Unforeseen Consequences - Mom, can I be a hero?

>”We talk about the heroic things we’re gonna do!” The chubby colt proudly said
“…Really?”
>”Mhm! But that’s not everything!” The Goden Thunder happily and frantically nodded. “We alsho like to play other games! Our teacher likes to gives tooons of ideas when she reads a new story for us!”
>Oh, so that’s where they got the idea for being superheroes.
“That sounds neat, that teacher of yours must be doing a great work if it’s making you read more and actually like it”
>”Yeah! And that’s not it! Y’see, our teacher…” The chubby colt cleared his throat and changed to a serious tone “I mean, our awesome commander also taught us how to tell stories of our own!”
>The classroom finally broke the heavy atmosphere as all of the foals started to giggle.
>”Yup! I’m not very good like most of you but… I really like telling the class what I did with my mommy!”
>Well, it looks like your initial fears were wrong, the first graders were just playing around by pretending to be superheroes. Thank the heavens, a grade less to worry about.
“I’m glad that you guys are doing alright. It was nice to meet ya and thanks for letting me inside your headquarters. I’ll be on my way now”
>Letting out yet another sigh in relief, you stretched a bit and walked towards the door.
>”Waaaait!” the Golden Thunder quickly got up from her chair and ran at you “You’re leaving already?”
>You slowly nodded as you placed your hoof on the door-knob
“Yes… that’s what ponies usually mean by “I’ll be on my way””
>”But! But!” The little filly lowered her head as her ears dropped “Why do you have to go so soon?”
>You rolled your eyes and then gently raised the Golden thunder’s head as you gave her a reassuring smile

“I’m sorry my little friend, but you’ve already seen how bad things are right now. I need to go out there and solve this whole mess before it gets even worse.”
>”B-But why are you doing this alone? How are you even gonna pull this off?” The filly asked with a worried tone in her voice.
“Do I need to tell you who I am again? I do what I do because I must. As for what the plan is… well, it’s the sixth graders who’re pulling the strings. I just gotta find their leader and make him stop this mess… my only problem is, I have no idea where that meathead idiot is, but don’t worry. I'll figure that out… eventually.”
>”Uhm…” The little filly tilted her head and raised an eyebrow at you “What do ya mean? Isn’t that pony in his classhroom?”
>You blinked a couple times and raised an eyebrow… then you answered her with a monotonous voice.
“I…don’t know actually…I-I never thought on looking there”
>”Y’know Mr. Prinshe” the little filly tapped her chin as she went into deep thought “I’m shure that if I was a big bad guy, which I’m not, and my minions were all over the place doing bad guys stuff, then I probably wouldn’t go out of my bad guy fortress…”
>the Golden Thunder then shrugged off and giggled “That’s what happens in the shtories that our teacher reads to us anyway… uh… Mr. Prinshe? A-Are you alright?”
>Despite the Golden Thunder sounding worried, you didn’t answer her. Instead, you walked at the nearest wall and slammed your face against it.
>”M-M-Mr. Prinshe?!” The little filly and some of her classmates quickly tried to stop you but you raised your hoof to stop them
“No… don’t worry… this right here… what I’m doing is something that I deserve for being a dummy. Just… give me a moment, will ya?”

>The foals were clearly scared by your seemingly random action, but they all nodded, limiting themselves to watch you slamming your face against the wall a couple times more.
>After you finished with that tantrum. You rested your head against the wall
>Sweet mother of science, how in Tartarus you didn’t think of that?! Ruffle Truffle’s should obviously be in his gosh darn classroom! Where else could he be?!
>You could’ve ended this whole mess already but noooo! You simply had to come up with an overcomplicated plan instead!
>Sweet heavens, you can already imagine what Cherrywood would say if she was here.
>”You big dummy! Why do you always have to come up with these over-the-top, dumb plans! They never work like you think they will!” Or something like that… if you had to bet, Cherrywood would probably slap you too.
>… It’s not like you will be able to hide this from her. Cherrywood has a way to tell when you messed up by just looking at you. Jolly, things will certainly get fun when you get back home.
>”Mr. Prinshe…” You felt the Golden Thunder tugging at your leg “Are you okay? Did I make you mad?”
>You took a deep breath, shook your head and gently caressed her mane.
“No, of course I’m not mad at you. You didn’t do anything wrong, and yes, don’t worry, I’m fine… I was simply… doing an advanced meditation technique… one that you should never ever try”
>”I-I’m sorry, Mr. Prinshe, but you’re kind of weird…”
“Trust me… You’re not the first pony to tell me that”
>The little filly giggled at that and waved her hoof dismissively “I’m still happy that I met you, though” She then looked at the ground and kicked the dirt ”Soooo… Are you still going to look for the big bad guy?”

>You slowly shook your head
“No… I will actually take your suggestion and see if Ruffle Truffle is in his classroom… now, if you excuse me”
>”Wait!” The Golden Thunder dashed and got in between you and door
>You rolled your eyes and gave the little filly slightly annoyed look.
“Now what, mate?”
>”Well…uh...” The Golden Thunder looked down as she rubbed her left leg with the right one “I was just thinking…” she then looked at you directly in the eye “Are you gonna let your friends hanging just like that?”
>You tilted your head back. That question surely puzzled you.
“My… friends? I honestly don’t know what you’re talking about there, mate”
>”Yeah, your friends! Y’know the villains that attacked us! I was thinking that if they are friends with shomepony as nice as you, then they can’t really be villains! Maybe they got brainwu…brainweh… the REAL bad guys are making them do bad shtuff, even when they don’t want to! Are you just gonna let them get away with it?”
>You stopped yourself from slamming your face against the wall. This time you limited yourself to slap your face and groan.
“No… of course not… I just…”
>Aw, gosh darn it… you totally got derailed and ended up forgetting about the fourth graders!
“I-I kind of…y’know…”

>The little filly was looking at you with a baffled expression. No, thankfully she didn’t get what you meant.
>You rolled your eyes and let out a sigh.
“Know what? It doesn’t matter. You’re absolutely right. The fourth graders wouldn’t go and attack me without a good a reason… I think… I hope… To be honest? I’m not really sure, those guys aren’t exactly my closest friends… but I still think that you’re right. Problem is, how do I get them to talk to me? I kind of scared them away”
>”That’s eashy! The Golden Thunder said with a big smile on her face “Just go to their classhroom and talk to them! Oh…” The filly looked away as she rubbed her chin “You shaid that you scared them away, right? Hmmm… why don’t you… I dunno, talk with just one of them instead? That can work too, right?”
>That would require that you drag one of those guys out of their classroom so you can interrogate them. It was an interesting idea, that sadly wasn’t possible to execute under the current situation.
“It could if the sixth graders didn’t have the school on lockdown, it would be easy for me to get spotted while I’m talking with one of the fourth graders, which would only force me to fight again… and I kind of want to avoid that as much as possible, and as I said, after what happened at the hallway, I doubt that I can just waltz inside their classroom and ask for answers… well… technically, I could, but y’know”
>”Mhm!” The filly frantically nodded “You would look like the bad guy if you did that…uhh… Actually, I may have an idea…”

“Then please don’t be afraid to say it, my little friend. After all, you’ve been coming up with better solutions than me”
>”Well, uhm, you s-shee… I was thinking that, maybe…” The Golden Thunder was looking awkwardly at every direction “You could bring one of your friends to our headquarters? Y-You know, sho you can talk to him without having to worry about the bigger bad guysh”
> The Golden Thunder turned to her classmates and gave them a smile “I’m shure that my friends won’t mind, right?”
>”Are ya crazy?!” The chubby colt was the first and only foal who stood up and protested “You want to bring more old ponies here?! No! Nonononono! I said no and I will say no again! No! You can’t…”
>The Golden Thunder shot a glare at the chubby colt as he made a little “Mmmm!” noise.
>The colt flinched at first but then shook his head, crossed his forelegs and looked away “That won’t work with me! I have powers against cooties so no girly trick will make me change my mind!”
>”Cooties? Thoshe ain’t real, you dumb-dumb!”
>”They are! And I still say nuh-uh!”
>”Fine! Be a knucklehead if you want, but I know that everypony else will shay yes! Right, guys?” Sadly, that didn’t seem to be the case. The rest of the classroom was looking away from her, some at their tables, and others at their friends.

>”Oh c’mon! Why dontcha want to help? Isn’t that why we like to play shuperheroes? Because the power ponies always help everypony?” The Golden Thunder voice was cracking as some tears were forming in the corner of her eyes. “Please…”
>”Nope!” The chubby colt quickly answered to her “Not listening to anything you’ve to say”
>You saw the Golden Thunder starting to crumble when every foal in the class backed the chubby colt again.
>”Yeah… I dunno but… can’t we just stay here and wait for our teacher?”
>This is a game, we’re not like the Power Ponies! They fight against big villains… we can’t do anything against the sixth graders”
>”I know, right? I don’t wanna give my lunch to those dudes… not again”
>While you couldn’t blame the first graders for not wanting to do anything with this. You also couldn’t let this poor filly to crash and burn. That was just wrong!
>As the poor filly looked down and her ears dropped. You gently placed your hoof on her shoulder and whispered to her.
“Thank you, Golden Thunder…”
>”Lightning Bolt…” The little filly said with a terribly depressing tone “that’s my real name…”
>You raised an eyebrow. That did raise your concern.
“Why are you telling me your secret identity, mate? I thought that heroes were supposed to keep that kind of information hidden from everyone”

>The little filly sighed as she removed her “mask”. She had a white mane, yellow coat and green eyes… and you could see that she was depressed right now “I-I don’t feel like playing shuperheroes anymore…”
>How she said those words… that tugged your heart strings. Poor gal, to be disappointed like this. You really, really have to convince her friends now.
>You placed your hoof on her chin and raised her head so she could look at you in the eye.
“Awww, come on, don’t be like that! If you quit playing, then your whole league will fall apart”
>”You… really think sho?” Yes! There was some hope still left in her!
“Yup! I don’t know your friends, but based on everything I’ve seen, I can say with all the confidence in Equestria that you’re the most heroic pony of your class. That’s why you can’t give up!”
>”But…” No! She was getting depressed again! “All of my friendhs already did, a-a-and I dunno how to change that!”
“Ah, but you see, you don’t have to worry about anything, because this is the part where I take charge”
>”B-But what can you do to stop my friends from…” Lighting Bold sighed “Just… throwing the towel?”
>You patted her mane and put up your best cocky smile
“Did you think that I was kidding when I said that I’m a prince? I’m the real deal! So please, don’t cry “Golden Thunder” because if there’s anything that I’m good at, it’s to bring hope to ponies”
>You walked past the poor filly and to the teacher’s desk. Then, you hopped from the teacher’s chair to on top the desk itself.
>”Hey, what do ya thing yer doin’?” The chubby colt immediately protested as he slammed his chubby hooves on his table.

>You were already tired of him. So much that you couldn’t help but to reply with a rather grim tone
”I should be asking you the same”
>You shot him a glare that made him sit.
>Despite the colt being a bit scared by your change in attitude, he still found some courage to muster “W-What?”
“You heard me. What do you think you’re doing? Why did you suddenly think that giving up is okay? Do you even realize who you guys are?!”
>”W-What do you mean?” The chubby colt tilted his head backwards “I-I just don’t want to get involved!”
>You were still keeping an intense glare on the chubby colt, but you could hear the rest of his classmates speaking among themselves.
>”Y-yeah, this ain’t our problem!”
>”Mhm! Everything that Lightning Bolt told us is scary and not our deal”
>You narrowed your eyes at the chubby colt and stomped your hoof on the desk
“Shut up and answer my question! Do you realize who you, and I mean ALL OF YOU are?!”
>Silence. This time nobody dared to answer you. Instead, they looked at each other, confused by your words.
>You didn’t sigh or rolled your eyes. You held your ground and kept the stern look.
“All of you are students at the Celestia’s school for gifted unicorns! Do you understand what that even mean?!”
>”That the title is kinda weird an’ too long?” one of the foals shyly said
>Yeah… it’s not like he wasn’t absolutely wrong. You couldn’t help to wonder why your mom went with such over-the-top name… eh, it’s your mom after all, she could be kind of weird at times.

 “No. It means that all of you are here because you are GIFTED. Sounds great, right? Well, let me tell you something. You guys may be going through their first year at this school, and it’s alright, I’m kind of in the same boat as all of you, but if there’s something that I’ve learned is that we’re not supposed to just develop the amazing talent that we all have. We’re supposed to become ponies that others can and will look up to.”
>”A-And how is fightin’ the big foals supposed to help us do that?!”
>”Y-Yeah! We’re just gonna get our flanks kicked!”
>”Dude… my mom would ground me forever if she knew that I got into a fight”
>”Just forever? My daddy would… I dunno, sent me to live with dragons if he knew that I got into trouble”
>You slowly shook your head and stomped your hoof on the desk
“Who said anything about fighting?  Do you think that violence will solve anything? Please!”
>You charged your horn with magic and lifted everything in the room, including the foals, for a couple seconds before gently putting them back in their seats.
“My magic is more than enough to defeat every single pony in this school! But do you see me running around the hallways and just casting spells left and right? No!  Because that won’t make me the pony I want to be!”
>”Then what are we supposed to do!” The chubby colt rolled his eyes and snickered at you “Please tell us, oh mighty magical colt, how are we supposed to become these amazing ponies that ya want us to be”
“You like comics, right? Then why aren’t you following the example that the Power Ponies make? Help everyone you can. Whenever you can, however you can. You are not doing that, instead, you guys have decided to just cower here and tell the rest of the school that their problems aren’t yours…”
>All the first graders looked down except for the Golden… err… Lighting Bolt who was nodding at every word you were saying.
“If I was any other pony, I would say that if that’s how you want to play, then I’ll be doing the same and shall never help you, even if you really needed it. I’m not that type of pony, I CAN’T be that type of pony. My final question for all of you is this: What kind of pony do YOU want to be?”
>You hopped off the desk and walked at the door. Then you placed your hoof on the knob and opened it before shooting a final glare at the foals.
“Whatever your decision may be, it’s up to you. As for me, I have to go and help our school to get back on track”
>”Wait!” You heard the chubby colt calling for you right after you put your hoof outside the door
>You turned to him and raised an eyebrow

“Yes?”
>”Listen…eh… Ayynon?” The chubby colt was looking down as he rubbed the back of his neck “What you said… I didn’t understand a lot ‘cuz you use a buncha fancy words and… please don’t get angrier, but you’re kind of a weirdo… but… you’re right, or at least I think you’re so… what I wanna say is… how can we help?”
>A weirdo? C’mon, you were awesome! Why can’t anyone understand that? Eeeh… whatever, you go through him and by the eager expression from the rest of his classmates, you managed to do it with the entire class.
>You looked down at the chubby colt and smiled
“As I said, you don’t have to fight. Just wait here until I arrive with one of the fourth graders, and if any pony other than the sixth graders comes here and looks like he or she is in trouble, then please do your best to help them out, alright?”
>”O-Okay… but, how’re ya gonna bring one of those fellas here?”
>You couldn’t help but to smirk after you heard that question
“Oh, don’t worry… uh… what’s your name?”
>”They call me…” the chubby colt tried to adopt a heroic pose, but when he was at the middle of it he fell flat on his face “Ouch!”
>You leaned forward and raised an eyebrow. The little guy wasn’t moving… t-that’s bad, right?
“You okay there, mate?”
>”Yeah…” the colt quickly stood up and finished his little act “The call me, the Mighty Roar! Rawr!”
“Alright “Mighty Roar” You stay here. I’ll go and get us a fourth grader…”
>You let out a chuckle as you walked out of the classroom. The guys aren’t that bad. Maybe you went a little overboard, but meh, it worked.
>Alright, Double Ocean, it’s time to have a little a conversation. Just the two of you.