The night was quiet, but in a two story house, in the town of Ponyville, one young filly just could not sleep.
"Dad," shouted the filly from her room, in a distressed manner.
"You want to just fake sleep and wait till she falls asleep,” mumbled the green stallion in the room upstairs.
"Just go see what she wants," said his wife. She was right, the sooner they find out what was bothering the little filly, the sooner the household could be at peace once more. He trotted downstairs and trotted to the left, entering his daughter’s room and turned on the candle in her room.
It wasn’t your basic filly’s room. It had sepia walls, giving a sunset look to the room, and her blankets were red and velvet. “Nothing but comfort for my little girl,” he had told himself when the decorator told him the price of the blankets.
“What’s the matter, Noodle,” he said, genuinely interested.
“Can you tell me a story Dad?”
The young green and black filly was impatient to go to bed, plus her father seldom told her a story. It wasn’t her fault of course. Nerd had a busy job as a film editor that wiped him out all day usually and rarely left him any time to tell stories to his daughter. As fate would have it, he had this particular day off and his daughter was in the mood for a story.
“Alright Noodle, but you have to promise me you’ll go to sleep if I tell you this story,” said her equally mint-green father, Nerd Alert. They both shared the same simple brown mane and eyes. As his eyes looked into Noodle's, he couldn’t help but smile as he saw her energy, remembering how energetic he once been at her age.
“Come on Dad, tell me a cool story, not some fairy tale,” demanded his daughter. Nerd heard trotting and turned to his right to the hallway, and saw his wife. Her name was Pranker, and her part doesn't come into this story for quite some time. She was a wide-eyed mare with a coat as black as coal, with a few splashes of green. As she smiled at him, standing there in the doorway, she listened to see what Nerd would tell his daughter to lull her to sleep.
Of course, Nerd did have a story in mind that he had been waiting to tell his daughter for quite some time. It was a story of how his life had been changed from being an invisible colt, to becoming the brave and great stallion he had become that day.
“You want a story, huh," he teased to his daughter, nuzzling her nose. "Alright I’ll tell you the story of how your dad met uncle Kujo and Aunt Chassis.”
“Ooooh,” said his daughter, enticed. She had always loved hanging out with her Uncle Kujo and Aunt Chassis, who she had known since the day she was born. She remembered how red Kujo had seemed to her and how beautiful Chassis had seemed with her orange mane and golden yellow coat. Now, Kujo and Chassis weren't really her biological Uncle and Aunt, but Nerd, Kujo, and Chassis had become such a tight-knit group of friends, they were practically a family.
Nerd cleared his throat. "It all began two years before you were born..."
Nerd remembered the stories Kujo had told him about his friend's life before they met and decided to include them in this story.
“It all began with the formation of the Justice League of Equestria. It was a group of superheroes founded by three stallions. You’re uncle Kujo was among one of them. His name at the time was The Flash! He was one of the fastest pony on land and sky, of course not as speedy as the legendary Rainbow Dash, but pretty darn close. Their leader at the time was a stallion by the name of Bruce Mane, who was secretly,” Nerd paused for dramatic effect, “Batmane: Terror of the night! He searched for skilled and gifted ponies to join them. Then there was Handsome Masquerade, a young stallion who would help his friends whenever they needed him. He took on the name of Robin as his secret identity.”
Noodle lied in bed, intrigued, but a question still remained in her mind. “When did you and Uncle Kujo meet?”
“I’m getting to that part,” Nerd mused, ruffling his daughter’s mane. “Have patience.”
“So there they were: the first of the J.L.E. They were unbreakable and unstoppable. They had many enemies, including the violent and crazy pony man called 'Joker', and an equally evil mare who called herself 'The Riddler.' Tough as these villains were, they could never defeat the Justice League of Equestria, but I'm getting distracted.
“Rumor spread quickly, in certain places, about the J.L.E. And I just happened to hear stories from the right places-”
“Where,” asked Noodle, curious. Nerd didn’t mind being interrupted. He always thought the curiosity of her daughter is what would make her smart, maybe even smarter than he was.
“Oh, small stories in the paper and tabloids you would normally look over, and word of mouth. I remember the first time I heard of them was when one mare talked about how she had been saved from danger by a group of masked ponies. That was when I knew.”
“Knew what?”
“That I wanted to join them. See, I wasn’t exactly a successful pony. I mean, yeah I did some work for some musician ponies named Spinning Records and Percussion, but that didn’t pay much. Plus, it was a lonely job, I spent most of my days just editing music and music videos, when I wanted to be a director or some sort of job that meant something a lot to somebody, and didn’t make me feel like a tool.”
Noodle leaned over and hugged him tightly. “You mean a lot to me, Daddy.” Nerd couldn’t help but smile as he shed a tear and hugged her back. “So do you Noodle. So do you.”
Nerd kissed her forehead and whispered into her right ear. “And then I found it…”
“Found what?”
“A ring: a green ring.”
“After a strong wind blew my fez into the Everfree Forest, so I trotted into it: I wasn’t afraid of the things inside. I had little to be afraid of during that time. The darkness was a little overwhelming at first I admit, but thankfully I had a flashlight with me that night, so I was able to conquer it. It had just rained earlier that day, so the ground seemed particularly wet that night, if I remember correctly.
“I trotted forward, still looking for my fez and what should I find but a small green ring, and what appeared to be a green lantern with it. I noticed a folded up piece of paper next to it, it had been there for a few days, with a little bit of dirt on it. Why they placed the ring there, I’ll never know. However, I still have the note with me, still to this day.”
Nerd quickly trotted upstairs and went to his closet. Inside it laid the green lantern he spoke of, and a small old looking box he had bought at an antique’s store. Inside was his green ring, made of an unknown but solid substance, which did glow a bright emerald hue. Nerd grabbed the note from underneath it and went back downstairs to his daughter’s room. He cleared his throat, and read the note aloud.
"'If you find this letter, it means I am gone.'"
The note had actually said “dead,” not “gone” on it, but Nerd felt it was better to word it way.
"'I was the guardian of your sector, a duty I now pass onto you. The objects before you are a ring created by the sheer energy of willpower and the means to charge it. I hope you use it well. If not, the ring will choose another, as I have asked of it. If you are indeed the destined being to wear it, then always remember this oath, no matter what danger or peril you will face: In brightest day, in blackest night: No evil shall escape my sight, Let those who worship evil’s might beware my power, Green Lantern’s light!'"
Nerd hoped his daughter might be getting tired at this point, but by the look of curiosity on his daughter’s face, he was in for a long night. It appeared his wife was just as curious, as she had her ears up listening to him the entire time.
“So, there I was holding this shiny green ring and so I said the oath to myself. Suddenly, the green lantern began producing this energy that I think,” although Nerd now knew exactly what it did, “gave energy to the ring.”
“Can I see it,” asked Noodle eagerly. Nerd couldn’t refuse his daughter, plus he wanted to try it on one more time for old time’s sake. He trotted up once more back upstairs and grabbed the ring, and managed to put it on his tail. He wished he was a unicorn so it could’ve been just simpler to put it on his horn like unicorns do with wedding rings. He trotted back downstairs for he felt wouldn’t be the last time into his daughter’s room.
He displayed the ring to his daughter who giggled at the fact it was stuck on his tail.
“Laugh it up, Noodle. It’s actually a lot more powerful than it looks. Want to see the costume it came with?”
“Yeah!” Noodle had never seen a real life superhero in costume before. Who better than her father than to be her introduction to the superhero world?
Nerd focused his mind and willpower, and with a flick of his tail, he now donned a new costume. It was emerald green at the chest, and jet black around the legs. Where his cutie mark had been, a green circle with two horizontal parallel bars replaced it. Wearing the costume made him feel several years younger.
“You look awesome, Daddy!” Nerd couldn’t help but chuckle at her exclamation. “I feel awesome,” he smiled proudly. Now that he was in costume and had her enticed, Nerd decided to continue the story. “When I got the ring, I tested it and tried putting it on my ear, my nose, even my tongue. The ring didn’t seem to do anything, so I tried my luck putting it on my tail, having it touch my skin at the base of it. I flicked my tail and suddenly I was dressed much as I am right now. It felt so amazing. I didn’t know what the ring could do, but I felt amazing!”
“What can it do,” asked Noodle, tilting her head as she looked at the ring with fascination.
“That’s what I asked myself when I got it. I wished I could fly out of there, and for some reason, I imagined flying, not by wings, but just floating. I hopped into the air, and sure enough, I began flying, it felt spectacular! I flew around and above Everfree with the night’s cool wind in my hair. I’ll fly you around some time Noodle, and show you how exhilarating it feels!
“Where was I? Oh yes! It was when I landed that I discovered the power of the ring. I had lost my flashlight. I wondered if the ring could give me a new one, so I focused my mind. I still can’t tell you why I was doing this, but it was like the ring was showing me, or teaching me what it could do. So I focused and, there before me on the ground was this green flashlight that shown brighter than any flashlight I ever had before. The ring had proved to me what it could do.” Nerd whipped his tail and in front of Noodle formed a green teddy bear that had materialized from the ring.
“So, you see,” continued Nerd. “I discovered that this ring has the ability to create whatever is in my mind and create it into green objects made from pure willpower!”
Noodle hugged the Teddy bear, which felt just as soft as any teddy bear in existence.
“And now, my little Noodle, it was on this night that I met your uncle, who changed my life forever.”
