“Put your hooves up and exit the building! We’ve got the place surrounded!” the police megaphone blared out, as red and blue flashing lights splashed across the window fronts of Manehattan Avenue.

A cordon of police cars had formed a blockade around the base of the Statue of Liberty, since renamed the Statue of Friendship after its purchase by Flamco and its subsequent re-branding as the headquarters of the alicorn super-team.

The iconic landmark had been chosen by Public Affairs as the ideal symbol for maximum market awareness, and the movement of the statue from its island home to the busiest street in the megalopolis, as well as the replacement of the generic mare’s face with Sunlander’s, had been one of the costliest public works projects in history.

But it made for a rather impressive corporate headquarters, the centerpiece of Flamco’s empire. The building was the base of operations for all things superheroine, and conveniently located next to a bevy of skyscrapers that housed the corporation’s other endeavours: consumer goods, finance, trade, defense...

*kra-KOOM*

A blast of heat washed over the backs of the officers as the thunderclap of the air being suddenly and terrifically displaced crackled off of the many storefront glass panels, echoing back and forth.

Before the reverberations had even died down, a wave of cheering and applause.

“It’s Sunlander! Sunlander’s here!”

The police-mare on the megaphone sighed, clicking off the power on the device and wiping her brow. For a moment she was worried that she might actually need to do something.

It was indeed, the Goddess-Princess herself.

Her regal cape swirled behind her carbon-fibre enhanced bodysuit, which hugged her elegant form, perfectly accentuating every curve and crevice, leaving nothing to the imagination.

Many a young colt had a secret stash of Sunlander photos tucked away under their mattresses, particular angles that caught the superheroine from behind, showing off that gorgeous plot and teats of hers.

There was even an entire industry around lookalike supheroine pornos, with a few ‘actresses’ specializing in the role. It was one of the highest trending search terms on PornStable, one extremely popular entire sub-genre included a Sunlander that was revealed to have both sets of ‘equipment’.Even as a female, the leader of the superheroines was the focus of most mare’s sexual fantasies. One particular hermaphroditic video had exploded in popularity; a mare looking incredibly like the Celestial Super-Princess recorded on cellphone-like quality of her absolutely giving it to the famous unicorn DJ, Vinyl Scratch.

It had over a million hits in under an hour.

The police-mare tried not to blush as she thought of just how similar the real Sunlander was compared to what had to be the facade on that video she’d clopped to the night prior... But she couldn’t avoid glancing down at the alicorn’s crotch to confirm she didn’t actually possess the bulge she’d fantasized thrusting in and out of her sweating body.

“Thank you, officer; I’ll take it from here.” Sunlander smiled sweetly, reaching out and lifting the megaphone out of her hooves, clicking it on with practiced ease.
“Hello everypony! Don’t worry! The cavalry is here!” She let the electronic megaphone amplify her voice to the crowd who cheered back at every word. “We won’t let terrorist scum ruin OUR city, and disrupt OUR friendship!”

Another cheer.

Celestia switched the megaphone off, tossing it back to the police mare. She turned, addressing the officers all hunched behind their cars in a softer, more professional voice, as if they were actually of equivalent authority.

“Great work officers. All of you mares, you’re the real heroes here!” She flashed a winning smile, gesturing with a hoof. The officers beamed back at her, one of the very few stallions in the force grinned and nodded. “Err…. even uh, you. Officer. Well done.” Celestia’s smile faltered ever so slightly at the sight of the male in uniform before she whirled away, her cape billowing in her wake.

“Raven,” Celestia growled as she strode toward the doors to her building.

“Right here, ma’am.” The mousey secretary darted up from one of the cars, handing the Princess a small tablet. “Great work on the entrance, you’re already trending on InstaTweet. Corporate will remind us to try to use the new ‘Friendship Five’ name as much as possible in future public appearances, though.

“Fuck Flam, and fuck corporate,” Celestia snarled under her breath as she trotted up to the door, Raven following timidly in her wake. “The only reason he is adding another pony to the Friendship Five is to fuck with me. You know that, right?” Celestia growled, talking more to herself than to Raven. “He snuck the fifth pony idea in at the end of our meeting a couple of weeks ago, and I agreed because I thought it was obvious that he was referring to the upcoming alicorn Princess, Flurry Heart.”

“Ma’am, do you want to check the background on this criminal first?” Raven interjected, holding her hoof out toward the tablet she’d just handed Celestia, fresh from the information department of Flamco enterprises, replete with every detail about the terrorist inside.

“Why bother, nopony can even scratch me, not even any of the alicorns.” Celestia glanced down at the tablet, scornfully. She made a show of sarcastically rolling her eyes as she scrolled down the screen, reading the criminal’s bio with as bored a tone as she could muster. “Boo fucking hoo, a near-suicidal pony at the end of his rope because their family was taken away from them… received black-market thaumatological spells, has the power to ignite the atmosphere with fire… yadda yadda. Wait, he’s a stallion?”

“Yes.”

“Pft. Gimme a fuckin’ break. I should have let the police handle this.” She glared at Raven. “You know, when I complained the other day that Twilight was hoarding all of the crime-rescues to herself, I didn’t mean that I wanted to get the dregs, Raven.”

“I-I thought… I thought because he chose to do this at the team's tower—”

“At my tower,” Celestia corrected. “It’s my face on the statue, nopony else’s. But you’re right. Let’s do this.”

Celestia pushed open the door, ignoring the hurried follow-up from her mousey personal assistant.

“Th-there was one other thing, ma’am. Corporate insisted that we also deploy a new su—”

“Sunlander!” A happy voice chirped from the other side of the door as Celestia strode into the abandoned lobby. “It’s an honor to meet you, and a dream to actually be able to work with you. I can’t tell you how much of a fan of yours I am!”

Celestia glanced over at the strange yellowish pegasus with mint-green hair, clad in a purple jumpsuit. She was young, pretty, and filled with energy. Celestia might have even mistaken her for a Wonderbolt Cadet… except she was hanging a bit strangely in the air.

Her wings were an absolute blur. But her limbs hung limply from her body, not quite touching the ground.

“...and you are…?” Celestia tilted her head.

“Barley! Barley Barrel!” The teen chirped, then blushed, coughing and correcting herself. “Sorry, sorry. I meant to say Quadra. Super-heroine hopeful from Rainbow Falls!”

“Quadra?” Celestia chewed her cheek and looked off to the side, trying to remember the name. “Wait, aren’t you disabled?”

“Differently-abled, ma’am.” Raven chimed in quickly.

“Oh that’s ok. I don’t get hung up on terms.” Quadra giggled. “Yes, as a child, I had a fractured spinal column in the same aerobatic accident that killed my brother. It left me completely paralyzed… except for my wings.” She glanced at the two feathered appendages, now moving so fast they were making a whooshing hum, not unlike a hummingbird.

“Huh.” Celestia arched her eyebrows.

“Yeah, the doctors said it would be impossible for me to do more than sit in a wheelchair… that no pegasus quadriplegic had ever managed to have the strength to use their wings to fly. But a lot of hard work, and some compound F… and now I can fly, move and fight as good as any superheroine out there! But look at me going on, bragging to the legendary Sunlander! I was such a fan of yours growing up. I’d be honored to shake your hoof.”

Celestia watched as the pegasus’s hoof reached up and out, almost naturally. In actuality, the filly’s wings were moving at blinding speed, adjusting her own, limp, lifeless limb with momentary touches and grasps, before returning to deliver another stroke that kept her hovering in mid-air.

“Wow.” Celestia nodded, smiling as she took the filly’s hoof and shook it. Of course, it was a limp, dead-fish hoofshake. “That is incredibly inspiring, Quadra. I am so proud of you: not only because of the incredible dedication and service you are giving to Equestria… but because of what you’ve had to overcome.”

“Th-thank you!” Quadra was almost weeping. “You have no idea how it feels to hear that from you. And I won’t let you down, I promise I’ll be the most energetic, effective member of your team.”

At this, Celestia paused, her smile remaining, but her eyes darkening, sinking… subtle tweaks in her eyebrows showing her clear and alarming displeasure. “What?”

Raven coughed, clearing her throat. “Quadra is the lead candidate for the open spot on the Five. Marketing wants to appeal to the younger generation with the addition of a visible physically differently-abled minority.”

“Ah.” Celestia nodded her head. “Ah, I see!”

“I won’t let you down, Sunlander!” Quadra chirped.

“I’m sure you won’t, Quadra.” Celestia grinned, nodding. “Your power… it’s fascinating how you’re able to fight crime using only your wings. But I wonder…”

“Yes? Feel free to ask anything!”

“Oh… I dunno.” Sunlander paused, lifting a hoof to her chin. “I just wonder, what would you do if somepony did… this?”

The blur of Quadra’s wings was nothing compared to Sunlander’s speed. Her forehooves were entirely invisible to any mortal pony’s eye… and to most superponies’ as well, approaching the speed of light.

With a resounding thud she simultaneously drove one hoof deep into Quadra’s gut… while the other gripped bother her wings in one, powerful hoofgrasp… and twisted.

*KER-KRACK*

The sickening sound of bone shattering was eerily similar to the noise a chicken-wing might make when snapped in two by a hungry pub-diner.

Raven had to glance away, though not fast enough to avoid seeing the sickening spray of blood as the compound fracture of the delicate, sensitive pegasi bones tore through Quadra’s skin.

There was a sound of sickening, wet meat as it thudded to the ground like a sack of wet potatoes being dropped onto a watermelon. And the scream.

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

A horrendous, gutteral cry of pure unfiltered pain.

“That’s what I thought,” Sunlander sighed, shaking her head as she looked down at the wet pile of pegasus that was moments before the perky, energetic young super-teen. “Now you really will need that wheelchair, huh?”

Raven tried to look away, but Sunlander snapped her fury onto her. “Don’t look away. Don’t look at her. Look at me, Raven.” The furious God-Princess locked her blue eyes onto Raven’s. “This is Flam trying to fuck with me, with my team. Is he fucking serious? Not only does he think he can sneak a non-alicorn onto my team, but a fucking cripple? She’s not even a unicorn! At least she’s not a mudpony, but what’s next? A bucking stallion?”

“H-hel- ack… help,” Quadra gasped, her paralysis putting her in danger of drowning in the growing puddle of her own blood.

“Oh give me a fucking break, crybaby.” Sunlander rolled her eyes, using the tip of her rear hoof to roll the pegasus over onto her back.

“Oh Goddesses, does she need help?” The voice came from across the lobby.

Celestia and Raven looked up, seeing a bedraggled-looking stallion, himself wearing what looked like a business suit, singed at the edges with fire.

“Shit, he better not have seen anything.” Sunlander grumbled under her breath before turning with a smile. “Easy there sire, you’ve been through a lot. A poor stallion like you isn’t equipped to deal with this kind of trau—”

“Shut the buck up!” the stallion snarled, his mane suddenly bursting into full flame and his eyes glaring a bright red. A wash of superheated air blew over Celestia and Raven, the former barely blinking while the latter screamed with terror, huddling behind the alicorn. “You fucking supes and this shitty society ruined my life.”

“Ah. Not a bystander.” Celestia clicked her tongue, then glanced down at her tablet, scrolling again for the name of the terrorist assaulting the tower. “Burn-i-nator, I presume? That’s a bit weak, isn’t it? I don’t really see any robotic bits.” Celestia craned her head downward, glancing under the burning stallion’s body. “Don’t really see any bits at all,” she scoffed.

“You fucking bitch!” Burninatorroared, a fresh wave of pure heat roiling off him, hot off enough to scorch the once pristine white-marble floor. “Do you know what I’ve gone through because of you!? I didn’t want to take those potions. I didn’t want to do any of the things I’ve done. But they said it was the only way for me to get custody of my daughter!” He glanced at the pegasus, still gasping and wheezing on the floor. “She’s almost the same age. You monster! You know, I used to be a respectable business-stallion, treated ponies fa—”

*WHAM*

Burninator was slammed into the far wall of the lobby, the sheer impact shattering the entire granite facade, sending the beautiful wall stonework crumbling to the ground. Sunlander held her forehoof against the stallion’s throat, easily holding him aloft as though he were but a foal’s play-thing. The only evidence that she had even moved were two huge hoof-shaped launch-prints in the marble next to Raven.

“I really am not in the mood to hear your backstory. OK?”

“Gah!” Burninator coughed, blood misting into the air. “Arhhh…. Argh…. F-fuck!” He grimaced, in obvious pain, likely from massive internal injuries at being hypersonically slammed into granite. “I… I surrender. I surrender! I did what I was paid to do anyway.”

“Uh-huh.” Sunlander blinked, clearly bored.

“And…. argh… and—” the stallion smiled, blood trickling from both corners of his mouth as he looked up at the uncaring Goddess, “and now I can tell the world about how you treat your teammates.” He nodded over at the groaning pile of paralyzed pony.

“Really? That’s it?” Celestia looked disappointed, “Who’s going to believe you, the loser terrorist who’ll be spending the rest of his life in Tartarus? She’s certainly not going to say shit. Not if she ever wants to work in this industry again.”

Burninator’s eyes sparkled, fire growing there, as his mane flickered and sparked into burning embers. “Well, that’s not all, Sunlander. I’m noticing the voice that paid me to do the things I’ve done and yours sound strangely similar.”

The alicorn’s eyes narrowed. “Raven?”

“Y-yes ma’am?”

“The subject is resisting arrest. You’d better clear out of here. Bring ‘wheels’ with you.”

“I’m not,” Burninator growled, “I want my lawyer and a press conference.”

“You moron. My corporation owns the press.” Sunlander clicked her tongue with a laugh.

“Except it’s not really your corporation, is it?”

“Careful, stallion.”

“Must be so frustrating for a big powerful mare like you, having to take your orders from a power-less unicorn male.”

“I take orders from nopony.”

“Give me my lawyer, bitch.” Burninator’s entire being flamed into pure, searing infernal flame. The granite he was being pressed into began to glow with a cherry red, softening and deforming as it ever so slowly transposed back into lava.

“Tsk. Seriously? You think fire scares me? Fire is like a cool breeze to me.” Sunlander’s eyes glowed a sheer, blinding white. “I am The SUN. “

...

From outside, the cordon of police that had rushed forward to help Raven drag out the semi-conscious Quadra was momentarily dazzled by a brilliant flash. It seemed as if the entire Friendship Tower had been filled with pure, white light, as it poured out of every window, crack, and orifice of the structure… the statue’s face blazing with pure photonic energy.

“W-what was that?” One of the officers asked.

The door clicked open and Sunlander strode out, smiling and waving. “That my friend, was the end of the super-terrorist: Burninator.” Sunlander shot a winning smile, before using a free hoof to pat some of the ash off of her shoulder pads.

The officers erupted into a cheer. Quickly it was taken up by the crowd of ponies that were still watching, a rumbling thunderous stampede of hooves smashing against the Manehatten asphalt. Even that riotous applause was steadily overtaken by a growing chant, taken up by more and more of the local populace.

“SUN-LAN-DER, SUN-LAN-DER, SUN-LAN-DER!”

“Ah… I’ve missed that.” Celestia smiled, basking in the cheers and leaning back, as if she were tanning herself in the raw adulations of her adoring public. She glanced down at Raven. “I’d get more of this if Twilight would stop beating me to the punch on everything. Have you found out who she’s bribing with intel to get first dibs yet?”

Raven shook her head.

“Hm. I wonder why she wasn’t at this one.”

Author's Note

Hey everyone, hope you like my take on 'The BOYS' set in MLP.

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