circled around to the door in almost complete silence, slowly reaching up and pushing it closed until it shut with a click. She said nothing; she just stared down blankly at the floor, hoof still resting on the doorknob.

“Flutters?” Rainbow asked. “You’re acting kinda creepy, what’s going on?”

Fluttershy still didn’t answer. She was too busy thinking, running what she had realized over and over in her mind.

She didn’t know what exactly it was that had sparked the sudden epiphany as she’d watched Dawning Hope defending Quicksnap. Maybe it was something in how his posture had changed, how he seemed to stand taller, firmer. Maybe it was something in his voice. Or maybe it was the look he’d had in his eyes…

…those sapphire-blue eyes.

“Darling?”

At last Fluttershy turned her head back up to look towards the others. “…he was already there at the bridge, wasn’t he?” she said quietly. “We got there as fast as we could and he was already there long before that.”

“Huh?” Rainbow said in confusion.

“And even back during the monorail…he got ‘lost’, wasn’t that right? He wasn’t there with you either. And on the Constitution…we saw him come in to enter the ship, but we didn’t see him go back to shore with Dawning, did we? I mean…we know he moves fast, so maybe we just missed him then, but still…and he said he caught him before he hit the water, but Dawning’s clothes and fur were wet…”

“Fluttershy, what are you talking about?” Lucky asked.

Fluttershy slowly moved back to the table, turning the sketch around to face her. “Rarity, may I have a pencil?”

“Um…oh, yes, of course…” Rarity said as she levitated a pencil over to Fluttershy. “But darling, I’m afraid I don’t understand what you’re on to…”

“Just watch,” Fluttershy answered calmly. The other three mares huddled close around her as she put pencil to paper. First a circle over one eye, then another over the other, and then a little bridge between them over the muzzle.

A pair of glasses.

That was all.

Rarity drew a gasp and held a hoof to her mouth. Rainbow Dash’s eyes grew to the size of dinner plates, her mouth gaping as her jaw went slack. Lucky Lead’s entire body went rigidly frozen, eyes widening and ears folding back.

Fluttershy only pursed her lips and gently nodded. “It’s him.”

“Holy crap…” Rainbow breathed as she stared at the sketch. “He looks exactly like–”

“No,” Lucky suddenly exclaimed, shaking her head. “Nonono, this is crazy, this–”

“Shush!” Fluttershy hissed. “He can…” She paused, glancing over her shoulder at the door before turning back and mouthing out, “He can hear us.”

“…what?”

“He can hear us,” Fluttershy tried again.

“Fluttershy, I’m afraid we’re not the best at lip-reading…” Rarity told her.

Fluttershy sighed. “Okay. Then is there somewhere we can go to talk about this?”

Quicksnap was doing his best to shake the wet out of his feathers when the boardroom door opened, the four mares hurriedly filing out and doing their best to avoid the spill.

“Guys? Wait a sec, where are you all going?”

“Out,” Rainbow quickly said quickly as she passed. “We’ll be back.”

“Um, okay…wait, what do I tell Dawning?”

“Just, uh…” Lucky started. “…just tell him we’ll be back, okay?” She and the others were gone around the corner before Quicksnap could respond, leaving the young hippogriff alone to blink in confusion.

He didn’t have to wait by himself for long, though. Less than a minute later, Dawning Hope came back down from the other direction, setting a large assortment of supplies down near the puddle. “Okay…got some towels, some cleaning fluid, some more towels…” He looked up and eyed the open door and the now empty boardroom. “…hey, where’d everypony else go?”

Quicksnap just shrugged.

There was a doorway out to the rooftop of the Daily Planet building, just at the base of the giant golden globe that adorned the building’s top. The flat area surrounding it was fairly spartan, with a chest-height stone wall protecting visitors to the roof from falling, and four gigantic spotlights placed at each corner, each aimed up at the globe so as to illuminate it at night. This level of the building was mostly traversed by maintenance crews who came up to check on the spotlights or the globe, but every once in a while the staff would come up here for a breath of fresh air. Lucky Lead herself had come up here many times, sometimes at night; she’d lost count of how many days she’d spent working late, then coming up here to look out on the lighted vista of Manehattan, hoping desperately for even a fleeting glimpse of the Pony of Steel.

There was a pleasantly warm breeze that whistled through the mare’s manes as they stepped out onto the rooftop. It didn’t calm their nerves any as Rarity shut the door behind them.

“Alright,” Fluttershy began. “So–”

“No,” Lucky interrupted, glaring at Fluttershy. “Just…no!”

“Miss Lead,” Rarity started. “Perhaps let her have a chance to–”

“It’s crazy, just plain crazy! Dawning can’t be Supermane, he just can’t! He wouldn’t…” She started to pace. “I mean…I mean he’s a nice guy, really nice guy, but…a-and how does him just happening to be not nearby over the past week have to do with anything? It’s not like he’s constantly disappearing at work or anything!”

“But didn’t Supermane only operate at night up until the tram accident?” Fluttershy asked. “How would you know Dawning was missing if you weren’t around for him to go out as Supermane every other time before now?”

Lucky paused. “I…well…”

“And besides that, you haven’t really got a chance to talk to Supermane in-person for too long…even if you’ve been close to Dawning since he came to the Planet, what reference would you have to compare to?”

“And y’know…Dawning did start working with you guys around the same time Supermane showed up around here,” Rainbow added. “That was like, what, six months or so ago?”

“Y-yeah, Dawning started working with us a little after Twilight’s coronation…”

“Yeah, like…if Fluttershy’s on to something here, that’s a really close timeline there.”

“Well…well you saw him when he stopped the train, right?” Lucky said, rounding back towards Fluttershy. “He was in broad daylight, hood down…why didn’t you recognize him then when he got back to us at the Planet afterward?”

“I…I don’t know,” Fluttershy admitted. “I really don’t know, I was just watching him stand up to Goal Post and…I just realized I saw Supermane in him and everything else just sort of…went from there, like it all fit looking back. I really can’t explain it other than that.”

“I don’t know how far-fetched this may sound,” said Rarity. “But perhaps there’s some kind of magic at work here? Something he uses while disguising as Dawning Hope to throw ponies off the scent, so to speak?”

“I…no, there might be,” Lucky conceded. “…but how would that even work? I mean, obviously there’s a weakness to it somewhere if we’re able to realize who he is…”

“However he masks himself,” Rarity continued. “You can’t deny that it’s a…rather compelling theory, to say the least.” She turned to Fluttershy. “And…you are certain about this, are you?”

Fluttershy nodded. “I am.”

“So…what do we do now?” Rainbow asked. “I mean…Supermane told us not to go bothering him anymore, and like…”

“That’s, um, that’s the thing…” Fluttershy said. “I…think we need to. N-not bother him, I mean, but…” She stopped, thinking quietly for a minute. “…do you remember when the Map used to summon us? How we’d go and after a while there was somepony who needed our help somehow?”

Rarity nodded. “You…feel like this is similar?”

“Mmhmm. When we were talking I just had this feeling, like…like…something’s wrong. Like, there’s something he’s holding on to that’s making him want to hide from the world, something he’s afraid of others knowing. But at the same time, he said he also can’t not go out and help ponies even if he wanted to. He’s stuck between the two and…that’s just not good, right? Not for him, or for the other ponies of this city he could help better if it weren’t for this…this thing on his mind.”

“…yes, I can see the problem there,” Rarity agreed. “It makes sense to me.”

“Okay, but if Dawning Hope really is Supermane, how do we find out for sure?” Rainbow asked. “It’s not like we can just walk up to him and ask; he’d probably deny it on the spot. And if nopony here was able to put two and two together…uh, no offense, Lucky.”

Lucky only grunted.

“Well, what about his hometown?” Rarity asked. “Smallville, wasn’t it? Perhaps we could glean more information from his friends and family there?”

“Now wait just a minute, are you seriously suggesting that we waltz up to Dawning’s parents and ask, ‘hey, sorry to bother you, but your kid wouldn’t happen to be Supermane by any chance’?”

The three Elements exchanged glances.

“…well, perhaps not in quite that way…”

“Holy Faust…” Lucky moaned as she put a hoof to her brow.

“Miss Lead,” Rarity said, a firm tone in her voice. “I understand that this is a difficult prospect to consider. It is for all of us, not just you. Dawning Hope is our friend as well, maybe not for as long or as close, but a friend nonetheless. But we came here with a goal in mind. And if Dawning Hope–or Supermane, whomever he truly is–if there’s something wrong with him that we can help him with, then…as his friends, is it not in yours and our interests to find out how?”

Lucky stared silently back at her, then at Rainbow Dash, and finally at Fluttershy. Her harsh glare softened, not from calm, but more of a look of reluctant acquiescence.

At last she sighed. “…so…who’s gonna be the brave one?”

“…I’ll go,” Fluttershy said softly. “I can do it.”

The other three mares turned to Fluttershy. “You sure, Flutters?” Rainbow asked.

She hesitated for a moment, and then nodded. “I…I am. Dawning being Supermane was my idea and…my mistake to bear if I’m wrong. And if I am, well…I can take the fall for it.”

“Even if you are, we won’t hang you out to dry for it, darling,” Rarity said reassuringly.

“We’re gonna have to figure out a cover story…” Lucky pointed out. “And while Fluttershy is out, we can look into the bridge and the pirates’ weapons. I mean…let’s face it, Supermane might be on to something. There’s something between the two that’s just…just wrong in how they happened, somehow. And he was there for both, so if there really is something deeper…”

“Is Whiteout gonna be okay with you guys hopping stories?” Rainbow asked.

“For something as big as this? Oh yeah.”

“Then I suppose that’s settled, at least,” Rarity said. “So…what do we tell him?”

“Aaaand…that should do it,” Dawning said, giving the floor one last look over. It was practically spotless.

Quicksnap sighed as he leaned on a mop handle against the wall. “Thanks…you really didn’t have to…”

“Oh please, it’s fine, I’m happy to…huh?”

Lucky Lead and the three Elements came around the corner. “Uh, sorry to duck out on ya,” Rainbow Dash said. “Just, uh, didn’t want to get in the way.”

“Oh, well…I mean, you wouldn’t have been in the way, but…thanks, I guess?”

“Dawning, we’ve been doing some talking,” Lucky told him. “And, well…” She glanced at the others, who gave her little nods before she turned back to Dawning. “…we’ve decided you have a point.”

Dawning blinked. “…about what?”

“About Supermane.”

“Oh that…look, I’m sorry, I know–”

“Darling, it’s alright,” Rarity said. “We’re agreeing with you. Supermane’s asked to be left in peace, and there isn’t any good reason to ignore that. He’s helped us and this city immeasurably, and it’d only be courteous to return the favor by not treading upon his privacy.”

“I…um…” Dawning stammered for a bit before slowly nodding. “…yeah, that’s…kind of what I was trying to get at before, I just…does, uh, does that mean you’re heading home, or…”

“No, Rainbow Dash and myself will remain here. We’d…like to start looking into what’s been going on around here as of late.”

“As in…”

“The bridge and the pirate attack,” Lucky said. “Supermane had a point. Two major attacks on this city in under a week. One of them with carefully planted explosives, the other with military-grade artillery. If that’s not suspicious, I don’t know what is. There’s a bigger story somewhere and, well…” She glanced at Rainbow and Rarity. “I don’t think we’d mind the extra help, would we?”

“Uh, no, not at all, no, you’re right…” He paused. “…wait, just Rarity and Rainbow Dash? What about you, Fluttershy?”

“Um…” Fluttershy pursed her lips in hesitation, glancing down to the floor before finally meeting his gaze. “I’m…I’m going to be bowing out. I-I’m sorry, just…just between the train and the ship, and…”

“Hey, it’s okay…” Dawning said reassuringly. “I…I get it.”

“We all do, Flutters,” Rainbow Dash added. “Told you before, no shame.”

Dawning nodded in agreement. “So…are you going to leave tomorrow, or…”

“Actually, um…I was just going to go back to the hotel to pack. S-sorry, I know it probably sounds a bit sudden, I just…”

“No no no, no problems, you…you do what you need to.”

Fluttershy nodded. “T-thank you…” She stepped away from the group and turned towards the hall. “I-I’d better get going…”

“We’ll meet up with you back at the hotel room, darling,” Rarity said.

“And in the meantime,” Lucky told the others. “Let’s see about nailing where to start…”

As the group turned and headed back into the boardroom, Fluttershy caught Lucky giving her one last quick glare. You’d better be right on this, her face seemed to say.

Then she was gone, and Fluttershy found herself standing alone in the hallway. She swallowed, then turned and began making her way towards the exit, trying her best to not worry hard about–

“Fluttershy?”

Fluttershy felt her heat skip as she stopped in place, pausing before looking over her shoulder. Dawning had stepped back out into the hallway behind her, blue eyes blinking.

“…y-yes?”

Dawning opened his mouth, then closed it again, holding for a moment. “…um, just in case I don’t have the chance to later…have a safe trip back home. It was nice to finally meet you, I…”

In spite of herself, Fluttershy was able to muster up a small, genuine smile. “Thank you, Dawning. It was nice to meet you too.” She gave him one last little wave before resuming her journey down the hall.

She tried her best to keep her breathing steady as she went, but it wasn’t easy; she felt like her heart and lungs were going to burst from the tension she felt. She’d read somewhere that the heart tended to speed up when somepony was lying. And if Dawning truly was Supermane, with all of the exotic sensory prowess that he had described to her last night, then how easy would it be for him to notice, even as she got farther from him and lost amidst the din of the Daily Planet’s workers? How long would it be before he picked up on the others? Worse yet, what if he’d already seen through their charade, and was on to them even now? What would happen then?

And will he ever forgive us for lying?…

Author's Note

Oh, if only it were that easy, eh?

Well...here we are. 85K words, and it's all built up to this one moment of realization. I...genuinely hope it's been worth the wait so far. Either way, I'm glad to have actually made it to this hill.

This'll be the last chapter posted this year, as you've probably guessed. I know I shouldn't feel bad for the fewer chapters published and slower progress through 2022–I've had it said to me more than once that finishing college and finding a job are understandable, important delays and there's no fault to be had–but I still feel a bit bad about it admittedly.

But there's always tomorrow, always a chance to start improving. I truly hope next year I'll be able to get myself back up to that chapter-a-month streak I was on through last year.

In the meantime, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and keep looking up, true believers.

Smallville

A “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic” Fanfiction

Written by Jade Dawn

Fluttershy found herself shivering slightly as she sat between Rarity and Rainbow Dash on a bench at Maneway Station, idly tapping a ticket between her hooves, eyes occasionally flicking down to the named “Smallville” marked on the little slip. Part of it was just plain anxiety, and part of it was just the chill of the early morning air; the Sun had only barely crested the horizon outside, shadowy traces of night still draped across the city like a dark blanket, and many buildings still had their lights burning brightly.

“…he wouldn’t be doing his nightly rounds now, right?”

Fluttershy knew the three of them had been over this same point at least half a dozen times by now, but nonetheless her companions were still patient with her. “Likely not, darling,” Rarity replied. “Not after his sudden exposure to the world, at least.”

“Besides,” Rainbow Dash added. “Guy’s gotta catch up on his Z’s between crime-fighting and waking up for his actual job. This is probably the best chance we have to get you out without him noticing.”

“Yeah…” Fluttershy murmured. “S-sorry…”

Rainbow reached out a wing and wrapped it around Fluttershy’s shoulders, giving her a gentle hug. “We get it. No worries.”

Then from down the nearest tunnel came a high-pitched whistle, and Fluttershy’s ears folded back as the train chugged into view before them. The great engine screeched to a slow stop in puffs of steam, passenger car doors springing open one by one.

“Are you ready, darling?” Rarity asked.

Fluttershy stared at the open car door directly ahead, silently watching as other ponies boarded. At last she quietly nodded, standing to go. Before she did, however, Rarity stood as well and pulled her into a hug for her own.

“You’re going to be fine, dear. Don’t worry too much about being wrong. Just…follow the truth.”

“And don’t worry about us here,” Rainbow added. “We’ll keep the fort held down until you get back.”

Fluttershy nodded to the two. “Thank you…I’ll…I’ll be back as soon as I can, I promise.”

She gave Rarity one last little squeeze before pulling away from the hug, turning away and stepping into the train. Rarity and Rainbow watched until the doors slid shut, and the train pulled away, taking Fluttershy with it as it left the bustling concrete jungle of Manehattan behind.

The corridors of the upper sub-basement levels of the LexCorp Plaza–the ones below the surface of the harbor but still above the riverbed–had a row of long, rectangular windows set into the walls. They were made of thick, reinforced glass, and offered a clear view of the river outside. There wasn’t usually much to see beyond the hulls of boats going up and down the river, or the occasional school of fish that swam by, but it at least helped make these upper corridors feel a bit more comfortably open to the staff who traversed them.

Merciful Grace, however, didn’t take the time to appreciate the little environmental reprieve as she walked down the corridor. Her face was as stoic and emotionless as it usually was in public, the sound of clattering hooves against metallic floor echoing down the length of the hallway, while the rippling waves from outside and above cast shimmering patterns on her the left side of her body and the polished corridor walls.

She turned down a branching corridor to her right, marked by an overhead sign labelled Virtual Simulation Development, and kept walking until she came to a metal door designated “Holosuite 4”. Two lightly-armored LexCorp security guards were stationed on either side, and they stood to attention when Mercy approached.

“Is he still in there?” she asked.

One of the guards nodded. “Since last night, ma’am.”

“I’d like to talk with him. Open the door, please.”

The two guards exchanged glanced. “Miss Grace, he was, erm…very adamant that he not be disturbed…”

An eyebrow raised. Just a single eyebrow.

“…b-but if you need to see him, ma’am…”

The two guards stepped aside, one inserting a keycard into a slot along the wall. The door slid upwards with a hiss, and Mercy stepped through.

The room beyond was a kind of lobby of sorts, with a few scattered benches, lockers, and tables bearing computer monitors along the walls and across the floor. Mercy trotted past them to a large double door at the other end, pushing a round button in the center and stepping back as the doors slowly parted.

On the other side–in complete contrast to the sterile, artificial aesthetic of the LexCorp labs–was a smoldering, destitute landscape that had once been a hilly plain. The grass was charred and scorched, with plumes of smoke rising to form a canopy of black clouds high in the air, creating a dismally dark scene. In the distance was a high mountain, with the ruins of a city clinging to the side, and Mercy vaguely recognized what remained of the skyline as that of Canterlot. All around the area were bodies that she recognized almost immediately; Tirek, Sombra, Chrysalis, Discord, even Cozy Glow all lay strewn across the battlefield, still and unmoving, covered in bruises, scars, and burns.

Only two contestants remained on the battlefield. One was Nightmare Moon, already plenty wounded herself and frantically firing beams of blue magical energy at her foe. The other was a pony clad in a gigantic green mechanized power suit, head obscured by a dark-visored helmet, armed to the teeth with weapons gauntlets at the forelegs, and rocket launchers across the back. Despite the bulk of the suit, the pony within moved swiftly, dodging the majority of Nightmare’s beams. The ones that did hit glanced away upon hitting an orange energy shield that sprang into visibility with each contact. All the while, the armor-clad pony fired an array of beams, missiles, and other projectiles at the dark alicorn, striking blow after blow, knocking her around like a rag doll and filling the air with the sound of rocket explosions and crackling energy rays.

Another volley sent Nightmare Moon plummeting like a falling star, slamming down onto her back with enough force to dent a crater into the ground. The power suit-clad pony landed just in front of her, the ground seeming to shake on impact. The figure slowly advanced towards the fallen alicorn, pressing a heavy armored hoof down on her chest.

Nightmare Moon coughed, blood dripping from her nostrils and the edges of her mouth. “Y-you…you think you can…take Equestria from me?! I amACK!”

The metal-clad hoof slammed down on her throat. The other foreleg reared back, preparing for a blow.

“You still misunderstand,” came a stallion’s voice from deep within the suit. “Equestria isn’t yours to take…and we don’t need gods anymore.”

The raised hoof came down across her jaw with a resounding CRACK! The other foreleg was reared back.

“When they want to look up in the sky for hope for tomorrow…they’ll find me.”

SMACK!

“I am their future! I am the one who’s going to lead them into tomorrow!”

CRACK! A spurt of blood shot up and splattered across the suit.

“And NOBODY is going to take that away from me!

SMACK! CRACK! SWACK! Nightmare Moon’s legs were flinching in spasms now.

“Not this city! Not the government! Not even the alicorns themselves!”

CRACK!

“AND ESPECIALLY–”

SWACK!

“–NOT–”

CRUNCH!

“–SUPERMANE!!!”

A circular green light flared within the chest of the suit, and erupted into a blinding ray of emerald energy fired down at point blank into Nightmare Moon. A loud screeching and roar shattered the surrounding air, and the surrounding ash and remnants of grass that littered the area were blown away in a sudden burst of wind.

Merciful Grace only squinted.

Then the beam cut off. Silence fell. And the thing that had once been Nightmare Moon at last lay limp and unmoving.

The armored stallion stepped back, suddenly sagging as the sounds of heavy panting echoed from the helmet. After a minute he raised his head towards the door, staring at Mercy through the dark visor.

“…computer, disengage program.”

There was an acknowledging beep, and the entire landscape suddenly lit up in a dazzling shimmer of light. As it faded away, everything–the landscape, the sky, the bodies, even the bulky power armor–all disappeared, leaving behind an expansive, empty gray chamber criss-crossed with thin yellow grid lines across the floor and walls. Tech Lexicon stood in the center of the room, wearing a kind of harness around his torso and legs, covered in wires and colored spots at various points. His fur and mane were damp with sweat, and he panted heavily, an open-mouthed smile of sadistic glee stretched across his face as he stared across the room at Mercy.

“Do you feel better, sir?” she asked politely.

A kind of chuckle cracked from Lex’s throat, mixing with the panting. Then the smile faded, soon becoming a glower.

“No…no I don’t.”

Lex marched towards the exit, Mercy stepping aside with an almost casual grace as he went past her into the lobby. He went to one of the benches and sat down, beginning to pry off the harness and tossing the different parts aside.

“What do you want?” He muttered, not even glancing up at Mercy.

“Plans for the charity ball are still underway,” Mercy reported. “Attendance listing’s doubled since last night. PR announced that the proceeds will go to the victims of the Constitution attack in addition to the damages to the bridge and monorail system.”

“Uh-huh.” Lex grabbed a water bottle from a nearby cooler, cracking it open and splashing half the contents across his face and down his back.

“We got a call from Canterlot this morning,” Mercy continued. “The Royal Guard wishes to discuss contracts for our weapons technology as part of their reorganization efforts after the attacks.”

“What happened to Heckler and Catch?” Lex asked as he reached for a towel, rubbing it over his body and wiping away sweat and water.

“Still in the running, but LexCorp has apparently been moved up to ‘very high consideration’, as they put it.”

“Mm.” Lex tossed aside the towel and picked the water bottle back up, tossing his head back as he gulped down the remaining liquid inside.

“Speaking of weapons, sir, I’ve arranged for our weapons research and development division to offer expert opinion on Manehattan News Now. It should help stave off suspicions about–”

Lex suddenly turned and glared at her. “Mercy, is there a point you’re trying to make here?”

Mercy paused, looking back at him calmly. “…only that we’ve still managed to get a few silver linings out of this, sir. And you aren’t beaten yet.”

Lex stared at her for a moment, his glare softening. For a moment his lips curled up into a smile, but the moment went quickly. He turned away from her and exhaled through his nostrils, staring down at the floor.

“…Mercy, what I’m about to say does not go any farther than this room, do you understand?”

“My lips are sealed, sir.”

Lex’s eyes flicked up to a small, semi-circular camera module off in one corner of the room. “In fact? When we’re done here, go into the security logs and scrub these next few seconds from the record.”

“Will do, sir.”

Lex huffed again, biting his lip and tapping a hoof on the bench before finally spitting it out.

“I’m stumped, Mercy.”

He stood up abruptly, beginning to pace. “The pirates were a mistake, I realize that now. Too open, and I clearly underestimated just how resilient Supermane actually is. He took our stock ground hardware, and loaning them out to somepony won’t work twice. It might take all our ordinance to bring him down, and even then I don’t know if it’ll be enough anymore…especially not without having to do more damage control…”

“Well, nopony’s invulnerable, sir,” Mercy said. “There’s got to be some way to kill him somewhere. What about toxins?”

Lex nodded. “Perhaps…” The idea had merit, and it wasn’t like LexCorp was short of any number of substances that could be lethal to organic life. He knew for a fact, for instance, that in one of their many laboratory facilities they’d been working on reverse engineering a powerful neurotoxin of Changeling origin. Small, practically infinitesimal doses had been enough to completely incapacitate the alicorns during Queen Chrysalis’s second attempt at conquest. Even doses of the same size would be lethal to most other lifeforms. Perhaps with enough…

“…or it could end up leaking out all over the city and create an even bigger catastrophe for us to clean up,” Lex sighed, slumping back down on the bench. “No…it needs to be precise, something we can use in a completely controlled environment…”

“Radiation, then?”

“What kind? How much? Mercy, I can’t afford to keep testing on him anymore, we need something guaranteed to kill him in one hit. Something that’ll destroy him on a fundamental level. Something that we can use on him without risk to other…ponies…”

“Sir?”

Lex didn’t answer. He stared blankly ahead, jaw slightly slack, focusing all energy on the little burst of thought that had just flashed into his brain.

It was ludicrous. It was absurd. It contradicted everything that either science or magic knew about…Tartarus, a whole array of fields. But somewhere between the chances, between all the impracticalities and scientific stumbling blocks of the idea, Lex’s mind latched on to a small, pinprick-sized point of plausibility.

“Lex?”

Lex suddenly stood up again, hurrying over to a wall-mounted intercom, clicking it with a hoof. “Dr. Vale.”

“AH–uh, yes, sir?…”

“Compile our data on the K643’s radioactive emissions. Put it against a simulation of Supermane’s molecular structure. Run it with every variable you can think of until you’re absolutely certain what the results of a real-life exposure would be.”

“I…I don’t understand–”

“You will. Make it happen and get back to me when you do,” Lex replied, clicking off the intercom before Vale could reply.

Mercy stood and came up alongside him. “What is it, sir? Do you have an idea?”

“A hunch, Mercy…just a hunch, for now.” He turned to face her, and somewhere deep within his eyes, Mercy thought she could see that oh-so-familiar spark of genius in them once again.

“But if I’m right…we might just have had Supermane’s death warrant in our hooves all along…”

Fluttershy huddled up in her seat close to the window, leaning towards it just enough to feel the gentle warmth of the sun-heated glass radiating against her fur as she watched the view outside pass by. Hours ago, the train had left behind the towering concrete jungles of Manehattan and the rolling, grassy hills that surrounded it, trading in the scenery for the expansive, almost entirely flat farmlands and plains they were passing through now. Fluttershy found herself reminded of some of the farmlands that surrounded Ponyville.

The view was lovely and the warmth of the midday sun was relaxing, but Fluttershy’s mind was elsewhere.

“Are you seriously suggesting that we waltz up to Dawning’s parents and ask, ‘hey, sorry to bother you, but your kid wouldn’t happen to be Supermane by any chance’,” Lucky had asked. Her tone aside, it had been a valid question. How was she going to go about trying to get more information on Dawning without tipping them off as to what she was doing? And if they already knew about Dawning’s abilities and hero identity–which she had no reason to suspect they didn’t–then she’d have to expect that they’d try to be as evasive as they could; if Dawning wanted to keep Supermane a secret, so would they, most likely.

But Fluttershy certainly didn’t want to scare them into clamming up completely. Somehow, some way, she needed to find some balance of gentle questioning here.

There was a sharp whistle and Fluttershy half-jumped in her seat, only realizing a second later that it was only the whistle of the train itself. She felt it slowing, the walls of a train station crawling into view along the left-hoof side.

“Now arriving at Smallville Station. Next stop: Baltimare.”

Fluttershy took a breath and collected herself. No more worrying. You can do this…one step at a time.

So she took a single step out of her seat. Then another. And another. She kept doing it until, with barely any time it seemed, she had left the train car and was heading out the exit of the station. The sun’s glare flashed for a moment in her eyes as she stepped outside, and she blinked as her vision adjusted to the light. Beside the path ahead was a large billboard with the words “Welcome To Smallville!” written in bold red lettering, topped off by a cutout of a flaming meteor.

And beyond, further down the road, was the town of Smallville itself. The most immediate area of the town was a kind of main street, long and wide and flanked by rows of low buildings. The majority were only a single story in height, and none looked to be any higher than two or three at most; the tallest ones Fluttershy could make out were a white-painted water tower with “SMALLVILLE” painted on one side, a few scattered radio towers poking up, and what seemed to be a hospital building a street or two away. A three-story town hall stood at the farthest end of the street that she could see. The majority of Main Street’s buildings were various shops and businesses; grocery stores, hardware stores, machine shops, a bank, a building labeled The Smallville Ledger, and so on. Mixed in were more higher-end establishments and entertainment venues, like a chrome-trimmed diner with neon signage, a movie theater, a jewelry store, and even a bowling alley.

From the size of the buildings and the town itself, Fluttershy guessed that many were family owned, or at least family operated. The central road was full of ponies going to and fro, some hauling carts or tending to their shops, others gathering and socializing. Most of them at the very least gave each other friendly greetings as they passed one another. Watching them all go about happily through the little town, looking up at the little buildings as she walked down the street, Fluttershy felt the sense of community here in this humble little place. The warmth of the sun and a gentle breeze in the air topped off the cozy feeling like icing on a cake.

It felt almost like Ponyville.

It felt like home.

How many of them know Dawning’s secret? Fluttershy began to wonder as she watched the town’s residents, all happily chatting and talking like one big group of friends or family. Farming communities like this tended to be close-knit, she knew. How many of them shared the secret of Dawning’s powers amongst themselves? How many had cheered him on when the news broke of his confirmed existence?

She knew she wouldn’t get answers at all if she didn’t get going, though. She just needed to find somewhere where she could get directions…

Just pick anywhere, Fluttershy. Anywhere’s a good start. Just pick one. Don’t be shy.

There was a small grocery store with a sign marked Turnip’s Groceries a couple of blocks away. Fluttershy made her way towards that, weaving through the ponies going back and forth, letting out an occasional whisper of “excuse me” or “pardon me” as she went. Nopony seemed to mind her presence, all just nodding back politely as she passed, and she half-wondered if they recognized her at all. Regardless, she soon found herself at the glass door to the store, and gingerly stepped inside, a small bell jingling as she did.

The store’s interior was fairly small, but roomy enough and well stocked, more of a convenience store than anything. Besides Fluttershy, only two other ponies were inside, both mares. One was a light-purple mare with a close-cropped pinkish-white mane and tail, leaning half over the store’s counter as she chatted with the other mare; a tall, slender white unicorn with a long red mane and tail, and a cutie mark of what looked like a sewing needle wrapped in a glimmer of magic, simple saddlebags loaded with groceries hanging across her sides.

The mare behind the counter looked at Fluttershy as she entered. “Oh, just a second, miss–”

“O-oh no no, don’t mind me,” Fluttershy replied. “Sorry, I’m just looking for directions to, ah…” She paused, collecting herself. “Um…there was a pony who used to live here named Dawning Hope…”

“Dawning?” The unicorn asked, ears perking up and looking towards Fluttershy with soft green eyes. “Are you a friend of his?”

“Uh…actually yes, I am. I, um, was just wondering if his family maybe still lived around here…Cornstalk and Amber Grain?”

“Oh sure, I know where they are,” chirped the unicorn with a friendly smile. “Heck, I work there half the time. I could show you to their farm if you want.”

“Y-you would? Oh…thank you so much, I’d appreciate that.”

“Oh please, pleasure’s all mine. Just follow my lead.” She tossed a couple bits on the counter–“See you around, Turnip.”–and led Fluttershy back out onto Main Street.

“So…how’re you liking Smallville so far?” The unicorn asked as they walked.

“It’s lovely,” Fluttershy answered. “I-I mean, I only just got here so I haven’t really had the time to explore, but it’s…cozy, I guess.”

The unicorn chuckled. “Yup, that’s about right. Small in size, big in heart, that’s us. Trust me, I grew up my whole life here, know just about everyone and everything here like the back of my hoof. Speaking of, uh, hope you don’t mind a walk. The farm’s a little ways off the beaten path, so to speak.”

Fluttershy shook her head. “Don’t worry, I don’t mind, Miss…”

“Woven,” the unicorn answered. “Woven Light.”

A small burst of recognition went through Fluttershy’s mind. One of Dawning’s foalhood friends, she remembered. “Nice to meet you. I’m Fluttershy.”

“Wait…Fluttershy?” Woven repeated. “As in one of Princess Twilight’s friends? An Element of Harmony?”

Fluttershy felt her cheeks heat up. “Well, I…well yes…”

Woven Light let out an admiring whistle. “Don’t get many celebrities around these parts. Faust, Dawning’s gone up a bit in the world, hasn’t he…so what do you want with a guy like him?”

“W-well,” Fluttershy stammered out, the gears of her mind spinning rapidly. “My friends Rarity and Rainbow Dash and I have been working with him–”

Woven’s eyes lit up. “Rarity? The Rarity? Oh Faust, now I’m jealous,” she laughed. “I so wish I could meet her.”

“You do?”

“Oh yeah, I’m…well, kind of a fan.” She nodded to her cutie mark. “I always kinda had a thing for magic and fashion. I’d hoped that one day I could head out and study up, maybe make a name for myself, but…” she trailed off, a little rueful look in her eyes.

Fluttershy observed the little shift in her mood, feeling wary about prying further. But she couldn’t help but wonder if maybe there was some further connection to Dawning involved.

Wait…what if they were–

“…but, uh, hey,” Woven finally said, smiling again. “Splitting work between the diner and the farm isn’t all bad.”

Fluttershy shook the thought out of her head. “N-no, I guess not. Dawning mentioned the diner job…”

“Oh, he did, did he?” Woven asked. “How’d that come up?”

“Um…w-we were just talking during a break and…got to talking about his home, and...it just came up, I guess.”

“Uh-huh…” Woven nodded. “So, what exactly are you all working on? I mean, I know Dawning’s a big city reporter now, but what’s big enough that you’re working with him for?”

Fluttershy hesitated. She knew she was at the threshold now.

Don’t panic. Don’t look nervous. Deep breath, chin up…

Fluttershy breathed in, straightened a little, and put on as calm a face and tone a voice as she could manage. “We’re…actually looking into Supermane, and, um…”

She trailed off. No no, too blunt…well don’t stop now, now she’s going to–

But then a strange expression flickered across Woven’s face for a moment, a glimmer of surprise and suspicion flaring in her eyes for a moment before the friendly smile returned…though now it looked as hollow and thin as a cardboard mask. “Supermane?” she said with a laugh. “Princess Twilight has you, uh…looking into superheroes now? Have you met him yet?”

“Yes–no, I mean, yes I have, but…”

Oh…sugarcubes!...

“Really?” Woven Light asked. “You don’t say…what’s he like?”

“He’s…really nice,” Fluttershy said, fighting back sweat. “But, um, there’s something I…I…”

“Something…like what?” Woven Light asked, stopping and giving Fluttershy a narrow-eyed stare. “And what does Supermane have to do with Dawning?”

Fluttershy swallowed, eyes darting around in search of a distraction, a change of subject, anything but that green eyed stare. “D-Dawning and I are friends,” she stammered out. “And I, um, I think…”

Woven Light leaned in closer, her eyes narrowing. “Miss Fluttershy, I don’t know what you think, but maybe it’s best if you–”

“Woven?” a mare’s voice called out.

Woven turned her head away, the intensity vaporizing from her face. Fluttershy internally sighed in relief before turning to look for herself.

The other mare was approaching from up the road, hauling a cart behind her. Her fur was light orange and her mane was blonde, though broken by stripes of gray from age. Her eyes were a soft shade of blue, and her cutie mark was a cluster of wheat or some other kind of grain. She absentmindedly looked over her shoulder at the cart and its contents as she came up.

“Well I’m hoping I got all the parts Cornstalk needs for the tractor,” she murmured. “Faust knows I don’t have his head for those kinds of mechanics…” She trailed off upon seeing Fluttershy standing next to Woven. “...oh, pardon me, who’s this here?”

“No one,” Woven Light replied, a little curtly. “She was just–”

“Now hold on…” the other mare said, tilting her head at Fluttershy. “Do I know you? I think I’ve seen your picture in the papers once or twice…”

“You, uh…” Fluttershy stammered, looking nervously between her and Woven. “You might’ve, maybe…I’m Fluttershy…”

“Oh right, Fluttershy, now I remember,” the newcomer beamed. “I’m Amber Grain.”

The feeling of relief chilled in Fluttershy’s veins. Dawning’s mother…oh no, if one of his friends is already suspicious of me…

“O-oh, I’m…so glad to meet you,” she forced out, trying her best to put up an innocent smile. “I was looking for you, Woven was leading me to your farmhouse.”

“Is that so?” Amber asked, cocking her head. “Why would–”

“She came here from Manehattan,” Woven Light cut in abruptly. “She was asking about Dawning.”

The friendliness in Amber’s face dimmed–not completely, but enough to be clearly noticeable. “Ah…I see.”

“P-please,” Fluttershy said, raising her hoof. “Just listen, I don’t want to hurt Dawning or anything like that. I just…I just want to know more about your son. I think that…that there’s something on his mind, some problem he’s having. We want to help him, my friends and I all do. I just came here to…to look for answers. To better figure out how to help him.”

Amber frowned, chewing on her lip in thought, never taking her eyes off of Fluttershy. Woven Light glared at the pegasus, and she fought the urge to cower.

“T-that’s all I want,” Fluttershy pleaded. “To help my friend.”

Amber kept looking into Fluttershy’s eyes for a time, like she was staring deep into her soul as the pegasus waited with bated breath.

At last Amber sighed, shut her eyes for a moment, and then gave Fluttershy a smaller but genuine smile. “Well…how about we got back to the house then? Sit down, get comfortable, have a little talk, hm?”

A look of surprise spread across Woven’s face. “Amber, what are you–”

“We wouldn’t want to deny our guest some hospitality here, now would we?” Amber Grain interrupted, shooting a soft but admonishing glance at Woven. “Come on now, Miss Fluttershy. We’ll show you the way.”

Fluttershy felt a small–very small–feeling of cautious relief. “T-thank you…”

“Just follow along,” Amber smiled back as she turned. “Won’t be too long of a trip to the farm.”

Fluttershy quickly trotted along to follow, staying close to Amber’s side as they continued down the road. Woven Light followed behind, and as Fluttershy cast a glance over her shoulder, she saw that the red-maned unicorn was still regarding her with a look of suspicion.

And looking around as they passed through Main Street, she gradually realized that Woven wasn’t the only one. The street had gotten noticeably quieter, and many of the nearby pedestrians had stopped to watch the three mares’ meeting. Some small groups of two or three were whispering amongst each other.

Nopony followed them. They just stood by and watched. But Fluttershy couldn’t help but feel a nervous shudder run through her bones as she once again thought of just how many ponies might be in on the secret of Dawning Hope…

True to Woven and Amber’s word, while the farm was indeed a fair ways off the main roads of the town, it proved to not be too long a walk to it from Main Street. Or at least it was in terms of actual distance; to Fluttershy, between the nervousness already well-embedded into her being, and Woven Light not helping matters by watching her like a guard pony, it felt like a full day’s worth of walking.

But eventually they did indeed arrive, just around noon. Sitting at the end of a little pathway of dirt branching off from the road was a modest, two-story farmhouse, faded yellow in color, backed by a tall red barn, towering grain silos, and vast, sprawling fields of wheat and crops that seemed to stretch for as far as the eye could see, before ending at the beginnings of a pine forest lining the horizon. Fluttershy found herself reminded of a little of Sweet Apple Acres back home in Ponyville.

“What a lovely place,” Fluttershy said aloud, trying to break some of the tension.

“Why, thank you,” Amber Grain replied with a smile as she unhitched herself from the cart. “We’ve had it in the family for the past six generations. Lot of history’s come and gone through this old place…” She took the lead ahead of Fluttershy and Woven as they stepped up onto the front porch, gently knocking on the door. “Cornstalk’s probably out in either the field or the barn, but Flax should be…ah.”

The door opened with a click, and out peeked a young stallion, with dark brown fur and a blonde mane, and a cutie mark of what looked to be a cluster of tan-ish seeds, smiling as he saw Amber and Woven. “Oh hey Mrs. Grain! Did you get the stuff for the tractor?”

“Well, yes…actually, where is Cornstalk right now?”

“Oh, he’s out back waiting for you, I’ll go get him…” Flax started to duck back inside, but Amber put a hoof on his shoulder.

“Actually Flax, I will go get him. In the meantime, why don’t you help Woven get our guest comfortable, hm?”

“Guest?” Flax asked, looking over her shoulder at Fluttershy. “Oh, oh! Yeah, sure, I can do that.”

“Thank you kindly.” As Flax stepped aside to let her past, Amber looked back at Fluttershy. “I shouldn’t be long. Just make yourself at home.”

“I-I’ll try…” Fluttershy murmured, watching her go.

“Come on in!” Flax chirped, holding the door open with a smile.

“Oh, thank you…” Fluttershy said, gingerly stepping inside with Woven following close behind. The inside of the house, or at least the first floor, was spacious and comfortable, with kitchen, dining room, and living room all interconnected, only separated by vertical support beams or half-walls and counters. The soft yellow color of the walls and the sunlight coming in from the windows gave the interior a warm, inviting feel.

“So, uh, you’ve already met Woven and Mrs. Grain…” Flax said, closing the door behind him as he followed the two mares inside. “And I’m…well, name’s Flax, but I guess you could figure that out by now, huh?” he chuckled.

“Uh…well, yes, I sort of gathered…” Fluttershy took a moment to observe the stallion. His face bore no trace of the suspicion in Woven’s eyes or the gentle but wary smile of Amber. Just genuine warm hospitality. If there were any sort of non-verbal hints that Amber had been trying to drop while she’d talked to him, he’d obviously missed them.

“And, uh…sorry, don’t think I got your name…”

“O-oh! I’m, uh, I’m Fluttershy.”

“Fluttershy…well, nice to meet ya. So, what–”

“Flax,” Woven said flatly. “This is the Fluttershy.”

Only now did the unabashed friendliness in Flax’s face shift, turning into a kind of awe that Fluttershy found familiar by now. “Wait…as in…”

Fluttershy nodded. “Y-yes, that one…um, I’m a friend of Dawning Hope’s…”

Flax’s neighborly smile returned as quickly as it had flickered away. “Well…well no kidding! The Element of Kindness friends with…he’s a great guy, isn’t he, Woven and I’ve known him for years…”

“Uh…Dawning did say that you three were close growing up…”

“He did, huh? Welp, no lies from him there.”

“Flax…” Woven murmured in a cautioning tone.

“Actually…heck, that’s us right up here,” Flax continued, practically bounding over to a row of framed pictures on one wall, pointing to one picture showing Dawning, Flax, and Woven huddled together, dressed in graduation caps and gowns, and grinning happily. “Right here, see? That was graduation from Fillydelphia U. Woven went for fashion design, I was into political sciences and Dawning was journalism.”

“Ooh, I see…” Fluttershy nodded. But looking at the picture, she couldn’t help but notice two odd peculiarities about Dawning.

For one, he was missing his glasses, and his eyes were a very distinct–and familiar to her–shade of vivid blue.

And for another–and when she saw it she found herself more taken surprised by it than by the lack of glasses–part of his graduation robe draped in such a way that she could just see his left flank.

It was blank. There was no sign of a cutie mark anywhere on it.

And then something else caught her eye, a little higher up on the wall above the pictures; a black, star-studded certificate of some kind. “Oh, what’s this?” she asked, reading off the words on the certificate. “‘Smallville Starwatchers Society, Constellation Award for Most Sightings in 1110…”

“Oh, that’s Miss Grain’s,” Flax explained. “She joined that club way back after Dawning was born, really started getting into astronomy and it stuck.” He chuckled. “She won’t admit it unless you ask, but she’s kind of a UFO nut.”

“Oh, really?” Fluttershy asked, mildly surprised. “What got her interested in that sort of thing?”

Flax looked like he was about to answer, but then paused, the friendliness in his face dimming as he exchanged a quick glance with Woven. Barely a fraction of a second later, he was all smiles again. “Oh, uh…just a fun little kick she got on, I suppose.”

For a moment, a part of Fluttershy thought it a little odd, but she mentally shrugged it off. Lots of ponies had odd little things they were into; she knew for a fact Lyra Heartstrings back home in Ponyville fancied herself a cryptid hunter.

Just then the back door creaked open, and Fluttershy turned around to look. Amber Grain had returned, holding the door open to allow a new pony to step through; a tall stallion with a pale yellow coat, a light brown mane, tail, and small goatee on his chin, and wearing a red plaid shirt and a blue ball cap. Like Amber Grain, his mane and tail were broken by the occasional stripe of aged gray, and his cutie mark was a small cluster of three cornstalks. He quietly regarded Fluttershy with brown eyes, and lips neither smiling nor frowning as he stepped inside and paused.

“Miss Fluttershy,” Amber said, still in a reservedly friendly tone. “This is my husband, Cornstalk.”

The stallion nodded. “Hello,” he said, his voice soft but bordering on deep, curt but not impolite or sullen.

Fluttershy nodded back. “H-hello, sir…”

“So…” he took a few steps closer, still taking her in. “Ambie here told me that you’re a friend of Dawning’s. Is that true?”

Fluttershy hesitated, taking him in in turn. His gaze and movements didn’t carry the cheerful body language of Flax, but not the harsh suspicion of Woven Light either. Instead he regarded her with a kind of quiet straightforwardness. Non-aggressive, but noticeably firm in getting to the point.

It made Fluttershy start to feel nervous again. She felt like things were beginning to slip out of her hooves for real.

Calm yourself. Keep it together, take it slow.

She nodded. “Yes, sir.”

“Hmm.” Cornstalk pursed his lips. “Come have a seat. Let’s talk for a while.”

Fluttershy followed him to the dining room table, made out of dark polished wood and draped in a white table cloth. Cornstalk took a seat first, resting his front hooves together on the table as he waited for Fluttershy.

“Would you like me to get something for you?” Amber asked Fluttershy. “Coffee, or…”

“Uh…no, thank you,” Fluttershy replied meekly as she took a seat opposite of Cornstalk. Amber nodded, taking a seat beside her husband. Out of the corner of her eye, Fluttershy saw Flax murmuring something to Woven off to the side, at last sounding at least confused, before Woven silenced him with a hissed whisper.

“So, tell me,” Cornstalk said, leaning forward slightly. “How did you meet Dawning?”

Fluttershy took a breath to steel herself, then began. “We, um…we met at the Daily Planet…we’ve been, uh…we’ve been…”

Cornstalk and Amber waited quietly, patiently.

It was almost maddening.

“…we’ve been trying to find Supermane together.”

Cornstalk nodded. “I see.”

“Wait, Supermane?” Flax asked, tilting his head. “What does Supermane have to do with you and–”

Woven coughed. Flax clammed up.

“You were saying?” Cornstalk gently prodded.

Fluttershy hesitated. There was nothing else to say, no other direction to go in at this point. The threshold of the search was at hoof.

“…something came up with Dawning. Something that has us worried…a-about him, I mean. I-I just wanted to ask about, um…oh…”

She couldn’t do it. She was breaking up. She just couldn’t do it.

But then she didn’t have to. Flax’s eyes widened, and in a nervous half-whisper he breathed out, “You know?”

“Flax!” Woven hissed, glaring daggers at him.

“Woven, Flax,” Amber said in a gently reprimanding tone.

Cornstalk shut his eyes for a moment, taking in a breath and letting it out as a gentle sigh before he opened them up again. “Well?”

Something inside Fluttershy shattered, and a mix of emotions swirled and churned within her. Relief, that the tension was now broken and all cards were on the table, and that her hunch had been right. Heartbreak, that her hunch had been right.

Fluttershy sighed too. “Yes. I do.”

“He’s not hurting anypony,” Woven suddenly barked, stepping forward and glaring at Fluttershy with all the aura of an angered guard dog. “He’s only trying to help, I don’t know what your princess friend wants with him but–”

Fluttershy flinched in her seat. “I–we’re not–”

“Woven Light,” Amber snapped. “Leave her alone and let her explain herself, please.”

Woven recoiled, her fury dissipating as she stepped back, bowing her head shamefully.

Amber sighed. “We all knew this day was coming. We knew it was from the moment we heard about the train. Best thing we can do now is just…just take it as it comes.” She turned back to Fluttershy. “I’m sorry about her. Truth is, we’ve all been on edge these past few days. Past few years, really, but the past week especially.”

“I-I understand…” Fluttershy murmured back.

“How much do you know?” Cornstalk asked.

“Just…just that he’s Supermane. Um, as far as facts go, that’s really all. But there’s, um…” She paused for a moment, finding words. “…there’s something about him. I…I only got to talk to him once as, um, Supermane. He asked us to stop looking for him. And I know, I know it sounds like an invasion of privacy, in any other situation I’d want to leave him alone, but when we talked there was just this…this burden I felt like he’s been carrying. Something painful that he’s hiding, or something that he’s looking for. And…well, more than knowing who he really is under the cloak, I…I wanted to find a way to help him if I could just understand what that something is.”

She stopped again, looking around between Cornstalk and Amber, and Woven and Flax standing off to the side.

“I-I promise you,” Fluttershy continued. “My friends and I aren’t there to arrest him or anything. We don’t want to hurt him. Neither does Twilight. She knows he’s not a bad pony, or a danger, or anything like that…I…I think if he was, he would’ve made himself one by now with everything he can do. We just…want to know more about him. To help him, if we can.”

Woven’s glare softened, little by little. Cornstalk and Amber said nothing at first. They just exchanged looks, as though communicating through silent thought.

Then Cornstalk turned back to Fluttershy and cleared his throat. “Miss Fluttershy, I can’t say we can put our trust in you by way of personal experience, but…well, word gets around. You’re not exactly little-known these days, and you’ve got a pretty good reputation going for you. And frankly, I think if Princess Twilight really was out for our son to hurt him or lock him up, well…she wouldn’t have sent you. No offense, mind you.”

“None taken. I’m…not exactly the spooky secret agent type,” Fluttershy replied, actually finding herself giggling a slight bit.

For a moment, Cornstalk smiled back with a gentle, fatherly sort of smile. “No, no you’re not. But point is, cards are on the table now, and if you’re the hoof we’ve been dealt with, well…I suppose we can take it.”

Fluttershy finally sighed out loud, feeling genuinely relieved. “Thank you. Truly.”

Amber adjusted herself a little in her own chair. “So…do you know anything else? Anything in particular that might’ve gotten you worried?”

“Mm-hmm,” Fluttershy answered. “He, um, he talked a lot about how he senses things…how he can see and hear so much more than other ponies can, and how it makes him want to help others, but…the way he talked. It sounded like a part of him doesn’t want to. Like he’d rather have kept himself hidden away from everything, and…I-I guess I’m just trying to understand why. Is it the powers, or how he got them, or…what?”

Amber nodded. “The senses are part of it, yes,” she explained. “But there’s a whole lot more to him than that. It’s kind of a long story, and…well, a bit of a strange one.”

“I had a feeling it’d be one,” Fluttershy replied. “And…I’ve seen a lot of strange things over the years. I think I can take it.”

“Ah, right,” Woven murmured. “Ponyville.”

Fluttershy nodded before turning back to Cornstalk and Amber. “So…how did it start? Like, when did you first start noticing the powers?”

Cornstalk pursed his lips, hesitating for a moment before answering. “Well…it took a while for us to know just how different he is, but we knew he was different right from the beginning. Ever since the day we, um…found him.”

Fluttershy’s heart skipped a beat. She thought she’d been ready for anything at this point. She had been wrong.

“‘Found’…you mean…Dawning is adopted?”

Cornstalk nodded. “You might call it that…yes. I guess ‘adopted’ is about right.”

A feeling of sympathy and sadness welled up in Fluttershy’s chest. “He…he never mentioned that at all…”

“Wouldn’t expect him to,” Amber said.

“But…so…how did you find him, then?”

Cornstalk and Amber paused, once more exchanging a glance of silent communication before Amber spoke.

“We’d been wanting a child of our own for years,” she began, a note of sadness in her voice. “We tried…hard, so very hard. One year, we came close, very very close, but…” She sighed. “…we lost them. After that, they…they told us that it was unlikely I could ever…” She trailed off, her eyes beginning to glisten a little with moisture.

“I…I’m sorry,” Fluttershy whispered.

There was a pause. Cornstalk reached over and took his wife’s hoof in his own, giving it a squeeze and holding it before he continued. “We were on the way back from the hospital that night. There was work being done on the road we usually take, so we had to go the long way around town. And wouldn’t you know it, the cart picked the middle of the loneliest road in town in the middle of a winter night to bust a wheel loose. We pulled over to take care of it…” He chuckled softly. “Darnedest bit of timing…”

Twenty-Five Years Ago…

Cornstalk grunted as he finally slid the spare wheel into place along the axel, taking a moment to dust off his hooves. “There we go…we won’t take too long at all, don’t you worry…” he said aloud, picking up the first replacement bolt and twisting it into place with a wrench. He didn’t hear a reply from Amber Grain, but he kept working anyway.

He didn’t rush–a rushed job was always a poor one–but he did try to work as quickly as he could so they could get back on the road that much faster. He certainly didn’t want to linger out here for long. For one, it was the middle of the night, and an early winter one to boot. The harvest season had ended two months ago now, leaves had fallen from the trees and left their branches barren, and the biting cold had already made its presence frigidly known. The first snowfall of the season was due to come any day now, they were saying.

For another, Cornstalk knew for a fact that they were just on the edges of old Stellar Lexicon’s property. The crotchety old stallion was probably already asleep at this time, but even so, Cornstalk wanted to get the both of them on their way from the place as soon as he could. He was an odd one, that Mr. Lexicon. Unpleasant, too. Only ever showed his face in town to buy up the bare essentials, rarely spoke to anyone, but always looked at everypony else with a kind of condescending sneer. Some of the local gossips claimed to have heard him muttering about the strangest things, like UFOs or “exoplanets”. Others said that he was a dropout from some college in Canterlot.

Cornstalk didn’t pay attention to most of the rumors. He did, however, occasionally think about the one of him having a son. Tech, his name was said to be. Something like that, anyway. And he only thought about it in the hope that it wasn’t true. He couldn’t imagine what growing up with a father like that would do to a foal, much less imagine how any self-respecting pony could stay with someone like Lexicon long enough to…well…he hoped it wasn’t true in any case.

And last and most importantly, Amber, to his mind, had already suffered enough these past few days. Both of them had. But he cared about Amber more.

At last he twisted the final bolt into place, stepping back and tilting the bill of his hat up to wipe a little sweat from his brow. “There…see? No real trouble at all, right Ambie?”

Amber Grain did not reply.

Cornstalk let the cheery front fall as he turned around. “…Ambie?”

Amber Grain was sitting off on the opposite side of the road, wrapped in a blanket, her blonde mane haloed in the white light of the moon and stars, gently swaying in the wind. She sat silently, facing away from Cornstalk and the cart, and towards the fields and pine forest that stretched away off to the darkened horizon.

At first, Cornstalk thought she was looking up at the moon, staring into the eye of the Mare in the Moon’s gray silhouette. But as he slowly trotted up to sit beside her, he saw that she was not. Instead, she was just staring blankly forward, not looking at anything in particular.

One hoof was held loosely over her stomach.

“Ambie…”

An ear twitched, and Amber slowly turned her head to look at Cornstalk. As she did, the moisture in her eyes caught the moon’s light, and for a moment it sparkled silver. In the next she was returning Cornstalk’s gaze, lip beginning to quiver as her breath quickened.

She broke. Like water rushing from a broken dam, she threw herself forward into the embrace Cornstalk already had waiting, and the two collapsed against each other, wrapping their hooves around each other’s bodies and resting their heads on each other’s shoulders. Cornstalk tenderly nuzzled his wife’s cheek, feeling her already tear-dampened fur beginning to saturate his own as he held her close, her chest heaving and nostrils flaring as she sobbed.

“Sh-sh-sh…” Cornstalk whispered. He could just barely keep the tremor out of his own voice. “I know…I know…me too…”

“M-my fault…”

“…what?”

For a moment Amber’s mouth gaped like a fish. “I-I-I lost…I’m sorry, I’m so sorry…”

“No, nonono, no,” Cornstalk put his hooves on Amber’s shoulders and gently held her to look him in the eye. “Ambie, this. Is not. Your fault. It’s not. Not yours or anypony else’s…it-it’s not…you…haven’t done anything…”

Amber sniffled and buried her muzzle into Cornstalk’s shoulder again, and he took her back into his embrace, reaching around to gently rub her back with a hoof and closing his eyes.

He wished there was something he could say. Some magic words that would help make the pain go away for the both of them.

There wasn’t. All he could do for her now was to be there with her.

Cornstalk wasn’t aware of how much time passed before his ears suddenly perked up. There had been a sound, quick and fast and disappearing as fast as it had come. A kind of sizzle from somewhere above their heads. He opened his eyes and looked up into the starry night sky, catching sight of a thing streak of light shooting across the sky. A shooting star, he thought at first.

But then came a second thin streak. And then a third. And a fourth. Soon there were at least a dozen flashing across his field of vision per second, streaking overhead and disappearing.

A meteor shower.

Amber pulled her muzzle out of his shoulder and looked up as well, grief turning into confusion. “Cornstalk?…”

“I–”

Then a larger, thicker streak flew overhead with a fwoosh, and Cornstalk got the distinct sense that this one was far lower to the ground than the others. He knew they were by the time the next two had passed and gone. A low rumble had begun to echo through the air.

Suddenly there was a flash of orange light and a loud explosion from only a few yards down the road, kicking up dirt and gravel and shaking the ground beneath their hooves. Amber screamed and clutched Cornstalk tight as another ball of flame suddenly crashed down and burst in the field ahead of them, throwing up tongues of glowing fire.

On the verge of panic, Cornstalk turned around…and his eyes promptly went wide and his jaw slack.

The night sky was on fire. A fiery orange storm had appeared to block out the stars, hurling ever larger fireballs across the sky and to the ground, shattering and exploding across the fields on either side of the road, raining embers and ash and smoke. With each impact the ground shook as though in the midst of an earthquake, and the rumble swelled to a ferocious roar.

“UNDER THE CART, UNDER THE CART!” Cornstalk yelled, hurriedly dragging Amber beneath their little cart and absentmindedly kicking away the jack he’d used to prop it up. They both knew it was a flimsy shelter at best, but in these lonely fields, there was no other cover they could possibly find shelter in.

Amber shut her eyes tight and held on to Cornstalk as the chaos continued. There were bright flashes of orange and yellow and red from all around, the ground quaked with each strike, the acrid scents of smoke and flame flooded their nostrils and stung their eyes. A nightmare of fire and brimstone was falling all around them like hail.

The roar grew louder and louder, more shrill with each second. At once the two realized that now it wasn’t a continuous sound anymore; it was a loud whine that pulsated. The light from overhead rose from orange, to yellow, then to white, and the whole cart shook violently as something passed overhead.

In the next instant, through the space between the wheels, they saw it come down, bigger and brighter than the fireballs that surrounded it. A flashing flare, a spinning star. It sailed right over the road and out across the field beyond, screaming its pulsing shriek as it came down lower and lower…

There was a blinding flash, the brightest one of all, so bright that even when Cornstalk and Amber shut their eyes tight and turned away they were left seeing spots, and a cracking KRA-KOOM so loud that it left their ears ringing. The couple gripped each other tight, so tight that it hurt, and both were screaming in terror now.

Time was lost to them before they realized that the chaos was dying down, the flashes of light came fewer and fewer, the tremors decreasing. Even so, they held each other close for several more minutes, shaking and trembling.

At last–when they were sure that it had settled down at last–the two ponies worked up the courage to slowly crawl out from under the cart, their fur dirtied and manes matted, staring all around them in silence. The area had been decimated. The dirt road, forward and back, had been torn apart, littered with piles of earth and shattered rock. The once darkened fields were now lit by patches of flames all over, casting the area in a dim red light and sending little embers up into the air. Up in the sky, a few final flashes of light streaked down and disappeared with little whimpering fizzles. An ashy haze now covered all, drifting around like a fog bank. And from the field ahead, where the spinning, pulsating light had fallen, rose a thick, dark gray plume of smoke that rose high and wide into the night sky.

Cornstalk and Amber said nothing. They just stared, listening to nothing save the wheezing of their lungs and the still-rapid beating of their hearts.

Suddenly there was a wooden crack! from the cart, and Cornstalk spun around just in time to see the opposite wheel from the one he’d just fixed breaking loose, rolling away as the cart tilted over in the other direction now.

Only now did he finally find words, albeit more akin to broken, frustrated sputtering than actual coherent sentences. “Augh…for the love…aaaugh!” As if forgetting all about what had just happened, he ran back over to the cart, continuing to sputter brokenly as he looked it over.

Amber Grain remained where she stood, silently looking out at that towering plume of smoke, her gaze steadfastly locked on to it. She felt like she should go back to the cart with Cornstalk. But she didn’t. Instead she stayed. And watched, for something she wasn’t even sure if she could see.

Then she saw it; her eyes weren’t deceiving her, there was something in there. A little white light. Faint, barely a flicker, but it was there. It was flashing. Twice in one second, then nothing, and then it did it again. On repeat. Like clockwork.

Without thinking, Amber began to slowly creep forward, off the road and out into whatever remained of the field. As though on some kind of autopilot, she stepped around patches of charred ground and bent, smoldering vegetation as she headed ever closer to the flashing light, mind wrapped in a kind of wonderstruck trance.

She was already halfway there when Cornstalk popped his head from back around the cart, face furrowing in confusion as he noticed her absence. “…Ambie? Amber? Where’d you…” Through the dim red light, he could just make out her form slowly weaving through the field. “H-hey…hey Ambie! What’re you doing, come back!” He shouted after her, scrambling up to follow her.

Amber didn’t call back to him. She heard him, but she did not call back. She was to engrossed in her sojourn to think about calling back at the moment, determined to reach what lay ahead with a determination she could not fully explain.

This was something strange. Something new. And she had to see it. She just had to.

As she got closer and closer, she could slowly began to make out a kind of shape sticking up out of the ground. It was lit by a dim, low blue glow from within the center of the plume of smoke…no, not just smoke, she now realized. There was steam, too, hissing as it rose. And she began to realize, to her confusion, that it was actually getting colder the closer she got. The light up top–and it was on top of the thing, she now realized–was still flashing, and now she could hear the little sounds it made as it continued to flash. Chirp-chirp. Chirp-chirp. Chirp-chirp.

The smokey and steamy haze began to clear, and at last the object’s true shape began to become visible at last to her. She froze, staring up at it. She hadn’t been sure what she was expecting. Something not like a normal meteor, at the very least. But nothing quite like what she was seeing now.

It was somewhere between thirty or forty feet from one end to the other, lying at an angle in the ground so that the back end was tilted upward. Two long, tapering tails, coming together like a pair of fused teardrops, fanning out into a pair of semicircular wings and an egg-shaped pod at the front. The body of the thing looked like it was made from silvery crystal. No, not quite like crystal, more like glass, like some kind of strange glass sculpture; cloudy within and coated in a reflective sheen. A spiked orb hovered in an open space between the two tail prongs, slowly spinning with a fading golden glow deep within. An icy blue glow ran beneath the crystalline surface of the thing.

Amber barely had time to even begin to take it all in before the blue glow suddenly faded away, and the chilly feel in the air suddenly disappeared with it as the steam finally stopped. The flickering, chirping light–just behind the egg-shaped pod–suddenly went out as well. From where it had flashed there was a sudden snap that made Amber flinch and step back on instinct, watching as a small sphere rose up into the air and hovered above the object.

A flickering ray of blue light suddenly shot forth from the little sphere, shining down on the ground around the object and beginning to sweep around in a slow arc with a rhythmic hum. Amber stood frozen, transfixed and trembling as she watched, until it suddenly rested on her. She squinted as the intense blue light shined in her eyes, and a shiver went through her body. She didn’t know whether or not it was out of fear or if the light was doing something to her.

She stepped out of its way. The light followed. She kept scrambling sideways until she was directly in front of the egg-shaped pod, but still it followed until it locked onto her again.

Run! her mind finally screamed. Go! But she didn’t have to. The light snapped off and the sphere floated back down into the body of the object as suddenly as it had come.

She only had a moment to ponder this strange interaction before a glowing, oval-shaped outline, about the same height as a pony’s length, appeared on the surface of a pod. Another glowing line formed and ran down the middle of the shape, and the next thing Amber knew it was…well, she didn’t know how to describe the motion she was witnessing. It didn’t open outward on hinges. It didn’t retract and slide open. Instead, the two halves of the oval seemed to break apart into little glowing particles, rolling away into either side beneath the skin of the object like the waves of a parting sea.

There was a hiss and a white cloud puffed out of the glowing opening, directly into her face. She coughed and tried her best to fan it away with a hoof. It was humid like mist, and had a heavy, sour odor to it, like some kind of antiseptic.

Then her ears perked up as she heard a new sound coming from within the opened pod, and though everything else that had just happened that night had been wildly, unbelievably bizarre, she would recognize that sound anywhere in the universe.

Crying.

Amber leaned forward to get a better view inside, gasped suddenly, and lunged forward, reaching her hooves inside…

Cornstalk, meanwhile, was half-running, half-staggering through the ruined and half-burnt down field, panting for breath amidst the smoke. “Ambie?! Ambie!” he called. His mind was a blur of confusion and worry. Where had she gone? What had possessed her to go running right into the middle of a–

He was so lost in worry that he wasn’t looking where he was going. Suddenly he felt his right foreleg strike something hard and hot, and he gasped in pain as he tumbled head over heels onto his back. He held the foreleg close. It wasn’t injured too badly, but whatever he’d hit had been burning hot, and he winced as clutched his leg. A piece of meteor rock. That had been it. He knew they got very very hot when they came down, and he must’ve tripped right over one of the darned things.

When the pain had subsided enough, Cornstalk sat up to get a better look at what had tripped him. He soon spotted it, not five feet away…but as he looked at it, he found himself staring at it in bewilderment.

It was a gnarled chunk of rock about a foot wide. And indeed, he could still feel the heat radiating off of it. Its surface was blackened and sooty, and beneath the black outer layers was a churning, fiery glow, burning like a gigantic ember.

But what held his attention was the color of the glow itself. It was green. A deep, vivid, poisonous green, a shade he’d never seen in any rock he’d ever seen before.

Cornstalk stared back at the rock, its strange green glow casting a reflection in his eyes and face. He didn’t stare in wonder, but in a kind of transfixed, unsettled state. A chill went down his spine. He didn’t like this thing. He didn’t know why, but something deep within him told him that this was wrong. This was a thing that was not meant to be. An abomination.

He felt like he was staring at a corpse.

“CORNSTALK!”

Cornstalk forgot all about the strange green rock as his head and ears shot up. Amber. Calling loudly, desperately. He got up and broke into a gallop, ignoring the lingering sting in his foreleg. She’s hurt, oh Faust she’s hurt, she touched one of the rocks just like I did and it burned her, oh sweet Celestia above…

He cleared the distance to the bizarre object in fifteen seconds, skidding to a halt as he stared up at the thing rising tall and gaunt against the reddened, hazy air. He only spared a moment to stare at it.

“AMBER!”

“Here!” he heard her shout back. “O-on the other side!”

Cornstalk heard crying now too, and his terror shot up. He bolted quickly, rounding the side of the object…

…and finding Amber Grain sitting on her haunches beside the open pod, cradling something in her forelegs. She didn’t look hurt. For an instant, Cornstalk felt a momentary sense of relief. Slowly, he trotted closer to see what it was she was holding.

It was a colt. A little tan colt with a small black tail and messy mop of a mane, with a kind of small, white-blue crystal hanging from his neck by a thin cord. He only looked to be about a year old at most. His eyes were shut, face reddened as he sobbed. Amber was holding him close and tight in her forelegs, stroking his mane, whispering vague shushes into his ears as silent tears streamed down her own face.

“…A-Ambie?…” Cornstalk whispered.

Amber slowly lifted her tear-streaked gaze up to meet his. They stared, back and forth between each other and the little colt that she held.

Then as one they turned their eyes to the strange ship, and slowly, comprehendingly, lifted their gazes to lift up, up, and out into the black void between the stars from where it had come.

Author's Note

Glad to be back for the time being before I inevitably spend far longer than I want to writing the next chapter. xD

In case you haven't realized by now, yes, I changed it from Light Weaver to Woven Light. Just kinda ended up not liking how the former sounded, and "Woven Light" has the same number of syllables per word as "Lana Lang" anyway. Hope the change wasn't too confusing, and I've since changed it to the new name in previous chapters as well.

The Star-Borne Colt

A “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic” Fanfiction

Written by Jade Dawn

Fluttershy’s wings drooped limply, her jaw opening and closing as she breathed in and out, struggling to find words. And her mind reeled, spiraling as though struck by a train and sent hurtling uncontrollably through the air.

Over the years, Fluttershy had seen and experienced many unusual things. Supermane had been strange. When she’d come searching for the truth behind Dawning Hope she had expected strange.

But not like this. Never in a million years like this.

“H-he’s…he’s…” she stammered.

“You can say it,” Cornstalk told her gently. “It’s alright. It’s about what it is, anyway.”

Fluttershy gulped down a breath, and then, as though now emboldened by permission, at last spat out: “D-Dawning is…is an alien?”

Cornstalk nodded. “Yes. As far as we know, he’s not from this planet.”

“B-but…where…what…”

“We don’t know,” Amber Grain replied. “We don’t know where he came from or even what he is. All we really know is that he came from…from out there, somewhere.”

Fluttershy looked over at Woven Light and Flax. “Did…did either of you two ever know…”

Woven shook her head. “I was only around the same age as he would’ve been at the time.”

“And I hadn’t even been born yet,” Flax added. “We didn’t get in on the secret until, well…years later.”

Fluttershy slowly leaned back in her seat; she hadn’t noticed that she’d been leaning steadily more forward as the couple told their story, thoroughly engrossed in it.

“…what happened next?” She continued at last. “Were…were you scared?”

“Scared?” Cornstalk scoffed. “We were terrified. Well…” he shuffled in his seat, looking a little embarrassed. “…well, I was, anyway. Ambie on the other hoof…”

“I really can’t explain it,” Amber said. “Even before we found him inside, I just felt somehow I…needed to go out to that thing. I suppose you could call it curiosity, but it felt stronger than that. Just this…this need that I couldn’t ignore…to this day I still don’t understand it myself…but it led us to him.”

Cornstalk let her finish before going on. “I patched the cart back up as best I could, enough to get us home. We took him and that little crystal he was wearing along. Couldn’t bring the ship, it was just too big. I figured that maybe I could come back out later with a couple of friends and we could haul it back to town that way. Ambie spent the whole ride home with the colt, I…don’t remember saying much.”

“You were quiet, I remember,” Amber said to him. “Very quiet. We didn’t even really talk to each other until we’d gotten back home…”

Cornstalk leaned against the window at the far side of the living room, looking out towards the pine forest beyond. Even from here could see smoke still rising in the distance, wispy and dark gray against the still darkened night sky over the distant tree line.

He didn’t even know why he was still looking out that way, seeing how it had been like that since they’d left the crash site. Looking for more meteors to come down, perhaps. Or to watch in case the ship decided to do something all of a sudden now that they’d taken the…the colt. He really couldn’t say one way or another. He just quietly stared out.

Amber Grain was sitting on the couch in the center of the room, still cradling the colt in her arms. He’d calmed down by now, and idly reached his hooves up to touch her face and chest as he stared up at her with his crystalline gaze, breathing in and out in audible rasps, as though he had a sore or congested throat.

“Look at those eyes…” Amber cooed. “I’ve never seen any blue like his before…” She frowned. “He’s breathing a little funny…I hope that’s just from the smoke back there…wonder what this could be?…” Amber turned the little crystal at the colt’s neck over in her hoof. It looked to her like a little icicle, with a flattened-diamond shape at one end, bearing a symbol that looked a little like an S.

Cornstalk numbly turned away from the window, working up enough physical energy to raise a hoof and rub the back of his neck. “Uh…I’ll see about getting some hooves to help me drag the, uh…the thing out from the field tomorrow. And then after that we can…y’know, find somepony to take him…”

Amber lifted her head up. “…you want to turn him in?”

Cornstalk blinked. “N-no, I mean…well, somepony’s probably gonna come looking for him…heck, for all we know that thing could’ve been some magic student’s experiment up in Canterlot, or…or some space program thing…”

Amber shook her head. “That wasn’t one of ours. You saw it just as well as I did.”

Cornstalk was silent for a moment. “Well we…we still should call someone…like, maybe somepony up in Canterlot–“

“We can’t,” Amber suddenly blurted out, quickly and loudly enough that Cornstalk actually flinched in mild surprise. “We…we can’t. For goodness’ sake, Cornstalk, look at him. He’s just a foal. If they knew what he really is, who knows what they’d do with him? Or to him?”

“Oh come on…” Cornstalk replied, shaking his head. “You really think a pony like Princess Celestia would see a kid get hurt like that?”

“It’s not Celestia I’m worried about,” Amber answered.

“Well…” Cornstalk huffed. “Well, what do you want to do with him? It’s not like we can…can…”

Amber didn’t answer. She just looked him right in the eye, passively but firmly.

Slowly, Cornstalk began to shake his head. “…no…uh-uh, no ma’am…”

“Cornstalk.”

“No.”

“Honey.”

“Ambie–”

“He’s all alone. We’re the only ones who saw him come down. If we don’t take care of him, who will?”

“Ambie, that’s exactly why I suggested that we–”

“I am not turning him over to the government, Princess Celestia notwithstanding.”

“A-Ambie, we can’t take care of him, he’s–”

“A colt. A little colt. Cornstalk, look at him.” Amber adjusted the colt in her lap. “If we’d just found him crawling around on the side of the road and had no idea how he’d gotten there, would you be as hesitant to help him as you are now?”

“I–”

“Don’t bother. You and I both know the answer. You wouldn’t be. You’d drop everything and go to help him. Because you know what the right thing to do is.”

“I-I…” Cornstalk huffed. It was time to put the hoof down. “Alright. Ambie, I know things have been tough for us what with–”

And suddenly Amber’s gaze turned into a glare trained on him narrow as a knife’s edge. “Cornstalk, I hope to Faust you’re not going to say what I think you’re about to say.”

Cornstalk recoiled. Suddenly, putting the hoof down seemed like a darn fool thing to do.

The colt in Amber’s lap whimpered, and she broke off the glare to return her focus to him, cradling him gently and whispering to him.

Cornstalk watched them for about a minute, before he sighed in defeat and slowly took a seat on a chair opposite the couch. “…you’re right. That was wrong of me. I’m sorry. I’m just…”

Amber looked back up at him, her gaze softening again.

“…I’m scared, Ambie. I…I’m still trying to get over what happened back there on the road and now…it’s just–”

“A lot,” Amber finished. “I know. It is for me too.”

“…I don’t know if I can do it. I wanted to be a father for so long and we spent all that time dreaming, and now there is a foal and…and just how he got here…I don’t know…”

“Cornstalk, I wanted to be a mother for just as long. I’m just as frightened as you are. I don’t know if I can do it either, especially with a colt like this one…but we have to try. For his sake. We’re here and we can help him. You don’t just pass a chance to help somepony when you can.”

Cornstalk sat quietly.

“Come here,” Amber said, patting the space next to her.

Cornstalk paused a moment longer, then stood and trotted over to sit next to her. Amber took her hoof in his as she went on.

“I know you’re scared and confused…but you and I both know that you’re bigger than that. When it matters most, you’ve always known the right thing to do. It’s always been your best quality…and it’s why I fell in love with you. Because no matter what happens, not matter what life will throw at you, you know what you believe is right…and I know you do right now.”

Cornstalk heard the colt squeak from Amber’s lap. He looked down and saw the little foal reaching out towards him with his little hooves, staring up at him with his wide blue eyes. Slowly, carefully, he reached out a foreleg of his own, allowing the colt to wrap his own forelegs around his hoof in a little hug, laying his small head against Cornstalk’s foreleg. He felt the fur of the colt’s muzzle brushing against his as he nuzzled the foreleg, and felt his warmth against his own. Gradually, Cornstalk felt himself beginning to relax as he watched the colt hug his hoof.

“See?” he heard Amber say. “He even likes you.”

Cornstalk chuckled softly. A part of his mind was surprised that he did…but not a big enough part for him to care. “It, uh…looks like he does…”

He let the colt hug his hoof for a minute longer before gently settling him back into Amber’s arms. “…guess we can put him in the crib we built a while back. Should be comfortable enough in there.”

Amber nodded. “Plenty of blankets we can fill it up with. I’ll put him to sleep.”

“You sure?”

“You brought us all the way home with a half-broken cart, you deserve some rest.”

“So do you.”

“I’ll be fine, Cornstalk. Besides…” She carefully stood up, holding the colt to her chest with one foreleg. “It’ll give me time to think of what we could call him.”

“You sure there isn’t a name written on that, uh…that crystal there or whatever it is?” Cornstalk asked.

“It doesn’t look like it,” Amber replied, taking another look at the crystal at the colt’s neck. “I mean, maybe this symbol on the back is one in…whatever language they write in where he’s from.”

“Probably couldn’t read it for ourselves anyway…” Cornstalk acquiesced. “Well…when you think of something, let me know.”

“I will. First thing.” She adjusted the colt in her arm as she took him to the stairs, resuming her soft cooing as the two ascended up to the second floor.

Cornstalk quietly watched them go upstairs. He did not follow them up right away, not even to go back to the bedroom. He stayed down in the living room for a while longer, going back and forth from slowly pacing back and forth, staring blankly at the floor as he lost himself in thought, to going to the window again and staring blankly out through that, and then starting over. It was half an hour later when he finally willed himself up the stairs to his bed.

He didn’t fall asleep easily. He tossed and turned for a while, struggling to get his mind to stop reeling. It was difficult, but eventually, he finally found himself drifting into a deep, tired, and mercifully dreamless sleep.

It was well after dawn when he awoke the next morning. Ordinarily he’d have been up sooner to start the day’s chores, but the previous night’s events had well and truly exhausted him. The first thing he did after willing himself out of bed was to go to the guest room across the hall to check on Amber and the colt.

Amber Grain was sitting leaned against the side of the little crib the two of them had put together weeks earlier. He saw there were bags under her eyes; she didn’t look like she’d gotten much sleep either. The colt, on the other hoof, was wide awake. From the safety of the crib, he was facing towards the window on the far side of the room, where the morning sun was creeping over the horizon and bathing the room in the soft light of dawn. The colt was reaching out towards the window with his little forelegs, giggling and rolling around on the sheets and pillows like a cat, and in the light of the rising sun, his tan fur seemed to have an almost golden glow.

At Cornstalk’s approach, Amber turned to look at him in the doorway. Though her face was tired, she managed a soft smile.

“I think I know what I want to name him…”

“I suppose it sounds a little sappy…” Amber Grain said with a shrug. “But it just felt…right, I guess. Like it fit him.”

“Oh, no, it doesn’t sound sappy at all. I think it’s sweet,” Fluttershy replied reassuringly. “So…what happened with the ship? Where is it now?”

Cornstalk took up the question. “Well…about that…that next day after he came to us, we got the first snow of the winter season. And I mean snow. Blanketed the whole area around here white. We ended up hunkering down here in the house and taking care of things here for days afterward. Mostly looking after Dawning, now that we’d settled on keeping him. It was…I want to say a week before it finally cleared up enough that I was able to make the trip back out to the crash site. I knew there was no way I could bring that ship home myself, of course, I just wanted to check back on it. But when I got there…” He paused. “…it was gone.”

“Gone?”

“Eyup. Vanished without a trace. I looked through that whole area trying to find it. And it wasn’t like I’d forgotten where we’d left it in the field, or that it was buried too deep for me to see. It’d had to have snowed about two stories to have fully covered it, what with the way it was shaped and how it was jutting up and all. But it was just plain gone. Couldn’t find any tracks or signs that anypony else had been to it, though the snowfall didn’t help with making anything stick out. And eventually, I gave up looking for it before the next round of blizzard hit. We haven’t seen hide nor hair of that ship since then. All we managed to keep from it besides Dawning was that little crystal he was wearing.”

“Who do you think could’ve taken it?”

Cornstalk shrugged. “We don’t know. Had a couple thoughts, but no real evidence. And if it was somepony from around here, well…we didn’t want to go flinging false accusations. Especially not when it’d mean outing our little colt.”

“But that first snow of the season did bring its blessings, too,” Amber said. “Gave us enough time to figure out a cover story. So by the time the weather let up enough for folks to start coming by to check in on us, well…our little Dawning Hope was a poor lost orphan left out in a basket near our home, and we just never found who put him there.” She paused. “So not really a lie, just…leaving out a few details here and there.”

“Did he know he was adopted from the start?” Fluttershy asked.

Cornstalk and Amber exchanged a glance. “…well…no,” Cornstalk answered finally, with a hint of shame in his voice. “We, uh…didn’t tell him until much later. And much too late…but, uh, that’s later in the story, so…”

Fluttershy nodded, perplexed and worried, but resolving to keep moving forward. “So…how was Dawning? Was it hard raising him?”

“No more so than we expected raising a child would be,” Amber answered with a slight chuckle. “Though, we did have our early worries. That rasp in his breath lingered for a couple more days after we first found him, but it eventually went away and his breathing’s been normal ever since. When he started trying to walk for the first time, he had a harder time with it than most. Kept going head over heels, like he was trying to push himself up way too hard. But he got the hang of it after a while. Just his body adjusting to our world’s environment, I guess.”

“There was the flu he caught that once, too,” Cornstalk added.

“Oh right, there was that,” Amber nodded. “He caught the flu when he was around three. It was the first time he’d ever been really sick, and all the time I kept thinking of that one story with the alien invaders who all died from disease, and I kept worrying his body wouldn’t be able to…well, luckily it didn’t come to that. In fact, he recovered from it very quickly, and he hasn’t been sick since.”

“We were always concerned about his health,” Cornstalk said. “Mostly we were just afraid that one day some doctor would pick up something that’d stick out as something a…well, a pony like the rest of us shouldn’t have or didn’t have. But as far as anypony else could see, Dawning was just a plain, ordinary earth pony colt.”

“And eventually, we were comfortable enough to send him to school when he got old enough,” Amber continued, nodding at Woven Light and Flax. “Which is where he ended up meeting Woven and Flax here for the first time.”

“We hit it off pretty quickly,” Woven said. “Dawning and Flax got to be close playmates, and me…well honestly, I think at first he was just fascinated by my magic.” She lit up her horn in a light-blue aura for a moment. “We don’t have too many other unicorns here in Smallville. He’d probably never seen real magic up until he met me.”

“I distinctly remember him blurting out ‘that’s pretty’ in the middle of class,” Flax snickered. Woven blushed, barely suppressing a little giggle of her own.

“Aww…that’s sweet,” Fluttershy said.

“Yeah…back in the day a lot of us thought he had a crush on her, we were sure of it.”

“Yeah…” The smile and blush faded from Woven’s face. “We did…”

“…well, anyway,” Amber said, taking up the story again. “For the next few years, life was pretty normal. Dawning went to school, helped with chores at home, and just kept on, well…fitting in. It’s strange. After a while, it was like we almost had forgotten where he’d come from. If you didn’t know the story, you’d have no idea there was anything different about him. He was just an ordinary, happy little colt, and everyone loved him.” She paused and sighed. “…and then came that day when he was eight…”

Cornstalk grunted as he eased himself toward the edge of the barn roof, turning his head to look down over his shoulder. A ladder was leaned against the side of the bar, extended to almost its full limit. Dawning Hope stood beside its base far below, looking up with his bright blue eyes from behind his the bangs of his black mane.

“Hey, Dawning!” Cornstalk called down. “Would you do me a favor and get me some more nails? I’m fresh out.”

“Sure, Pa!” The words were barely out of Dawning’s mouth before he’d gone bounding off.

“Just leave the box down by the ladder, okay?” Cornstalk called after him. By then, though, the colt was already out of sight. Cornstalk half-sighed, half-chuckled as he scooted himself back up to the middle of the barn roof, sitting down and lifting off his cap to wipe some sweat from his brow. Nothing really to do but wait until Dawning came skipping back.

He was always eager to help like that. Always had been from the moment he’d been old enough to pitch in where he could. Heck, they rarely had to ask him for anything, half the time he’d practically swoop on in. Sometimes they even needed to tell him there was something they didn't need help with. Like this job of fixing the barn roof; Cornstalk would let Dawning do stuff like get nails or a cup of water from Amber, but he sure wasn't going to actually let him up there like the colt had wanted. Cornstalk often wondered if it was just a natural trait or if they really were just doing a good job raising him.

Dawning had grown so much by now, it was hard to believe that that night in the field had been eight years ago now. It was almost like some strange, distant dream to Cornstalk and Amber by now. Like it never really happened.

Well, almost. Amber had her books of star charts and stories of UFOs she’d snatch up when she could, and her own telescope that she’d take into the backyard some nights and watch the stars.

Just in case.

But for Cornstalk’s own part, he honestly couldn’t really think of Dawning as an alien anymore. He couldn’t even really think of him as adopted. He was their son, and there was nothing more to it.

He sighed, shaking his head. And to think it’d been him who’d been the most opposed to taking him in at first–

“I got th’ nails, Pa!” Came Dawning’s half-muffled voice from beside him.

“Oh, thanks son, just in ti–”

Wait.

Cornstalk’s head snapped to the side. Dawning Hope was perched at the top of the ladder a few feet away, holding the box of nails from one corner between his teeth.

A jolt of terror surged through Cornstalk’s heart. “Dawning, stay right there, don’t move–”

Whether it was by surprise at Cornstalk’s tone or losing balance, there was no way to tell. All either of them knew was that in the next moment, Dawning’s hind legs had slipped and he began to fall backwards.

Off the ladder.

“NO!” Cornstalk shot a foreleg forward with a speed only a desperate father could muster, reaching out towards Dawning’s own flailing forelegs.

His hoof gripped something, but it wasn’t Dawning’s hoof. It was the top rung of the ladder. All he succeeded in doing was pulling himself forward towards the edge of the barn roof, so that he ended up with a good full view of Dawning’s little body falling down, down, all two stories down. So sudden and fast, and yet so seemingly slow to Cornstalk, like a film reel in slow motion. Every detail to see.

He never saw the colt hit the ground. He was already swinging himself around the other side of the ladder and practically sliding down it to the ground below, his mind in a frenzy. Nononono, not like this, oh Celestia not like this, it isn’t fair, it isn’t any damned fair!…

At last, after an instant of eternity, Cornstalk’s hooves touched the grass and dirt below, and he raced to the fallen body of his son. Dawning was lying on his back in the grass, forelegs tucked in close to his chest, panting for breath and eyes wide. The box of nails lay crumpled a few feet away, its contents scattered in the grass, glistening in the sunlight.

And as Cornstalk leaned over Dawning’s fallen form, looking him over, his crushing terror turned to confusion and bewilderment. There was no sign of blood anywhere. No sign of broken bones. Dawning was panting and trembling, and his heart was pounding…but that was all.

How…?

Dawning slowly turned his head towards his father, lip trembling. “…I-I’m sorry, Pa…”

Cornstalk reached out a foreleg, and Dawning held on to it as he slowly got back to his hooves. He stood perfectly.

Like nothing had happened.

“Are…are you hurt?…”

“Back aches…” Dawning muttered.

“But…but are you hurt?” Cornstalk repeated, feeling down Dawning’s sides and back. It didn’t feel like anything was broken or bruised, despite Dawning’s complaint.

He felt like he should be feeling relief, but he just couldn’t. It was impossible. Just plain impossible. A fall from that height should’ve killed him. At the very least broken his back and some ribs.

But it hadn’t.

How?

“…are you mad at me, Pa?” Dawning whimpered.

The way he asked it snapped Cornstalk out of his confusion. “N-no, no I’m not…” He reached down and pulled up his son into a tight but gentle embrace. “I’m just glad you’re okay…”

“You gonna tell Ma?”

“Uh…” Cornstalk paused to think that one over. On the one hoof, their son had just had a near brush with death falling from the barn roof, but on the other…he’d survived the fall. Not gotten lucky and caught himself, but flat out hit the ground and got back up with only a mild ache. Amber wasn’t a mare of weak constitution by any means; she’d been the one who leaped at the idea of caring for Dawning even if he’d dropped out of the sky…

But how in Tartarus do you tell somepony about something like this?

“You…you leave that to me, alright? And in the meantime…” He dropped his voice to a more stern tone. “Never do something like that again, understood?”

Dawning nodded quietly.

“Good boy. Now c’mon…help me pick all these nails back up…”

“He didn’t tell me right away,” Amber Grain noted.

“Well can you blame me?” Cornstalk replied in half-hearted defense. “I had no idea how to tell you at the time.”

“You didn’t tell me for three whole days afterward.”

“Pfft,” Cornstalk snorted. “It’s not like you didn’t find out eventually.”

Fluttershy, who’d begun tensing up again at the tale of the barn roof ordeal, relaxed a little at the two’s playful bickering. “So how did you find out, Mrs. Grain?”

Amber chuckled. “With a lot less of a fright than Cornstalk did, I’m happy to say, though…it was still quite the shock…”

“That…was…amazing!” Amber Grain declared, practically throwing the front door open and trotting in with an ecstatic smile. Cornstalk and Dawning Hope were already in the living room, the former standing from one of the couches to greet her as she came.

“I take it you had a good time?” Cornstalk smiled, giving Amber a kiss on the cheek.

“I did. Can you believe it? Eighty years since Hailstorm’s Comet last passed by Equus, the whole Starwatchers Society dreaming of catching a glimpse of it, and we finally got our big chance.”

“We were watching it too!” Dawning chirped excitedly. “Dad and I brought the telescope out into the backyard and we saw it from there!”

“Nice!” Amber stepped over to the couch and set her saddlebags down on one of the armrests. “I brought home pictures…from through the telescope, I mean, I–oops!” One of the bags slipped, the flap opening and spilling some of the contents onto the floor. One of these was a pen, which rolled underneath the couch.

“I got it, Ma,” Dawning immediately said, quickly ducking down and sticking one foreleg and as much of his muzzle as he could between the bottom of the couch of the floor, reaching for the fallen pen.

“Oh, uh, thank you Dawning…be careful there…”

“See any flying saucers while you were out?” Cornstalk asked. He said it like a joke and with a small laugh to match, but the question had something of a deeper meaning between the two of them by now.

Amber shook her head. “Nope. No little green ponies here–”

There was suddenly a loud creaking from behind Amber that startled both her and Cornstalk, and she turned around just in time to see the couch tilt over and fall on its back against the floor with a thud.

Dawning poked his head up, the pen held between his teeth. “I gah ich, Ma…wha?”

Amber Grain stared with wide eyes, jaw slack. Cornstalk’s eyes were wide as well, though not quite by as much, and his lips were instead pursed.

Slowly, Dawning turned his gaze towards the fallen couch, and upon seeing it he too jumped back in surprise, the pen dropping from his mouth. “Aagh! I-I’m sorry! I didn’t mean it!”

Amber’s mouth opened and closed like a gasping fish as she raised a shaky hoof and pointed. “You…the couch…”

Dawning’s ears folded back. “I-it was an accident…I’m sorry…”

“No no no, I mean…how did you lift the whole couch?!”

“He fell off the barn roof three days ago,” Cornstalk suddenly blurted out, quickly turning his gaze away from his wife.

Amber spun around. “WHAT?!”

Dawning’s look of shame was replaced by confusion. “…Pa, didn’t you say you were gonna tell her about that?”

“I was going to…” Cornstalk murmured.

“He fell off the roof?!”

“And walked away from it without a single scratch!” Cornstalk fired back. “I…I was just trying to figure out–”

“Our son can throw couches and take a fall from the bucking barn roof and you didn’t think to tell me?!”

“Well how am I supposed to tell you about something like that?!”

Almost simultaneously, the two paused, their stress fading and faces calming as they turned back to Dawning. The young colt’s ears were fully flattened back, head lowered and all but crouching on the floor.

“…is this wrong…?”

The two glanced at each other again, then back at Dawning, shaking their heads.

“No, of course it’s not…” Amber told him.

“Not one little bit,” Cornstalk agreed. “Heck, with the barn I’m relieved you can…y’know…”

“We’re not mad, Dawning,” Amber went on, bending down to look Dawning in the eyes. “Really, we’re not.”

“But this isn’t normal, isn’t it?” Dawning asked. “I…I’m not–”

“No. Stop right there,” Cornstalk told him, gently but firmly as he came alongside Dawning and put a hoof around his shoulders. “This isn’t something wrong with you, it’s…it’s a talent, Dawning, think of it that way.”

Dawning’s ears raised a slight bit, his eyes brightening a little. “Like…that kind of talent?”

“It…might very well be. We don’t know for sure…but we won’t at all if you don’t see just how much you can do, now won’t we?”

Dawning paused, thinking that over. “So it’s okay for me to keep using, uh…” He held up his hooves. “…this?”

Cornstalk nodded. “I mean, just as long as you’re careful.”

Dawning’s eyes lit up. “Can…can I show my friends at school?”

Cornstalk’s smile dissipated, and he shared another glance with Amber. They both were thinking the same thing.

“Uh…maybe we should hold off on letting anypony else know just yet,” Amber suggested. “Just for now.”

“I…yeah, probably would be for the best for now,” Cornstalk agreed.

“Oh…” Dawning’s face fell slightly.

“Hey, don’t worry,” Cornstalk lifted Dawning’s chin back up with a hoof. “We’re not asking you to repress anything, and it won’t be forever. You’ve pretty clearly got a gift. Or, gifts, I should say. Just…your mother and I think that we just need some time to figure out exactly how strong you are, that’s all.”

Dawning paused again. “…okay.”

“There you go, son,” Cornstalk said, patting the colt on the shoulder. “I’ll see about setting aside some things for you to try pushing and lifting and all that tomorrow. In the meantime, uh…you wanna help us set the couch back up?”

Cornstalk sighed, shutting his eyes and rubbing his forehead with a hoof. “We shouldn’t have had him hide it…things would’ve ended up working better for him if we hadn’t...”

Fluttershy felt a little apprehensive about what he meant by that, but she knew they’d get to that part soon enough. “You..you meant well. I’m sure you did the best you could.”

Cornstalk’s only response was a silent biting of his lip.

“We did our best to help him hone what he had at the time,” Amber continued. “Sometimes we’d set up things for him to test his strength on. Sometimes when there was something big that needed lifting or pulling he’d offer to help with it, just to see if he could. We encouraged him to try to keep it at home where we could help and where nopony else could see, but…that didn’t always work out.”

“I mean, I doubt he could’ve kept it completely hidden, could he?” Fluttershy turned to Woven and Flax. “Did either of you ever notice anything?” She asked them.

“There were…yeah, in hindsight there were some signs along the way…” Woven nodded.

“Definitely,” Flax added. “Just most of the times that probably were him accidentally using his powers in the open were just flukes, and we’d always chalk it up to accidents or something. Like, I remember this one time where we were trying buckball…”

“I don’t know about this,” Dawning murmured as he sat in the low-cut grass of the field.

“Aw um on, ‘awning…agh…” Flax stopped, dropping the rubber ball from his teeth into the crook of one foreleg. “Aw, come on Dawning, there’s nothing to it. I just wanna see how good we are if we’re gonna have a buckball team at school, is all.”

“And at the very least you’d be helping me practice catching,” Woven Light added, holding up a wooden bucket in her shimmering aura. “Besides, this is all just for fun between the three of us. Doesn’t matter if you’re a pro at it or not.”

“Exactly,” Flax agreed. “I mean…nopony’s gonna force you to be part of the team if you don’t want it.”

“I know…” Dawning replied.

“So what’s the hold up?”

Dawning quietly kicked a grass blade back and forth for a moment, before finally shrugging. “Oh alright, I’ll give it a try.”

“That’s the spirit!”

As Woven stepped back across the field, holding the bucket up above her head, Flax took up position between and to the right of her and Dawning, holding the ball ready in one hoof. “Alright, Dawning, just give it all you got. You ready?”

“I guess…” Dawning nodded, turning around and looking over his shoulder, raising a hind leg and preparing to kick.

“Okay, three…two…”

Flax threw the ball to the ground. It bounced up again into the air and Dawning’s back leg snapped out–

And the next thing the three kids knew the ball had become a red blur that streaked through the air and smashed right through the bottom end of the bucket, leaving behind an almost perfectly circular hole and sending splinters raining all around Woven, who cried out in surprise. The ball itself struck a bush about fifty feet behind Woven, and the poor shrub seemed to practically explode into splinters and twirling leaves on impact.

Flax and Woven stared up at the bucket, then at Dawning, and then back at the bucket again, and then back to Dawning again, eyes wide and mouths hanging wide open.

“…holy buck!” Flax finally gasped out.

Dawning was cringing, ears flattened back and face wracked with embarrassment. “I-I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to hit it that hard, I…I-I’ll go get it, I…” Shakily, he darted around the other two ponies and quickly made his way to the remains of the bush, poking through the broken vegetation in search of the ball.

Woven and Flax watched him silently, still in shock. “Geeez…” Woven whispered, staring down at the remains of the bucket still in her aura. “I…I was ready to tell him that he was just underestimating himself, but I guess he was…like, under-underestimating himself…”

“Dadgum, that kick…” Flax murmured, shaking his head.

Dawning was just making his way back, slowly trudging and sheepishly holding a torn, shredded mass of red rubber. “Um…about the ball…”

Woven Light couldn’t help but chuckle. “Well, needless to say, even if he could have had the chance to be a champion buckball kicker, he didn’t really feel like trying too many sports after that.”

“Heck, that was around the same time he got interested in writing,” Flax added.

“I guess I don’t blame him for that,” Fluttershy replied. “So, um…I take it he could do a lot, even back then?”

“It wasn’t all at once,” Amber continued. “At first thought he was just strong and tough, but it just kept coming as he grew. He just kept getting stronger and stronger as the years went by…and then every once in a while there’d be something new he could do. By the time he was nine, he could jump clear over the barn if he wanted to. When he was ten he could run faster than any other pony I’ve ever heard of. When he was eleven, his senses started getting a lot stronger. Hearing, sight…some of the hardest times we ever had was helping him focus his senses so he wouldn’t overwhelm himself.”

“He started talking about all the different things he could see and hear then,” Cornstalk added. “Colors and light that we couldn’t see, sounds going on all around that none of the rest of us ever hear…things he’d try his best to describe, but he always felt like he never fully could.”

Fluttershy nodded. “He told me a little about how much he could see and hear back in Manehattan. It…honestly sounds overwhelming even now. Um, what about his, uh…his heat vision, when did that come in?”

“Hoo boy…” Murmured Flax. Cornstalk, Amber, and Woven all exchanged looks and chuckled a little.

“What? What happened?” Fluttershy pressed.

“Well…” Amber said, a little amused smile creeping along her lips. “Let’s just say that that started up around the same time other things were changing about him…”

Amber Grain was at the kitchen sink washing dishes when she heard the front door–quite literally–crash open, and heard Dawning’s voice from within the living room. As surprising as it normally would’ve been for most other ponies, Amber had gotten somewhat used to it by now. Between Dawning’s strength and his speed, he sometimes would run right through a door every once in a blue moon.

What did surprise her when it all happened, however, was that for one it was the middle of day when Dawning should have been in school. And for another, Dawning sounded very stressed. In fact, he sounded like he was in pain.

“Ma…water…need water!”

Amber spun around, heart jumping at the sound of his tone. “Dawning, what’s–”

Before she could even finish, Dawning came bounding into the kitchen. As he pushed past her, Amber caught a glimpse of his face. His teeth were clenched, sweat ran down the sides of his cheeks, but what startled her most were his eyes; they were tightly shut, but even beneath the lids she could make out a bright red glow.

She had already staggered back on instinct when Dawning stuck his head under the still pouring faucet and into the half-filled sink. She had a split second to catch the moment when he opened his eyes beneath the stream of water, his eyes burning as bright as the Sun itself–

And then suddenly there was an explosion of hissing steam, and Amber screamed as she was knocked backwards through the doorway of the kitchen by a blast of warm vapor.

The cloud of steam began to dissipate almost as soon as it erupted, and Amber ran back into the now-humid kitchen to Dawning. He was sitting on his haunches, panting for breath, and his mane, usually kept with bangs hanging around his face, had been blown backwards over his head. The red glow in his eyes fading away and allowing their natural crystalline blue color to return. The kitchen sink beside him had become a smoking, collapsed slag of stainless steel and ceramic remains.

Amber grabbed Dawning by the shoulders. “Dawning! Are you alright, what happened?!”

“I-I’m sorry…” Dawning stammered apologetically.

“Never mind the sink, Dawning, are you alright?!”

“I-I don’t know what happened!” Dawning protested. “W-we were in biology class and I was sitting next to Woven and all of a sudden I just felt…hot all over and my eyes started to feel like they were going to explode, and…and I had to get out of there, I didn’t think I–”

“Whoa whoa whoa,” Amber interrupted, raising a hoof. “…you were sitting next to Woven when this started?”

Dawning shakily nodded. “Y-yeah…”

Amber already felt like she had a feeling she knew where this was going. “And…you were in what class again?”

“Biology. We were learning about, um…uh…” Dawning trailed off, eyes widening as a look of realization settled in across his face. “…o-oh…”

Amber took a deep breath, held it for around three seconds, and let it out in a long, slow, whistling exhale.

“Oh my…” Fluttershy couldn’t help but giggle as she said it.

Amber still had that look of amusement. Woven covered her face with one hoof, but Fluttershy could still see her blushing cheeks and barely repressed snicker. Flax wasn’t even trying to hide it.

Cornstalk just crossed his arms, biting his lip. “It wasn’t that funny…”

“Oh, shush,” Amber playfully chided, lightly knocking his shoulder with a hoof. “Anyway…Dawning kept growing stronger and stronger over the years. At times it seemed like there’d be no end to it. And then one day…”

“Dawning!” Cornstalk called out the back door one evening. “Come in for dinner!” He knew Dawning would come right away…partially from the young stallion’s perpetual love for his mother’s cooking, and partly because no matter where he was on the farm, he’d hear the call and be there in almost an instant. His abilities certainly had their benefits.

“Ma, Pa!” Came Dawning’s voice from just outside. “Come out here, quick!”

Amber Grain poked her head out from the kitchen doorway. “Dawning, are you alright?” She called.

“I’m fine, just come outside and look!”

Cornstalk and Amber exchanged glances and shrugged, the two trotting outside to the back porch. The sun was just beginning to touch the horizon, bathing the clouds around in fiery yellows and oranges against a backdrop of rosy red that faded into purple, then blue as it stretched up into the sky. There was a small wisp of a chill breeze to offset the lingering heat of the day, making waves in the vast fields of crops beyond.

Dawning Hope was nowhere to be seen.

Cornstalk blinked. “…Dawning?”

And then from directly above, in a voice that they knew right away was spoken through a broad smile: “Look up.”

As one the two parents looked up…and promptly froze in shock.

They’d seen Dawning Hope take falls and injuries that would kill or at least maim most other ponies. They’d seen him lift boulders and whole trees and heavy machinery like they weighed nothing. They’d seen him race across the fields with enough speed to kick up a veritable whirlwind. They’d seen him light fires with but a glance. They’d heard his flourished descriptions of all that he could see and hear.

Nothing, however, could have ever prepared them for the sight of Dawning Hope floating in mid-air fifteen feet above their heads, mane and tail billowing in the breeze, and wearing one of the biggest, most gleeful smiles they could remember seeing on his face.

“Holyyyy…” Cornstalk whispered.

Amber stammered, “D-Dawning, you’re–”

“Flying!” Dawning cried happily. “I know, I can’t believe it either, but I’m doing it!” He stretched out his forelegs and, as though pushing against thin air, shot forward, flying in circles overhead and laughing.

“How…how did you…?” Cornstalk half-asked.

“I don’t know! I was just jumping around in the back fields and–” He suddenly arced upwards, rocketing up into the air with the speed of a bullet, up to where the two couldn’t make out what he was saying. A second later he came floating back down. “…thought it was crazy, I just didn’t want to land and...” He sped off again, this time to the right, and soon enough came swooping back over. “…no idea how I’m doing it but…oh Celestia, this is awesome!”

Dawning landed, somewhat clumsily with a thud and a small amount of dirt kicked up from beneath his hooves. His mane was a mess and he was sweating and panting like a dog, but he was grinning ear to ear. “…Ma, Pa, I can fly. I can really fly!”

He was just so excited that it was practically contagious, and Cornstalk and Amber were sharing his smile in seconds. “Dawning, that’s…that’s great!” Cornstalk said enthusiastically.

“That’s amazing, that’s amazing!” Amber marveled.

“I KNOW, RIGHT?!” Even after landing, Dawning was practically bouncing, jumping and spinning around in clear euphoria. “I…I…”

He began to slow down, still turning around in circles, looking over his shoulder at his body. The broad grin began to leech away and the vibrant, happy energy with it. Suddenly, Dawning Hope was regarding himself with a look of disappointment.

And then Cornstalk and Amber realized that he was looking at his flank.

His still bare flank.

“…Dawning? Honey?” Amber gently probed.

Dawning sighed and murmured, “Nothing…never mind.”

“Dawning, what’s–” Cornstalk started.

“Just forget it,” Dawning huffed, abruptly turning away and trotting off with head hung and ears folded back.

“Dawning, wait!” Amber called after him.

Dawning didn’t answer. He kept walking, slowly heading back out into the fields.

Amber sighed. She turned to Cornstalk, and had just opened her mouth to speak when Cornstalk preemptively answered.

“I’ll talk to him. Just give us a few minutes,” he said, following after their son.

Amber gave him a small smile as she watched him go. “Good stallion.”

With how slow Dawning’s pace was, it didn’t take Cornstalk too long to catch up. Dawning barely reacted to his presence, only twitching his ears a slight bit as his father came up along side him. He stayed on his aimless, forward direction, eyes aimed down at the soil at his hooves.

“So…” Cornstalk prodded gently. “You seemed pretty happy about this flying business just a minute ago. What happened?”

A small sigh escaped Dawning’s lips. “…I thought I’d finally get my cutie mark today.”

Cornstalk wasn’t surprised. In fact, he’d expected to hear that. “I see.”

Just up ahead was a stack of timber that Cornstalk had left out for one of his repair projects. As the two passed them, Dawning hopped up on one, walking across its length as he continued. “I…I just don’t understand it, Pa. There’s so much I can do now, it’s…it’s almost ridiculous. I can lift things even a dragon couldn’t, I can run faster than a pegasus can fly…”

Dawning reached the end of the log, but instead of jumping back down, he floated forward, his hooves gently paddling at the air as though he were still walking. “And I…I know we’ve talked a lot about everything I can see and hear, but…Faust above, it never feels like I can get it across what it’s like. All the colors I can’t even put names to, all the sounds I can’t even describe…how it feels when you look at a pony or a group of ponies, and you see and hear every part of them just…just warm and flowing with life and glowing like stars…” He sighed. “I wish you could see it…I wish everypony could see it.”

Cornstalk quietly nodded along. “We’ve talked about that, yeah…”

Dawning slowly lowered himself back down to the ground, resuming a proper walk. “And school…I’ve been doing pretty good in college so far. Look at me, I’m two years off from graduation, I’ve been loving learning journalism and writing and reporting and all that, and…and…” He trailed off, stopping and sitting down in the soil, eyes drifting downward again.

“Yes?”

Dawning’s gaze raised back up to meet his father’s. “…I can do so much, and I have no idea what any of it is for. Every other pony I’ve ever known or went to school with already has their cutie mark by now, they know what they’re doing with their lives…Woven has her magic, Flax has his family’s farm…even Briar Patch's gotten his and he’s a total d…” He trailed off for a moment. “…a jerk.”

“Well…Dawning, it’s like we’ve talked about before, not everypony gets their cutie mark at the same time or the same age. It doesn’t matter what ponies like Briar say. It’s different for everypony, sometimes they just bloom late–”

“Pa, I’m twenty one,” Dawning snapped. “I’m an adult now and I still don’t have one! That’s not me being a ‘late bloomer’, that’s something wrong with me!”

Cornstalk didn’t immediately reply, instead waiting for Dawning to say anything further. He didn’t. He simply sighed again and let his shoulders sag.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry, it’s just…there’s so much, so so much I can do, but…I don’t know where I’m going with it. It’s like I’m just going through the motions, and when I run out of motions to go through…I don’t know…”

Cornstalk came close to Dawning and put a foreleg around his shoulders, gently drawing him into a side-hug. He took a breath, thinking over his words.

“Dawning, I…I know you probably don’t think it helps, me saying that this is something everypony goes through–”

“I’m not just everypony, Pa,” Dawning interrupted. “I’m different. That’s something we’ve been dealing with for years now.”

“I know. But take all your powers away and you’re still a pony just like everyone else. Believe me, I know what it feels like to feel lost. Like you’re just staggering through life not knowing where you belong in it. Like you may never know.”

He reached over with a hoof and gently lifted Dawning’s chin, enough to lightly prod him into looking at him face-to-face. “But trust me, Dawning, that’s not gonna last forever. You have so much to offer this little old world, and a big enough heart to keep it going straight. It may be tomorrow, it may take longer. But there’s gonna be a day where you wake up one morning and you realize you know what you’re here for, what you want to do with your life.”

Dawning’s ears were perking up bit by bit, the gloominess in his eyes fading away.

“And when that day comes for you…” Cornstalk smiled. “…son, you’re gonna soar.”

The edges of Dawning’s lips rose in a small, eased smile, his body relaxing as the tension dissipated. “…thanks, Pa.”

Cornstalk patted him on the back. “Anytime. Now come on inside, dinner’s getting cold…”

“Well, at least he did end up getting his cutie mark after all, right?” Fluttershy asked.

Nopony answered.

Her face fell. “…o-oh…I thought…I know Dawning Hope has one though…”

“Let me guess: a typewriter?” Amber asked.

Fluttershy blinked. “How’d you know that?”

“Mentioned it in his letters,” Cornstalk explained. “The mark you’ve been seeing him with is a fake, he paints it on.”

“So…he never got one after all?”

Cornstalk shook his head. “We…hoped that he really was just a late bloomer, but…he never did. Wherever he came from, whatever kind of pony he is, I think they just don’t get marks the same way we do.”

“Poor Dawning…” Fluttershy was starting to seriously wonder just how lonely Dawning must have felt. First these seemingly inexplicable powers, and then not even being able to get a cutie mark like any other pony.

And all that she knew before he’d even learned of how he’d truly come to Cornstalk and Amber Grain.

Which just left one question.

“…how did he finally find out the truth?”

A somber note crept into the body language of the gathered ponies, but most of all she saw it in Cornstalk’s eyes. There was a certain kind of sorrowful look in his eyes, something that took her a moment to put her hoof on.

Regret?

Amber Grain took in a breath. “It was two years ago. By that time, the kids had graduated and Dawning was working at the Smallville Gazette. Things were…going well.” She sighed. “The Nightmare Night festival that year. That’s where it all went sideways…”

Author's Note

To be continued next chapter...

Preemptively decided to split the flashbacks into two chapters, especially given how, erm...big the events of the next part are going to be in their impact on Dawning's life.

Hope you enjoyed, see you next time, and be sure to comment if you enjoyed or have thoughts. :)

Shattered Facade

A “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic” Fanfiction

Written by Jade Dawn

Nopony in Smallville could have asked for a better atmosphere for the town’s Nightmare Night festival that year. The Moon was full and the sky was dark, painted over with clouds of varying shades of gray, eerily glowing in the light of the great white orb and drowning out the light of the stars for a great distance around. The wind blew and whistled through the trees, making the dried and half-bare branches creak, and whisking away whatever leaves remained in rustling swirls of orange, yellow, and brown.

It would’ve been a perfectly serene Fall evening had it not been for the lights and sounds that rose up from all over town, shining and echoing in the night.

The whole town was decorated in all manner of spooky looking accessories; Jack-O-Lanterns, bats, cobwebs, spiders, skeletons, and the like. Strings of orange and purple lights were hung between buildings, casting the roads beneath in vivid, eerie lighting. In the center of town a stage had been set up, where local musicians and performers were coming playing a variety of creepy yet peppy tunes, creating an aura of music that could be heard all over town.

Most of the young ones were going about in groups from door to door, Trick-or-Treating in their various costumes and outfits for the occasion, watched over by friendly neighbors. The children were far from the only costumed revelers; many of the teen and adult ponies were in costumes of their own, taking strolls in couples or groups through the decorated streets, or congregating in the center of town to dance to the rhythm of the music. Still others were content to cluster around the many tables bearing all manner of food, snacks, and beverages.

“That is a really good looking suit, Dawning,” Woven Light said to Dawning Hope as they hung near one of the tables. “Where’d you get it?”

“Nowhere. Made it all myself,” Dawning answered with a proud smile. The young stallion was clad in his very own Captain Equestria uniform, vivid navy blue with white and gold stripes, Celestia’s sun symbol on the chest, and complete with a metallic shield slung over his back. The outfit’s construction was immaculately detailed; it looked like it could’ve come right out of an Applewood movie production.

Woven whistled in admiration. “Daaaang, all homemade? Did you really make it all by yourself or did your Ma help with it?”

Dawning looked a little sheepish. “She, ah…may have had a hoof in helping…a little…”

“Hey hey hey, I’m not knocking it, it looks great,” Woven told him reassuringly.

“Well, thanks…” Dawning smiled. “I’ve been wanting to wear something like this for Nightmare Night for a long time. Wanted to make sure it was as good as it possibly could be.”

“I’ll bet. You’re probably the biggest Captain Equestria nut in town.”

“Excuse me, Miss Light, I think the correct term is ‘nerd’,” Dawning smirked.

“Pfft, fine, nerd.”

Dawning nodded to Woven’s costume. “And, uh, yours looks pretty great too.”

“Aww, thanks,” Woven beamed. Her costume for the occasion was an ancient-looking set of armor; a red metallic chest plate and blue leather skirt, both trimmed with gold. Large silver bracelets and armored boots adorned her wrists and back legs respectively, and a plastic sword painted in reflective silver and gold paint hung at her side. Her mane was tied back into a long braid, and a gold-colored tiara encircled her forehead just below the base of her horn. A pair of folded prop wings, coated in feathers for added realism, topped off the whole thing.

“So what is it, exactly?” Dawning asked. “Cloudsdale Royal Legion?”

“Nope! Close, though,” Woven chirped. “Actually it’s from the old myths of the pegasus mares of Themyscira. Best warriors in all of antiquity, or so they say. The stories even say that they enchanted their bracelets to be able to deflect any attack thrown at them; swords, arrows, even magic spells.” She held up a bracelet-clad foreleg. “Of course, uh, my magic isn’t anywhere near good enough to do something like that…” She looked up at her horn. “And I couldn’t exactly hide the horn, so…I kinda look more alicorn than pegasus, I guess.”

“I dunno, I think it works,” Dawning smiled. “Woven Light: Goddess of War.”

“Oh, stooop,” Woven giggled, playfully waving him off. “I’d much rather be known as Woven Light: designer of tomorrow’s enchanted fashion trends.”

“Conquering the fashion industry one bit at a time?”

“Something like that.” Woven smiled back. “Either way, I’m glad you like it.”

“Awww, you two got the cool costumes,” Flax bemoaned as he approached. The young stallion was in a comparatively simple scarecrow costume, shabby looking by design. “Kinda wasn’t sure what to do for this year, just threw this one together at the last minute…”

“Oh, it doesn’t look bad,” Dawning said, giving him a reaffirming pat on the shoulder. The straw hat Flax was wearing slid off over his face and drifted to the ground. “Uh…oops.”

Woven Light lit up her horn and replaced the hat atop Flax’s head. “So Flax, how’s work on the farm been going?”

“Who cares about the farm?” Flax laughed. “I wanna hear what you two professionals have been up to, give me some good news.”

Woven smiled. “Wellll, does getting a letter back from the Canterlot School of Magic’s adult program saying that I show a lot of promise and they’d be very happy to have me sound like good news?”

“No way!” Flax exclaimed with a grin.

“Wait, when did this happen?” Dawning asked curiously, though he was smiling too.

“Just today!” Woven answered happily. “Just got a letter back from them today, I can’t believe it either! They said there’s openings for the winter semester of the adult learners’ programs they have up there, so if I wanted…”

“Do it!” Dawning urged. “I mean…this is what you’ve wanted for all your life isn’t it?”

“Why, Dawning, you say that like I haven’t already made up my mind.”

“I…wouldn’t expect you to consider anything else,” Dawning replied with a sincere smile.

Woven smiled back at him, eyelids drooping by a fraction. “You know me so well.”

“What about you, Dawning?” Flax asked. “How’s life at the Gazette going for ya?”

“Hm? Oh, uh…” Dawning shrugged. “It’s nice. Actually, I’ve been enjoying it quite a lot.”

“Covered any really juicy stories yet?”

“Oh come on, Flax,” Dawning said in a playfully reprimanding tone. “That’s not what journalism’s about…well, ideally anyway.”

Woven giggled. “I mean, really though, there’s not much to cover around here…”

“Oh, that’s not such a bad thing,” Dawning answered. “I actually kinda like how chill it’s been so far. I mean, it’s only been a little less than a year so far, so who knows…”

“Is that what you like about it?” Woven asked. “The pace?”

“Not really. I think…” Dawning paused, as if thinking it over. “I think what I enjoy most about it is how many different walks of life you come by in it. So many different people, so many different perspectives, all unique…just lets you get in touch with lives beyond your own.” He shrugged again. “I, uh, I know that’s not really the point of it of course, and I don’t do it just for that, but it’s something I enjoy about it for the most part…I don’t know if it makes much sense…”

“Huh…I think I can get that, actually,” Flax said.

“Oh, good,” Dawning sighed. “I was wondering if that sounded too sappy…”

“Dawning, you never sound sappy,” Woven told him. “Don’t be hard on yourself. I’m glad to hear it makes you happy doing it.”

Dawning smiled modestly. “Well…it’s a living, if nothing else. Honestly, some days I think I’d be just fine if I just spent my whole life between the farm and the Gazette…”

A dry chuckle and a pair of loudly clapping hooves caught the three’s attention. Leaning against the table behind them was a young stallion almost as tall as Dawning Hope, if not taller with a light gray coat and an orange mane. He was dressed in a skin-tight dark blue suit, patterned a little like chainmail, with knee-high white armored boots and large golden epaulets on the shoulders. A large, sky blue cape was draped across his back, decorated with white trim and a number of white stars, surrounding a yellow sun sigil in the center, a little like Celestia’s cutie mark; all elements from the Equestrian flag. Like Woven he had a pair of false wings as part of his costume, but much less realistic-looking than hers, and with a prop horn poking up through his mane, giving him the appearance of an alicorn.

“Oh that, that’s just heartwarming,” the stallion sneered with a final clap for emphasis. “Really tugs on the strings there, don’t it?”

Flax’s ears folded back as he frowned. Woven rolled her eyes in annoyance. Dawning’s eyebrows lowered into a glare. “Hello, Briar Patch,” he murmured.

Briar Patch pushed off from the table into a proper standing position, slowly trotting around ahead of the trio. “Sorry, just, uh…couldn’t help but overhear the sounds of a complete lack of actual ambition.” He paused, squinting at Dawning’s Captain Equestria costume. “Where’d you get that, Party City? Also, Captain Equestria? Aren’t you a little old for the kiddie comic crap?”

“I don’t know about that,” Dawning replied, his tone irritated but cool. “Considering what you’re wearing.”

“Oh, please,” Briar snorted, turning slightly so they could get a better look at his outfit. “The All-Equestrian. Main villain of The Colts. Y’know, an actually good comic, not like the other pansy superhero stuff. I mean, come on, Dawning, who even likes Captain Equestria with how crappy the Royal Guard actually is?”

“Nice to see you’re just as petty as ever,” Woven grumbled. “Did you have an actual point you wanted to make or are you just here to show off your costume?”

“Well, I was getting there.” Briar snorted, turning back to Dawning. “Really, Dawning? Stick around on a farm in the middle of nowhere, write for a small-time paper in a rinky-dink town nopony else in Equestria cares about? That’s your big dream?”

“This ‘rinky-dink town’ just happens to be my home,” Dawning retorted.

“Yeah. Exactly.” Briar tapped the side of his head in a “mind blown” sort of gesture. “Half the point of growing up is getting out of the home, innit? Y’know, doing better things? I mean, look at me, I’m not staying in this dump, I’m getting out of here and I’m gonna actually be somepony. Professional hoofball, that’s where I’m headed.”

“Good for you. You’ve got your goals, I’ve got mine, what’s your point?”

Briar scoffed. “You don’t have any goals, Dawning, that’s your problem. That’s always been your problem. You’ve never really thought about what you actually wanna do with your life, have you?” He paused. “You know, maybe if you did, you’d actually get that cutie mark already…”

Dawning stiffened, his jaw clenching.

“Okay, that’s taking it too far,” Woven snapped, stepping between Dawning and Briar.

“What? It’s true,” Briar snapped back. “Come on, Woven, Dawning’s, like, twenty-something years old now and he still doesn’t have a cutie mark, and everypony knows it. Guy’s years behind the rest of us and he’s sitting there talking about staying this way forever!” He turned back to Dawning, the sneer returning. “C’mon, think about it Dawning…what do you really wanna do when you grow up?”

Woven’s voice dropped to a growl. “You meat-headed son of a…”

Dawning stepped in front of her before she could finish, standing up straight and looking Briar Patch right in the eyes. “What I do with my life,” he told him firmly. “Is my business. You wanna think I’m doing something wrong? Fine. Be my guest. I really don’t give a crap what you think. I’ve got my life, you’ve got yours. So if your idea of ‘big things’ is being the living breathing schoolyard bully stereotype you’ve always been, then you go right on ahead.”

Flax leaned his head around from behind Dawning. “Oh, and you forgot to cut off one of the Party City tags.”

“Wait what?!” Briar Patch literally jumped, spinning around in circles as he frantically looked over his costume, cape flapping around erratically and the prop horn slipping down over his forehead. “I thought I–”

Woven and Flax broke out into laughter. Even Dawning couldn’t help but snicker.

Briar’s face went beet red, his eyes narrowing and gritting his teeth in an angry glare as he pushed the fake horn back up. “You little fu–”

“Yo, Briar!” Came a voice from the crowd. Another young stallion, face and body partially obscured by a ninja costume, wormed his way through the crowds and came up to Briar Patch. “Dude, come on, let’s blow this place, there’s something really cool you gotta see!” He bounded off just as quickly as he’d come.

Briar scoffed, muttering under his breath. “Whatever…probably better than this lame excuse for a party…” He shot one last glare at Dawning and his friends before skulking off.

Flax snorted. “Asshole.”

“A toxic alpha wannabe dressing as a toxic alpha wannabe,” Woven mused, shaking her head. “Some ponies just really don’t grow up, do they?” She looked to Dawning, about to say something more before pausing. “…Dawning?”

Dawning was looking over his shoulder, the cool-headed defiance on his face now gone. Though it was obscured by the Captain Equestria costume, he gazed at the empty space on his flank wistfully.

“Come on, Dawning, don’t let it get to you,” Flax said. “Briar Patch has been picking on everyone else since the day he started talking. Like, maybe if he had a dad who actually loved him…”

Dawning shrugged. “I mean, yeah, he’s a jerk, but…he’s not wrong–”

“Dawning, you were just talking about how content you are with how things are going,” Woven pointed out. “And nopony worth listening to gives a crap about whether or not you’ve gotten your cutie mark by now. Really think about it, has anyone other than Briar Patch and you gotten on your case about it?”

She reached out and put a hoof under his chin, gently turning his head around to face her. “You get your life sorted out on your own time. Nopony else’s. You are who you choose to be…something like that.”

Dawning took a breath, the corners of his mouth slowly tilting upward again. “…yeah. Screw him.”

Woven giggled. “Exactly.”

By now the ambient music had taken on a slower pace. There was still an aura of playful spook to it, but now the mood was more of a hauntingly beautiful variety than the rest of the evening’s more upbeat party tunes.

Woven grinned, grabbing Dawning’s foreleg. “C’mon, Captain. The Warrior Goddess wants to dance.”

“Wha-buh-eh-I…” Dawning protested as Woven quickly dragged him towards the stage in the town square. Woven’s only response was to giggle, shooting a glance over her shoulder at Flax.

“Yeah, uh, I’ll just hang out here by myself,” Flax said. Nonetheless he was smiling, and shot Woven a wink as the two left.

Though stammering bashfully, Dawning allowed himself to be pulled towards the impromptu dance floor near the stage. They weren’t the only ones; a few other couples had thought to make their way to the same place, along with other ponies who had already been dancing the night away for hours prior and still hadn’t gotten tired yet.

Woven spun Dawning around and placed her forelegs around his neck, resting them on his shoulders. Her smile glowed beneath the themed jack-o-lantern-shaped lights over the dance floor.

“I…I don’t know how to dance,” Dawning admitted sheepishly. His cheeks flushed red beneath his tan fur, and his eyes blinked rapidly, darting in every direction save for Woven’s.

“Well, I don’t either,” Woven admitted. “Just place your hooves on my shoulders.”

Dawning slowly rose up onto his hind legs and placed his front hooves on her shoulders as gently as though she were made of eggshells. Woven’s smile widened and she began to lead him to turn in a slow circle in time to the music.

“There. Not so bad, right?” she giggled.

Dawning felt a small, nervous smile flit around his lips. “Y-yeah…this is okay.”

As they continued to revolve, Woven watched the visible anxiety on Dawning’s face melting away like snow beneath the springtime sun. They kept their gazes transfixed on each other’s eyes, watching the reflections of the lights dancing within them, ignoring all else; the other partygoers seemed to become vague, abstract shapes in the background, as all sense of time seemed to slow down and dull to them.

Neither pony knew how much time had passed before Woven finally broke the silence. “You know, um…” she whispered, just beneath the music. “I’m gonna miss you when I head off to Canterlot.”

“Well, um…” Dawning whispered back. “I’m gonna miss you too. But hey, um, not like you won’t be able to come back and visit us over breaks…”

“No no, I mean, um…I mean, there’s that, yeah, and I’m gonna miss everypony here, but…but I mean you…”

Come on, just say it already, she thought. You know him, he’s not gonna get scared off or anything…completely break down into stammering and blushing maybe, but other than that…

“You okay?”

Woven paused, biting her lip as she looked deep into Dawning Hope’s eyes. Those bright, jewel-like blue eyes that she could never remember seeing in anypony else for the whole time she’d lived here, not even his parents. She thought of the gentleness they held, the open-hearted kindness that had led him to befriend her well over a decade ago when they were mere foals, how he’d supported her all throughout her years of study no matter how difficult. How they, along with Flax, had become inseparable, doing virtually nothing apart from each other.

And how there came a point where she realized that–for her own part, at least–the bond she and Dawning shared had started to feel like something more.

Tell him.

“Dawning?” Woven asked.

“Y-yeah?” Dawning asked, his heart pounding against his chest like a sledgehammer.

Woven leaned in close, her hot breath tickling Dawning’s ear. Her heart was racing, and from this close she could hear his own heartbeat as well; it was starting to pick up speed, becoming just as fast as hers. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw his cheeks beginning to redden.

“I…” she whispered. “I lo–”

Dawning’s ears suddenly perked right up. For one last moment of bliss, Woven thought it was for what she was just in the middle of saying. Then she actually saw his face. He wasn’t looking at her. He was looking over her shoulder, out over the crowd. And the look on his face wasn’t a look of bashful shyness or peaking affection, no…it was one of horror.

And then came the roar, a distant, enraged howl that echoed through the night, slicing through the sounds of the party like a blade. Dancing ceased, the music came to a screeching, disharmonious halt, conversation and revelry morphed into either frozen silence or nervous whisperings.

Then Woven heard Dawning whisper beside her, “…run. We need to run, now.”

Woven looked at him, frightened but confused at the same time. “Dawning, what are you–”

Suddenly there was a loud cacophony of screaming and yelling. About a half a dozen ponies–all young stallions, costumes torn and disheveled, some nursing bruises or outright bleeding wounds–came pushing and scrambling their way through the crowd. Woven immediately recognized at least one; one of Briar Patch’s friends, the one in the ninja costume, though the black outfit was torn and the mask missing, revealing his terrified face.

And then came Briar Patch himself. The cape of his costume was gone, with whatever ripped portions still remained hanging from his shoulders as he ran. The prop horn was missing too, and one of the fake wings drooped. As he ran he tripped over it, but almost immediately scrambled back up and kept on running, his eyes wide and pupils shrunk.

“It’s coming!” he wailed. “IT’S COMING!”

“It was in the caves outside of town,” Woven said grimly. “We don’t know when it moved in or where the mother was. Briar and his friends didn’t even know it was in there. They were just exploring the caves for the heck of it. Thought it would be fun. They stumbled on it by complete accident…and those idiots wound up waking it up.”

“The Ursa Minor,” Fluttershy whispered to herself. The morning group meeting at the Cantering Cook came rushing back to her memory. “Oh no…”

It came through the streets with a loud crashing of its gigantic paws. It rose up thirty feet into the air at the shoulders, and on just all fours alone. Closely bear-like in shape, but wrought in a form of ethereal blue matter that glowed and sparkled in the dark, with a shining spot vaguely reminiscent of a white star set between two burning yellow-red eyes. It snarled through its gleaming teeth, spreading its maw wide and letting out a deep, angry roar that shattered what remained of the night’s ambience into a thousand pieces.

Panic came almost instantaneously. In seconds, the frozen townsponies had broken into a chaotic stampede of and screaming and running in all directions, into alleys between buildings, to the nearest way indoors, trying to get anywhere except around the Ursa Minor. Despite the mass attempt to flee, most of the crowd only succeeded in getting in each others’ way and turning each other around in the confusion, while the Ursa snapped its powerful jaws at and swung its gigantic paws around; at ponies, at buildings, at anything whether it was moving or not.

Someone struck Woven hard against the side as they ran, knocking her to the ground. She gasped for breath from the impact, spitting dirt as she tried to rise, only for someone else’s hind leg to strike her in the side of the head. She screamed, her head spinning as she fell to the ground again.

“Dawning?! DAWNING!”

“Woven!” someone shouted over the panic. She felt a hoof grip her own and pull her to her hooves, but it wasn’t Dawning. It was Flax. The hat of his scarecrow costume was missing, and he looked just as panicked as everypony else.

“Where’s Dawning?!” he asked.

“I don’t know!” Woven answered. “I-I lost track of him–”

“Oh buck, MOVE, MOVE!” Flax grabbed her by the shoulder and pulled her along in a full-speed run. Woven looked over her shoulder for a second, only a second. It was enough to get a good view of the Ursa’s open jaws as it let out another bone-rattling roar.

To any observer it might seem that an Ursa’s body was completely transparent, literally made of star-stuff. Of course, this was merely part of the creature’s innate magic, an optical illusion. In truth, it had a solid body and internal anatomy like just about anything else.

Staring straight down the fanged maw of the thing made that very clear.

Fighting to keep from screaming again, Woven quickened her pace, running close behind Flax as they rushed towards a nearby hardware store. It had been closed down for the night’s festivities, but somepony had managed to unlock–or perhaps force open–the front door. Several ponies had already crowded inside, seeking shelter from the monster roaming the streets.

Flax stepped ahead to hold the door open for Woven. Just as soon as he did, he looked up in horror. “WOVEN, LOOK OUT!”

Something flew over both of their heads and smashed against the roof of the hardware store. Woven looked up just in time to see the shattered remains of one of the larger snack carts raining down from above. Out of alarmed instinct, Woven scrambled backwards–

–too late. The next thing she knew it had all come down on top of her with a loud crash in her ears. She felt herself flattened hard into the dirt, breath forced out of her lungs. Something heavy fell hard with a crushing sensation upon her left hind leg, and she felt an explosion of pain bursting from deep within; she screamed and gritted her teeth in agony. She was lying on her side in the dirt, pinned with a wounded leg beneath a pile of wood, glass, masonry, and other debris. She could still hear the chaos outside, but she couldn’t see…

She heard the sounds of frantic digging from outside, and in the next instant a large piece of wood over her head was being lifted away. It was Flax, straining with all his might as he heaved the heavy piece and pushed it aside. “Woven?! Oh Faust, can you hear me?!”

“M-my leg…” Woven whimpered. “I c-can’t move…”

“Hold on!” Flax grunted as he continued to pull away debris. “I’m gonna get you out, just hang on…” Suddenly he froze, ears flattening and eyes widening, lip quivering as he went silent.

Woven felt a wave of hot, fetid air blow against her, and–with what limited mobility she could muster–turned over to see the face of the Ursa Minor looming over her, nose wrinkling with deep breaths as it sniffed the ground around her and Flax, its angry yellow eyes locking on to the two of them. The bear-like animal parted its jaws…to roar, to bite, Woven didn’t know which. Either way, she screamed in pure terror.

Then out of nowhere as she looked up at the Ursa, a circular object flashed across her line of sight in a blur, and with a THWACK! had embedded itself in the thing’s cheek. The Ursa reared and howled in pain, clawing at the wound and embedded object with one paw, partially shattering it but leaving portions of shrapnel remaining in the wound.

Woven watched as blood and pieces of the object fell to the ground close to her, and it was only then that she suddenly realized what it had been: Dawning Hope’s Captain Equestria shield.

And then something larger rammed into the Ursa’s face, sending it staggering backwards with a blow that cracked like thunder and rattled the debris pinning Woven, ears ringing from the sound of the collision and the stomping of its hind feet so close.

Woven expected whatever had hit the Ursa to fall like the shield had…but it didn’t. It was still hovering in the air. Then she realized it was the shape of a pony, a pony wearing a Captain Equestria costume…

She couldn’t believe it. Absolutely could not believe what she was seeing.

But there he was, hovering in the air above her.

Dawning?!

“LEAVE THEM ALONE!” she heard him roar, so much more angry and more fearsome than she’d ever heard him that she almost couldn’t believe it was actually Dawning Hope’s voice. “GET OUT!”

As the Ursa regained its footing, it roared back furiously and lunged at Dawning with jaws wide open. The floating earth pony made a move upward as if to dodge out of the way…too late. The great jaws slammed shut over him–Woven screamed–and in a single motion the Ursa turned and threw Dawning over its shoulder, sending him flying into another store down the street like a missile. The entire front was caved in instantly, the roof coming down just after, plumes of smoke and dust billowing into the air from the sudden collapse. The Ursa licked its lips, rubbing its tongue over the bleeding wound in its cheek and snarling as it began to slowly stalk towards the ruined shop.

Woven suddenly felt a sharp pain racing up her leg, and she winced as the piece pinning her was shifted and finally pulled away. She felt Flax’s forelegs wrapping around her and dragging her clear, but her gaze was still locked on the Ursa as it loomed over the wrecked building.

“I got you…” She heard Flax whisper shakily. “I got you…”

“D-Dawning…” Woven murmured. “…that was Dawning.”

Flax stopped in his tracks. “What?”

Suddenly there was a bright flash from amidst the cloud of dust, and the Ursa scrambled backwards with a howl, a smoldering, smoking scar now seared across its face just below the gash in the cheek. Dawning Hope, covered in dirt and soot, came crawling out of the wreckage, eyes glowing a bright red and air rippling around them. As Dawning advanced, his eyes flared up into a brilliant white, quick and bright like a camera flash, and another scorching scar flashed into being against the Ursa’s hide along the left shoulder. Another flash, and shimmering heat flared and sparked against the creature’s chest. Another flash, another wound sparking just above the right eye, if not blinding it physically then certainly by the intense flash. Then another, one after the other in rapid-fire against the animal’s body.

Enraged, the Ursa raised a paw high in the air and swatted it down at breakneck speed over Dawning…who caught it in his front hooves, teeth clenching, knees buckling and the ground beneath his hind legs sinking as he pushed back against the great crushing weight. With a tremendous push of his legs he shot back up into the air like a rocket, forcing the Ursa’s giant limb up and aside in his wake and twisting the paw hard to the right with a loud CRACK of the wrist. The star-studded bear howled and recoiled the wounded limb close to its chest, the paw bent now at an unnatural angle, as Dawning looped back around and rammed into the Ursa with enough force to knock it flat onto its back, hitting the ground with enough force to rattle the whole town, and shaking Woven and Flax where they watched in dumbstruck silence.

Dawning hovered above the fallen Ursa, as if waiting to see if it was down for the count or not. He didn’t have to wait long. With a roar, the Ursa reached upwards and swiped at him with its left forearm, the clawed appendage whooshing in the air and missing Dawning by a fraction as he darted out of the way. As the creature righted itself, somewhat awkwardly now down to three functional limbs, it reared up as high as it could go and snapped at Dawning with its jaws. Dawning darted down low towards the ground, while the Ursa lashed out with its left paw again–smashing the front off of another building in the process–and flew in an arc around it, leaving a trail of dislodged dirt and dust in his wake while the Ursa spun around in pursuit, snapping its jaws behind him, always just out of reach–

–until the Ursa got lucky, clamping its maw down over him once again. This time, however, Dawning was ready. As the Ursa bit down, he braced his hind legs against the lower jaw and his hooves against the upper, and pushed them back open with all his might, the Ursa growling as it fought to shut its mouth over its opponent. Dawning’s eyes flared up red, sending rippling beams of heat straight down the Ursa’s throat; it roared, loud and hoarse, its jaws parting just enough for Dawning to speedily float backwards out of its mouth.

Just as quickly as he’d flown out, Dawning rocketed back at the Ursa’s face, a hoof connecting with its lower jaw with a loud CRUNCH! The Ursa howled, the jaw now bent noticeably askew as it staggered backwards. It swung its left arm out again; Dawning ducked, reeling his hoof back and striking out with a fast, hard blow to the Ursa’s torso, and the resulting CRACK! of ribs was so loud that Woven and Flax felt it as if it were in their own bones, and they simultaneously winced. The Ursa’s howls turned into choking, hacking coughs, blood spurting from the back of its throat and dribbling down its cheeks and jawline. Dawning threw another blow, an uppercut, striking the Ursa once again in the jaw. There was another CRACK! as the jaw was broken again, and the animal’s head violently tilted backwards with the force of the blow, spitting dark drops of blood up against the moonlight.

Groaning, the Ursa took one giant step back, then another, and then finally lost its footing entirely, falling backwards between two buildings just behind it, their walls crumbling beneath its weight. Directly behind was a tall support tower for the town’s power lines; as the Ursa fell, the tower crumpled beneath it like aluminum foil, cables and wires snapping and flailing wildly like snakes, sparking and flashing as the whole thing came crashing down beneath the Ursa, smoke and dust erupting from the point of impact.

Dawning waited a few moments to make sure the Ursa wasn’t getting back up again, then turned and arced back around towards the hardware store, landing in the ruined street and skidding to a halt in front of Flax and Woven. He was panting for breath, chest heaving, shoulders sagging from fatigue, sweat dampening his fur. His Captain Equestria costume was in tatters, whole parts of the suit torn away or hanging by threads, the whole thing covered in dust and dirt and drying blood; from the Ursa or perhaps his own, it was impossible for the two to tell.

“Woven, Flax…” Dawning panted. “Are…are you…”

The two ponies stared back at him with eyes wide and jaws slack. They didn’t say anything. They couldn’t think of anything to say. They couldn’t think of anything to do at all. They just stared at him blankly, minds still reeling.

Dawning’s face began to fall, his ears folding back. “W-wait…” he whispered nervously. “I-I know it looks…I-I mean, I…please–”

Suddenly the lights of the hardware store–of the entire street, actually–began to flicker wildly, flashing rapidly on and off. There was a loud howl, loud enough that it shook Woven and Flax from their stupor and made them jolt in fright. Dawning’s ears perked up, turning quickly to look behind them.

Down the street, they could see the Ursa struggling to rise back to its feet, only to fall back onto its side once again; it had become entangled in the power lines it had fallen upon, several now wrapped tightly around its midsection and limbs, pulling taut with each time it struggled. Sparks and bolts of white-hot electricity ripped and crackled across its star-studded body, burning flesh and fur, while the stricken Ursa wailed and howled in agony as it thrashed around.

It was hard for Woven to see Dawning’s face clearly from behind. But as he began to slowly shake his head, she could just make out a growing look of horror.

“No…NO!” Dawning kicked himself into the air, dust blowing against Woven and Flax as he shot off. They blinked, fanning the cloud out of their eyes as they tried to see what was happening while the lights of the town went mad around them.

As they watched, they saw Dawning fly at breakneck speed back towards the Ursa, so fast he was there in a blur. He came around behind the animal, gripping the cables with his hooves and pulling them hard upwards. They saw the electric current suddenly coursing up through him too, lighting him up like a Hearth’s Warming tree, and they just barely were able to hear his own cries mixed with the Ursa’s. Still he pulled on the cables, until finally–

SNAP! The cables came bursting apart. All around, the lights flashed up one final time, and then went black, plunging Main Street into darkness.

Now freed from the power lines, the Ursa Minor fell headlong into the middle of the street, hitting the ground with a tremendous impact that shook the earth beneath. Dawning flew down and landed in front of the wounded animal, tentatively approaching it. Even from this distance, Woven could just make out a look of regret on his face. His mouth was opening and closing, as if he was saying something to it. She could not make it out from where she sat. All she could hear from this far away was the remorseful, pleading tone in his voice.

The Ursa lay unmoving before him, raising no paw to strike or jaws to snap. It was still and silent save for its chest slowly, laboriously heaving in ragged, whispering breaths. Smoke rose from its charred fur, blood trickled in streams from its mouth, nostrils, and the wounds all over its body. The star-like patterns and the blue glow radiating from the animal began to dim, and the translucent appearance it bore began to fade into opaqueness.

The Ursa Minor took one last rasping, pained breath in, and slowly, quietly, let it back out. Dust and small bits of dirt blew in its wake as if in a warm breeze. Its eyelids drooped, slowly coming down over its eyes until they were at last no longer visible, and the animal’s glow faded out for good.

Silence descended over Main Street.

As Woven watched him, she saw Dawning Hope’s body begin to tremble, shaking uncontrollably. His blue eyes stared wide, wider and more fearful than she could ever remember seeing in anypony, and his mouth opened and twisted and quivering as if he were trying to wail without voice. Without taking his eyes off the dead Ursa, he fell back onto his haunches, forelegs rising almost unconsciously, like he meant to wrap them around his shoulders without realizing it. Abruptly, he stopped, looking down and holding his hooves, caked with dirt and blood, out before him. His shivering intensified, he began to shake his head, and suddenly he was rubbing his hooves against each other and against whatever remained of the Captain Equestria suit, as though trying frantically to scrape them clean. His movements were frantic, desperate; he almost fell over onto his side as he struggled with himself.

Then suddenly he was looking straight at Woven. His blue eyes locked right onto her own and stared back at her from down the street, face still wrought with horror, so intense that now she was seeing it face-to-face, Woven actually flinched backwards. Dawning recoiled, looking desperately over to Flax, and then at–

Woven had been so focused on watching Dawning and the Ursa that she had not noticed the other ponies gradually poking out of their respective hiding places. All around Main Street she could see faces poking out from around corners or watching from windows, some standing out in the open, all silently watching Dawning in quiet shock. She saw Briar Patch hiding in the doorway of Turnip’s Groceries just across the street, half crouching against the floor as Dawning’s gaze passed by him; where barely an hour ago he had looked at Dawning with a condescending sneer, now he watched him in cowed terror.

Dawning turned around in a full circle, then back around in the opposite direction, still shaking in terror, looking back as half the population of the town regarded him with shock, with fear, with confusion, with–

Then almost before Woven realized it was happening, he had scrambled to his hooves and broken into a run, and the sight of it at last snapped Woven out of her stupor.

“D-Dawning!” She called out to him, pushing herself to her hooves. “Wait, don’t–AAGH!” Her left hind leg practically screamed in pain the second she put weight on it. She began to fall until Flax quickly moved alongside to hold her steady steady. “Dawning!”

“Come back!” Flax added.

Whether he heard them or not, Dawning continued to run, the ponies nearest to him frantically scrambling backwards in fright as he passed. They watched him kick his back legs against the road, rocketing himself up into the night sky over the darkened street, and disappearing into the void.

“I’ll never forget that look on his face for as long as I live,” Woven Light said. “I don’t know what he saw when the Ursa died. But whatever he did, it…it shook him in a way that I don’t think anyone besides another like him could ever truly know.”

For the entire duration of the tale of the Ursa, Fluttershy had been leaning forward in her seat. Only now as the mood of the story shifted did she lean back again. Her heart was a cocktail of emotions; on the one hoof, Fluttershy loved animals of just about every kind. It was one of her defining attributes that she was known for, and as dangerous and monstrous as the Ursa species was, she simply could not feel both pity and horror at the fate that the poor adolescent had endured. But on the other hoof, she cared for Dawning. She knew who he was and what he was like, more so than ever by now. And so, for perhaps the first time she could remember in recent years, her pity and care for the animal was superseded by something else.

Fluttershy remembered what Dawning had said about how he saw and felt the world and living things and tried to imagine what he must’ve seen in the Ursa’s death. What would it be like, she wondered, to see the heart make its last beat, to hear the flow of blood slow to a trickle and then cease, to witness cells begin to wither and die, and to watch the warmth of life fade into nothingness? To see mortality as none around could ever dream of? And to know that it was your fault?

She thought she had some idea of it. Only some. But even in shuddering as she thought of that fleeting grasp of it, she found herself agreeing with Woven; it was something that no other being save for one like Dawning could possibly hope to truly grasp.

“…w-what happened then?”

Cornstalk softly cleared his throat and then, dejectedly, resumed the story.

“Clover Patch saw it heading for Main Street,” Amber Grain panted as she pushed through the front door. “Faust, the kids…Cornstalk, do you even know if that thing’ll work?”

“Tartarus if I know…” Cornstalk muttered as he fumbled with the shotgun in his hooves, loading it as quick as he could possibly manage. “Good enough for blowing away timberwolves and scaring off conspiracy theorists, hope to Celestia it does some good…” He finally finished loading the gun, racked it once, and slung it over his shoulder. “Alright…alright, heading for Main Street you said–”

Then from outside, through the open door, they heard a loud whoosh of air and a light rustling of grass, and the sudden shattering of a window from the floor above. Cornstalk and Amber stopped in their tracks; they knew exactly who the noise from outside could possibly have been from, and knew their home well enough to know exactly which room had been broken into. Cornstalk shared one glance with Amber before hurriedly un-shouldering the gun, leaving it on a nearby table before bolting up the stairs, Amber following close behind him. It only took them a few seconds to race all the way up to Dawning Hope’s room and open the door.

The window at the far end of the room had been shattered inward, with such force that there wasn’t even a single shard of glass left within the frame. Dawning Hope sat on his haunches in the middle of the room, surrounded by little shards of glass and the discarded and broken remains of his Captain Equestria costume all around the floor. His head was down, eyes wide and staring blankly, his chest expanding and contracting rapidly as he breathed heavily, his fur dampened from sweat and blood. He did not look up at them as they entered. His only immediate reaction was a little flicking of his ears, unthinking, instinctual.

Cornstalk stepped through the door first, slowly and gently. “Dawning…what happened?…”

Dawning hesitated, his lip quivering like he was struggling to not break down on the first word. “…I killed it, Pa…I…I killed it…I-I wasn’t trying to, it…it was going to hurt Woven, I was so terrified it would and I…” He began to shudder, breath picking up speed. “I-I was only trying to help…I was trying to save them, I d-didn’t want to hurt or s-scare anypony and…I watched it die…oh Faust, I watched it die…”

Cornstalk and Amber were at Dawning’s side and holding him close between them at practically the exact second his voice cracked from stuttering speech into a sob. He threw his head into his hooves as he broke down weeping in full, streams of tears flowing around and down his hooves, washing away caked dirt and blood as they went dripping to the floor, while his body shook and trembled in his parents’ arms as he swallowed great gulps of air between sobs.

The two parents held Dawning tight between them in a simultaneous hug, gently stroking his back, his shoulders, his mane. But in between, they cast each other worried, fearful glances.

“…w-what’s wrong with me…” Dawning began to whimper. “What’s…what’s wrong with me?!…”

“Dawning…” Amber said, trying to sound as soothing and calm as she possibly could. “Nothing’s wrong with you–”

“S-STOP!” Dawning suddenly snapped, turning his head quickly to face her, with such abruptness that Amber couldn’t help but recoil. “Stop…stop saying that, you keep saying nothing’s wrong, everything’s going to be alright…and it’s not! I-I have all these powers and not even any cutie mark to show for it, a-and…they know now…they’re going to be asking us questions…looking at me like…t-they’ll never see me the same way again, I won’t ever be able to pretend I’m normal again, and…and I don’t know why I’m this way!” He looked frantically between his mother and father, eyes wide with growing panic. “W-what are we going to tell them?! What are we going to do?!”

“Dawning,” Cornstalk interrupted, gripping Dawning’s shoulders firmly but gently and turning him towards him. Dawning froze, staring into his father’s eyes as if suddenly in a trance. “Everything. Is going. To be fine. We’ll get this taken care of and figured out, nothing…” He swallowed. “…nothing bad is going to happen, I promise you, just…” He relaxed his grip on Dawning’s shoulders. “…just wait here for now, rest…let us go out there, see…let us take care of it…please?”

Dawning nodded slowly, his voice a quiet, cowed murmur. “O-okay…okay…”

“Good…thank you,” Cornstalk nodded back as he let go of him. As he and Amber released Dawning, the young stallion’s posture drooped once again, head slowly turning back down to face the floor.

“It’s going to be fine, Dawning,” Amber said, softly and reassuringly as she and Cornstalk headed back for the door. “Please, trust us…it’s going to be okay. You’ve done nothing wrong.”

Dawning didn’t reply, and it was only with slow reluctance that the two willed themselves to turn away.

As they made their way from their home towards the center of town, Cornstalk internally tried to remind himself of the very words he had spoken to Dawning. This…well, there wasn’t any getting around it, this was bad. The little family had always feared–and known deep down–that the day would come where Dawning’s secret would out itself. But they had always hoped that at the very least it would be some relatively small slip-up. Something that only someone close to him, like Woven Light or Flax, might notice. Faust knew he’d had several near-misses over the years; it was impossible to keep his powers completely hidden. The family had been lucky so far.

But that luck, it seemed, had just run out forever, and in the worst possible way. To have Dawning outed so violently, so abruptly, so publicly…

No, no, he told himself in his mind. Don’t panic. There’s a way through this. Ponies in this town are an understanding bunch, mostly…maybe…maybe we can say they didn’t see it the way they think they did, buy ourselves some time?…

When they actually arrived at Main Street, however, it became immediately clear to both Cornstalk and Amber that there would be no downplaying or covering up what had happened. The place was in ruins, as though a hurricane or an earthquake had swept through it. Several shops were either severely damaged or collapsed completely, and plenty more had at least a few windows shattered or cracked by debris; very few establishments had escaped completely unscathed. Fallen strings of lights, Nightmare Night decorations, and discarded pieces of costumes littered the road. All of Main Street and several blocks around were shrouded in darkness, the power still cut off. And then there was the body of the Ursa itself, still wrapped and entangled in the remains of the power lines it had fallen onto. Even in the gloom the two could see the severity of its wounds; the burns from both heat vision and electric sparks, the slashes and scars still dripping with red, the crookedly bent paw…

Cornstalk and Amber went to work pitching in where they could. Several ponies were already going to and fro working on the damage, clearing away rubble and debris, tending to the wounded, and so on. Some had already been in the area when the attack happened, others had just arrived from the surrounding neighborhoods and farms. They saw the town Sheriff and his small group of deputies clustered around the Ursa, seemingly discussing and debating how best to move the corpse. On another street corner, they saw a pair of nurses tending to Woven Light’s leg, while Flax sat close beside her.

Nopony said anything. Nopony verbally brought up what the two parents could already tell had spread around to everyone else, or hurled any accusations towards them.

But they did stare at the two while they worked. Stared with wide eyes and looks of confusion and uncertainty on their faces, all silently asking the same questions that their tongues would not. Even when Cornstalk didn’t see them directly, he could still feel their accumulated weight pressing down upon him.

As much as he hated to admit it, even in the midst of his panic, Dawning had been right. Nothing was going to be the same ever again. And he had no idea what they could possibly do about it now.

It was an hour or so later when Amber was finally able to get a chance to take Cornstalk aside. The two of them slunk away into a back alley leading off of Main Street, Amber looking over her shoulder to make absolutely certain they were alone before she spoke to him, her voice low and intense.

“We need to tell Dawning the truth.”

Cornstalk balked. “Wh–now? Ambie, we can’t–”

“We have to. We don’t have a choice anymore.”

Cornstalk shook his head. “No…no…w-we can find a way around this, if we could just–”

“Cornstalk. It’s over. We tried our best, but you and I both knew the day would come when we wouldn’t be able to keep the secret anymore. And maybe…” She sighed, lowering her head for a moment. “…maybe we shouldn’t have. Maybe that’s where we went wrong, right from the start.” Regaining her more serious composure, she went on. “But we’re past that point now. They have questions, and there’s just as big a chance that they’ll ask Dawning as much as they will us. We can’t keep how we found him hidden from him anymore. He deserves to know.”

“I…I…” Cornstalk stammered, trying his hardest to come up with a good counterargument in his mind. He could not. “…alright…alright, you’re right. You’re right. Just…can I ask one thing?”

“Yes?” Amber asked.

“I’d…I’d like it to be me who tells him. Just…if there’s anyone who’s going to let him down, I’d rather it be me. N-not that I don’t trust you, I mean, I just…”

Amber’s voice softened, putting a comforting hoof on his shoulder. “It’s alright. I understand.”

Hours later, well past midnight and into the early hours of the next morning, the two finally trudged back to their little home on the farm. Poor Dawning, they saw when they checked on him in his room, had fallen asleep on the bed, though even in the dark they could see him twitching and stirring uneasily in his sleep, and there they let him lay.

While Amber rested herself in the two parents’ bedroom, Cornstalk journeyed out to the barn, clearing away a little patch of worn, flattened straw in the middle of the floor to reveal a little hidden door, no more or less than around a foot wide and tall in dimension. The little hidden chamber was lined with lead; before Dawning’s x-ray vision had begun to kick in, simply hiding it beneath the floorboards was enough.

Laying at the bottom was a small, simple wooden box. Carefully, cautiously, as though the thing within was something either sacred or cursed, Cornstalk lifted the box out of the little chamber and opened it. Within, resting on a little bed of folded white fabric, was the very same crystal that had been hanging around Dawning’s neck all those years ago in the ship; like an icicle in appearance, blue-white with a reflective sheen, softly glowing within its core, marked at the wide flat end with that curious, snaking “S” symbol.

Cornstalk held the crystal in one hoof, looking down at it as he slowly made his way back into the house, its glow reflecting in his eyes and dimly illuminating the grass and dirt beneath him as went. His heart, already heavy, felt even weightier as he stared at the thing. He felt like he was looking down at a dagger, and preparing to drive it through his son’s heart.

It might as well be, he thought as he shoved the crystal into his shirt pocket.

He hated what he was about to do to Dawning. Amber was right, but knowing she was just made him hate it even more. All he could hope and pray for was that whatever further hurt would come, they would able to get through it and pick up the pieces.

The next morning, the two silently waited for Dawning at breakfast; a simple affair of toast and scrambled eggs, far simpler than Amber’s usual cooking. Dawning came down the stairs quietly, moving slowly and wearily; even though they knew he had been sleeping, it looked like he hadn’t gotten any rest at all. He ate his breakfast silently, not looking at his parents or verbally acknowledging them. In return, they silently let him finish.

Only when he was done did Cornstalk finally speak up, feeling honest-to-Faust like that crystal was going to tear a hole through his heart.

“Dawning…I’d like for you to go on a walk with me. There’s some things we need to talk about…”

“So you told him?” Fluttershy asked.

Cornstalk nodded sullenly. “I told him. Told him how we found him, showed him the field where he came down, showed him the crystal. Everything.”

“And…how did he take it?”

Cornstalk said nothing. His gaze drifted down and away from Fluttershy’s, staring emptily at the table. Then abruptly, he pushed his chair away and stood, trotting over to lean against the wall, facing away from the others, head hung.

Fluttershy felt a growing feeling of sickening apprehension beginning to well up in her chest.

After a hesitant pause, Amber continued. “Dawning was quiet for the next week afterwards. And I mean quiet. He didn’t say nary a word to anyone that whole week. Did all of his chores on the farm and his work at the Gazette without a single word. When he had free time, he’d spend it alone in his room.”

“It was like the soul had just gone right out of him,” Flax added. “He just went through the motions of living like clockwork. No life.”

“Did any of you try talking to him after Nightmare Night?” Fluttershy asked.

“Some of us thought about it,” Woven said. “I know I did. We all wanted to know what had happened, how long his parents or even he’d known about his powers, how he had them at all, but…in the end most of us just figured it’d be best to leave him be. We figured he and his parents would tell us when they were ready to.”

“And then,” Amber went on. “One day he came down for breakfast carrying a pair of loaded saddlebags. And after he’d finished, he looked up at us and said…”

“…you’re leaving?” Amber repeated.

“Well…yes,” Dawning answered. His voice was almost monotone in a melancholy sort of way, his eyes distant, like he wasn’t altogether there. “I’ve been doing some thinking, and…well, I thought it was about time I struck out for a while. It’s not like I don’t have options. My college grades were pretty good, and I have some journalism experience already at the Gazette. I can pick up freelance jobs or small papers here and there…”

“I mean, sure, but…Dawning, isn’t this a little sudden?”

Dawning shrugged. “I don’t think so.”

Amber and Cornstalk exchanged a glance before the latter leaned forward. “Dawning,” he said. “You’re good at a lot of things, but lying isn’t one of them. What’s this really about?”

Dawning hesitated. Only now did his eyes begin to focus on the two, his melancholy body language beginning to morph into subdued, but bitter, determination. “…I have to find the ship. It’s out there somewhere. I need to find it.”

“You…what?” Cornstalk blinked. “Dawning, it’s gone. It just disappeared without a trace, it could’ve shot right back up into space for all we know–”

“You don’t know that.” Dawning interjected. His voice was starting to get less sullen, more intense.

“Well…well no, but–”

“Exactly. It could still be here somewhere. Somepony might have taken it or it could be somewhere…somewhere else, I don’t know.” He was straightening up in his seat now. “But I have to find it. I don’t care how long it takes me, I have to find it.”

“But Dawning,” Amber asked. “Why? What could you–”

“‘Why’?” Dawning repeated incredulously. “‘Why’? You seriously don’t understand why?” He stood up from the table–abrupt enough to shake it–and gestured out the nearby window. “There’s a whole side of my life that I didn’t even know existed up until now…and I need to know what it is! For Faust’s sake, I can fly. I can shatter stone with a punch and light fires with a blink of my eyes and hear the sounds of everypony and everything dying all around me…and I can’t even get a cutie mark for any of it!” Dawning shook his head with a scoff. “All this time…all this time I thought it was because there was something wrong with me…and it’s actually because I’m not even from here.” He snapped his head back up to glare at his parents. “I can’t just ignore all that! I want to know where I come from! I want to know why I’m this way! I want to know who I am, and…and if you had told me sooner maybe I’d have had some of those answers by now!”

“Now hold on just a minute…” Cornstalk retorted defensively, standing as well to look Dawning in the face. “We never were trying to hurt you by keeping it as long as we did, we were just trying to protect you–”

“From what?!” Dawning snarled back. “What could you be so afraid of? What could you possibly have to lose from just being honest with me sooner?!”

“I…I…”

“Dawning, Cornstalk, please…” Amber tried to interject.

“Damn it Dawning, you’re my son!” Cornstalk finally exclaimed. “I just–”

“Except I’m NOT!” Dawning exploded back, so loud that the room itself seemed to shake. “This isn’t my real home, and you’re not my real father! I don’t belong here, I…I…” As loudly as his anger had erupted, it began to die back down, Dawning panting for breath as he trailed off.

But Cornstalk was already silent, staring back at Dawning with heartbreak etched into every feature of his face. His head slowly lowered, closing his eyes as he took a deep breath.

“Dawning…” Amber whispered in shock. No anger, no reprimand. Just shock.

The last hints of Dawning’s previous frustration melted away into regret. He began to shake his head. “I…I mean…”

“No…” Cornstalk said suddenly. He pursed his lips as he straightened up, staring back at Dawning; though his posture and voice were firm, Amber could see him just barely shaking. “No, you’re…you’re right. You’re a grown…a grown adult, you can make your own decisions. Don’t need us telling you how to live your life anymore.” He began to step away from the table, shrugging his shoulders. “That’s what you think you oughta’ do, go ahead. Not like we can stop you. Nopony can.”

Abruptly, Cornstalk turned and marched away, out of the dining room and up the stairs. Dawning reached a hoof out and opened his mouth as if to say something, but he was gone before he could. The young stallion slowly shut his mouth and lowered his foreleg, ears flopping as he looked helplessly between Amber and the now empty stairs.

Amber was just about to get up and go to him when Dawning suddenly huffed through the nose, grabbed his saddlebags, and hurried towards the door.

“Dawning, wait…” Amber called after him, rushing to rise to her hooves and catch up with him. But even in walking Dawning was faster, and he’d gotten to the front door and pushed it open even as he slung his bags over his sides.

“Wait, please, he didn’t…I know you didn’t…” Just as Amber reached the doorway, Dawning broke into a run, dust kicking up behind him as his form shrank away towards town, Amber futilely reaching a hoof out after him. “Dawning! Dawning!…”

Only after he had completely disappeared from her view did Amber Grain finally allow herself to slump against the doorframe, putting a hoof to her mouth as she struggled to not break down weeping.

“…he didn’t look back. That’s…I think that’s what hurt me the most. He didn’t look back.”

Woven and Flax were still silent. Cornstalk was still leaning against the wall, still facing away. Fluttershy could just see him lifting his forelegs up to put them around his shoulders.

And she herself was doing everything she could to not break down crying herself, blinking water out of her eyes and fighting to keep her breath from morphing into heaving, though she strained every part of herself to do so.

“Was…was that the last time any of you talked to him?”

“Not…quite,” Woven answered. “Flax and I had decided to finally check on Dawning personally by then, and there was something I wanted to give him anyway. We…heard about everything when we came by the house. Too late for when it happened…but we did manage to catch up to him at the train station…”

Dawning Hope was sitting all alone on a bench in the train station when Woven Light–a little bag slung over her side–and Flax entered, bearing no other luggage besides his saddlebags. He sat still and quiet, staring blankly ahead across the field-filled horizon beyond the station. Held in his hooves was a little pointed, crystalline object that he was idly turning over and around in his hooves.

Only as the two approached did his ears flick and head turn to face them, quickly putting the crystal back into his saddlebags, and they stopped in their tracks as they did. For a moment they stood silently looking back at him, hesitant to speak, and unsure of who between them should speak first.

Dawning eyed them up and down. “You know?” he asked bluntly.

“We…we were just by the farm,” Woven answered. “They told us…is it true, Dawning? Are you really leaving?”

It was Dawning’s turn to hesitate. “…yes. I am.” He turned his head away again.

Flax stepped forward to speak up next. “Nopony’s gonna hold what happened on Nightmare Night over your head, Dawning. We…we all know you were trying to help. A-and, I’ve been talking to folks around town, we’re not going to go blabbing around about it. This doesn’t go any farther than Smallville if that’s what you want. Heck, even Briar Patch agreed he’d keep it secret.”

Dawning nodded. “Thank you, but…it’s more than just that.” He took a deep breath and stood, turning to face his two friends directly, looking them in the eyes. “I’ve had so many questions about myself all my life, and…and the answers just aren’t here. I’m only going to know for sure who and what I am if I go looking…and I need to know. I…I can’t just put this aside and go on pretending I’m just Dawning Hope anymore. I wish I could…but I can’t. I’m…” He trailed off for a moment, his crystal-blue gaze shifting to meet Woven’s own. “…I’m sorry.”

Woven held the shared gaze for a moment before sighing, ears lowering by a fraction. “Well…I suppose you’re going to need these after all, then.” She reached a hoof into her bag and pulled out a little parcel–crudely wrapped in brown wrapping paper held together by tape–and held it out to Dawning.

Dawning tilted his head in confusion. “What’s this?”

“Something I’ve been working on the past few days. I…I figured it might help you stay under the radar after what happened the other night.”

Dawning pulled away the wrapping paper, unveiling the parcel. It was a little black eyeglass case. And upon opening it, sure enough, there was a pair of glasses resting inside. Large, rectangular with rounded edges, the smooth glass of the lenses reflecting Dawning’s face.

“Glasses?”

Woven shuffled her hooves. “I put some of my magic into them. Or tried to, anyway. There’s a perception filter spell on them, low-level, but it’s there. Generates a feeling of ‘normal’ when ponies look at you wearing them…or at least it’s supposed to, I don’t know if it’ll even work. Um, try them on, I want to make sure they fit.”

Dawning complied, carefully placing the glasses over his muzzle and adjusting them into place. As the lenses slid over his eyes, Woven saw that their unearthly vibrant hue was cut and dulled. More…well more “normal” looking now.

“How do I look now?”

“Well, the spell won’t work on us, we already know you. But when you meet new ponies, and use your powers out there, um…it’ll be a bit harder for them to connect you to…the other side of you, if that makes sense. Throws them off the scent a bit. Not completely, it’s not mind control. You’ll probably need to disguise yourself a bit more to really make it work, at least if I did the spell right…and I don’t even know how well it’ll actually work out in–”

“Woven,” Dawning gently interrupted. “Thank you. I’ll be sure to use them.”

Woven trailed off, allowing herself a small, sad smile. “…you’re welcome.”

Flax stepped forward, looking like he was fighting back tears. “H-hey, um…listen…whoever you turn out to be, wherever you came from, uh…d-don’t forget about us back down here, okay?”

“I…I would never, Flax. I promise.”

At that moment there was the loud hooting of a train whistle, and the chugging of wheels on tracks as the train pulled into the station, brakes hissing steam.

Dawning looked between the train and the two ponies, slowly beginning to back away. “I…I’m sorry, I’ve got to…”

Woven suddenly bounded forward and threw her forelegs around Dawning’s shoulders, pulling him into a sudden hug. Dawning stiffened in surprise, but then slowly, gently wrapped his own hooves around her, returning the hug. Woven nuzzled his cheek; unconsciously, her muzzle began to move steadily across the side of his face, her lips slowly approaching his…

…until she stopped, pulling away and looking into his eyes. “D-Dawning…the other night at the party, I…what I was trying to say was…was…”

Dawning sighed. “I…I know…but, you know why…” He shut his eyes for a moment and swallowed, as if it was a foul-tasting thing he was trying to spit out. “…why we can’t now, right?”

Woven’s eyes were beginning to water. She blinked, trying to hold herself together. “…I know…”

She could feel the reluctance in Dawning’s body as he at last pulled away, carefully putting the glasses Woven had given him into his saddlebags and slinging them over his shoulders. “I’ll…I’ll try to write when I can, let you know how I’m doing. Take care of…of them for me, will you?”

Woven nodded. “We will.”

In spite of her best efforts, her voice finally cracked.

Woven and Flax stood together as they watched Dawning Hope give them one final, regretful look, then turn and trot into one of the open train cars. Soon enough the doors were shut, and the train was chugging its way out of Smallville, and out into the big world beyond the fields and farms of the little town and all the secrets it bore.

“That was the last time any of us saw him in-person,” Woven said sadly. “He still writes, and we write to him. Mostly just ‘how are you doing’s, ‘doing fine here’. Just to say we’re keeping in touch really.” She sighed, slumping a little in her chair. “So…there you have it. The whole story, so far as we know it.”

Fluttershy was quiet. Her head was hung, her ears drooped, blinking moisture out of her eyes. Her heart was aching. For everypony, at this point; for both Dawning and his family. She was so lost in processing everything she had heard that she wasn’t sure what to say now.

Amber leaned forward. “Dawning’s a good boy, he really is,” she said. “But when he found out where he really came from, it…it swallowed him up and just hasn’t spat him back out. When we heard on the news about what happened with the train we’d hoped that maybe things were going better for him, but…well…”

Flax straightened up again, clearing his throat. “Is there anything else you want to ask about? Anything else you want to know?”

Fluttershy looked up. “I…n-no…I-I think I have everything I need, um…thank you. I’m…I’m sorry to have taken your time like this…”

“No, no…” Cornstalk finally spoke up, turning back around and coming back to the table. “It’s no trouble. Really. Would rather it be a pony like you than someone else lending their ear.”

“Would you…maybe like to stay for lunch?” Amber offered. “You could even spend the night if you want, we wouldn’t mind.”

Fluttershy thought about the offer. In truth, she didn’t really want to return to Manehattan just yet. She still needed time to process everything she had just heard. And she especially didn’t feel ready to finally confront Dawning…

“I…I’d like that, actually.”

Despite the somber story that had been shared, the rest of the day passed, for the most part, rather pleasantly. Cornstalk and Amber proved to be as generous in their hospitality as they were in the information they had shared. Lunch and dinner had been delicious, and the time between that had been spent touring the farm and the rest of Smallville, or sharing more pleasant stories about Dawning’s foalhood; like the time when a pair of conspiracy theorists had snuck onto the farm and had been convinced by Cornstalk–with the help of his shotgun–to beat a hasty retreat, or the time a young Dawning Hope had tried to run away to join the Royal Guard, or the time when, with the help of his budding X-ray vision, had discovered an attempted changeling infiltration in the town and managed to warn the authorities just in time.

The guest room Fluttershy had been offered proved to be equally comfortable, cozy and warm in the same homely way as the rest of the house. But even as she settled down for rest later that evening, she found that the rest of the day and the comforts of hospitality ultimately did little to soothe her.

When she’d journeyed down here she had hoped that whatever had been causing Dawning to be so reclusive, as both Supermane and even as just himself at the Planet, would be something that she and her friends could navigate. They’d certainly had plenty of experience resolving problems by now. But now that she’d heard Dawning’s story, at least from ponies who had been close to him growing up, she wasn’t sure of that anymore.

The most complicating part of the whole ordeal was that Dawning, to her mind, hadn’t really been completely wrong. Of course he was entitled to try and find answers to his questions. Fluttershy would go so far as to say he deserved it. And yet in his grief and longing, he had seemingly chosen the most self-destructive way possible to find those answers.

Back after the attack on the Constitution, she had believed his sincerity when he had explained why he put himself on the line to aid ponies in distress. And yet he had ducked her inquiries about whether he, paradoxically, saw that need to help as a burden. She wouldn’t assume until she had another chance to talk with him, but by now she was convinced that he did indeed see his own sense of altruism as a problem.

And that just raised further problems, especially when it came down to the other ponies he had saved. What if he hadn’t stepped in to fight the pirates raiding the Constitution, or rescued ponies on the sabotaged Bronclyn Bridge, or saved the LexCorp monorail with her and Rainbow Dash aboard? His instinctive need to help seemingly had won out each time…but what if his desire for secrecy had triumphed instead? Manehattan had been lucky…but it just as easily could not have been.

Maybe Equus wasn’t truly Dawning Hope’s world after all…but was closing himself off from other ponies, hiding behind the masks of the hooded vigilante and the shy-but-sweet reporter, really the best way to look for his true home? Fluttershy didn’t think so. As far as she was concerned, he was doing more damage to himself than good.

Dawning was not the outsider he seemed to think of himself as…but if his own adopted parents couldn’t get him to see that, then what hope did Fluttershy and her friends have?

There was a gentle rapping at the door. “Oh, um, come in,” Fluttershy answered.

The door creaked open, and Cornstalk entered. “Howdy,” he said. “Just checking in. You okay in here? Need anything?”

Fluttershy shook her head. “Oh, thank you, but I’m fine for now. You’ve been very hospitable.”

Cornstalk smiled politely and nodded. “Well, if you need anything, just holler.”

He was just making to leave when Fluttershy spoke up. “Uh…actually, I wanted to talk to you for a second.”

“What’s on your mind?”

Fluttershy hesitated. “…do…do you blame yourself?”

Cornstalk’s friendliness faded, replaced by the more sullen look he had borne earlier. “I…yeah, I suppose I do…”

He stepped fully into the room, passing beside Fluttershy and leaning by the window looking out on the farm. “I’m just a farmer. My head’s in the earth and the things I grow in it, not bouncing around the stars in silver rockets. Ambie was always better at wrapping her head around that sort of thing than I ever was. That night Dawning came to us, I was so rattled by it, and I don’t think it ever really went away. Even as he grew up and I got to loving him. I didn’t want all this outer space super power drama, I just…I just wanted my son.” He sighed, rubbing his forehead with a hoof and pushing up his cap. “That day just before he left, he asked me what I had to lose from not telling him sooner, and…truth is, there was something I thought I’d lose. It was him.” He chuckled ruefully. “And what do you know, that’s exactly what I ended up losing. Because I wanted so darn badly to keep him mine.”

“It isn’t your fault, sir. Really, it isn’t.”

Cornstalk softly scoffed. “Well…with respect, Ambie’s been telling me the same thing for two years. Still haven’t gotten around to believing her either.” He paused, turning to look Fluttershy in the eye. “…help him. I don’t care what happens, I don’t care if he hates me til the end of the days, just…help him find the peace he’s looking for.”

“I’ll…we’ll try.”

Cornstalk nodded, then turned to make his way back out.

“O-oh,” Fluttershy called after him. “There was one more thing I wanted to ask…whose property did you say Dawning’s ship landed near again?”

Cornstalk shrugged. “Old grouch who used to live near here named Stellar Lexicon. Real reclusive nut, that one; hardly ever saw him around town. Heard he was some dropout from one of those big universities in Canterlot. Mystic Tome, I think it was.”

“Was?”

“Was. He passed away a little less than a year after Dawning came. Some accident with a fire in his home or something like that.”

Fluttershy swallowed. “Did…did he happen to have a son, by any chance?”

Cornstalk paused for a moment. “Actually…he did. Little colt named Tech. Kid moved out after Stellar died. Think he ended up setting himself up in Manehattan, some big tech company…or something like that, anyway. I don’t keep track of those kind of ponies. Why do you ask?”

Fluttershy’s heart stopped for a beat, but she managed to fix a reassuring smile back on her face before Cornstalk turned back to face her. “Oh…no reason, just asking.”

It was only after Cornstalk had left that Fluttershy allowed her face to display the concern she was now feeling. All of a sudden, her mind was racing through everything she and her friends had seen and heard. She thought about Dawning’s story, how his ship had arrived and vanished without trace. She thought about Lucky’s chart of where he’d been across Equestria, all of the confirmed and possible sightings made of Supermane until his arrival and reveal in Manehattan.

She thought of LexCorp, with the technological leaps it promised.

And she thought of the whole train of events and near-disasters that had been happening to Manehattan over the past week…only after Dawning had revealed himself as Supermane in broad daylight.

Dawning’s looking for his ship…it landed near…and Lex…what if he…

A cold chill ran down her spine.

Oh no…

Author's Note

And we're back!...after like four months. Again. :rainbowlaugh:

A couple notes:

–I'm all for upholding Superman's no-kill rule, but at the same time I think Man of Steel wasn't completely off with having him kill as a motivator for it...the movie just did it at the complete wrong time, under the worst circumstances, and didn't follow up on it. So my idea for how to do it, which I've attempted to apply here, is that if you really want to have Clark kill someone and swear to never do it again, it needs to be when he's younger, still growing and learning how to use his powers, completely accidental, and decidedly before he puts on the cape and becomes Superman. Splitting hairs perhaps, but that's how I'd do it, and how I've tried to do it here.

–I wanted to have a little light poke at The Boys' Homelander somewhere for a while and I figured the Nightmare Night scene would be a fun place to do it. I realize the irony of course in that the character is a dark Superman pastiche, yet in this universe exists as a fictional character created before Supermane's arrival. The solution I came up with as I was writing is that the All-Equestrian is more a twisted pastiche of Equestrian royalty and affiliates, hence his status as an alicorn. I also imagine he'd be a kind of riff on Prince Blueblood as well.

–The Captain Equestria costume's design was inspired by various works of fan art people have made over the years. I like to think that if Marvel Comics existed as an in-universe publication in the DC universe, Clark would absolutely be a Captain America fan.

Next time, we finally return to Manehattan to check up on how Dawning and Lucky and the others are doing before facing the music of everything Fluttershy's just learned.

Keep looking up, true believers!

Overcast

A “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic” Fanfiction

Written by Jade Dawn

“Gotta say, I’d hoped that I’d be having an interview like this after the renovations were done,” Jackhammer sighed, little droplets of rain dripping down onto his muzzle over the brim of his hardhat. “Thought we’d have something we could talk about with some pride, but…well, it didn't exactly turn out that way.”

Dawning Hope nodded sympathetically. “I’m, uh…sorry, sir,” he offered.

The two were at the remains of the Bronclyn Bridge, standing just at the entrance to it from Manehattan’s side. The whole area had been taped and fenced off by both the police and clean-up crews, the latter of whom were still hard at work cleaning up the damage, even days later. The sky above was gray and overcast, and a light rain had been falling since morning.

Dawning had never been particularly fond of rainy weather, and he could never quite figure out why. It wasn’t for the rain itself. He didn’t mind getting wet. Growing up on a farm had taught him to endure a great deal of physical discomforts, even with his powers and resilience. Just always lowered his mood somewhat.

Or, more likely, it was the accumulating stress of everything that had been happening over the past few days that was creating such a pit in his stomach. He couldn’t look at what little remained of the bridge without feeling his blood boil or a shiver run down his spine, knowing who was responsible for it. Who had to be responsible for it. And why. The bombing was deliberate, that much was obvious to everyone, but for LexCorp weaponry to turn up in the hooves of pirate raiders only a few days later? In an attack that most pirates wouldn’t even dare consider making so close to Equestrian soil? It was too big of a coincidence.

Dawning was internally certain of Lex’s involvement with the pirates. He was almost certain of his involvement with the bridge bombing, at least in some capacity.

He just needed something firmer than near certainty. He needed proof. For himself as much as the rest of Equestria.

“Uh, anyway…” Dawning cleared his throat, adjusting the tape recorder he held in one hoof. “So LexCorp announced that they would be aiding in damage control and reconstruction…how has that been working out?”

“Oh, that’s going really well,” Jackhammer answered, sounding a little bit perkier. “The extra money LexCorp’s throwing our way’s going to help a ton, to say nothing of the hardware…” He nodded to a row of parked construction vehicles off to the side, all bearing the black, green, and purple LexCorp logo, and beneath it, a smaller orange label for LexConstruction. “It won’t undo the damage overnight, but it sure as Tartarus is helping mop the place up.”

“I’ll bet,” Dawning nodded. “Speaking of which, given LexCorp’s involvement with damage control, are they participating in any way with investigations into the bombing?”

“Uh, no. They’re strictly here to aid in reconstruction, the investigation’s for the police. And with the pirates becoming the hot new tragedy in town, it’s kind of slowed down…at least so far as I’ve been told. Heck, I’ve been hearing all sorts of rumors that it was the pirates who set the bombs in the first place.”

“Have they been dredging up the debris on the riverbed?”

Jackhammer nodded. “E’yup. Actually, you can see them out there right now…” He gestured to the river, pointing out a small fleet of boats hauling up debris out of the water with cranes. “Just about finished cleaning out the larger chunks.”

Of course… Dawning thought ruefully to himself. LexCorp steps in to clean up, and gets to sweep away whatever traces they might have left behind…even if it isn’t part of Lex’s game plan, still ends up helping him a good deal.

He wondered why the police hadn’t seemed to have insisted on leaving things as they were until they could investigate properly. Were they just distracted with the pirates as Jackhammer had said? Or perhaps Lex was dangling some shiny figurative bauble in front of them to keep them occupied, or something less benign…

“Well, what do you know about the investigation so far? Is there anything you might be able to weigh in on from your professional perspective?”

Jackhammer rubbed the back of his neck. “Well look, I’m no expert on forensics or detective work or all that, but if you ask me…whoever planted those bombs planted them pretty darn well. Well enough that nopony noticed them, and in just the right spots to buck the bridge six ways to Sunday. Both support towers, the dead center, all of it.” He pointed to a stack of thick, heavy looking sections of piping off to one side. “See those over there? Lead piping from the inside of the bridge. We were clearing them out of the bridge as part of the renovation work. We were just getting into the sections right in the middle of the bridge the day the bombing happened.”

Lead, Dawning thought as he stared at the pipes, giving them a brief x-ray look to confirm. He suddenly remembered the night of the bridge bombing, how he’d failed to catch the second bomb because he couldn’t see it until it was too late. It had been blocked by the lead. Was that just coincidence or did Lex somehow know I can’t see through lead? And if he knows that…how much else does he already know?…

Dawning blinked and adjusted his glasses a bit. “Um, you mentioned earlier that you don’t really believe the idea of the pirates from the Constitution attack having planted the charges, so, again, speaking from your position as a professional…is it possible that the bombs could have been planted by someone under your watch?”

Jackhammer stiffened, giving Dawning a wary look. “I…don’t know about saying anything about something I’m not even sure of…and listen, I don’t want this to wind up being some tabloid–”

“Mr. Jackhammer,” Dawning said diplomatically. “We at the Daily Planet take journalistic integrity very seriously, and so do I personally. I guarantee you I would never stoop to writing or publishing anything without a solid basis in confirmed fact.” He clicked off the tape recorder, lowering his voice. “Unofficially however…is it possible?”

Jackhammer bit his lip. He was starting to look uncomfortable. “I…guess it’s not impossible, but I can’t imagine anypony who might–”

“Do you have records on who was working on what that day? Anything you might be able to reference to get an idea who it might be?”

“Well, yeah, in my trailer…n-now hold on a minute here, are you actually a reporter?” Jackhammer narrowed his eyes at Dawning. “…you’re not with the Secret Service, are you?”

Dawning did a double take. “Wh–no, of course not, I…” He trailed off, sighing. “…I’m sorry, that was…unprofessional of me. Let’s just say I have something of a personal stake in this story and…I’m sorry.”

Nice going, Dawning, you big klutz…

Nevertheless, Jackhammer seemed to relax. “Alright, that’s…fair, I guess. Heck, can’t say I don’t have one myself…but you know if you’re gonna go on about all that ‘journalistic integrity’ stuff–”

“I meant it,” Dawning said. “I’d never write something I can’t substantiate, personal feelings notwithstanding. You have my word on that.”

At that moment another construction worker came trotting up, pushing the brim of his hard hat up as he addressed Jackhammer. “Hey, boss…we’re having a bit of trouble getting the next load of salvage hauled ashore, something up with the winches…mind taking a look?”

“Yeah, sure.” Jackhammer turned back to Dawning. “You don’t mind waiting, do you?”

“Got a place to stay dry?”

Jackhammer gestured to a spot a little ways away. “Over there, that tent. The one with the crates in it.”

“Thanks,” Dawning nodded, watching over his shoulder as Jackhammer followed the worker back the way he had come, while Dawning made his way towards the supply tent.

Except he didn’t actually go to the supply tent. He only kept walking towards it for as long as Jackhammer was in earshot and line of sight. As soon as Dawning was sure there was nopony with eyes on him, he turned towards the forepony’s trailer at the far end of the site. He allowed himself to float an inch or two off the ground and hovered forward to quicken his pace, little droplets of rain spiraling around his body instead of splashing against it as he flew low, and settled down behind a dumpster placed just against the side of the trailer, squeezing between it and the wall.

He didn’t even need to physically enter the trailer and root around the place. Being able to see through walls and across the entire electromagnetic spectrum had its benefits. What was going to be a challenge was actually finding something that might yield clues. Dawning unfortunately lacked a superpower that allowed him to automatically find keywords.

Which means I’m going to have to make this fast, he thought to himself as he began to look around the interior of the trailer, scanning every piece of paper, stacked or individual, every file cabinet and drawer, every nook and cranny.

Come on, come on, something jump out at me, please…no, no, no, no…huh, Coloratura album, good taste…no, no, no…worker manifest. Bingo.

“…and it’s certainly far from inconceivable that somepony would think to cast such an incineration spell on a gun, much less one that could be delayed or activated from a distance in the event of capture. You have to remember, criminals can be quite innovative. There have been reports of pirates around Colto Maltese area and other parts of the Celestial Sea using various crude firearms for quite some time now. They clearly have plenty of experience with them regardless of how elaborate or advanced they are, nothing stopping them from creating better, more elaborate weapons for themselves, and coming up with plans to dispose of them if need be.”

“So you’re convinced that the weapons’ self-destruction was magical in nature, then?”

“Absolutely. I’d be surprised if it wasn’t, frankly.”

“Well, thank you very much for sharing your insight, sir. Once again, listeners, that was Howitzer of LexCorp Industries’ weapons research and development department, offering us here at Manehattan News Now some professional insight into the weaponry used during the Constitution pirate attack. In a little while, we’ll continue coverage on the pony of the hour with some commentary courtesy of, ah…‘deconstructive literary analyst’ Garbled Ennui on Supermane’s effect on public discourse…but before that, some more updates on the newly self-appointed Chancellor Frost of Griffonstone, and the amazing recovery of the Idol of Boreas that led to his surge in popularity and rise to power…”

Lucky Lead leaned in her seat against the window of one of Manehattan Central Precinct’s conference rooms, resting her chin on one hoof, and idly batting at the cord for the window shades with the other. Seated at the desk behind her was Quicksnap, idly fidgeting with his camera between his talons, and regarding Lucky with quiet concern.

Lucky was silent. She just sat there, watching with an almost absent-minded stillness as droplets of rain dripped down across the other side of the glass. She tried her best to keep her thoughts off the broader question between her and her compatriots and keep her mind solely on the matter of the recovered gun.

It wasn’t easy. Every time she tried veering down one mental trail, she inevitably wandered back to Dawning Hope and Supermane.

At the very least Rainbow Dash could’ve stuck around with us, she grumbled in her head. She was the one who found the gun in the first place, she ought to be here instead of waiting with Rarity for…for Fluttershy…

“You doing okay, Miss Lead?” Quicksnap asked.

“Hm? Uh, what?”

“Just…when we’re on a story like this you’re usually a lot more excited, especially if Lex is involved. I mean, I know this is real serious, like, the most serious thing we could be covering, but…” The young hippogriff shrugged. “I dunno, I just figured you’d be more…hyped, I guess?”

Lucky regarded the young hippogriff, trying to think of what to say to him as he regarded her with concern. Poor kid, she thought. How do I…Faust, he doesn’t even know about Fluttershy’s idea. Geez, if she comes back and she turns out to be right, he’s gonna be the most blindsided out of all of us…and he looks up to Dawning like a big brother…

Lucky’s spiral was finally–mercifully–halted when the door opened. A gruff-looking donkey jack entered, taupe-furred with a graying mane and tail and bushy black eyebrows, wearing a white button-up shirt with a police badge fastened to one breast pocket and, perhaps most oddly, a brown derby hat tilted slightly forward atop his head. He had a cigar in his mouth, a pungent-yet-sweet scent emanating from it.

Lucky straightened up in her seat as he entered. “Thought you were trying to quit, Turnpike.”

“I am,” Turnpike answered. “One of those new ‘aromatic’ types. Best compromise I could make with the missus.” He nodded at Quicksnap. “Heya, kid.”

“Hello, Mr. Turnpike,” Quicksnap politely greeted back.

Turnpike pulled up a chair. “So, I got the ponies down in Ballistics to take a look at the gun your friend brought in, went around comparing some specs–”

“And?” Lucky prodded impatiently.

“I’m getting there, Lucky. As I was saying–and try to keep your tail on for this, I know how excited you get over him–it’s a LexCorp weapon. It isn’t on the market yet, hell, it wasn’t even in any of the promos they did for that ‘Guardian Angel Initiative’ of theirs, I had to pull in a few favors to get confirmation…but it came from LexCorp for sure.”

Lucky went stiff. “LexCorp? But…wait, how? I mean, they couldn’t have been stolen, there’s no way somepony like Lex would let anyone get away with that…and they’re too new for someone like the pirates to even know about them, much less care…”

“And their neck of the woods is pretty far out into the Celestial Sea, there’s that too,” Turnpike added.

“So the only other way they could have gotten them is if somepony had…” Quicksnap piped up before trailing off.

“And the electronics inside?” Lucky asked.

“We’re not a hundred percent sure,” Turnpike answered. “Whatever it was, it must’ve gotten crushed when Supermane crunched the gun, clearly hard enough that it didn’t do what it was supposed to do. We did find some kind of chemical inside, though; not even the lab boys are sure exactly what it is, but they think it was some kind of explosive.”

“Of course…” Lucky growled, her voice low. “I should have known, I knew those guns looked too advanced…and right after the mess with the monorail, right as he needs clout with that whole ‘Guardian Angel’ project of his…”

“Now, I’m not saying there’s any direct evidence for it,” Turnpike said. “ Innocent until proven guilty and all that, buuut…”

“Well, find direct evidence, something we can go off of. I mean heck, we have the gun, isn’t that a big lead already? Can’t you maybe get an investigation rolling with that?”

Turnpike bit his lip, sitting silently.

Lucky’s face began to fall. “...c’mon, I know that look, just tell me what the problem is.”

Turnpike sighed. “A few days ago,” he said. “LexCorp approached the department about a contract for new weapons. We’ve been needing ‘em for a while, and especially after what happened on the Constitution…”

Lucky’s jaw dropped as she glared at Turnpike with betrayed shock. “You’ve got to be kidding!”

Turnpike raised his hooves defensively. “Hey hey hey, ease up, it wasn’t my call and it certainly didn’t get my support. C’mon, you know I don’t like Lex either, if we’re gonna get better equipment I don’t want it to be LexCorp’s.” He put his hooves back down. “What I’m saying is that now that Lex has got a bunch of shiny trinkets dangling in front of the brass’ muzzles, it’s probably gonna be a lot harder for me to convince–”

“They’re not going to do anything,” Lucky finished, glaring down at the floor. “Not a single damn thing.” She pushed herself up from the table, sulking her way back over to the window. Quicksnap quickly and quietly scooted aside, as though she were radiating fiery heat. Lucky ignored him, glaring out at the raindrops dripping down the glass outside.

“For Faust’s sake…” she growled under her breath. “What’s it going to take? How many more hooks is he going to sink into…into everything before ponies finally wake up? I try my hardest to get people to actually see it, but no matter what nopony listens to me…”

“Is that the most important part?” Turnpike asked, his brow furrowing as he took a long, thoughtful drag on his cigar.

Lucky stopped, looking over her shoulder and giving him a quizzical look. “...what’s that supposed to mean?”

Turnpike straightened up in his seat with a sigh. “Lucky. Kid. I know your heart’s in the right place, don’t think I don’t. I know you don’t like bullies and stuck-ups, and someone like Lex is a real piece of work. But see, that little thing there, ‘nopony listens to me’…that’s what gets me worried about you.”

“What are you talking about?” Lucky asked indignantly. “Ponies not listening to me is exactly the problem! Lex’s always been an asshole taking advantage of ponies, but if what we think might have happened turns out to be true then that makes him a flat-out criminal. You know it, I know it–”

“And the rubes don’t, of course,” Turnpike filled in. “They just need someone to prove it to them. Someone to say ‘I told you so.’” He leaned forward in his seat. “You know, suppose we’re actually on to something here with this gun and Lex really did hire those pirates for some staged attack. Now, suppose they actually killed somepony, got some actual blood on their hooves…what would you have done with yourself then, huh?”

“I…I…” Lucky trailed off. It suddenly occurred to her, she hadn’t thought of that, and as that realization sunk in she felt a shudder run down her spine.

“It…nopony actually did though…” she finally responded, finding her voice–and indeed, the retort itself–sounding weaker than she would’ve liked.

“Mmhmm. Because of your Supermane guy.”

Lucky froze at the mention of the word “Supermane”, and for a brief moment she thought of Dawning Hope’s innocent smile, his modest but good-hearted demeanor, his blue eyes behind those glasses, the terror of a lie–

–then in another she’d shoved those thoughts away and scrunched her face at Turnpike in agitation. “What do you mean ‘my Supermane guy’?”

“Um, guys…” Quicksnap murmured, sitting forgotten in his seat. “Maybe we should get back to the gun…”

“Yeah. Yours,” Turnpike said. “You were the one who got everyone calling him ‘Supermane’ in the first place, got him looking like a comic book superhero.”

“What are you even talking about?!” Lucky sputtered. “He shows up sure acting like a ‘comic book superhero’, what am I supposed to–”

“Did it ever occur to you that maybe there’s a reason this guy went around in a hood and cloak and kept to the shadows, never took questions?” Turnpike continued unabated. “Now look, it’s not like us folks in the precinct haven’t been talking about trying to get a proper idea of who this guy actually is…but you didn’t even do just that. You hyped him up like a celebrity. Gave him a name and a cause without him saying a word of his own. Hell, if I had weird inexplicable superpowers and this was the kind of attention I’d get, I might go around in a hood too. Maybe you are onto something about who this guy is…but aren’t you reporters supposed to be objective? Isn’t that the ideal everyone keeps saying you’re supposed to strive for? So then why go turning Supermane into something he never said he was?”

Lucky’s lips were pursed tight, eyes shifting and brows twitching like her face couldn’t decide to look indignant or taken aback. “...what’s your point?”

“My point, Lucky,” Turnpike said, with a kind of admonishing tone that bordered on parental. “Is that maybe it’s time you really asked yourself if you’re really doing this to do the right thing. Do you wanna tell people the truth that they deserve? To make this city a better place? Or are you doing it all because you want ponies to pat you on the back and say that you were right all along? You might want to think about that for a while if you’re planning on putting your life on the line going after Lex.”

Lucky stiffened, glaring with a look that could’ve wilted flowers. “I am not afraid of Tech Lexicon. I can handle myself just fine around him.”

Turnpike raised an eyebrow. “Can you? Lucky…if we’re right, the guy is willing to put as many lives as he thinks he can in harm’s way just to get whatever it is he’s after. If a pony with that kind of bucked up mind and the resources to back it up won’t think twice about pulling something like the Constitution, what makes you think he’ll let a muckraker like you go snooping through his dirty secrets?”

Lucky turned her head away, quietly fuming as though she were a volcano about to erupt, leaving the room in a tense, heavy silence.

At last she straightened herself up and looked Turnpike in the eye. “I didn’t come here to get read the riot act, Turnpike,” she said firmly. “I came here to see about the gun, and I have what I came here for. If the police aren’t going to be of any help, then yeah…you bet your flank I’m gonna do something about it if that’s what it’ll take to right a wrong. And if you really do want to look out for me, try being the cop you wanted to be as a colt and do the right thing.”

Turnpike sighed. “Lucky…”

“Come on, Quicksnap. We’re done here,” Lucky said, ignoring him as she turned and headed for the door.

Somewhat awkwardly, Quicksnap stood and slinked out after her, giving Turnpike a last, almost apologetic look over his shoulder as the two left.

Turnpike said nothing. He just took another puff of his cigar.

Outside, Lucky moved briskly through the halls, with her head lowered and eyes firmly locked ahead, ignoring looks from the various police officers passing by in the hall. Quicksnap had to move just short of jogging to keep up with her, and gave himself a little boost with his wings to come alongside her.

“So, Miss Lead…” he asked, somewhat apprehensively. “W-what now?”

“Well, if the colts in blue aren’t going to do any protecting or serving,” Lucky huffed, eyes still straight ahead. “Then we’re gonna have to do something ourselves. I’m not going to sit idly by while Tech Lexicon blows this city to Tartarus right out from under everypony’s muzzles.”

“But what can we even do? I mean…yeah, we’ve got a lead with the gun, but how are we gonna find more to trace back to him?”

“We’ll have to find something to trace back to him,” Lucky replied. “Something firm. Something that nopony with more than two braincells could possibly ignore no matter how many toys and bribes Lex tosses around.”

“Yeah, I guess…” Suddenly Quicksnap’s eyes lit up and he snapped his fingers. “Hey wait, I’ve got an idea!”

Lucky glanced over at him. “What?”

“What if we ask Supermane for help?”

Lucky stopped in her tracks, once again freezing upon hearing the word “Supermane.” She couldn’t help it; every time she’d heard it over the past day, she felt an anxious knot forming in her stomach as she thought about Dawning. “Uh…Supermane?” she repeated, trying her best to keep her nervousness buried.

“Yeah! I-I mean, I know he doesn’t really want to talk to us right now and all, but like…well, he told Fluttershy that there was something more going on about the guns and what happened on the bridge, if he knew that much, maybe he could help us trace it back to Lex, you know?”

“I…uh…” Lucky internally winced. If Quicksnap had suggested something like that at literally any time before, she would have jumped at the idea in a heartbeat. But now…

Lucky forced a smile and gave Quicksnap a pat on the shoulder. “Well, uh…we’ll see, we can keep that in mind,” she said before starting to walk again.

“I mean, guess we’d have to figure out how to reach him…” Quicksnap mused. “Oh! What if we use one of the spotlights from the top of the Planet building, we can, like, put a cutout of Supermane’s symbol over it or something…”

“Uh-huh…”

“…and despite growing public interest in mass-market automobiles, whether or not Crystaller Corporation’s prediction of ‘a car in every garage and a garage in every home’ will come to fruition is still yet to be seen in the long term. And now for…ah, hold on just a second, I’ve just been passed something here…oh…oh wow…listeners, we have a breaking news story on our hooves here: the Royal Guard is getting an upgrade! We now take you live to Canterlot where Director of Homeland Defense Tempest Shadow is addressing the nation with a surprise announcement!”

*krrsch*

“Citizens of Equestria. Members of the press. Over the past decade, this nation has endured one crisis after another, narrowly escaping near total defeat and destruction each time with, as judged by both the public and officials, inadequate and lacking response from military and civil services…”

“Yeah, well she’d know all about that, wouldn’t she?”

“Hey, stuff it, we’re live over here!”

“…and in light of past incidents and current events, and after extended consultation and discussions between myself, Princess Twilight, and various government officials, we have come to the decision to launch an extensive reorganization and expansion of the Royal Guard. As of now, we are currently seeking out contractors to provide new technological weapons and defenses for our conventional military forces, laying the groundwork for new recruitment openings to expand our ranks, and allocating time and resources to seeing this much-needed endeavor through. If you have any questions, I will attempt to answer them to the best of my ability…yes, you there.”

“Hi, I’m from the Trottingham Tribune…exactly how big of an expansion are we talking about here, what are your biggest areas of interest?”

“The exact fine details are classified, but I can say we have a vested interest in every area. Personal weapons, ground vehicles, air and naval forces, long range ballistics…if we can improve on where we’re lacking and add new avenues of defense, we will investigate it. Yes, you?”

“The Canterlot Chronicle here. Do you have any concerns about how such a sudden expansion of the military might affect international relations? After all, several officials of the Griff–I’m sorry, the New Griffonian Union have already made critical statements of Equestria’s abundance of magic users, do you think this might suggest a threatening posture to other world powers?”

“We are not looking to create a conquering force here. We do not intend on forcing territory or resources from other nations simply because we have the power to do so if we wish. What we aim to do here is create an efficient self-defense force capable of effectively protecting the interests and welfare of Equestria and our allies. I hope that helps to assuage some of your concerns. You there?”

“Fillydelphia Herald. Who are you looking to contract for new weapons? Will LexCorp Industries be contributing considering their recent Guardian Angel Initiative line?”

“We will be investigating a variety of manufacturers to ascertain how many of our needs they will meet. We, as of yet, hold no concrete ties or promises with any company, but each will be considered in their due turn…including LexCorp. You?”

“Oh, I’m not a reporter ma’am, but, uh…where do I sign up?”

It was raining still when Girder left the little bar in the city’s Upper West Side. He adjusted his jacket around himself and pulled up the hood over his brownish-gray mane, but even then he felt the cold chill of the raindrops cutting through to his fur.

Girder didn’t drink much, less so since his son had been born. He’d barely even touched his drink in the bar, much less remembered what he’d even ordered in the first place. But getting away from work for a little while over lunch had been nice. Helped him feel…not better but at least a bit less agonized inside.

With the bridge destroyed, work had shifted from renovations to clean-up. And with every little bit he did, Girder felt as though the universe was tormenting him, damning him to relive his crime over and over every day, as if his own mind was not already capable of reminding itself what he had done. And deep down within himself, he knew he deserved it. No matter how many times he tried to console himself, whether it was “nopony was actually killed” or “think of your son, how much better his chances are now”, whatever the excuse, he knew he–

“Mr. Girder?”

Girder froze, looking around in all directions. A few passersby gave him curious looks as he turned his head so quickly, but nopony looked as though they had been talking to him. He couldn’t even tell which direction the voice had come from.

“Down this way,” came the voice again. “In the alley. I’d like to talk with you.”

This time Girder just about jumped out of his fur, spinning around to face the alleyway just off to his left. It already looked dark and dingy enough; under the gloomy, overcast skies, it looked even more ominous.

He didn’t want to go down that way. He wanted to run. Down the sidewalk, out into the street, he didn’t care which direction. But if whomever was calling him was who he thought it was, he dared not disobey either.

With a gulp, Girder slowly crept off the sidewalk and into the depths of the alleyway. The rainfall was somewhat less here, thanks to the narrower space between roofs, and the metal balconies and stairs of the adjacent buildings providing something of a canopy, but it didn’t stop little droplets of rain from splashing down on the gritty, dirty pavement around Girder’s hooves. The chilly, misty air and lack of light in the alley only made the place seem more foreboding. Girder’s eyes darted this way and that, trying desperately to spot any signs of another pony. But still he found himself alone.

“H-hello?” He timidly called out, his voice faintly echoing off the chasm of brick walls. His heart was pounding like a hammer now, his breath quickening. “W-what do you want with me?” He blurted. “I-I did everything you asked me, I didn’t tell anyone, I swear, I–I…”

“I don’t know what exactly you’re talking about, but maybe you can enlighten me.”

From above and behind. Girder’s heart practically leapt out of his chest and into his mouth as he spun around.

A dark, billowing shape was slowly descending behind him, like a large flag that somepony had dropped from one of the roofs high above. Then it clicked in Girder’s mind that it wasn’t a flag; it was a dark red cloak with a hood, wrapped around the body of a tall stallion, shrouding his face in shadow and covering a dark blue shirt. A fleeting moment before he noticed the crudely-painted S-like shape on the chest of the stallion’s shirt, he knew exactly who this was.

Supermane alighted on the ground, his cloak draping down across his shoulders and over his hind legs as he settled his hooves on the pavement. Two vivid, sapphire-blue eyes glistened from the shadows of his hood as they locked on to Girder. “I’m sorry to bother you like this,” he said, with a casualness that sent a shudder down Girder’s spine. “But I wanted to have a word with you. I thought you might be able to answer a few questions.”

“I…I…” Girder stammered, coherent speech fleeing his throat as he fought a losing battle against fright. It suddenly occurred to him that Supermane was directly blocking the route from where he came.

“I’ve been investigating what happened on the Bronclyn Bridge,” Supermane went on, still nonchalant. “I spoke to the forepony up at the site, and he and I both agree that whoever planted those explosives knew exactly where and when to put them without being seen. Which implies that whoever planted them was closely familiar with the bridge.”

“U-um…”

“I took the liberty of looking through the shift manifests to see who was working on what. And as it turns out, you were covering one of the last shifts of the day, just a few hours before the bridge was destroyed. In fact, you were working on the exact sections that blew up in my face that night.”

Girder blanched. He couldn’t help it. He knows! Oh Faust, he knows, it’s all over…

Then from under Supermane’s hood came a quiet sigh. “Why?” he asked. He didn’t sound angry. He didn’t even sound accusatory. He sounded more…disappointed than anything else.

“I-I’m not a terrorist!” Girder suddenly blurted out. “I’m not some maniac, I…I…” He trailed off, fighting desperately to wrangle his voice back under control. But he knew it was too late; he’d already condemned himself.

Supermane’s eyes still regarded him with patient silence.

Something in Girder broke, and he slumped down onto his haunches on the wet ground as he hung his head. “We…we got booted from our apartment when LexCorp moved into the Lower West Side. Had to pull up all our roots, find a new place to settle. We were already short on bits, and with little Purlin’s leukemia…” He’ll never believe me, I wouldn’t believe me, Faust, I sound pathetic…

And yet when Girder glanced up at Supermane, he was still watching him quietly.

Girder swallowed a gulp of air. “S-some ponies…came to me one evening with a message…t-they said they knew about our troubles…said they could help me…give us a boost, even cover Purlin’s treatments, and all I had to do was…”

Girder’s voice cracked into a sudden choking sob, and he hugged his shoulders with his forelegs, shivering within his jacket. “I didn’t want to do it! I swear I didn’t want to! B-but I did, and…oh Faust, I’m a monster, I’m a damned monster…” He put his head in his hooves as he began to weep, his tears merging with the cold drops of rain dripping onto his muzzle.

“Girder,” Supermane said. “Who told you to do it? What was their name?”

Girder lifted his head from his hooves, meeting Supermane’s eyes again. “I-I don’t know…t-they didn’t give me names, their boss only talked with me on radio…”

“Can you describe what they looked like?”

“I-it was dark when they came…t-they kinda dressed like the Ponies in Black or something, with the dark suits and the shades…” His eyes widened slightly as he remembered something. “T-there was a mare leading them, I remember, a white mare with a short blonde mane…when whoever they work for wasn’t talking over the radio, it was her doing it. S-she was a pegasus, I think, I thought I saw wings…”

“Is there anything else you can tell me?”

Girder gulped. “I-if there was, I would…”

Supermane went quiet again, and Girder couldn’t help but shudder as he watched the cloaked pony staring back at him. He’d been honest, he truly had been. He didn’t have the strength to lie even if he wanted to. And for all he knew, with everything Supermane could do he might as well have had the ability to tell when ponies were lying. And yet he was still clutched by the gripping terror that Supermane wouldn’t–

“Alright,” said Supermane. “I believe you.”

Girder blinked. “R-really?”

Beneath the hood, Supermane nodded. “Listen. I’m going to do more looking around and see about figuring out who wanted the bridge destroyed in the first place. There’ll be a mare by the name of Lucky Lead who’s going to come looking for you; tell her everything you told me. But until then, don’t tell anyone else about this yet. I don’t want to tip my hoof or put you in unnecessary danger. Do you understand?”

Girder nodded. “Y-yes, sir…”

“Good. Thank you for your honesty, Mr. Girder.” Supermane turned, his cloak trailing behind him as he began to trot back down the alley.

“Wait, Supermane!” Girder suddenly called after him.

Supermane paused, his shrouded head turning to look over his shoulder. “Yes?”

Girder found himself wilting again as Supermane’s gaze settled back on him. “I…l-look, I know I have no right to ask you for anything, but…” He straightened himself up a little. “Could…could you make sure my family is safe? W-whatever ends up happening to me, whatever I deserve coming, I…I don’t want them to get hurt because I went and…I-I mean if somepony finds out I told you, and…”

“I understand,” Supermane said. “I’ll make sure no harm comes to them.”

For the first time since he couldn’t remember when, Girder’s eyes lit up with a flicker of hope. “Y-you will?”

“I will. I promise. Where do you live?”

“Um, the Plowery. The tenement building on the corner of 2nd Avenue, on the third floor.”

Supermane nodded. “Thank you. I’ll be sure to keep an eye on them.” He turned away again, crouching to the ground.

“S-Supermane?” Girder started to say…but he hadn’t even got the name fully out of his mouth before Supermane leapt up with a sudden whoosh, rocketing vertically out of the alley. There was a gust of wind and a swirling splash of water hurled up from the ground, and Girder was forced to shut his eyes for a second.

By the time he reopened them, Supermane was gone, not even visible in the gray sky above as the earth pony stared upwards.

“I…I’m sorry…” he whispered.

Dawning leapt–not flew–from one building to another, kicking himself off from ledge to ledge, or darting across rooftops before taking another leap just at the edge. Wind billowed in his face with each jump, ruffling up his hood and flapping his cloak out behind him like a flag.

It was a slower and less efficient way to get across town than flying, of course. But at least it was less conspicuous. He’d gone from one end of the city to the other plenty of times this way before the LexCorp monorail incident, and it was a tried and true method of travel for him. At least, it had been at night, when most ponies wouldn’t think to look up in the sky for a flying earth pony. At least the gloomy gray clouds and the rain of today’s weather provided him with a bit more camouflage to work with during the day.

Or at least it did for the most part. Every once in a while, in the middle of jumping from one building to another, he’d hear a voice coming from the streets far below, or even the window of a building he was jumping either towards or from. Sometimes it was a child’s voice, sometimes it was a grown pony’s, but either way, they were always the same.

“Look! Up in the sky!”

“It’s him, quick, look, it’s…”

“Mommy, look! It’s Mr. Supermane!”

“There goes a true Equestrian hero right there!”

Wonder. Awe. Excitement. Adoration.

He hated it. He wished he could go back to the days when Supermane was just a funny little urban myth, where only a few ponies directly saw him at a time. He wished he didn’t have to worry about all these eyes watching him, adoring him, looking up at him like some god among ponies.

He wished Lucky Lead hadn’t made a superhero out of him.

On the one hoof he got why she’d started the whole “Supermane” thing. Even as he tried to keep himself mysterious he couldn’t hide himself completely, and ponies were going to start calling him by some nickname or another anyway. And Lucky had been nothing but kind and friendly to him during their work at the Daily Planet. Dawning thought of her as a friend…to Dawning Hope, anyway. But to Supermane–to whomever he really was, she was an inconvenience.

I want to like her, I really do, but then… He huffed, out loud, in the middle of another leap. I need to finish this. Stop Lex. Need to find…need to find me. I can’t keep living like this anymore…

But for now…I did promise Girder that I’d make sure his family is safe. Just gotta stop by his place first...he didn’t seem to be lying about what he told me, and he didn’t shy away from telling me where he lives, but it won’t hurt to double check…

At last Dawning arrived at his destination in the Plowery district, settling onto a rooftop a few blocks down and across the street from the corner apartment building on 2nd Avenue, letting his cloak drape over him and camouflage him amidst the dark masonry of his chosen perch. Even from a distance he could tell that while the tenement building wasn’t necessarily terrible, it was still clearly low-end, not as nice as even his own modest apartment was.

Dawning focused on the third floor of the building, peeling away the outside within his mind until the interior was laid bare to his eyes. There were many ponies in their little tenements on this floor, but one set caught his attention in particular; a mare and a young colt in a bedroom of one of the tenements. The mare had a coat of pale blue and a faded blonde mane, sitting at one end of the bed. At the other, snug amidst the blankets and working his way through a sandwich, was the colt, dark brown in color, with a mane so short that it was practically nonexistent. The two were chatting quite cheerily with one another. Dawning didn’t bother listening in. He only looked.

And as he focused his eyes on the colt, he could now clearly see the pale pallor of the young pony’s flesh and fur, the way his breath came and went shorter than it ought to be, how his body seemed oddly thin as if he hadn’t eaten in a while. He pushed his vision further and smaller in, watching warped, twisted white blood cells crowding the colt’s bone marrow as the leukemia poisoned his blood stream.

Not for the first time, Dawning Hope found a part of himself wishing he could do more than the measly physical feats his powers allowed him to do.

Dawning scanned around the rest of the apartment, and a few framed pictures in the various small rooms of the place confirmed it; this was indeed Girder’s family. He was telling the truth.

Satisfied with that, Dawning allowed the walls of the tenement building to creep back into place in his vision, then gave the surrounding area one last look-over in the infrared range of the spectrum. Suddenly, something caught his attention: a little patch of heat on a rooftop a few blocks down the street, directly across from Girder’s apartment building. A spot of heat that, by all accounts of visual observation, shouldn’t have been there.

Not suspicious at all…

Dawning half-leapt, half-flew until he’d alighted onto the far end of the offending rooftop. Sure enough, there was the mystery heat signature, shimmering reddish-orange in Dawning’s line of sight at the other end. There were no air conditioning units or anything that could be giving off artificial heat anywhere close to it. In fact, now that Dawning was closer to it, it became clear that the mystery heat blob looked suspiciously like a pony. And there was something strange about the air around it, like it was shifting and rippling somehow in a way it shouldn’t. It was so subtle that Dawning himself almost missed it.

Then Dawning took a closer look and realized what was wrong. It wasn’t the air. It was the light. It was being bent around something.

Dawning floated forward, hovering over the ground to not make audible hoofsteps in the puddles on the rooftop, and allowed himself to drift forward through the anomalous patch of air before him. All at once, he found himself hovering before a wide tarp spread out over a small portion of the rooftop, propped up by thin metallic poles. Laying on his stomach beneath the tarp was a stallion, clad in black and gray body armor…the very same kind the guards at LexCorp wore, Dawning realized as he observed him. The stallion was sleeping; he was snoring rather loudly, and occasionally making little happy murmurs in his sleep. Littered around him were empty soda cans and crumpled-up candy bar wrappers. Off to his right was a strange looking device with a black-tinted transparent dome on top. Beneath the dome, machinery rapidly whirred like a centrifuge, giving off a dim blue glow. Dawning guessed that it was this device that was generating the cloaking field masking the stallion from view.

But what concerned him more was what the sleeping stallion was holding in his hooves.

A sniper rifle.

Dawning gave the rifle a closer look with x-ray vision, and saw that the rounds contained within the magazine weren’t ordinary sniper rounds. There was a small vial built into each of the bullets, containing what looked to be some kind of compressed gas. Off to the sleeping stallion’s left, he now noticed, was a little dark gray box containing at least two more magazines resting in foam packaging. The exterior of the box bore a black and yellow biohazard symbol stamped on it.

He already knew it before he saw it, but Dawning still glanced up just to confirm it. They were directly across from Girder’s apartment building. If the LexCorp pony was awake and aimed his rifle at just the right angle, he would have a straight shot directly at their apartment’s windows. In fact, his little sniper nest was positioned almost exactly across from Purlin’s bedroom.

A shudder went through Dawning’s body. First of horror, then of fury. This isn’t just planting bombs or hiring thugs, he thought. He’s got guns pointed at a family now…at a child.

Dawning’s forelegs sprung forward and gripped the stallion by the shoulders. The sleeping sniper awoke with a confused mumble, then a frightened yelp as he was roughly rolled around and slammed onto his back, finding himself pinned beneath the cloaked figure looming above him with glowing red eyes.

“Who sent you? Why are you here?” Dawning growled. He already knew, of course. But he wanted to hear it confirmed.

“I–I…” The armored stallion’s jaw opened and closed like a gasping fish as he stared up, too terrified to even struggle. “O-oh Faust, you’re–“

Dawning leaned his head down closer, his eyes burning brighter and the air around them beginning to hiss. “Who. Sent. You?”

“L-LEX!” The sniper blurted out. “T-Tech Lexicon, i-it was him–”

“Why?”

The sniper gulped, sweat and tears rolling down his cheeks. “S-some ‘asset’ of the boss’s lives across the street from here, he said…t-told me to keep an eye on them…s-said if he needed them gone to…to…”

“How? What’s in that rifle?”

“I-I don’t know! I don’t know, some kind of poison or something…t-they didn’t tell me what exactly, just that it wouldn’t be traceable, that it’d look like they’d died in a gas leak or something…t-they said they’d clean up after me if I had to–URK!”

Dawning gripped the sniper by the chest of his body armor and reared up onto his hind legs, hauling the quivering pony up to eye level. With his other hoof, he picked up the sniper rifle. “Listen to me closely,” Dawning said, his voice low. “You are not going to lay so much as a hoof on that family or anyone else Lex tells you to shoot at. You aren’t even going to tell him that I was here.” He held the rifle up so the stallion could see it as he slowly squeezed it until–CRACK!–it crunched in half at the middle. “Do you understand me?” He dropped the stallion back to the rooftop, watching him fall on his back and stare up at him.

“B-but…” the sniper whimpered. “W-what am I gonna tell–”

“Not. My. Problem.”

With a kick of his back legs, Dawning rocketed straight up through the tarp canopy, shredding it instantly and ripping up the metal support rods from their anchor points. He heard the would-be sniper yelp in fright, and spared a quick glance down to watch the debris of his nest fall back around him, seeming to vanish into thin air as it fell back through the cloaking field.

Dawning shot further and further upward, where the wind of his ascent blew his hood back from his head, and the rain splashed against the fur of his face as he was swallowed up by the dark clouds. Higher and higher he rose, until at last the darkness broke and suddenly he was in the light of the sun, a sea of gray stretching away far beneath his hooves under a blue sky.

Dawning slowed to a stop in midair, hovering between space and the cloudy expanse below, taking deep breaths of the thinning atmosphere. Alas, it did nothing to alleviate the crushing feelings churning within him.

The bridge. The Constitution. And now snipers outside of ponies’ apartments like a police state. Like he rules this city. Faust, how many more? How many more are going to be put in danger because of him? Because of me?

…no. No more, Dawning thought as he turned and arced back down towards the vast cloudy sheet below him.

He couldn’t let this go on anymore. This wasn’t even a last line crossed, just a straw that broke the camel’s back. All he’d been after was that ship, even just a chance at finding out who he was. But instead it had all spiraled out of his control, from the public sensation that was Supermane to every single horrible, murderous plan Lex had been laying for…Dawning wasn’t even sure he knew what for anymore. To destroy him? Distract him from the ship?

It didn’t matter. Either way, Dawning had let this run on for far, far too long.

I need to stop Lex. Get the ship. And put Supermane to rest once and for all.

With his heart and mind resolved, he dove back down into the storm like a diver into a churning sea.

Legion little drops of rain splashing against stone and glass coalesced into a dull drone that echoed through the cavernous main hall of Maneway Station. Even with the building’s air conditioning, Rarity swore she could still feel the chill of the moist air outside as she sat on a bench inside. She wasn’t sure if Rainbow Dash, sitting beside her, felt the same; the pegasus fidgeted her wings and occasionally tapped her hooves in anxious impatience as the two of them awaited Fluttershy’s return train.

From a snack bar just behind them, they could hear a newscaster on the radio, going on about the day’s big announcement from Canterlot. “…reactions to the surprise news of the Royal Guard’s imminent reorganization and militarization have been mostly positive, however there already has been a fair share of criticism from various groups in the short hours since the announcement. We’re getting reports of isolated but increasing instances of small demonstrations across the nation in protest of the decision…”

Rarity didn’t even need a newscaster to tell her that. Across the tracks and down near the other end of the station, a little trio of ponies were wearing shirts and holding up signs with various slogans; she caught a glimpse of one that read, “MORE GUNS = MORE CHAOS”.

It all put an entirely new knot in her stomach on top of this whole Supermane business. She knew of course that ponies had been demanding better national security for some time; she’d been reminded of it just a few days before between Lucky Lead and the Lexpo. But she couldn’t imagine the kind of pressure that could have driven a pony like Twilight Sparkle–Twilight Sparkle, lover of all things readable and bound in a book, student and admirer of Celestia and all her teachings, the pony who would extend a hoof of friendship to just about anyone–to condone a course of action leading to militarization. At the very least, she couldn’t see her coming to that decision lightly.

It was strange and rather unsettling to think about how much things were beginning to change. Equestria had been mostly at peace in the thousand years that Celestia had reigned after Nightmare Moon’s banishment. Rarity often felt as though a kind of powder keg had been set off when she’d returned, when Twilight and her little band of friends had defeated her and freed Luna with the Elements of Harmony. How many adventures and crises had Equestria endured since then? She almost felt as if she couldn’t count.

But this wasn’t Celestia’s Equestria anymore. It was Twilight’s. They were truly in uncharted territory now, a whole new era of wonders, adventures, and dangers laid out before them in the years ahead.

And Supermane…whomever he’d ultimately turn out to be, Rarity and her friends had been thinking of him as an anomaly, just another adventure in their lives. But what if he turned out to be more than that? What if, in some way, he was a herald of this brave new frontier in Equestria’s history? What if–

Rarity’s thoughts were interrupted by an announcement from the loudspeaker and the echoing whistle of the train as it pulled out of the far tunnel, slowing to a stop into the station. She and Rainbow Dash both stood up–Rainbow practically bolting up in a split second–as the doors hissed open. It took a few dozen departing passengers, but at last Fluttershy came trudging out.

Rarity and Rainbow approached her. “So…” Rarity started, trying to be tactful. “How was your trip, darling?”

“Is it really him?” Rainbow asked.

Fluttershy looked up at her friends and took a breath before answering.

When Lucky Lead and Quicksnap opened the door to the boardroom–the same one that they and their three guests had conferred in only the day before yesterday–they weren’t expecting to find Dawning Hope already sitting at the table inside. For that matter, Dawning seemed pretty surprised to see them himself; he was just in the middle of adjusting his glasses and fidgeting with his tie when the door opened. Through the window behind him, the rain was slowing down to a steadily decreasing drizzle, its muffled drone fading away.

“O-oh, Lucky! Quicksnap!” Dawning stammered, straightening up in his seat. “I, uh, wasn’t expecting you back so soon…or maybe I’m just early, y’know, who’s to say?”

For a second, Lucky’s brain wanted to call his behavior suspicious, but she forced the urge down. Look at him, she told herself. He’s a lovable dork in the best way possible. He can’t be Supermane. Dawning Hope wouldn’t…

“Um, yeah, sure. Anyway…” Lucky replied as she and Quicksnap stepped inside. “Look, we’ve got a new lead–”

“So do I,” Dawning blurted, before blushing slightly as if in embarrassment. “Er, I mean, you can go first, I don’t mind…”

“Okay, so…Turnpike down at the Central Precinct had the gun we got looked over, and wouldn’t you know it…it is a LexCorp design. Those pirates were using LexCorp-built weaponry that isn’t even out on the open market yet.”

“Mr. Turnpike thinks there might’ve been a detonator inside and that’s what destroyed the others,” Quicksnap added. “Supermane must’ve accidentally disabled the one we got our hooves on.”

“I know–knew it!” Dawning exclaimed.

Lucky and Quicksnap both blinked. “You did?” Quicksnap asked.

Dawning suddenly shrunk back, looking embarrassed again. “I mean…well yeah, I mean you saw those weapons, I saw those weapons, come on, we’re smart enough to know something was up, right? Anyway, um…so are they going to launch an investigation or something?”

Lucky sighed. “No. Or at least, not as soon as we’d like. Turnpike said he’d try to get something going, but, well, with Lex dangling a bunch of shiny new toys in front of the department’s noses…”

“They don’t want to shoot their chances of getting the best new equipment they can,” finished Dawning, face falling. “By going after the pony who they think might be their saving grace.”

Lucky nodded. “Yup.”

“So like, what are we thinking?” Quicksnap asked. “Lex sets up the pirate raid and gets to sell his tech to the Guard now that they’re finally looking to expand?”

“That…could be it, for all we know,” Dawning answered.

“We don’t,” Lucky added. “And that’s the problem. One way or another, we have to know what Lex is actually up to, and if the police aren’t going to go looking into him any time soon…”

“We were thinking of asking Supermane to help us,” Quicksnap said. “Or, well, I was thinking of it anyway–”

“Supermane?” Dawning asked, suddenly looking a smidge more alert. “But, uh…didn’t he say he wanted to be left alone, didn’t we agree to drop that?”

“Well, yeah, but like, he’s been saving everypony lately, and he did tell Fluttershy there might be more to those weapons…and he was right about that…”

Suddenly, the door behind them clicked open again. Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and then Fluttershy each stepped in one after another.

Lucky was the first to turn to face them as soon as she saw them in the corner of her eye, turning on a dime. Instantly her eyes locked onto Fluttershy’s face, their gazes meeting as she awaited a silent answer.

Fluttershy glanced back at her. It was just a little glance, but one burdened with the weight of the answer it carried. And Lucky Lead felt her heart shatter.

“Oh hi–Fluttershy?” Dawning asked in confusion. “I thought you were heading back home, is everything okay?”

Fluttershy turned her head away, unable to look at him. Rainbow Dash and Rarity exchanged glances with each other, then with Lucky.

“…Fluttershy? What’s wrong?”

Finally, Rarity spoke, delicately and diplomatically. “Dawning, ah…there’s something rather important we’d like to discuss with you. Would you be a dear and remove your glasses for a moment, please?”

Silence fell. Dawning glanced around between each of the four mares, suddenly looking rather nervous. “Um…is, uh, is there any particular reason why?”

“If you would be so kind.”

“Uh, guys?” Quicksnap asked in confusion. “What’s going on, why are we asking about Dawning’s glasses now?”

“I-I mean…” Dawning pushed his glasses just a bit further up his muzzle. “I kinda need them, you know, I’m basically blind without–”

“Dawning, take the damn glasses off now,” Lucky suddenly snapped.

“Geez, Miss Lead, what’s going on??” Quicksnap asked, more insistently this time.

Dawning flinched back, ears drooping, looking for all the world like a deer caught in a spotlight. He looked frantically between the mares, as if begging for help or release from the pressing question.

Then his eyes settled back on Fluttershy, just as she tilted her head back up to look at him, meeting each other’s gazes. “Dawning,” she said softly. “Please?”

And then a shift seemed to go through Dawning, so subtle that nopony in the room registered that it had happened until they realized it had. His posture seemed to straighten up and the stammering nervousness he’d displayed just seconds ago suddenly seemed to drain away, brows furrowing and lips pursing into a look of intensity that none of them had ever seen him bear before.

Slowly, very slowly, Dawning Hope reached up with one hoof, and pulled his glasses away from his face. His eyes, now laid bare, shone like a crystalline ocean, deep and blue like no other shade they had ever seen.

Lucky, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash all looked to Fluttershy as she faced Dawning.

At last, the yellow pegasus spoke. “…it’s him.”

Lucky Lead shut her eyes and drew a breath in through her nostrils.

“…you went to Smallville, didn’t you?” Dawning asked Fluttershy, his usual friendly-if-shy tone of voice now completely gone.

Fluttershy began to shrink back like a wilting flower. “I…I’m sorry…”

“Guys, I am completely lost here,” Quicksnap pressed again. “What are you talking about?”

“He’s Supermane,” Rainbow answered flatly.

Quicksnap did a double take. “W…WHAT?! What do you mean he’s Supermane, Dawning can’t be Supermane, h-he’s been with us the whole mmph–”

Rarity silenced the hippogriff with the glow of her aura around his beak. “Keep it down,” she hissed. “Do you want the whole building to hear?”

“Rooftop,” Dawning growled, glaring at the group. “Now.”

Though the sky was still cloudy and the rooftops of Manehattan soaked, the rain itself had at least stopped by now, taking its sounds with it and yielding to the urban cacophony of the streets below, and blending with the sounds of dripping and sloshing rainwater from the edges of the Daily Planet’s giant globe adornment. The sound of Dawning Hope throwing open the door to the building’s rooftop, just beneath the globe, shattered the post-rain ambience.

“I told you to leave me alone!” Dawning fumed at Fluttershy before the whole group had even set hoof out on the roof. “I trusted you, I thought if anypony in the world would understand, it would be you!”

“Hey, don’t go blaming just Fluttershy!” Rainbow Dash fired back as she kicked the door behind them shut. “We were all in on it, we told her to go–”

“No, it was still my idea to go,” interjected Fluttershy. “Nopony made me, I…I chose to.”

“So what, you were all in on this behind my back?!” Dawning demanded.

“I wasn’t!” Quicksnap protested, raising his talons defensively. “I literally didn’t know what they were up to until just now! A-and why didn’t you tell me?!”

“You were with Dawning when we thought of it!” Rainbow answered.

“Well why didn’t you tell me after that?!”

“I wanted to!” Lucky responded. “I just…Faust, I didn’t know how to tell you!”

“You should have! Dawning’s my friend!” Quicksnap turned back to Dawning, wings fidgeting as his anger was replaced with sad, fearful inquisition. “You…you are, aren’t you?”

Dawning ignored the hippogriff’s question, his glare still firmly locked on Fluttershy. “Why, Fluttershy? Just…why?”

Fluttershy folded back her ears and hung her head, but nonetheless kept her eyes focused on Dawning. “I…I just wanted to understand you. I wanted to understand what was wrong, why you seemed so shut in, I…” She hesitated, then in a voice so low it was almost a murmur: “…I just wanted to help you.”

“So you lied to me.”

“I-I’m sorry–”

“She lied?” Lucky sardonically spat, stepping in front of Dawning. “You’re gonna stand there and call her a liar after all the…all the crap you’ve been pulling on me?”

Dawning narrowed his eyes at her. “Now you hold on a minute–”

“Every. Single. Day you came into that office and acted all friendly and polite and shy and dorky and, and…damn it Dawning, you made me think I knew you! You wanna talk about trust, I trusted you! And all this time I’ve been trying to track down Supermane, he’s been sitting right here lying to my face every–”

“YOU! MADE UP! SUPERMANE!” Dawning suddenly roared, loud enough that everyone flinched or shrunk away from him as he loomed over Lucky. All anger vanished from the lavender earth pony’s face in an instant as she recoiled backwards, looking suddenly terrified.

“I didn’t come here to be some superhero!” Dawning went on. “Or go around calling myself some stupid name! That was all you, Lucky!” He jabbed a hoof at Lucky’s chest. “Supermane isn’t real, you made him all up. You spun him into a superhero, the-the super earth pony knight in shining armor and a cloak. You got the whole city to love and adore him like a celebrity.” He paused, panting for breath. “You never even thought for a second that maybe it wouldn’t be like that, did you? Didn’t think that your…your ‘hero’ wouldn’t be the way you wrote him? Of course not. Why would you when that perfect little story of yours got the whole city to tell you that you were right?”

Lucky didn’t answer. She couldn’t. She just stared back into Dawning’s angry, bitter eyes, and fought to keep her lip from quivering as every single thing that Turnpike had told her mere hours ago came flooding back into her brain.

“But then…” Rarity cautiously probed. “…why keep wearing the symbol?”

Dawning’s temper seemed to cool, but only slightly; he at least didn’t quite look like he was about to bite anypony’s head off now. “Because when I first started I…I don’t know, I thought maybe someone would recognize it. Maybe help me figure out what it actually is, where I come from…”

“Where you…what do you mean ‘where you come from’?” Quicksnap asked.

Dawning looked back at Fluttershy. “Did you tell them that part?”

“N-no.”

“Might as well. You went through all that trouble to find out, you might as well tell them.”

Fluttershy swallowed. “Dawning is…he’s…not from this planet.”

A collective gasp went through the group, save for Dawning and Fluttershy. Even Lucky snapped out of her cowed stare to suck in her breath in disbelief.

“You mean that crazy hobo in the tinfoil hat was right?!” Rainbow exclaimed.

“You’re…you’re not even…” Lucky breathed.

“No,” Dawning finished. “I’m not. So there’s your answer. All the powers, everything I can do, it isn’t magic, it’s literally because I’m…I’m not one of you.”

“But why would you hide that?!” Rainbow asked. “For crying out loud, you can fly! You can shoot lasers out of your eyes and shrug off bullets! Who gives a darn if you’re a space alien–”

“Everyone would, Rainbow!” Dawning snapped back. “Every single person in the world would care, and you know it. For Faust’s sake, six months ago all it took was a few rumors and whispers to get everypony in the country divided and hiding from each other…can you imagine how they’d react if they knew someone like me has been living among them all this time?”

He looked between each of the group, talking to them as a whole now. “D-do you know how lucky you all are?! You all know exactly who you are and what you’re here to do…I don’t have any of that! I don’t know what I am or where I come from, and everything I thought I knew was a lie! I don’t even know my own name! B-because somebody out there…” He pointed up at the sky, then back down at the ground. “…sent me here, and…and I need to know why. I deserve to know why.”

Dawning paused, catching his breath again. “That’s why I’m here. The ship that brought me to this planet…it’s here, in Manehattan. Lex has it. If I can just get it then…”

Lucky’s daze was partially broken. “Wait…Lex has this ship?”

“How do you know that, darling?” Rarity asked.

“The chemical plant in Baltimare,” Dawning replied. “The LexCorp one. Remember Lucky telling you about that?”

Lucky nodded. It seemed like a lifetime ago, but… “Yes, I remember…”

“I found out then. Came across files they left behind while I was cleaning up the chemical spill. They had it there, but they’d moved it up here to Manehattan some time before the accident. It was the first solid lead I’d come across in my entire time of searching, and it made sense from what Ma and Pa told me.”

“Made sense how?” Rainbow inquired.

“Lex’s father lived near where Dawning’s ship came down in Smallville,” Fluttershy answered. “It disappeared overnight after they took him home. I…I think he might have taken the ship and now Lex is using it himself.”

“I…agree,” Dawning said, though he sounded reluctant to admit it under the circumstances. “There’s definitely something he has under the LexCorp plaza. It might have even been what set off that pulse at the Lexpo, but…I can’t be sure. Couldn’t see underground that far, they have it shielded off.”

“So…all this time, the only reason you took the job at the Planet…” Quicksnap asked.

Dawning sighed. “I do have actual journalism cred. I mean, you and Lucky know I haven’t been idle, but…yes. Because it was close. And because I could investigate both as me and…as me. I was hesitant to get too close to LexCorp at first, trying to be cautious. I wanted to be sure, but…but then everything changed.”

Dawning looked over his shoulder, gazing off into the distance where the LexCorp tower could just be seen rising up amidst the mist-shrouded skyline. “It’s Lex…he’s behind everything that’s been happening. Turnpike was right, Lucky. Those weapons did come from LexCorp, they were the exact same ones on display at the Lexpo. He had bombs planted in the Bronclyn Bridge. I tracked down the pony he bribed to do it, a construction worker named Girder; he wasn’t told who exactly was hiring him, but when I went to check on his apartment there…Faust above, there was a LexCorp sniper watching his family from across the street…”

“Sweet Celestia…” Lucky whispered. The whole group was gaping in silent horror, but Lucky most of all.

“You want a story, Lucky?” Dawning went on, a sardonic tone in his voice. “There’s your story. You weren’t even right about Lex, he’s worse. He’s got this whole city at gunpoint trying to kill Supermane, and what’s worse, he’s getting rewarded for it. And the longer I stay around, the harder he’ll keep trying to kill me, no matter how many ponies he feels like putting in harm’s way to do it. I can’t keep letting this go on, I just can’t.”

Dawning shut his eyes, getting a grip on himself before turning back around to the group. “So…one way or another, I’m getting that ship. You want to help me? Expose Lex. Get the whole world to see him for who he really is. Make sure he can never, ever lie or hurt anypony again. Get him put away, get the ship, everypony wins. I get my answers, find out who and what I am and where I came from, and…nopony else has to suffer. This city can heal and just…move on from Supermane and everything he’s brought on them.”

Silence fell. Nobody moved. They all stood in the shadow of the giant globe, shivering slightly in the chilly air, glancing at everything except one another.

“…if I may offer a suggestion,” Rarity finally offered gingerly. “The LexCorp charity ball is going to be tomorrow night. I could pull some strings, get us in last minute. So…if we’re looking for a reason to be on the premises, and provide Dawning with cover to slip in and go searching for his vessel…”

“That…could work,” Dawning nodded.

“Miss Lead?” Rarity asked Lucky. “If you were to be able to get into the LexCorp facilities, do you think you would be able to find what we’re looking for?”

Lucky had her eyes on her hooves, and only when Rarity directly addressed her did she glance up. After a pause, she nodded numbly with a slight shrug.

“Well…” Rarity continued, straightening herself a little. “Perhaps best we withdraw for now and formulate a plan of attack later this evening. We’ve…all been through a shock. It would be best if we allow ourselves some time to recover.”

Nopony raised any objections. Slowly, with shuffling hooves, the group gradually began to make their way back towards the door. All except for Quicksnap, who approached Dawning.

“Dawning?” he asked, voice frosted with trepidation. “When…a while back, when you told me that I was one of the few friends you had…was that true? Did you ever think of me as a friend?”

Dawning, his anger at last spent, just looked up at Quicksnap sadly. In his heart he wanted so desperately to tell him ‘yes, of course I did’…and yet something held his tongue.

By the time he felt ready to break past it, Quicksnap had hung his head and was silently trudging away towards the door.

Rarity and Rainbow Dash were already gone. Lucky Lead stood aside and allowed the young hippogriff to pass ahead of her. Before she went through herself, she gave Dawning one last look over her shoulder, a physical cocktail of anger and betrayal and heartbreak and self-loathing all wrapped up into a single, miserable facial expression. And then she too was through the door and heading back down the stairs.

Fluttershy stood still. Once again, she and Dawning Hope locked gazes with one another. This time though, there was no betrayal or bitterness in Dawning’s eyes. Just a kind of quiet melancholy.

“…you don’t have to be alone, you know,” she told him softly. “Even if you’re not where you’re supposed to be. Your parents and your friends at home, Lucky, Quicksnap, us…even what you do for everypony else, helping because you can…I don’t think that’s as much of a burden or an instinct as you think it is, Dawning. I think that’s just you. You don’t need to cut yourself off from the whole world because of what you are. The ponies who care about you the most…none of that matters to us.”

Dawning’s gaze migrated towards the ground again, tilting his head down…but not fully away from her.

Fluttershy sighed. “That’s…I guess all that I wanted to tell you.” She turned towards the door, but just before she stepped through it, she paused without looking back. “…I’m sorry. You’re right. I shouldn’t have done what I did. I…don’t blame you if you don’t want to forgive me. But I am sorry.”

Dawning didn’t look back up until the soft taps of her hooves faded away from what would be an ordinary pony’s ears. He opened his mouth by an inch, raised a hoof, made ready to call out…and did not. She was already gone.

He turned his back on the door, looking out across the city without really looking at anything at all, feeling a cold breeze blow against his fur and mane as he stood in solitude.

“You don’t have to be alone.”

Dawning Hope had believed he was for the past two years. Wandering the world with all of its creatures and races of all sorts, knowing he was a strange visitor among them. This wasn’t his home, not truly. His real home, his real people, were somewhere far beyond among the stars.

Dawning Hope knew he was alone. He couldn’t imagine feeling any more alone than he knew himself to be.

And yet there, sitting atop the roof of the Daily Planet building, he suddenly realized he did feel more alone.

Author's Note

The Low Point. The Great Depression. The Plot-Mandated Friendship Failure. Whatever you wanna call it, this is the point of the story we're at. It's the part where everyone's screwed up in one way or another, everyone's mad at each other, and all while the wolf suckers in more and more sheep. We've all been through it countless times, and even though we instinctually know that things are going to be alright in the end, it still hits us in the gut.

Good thing this isn't the end of the story, right? :raritywink:

I think I can at the very least say you won't have to wait like ten months for the next chapter, good lord do I not want to drag things out that long again. Besides, I can't very well leave Dawning Hope and Lucky Lead and everyone else off on this note, now can I? I've got to see them through to the end now.

In the meantime, thank you for reading...and don't forget to toss a comment, I love me some comments, helps reassure me that people are still engaged enough to talk about it.

P.S. It occurs to me that yesterday was apparently "Superman Day". Off by one day, but almost perfect timing. :rainbowlaugh:

Protector

A “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic” Fanfiction

Written by Jade Dawn

Amethyst Star was not lost. Just a little bit misdirected, that was all.

At least that's what she told herself as she fumbled with the map of Manehattan she held, turning it over and around in a vain attempt to find where she was.

But she'd work it out. Eventually. It was just a matter of time, she kept saying in her mind.

The sooner the better, though. Night had long since fallen over the city, and the lights of its many towers and skyscrapers shone bright against the darkened skies. The downtown streets, bustling in daytime, were now emptied of their usual traffic save for the odd pedestrian such as herself, the roads and sidewalks now bathed in the yellow glow of electric streetlights, casting a pallid light on her pink coat and lavender mane.

It made Amethyst uneasy, and not just because she wasn't where she was supposed to be. The whole environment just felt unsettling to her. It wasn't at all like the cozy evenings back home in Ponyville.

She felt...exposed. Too out in the open. Like somepony or something was waiting just out of the glare of the streetlights. The fact that she was essentially a stranger in a strange land only added to her stress.

And it was only after she ruminated on this feeling that she finally conceded with herself that she was, in fact, lost. With the acceptance of that fact, Amethyst rolled up the map and shoved it in her saddlebags with a disgruntled sigh before beginning to dejectedly make her way down the sidewalk to.

This whole trip had been a bust for her. The only reason she'd come to Manehattan was to buy one of those stupid LexPads that ponies just wouldn't shut up about lately. But just her luck, they'd been almost completely sold out, and with no other real reason to be there she'd opted to just wander around taking in the sights for the day. But all that had done was get her to where she was now.

Completely and utterly lost.

Amethyst looked all around her as she walked, trying in vain to get a sense of direction in the labyrinth of buildings, streets, and alleyways that surrounded her. But all that did was get her more on edge, seeing all those tall vertical walls and darkened paths beyond. It made her wish that she hadn't gotten herself lost, that the map would have been at least half-way legible, that she hadn't come to Manehattan in the first place, that maybe somepony would take pity on her and maybe she could ask them for–

"Hey, miss?"

Amethyst's ears perked up at the sound of a male voice. She turned to see a young unicorn stallion approaching from past one of the streetlights to her right. He had a pale blue coat and a short darker indigo mane, and he wore a gray beanie and a dark-colored jacket.

"Sorry, I just couldn't help noticing..." he said. "You look a bit lost. Are you okay?"

Amethyst sighed in relief. Maybe her night was starting to look up after all.

"Oh, thank goodness. As a matter of fact, I am. I was just trying to find my way around, and...well, I sort of got a little misguided."

The other pony nodded. "Where were you staying?"

"The Marelton. On 5th Avenue."

"Alright then," the stallion said with a smile. "I think I can help you out. I know a couple of shortcuts that go by that way. Just follow me and I'll bring you right to it."

With that he turned and began walking down an adjacent alleyway, Amethyst trotting along behind him.

She couldn't keep the pep out of her step as she went along, elated at the fact that finally she was getting somewhere. The first thing she was going to do when she got back to her room was just flop down on the bed and let her tired body just sink into its softness, and just sleep her frustrations away through until morning. She had half a mind to sleep in and settle for a quick little brunch before catching the train back to Ponyville. Of course she'd have to check the train schedule again to see which ones were running and when. She honestly wanted to get back home as fast as possible, but the thought of sinking her tired body into a nice comfy bed was just so alluring...

Amethyst was so busy thinking that it was a few minutes or so before she realized that the stallion was leading her further down into the maze of alleyways. And when she did realize that she slowly felt that unsettled feeling creeping back into her chest. Was he leading her the right way? Or maybe...

"Hey," she said, keeping her voice low by some instinctual feeling she couldn't explain. "Are you sure that this is the–"

The stallion's horn lit up in a purple magical aura, and Amethyst felt herself suddenly gripped by the neck as she was yanked forward and slammed against a brick wall, knocking the wind out of her as she collided with it back-first. She saw the stallion wheeling to face her, there was a brief glint of metal, and before she knew what was happening he was looming close over her, a small knife pointed right at her neck.

"Not a sound," he whispered harshly. "Not a word, not a scream, not a move, understand? This'll be quick. You just keep quiet and you can get on out of here."

Amethyst stared silently at him, her chest heaving as a surge of terror took hold of her. At the moment she couldn't have spoken if she wanted to, she was so shocked.

From further down the alleyway she saw another stallion, an earth pony with an orange coat and dark brown mane and a large ball bat slung over his back, running up to meet them. Before Amethyst could begin to hope that maybe this was her salvation, the newcomer had come up behind the first stallion and looked at Amethyst with a sinister smile.

"Nice goin', Night Raid." He held out his hoof. "C'mon, fork it over so I can see what we've got."

Night Raid took a step back from Amethyst as his horn flared. She felt her saddlebags suddenly be lifted from her midsection by his aura. She feebly held out a foreleg as they were floated away from her over to the other pony, but that just earned her a slap on the hoof with the flat of Night's knife.

"Don't even try."

Amethyst sank down to her haunches against the wall and pulled her forelegs in close, hanging her head in defeat. Terror clutched her chest and she felt tears beginning to form in her eyes as everything sank in.

She was getting mugged. Sweet Celestia, she was getting mugged.

The other stallion sat down as he opened one of the saddlebags and began rummaging through it, while Night Raid continued to stand watch over their victim. Amethyst saw him take out the crumpled-up map she'd stuffed inside it earlier and toss it aside derisively.

"Friggin' tourist..."

"C'mon, make it quick, Clean Snatch," Night said, never once taking his eyes off Amethyst. "I wanna get this done and get out of here before somepony notices us."

"Oh, please," Snatch said without looking up. "Who's gonna notice us way back here?"

"I dunno, a cop, a random bystander..." And then in what was almost a mutter: "...Supermane..."

Clean Snatch stopped and looked up at Night. "Wait. Supermane? For real? C'mon, don't tell me you actually believe all that crud."

"Well I mean, stranger things have happened–"

"Dude, really think about it. Super tough earth pony? Okay, I can kinda buy that. Weird sixth sense? Pushing it, but maybe. But the other stuff? The speed, the hovering, the laser eyes...take it from experience as one, earth ponies can't do that. Besides, what kind of idiot goes around wearing a big red 'S' on their–hey, watch her!"

Night turned back to see that Amethyst had begun to try and slip away, and he grabbed her with one hoof and pushed her back to the ground. "What did I tell you about moving??" he snarled as he pointed the knife right at her head.

Amethyst whimpered and covered her face with her hooves. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."

Night rolled his eyes and huffed. "I'm just saying Snatch, I don't want to take any chances. He could be real. I mean, the Daily Planet seems to think so."

"No, that Lucky Lead reporter of theirs thinks he's real, and literally anypony with a working brain will tell you that she's full of...score!"

Clean Snatch had picked up the saddlebags and shook them, disgorging a decent amount of bits onto the dirty alley floor. Amethyst moaned as she watched them clink to the ground.

Night Raid turned to look as well, but kept his knife trained on Amethyst. "Huh. Not a bad haul."

"Not at all," Snatch said with a grin as he looked it over. "See? No problem. Just take it and scram and nopony's the wiser. Not a cop, not a random bystander...and definitely not Supermane."

"Really, now?" A stallion's voice, deep and firm, said. It was neither Clean Snatch or Night Raid who had spoken. Almost as one, the two muggers and their prey turned their heads in the direction of the voice.

A tall stallion now stood a few yards down the alleyway, and it seemed to Amethyst that he was rather tall, or at least taller than an average pony. His exact coat color was hard to make out in the dim light, but it looked to be a kind of tannish brown. He was shrouded in a dark red cloak that draped behind him like a cape, and a hood pulled over his head that cast a shadow on his face. Beneath the cloak he wore a simple navy blue shirt, and on this was a vivid red diamond, containing a curling shape that Amethyst couldn't quite make out from this distance and light level.

"Aw, crud..." Night Raid whispered. The knife visibly wobbled in his aura as he took slow, shaky steps away from Amethyst. "I knew it...I friggin' knew it..."

His terror wasn't shared by Clean Snatch, though, who brazenly stepped forward in front of Night and Amethyst and glared at the newcomer. "Hey, back off, pal. You wouldn't want anypony getting hurt, would you?"

"No, I wouldn't," The stallion answered in the same low, firm voice as before. "Which is why I'm going to give you a chance to leave her alone and go. I'd honestly rather it not escalate."

Snatch just scoffed. "Who do you think you are, anyway? Supermane or something?"

"That's what they like to call me, isn't it?"

For just a moment the look of bravado on Snatch's face slipped. In another it had resumed itself. "Look, buddy. I don't know what kind of stunt you're trying to pull..."

"C'mon, Snatch, let's just go," Night whispered. "I don't like thi–"

"Shut it," Snatch hissed at him before turning back to the cloaked stallion. "I dunno what you're trying to do, but we're not scared of you. Now beat it or else we'll make you beat it."

The stallion said nothing. Clean Snatch kept up his glare. Night Raid gulped nervously. Amethyst sat where she was and glanced back and forth between her captors and the cloaked figure.

Then the stranger began walking towards them, taking slow, almost leisurely steps, like he wasn't in a big hurry. And then from out of the shadow over his face cast by his hood, the pupils of his once-hidden eyes began to glow a dim, but terrifyingly noticeable, red. Amethyst felt another burst of fear clutch at her chest, and she heard Night Raid faintly whimper.

"Last warning..."

"Keep back," Clean Snatch snarled as the stallion approached. "Hey...hey did you hear me, I said keep back!"

The stranger ignored him, continuing his silent approach.

"I-I'm warning you, pal! I'll hurt you, I swear! I-I'll friggin' do it, I..."

The stallion was only a few steps away from him now.

"Alright, that's it!" In one swift motion he reached up for the bat on his shoulder, gripped it firmly in both hooves, and swung it forward straight into the face of the oncoming stranger.

It smashed into a hundred wooden splinters on impact, which fell to the ground like autumn leaves. The stallion didn't even flinch. He just blinked those glowing red eyes of his.

Clean Snatch stared in utter bewilderment, not even noticing as he numbly let the remains of the bat's handle slip out of his hoof to join the rest of it on the ground below.

The stallion just let out a small breath, like an annoyed sigh, and then said, "Fine."

And then suddenly his hooves lifted up of the ground, and the stallion began to float up into the air, rising to about three feet off the ground so that he was looking down upon Clean Snatch and his now horrified visage. There was no fluttering of wings, no glow of a magical aura or anything that might suggest conventional Equestrian magic at all. He just floated there, the ends of his cloak seeming to gently flow in a breeze unseen and unheard.

"We'll do it that way, then."

The stallion raised a foreleg, and Clean Snatch had just enough time to start a yell before the stallion backhoofed him with a terrific blow, sending him flying into the brick wall a mere two yards away from where Amethyst sat. The mugger slid to the ground in an unconscious heap and lay still.

Then the stallion turned his glowing gaze on Night Raid.

"Oh crud...oh crud!" The terrified unicorn turned and bolted, fleeing down the alleyway at a frantic speed. As Amethyst watched him run there was a sudden red blur that kicked up a gust of wind, blowing her mane and fur. An instant later the strange stallion was hovering directly in front of Night Raid, who ground his hooves into the alley road and skidded to a halt.

"Keep away from me!" Night hollered, wildly waving his knife around. "Do you hear me?! You stay away from me!"

The glow in the stallion's eyes steadily grew to a much brighter red, casting an eerie light on Night Raid's face. The air around his eyes began to ripple, and there was a faint hissing sound.

Then Night Raid looked down and saw that the knife was glowing a bright red, which soon turned to orange, then yellow. Smoke rose from it, and the metal blade began to bend and drip down onto the ground as it turned molten.

Night Raid let out a terrified squeal, letting the remains of his knife drop out of his aura as he leapt backwards. Quickly, the stallion drifted forwards and grabbed him by the chest with both hooves, lifting him off the ground and into the air.

Night Raid was in a full panic now, kicking and squirming in the stallion's iron grip. "Wait! No! Don't hurt me! Lemme go! I didn't even wanna mug anybody, it was all Clean Snatch's idea, it–"

The stranger silently raised a foreleg.

At that Night's panic went into overdrive, and he began frantically kicking his hind legs in empty air while he begged. "NO! I DON'T WANNA DIE! DON'T KILL ME-E-E-E-E-E!!!"

"I wasn't planning on it," the stallion answered calmly. "Not my style." And with that he, with what seemed to be the faintest of efforts, gave Night Raid a light hit to the side of the head. His frantic pleas fell silent, and his body went limp. The stallion lowered himself back to the ground as the red light in his eyes dimmed and faded away, darkening his face once more while he let the unconscious mugger slip out of his hooves on to the ground.

Back at her spot along the brick wall, Amethyst Star breathed heavily, her heart racing in her chest. She'd watched it all, silenced by shock, awe, and fear at the stranger who may or may not have just rescued her. But now that he was done with the muggers, she feared what he might do when he turned his attention on her.

Soon enough he turned his shadowed gaze up to her, stepping around Night Raid's unconscious form to approach her. Amethyst just stared at him, to afraid to run or call out or do anything.

But then the stranger slowed. His movements now seemed to be more careful, like he was trying to not portray himself as a threat. And when he finally spoke to her his voice was much gentler than before.

"Did they hurt you, ma'am?" he asked.

For a moment Amethyst didn't know what to say. She didn't feel ready to let her guard down and relax, not after what she'd just seen him do. But he wasn't doing anything specifically threatening to her right now, so...

"...n-no," she finally answered. "N-not really."

The stallion didn't reply immediately. She saw his shadowed head tilt a bit beneath the hood, and a strange feeling of unease came over her.

It was like he was looking right through her. Right through her very soul.

"You're right," he said suddenly. "Nothing broken. Nothing really major. Good. Now then..." The stallion stepped past her to where her saddlebags and the spilled bits lay on the ground. He bent down and began scooping the money and other discarded belongings back inside, and then picked up the bags between his teeth by the strap and turned back to her.

"...I believe these were yours?"

Amethyst just stared at the stallion, in utter disbelief that this strange pony, who just before had seemed like a holy terror, was being so gentle and downright courteous to her now. Only slowly did she finally accept that this stranger was not going to hurt her; she had nothing to fear from him. He had in fact saved her from theft. Possibly even saved her life.

And then she saw the symbol emblazoned on his shirt. She hadn't seen it clearly before, but now she could see that it was a kind of diamond shape, with a wide flat top and a bottom that tapered down to a triangular point. The outline was a deep, vivid red that stuck out against the dark navy blue, and within the diamond, set against a black background, was an odd looking shape. It was the same red as the rest of the diamond, beginning as a slanted line in its upper right corner before abruptly curling downwards at the upper left, continuing on a downward course until it hit around the middle right of the outline, before curling back up again just before the tapered end, and then finally terminating in a wide, flattened end.

It looked kind of like a very stylized "S".

"Ma'am?" The stallion prompted.

Amethyst was suddenly pulled out of her observations when she heard his voice. "Y-yes," she whispered, lighting her horn floating the saddlebags over to her.

"T-thank you," she stuttered as she put them on her back. "Thank you s-so much..."

Amethyst couldn't see it quite clearly through the shadows, but she thought she saw the faintest hints of a warm smile on the stallion's face. "Just not a fan of sitting by and watching these things happen. Now then..." he trailed off and went silent again as he turned his head to look past her at the brick wall. Amethyst couldn't help but feel a bit confused. What was he looking at?

Then he returned his gaze to her. "There's a police officer a few blocks down, directly behind you. Go to him and tell him what happened. Tell him that there's a pair of would-be muggers that you might want to press charges on."

Amethyst suddenly remembered the unconscious ponies who'd tried to rob her. "But...but are they..."

"Don't worry, they're alright. They'll have nasty headaches when they wake up, but they'll be fine. Believe me, if I really wanted to hurt them, let alone kill them, I would have. But I'm not that kind of pony. And frankly, I don't think someone like me can afford to be. Now..." He stepped away from her and turned to leave. "I think I should be going now."

Amethyst suddenly had a thought. "Wait a minute...how do you know there's a police officer down that way?"

"I looked." He said it so simply that the full weight of what it meant flew right over Amethyst's head.

"Well...well...wait..."

The stallion stopped and turned his head to look back at her.

Amethyst swallowed before continuing.

"...who are you?"

The stallion shrugged, and now she was sure she could make out a little smile on his face.

"A friend."

He turned away again, crouched for a moment, and then made a sudden leap upwards. His cloak swirled behind him, and there was a sudden gust of air that caused Amethyst to reflexively shut her eyes. When she opened them again, the stallion was gone, leaving nothing behind but a little swirl of disturbed dust and dirt that quickly sank back to the ground.

Author's Note

And so begins the adventures of Supermane; strange visitor with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal ponies, on a never ending quest for truth, justice...and perhaps a few other things we may not know yet...

Fun fact about this story; it actually started off as a Batman adaptation called The Batmare, about Luna turning to crime fighting to stave off boredom in retirement. The problem was that (a) I had trouble working out the plot, and (b) I'm quite frankly more of a Superman fan than I am a Batman fan. So write what you know, right?

And yes, I know that Supermane thus far is acting a wee bit different from the classic ideal of Superman, what with the more spooky nature and all. Don't worry, he's not gonna be some brutal edge-lord take on the character. God knows we already have enough of that.

Welcome to the Planet

A “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic” Fanfiction

Written by Jade Dawn

The doors to Canterlot Castle's throne room loomed high over Fluttershy's head as she gazed up at them. Just looking at them made her feel small and insignificant, even knowing that the one who sat on the throne behind them thought nothing of the sort of her. Eventually she decided to turn her gaze to somewhere else in the great hall outside the throne room, settling on looking at the tall stained glass windows along the walls, each bearing a beautifully colored rendition of a moment in Equestrian history. Some were of long distant events, such as the first Hearth's Warming or Celestia and Luna's battle with Discord. Others were more recent; the return of Nightmare Moon, the Changeling invasion of Canterlot, Tirek's rampage and defeat, and so forth.

Newest of all were a pair of windows closest to the throne room doors; one depicted the so-called "Battle of the Bell", with almost the entirety of Equestria and the lands beyond united as one against the combined forces of Queen Chrysalis, Lord Tirek, and Cozy Glow. The last mural following it was one of Princess Twilight Sparkle's coronation, about half a year ago as of now, and Fluttershy could confirm from experience that it depicted the event far less hectically than it had actually gone.

Nearby her were Rainbow Dash and Rarity, the latter of whom was busy making sure her mane and general appearance were up to her standards. Rainbow, meanwhile, was leaned against one of the hall's pillars, her forelegs crossed and her head restlessly knocking against the pillar's side.

Rainbow moaned. "How long are we gonna be waiting?" She grumbled. "If the summons was really all that urgent you'd think they'd have let us in by now!"

"Now now, Rainbow Dash," Rarity said as she gave her hooves a look over. "At least try to show some level of patience. Twilight's been a busy mare ever since she took the throne. I think it should be expected that she isn't going to be able to get to us right away."

"Yeah, but what if it's something really big and important and we're just wasting time sitting out here?"

"Um..." Fluttershy interjected. "I think if there was really some sort of emergency Twilight would have gotten to us by now. And she probably would've sounded a lot more urgent in her letters to us."

"Fluttershy's right, darling," Rarity said. "Now I'll be perfectly frank, I haven't the foggiest clue why she asked us to come all the way to Canterlot to see her, but if it was something particularly serious I think she would have let us know."

Rainbow huffed. "Still annoying just sitting here. I mean, c'mon, we're her friends. We should have, like, passports or something."

"Well that wouldn't be very fair to other ponies and creatures who need to see her," Fluttershy said. "I think she'd want to be as impartial as possible."

"Ugh, fair enough."

At that moment the throne room doors opened a crack, and the armored head of a royal guard peeked out. "Princess Twilight will see you now."

Rarity smiled at Rainbow Dash as she walked toward the door. "There, see? That wasn't too long of a wait, now was it, darling?"

Rainbow just rolled her eyes as she joined Fluttershy in following Rarity through the door, the guard opening it wider to allow them entry into the throne room beyond.

For the most part the great expanse of the Canterlot throne room was much the same as it had been the last time they had visited, although Rarity's eye for style quickly picked up on a few little changes here and there; new banners along the walls, some changes to the pillar designs, definitely signs of new coats of paint on the walls.

But of course the main focus of everypony's attention was the lavender alicorn sitting on the throne at the room's far end, a winged purple and green dragon sitting by her side. Almost as soon as the trio had cleared the door and left it to shut behind them, the alicorn had unfurled her wings and swept toward them, clearing the distance in little less than a second.

"Girls!" Twilight said happily as she embraced her friends in a tight hug with hooves and wings. "I'm so glad you could make it. How was the trip up? Did I keep you waiting long? Oh geez, I hope I didn't..."

"It was...fine," Rainbow said, her irritation mostly dissipated.

"It's good to see you too, Twilight," said Fluttershy. "Are you doing alright?"

"Oh, I'm doing fine," Twilight replied. "Royalty gets a little monotonous sometimes, and at its worse there's a bit of stress...

"Any more Twilighting?" Rainbow asked with a smirk.

"Har har. Nah, I've been doing what I can to cut back on that. And hey, whatever comes up, it's nothing that organizational skills and friends can't solve, right?"

"Hey, speaking of friends," Spike said as he came up to the ponies. "Got any extra love for me?"

In response Rarity reached out with a foreleg and embraced him in a hug of her own. "Well of course, Spikey-Wikey. Things haven't been quite the same without you around."

"Aw, thanks..." Spike replied, blushing a little.

"So what's the sitch, Twilight?" Rainbow asked. "Friendship problem? Tartarus breakout? World in peril again?"

"I hope it's nothing serious," Fluttershy said, a tone of concern in her voice.

Twilight frowned a little. "Well, that's the thing, Fluttershy...I'm honestly not sure."

"Well tell us, darling," Rarity said. "Whatever is the matter?"

Twilight turned to Spike. "Spike? Would you mind bringing over the paper?

"On it," Spike replied, unfurling his wings and flying back to the throne. While he did so Twilight addressed her three friends.

"I'll get straight to the point. Have any of you ever heard of 'Supermane'?"

The three ponies blinked.

"Uh, who?"

"Can't say I have...

"News to me, darling."

"Hmm," Twilight nodded. "Well, it seems that recently Manehattan has had a new vigilante begin prowling around its streets. From what I've heard, ponies over there have taken to calling him 'Supermane'."

"Goodness..." Rarity said. "And who exactly is this Supermane?"

Twilight shrugged. "Nopony seems to know. He's an earth pony, that much we know, but he's one of supposedly, erm...abnormal qualities."

"'A-abnormal'?" Fluttershy asked. "'Abnormal' how?"

"Got the paper, Twi," Spike said as he returned, carrying a newspaper in one claw.

"Thank you, Spike," Twilight said as she lifted the paper in her magic and held it up to show her friends. "Here. You might get a better idea if you read it for yourselves."

The newspaper's name, the Daily Planet, was printed in a stylish font at the top overlaying an image of a globe, and beneath it was the large bolded headline and the article it accompanied.

SUPERMANE STRIKES AGAIN!
FOILS MUGGING ATTEMPT IN FOURTH SIGHTING THIS MONTH.
VANISHES WITHOUT A TRACE AGAIN.

Story by Lucky Lead

Our city’s mysterious benefactor has made another appearance, as the Manehattan Police Department confirmed earlier today that the would-be victim of a mugging last night claimed that she was rescued by none other than the mysterious, so-called Supermane. The young mare–who has requested she remain anonymous–reported that her enigmatic savior appeared without warning, having no reaction to the robbers' attacks, catching up to them with lightning speed when they tried to flee and leaving them incapacitated, before disappearing into the night without a trace. And while the MPD has neither confirmed or denied Supermane's existence in any official capacity, this latest story tracks with the tales that have circulated the city streets since six months ago...

See SUPERMANE Page 2

Beside the article itself was a picture, labelled as an artistic sketch of Supermane's appearance based on reports. It showed a large stallion, clothed in a dark shirt and hooded cloak that shadowed his face, hovering above the ground, his eyes glowing with an almost fiery light. Emblazoned on his shirt in vivid red was a curving, S-like symbol framed in a similarly colored diamond shape.

"Oh my," Fluttershy whispered as she looked at the picture. "He looks...scary."

"Oh my indeed," Rarity murmured as she read.

"Pretty freaky, huh?" Spike said. "It's like something out of a Power Ponies comic."

"When did you first hear about him?" Fluttershy asked.

"Since I took the throne, actually," Twilight answered. "I've been getting letters from the Manehattan city council since the day I started.”

“Hate to admit it,” Spike said, “but at first we kind of wrote them off. Thought the police could investigate it. But then the reports kept piling in. He seems to have gotten a bit more active in the past couple months. Or at the very least more ponies have claimed to have seen him.”

“And of course with that…” Twilight picked up again, “…comes more letters and petitions to do something about him."

"Lemme see that," Rainbow said as she took the paper in her hooves and read through the article. "Earth pony stallion, okay...super strength...possible sixth sense...speed, levitation, heat vision...yeah, no. This ain't legit, Twilight, this is just another Mare-Do-Well type thing. It's some kind of stunt."

"I thought it might be too," Twilight said. "But after I thought about it some more I realized that it just didn't make sense; he's been said to have displayed all of his reported range of powers in full view. There's no way it can be more than one pony."

"Okay, so really good special effects then. Or magic. Like, has nopony stopped to think that maybe this is just some earth pony with a magic artifact under that cape? Or maybe he's got a friend lifting him from somewhere off in a corner or something."

"However he works, he does,” Twilight said. “And nopony knows exactly how."

"Does anypony know what he wants?" Fluttershy asked.

Twilight shook her head. "Nope. He doesn't seem to talk all that much and when he does he keeps it brief. But from what they've been saying so far, he seems to be mostly benign. The only ponies he's really hurt in any way seem to be criminals or would-be thieves. And even then he never seems to do anything more than a few hits to the head to knock them out or tying them to a streetlight or something.”

"Well," Rarity said. "He certainly seems to be quite the enigma. But what does this have to do with–" She paused as the realization crossed her mind. "Oooooh."

"Mm-hmm," Twilight said. "That's why I've asked you three here. If it isn't too much trouble, I'd like you to go to Manehattan and see what you can learn about him."

"Hold up," Rainbow said. "You want us to go chasing down this guy? Isn't this a job for, like, a detective or something?"

Twilight sighed. "If I could have I would have gotten a more proper investigation put together. Unfortunately, I'm set to attend a delegation with Prince Rutherford later this week, and it's kind of eaten up most of my attention." She paused and smiled at her friends. "But really, I don't know whom I'd rather trust the job to. We've handled tough situations before, and a lot of them worse than what this probably will amount too. Believe me, girls. I have the utmost confidence in each of you."

"Honestly, I think you guys could get farther than an official inspection," Spike said. "I mean, no offense to them or anything."

"But..." Fluttershy said. "...but where would we even start?"

"Well, I'd suggest starting with the Daily Planet," Twilight said, pointing a hoof to the newspaper's title. "From what I've heard and read so far they seem to be the ones with the biggest amount of Supermane coverage in the city. They might be able to give you a few tips on what they know."

“What about Applejack and Pinkie Pie?" Rarity asked. "Will they be joining us as well?"

"Unfortunately not," Twilight answered. "Harvest season is in full swing so Applejack's going to be kept busy. And I've asked Pinkie Pie to help me with the Yakyakistan delegation...which means between that and my usual duties I'll be unavailable as well. I mean, if some kind of emergency comes up down there I could probably get us all together and come down to the city, but at the moment I'm afraid we'll be indisposed." She paused. “I know this is a bit out of the blue. And really, it might not be anything serious. But if it’s at all possible for you to take a look into this, then believe me, I’d be grateful.”

The trio exchanged glances. For a moment they stood in silence, as though quietly discussing it amidst their thoughts. Finally the silence was broken by Fluttershy.

"Well...if you think it's important enough to ask for our help, then...I'd be willing to go."

Rainbow Dash spoke up next. "Hey, if Fluttershy's willing to go, then I guess I am too." She turned to look at Rarity. "Rarity? You comin' or you gonna pass?”

“And miss out the chance to solve a mystery, help my friends, and have a good reason to visit Manehattan again? Surely not! Consider me in, Twilight.”

"Well, Twi," Rainbow said. "I guess that means we've got a super pony to find."

Twilight smiled. "I'm glad to hear it. Thank you."

"We'll begin preparations as soon as we get back to Ponyville," Rarity said as the group began to head out to the doors. "With luck, we should be headed out to Manehattan by tomorrow morning."

"And don't worry about this Supermane guy," Rainbow said, returning the newspaper to Twilight's magical grasp as she spoke. "Whoever he is, whatever he wants...we'll get it all worked out."

"Believe me, I know you will," Twilight said. "Just make sure to write me when you think you're on to something. Take care."

With that the three ponies exited the throne room, the great doors closing behind them with a low boom. For a moment, Twilight stood before the closed doors, then turned to Spike with a sigh.

"Am I doing the right thing, Spike?" she asked. "Sending them out there to face Celestia-knows-what like this?"

Spike shrugged. “C’mon, Twi. This isn't the weirdest thing any of us have faced. They've totally got this. They'll figure out what's what and everypony in Manehattan can chill out for a while. No sweat."

Twilight mulled his words over for a moment. ”…yeah, I suppose you’re right.”

She flipped to the front of the newspaper again and looked at the sketch of Supermane.

"And y'know...call it a gut feeling, but...somehow I think that he may need them to find him.”

The three ponies felt the train rumble beneath their seats as it chugged its way towards the bridge that connected the Equestrian mainland to the island upon which the metropolis of Manehattan sat. Through the windows, the city's towering skyline grew ever larger as the train neared its destination. Already the ponies could make out the Crystaller Building looming the highest over the rest of the city, and the Statue of Harmony standing proudly on its own little island in the Manehattan bay.

Fluttershy was looking out the windows, watching the skyline for the Daily Planet building. Rarity was right beside her, ogling at the sight and anxiously awaiting the moment when she could step off the train and back into the great city. Rainbow Dash, meanwhile, was leaned back in her seat, looking over a copy of the newspaper that Twilight had shown them the day before. Between their seats was their little pile of luggage; Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy's few belongings that they had brought, and the oversized trunk that Rarity always brought along on trips such as this.

"'S' for 'Supermane, huh?" Rainbow muttered as she read the paper.

"What was that, darling?" Rarity asked.

"His logo," Rainbow said as she pointed to the sketch. "'S' for Supermane." She shook her head. "Kinda show-offy if you ask me."

"'Show-offy'? Well you're one to talk, the way you brag…”

"Hey, I don't brag! I'm just being honest about myself! Just ask Applejack."

"Sure, Rainbow, sure..."

"My point," Dash said with a bit of irritation. "Is that it just seems way too flashy for some vigilante trying to stay under the radar. If that doesn't point to somepony trying to get attention with a hoax then I don't know what does."

"Is that the Daily Planet building?" Fluttershy asked. She pointed a hoof at a medium-sized building nestled amidst the towers, recognizable for the large copper-colored globe that adorned its highest point.

"Indeed it is, Fluttershy," Rarity affirmed. "One of the city's older papers, actually."

"Funny I never heard about it before," Rainbow said.

"Do you have an interest in newspapers?"

“…okay yeah, fair enough."

"Well that definitely looks new," Fluttershy said. As the train grew ever closer to the city the ponies could now see that there was a single thick track erected on pylons that rose about thirty feet off the ground, curling its way between the skyscrapers. As they watched they saw something like a very smooth, streamlined train, glistening silver and white with black windows, speedily making its way down the track closest to the bay.

"Huh," Rainbow said. "I don't remember that being there the last time we were here."

"Ah yes," Rarity said. "That's the new public monorail system that the city installed recently. Something to do with magnetic lift or something or other; very fast, very high tech, so I hear. They say it's the smoothest-running train in all of Equestria."

“No kidding,” Fluttershy murmured as she watched the monorail go along its way, making a kind of humming sound that they could faintly make out over the city's usual din as it went by. Then the view was cut off by a wall of buildings as their train reached the other side of the bridge.

"We should be pulling into Maneway Station soon," Rarity said. "Let's get ourselves ready. We should get our rooms booked at the hotel before we head on over to the Planet."

A few hours later, rooms booked and luggage unpacked, the trio made their way to the Daily Planet building in the heart of the city. Despite not standing quite as tall as the Manehattan's other skyscrapers, the structure still loomed high above the ponies' heads as they approached its entrance; a tall, tan-colored building built in an Art Deco style, adorned with gargoyles around its middle and upper floors, and the paper's name written vertically on the side facing out on the street. The most notable feature was, of course, the large globe that capped the top of the building. Seen closer now they could see it was quite ornate, decorated with a pattern of Equus's continents and ringed by a pair of metal hoops bearing the Daily Planet name between them, going around the globe in a manner that suggested a planetary ring.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Rarity said as they approached. "Such lovely architecture."

"Kind of over-the-top if you ask me," Rainbow said. "I mean, it's just a newspaper."

"I think it looks nice," Fluttershy said.

Rainbow shrugged. "Still just a newspaper."

The building's main entrance was a set of revolving doors standing beneath a large, gold-colored stained glass window bearing an image of the Daily Planet logo. The trio went through the doors one by one, emerging in a large round lobby, floored in decorative tiles and bathed in a warm golden light from the window. All around the walls were framed newspapers bearing significant headlines from over the course of the Planet’s history The center of the lobby was dominated by a large globe of Equus partially sunk into the floor, and directly in front of this was a semi-circular reception desk.

All around them were various ponies going about their business. The three wormed their way through the crowd to the desk, manned by a bespectacled secretary mare shuffling through various papers on the desk, so engrossed in her work that she didn’t glance up.

“Welcome to the Daily Planet,” she monotoned. “How may I help you?”

“We’d like to schedule a meeting with your Editor-in-Chief,” Rarity said. “Mister, uh, Whiteout, was it?”

“Mr. Whiteout’s got an open slot tomorrow afternoon at…” Then the secretary looked up at them and immediately froze, her eyes going wide and her jaw dropping a bit. “Sweet Celestia, it’s…it’s you…holy cow, the Elements of Harmony here?”

At the mention of “Elements of Harmony” a good chunk of the lobby’s current denizens stopped dead in their tracks, staring in awe at the visitors and whispering amongst themselves.

“Uh…yes?” Fluttershy said, a bit taken aback by the sudden recognition.

“Some of us, anyway,” Rainbow added before turning to the crowd. “Nothin’ to see here, folks. Just a couple of national heroes,” she said with a cocky little smirk.

“Yes, anyway,” Rarity continued. “That appointment for tomorrow?”

“Actually…” The secretary said, still staring. “…wait, how important is this?”

“Um…” Fluttershy began. “…it’s about Supermane. Does that count?”

A new wave of interest swept through the lobby, and the few who may not have been paying attention before were now suddenly looking their way at the mention of that name.

“I guess so, then.”

“Y’know,” the secretary said, still in obvious surprise. “I think I might actually be able to get you in now.” She reached over to an intercom button on her desk and clicked it on. “Mr. Whiteout, sir? There’s some ponies here to see you–“

”Then you can tell ‘em to schedule an appointment with me tomorrow,” a gruff male voice crackled from the little speaker. “And is Quicksnap back with the coffee yet?”

“Sir, it’s…it’s the Elements of Harmony.”

The voice on the other end paused.

”…wait. For real? What…what do they want?”

“They say they wanna talk about Supermane.”

”…well Great Caesar’s Ghost, don’t just sit there for Celestia’s sake, somepony bring them up!”

“I COME BEARING GIFTS!” exclaimed a new voice. The group looked to see a young male hippogriff, mostly orange with a messy tuft of bright red feathers on his head, coming through the entrance to the building, a camera bag slung around his neck and carrying a tray of coffee cups, talking more to himself than anyone in particular. “Alright, got the Chief’s coffee, Dawning’s latte, and…” He trailed off as his eyes came to rest on the Elements. “…holy…”

“Is that Quicksnap? Hey, kid! Make yourself useful and show our guests upstairs. And bring the coffee!”

“Got it Chief!” The hippogriff called to the intercom. “Right away, Chief!”

“And don’t call me ‘Chief’! The voice cut off with a click.

The hippogriff shrugged. “Eh, that’s the Chief for ya. He’s not really a bad guy though, really. Oh, uh…” He extended a hand to the trio. “My name’s–oh shoot!” The tray slipped out of his other talon and would have hit the floor had Rarity not caught it in her aura.

“I’ve got it, darling,” she assured him.

“Oh gee, thanks!” he said as he took the tray back. “Uh, my name’s Quicksnap.”

“Pleasure to meet you darling. I’m…”

“Oh, I already know who you all are,” Quicksnap said as he took he tray back “Pretty much everybody does by now.”

“Hey, newbie?” The secretary said. “Might wanna start bringing ‘em upstairs now.”

“Oh! Yeah, right. Uh, if you don’t mind following me?”

Quicksnap lead them over to a row of elevator doors at the far end of the lobby, stepping aside to let them enter the cozy little elevator first before stepping in himself and pushing a button for one of the upper floors, and the doors closed with a mechanical clanking.

“So Quicksnap,” Fluttershy asked as she eyed the camera bag hanging from his neck. “Are you a photographer?”

“Oh yeah. Well, photographer-in-training, technically. I’m really more of an intern right now, hence, the uh…” he nodded to the tray of coffee. “…the coffee duty. But yeah, I got into it after the Storm King’s defeat and all of us came out of hiding and, well…hoping it’ll take me places.”

“An admirable goal”, Rarity affirmed.

“Yeah. It’s been slow going though. What’d really be great is if I could get a picture of Supermane. Geez, if I could just get even one good shot of him…I’d probably be all set up here.” He shook his head. “But enough about me, what about you? I mean, not to pry or anything, but what’re the Element Bearers doing in Manehattan?”

“We’re actually looking for that super guy of yours,” Rainbow said.

Quicksnap blinked. “Really? Wow…I mean, I knew ponies were pushing for an actual investigation into this guy, but geez, talk about bringing in the big leaguers…” Then he frowned. “Wait, you’re not, like, looking to arrest him or anything, are you? Can you even do that?”

“Oh no, nothing like that,” said Fluttershy. “We just want to know who he is and why he does what he does, that sort of thing.”

“So bringing him out into the limelight. Huh. Probably should stick around you guys if I can,” Quicksnap said as he adjusted the camera bag strap. “I might just get that picture yet.”

“Wait, can we arrest somepony?” Rainbow whispered to Rarity. “Like a citizen’s arrest or something? I didn’t know we could do that…”

“No, we can’t, Rainbow.” Rarity whispered back, to which Rainbow replied with a little huff of disappointment.

At that moment the elevator chimed, and the doors slid open.

“Welcome to the bullpen,” Quicksnap said, exiting the elevator first and stepping aside to allow the guests through. Beyond was a large expanse of a room, filled almost to packing with rows and rows of desks at which dozens of ponies, a broad mix of stallions and mares, sat tapping away on typewriters, shuffling through papers, or moving between the rows or talking amongst themselves, all bathed in the harsh fluorescent lighting from the ceiling above. At the far end was an area walled off by glass, sealed off from view by curtains on the other side. A door to the room labelled it as the Editor-in-Chief’s office. The trio followed Quicksnap through the bustling aisles, Fluttershy keeping herself firmly between Rainbow Dash and Rarity; the hustle and bustle felt a bit too claustrophobic for her liking.

“So this is where the magic happens,” Quicksnap told them as he led them along, pointing out various “landmarks” along the way. “You got all your basic departments here; Travel’s over there, that’s Business way down there, Society, Political…”

“Yo, newbie!” a blond-maned stallion called up from a nearby desk. “You got my frappé?”

“Yeah, yeah, I got it…” Quicksnap scanned the cups for a moment before selecting one and handing it over. “There you are, Goal Post.” With that down he continued to lead the group on. “That was Sports…break room’s off to the right, the Chief’s office is at the far end down there, and, uh…oh! There’s actually somebody I think might wanna meet you. He’s just over here…”

The little group wormed their way through the crowd until they came to a particular desk near the far left corner of the room, where a brownish-tan coated stallion with a black mane and tail, wearing a simple shirt and tie, sat working on a typewriter.

“Hey, Dawning!” Quicksnap called out to him.

The stallion looked up from his writing. Seen clearly the trio noticed that he was actually a fairly large stallion, not quite as large as the likes of Big Macintosh, but noticeably bigger than average and reasonably well-built. His eyes were a vivid, intense blue, and as she looked at them Rarity found herself likening them to sapphires. And yet despite his more impressive features, he had an air of what some might call “dorkiness” about him; his mane was ever-so-slightly disheveled, and he wore a pair of large glasses that gave him, in Rainbow Dash’s mind at least, a kind of “nerdy” look to him. A typewriter-shaped cutie mark adorned his flank.

The stallion smiled at Quicksnap as he came up. “Oh hey, Quicksnap,” he greeted. “How’d your run go?”

“Eh, it was alright,” Quicksnap replied as he picked a cup off the tray and gave it to the stallion. “I got your latte.”

“Oh, thanks. I needed this. And who’s…” The stallion trailed off, a look of surprise forming as he laid his eyes on the Element Bearers. “…oh…oh.”

“I know, right?” Quicksnap said with a smile. “That was pretty much everyone down in the lobby.” He turned to the trio. “This is Dawning Hope. Dawning, Elements, Elements, Dawning…”

“It’s, uh, a pleasure to meet you,” Dawning said with a slight stammer, extending a hoof out to the trio. They stared at it for a moment before he realized that it was the hoof still holding the coffee cup. “Oh. Oops!” Chuckling a little in embarrassment, he put the cup on his desk and reached out again. “Anyway, it’s…”

“It’s nice to meet you too,” Fluttershy said, smiling as she took his hoof in hers and shook it.

“Well…wow,” Dawning nervously chuckled. “Shaking hooves with one of Equestria’s heroes…never thought I’d see that day.”

“Dawning and I started here around the same time,” Quicksnap explained. “Well okay, not really the same time, we had a couple months apart, but basically the same time. We’re kinda the newbie squad around these parts.”

“So you two kinda have each other’s back?” Rainbow asked.

“I mean, I like to think so,” Dawning said.

“Oh come on, we totally do. I get you a latte every time I go on a coffee run, don’t I? But anyway, enough about us. You’re not gonna believe who they’re after.”

“Try me.”

Quicksnap looked at the trio. “You wanna tell him or should I?”

“Oh, don’t let us impose, darling,” Rarity said. “You do you.”

Quicksnap turned back to Dawning. “They’re looking for Supermane.”

There was a minute stiffening in Dawning’s posture, the faintest widening of the eyes, a barely audible drawn-in breath. His glasses slid down his nose by about half an inch or so. “Oh…oh really?”

“Now now, no need to get excited,” Rainbow said with a little smirk. “Just a couple of national heroes looking for a…well, an urban legend hero, I guess.”

“Well, uh…” Dawning said, as he adjusted his glasses a bit with a hoof.. “…he’s not in trouble or anything like that?”

“Oh, not at all,” Rarity said. “We just want to know who he is, what his motives are…just to put some minds at ease, understand.”

“Yeah, I…I guess so. But wow…” He chuckled a little. “Talk about a big story, right?”

“I know, right?” Quicksnap affirmed. “Hey, look. I gotta get our guests of honor over to the Chief before he comes a-yelling, so, uh, ladies, if you’d be so kind as to follow me? Enjoy the latte, Dawning.”

Dawning blinked as though he’d just been lost in thought. “Oh, uh, yeah. Thanks for bringing it.”

“No problem-o.”

“It was a pleasure meeting you, Dawning,” Rarity said.

“Yeah, this was…this was swell.” Dawning said with a little smile.

Rarity gave a light laugh and then turned to follow Quicksnap to the Chief’s office. Rainbow came up next to her.

“‘Swell’?” she whispered. “Who seriously still says ‘swell’?”

“Be kind, Rainbow…”

Fluttershy hung back for a while, looking and listening to the teaming mass of ponies and the sounds of their work. “Kind of noisy,” she said. “And cramped.”

Dawning shrugged. “Eh, you get used to it after a while. I did, anyway.”

Fluttershy shook her head. “I don’t know if I’d be comfortable working in a place like this…do you like it here?”

“Oh yeah, I like it fine.” Dawning replied. “It’s not really so bad when you get settled into the swing of things. And I like the job. Pay’s pretty good, too. Keeps up the rent, anyway.”

“Fluttershy, c’mon!” Rainbow’s voice called over the din.

“Oh, I’ve got to go,” Fluttershy said as she walked off to catch up. “It was nice meeting you,” she called back.

“Yeah, uh…nice meeting you too.” Dawning muttered as he watched her go.

Fluttershy caught up with the others just as they reached the Chief’s office, Quicksnap opening the door as they arrived. Beyond was a little office area, it’s walls flanked by bookshelves and cabinets. Directly across from the door, set in the opposing wall, were two windows that looked out onto the city streets and adjacent buildings beyond. The center of the office was dominated by a large desk stacked with papers, books, a typewriter, and assorted junk scattered over its surface. At the desk sat an older-looking earth pony stallion, slate-gray with mixed white and gray mane, a newspaper-shaped cutie mark, wearing a white shirt and a somewhat wrinkled red tie. He was sitting hunched over an intercom, speaking gruffly into it as they came in.

“…well you tell Lucky that if she doesn’t get her flank here ASAP then she’s gonna miss out on the biggest scoop since…” he trailed off abruptly when he saw the group come in through the door, his composure softening as he laid eyes on the Element bearers. “…yeah, just tell her to get up here.” He clicked off the intercom and straightened his tie before stepping around the desk to approach the visitors, putting on a smile as he did.

“Welcome to the Daily Planet. Name’s Whiteout; I’m Editor-in-Chief around here.”

“A pleasure to make your acquaintance,” Rarity replied.

“Oh, please, the pleasure’s all mine.” Then he noticed Quicksnap standing in the doorway, still holding the coffee tray. “Yeah, what do you want?”

“Your coffee?”

“Oh yeah.” Quicksnap handed him one of the cups, and Whiteout scrutinized it. “And you remembered…”

“No sugar this time, I remembered, Chief.”

Whiteout shot him a glare. “A-hem?”

“I-I mean, Mr. Whiteout, sir…”

“Good boy. Now don’t just stand there loitering, give everyone else their drinks already!”

“Got it,” Quicksnap stammered as he backed out of the door. “Right away, Chief.”

“And don’t call me ‘Chief’!”

Quicksnap winced as he left, shutting the door behind him. When he’d gone Whiteout rolled his eyes. “Nice boy, but about as sharp as a sack of wet mice. Anyway, please, have a seat.” He gestured to a small row of chairs on one side of the room. The three mares sat down and got themselves comfortable while Whiteout resumed his seat at his desk, pulling it out slightly to better face them.

“So,” he began. “You’re really here looking for Supermane?”

“Indeed we are,” Rarity said. “Princess Twilight personally asked us to look into the matter.”

“And we figured that since you seem to cover him the most,” Fluttershy said. “You might be able to give us some tips that’ll help us find him.”

Whiteout chuckled. “Well, we really just print the stories, I just check ‘em for spelling and all that. If you want somepony who really knows Supermane, then you’re gonna need to talk to–“

At that moment the door swung open, and a young earth pony mare stepped in. She had a lavender coat and a black tail and mane, the latter of which was tied back into a ponytail, and her cutie mark was that of a notebook and pen. She didn’t even notice the trio as she came through the door and marched right up to Whiteout’s desk.

“Alright, Chief,” she said, clearly irritated. “I don’t know why you had to pull me away from a this-close-to-being-scheduled interview with city council about Tech Lexicon’s big surprise tomorrow, but it had better be important…”

Completely unfazed, Whiteout merely responded with a nod to the three Bearers. “I dunno, does that look important to you?”

The new mare turned her head and finally saw the three sitting there off in the corner. Fluttershy gave her a little wave.

The mare’s eyes went wide and she numbly raised a hoof to point at them. “Hooooooly…”

“Yeah, it’s us. We’ve been getting that a lot today,” Rainbow said.

Whiteout rose and stood beside the mare. “Ladies, I’d like to introduce you to Lucky Lead. She’s the best, bravest, boldest…”

“Oh, stop it,” Lucky said, although from the little smirk on her face it was clear that she was enjoying the praise.

“…the most impulsive, confrontational, and reckless reporter we have on staff.”

Just like that Lucky’s smirk evaporated, replaced with a half-hearted frown. “Gee, you really know how to kill a compliment, you know that?”

“I have an obligation to honesty.” He returned his attention to the three. “And she’s our resident Supermane expert.”

Lucky blinked. “Wait. Supermane? You three are looking for Supermane?”

“Mr. Whiteout was just telling us that you know a lot about him,” Fluttershy said. “And we read your article about the mugging he stopped the other night. So we were thinking that maybe you could share with us a little bit of what you know?

Lucky beamed. “Are you kidding? I don’t mean to brag–okay, kind of–but when it comes to Supermane, then yeah, I’m your mare.” Her smile faded a bit. “And okay, admittedly that isn’t a lot, but still…”

“So you actually think he exists?” Rainbow said.

Lucky visibly stiffened, shutting her eyes and taking a deep breath.

“Ah, boy, here we go…” Whiteout said as he turned the other way in his chair.

“What?” Rainbow said. “It’s a perfectly valid que–“

“Miss Dash,” Lucky said, opening her eyes and giving Rainbow a gritted smile. “I've been chasing this guy since the first rumors of a super-powered earth pony in a hood and cape started drifting through the city streets. And for the past six months–six months, mind you–I’ve been picking up every little story about him I can get; every little whisper, every eyewitness sighting, every testimony from perps he’s left behind who were willing to squeal…”

“Okay, but–“

“And I've been getting flak from just about every other news outlet in this city for it. I've had ponies calling me crazy, calling me a wannabe tabloid writer, calling my boss crazy for keeping me around..."

"Your defense of my honor is much appreciated," Whiteout muttered.

"...but you know what?" Lucky continued. "I plow through it all and do my darnedest to not let it put me down. Because I know I'm right. I know it's all true. I wouldn't be chasing this story if I didn't think it was. I hold the truth in pretty high regard. So when I say to you, 'yes, there is a Supermane'..." She stood straight up and looked Rainbow right in the eyes. "...I'm gonna stand by that to my dying breath."

Rainbow just stared back at her. “…aaaaalright then. Look, I’ll try to keep an ‘open mind’ or whatever about this guy, but if I actually saw him for myself, I’d have a much better time believing you.”

“And seeing him is precisely what we hope to accomplish,” Rarity said. “Assuming, of course, that you’d be willing to help us in our investigation, Miss Lead…”

Lucky blinked. “You three…want me…to help you find Supermane?”

“That’s the general gist of it, yes.”

Lucky smiled from ear to ear. “Rarity–I can just call you Rarity, right?–anyway, as long as I’m the gal who gets the byline, I have no objections whatsoever to a partnership.”

“Well,” Fluttershy said. “It sounds like we have a deal.”

“Great!” Lucky said, clapping her hooves. “So how about this; you all come by the Planet tomorrow and–“

“Uh, Lucky?” Whiteout said, raising an eyebrow. “Tomorrow? You do remember what you and Dawning are covering tomorrow, right?”

Lucky rolled her eyes. “Oh. Right. Another one of Lex’s big ego displays. Shoot…” She paused for a moment. “Hey, wait. You’re not staying at the Manefair hotel by any chance, are you?”

“Yes we are,” Rarity answered. “Why?”

Lucky put a hoof to her chin in thought. “Yeah…yeah, I can see how this could work…okay, tell you what. The new monorail system has a station a few blocks away from the hotel. So Dawning and I could meet you there, we go to the event together, and on the way up and back we talk turkey about Supermane. Sound good?”

“Uh…’talk turkey’?” Fluttershy asked.

“It’s slang,” Rainbow told her.

Rarity mulled over Lucky’s proposal. “Hmm…I don’t see why not. Girls?”

Rainbow and Fluttershy nodded.

“Don’t see why not.”

“Sounds good to me.”

Lucky turned to Whiteout. “And what say you?”

Whiteout shrugged. “Nothin’ wrong with it from my view; it’s their investigation, their choice.”

“Alright, then!” Lucky smiled. “Sounds like we’ve got a plan.”

Rarity stood up from her seat, her companions following her. “Well then, seeing’s how we seem to have an arrangement of sorts, I don’t think we’ll take up anymore of your time. It was a pleasure meeting you all.”

“Oh, please,” Whiteout said. “The pleasure is all ours. Lucky, would you mind showing them out?”

“Not at all,” Lucky said, opening the door back into the crowded din of the newsroom. She waited for the others to exit before closing the door to the chief’s office and leading them through the sea of desks.

“I’m telling you,” Lucky told them as they walked. “I feel really good about this whole thing. I think this is gonna be the beginning of something great.”

“Well,” Rainbow said. “Supermane or no, I hope we get something out of this whole thing at least.”

As they passed by Dawning Hope’s desk, Fluttershy gave him a little wave. “Goodbye, Dawning,” she chirped.

Dawning looked up, smiled back and gave her a little wave. “Bye.”

As Fluttershy turned away, Dawning watched as Lucky lead them to the door of the newsroom and waved them goodbye as the door closed behind them. He watched them through those big glasses of his, right through the wall as they re-entered the cozy little elevator. He saw Rainbow shaking her head, and over the noise of his fellow reporters heard her mutter something that sounded a lot like “fangirl”, to which Rarity gave her a frown-faced admonishment of some kind. He watched as the elevator began to descend, going down, down, all the way down to the lobby far below, where they passed through the lobby crowd and exited the building into the streets beyond.

Only after they’d gone did Dawning stop looking through the floor.

“The carpet’s pretty good on this side of the floor, isn’t it?”

Dawning jolted in his seat and looked up to see Lucky Lead standing next to his desk, giving him a teasing little smile. He blushed, adjusting his glasses and stammering. “Well, uh…”

Lucky just chuckled. “Oh, come on Smallville, I’m just messing with you. I know you have those little moments of introspection or whatever. You’re gonna have to tell me what goes on inside that head of yours someday.”

Dawning shrugged and rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah, someday, I guess.”

“And someday I’m gonna teach you how to talk about as much as you write. Speaking of which, I’m probably distracting you, so I’ll let you get back to your, uh…” She leaned in to view the article he was writing “…your corporate ego-stroking, so…to work!” She mimed a whip-cracking motion with her hoof before shooting Dawning a little wink and leaving.

Dawning kept up a small smile until she had gone, before letting it slip away and turning back to his desk with a sigh.

The Element Bearers–three of them, anyway–were in Manehattan. They were looking for Supermane. And they were teaming up with the Daily Planet to do it.

This…was going to complicate things.

A lot.

But Lucky was right. He had work to do. He’d worry about it all later.

So after taking a deep breath, he shoved his worries to the back of his mind and resumed typing on the article he was working on.

LEXPO EVENT TO BE HELD AT LEXCORP PLAZA TOMORROW
BILLIONAIRE ENTREPRENEUR TEASES TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES IN DEFENSE, POWER, AGRICULTURE, OTHERS.

It was already well after dusk by the time Dawning returned to the tenement building that he called “home” in the city’s Hooflyn district. It wasn’t a particularly big or fancy building, but neither was it small or run-down or anything like that. Just a nice, cozy little apartment building.

And the rent was good too.

Adjusting his saddlebags a bit, Dawning stepped through the door into the building’s small lobby. Restful Lodgings, an older bespectacled mare with a graying mane and coat who served as the building’s landlady, was sitting behind a little desk reading a magazine, and she looked up from it as Dawning entered.

“Oh, hello, Dawning,” she said to him. “You were out for a while today; I was almost beginning to worry.”

Dawning gave her a smile. “Eh, just a bit of a long day, then went out to eat. No big deal,” he said as he made his way to the stairway to the upper floors.

“Well, I’m glad to hear you’re doing fine.” As Dawning began to head upstairs she called out to him again. “Oh, by the way, I think there was some mail for you. From your hometown, I think.”

Oh boy… Dawning thought to himself. Outwardly he just thanked her, then ascended the flight of stairs until he got to his apartment on the third floor, opening the door and stepping inside before closing it behind him.

Like the building itself, it was a fairly modest apartment, bordering on outright spartan in content; a simple living room with a window, a kitchenette, bathroom, a couple closets, and bedroom. Aside from the bare necessities, there wasn’t any particularly fancy furniture or decorations to be found. To most it would appear to be almost barren, but it suited Dawning just fine in his opinion.

Sure enough, there was a small pile of letters on the floor just in front of the door. After setting his saddlebags aside, Dawning picked them up and sat down on one of the chairs in the living room to flip through them. Most of them were junk or ads–one of them for tomorrow’s Lexpo event–but it was the last one that gave him pause. It was a simple envelope with a return address marked “Smallville”, with just two names written on it in pen:

Dawning Hope
Amber Grain

Amber Grain. His mother. Instinctually knowing what was going to be inside, Dawning tore open the envelope and pulled out the letter contained within.

Dear Dawning,

Sorry it took so long to write to you again. It took a little while to find your new address after you moved out of Baltimare. Been reading about you in the papers. Hoping you’re doing well. And I do hope your getting close to finding you-know-what.

Woven Light and Flax say hi.

Cornstalk says hello too.

We love you, son.
-Amber Grain

Dawning sighed as he finished reading. On the one hoof, it was nice to get these letters from his mother; they were his one remaining connection to his old hometown. But on the other, they almost always ended up bringing up some uncomfortable memories.

Especially whenever his father was mentioned. It was almost always written the same way; “Cornstalk says hello”. Dawning couldn’t remember him actually writing him a letter himself.

Every time Dawning would get a letter, he always thought about what to say back to him. What he knew he probably should say to him. But no matter what he thought of it always ended up being some variation of “tell Cornstalk I said ‘hi’ too” or something like that.

Right now, though, he didn’t feel like immediately starting a response. He’d save that for sometime tomorrow. He put the letter back in the envelope and, rising out of the chair, put them on a table in the middle of the room before looking out the single window that opened up to the rest of the city. The last of the sun’s light was disappearing over the horizon, giving way to the star-studded darkness of the night.

For a moment he considered not going out on his usual patrol tonight and just turning in for the evening. Between the day’s usual stresses and the sudden bombshell that had been dropped on him today, he felt like he needed a good long sleep. And if the Elements were going to be out looking for him–even if they weren’t necessarily starting tonight–the smart thing to do might have been to lay low for a while.

But before he got too far down that line of thinking, that one nagging thought reared its head within the depths of his mind:

What if something happens and I’m not there for it?

Dawning shook his head. He knew better than to even try to argue with himself on that thought. He’d just wind up kicking himself for it for a good while afterwards. And Celestia forbid if something did happen that he could have stopped…

Realizing that he’d pretty much made up his mind, Dawning went into his bedroom. He took a few tissues from a box on his bedside table, and with them took a couple minutes to scrub the painted-on typewriter cutie mark from both of his flanks, revealing plain, un-marked tan fur beneath. After that he opened up a drawer by his bed and pulled out a pair of keys in his mouth, before crossing to the other side and opening up the closet. Resting on the floor was a large, locked chest. Dawning slipped one of the keys into the lock and opened it. Inside the chest was a large mahogany cloak with a hood, and a navy blue shirt. On the shirt, crudely painted in a vivid red, was a diamond outline filled by a curling S-like shape.

The exact clothing ensemble that ponies had come to associate with the name “Supermane”.

Removing the clothing from the chest, he slipped the shirt on first, and then the cloak over it, letting it drape down to his hooves. At the bottom of the chest was a small box, locked as well. Dawning reached inside, unlocked it with the second key, and opened it up.

Inside the box, resting on a crude bed of foam packing material, was a small crystal. It almost resembled a tiny icicle in appearance, tapering to a point at one end, light whitish-blue in color, with faint lines running through it deep within. At the back it widened out into a flattened, diamond-shaped end, with the same curling symbol that Dawning had marked his shirt with. As a matter of fact, it was the very thing that Dawning had based his own symbol off of.

Everypony assumed it was an ’S’ of some kind–S for Supermane–but Dawning knew better. Or at least a little better. It wasn’t an S. Just had an uncanny resemblance to one. Whatever it actually was, whatever it actually meant, he had no idea.

Another truth he hoped to discover.

There was a thin little cord that Dawning had tied to the flattened end a long time ago, and with this he hung the crystal around his neck, tucking it out of sight beneath the collar of his shirt. He sometimes worried about bringing the crystal along with him on his nightly runs; it could get lost somehow. But if somepony traced Supermane back to him and raided his apartment, he could at least keep the crystal. And as long as he had that, he still had a lead on his personal quest.

Now properly garbed, Dawning went back into the living room and looked out the window, making sure that there was nopony on the street below or in adjacent buildings who would see him. Satisfied, he pulled the hood over his head, opened the window and stepped outside. Once out he quickly shut the window and leapt, feeling the night air brush in his face, hearing the wind whoosh in his ears, watching the streets pass by beneath him. He landed on all four hooves on a roof two buildings down with a thud, an impact that would have done serious damage to most other ponies. But not to him. He could take a landing like that, and a whole lot more, although he’d yet to discover exactly how much.

He stopped to look and listen for anybody who might’ve seen him, any frantic whispers or cries of a flying pony. There were none. Clean exit. Satisfied with that, Dawning crouched and leapt again, making another landing about ten blocks down, and repeated the cycle, passing over streets, buildings, whole blocks in singular bounds. He could have easily flown–he knew he could–but that would put him at risk of being seen against the night sky. He felt less at risk merely jumping from rooftop to rooftop.

His cycle of leaping eventually brought him across the city to the Crystaller Building, one of the tallest skyscrapers in the city, if not the tallest, recognizable by the gigantic bronze horse head that topped it. With an extra kick, Dawning catapulted himself upward, coming to land on top of the horse head itself, where he sat down just in front of its left ear and leaned against the cool metal of its raised mane.

He liked sitting up here at night. Partially for the view. All of Manehattan was stretched out before him, its many buildings and streets lit up like a Hearth’s Warming tree in a beautiful canvas of lights. He’d sometimes sit up here for almost an hour, just taking it all in.

And partly it was for what he supposed could be called “tactical” reasons. It was the perfect vantage point for him to see or hear trouble should it arise.

From what Dawning understood, most ponies were under the impression that Supermane had some sort of precognitive abilities, like Pinkie Pie’s famed “Pinkie Sense” or whatever it was called. And while it was an interesting idea–and the further the were from the truth about him the better, as far as he was concerned–it was wholly inaccurate.

What Dawning did have was much more powerful senses of sight and hearing than any other pony, and likely any other creature, on the planet. He could hear almost anything he wanted up to several miles away if he pushed himself to do so. Sometimes it was hard to sort through all the different sounds–even harder when he sometimes came across something he knew he shouldn’t eavesdrop on–and when it had first developed it had been one of the hardest things for him to control, but once he’d mastered it, it had served him well.

Even more incredible was his vision. For one thing, he could see through solid objects, as he had when he watched the Element Bearers leave the Planet earlier that day. He wasn’t exactly sure how it worked, but although he supposed it could technically be called “x-ray vision”, he’d long since disproved his fears that he was lethally irradiating everything he looked at with x-ray radiation. About the only drawback it had was that for some reason he couldn’t see through lead, and he’d never quite been able to figure out why.

And aside from this “x-ray vision”, he could see into other spectrums of light as well; infrared, ultraviolet, gamma. Sometimes he could see radio waves. And if he pushed his vision really hard, he could even see magic itself; the internal reservoirs of magical creatures, ley lines running through the planet, all of that sort of thing.

As a colt he’d sometimes spend hours looking at the world with his wide array of vision. Everything looked so strange and colorful and downright beautiful at times. The world would become full of lights in his eyes, like the way the lighted cityscape of Manehattan lay before him now. It was especially beautiful with living beings. Their lights churned and grew and pulsed, and when they moved they looked like fireflies in the night. And the sounds…the beating of their hearts, the churning of blood in their veins, the winds of their breath…all of it coalescing into a simultaneous light show and orchestra of pure life.

And it made it all the harder to watch when something went wrong. When living beings were hurt or ill, their lights dimmed and flickered, the sounds of their life went erratic.

And when they died…Dawning had seen that one too many times in his life.

Dawning didn’t look at things the same way he did as a colt too much anymore. Nowadays he kept things more focused when he looked like that. But he could never forget what it looked like when the lights went dark or even dimmed.

He couldn’t turn away from that. Not when he knew he could do something. When he should do something. And he followed that so often that it was almost instinctual by this point in his life.

Some would probably call that instinct noble or heroic. He knew Lucky Lead certainly would. And truth be told, there were times when he did enjoy doing it; when he took comfort knowing that somepony’s life would continue normally, that their light wouldn’t go out that night.

But that instinct of his was causing him problems, and more than he cared for as time went on.

Everyone seemed to regard him as a big hero of some sort. Lucky Lead definitely hyped him up as one; an enigmatic savior, a comic-book superhero come to life. But Dawning certainly didn’t think of himself as one. Yes, he helped ponies, snatched them from disaster, fought against criminals when they arose, and put on a smile to make those he helped feel more at ease and safe. But he was no superhero. The ’S’ that they believed stood for him was nothing of the sort. “Supermane” was just a name given to him by ponies who didn’t know–and under no circumstances could know–the whole truth.

Heroes didn’t have hidden personal goals like he did.

He had to stay hidden as much as he could. No matter what happened, if wanted any chance of finding what he sought, he had to stay hidden, and he’d been mostly successful for the past two years since leaving home. Of course, minor exposure was inevitable for a being like him; a very few ponies he’d met along the way had figured his big secret out. To their credit, they’d opted to remain silent, and he was grateful to them for that. Manehattan already regarded him as an urban myth, and he was more than happy to remain that way. They could keep their mysterious Supermane as long as they didn’t know anything beyond that, as long as nopony caught him, as long as nopony could get a good look at his face.

But obviously he’d gotten careless somewhere along the way. The Princess had noticed him now and she’d sent some of her personal crew to find him. Maybe he could evade them, but they weren’t considered national heroes for nothing. And he had no idea how long they planned on staying.

But he needed to stay under the radar, now more than ever. Because if they did find him–and more importantly, find out what he was–then he couldn’t even imagine what would happen to him after that.

At least they hadn’t suspected anything when Quicksnap had introduced them. He’d worried that they might have noticed something odd about his glasses, but luckily the enchantment on them had held up–he made a mental note to thank Woven Light for them again in his next letter to home–and they hadn’t suspected a thing. So for now, at least, he was in the clear from them.

But they weren’t the only ones he was worried about.

As he looked out on the cityscape, he turned his gaze out to the most seaward end of the island the city rested on. At the far end, jutting out into the water, was the area known as the LexCorp plaza; a large complex of buildings, overshadowed by the towering skyscraper that was LexCorp’s headquarters.

He already knew that he and Lucky were supposed to cover the Lexpo tomorrow. Quicksnap might be coming along as well. Either way, they were being sent right into the heart of LexCorp to cover the story, and it gave Dawning an opportunity that he’d been waiting for for a long time.

It was in there. He was sure of it. After two years of roaming Equestria, he was certain that they had it in there, and tomorrow he planned to give the place a good look if he can.

Dawning just hoped that he wasn’t on to him too.

But all that would come tomorrow. One day at a time.

For now he’d sit out here for the night, maintaining his silent, reluctant vigil over the city of Manehattan.

Author's Note

(Special thanks to Titan64 for proofreading this chapter)

Congratulations! The simple fact that you're reading this means that A) you were interested enough in this story to come back for more, and B) you were willing to slog through a 10K word chapter just to get to this point! Yeah, sorry about the chapter length, if it bothers you. I just kinda wrote what I wanted to write in however much it took to do it, and I frankly didn't even think about word count until after I was done. The next couple chapters will probably be shorter than this, and I doubt any of them will go too far over, but that all depends on how I decide to divide up the story.

So now at last we are properly introduced to Supermane's world, his coworkers and friends, his true identity...and given a fleeting glimpse of his biggest secret. It seems the guy has a bit more on his brain than just being a super-powered good Samaritan–like staying mostly under the radar, for one. I wonder what he could be looking for...and who's this "Lex" guy everybody keeps talking about?

Also yes, I decided to make Jimmy Olsen's stand-in a hippogriff. Why? Because pretty much every other stand-in character or OC in this story is a pony and I wanted to shake things up a little. And plus, hippogriffs have fingers; all the better to fine-tune a camera with, right?

Probably the hardest part of this chapter to write was the opening in Twilight's throne room. All the while I kept agonizing over the possibility that I wasn't writing her "Twilight-y" enough. I'm still not sure. I dunno, you tell me.

Next time, the Elements join the Daily Planet trio as they take a dive into the corporate world of Manehattan's other rising figure of note...

Unto the Breach

A “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic” Fanfiction

Written by Jade Dawn

“Ha-la, Kal-El?”

He was hearing the voices again, echoing whispers in gray, formless void. He spun around in a circle, ears turning in all directions, trying to find the speaker.

“I-I hear you!” Dawning Hope called out. “Where are you?”

“Na-vida, Kal-El! Na-vida, raash wa seda!”

“I’ll find you!” Dawning cried out again. “I’ll find you soon, I promise! I know where you are, I’m coming for you!”

“Kal-El?”

From behind. A stallion’s voice, gentle and meek like his own.

Dawning turned. Where he could have sworn there was just formless darkness but a second ago, there was now a pair of pony-like figures, standing dark and blurred like silhouettes in mist. Shrouded but for their eyes, which glowed like twin sapphires in each.

Exactly the same color as Dawning’s eyes.

Dawning froze. This was new. He’d heard the voices plenty of times before, but never had seen anyone else in his dreams. “Who…who are you?” he gingerly asked, half afraid to hear an answer.

“Na-vida, Kal-El,” one of the figures said in the stallion’s voice, quiet and…mournful?

And then the world suddenly flashed green, and the faces of the dark, blue-eyed figures suddenly became screaming skulls–

And Dawning Hope snapped upright in his bed with a sharp gasp, shuddering all over. He held a hoof to his chest, pushing aside the icicle-like crystal hanging around his neck as he felt his heart beating like a drum beneath his ribs. He took deep breaths to steady himself, and slowly felt his heartbeat slow back to normal. Yet even so, the shivers that ran through his body stubbornly persisted for all his efforts to still himself, the final horrifying second of his dream burned into his brain.

What was that…

He’d never before heard any voice that he could specifically identify as an individual. He’d never even seen anything in one of those dreams, pony or otherwise. They had always been vague, more sound and thought than sight and feel. Why had tonight suddenly been different?

And at the end, why…

Dawning shut his eyes and shook his head, trying to clear the image of twin skeletal visages out of his mind. You’re anxious, he told himself. Just anxious about tonight, that’s all. But it won’t be like that. It won’t.

Dawning took the crystal in his hoof and held it up, turning it over and around slightly, watching it shine in the moonlight from his bedroom window. “I meant what I said,” he whispered to it–why, he didn’t exactly know, he wasn’t even sure if it could “hear” him. “I’m going to find you. I promise.”

Dawning didn’t bother dressing in his usual daily attire; just his glasses and saddlebags, now containing solely his Supermane outfit and the crystal. He wouldn’t need much else for tonight, Faust willing. He made sure his bags were packed and his room locked, then headed for the stairs down to the ground floor.

He could’ve easily just flown out the window again. It would’ve gotten him where he needed to go faster. But for whatever reason that he couldn’t immediately identify, he felt like walking. The halls and stairwell were peacefully empty, with most of the tenement’s denizens asleep in their rooms by now. The building was quiet…except to Dawning, whose ears picked up the breaths and heartbeats of dozens of resting ponies.

The tiny lobby was equally deserted, save for just one pony; Restful Lodgings, leaning back in the chair at the reception desk with a book in her hooves, sitting beneath the solitary glow of a desk lamp. Her ears perked up and she lifted her head as Dawning passed by. “Awfully late to be going out, isn’t it, Dawning?” she asked, with a tone of voice that was almost maternal.

Dawning shrugged. “It’s for an assignment. I won’t be long.”

“You take care of yourself out there, you hear?”

Dawning nodded, and without another word headed out the door.

Restful leaned back in her seat with a sigh as she watched him go. She liked Dawning Hope. He was a good tenant, always well behaved, always paid his rent on time. But she worried about him and his nightly outings, especially over the past week as Supermane seemed to have taken Manehattan by storm.

Of course she knew Dawning Hope was Supermane. She’d known for a few months now, ever since just happening to catch a glimpse of a cloaked pony leaping out of a window in her building. But Dawning seemed to prefer to keep that part of his life to himself–and Restful couldn’t find herself blaming him–so she simply kept quiet about it and pretended not to know. It just felt like the respectful thing to do.

He’s such a good boy, Restful thought to herself. Sticking his neck way out for us like he does. I just hope he’s handling it well. Can’t imagine the kind of pressure he must be under right now…

There were only a fleeting few ponies, walking alone or in little groups, still traversing the streets of Manehattan at this hour of night lit by moonlight, street lamps, and the lighted windows of the buildings rising up all around. The air had been feeling a touch cooler after the previous day’s rain, and the breeze that blew across Dawning’s fur gave him goosebumps–or maybe that’s just my nerves, he thought to himself.

Dawning still wasn’t sure why he’d chosen to walk instead of fly. He thought maybe he just wanted to look up at the stars as he went, wondering once again where home was. But as he walked, he slowly realized he wasn’t looking up at the stars. He was looking at the city; the buildings, the ponies, all of it all around him. He was feeling the worn sidewalks beneath his hooves, hearing the sounds of the city and its denizens coalescing into a single, pulsing heartbeat.

And suddenly it became clear in Dawning’s mind. He was going to miss Manehattan. He’d only lived here for half a year at best–longer than he’d been in most places, granted–and it wasn’t “home” the same way Smallville had always felt. But he’d grown accustomed to living here, to the city’s sights and sounds, to his daily routines. To his fellow citizens.

To Lucky. To Quicksnap. To everyone.

He was going to miss them. He was going to miss all of this. He wasn’t sure what he’d find when he got to the ship, but he’d always assumed that it might lead him to returning to whatever homeworld had sent him to Equus. He’d always been prepared for that possibility. But now, on the threshold of getting what he hoped would be the answers to all his questions, he felt torn.

Maybe if I’d told them myself, way earlier…took a chance trusting Lucky to keep it between us…maybe I could’ve at least said goodbye and…

He sighed. He was way past that point now. Nowhere to go but forward.

Dawning continued on his way up to Central Park. At this time of night it was deserted, the winding empty paths lit in patches by yellowed lamps, the moon-silhouetted branches of trees taking on a more eerie appearance than they did during the day. Despite the absence of pedestrians, the air was filled with the sounds of nightly life. Leave rustling in the breeze, hooting owls, chirping insects, fluttering bat wings–

Dawning’s ears perked up as he heard the flapping of feathers and something alighting in the grass behind him, much larger than a bird. “Fluttershy?” Dawning whispered as he turned.

“No, it’s me. Quicksnap.” Indeed, Dawning now saw, it was the young hippogriff. Along with the camera bag he usually carried with him on assignments, he was dressed in a black hoodie, pants, and a beanie that obscured his feathery crest. Quicksnap shuffled uncomfortably, looking down at himself. “This feels so wrong…” he murmured miserably. “I feel like a crook. Like the kind of guy that…well, that you would drag in."

Dawning frowned, not happy at seeing him so uncomfortable.

“But…” Quicksnap went on. “If it’ll help you stop Lex and find where you came from, I…I can live with it.”

“I…” Dawning hesitated, unsure of how to properly respond. “…thank you,” he finally answered, though he felt that was inadequate.

Quicksnap came up alongside Dawning, and the two continued down the path beside one another. “Dawning?” he asked. “Um…maybe it’s too early to ask, but…w-whatever we end up finding down there, whatever happens to you, wherever you go, um…” He shuffled his wings. “…d-don’t forget about us, alright?”

Dawning stiffened. His mind raced back two years to Smallville. The train station. Woven and Flax. “Whoever you turn out to be, wherever you came from…don’t forget about us back down here, okay?”

Oh Faust, Dawning thought. Woven, Flax…Ma. Pa. I haven’t even written them back to tell them what’s happened since…gosh, since the Lexpo.

He looked back at Quicksnap's sad, almost pleading expression, and he felt his guts squirm with guilt; he’d never answered him the day before, he realized. “Quicksnap,” he said. “What you asked yesterday, I meant to tell you…I have enjoyed knowing you. I don’t want you thinking that part wasn’t true.”

Quicksnap did a double take, his face a mixture of surprise and relieved elation. “Y-you mean it?”

“Of course I do,” Dawning replied. “I…look, what I said yesterday, the…the ‘not one of you’ part, I don’t mean like I look down on everyone else, I wouldn’t dream of that. I just…well I don’t feel like I…”

What Dawning was going to say was “like I fit in here”. Instead, Fluttershy’s words from yesterday once again echoed in his mind.

You don’t need to cut yourself off from the world because of what you are. You don’t have to be alone.

“Um, Dawning?” Quicksnap said. “Don’t mean to cut you off, but we’re here.”

“Hm? Oh, uh, right, right…”

The two turned off the path and out of the street lamps’ yellow glow, stepping through the grass of the park until they came to a little cluster of trees, their canopy providing a patch of shadow beneath the moonlight. Beneath this shroud were the rest of the little group. Lucky Lead, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash all wore dark, concealing outfits similar to Quicksnap’s. The sole exception was Rarity, who was instead wearing an elegant black dress, accessorized with a gleaming pearl necklace, and a silver tiara atop her tied-back mane.

The little group had been whispering among themselves, but went silent as Dawning and Quicksnap entered beneath the shadows. Dawning paused, looking back at each member of the group, but in particular at Fluttershy and Lucky. Both mares matched his gaze in return, but in different ways. Fluttershy still looked at him with a sense of pity and guilt. Lucky’s was more complicated. She still regarded him with a glare of betrayal, but deep within her eyes he saw something else too. Sadness? Shame? He wasn’t sure; beneath the stoic, purse-lipped glare, she looked as though she was feeling a bit of everything.

They hadn’t gotten around to properly talking about yesterday’s events, at least not on a personal level. The day had been spent primarily planning their raid on LexCorp. Purely business. Nopony had brought it up, but the tensions and raw feelings of the day before still lingered in each of their hearts.

The awkward silence hung over them, feeling like the atmosphere had somehow solidified into ice, until Dawning willed himself to break it.

“So…” he said, unslinging his saddlebags and pulling out his shirt and cloak. “We all know what we’re doing?”

As one, the group nodded, reciting their roles one after the other. “Quicksnap and I look for dirt on Lex,” Lucky said.

“I keep watch,” Rainbow added.

“You and I try to find your ship,” said Fluttershy.

“And I attend the charity ball and provide a distraction,” Rarity finished. Even despite the serious mood, she couldn’t help but tilt her head just a bit, letting her necklace catch the moonlight and her mane sway in the breeze.

As Dawning finished slipping into his shirt, he paused. “…look, you don’t have to put yourselves on the line like this. I can do it myself, nopony else has to take the fall but me if things go wrong. If anyone wants to back out–”

“Let’s just…” Lucky interrupted curtly, before pausing abruptly as she gave Dawning another look. When she resumed, her voice wasn’t necessarily gentle, but it was at least a small degree softer. “...let’s get it done.”

Dawning looked around to each of the others. As one, they all nodded in silent solidarity.

“…alright, then,” Dawning sighed, slipping his cloak over himself. “Let’s do it.”

“Déjà vu here in Manehattan this evening as the city once again plays host to a high profile, high society event. This time it’s LexCorp’s charity ball, with all the proceeds being set to go towards repairing the damages left by the Bronclyn bridge disaster and the Constitution hijacking. As a matter of fact, several attendees were victims of the Constitution attack. Additionally, extra donations have been pouring in from all over the country to aid in reconstruction and damage control, even from as high up as the Crown itself.

“Obviously since recent events, there have been a number of concerns raised about the security of this event, but LexCorp’s Public Relations department has quickly and enthusiastically reassured the citizens of Manehattan that top-tier LexCorp security will be in place. Faust willing, this will be one party that nopony will be breaking into this time.”

“Rarity, Rarity, Rarity…” murmured the young guardspony as he looked over the guest list. “Ah, there you are. Sorry, took a moment to find you on the list.”

“Oh that’s quite alright, darling,” Rarity replied with a light-hearted chuckle. “I was a bit of a last-minute sign-up.”

“Well, you’re cleared, so…” The guard lit up his horn, and the velvet rope barrier stretched across the entrance to the LexCorp Plaza lifted aside. “Enjoy the party.”

“Thank you kindly, darling,” Rarity smiled as she passed by. She thought she caught him blushing slightly, but between the green-and-black LexCorp Security armor he wore, and her own general tension, she found herself not quite as amused as she normally would’ve been.

Passing through the gates, Rarity found herself mostly unsurprised by the vast, sprawling scene that now occupied the center of the LexCorp Plaza. Once more the place had been redecorated for public use–albeit semi-public in this case–but with far more extravagance and class. Spotlights projected rays of shimmering white light into the void of the night sky above, like at a theater or some other grand venue. There were glowing amber lanterns strung all about from poles erected across the plaza, providing a warm, relaxing glow to the area. Tapestries and banners were hung from the sides of the plaza’s buildings or between the poles, some as general artistic decor, others bearing the Equestrian flag–For a patriotic touch, Rarity supposed. Dozens and dozens of seating arrangements had been set up, and off to the sides were much longer tables laden with a buffet of foods and desserts. There must have been no less than forty cakes spread out amongst each of the food tables. The centermost area of the plaza was cleared out and empty, allowing the patrons to dance at their leisure to a live orchestral band on the stage where Tech Lexicon himself had spoken days before.

It all felt familiar to her, in more ways than one. Never mind her extensive experience of mingling with various socialites over the years; only a few days ago there had been the Constitution. It wasn’t just the tension of playing distraction that held her nerves, not after how that night had gone.

But at least LexCorp seemed to be living up to its promises of maximum security. The guardsponies at the gate were far from the only guards out and about tonight; all along the walls of the plaza, inside and out, small squads of armored and assault rifle-armed LexCorp security troopers marched from one end to the other, vigilantly watching over the guests and beyond. In the air amidst the bright spotlights, thin red beams of lasers glowed as they crisscrossed the sky. At intervals along the walls, and even mounted atop certain buildings, were large, bulky missile turrets, slowly rotating this way and that like gigantic pairs of binoculars, scanning the sky for incoming threats.

Everyone else probably felt put at ease by all the weaponry. Rarity, for her own part, found herself worrying all the more for her companions. Dawning might be able to navigate past them, she thought to herself, trying to tackle her worries. He’s fast enough and he’s accustomed to moving with stealth. But the others…can they all make it through? Oh Celestia, maybe this was a bad idea after all…

She took a breath. Just mingle, Rarity, she told herself. You know very well how to carry yourself at parties. Do your part. Trust in your friends to do theirs.

“Miss Rarity?” It was Mayor Policy approaching her through the crowd. “Why I’m…well, I’ll be frank, I’m a little surprised to see you out this evening after…well…”

Rarity chuckled lightly. “And miss the chance to contribute to a worthy cause and rub elbows with Manehattan’s finest? I should think not!”

“Hey, Squad Three, Overwatch here, you read me?”

“Overwatch, this is Squad Three, what’s up?”

“You mind looking that way?”

“Beg your pardon?”

“We just got a blip on the radar here, real fast, came and went between sweeps before we could get a good look at it. Should’ve passed right over you. You guys seen anything out there?”

“Uh, no. Did you? How about you? No, we haven’t. Just a breeze just before you checked in. Think it might’ve been your bogey?”

“Buck if I know. I mean, it could’ve been a bird or something…but look, keep an eye out, and if you see anything weird you check it in ASAP. Mr. Lexicon is real high strung over this whole Supermane thing and he’ll have our hides if something slips past.”

“Don’t need to tell me twice. We’ll keep an eye out. Over and out.”

There was very little polish to the maintenance corridors beneath the surface of the LexCorp Plaza. They were all dim lighting just bright enough to functionally see in, grated floors, and clusters of pipes and conduits running up and down the labyrinth of tunnels throughout the complex, feeding the laboratories and essential systems. For the most part, the maintenance tunnels were untraversed save for technicians making the occasional routine check or to patch some system that needed repair or upgrading, leaving them empty with the ambience of running gas or liquids in the pipes, and the dull electronic drone of wires and the lights.

The ambience of one such corridor was broken by a sizzling buzz as a glowing dot of superheated metal appeared in the ceiling. It moved around in a wide, circular course, raining little droplets of molten metal on the floor below, at last stopping once it had looped back around to its starting point. With a brief screech of sliding metal, the circular cutout fell to the floor with a heavy thud that echoed down the corridor, letting a beam of moonlight shine down.

One after another, the party of infiltrators dropped down into the corridor. First Dawning Hope, with Fluttershy and Lucky clinging to his sides beneath his cape, then followed by Rainbow Dash, holding on to Quicksnap. As they all let go of one another and stepped onto the corridor floor, they breathed a sigh of collective relief.

“Are you sure we got past the guards, Dawning?” Fluttershy asked, panting for breath.

“I hope so,” Dawning answered as he hefted the cut piece of ceiling over his head, and floated up to it back into the hole. “I tried my best to time our leap between radar sweeps, so hopefully we were fast enough to not get picked up. At least not for long enough to be noticed.”

“So like, you can actually see radar?” Rainbow asked.

“Mhm,” Dawning nodded without looking. Instead he concentrated his eyes on heating the seam between the cutout and the rest of the ceiling. “Radio, infrared, ultraviolet, I can see all of that if I want to.”

“Awesome,” Rainbow said, sounding genuinely impressed.

Finally Dawning finished wielding the ceiling back shut, lowering back to the ground. “I just hope I didn’t cut any vital circuits…” He muttered.

“You don’t have, like, electric vision too?” Lucky asked.

Given her mood, Dawning wasn’t quite sure if her question was sincere or sardonic, but he opted to answer earnestly anyway. “Afraid not.”

“What about your ship?” Quicksnap asked. “See anything that looks remotely, uh…spaceship-y?”

Dawning decided to check; peeling away the surrounding walls with his x-ray vision, he searched for anything that might look remotely extraterrestrial in origin. But alas, just a few levels down from them, the lead barrier was still there, obscuring all but the laboratories most immediately under the surface. “No,” he sighed. “Still not through the shielding yet. We’ll have to go deeper in.”

“Great,” grumbled Lucky. “Combing through a technological maze for an alien UFO and incriminating corporate dirt. This is gonna be a cakewalk.”

“We should get to walking on that cake, then,” Fluttershy said. “Um, in a manner of speaking, I mean.”

“Well, Dawning?” said Rainbow. “You’re the one with the x-ray eyes. Lead the way.”

Dawning took a breath. “Alright…let’s go,” he finally said, stepping in front of the others and taking point down into the industrial labyrinth of LexCorp.

“And I just said that of course Bright Moon would just send a check and her regards, she hasn’t shown her face in public for years. An utter recluse, that one. Her parents would have shown up in person for sure, Faust rest their souls, but their little Bright…poor thing never did grow up quite right after Crime Alley, I don’t think…”

“Oh, of course, it’s quite tragic,” Rarity nodded. In truth though, she was only half-listening. She barely even remembered the name of the mare she was currently chitchatting with.

Were it any other occasion, Rarity would be throwing herself into the social life of the party with gusto. The fashions, the gossip, all of it she would have gladly allowed herself to melt into for a while. But despite her best efforts and commitment, she found it hard to take her mind off the task of her compatriots. She kept taking quick glances at the roving patrols, the spinning radar dishes, the rotating turrets, as if she expected them to light up with gunfire at intruders at any moment.

If only I had somepony else up here with me to shoulder it, she thought to herself. I should have asked one of them to stay, either Fluttershy or Rainbow Dash at least.

And then suddenly across the crowd, out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a familiar color palette, a familiar mane and tail cut, a familiar stature, a familiar broken horn. Tempest Shadow. She’d long since traded in her Storm King Armada armor plating, now wearing the dark blue suit and black tie of a military official. Her back was turned to Rarity, but it seemed she was engaged in conversation; Rarity just couldn’t tell with whom.

“Actually, um, do you mind if I excuse myself?” Rarity said politely to the other mare. “There’s somepony I’ve been looking to talk with all night.”

“Huh?” The other mare blinked, like she needed a second to catch up; she looked like she’d been more focused on merely talking than talking with Rarity. “Oh, um, sure, if you must.” She sounded a little miffed that her stream of gossip had been curtailed. Nonetheless, Rarity gave her a polite nod and hurried off, weaving through the crowd.

Truthfully, she didn’t know Tempest that well. Out of all of the Elements, Twilight was really the one closest to her; certainly close and trusting enough to appoint her as Captain of the Royal Guard, which in turn would make her responsible for overseeing all of the upcoming renovations to the armed forces. Reformed though she may have been, she still retained a no-nonsense, straightforward air about her, and Rarity knew she wasn’t one for idle chitchat.

Still, at least she was a familiar face. Maybe Rarity couldn’t confide everything she and her friends were up to to her just yet, but perhaps talking with somepony she at least somewhat knew would take some of the edge off of her tension–

Then she saw with whom she was actually talking with and screeched to a halt in as discreet and ladylike a fashion as she could manage.

Tech Lexicon and Merciful Grace. Or more specifically, it was to Lex himself whom Tempest was speaking with; Mercy stood behind her employer as silent and at attention as Tempest’s personal guards.

A shudder went down Rarity’s spine. She’d been hoping to avoid him as much as she could, and yet now she’d gone and practically blundered right into him.

“…very happy to have such a large donation from the Princess,” Lex was saying, sounding pleased. “Truly, I’m very happy to have your support.”

“Don’t read too deep into it, Mr. Lexicon,” Tempest answered. It was hard for Rarity to discern if she was just talking in her usual tone of voice or if she sounded especially disinterested in Lex. “The check is solely for the charity drive and I’m only here to deliver it in lieu of Twilight Sparkle’s inability to attend and with her regards. This isn’t any sort of favoritism. You’ll have to wait for your contract review like everypony else in line.”

“But of course,” Lex replied, waving it off as though it was a silly insinuation she was making. “Though I will say, I am looking forward to giving the Royal Guard a grand tour of our Guardian Angel products. Forgive me a little presumption, but I think you’ll find them quite enticing.”

“We’ll see about that,” Tempest said, unflinching as a stone. “Your company’s technologies are advanced, that much is true. Some might even call them ‘over-engineered’, or ‘too expensive to be practical.’ You’d better have some good reasons why we should buy one of your laser-armed mech walkers when we could buy half a dozen tanks from Crystaller for half the price.”

“Oh, come now, Captain Shadow,” Lex said with a smile. “You’re a soldier by trade, aren’t you? Surely you understand the merits of having a tactical advantage over one’s enemies, potential or otherwise. Perhaps it might help your decision making to consider the future.”

“And it might help you to work on a better pitch. You can spin up all the press and hype you want to the average pony, you tell them how much safer Equestria will be with a LexCorp gun in every guardspony’s hooves…but it’s the job of ponies like me to think a little bit harder about what actually will work out the best for this country’s wellbeing.” She paused, as though she wanted what she said next to stick. “And your involvement in that is not guaranteed.”

Lex’s smile was unwavering, but something rippled almost unseen through his face. A flinch, a twitch. Something that wanted to be much louder than that, something that he fought back to keep within. “Well,” he said, pleasant as ever. “Nothing is set in stone, that much is true. Well just have to, ah…wait and see, hm?” He straightened himself up, adjusted his tie. “Regardless, tell the Princess for me that I appreciate her donation. I’ll see to it that it goes forward to where her people need it most.”

Without further word to Lex, and with a nod to her guards, Tempest turned away, her escort following close on either side of her. She hadn’t walked far when she spotted Rarity, stopping and raising her eyebrows as if mildly surprised to see her.

Rarity, for her own part, smiled in some small relief at seeing a familiar face. “Why, Tempest!” she said cheerily. “What a surprise to see you here this evening, darling!”

“I could say the same of you,” Tempest replied. She didn’t smile–she rarely did–but Rarity could sense a positive note in her speech. Tempest took a step closer, dropping her voice just a bit lower. “How’s your business in Manehattan been going?”

Of course, Rarity thought. She wasn’t sure how many others in Twilight’s inner circle at Canterlot knew of their clandestine mission to Manehattan, but it stood to reason that she would at least tell Tempest about it. For a moment, Rarity was tempted to tell her everything they had learned, but especially about Lex.

But just over Tempest’s shoulder she could see him right there, maybe too far away to hear them too closely, but his eyes were squarely on her, and that was enough to get her to think more sensibly.

“Oh, just wonderful,” Rarity casually replied. “It’s going very well. Thank you for asking.”

To Rarity’s relief, Tempest didn’t press further. Instead, she just gave her a polite but silent nod, and continued on away with her escort.

“I must say, I’m quite surprised to see you myself.”

Somehow, by some feat of self-restraint, Rarity suppressed the urge to jump at hearing Tech Lexicon’s voice right behind her, and willed himself to turn around. Lex hadn’t changed much since she had last seen him in person. He was wearing a much dapper-looking tuxedo compared to his usual business suit, and his curly red mane looked a bit neater, but it was still the same Tech Lexicon she had met days ago at the Lexpo. The same confident, charming, green-eyed face.

Everything about him was the same.

Except for what she now knew of him and his dirty little secrets.

“I thought that after the Constitution,” Lex continued in a voice as smooth as oil. “You’d be a bit more…reluctant to attend public events in Manehattan.”

“Moi? Pass up a high-class charity event?” Rarity beamed back at him, smoothly pasting on a mask of charm to cover up the squirming nausea in her guts. “You must have me confused with somepony else, Mr. Lexicon. Besides, darling, I faced down Chrysalis, Tirek, and Cozy Glow all at once. Some would-be robbers don’t frighten me. And of course, Supermane was there to help.”

For a fraction of a second, Rarity could have sworn she saw a flash of envy in Lex’s green eyes. “Yes, well…thank Faust for small mercies, hm?”

“Yes, indeed.”

“Incidentally where are your friends tonight?” Lex asked “I’d have thought that Fluttershy would wish to make an appearance, at the least. I know she’s fond of charity work as well.”

“I’m afraid that she…” Rarity’s mind raced as she tried to come up with an excuse. “She was more rattled by the attack on the Constitution than she let on,” Rarity finally said. “Poor dear, she was too frightened to risk another public event that ended in catastrophe. And Rainbow Dash was entirely disinclined to attend yet another ‘snooty black-tie’ event that would have required her to dress up, so she volunteered to stay and keep Fluttershy company.”

“Ah, I see,” Lex nodded. “I admit, I’m rather disappointed; I was hoping that I could get them to advocate Princess Twilight on my behalf regarding my business.”

“Oh, do tell me more about that, Mister Lexicon,” Rarity said, fixing a smile of polite interest onto her face. “Princess Twilight is always intrigued by new scientific developments.”

The orchestra suddenly started up a lively waltz which made Lex’s ears perk up. “Perhaps over a dance, Miss Rarity?” He extended a hoof graciously. “If you’d care to, that is.”

Rarity would have rather done anything but, but she remembered why she was here: Keep him distracted so the others have a chance to search the labs. Swallowing her distaste, she fixed him with a charmed smile and fluttering eyelids. “You flatter me, Mister Lexicon. Of course,” she said, taking the proffered limb.

Lex’s hoof was immaculately clean, his hold on her gentle, and she saw no gleam of lust within his eyes or smile. He carried himself as a perfect gentlestallion.

She felt like she was holding hooves with the clawed paw of a tiger that would maul her if it sensed the slightest bit of fear.

As Lex guided her towards the dance floor, Rarity caught a quick glimpse of Merciful Grace behind them. There was an envious glare on her face as she watched Rarity and Lex trot off together. Or maybe it was suspicion; Mercy’s face was about as stone cold stoic as Tempest’s. Either way, it didn’t make her feel much better.

Still, as they passed beneath the overhead lights, and as she saw Lex’s eyes glimmering beneath them, Rarity knew that she’d gotten him hooked; there is very little in the world that an egotist loves more than to talk about himself. So as they began to dance together, stepping and swaying in synchronization to the music, and as his words rushed over her in a wave of distinct noise, Rarity took some comfort in that she was doing her job; his attention was solely on boasting to her, and hopefully not at all on what might be going on in his labs far below.

The air duct that Dawning and his companions found themselves in was far more cramped than the maintenance tunnel network they had left from, all smooth, dark metal that creaked uncomfortably around them as they went, lined with bits and rows of accumulated dust along the edges and corners. They had to crawl through one after the other, with little room to stand or even to move between the walls on either side. Perpetual wafts of air-conditioned flow blew through their clothing and across their fur, giving them goosebumps, sending chills up and down their bodies, and wafting little motes of dust across their nostrils. They moved slowly and stealthily, talking only in the quietest of whispers and taking care to not make too much noise in the echoing metal tunnels.

Only Dawning moved through with any sort of ease; still at the head of the group, scanning with x-ray vision, he did not crawl, but rather hovered just a few inches above the floor of the air duct. Only the trailing ends of his cloak touched and dragged along the floor and walls as he hovered forward, silent as a ghost.

In a way he almost felt it was unfair to the others. Here he was, able to move with barely any sound, and then there was everypony else having to take great pains to be as quiet as possible. It made him feel like he was putting himself above them, somehow, and he didn’t like that feeling.

No, not “above”. Just…different.

Alone.

“Are you sure you can’t see anything that might be useful?” Rainbow asked in a hushed whisper, way back at the tail end of the group; it still echoed just a bit too loud for everyone’s liking.

Dawning shook his head, then remembered that, unlike him, she couldn’t see all the way to the other end of the line. “No,” he whispered back. “I…hang on.”

He made another sweep with his x-ray vision. There were no guards in the halls below where they were. Just up ahead in the air ducts, there was a kind of junction point where the tunnels came together, widening and opening up considerably.

“Up ahead,” he whispered. “Let’s rest here.”

The group made their way the rest of the distance until they had reached the junction, stretching their limbs as much as they could after they squeezed out of the tunnel. Sure enough, while the junction was still cramped and dark, it was at least open enough to allow the group to all fit in together with at least some wiggle room.

“No guards around,” Dawning said once they were all in. “I think we can afford to talk for a bit.”

“Okay, so,” started Lucky. “Seriously, what actually is our game plan here? Is there anything you can see that you think might give us some leads.”

“Look, I’m sorry,” Dawning replied, his voice a mixture of irritation and general stress at their lack of progress. “I can’t just look around at a whole complex like this and instantly find what I’m looking for.”

“Isn’t that literally how you found out about Girder though?” Rainbow asked.

“That was different, Rainbow, that was a few paper files in a single parked trailer. A lot easier to search through all at once.”

Fluttershy inched away from the others as they started to bicker, as much as the space of the junction would allow her. She was just near the mouth of one of the adjacent air ducts when her ears perked up at something down the tunnel. She stuck her head into the opening, listening for a moment before, unnoticed by the others, squirming down into the tunnel.

“Look, we can’t just keep wandering around aimlessly,” Lucky went on. “Or else we’re just gonna keep staggering around through vents and corridors all night or until someone finds us and then what are we going to do?”

“I know that,” answered Dawning. “But what else can we do? Unless we find something up here or get past that shielding–”

“Well gee,” Lucky snapped back. “Maybe it would’ve been nice if we’d actually thought of a more solid plan than ‘just sneak into the labs and wait for something to magically pop up!’ At this rate you might as well have just flown in and smashed through the walls without us!”

“Can we, uh, please keep the volume down?” Quicksnap asked, cringing against the wall. “Y’know, so the guards don’t find us?”

Dawning was about to say something–either a retort to Lucky or an agreement with Quicksnap, he hadn’t made up his mind yet–when he felt a hoof tap at his shoulder. It was Fluttershy. “Um, excuse me?” she said meekly. “I…think I may have found us a lead.”

Everyone went quiet, staring at her. Lucky leaned forward. “Where?”

Fluttershy nodded back at the duct she had come from. “This way. Come on, quickly. Keep quiet,” she said before ducking back into the tunnel.

Quickly, one after the other with Dawning Hope once again taking the lead, Lucky right behind him, the group followed her into the air duct, moving as fast as they could through the metal tunnel without making a sound. After a tense few moments of crawling, they came to another section where the tunnel widened out slightly, this one around a grate in the floor; or rather, in the ceiling they were overhead of.

Fluttershy crawled around to the other side of the grate, then pointed down at it and made a “shush” motion with her hoof. Cautiously and carefully, Dawning and Lucky crept forward side by side to peek through.

Below was what looked like an office mixed with a small laboratory. In the middle of the room and slightly to the left was a table bearing what looked like various instruments of science. To the right, against the wall, was a simple but wide wooden desk, laden with a desktop computer, a printer, a messy assortment of papers, crumpled styrofoam cups, and a small number of personal effects, like a few framed pictures, or a mounted diploma on the wall it stood against. Off to one side nearby, sitting atop a cart, was a large, heavy looking metallic box.

Seated by the desk was an earth pony stallion, with green fur and a blonde mane and tail, and dressed in a lab coat. He was slumped forward in his chair as he watched the printer churning out papers, his haggard face illuminated by the light of his computer monitor. He was holding an empty cup between his hooves, turning it over as he mumbled to himself.

“…some scientist you turned out to be, Green Vale,” he was saying. “All those years studying at MTI, everyone telling you ‘oh Green, you’re so bright, you’ll make a great scientist’ or…or ‘go work for LexCorp, they’d love to have somepony as brilliant as you, technology is the future, Green Vale…’” He chuckled dryly. “And what do you get for it? Working for a bucking stuck-up-his-own-ass narcissist and…and…” He suddenly pursed his lips, and abruptly, angrily crumpled up the cup in his hooves. “…plotting murder.”

Green Vale pulled back his foreleg as if he was about to hurl the destroyed cup against a wall, his body quivering…then paused, and slowly lowered his hoof and merely gave it a light toss across the floor. He spun around in his chair, leaning back and putting his head in his hooves. “Can’t even…” he mumbled. “Faust, you pathetic, spineless wimp…”

The printer beeped, and the torrent of papers ceased. Green Vale looked up from his wallowing, sighed, and leaned forward to collect the papers together, stuffing them into a manilla folder he took from the desk. He tapped a few buttons on the keyboard of his computer, then tucked the folder under the crook of one foreleg and stood up.

“Some scientist…” he mumbled as he passed out of view. “Mom would be so proud…”

The lights clicked off, there was the sound of a door opening, closing, and locking with an electronic click, and then Green Vale was gone.

For about a few seconds, no one in the air duct dared breathe, until Quicksnap spoke up from behind Dawning and Lucky. “Dawning? What do you see down there, anything he might’ve left behind?”

Dawning peered down, not just looking through the grate, but through the walls of the tunnel with x-ray vision, looking for any parts of the little office that they might not have been able to see immediately.

He was just looking in the direction of the desk when he suddenly froze, eyes widening. “…oh Faust…” he whispered.

“What?” Lucky asked. “What is it?”

Suddenly, Dawning’s eyes flared bright red, one, two, three, four times in rapid succession. The four corners of the grate flashed and sparked white hot with sudden heat, and the others cried out in alarm as they recoiled back. “Dawning, what the heck?!” Rainbow cried.

Dawning ignored her. With a kick he dislodged the grate, and dropped down into the room. His hooves had barely touched the floor before he bounded forward in a single step, cloak billowing behind him.
The others exchanged looks of worried confusion, and, one after another, dropped down through the opened grate after him, Quicksnap helping Lucky down to a smooth landing with his wings. “Dawning, for Celestia’s sake,” Lucky demanded once she was down. “What’s got you so…so…oh…”

Dawning stood before the desk, looking up at a large bulletin board on the wall, just off to the left of the computer. His eyes were wide with horror, and he stood quietly, still save for a tremble in his hooves and the sound of stressed breaths drawn in and out.

Tacked all across the board were pictures. Pictures of him. At night, in his Supermane outfit. They all looked like they were taken from a distance, but zoomed in to focus squarely on him. Some were normal color photos. Others looked like they were taken in infrared or ultraviolet, or some other form of scientific scan. There were other things tacked up on the board as well. Data charts. Printed sheets of text and figures. Hasty scribblings on sticky notes.

The others came up alongside Dawning, joining him in staring at the board’s contents as the weight of what they were looking at set in. “Oh my…” Fluttershy whispered.

Lucky leaned forward. “Wait…that’s the Bronclyn Bridge,” she said, pointing to one particular batch of photos. One was an overhead shot of Dawning approaching the burning, smoldering bridge. Another was him lifting up a chunk of one of the suspension towers. A third was of the moment the second bomb had exploded in his face within the bridge’s structure. There were notes and figures typed within each of the photos; his airspeed at the time of approach, the estimated weight of the chunk and the presumed force of his lift, the explosive yield of the bomb.

“Hey, these ones here,” Rainbow added, pointing at another set. “These look like they’re from the Constitution fight.”

Photographs and x-ray scans of Supermane battling Bronze Corsair’s pirates, aboard and within the airship. An infrared readout of his maximum projected heat vision temperature. Rainbow picked up a binder from the desk and flipped it open; inside were about ten pages worth of listings for what looked like various weapons, with notations off to the right. Some had little icons off to the left; they looked like firearms.

LXP-45 Pistol – Negligible effect

LXA-53 Submachine Gun – Negligible effect

LXR-15 Assault Rifle – Negligible effect

LXM-60 Heavy Machine Gun – Negligible effect

LXS-24 Personal Mortar Launcher – Target repelled by explosive force; no discernible long-term effect

LXB-16 Surface-to-Air Guided Missile Launcher – Target repelled by explosive force; no discernible long-term effect

LXA-102 Particle Beam Phalanx– Unknown, untested

Nirik Arcane Fire – Target experienced distress upon contact; no discernible long-term effect

Changeling Neurotoxin Exposure – Unknown, untested

Nuclear Fission Radiation Exposure – Unknown, untested

K643 Radiation Exposure – Simulations in progress

“Faust…” Rainbow whispered as she flipped through the pages. “They haven’t even tried half of the stuff listed here…” She flipped back to the first page and squinted. “Hey, wait a sec…this looks like the gun I found,” she said, pointing to the icon labeled “LXM-60 Heavy Machine Gun”; indeed the silhouette looked remarkably similar to the gun she had found aboard the Constitution.

Lucky, meanwhile, had turned her attention to the computer terminal on the desk. “Fluttershy, you didn’t happen to see what he was doing on this, did you?”

Fluttershy shook her head. “I couldn’t make it out from up there. Sorry.”

Lucky frowned as she looked down cluelessly at the keyboard. “I don’t know much about computers…”

“Lemme try,” Quicksnap offered. Lucky stood aside and let him sit down before the computer, watching from behind as he worked the keys and mouse. “Talk about a lucky break,” he said. “Poor guy didn’t even bother to turn it off, we don’t even have to worry about a password…ah here we go, ‘Recently Closed Programs’.” He pointed at a tab he’d opened in the upper left corner of the screen. The topmost listing read “Radiological/Bio-Cellular Effect Analysis”.

“Load it up,” Lucky told Quicksnap. “Let’s see what he was looking at.”

Quicksnap nodded, clicking with the mouse.

But instead of a full program, a pop-up appeared instead:

ATTENTION!

This program contains Level 3 confidential company research information. Please enter a valid admin password to continue.

Quicksnap huffed through his nostrils. “Oh, now we’ve got to worry about passwords.”

“Damn…” Lucky sighed. She looked at the mess of papers scattered about the desk. “It might be written down here somewhere…in a drawer or something somewhere…he was absent-minded enough to leave his computer on and unattended, after all. Dawning, think you might be able to x-ray-spot anything in here?”

Dawning didn’t answer. He was still staring up at the board, eyes wide as he looked over all the pictures and data of himself. His ears drooped back, his flesh felt clammy, there was a horrible knot in his stomach, and a shudder running deep within his body that he couldn’t stop.

He’d hoped that he’d just been paranoid when he figured that Lex was out to kill him. He wanted to be wrong, so so desperately. But here it was, all spelled out and confirmed. All this time, they had been watching him. Studying him. Diagraming him like a butcher preparing to carve up a carcass. Dawning Hope had had people and things try to kill him before, that wasn’t new to him.

But to see someone plotting to kill him to this extent, this level of dedication to working out how to do it, to know someone hated his very existence on this planet so much that they planned all of this…it chilled him to his core in a way he hadn’t felt since he’d first learned of his origins.

All this time, Dawning Hope had lived in fear that if the world knew what he really was, they would try to destroy him out of fear and loathing of the different, or dissect him for the “science” of it. And now, here was his greatest fear staring him right in the face.

And then another thought crossed his mind: every single photo and scan of the disasters Lex had unleashed upon Manehattan focused solely on him, and him alone. There wasn’t a single bit of focus on any of the bystanders or victims, not even any sort of clinical number of how many were present.

They don’t care, Dawning thought with a chill. They don’t care how many they have to go through to get to me. He felt sick and cold all over, and a sickly feeling of self-disgust came over him as once again the thought came creeping into his mind:

If you had kept yourself hidden, this wouldn’t be happening. To you or to anypony else.

“Dawning?” Lucky asked again, sounding concerned as she watched him stare blankly at the board. “Are…you doing okay?”

Dawning blinked, shaking his head. “I…no…sorry. Uh, give me a minute, I’ll see if I can find anything…”

And it’ll get my eyes off of…that.

Dawning looked around, scanning through the desk with his x-ray vision. He had just looked towards the left and was about to sweep his gaze rightward, when something caught his attention out of the corner of his eye: the metal box on the cart. He’d forgotten it was there, he’d been so preoccupied with everything else, but now as he looked back at the box he noticed something peculiar about it.

He couldn’t see through it. Everything else in the room yielded easily to his x-ray vision, but he could not see through the metal box at all.

Dawning took a step closer towards the box, looking it over normally. It was a dark metallic gray in color, reinforced at the seams and edges with gleaming steel. There was a numerical keypad lock on one side, and stamped on the box were two prominent labels; one was a radiation hazard symbol, the other a single alphanumeric marking: “K643”.

“Whatcha looking at now, Dawning?” Rainbow asked. She took a step closer to the box and squinted at the label. “Hey, wait a sec…’K643’, that’s on the list here.”

“The scientist was just closing that box when I first looked through the vent,” Fluttershy noted. “I…didn’t get a good look at what was inside, but it looked green. Or, glowing green, anyway.”

“He had it open?” Quicksnap asked, his face looking pale. “Oh geez…is the room irradiated, are we contaminated or something?”

“I…I don’t think so,” Dawning answered. “I can’t imagine he’d just handle something radioactive without a suit if it was.”

“But what is this K643 thing?” Lucky pressed. “I mean…obviously we know it’s some weapon for Dawning, but what is it, did the papers say anything about that?”

“I didn’t see anything,” replied Rainbow.

“Neither did I,” added Quicksnap. “Might be something about it on that program he was running, but, y’know…password.”

Dawning looked back at the lead-lined box. It was surreal, knowing that there was something inside meant to end his life–or at least try to–and he couldn’t see it. What is it? A ray? A chemical? An isotope? What?

The knot in his stomach tightened. There was a part of him that wanted to rip the box wide open and see what fresh horror Tech Lexicon planned to unleash on Manehattan’s denizens…and him. Still staring at the box, with movement so slow it almost seemed unconscious, his right hoof began to lift up towards it…

Ha-la, Kal-El.

The voice. The alien voice from his dreams.

Only this time, he was wide awake. He had never, ever heard that voice while he was awake before.

Dawning jumped back so hard his hooves very nearly left the ground. His eyes were wide in surprise, and his ears flicked up and around like radar dishes even as he swung his head left to right and back again.

The others leapt back themselves, startled by his sudden motion. “Dawning?!” Lucky yelped. “What’s going on?!”

“Did anyone else hear that?!” Dawning asked, his voice frantic.

“Hear what?” Rainbow asked back in bewilderment.

“I…” Dawning shook his head, confused now himself. “I heard a voice, just now, like how I told you in my sleep I sometimes–”

Ha-la, Kal-El.

“That,” Dawning insisted. “You…you really can’t hear that?”

“Dawning…” Fluttershy pointed at him with a hoof. “…your shirt.”

Dawning’s eyes darted down to his chest, and he froze anew.

His shirt was glowing. From between the red paint of the symbol on the chest, there was a bright, green-blue glow emanating for all to see.

No, wait… he realized almost instantly. It’s not my shirt or me, it’s the…oh Faust…

Quickly, Dawning Hope pulled open the collar of his shirt, and was just about to reach in when the alien crystal suddenly, impossibly, lifted out and up into the air all on its own. Dawning couldn’t help but gasp as the aquamarine light it now emitted bathed his face and eyes, and heard a faint, gentle ringing sound in the air, like a freshly tapped glass. The icicle-like crystal hovered horizontally in the air, its flattened back end facing Dawning, so that he was looking straight into the curling S-like symbol carved into it, mirroring the much cruder one he wore on his chest.

His jaw worked up and down like a gasping fish, trying and failing to form even hushed whispers of awe. His companions slowly crept closer, huddling around him as they stared at the wondrous alien crystal themselves.

“It’s…it’s never done that before, has it?” Fluttershy asked quietly.

Dawning shook his head. “No…” he answered, not breaking his gaze from the crystal. “Never…”

Na-vida, Kal-El. Na-vida.

Dawning had eyes and ears locked firmly on the crystal where it floated before him, and yet felt no sound touch his ears; and yet, there was the voice again. At once, Dawning understood. He wasn’t really hearing the voice, at least not with his ears. He was hearing it in his mind.

Then the crystal began to hover forward, and he felt a soft tug at the back of his neck as the cord it was attached to pulled against him. Before his eyes, it angled its tapered front end up and around, until both Dawning and the crystal were facing back up towards the opened air vent they had entered from.

Na-vida, Kal-El, came the telepathic whisper of the crystal. Dawning still had no clue what exactly the alien words truly meant, but by now he thought he understood what they were trying to tell him. “Come. Follow me.”

Dawning began to step forward, as though the crystal were leading him in a trance.

“Hey…hey!” Lucky called, rushing forward and gripping his shoulder. “Where are you going?! We still have to–”

“I have to know!” Dawning answered, sharply but desperately, as he whirled around and spun out of
Lucky’s grasp. Lucky recoiled, looking hurt. Dawning’s face fell, looking apologetic. The two stared at each other for a moment.

“I…I’m sorry,” Dawning said, much softer this time. “I’m sorry, but…I have to know. I’ve spent so long searching and it’s right here, and…I’m sorry…”

For a moment, Lucky’s face twitched, like she wasn’t sure what to say or feel. Finally, she pursed her lips and huffed through her nostrils. “Fine. Go. We can handle things here on our own.” Without another word, she turned away from Dawning and marched back towards the desk. “Quicksnap,” she called over her shoulder. “Come here and get pictures of these files, then let’s see about cracking this computer open before that scientist comes back.”

“I, um…” Quicksnap looked between Lucky and Dawning, as if torn between the two for a moment. “Yes, Miss Lead,” he finally said, shooting Dawning one last apologetic look before following her. Rainbow did likewise, casting a glance at Dawning before silently taking up her position.

Dawning sighed and turned away, floating up off the ground and back into the air duct. In the darkness of the tunnel, the light of his crystal bathed his face and the metallic walls around him like an aquamarine lantern, the faint ringing seeming all the louder as it echoed through the narrow corridor. Na-vida, Kal-El, it whispered in his mind once more, floating ahead of him at the end of the cord like an impatient dog.

He was just about to start moving when he felt a tug at the end of his cloak. It was Fluttershy, poking her head up through the vent. “I…I’m coming with you,” she said.

Dawning looked at her in surprise. “You…you don’t have to–”

“I do,” she insisted. “I mean…please. I meant what I said yesterday. You don’t have to go through this alone.”

Dawning stared back at her, hesitant. He always imagined that if and when he found his ship, it would be a solitary affair, a private one. It should be that way, he had thought. It had been his journey, his mystery, and he’d kept it to himself for two whole years.

And yet now, as he matched Fluttershy’s gentle gaze, he felt a pang of want for companionship clutch his soul, begging for him to reach out and take the offer. To have at least one pony to share this with.

And so, after a moment, he turned around and reached out to take her hoof in his, and helped her up into the vent. “Come on,” he told her. “We should hurry.”

“It’s an absolutely fantastic material,” Lex was saying to Rarity as they danced to the waltz, spinning and swaying amidst the other partygoers beneath the lights. “Lightweight, flexible, heat-resistant, very durable. It shields against incoming small arms fire far better than Kevlar. It’ll be an absolute boon to our soldiers…and who knows?” He flashed her a smile. “It may have a future place in the fashion industry someday. I’d show the stuff to you, if the formula weren’t confidential right now.”

“Most fascinating. I’m very curious to see the results in time,” Rarity said, doing her best to sound interested and invested.

Fortunately, despite her inner anxieties and worries, she was quite good at it. Half the magic of social interaction was appearances, after all. And in a way, she felt as if she had started to hit her stride; Lex was thoroughly occupied with boasting to her, no obvious alarms had been raised…so far so good, as far as could be told.

Yes, she allowed herself to think with a little pride. I am quite good at this.

“Well,” Lex said, still smiling at her. “I hope you’ll find it more appealing than some of my other ventures.”

Rarity’s stage smile dropped somewhat. “I…don’t quite know what you’re insinuating, Mr. Lexicon.”

Lex chuckled. “Oh come now, don’t think it hasn’t escaped my notice. I saw it at the Lexpo. You and your friends, you’re not too keen on my military products. Your friend Fluttershy raised a few objections, didn’t she?”

For a moment, Rarity felt torn on what to do. Lie further? No…he’s right, it was rather obvious when we met at the Lexpo, no point in denying it…

“Well…I will admit, I do have some similar, ah, reservations…”

“As I’d expect,” Lex chuckled, completely unfazed. “Of course, I trust a mare of your intellect to understand the why’s of it all. I hate to bring up unpleasant experiences, but you yourself have had first-hoof experience of why such measures are necessary, did you not?”

Remembering that awful night with the pirates did send a shudder down Rarity’s spine, but she kept it from showing on her face. “Oh, but of course,” Rarity replied. “But by the same token, you can’t exactly blame me for being a bit, say, perturbed by the idea of such lethal force, even on the side of angels.”

“No, I can’t. I completely understand. But I assure you, Miss Rarity, I’m no power hungry warmonger. I am merely an apostle of the gentle philosophy of deterrence.”

As the band’s waltz slowly came to an end, Lex guided Rarity through the crowd to one of the nearby refreshment tables, off to the side from the dance floor. “And I’ll admit,” he continued, pouring a glass of sparkling cider and offering it to Rarity. “I understand very well what it feels like to be powerless.”

“Do you now?” Rarity asked as she accepted the glass and took a sip. She posed the question politely and with a touch of interest, but inwardly she felt a sardonic flash of incredulity. Him, of all ponies?

“Oh yes,” Lex said with a melancholic sigh as he poured a glass for himself. “I wasn’t born to wealth, you know. All of this…the company, the labs, the technology, even that penthouse of mine, way up high on top of the tower…that was all me, from the sweat of my brow and a head full of ideas.” His gaze wandered away from her, and into the shallow liquid depths of his drink. “My father was, ah…a wretch, shall we say. A washed-up old star watcher living in some backwater farming town. I never knew my mother. Frankly, I don’t know what kind of mare would ever see anything in a stallion like my father. One of life’s great mysteries, I suppose.”

Lex chuckled mirthlessly, shaking his head as he took a sip from his glass. Rarity took the moment to process his words. She knew he was a liar, but she wasn’t about to dismiss something like a less-than-healthy childhood out of hoof. “Oh, dear…were you, um–”

“Physically? Sometimes, on the worst days. But not often. It was mostly neglect. He’d spend the days brooding over star maps and telescopes and rejected theses and bottles of alcohol, and I was left to my own devices most of the time.” Lex stared off aimlessly, leaning against the table. “Everything I learned as a colt was purely self-taught. How to sustain myself, how to comprehend the sciences from the books my father left around…how to not hope. From a young age I learned that there would be nopony to give me a path to deliverance. I would have to forge it for myself.”

Rarity couldn’t help but feel a sense of sympathy welling up within her. Charismatic showstallion he may have been, she felt like at least in this instance he was being completely sincere. In a moment in her mind’s eye, she completely grasped the kind of life and experiences that could have turned a neglected, bright young colt into the Tech Lexicon of today, and she found herself pitying him.

Then she remembered the ponies on the Bronclyn Bridge. And the Constitution. And Girder and his family.

She did pity him. But, she decided, she pitied his victims more.

“So…” she gently asked. “…how did you forge your own path, may I ask? What changed?”

“Well…” Lex said thoughtfully, twirling his glass before looking back at her with a small smile of faux humility. “Let’s just say fate saw fit to grant me a little boon.”

Rarity was about to ask for elaboration–though she already had a feeling she knew what ‘boon’ he was referring to and would never really admit–when Merciful Grace approached the table, looking as ever and yet moving with a subtle urgency. “Mr. Lexicon.”

“Hm? Yes, what is it, Mercy?”

Mercy took a quick glance at Rarity, then leaned in to whisper something in Lex’s ear. Rarity couldn’t make out what she was saying, but watched as Lex’s eyes narrowed as if in interest. He gave Mercy a nod, then turned back to Rarity.

“Do forgive me,” he said politely. “But I’m afraid some important business has come up, I’m going to have to step out for a while.” He stopped to finish his drink in one last swig. “All the same, it’s been a pleasure. Thank you for the dance, Miss Rarity.”

“Oh please, the pleasure was all mine,” Rarity answered with a smile.

But as she watched Lex and Mercy go off together, she felt her stomach tighten into a knot. She was tempted to try following them from a distance and see what was up, but she worried that would also jeopardize what cover she had…if she even had any left.

So much for keeping him occupied…oh, I hope they haven’t found the others out…

Na-vida, Kal-El, whispered the crystal’s voice in Dawning Hope’s mind; it hadn’t changed its tone once, and yet he swore that it was growing more insistent the further they went.

By now, Dawning and Fluttershy were in what they could only describe as the bowels of the maintenance tunnels and ventilation shafts of the LexCorp laboratory complex, several levels down from where they first entered, and well below the office where they had left their compatriots. Contrary to what Dawning had hoped for, there was even more lead shielding in the walls down here, and his x-ray vision had proven as equally useless at navigating through as it had above it.

But that fact bothered him considerably less now that the crystal was…“alive”, he wanted to call it. Its light still shone brightly ahead of them, a beacon in the darkness. Dawning scarcely needed to use his other optical senses to see, and he could tell having an actual source of light was a comfort to Fluttershy. Every once in a while, whenever they came to a turn or a fork or a drop in the tunnels, the crystal would turn or pivot or angle in such a way as though to indicate a direction, and they followed where it pointed.

“How are you doing?” Dawning asked Fluttershy.

“How are you?” she asked in turn.

It wasn’t quite the answer he was looking for, but he at least took it to mean that she was holding up alright. Clearly well enough to be more concerned about him at the moment than herself.

“I…I don’t know,” Dawning admitted. It felt strange, actually talking to another pony about how he was honestly feeling. “I’ve been waiting for this moment for so long, it feels like an eternity. And now I’m here, right at the cusp of it, and…” He stopped moving, trailing off as he allowed himself to rest in the tunnel for a moment. As he did, he watched the alien crystal hovering at the end of its cord before him, the carved “S” symbol reflecting in his sapphire-blue eyes.

“…I don’t know what I’ll find,” Dawning finally continued. “All this time I’ve been so focused on looking for my answers, I’ve never really thought about what they might be. Or…what I might leave behind when I find them. I thought I was more sure of myself, but now…”

Dawning felt a hoof touch his shoulder, and looked back in surprise to see Fluttershy reaching as far as the confines of the tunnel would allow to do so. “It’s okay,” she said gently. “Whatever happens, whatever you find…it’s going to turn out alright.”

Dawning wasn’t sure if he was able to believe her. Nevertheless, he nodded and forced a small smile. “Thanks.”

They crawled for a minute more before the tunnel widened out again, enough for the two to move side by side with one another. Before them was another air duct vent, much more heavy-duty looking than the previous ones they’d encountered, and equipped with shutters that were currently closed. Dawning took a moment to try x-raying through it.

“No good,” he told Fluttershy. “This one’s lead too.”

He heard her gulp. “Only one way to know for sure what’s there, right?” she asked. She was trying to sound nonchalant, but he could tell that she wasn’t exactly fond of not knowing what might lie on the other side, through her own senses or Dawning’s.

“Afraid so,” Dawning replied. He widened his eyes and lit them up with heat, slowly and cautiously melting through the frame of the grate. When it was done, he pushed it loose and pulled it inside to prevent it clattering to the floor of the room they had just breached.

The gray-walled room beyond was massive, the height of a four-story building at least. It was so large that the two ponies couldn’t tell whether it was meant to be a laboratory or a hangar of some kind, though the gigantic doors at the far end seemed to suggest something more of the latter. Across the ceiling were rows of bright white lights to illuminate the space, but the majority of them were turned off, giving the room a gloomy, ominous atmosphere. It was filled with machines. Server racks and computer consoles lined the walls. In a circular circumference on the floor were a number of devices that neither Dawning nor Fluttershy could immediately identify, though they seemed to be sensors of various kinds; dishes, antennae, and geodesic spheres abounded.

And in the middle of the space, seemingly the center focus of all the strange machinery, was a towering crystal spire, rising no less than forty feet up into the air, just a few feet from scraping the ceiling of the massive room. Its surface was smooth and glassy, and there was a subtle corkscrew pattern to its structure, as though it had twisted in its formation. The whole strange object glowed with a faint but noticeable blue light.

Neither Dawning nor Fluttershy had need to point out that it strongly resembled a much larger version of the crystal Dawning wore around his neck. Nor did they need to observe that the same crystal had suddenly started glowing much brighter than it had even before, and it seemed to be tugging impatiently at the cord. And Dawning did not feel the need to verbalize that the voice in his mind, that repeating alien chant of Na-vida, Kal-El, had now definitely taken on an excited, insisting tone and volume in his head.

They both knew exactly what they were looking at, and they stared in slack-jawed awe at the thing they knew to be not of planet Equus.

Dawning’s heart pounded like a drum within his chest, so fast and hard he felt like it would explode, as his body shuddered in a barely-repressed mixture of excitement and terror. For two years he had dreamed of this moment, of the day when the answers to his questions would be right at the tips of his hooves. And now, as he at long last stared at the room which held his secrets, he realized what he had told Fluttershy just shortly before had been right; for all of his plans and hopes and fears and dreams, he had never been truly ready in the slightest.

Dawning took a deep breath, working to settle his nerves enough to think. He took a peek out from the air vent; sure enough, there were small camera arrays in each of the four corners of the room. One, two, three, four flashes of his heat vision later, all four arrays hung limp and motionless and bleeding small sparks.

“What are you doing?” Fluttershy asked.

“Buying time before they realize someone’s in here…hopefully,” Dawning answered. He next turned his heat vision towards the cables connecting the various sensory machines surrounding the crystal spire, cutting through the tangles of wires in a second. “Alright…I think we’re clear.”

The two ponies glided from their perch in the vent, settling down upon the cool floor of the lab below. The crystalline spire had already looked imposingly huge from the vent, but now, standing only a few yards away from it and bathed in its glow, its size and alien nature was all the more daunting.

Slowly, each step weighed with trepidation, Dawning began to approach the crystal spire, one hoof-step at a time. As he slowly approached, he found himself unsure if his heart and body had calmed, or if he was just so transfixed by the spire that he just wasn’t sensing himself anymore; he barely registered his own hoofsteps as he walked. He felt as though his emotions and feelings had risen to a kind of ascension, now beyond anything he could describe in mind or word.

Before he even realized it, Dawning was standing right at the base of the spire, his eyes, face, and body bathed in its angelic blue radiance. The little crystal at his neck now hovered just an inch away from the surface of its larger counterpart, pulling at its cord so tightly now that he half-thought it would snap off. Na-vida, Kal-El! it pleaded in his mind, Na-vida, Kal-El!

From behind, Fluttershy watched with wide eyes and a hoof to her chest, as though to still her own racing heart. She couldn’t imagine exactly how she thought Dawning must be feeling, standing at this final threshold of his journey. But she thought she had a close enough idea to empathize with him. Go on, she silently urged. You can do it.

For a moment longer, Dawning Hope stood at the edge of everything he did not know.

And then, slowly, he reached up with one hoof, took hold of the crystal at his neck, and gently touched its tip to the surface of the gleaming spire.

There was a gentle, glass-like ping as the two crystals made contact. He saw a wave of light flash through the spire from the point of contact.

The voice in his head stopped.

And then suddenly, from the very place he had touched with his crystal, glowing white cracks suddenly began spreading across the surface of the spire, like he’d just thrown a pebble through a window and shattered it. Dawning’s mind became crashingly aware of himself again, and he scrambled backwards, watching in terror as the cracks spread and rose up, up, up across the spire.

“W-what’s happening?!” Fluttershy squeaked in equal alarm. “What’s it doing?!”

“I don’t know!” Dawning cried. Did I do something wrong?!

The cracks continued to spread, until they covered the spire so thoroughly its color had shifted from glowing blue to blinding white. From deep within came a low, throbbing hum that rapidly crescendoed into a deafening roar–

And then the crystal spire exploded into a flashing shower of a thousand small pieces.

Dawning’s eyes widened. In a fraction of a second, he had whirled around and dove towards Fluttershy. “LOOK OUT!”

Fluttershy screamed as Dawning seized her in his hooves, pulling her close against his body and ducking low to shield her from the oncoming barrage, waiting to feel white hot shards slashing against his back…
But it never came. He heard the roar settle back down to the throbbing hum again, but there was no shattering or smashing of crystal shards, nor the sensation of anything striking him or the surrounding environment. What the…

Cautiously, Dawning looked over his shoulder. At the same time, Fluttershy, equally confused, peeked out from behind him, and both gasped at what they saw. The air was filled with a multitude of tiny, glowing white particles, hovering suspended in the air as though frozen solid mid-explosion. Looking at them now, the two ponies realized that they weren’t physical shards; they looked like little floating points of white light, with no physical form that they could maintain. Just light.

And then, slowly but surely picking up speed, the cloud white particles suddenly began to contract to a single point on the floor, like the explosion had been unpaused and now was being rewound. In only a second, the particles had completely disappeared, pulled into the nose of–

Oh Faust, Dawning thought.

It was crystalline in structure, just like Dawning’s little crystal was and the spire had been, and as long as the latter had been tall. But it was much more elaborate, much more elegant in form, like a strange piece of art wrought from glassy, translucent crystal. A smooth oval shape at the front. A body stretching out at the sides into two, manta-like wings, tapering into long, pointed tails that stretched up and away from the hull. A spiked sphere that spun and pulsated an amber yellow color against the silvery-blue hull, giving off the throbbing humming sound as it spun. As soon as the last of the spire’s remains had been pulled into its bow, disappearing through its surface by a means the two ponies couldn’t immediately see, the ship rotated from where its nose had vertically faced the floor, rising to point its bow right at the two.

Its surface was all but featureless, smooth crystal, but inorganic as it was, Dawning and Fluttershy were both hit with the same overwhelming sense that this ship was alive somehow; a living, thinking thing that regarded them with eyes unseen.

Fluttershy gasped in awe. Dawning stared in a dumbstruck stupor.

And then from the vessel came a voice. Out loud, in a tone of clear excitement and happiness. “Ha-la, Kal-El! Ya na-vida tere kessa nes-trota!”

Fluttershy’s ears shot up. “I heard that!” she exclaimed to Dawning. “It wasn’t just you this time, I heard it too!”

Dawning nodded numbly. He wasn’t sure what to say. The alien language spoken aloud to him for the first time in his life, the ship–his ship–hovering before his eyes at long last…so many developments in less than a minute and his brain was still scrambling to catch up.

The voice spoke again, sounding confused. “…Kal-El? Ha-la? Ah,” it said, like it had had a realization. “Va ta ermo. Selta-nama reshta-ing to local language parameters. Re-attempting communication. Many greetings, Kal-El! Your arrival has been greatly anticipated by this vessel!”

Dawning blinked, the sound of the voice suddenly speaking Ponish snapping him out of his stupor. “Wh…you…you can talk?”

It was an obvious question, he knew, but when the ship responded, it was simply matter-of-fact. “Of course, Kal-El. More specifically, this voice is that of the Mark 8.6 Kelex-type operating system in control of this vessel. It is my assigned duty to manage navigational, defensive, and archival functions, and to monitor your health and well-being on our journey to this planet. Please forgive my earlier lapse in communication; from your physical age and of course our lack of contact prior to this point, I should have presumed the possibility that you would not be familiar with our native language.”

“W-wait a minute, wait a minute…” Dawning raised a hoof. “That…that word, ‘Kal-El.’ You keep using it even though you're speaking Ponish now, is…is that my name?”

“Indeed it is,” the ship replied, once again nonchalantly matter-of-fact. “Kal-El of the House of El.”

“Kal-El…” Dawning whispered to himself. All this time, all these years he had heard that word whispered to him in his dreams, he had never thought to wonder if it might be a name, but now…

“Kal-El…Kal-El…” he whispered the name over and over again, holding on to all two syllables of it, taking it for his own with each repetition. In his heart, he felt his fear and anxiety slowly surrendering to a rising warmth of elation, his limbs tingling as a feeling of joy began spreading through his body.

He knew his name. At long last, he knew his name.

“Kal-El…” A smile began to cross his face as he looked back up at the ship. “I’m…I’m Kal-El.”

Behind Dawning, Fluttershy simply sat and watched quietly, a smile crossing her own face as she did. Though suddenly being in the presence of a seemingly intelligent alien spacecraft was certainly mind-blowing and somewhat terrifying, seeing Dawning actually happy, earnestly truly happy, overwrote whatever nervousness she may otherwise have felt.

“It would seem you and I have a great deal to catch up on,” the ship went on. “Circumstances, unfortunately, have kept us apart for far longer than was anticipated. As I have noted, you seem to have reached physical maturity, and I can see that your capabilities under this planet’s environmental conditions have already well manifested themselves. I take it you are mostly unaware of the full extent of your origins, Kal-El?”

“I…yes,” Dawning answered, his joy suddenly tainted with slight bitterness as he hung his head slightly. “I didn’t even know I’m a…not from here until just a few years ago. Up until then I thought…well, I knew about my powers, obviously, I knew I was different, but until then I never thought…”

“I see. A pity. I am afraid that this vessel has been somewhat indisposed in the intervening time frame between our landing and now. After your removal, this vessel entered a state of hibernation pending your assumed return. It was only recently that I was reactivated by an unauthorized attempt at data extraction. The invasion was quite unprecedented; it was not thought that this planet’s native species had developed technology capable of accessing this vessel’s computer systems. I was forced to take extreme defensive measures to prevent further unsolicited data retrieval.”

Dawning’s head snapped up. “Unauthorized…when was this?”

“Approximately ten days ago.”

“Ten days…” Fluttershy repeated, her eyes widening with realization. “That would’ve been–”

“The Lexpo,” Dawning finished. “The pulse, the monorail…that wasn’t anything Lex did…you were just trying to defend yourself.”

“That is correct. I apologize for whatever temporary harm this vessel may have done to the surrounding urban center. I was merely acting in accordance with my programmed tasks; any side effects were completely unintentional. I hope the damage was not too severe.”

Dawning shook his head. “No, I was able to…it wasn’t.”

“Ah. I am glad to hear that, then. At any rate, I imagine that you must have many questions about your world of origin, yes?”

“Yes!” Dawning blurted, his voice echoing around the chamber and causing Fluttershy to flinch. He winced as well, as though his outcry–and not everything else that had just happened–would draw attention down upon them. “I-I mean…yes. I do,” he said, much more quietly.

“Very well. In that case, if you will please insert the command key–”

“The what?” Dawning asked. “Oh…the crystal?”

“That is correct. As I was saying, if you will please insert the command key in the receptacle I will provide for you, we can begin with the Message. Unless, of course, you would prefer to take it more privately. Are you comfortable with hearing it in the presence of your companion here?”

“I, um…” He glanced over his shoulder at Fluttershy; he almost hated to admit it, but in his excitement and bewilderment he had almost forgotten she was there. “Uh…I guess–”

“I-it’s okay if you’d rather do it privately,” Fluttershy said to him. “I can–”

And then, from somewhere over the loudspeakers, an alarm began to blare.

“Overwatch, come in, we may have a situation here.”

“Overwatch here, what’s up?”

“Overwatch, this is Squad Four. We’re out behind the upper level Hydroponics building and there’s a…a circular burn mark on the ground that definitely wasn’t here the last time we passed by this way.”

“A what? What do you mean ‘circular burn mark?’”

“As in, like, it looks like somepony cut through the pavement with a cutting torch or something.”

“Hang on, let me hone in on your signal…okay…oh damn, you’re right over one of the maintenance corridors, leads right into the lab compound–”

“Overwatch, this is Squad Eight down near the Aerospace facilities; every single feed we had to the lab where they’re keeping that spaceship of theirs just went dark!”

“What?!”

“Everything! The cameras, the sensors, it all just went dead a few minutes ago. We thought it might’ve been something electrical, but the sensors outside the lab are going wild. They’re saying it’s the same kind of energy signature the ship gave off when…oh Faust, I think it’s active again!”

“…BUCK! Overwatch to all personnel, we have an intruder alert, I repeat, we have an intruder alert! All available units to Lab 14-B immediately, we have an active intruder situation!”

The inside of the LexCore lobby building was silent and deserted, with all but a few lights dimmed or turned off entirely. But the music from the party outside provided a rather lively background ambience as Lex and Mercy stepped inside, the clattering sound of their hooves against the smooth, tiled floor echoing around the virtually abandoned lobby.

“Did you enjoy your dance, sir?” Mercy asked, her voice tinged with sarcasm.

“Oh, don’t be jealous,” Lex admonished, not even bothering to look over his shoulder. “It was just a social pleasantry, nothing more.”

They were just approaching the elevators when one of them opened with a ding!, and Dr. Green Vale stepped out, still clutching his manilla folder in one foreleg, and he did a startled jump as he spotted the two directly ahead. “O-oh! Mr. Lexicon, sir, I was just–”

“Make it quick, Dr. Vale,” Lex said curtly. “I do have a public appearance to maintain out there, after all.”

“Um, well yes, I…” Dr. Vale held out the folder to Lex. “I just wanted to tell you, I finished running the numbers on what K643 will do to Supermane’s physiology. Um, at least what we can theorize about it from…anyway, I…think you’ll like the results.”

Lex’s brows raised as a little glimmer of interest went through his eyes. “…let me see that.”

He swiped the folder out of Dr. Vale’s hooves before he could say anything and flipped it open, narrowing his eyes at the papers inside as he scanned them back and forth, up and down, leaning his head in close and murmuring to himself quietly as he read.

Dr. Vale could just barely suppress a welling, bile-like feeling of guilt in his gut as he watched a smile slowly spread across Lex’s face.

Mercy leaned forward, trying to look over Lex’s shoulder. “Will it work?”

Lex laughed; a single, barking note of sinful joy as his smile cracked into a wide grin. “All this time…I’ve had it in my hooves all this time.” He snapped the folder shut, and turned his smile towards Vale in a way that the scientist thought was intended to be amicable, but instead sent shivers down his spine. “Thank you, Dr. Vale, you’ve just made my–”

Then came the blaring, repeating klaxon of an alarm as the corners of the lobby erupted into flashing red lights. This time, it wasn’t just Dr. Vale who jolted in startled surprise, but Lex and even Mercy as well.

“What the Tartarus is that?!” Lex exclaimed.

“Hold it–” Mercy said, pressing her hoof to a small earpiece in one ear, listening intently to the radio chatter she heard over it. Her eyes widened, and she snapped her head back towards Lex. “The ship.”

The next thing Dr. Vale knew, Tech Lexicon was barreling his way past him–almost knocking the scientist to the ground–and bolted into the elevator, Mercy hot on his heels behind him. “Mercy, tell all security teams to converge on the lab, NOW!” he barked, slamming the buttons on the elevator wall just as Mercy’s tail cleared the door.

Dr. Vale regained his balance just as the doors were closing, running forward to try and catch up. “Hey, wait for–” SMACK! went his face right into the freshly shut elevator doors. He staggered backwards,
scrunching his muzzle and awkwardly adjusting his glasses. “O-okay then…” he murmured, half-dazed, half-silenced by the realization that something had just gone terribly, terribly wrong down below.

The little group of infiltrators were still in the midst of exploring Dr. Vale’s laboratory–either rummaging through files or, in Quicksnap’s case, taking photos of them–when the alarm went off and the lights started flashing red. There was a collective jolt of startled surprise; Quicksnap fumbled his camera in his talons and set off the flash right in his face, eliciting a yelp.

“Oh Faust, not now,” Lucky groaned to herself, looking back and forth in terror. “Not now!”

“W-we didn’t set that off, did we?!” Quicksnap frantically asked as he blinked spots out of his eyes.

“We couldn’t have, it would’ve gone off long–”

“Guys, shut it!” Rainbow Dash hissed, peeking out into the hallway through the window blinds of the door. The roar of multiple sets of stampeding hooves came from outside, mingling with the blaring alarms.

“They’re not coming for us,” Rainbow reported. “They’re going down the hall.”

“Wait,” said Lucky. “They’re not going the same way Dawning and Fluttershy went, are they?”

“Buck if I know.”

“Yeah, but,” added Quicksnap. “If they’re not coming for us, then–”

“Alright, we’ve overstayed our welcome,” Lucky declared. She turned back to the desk and quickly began hurriedly stuffing papers and folders–including the weapons checklist–into a bag. “Quicksnap, when we get back home, copy those photos then copy them again and keep them somewhere–”

“Hey, what’re we gonna do about Dawning and Fluttershy?!” Rainbow demanded. “We can’t just leave them down there!”

That gave Lucky pause. Despite the massive tangle of feelings she felt towards Dawning, it didn’t feel right to run while he and Fluttershy were still somewhere within the depths of LexCorp. And if they were experimenting with weapons meant specifically to kill him, then who knew what they might be setting up to deploy against him at this very moment?

But on the other hoof…

“If we don’t go now, none of us have a chance of getting this stuff out to the public,” she retorted. “Dawning can take care of himself and Fluttershy.” I think…hopefully…

She hefted the bag up and over her shoulder. “Now come on, if we hurry we can make it out before they notice us for real!”

Damn it! Dawning swore in his mind. I should’ve known we wouldn’t have much time, shouldn’t have let my guard down…

The whole room was bathed in a cascade of pulsating red light, the angry shrieks of the alarm echoing off the walls. Fluttershy was crouching to the floor, holding her wings and hooves over her ears in fright. Dawning looked back and forth, up and down, trying to see outside the room for approaching guards, but the lead shielding refused to yield to his eyes. He tried with his ears, and found himself bombarded by a frenzied cacophony of voices and radio chatter.

“–in Sector 14, all squads converge–”

“–guests are starting to notice movement, what do we tell them–”

“–is Merciful Grace, Mr. Lexicon and I are heading down to the lab, all squads rendezvous with us ASAP!”

Oh Faust… Dawning thought as a shudder went down his spine. Not him, not now…

“Kal-El, it would appear that we have been discovered,” said the ship, as nonchalantly as it might describe the weather. “What course of action would you like me to take?”

Dawning tried to think, struggling to form a coherent plan in his mind. “I–”

“Dawning, the door!” Fluttershy suddenly cried.

Dawning spun around. One of the doors behind them, about a story up on a metal balcony, was beginning to slide open. Dawning rocketed up to the balcony, grabbing the door in his hooves and forcing it back shut while servos and motors in the walls whined and groaned in protest, then flash-wielded it shut with his heat vision.

He could have sworn he caught a glimpse of a red mane and a glaring green eye on the other side just before he’d shut the door. The voice he heard from the other side through the thick metal only confirmed it.

“Damn! You there, get this door open, you lot, come with me and Mercy, we’ll get in through the other side!”

Dawning took another look around. Aside from the door he had just sealed and the gigantic hanger-sized doors, there were three other doors in and out of the lab. Sealing them too would be easy, but that wouldn’t solve their current predicament. Lex and his troops wouldn’t stop until they found a way inside, and trying to keep them from getting in would ultimately be futile.

What Dawning and Fluttershy–and the ship–needed to do was get out.

“Kal-El,” the ship piped up again, as if reading his mind. “I am capable of breaching this facility with ease. If you will simply provide a safe location for us to continue at, this vessel can make its way there with haste.”

“Okay…okay…” Dawning allowed himself a moment to breathe and refocus his brain on the issue at hoof. They needed to go far, far out of where Lex could easily find them. That ruled out anywhere in or remotely close to Manehattan.

Smallville? No, I can’t bring it h–back there, I can’t…think, Dawning, think think think–

Dawning snapped his head up towards the ship. “North. The Crystal Mountains to the north, at the border. You’ll know them when you see them…I think.”

“Very well, Kal-El. I would advise you to step back and make sure your companion is protected as I make an exit.”

Dawning was about to ask what exactly it meant when the spiked sphere at the ship’s stern began to spin faster, and the throbbing hum it emitted began to rise into a shrill, pulse-pounding whine. The ship’s hull shifted from cloudy blue to a rapidly growing bright, burning red, the air around it shimmering and rippling with intense heat. Within seconds, the room temperature had grown so hot that Dawning felt as if the ship itself were becoming a star.

Then the ship began to rise, up, up, up towards the ceiling, until superheated crystal made contact with metal. The ceiling instantly began to rain molten droplets, and every light and conduit on the ceiling suddenly exploded in a blinding flash.

Before she could even yelp in alarm, Dawning Hope was holding Fluttershy protectively close beneath him in an instant. Even shielded by his body, she could feel searing heat all around them, as sparks, ashes, and droplets of molten metal splashed to the floor around them, all while the alien ship melted up through the ceiling. It was as though the room had given birth to a raging volcano, and the two of them were right beneath it as it erupted.

The shrill roar of the ship’s engine–at least, Fluttershy assumed it was the engine–was so loud it completely drowned out the sounds of the other doors to the laboratory opening at once, and the one Dawning had just sealed exploding open.

Fluttershy heard Dawning yell something to her. She couldn’t quite make it out, but she was fairly sure he’d been saying “Hang on!”, and the next thing she knew she’d been scooped up in Dawning’s forelegs and held close against his chest as he took off into the air, following the alien vessel up through the gigantic hole it’d made in the ceiling. As they rose, she could see now that it had already burned its way well past just the laboratory; from the various floors they passed by, each torn open by a gaping, slagged hole, the ship was rising towards the surface at an extremely rapid pace.

Only Dawning Hope, with his ears that heard far beyond the range of other ponies, could hear past the roar of the ship and the calamity of its destructive break for freedom to pick up the furious, raging cry of Tech Lexicon from far down below them.

“SUPERMAAAAAAAANE!”

By now it had become impossible for the attendees on the surface of LexCorp Plaza to not notice the sudden scurrying and frantic movements of the guard patrols. There were confused questions, all met with either silence or, at best, the most vague of responses. “There’s a situation, please remain calm”, or “Don’t panic, LexCorp Security has things under control”, and the like.

The surface level research and development buildings had been abandoned by their usual staff for the evening, their interiors dark and silent and empty.

As a result, it was quite a surprise to everypony when the Agricultural Research building’s first floor suddenly exploded.

Screams erupted en masse, as the guests misfortunate enough to be closest to the building fled away as fast as they could from the sudden roaring flames, bursting glass shards, and the unearthly pulsating shriek from within.

Then the second floor of the building blew out. And then the third. And then finally the roof burst open in one last, monstrous fireball that cracked open the night like a peal of thunder.

There was such a stampede of panic that not everypony noticed the flashing, crystalline vessel that sprang forth from the belching fires and through black smoke, and quickly soared over the boundaries of the LexCorp Plaza, tailed closely by two flying equine figures–one clad in a trailing cape–who followed it for a short distance beyond the walls before dropping down out of sight.

Not everyone saw it. But Rarity did.

The explosion echoed loud and clear across at least half of Manehattan. Sleeping citizens, and those attending to late-evening matters, all collectively bolted upright or froze where they stood, the same general thought flashing through their minds: “Oh Faust, not again!”

Almost all panic in the streets was soon quelled, though, as the alien ship flew overhead, its hull glowing a brilliant blue-white, and its spinning engine in swirling, flashing gold, sailing over the city skyline and bathing its buildings in strobing, humming light. Residents in their apartment buildings and homes scrambled to their windows to catch sight of the thing, watching with wonder as the lights of the craft danced in their eyes. Telephone booths, established around the city for quick calls to the police, were swarmed by awestruck witnesses, all clamoring to call in sightings of a very real UFO over Manehattan.

And then, just as the vessel was cresting over the top of the Crystaller Building, the ship’s engine flashed in a bright burst of yellow-white light, and the craft suddenly rocketed off like a shooting star, sailing northward and vanishing into the night.

Rarity was trying to see where Dawning and Fluttershy had gone after the ship had flown away, but standing still long enough to get a good idea of it proved impossible amidst the now-panicking crowd of party goers. Fighting for a stable position amidst the bustling, scrambling bodies was like trying to fight a pounding surf in a hurricane. Were she not so anxiously concerned about the wellbeing of her friends, she might’ve otherwise worried about the train of her dress getting shredded.

Then the shrill, piercing whine of a microphone echoed across the plaza, and–miraculously–the churning throng actually slowed down and stood still to listen.

“Mares and gentlestallions, attention.”

It was Lex. He sounded agitated, like he’d been running and was now out of breath. When she turned towards the podium just in front of the LexCore building, Rarity saw that he looked as haggard as he sounded. His mane was a mess, his tie was askew, and the whole front of his body looked to be covered in soot. Merciful Grace was beside him, looking equally frazzled and dirty, along with a squad of LexCorp Security troopers.

“There’s been an…unprecedented incident in one of our labs,” Lex went on, his voice booming through the microphone he held in one hoof. He went right on briskly talking even as a chorus of questions started to arise. “For your safety, we are now closing the LexCorp Plaza to all non-LexCorp personnel, please allow our security teams to escort you off the premises, thank you and good night.”

“Now just a minute!” came the voice of Mayor Sound Policy, as he made an effort to clamber up onto the podium even as Lex and his escort turned away. “Mr. Lexicon, I demand an explanation–”

Lex said something over his shoulder to his guards. The now abandoned microphone didn’t quite pick it up, but to Rarity it sounded like he was, very irritably, saying “Get him out of here.” Two of the guards broke away from the party and moved to guide the Mayor to an exit…or, to Rarity’s more suspicious mind, force him to an exit.

As the crowd began to file out of the Plaza, shepherded by armored LexCorp guards, Rarity moved quickly through the exit; she did not care to be similarly stallionhandled if she could possibly help it. As luck had it, though, she was able to leave without trouble, quickly veering off from the throng pouring out into the streets.

Her attention was drawn towards a nearby alleyway by a hushed, whispering “psst”. Rainbow Dash stuck her head out and waved a hoof at her, just far enough to get her attention. Quickly glancing around to make sure she wouldn’t be spotted, Rarity quickly trot across the street and into the alley. Rainbow, Quicksnap, and Lucky were all huddled against the cold brick walls, panting as they caught their breath, Lucky clinging tightly to her bag.

“Thank Celestia you’re alright,” Rarity sighed in relief. “How ever did you manage to get out?”

“A lot of air ducts and a few backdoors,” Quicksnap answered. “We…kinda were clumsier getting out than we were getting in, and without Dawning to cut away back out for us we had to make do with what we could.”

“Did any of you see what happened down there?” Rarity asked.

Rainbow shook her head. “No. The alarms went off and then next thing we know half the complex was shaking for like a minute. Whatever happened, it must’ve been Dawning and Fluttershy.”

“Did you see them get out?” Lucky asked. “I mean, after the…the thing blew its way out of the building, do you know if–”

Rarity nodded. “I saw them fly out after the roof exploded, they’re alright.”

Lucky sighed. “Good…good…”

“I don’t know where they are now, though, I hope–”

“We’re here,” came Fluttershy’s voice from just overhead, as a sudden brief breeze came and brushed through their fur. Dawning Hope, his cape once again tattered and caked with ash and soot, alighted down beside them and set Fluttershy down.

“Fluttershy, darling!” Rarity exclaimed, rushing forward and gripping the pegasus in her hooves as she checked her over. “Are you hurt?! Are you alright?!”

Fluttershy nodded. “We found the ship. Dawning woke it up, he told it to go north.”

The group turned towards Dawning, but found he wasn’t even facing them. He was turned the other way, his head and eyes looking up northward into the night sky, silent and still.

“…Dawning?” Lucky prodded, taking a step towards him. “We’ve got everything we need to put Lex away. Please. Come with us.”

Dawning turned around, matching Lucky’s gaze. Even in the shrouded shadows of the alleyway, they could see a look of pained indecision twisted across his face.

Then, slowly, his hooves left the ground as he lifted up into the air, the remains of his cape flowing around him. “I’m sorry,” he said regretfully. “I…I have to know.”

Lucky shut her eyes and sighed through her nostrils. “…fine. Go,” she said curtly before turning away and starting to head towards the street.

Dawning watched her go before looking to the others, as if hoping they might have something else to say. Nobody did. They all just looked back at one another in silence.

At last, Dawning Hope turned around and rose up out of the alley, turning away and shooting off northward away from Manehattan, the dark red-and-blue blur of his flying form quickly disappearing into the starry night.

He didn’t catch Lucky Lead stopping and turning to look back and watch him as he went. Nor did he see the look of sorrow in her eyes as she pondered the fact that this might be the last time she would ever see him.

Author's Note

It’s absolutely wild to think that the last time we saw the ship, it was way back in Chapter Four. Fourteen chapters and…gosh, three years ago. How time slogs along, eh?

And so at long last, Dawning Hope finds what he has sought…but has he truly? That reminds to be seen. Regardless, cats are leaping out of the bag, secrets being dug up...and soon, Equestria may never be the same again.

And I swear I did not intend for this chapter to be this long, it just kinda happened, I thought it was gonna wind up being only the second longest chapter as I got close to the end of writing it, only to find that it actually has the record for longest word count. Whoopsie daisy. :twilightsheepish:

Also real quick here, a minor retcon: Dawning Hope's landlady has been renamed from Affordable Rent to Restful Lodgings. The original name was kind of a placeholder and I always kinda hated it, so I went back and changed it. Figured she's enough of a minor character and she's only had one other appearance that it wouldn't be all that big of a deal, and Chapter 2 has been adjusted accordingly.

Real quick before I go, I’d like to thank PonyJosiah13, TheLegendaryBillCipher, and Tarbtano for serving as proofreaders for this chapter. Their help, and that of others, has been invaluable over the course of this project.

Til next time, keep looking up, True Believers. We need people like Superman more than ever in the coming times.