Princess Celestia watched as the first signs of dawn cracked over the horizon. Normally she was in full control of the sun’s cycle, but on days like this she allowed the sun a little more time to get into the proper position for a more dramatic raising. She sighed and turned away, her attention shifting to the upcoming ceremony.

“Sister?” Celestia looked up and saw her younger sister Luna enter, the dark alicorn looking slightly fatigued from preparations. “You seem stressed.”

“No, I’m fine.”

“You were always a terrible liar, Sister. Now tell me, what is troubling you?”

“... I don’t know, really. I’ve always been a bit troubled around this day, but this year I feel... I feel that something’s wrong.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know, and that’s what scares me. Can you imagine that? Me, goddess of the sun, and I’m scared of something I don’t even know.”

“I’ve been scared before. Everypony gets scared.” Luna crossed the room and laid a hoof on her elder sister’s shoulder “Do not worry. I am here by your side should you be troubled.” Celestia placed her hoof on her sister’s and smiled.

“Thank you, Luna. Come, we mustn’t leave the ponies waiting.” the younger princess nodded and followed her sister out. They continued down the halls before running into a familiar unicorn stallion.

“Blueblood? What are you doing here?” Celestia asked.

“Oh, I was feeling a little out of sorts and thought I’d skip the ceremony.”

“Really? Perhaps you should check in with the infirmary and see if you are healthy.”

“Perhaps. Well, enjoy the ceremony.” Blueblood made a slight bow and left.

“Does it seem to you that Blueblood has become a bit more distracted than usual?” Luna asked.

“Perhaps... Maybe I should speak to him on this matter.”

“You have known him longer than I have; I believe you are the better judge than I am.”

“Maybe you should talk to him more often; he is your nephew as well, after all.”

“I am aware of that, Sister, and I have tried to be personable. But he seems too... distant, like he’s been trying to avoid me whenever I’m present.”

“Then perhaps you need to be more assertive.”

“Oh, and me being assertive has gone over so well with the castle staff.”

“Give it time.”

Zod had found a suitable spot from which to overview the final stages of his plan. From here, he could see the entirety of the celebration, specifically the large stage where Princess Celestia would be most exposed. He smirked as an image of the white alicorn falling from the sky, fatally wounded by some spell cast by her “beloved” sister’s guards.

Best not get caught up in gloating now, he thought. I may become distracted and lose my opportunity. His horn glowed and from the next room came one of Luna’s guards, his eyes unfocused and dull.

“You know your task?” he asked.

“Yes, general.”

“Good. Get into position and wait until Celestia has fully raised the sun. And remember to position yourself where everypony can see that it was you who killed the Princess.”

“Yes, general.”

“Go, now.” the guard bowed and left while Zod turned his focus back to the scene before him.

“Are you sure you prefer standing there?”

“Tia, I know you’re stressed and nervous that the ponies may react negatively, but this is your celebration, not mine.”

“Don’t say that, Luna. This is as much your celebration as it is mine. It is supposed to show the two of us, together, leading the ponies of Equestria. Besides, if you stay here then everypony will still think you’re some brooding overlord if you stand over to one side with nopony near you.”

“... How do you know ponies still see me as an overlord?” Celestia blushed.

“Well... I may have... I’ll explain once my duties for the day are done.” Luna nodded while Celestia turned towards the stage.

“Good luck, sister.” Luna called. Celestia smiled and climbed up the stairs leading to the main part of the stage, a triumphant fanfare greeting her as she stepped out into the early dawn light. Her powers were such that she could have seen the other ponies as clear as day, but doing so usually put a strain on her magic, and she needed her magic to lift the sun. She smiled at them, several of the more enthusiastic onlookers cheering at her presence. She then turned her head skyward and took off, her horn alight with yellow magic as the sun rose behind her.

While she ascended, she noticed a commotion from the crowd. Curious, she opened one eye and spotted one of her sister’s guards shoving his way through the crowd, his horn aglow with magic. Once the guard broke through the crowd, he lowered his head and launched a spell right at the Princess.

The next few seconds seemed to go in slow motion; the spell flew towards Princess Celestia, the Sun Princess’ magic too focused on raising the sun for her to construct a suitable barrier to deflect the spell. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Luna and several other guards rushing towards her, but a quick calculation told her that they would not be able to reach her before the spell struck.

Just before the spell hit her, however, a second force slammed into her side, knocking Celestia out of the way of the oncoming spell. She tried to twist around to see what had hit her, but her vision was blurred just before she and her “attacker” slammed into the ground, a massive cloud of dirt and rubble blocking her vision and knocking her coordination off.

Once the dust cleared, Celestia twisted and saw a mare dressed in a blue suit and red cape standing over her. The mare was panting heavily, her entire body quivering. Celestia tried to say something, but the mare turned and took off towards the crowd while Luna and the other guards raced towards Celestia.

“Sister! Are you alright?!” Luna cried as she rushed to Celestia’s side.

“Yes... I’m fine.” Celestia pulled herself up from the ground and flared her wings in an attempt to dust herself off. “The more important question is why one of your guards attacked me.”

“I would never order such an act of treason; that guard was acting beyond my jurisdiction.”

“I hate to cut in,” both princesses turned and saw the mare coming back to them, the offending guard clutched in her forehooves “But this guard has been brainwashed.”

“Brainwashed?” Celestia asked. “That is a serious accusation you are making there, and seeing that you are not a unicorn you may have mistaken something more mundane for brainwashing.”

“True,” The mare dropped the guard to the ground and backed up. “I wanted you to check to confirm my suspicions.”

“Is there something you’re trying to hide from me?”

“Possibly, but it would be better if we discussed that in private.” Celestia merely nodded and tapped her horn against the guard’s forehead, a small pulse of magic surrounding the guard’s head. At first she found nothing, but soon she began to find small buildups of mental suggestions before stumbling on a massive concentration of magic. She withdrew her magic and faced her sister and the other mare.

“I guess you were right. Do you have any idea who could have done this?”

“I have a few ideas. With your permission, I would like to apprehend them.”

“You are asking for my permission? Why?”

“I don’t want to be your enemy, Princess; going off on my own would violate the trust between us and make me seem like I don’t respect you. You are in control here, not me, and you must decide how you wish to go about this.” there was a pause before Celestia smiled.

“I admire your respect for my position, but in the future you don’t have to ask my permission for situations like this. We’ll discuss terms once the situation is under control.”

“Of course.” the mare nodded and took off towards Canterlot Castle. Luna watched her leave and turned to Celestia.

“I play a role in this, right?”

“Of course, Luna. Now, gather your guards together and clear the area, then begin searching for anypony else that may be brainwashed.”

“Yes, sister.”

Rainbow Dash raced towards the castle, searching for her target. She swept her vision across the castle several times before finally spotting Zod in one of the hallways near the courtyard. She adjusted her flight pattern so she was aiming right at him and dove down, putting as much speed behind her as possible before striking the wall. The masonry shattered under impact and she tackled Zod, the two ponies careening through the next wall and into the courtyard. Rainbow Dash managed to recover first, but Zod was less lucky and hit the ground with enough force to leave a sizeable indent.

“You’ve lost, Blueblood,” Rainbow Dash said, descending “Princess Celestia is still alive.”

“I have grown to hate that name over the past five years.” Zod growled as he pulled himself back to his hooves “As for failing, I should have anticipated that; I should have killed you quickly when I had the chance instead of leaving you to die in that canyon.”

“For somepony who claims to be some big general, you aren’t very good at making plans.” This drew only a snarl from Zod. He lunged forward and tackled Rainbow Dash, the two hitting the ground once more. He reared up and slammed his hooves into her chest, but she countered by grabbing his head and twisting her body, knocking him to the ground. Before he could recover, Rainbow Dash pounced on him and landed three hits before he bucked her into a nearby wall, small bits of stone raining down on her as she pulled herself from the wall. Zod rushed forward to attack again, but Rainbow Dash spun and bucked outwards, her legs catching him in the chest and knocking him across the courtyard.

“Impressive.” Zod said as he stood up. “You’re fighting skills seem to have grown over the past few hours.”

“How do you know I wasn’t just holding back the last time we fought?”

“You paint yourself as a hero; a ‘hero’ never allows themselves to be defeated so easily by their opponents. If I was anypony else, I would find your attempts at strength to be endearing, but now I find them annoying.” The two circled, trying to find an opening.

“Why, though? You could have been just like me and everypony would love you.”

“That would not be enough. You don’t know what it’s like to really be a leader, to have hundreds of ponies obeying your every command. While you would go about with your foalish dress-up game, every stallion, mare and foal would kneel before Zod!” Sensing an opening, Rainbow Dash lunged forward, but Zod caught her with a punch to the face.

“All this was just so you could get respect?”

“Respect, honor, things that a pony like you would not be able to understand. Things that your father stole from me! Now, I’m just fulfilling my oath.”

“Your oath?” Zod responded by kicking Rainbow Dash in the side, but she rolled with the strike and got back on her hooves.

“Before your father imprisoned me, I swore that he would one day bow down before me. Seeing that he is dead, I suppose his heir would do just fine.” Rainbow Dash swung with her right hoof, but he intercepted the attack and hit her in the face. As she staggered back, Zod rushed forward and hit her two more times, bringing her to the ground.

“You will kneel before me, daughter of Jor-El. Even if it takes me my entire life and all my strength, you. Will! KNEEL!” Zod swung at Rainbow’s head, but she caught his hoof and stopped the attack cold.

“I’ll only kneel to two ponies,” she snarled “And you’re not one of them!” with a cry she twisted around and slammed Zod into the ground. She hoisted him up and punched him again, the force knocking him through the next wall and into Celestia’s throneroom. She shot through the hole in the wall and knocked him over before hitting him several times in the face, the last strike drawing a small stream of blood. Zod pushed her away and backed up to the other side of the room, trying to put as much distance between him and Rainbow Dash as possible. Rainbow would have gone after him, but noticed that he was standing between two very large pillars.

Please don’t be mad at me for this, Princess, she thought. Two red beams shot from her eyes and struck the first pillar, slicing clean through it. The next pillar suffered a similar fate, splitting in half as soon as her vision ceased. Without support, the ceiling collapsed on top of Zod, burying him under a pile of rubble.

Rainbow Dash took a moment to catch her breath, landing and flaring her wings to relieve some of her pent up energy. She did not have to wait long, for the rubble pile began to shake as Zod pulled himself out, pieces of shattered stones rolling to the floor.

“Did you really think that was capable of killing me?”

“No, I just needed a moment to gather myself.” Zod snorted and leapt at Rainbow Dash from the rubble, but she sidestepped his attack and took off again. He swung around, trying to track his opponent, but Rainbow Dash swooped around and hit Zod in the side, knocking him back into the pile of rubble. She rushed in again and headbutted him in the chest before pinning him to the ground.

“Surrender, now.” she said.

“... What?”

“Surrender. You’ve been defeated, and I don’t want to hurt you or have our fight hurt any other ponies.”

“You... you can’t be serious.”

“What?”

“Here you are, claiming victory, and you ask for something as soft as ‘surrender’ when you have a chance at killing me?”

“I’m not like you; I won’t take anypony’s life, no matter how much I may want to. Surrender now, and maybe some day you and I could work together to restore a bit of your honor.”

“You think it would be that easy? That you can just forgive me like that?”

“I really don’t want to keep fighting you, and I will do anything to try and settle whatever score you have between me and my family.” There was a pause before Zod shoved Rainbow Dash off, pulling himself from the rubble.

“No... never... I will never submit to you.” he lowered his head and his horn began to glow white with energy, a low whine building up as more and more magical power was put into the spell.

“Wha... What are you doing?”

“Silly girl. If your father had any intelligence at all, then he would have taught you what happens when a unicorn overloads his magic.” Blueblood smirked as his horn glowed brighter. “If I cannot defeat you, your death and the deaths of every pony in Canterlot will be just as satisfying.”

“You can’t... I can stop this.” She raced forward and tackled Zod, but his spell was unaffected by her attack. She tried hitting him again, but still the spell would not cut out.

“Try all you want, but I have total control of my magic; even your strongest attacks cannot break my concentration.” Rainbow Dash tried to attack again, but Zod struck back and knocked her down. “You have lost, daughter of Jor-El, and your strength has failed you. Now watch as Canterlot dies!”

“No... I haven’t lost yet.”

Celestia and Luna’s guards were evacuating everypony as quickly as possible, no small task considering the number of ponies present. Some were more skittish than others, with a small stampede breaking out in the southern half of the square once the guards began evacuations. Celestia remained to keep order, a large group of guards surrounding her in case somepony else tried to attack her in the confusion.

Not far away, a small ball of purple light materialized. The ball grew in size before dissipating, depositing five ponies on the trampled grass.

“Okay girls,” Twilight said, dusting herself off. “That was the last of my magic reserves, so I won’t be able to cast any really complex spells.”

“We won’t need them because Dashie’s an awesome superhero and is already beating up the bad guys!” Pinkie said, bouncing with her usual energy.

“What is this about Rainbow Dash and superheroes?” the five turned and saw Princess Celestia walking towards them. Pinkie was about to start up her explanation, but Applejack jammed her hoof in the pink pony’s mouth.

“Uh, nothing really, Princess,” Twilight began “It’s just that... well...”

“Rainbow Dash is Supermare, isn’t she?” there was a long pause before Celestia spoke again. “Luna is going to be so disappointed when she finds out.”

“Wait, that’s it?”

“I suppose. It wasn’t that much of a mystery since Rainbow Dash actually confronted me about her powers. Honestly, I couldn’t think of a better pony to be Supermare.”

“But... what does Luna have to do with this?”

“Ask her next time you see her, but I would prefer that you do not tell her about Supermare’s identity.”

“We won’t.” Pinkie said. Twilight and the others ignored her.

“We have to see if she’s okay. Where did she go?”

“Towards the castle. If you hurry, you may be able to-” there was a crash from the castle and the six ponies watched as a red and blue streak shot through the roof.

“That’s her! That’s Supermare!” Pinkie cried. “But... what is she doing?”

Rainbow Dash flew as fast as possible, Canterlot and Equestria shrinking away as she climbed. In her forehooves, struggling to get free, was Zod, horn still glowing with power.

“You would willingly sacrifice yourself for these... Equestrians?” he shouted over the rush of wind.

“Yes.”

“But... They’re of no use. As servants maybe, but nothing more.”

“My father sent me as a guardian, not a conqueror.”

“Yet another failure on his part. You could have been more than some costumed fool. You could have been a great leader. You could have been a god! Why are you throwing this away for mere weaklings?”

“Because I love them!” Rainbow Dash pulled Zod up so he was eye-to-eye with her. “They raised me from when I was a foal! They showed me all the good that’s in this world, and they were by my side throughout my life, encouraging and comforting me as I grew! They never abandoned me, or said I wasn’t worth it; not when I failed my first flight exam, not when my father died, not when I fought against Nightmare Moon and Discord, never! They made me the mare I am today, and I am grateful that I have such great ponies surrounding me! And you know what? They accept me for who I am; I don’t love them because they see me as a god, I love them because they see me as Rainbow Dash!”

“Then you are just as weak as they are!”

“I’m not weak,” Rainbow hoisted Zod over her head and drew back with her right hoof “I am Supermare!” She swung forward, her hoof striking Zod in the chest with enough force to shatter mountains.

Just as Zod’s magic overloaded.

There was a roar as a massive white disk exploded across the sky, shattering windows as far away at Appleoosa and nearly blinding all the ponies below. Clouds were vaporized and any Pegasus that happened to be flying nearby was knocked from the sky.

Twilight squinted up at the sky as the light dissipated, searching for any sign of Rainbow Dash. Part of her mind hoped to see the Pegasus swoop by, her cape flaring and her cocky smile across her face, but every second that went by a little bit of her hope died.

“Wha... what happened?” Applejack asked.

“I believe that whoever Rainbow Dash was fighting, they must have overloaded their magic.” Princess Celestia said.

“But... she can survive that, right?” Pinkie asked, her usual bubbly voice sounding flat and shaky.

“I... I don’t know.” Celestia hung her head “I’m sorry, but it’s been so long since I have known a Kryptonian, I’ve forgotten most of their abilities.”

“B-but... she can’t be dead...” Pinkie said, her mane slowly deflating “She’s the hero, she can’t just... die.”

“Wait! I see something!” Twilight shouted, pointing up to the sky. It was hard to spot, but a small black speck was falling down from the epicenter of the explosion. As it fell, it slowly began to take a more defined shape, and Twilight gasped as she saw Rainbow Dash tumble from the sky, her wings and limbs limp.

“That’s Rainbow! Princess, you have to slow her down!” Princess Celestia raised her horn, but Rainbow Dash was falling too fast. The Pegasus hit the ground with a loud crash, a cloud of dirt and pulverized grass raining down on the nearby ponies. Twilight and the others raced forward, heedless of the raining debris.

Rainbow Dash was in a bad way; her limbs were tangled up in her cape and her face, mane and tail had been blackened from the explosion. She was still breathing, but only just, and her body twitched slightly as magic arced off her.

“Oh no, Dashie!” Pinkie leapt into the pit, cradling Rainbow Dash when she landed.

“... guys...” Rainbow Dash said, her voice barely audible.

“Don’t worry, Rainbow,” Twilight said as she slid down the side of the crater “We’ll get you some help. You... You’re going to be fine, okay?”

“... guys... I did it...” Rainbow Dash smiled before passing out, the rest of her body going limp and cold.

“No... no, you can’t be...” Pinkie pulled Rainbow Dash closer. “Dashie, please wake up...”

“She... She can’t be dead,” Applejack said, shaking her head. “She’s a strong pony, s-she can’t...”

“She’s not waking up,” Pinkie said, her mane fully deflating and her colors fading “She needs to wake up. Dashie, why won’t you wake up? Why won’t you wake up?!” Pinkie looked out of the crater and screamed. “Somepony please help! She won’t wake up! Won’t somepony please help?!”

“I-I can try to lift her out of the crater,” Twilight said “Then Princess Celestia could help her... she can help...” a soft lavender glow emitted from Twilight’s horn, and the five ponies lifted their fallen friend from the rubble.

Author's Notes:

Dashie's just having a really bad day, isn't she?
I don't own ponies or Superman. Likes and comments are appreciated, and if I screwed something up let me know.