The next couple of days went by smoothly. I spent time with Dash and Zecora, but I focused mostly on training; just because I had won the last few fights soundly didn't mean I wouldn't eventually meet my match. After all, super heroes always do, right?

But they come back stronger. And I still had those evil wizards to beat.

I was in the middle of training my self-enhancement magic when several of my gems went off, all at the same time.

Oh ponyfeathers! I won't be able to get to all of the disasters in time!

For a split second, my irritation at the interruption to my schedule was overridden by a terrifying image of a horrible, gigantic red and black monster, towering over ponies who writhed on the ground in agony, amidst flames and devastation. The phantom memory passed as quickly as it came, but I felt a wet, terrible fear slither in my guts before I clamped down on it.

I am not some weak pony who will cower or fail! I'm going to save the day, and NOTHING CAN STOP ME!

I teleported into my disguise, and teleported for Manehattan; I figured I'd work my way back to home, since I'd likely be too exhausted when it was all over to teleport back to the Everfree from farther than Ponyville.

My teleport beacon for Manehattan was on top of the tallest skyscraper I could find, and I wasted no time in spotting the disturbance and bolting for it. There was some kind of swarm of pastel-colored bugs zipping around, and ponies were shrieking and fleeing. I watched one of the bugs chomp half a bench off, and then split into two.

... Buck.

So these things had crazy biting power, multiplied at an astonishing rate, and ate literally everything. I vaguely remembered a description of that sort of thing... Parasprites?

But where can I find a tuba at this hour?!

Oh. Wait. Duh.

I bolted straight for the music store, though I at least opened the door instead of shattering the window, and I grabbed all of the instruments I would need in my magic. Then I flew back towards the swarm, and grabbed several ponies in the process. I set them all down, though I kept them from running off (kicking and screaming as they were), and magically augmented my voice.

"LISTEN UP, YOU SCAREDY-FOALS!"

That got their attention, and they stared at me in either awe or terror – either way worked.

"I AM THE DASHING SAVIOR, AND I AM HERE TO SAVE YOUR TOWN! TAKE THESE!"

I shoved instruments into the hooves of each of the ponies, and quickly got each one playing the one or two notes they needed to play on repeat to lure the swarm out of town. With a few encouraging zaps from my horn, they got to playing, and the swarm began following them to the border of Manehattan.

Job done! Time for the next!

My horn heated up, and my world tilted sideways as I slipped through space to Las Pegasus. I wobbled on my hooves slightly after that long-range teleport, and stared down from on top of the casino I had picked as my teleport zone.

Huh. I don't see anything wrong.

Then I heard screams from inside the casino directly below me, and I rolled my eyes and groaned.

Of course.

I teleported inside of the casino, and the source of the disturbance became obvious immediately; some kind of machine was going absolutely haywire, spewing boiling cider at ponies and running around on mechanical spider legs. One scalded foal was hiding under a table, which the machine flicked over before aiming its juice-jet at them.

There was no time to plan, only to react, and I sprang between the foal and the machine. I thought I'd be able to get a shield up in time, but instead I just got a face of steaming cider.

HOLY EQUESTRIA THAT BURNS!

"YOU WORTHLESS SCRAPHEAD! BURN! BURN IN TARTARUS!"

I screamed and loosed a magic blast that could have laid out a dragon, and the machine shattered and splattered all over the rear wall, thankfully away from the other ponies. I rapidly wiped the boiling cider off of my face before turning around on the foal, who was staring at me with an awed expression.

Reel in the anger, Quillon! You're a hero!

I managed to contort my facial expression to something vaguely friendly and/or heroic.

"Are you okay, citizen?"

"I... I got burned... are you a super hero?!"

I nodded. "I am the hero, Dashing Savior! Get some ice for that and go to the doctor! I must go, for there are other ponies to save!"

Also MY FACE HURTS SO BAD, ARGH!

Having confirmed that the foal was not in any life-threatening danger, and the other ponies seemed alright, I teleported to Appleloosa. I was still blinking hot cider out of my eyes when I appeared on the top of the clocktower at the center of town.

For a brief moment, I wondered how much worse it would have been if I wasn't unnaturally tough, or what a straight jet of cider to the eyes would have done to that foal.

No time for empathy, Quillon! Find the next crisis!

I glanced around, and saw a blurry commotion on the far side of town. My eyes still weren't really clear, but I set off for it anyway, like a hero should.

I hope these stupid ponies are thankful for what I'm going through for them!

I landed near the commotion and took a closer look. It seemed like there was some kind of mass fight going on. From what I could tell, buffalo, earth ponies, and a few unicorns were involved, but it didn't seem like there was any clear grouping to the combatants; it was just a giant free-for-all.

Well what am I supposed to do? Fight all of them?!

I started trying to think of ways to manipulate the combatants into stopping, when I suddenly realized something. The fighters weren't saying anything at all. Bystanders were crying out and generally having a good ol' fashioned pony freakout, but the fighters were almost robotically silent.

Magical manipulation! Okay, just gotta release them—OOF!

While I had been analyzing the situation, a buffalo had taken interest in me and rammed me from the side. Thankfully it was just a headbutt – their horns weren't curved well for frontal rams – but it still hurt like Tartarus.

"Why you—No! BAD BUFFALO!"

I zapped the buffalo in the face with a stun spell, which caused it to wobble drunkenly in place before falling over. I also felt the enchantment break under the stun.

Well okay then!

I flew above the melee, and began tossing out stunning spells left and right. Soon, only the unicorns were left, who kept shielding themselves with their magic.

Dangit! Of course they had to be wizards! Now what?!

One of the unicorns fired a horn blast at me, which I only barely managed to weave around in midair.

It felt like the time was right for a heroic proclamation.

"FOALS! I AM THE DASHING SAVIOR, AND YOUR EVIL WAYS WILL NEVER PREV—OW!"

One of the unicorns had snuck out of my field of view and shot me in the back. It was a pretty weak hornblast, but still, the nerve!

I teleported underneath his chin – advantages of being pint-sized! – and reeled a hoof back.

"FLYING HYDRA PUNCH! MINIMUM POWER MODE!"

It was really just a jumping uppercut, but it still knocked him on his haunches and stunned him enough that I could put his lights out with a spell. I wove around a couple more hornblasts and got some distance from the three remaining unicorns.

"You don't know who you're messing with! Heroes never lose! Come on – give me your best shot!"

I formed a cup of energy, and the unicorns obligingly fired blasts into it as hard as they could until they were spent. Then I turned that cup of energy into a tiny ball of electricity – far less powerful than the one I had used against the dragon, and far less dangerous. Plus, I had practice now, so I wasted no energy in zapping them all with it until they were down for the count.

"Yeah! THAT'S MY DRAGON BALL TECHNIQUE, SO-NAMED BECAUSE IT DEFEATED A DRAGON'S BREATH! The Dashing Savior never fails!"

I was talking tough, but frankly I was wobbling on my hooves at that point. The crowd was cheering for me, though, and that helped me power through. I charged my horn and teleported to Ponyville, and arrived feeling so tired my thoughts turned to my bed – but that thought was quickly dashed from my mind by what I saw...

<TO BE CONTINUED

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPCLFtxpadE

Author's Notes:

Your hooves will fly free if you stand proud, Cozy.