[Manehattan] A Hero's Work (Open)

[RarityDash]

The Noble Flare stood perched high atop one of the tallest buildings in all of Manehattan, watching, ever vigil, as most of her city slept. She was a protector. She was a guardian. She was the beacon of pure light in the pitch black Manhattan sky. Her mission was to protect the city and its ponies and ward away any who might do them harm. In her bright white protective armored costume, she resembled the light she felt she represented. With her high powered telescopic goggles, she could see from up above down into the city streets with ease. With her arsenal of restraints and her flare light she could incapacitate any evildoer before they knew it. She was the Noble Flare, and under her watch, this city was a little safer.

Vivid Flair liked to think so at the very least. Being a real life superhero was a thankless job that demanded from her considerable time, physical and mental stress, not to mention money. Inspired by her father, there was no way she could give the Noble Flare up, but often it was hard to maintain this second career of hers. This was especially true when, in her first career as a research engineer with major machinery company Northern Storm Industries, the big boss had just decided to put her on a major project. She was set to be head engineer on the Trans-Equestria Railroad Project, which would fill in a lot of gaps in the Equestrian railroad system and even connect all the way out into Aquelia. It was an important project, and one Vivid was glad to do, but between it and her time as The Flare there were many sleepless nights these days.

That didn't mean the Flare would be any less vigil. She would protect her city. It had become her duty, her obsession. She scoured the streets for signs of wrongdoing of any kind. A faint cry suddenly hit her ears, causing her to focus in on a particular spot. Smoke was rising from a small house on the edge of the city. Vivid gave a nod to herself before immediately taking wing, and darting toward the scene. The fire soon became visible as Vivid got nearer. As she landed, she found a family of ponies outside watching the scene. A young filly seemed quite distraught and even intent on running toward the smoldering building, her mother having to hold her back.

"Is anypony still inside?" Vivid asked, taking a deep, commanding voice.

"Who are...?" the stallion of the family started, staring at the oulandish white costume. "Yes. We didn't have time to retrieve our daughter's cat. But--"

"Say no more," Vivid said with a firm nod, before bounding ahead right into the flaming house.

Her bodysuit was made of special protective materials she had tested in the lab. It would keep her fairly safe from burns so long as she didn't stay too long or get touched by anything directly. The bigger problem was running out of oxygen. She had to move quick. She raced through the burning home, checking each room she crossed until finally she saw a particularly desperate white cat trapped by burning rubble on all side. Vivid raced toward it, grabbing it up in her arm and then taking to wing, flying up out of a hole that had opened in the roof. Flying back down she placed the cat on the ground, allowing it run toward a very relieved young filly.

All at once the family began to thank and praise her. Okay, sometimes it wasn't so thankless. It was such moments that made it worth it, even with the sleepless nights. Under her concealing mask, which obscured even the fact that she was a hippogriff, Vivid smiled. Then, without a word, she took off, flying away to meet other challenges! Or at least as far as that family would know. In truth, she landed out of sight just nearby in order to take a much needed moment to recover before she did anything else.

((OOC: Topic will feature Neoniie's Neon Stargazer, but is open to any interested others after she posts.))

[Neoniie]

Tonight had not been particularly fruitful for the masked hero Nighthoof. He had taken up his usual perch above the city, atop one of the few buildings that extinguished its lights during the night. In a bustling metropolis like Manehatten, it wasn't easy to find a place that was shadowed even in the dead of night. That being so, the rooftop of the Manehatten Shopping Complex had been something of a branching out point for the hero. It was consistent, which he liked. In comparison to how quickly the city moved, it was an island in the storm. This particular building wasn't quite as tall as many others, but it was at just the right height for Nighthoof's purposes. High enough to mask his presence from the ponies below and still low enough for him to spot trouble if it were to arise. Secretly, he was quite glad to have found the building as early as he did.

As he did every night, Neon insisted that tonight would be the one that would introduce Nighthoof to Manehatten in a sweep of glory and heroics. His brief career in Fillydelphia had earned him some recognition, but it was mostly from bewildered foals and amused adults. The colt didn't want to have a repeat of the Broom Incident that had made him quite glad to leave the transport hub behind. Here in the city there was certain to be some sort of evil to combat and Nighthoof would finally become the well-known protector that his idols in his foalhood had been. But the young superhero hadn't had much luck yet. The most he'd managed to do was run into some ponies his age and get barraged with questions. Even so, the colt was undeterred and he continued his search for the big entrance that Nighthoof would make. In the meantime, he'd been carefully masking his identity from his parents, who'd been suspicious ever since his grades had managed to slip. It had seemed like an awful lot of work for no obvious payoff, but Neon was nothing if not optimistic.

So, when he caught the sound of a call for help on the wind, he took no time in dashing into action. One thing that had been a benefit of his lack of action in the city was the time for practice he'd gotten. On his first night out, he'd managed to fall right through one of the gaps between rooftops. With not much else to do, Neon had managed to learn the tricks of the trade when it came to jumping across the skies without the advantage of wings. So, he managed to cross the tops of buildings without incident. However, by the time that he had reached the source of the call, the proper authorities had already arrived and were taking care of the blaze that had been the trouble. Disappointed that he hadn't been able to do something because of his slowness, but glad that everypony seemed alright below, Nighthoof began to turn back toward his preferred haunt and listen carefully once more for danger to arise.

However, as he did so, he caught sight of a flash of white atop a rooftop nearby the house that had until recently been ablaze. Likely too curious for his own good, the caped colt made his way closer to the now stationary white whatever-it-was that he had seen. Neon didn't want to give away his presence yet, as he wasn't certain what was sitting on the rooftop running parallel to the one he now watched from. So, he stayed as still as possible, allowing the black of his costume to blend into the shadows around him as well as it could. Other than the slight breeze that lifted his cape from time to time, there was almost no sign that the colt stood on the rooftop at all.

[RarityDash]

Vivid breathing started to come back down as she stood there. She wished she could rip her suit off right then and there to expedite the process, but she had a secret identity to protect with her life. And she intended to protect it. If her bosses found out this was how she spent her free time she'd be fired immediately, no questions asked. But ugh, was that suit hot and the struggle to replace smoke with clean air in her lungs unpleasant.

She needed to look into new tech for these situations. Oxygen tanks? No, that would be too bulky and cumbersome... and if she miniaturized it, it wouldn't hold much oxygen. She shook her head. This wasn't the time to think of such things, especially since it was hard to think at all in her state. If she had the breath to waste then she would have sighed, lamenting how limited pony technology was, even as her and a few other gifted technicians tried their hardest to make strides forward.

It was about then that Vivid noticed a sound nearby. Hoofsteps? Was there somepony there? She couldn't see anypony, so she supposed not... That was until she remembered that the crowning technical achievement of her suit were her telescopic goggles which allowed her to see in detail even at great distances and in the dark. Nopony could hope to hide from her keen eagle eyes with these things on. Searching the area from which the sounds had come with her goggles, Vivid could see faint traces of movement, perhaps of fabric in the breeze. Whatever was there was pitch black, blending effortlessly into the night, but it was there. Somepony hid and watched her. Could it be somepony up to no good? She almost hoped not. She didn't exactly have a lot of strength left to fight with.

She jumped onto the other rooftop and stepped toward the hidden pony. "You there! I know you're hiding. Show yourself!"

[Neoniie]

Now that he was closer to the white object he'd seen earlier, the masked colt could now see that it was in fact a who - not a what - that he had seen earlier. Now what sort of who was difficult to tell that this distance and lighting, but he was almost certain that he could see a very faint outline of a wing in the white ensemble. Even so, those basic observations didn't really help him in figuring out what this winged somepony was doing all the way up here. The most that he usually encountered were a couple of stray cats very sparsely on the lower rooftops. As such, he was a bit wary of getting too close to potential danger, but he was too inexperienced to know what to do in place of actually investigating closer. So, he stood as still as possible and hoped that something would happen that could disperse the situation.

Unfortunately, it seemed that Neon had been spotted by the white-clad figure on the opposite roof. Initially the colt took a mental inventory of himself, wondering what could have given him away. Then it occurred to him that, though his costume was purposefully coloured so that the shadows would match it, his cape was the one part of it that was mobile that would thus attract attention. Though he hadn't seen this as a problem before, he supposed that this stranger wasn't something he had seen before, so the newness of both things made sense to him.

He briefly considered just continuing to stay where he was and just hope that the other passed it off as a trick of the light, but he quickly thought better of it. It was likely a wiser move to co-operate than to accidentally cause unnecessary tension to crop up. With a reassuring intake of breath and a moment to collect himself, Nighthoof stepped out into the light cast by the windows of a nearby building. It was strange how contrasting the two suited figures looked. One was a bright white and the other was black as pitch, but both seemed to mirror each other in some respects. In fact, now that the strange figure was closer, Neon was able to confirm his suspicion that it was in fact a winged creature that now called him out. Now that both were more visible to each other, a silence seemed to descend over both until Neon broke it, too intrigued to stop himself from asking, "Who are you?"

[RarityDash]

Vivid smiled at the question and the black draped figure who surfaced to ask it. They had a pony shape, so Vivid would assume they were a pony, even if she herself was proof as to how this sort of assumption could be false; much like the Flare's costume, this pony's didn't seem to have much in the way of openings. It was solid black. Interesting. While Vivid sought to stand out boldly as a shining light in the darkness, this masked pony endeavored to blend in and become one with that darkness. The pony was somewhat small which told Vivid it was likely a mare, but the speaking voice was deeper than expected, so instead she wondered if it wasn't a colt of some variety, or perhaps just a particularly diminutive stallion.

After studying the masked pony fully, Vivid stepped forward and started to speak in a low, building voice, "I am the white knight who stands vigil to protect this fair city. I am the blinding light that cuts through the dark and brings justice to her enemies. I am the guardian of the weak, the defender of the downtrodden. Evil whispers my name in fear! I am the Noble Flare!"

As she finished her short intro speech (which she had been rehearsing in her mind for months now, waiting for a proper moment to deliver), she stood on her hind legs and spread her wings fully, thinking it would be a particularly cool, threatening pose. The only thing that would make it even better were if it was stormy out and lighting suddenly struck in the distance behind her for punctuation. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. Coming back down, she stepped quietly toward the black cloaked figure.

"The bigger question is who you are?" she started, eyeing the other shrewdly. "Are you an enemy to justice... or a friend?"

[Neoniie]

Neon had to admit that if he weren't currently actively attempting to remain both professional and mature, he would have gone absolutely crazy over the awesomeness levels of the Noble Flare's introduction. The pony (who he'd just assumed was a pegasus at this point, since it made it much easier for him to describe the hero to himself) was a proper superhero and everything, just like in the stories he used to read as a foal. They had been his inspiration since his first reading of a Daring-Do title and to meet somepony, an adult no less, who was able to do all of the really awesome hero stuff without worrying about bedtimes or falling straight into somepony's apple pie festival (what a long story that was) was the epitome of cool in the colt's opinion.

Then, of course, the Noble Flare asked him who he was. The black-clad earth pony had been waiting since the beginning of his superheroic career to give an awesome sounding speech and here was his chance at last. Taking extra effort to be sure that his true voice didn't bleed through his disguised one in excitement, he began. "I am a friend of justice, a protector of the preyed upon! A helper of the helpless! The bane of the bad! I'm the shadowy overseer of righteousness in this city and any other I find myself in. My name is Nighthoof!" Though his introduction likely sounded a tad juvenile and Neonw asn't entirely sure what 'righteous' actually meant, he was pleased with it. Seeing fit to pose as the Noble Flare had, he only really managed to have his cape ifted and twirled about by the wind, which either worsened or bettered his impression.

Hoping that it hadn't come across as goofy, he then produced a question of his own. "I would guess that you were the one who handled that fire before I arrived. How did you manage that?" He tried to sound less impressed than he really was, as it would quickly give away his youthfulness even more so than the corny introduction had.

[RarityDash]

Vivid nodded in approval. Friend of justice? Protector of the preyed upon? Helper of the helpless? Bane of the bad? Overseer of righteousness? How fortuitous. This was quite clearly an ally! Nighthoof. He seemed young, but it sounded like he got it. Under her mask she was smiling. It was good to see that she was not the only carrying the torch of justice.

However, soon the pony's words took a turn she didn't expect. He questioned if she was in fact the one who had "handled the fire". Vivid was a little taken aback. Of course she hadn't dispatched the blaze. The firefighters had stopped the blaze and the family had escaped on their own. Her lone heroic act was rescuing a single pet cat. Not to discredit the act; she was confident that in the eyes of at least one little filly she was the most valiant of heroes. However next to actually having having saved ponies or contained a fire, it was admittedly kind of small.

"Well..." Vivid started, not sure how to reply at first. "You happen to be slightly mistaken... It was our valiant allies in the fire department who quelled that blaze. I, relying on my custom made protective suit merely navigated the scorching flames to rescue a... family member still trapped in side!"

[Neoniie]

Though the colt's first reaction was to answer with a slightly disappointed 'oh', it was still quite the feat. He was certain, as much as he wished he could, Nighthoof wouldn't have been able to brave the fire in order to save anything, much less anypony. So, it did fairly impress him. That, coupled with her nodded approval of his introduction, gave him the distinct sense that the Noble Flare was definitely somepony whom he was glad to have as an ally, however indirectly, in the realm of heroics.

"It sounds like your night has been quite eventful," Neon said, assuming the more adult manner that he often did with Nighthoof. "But, mine has been quiet. A good sign, but it has been quite for a while..." He trailed off, suddenly unsure why he'd brought it up in the first place. "It feels suspicious." The colt hadn't been planning on saying quite that, but it felt right once he had. He had been more disappointed in being unable to wow the populace with his feats, but now that he considered it, the lack of any real acts of villainy, especially in a city as large as Manehatten, was odd. Neon didn't like it one bit, the foreboding that he had unintentionally brought upon himself. Trying to dissuade it, he added, "But I'm sure, with allies such as the Noble Flare, whatever dastardly scheme those evildo have brewing will be no match."

[RarityDash]

Truth be told, Vivid's night had not been that busy. The fire had been the first real event to catch her attention. Nighthoof was right. The city was quiet. Ponykind as a whole wasn't particularly quick to crime, but in a city as big and varied as Manehattan it did happen. Usually Vivid could find thieves, muggers, or other unsavory characters to watch closely with her eagle eyes if she tried. Yet tonight the evildoers had been uncharacteristically silent.

"I understand what you mean. Before that house fire my night was entirely silent as well," Vivid said to the other pony. "Perhaps the criminals of the city are plotting something big tonight?"

The super-heroine gave a steady nod before continuing. "Perhaps we could patrol the city together and see what we might find?" she suggested.