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?

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.