Our lives are impossibly long when you look at them as a series of moments. There are so many of them that to predict what will happen in any of them is nearly impossible. In each moment, we make a choice, based on what we have done in moments that have passed, and what we want those in our future to be, and we hope that our choice will take us where we want to be.

Out of all of those moments, all of those choices, the greatest of ponies are the ones that can spend even one of those moments being truly selfless...

---

In a small apartment near the center of the bustling city of Maretropolis, Galley Proof was finally awoken, groggily, by the echoing of an alarm clock. With a groan, he glanced at the clock’s hands: 7:30. He quickly resigned to the fact that he’d have to get out of bed soon; otherwise, he’d risk Scoops shouting at him until punch-out today, and probably until lunch tomorrow. So, like every day of his life, he pulled himself to his hooves, showered, ate and grabbed his saddlebags before heading out the door at 7:50.

Luckily, it was Tuesday, so by 7:51 he managed to just barely catch the elevator as Miss Carnation was on her way up from grabbing a few bags of produce from the market down the road. He had enough time to thank her for her punctuality, which she gave the usual confused look to, before he was on his way down. By 7:52 he was out of the lobby and onto the busy, packed streets. Dodging between pedestrians on the sidewalks and taxis at the crosswalks, he started his four-block sprint to the Maretropolis Beacon building.

An unfortunate tumble from avoiding a colt distracted by his morning paper set him back about twenty seconds, but he more than made it up by avoiding the wait on a crosswalk one block later. By the time he made it to the steps of the Maretropolis Beacon, he had enough time to pick up a daisy from the flower cart just down the road, though it did set him back a few more bits than he expected. By 7:59, he was at the front desk on the fifteenth floor, face to face with Daisy, the receptionist.

He kept both of his hooves on the desk, and placed the flower in her quill holder with a smile. “Morning… Daisy… How’s the morning so far?” After the sprint he’d taken, not sounding exhausted was hard.

Daisy took a sniff of the flower and smiled. “Fine, but it’s gonna be bad for you.”

Galley raised an eyebrow before following her hoof to the clock on the wall: 8:02. Scoops always did want to be ahead of the competition, even if it was only by a few minutes. He was right to want an edge, of course, in such a bustling city as Maretropolis, but this was this was likely to gain just an inch—no, a tenth of an inch really. A short glance at the clock tower just down the road showed him that it was only 8 o’clock sharp. With a sigh, Galley started the walk over to his desk, but was less than surprised to find Scoops right behind him.

Despite the fact that Scoops was a head taller, a few dozen pounds heavier, and certainly a few years older than Galley, he did have a talent for sneaking up on ponies. The brown coat and grey mane, nearly blending in with the office walls and carpet, certainly helped, but Galley knew it was probably the mark of a seasoned journalist. A shame he had to use that power for evil.

Galley chuckled and smiled as he backed away from Scoops, to avoid injuring his neck as he looked into his boss’s eyes. “Morning, boss. What’s the—”

“If you say ‘what’s the scoop?’ one more time, Galley, I’ll have you writing the advice columns for the next month!” Galley managed to spot the telltale vein forming on Scoops’ forehead as his eyes narrowed. Luckily, it wasn’t purple, so Scoops was only a little mad. “I told you to get in here on time, didn’t I? So why weren’t you at your desk with those proofed articles like I told you to be?”

Galley considered pointing to the clocks in and out of the office for comparison, but he knew from Scoops’ track record that it’d be a bust. With a shrug, he walked past Scoops towards his desk, and then pointed to the bound papers sitting there, marked up in red. “The articles are right here boss. I was just two minutes late. Can’t we let it slide?”

With a glare and an almost too animalistic growl through his gritted teeth, Scoops grabbed the articles and started walking to his office. “Be glad I already had my coffee this morning, Galley. Make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

Galley sat down at his desk, and flinched when he heard, and slightly felt, Scoops’ office door slam shut. He turned to look back at Daisy, who only shrugged and laughed before returning to her work. With a chuckle of his own, he picked up his quill and added another tally to the dozens already on a sticky note at the edge of his desk. The beginning of the day was, sadly and usually, the most exciting thing that happened on the job. The rest of the day was as predictable as Scoops’ rants, which there were nine more of before lunch, luckily none directed at him.

Around 9:15 he could overhear Quilt, Grape and Sliver talking about last night’s hoofball game against Cloudsdale over at the water cooler. At 10:12 on the dot, he could see Bolt trying his best to impress Daisy at the front desk after getting his usual cup of coffee at 10:05. He couldn’t tell from the distance, but it seemed less than successful, as Daisy had her eyes on the typewriter in front of her. Warren left for lunch forty-five minutes earlier than most everyone else tended to, at 11:15, though he still got back with the rest of the crowd at 12:30. Scoops never managed to see him leave, since he was wrapped up in his daily layout meeting from 11:00 until about 2:15, even though it was always supposed to end at 1:30.

As the usual going-ons of the floor were going on about him, Gallery was stuck with his inbox, which was only half as full as it usually was. Mondays always tended to be slow days for news in Maretropolis, which made the following day a little bit slower. On the stack today were the kind of articles he usually dealt with: a new school opening up by the suburbs, some opinion pieces on the election coming up next month and a detailed report on the hoofball game he’d overheard the others talking about, between the Cloudsdale Thunderclouds and the Maretropolis Meteors. With each one, he did his usual work, reading over them several times, and each time adding more red to the pages.

Luckily, Scoops’ morning lecture was going to be the second most exciting thing today. Just as Galley finished marking up a piece on some record-breaking fruit out in Trottingham, he finally caught a glimpse of the next article on his pile: Power Ponies Foil Fetlockdown’s Fiendish Filching. He’d struck veritable literary gold. Most of the Power Ponies stories never saw his quill fixing their author’s mistakes. Scoops usually passed on the editing altogether, just to rush them out in the morning, but this one managed to slip by.

Galley could hardly hold back his excitement. Word always spread fast on the streets of Maretropolis. He’d overheard Clover and Ink Blot talking about the attempted museum heist last afternoon, but this was an eyewitness account, with pictures to boot! Galley dove in so fast that he never bothered grabbing his quill. The story was breathtaking, recounting how the six superpowered heroes arrived just as Fetlockdown tried to make his escape with the Crown of the Stars, and that despite disabling a few of the heroes, was ultimately no match for them. It even had a security photo of The Masked Matter-Horn shooting Fetlockdown’s Paralysis Pistol from his hooves.

Galley read over the article again and again, his mind wandering as he imagined how amazing being there to see the amazing duo-trio in action must have been like. He was now only a little surprised when he looked up to see Scoops staring down at him.

“Galley, is that the Power Ponies article? You mark it up yet?”

Galley scrambled, reaching for his quill, “N-no sir, just finishing up on the first reading is all.” He gasped as Scoops pulled it off his desk.

“No need for that. Don’t know how this managed to get away, but we’re putting it in the evening edition.” Scoops looked to his right. “Inkblot, get this down to the printing floor. If you double-time it we might be able to turn this around.” He almost looked like he was smiling as Inkblot dashed by, taking the article with him, but that vanished when he looked back at Galley. “Now get back to work.”

“Yes, sir…” Galley said, looking back at his inbox: empty. With a sigh, he stood up and grabbed two articles from Quilt’s inbox, and by the time he finished, the clock tower struck five. With another day finished, Galley packed up his bags, said his goodbyes to Daisy and headed out the door. Nearly every part of his life had become so dull and predictable after he moved from the suburbs to downtown, despite how much “excitement” there seemed to be all around.

Maretropolis wasn’t the poster child for a perfect city, sure, but it wasn’t a seedy underbelly where you were either a crook or a victim. Most of the city was safe and secure, barring a few bouts of vandalism, and for the rest of it, well, there were the Power Ponies. The only shame in that was he’d probably never get the chance to see them up close and personnel. Instead, the best he could hope for was another slip-up from the Maretropolis Beacon mailmare.

His trip home took longer than the sprint into work. He took a walk through the park and down to the market a few blocks away from his apartment. Sure, it was a long way away, but the prices were well worth it. Finally, as the sun started to set, he made a stop at the First Maretropolis Bank, just a block from home. Just as he went to open the door, he caught a glance through of a reflection on the glass, of a streaking bolt of light headed straight for him.

Quickly, he jumped and ducked to the side, covering his head as the glass front of the bank shattered and exploded. Galley’s ears rung from the sound of the blast as he slowly opened his eyes. In every direction he could see ponies fleeing from the scene or trying to barricade themselves inside the buildings on the other side of the street, but he was soon drawn to what many of them were pointing at, floating above the middle of the street. It was a pony, clad from head to hooves in a suit of metallic yellow and black steel, with a similar cape around his shoulders: it was one of the nastiest ne’er-do-wells around, The Sinister Stallion.

Galley remained frozen in place, watching as The Sinister Stallion dropped down to the shattered remains of the door. Everyone within the bank had huddled together at the edges of the open lobby, behind desks and cubicle walls in a hope to remain unseen. The Sinister Stallion had no interest in them as he walked calmly up to the counter. Galley was safe to leave now, to flee like the others, but he couldn’t, not just yet at least.

This was a once and a lifetime chance: if The Sinister Stallion was here already, there’d be no reason the Power Ponies wouldn’t show up soon. Scoops would have to give him a promotion for an eyewitness account like that. And so, cautiously, Galley shred his saddlebags and crept to the entrance of the bank, peaking around the corner of its shattered front, to catch a glimpse of the scene within.

While the bank patrons and security had barricaded themselves at the ends of the room, the tellers were doing their best to appear unfazed behind the counter, and failing. Sinister merely gestured to the bank vault door and said, “Open. Now.” His voice was muffled and grated by the mask he wore, but it echoed effortlessly through the lobby.

One of the tellers, shaking as he walked, moved to the vault. Galley glanced back to the street for a moment, scanning the skies and the streets for any sign of the Power Ponies’ arrival; unfortunately, there was little to be seen beyond cowering ponies and a few police officers gathered beyond some overturned carts, taking witness reports. Shaking his head, he turned back to bank, just as the teller opened the vault.

Inside, Galley could see the faint glimmer of gold as the dark vault was illuminated. The only question was how Sinister planned to get away with it on his own; even with that fancy suit, there was only so much he could carry. The answer came when Sinister picked off a few squares of plate from his armor. Once he flung them to the ground, they expanded and unfolded into a multitude of crates, which began to hover off of the ground.

“Fill them,” Sinister muttered as he turned to the rest of the lobby. The ponies who his gaze rested on recoiled in fear, trying to stay out of sight. Galley himself pulled away as Sinister looked from one end of the room to the other, but peeked again once he was sure he wouldn’t be noticed. When he did, Sinister was staring at a mare who had been hiding behind a desk near the counter, holding a young colt as close to her as she could.

Slowly, Sinister trotted towards them, the sound of his metal-covered hoofs reverberating in the lobby and out into the street. No one could see it through the thick mask he wore, but his stance made it seem as if he were smiling. “My goodness, I must be growing rustier by the day.” His voice was calm, betraying what he might do at any moment. “I make a grander entrance than most, and I am greeted by mere cowering? I recall months ago when my exploits would be met with fleeing, terrified masses, running off to the false safety of their homes.”

He arrived at the mother and her foal. She was now shaking in place as she tried to cover the colt’s ears, his face already buried in her coat. Gingerly, Sinister kneeled down, rubbing a metallic hoof along the colt’s back. “Don’t be frightened, ma’am. I apparently haven’t done anything quite so terrifying yet, have I?” He moved the hoof to her chin, pulling it up so that she had to stare into his mask. “Have. I?”

The mare was frozen in place for a few seconds, but shook her head after Sinister let go of her chin. In response, Sinister grazed his hoof along her chin once again before standing up and walking away. “Of course I haven’t. No no…” He stopped a few feet away from the mare before turning back to her. “Not yet at least!” Sinister shouted as his calm demeanor disappeared.

Galley gasped and the crowd screamed as Sinister pointed a hoof at a cubicle. The ponies behind it scrambled away. “First, a little more property damage!” A beam of light shot from his hoof, shattering the cubicle and its contents into splinters and ashes, which shot in every direction. He pointed at a few more cubicles, which the cowering citizens managed to flee from before their hiding places exploded as well. Most of the crowd was now trying to flee from the building, but Galley stayed put beside the door.

“Next, a few hostages!” Sinister began to hover into the air slowly, his cape fluttering in a non-existent wind. He pulled back a hoof, and several of the fleeing ponies were stopped in their tracks. A faint, dark yellow aura began to glow around their bodies as as they floated helplessly into the air. Sinister began to spin the hoof in a circle as the ponies began to spin and orbit around him.

He began to laugh as he watched the lucky ponies flee into the streets, taking a few—intentionally missed—shots at them. “Ah, good, terrified citizens fleeing from my sight. A perfect follow-up if there ever was one.” The teller in the vault had quickened his task in a hope to go unnoticed by Sinister’s fickle wrath, but he was gifted by a warning shot of his own, which melted a portion of the vault door. “I’d suggest you work faster, coward.”

Galley’s hooves clenched down on the wall he peered around the corner. He took another glance at the street, which was now filled with more police and fleeing citizens, but there was still no sign of the Power Ponies. No tell-tale thunderclouds of Zapp’s potential arrival, no gusts of wind inside the bank that might signal that Fili-Second was already on the scene, casing out the situation, not even a glimmer of purple light within the sky that showed Radiance was ferrying others to the crime. Where were they?

“But,” Sinister began, drawing Galley to look inside the bank once more, “One thing is missing.” He turned back down to the mother and her foal, still cowering near the counter. “I do so loathe the times that my antics can’t attract a proper audience.” He stopped the orbit of his hostages, clumping them up near the corner of the room. “Even though I may despise their deeds, those Power Ponies are about the only true entertainment I can have. Maybe things just aren’t exciting enough for them yet.” He began to float to the middle of the room, tapping his chin.

“Oh! I know!” He pointed his hoof back to the mare, who screamed as she was dragged with her colt to the center of the room, and then flung a few feet to the shattered remains of the bank entrance. “A few death wails ought to do the trick!”

“Where are they?” Galley muttered under his breath. The Power Ponies always showed up before things got messy. That was always the way the stories went. No one ever said anything different. Those stories weren’t lies. They just couldn’t be. Not even Scoops would go that far to sell a story, right? Galley’s mind was racing, but stopped when he saw the colt ripped from his mother’s arms and pulled into the air, squirming and screaming in an attempt to break free. The only thing Galley could hear were the mother’s screams, pleading for Sinister to let him go.

‘T-they’ll show up at the last moment,’ Galley thought to himself as Sinister pointed a hoof towards the colt. ‘They always save the day. No one will get hurt. It has to be that way!’ Galley’s eyes wandered away, to a bench a few feet away from the colt, just within sprinting distance. ‘But what if they don’t. I-... I can’t just sit here and watch this!’ Galley clenched his eyes shut for a moment to steel himself.

...the greatest of ponies are the ones that can spend even one of those moments being truly selfless...

Everything seemed to slow down as he ran, as fast as he could, to the bench. He saw the glowing point of light forming at Sinister’s hoof, growing by the moment, as he jumped onto the bench. He saw the crowd’s shocked faces as he ran across the length, his legs tensing to make the jump. He saw the colt’s face change from one of terror to hope once he lept from the bench with his hooves outstretched. He heard the blast and felt the heat graze against his back as he fell down, holding the colt in his forelegs.

Then, things sped up all too suddenly. The explosion made as the beam hit the other side of the street echoed off the buildings, followed shortly by the sound of rubble and screams. Galley noticed the floor rushing to meet him after the colt was in his grip. He tried to duck into a ball to roll, but only succeeded in slamming down onto the floor on his back, sending a jolt of pain up his spine. By the time he slid to a stop and began to get onto his hooves, his body was aching, and he started to hear laughter. With a cautious glance, he turned to see Sinister moving towards him, holding his stomach.

“Oh, this is amusing. A valiant vigilante has sprouted up like a wretched weed to save the day? Expected in one regard I suppose.” Sinister flexed a hoof and Galley found himself lifted off of the floor, floating weightlessly in the air. In a moment, he was pulled closer to Sinister, and in another he was turned to face him. As close as he was, Galley could see the pale yellow eyes through the slits on his mask. “But surprising… in that you are not one of those pitiful Power Ponies, and that makes me upset.”

Galley steadied his breathing as he kept his eyes locked on the mask. Slowly, he ceased kicking his limbs to try and break free, which eased some of the pain still coursing through his body.

Sinister chuckled. “Not talkative either, hmm? Did your heroic feat sap you of your brain power, or was your lack thereof the catalyst?” Sinister’s voice grew raspy as he whispered, “Either way, you’ll regret it soon.” He pushed his hoof away and Galley went flying towards the entrance to the bank, stopping in midair with his head pointed towards the ground. “Let this be a lesson to you all!” Sinister shrieked through his mask.

Galley closed his eyes as he saw the point of light forming at Sinister’s hoof. He probably didn’t have a lot of time to regret making a choice like that, so why start now? Instead, he just trusted that it would be over quickly, and that Scoops would probably shed a tear. Yeah, that was just the reward he was hoping for, instead of living… Still, this was at least more exciting than reading about the Power Ponies, if only for a moment. Two high points for one day was a record.

Sinister’s laughing escalated as his beam was no doubt ready to charge, but it was soon joined by… Was that rock music? The laughing stopped as a gust of wind kicked up in the room, brushing over Galley’s back before he felt upright again, and on the ground. Timidly, he tapped a hoof a few more times to confirm that before opening his eyes. He was now standing off in the corner of the room, but the rest of the bank was now empty, save for Sinister in the middle of the room, and a mare, wearing a white and blue costume, over by the vault.

The mare’s head bobbed in time with the beat coming from a stereo next to her for a few moments. With a groan, she tapped a hoof against it, turning it off. “I don’t know… Whaddya think, SS? Too heavy? I mean, it’s fast enough, sure, but I don’t know if it really says speed—”

“Fili-Second… Stalling for your snail-speed companions?” Sinister moved one of his hooves to aim at her, but was shocked to find the chunk of his armor once covering it gone. Fili-second held up the large gauntlet, juggling it in the air.

“Lookin’ for this, SS? You know you really oughta keep a better eye on your toys.” She flung it over her shoulder into the vault. “And you should definitely keep your hooves off things that aren’t yours. I’m pretty sure you’ve been told that a few dozen times already though.” The mare vanished as Sinister launched a bolt at her location, only to reappear a few feet away, unharmed. “And you really need to work on that aim. Broadside of a barn, much?”

“I have more toys at my disposal than you could imagine, you expeditious exasperation! Certainly enough to deal with you.” A pair of four metal arms grew from underneath Sinister’s cloak, each armed with a smaller version of the cannon on his forearm. Each of the mechanical arms took aim before firing at the heroine, who quickly and effortlessly evaded them all. Galley was so caught up in the moment that he barely noticed Sinister’s hail of bolts was about to rain down on him as well. That was when he felt Fili-Second pick him up once again.

“Hey!” she shouted as she continued to evade the villain’s attacks. “Sorry about old cranky armor up there. I mean, you beat a guy up a dozen times, stop him from taking over the city a dozen other, and call him a few playful nicknames and he holds a grudge.”

Galley tried to keep from getting sick as he was run around in a circle repeatedly with her, though the feeling started to pass when he closed his eyes. “Right…”

“No, but seriously, you should pay more attention, otherwise something really bad could hap— Ahhhhh!” Fili-Second’s ‘lesson’ fell apart rather quickly, once she tripped over a hole left by Sinister’s blast. The two went flying, skidding along the floor and into the bank wall. Sinister laughed as he closed in on them.

“You must be getting slow in the head, speedster, but enough of this game. I hope your friends will enjoy the extra room at home.” Sinister aimed the four cannons at the two as Galley tried to scramble to his feet, but Fili-Second seemed unconcerned. The reason why was that Sinister’s cannons were soon frozen solid as a blue beam of light hit Sinister square in the back, sending him down to the floor below. The frozen metal shattered into pieces from the hard impact, though the majority of Sinister’s armor was unharmed.

Galley followed the beam back to his source, and his eyes grew wide from the sight. There, at the bank’s entrance, were the heroes of Maretropolis, the Power Ponies: the lightning-gifted weather conjurer, Zapp; the super-strong and nearly invincible Mistress Mare-velous; the gem-studded summoner, Radiance; the mysterious energy bending unicorn, the Masked Matter-Horn; the hulking, unstoppable beast, the Saddle Rager; and, joining their ranks in the blink of an eye, the impossibly energetic speedster, Fili-Second. It was just like the stories, seeing these heroes prepared for battle, to stop any evil that might threaten the city. It was a shame Galley’s trade wasn’t in photography.

Sinister was back in the air quickly, however, and laughing as he had before. “Finally! My work gains the proper attention. I’m so glad you didn’t all forget about me.”

The Masked Matter-Horn stepped forward, a green light forming at the tip of his horn. “You’ve had enough of your twisted idea of fun today, Sinister Stallion. It ends now.” The other Power Ponies fanned out into a semi-circle, each ready for battle.

“You’ll have to try something other than intimidation, Matter-Horn. It doesn’t suit you.” Sinister took aim and fired, but his beam was stopped short by one from Matter-Horn, creating little more than a faint shockwave between them.

The rest of the Power Ponies were quick. A chunk of floor flew through the air from Saddle Rager’s grip, causing Sinister to dodge to the side, where he was greeted by the grip of Mare-velous’s lasso. As he tried to break free, Radiance held out her wrist, forming a few floating purple wrenches that began to tear apart Sinister’s armor piece by piece. As they fell to the floor, they were picked up and thrown into the vault by Fili-second.

Finally, as Sinister began to worm his way free from the lasso’s grip, almost completely stripped of his gadgets, a bolt of lightning streaked in from the street. As it struck Sinister, the remainder of his gadgets short-circuited, sending him falling down to the ground, unconscious. Galley’s mouth was agape for a few moments, and all he managed to say was “Whoa.”

The Masked Matter-horn stepped up to Sinister, pulling off a few more gadgets with his magic, leaving him completely unarmed. “Zapp, take him out to the police.” Zapp nodded as he hovered in the air, grabbing the thunderbolt around his neck to summon a small twister, pulling Sinister carefully out into the street.

“Fili, Radiance, gather up all that tech. We’ll take it back to base so we can put it on lockdown.” The two nodded and went about their work, gathering up the pieces from the vault and putting them in one of Sinister’s now vacant carts. “And you.” Matter-Horn turned to Galley.

Galley shook his head, pulled out of stargazing as the Matter-Horn walked towards him. He straightened up immediately, putting a hoof to his forehead before he realized it. “M-Mr. Matter-Horn… Sir! I-it’s an—” he pulled the hoof down slowly, “... honor.”

He waved a hoof dismissively. “Save the praise, son. We were just doing our job. Speaking of, we caught a glimpse of what you did before we got here.”

Galley swallowed the lump in his throat. He was probably about to get a lecture from some of the most important ponies in the city. Scoops would probably have a hayday with a story like this. If not him, at least the rest of the office. His gaze drifted down to the floor. “I-I’m sorry. I should have left the heroics up to—”

Matter-Horn placed a hoof on Galley’s shoulder. “What you did took courage. Not a lot of ponies can say they have that. Besides, I doubt she thought it was a bad idea.” Matter-horn looked towards the front of the bank, and Galley followed him.

Standing there was the mare, with her young colt at her side. As police came in to try cleaning up the bank and ensuring that nothing had left the vault, she and her son walked up to Galley and the Matter-horn. “Thank you,” she said, holding back tears, “for saving my son. I-I don’t know what I would have done if…”

Galley was dumbstruck for a few moments, trying to search for the right words. ‘I did what was right? No, no. No problem? Come on, it’s not holding a door...’ Galley took a deep breath before saying, “I’m just glad I could help.” The colt leaped out of his mother’s arms, latching on to Galley’s leg before being pulled away.

“Sweetie, w-we’ve thanked the nice colt enough.” The two walked away, leaving Galley alone with Matter-Horn once again.

“What’s your name, son?” Matter-Horn asked. He gave a glance back to Fili-Second and Radiance, who had finished gathering up the pieces of Sinister’s tech, carting it back into the lobby.

Galley began to relax, most of the adrenaline from the experience gone. “It’s Galley, sir. Galley Proof.”

“Well, Galley, I’d like to make you an offer.” Matter-horn reached inside of his costume, pulling out a small metal disc, only a few inches across with a button in the center.

“O-offer?” Maybe Galley was hit on the head a few too many times during Sinister’s rampage. Maybe the entire thing had just been a dream. He was probably even still at work, soon to be caught lazing about on the job. Those had a good chance of all happening, at least more than the million to one odds of what he thought was happening. Slowly, he held out his hoof and took the disc.

“If you want it, of course.”

Galley shook his head. “But… I barely did anything. I don’t deserve something like this.”

“Heroism starts out small, Galley. You have to want to make it grow. Trust me, I’ve seen it more than enough times.” He smiled as he glanced back at the other Power Ponies, who had gathered near the entrance. He leaned in to Galley to whisper, “It’s your choice, not anyone else’s. If you want to, you only have to press that button.”

Galley stood still, watching as the heroes bid their goodbyes to the police and waved for the flashing cameras in the streets. It was only a few moments later he was asked to leave by the police. He nodded, gathered his saddlebags, luckily still outside the bank, and began his walk home.

That night, he lay in bed, unable to sleep. The day kept playing over and over again in his head, right alongside his usual day. It was normally so dull, so.. humdrum, but today it was exciting. Those few minutes at the bank felt like a year’s worth of excitement. Better yet, he actually helped someone. No, he didn’t open a door for someone or help them carry their groceries in. He saved someone, and it felt good.

Galley rolled out of bed, staring at the disc on his night stand. Slowly, he reached a hoof out, taking a few breaths. “Nothing ventured, right?”

---

Near the edge of Maretropolis, the Hallowed Horse Cemetery was one of the oldest landmarks, and it remained relatively untouched by the growing urban surrounding. On a cold autumn day, wind biting through his coat, Galley looked down on a grave, and remembered the words his father told him, days before he passed years ago:

Our lives are impossibly long when you look at them as a series of moments. There are so many of them that to predict what will happen in any of them is nearly impossible. In each moment, we make a choice, based on what we have done in moments that have passed, and what we want those in our future to be, and we hope that our choice will take us where we want to be.

Out of all of those moments, all of those choices, the greatest of ponies are the ones that can spend even one of those moments being truly selfless... That’s why you’re special, Galley. You’re going to have a lifetime of those moments. I know it.

“You were right, dad, and I’m glad you were,” Galley said with a smile, placing the flowers at the foot of the gravestone. However, he was soon pulled away from the solemn moment by the sound of an explosion coming from downtown. Turning his head to the source, where smoke and pillars of flame sprouted up above the skyline. The beeping that followed, coming from his pocket, was no surprise.

Pulling the small disc free, he pressed the button on its surface. The beeping was replaced by Matter-Horn’s voice, with an image of his face now on the surface. “Hum-Drum.” The name probably wasn’t the flashest choice, but if it weren’t for that humdrum life he came from, he probably never would have taken them up on their offer so many months ago.

“I’m here, Matter-Horn. I heard the explosion, is it—?”

“Yep, Burning Bridle. He’s causing a commotion up and down Bronco Boulevard. Fili and Zapp are on the scene already. Are you close?”

Galley looked around the vacant cemetery, making sure that no one was watching. “From here? About two minutes out. I’m on my way.” Galley turned the communicator off, stowed it in his pocket, and pulled out a thick metal bracelet. After putting it on his hoof, he aimed it at the roof of a nearby apartment building and fired a grappling hook. In seconds he was on top of the roof, and only a few moments later he was in his costume of red and black, sprinting across rooftops.

Once on the scene, he got a clear look at the devastation below. Several buildings had caught on fire in the street, and Zapp and the few firefighters there were busy taking care of the fires as Fili-Second did her best to occupy the stallion on the street, whose body was bathed in a roaring blaze.

Hum-Drum grinned as he fiddled with the gadgets on his fetlocks, settling on an extinguisher on one hoof and the hook on his other. Ready for action, he chuckled as he swung down. “Definitely beats a lecture from Scoops!”

---

Spike closed the comic and leaned back in his seat with a disinterested hum. “Who comes up with this stuff?” he asked, thumbing through the pages again. “I mean, if you’re gonna reboot something, why make it so… gritty? And they changed a whole bunch of the characters: Zapp and Matter-Horn as guys, no sign of the Mane-iac, and Hum-Drum’s origin turns into some random colt who gets randomly picked to be a hero cause he does one good thing? Talk about shoddy writing… Right, Twilight?”

Twilight, already absorbed in a book across the room, nodded, sort of. “Uh huh…”

Spike dropped the comic into a trash can before grabbing a quill and parchment. “I’ll write them about it, and I’m sure they’ll fix everything,” he said as he started to write his letter, unaware of the trash can it would someday meet as well.