I try to Spark up, but nothing happens. No glowing, no change in my skin, not even the usual sensation of power! I’m freaking out at this point. My powers are gone! I try to do something, anything at all, but I get no result. Come on, focus! I can’t just be powerless! But I am. I’m just a regular guy again... I can’t do anything special anymore...

“What the fuck happened‽” I slam my fist into the table, but I just end up hurting my hand. All I can do is just shout in frustration and pain. Anne flinches away from me, squeaking in fear.

“Come on... work! Fire, electricity, something!” Despite my pleads, I still don’t manage to summon anything. A thought enters my mind. Maybe...

“Twilight.” I turn to Anne. “Did Twilight do anything to me before she left‽” If she just turned my powers off with her freaky magic and then left town indefinitely...

“What? No, other than pull out a little ball of stuff. She said that it was the poison, and it splashed when she dropped it in the sink. Honest!”

“Well, then why am I suddenly just an ordinary guy now?”

“I- I don’t know!” Anne is starting to back away, and I realize that I’m almost a foot taller than her and looming. Damnit, usually I get that reaction when I’m on fire. I should be able to light on fire dammit!

“Well... now what? What do I do if something happens? If another demon comes by, we’re all screwed.”

“Uhm... me and that snake lady could do something...” She’s hiding hiding behind her wings, peeking out between to large primaries with scared eyes.

“I’m not going to hurt you, Anne.” I sit down with a sigh, feeling defeated. “I just... Now what? Am I going to stay like this?” Anne shrugs behind her wings. It doesn’t look like she’s relaxed much... it’s just another reminder of her time in Wunderland, I suppose.

“Yeah... I guess you and Myrna can take care of Ponyville, but... This isn’t like when Twilight took my arms. I knew for sure I’d get them back. If... if I’ve lost my power, then... I don’t even know. I’m not gonna just give up, but... what can I do anymore?”

“Well, uhm... you don’t have to be a-” her breath catches for a moment, and I swear she’s blushing, “-a hero, but I think you can still do good. What did you want to be before you got here?”

“King of the universe. Y’know, endless food, money, babes, the usual guy thing.” I say with a grin.

Anne chuckles, her wings beginning to relax. “Well... what did you want to do for a career. Realistically, that is.”

“Pffft, reality is boring. Oh well... I guess I just wanted to have a job that I could always fall back on. A stable life and all that. Actual career doesn’t seem too important once you’ve covered that, y’know what I mean?”

“Well... I guess. But surely you wanted to be doing something with your life? Maybe you could do that here.” Anne smiles gently at me.

“Maybe, but I think I want to be sure I’m not gonna get them back. Wouldn’t want to have a second life I have to drop whenever I need to kick ass and look badass doing it.”

“Well, you could always change your name to Clark Kent, and see what that does for you.”

“Pffft, if I did that, then I wouldn’t be famous around the clock, only while I’m doing something. Maybe Supes isn’t in it for the fame, but I am... partially at least.”

Anne giggles, finally bringing her wings down. Her skin and feathers are both a slightly tarnished bronze color, and with the way they clink and clang, I think they probably are made of bronze. I wonder what lets her fly, exactly, as she fiddles with a feather.

“So you mentioned something happened earlier, but it seems I can’t remember. Anything important happen?”

Suddenly, her cyan-blue blush flares again. “You, ah, don’t remember anything?”

“Nope. I remember Twilight saying she had something else to do, then nothing.”

“Oh... well, you sorta babbled... a bit. Then, you fell asleep.”

“What did I say? Anything important?”

“Nooo... but you did kinda give me a hug. It was... nice.”

“Of course it was, everyone loves my hugs. So that’s it? Huh. Okay. You do look rather soft though, howsabout a refresher?” I open my arms for a hug. Anne stares at my chest for a moment, her blush turning an impressive shade of blue and creeping across her cheeks.

“I- ha, that- uhm- well-” she’s stammering incoherently, and I remember I’m not wearing my shirt. At least I’m wearing my pants.

“Oh fine, you can just say no... so what happens now?” A loud crash! answered me, somewhere around the third story or so.

Anne and I exchange one glance, before we charge up the steps and look around. Outside a window, we can hear some grunts and whimpers. I go over to the window and look out. I don’t see anything at all, then I notice some branches rustling.

“Hey, who’s in the tree?”

“Mister Anthony?” That sounds like Sweetie Belle. What is she doing this high up in a tree?

“I hope you have a mattress or something set up, or you’re not gonna have a good time as a tree climber.”

“Well, uh, we kinda made ah tree-bush-say-” Applebloom’s voice calls out, before Sweetie corrects her with ‘trebuchet’. “-right, but we din’t aim it too well. Uh... we’re kinda stuck up here.”

I stick my head out the open window and look around. I finally spot three fillies, holding onto a branch about two feet to one side of the one the window’s over. An easy hop for someone like me, but for three fillies barely holding onto the branch themselves...

With a sigh I get over to them and, scooping up the three of them, I hop back to the window, though I almost fell. These fillies are heavier than they look. Anyway, once I get them inside, I ask the first question in my head.

“And exactly which one of you thought it would be a good idea to launch yourselves out of something meant for throwing things multiple miles at relatively impressive speed? If you didn’t land in a tree, you’d probably have killed yourselves!”

“That’s why we got cloud-steel shoes!” Sweetie says, her voice cracking. She raises her hooves, showing off a shiny pair of... aluminum horseshoes?

“The heck are those things? They don’t look like they’d cushion a drop of three feet!”

Applebloom smiles grandly. “They’re made ah cloud-steel, so we just aimed at a cloudbank sittin’ over Sweet Apple Acres!” Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle also smile, and Scootaloo pipes up.

“Oh, and we need to see if Noi got her Trebuchet Operator cutie mark or a Pony-Throwing cutie mark! And I’ll need to fix the math again. I must’ve dropped a decimal somewhere.” the three immediately began to run for the door, hooves going clickety as they went. As one, they stopped on their way out to shout ‘Thanks Anthony!’. Except Sweetie, who called me ‘Mister Anthony’ again.

After a moment of trying to figure out what they mean by all that, I sprint after them, every possible dormant synapse related to being responsible flaring at once. Tin shoes do not a soft landing make!

“I should get paid for babysitting these three, these kids are just... ugh.” I sigh as I increase my speed. I miss my powers. I would have caught them already. When I finally catch up to them, it’s because they stopped and I see their wooden contraption. I’m not panting, surprisingly. I must’ve been building up more endurance than I thought. Im a little winded, but not enough to stop me from asking a question.

“Where in the world did you even get one of these things in the first place?”

“We made it! Sweetie drew up the designs, I did the math on what we’d need, and Applebloom built it!” Scootaloo says, poofing up.

Noi, sitting next to the trebuchet with a  rope in her mouth, speaks up as well. “And I launched ‘em!” She puffs out her chest and looks proud.

“Yeah... that’s... really impressive, honestly.” I give it a light smack with the back of my fist. Solid as the tree it used to be. Damn. Except...

“And, uh, how did you plan on getting down from the cloud bank?” That’s a question I really want to know.

Sweetie Belle answers this one. “Rarity made us these really pretty parachutes, after the sky-diving incident. I’m glad ms. Derpy caught us then, that could’ve been bad.”

“Speaking of bad... why aren’t you wearing them? They don’t help unless you bring them.”

The three ponies look confused for a moment, then look to the side, where three sets of parachutes lay. “Whoops, heh heh.”

“That leads to the next problem. What if you didn’t land in the tree? If nothing stopped you, you’d probably be dead! I guarantee you, if you were moving in an arc that landed you in that tree from here and kept going, you wouldn’t have gotten up, cloud-shoes or not!”

“B- but... that’s whah we thought we were aimin’ fer the cloud-banks. They’re low on th’ Acres t’day, cuz big sis is off on an adventure.”

“Well, you didn’t land in the bank. It’s not the success you should plan for, it’s the failure. That way, you can survive to try again. Secondly, shouldn’t you load it with something like a sack of potatoes to check the aim first?”

Scootaloo rubs the back of her neck sheepishly. “Ah, we’re kinda not allowed to buy bulk veggies and stuff anymore. Our last catapult put a twenty-six-pound payload of apples through the roofs of half of Ponyville.” She pauses for a second, then adds, “Once!”

I sigh. These kids are going to be the death of the town if not themselves first. “Well, now that I’m here I suppose I can help you. But really, you need to plan for screwing up, doesn’t that make sense?”

“Well, that’s why we got the cloud-shoes, and picked a day with rain scheduled for the whole afternoon!” Scootaloo says, poofing once more.

“Is that also why you left your parachutes behind? Or how about  running some kind of aiming test? I’m not gonna want to look around town and have to clean you guys up with a mop and bucket, okay?”

“Well, the parachutes thing was an accident...” Sweetie mumbles.

“And that’s why you should write down everything you need and double-check you have it all before you start. The brave may be cooler, but it’s the smart who live to tell the tales. Anyway... I suppose I could help you set this thing right.”

The CMC gladly accept my help, and we mess with the four-foot-high trebuchet for about two hours before getting it right. It also took fifteen bits of melons for testing purposes. Impressively enough, their arcs were actually too steep to be historically accurate, but very effective for reaching clouds.

After a few trials, we have the angle right. I did suggest one thing they should get which we grabbed while we bought the melons.

“Alright, preparation list. Flight goggles and parachutes?”

“Check!” came the excited trio, speaking simultaneously.

“Helmets?”

“Check!”

“Cloud shoe things?”

“Cloud-steel shoes!” Sweetie corrected. “Oh, check!”

“Aim?”

Noi launched our last melon and it went straight for the cloud bank at a perfect angle. “Check!”

“Alright, looks like we’re good. Is there anything we might be forgetting?”

“Uh...”

“How about a golf club?”

“A golf club?” The four of them look at me funny.

“Nevermind...” Right, no Lance Armstrong or space travel at all at this point. Once we’re all sure we’re ready, I help load the Crusaders into the apparatus and Noi launches them into the sky. I stop being able to hear their excited shrieking before I see them disappear into the clouds. If they had them, I’d suggest walkie-talkies, but... oh well.

I turn to Noi. “Well you didn’t get your mark this time either... So what do you wanna do while they’re up in the clouds?”

“Can I sit in your lap? I heard miss Lotus say your hands make her feel all warm an’ fuzzy inside, an’ I don’t know what that means.” She looks at me with utter innocence and sincerity. “Can you show me?”

I pick her up and start petting her, not saying anything, for fear my mouth might let something inappropriate slip. She’s doing that usual pony-purr thing I usually get from them when I pet a pony. Guess fingers really are amazing when nobody around you has them... except Spike I guess...

After nearly a half an hour, the other Cutie Mark Crusaders hike back, and all of them look like they had a blast. Noi is asleep on my lap, and I see Scootaloo’s happy expression flicker for a moment. I’m not sure what it flickered to, but it didn’t look pleasant.

What is up with her?

“So, I see you didn’t get your marks, but I guess now is a good time for another cliche saying.” I clear my throat and continue in a funny voice. “Your destination is never as exciting as the journey.”

All three of them giggled, though Scoots sounded a bit off.

I return to my normal voice. “So, any other plans for today?” Next Chapter: Chapter 94 Estimated time remaining: 21 Hours, 42 Minutes