A New Breed

A New Breed is a fan fiction written by Polecat and can be found on Equestria Daily. It is an action-packed story taking place in a speculative near-future Equestria that is at war with an extra-terrestrial threat led by the Nightmare.

The characters and their powers are inspired and influenced by comic book heroes, with Marvel being a particularly prominent inspiration.

Plot
Seemingly in response to the arrival of the space-born imps, many ponies and other beings including the Mane 6 develop extraordinary powers and are dubbed "Specials" by pony society. Princess Luna creates an Agency to organize and train Specials to fight the imp invasion.

The story itself begins several years after the start of the war, when Twilight Sparkle remains the only member of the Mane 6 still living, and she is an elderly mare no longer on active duty. The plot follows Clockwork Key, a mare with a Special talent for technology and employed by the Agency as a coordinator for the team led by her brother, Warpony, until a routine mission against a squad of imps turns out to be a trap designed to lure out and capture Twilight. Warpony sacrifices his life to foil the plan, but Twilight dies as well.

Later, Clockwork is invited by Luna to become part of a new team of Specials whose task will be to locate the Nightmare's stronghold and destroy it. Over the course of the story, Clockwork develops a suit of flying battle armor to use on missions while dealing with strife and changes to her team, the loss of the Elements of Harmony to the Imps, and the politics surrounding the Agency.

Clockwork Key/ Dragonfly
A khaki earth pony mare with a Special talent for technology. Her hearing is highly sensitive to the acoustics and sounds of materials, making her capable of locating anything that is not working at peak efficiency. In fact, inefficient machinery irritates her to the point of distraction, turning her into something of a perfectionist. Her mind works faster than the average pony's, and she's constantly taking mental notes on her armor and puzzling over the features that evade her initial attempts to implement. Due to her own talents and her brother's status, she is familiar with many members of the agency, including most of her original team.

Her Dragonfly armor is clearly inspired by Iron Man.

Galaxi
A blind earth pony with psychic powers, including powerful telepathy, telekinesis, and creating solid energy constructs. She's the personal student of Princess Luna and is rather introverted and awkward at the start. Her telepathic powers allow her to link all of her teammates mind's into a communications network and can speak with Luna at almost any distance unless blocked by magic. She wears a purple body suit that covers her entire body, but as she grows closer to Clockwork she begins to remove it while off-duty.

Trixie/Tome
With her Special power of immortality and perpetual youth, Trixie has had time to increase her magic skills to the degree that she becomes the most powerful unicorn in the world following Twilight's death. Her arrogant, boastful attitude remains intact until she begins to warm to Clockwork and reveals herself to be driven more by a desire to prove herself as a legitimate successor to Twilight than by gaining praise.

Skillet/Ironjaw
An earth pony stallion from Stalliongrad, his Special power is a coat of extremely tough but flexible metal. He is a close friend of Clockwork's family and takes her under his wing, so to speak, when she's brought onto the team. He's a jovial fellow who always looks on the bright side of things and is not afraid to give advice when it's needed. Even after losing his metal coat and use of his rear legs in battle, he continues to find ways to give Clockwork moral support.

Ultrapony
The most famous Special still living, and has the pride and sense of entitlement to go with it. He's basically a flying brick -- fast and super-strong. He takes an instant dislike to Clockwork's presence on the team, due in part to their less-than-friendly past, and does not grasp the concept of working together.

Flourish
A unicorn mare with a Special talent for teleportation, somewhat akin to Nightcrawler of the X-men. She's a later addition to the team following the departure of the buffalo Thunderhooves, and seems to bring the spirit of Pinkie Pie to the group with her clownish behavior and witty one-liners in battle. She can generate a rapier of magic energy from her horn, which she uses to deadly effect in tandem with her teleporting powers. Tome dislikes her initially, seeing her as a rival performer.

Filigree/Steelwing
A female griffon that Celestia buys out of slavery (Special griffons are considered to be chattel by their own kind) and brought onto the team to fill a vacancy. Her talent is to coat her wings in razor-sharp metal, and she had been trained as a body-guard while in slavery. She is blunt and does not suffer fools lightly, but welcomes the warm and friendly treatment she is given in pony society. She devotes herself to the team as much out of appreciation to the Princesses as out of a desire to bring peace.

Promised Sequel
A New Breed ended with an epilogue full of plot-hooks involving minor antagonists encountered during the course of the story, and Polecat has already begun work on a second "book" in the New Breed universe, following a period of rest and shorter, unrelated stories.