More Than A Stallion

Chapters

Secret Kept From Birth
Up, Up, and Away
Putz of Gold, Stallion of Steel
Emotionally-Charged Intermission
Rising Steel, Rotten Soul
Cancelation

Secret Kept From Birth

Big Macintosh's eyes fell lazily to a painting of flowers on the wall. The hospital room around him smelled fresh and sterile, homely even.

Across from him, there were the three fillies he'd rescued earlier that day, being checked out by a doctor. Fortunately, it looked like they were going to be fine: bumps, bruises, and no ill effects from the Quarry Eel's stomach acid. He breathed a sigh of relief.

His eyes traveled out the window, and fell upon the Ghastly Gorge, where this whole adventure started...

~One Hour Ago, in Ghastly Gorge~

Big Macintosh stood by his sister's side as her friends approached. They'd asked him in his downtime to help them with their next plot to get their cutie marks.

"So ya'll're tryin' to get a cutie mark in rock climbin', and ya need me to keep the anchors safe? I'm not too sure, Applebloom. I don't want ya falling and smashin' yer head open like a watermelon. I'm yer brother, and while I want ya to find yer cutie mark, I can't just sit by idly while you go off and do something stupid and dangerous to get it."

Applebloom jumped in front of Big Macintosh's path, standing confidently for a filly of only nine years. Her two friends joined her sides, posing just as over-dramatically. Big Macintosh could've sworn he saw a twinkle of sunlight reflect off of the corner of Applebloom's bow.

"Big Macintosh, I know that we can do it! That's why we brought ya along!" Applebloom gestured to the metal hooks dangling from her pack. "So that you can help us! All we need is fer ya to keep our anchors stuck in the rock so that we can wrap apple down."

"It's 'rappel', Applebloom."

"Right, 'rappel'. Thanks, Sweetie Belle." Applebloom looked back to Big Macintosh in order to continue her instructions. "So all we need is fer you to hold our anchors in the ground while we go down and climb back up. If we need yer help, we'll jus' tug the rope a couple times. Easy as apple pie!"

Big Macintosh let this sit on his mind. After a few minutes and a completely unfair use of a triple-decker puppy dog stare, Big Macintosh gave in.

"Alright. I'll help ya'll with this. Just don't hurt yerselves."

"Cutie Mark Crusaders Rockclimbers!!! Yay!!!"

The trio rushed to a patched area of rock and soil near the edge, and began setting up their equipment. Big Macintosh watched closely, making sure it was all in order. Once they had finished setting up their harnesses, they brought over a set of rock anchors and a hammer. Scootaloo tossed the hammer up to Big Macintosh and Sweetie Belle set the anchors down and let Big Macintosh get to work driving them into the stone. Scootaloo did a pretty good impression of Pinkie Pie from the way she bounced in place with excitement.

Setting down his hammer, Big Macintosh looked up after pounding in the last anchor.

"Can we go now?"

"Eeeyup." Big Macintosh nodded lightly to Sweetie Belle and backed away so that the trio of fillies could go down the ledge. Once they'd passed a distance he judged okay, he stepped forward again to keep a closer eye on them. He smiled at the thought of Applebloom expanding her horizons. He knew she wouldn't get her cutie mark out of this endeavor, but he hoped she would enjoy it enough that it would make up for the minor defeat.

As Big Macintosh thought to himself, Applebloom was thinking about different things.

"Hmmm. If I step on this rock right here, then I can go down to that rock right there, and we'll be able to walk the rest of the way down." Applebloom pushed herself away from the wall and rappeled down to the predetermined rock. However, as she put her weight down on to it, the rock crumbled away, and the rope connecting her to her anchor dragged along the canyon wall and over an area where the rock strata jut out like a row of shark teeth. The rope snapped, unable to handle the razor sharp stones. Dangling from where she was connected to Scootaloo, Applebloom spun.

"Whoa! Sweetie Belle, get big Macintosh to pull us up! I need to replace my anchor rope!"

Sweetie Belle did as told and tugged on her rope a couple times. "Big Macintosh! Pull us up! Applebloom's rope broke!"

Big Macintosh nodded and stooped down. Gripping Sweetie Belle's rope in his mouth, he began the slow process of lifting the fillies up.

Unbeknownst to all, a pair of hungry yellow eyes lurked in a hole just near where Applebloom dangled. With a low hiss, a Quarry Eel shot out of its burrow and snagged Applebloom, pulling her and the rest of the Crusaders into its tunnel. Before Big Macintosh could react, he was pulled down, and tumbled through the air.

Instead of shock or terror, Big Macintosh found himself feeling… disgust. He failed to keep his sister and her friends safe. He didn’t haul them up in time. He was falling to what would surely be his own death.

A loud crack split through the air as pain shot through Big Macintosh's spine.

When he realized he wasn't dead, Big Macintosh opened his eyes and looked himself over. There on the ground was his yoke, smashed into pieces. Among the wreckage was a small blue chunk of rock. Upon touching the air, the blue rock began to sizzle and evaporate. As the rock faded, Big Macintosh felt a strength within himself he'd never experienced before.

Running to the side of the canyon, Big Macintosh was prepared for a long and grueling climb, but instead his run had turned into a high-arching jump. Landing inside the eel's burrow, he cracked his neck.

"I can't rightly say I appreciate you eatin' my kin."

The Quarry Eel didn't take kindly to the intrusion and rushed at Big Macintosh, fully intending to eat him as well. However, any plans it had for seconds were cut short by a pair of hooves smashing into its lower jaws and sending it flying through the rocks above it, leaving a hole big enough for the red stallion to travel through.

~Meanwhile, in the skies above the Gorge~

Rainbow Dash flew with her loyal tortoise, Tank, at high speeds over Ghastly Gorge. For weeks now, she had been working with Tank to improve his stunt performance. The Tortoise Tornado, a smaller part in a much bigger stunt, the Lightning Blast.

Tank hovered at the center while Rainbow Dash gathered clouds around the outer edges. Spinning the clouds into a wicked chromatic tornado funnel, Rainbow Dash grinned in excitement. She would succeed; she could FEEL it this time!

At the center, Tank was preparing to fly over the top of the storm and channel lightning up into the sky to help super-charge Rainbow Dash's Sonic Rainboom into a blast of lightning that would dazzle any crowd with the power of a thunderclap and the beauty of a rainbow.

However, the training session was cut short when Rainbow Dash caught a flying object in her line of sight. Halting the tornado beside her with one hoof, she used the other to shield her eyes from the sun.

"The heck is that? Is it a bird?"

Tank poked his head through the clouds and shook it.

"Yeah, you're right. Too big to be any kind of bird from around here. Maybe a plane.

"You know Tank, I betcha it's-" The Quarry Eel passed by, blowing back her mane. A large red stallion trailed behind it, a look of pure anger on his face. Rainbow Dash and her reptile companion turned to gawk at the sight of the flying earth pony. "BIG MACINTOSH!?"

With a sound that shook the stone below, Big Macintosh smashed into the Quarry Eel faster than the speed of sound. His stupendous feat of speed broke the serpent's bones with a sickening crack. It hit the ground with a thump, its drool pouring out onto the grass. Big Macintosh stomped on it's stomach, forcing the beast to hork up the Crusaders.

One by one, the Crusaders picked themselves up. Rainbow Dash touched down nearby with Tank in tow.

"Big Macintosh! That. Was. AWESOME!" Rainbow Dash sweat with a bit of nervousness as Big Macintosh looked back at her, realizing she'd broken her facade of cool and collected and had done an impression of Scootaloo that convinced Big Macintosh that the two were related in some way.

"Ahem. Well, not as awesome as me, but still, pretty darn awesome by my standards."

The Crusaders ran up to the stallion and hugged his legs, shedding tears. Their blubbering was nearly incomprehensible, but he knew what it meant. They weren't dead, and that's what mattered. Turning back to Rainbow Dash, Big Macintosh barked orders.

"Rainbow Dash, I want you to bring in a cloud to put Scootaloo on. I'll carry Applebloom and you carry Sweetie Belle. Once we're in town I want you to get Applejack n' the others while I take these three to the hospital."

"Alright, but one question." Rainbow Dash flew up and gathered a cloud and her tortoise. Giving it a sharp kick, it unloaded rain onto the fillies, cleaning them of the bile and stomach acid they'd taken a short bath in. She carefully picked up Scootaloo and placed her onto the cloud. "Since when could earth ponies fly?"

Big Macintosh looked down into the chasm where he assumed the remains of his yoke lay. Assuming the blue stone probably had something to do with it, he decided to answer with another bizarre happening.

"Since sapphires boiled like hot stew."

"Yeah, I guess that makes- Wait, what?" Big Macintosh ignored Rainbow Dash, picking up Applebloom and placing Sweetie Belle onto Rainbow's back. With the crisis over, and the injured fillies in tow, he walked past the dying eel. It glared at him weakly. Big Macintosh casually walked by it, remembering to to give it one last good stomp to the face for good measure.

As he left, he thought he heard it mutter, "Ouch."

Lifting his head from his hoof, he saw that everypony in the room had stopped what they were doing and had begun bowing in the direction of the door. The clock's hands showed he'd spent some time thinking to himself.

Big Macintosh looked back to see a tall white mare, with a flowing mane as brilliant as the aurora.

"Please, everypony, there is no need to bow every time I enter a room." Princess Celestia removed her tiara and teleported it out of the room. "I'm simply here as a friend, nothing more. After all, I do have a large amount of vacation days built up, so I can surely spend them without being treated like royalty." Celestia looked around the room, her eyes falling on Big Macintosh.

"So here is our local hero, Big Macintosh. I hear from Twilight you managed to save Applebloom and her friends from a Quarry Eel. I must say I am impressed that you could do so, considering how those eels are notorious for their speed."

Rainbow Dash flew around to face Celestia. She put an arm around Big Macintosh's shoulder and held him up.

"Saved them in the nick of time? I saw what he did with my own eyes! He bucked that eel right out of its hole and flew after it! And he beat the eel up until it burped up Squirt and her pals!" Rainbow Dash pulled her foreleg off of Big Macintosh and mimed a few punches, which drew a raised eyebrow out of the princess.

"But that's impossible! An earth pony can't possibly fly!" Twilight protested. "Are you sure the sun wasn't in your eyes? It could have possibly created a mirage and made it look like he flew."

"Twilight, my egghead, I know flying. And he may not have wings, but what Big Macintosh did was definitely flying. Heck, he was flying so fast he did a rainbowless Sonic Rainboom. It was a little less cool than a Rainboom, but it was definitely radical."

Twilight puffed a bit. "Big Macintosh, were you actually flying, or is Rainbow just exaggerating this?"

"Eeeyup."

"'Yes' you were flying, or 'Yes' Rainbow is exaggerating things again?"

"The first'un."

Twilight smirked. "See Rainbow, he wasn't flying at a- WHAT!? You mean you were actually flying? That doesn't make any sense!"

Big Macintosh shrugged, not really wanting to speak any further on the matter.

The creaking of Granny Smith's chair halted. With a sigh, Granny Smith looked to Celestia. "I'd never thought the day would come. Princess, could you do me a kindness and fill in the places where my memory gets a bit fuzzy?"

"I suppose now that he knows, we'll have to."

Big Macintosh looked over at the old mares, confused. What could possibly be so secret that the only ponies that knew were Granny and the Princess?

Granny Smith started rocking again. "It happened the day before we was blessed with little Applejack."

Pinkie Pie bounced up and down excitedly. "Ooh! Ooh! A flashback! This calls for popcorn and soda!" Pinkie pulled a tub of steaming popcorn and a large cola. Everypony in the room stared at her with a confused expression, before just shrugging it off as Pinkie being Pinkie. The room's attention back on the centenarian mare, Granny Smith continued on with her story.

"As I was sayin', it happened the day before Applejack was conceived. I was out sorting the apples for cider season when all of a sudden, the clouds over the farm started a spinnin' and this green fog started a leakin' from 'em. So I went onto the hill to investigate, and what did I see?"

Pinkie bounced. "What did ya see, what did ya see!?"

Granny Smith ignored Pinkie.

"I saw a metal pod fall out of the center of the clouds. It looked like a giant apple, the way it was built n' all, but that wasn't even the strangest thing about it. It popped open, and inside was this little red colt sleepin' like he didn't just fall right out of the sky!

"Besides little Big Macintosh, there were some torn clothes and a whole bunch of doodads. But what stood out the most was this picture pinned to the wall. There were these mighty handsome young folks with a little red colt in a basket, standin' in front of a giant statue of a planet. Now this weren't no picture of our Earth. I could tell because the shapes where the land should be were covered in water. So I knew I had to get a hold of the princess, because right there in front of me wasn't just a baby! The little feller was from another world entirely!"

Celestia nodded. "As soon as I had received a letter telling of an atmospheric disturbance in Ponyville, I rushed there as fast as possible. After all, it was approaching the ending period of Nightmare Moon's banishment, and it would've been terrible if she'd broken free early."

"And rush she did! The Princess managed to get here not but five hours after I sent in that letter. By the time she'd gotten here, she'd plum wore herself out! So I took her to the baby, but when we got there, the baby was gone! Of course, when I followed a bunch of tiny hoofprints, we found little Big Macintosh playing with a barrel full of apples." Granny Smith tapped her chin with her hoof, musing on the memory.

"When we found Big Macintosh playing with the barrel, I have to say I was bemused. The natural magic field around him was far different from that of a normal pony. Normally, if you're magically adept, you can tell something about a pony from their magical field, or aura for a more simple term. For example, my aural field smells of sun flowers and Twilight's field tastes like coconut. It's often faint, but it is recognizable.

"But Big Macintosh's aura was different from most ponies. It smelled of raw power, and the taste was like steel. There was another flavor in there, and I have only ever tasted this flavor from one source. The sun itself. His aura is just as I remember it, meaning he must have broken his yoke."

Applejack looked a bit confused. "Ya mean his yoke was keepin' him weak this whole time? Shucks, we could have gotten the harvest done fer every year since Big Macintosh started buckin' the trees!"

Celestia nodded. "Indeed. That was a dampener enchantment I used based on some materials from his home realm. It was designed to suppress his aura within a radius of a few acres."

Pinkie Pie raised a hoof into the air.

"Pinkie, you don't need to raise your hoof. This isn't a school."

"Yeah! So if Big Macintosh is an alien, does this mean we can throw a 'Big Macintosh Just Found Out He's An Alien Slash Yay Applebloom Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo Are Safe Party'!?"

"Pinkie, I don't wan't any par-"

Without waiting for any reply, Pinkie dashed out of the room, leaving a Pinkie-shaped popcorn dust-cloud where she'd previously sat.

Apple Bloom looked around the room, her eyes shimmering with barely-held tears. Her voice became a whisper that dared to break into a thin sob.

“If Big Macintosh is an alien… then… then does that mean he ain’t REALLY mah brother?”

"Applebloom! You shouldn't say things like that." Applejack nuzzled Applebloom reassuringly. "We were raised with him as our older brother, and alien or not, that will never stop being true! He's just as much Apple Clan as Winona and our friends!"

Applebloom looked down a bit, ashamed she even asked the question. "I'm sorry, Big Macintosh. Fergive me fer askin' such a dumb question?"

Big Macintosh shook his head lightly, answering absent-mindedly with his signature drawl. "Eeeyup."

As soon as he stated he was unoffended by the question, albeit very indirectly, many of the ponies in the room mobbed him with questions of their own.

"What did it feel like to fly!?"

"Could you help me run some experiments on your natural magic field? This could be a breakthrough!"

"Hey, you wanna go flying with me? I can give you some lessons! On the house, of course."

"Oh please allow me to get your measurements! I simply must make you a new yoke for your heroic act!"

Cornered by ponies and growing increasingly uncomfortable with all the thoughts on his mind, as well as the barrage of questions, Big Mac did what he rarely needed to. Shout.

"QUIET!"

Everypony in the room fell quiet. Even a noticeable lip-zipping sound came from the general direction of Sugarcube Corner.

"I don't want tah be asked all these questions at once when I have questions of my very own! And aren't some easy little questions a school colt can ask his teacher and get a straight answer! Where do I come from!? Who are my parents!?"

Big Macintosh stormed up to the hospital room window.

"Well go ahead and ask yer questions! But ya'll aren't getting any answers until I get some myself!"

Applebloom looked at her big brother wide-eyed and stunned. "Big Macintosh..." She sniffed a bit. Her brother rarely showed his anger and frustrations, but when he did, it was absolutely explosive. And even though this most volatile of rants wasn't directed at her, she knew he was hurting inside, just like during the Gabby Gums incident.

Big Macintosh sighed and looked down at the tile flooring.

"I need to do some thinking. I'll be home after supper." Big Macintosh turned away from them and jumped out the window, taking flight off to a secluded corner of Sweet Apple Acres.

Everypony in the room stood awkwardly. Only the Apple family and the Crusaders had experienced an angry Big Macintosh before. Rainbow Dash was the first to break the long silence.

"So does he always-"

"Do that when he gets mad? Eeeyup." Applejack cut Rainbow Dash off, familiar with being asked the same question by her cousins. “He has his own place he goes, to put himself in better humor. His Laughing Place. He’ll be fine.”

Big Macintosh landed with a thud beside the Apple Family Pavilion. The events of the day had been troubling for the stallion, in more ways than one. Being thrust into the spotlight and learning he had a secret kept from birth put a lot of stress on him. But he was glad it had happened today. Because now he finally had something to say beyond 'Eeeyup', Nnnope', or 'Mmmaybe'.

"Sorry I'm late, Cheerilee."

Up, Up, and Away

As Big Macintosh flew in, Cheerilee looked up to the stallion from a picnic. The moment she noticed he was flying, she recoiled a bit in surprise.

Big Macintosh landed with a thud. “Sorry I’m late, Cheerilee,” he said quietly.

"Big Macintosh, you-" Cheerilee's eyes remained glued to where Big Macintosh had been hovering. "You flew!"

"Eeeyup."

Big Macintosh went through the events of his day with Cheerilee, who was genuinely surprised that the stallion had uttered more than an 'Eeeyup' or 'Nnnope' in response to her questions for further details. As Big Macintosh finished his story, Cheerilee cocked an eyebrow and asked a question to summarize what he'd told her.

"So you're an alien and you've got superpowers?"

"Eeyup. You aren't gonna start mobbing me with questions like Applejack's friends did at the hospital, are you?"

Cheerilee shook her head. “No, I’m not. You know why?”

"Why?"

"Because even if you have superpowers, or if you’re from another realm, planet, or wherever…” Cheerilee poked him in the chest. “You’re still you, and that’s what counts.” Her hoof remained there, being absentmindedly dragged in patterns along Big Mac’s barrel chest. Their eyes met. "I wouldn't care if losing your yoke had turned you into a spider, a tree, or even a dragon. So long as you’re Big Macintosh on the inside, everything will be all right."

Big Macintosh nuzzled Cheerilee lightly.

"Thanks, Cheerilee."

"Oh it's no problem at all. I'm just glad you've said more to me on this date than on any of our previous dates combined."

Cheerilee spoke more as they walked about the orchard. About dreams. Love. The future. Her favorite topics, and her opinions on them never ceased to amaze Big Macintosh. He felt lucky to have fallen in love with such a positive and upbeat mare.

("Graaaugh!")

Big Macintosh’s ears twitched. What the heck was that?

(BOOM)

Was he hearing things? No. No, he couldn’t have. But an explosion? The sounds came from northward, near Canterlot. He blinked. How could he tell? Big Mac perked his ears again. More sounds. A child playing hide-and-seek with his sister hides in a closet with an old, worn door that was ready to fall off.

"Because Ah ‘kin hear its rusted hinges as it closes."

A pair of cats fighting in an alley over food.

"Because Ah ‘kin hear ‘em hiss and screech at each other, an’ the scuffle’a feet knocks over what ‘kin only be a trash can…"

(Stop the train, it’s gonna crash!")

He breathed in sharply. The train, on its way to Canterlot, was about to crash?

Not if he could help it!

Cheerilee's eyes fell upon his, which gazed deep into space. His ears twitched to the sounds of peril that only he could hear.

"Big Macinto-"

Cheerilee covered her eyes as Big Macintosh zoomed off onto the horizon, the rush of air blowing her mane into her eyes.

A train screeched along its rails, an unavoidable cliff just ahead. Below the cliff lay the burning wreckage of a bridge, the bits that still hung onto the track crumbling into ash. The passengers on board screamed as they rushed to their doom.

The conductor, an aged stallion with steely blue eyes, was arguing with his workers.

"Sir, we've got to disconnect the rest of the train! It'll slow down and only we'll have to go over the edge!"

"Don't you get it you dolt!? I've been riding these rails for years! At this speed, even if we disconnect, the rest of the cars will follow us over the edge! This is a doomed train. We might as well accept that fact rather than die struggling!"

Big Macintosh zoomed over the horizon, the sun directly behind him. His figure was obscured by the light, creating the image of a hero from the times of Roanan Empire. He had to go fast. As fast as he possibly could. He'd heard screams for help, but he didn't imagine he'd be going as far as the Mid-Equestrian Divide to rescue a train.

Still, countless lives were at stake, and Celestia as his witness, he'd stop that train. If he’d been anypony else, Big Macintosh would know right away that jumping in front of a train is a terrible idea. Then again, so was tangling with a Quarry Eel. He shot for the train, hoping he had arrived in time.

The ponies from the train looked to the clouds as a deafening boom cracked across the sky, framing their red savior in a ring of condensed water. It was at that same moment that the train began to fly over the edge. As the train plummeted, Big Macintosh pushed himself harder, to go far faster than a speeding bullet.

The train inched closer to the bottom of the crevice, time slowing to a crawl as Big Macintosh flew under the engine and pushed upward with all his might. He had to be more powerful than this speeding locomotive.

All went silent on the train as the landscape that had sped past them on their way down was replaced by a blue sky and clouds. Big Macintosh gave it his all, hauling the train over the skyscrapers of Canterlot, soaring over the tall buildings in a single bound. A bound that started in Ponyville, several miles away.

After he gently set the train down, Big Macintosh stretched his aching muscles and wiped the sweat from his brow.

Big Macintosh turned away from the train to be met by a wide-eyed crowd of dumbstruck ponies. The silence lasted for many minutes until one little colt had the guts to say something.

“That,” breathed the colt. His voice suddenly became loud. “THAT WAS AWESOME!!!”

The moment the colt finished his exclamation, the crowd mobbed him. They struggled against one another to get a better look at this strange stallion. After all, he’d just lifted a TRAIN and flown it back to the station! That’s a feat that could probably be only done by a winged unicorn, like the Princesses.

On a nearby rooftop, a lone griffon with bright red feathers and a denim jacket sighed, drumming his talons onto the camera he held in his talons. An entire day of going around Canterlot and not a single news-worthy story had come up.

"C'mon Oleander. Sure you're at the bottom of the ladder, but before you know it, an amazing story will just fall right into your lap!"

The ground shook a bit, knocking the griffon over. The camera flashed a few times as it clacked onto the cobblestone roof.

"The heck was that!?" Oleander pulled himself up onto the ledge, his eyes falling onto the train station, where the smoke trail from the engine led into the sky instead of down the tracks. As he gazed upon the train, his eye filled with tears. Looking to the castle in the distance, he bowed with his hands clasped together over his had in a show of gratitude.

"Oh, thank you Celestia! Now please make it rain rent money!"

Oleander looked to the sky, noting that he wasn't being buried in a hail of bits. Sighing, he picked himself up and dusted his jacket off.

"Guess it's a one time thing. Ah well, it'll be raining bits once I get to bottom of the sky train!"

Oleander jumped into the air and glided down to the train station. He needed a scoop, and he'd gotten a triple-stack cone.

Something grabbed Big Macintosh by his foreleg and pulled him out of the mob.

A griffon with red feathers gelled back into a 'hip' style took Big Macintosh's hoof and shook furiously. "Hi! I'm Oleander, a reporter for the Daily Canter, the biggest newspaper in the Canterlot area! We'd love to hear about how you single-hoofedly saved that train from a fall, and all without wings or a horn! Care to come with speak with us for a bit?"

"Nnnope."

"Aww come on! You're probably the biggest hero Equestria has seen since the Elements of Harmony! Can't you spare just a few wor-"

"We do believe that this pony hath declined your offer."

The griffon bowed abruptly, dropping his notepad and pencil.

Big Macintosh craned his neck around to get a good look at the pony who'd scared the griffon.

"Macintosh Apple, is it? We've heard much about you from our sister's letters. Could you perhaps come with us? We have read of your humbleness and seen your great feat, and would like to escort you out of this most uncomfortable situation."

Big Macintosh half-nodded, half-bowed to the Princess of the Night. "It would be much appreci'ted, Princess."

"Very well then." Luna took flight, encasing the two in a force field to prevent pegasi from mobbing them in the air. Big Macintosh jumped into the air and followed after Luna, keeping himself within the forcefield.

Oleander grinned even wider. No only was there a new hero, but he was familiar with the princesses! This story wasn't just a triple scoop cone of ice cream, it was a hot fudge sundae, and the hot fudge had just burnt his tongue!

Oleander took wing and glided after the pair of powerful ponies with a pen and notepad in his talons.

The two looked back on occasion for any pegasi that might've tailed them, but Oleander managed to fly out of their line of sight whenever they did.

"Good thing I took those private eye correspondence courses!"

As Luna and Big Macintosh landed on the princess' balcony, Oleander made himself comfortable on a cloud just outside the room.

They touched down upon Luna’s balcony. Her guards took their posts on either side of the balcony’s door, becoming almost like statues.

As Big Macintosh followed Luna into her room, he got a face-full of her… unique taste in interior decorating: skulls and wicked masks lined the walls, creepy-looking dolls occupied shelves (and he could swear one of them was watching him), burlap sacks of mysterious ingredients hanging from the ceiling, a giant painting of surreal terrors above her bed…

“We take it thou hast already been informed of your abilities,” Luna said suddenly, breaking Big Mac from his distraction. He turned to meet the Princess’s steely gaze and silently hoped she hadn’t caught him staring at her room.

“Eeyup.”

Luna nodded, and walked over to a large treasure chest near the corner of her chamber. It was black, lined with spikes, with a cow's skull over the lock. Its dimensions seemed warped and ghoulish. Big Mac raised an eyebrow. If anything could be kept in a box THAT ominous, he’d rather let it stay there.

Luna inserted her horn into the lock, breaking its seal. As it opened, Big Mac could hear tortured screams erupt from the box. He looked away, suddenly terrified. He heard Luna hush the voices like a mother to an upset child, then a few seconds as the screams quieted. Some… slithering? A sound like shuddering snakes rang in his ears. Then finally, the box was shut with a deafening slam.

He breathed deep and turned around. The Princess stood before him, with a scroll in her telekinetic grasp. “Our sister has informed us of your discomfort with your recently-revealed powers. We have witnessed that today, ourselves. Thus, we shall make thee an offer, Sir Big Macintosh of the Apple Clan.

“We have in our possession a spell to recreate another dampener to reduce thine abilities. Shall we proceed?”

Big Macintosh thought this over. His new abilities could be very useful. He could be more helpful to his family than ever before. Cheerilee didn’t seem to mind his becoming a superhero. But there was that whole “crowds mobbing him” thing. He hated it. He didn’t think he could ever hate anything if he tried, but it turned out there really was something he hated after all.

Fame.

He could give up these powers and become normal again. He could get back to life as he had before. No big deal, no fuss, no mobs of ponies trying to touch him as if he’s some kind of savior. And Cheerilee wouldn’t mind either way, so long as he stayed who he was on the inside. Big Mac nodded and gave his answer.

“Eeyup.”

At this, Luna nodded as well, and opened her scroll. “Then let us begin. Please stand over there.” Luna pointed to a dark rug, which Big Macintosh could've sworn was made from the hide of some eldritch beast.

Big Macintosh moved to the center of the rug, as ordered. As he moved, he noticed the complex, crater-like designs of the room. It looked like a simple design choice when he'd first entered the room, but only now that h'd looked closely did he notice that the room's walls formed an inside-out map of the light side of the moon. He noticed several formations, like the Mare Tranquillitatis, weren't covered by shelves of macabre knick-knacks, and were instead marked with co-ordinates of some kind. A desk based under the part of the wall dedicated to the formation held images of a trio of ponies, as well as several scrolls stamped with a bright red [TOP SECRET] on their seals.

"Ahem."

The sound of Luna's voice snapped Big Macintosh out of his curiosity over such delicate information.

"We should warn you, we are not as well-versed in conjuring magic as our sister is, so the new nullifier yoke will be a bit, um, bigger than your old yoke."

Big Macintosh nodded, standing firm.

"Alright, we shall begin with the spell."

A blue light shot from Luna's horn and into the rug Big Macintosh stood on, causing the fibers to glow like a set of runes. The light reached over Big Macintosh's body, like a set of warm clothes. He felt a familiar weight around his neck, with new additional weights on his legs. With a snap and a pop, the light faded, showing Big Macintosh what his new dampener looked like.

Drapped over his neck was a thick, steel yoke. Where th yoke covered his chest, it formed a diamond shape with ruby lining. Within this ruby diamond lay a ruby 'S'-shaped rune. The rest of the diamond was filled in with a golden metal that was lightweight, but strong.

Over front legs was what felt like a pair of hoof-guards mixed with boots. The boots themselves were red and had an area on the bottom where horseshoes made of some unknown, but incredibly dense material were seamlessly integrated into the boot. Over the fronts of the fore-boots was a blue plate of armor with edges made of the same golden metal as the fillings of the 'S'. On his hind hooves were red boots nearly identical to the ones on his forehooves, save for the fact that they lacked plating.

Thick, metal-like materials made up a sort of armor that covered the rest of his body, keeping his vitals safe from harm while not overheating him like normal armor would.

Under all of this was a one-piece suit of a blue cloth that was not unlike spandex, save for the fact that it was far more comfortable and form-fitting, showing off Big Macintosh's muscles in a most flattering manner. Most peculiarlly, it covered up his cutie mark.

And what Big Macintosh had found out almost immediately, was that the suit didn't even nullify his powers.

The smell of smoke alerted him to a burning scroll. Luna looked at him apologetically.

"We are very sorry Big Macintosh, but the last time We have performed a conjuring spell was before our banishment. This was a one-use spell, and We seem to have accidentally crafted a suit of armor instead of a nullifying yoke." She bowed her head a bit in shame and rubbed her hooves together. "Forgive us?"

Any attempt at an angered response had been halted. Luna genuinely seemed sorry for mussing up a single-use spell. Big Macintosh defaulted to his basic answer.

"Eeeyup."

"Thank you for your forgiveness, Macintosh Apple. We appreciate it greatly."

Big Macintosh nodded to Luna. Taking notice of the position of the sun through the window, he remembered what he'd left when he'd heard the train.

"Oh no! Cheerilee!" Big Macintosh rushed out of the window, the rush of air blowing away stray papers.

Luna watched him go over the horizon and thought deeply. Conjuring up a small conch shell comprised mostly of magic, she spoke into it.

"Sister, We have successfully tricked Macintosh Apple. We have given him the armor his father sent with him. He thinks the conjuring went through a sort of accident, as planned. A laughable thought, really, when one considers that We are the former Bearer of the Element of Magic."

Some time passed before a reply came back through the shell.

"Good work, Luna. If we want to take on General Swift Sword and that foul magic that corrupts him, then we'll need Big Macintosh's help. I'll be back at the castle soon. I just hope what we're doing will turn out for the best."

Oleander put his talons to his beak, blocking a surprised gasp.

The princess had lied. She'd done something that most politicians did already, but to hear a blatant lie come right from the mouth of a princess, one of three ponies to be regarded as a god by many was just earth shattering.

But, if both Luna and Celestia were in on a lie, then it must be something that not even the press had a right to reveal.

Taking the notes he'd written subconsciously of the princesses' conversation, he ripped them out and crumpled them up, tossing them down into the bushes below.

Dusting his talons, Oleander took flight to the Daily Canter office building. He had a story to write.

A unicorn wearing an obsidian suit of armor passed by a set of bushes. His coat was a light tan, his mane a dark brown. Some white streaks went through it. On his chin was a mustache-goatee combo with the same white streaks. His eyes were covered by thick goggles that glowed with an eerie green color. An orange unicorn mare stood next to him. Her features were angular and aggressive, made more intimidating by her lab coat and black latex hoof-covers.

The stallion looked around. To the unicorn mare at his side, the world looked exactly like the gardens below Luna's balcony, but to him, the world was burning. Dying. Where he stood, in the palace gardens of Canterlot, there was a great mountain supporting him. The world he saw had a massive city spanning from Canterlot to where Ponyville would be. The location of the small town itself was replaced by a massive palace forged from a green metal that emitted the same eerie glow as his goggles. An explosion erupted at the palace, sending spires and towers crashing into the ground.

A rustling sound in the bushes put the unicorn mare on her guard. Moving over to investigate, she snatched up a pair of paper wads that sat upon the shrubbery. Her emerald eyes glanced over the note.

"Sir Swift Sword, it seems that the princesses have begun to take action against StarLabs." The mare glared at Swift Sword with disdain. "Normally, I would completely support your swift fall from power, but as you've so graciously managed to blackmail me into helping you with these goggles, I have no choice but to give you a quick estimate of the time you have left before the iron hoof of the law comes crashing down unto you."

"And what timeframe would you propose, Miss Lack Luster?"

"I would say a couples of weeks at the most. If you want these goggles completely de-bugged within that time, I suggest that you take away research and development's snack breaks."

Swift Sword removed the goggles, placing them on his forehead. His orange eyes flashed green for the briefest of moments. "I want the order given five minutes ago."

Lack Luster nodded. "Consider it done."

Big Macintosh touched down in Ponyville. He'd looked over the entire town for Cheerilee, and had eventually found her walking to the Ponyville Library.

He followed her in, the clunk of his heavy armor on wood making her jump in fright.

"Hey Big Macintosh!" Spike popped his head out from behind a stack of books. "Where'd you get the cool armor?"

"Big Macintosh?" Cheerilee turned around, facing the stallion, glaring at him. Despite being much weaker than him, her glare made her seem like an unstoppable force. "I was talking to you, and you just zoomed off. I demand an explanation as to what could possibly be urgent enough for you to fly off mid-sentence!"

Cheerilee stomped a hoof. Big Macintosh shrunk back, as if the stomp had actually struck him.

"I-I... uh"

A loud belch cut him off before he could explain.

"Twilight, your parents just sent you the newest Daily Canter! It's a breaking news edition too!"

Twilight Sparkle rushed down the stairs and nearly slammed into Spike. Taking the newspaper from his grasp, she read over it aloud, for all to hear.

"Strange 'Superhorse' Saves Steam Engine From Smashing Into Stones."

Spike smirked. "Say that ten times fast!"

Twilight glowered at Spike as she continued to read.

"A strange red stallion with a green apple cutie mark saved a train headed to Canterlot from crashing into a ravine simply by lifting it. Eyewitnesses claim the stallion had not only lifted the train, but had flown it into the station. The stallion fled the scene before he could be asked to comment.

"An investigation is being carried out to find out exactly how the bridge was destroyed. Current suspects include local dragons Smaug and Sharptooth, but the search is not being limited to those of draconian heritage. More details as they come.

Everypony and dragon looked over to Big Macintosh with awe in their eyes.

Cheerilee grabbed Big Macintosh into a hug.

"Um, I-"

"Apology accepted!" Cheerilee let him loose and scanned him over, smiling. "You look handsome in this armor. Who gave it to you?"

"Luna."

Upon the mention of the princess' name, Twilight practically pounced onto him.

"Princess Luna gave you a suit of armor! Oh you must feel so honored!"

"Actually, she tried to conjour a new damp'ner, but she mussed it up a bit."

"So instead of something to remove your powers, you got a whole suit of armor? How exactly did she 'muss it up'?"

"She said she weren't no good at conjouring."

Twilight deadpanned.

"Spike, bring me the book, 'Conjouring and You: A Guide to Summons and Matter Creation'."

Spike's feet pattered on the wood as he raced to the stack of books he'd been behind and grabbed one off of the top, tossing it to Twilight. Twight caught the book deftly and fanned to page one. Turning it to Big Macintosh, she pointed to the portrait of a pony credited with the invention of conjouring magic. A mare with a midnight blue coat and a mane of etherial magic smiled lightly to anypony who read the book. Princess Luna.

"Big Macintosh, as much as I hate to say it, Princess Luna lied to you."

Putz of Gold, Stallion of Steel

Big Macintosh’s eyes fell on the picture of the Princess. Beneath it, the entire history of the conjuring spell was written—but the four words that really jumped out at him were, “perfected by Princess Luna.”

"Big Macintosh, as much as I hate to say it," said Twilight as she put down the book, "Princess Luna lied to you."

He thought back to the moment when Luna had 'mussed up' the spell. How the scroll had 'burnt' all on its own. How the yoke was 'a little bit bigger'. He'd been made a fool by a pretty mare who knew how to act.

“Eeyup,” he agreed solemnly. Big Macintosh ground his teeth in thought. He looked away for a second. Besides the suit, there was something that felt very odd about all this. Something was... missing.

"Forget this?" Cheerilee presented him with his wheat stalk. Nipping it into his teeth, he let it settle to the side of his mouth.

"Eeeyup." With his wheat stalk back in place, Big Macintosh could think more clearly.

Fact one, the Princess had promised him a way of dampening his power. Instead, she had given him a costume that made him look like some comic book superhero.

Fact two, she had done this on purpose and lied to him about it. Big Macintosh was never one to question or doubt the authority of anypony of any office (much less the authority of a living goddess), but there was undeniably something very fishy about it.

Wait a minute...

The other ponies in the room stared at the frozen Big Macintosh. He'd stopped moving almost as soon as his wheat had been returned to him.

Luna—and very likely Celestia as well—were both playing at something. Big Macintosh didn’t like it, but it seemed he was at the center of all this. Should he take his case to the Princesses and demand an explanation?

In the meantime, Big Macintosh dreaded the attention he’d likely receive. The crowds of ponies hounding him like he was a living god. He sighed. This was all getting complicated—yet another thing Big Mac disliked.

Why can’t this be simple, like long division or reciting every verse of The Iliad?

Spike hopped up onto Big Macintosh and leaned up against his neck, waving his hands over Big Macintosh's eyes.

"Eeewha?" Big Macintosh muttered as he snapped back into awareness of the world around him.

"Yo, Big Macintosh! Y'arright? You sort of just froze." Spike hopped back off of Big Macintosh.

"Big Macintosh, perhaps you should go home?" Twilight guided Cheerilee and Big Macintosh to the door with a gentle push from her magic. "After all, you stopped a falling train and managed to carry it to Canterlot. You've got to be tired from doing all that."

Cheerilee raised an eyebrow. "But the sui-"

"I'll send Princess Celestia a letter asking about the suit, so don't worry one bit," Twilight said quickly.

Big Macintosh took note of Twilight's haste. Twilight's eyes darted back and forth by mere millimeters, like a foal trying to find a quick way hide a mess they'd made. Small beads of sweat were starting to form on her skin, causing it to become a slightly darker shade of mulberry. He could hear the slight twang of individual hairs flying out of place in her mane and the sounds of blood being diverted to give her brain a quick boost.

While Twilight was normally bad at lying, the fact that it had set off the same sense he'd discovered the train with made him give her a double take. But when he looked back, all he saw was the library door slamming shut.

Big Macintosh walked with Cheerilee back to Sweet Apple Acres, strangely feeling vulnerable despite his abilities. As strong and unique as he’d become, he felt as if his life was beginning to quietly spin out of his control. Cheerilee glanced back at the receding library with a look of worry.

"What do you think has her so worked up?"

Lack Luster looked over a set of notes and complex equations.

Her office matched her name, looking almost completely devoid of anything worth noting. The walls were painted a dreary beige and the tile floor was a dingy brown. A pair of creamy white mass production office chairs sat in front of her mass production oakwood desk on a mass production office rug.

The only thing in her office that didn't look like it came from an assembly line was the large green gem sitting on her desk in a lead container. Rather different from an emerald, the stone pulsated with a sickly green light.

A rapping at her door brought her to attention. The sinister grin creeping up on Luster's face disappeared as she put the jewel into a safe. She recomposed herself.

"Yes? Come in."

The door opened. One of her employees, a clean-cut handsome unicorn, poked his head in almost demurely. "Ma'am! The goggles are undergoing the next round of tests. We require you in the testing chamber immediately."

She held a groan. Hauling herself out of her chair, Lack Luster trotted to the testing chamber. As she passed the doors in the hallways, her mind wandered.

Curse that Swift Sword! How such a blithering idiot could even manage to get material to blackmail me with, let alone carry out the act of blackmail escapes me. Perhaps when this is all said and done, I'll take everything from him. His property. His influence. His power.

Yes! I will crumple him! I will take everything from him and toss him aside like the garbage he is. And to make sure he stays put, I will throw him into a financial hole so deep he'll think his head is still firmly lodged in his-

"We're here, ma'am." The escort held the door open and let Lack Luster pass through before closing it and ran off to complete his paperwork, or something. Lack Luster hardly had time to think about what cubicle workers did, much less care.

Swift Sword grinned at the sight of his extorted worker. "Are you ready, Miss Luster?"

Lack Luster snorted at him. "Ready." To dig you an early grave, she added mentally.

"Alright, let the testing begin. Pull the lever!" Sword flipped on a new set of goggles as the lights dimmed. The world faded away and it was replaced by the burning and dying landscape he'd seen previously.

Swift Sword held out his hoof to catch a falling meteorite. The last time he'd visited, the goggles had operated on a system not unlike an astral projection spell, and the meteorite would have passed right through him. But, with the new upgrade, he could catch the meteorite and feel the lukewarm rock on his coat. His grin threatened to rip his face in half.

"Alright! This is quite a success you managed to pull in just a few hour's notice. I guarantee a pay raise for the pony that can actually send me into this world!"

Several ponies scrambled out of the room and tripped over each other in a rush to get their hands on the formula first. Lack Luster huffed at them.

Those imbeciles should know it would be as simple as crossing a teleportation spell with a ripping spell. With the rip focused on the fabric of reality, it would be simple to lock onto the desired reality and pop in. But of course the one funding this has to be the one unicorn in Canterlot that doesn't know a lick of useful magic.

"Miss Luster, you may return to your office and review what you've seen here. In triplicate." Swift Sword waved her away as groped around the world that only he could see.

"Yes, Swift Sword, sir."

"Sift Sord, Miss Luster. Swift Sword sounds absolutely nothing like my name."

Lack Luster left the room, speed-reading over the results as she did. A small bit of text caught her eye and made her smile brightly. One of the workers passing her in the hallway shrank back in fear. A happy Lack Luster was a scary Lack Luster.

Oleander sat in his office chair, tapping away at a typewritier busily. A loud, angry shout of "OLEANDER!" made him jump so high into the air that he smacked his head into the ceiling. He bolted from his small, cramped office, past the water cooler, and into the spacious office of his employer, Reedoliver Black-White, or as his employees called him, Mr. White.

Oleander panted heavily. "Ye-yes, sir?

Mr. White was a rather large pegasus with, fittingly enough, an ivory coat and an ebony mane and tail. His chair squeaked weakly as he repositioned his girth every few seconds while chewing his cigar. Oleander swore that the only times Mr. White would look him in the eyes, it was because he'd goofed up somewhere.

"I'm not paying you to publish weak news bulletins about heroes!"

"But that is my job, si-"

"Shut up! Since you picked up the scoop first, I want you to interview this 'Superhorse' before the Griffam Gazette gets their grubby hooves on him! NOW GET MOVING!"

Nodding weakly, Oleander bolted from Mr. White's office like a scared cat, slamming into a wall on his way out. He recovered quickly, and leapt from the nearest window out into Canterlot at evening time. The red light of the setting sun colored everything purple and orange, two of Oleander's favorite colors.

He considered going back to the train station for clues, but a realization hit him. The conversation he'd spied on. He'd heard sensitive government information. He was now part of the conspiracy, whether he wanted to be or not. So he decided to put his skills to the test. He knew that Princess Luna's cover-up wouldn't last for long. What they needed were professionals trained in the art of deceit and sensationalism. And he was just the professional for the job.

No one would ever suspect that Oleander was the mastermind behind the beginning of something beautiful. If Equestria wanted a sensational, bigger-than-life hero, then that's what Oleander was going to give them.

From what he'd gathered previously, this 'Big Macintosh' didn't want fame. He didn't want hundreds of ponies mobbing him. It was why he'd left the stallion's name out of the original news article in the first place. After all, he understood the need for privacy. Saving lives was likely very draining, and a pony doing feats such as those would need their sleep.

At least that was more than what Big Macintosh would be getting if ponies began snooping into the mater of who the stallion in the photo was. He needed to find him before other ponies did, formulate a cover story, and hope the public would buy it.

If Luna wants him to be a hero, then I can't stop her. But I can help push things along a better direction. I just need to come up with the perfect cover plan.

Oleander looked over his memories for any detail that could be helpful in providing a cover up story that would make Big Macintosh and Superhorse two different entities. He scratched his chin with his pencil, landing upon an empty rooftop. The sun had begun making its way down, letting the moon take over. Oleander began the brainstorm of the century, his thoughts taking a turn for the creative under the veil of night.

One, Big Macintosh is red, while Superhorse left the castle with a blue costume. It wouldn't be inconceivable for me to publish a photo of Superhorse and Big Macintosh side-by-side, each with a different, posture, disposition, and personality.

If I can get Princess Luna to help with this, then maybe, just maybe, we have a shot at separating Big Macintosh from the Stallion of Steel.

"Hey! That's a pretty good tagline! I've gotta write this down!" Oleander jotted down the alliterative tagline. Alliteration was his friend in this situation. No pony could possibly resist 'Superhorse, the Stallion of Steel'. After all, 'Big Macintosh, the Stallion of Steel' just didn't sound right.

"Now what kind of things do we know about Superhorse, Ollie?" Oleander bit his tongue in thought.

Fast enough to catch a something falling as fast as a gunshot, strong enough to lift a locomotive and only break a sweat, and able to fly over the city without ever landing. That doesn't sound catchy enough. Hmmm. Faster than a gunshot, strong enough to carry a locomotive, and capable of flying over tall buildings. Dang it, Ollie! Think harder!

Oleander looked up in thought, instantly regretting it. A giant bat-mare-thing jumped from rooftop to rooftop. He caught her eye, and she glared at him with sharp, white eyes that seemed to glow in the darkness. It was as if they reflected every terrible deed he'd ever done, like the time he raided the cookie jar as a kid, or the time he pretended to be sick to skip school. They kept their eyes locked for but a few seconds, but Oleander could've sworn it took far longer. The mare broke eye contact and continued galloping across the rooftops.

The terrified griffon smelled urine. He was pretty sure it was his. Shivers of fear and panic that wracked him from his brief encounter with possibly the scariest pony he'd ever laid eyes on. And he was employed by Mr. White!

Bat-mare-things. Ninja Bat-mare-things. Oh great, I'm going insane. I'm going to wind up in a padded cell in Hockham Asylum, just like dad!

Oleander went back to thinking, if a bit paranoid that he was losing it and was already in a padded cell.

Alright, he's faster than a gunshot. Powerful enough to lift a locomotive. With how fast he was moving, his velocity and the amount of force he was exerting, he'd have to have been faster than a speeding bullet and more powerful than the locomotive he was carrying. And he managed to carry all of this over half of Canterlot. Now, if I go by Doctor Python's Coconut-Swallow flight ratio to determine how far it would take him to accelerate to the point he could actually lift the train, in coconuts per swallow, he'd have to have started his flight at least fifty miles away. The only town within that radius would be Ponyville.

Oleander dropped his pencil. "I never thought taking Advanced Physics in high school would pay off." Oleander turned back to his notes. "So he can move faster than a speeding bullet, is more powerful than a locomotive, and is capable of leaping over tall buildings in a single bound." Oleander tapped his chin. "That sounds pretty good.

"Superhorse, the Stallion of Steel! Faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive! Able to leap over tall buildings in a single bound!" Oleander fist-pumped. "Yes! It's Superhorse! Flying higher in the sky than any bird, plane, or pegasus could dare to dream, he touches the heavens, he skims the edge of space! Superhorse! Fighting for truth, justice, and the Equestrian way!" Oleander stood up on his hind legs and flared his wings.

"Y'know, I think I have a knack for creative journalism!"

Oleander looked over his notes once more, for anything he might have missed.

"Ponyville, huh? That's pretty far for me, so I'd have to speak with the Princess before I attempt the cover-up."

Oleander took off into the skies and made way for the night court. Ponies rarely attended, so it was highly likely he'd be the only visitor for the night. It was a rather short flight from the rooftop to the castle, a fact which he was thankful for.

Oleander landed before the night guards at the front entrance of the castle.

"State your name and business here."

"James Oleander. I wish to interview the princess about the mysterious Superhorse that showed up earlier today."

"Normally, you'd need to call ahead, but nothing's scheduled for tonight. Just show us your press pass."

Oleander panicked. He looked himself over for it. IHe checked over pocket twice over, and even bothered to look in his hat for it, to no avail.

"Would that be it, on your tail?"

Oleander looked at his tail, where surely enough, his press pass was tied to his tail.

The guards laughed and moved to the sides allowing Oleander entry. "Heh! Alright kid, you can enter. It's a slow night, and we needed a laugh."

Oleander inwardly wished that the two guards would fail their next uniform inspection as he walked down a staircase and into the Night Court.

In contrast to Celestia's Day Court, where the walls looked bright and cheery, Oleander was pretty sure he was entering what was initially a mausoleum. Rectangular chambers in the walls held books of many shapes and sizes, with melting candles casting the court in a dreary light. Tall, twisted torch-stands bathed the main path in a pale blue. From here, Oleander spied no guards—instead, there were disturbing statues of pegasus ponies with sharp teeth striking graceful dancer poses.

Ahead, the Princess of the Night herself was seated on a plush black cushion that acted as her throne. All around Her Majesty were more statues, these of giants and goblins and demented goat-headed beasts, fawning over her as if in adoration. The moment Oleander approached Her Majesty’s throne, the giant statues looked up and stared, startling him.

Oleander strode up to the throne and bowed quickly.

"It is rare that a reporter wishes to interview us. James Oleander from the Daily Canter?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"We greatly enjoyed your editorial from a few years ago about the advantages of returning to a diarchal principality." Luna cocked an eyebrow. "So, what is it that thee wishes to know about 'Superhorse' as you called him in the paper?"

Oleander's facial muscles struggled. They were being pulled into a configuration they had not practiced. Seriousness.

"Princess," Oleander paused. "I know about the cover-up." As he finished his sentence, winds roared and doors slammed shut, until all that remained was the torch light the lined the Night Court. In the faint light, he could see that the statues lining the hall were the guards. He felt the blade of a spear against his throat. Thanks to his encounter with the bat-ninja from before, he was thankfully out of urine. He tried his best to remain cool, even as he saw the cold, glowing eyes of the statue-guards and felt their ice-cold breath. The moment Luna waved a hoof, they resumed their statue-like grace.

"And I want to help. Nopony is ever going to buy just the Princess' words alone."

The doors opened once more. "Guards, stand down." Luna looked down at Oleander. "Go on."

Oleander pulled up all the courage he could. From every fiber of his being, Oleander mustered up the courage to lecture a princess on the workings of conspiracy.

"Nearly everypony believes what they hear in media. If you want Big Macintosh to be a hero, then fine. He'll be the hero. But he was clearly uncomfortable with the idea of being known across the country as a hero. It's why I left his name out of the article in the first place." Oleander stopped for a moment, closed his eyes and breathed deep. "Look, everypony I know thinks I'm a screw-up. A putz. And I am. This identity I've cultivated will help prevent suspicion from my involvement in this cover-up."

Luna looked at him, her lips pursed in deep thought. The statues above her seemed to share in her rumination. She couldn't help but detect that there was a little more to his self-deprecation than just suggesting a shield he could hide behind while simultaneously siding with her.

The princess nodded. "We see where you're coming from, but how exactly do you intend to separate Big Macintosh from Superhorse? The public has already seen him without the costume."

"That where you, me, and Big Macintosh come in. We lie. We tell the public a romanticized story of a great hero. We give them something to believe in. We give them a hero they can believe in. A hero to aspire to. A hero to set an example."

"We only intended for Big Macintosh to remove the corrupt C.E.O. of StarLabs, without ordering a lawsuit. They're too many loopholes and failures in the system that Swift Sword has taken advantage of, and we need a pony to depose him. Our sister told us the story of Big Macintosh, so we have waited for just the right circumstances for him to realize his power."

Oleander tilted his head. "Wouldn't that take years, or even months?"

Luna shook her head. "No. We knew he would find his power soon. You could say We had a 'gut feeling' about it."

"Well, I guess I can't blame you for following instinct. Half of my writing is just that. Speaking of my writing, look."

Oleander held his notepad out to Luna. The notepad was floated away from Oleander's talons and hovered in front of the Princess. She scanned the awkward chicken-scratch of Oleander's writing. He even drew a castle. Luna cocked her head, then looked back up at Oleander in bafflement.

"Those are all the notes I took of Big Macintosh's, or rather Superhorse's capabilities. Princess, I hate to sound rude," Oleander took a deep breath, mentally preparing himself, "but you're missing the bigger picture here. Superhorse doesn't just have to serve one purpose and then be stripped of his powers. Consider how many monsters have been getting loose, and the fact that pretty much everything from one thousand years ago is breaking free,- no offense."

Oh crap! I went on a tangent and mentioned the moon thing and now she's gonna get mad an send me to the moon to show me what it's like being trapped on a giant space rock!

"None taken."

Oleander breathed a sigh of relief.

"- We need a hero that can stop them. The Elements of Harmony can't be the only fall back plan. We might not have Shining Armor and Princess Cadence around to do their love force-field spell thing. We need somepony that could knock out a rampaging Ursa Major in a single punch. We need a pony who can save a falling airboat. We need a pony who we can rely on to be there."

Oleander stood up on his hind legs and flapped his wings to hold him upright. Placing his fists on his hips, he stood triumphant, determined, and unwilling to take 'no' for an answer.

"Princess Luna, we need Superhorse."

Emotionally-Charged Intermission

Big Macintosh’s room was the quietest in the Apple house, the perfect reflection of its occupant. Still unable to sleep after such a crazy day, he stretched and sighed in his bed, and laid himself still over his quilted covers, staring into the button eyes of Smarty Pants.

He sighed. “What am I tah do…?” he asked the doll.

Cheerilee had gone home after staying over for dinner. There was hardly any conversation at the table, before, during, or after the meal; it was mostly 'please, pass the potatoes' and 'thank you'. It wasn't that he minded the silence- it wasn't rare for a meal to go by without a single word being said between the family members. What bothered Big Macintosh the most was what caused the silence. He could see it in his younger sisters’ eyes. They seemed intimidated in his presence. Did he overreact earlier when he was mobbed by questions? Did that… scare them?

Looking back on it, he was less angry about the questions, and more angry about the fact that until today, he'd been an ordinary pony. But suddenly, he's an alien from not-even-Celestia-knows where and he can't help but feel like despite his sudden gain of power, he's completely helpless to the hooves of fate.

A creak at the door snatched Big Macintosh out of his rumination. He looked up and was greeted by Granny Smith—apparently electing to stay up past her bedtime. Her aging features carried with them a sense of quiet seriousness.

"Yes, Granny?"

Granny Smith looked at him with a gaze that could only be described as containing the kind of wisdom a pony gains only from one hundred plus years of life experience. "Big Macintosh, I have somethin' you need tah see." She walked out of sight, and Big Macintosh dutifully followed her, closing his door quietly behind.

As grandmother and grandson walked down the hall, they were stalked by a pair of wandering eyes the color of apple juice. Applebloom crept quietly after them, careful to not make a sound.

The two walked in silence, broken only by Big Macintosh occasionally trying to ask Granny what it was, only to be rebuked with a quiet shush. Granny Smith led Big Macintosh out of the house, through Sweet Apple Acres, and into a part of the orchard he hadn’t been to in ages. The trees here were fewer. They huddled around an ancient, decrepit barn like nuns around a holy effigy.

Granny Smith led him into the barn and took a kerosene lamp down from the wall. She turned the tiny knob on the old, tarnished lamp and it lit up, casting a dim glow over the barn. The old mare led him to a stable in the far corner. The stable’s floor was buried under hay. Granny Smith brushed the hay aside with a few brisk movements, revealing a wooden door that one would normally use for an apple cellar.

While the two were distracted by the relatively loud sounds of the hay being brushed aside, Applebloom darted into the barn and hid behind some barrels.

Granny Smith opened the door and revealed not a staircase to a store of apples, but a large, vaguely apple-shaped hunk of metal. The sides gleamed like a ruby, with streaks of sapphire blue running its length. Small runes of gold stood out on the surface, but one in particular resembled the 'S' upon the armor that Luna had given him...

Granny Smith looked him in the eyes. "Big Macintosh, this is what I found you in. When the princess came, we took out that suit o' armor you're wearin' and hid it away fer safekeeping. After that, we closed the door. I tried tah open it again after the princess left, but I never could get the darn thing tah work."

Granny Smith smiled at him. "Since you already know how I found you, I figgered that you might as well see it fer your own two eyes."

Big Macintosh looked at the metal pod cautiously. He reached out slowly and gently stroked the surface of the pod, his hoof resting on the ‘S’ symbol. It was cool and smooth, and Big Mac could tell just from this one touch how heavy it was.

When he tried to pull his hoof away, it felt… stuck.

Suddenly, the golden runes on the contraption lit up, glowing with the light of a sunrise, and the machine spoke in a distinctly male monotone.

"User D.N.A. Recognized: Hello, Kal-El."

The machine released his hoof, and the door popped open. Granny Smith and Big Macintosh flinched back a bit in fright, but soon leaned in to see what secrets lie within. Applebloom's eyes widened in awe, and she silently mouthed the word 'wow'.

Inside, there was a model of a futuristic-looking city, colored a deep emerald. The model looked so intricately detailed that it looked like it had been shrunk down from a larger size, rather than crafted by hoof or machine. The entire thing was encased in a clear, glass-like dome, giving it some resemblance to a snowglobe. Beside it sat a small object that greatly resembled an ordinary flashlight.

Granny Smith's eyes seemed distant as she recalled the items. "When the Princess and I found you, we also found all these strange contraptions inside yer pod, but I just couldn't git the fing-fangled things tah work! I betcha it's like this here pod." Granny Smith thumped her hoof on the metal door. "Jus' needs the right touch."

Taking the flashlight out, he looked for a switch. He failed to find one, but the gold 'S' emblem appeared once more. Big Macintosh, after having seen how it worked with the door lock, assumed that it too had been made so that only he may access it.

Big Macintosh touched the emblem, and was rewarded with a bell-ring. From the mouth of the flashlight was conjured the image of a stallion and mare who both resembled Big Macintosh very closely—the stallion in particular. The clothes they wore seemed alien, almost like something out of a science fiction comic book.

Granny Smith smiled a little bit, and her eyes brightened. Despite being from another world entirely, those two ponies looked like Apples. It was a gift she supposed, being able to tell at a glance who was your kin. Even though she'd never seen them before in her long life, she'd always had an inkling that this was what his real parents looked like.

From behind the barrels, Applebloom saw the pair of ghosts as they were projected from the flashlight. She held a gasp of surprise, but kept silent. Kept watching.

The monotonous voice named the two figures, summing up the awe and mystery behind the two in a pair of small, alien-sounding names. "Message to Kal-El from Jor-El and Lara-El."

The figures began to move, but sound have yet to come to the phantom ponies.

The projection ponies began talking at the same time.

"You are our greatest creation; you are our son, Kal-El. And as we die with Kryptpon, we could not love you any more than the Apples, the family we have decided to send you to, will."

As we die. Big Macintosh's face paled in a mixture of fear and sadness. To know he was seeing the ghosts of dead ponies. To know he might not be what they expected. It felt terrifying, being told he was the last of his alien kind by ponies had been dead for almost twenty years at this point.

"Son, you are everything we have worked to achieve. You, Kal-El, are the last ember of Kryptponian civilization."

That answered only a few of the questions that Big Macintosh had, and it hardly kept more from cropping up.

”As you head to Earth, Kal-El, we pray you keep the strength of love and hope alive. You must never lose them—never give up, no matter what. You’ll face challenges, and you’ll fall, but you only truly fail if you give up. You must get back up every time you fall, Kal-El. And when somepony else falls, you must rise to pick them up, and help them back to their hooves.”

In the projection, the mare stopped speaking, and only the stallion's voice remained. It sounded like wrought iron- rough, but strong- proud even.

"That is why I give you my old armor: I expect you to protect them and save them from dangers that they can't stop on their own. I expect you to grow up and understand the need for humility- just because a pony is stronger than the rest is no excuse for them to smash others under-hoof. When you hear this, I won't be around to teach you how to use it, I'll be including it with this message." The stallion looked down towards the ground, choking back tears. "Rao, what I would give to be able to stand before you, instead of speaking through a cold projection drive."

Big Macintosh looked down at his body. It was still dressed in the armor that Luna had put on him.

"To put the armor on, press your hoof onto the emblem, and say something. It can be anything you wish it to be. Whatever it s you say, that will become the command for armor activation. It should expand to full size.

"To remove the armor, press your hoof onto the emblem, and say something. It can be anything you wish it to be. Whatever it it you say, that will become the command for removal. The suit should automatically compress down to the size of a badge, and you can put it away in a pocket or bag. That should cover everything you need to know about the armor. I'm sure you can figure the rest out. I just know you're going to put it to good use."

Big Macintosh placed his hoof over his chest and muttered something. As soon as he finished speaking, the suit came off of him, melting away like some sort of liquid metal goop. It was extremely fascinating to watch, like ocean waves running over his coat. The huge metal yoke actually shrank down to the size of his horseshoe and fell to the floor.

Then the mare began to speak, her voice soothing and motherly… and worried.

"Kal-El, this is Mommy speaking. What your father said about respecting your power is true, but there is some advice I want to give you too. I've sent with you a model of the city of Kantor, our home and your place of birth. Cherish it, and when you find find the pony you want to spend the rest of your life with, give it to them. Your father gave it to me when he wanted me to be Lara-El."

The mare, now identified as Lara, teared up and her voice broke on the last sentence. The stallion, who was without a doubt the Jor-El identified in the recording title, embraced her as the projection started to fizzle with static. Explosions could be heard in the background of the recording, and the projection rocked back and forth a little.

The two, eyes filled with tears, looked at Big Macintosh. Not simply looked at whatever had taken this recording, but at Big Macintosh.

"Kal-El, our only regret is that we could not watch you grow up. Goodbye, son."

The projection cut out, and the darkness of night returned to the decrepit barn. Big Macintosh stared into the space where the recording had been, mouth agape.

A single tear rolled down his cheek and hit the ground.

So that's what he was. He wasn't just some alien from another planet, he was the last survivor sent out of another universe.

Another drop fell.

Everything he knew about himself- his strength, his endurance, his intelligence- all were nothing but little hints at what he truly was. He wasn't 'Big' Macintosh Apple, he was just some freak.

Two more tears hit the ground.

He was the only one. It would've hurt less if he'd known there were more like him out there, but he was essentially alone.

Three tears dropped.

And now, as if fate had decided to be especially cruel, he'd lost two sets of parents. And he was only now finding out that his blood parents had to have been dead for nearly two decades after the fact.

Granny Smith moved to put her hoof around him He jerked away and lumbered towards the barn exit, dragging his hooves. Granny watched him go sadly.

"I'm going tah bed.." Big Macintosh looked to the floor, trailing tears as he plodded out of the barn. "I just keep losing family.

Applebloom huffed silently and indignantly.

Big Macintosh cain't just refuse tah let Granny comfort him like that, she thought, well I'm sure as hay not going to let him think it's not alright!

“But not if you fight for it.”

Big Macintosh jerked his head to the side, only to see a yellow-red blur slam him to the ground. It seemed that despite being strong enough to lift a train, a little filly traveling at full-speed was still enough to bowl him over. Or maybe in his depressive state, and he didn't really feel the need to brace himself for an impact.

Regardless, he was on the floor, feeling sorry for himself, and Applebloom was standing on his chest, glaring down at him.

"What do you think you're doin'?"

Big Macintosh had no reply.

"Well I think I know what you're doing, and I might not know what you're thinking, but I've got a pretty good idea of what you're thinking because I think you're thinking what I was thinking earlier, and Applejack told me to stop thinking like that and now I think you're thinking like that and I don't think Applejack would just sit by and let you think like that so I think I'm going tah talk some sense into you."

Big Macintosh gave a puzzled expression as his reply. Applebloom's words were less effective than she'd hoped for them to be. It seemed that this wasn't a situation where the Crusader approach of 'more is better' would work.

"What I'm tryin' tah say is, no matter what you're thinking after seeing that movie-thingy, you cain't just forget what they said." Applebloom stamped her hoof onto his chest. "They said they sent you tah Ma and Pa, and if they wanted Ma and Pa tah raise you, then that means you're still an Apple, and I reckon they're Apples too, because they'd rather send you here than tah Canterlot or Baltimare or wherever." Big Macintosh sat up, and Applebloom almost immediately latched around his neck.

"Where do you think you're goin'? I swear if you don't stop feeling down, I'll just have to try and get a cutie mark for knockin' some sense into ponies!"

Big Macintosh stayed seated, and hugged Applebloom back. Granny Smith smiled at her grandchildren. What they’d all learned was something terrible… but looking at them now, she could tell everything was going to be OK.

Rising Steel, Rotten Soul

"Princess Luna, we need Superhorse."

The princess mulled over Oleander's suggestions. He had indeed brought up several valid points.

"Alright, We'll give you this; you've clearly thought this out well. But how are you going to make this work without ruining it? You did call yourself a… ‘putz,’ correct?"

Oleander set himself back down onto all fours. "Exactly why I came to you, Princess. You're just the pony that can ensure I don't ruin this."

"... We're listening." Luna leaned forward a bit on her throne, investing more of her attention on Oleander. With a quiet sound, Luna’s guardian “statues” changed their poses, striking a more somber and thoughtful appearance.

Oleander shook his creeping fear of the moving statues and cleared his throat. “To start off with…”

All was quiet in Ponyville. The excitement of the day before had died down, now replaced by peaceful slumber. A starry fog flowed through the nighttime streets of Ponyville, its divine movement making way to the library.

"-We get the help of the Elements of Harmony. I've done my research on them when I did some reporting on their defeat of Discord. I know how each and every one of them can help create a 'secret' identity for Superhorse..."

The stellar mist entered the library through an open window and materialized into Princess Luna. A yelp of fright drew Luna's attention to a shivering blue bundle at the foot of a bed. She levitated the lump over to herself, revealing Spike.

"Salutations, Spike." Luna set Spike back down onto the ground. "We wish to speak with Twilight Sparkle; would you kindly tell us where she is?"

"Oh! Sure, she's right downstairs. She's tinkering around with some ring she found, but I'm sure she'll have plenty of time for you.'' Spike looked up at the princess and crossed his arms. "Say, is this about Big Macintosh?"

"Yes, but it is a very private matter. Come with us and We will explain." Luna trotted down the staircase, Spike following close behind.

"Twilight Sparkle, We must speak with you on matters most urgent."

Twilight shot up out of a fort of books in surprise, spilling the books onto the floor. From the fallen book fort dropped a small yellow ring, which rolled across the ground and stopping at Luna's hoof. Picking up the small object with her magic, Luna eyed it curiously, taking note of the fine detail put into a design etched onto the metal.

"Princess Luna! What brings you here on such short notice? I would've cleaned up a bit if I had gotten some warning." Twilight bowed politely and looked back up to Luna.

"We are curious, Twilight Sparkle: where did you procure this ring? It seems oddly familiar." Luna gave the ring back to Twilight, who gladly tucked it away in a desk drawer.

"It's just something I found. So, what can I help you with, Princess?"

"First, we need both of them to show up in the same place at the same time. Twilight, being your sister's student, is naturally fit for covering the magical aspects of this operation...

"Twilight Sparkle, it seems that in our haste, We have made a grave error." Luna bowed her head a bit in shame. "We have thrust Macintosh Apple into the role of 'hero' in order to solve a 'problem' that We cannot have you use the Elements of Harmony on, and in our carelessness, have forsaken his right to privacy." Luna produced a children's comic book from under her wing, featuring the Mysterious Mare-Do-Well going head-to-head against the villainous Karyz-Chen, a grotesquely obese monster that stood upon thin, spidery legs.

"We're sure you remember the 'Mare-Do-Well' incident, considering that you helped to create her."

Twilight blushed. "Oh, that? That was just a silly disguise. If I had known that she'd inspired somepony to write an entire..."

Luna sighed and gently waved the book, cutting Twilight's thoughts short.

"Forgive us for our lack of grace, but you are missing our point. As our 'royal advisor' has explained to us, Mare-Do-Well is a pony who hides her identity behind a mask in order to protect her privacy and the ponies close to her."

Twilight tilted her head and rubbed her chin. Her mental gears ran at such a speed, the friction between them shot into sparks of thought and planing. Before Luna could pose any further questions, Twilight came back with a suggestion--or rather, a lack thereof.

"So you want to give Big Macintosh a secret identity like Mare-Do-Well? Ponies in Canterlot have seen the news already. They’ve already seen his face in the paper…” She lifted the paper her parents sent her, the front page loudly proclaiming Big Macintosh’s feat, complete with photo. “And if the ponies of Canterlot are anything like they were while I was growing up, they’ve already spread the news all over Equestria by now.”

Down went the newspaper, onto her desk. Twilight began to pace the length of her library. “It’d be too difficult to disprove the existing evidence. The paper can't be recalled, because that would be an infringement of the freedom of the press, and we can't alter the photo magically because it's already too late."

Defeated, Twilight looked to the princess. "I'm sorry, but there just isn't any way to distinguish the two that I can think of."

"Our advisor has all the details handled. He simply requires the help of you and your friends in creating the identity of 'Superhorse'." Luna tucked the comic book back under her wing. "Will you help us?"

Twilight saluted. "Anything to help a friend!"

Luna bowed gratefully. "We thank you, Twilight Sparkle."

Trotting towards the door, Luna looked back at Twilight. "Now, how familiar are you with illusions?"

A light snoring drew Twilight's attention to little Spike, who'd dozed off in the middle of their conversation. A small smile on her lips, Twilight levitated the baby dragon back up to his bed and tucked him in.

"My uncle was a rather macabre stage magician, so I know a little bit about duplication illusions. When he did the classical 'sawn-in-half' trick, he'd place a blank dummy into the box and have a unicorn assistant cast a spell to make it look like a real pony. It moved, talked and walked, but it really only did what it was made to do. They also didn't have any insides, so he had to fill the interior with packets of cherry jelly to make fake blood and-"

"Please get to your point." Luna's held her forehead with her hoof. "We don't need to know every minor detail."

"Oh, well basically, the spell is easy, it's finding an accurate dummy that'll be the hard part. That's where Miss Rarity comes in. She run a boutique, so naturally she should have an abundance of ponnequins to choose from. Also, I had this idea for a really awesome cape. Here, let me jot down the design..."

Twilight led Luna though the nighttime streets of Ponyville towards Carousel Boutique. The two ponies talked back and forth over Twilight's role in the plan. This discussion- which had been prolonged by double-checking and triple-checking the details -had lasted for several hours already. Luna, quite frankly, was ready to actually move the plan forward while Twilight began her quadruple-check.

"-so I'll be casting a Copycat Colt spell on Big Macintosh so that he can be in two places at once?"

Luna nodded, glad that Twilight had finally committed her role to memory.

"So what would you need Rarity for? I can see why I'd be needed, but Rarity doesn't seem like-"

"Was it not Rarity who made the original Mare-Do-Well costume?" Luna countered.

"But Big Macintosh already has a costume, why would he need a new one?"

"Our advisor has told us that she is absolutely integral in the success of our ruse." Luna knocked on the front door and stepped back, awaiting a response. None came.

Twilight shrugged. She hated having to do this kind of thing to a friend, but it certainly would get Rarity out of bed at this hour. "Oh, I seem to have found this absolutely magnificent pair of neon pink polka-dotted pants!" she shouted. "I'm sure Rarity wouldn't mind if I wore them out in public!"

The thundering sound of a stampede on the other side of the door alarmed Luna. Twilight nonchalantly backed away from the door as the noise grew louder.

"STEP AWAY FROM THE PANTS OR YOUR LEGS COME OFF!" Luna jumped back in fright as a hideous, oily, green monster shot out of the door. Several writhing purple tentacles tipped with deadly pink maws, gaping and ready to gnash at her with their sharp, toothy linings. Where the monster's face would be, a pair of unblinking, pale green discs with multiple pupils lay.

The beast wiped away the slime and eyes, revealing its identity as Rarity.

"Alright then, where are these... pants?" Rarity seemed reluctant to name the object, as if disgusted by the very idea that something so bone-chillingly unfabulous could even be considered an honest pair of pantaloons. "We'll have to deal with them before some unlucky pony wears them."

Twilight coughed, catching Rarity's attention. "There weren't any pants. I needed to wake you up. Somepony very important would like to speak with you." Twilight made a sweeping gesture to Princess Luna.

Rarity almost immediately went into a state of catatonia, mirroring the princess' own expression.

"Sh-she looked exactly like M'Nagalah!"

"The pr-pr-pr-princess wants to speak with me!? On such short notice! Please, come in, come in!"

Rarity pushed the pair of ponies into the boutique and slammed the door shut behind her. The fashionista led the two to her kitchen and seated them.

"I'll prepare some tea! Don't wait for me, please explain! It's such an honor to have you here! If there is anything I can help you with, just say the word!"

Twilight looked to the still-shocked Princess Luna. After some weird silence, Twilight decided to answer for the vacant royal.

"Rarity, you remember the Mare-do-Well costume, don't you?"

“Oh, that old thing?” Rarity asked as she prepared the tea. “It was one of my most imaginative works, certainly. Inspired some hack artist to steal my idea and turn it into a superhero.” Her facial features darkened. Her voice grew quiet, reaching a boiling point faster than the tea kettle. Twilight raised an eyebrow as she felt the atmosphere in the room quickly warp into something terrifying.

“Steal my idea. You know, without the permission of the original artist. Then claim it as their own, and then have access to better lawyers because they are a part of some big publishing firm, all to make sure that the original artist can’t do anything against them!” Rarity slammed a hoof on her counter-top in frustration. “And all the while, LAAAUUUUGHING. Laughing in your face because they know you can’t do anything! All because you - silly you -forgot to patent your design to begin with! And then they make millions off of your idea, while you have to just SIT THERE and TAKE IT UP THE-”

But before she could say more, the tea kettle whistled. Just like that, Rarity snapped back into her previous joviality. Her present company stared at her uncomfortably as she poured their tea. Its lively aroma broke Luna out of her disturbed trance.

Luna sipped from the tea. "We do not require the costume, but we do require your help. Help we may only find in your particular line of work."

"How may I be of assistance?" asked Rarity.

"We require one of your ponnequins- specifically one with the same measurements as Macintosh Apple." Luna lifted her cup to her mouth and sipped.

"Whatever could you need one of those for?"

"We need it to create an illusory copy of Big Macintosh." chimed Twilight

"Indeed. We'll also require a cape." Luna conjured a thick black cloud. Just looking at it unnerved Rarity. Tentacles and claws and writhing somethings squirmed out of the cloud in a way that just wasn't meant to be. The tentacles dropped an imposing black chest covered in runes and retreated back into the cloud with a sickening squelch.

Luna opened the the chest to and named to the treasures that lie within. "High-strength silk gathered from the webs of iron spiders. Vivid red dye made from ground-up Ruby Beetles. Your initial payment. The design for the cape." Luna shut the case and slid it over to Rarity.

"I thank you for the materials." Rarity nodded, a sly grin creeping onto her face. "...You do know that we can't simply put him in a costume and cape and expect ponies not to recognize his face. We need to give him a makeover!"

Luna made a small gesture with her tea cup. "Macintosh Apple was first seen in Canterlot," she said, "so perhaps we should have his appearance reflect that of its middle class citizens. 'Twould seem more... common than a farmer. We would also need to employ an accent-changing spell, in the event that Macintosh Apple is incapable of putting forth a false accent."

Rarity's eyes lit up at the prospect of making the leap into the field of stallion cosmetics. "It's a good thing I keep an eye on what's popular in the world of fashion! Spit curls are making a comeback!" Using her magic, Rarity picked up a magazine from the side of the room and fanned it to a page somewhere in the middle. She fixed her gaze on a subdued-looking stallion with his hair slicked back, a single lock of hair out in front, curled into an 'S'.

"Give me just ten minutes with him, and I could have him looking like a Canterlot native in five."

Twilight and Luna both sat their empty teacups down as Rarity folded the magazine shut and placed it to the side. "I'll be glad to help," said Rarity. "Come get the cape and ponnequin when you're ready. Bring Big Macintosh too."

Twilight stood. "Thanks for the help, Rarity. I'm sure Big Macintosh will be thankful." Twilight made her exit, with Luna in tow.

"Alright, Princess, who's next?" Twilight quietly shut the door behind them and looked to the sky. It was almost exactly thirty minutes since they had left the Library.

"Our advisor said that we need to get Rainbow Dash. She'll need to act as cover."

"Finally, we'll need a place to have Superhorse live. Everyone has their own place they retreat to in order to have some time alone - a fortress of solitude, if you will. Rainbow Dash, being the fastest of the Elements of Harmony, could easily build a cloud house in the deepest parts of the Everfree Forest. The weather there may be unpredictable, but it should be safe if it is built in the deepest portion of the canyon in the forest. If any ponies become curious about where he lives, we can simply direct them to the forest."

Princess Luna flew up to the Rainbow Dash's cloud-house with Twilight wrapped in her magical grasp. As they alighted onto Rainbow Dash's 'lawn', they were surprised to find its resident was already wide awake. Their sudden approach startled Rainbow Dash, causing her to drop the comic book she was reading by candlelight.

"Rainbow Dash, we need your help."

Rainbow Dash recovered quickly, and shifted her gaze to Princess Luna. "Uh, hey Twilight, hey Princess Luna. Could you guys not tell anyone you managed to sneak up on me? I've got an image to keep up." Rainbow Dash closed the book and sat it to the side. "So, whatcha need help with? Is it a dragon?"

"Sort of. Princess Luna has a special job for you. I think she can explain better than I can." Twilight looked to the Princess.

Luna nodded. "Rainbow Dash, We require your talents. How quickly can you make a cloud house?"

Rainbow Dash leaned back in thought. "I dunno. I made my second house in about a half hour. Why?"

"Wouldn't you need to map out the house's interior, settle on a basic design, and survey the area where you intended to build the house?" Twilight began to panic. "If you don't follow the guidelines, the whole place could fall apart!"

"Ppphhht, that's what beginners do!" Rainbow Dash tapped her porch. "Twilight, when' you're as good as me, you can build a good, sturdy house with your eyes closed. They didn't make me captain of the weather team for no reason."

Princess Luna looked out over the Everfree Forest. "We need you to construct a cloud fortress in the Everfree Ravine. One that is strong enough to withstand the erratic weather of the forest."

"Are you kidding me? I could have one of those done before sun-up, and that's including the the fancy trim!" Rainbow Dash jumped up, eager to take on the challenge. "I just need to know who I'm making this for and I'll be right on it!"

"It's for Big Macintosh. We're trying to keep attention away from him. Since you've been reading that comic book, I think you might be familiar with the concept."

"Twilight, if that's egghead-speak for 'give Big Macintosh a secret identity', then I'm game." Rainbow Dash took to the air. "I'll drop by to tell you when I'm done!"

Luna and Twilight watched Rainbow Dash vanish into the depths of the forest. As they did, Luna shivered suddenly. She couldn't shake the foreboding sense that tomorrow might not go exactly as planned... as though control over the future had been passed over to somepony more sinister...

Twisting, wicked plates of metal weaved together into a pony-shaped beast. The lack of a head did nothing to dissipate the feeling that it eyed one like a lion eyed a wildebeest.

Lack Luster labored away in her office, her face covered by a welding mask. Sparks flew from a small torch, held carefully by her cream-colored magic. The final piece- a diamond-shaped metal patch- was burned precisely into place. Lack Luster killed the torch's flame and lifted her mask, admiring her work.

Some things are just too easy, she mused with a wistful smile, like solving a complex spell algorithm, beating an automaton at chess, or building a killer suit of armor.

As she set aside her welding implements, her office door was slammed against her wall. As the loud and proud Swift Sword barged into her office, Lack Luster smiled to herself. This was the moment she was waiting for.

"Lack Luster, I'm here to see your review of the data from the last testing."

"Sift Sord, I do believe that you requested a way to enter the world that you've been seeing through the goggles." Lack Luster stepped aside, revealing the armor. "Rather than review the test data, I have so graciously decided to create a suit of armor that should allow you to create a portal with a mere thought."

Swift Sword walked over to the armor and stroked his hoof across the dark metal. "I'm impressed, Lack Luster. You managed to create such a fine invention within the span of a few hours." Swift Sword looked back at Lask Luster. "May I?"

"Certainly." Lack Luster unfurled the blueprints and began to read from them with a helpful tone while Sword pulled on the armor like a new set of pants. "The armor was designed to survive environmental extremes, specifically the kind that would normally be visited through a portal system. The armor can withstand the interior of a volcano, the withering cold of a polar waste, and re-entry from the edge of space."

Swift Sword placed on the last piece of the armor, the chest-plate. "So, all I have to do is think of the location I want to go, and it opens a portal?" Sword admired his reflection in the metal of the suit.

"That is correct..."

Lack Luster eyed him suspiciously. Sword was being less erratic than he had been, his voice betraying an element of cunning she'd not noticed before. She reached for the small destruct-switch she'd hid in her pocket.

"Thank you, Lack Luster." Swift Sword turned on Lack Luster suddenly, grabbing her with his magic and slamming her into a shelf. The destruct-switch fell from her pocket and onto the floor. Swift Sword eyed it with a knowing grin. "Clever girl." With a quick movement, he crushed it. "But no matter. It seems that despite your level twelve intellect, you're still so very easy to manipulate."

Lack Luster's hooves shot for her throat, instinctively trying to pry herself free.

"My intentions of finding a way to utilize portal magic to aide the Equestrian military were genuine... At first." Swift Sword let Lack Luster drop to the floor. "You see, a few months ago, I was contacted in a dream by a pony who sounded like me. Looked like me. And he told me that he had been wrongly accused of war crimes, and had his body ripped away from his mind and magic."

"What does that have to do with this?" Lack Luster pulled herself up shakily, but Sword slammed her back down with a bolt of magic.

"You're the genius, Lack Luster. You should have figured that out in milliseconds. He promised me everything I wished for, in return for everything he wished for. What I lacked in magic, I had more than made up for with the fact that I have an actual, physical body. So he proposed I use the portal project to get a good look at his parallel Earth, Kryptpon. Then I thought to anger you until you have sufficient motivation to attempt murder. I even feigned mental decay to solidify the act."

Lack Luster blanched as Sword leaned in slyly.

"Yes, my dear, I wanted you to try to kill me by cutting me in half with a portal. I wanted you to make this suit." Sword opened a portal behind himself. An ominous, violet-colored shadow of a pony emerged from the portal, cackling at Lack Luster.

"Lack Luster, meet Dru-Za, my counterpart." Dru-Za melted into a foreboding fog of foul magic, and entered Sword through his mouth and nose, as if he were breathing in a dangerous hallucinogen. "And say goodbye to us, because in a mere few moments, Swift Sword and Dru-Za shall no longer exist." Sword's voice deepened as his greying brown mane blackened. His eyes darkened into the ominous violet of the magic that flowed into him and began leaking an aura of magic.

"Say hello to your new lord and master... Zod!"

Lack Luster charged at Zod. "How about I say goodbye to you both!?" Using her momentum, she tossed the newly born Zod through the portal. Zod laughed madly as he fell in, amused by her last-ditch attempt to get rid of him. She knew it shouldn't be that easy to push him while he wore the power-armor he had manipulated her into building. He was letting her push him- going easy on her because to him she was a mere child.

The portal closed up, and Lack Luster drooped to the floor, exhausted. As she fell out of consciousness, all she could hear was the sound of Zod's maddening laughter.

Zod looked out over the burning landscape and shouted with glee. Plumes of red-violet magic swirled around him, their corrupting influence scorching the ground. The dying land that would become the throne from which he conquered Earth. Zod reared back onto his hind legs and roared with insane joy.

"NOW I BEGIN MY CONQUEST!"

Zod stamped his hooves back down with enough force to shatter stone, and took to the burning skies of the dying Kryptpon. Zod flashed a mouthful of razor-sharp pearly whites. "I do believe that I should pay Jor-El and his wife a visit."

Zod swerved through the sky, leaving a trail of foul magic that pointed right to the emerald city ruins.

~Late Morning, Big Macintosh's Bedroom~

Big Macintosh breathed deeply as he finished freshening up for his day. He looked at the medallion on his bedside table with a suspicious eye. He could feel its meaning, its deep weight, like a pendulum swinging in a direction he'd rather not go. The end of his chance at a normal, unbothered life.

"Hey."

The sound of Applejack's voice grabbed Big Macintosh's attention. She leaned in his doorway with a look of concern he hadn't seen her make for a very long time.

"Big Macintosh, Applebloom already tol' me about what happened last night." Applejack tilted her hat over her eyes and looked down. "I don't know what it must feel like... losin' two sets'a of parents, but..."

At Applejack's last word, Big Macintosh's face fell. He sighed and looked away mournfully, only for Applejack to embrace him in a tight hug.

"...I figgered ya might not be feelin' up to snuff." Applejack stepped back. "Do you remember when Maw was pregnant with Applebloom, and I didn't want no sister?

"I reckon I would've never gotten used to Applebloom until Paw gave me that slice of cherry pie," she continued without waiting for a reply. "He tol' me that Grandpa Cortland gave him this advice. 'When you want ta make a pie and life gives you lemons, make lemon pie.' But Paw tol' me Grandpa an' him were never really good at followin' the beaten path." Applejack pulled out a lemon from under her hat and tossed it to Big Macintosh.

"Paw said 'Applejack, when life gives you lemons, don't make lemon pie. Throw away the lemons, plant a cherry tree, harvest the cherries, and make cherry pie. Takes longer ta get the pie, but the work makes it worth it.'" Applejack turned towards a series of portraits of her grandfather and father.. "Basically, what Paw said was..."

Applejack looked back at Big Macintosh so she could drive her point home, but all she met was a warm gust of wind and an open window. She sighed. "Must've flown the coop. Cain't blame him. Not his fault his life's been flip-turned upside-down."

When his vision returned, Big Macintosh's surroundings had changed from his drab bedroom to the stylish Carousel Boutique. Twilight's voice coming from somewhere behind him cleared up things a little. She must've teleported him here.

"... great! I'm so sorry we had to wake you so early, but for just a few hours work on little-to-no sleep, you really managed to out do yourself!"

"Twilight, you flatter me!" chirped a response.

Big Macintosh turned his head. Twilight was conversing with Rarity, whose blue magical aura carried a majestic red cape through the air. "But it was nothing, really," she continued unperturbed. "I've had to do much harder work before, like when Sapphire Shores came and-"

"I'm sorry Rarity, but we don't have time for a story. You've got to get Big Macintosh ready, remember?"

"I suppose it can wait. Come along Big Macintosh, I'm going to make you shine!" Rarity gripped Big Mac by the ear, leading him into a nearby room. The door closed behind them.

Twilight patiently waited, listening intently to the events going on the other side of the door.

"Alright Big Macintosh, you know how Princess Luna gave you that suit you were wearing yesterday?" asked Twilight.

"Eeeeeyup." Big Macintosh sounded a little distressed. In all likelihood, Rarity was attacking him with soap and a brush.

"Well, she came to Ponyville last night, and told us how we can hide you in plain sight before any mobs of ponies come from Canterlot looking for the 'superhorse' talked about in the paper. So we're giving you a little makeover!" Twilight smiled. "So when mobs of ponies do come, we'll be ready and waiting for them. Then you can live your life in relative peace, without having to worry about being famous."

Twilight paced back and forth in front of the door until she heard a yelp. "Sorry, but your mane is just so tangled!" said Rarity from inside. It was followed by some grumbling.

Meanwhile, behind the door, Rarity poured a viscous black fluid out of a bottle and onto Big Macintosh's mane. She began lathering it in, turning his mane from straw blonde to jet black. With a stroke of her magic, Rarity slicked his hair back. She stood back and looked between her work and a picture in her hair-style magazine.

"Aha!" She licked her hoof and used it to pull a small lock of hair into an 's' shape just in front of Big Macintosh' face.

"Now, tell me what you think. Very well done for a quick job, don't you think?" Rarity levitated a mirror in front of Big Macintosh's face, and he noticed the difference immediately. In addition to the dye job, his freckles had vanished, and his eyes were surrounded by what seemed to be a darker shade of red to accentuate the lines of his face. His eyes seemed to glow in a lighter shade of green. Save his red coat, he hardly looked like Big Macintosh at all.

"...Eeyup," he said, genuinely surprised at the result.

"I knew you'd like it. It's the perfect disguise." Rarity swung open the door and allowed Twilight in.

"Alright, now all we need to do is get him into the..." Twilight trailed off as she looked at Big Macintosh, noticing the obvious absence of the most important part of the Superhorse look. "Wait, where's your armor, Big Macintosh?"

Big Macintosh pulled out the small 's' emblem from a small cavity in his horseshoe.

Twilight gawked at the size of it. "We need you in the armor for the plan to work!"

Big Macintosh looked at Twilight sadly and muttered something.

"I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that."

"It's not like anypony asked my permission or nothin'," Big Mac said in surprising bitterness. "Not like I got an opinion in anything that happens to me."

Twilight raised a shocked eyebrow. "Big Macintosh...?"

Big Macintosh continued at a slightly louder volume, his tone irritated. "I don't wanna play along 'til I know exactly what the Princess is plannin'." Twilight and Rarity both stared at him, surprised at his reluctance. "If you can tell me what she needs stopped, then I'll play her game. Until then, y'all can find me in th' orchard." With that, he turned to leave.

"Stop-!" Before he could leave, Rarity swung the door back shut. "How about you stay for a spot of tea? The princess should be arriving soon, and you can ask her for yourself when she does."

Big Macintosh locked eyes with Rarity. There was no getting out of this - he could see it in her eyes. They burned with the stubbornness that he'd only seen in Applejack before.

Big Macintosh relented. "Fine," he sighed. At least he'd get answers out of this.

"Good." Rarity dragged Twilight and Big Macintosh into her kitchen and seated them, draping the red cape she'd made over Big Macintosh's shoulders as she did. "How do you like your tea?"

Rarity had her head buried in a cabinet full of various tea based wares when it happened. The ground shook violently, sending several loose objects clattering to the tile floor.

They galloped outdoors, and then looked up. The sky parted in two high in the atmosphere, as if something had slashed though it with a massive sword. Meteors fell through the rip as though they were the fiery blood of some giant, invisible monster.

Rarity fainted at the sight. Rolling her eyes, Twilight lifted her friend onto her back. "Big Macintosh, could you investigate? I'll meet you in a bit."

Big Macintosh supposed that this was exactly the kind of thing Luna was trying to prepare for. Slipping the emblem out from his horseshoe and placing it over his chest, Big Macintosh tried to come up with an activation code and a fitting voice for a pony who could lift a train and only work up a sweat.

When Lack Luster awoke, she took note of three things. One, Sword was still gone. Two, her office floor was more comfortable than her desk. Three, she swore she could smell burning metal. Pulling herself up and dusting herself off, Lack Luster went over the the window and pulled open the blinds to assess just how long she'd been asleep.

The sudden rush of light into her eyes forced her to shield her face, but as soon as she adjusted, she surmised by the position of the sun that it was around eleven in the morning. Oh, and there was a giant tear in the fabric of space and time of in the distance, pouring out a hail of meteors upon Ponyville.

Lack Luster shut her blinds, turned away from the window and approached her desk. Slumping down in her chair, she rang a buzzer.

"Would somepony bring me my coffee?"

A voice came through the other end of the buzzer. "Right away ma'am."

Zod flew over the emerald ruins of the city of Kantor and laughed. Looking over the area, he immediately noticed that there were only two ponies left alive, simply by listening to the sounds of their panic. To be expected, he thought. Time in this world ran much differently than it did in his world, so there would be some survivors.

Zod blasted through the sky and towards the sound of panic, smashing his way through walls of hard, rocky building material like they were stacks of cardboard boxes. With his new-found might, he was a mere stone's throw away. A mile was an inch.

Crashing through the ceiling, several explosions went off, rocking the laboratory within.

"Kal-El, our only regret is that we could not watch you grow up. Goodbye, son."

Zod looked to the two ponies who resided in the laboratory. They were carrying a strange flashlight-like device, and stood near a red, blue, and gold pod.

The stallion looked at Zod and blanched. His wife took a few steps backward. "...Dru-Za?" he asked in shock. The mare slipped the device into the pod as her husband spoke.

"I am not Dru-Za," he said with what sounded like two voices at once. "I am what happens when the unstoppable force of Za met the immovable object that was his counterpart from a parallel universe." He descended slowly and landed on the ground before the stallion and mare. "You may call me Zod."

Zod began circling around the scared scientists like a big cat circling its prey. "The Za you betrayed is no more. The Za you tore apart, mind from body, was an ingredient to this god before you now."

His eyes glowed sinisterly. Jor-El was gripped by unseen forces and with a sickening crack, a leg was broken. He was then flipped onto his back as his wife shrieked helplessly.

"How does it feel, Jor-El?" Zod growled as he came closer. Jor-El was flipped again, landing hard on the floor. "The helplessness?" Another leg broke. Another harsh flip. Zod was now nose-to-nose with his quarry. Jor-El could smell his rancid breath, feel the ice-cold otherworldliness of his voice as he spoke. "Not so powerful without your council of mindless judges backing you up, are you?" he chuckled.

"The hypocritical laws you loved to enforce can no longer protect you. Not from me..." Zod motioned out to the chaos around them. "...Not even from yourselves. You didn't even need me to destroy your world. All I had to do was wait!" He laughed heartily in Jor-El's face.

Suddenly, through the sounds of Kryptpon burning down, Zod heard a distant cry. It sounded like...

...an infant.

His predator eyes followed the sound to the escape pod near the wormhole generator. The crying continued as the sounds of chaos battled above.

"No..." Jor-El said weakly, his eyes wide with terror.

Zod answered his plea with a grotesque smile that displayed a row of shark-like teeth. The new god got off of Jor-El's battered body and trotted casually to the escape pod. Suddenly, the wife jumped between him and the escape pod, her stance resolute. "Don't-you-even!!" she growled.

With a sneer, Zod brushed her aside as if she were an old newspaper. She crashed into the wall with a yelp.

Jor-El used the distraction to his advantage. Pulling a small remote from his pocket, he mashed a button, opening the wormhole and sending the pod falling through.

Zod boiled with fury as the wormhole shut. "Resisting are you? I'll show you what happens when you resist!" Zod's horn lit up in that sickening purple glow, and he fired a fragment of it at Jor-El.

The sheer force tossed him across the room. Lara-El picked herself up and rushed to aide her wounded husband, occasionally glancing back at Zod, who glared them both down, unmoving. Suddenly, Zod relaxed, his anger abruptly dissolving.

"I am beyond you, Jor-El," Zod growled. "It is futile to resist the wrath of Zod." His horn glowed, and a wormhole opened up in the floor of the lab.

"I'll be back for you soon, House of El. Ta-ta!" Zod sunk through the hole in the floor, with an unsettlingly wide grin; as if he had planned his daily schedule with genocide and world domination at the top of the list.

~Somewhere in the Atmosphere, Above Equestria~

Zod exited the wormhole miles above the rural town of Ponyville. With a scowl, he blasted the portal with a bolt of energy not unlike the one he used to cripple Jor-El, but to a vastly different effect. The portal was ripped apart, and the tear began to spill out a storm of flaming rock and metal.

Zod flew down from the sky with great speed, the friction of his entry into the thicker parts of the atmosphere engulfing him in flames, just like the meteor storm that surrounded him.

Most of the meteors had burned out long before they reached the ground, but one kept moving. It slowed to a stop above Ponyville, revealing an armor-clad unicorn. The town erupted into chaos, with panicked ponies scattering around, trying to find a place to hide.

A loud, booming voice washed over the town, forcing everypony to drop to the ground and hold their hooves to their ears.

"BE. STILL."

Another voice could be heard throughout the town, and carried with it hope.

"This looks like a job for Superhorse!"

Big Macintosh flew fast enough that he blurred into a fast-moving blot of red and blue, hiding himself as his medallion melted over his body and encased him in his father's armor. The suit incorporated Rarity's cape into it, spilling it out over the edges of the metal yoke.

Superhorse slowed to a stop mere feet away from Zod. "Who are you!?"

The ashen gray pony lit his horn up and glowered at Superhorse. "Ah, you must be Kal-El." He let loose a shroud of darkness from his horn and he vanished into thin air before reappearing directly behind Superhorse. "The Last Son of Kyrptpon."

Superhorse turn to glare at him. "What do you want?" Zod looked down at him through unimpressed eyes. Like a lightning bolt, he back-hoofed Superhorse across the face, sending him hurtling to the ground.

Panicked ponies darted away like minnows as he smashed through fruit stalls in the market place and came to a rest before the cabbage cart. Zod used his magic to amplify the sound of his voice loud enough to be heard by all in Ponyville.

"I WANT YOU ALL TO KNEEL BEFORE ZOD!"

Cancelation

Well, after trying to write material for this, I've found it just didn't meet the standard set by some of my un-published stories. It was a mess and didn't have a set plot. So I'm cancelling it. That isn't to say you won't be seeing Supermac ever again. It'll just be in a different story.