When lightning strikes...

Chapters

Strike 2- Your new roommate/mentor
Strike 3-The Fundamentals
Strike 4- Can we keep it?
Strike 5- Fight Night against Freddy
Strike 6- Searching for Clues
Strike 7- Taco Tuesday
Strike 8- Dancing with the Devil
Strike 9- My December
Strike 10- Fight Night against Freddy 2
Strike 11- A tale of Two Twilights
Strike 12- Analysis
Strike 13- Fate/Strike
Strike 15- Reloaded
Strike 16- Moonlight
Strike 17- System Shock
Strike 18- Meet the Family
Strike 19- Uncle Fazbear
Strike 20- War of Shadows: Old lover of a symbiote
Strike 21- War of Shadows: To Canterlot... and Nightmareland
Strike 22- War of Shadows: WRONG TARGET!!
Strike 23- Welcome Back
Strike 24- Centrail City
Strike 25- Family
Strike 26- The Countess of the Night
Strike 27- Second Chances
Strike 28- Power Pony Pool Party
Strike 29- Imagine That
Strike 31- Duality
Strike 32- Homefront
Strike 33- Knockout
Strike 34- Into the Lions den
Strike 35- Answers
Strike 36- Adept meets Alpha
Strike 37- Blindsided Part 1 of 3
Strike 37- Blindsided Part 2 of 3
Strike 37- Blindsided Part 3 of 3
Strike 38- The Sufferer and the Witness
Strike 39- The Writing on the Wall
Strike 40- Heroes Association
Strike 41- Whispers in my head
Strike 42- A Flash of Azure
Strike 43- A New Journey Part 1
Strike 44- A New Journey Part 2
Strike 45- A New Journey, Part 3
Strike 46: The Search Part 1
Strike 47- The Search Part 2
Strike 48- The Search Part 3
Bonus Strike (48.5)- The Shade
Strike 49- Retribution (Part 2)
Strike 50- Absolution
Strike 51- Panic at the Gala
Strike 52- The Underground
Strike 53- When they come for me
Strike 54- When Angels Fall
Strike 55- The Turn of a Page
Strike 56- Looking back to go forward
Strike 57- The Joy of Creation (Part 1)
Strike 57- The Joy of Creation (Part 2)
Strike 58- From the Shadows
Strike 59- Can't Escape...
Strike 60- From Crossing Fate
Strike 62- Emergency
Strike 63- Not Alone
Strike 64- Phosphorescent Dance
Strike 65- The End of the Long Night
Strike 1- Bad Hair Day
Strike 14- Meeting Jason (Not Vorhees)
Strike 30- Lost Metropolis
Strike 49- Retribution (Part 1)
Strike 61- Caught off Guard

Strike 2- Your new roommate/mentor

When Lightning Strikes- Your new roommate/mentor

Location: Abandoned Factory (Some time later…)

The old factory that was closed off to the public had now been swarmed with police officers and detectives at the request of Maretropolis’ guardians; The Power Ponies. Moment’s ago, a strange lightning strike had occurred at an abandoned factory had lead to these heroes and their number one sidekick Humdrum discovering the barely awake body of the Mane-iac inside the old power plant. However, nopony else was here.

After the Mane-iac was taken into custody kicking and screaming about revenge and what not, the seven of them began to help the Police Department look for whatever could possibly be the reason why this villain was like this when they arrived. The Masked Matterhorn was talking to the head detective of Maretropolis’ PD’s “Powers Division”, a special branch of the police that focused on crimes and incidents that focus on ponies and individuals with special powers. Saddle Rager, Humdrum and Filli-second was looking around and trying to help the other detectives while Radiance needed a moment to catch her breath because of how gloomy the place was.

As for Mistress Marevelous, she was looking for Zapp. The pegasus that flew off seconds after the investigation started. For the earth pony, it was kind of easy to find her fellow hero since her electricity almost illuminated her sometimes like a nightlight. When the Earth Pony found her friend, she found herself trying to look around and mess around with the contraptions.

“And just what in Tarnations are ya trying to do, Sugarcube?”

Zapp was first startled by her friends sudden appearance. “Agh! AJ!! You almost gave me a heart attack!.”

“Psst..! Zapp. Remember…? …… Secret identity?”

“Oh right! Sorry.” The Storm Pony apologized, trying to find a way for her electricity to run through the machines that were in the security room. “As for your question, I saw one of the security cameras blinking inside the room, so I thought I would go see if any of the machines here are still functional.”

Moving her hoof onto the hoof sized computer mouse, the power pony rewinded all the current security footage. But something that happened for a brief moment immediately caught her friends attention.

“Hold it right there.” Mistress Marevelous told Zapp. “Play the footage from that point.”

“What? It’s just Mane-brains hair. What else could there be-.”

Zapp’s sentence was cut off when she saw the huge strands of hair drag a bipedal figure across the floor that wore an Azure colored suit and cloak. The two ponies did not know what the creature was, but saw him struggle against the vines until a rotating sphere of Electricity freed him from the Mane-iac’s grasp as they disappeared from the hallway. Quickly, Zapp used the mouse to switch camera views to the location that they discovered the unconscious super villain.

“Wow… Someone’s had a bad hair day.”

Zapp herself chuckled at the insult the unknown figure said about the Mane-iac, but soon stopped laughing as soon as they saw him unleashed powerful bolts of lightning and take on the Mane-iac head on. It even lead to a series of chains spawning around the room and dealing the final blow before it wrecked the camera that was capturing it. Now some new questions began to form in the minds of the two ponies. Who was this individual? And was he a friend…… or a foe?

“Let’s get back to the girls and the detectives, they would all want to see this.”

Next morning (Location: Unknown)

Lance’s head was pounding insanely by the time his eyes started to open. He felt like he was having the mother of all headaches as the Adept began to return to his senses. This was when he began to notice a few things. For one, he found himself on a bed in what looked like a small apartment. Another thing he found out was that he was half naked and that his torso and arms were covered in bandages.

The teen wondered if whoever had saved him really had to strip him of his coat in order for them to give him proper medical attention. But nevertheless, he didn’t really care right now. Lance could hear some noises coming to the right of him, where the door to the room was. Seeing his clothes on the nearby nightstand, the Adept got up from his position on the bed and put on the black sleeveless shirt that was underneath his jacket. He was thankful that his weapon was with his coat and put the weapon back in the holster that was along the side of his pants. His gloves were off, boots were to the side by the nightstand and mostly everything else that was with him was in a location in which he remembered.

The boy now stepped outside the room he was in and followed the sound of voices into what he assumed was the apartment’s living room. To his surprise, the voices he was hearing was the voices of the news anchors on the TV.

“We have some breaking news at this hour about the surprising, yet strange capture of one of the head members of the group known as the League of Villainy named “The Mane-iac”. After responding to a distress call about something going on at the old Maretropolis Power Plant, Detectives of MPD’s Powers Division and The Power Ponies were shocked and surprised to find the Mane-iac unconscious inside the facility. Further investigating revealed some footage from the facility revealing a strange assailant that appears to be fighting the Mane-iac in self defense. The most surprising part of it though was this “Blue Bomber” as Head Detective Hooves calls it, had powers that would remind everypony of Zapp. The public is both surprised and shocked by this individual and many believe that this bipedal figure may be a new hero.”

Lance just face palmed himself as he continued to watch the report. “Blue Bomber” was the nickname of MegaMan, not Gunvolt. He felt embarrassed despite the fact that the Dullahan bolt clip he had worked similarly to a Mega Buster. That was, until he heard a young filly cheerfully expressed their opinion on the matter.

“I like this new hero! But I think they need a different name. Blue Bomber sounds like you're referring to MegaMane.”

“Oh? Then what do you think they should be called?”

“I think it should be called “The Azure Striker” because of the clothes and how fast it is!!”

‘Geez, how many times am I going to hear puns or play on words involving things back home?’ Lance asked himself as he continued to observe the news. He honestly did not expect one simple action to have him become the talk of the entire town. Then again, The Observer did tell him that his actions would define him as either good or evil. Maybe this was Karma telling him “I Told you so”. Damn you, inFAMOUS.

“Well, seems like you’ve been gaining quite a lot of attention.”

The new voice startled Lance as he drew his weapon. Only to find a Unicorn with a yellow fur coat and Red and yellow mane and tail. “Easy there… I’m the pony that saved your life after all.”

Upon realizing this, the Adept holstered his weapon. “I’m sorry. Instinct sometimes gets the better of me.”

“Happens to all of us. You must be Lance. Lumen told me a bit about you while I was making sure you didn’t bleed out on me.”

“Wait, what-?”

The unicorn pointed a hoof at the bandages the human had on him. “You had scars along your body as well as some severe bruises from your fight with the Mane-iac. Not to mention being completely exhausted.”

“Well, thank you… Ms?”

“Sunset… Sunset Shimmer.”

Not a moment too soon, some orange flames appeared around the Pony as they engulfed her for a few seconds. When the flames died down, Sunset now had a red costume on that covered her body and also a mask to hide her face.

“But I’m also known as Solaria.”

“Holy crap.”

“You seem surprised coming from somepony that was using lightning powers against Mane-iac.”

“Yeah, good point.” Lance replied. “So what are you? One of those “Power Ponies” that they were talking about on the TV?”

“You can say that.” Sunset replied as she returned to her normal self. “I know the Power Ponies and I’m a friend of theirs. But I’m not as experienced as they are. I’ve only been in the hero business for the past month or so. What about you though?”

The teen raised an eyebrow. “Excuse me for sounding a bit “abrupt”, but I don’t understand the question you’re trying to ask.”

“The question that I’m trying to ask is simple, Mr. Lance. What are you?”

She had a very good point. What was he? Would he even consider himself human anymore because of what has been happening recently? Lance couldn’t figure out a way to piece together the puzzle inside his mind.

“That might take some explaining. Did Lumen happen to tell you anything besides my name?”

Sunset nodded as she trotted over to a nearby chair. “Yes actually. She told me everything you told her the other night. But I wanted to hear it from you this time. Just to make sure everything seems… Accurate.”

“Well, I am a human. But due to recent events, I would personally call myself an Adept. Just out of curiosity, does your kind believe in humans?”

“Yes, but mostly, they’re known to be an ancient and extinct species that were wiped out during the old ages.”

‘Just like the Dinosaurs… Wonderful...’

“One question though,” interjected the Unicorn. “What exactly is an Adept?”

“Well, some might consider it as a subspecies to humans. But where I’m from, they don’t exist. Adept’s are humans with different kinds of psychic powers that are called Septimas. How this happened to me though was a different story and I think Lumen told you about it already.”

“Something involving a merchant and you dressing up?”

“Yeah, that.” Lance nodded his head, showing that Sunset was correct with her guess. “That’s where things might get complicated though. Apparently, I’m not the only person that’s been through something like this.”

Now Sunset was giving the Adept a confused expression. “Really? I haven’t heard of any other humans like you popping up in the middle of nowhere.”

“Yeah, but you need to think a little more outside the box. Have you ever heard of the Multiverse?”

“Isn’t that some kind of comic book thing involving alternative versions of different worlds?”

“Close, but it’s actually a real thing.” The teen carefully explained as he tried his best to recall what the Observer told him. “According to different studies, the possibility of different worlds exists as much as the possibility of different versions of this world with different changes depending on what you find there. I’m what's referred to as a Displaced.”

“Displaced? Don’t you mean Misplaced?”

“Not quite.” The Azure Striker explained. “Displaced is short for Dimensionally Misplaced. People like me who end up in Equestria as a character they like or end up there with recently discovered powers. Like my electricity for example.”

“Hehe… You sound like Masked Matterhorn when explaining all of this.”

“Who?”

“A good friend of mine and the leader of the Power Ponies.” Sunset clarified as she handed a photograph to show her houseguest. The pony had both a horn and a pair of wings, which the Unicorn explained to Lance that she was an Alicorn. A kind of pony that’s most often found within Royalty.

Speaking of Royalty, the subject of the conversation switched when Lance asked about how where he was and what were it’s inhabitants. This, of course, lead to Sunset Shimmer trying to explain everything to the Adept the best she possibly could. He didn’t really get it at first, but there were a lot of things he didn’t really understand right now so he tried his best to make the most of it.

After a few minutes, the teen excused himself so he could gather the rest of his clothes and get dressed. When he left the small room though and re-entered the bedroom that had his clothes, Sunset was caught off guard by the sounds of knocking on the door. Trotting to the door, she was personally surprised to see one of her friends outside the door.

“Oh… Well hello, Rainbow. I honestly did not expect any guests this morning.”

“Twilight’s calling an emergency meeting. Did you hear about what happened last night?”

“Last night?”

“Almost everypony in the entire building has heard about the lightning strike last night and you’re telling me that you just found out about this now?”

“Not really. I heard it on the news though, but I thought it was something from earlier in the week.” Sunset tried her best not to look like she was obviously lying. She didn’t want to hurt a friend, but give that it was Rainbow Dash and her personality, she had to try and move along with the situation.

That was… until everything fell apart at the seams.

“Hey Sunset, do you happen to know where the bathroom is-?”

The second Lance walked out with his clothes in his hand, the cyan Pegasus at the door recognized who it was and snapped. She bolted into the room and used her powers of lightning to quickly change into her costume.

“Stand back, Sunset!! I take care of this creep!!!!”

Lance dropped his clothes on the floor and was about to reach for his weapon, until the Power Pony named Zapp tackled him to the ground. The Pegasus was going to do her best to stop this beast, until Sunset herself got in the way between both of them.

“Rainbow!!! Stop this!!”

“Are you crazy?! Can’t you see this freak was trespassing in your living quarters!?!”

“Coming from the Pony that was trying to hurt me after Sunset here was trying to help me!!” Lance shot back, trying to pick up everything that he dropped after being knocked over by the Pegasus like he got shot by a cannonball.

“Wait a minute? You’re helping that thing?!”

“He has a name, Rainbow.” Sunset said. “I found Lance here, unconscious after his struggle with the Mane-iac. Turns out, he was protecting Lumen the whole time he was fighting her. After he recovered, I was going to introduce him to the team and explain his situation to her to see if she could help him.”

“Speaking of Lumen, where is she?” The Adept asked as he was looking around. Soon, he felt something moving around inside his haircut as he found the Breezie just starting to wake up.

“Wooo Weee! That was the best sleep I had in days.”

The Azure Striker just chuckled as he caught the Breezie up to speed on everything that was happening so far. Soon though, Zapp interrupted them and had Sunset, Lumen, and himself all look at her.

“How about this, Sunset. You wanted to introduce him, so bring him to the meeting today. That way, you and Lance here can introduce himself to the Masked Matterhorn.”

‘Oh great. Meetings… Something tells me walking through the hallway to where ever this is going to take place is going to be an excruciating headache.’

Meeting Room

“Thank you everypony for coming.” The Masked Matterhorn began to speak as each of the Power Ponies along with Humdrum and Solaria all met up inside the Command Center of their Headquarters. The room was spacious and huge with a big enough view of Maretropolis that could be seen for miles. “As most of you may know, the reason why we called this meeting was due to the events of what happened last night. Most importantly, what Zapp found on the Facilities security cameras.”

“OOOHHH!! Are we going to find this individual and throw him a thank you party!?!” came Filli-second’s rapid question.

“No. We need to find this individual and find out who or what he is, that’s what we got to do!!” Mistress Marevelous soon bellowed as she stood valiantly amongst the eight of them in the room.

“Actually, If I may…” The voice of Solaria tried to say, but couldn’t be heard amongst everypony arguing and trying to get their part in.

“Hello… anypony? …… HEY!!!”

Masked Matterhorn’s ears twitched a little as she heard the sound of Solaria’s voice through all the commotion in the room. “Yes, Solaria? Was there something that you wanted to say?” The Unicorn nodded in response to the Alicorn as she took a heavy sigh. Something told her that this was going to get mixed reactions.

“I have somepony that I want to introduce to you. I found him last night and I think he relates to the current conversation.”

“Oh?”

Before Masked Matterhorn was able to ask what she meant, Solaria turned around towards the door. “Lance, you can come in now.”

“Lance? Who’s that Sugarcube? Your Coltfriend-?”

The Earth pony’s words stopped dead in their tracks as soon as the doors opened up. The Adept that was waiting outside casually walked in and tried his best to show that he wasn’t a threat to those around him. Even not saying a word, but trying his best to look friendly.

“This is my friend, Lance Walker. I found him last night in the old power plant unconscious after defeating the Mane-iac. He was protecting Lumen during the time the fight took place.”

“W-what in tarnations is that!?!”

“Um, Solaria?” The Adept asked her as he set his hands to his side. “Is she talking about me or something else?”

“I would assume you.” She said. “Nopony has ever seen one of your kind before, so they might have some surprised reactions the first time they’ve-.”

SWOOSH!!!!

“-seen you.” Solaria sighed as Filli-second dashed out of the room faster than her fellow pegasi friends.

“ … I guess this is the part where I introduce myself?” Lance asked, confused on what the reaction would be based on his words.

“Actually, Mr. Walker, I have a few questions for you.” Masked Matterhorn interjected as Humdrum prepared a pad of paper to take notes. “First off, what exactly are you?”

“Well, I would say human. But due to recent events, I would call myself an Adept.”

“An Adept? What does that mean?”

‘Oh here we go again.’ The teen thought to himself. “I can explain the long version another time, but to explain the simple version, I’m a-.”

“-humanwithpsychicabilitiesandthathascontroloversuperduperpowers!!!” Came the sound of an excited Filli-second as the earth pony ran back into the room with her “Power Party” cannon and beginning to fire off rounds of confetti and cupcakes everywhere in the room.

“…Okay, how exactly did she do that?”

“You wouldn’t want to know.” Humdrum told him, remembering the stressful and excruciating tests that Masked Matterhorn performed to try and figure out the key to Filli-Seconds “Filly Sense” about a couple of months back.

“Moving on to my next question, since Adepts are humans with psychic powers, what exactly are your powers?”

“Well, for one thing, an Adept’s power is called a Septima. Second, my Septima is Lightning. Do you have a few empty crates or something that can be used for training purposes?”

“We do. Why do you asked?” Came the Alicorns question.

“I thought that it would be a convenience to show you a demonstration.” The Adept explained. Before any of the other ponies began to think about the idea, Filli-second used her Cannon to launch a few boxes the size of huge presents. Taking aim, Lance drew his gun and switched to the Naga Bolt Clip as he fired two shots. Both shows hit the boxes as the Azure Striker began to channel his power, having bolts of electricity turn the targets into splinters and broken pieces of paper.

“Hey, that’s like my powers!!” Zapp complained as she saw Lance use his abilities.

“Actually, it’s not.”

Almost everypony was surprised to hear Masked Matterhorn say that. But soon, she had an explanation for her claims. “Your powers Zapp are more focused on attacking an opponent and going on the offensive. His powers doesn’t seem to be that case.”

The Adept nodded his head. “You’re quite right about that. My main ability is Flashfield. It’s an electric barrier that I use to protect myself from most projectiles and other objects that can harm me. However, when I tag something with my Gun, currents of lightning can be transferred to where the shot landed. It’s how I was able to protect myself last night from the opponent you call The Mane-iac.”

He continued on for a little while to explain what exactly was he capable of, from his weapon and clips to the skills that he could perform. Each one of the power ponies liked Lance for their own reasons. Radiance liked him because of his choice of clothing. Filli-second saw it as a chance for another “Power Party” to host later and Mistress Marevelous personally felt sorry for him when the Adept told them about how he got taken from his home.

Now though, the Masked Matterhorn had one to ask their newfound guest. “So… Mr. Walker. Can I ask you something?”

Lance nodded his head, not sure what the Alicorn was going to say. What came next shocked more than just him, but also everypony else.

“What would your first thought be if I said that I would like you to be a part of the team?”

“A-are you serious!?” came Zapp’s response as well as Lumen's, almost at the same time. She was about to protest, until Masked Matterhorn began to explain her reasons why.

“I am.” The Alicorn told her fellow hero. “However, Lance here would need to prove himself before we could consider him as part of the team. Like with most of the other recruits that wanted to join us, we give them a week to prove themselves by accomplishing various tasks under the guidance of a mentor.”

A mentor? That caught Lance by surprise. Who could be a possible mentor for someone like him?

“I believe Solaria is the perfect pony for the job.”

The Unicorn herself was quite stunned when her name was called. She did not expect anything like this at all. She was now the mentor of somepony she had rescued only a few hours ago. This in itself she considered as a real honor.

“Now, Lance. Before I leave Solaria to explaining how everything works, I would like you to let me know of one thing.”

“Yes?”

“What should we call you when you’re out in the field?”

The teen personally grinned at the question as he smiled. He knew exactly what to say.

“Gunvolt. You may call me Gunvolt.”

End Strike 2

Author's Note

I'm back people!! One chapter so far and I already have over fifty likes!?! You guys are freaking awesome!! :rainbowdetermined2:

Anyways, here's chapter 2 of When Lightning Strikes. I personally thought that I did this a little two quickly, but meh? Who really cares. Anyways, all my focus as of right now is on Swords, Sorcery and Shenanigans since I got some major surprises in store for that. Oh and the Powers Division for the police was inspired by the concept behind the series on PlayStation Network named "Powers". Go check it out if you want.

-Frost :pinkiehappy:

Strike 3-The Fundamentals

When Lightning Strikes- The Fundamentals

Location: Power Ponies HQ

Shortly after introducing himself to the Masked Matterhorn and her friends, Lance began to wonder about a few things. Earlier, the Alicorn told him that Solaria was going to mentor him and that he needed to prove himself over the next week by completing various tasks. Now, the Adept wondered what kind of tasks did he have to undertake in order to prove himself? He thought that a few tests would have to be performed in order for them to see how he could perform physically, but something told him that Powers and Performance was not exactly going to cut it for him.

Taking a moment to sit down when he approached the mess hall, he tapped his little companion Lumen and had her float on down to where he sat down at the table. “Hey Lance. Is something on your mind?”

The Adept nodded his head. “Yeah, I was just wondering about a few things.”

“What kind of things?”

“Well, first, there's this thing about the tasks that they would have me do in order to become part of the team. Do you have any clues about what they might be?”

The Breezie shook her tiny head and sighed. “Well, it really depends on the Mentor. But even though the mentors and challenges are different, it’s all focused on a series of qualifications the Power Ponies look for in a candidate. The code name that they give these qualifications is called TESLA, which stands for Technique, Education, Skills, Leadership and Action. Action is where you combine what you know from the first four tasks and see if you’re fit to join.”

‘Well, that helps.’ Lance thought to himself. “Alright, next question. Are the Power Ponies… well, the only heroes in… Equestria right?”

“Well, yes and no. Yes, this country is called Equestria; but the Power Ponies aren’t the only heroes. The more successful and talented recruits form teams to handle crime in other cities across Equestria. There’s the Cutie Mark Crusaders in Centrail City, Mane Hero 6 back in Sun Fransokyo, and Team Arrowhead back in Mareling City just to name a few. Each group varies depending on who's a part of it, what skills they have and how they work as a team. All of them are considered as Power Ponies, but it depends on the team. Masked Matterhorn was the one that started it all and it just expanded from there, so the girls you met are the founders of the group.”

Lumen’s explanation reminded the Adept of SHIELD, but with a few changes that made everything sound diverse. Each group seemed to be connected to one another like strands of silk on a spider web. They were all part of the organization as a whole. “Okay new question. In the room, why did they all call each other by their secret identities instead of their actual names? It just seems a bit strange.”

“Well, it’s quite common. Masked Matterhorn, like some of the other ponies, don’t really tell you their actual names unless they can trust you. Solaria told you her real name because she trusts me and I told her that she could trust you.”

‘And how is that suppose to make any sense?’

Before Lance could say anything back to Lumen, the human noticed another pony in the room that had just gotten themselves some food trot on over to where he was and sat across the table from them. The pony was a grey pegasus who had yellow eyes that looked a little… Derpy, from appearance. Her yellow mane drooped down over her head as she was eating a muffin. Bran most likely. But her outfit was what caught Lance’s attention and the patch that was near one of the shoulders of the vest she wore.

Maretropolis Police Department: Powers Division

‘Uh oh...’ Lance thought to himself. He remembered that the head detective of that department put out a search for him this morning. If this mare recognized him, then the police would be on his tail.

“Hello!” The mare cheerfully smiled as she looked at the Adept. This was surprising to him, probably because he thought that she would recognize him. But it didn’t seem to be that way. “What’s your name?”

“Lance Walker.” He replied, honestly. The Adept was not one to tell a lie. Plus, he thought that if he could play it cool with this mare, then he’ll be able to not get himself arrested and clear things up with the Head Detective later.

The Pegasus giggled a little upon hearing it. “You have a silly name. I like it.”

“Well, what’s your name?”

“Derpy hooves, but everypony I know calls me Ditzy.” The mare smiles as she looks at me. “I’m here because my husband is talking with the Masked Matterhorn.”

“Oh? Who’s he-?”

“Ah, there you are Ditzy!” Another voice echoed through the hall as another pony trotted over next to the mare. It was an Earth Pony stallion that wore a trench coat and tie with the cutie mark of an hourglass on his flank. His brown mane curved backwards in a spiky like format that would resembled quills from a Sonic the Hedgehog game. “I was beginning to wonder about where you wandered off to.”

Taking notice of the Stallion was another thing. But the badge on his coat told Lance another story. This pony was not any ordinary pony.

Head Detective Dr. Whooves

‘Oh no… He’ll recognize me!! Prepare to abandon ship-!’

“I assume that you must be the Adept named Lance that the Masked Matterhorn was talking about.” The Earth Stallion said. The teen nodded, sweating bullets because of him not knowing what he’ll do. But to his surprise, he was caught off guard when the earth pony laughed a little and was smiling.

“Well, I honestly did not expect to meet a young kid such as yourself. From what The Masked Matterhorn told me, she has high hopes of you being able to become part of the team.”

“Honey, is this the boy from the case you were telling me about?”

Lumen blinked a little, confused. “I’m sorry, what?”

“Ditzy’s my wife.” Detective Hooves clarified for the Adept. “Not to mention my partner on the force.”

“Ah, well that clears that up.”

The four of them continued to talk a bit and explain about his encounter last night and the powers he was capable of. That way, the detective had a full report about the order of events on the case. He also told them about how Solaria was going to be his mentor.

“Somepony call my name?”

‘Well, speak of the devil.’ Lance thought to himself as he turned around towards the door of the mess hall. “Yeah, I was just talking with Detective Hooves about you mentoring me.”

“Well, guess what? We’re going to get started soon. Follow me.” Obeying his Mentor, Lance got up as his breezie companion flew up and rested herself in his haircut. With the Detective and Ditzy following him, Solaria lead them down to the floor that was the Power Ponies Training barracks. The inside of the room made Lance think of the inside of a high school gymnasium as he entered the room.

“Lance, please go to the back of the room and face me so we can start with today’s exercise.” The Unicorn asked him. The Adept complied and hurried his way over there. “Now, I’m sure you’re aware of how we do the testing of the new recruits?”

“Lumen told me that it was based on the TESLA method?”

“Correct. Technique, Education, Skill, Leadership, and lastly Action. But how that is done is up to me. You might think were doing a lesson on Technique, but were changing things up.” Upon her finishing her sentence, Solaria pulled out what looked like a bag of hardware tools and emptied the bag on a nearby table. “Are you aware of the premise of Dodgeball?”

“Uh yes?”

“Good. Because for your Skill lesson, we're focusing on your reflexes and reaction time.” The Unicorn now began to levitate one of the tools above her head as she looked back at Lance. “If you’re not careful, this will hurt. If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball.”

“ … What-?” SMACK!!!

“OWWW, MOTHER OF GOD-!!”

“Take a moment to get back up. That was a practice throw. My aim is a bit rusty since I last did this with Dodgeballs.” Solaria chuckled as she levitated another wrench. “The Lesson starts now-.”

“Can he at least get some bandages on his face first?” Lumen interjected. “You’re making him bleed.”

“Oh dear Celestia!!” Solaria cursed upon realizing the Adept’s bruise on his face. “Are you okay!?”

‘Now she realizes that I’m hurt? Talk about paying attention.’ Lance struggled a little to get back up, wiping some of the small amount of blood that was dripping down his face. “Y-yeah I’m fine. I have super fast healing, so this won’t take too long in order to heal.”

Solaria was relieved to hear that. She preferred not to have to perform surgery in the middle of a lesson and be responsible for if the Adept ended up in a hospital bed. After about ten minutes, Lance was back to his normal self and he wasn’t bleeding anymore. It took him a little bit to get himself ready, but he was soon prepared to go up against what else his mentor had in store for him.

“Alright, I’m ready when you are.”

Power Pony Workshop

“Hey AJ? Have you seen the toolbox anywhere? I can’t seem to find it anywhere?”

The moment the exercise began, Lance had to stay on his toes as Sunset continued to throw various tools at him. It first started with a few mallets, screwdrivers, wrenches and brooms; which sounded easy. But one thing to not do around now was to presume that those would be the only things thrown at you. Especially if it’s your mentor that’s testing you on how quick you are on your feet.

Sunset’s reason for using tools to throw at Lance was because she wanted to make him feel like he was actually in danger. If you throw a rubber ball at somepony, they would consider it as a game and even find a way to kick the ball back at you. However, if you throw something different that they can’t hit back, they’ll take the challenge seriously… and so far, the Adept was not joking around when he dodged, ducked, dipped, dived… and dodged out of the way of everything thrown at him. It was even impressing the ponies watching on the sidelines.

“Not bad, not bad at all.” Sunset congratulated Lance as he dodged the last few items tossed in his direction. “But we can improve upon what you know already.”

“Oh? What do you mean?”

“Well, you know how some power ponies like myself have powers right?” The question was responded to by a nod from Lance. “Well, when you think of what I’m capable of, what do you think I can use my powers for?”

“I would think offensive attacks and powerful moves.”

“That’s where you’re half right.” The Unicorn corrected her student. “Despite my solar based powers being mostly offensive like you said, I don’t use it for just that. Knowing how to control your powers is one thing, but being diverse with those powers is another thing.” Solaria demonstrated what she meant by using her powers to create a thick wall of fire that made it almost impossible to see through.

“I see. But how does this relate to me?”

“Well, since you are a lightning user, have you considered using it to increase your speed? Zapp uses it all the time to zip through the air in a few milliseconds.”

“Yes, but I don’t have any wings-.”

“But you can run.”

‘…… Damn, she has a very good point.’

“Which brings me to the last part of the exercise…” Solaria sad as she tied a small ribbon around her neck. “Your goal is to grab the ribbon off of my neck. This won’t be easy though because I won’t be throwing wrenches at you. Instead… I’ll be using my powers. Additionally, you can only use your powers for speed and not to attack me.”

‘Motherf-.’

“Your training starts now.”

Lance leaped out of the way as soon as the first heat beam almost struck him around the waist. He had no time to catch a breath as he started to run. Using his electricity, he glided quickly across the hardwood floor. It felt like he was The Flash, but still have to adjust to the change in speed and get familiar with running at this speed first before he could pull off any unique tricks. The teen continued to dodge and weave out of the way of Solaria’s heat beams and try to get closer, only to be met by a wall of fire what he tried to reach for the ribbon. He tried to think of a way to get around… and soon came up with an idea.

In the game, Gunvolt could jump up and gilde using Flashfield. But with the right equipment, he could accelerate upward a couple of times in exchange for a small portion of Septima Energy. It helped for crossing large gaps and avoiding falling to death on the media tower level in the game, but Lance was unsure if the same tactic could help him right now. But he had to try.

Using his powers, Lance leaped upward and shot himself very high up in the air. He was close to the ceiling when he flipped around and did the same tactic again to land towards the floor. Solaria was caught off guard by the move and as Lance tried to charge towards her, she pul up another wall of flames. But instead of backing off, the Adept went through the wall of fire. Ignoring the burns as he grabbed the ribbon and softly pulled at it, having it come loose.

“Well, looks like I passed.” He said, cheerfully as he gave the ribbon based to Solaria. “Did I do well?”

“You were… very impressive.” The Unicorn told him. “I honestly did not expect you to jump through my wall of flames. You’re not burned, are you?”

“Uhh, remember? Super fast healing?” Lumen said as she decided to come out of her hiding place in Lance’s hair. When Solaria realized that, she chuckled to herself and apologized for not remembering.

“Well, since were doing the Skill test, is there something else that we need to practice besides reflexes and reactions?”

That’s when a noise went off in the room, something like a ringtone that reminded Lance of the theme from Dr. Who as he saw Detective Whooves answer a phone call. As he was talking, the Adept noticed his eyes widen at one point and asking for clarification if the caller on the other end of the line was “Serious”. If this were anything to Lance, it was a sign of body language that something wasn’t right.

“Have forensics get there ASAP and block off all civilian access to the building. Ditzy and I will be there as soon as we can.”

“What’s going on?” Lumen asked as the Stallion and his partner got to their hooves.

“Theres a murder in a parking lot across the street from the Hoofball stadium and the convention center in downtown.” The Detective told the three of them. “One pony was killed recently, but a young colt saw the whole thing.”

“A child saw a murder!?” Solaria reacted, horrified by the mere thought of it. This also shocked Lance by the mere thought of it. But then, a new thought came inside his head. This week was for him to get on the team and prove himself. So, why not prove himself by helping them?

“Would you need some help? An old saying I know from back home would be that Many hands- I mean hooves make light work.”

“Lance does have a point honey.” Ditzy told her husband. Dr. Whooves took a few minutes to think it through inside his head. Soon, he came to a decision as he looked back at both the Power Pony and the Adept.

“Alright. You can come along.” The Detective then looked towards Solaria as pointed a hoof at her. “But you better not cause a panic.” The Adept nodded as Lance and Lumen followed the two officers out of the Power Ponies headquarters.

A few minutes Later…

Many Royal officers were already at the scene as an entire section of the parking garage for carriages and other transports. Several reporters were at the scene, trying to talk to officers about the case for the upcoming news reports and get photos of the incident. This was typically ordinary for journalists and photographers, but what no one expected was that the supposed Azure Striker that was talked about the news only this morning to be at the scene with the head detective of the Powers Division.

Moments after arriving and going through the crowd that formed, The Adept looked towards the Detective as he found the head officer that was in charge of the investigation. “Hello there-. Uh, sir? W-what is-?”

“Relax Lieutenant, he’s here to help. Lance, this is Lieutenant Night Runner. He is one of the few ponies on the force I trust the most.”

Night Runner was a Unicorn Stallion around the same size and shape as the head detective, but had a dark teal coat of fur and a black mane and tail to go with his light brown eyes. “So, you’re the Azure Striker? You look a lot shorter in the flesh than on the security footage of the factory. No offense.”

“It’s alright. I get that a lot.” Lance replied to the officer’s comment as they made their way to the crime scene. “So, any idea what exactly happened?”

“Well, we got a call about a disturbance a little while ago about something that sounded like growling. When we showed up, we found the young colt over there hiding behind a cart and… well, you might want to see for yourself.”

They made their way over to a tarp that covered the body of the deceased. When Lance lifted it up a little, Lumen felt like she was going to throw up because of the Gruesome scene they were looking at. It looked like a young earth pony mare. Cream colored mare, brown mane and tail, cyan eyes. But the body looked like she had been torn apart. Almost like……

If she were eaten alive.

“Dear god…” The Adept was shocked by the sight. “That’s horrible.” He lifted a hand by the mare’s head and used his hand to close the eyes of the earth pony.

“Did you identify the victim?” Detective Whooves asked Night Runner.

“No. We couldn’t due to the amount of damage to the body and also the victim’s cutie mark. We tried talking to the witness, but he’s so scared that he can’t speak.”

‘Probably due to shock.’ Lance thought to himself as he looked around a little, excusing himself for a moment. He found the young brown colt along a concrete wall, cuddled up in fear. Lance lowered down to the younglings level and tried to be comforting. But that’s when he noticed something.

This foal… was the same one he heard on the news earlier today.

I think it should be called “The Azure Striker”

The youngling looked up, his eyes widening at the sight of the Adept. “Y-you’re… The Azure Striker!!” He was now trying to push himself up the wall and away from the teen as he got down on one knee.

“Easy there, I’m not going to hurt you.” Lance assured him. “You’re safe now.”

“B-but what if that monster comes back?”

“Then I would protect you and not let it harm you.” He told the young pony. “I’m Gunvolt. But you can call me Lance. What’s your name, little one?” The young colt swallowed a lump in his throat a little as he looked around nervously. He was still a little scared, but soon tried to be brave.

“B-button. Button Mash.”

“Okay Button, can you do me a favor and close your eyes? This’ll only sting a little bit, I promise you.”

Lance had a theory on what he was going to do next. He remembered a mechanic in the first inFamous game where if Cole MacGrath placed his hand on someone’s forehead, he could see a small vision by feeling the neuroelectric energy in the person’s body. Since Cole and Gunvolt both had electrical powers, Lance thought that the same rules would apply. Carefully, he placed a thumb on the boy’s forehead as the Adept began to see a flashback of what he encountered.

“That was amazing! Thanks for taking me to this years video games competition mom!”

“No problem, buddy. Hunh? What’s that?”

“M...must……… feed.”

“Mom, that thing is scaring me.”

“Hunger…… Pain……… FOOOD!!”

“BUTTON, RUN!!!”

“MOM-!!”

*CHOMP!!!*

When Lance snapped back to reality, he could not believe what he just saw. This boy’s mother was eaten alive and he was forced to watch it in front of him. He felt sorry for the boy. Very sorry.

“Are you okay, Gunvolt?” Button asked, a little concerned for the Adept.

“Y-yeah, I’m fine. Can you wait here for a moment?”

The colt nodded as Lance got up on his feet and walked back over to where Doctor Whooves was along with Lumen. Night Runner was also there too, surprised for him to be back here after a short chat with the witness. “You’re back so soon. Did you find out anything?”

“Quite a lot actually.” The Adept replied. “The child’s name is Button Mash. The victim of this was his mother, Milano. They were coming home from the convention center when they were attacked.”

“Attacked by what? What weapon or unspeakable act could’ve caused this?”

“There was no weapon.”

The Detective and Lieutenant looked at Lance in shock and confusion as Lance told him. What he said next though was bound to make everypony nearby squirm a little on the inside.

“The Attacker bit her and consumed her… Alive.”

“Dear Celestia… That’s awful.”

“What kind of monster could do such a thing? This sounds too much like a Zompony movie if you ask me.” Lumen said.

“Theres one possibility.” Lance said. “Detective, did the Masked Matterhorn tell you about how I ended up in that power plant last night?”

“Yes but-. Wait… how does that relate to this?”

“Let me explain.” The Adept interjected. “Back home, what I’m wearing would what some consider as a costume for a video game character. But since I’ve been here, I’ve gained the characters powers and I’m using the characters name as my hero name. The attacker was similar to me, but is a female. White hair, mismatched eyes, black clothing, a little smaller than me, but deadly. She’s no longer human now, but called a Ghoul.”

“A G-ghoul?” Ditzy repeated, a little scared.

“Yes. In a Television Show back where I’m from called Tokyo Ghoul, Ghouls are a carnivorous version of humans that feast on humans and other ghouls to survive. Flesh is the only thing they could eat, besides water and sometimes coffee. My theory is that a human got brought here as a Ghoul and unfortunately, gained the effects of being one. The hunger of not eating caused her to go insane and in her craze, Milano and her son came across her.”

“Oh…… my.”

“Well, what should we do? Won’t that thing keep eating civilians like this!”

Lance shook his head. “One meal usually keeps a ghoul filled up for three months. Unless if there a binge eater, which I don’t believe so.”

“Oh? Why not?”

“If it were a binge eater, you wouldn’t have a witness.”

Night Runner, looking at the young colt by the wall, realized what the Adept meant. “So, what should we do?”

“Right now, we shouldn’t worry about it. Personally, my priority is Button.” Lance said. “Detective, can I keep an eye on Button? I want to make sure he’s safe and out of harm’s way.”

The Stallion looked at both him and the child before turning back to Lance. “You want to have protective custody over him?”

“For the time being. We should find out if he has any relatives, so we could contact them while he’s with me.”

“That’s a good idea,” Ditzy said. “It’ll teach him responsibility, honey.”

The Detective sighed. “Alright. I’ll get back to you if I find anything. Just make sure he’s safe okay?”

“Yes Detective.” Lance nodded his head as he and Lumen walked over to the colt. In the distance though, on one of the higher floors, a young girl was looking at herself in a mirror. Seeing the new body she had while trying to wash the blood from her face and mouth. The girl looked in her hands. Horrified and scared.

“W-what have I become?”

Unknowing to her though, someone else was on that rooftop. Another person that was in a hood and his own crafted battle gear. He had watched the unknown girl and her powers that she couldn’t control. He knew what he must do as he removed his specialized revolver from his side.

It was time to hunt and punish.

End Strike 3

Author's Note

Let's just say that watching Dodgeball: a true underdog story and the first episode of Tokyo Ghoul helped me with this. The girl near the end is part of another project by ElementBrigade that will be released when ready.

Thanks for all the likes so far. I really appreciate your support.
-Frost

Strike 4- Can we keep it?

When Lightning Strikes- Can we keep it?

Location: Solaria’s Living Quarters

It had been some time since Lance had left the Power Ponies headquarters and Sunset Shimmer (AKA, Solaria) was beginning to worry for her student. He had only been gone for half an hour, but to the unicorn, it felt like half a day. She promised the Masked Matterhorn to mentor the Adept and keep an eye on him, but he had not come back with Detective Whooves in a while. As she turned towards the TV, a new report came on the news that made her feel sick to the stomach.

It was the case about the murder in Downtown.

“We warn you that the following story is graphic, so viewers discretion is advised… Earlier this afternoon, Detectives of MPD’s Powers Division and Royal Officers discovered the body of a young mare that was attacked and eaten alive. With assistance from “The Azure Striker”, Officers have identified the Victim as Milano Mash; A young and caring mother who was trotting back to her carriage with her son when the attack commenced.”

‘Oh dear Celestia,’ She cursed. The images of the scene were brutal and very disturbing. Sunset felt sorry for the young foal. Despite not seeing any images of him.

“The attacker is described to have a white mane, mismatched eyes of one green & one red and wore a black dress. Officers advise that if you see this creature, call authorities right away-.”

Sunset then turned off the TV, not wanting to see the rest of the report and the interviews that followed. This was crazy. First, there was Lance, but now we have a cannibal pony? This is insane!

That was when the door to the living quarters opened up and Lance walked in. He was holding a couple of suitcases and to Sunset’s surprise, a young colt was now trotting into the living room.

“Uh… Hello?”

“Oh um… Hi…” The youngling said, a little scared/nervous expression forming on his face.

Lance himself, set down the suitcases as he looked back at Solaria. “Solaria, this is Button Mash. Detective Whooves is letting me keep an eye on him for a few nights until he could find his relatives.” The Adept apologized for it being last minute and forgetting to notify her in advance given the pending situation. “Lumen, can you take Button to the room across the hallway to the left and help get him situated?”

“Sure thing. Come on, Button!” The Breezie cheerfully said as the two of them moved out of the living room. Sunset herself was now curious, There was something she didn’t know about the current situation that Lance was not saying. Probably because of Button’s presence. But now that he wasn’t in the room, they could talk.

“Alright, care to inform me on a few things?”

“What do you need informing on?” Lance asked.

“First, why are you letting a colt in here?”

“He needed a place to stay, Sunset. I couldn’t just leave him out there all alone.”

“Why not?”

“His mother was murdered right in front of him and he’s scared that the monster that killed her would come for him next.”

"Holy crap. That was the victim’s son!?”

Lance nodded his head, answering his mentors question for her. “Not to mention that what killed her wasn’t a pony. It was another Displaced like myself.”

“Whoa, hang on a second… What do you mean by that?”

“The attacker was Displaced as a Ghoul from a TV show I know of back home. Ghouls are carnivorous and feast on only humans and other ghouls.” The Azure Striked began his explanation, making sure not to be too loud so Button couldn’t hear their conversation. “The attacker was in pain and starvation; which drove her crazy and caused her to not think straight.”

“I don’t think the little one will believe that, but I see what you mean.” Solaria nodded as she turned back towards the fridge. “You could’ve at least called me so I wouldn’t have to worry about you.”

“Uh…” Lance stuttered a little. “I think you’re forgetting the fact that I don’t have anything to serve as a communication device.”

“Really now?”

“Hey, my phone from my world got trashed moments after I got attacked by Mane-iac! All I have left is the storage card that hold all my data on it.” To show what he meant, Lance took out the SD card that he kept in his wallet for safe keeping so he wouldn’t lose it. There were many things that he kept on his phone. Some he wouldn’t want to lose because they were important to the teen.

Solaria sighed. “You’re killing me, Lance. But I believe that I have something that might do the trick.”

The Unicorn asked for Lance to give her the card as well as his left glove so she could make some “Modifications” to it. Trusting his mentor, Lance complied. Though he was confused on what exactly she would be doing to it. When she came back, Lance found that the armguard on his glove now could pull up a small holo screen and have access to local info databanks and also call anypony if needed in a hurry. In a way, it reminded him of Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story anytime he tried to report to Star Command.

“Normally, this would be called a Com-band that some of the Power Ponies would use to keep in contact with one another. I just modified your glove to have similar properties.”

“Wow, Thanks!! I never expected you to have such great technical skills.”

“Well, before I became a Power Pony, I was one who meddled a lot with science and gadgets. Always coming up with new things that could be useful.” Solaria told him.

“Well, thank you very much.” Lance complimented his teacher. “I’m going to go walk around the building. I need a breather. Can you help Lumen keep an eye on Button Mash?” Solaria herself nodded her head as the Adept walked out of the room and into the nearby hallway. He continued down the hall for a little bit and turned the corner to continue looking around.

But soon, something else caught his attention. Something that sounded like running down a hallway. He turned around to see something very unexpected.

A young dog running away from Zapp and Saddle Rager.

“Hey Geeves!! A little help here please!!!”

Lance mentally face palmed himself. In Azure Striker Gunvolt, one of the characters named Zeno always called Gunvolt “Geeves” as a personal nickname, despite him not liking it. Now Zapp was reminding him of the same thing.

“What the heck is going on?!”

“Saddle Rager found this dog on the streets and brought it in to take care of it. But when I mentioned the possibility of taking it to the local shelter, it bolted out the door.”

The little dog was about the size of a Boston Terrier. Black and white fur with big ears and was very fast on it’s paws. However, something made Lance think that this pup was not like any ordinary dog. In fact, it reminded Lance of Iggy, the Boston Terrier in Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure that had control of the Stand called “The Fool”. The Adept tried grabbing it, only for it to hop over his head and make him crash down into the floor as it ran off.

“Oww… That hurt.”

“Oh walk it off, Geeves.” Zapp told him as she helped him up to his feet. “That little rascal couldn’t have gotten far. Hey, I heard that you had a chance to go to a crime scene with Detective Whooves. How did that go?”

Lance cringed a little. “Alright I guess. I don’t want to talk about it though.”

“Oh, why not? Isn’t it one of those mugging crimes or-.”

“It wasn’t like that.” The Adept retorted. “It was a murder.”

Their eyes widen a little as he explained what happened, the victim, who did it and everything else. The mentioning of Milano though was what caught the two of them off guard the most.

“Oh…… Dear. Not Milano…” Saddle Rager squeaked a little.

“You knew her?”

“Not personally… But her son is close friends with Radiance’s little sister. The two of them would be shocked to find out about her passing.”

Oh great. There is going to be a long conversation ahead and he knew it. Better get the tissues ready. “Should I tell her-?”

“No Lance. I think it’ll be best if she hears this from her friends.”

Ah, of course. The trust issue. Lance understood what the pegasus meant immediately. They did technically only meet each other like a few hours ago so it would be hard to explain how your friend died the first day on the job. “Well, how about I go find the dog you two were looking for while you go talk to her?”

“You sure?” Saddle Rager asked.

“Of course. I had a dog just like that back home. This should be a piece of cake.”

“Okay.” She replied before trotting away. Zapp though, had one more question. “Hey, do you happen to know about her son, Button?”

Lance nodded his head, telling her that he was in Solaria’s living quarters and how Detective Hooves was letting him stay with the Adept until they could find the foal’s relatives.

“Okay, thanks Gunvolt. See you around.”

‘Wow… talk about being professional. Lumen wasn’t kidding when she said that they only call you by their name if they trust you.’

The Azure Striker spent the next twenty minutes looking for the small dog that was racing through the halls of HQ earlier. Looking High and Low, in the mess hall, the Library and the lounge; he did not get any success whatsoever. There was still one other place that he had to check as he walked towards the gymnasium. But something didn’t feel quite right as he heard the tearing of bags and what sounded like grains of rice spilling to the floor.

When he entered the room, he found the Boston terrier going to work on annihilating a pair of sandbags that Ponies would use for hoof to hoof combat training. The sand grains scattered all over the floor as the dog tore at the fabric with his teeth. By the time it was done, the canine then noticed Lance’s presence as the door behind him closed. It growled a little as Lance put his hands in the air to the sides.

“Uhh… Nice doggy?”

‘Pfft, Like I would believe that from a twoleg.’

Now that caused the Adept to raise an eyebrow. “D-did you just… Talk?”

‘Of course. If you consider talking mentally… well talking.’ The Boston Terrier barked. ‘And I know why you’re here. I’m not going to some filthy shelter and have you lock me away!! Especially since I don’t know where the fluff I am or what is going on!’

“No, it’s not like that-. Wait… what do you mean by not knowing where you are?”

The Boston Terrier didn’t respond this time. Instead, the sand began to swirl around the dog as it took form into a form that Lance recognized. It looked mechanical and almost resembled ancient Aztec Culture with the feathers along it’s headdress. There was no denying what he was seeing and the one though the was on his mind right now as he tried to cover his eyes.

This dog was actually a Displaced. A Displaced with control over a Stand. A Spiritual Avatar or Guardian that has control over certain powers. Stands could take the form of anything, including objects and simple items from a puddle of Water to a cursed sword. And the Stand he saw in front of him was no acception.

It was The Fool. A stand that controlled Sand.

“Holy Sh*t.” Lance cursed as the beast took form.

‘If you want to take me to the pound, you’re going to have to do it over MY DEAD BODY!!!’ The dog barked again, making the first move. Forming into a wave of sand as it charged at Lance.

The Azure Striker dodged the attack by boosting himself into the air. But one thing he remembered about the Fool was that the Stand could fly. Something he forgot as the teen turned around to see the mechanical hybrid try to grab him midair. Quickly, Lance pulled out his weapon and fired two shots with his Cerberus Clip and used Flashfield to protect himself and hopefully deal some damage. But, the one thing he forgot was that the stand was pure sand as he saw the bolts go through the being and not hurt it.

‘Like that would work, Lightning Boy!’

The Fool’s abilities allowed it to shape shift into anything using sand. Not to mention the fact that it’s also very strong as well. Lance needed to find a way to gain the upper hand and quickly.

Then he remembered something. The Fool was controlling loose grains of sand that flowed freely like the sandbenders in Avatar: The Last Airbender. If Lance were to have any chance at getting the upper hand in this fight, he would have to stop the flow of sand. And the Adept had just the way of doing it.

He dodged rolled to the right as the Teen switched Clips. This time to Dullahan. This bolt clip was a special one because it didn’t exactly fire bolts. In game, Dullahan was a secret weapon clip that you obtain from completing all the Gauntlet Challenges. Once complete, you get a weapon clip that’s a classic throwback to the old MegaMan games. One that shoots energy pulses that you could charge up just like a Mega Buster.

‘Give up now! There’s no way you can harm me with that toy of yours, Twoleg!!’

“Oh really? And who said I was going to be shooting you?”

That’s when Lance fired his weapon. Not at the Dog, but at the nearby drinking fountain. Contact between the projectile and the appliance caused it to burst and have water gush everywhere. Soaking the dog’s sand and hardening it.

‘W-what!? You dirty trickster-!!’

“I’m not a trickster. I’m an opportunist. Plus, I believe that we have something in common.”

‘Really? What’s that?’

“Do you see any other humans walking around here? No? That’s because you and I got here under similar circumstance.” Lance told the dog as he used his lightning to bend the broken pipes from the water pipe closed. “Did you happen to encounter a guy in a hood that was selling stuff?”

‘Yeah, in a parking lot as he was packing his car. I was looking for food and thought he had some. But the only thing I got from him was this collar on my neck. Next thing you know, I end up in an alleyway and found by a talking pony with a superhero garb on. Back home, I’m a stray and anytime I go into a shelter, I hated it because it felt like what you twolegs called “Prison”.’

Now that explained why the dog ran. Lance looked around the dog’s neck, seeing a black collar and a tag that said “Iggy Pop” on it. It served as an explanation for how come the dog could control his own Stand.

‘I just want a place to finally call home.’ He heard “Iggy” speak again mentally. ‘All my previous owners have neglected me to no avail and anytime I go to a new place, the same thing happens.’ The Boston Terrier was now moaning as it laid in Lance’s lap. The teen could not even begin to think about what the pup had been through. He wanted someone to care for him properly this time.

And Lance had an idea for Iggy to be happy.

“Hey, Iggy right?”

‘I guess. That’s what my tag says after all.’

“I have a question for you. How good are you with kids?”

Next Morning…

“Lance. Detective Whooves just called. Button’s father is here.”

The Foal, who was by his suitcase, heard Lumen the next morning as he woke up. Lance had spent the night sleeping on the floor and let Button sleep on the bed. He wanted the foal to be comfortable, especially after what he went through. The young foal began to rub his eyes as he trotted over to the living room, where his father Joystick was waiting for him.

“D-daddy…” Button said. The foal immediately hugged his father and Joystick did the same, trying to comfort his son. Soon, Lance was up and walking over to him.

“You must be the Azure Striker.” Joystick said upon noticing the Adept. Lance nodded his head. “Thank you… for helping my son.”

“I’m sorry for your loss, Mr. Mash.” Soon, the two earth ponies turned to leave, only for the Adept to stop them for a moment. “Button, before you go, I have something… well, two things for you.”

“F-for me?”

Lance turned for a moment and pulled out a replica of his hairpin. What he used as a summoning token. “You’re very brave, Button. Don’t forget that. Keep this on you for if you need help. Also, I have one last thing.”

The back of the Adepts coat ruffled a little and soon, Iggy’s head bursted from underneath the cover as he licked the surprised youngling. Button giggled a little, shocked by the surprise.

“I-i didn’t know you were taking care of a dog.”

“Actually, it’s not my dog… It’s yours. That is, if you don’t have anything against it, Mr. Mash.”

That surprised both Button Mash and Joystick.

“His name is Iggy and he is very special. He’s been through some tough times just like you have right now and I believe that you can both help each other in that regard.”

“I-i don’t know what to say.” Joystick said. At that moment, Iggy and Button looked like they were having fun with each other, changing the foals mood from the depressed moan of him that he was earlier. “T-thank you. I think he’ll fit in perfectly with my son.”

As he watched the father and son leave with their newfound companion and guardian, Lance excused himself from eating anything and took the elevator up to the top floor roof. He needed a personal breather after everything he went through.

But upon the doors opening to the roof, he found something rather… odd… on the top floor. It looked like an ordinary kitchen knife. But this was made out of a black metal that he couldn’t recognize, a red wooden handle and the edge tinted in a blood colored red. There were odd symbols on the sides of the blades, one on each side. Possibly an unknown language. Taking a moment to use his newfound gadget, it scanned the object for a few seconds and then began to translate the runes. Few seconds later, no success. Calm and Curious now, Lance picked up the object.

Thats when… he heard a voice inside his head. A Feminine voice.

“To those that have found my weapon. I ask of you to help me in my quest. Call me, let me come to your world and find my sister, let me warn her and my previous tormentor of what my world brought me. Let me help them and prevent disaster. To those of you who let me do such, I offer you my help. Be it a threat from an unimaginable evil, or a simple need to talk, I would love to help. Call me, Blood Cleaver, and I will appear."

“Blood… Cleaver?”

“That’s my name!” A sudden voice said from behind his back. “Don’t wear it out.”

Lance jumped a little and immediately turned around, not knowing what to expect. In front of him stood a woman clad all in black. Her hair seemingly perfectly brushed and silk smooth running down the sides of her body, only stopping at the knees. Her hair was both a black and pink color, black from the top of her head down to the shoulders where it changed into a pink color. She had light blue eyes and a big smile on her face.

“Thank you for finding my token, never thought I’d get out of that place!”

“You’re… Blood Cleaver?” The Adept asked. Despite the appearance, a name like that would sound like the name of a serial killer. This woman though looked nothing like that… At first.

“Didn’t we already establish that?” She asked, taking on a thoughtful look.

“Y-yeah. I’m just a bit new to this. My name is Lance. But most of the Power Ponies call me Gunvolt.” The teen introduced himself, going to the extent of bowing a little to properly greet a lady in royal attire such as the one in front of her.

Blood Cleaver giggled at that. “No need to be so formal. We’re all mortal here… well I am at least. However, I have a question, is this world’s inhabitants ponies, humans or anthropomorphic?”

“You can say ponies. However, it’s not exactly what I thought it was at first. Ever heard of Maretropolis?”

“Yeah, that’s where we are now?” Blood Cleaver asked looking around for a bit. “This place is far better than Tartarus.”

“Tartar-what?” Lance asked. Unfamiliar with the place she was talking about.

Blood Cleaver noticed this. “Oh, right you’re new to this. I guess it’s the equivalent to what you know as hell. I got locked up there in another version of Equestria, I didn’t deserve it mind you.”

“So they lock you up as a criminal, but you’re innocent?”

“Let’s say the prisoners revolted and I tried to stop them, didn’t turn out so well for me.”

“Right… Well, I’ve been through worse. Had a Maniac with extra long hair try to strangle me with it, an Alicorn offering me a chance to become a member of the power ponies by proving myself to them, my “Mentor” throwing wrenches at me to test reflexes, and to top it off, there's two other Displaced in this city and one of them happened to be a ghoul that ate the mother of a young foal alive with her son watching.”

Blood gasped and covered her mouth in horror. “That’s horrible. I wish I could help somehow, but I don’t think you’d like me to use the “Aether”.”

“Not to mention the other Displaced being a dog-. Wait, what’s an Aether?”

“Aether is an ability of mine. It’s rather gruesome but the simple gist of thing is that I can revive someone who’s already died. But it requires a sacrifice of equal worth. I don’t recommend it. But if it was required I could use it.” Blood explained.

Lance wasn’t one for the idea. He had to spend the week to prove himself, not exchange a life for a life. It just reminded him of the Anita Blake series with being an Animator that could raise the dead… However, this did leave him with one idea. “Blood, can I ask you something?”

“Sure, I guess. Ask away.”

“I’m not up for a resurrection. But is there a way to possibly talk to the dead?”

“I have to say no. I’m not familiar with the system in this universe, It could work back in my Equestria as the afterlife is actually a place, but here I can’t do anything unless I know where the soul is.” Blood said.

This got Lance thinking. He remembered the location of the Parking lot where the attack took place. If he took Blood Cleaver there, then maybe she might find the soul she needed. “Follow me for a moment. I think I know a place to look.”

“Ok, lead the way Geeves.” Blood Cleaver said.

“Great… first Zapp and now you? That’s getting old fast.”

It didn’t take the two of them long in order to make it to the location, but getting in was another thing. The Royal officers had the building still closed off with guards patrolling the front of the lot where the entrance was. Using stealth, Lance and Blood Cleaver sneaked around the backside of the place and headed straight towards the sight. They soon came across the location of the murder as Lance found a darkened stain, where the victim was.

Blood Cleaver got down on one knee and inspected the stain herself. “It won’t be too much trouble if I disturb the crime scene?” She asked Lance, turning to look at him.

“Probably not. Looks like CSI and the detectives had a massive cleanup after yesterday, so you’re good to go. Let’s just hope not to get caught.”

“Well, I can always cloak us.” Blood suggested. Lance liked the idea and nodded his head in approval.

Blood Cleaver stood up and took out an identical knife to the one Lance had found and quickly cut her own hand on it. Before Lance could ask what she was doing, he noticed the blood that spilled from the wound didn’t stick to the pavement. Instead it immediately started moving and created a circle around them and the scene they were on.

“That’ll keep us invisible as long as the circle isn’t disturbed. However, we can still be heard.”

“Got it. Now, according to the reports, Milano Mash was killed right here by the ghoul that attacked her. Further note, the ghoul is a Displaced herself. Ghouls only feast on flesh; plus, one meal can last them three months. The attacker was in a craze and attacked in a blind rage, wanting food. But something tells me that the attacker never asked for this to happen.”

“Yeah, becoming a Displaced can sometimes be the biggest of curses. I met someone who lost the ability to speak and sleep. Had to rely on my knowledge of finger gestures. Didn’t help; he didn’t know them.”

“Yes, but sometimes the most weirdest of things can get Displaced.” The Adept said, recalling his encounter with Iggy only a day ago. “Now, should we get started?”

“Yes, of course. I’ll have to determine if this will work with a few spells first.” Blood said as she took a relaxing stance and closed her eyes, calming her breathing and stood there unmoving for a while. But soon she opened her eyes and stretched out an arm and said: “History!” Making the stain on the ground shine and revert back to liquid blood.

After this she once again got back to standing on one knee and dipped a finger in the now fresh pool of blood. Inspecting the blood she mumbled something to herself and and let the drop of blood on her finger fall back into the pool. Leaving her finger completely clean.

“I have some good news and some bad news.” She said, turning towards Lance.

“What’s the Bad news?”

“An attempt to contact the lost soul could in the worst case scenario summon the Displaced that did this, and we’d lose this chance.”

“And the Good news?” The Adept asked, looking around him and being aware of his surroundings.

“The good news are that it is both unlikely and that if the Displaced isn’t summoned, then I will instead have summoned the soul of Milano. The reason behind this is because it’s far easier to summon a living being than there is to summon a lost soul.”

“Then by all means, go for it.” Lance said, drawing his weapon. “If anything goes wrong, I got your back.”

“It’s not me I’m worried about, it’s the other Displaced. But none the less, here we go.” Blood said as the pool of blood started shining with a crimson color and started moving, creating circles and runes that seemed impossibly thin considering surface tension. After a while when the circles and runes stopped moving Blood released a breath. “It’s done, the soul should appear shortly. Fortunately it’s not the Displaced, they would have already appeared if that was the case.” Blood said with a weak smile, the fact that she was strained evident on her face.

“W-what?” The Soul of Milano spoke softly as it looked at the two of them. Soon, she recognized Lance. After all, her son was talking about him most of yesterday. “Y-you’re that thing my son was talking about!”

“Easy there, Ms. Milano. I just want to talk.”

“Please… Is he safe? Is Button safe?”

“He is.” Lance nodded his head in confirmation. “In fact, your son is with your husband Joystick.” The mare was overjoyed to hear that and wanted to hug him, but the ghost just faded through the Adept like the transparent self that she was.

“I-i guess… I’m dead, right?”

“To put it the hard way, yes.” Lance said. “I’m trying to find the one who attacked you that fateful night. Do you happen to remember anything from your encounter?” The mare nodded, explaining everything from her encounter. It was basically almost everything that he saw from when he saw Button’s vision the night before. But one thing was different.

“As I saw her run away…… Something else followed her.”

Lance now turned to Blood, a shock of confusion on his face. “Something…… Else?”

“Y-yes. Two things actually. A pony in a purple full body suit and hat and an individual almost like yourself. Except he had a white hood on and armor of the same color.”

The last statement made Lance’s blood freeze. He recognized the details as Milano explained. Thick armor around the chest and upper legs, a plus sign on both sides of a white hood, white hair and lastly, held a weapon that resembled something like his, but with a rotating barrel.

“I-is something wrong?”

“No, it’s just that I’m concerned on what the intentions of the second individual would be.” Lance said. Milano’s soul began to shimmer a little as Lance looked at Blood. Her weakened state must’ve meant that she couldn’t keep a soul in the world of the living for long.

“H-heh, could you guys hurry up? It’s hard to keep this thing going the longer the soul has been dead. Besides, I haven’t had a decent meal for a while, I’m running on fumes.” Blood said, straining a bit more, but stabilizing the projection again. “I can hold it for only a few more minutes.”

“Okay, Ms. Milano. One last question. Did you see where your attacker ran off too?”

She nodded, pointing at an empty hotel room that was closed off to the public due to the possibility of it collapsing. Lastly, before the mare disappeared, she thanked the Azure Striker and Blood for everything they had done to help her son and help her. The soul faded away as Lance tried to help Blood Cleaver up to her feet and give her a granola bar that he had found in his coat.

“Not a full course meal, but could this help?” He asked.

“Thanks, but I got it covered.” She said before taking out a pouch out of nowhere and opened it up to reveal what looked like beans. She took one and ate it. Suddenly able to stand on her own and apparently full of energy.

“Should have done that earlier.” She turned towards Lance and held forth the pouch. “Senzu bean?” She asked with a smile.

“Don’t mind if I do.” Lance said. Taking two, he ate one and kept the other one in his pocket for if he needed it later. “Hey, I gotta hurry back to HQ. I have another lesson with my mentor and I don’t want to make her worry.”

The girl in black clothes offered to help out. “You know, I could probably help you find these figures. I can feel power levels and I know how to distinguish Displaced from ponies.” She told him.

Lance took the thought into consideration. If he knew where the Ghoul and this other figure Milano mentioned, then he would know where to search by this afternoon. “Try it then. It can help me when looking for them later today.”

Blood nodded and closed her eyes for a second. As she opened her eyes she looked at Lance and told him what she found. “I found another three Displaced not counting us. Two seem to be female and close to human in nature, and the last one seems to be the dog you mentioned. Also, before I forget. The masked pony Milano mentioned might be a pony known as Mare do Well, however I doubt that as she only ever appeared close to a town named Ponyville and then disappeared after a while. I think this one might be somepony that decided to “Pick up the cape” so to speak.” Blood told Lance.

“Could be. Possibly a Vigilante… In order to achieve something, one must become someone else. They must become something else.” The Adept responded, reciting a saying her heard when watching “Arrow” back home.

“Yeah, that sounds about right. But before you leave me to go to another universe I have a question. As one of the Displaced of this universe, could you give me permission to find a certain pony by the name of Pinkie Pie? Or wait, you mentioned the power ponies? I think I’d like to speak to a pony by the name of Filli-Second if possible. Is that alright?” She asked Lance.

“Yeah… I believe she’s in her personal quarters back at HQ. You can go on ahead and talk to her if you want.”

“Thanks, but before I leave you should have this.” Blood said before handing Lance a map of the city. “I already marked the position of where the Displaced were, they haven’t moved from their locations yet, but I’d recommend that you don’t take to long.” Blood said, confounding Lance as he hadn’t been able to see her marking anything on the map, and he had been speaking to her all this time.

“Alright. I was going to do that afterwards. No need in spooking them now.” Lance told Blood as he began to walk out of the lot.

“Alright, see ya at HQ I guess?” Blood said as she suddenly began to float and then flew away. The circle of blood that had kept them out of sight dissipating into nothing. Though, unknown to Lance at the time, someone was watching him as he left the building.

“Well now, guess I won’t need to worry about searching this whole forsaken city when the Azure Striker will lead me right to my target. Talk about killing two birds with one stone.”

End Strike 4

Author's Note

Well, I'm on a roll! Shortly after finishing Chapter three, I began to work on this crossover chapter with Fictional Fanatic and with the assistance of ElementBrigade. In this chapter, I added Iggy as an idea on my own while Blood Cleaver is part of the story Of Mind and Magic. The Two girls mentioned near the end are part of Maretropolis Ghoul. Check them out and have fun reading. Oh and expect something new story wise within the next week.

-Frost

Strike 5- Fight Night against Freddy

Author's Note

Heads up! This chapter is a crossover with Sir Freddy the Golden! done by Archon the Maniac. It was good to write this because it will help Lance as a character and learn from his experiences. Plus, it allowed for some new takes with creativity.

Strike 5- Fight Night against Freddy

When Lightning Strikes- Fight Night against Freddy

Location: Gymnasium

Lance hated making people wait. Back home, he preferred to take as much time as possible when it came to homework assignments, tasks, tests and so on. But today, Solaria had an early morning lesson planned before she allowed her student to do anything else. Well, less of a lesson and more of a chance to get himself familiar with somethings.

“I have a present for you.” Solaria told him a few moments after entering the training hall. Lance, who was with Lumen as well, just looked at each other puzzled as they entered the room. On a table was a series of items. Items that were in different shades of blue and Sapphire.

“Humdrum in his spare time likes making gadgets for the different ponies on the team so he made a few things for you.”

“He did? Is this suppose to be part of the lesson or not?”

“Actually, this is part two of the skills lesson. I would’ve gotten to yesterday, but then again, it happened.”

Oh right, Milano…

“Anyways, since Humdrum noticed you using a lot of ranged projectiles with your weapons, he thought this would come in handy.” Solaria told Lance, levitating the first item to him as he took hold of it in his hands. It felt… odd for gripping whatever it was. But then again, Lance had no idea what it was.

“Uhh…… This is a stick?”

“Try channeling your lightning into it. He said that something sweet happen when you do so.” Taking her advice, the Adept did so. Soon, his lightning had the stick create a blade of pure light and electricity as it hummed in his hands. The Azure Striker really liked this. Thanks to the number one sidekick on the team, he now had a freaking lightsaber! And in his opinion, that was awesome.

“Remind me to thank Humdrum next time I see him. This is Epic!”

“He thought you would say that.” Solaria giggled as Lance dismissed the blade and put it away. She then handed a few round spheres to the Adept. “Here. It’s best to keep these on you.”

“Okay, but what exactly are they?”

“They’re called Spell Seekers.” The Unicorn began to explain. “It works in two steps. One, it allows you to drain an opponent of their magic when they attack you with it. Two, after the draining, you can use the Seeker for multiple purposes such as healing a downed teammate, restoring your own energy or using it as a grenade. Masked Matterhorn came up with the idea after a Tyrant that we called “Tirek” stole magic from almost all of the population and was using it to lay waste to the land. We were lucky to beat him when we combined our powers together.”

‘Could be useful.’ Lance thought to himself as he placed the small spheres inside his coat pockets. “Now, is there anything else we need to discuss?”

“Yeah, one small thing. A question more likely. This morning when you were saying goodbye to Button, what exactly did you give him?”

Lance sighed a little. “Remember earlier that day when I told you about me being a Displaced? Well, the hairpin I gave him is my summoning token. All Displaced have their own token that other Displaced can use if they come across it. But it works two ways. You either summon them there or they summon you.”

“So why did you give it to him?”

“For if he’s in trouble and Iggy is tired out.”

“Iggy? What does the dog have to do with it?”

“He’s a Displaced too.” The Adept explained as he told her about his encounter with the dog that could control the Stand known as The Fool. But, to his surprise, he felt a little… Light headed.

“Are you okay, Lance?”

“A bit… But I think you and I have somewhere to be.”

“Oh? Why’s that?” Solaria asked.

“Another Displaced is calling us, I think.” Before Lance could say anything, he felt his lightning surge around him as he disappeared in a bright flash, leaving Solaria as the only one left in the room.

Equestria, Ponyville (Freddy’s World)

Freddy felt unstoppable. He had successfully disposed of the Chaos Spirit that wanted to betray him. Telling him that what he was doing was crazy and wrong. Well, he made sure to show him once he drained him of his power like emptying a ketchup packet and tossing away the broken body like it was trash.

As for the elements, he had already began to twist them inside out. If he remembered correctly, there was one pony left of the Elements that he needed to deal with. That’s right. Magic. The Lavender Pony he met earlier. He’d already dealt with the elements of Laughter, Loyalty and Kindness, and Discord had dealt with Honesty and Generosity before going turncoat. He hoped that she would already be broken after seeing what had happened to her friends but still, she had seemed resilient. If she was still herself, then how would her deal with her?

That was when he found something at his feet. A small hairpin that looked like a pair of open wings. He rubbed it together between his paws, finding some amusement with it like it was a toy. But soon, the hairpin began to pulse unexpectedly. Storm clouds began to form above him as he looked up. If god was somehow trying to strike him down, then this was him trying to do it.

The lightning came down not on him, but in front of him. Which was surprising. it was like it wanted to miss him.

“Way to go!! You need to try harder to strike me down, JACKASS!!”

That was, until the smoke formed by the lightning began to fade and a new figure emerged… A human. Freddy’s expression dropped. This was not expected, but it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. He recognized the appearance of the boy, another character from a video game. A lightning user by the name ‘Gunvolt’. Freddy decided he’d take some time with this one. Better to find out some about him before seeing if he was a threat. First pause his mind as he arrived, that way he wouldn’t see anything. Then a bit of magic to clear the field around them of all chaos and madness, at least all that was in sight. As far as the boy could see would be cleared of anything changed by the traitor or himself. That way if the boy was a hidden ally of the Princesses he wouldn’t be any the wiser that he was a maker of chaos. He drifted into the air and took out the puppet of himself and adjusted it to be the same size as himself, and redesigned it to be an exact replica in appearance. Then a little tweak to the frozen boy. Nothing damaging or madness-inducing, just enough to make him believe that the puppet was the actual Freddy. Then a little more to render himself silent and unseen to the boy. He snapped his paw again and the boy began to unfreeze. The puppet of Freddy stood over him, and offered a paw.

“Well then. Hey kid, what’s with the light show? Someone coulda gotten zapped!”

The boy looked up uncertainly. Seeing the area around him, he did not recognize anything of the surrounding environment, but he did recognize the figure. It was Freddy… Golden Freddy to be exact. The one character in Five Nights at Freddy’s that gave him a heart attack when he was on the final night and close to beating the first game. He didn’t look so scary as the version of him in game, but Lance thought that he was hiding something. So, for the time being, he decided to play along and grab Freddy’s paws after readjusting his gloves.

“Sorry about that,” He apologized to the talking bear. “I’m going to take a guess that you summoned me?”

Freddy raised an eyebrow as he looked at the Adept. “Summoned? What the heck do you mean by that?”

Lance pointed out the hairpin in Freddy’s paw. “You used my summoning token and brought me here…… Are you aware at all about the Displaced?”

Freddy shook his head. “No, I haven’t heard of that before. It just sounds like mashing words together to form something.”

The Azure Striker sighed, beginning a simple explanation about what he meant from arriving here to tokens and summoning other Displaced, using Iggy and Blood Cleaver as examples for other Displaced that he had met so far. Freddy himself was intrigued by this, but for his own reasons. He saw it as a chance to meet other Freddy’s in other worlds and also as a way to obtain more magic from killing Discord again and again. Make the Spirit pay for double crossing him. Slowly a plan began to open in the bear’s mind

“Well, I’m going to go on a walk. I guess we’ll meet back in a few hours?”

“Sure!” Freddy told him as he went off with a skip in his step. When he was gone, Lance had Lumen come out from inside his hair.

“Nice guy if I do say so myself.” Lumen said.

“Yeah, but something about him seems fishy.” Lance told his breezie companion. “Can you follow him? I’m going to go check out the nearby town and look around.”

Freddy grinned above them. So the boy had a breezie? A tad odd, but inconsequential. He expended a little more power into giving the breezie her own area of non-chaos. An infinite world of possibility opened to Freddy. If he were sane he would have had some kind of break down over his own insignificance, but this… This was going to be good! Of course the boy seemed like he could be a threat, and so he decided to keep the illusion going a bit. If the boy started to get wise, then that would be the time to get involved and alter his perception if necessary. It was a simple matter to whip up a few more fake ponies for the two to interact with and for the breezie to have her own mind changed in the same way as his.

As Lance continued to walk, he paid attention to his surroundings. The ponies around him, the stores, the buildings, everything. He had a talent for observation. Like Sherlock Holmes. He checked his supplies, making sure he had everything that he needed in order to possibly gain the upper hand if a fight were to break out.

Around after ten minutes, Lance had a feeling that something was off. The town seemed… set up. Cardboard. A few ponies that were reading at Sugarcube Corner never made any progress in their book, still looking at the same page. Two possibilities came into mind. Either they were slow readers… or this entire thing was fake. A possible trap.

That was when something felt like it hit him across the head. Like a water balloon, but different. The vision and people around him began to become distorted. Fading away, like an Illusion.

When his sight was back to normal, the entire freaking town was either hanging upside down or in ruins. Looking to his right, he saw a Unicorn… Which was weird since it reminded him of the Masked Matterhorn. “Sir, are you okay?”

“W-what the hell did you do?”

“You were in a trance. Seeing an Illusion. I just dispelled it. I thought that he would do something like this.”

That’s when the teen lifted an eyebrow. “Who’s he?”

“Freddy, Spirit of Madness.”

‘Son of a B*tch!!’ Lance swore mentally. “I knew that bear was suspicious… Oh god, Lumen!!”

“You mean this?”

Freddy floated lazily above them, illusions dropped. His body was different than before, more worn and torn up. He gave a cheshire grin as he held up a small cage with Lumen inside of it.

“Lemme guess kid, you’re gonna play the hero?”

Freddy shrugged.

“Be my guest, but I’m not Discord…”

He looked at Lance with a manic grin.

“I’M THE GUY WHO OFFED HIM BEFORE YOU SHOWED UP!”

Freddy snapped a paw and appeared on the ground and slowly strode past the boy and unicorn.

“Y’know, I gotta thank you kid. Without you, I wouldn’t have known about the multiverse. Now I have somewhere else to go. So in return, here’s the deal: You and your little friend can leave this doomed world unharmed, no charge. I already plucked all the info I needed from you, so I have no further need. Or you can stay here, and I figure you should know since I’m leaving this dump that I went ahead and uncorked Tartarus just cuz I can, and fight it out. Your choice.”

He floated back into the air, lazily dangling the chain with Lumen’s cage. Lance himself had no idea what he was up against. But the thing with Freddy was that he was prepared since the first paw shake. Additionally, there was one thing that the bear never noticed that he did.

“I’ll pick option three.” Lance said. With speed faster than Freddy could physically see, Lance shot his weapon with the Dullahan clip and destroyed the chain holding the cage. Another shot broke the door as Lumen flew towards him. “You’re already helping me out. Because of your pride and arrogance.”

“What are you talking about?”

“See this?” Lance said, holding a metal sphere in his hand. “It’s called a Spell Seeker. I had this in my hand underneath my glove when you picked me up on the floor. Turns out, you were quite filled with enough juice like you absorbed it from another person. Additionally, Spell Seekers allow me to use the trapped magic like a sponge. Absorb and release. And in this case, I’m letting this magic free. It doesn’t belong to some bear such as you.”

Freddy’s expression dropped for a moment, and his face faded from view. Then a low sound, barely audible echoed out.

“HehhehhheheHAHAHAHAHHAHA! YOU THINK I’M THAT STUPID!?”

He warped in front of Lance and backhanded him before warping away again. The spell Seekers appeared in his hand. Freddys jaw unhinged and all the power drained out.

“Oh yes I’m a prideful son of a gun, but I”

Lance slammed into a wall.

“AM”

He rocketed into the air.

“NOT STUPID!”

He reappeared over Lance. “I killed Discord, slew Celestia, broke three of the elements, heart mind and soul, and you know what? I would do it again. I took out every threat there was to me and you are no exception. In fact you’re the first I’ve given genuine mercy. But hey, I rather go on with my plans…”

The totem which had first brought Lance forth appeared in Freddy’s paw.

“Our contract is now concluded… Be seeing you kid…”

Lance himself felt like he began to twist and break inside. But beforehand, he smiled and snapped his finger. “Well, guess I’m leaving with a BANG!”

What Freddy did not know was that the Spell Seeker wasn’t set to release the magic slowly, but to detonate at the snap of his finger. Even if it broke or had some of its charged drained. As Lance disappeared, a wave of pure, Discordic atrophy went off in Freddy’s face. The Distraction gave Twilight Sparkle a chance to escape as she ran on all four of her hooves. Thankful for the boy of lightning to give her a chance to escape.

“RRYEAAAH! F*CKD*MMIT!”

Freddy lurched back in midair. He didn’t need a mirror to tell that his costuming had been burned off of his face, shoulders and neck. A grin returned to his skeletal features.

“Well the kid had precautions. Good on him!”

Freddy brought out the token to summon the boy. A little bit of magical scanning told loads to the bear as he steeled himself and took out a bit of his power. He crafted with his own essence a coin, of purest gold. Engraved into it was the same face shown in the Five Night’s at Freddy’s games whenever Golden Freddy crashed the game. Two of it he carved, each for a different purpose. The first he took out and recorded its message.

“Be seeing you kid…”

The first was unique, just for the little Gunvolt who had the stones to face him. The second he divided again and again eternally. This one would scatter across the multiverse, for others to summon him.

“To those who would put an end to the demon Discord or would bring madness and shadow on Equestria, this coin is my token. If you need a bear to crash the game of your enemies, then give a call to ole Golden Freddy Fazbear.”

Of course the token would only summon him if he was willing to go, that much he had built into his tokens, unlike the kid. He laughed as he regenerated his damaged face. The kid had cost him some magical power, but not enough to stop him…

Rooftop, Power Ponies Headquarters

Lance returned back to his world with an abrupt crash landing on top of the roof of HQ. His head was hurting and his mind was echoing with Freddy’s laughter. It felt like he was going to possibly be haunting him for some time. When he got up, he felt something new inside his pocket. A golden coin with Freddy’s face on it.

It had a simple message. “Be seeing you kid…”

The Adept’s mind froze. Be seeing him? Was he supposedly coming here? If so, then he needed to be ready. But he was in no shape to face him after dealing with him just now. He was lucky to get away on his own with the Detonation of one of two spell seekers that he had. It wasn’t just himself that he was now worried about.

He was worried about Lumen. When he found the Breezie, she was shivering. Scared by the traumatic experience. “Lumen. Go and get some rest. You’ve been through a lot.”

“O-okay.” She softly replied as she flew away. Lance himself though, had one other thing to attend to. Right now, he needed some advice.

Taking the Elevator from the top floor, he pushed the button for the floor that had the Main Command Center as the elevator slowly moved downward. When the door opened, he found the Masked Matterhorn. On her own, looking through some files.

“Oh. Mr. Walker. I did not expect you.” She replied at first. But soon, she noticed something wasn’t right with the Adept. “Are you okay? You look like you’ve been through Tartarus and back.”

The Adept nodded. “It felt that way. Remember when I told you about being a Displaced?”

“Yes and how there were others like you?”

“Right… I ran into one and let’s just say… I’m a bit… what’s the word… Shaken, by the experience.”

The Alicorn set down the files she was going through and pulled up a chair. “What happened?”

“Lumen and I were summoned into another Equestria. It was alright at first, but then we met the other Displaced. Freddy, he called himself. Freddy the Spirit of Madness. He clouded our minds with illusions to hide what he had actually done. He killed those who betrayed and opposed him, drives ponies into madness, and even turned a town into a wasteland. However, there was one pony who actually broke me free of the illusion.”

“Who was that?”

Lance took a deep breath… “You. Well, more like somepony that looks like you. But she was a Unicorn and-.”

That’s when the Masked Matterhorn did something that Lance never thought she would do. She took off her mask that was covering her face and let her mane fall down. Now, she looked just exactly like the pony who helped him earlier in Freddy’s world.

“M-ms. Matterhorn-?”

She placed a hoof on Lance’s mouth and shushed him before pointing her hoof at herself. “Twilight. My name is Twilight Sparkle. And I want to help you handle this.”

End Strike 5

Strike 6- Searching for Clues

When Lightning Strikes- Searching for Clues

Power Pony HQ

Lance’s day so far had been through many ups and downs. First, there was meeting Blood Cleaver earlier that morning and finding out a few things involving the ghoul incident. Then, there was the encounter with Freddy. The one that traumatized his young breezie partner and made her very timid and scared. Now, The Masked Matterhorn had opened up to him, telling the Adept who she was. Twilight Sparkle. The name sounded catchy. Almost like a soda brand or some sort. But still, there were quite a few things to catch her up on.

But after a few minutes, The Alicorn's best advice was for him to take his mind off of the situation involving the spirit of madness and focus on something else. One idea came to mind. But it required some extra assistance. “Twilight. Could I possibly request your help in something?”

“Oh? What kind of help?”

“I need somepony to stay in contact with. Earlier today, I met somepony who's… a spirit medium… earlier today” Lance corrected himself. “She was able to contact the Spirit of Milano and also told me of a possible location of where her attacker might have been staying. I was going to check it out after my training with Solaria. But then again, it happened.”

The Masked Matterhorn nodded in understanding. “I see. That case has been… troublesome. An incident occurred involving the suspect the other night. We don’t have much details on it right now, so an investigation might help us out. There’s a rumor that she’s not on her own.”

Lance remembered something like that. Blood Cleaver mentioned a “Mare Do-Well” figure earlier which referred to the mare in purple clothes that was said earlier. “The location is a hotel room that’s closed off to the public. My best guess is that our Ghoul is in a room close to the roof so she could escape if she was attacked or chased.”

“Good idea. I’ll open up a com-line and scan the building while you make your way over there.” The Alicorn told her. “If anything occurs, use your communicator.”

Lance nodded as he made his way towards the elevator, but before he went up, he asked the pony one last question. “Hey… One last thing… Can you make sure that Lumen is okay? She’s a real good friend and I just want to make sure she’s doing alright.”

“I’ll have Solaria look after her. She’ll be fine.”

Lance let out a sigh of relief. He was thankful for her help. Really thankful.

Unknown location

Somewhere, in the foul unknown slums of maretropolis, a group of individuals were meeting. Gathering together to discuss recent events that have occurred. There were quite a few of them. Each one with different looks and appearances that varied depending on the individual. But all of them had gathered for a similar purpose.

“Thank you everypony for coming.” One of them spoke to begin the meeting. “As you may know, some… unfortunate events have occurred that serve as the reason why we are meeting here. Our attempts to obtain a new location for a base for the League have failed.”

Many murmurs and whispers could be heard throughout the enclosed compound. Some voices expressed anger and rage while other tried to shush them out and tell them to shut their traps. To let the speaker continue.

“However, it was not the Power Ponies that defeated our fellow comrade. It was a rather… strange figure.” The speaker now had a slideshow running, showing his first image of a young boy with a strange weapon, hair and lightning being released from around him. “According to the media, this individual is known as The Azure Striker and has been working with the police in recent cases. It seems like the Power Ponies have also been thinking of him being a good team member. Something that MUST not happen.”

A few cheers and roars echoed through the room, in agreement as they supported the Speakers beliefs. “Now now… there is one other figure that must be addressed. Some of you might have heard about the case involving a mare being eaten alive. Well, it has come to my attention that this individual… may be more of an issue than we thought.” Another slideshow image was presented, this one of the female Ghoul with it’s Kagune released around her. Murderous intent in her eyes.

“As of right now, we are to keep an eye on these two. We have other matters to attend to.” The speaker soon changed to a Unicorn in a full body suit that was the color of ash and fire with their eyes being pure white. It’s mane was combed to the side and was a dark fire like color. He voice was rasp and edged.

“Well, everypony. You probably know who I am. I am Hot Spot… and right now, we are going to talk about how we’re going to break Mane-iac out of prison.”

Downtown,

On an outdoor luxury balcony of the Hoof-Star Hotel, Lance was slowly making his entrance inside, The nearby doorway was the entry point the Masked Matterhorn said was the safest since the other would set off emergency alarms and attract the police. Opening the door, Lance used his newfound senses to make his way through the compound. His abilities as an Adept of lightning allowed the boy to feel multiple sorts of electricity and use those senses to point out objects, people and other things around the place. Still, right now wasn’t the right floor for him to be on. Especially since he still had a few floors to go.

“Make a right in the next hallway to reach the stairwell. It’ll take you to the next floor.” He heard Twilight’s instructions, following them precisely. Lance was someone who would prefer to make sure to follow any instructions that were given to him. But sometimes, he preferred to give instructions rather than take them. But in this case, he had to take them if he were to get a lead on the Ghoul and her possible companions.

“Okay, what exactly am I looking for?”

“I scanned the building and it showed that there was some electricity used on the top floor last night to power a television set. Look for Room number 993.”

‘Right… since 993 is 1000 minus 7. Should’ve thought of that.’ Lance told himself, remembering Ken Kaneki when he was fighting Jason in Tokyo Ghoul. The Azure Striker continued through the hallway and up another floor of stairs, soon coming across the top floor. Lance paid attention to the room numbers, looking for the one that he needed while going through the hallway.

‘985… 989… 993… Bingo!’

Proceeding with caution, Lance pushed the door open gently and waited a few seconds. Wanting to make sure that there weren’t any unsuspected traps waiting for him. Inside, the entire room looked completely trashed. Debris was everywhere and some things were shot to pieces. Now, the boy began to have a look around and see what could be useful and serve as possible clues.

The first clue was something that Lance found on the windowsill. It was a Centipede. Alive, but only moving in small twitches. Must’ve been from the ghoul if she went Kagune on whoever attacked her. Finding a small jar, The Adept carefully contained the insect and kept in in there. That was one piece of evidence. Now to find more.

Looking around a little, the boy soon came across samples of hair. Three kinds. Azure, White and Lavender. The White and Lavender hairs were a lot longer than the azure ones, so it lead the Adept to presume that it could be hairs from a person’s head or a pony’s mane. The Azure one’s he presumed to be fur. But something else came to mind now that he thought of it.

“Hey Masked Matterhorn, can you hear me?”

“Loud and clear, Gunvolt. Is something wrong?”

“No, I found the room, but some things are more strange than wrong. I found possible hair samples. But some are the same color as your mane.”

“T-that’s impossible.” She told the Adept. “I haven’t been to the hotel since a few years ago when the city was chosen to host the Grand Galloping Gala.”

“Let me guess, a huge party for rich ponies?”

“Something like that. Anything else.”

“Well… some things might freak you out more than you think.”

“Really? Like what?”

“A Centipede.”

“Eeegh!! Seriously!?” He heard the Alicorn screech from the other end of the com-line. “How does a bug help you find this ghoul?”

“Well, it’s no ordinary centipede. It’s a Kakujas. A sign that shows that a ghoul has been pushed to her limits and possibly close to death’s door, resulting in a transformation called a Kagune. The room is trashed, so it looks like the Ghoul and whoever she was with were ambushed. Additionally, judging from the specimen, it seems like it’s a Half-Kakujas.”

“And what does that mean?” The power pony asked over the intercom. A tone in her voice that was filled with disgust.

“It means that the transformation for this ghoul is incomplete.” Lance said, taking a moment to pause and realize something. “I was right. It doesn’t have control over it’s abilities.”

“What else can you find?”

The Adept continued to look around a little more, noticing two other things. One of them looked like a membership card while another looked like shards of a crystal that faintly glowed upon Lance touching it. “Some pieces of crystal-…… Oh dear god, no.”

“What? What’s wrong?”

“We got a bigger problem. We don’t have one ghoul in the city. We have two.”

Lance could hear The Masked Matterhorn gasp on the other end of the com-line as he told her the possibility of a second ghoul that was in this city. “Two ghouls!? How?”

“The Shards of a crystal I found is the shards of a second Kagune. One that acts like a tool that can form any weapon. It’s like a cape; but it can act like a shield, be fired like a gun, or used like a sword. The weapons are literally unbreakable unless they were damaged or broken by another ghoul.” Putting the shards away, Lance looked at the final clue that he found. One that could possibly seal the deal with his little investigation. But looking at the front of it, the saying was one that caused him to raise an eyebrow.

The League of Vigilante Justice!! Join now and you get free tacos!!!

‘O...kay?’ Lance thought to himself. Turning the card over though, he found two things that helped him more than what was on the front. A name and a return address.

If found, please return to Sonata Dusk at 307, Buckingham Way. Thank you and Happy Taco tuesday!!

“Okay, now this is just comical.” Lance told himself as he rubbed the card in between his fingers. To his surprise, that one card, split into two. Looking at the second card, this one more resembled an Identification Card.

League of Vigilante Justice Membership Card: Mare Do Well

‘Well, this could be useful.’ He thought to himself. “Hey Twilight, can you look something up for me. I just got an address for a location I need to look into.”

“Okay, tell it to me and I’ll track it down-.” The Masked Matterhorn though, was soon interrupted by the sounds of a few other voices coming in around the same time. Lance himself was getting an ear splitting headache because of the distortion that was happening. All he heard was The Masked Matterhorn speaking to him one last time before the line went dead.

“Gunvolt!! Return to HQ immediately!!! We got ourselves a situation and need all hooves on deck!!”

“Roger that!” Lance said, making his way to the top of the building before using his powers to softly glide over the tops of the buildings.

Power Ponies HQ

The sight that Lance returned to was not the one he exactly wanted to see. He found the Masked Matterhorn scrambling down a hallway with Saddle Rager and Solaria. Following them lead to seeing Radiance, Filli-second, Mistress Marevelous, and Zapp all beaten up and bruised.

“W-what happened?!” The Masked Matterhorn was the first to speak once they entered the room. Humdrum was trying to apply bandages on Zapp, but the Pegasi’s pride lead her to push him away with a hoof and speak to her team mate.

“We got clobbered, that’s what!! Clobbered by a bucking marshmallow!!”

Lance looked at Zapp with a puzzled look on his face. “A… marshmallow?”

“Yeah-.” Mistress Marevelous said as she took off her mask so the bruises on her face could be attended to. “It could talk and knew how to fight. It even turned Radiance’s crystals into candy.”

“TASTY ROCK CANDY!! OOOHH!! Maybe that could be something I can add as a treat to my next party!!!!”

Twilight sighed. “Filli, now is not the time for that. You can’t be thinking about throwing a party while you’re hurt. You need to rest.”

“It’s alright, Masky.” The Earth pony cheerfully replied, ignoring the pain of her bruises and calling the Masked Matterhorn by a personal nickname she came up with. “These BooBoo’s don’t got anything on me!!” Afterwards, she went into a constant giggle fest that had the Adept wonder what was causing her to laugh so much. Solaria honestly thought it was Filli-second being…… Well, Filli-second and the Masked Matterhorn was thinking of the same thing. But Lance pressed on.

“What’s so funny, Filli-second?”

“Hehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehe!! Booboo!! It’s almost just like what it called himself!! Just with one less boo!!!”

Booboo but one less… Oh boy. If Lance was thinking of what exactly Filli-second was referring to, then this could be a problem. “Okay, besides what Filli said, does anypony else remember anything else about this… individual?”

“Well, it was Pink and big. Like gigantic beachball big!!” Zapp spoke this time. “But when I called it out on that, it thought I was calling it fat.”

“Don’t forget, it knew who we were, darling.”

Now that had Masked Matterhorn’s ears twitch. “It knew… what?”

“It knew our real identities!! Almost exposed who we were in public!!! Oh THE HORROR!!! WHAT IF IT RUINS MY REPUTATION!?!!” Radiance screeched in a miniature panic as collapsed on the nearby sofa. Lance watched as the white Unicorn began crying in a pillow. Who knew that she could get so hard on herself.

“So… Let’s recap…” The Adept began as he started counting fingers. “One, It was big like a marshmallow. Two, it turned Radiances gems into candy. Three, it was Pink and four; it knew who you guys were. And something tells me that Pinkie caught the figures name.”

“How is this so important?!” Radiance wailed from her face down position on the nearby couch as her face laid on the tear soakened pillow. “This thing wasn’t like anything we’ve seen before and even then, was able to surprise us. What do you think is going to change that, Gunvolt?”

“I was not like anything you girls have seen before. Yet, here I am now. This calls for a different approach and I believe that I can help.”

Masked Matterhorn turned towards Lance with an expression of concern. “Are you sure? Whatever this is, it defeated four of us. You should have some back up at least.”

“Don’t worry. I think I got a pretty good idea of who this individual is. You girls helped me put together all the pieces of the puzzle.” The Azure Striker said as he walked out of the room. Making his way to the roof, Lance decided to take the stairs this time. This gave him time to think inside his mind as he was walking up five flights. Going through everything that was said and everything that he knew about who he was thinking about.

Flight one: This individual was not human.

Flight two: Huge in size and Pink in Color

Flight three: It knew the identities of Twilight and her friends.

Flight four: Turned objects and individuals into candy.

Flight five: It’s name…according to Filli-second… was Boo.

Lance stood calmly as he slowly opened the door. He did not know what he was going to expect. But he did know a thing of two about who the ponies were talking about. When they said Boo, they meant Majin Buu. A villain in Dragon Ball Z that had various forms and knew multiple abilities. It can regenerate after receiving damage, copy the abilities of other warriors, and consume them by turning them into candy. The most common one was what some of his friends referred to as “Fat Buu” or “Stay Puft Buu” due to it’s size. But other forms included Kid Buu, Super Buu, Majuub, etc. The roof was empty, but soon, the Adept heard a small Whoosh! go past him.

“ … I think I heard a Whoosh.”

Turning around, he came face to face with the figure that the girls had mentioned earlier. The Pink Marshmallow that turned out to be Majin Buu. Upon seeing Lance, the Majin began to burst into laughter.

“You must be the one Filli-second mentioned. Buu right?”

“Filli-second? Don’t you mean Pinkie Pie?” It asked, still laughing uncontrollably. The Adept folded his arms and raised an eyebrow. Something seemed off. But then again, Radiance said that it knew their identities. Who they really were. All the more reason for him to believe that Buu here could be from another Equestria. One that was very different from this one (And hopefully not the same one as Freddy’s). “I’m sorry, thats still the funniest thing I’ve seen all week. The Elements of Harmony dressed up as super heroes. OH man thats ssssooo dumb.”

“The what now?” Lance asked, puzzled. “I’m sorry, I’ve been having a rough day and what you’re just saying is kind of confusing me.”

“You know, Elements Of Harmony? Loyalty, Honesty, Kindness, Laughter, Generosity and Magic? Tia and Luna used them to beat Discord and then Tia used them to put Nightmare Moon on the moon?Really, those aren’t a thing here?” he asked, looking just as confused.

Lance sighed. “I think I know a little bit about what’s going on. But for you to understand, I would like to know something… How did you get here in the first place?”

“I’m still messing around with my portal making, so I opened one and just came through. Though I was Fat Buu at the time and well... I’m an idiot as Fat Buu. Then the girls showed up in those stupid costumes and I couldn’t help but laugh my ass off.”

Lance facepalmed himself. “You must be a Displaced then. Did you happen to find anything like this before you went into your portal?” With that, Lance showed his token to Majin Buu. The hairpin that had a pair of unfolded wings to represent freedom and liberty.

“Oh yeah, that.” he said nodding, “I got that.” He reached into himself, pulling out a copy of said hairpin.

“Well, that’s my summoning token. You see, as a Dimensionally Misplaced; or Displaced for short, you can obtain tokens of other Displaced to have them come assist you in battle or summon yourself to them. My token must’ve affected your portal to where you ended up in my Equestria.”

He just blinked before laughing again, “I already got this speech from Kat but thanks. I got a couple other tokens as well,” he said, producing a sheathed katana, a green cylinder, a diamond, a strange glass orb and a medallion. “You didn’t happen to find mine did ya?”

“No. I only got these.” Lance told the Majin, taking out Blood Cleaver’s knife and Freddy’s golden coin. “What is your token anyway?”

“A piece of me in the shape of a ball with my ‘M’ on it.”

“Like an orb?” Lance asked for clarification. “Haven’t seen one. But maybe the girls found it. You might’ve dropped it after encountering them.”

“So, should we go talk to them ?” he asked, moving closer, “Probably tell them I’m not going to blow the planet up or something.”

“How about we make a deal?” The boy in the Azure cloak said to the Majin as he adjusted himself. “I can take you to the girls if you help me out. I was thinking maybe knowing a few Ki based techniques could help me in future encounters with other Displaced if I run out of Juice to channel my electricity. So, if you teach me some skills, I’ll let you talk to the girls.”

“I can do that,” he said with a nod before putting his hand on Lances head. A second later, they were in front of the rest of the heroes. “Sup?” he asked, giving a wave. Most of the ponies in the room began to act cautions because of the sudden appearance, but Lance put himself in between them and Buu.

“Calm down girls. This has all been a misunderstanding. Let me explain…”

End Strike 6

Author's Note

The Azure Striker now has run into another Displaced shortly after uncovering some crucial evidence involving the case of the Ghoul that attacked Ms. Milano. Majin Buu from Buu, The Majin of Harmony. How will he help Lance? Find out next time on When Lightning strikes- *Shot*

Anyways, thank you Grey Ghost for helping me out with writing Buu. I was unsure whether of not to write him in first or third person and you contributing to it really was helpful. I can't wait to continue working with you on the next chapter.

Strike 7- Taco Tuesday

Author's Note

Again, this is the second part to my crossover with Grey Ghost and the story; Buu, The Majin of Harmony. Also, just when we finally got on the trail of the ghouls, more trouble shows up.

Own Count is up to four because of Lance not being prepared to explain about how Buu left to Twilight. Also, prepare the fight music. It's boss battle time!

Lance's Current Tokens
-Kitchen Knife (Blood Cleaver)
-Gold Coin (Freddy)
-Majin Orb (Buu)

Strike 7- Taco Tuesday

When Lightning Strikes- Taco Tuesday

Location: Power Ponies HQ

“You know, you guys look really stupid in superhero costumes,” Buu commented, crossing his arms as he looked the ponies over. “Like really stupid.”

“Hey, I thought we were suppose to be clearing things up. Not insulting them.” Lance facepalmed himself. “Girls, this is Majin Buu. He’s a Displaced like me, but from another Equestria.”

“OOOOOH!!! What kind of Equestria!? Do I still throw Parties!!?!” Filli-second fired an onslaught of questions at the big Marshmallow like guest. She even tried to tackle him, but Buu disappeared and reappeared in the same place using Instant Transmission.

“Yes, you still throw parties Pinkie.” Buu said with a smile, “Though things have been kinda slow since... you know never mind.”

“Aww… is somepony bored?” Filli-second asked. “I KNOW JUST HOW TO FIX THAT!!” In a flash, the Earth Pony zipped through that hallway and turned the room into the location of a party in a matter of seconds. Including a banner that says “Welcome to Maretropolis, Majin Buu!!”

“You sure she has super powers? This is about on par with my Pinkie,” Buu said, looking around, stroking his chin.

“Filli-second has speed based powers. She can run across the world in a matter of seconds.” Lance explained to Buu, recalling his first encounter with the earth pony. “Trust me, sometimes, I don’t even know how she does it.”

“Ok, lets get one thing clear, have any of you heard of the Elements of Harmony?” Buu asked, searching the ponies faces.

“We have,” Came the Masked Matterhorn’s reply. “But we only use those in emergency cases. Despite everypony on our team being a power pony, the Six of us are referred to as the Heroes of Harmony.”

“You seriously just decided to be superheroes?” Buu asked with a sigh, shaking his head, “Thats just ridiculous. And one more thing, I am not a MARSHMALLOW, I am gum. Magic gum with the power to destroy planets.”

“Hey, watch it buddy!” Zapp snapped at Buu. “We didn’t decide to have these powers. Some of us got them through… different cases. I’m the only survivor of a meltdown at a power plant and then woke up with my Lightning Abilities.”

“You guys never got the rainbow power did you...?” He asked looking at them, “Weird.”

“If you’re referring to the Aurora, then yes we did. It’s how we defeated Tirek.”

Now, even Lance was confused. “Aurora?”

“It’s a secret power within the Elements of Harmony that could be unlocked through obtaining the key that represents that attribute. A few villains from the League of Super Evil; Not my first choice for a super villain club, had stolen them from us when they took the Elements of Harmony from our Headquarters. Took us a few weeks to get everything back by the time they broke Tirek free from his prison.”

“Does that answer your question, Buu?” Lance asked.

“Still not understanding the superhero thing but whatevs. My worlds weirder,” he conjured up a soda, starting to drink it. “I mean I fought the Ginyu force at a wedding with someone who was just as weird as them.”

Lance himself was trying to picture the scene in his head. Which seemed disturbing because he thought that Recoome would body slam the wedding cake. More likely the Ginyu Wedding Crashers if you asked him. “Okay girls, to put it simply, Buu didn’t mean to hurt you guys. He was acting in self defense and I brought him here so he could apologize… only after Zapp apologizes first.”

“Hey, why me!?!”

“Because you were the one to attack him first.”

“Meh, it’s cool, Dash doesn’t have to apologize and yes, I’m going to call you all by your real names because it’s far easier for me,” he crashed his arms, transmuting the empty can of soda into a slice of cake, shoving the whole thing into his mouth. Pinkie herself was looking at Buu with sparkles in her eyes when she saw Buu make the cake, only leading to both Lance and Zapp facepalm(hoof)ing themselves.

“You guys curious at all about how I do all this weird stuff? I know most worlds I go to are but you all don’t see to be batting an eye at me.”

“Trust me when ah tell ya this, partna.” Mistress Marevelous told him. “Weird stuff happens daily. Heck, there’s a villain that could turn anything into an explosive with his magic and just recently, a dear friend of ours got eaten alive by a ghoul that Lance is trying to hunt down.”

“Yeah, you might want to make the ghoul counter two.” The Adept told her. “I looked at a hotel room that she was staying at and it seems like she has two companions. One who is part of some Vigilante league.”

“You guys do realize I’m like the most powerful being in this universe at this moment right?” Buu asked, looking at them all, “I could demonstrate if you all want.”

Those words caught everypony’s attention as Filli-second asked for a “Show and tell” of what Buu was capable of.

“Ok give me a moment while I try to find the nearest uninhabited planet...” Buu said closing his eyes, a faint pink aura surrounding his body. “Found one!” he suddenly shouted, stretching his arm around them all and teleporting them to said planet. “Everyone alright?” he asked, looking at them.

Lance nodded his head. “Yeah, but I think you broke Twilight.” As you look at her, the alicorn was looking dizzy and muttering “Error 404. Does not compute.”

“Ok, you guys see that planet over there?” Buu asked, pointing up into the sky.

“I guess that’s Equestria?”

“Yup and now I’m going to blow a planet up,” Buu said shifting down into a child sized version of himself. He held his hand up, a huge ball of pink energy starting to form in his open palm. He cackled madly before chucking the ball at a nearby planet. A moment later it exploded, filling the sky with violent light. “Me Buu make Boom!” he laughed, sounding a little insane.

“That was…”

“AWESOME!!!” Zapp shouted

“AWFUL!!!” came Saddle Rager’s reply.

“That planet wasn’t inhabited now, was it?” Lance asked, just for clarification.

Buu shook his head, reverting to his super form, “Of course not, I don’t kill, at most I absorb people.”

During this moment, Filli-Second was going into her costume to get some candy when she notices a orb on the ground with an M on it. To her though, she thought it was something else. “*GASP!!* JAWBREAKER!!!”

“For the love of all that is holy, don’t eat that!” Buu shouted, stopping her, “I’d rather not absorb you thank you very much.”

“Aww…” Filli-second pouted a little, upset at being denied the chance to have some sweets. Lance though, found a candy bar in his pocket and gave it to the earth pony to cheer her up.

“Well, that must be your summoning token then.” Lance said, now actually seeing it for the first time.

“Yup thats it,” Buu said nodding, “So, you said you were having trouble with some ghouls?”

“I was going to go hunting for them later. I have a lead, but I was thinking some ki based abilities can help me find them. You know, sense and what not. You did say you could teach me after I help you settle things with the girls.”

“Oh yeah,” Buu said, putting his hand on Lance’s head, “There ya go,” he said, pulling his hand back, “I just passed some knowledge to you.”

Lance felt the knowledge play back in his head like they have been coded into his mind. This contained…… everything. Buu must’ve been learning a lot of techniques over the years and now, he knew them too. “T-thanks!”

“Yup,” Buu said with a nod, “So... now what?” he asked, tilting his head, absentmindedly, floating around the grab, hands behind his head.

“I think we first return the girls back to where we were and then split ways. You got my token and I got yours, so call upon me when you need me.”

“You got...” Buu paused, “I have to go now,” he grabbed them up, returning them to their previous location, “See ya,” he said, opening up a portal. On the other side appeared to be Ponyville, being terrorized by Cooler and King Cold. Buu burst through it, catching Cooler in the face as the portal closed up.

“Alright… well, that was an experience.” Lance told himself as everypony was back in the command center. When Twilight got back to her senses, she looked at Lance with a look of confusion.

“W-where did Buu go?”

“He left,” Lance simply told her. “But he gave me his summoning token for if we need to call upon him again.”

“Seriously? How did he leave?”

…… Crap. He did not prepare for that part.

Some time later…

Before the Adept was going to go back into the field, he stopped by Solaria’s room in order to check on Lumen. He wanted to see if she was okay for being able to go back in the field with him now that she had some time for herself to recuperate. But after a visit, he found the Breezie still struggling to sleep. Lance felt sorry for her having to go through that. Maybe more rest was required to get over the fear.

When he left the room, the Adept patched in a com-line to the Masked Matterhorn and gave it a few minutes to sync. Once he was hooked up, the Azure striker sighed. “Mic check. Masked Matterhorn, do you copy?”

“I’m hearing you loud and clear. Are you sure about this, Gunvolt? You’re going to ignore dinner at this rate.”

“I got a possible lead that could lead me to the one responsible for the death of Milano. I need to act now before it goes up in smoke.” Lance said as he used some of his newfound Ki abilities to affect his speed and agility along with using Flashfield to glide in the air since he rather not attract any attention.

“Alright, I need you to look up the address I showed you earlier. 307 Buckingham way.”

“Yeah… about that… that address leads to a taco shop.”

Lance cocked an eyebrow at the response. “Figures. It said happy Taco Tuesday on the card. Should’ve taken that as a clue.”

“Yeah, but I highly doubt you would find what you're looking for inside there. I don’t even think that they would let you in through the front door.”

“Going through the front door wasn’t exactly the plan… Hang on, I think I found myself a way in.”

Lance was right on that one. For being a taco shop, he did not expect the location to have a food carriage to serve everypony during the day at the nearby park. Using his newly learned instant transmission, Lance ended up behind it and snuck in, hiding in a locker that was stuffed into the food van. Possibly for storage purposes. The Adept could soon hear voices coming from the drivers end of the carriage as it began to leave.

“League of Vigilante Justice, this is Sonata reporting. Over”

“Sonata, you don’t have to say over every time you’re trying to talk to us.”

“But that’s how it’s done in the Spy pony movies!! Ugh, you’re no fun Trixie.”

“That’s Mare Do Well to you!!”

Mare Do Well? That’s the name on the card!!

“Besides, why are you calling me anyway?”

“You’re going to need to help me out. Trixie’s got two potential recruits and through a battle with a hooded psycho the other night, Trixie lost her ID card to get in the base.”

“Can’t you just use the entrance above ground?”

“The Power Ponies and the police are looking for one of them for… reasons. I’ll explain later.”

Yeah, if you consider reasons being eating a foal’s mother alive.

“Alright alright, keep your hooves in your suit! I’m coming!!” He heard the one called “Sonata” say as she ended the phone call. “Aria was right. Trixie’s no fun at all.”

After about ten minutes, Sonata pulled up around the back entrance of the shop and parked the carriage. Lance used this moment to get out and act like a good samaritan once the pony came around the back side of the carriage. “Excuse me, ma’am. You seemed to have dropped this.”

Taking the card, Sonata smiled. “Thanks. I was wondering where this left. See you around!”

“Yep… You too…” Lance smiled, walking away. However, what was unknown to Sonata at the time was that the Adept transmitted a bit of his energy to the card. That way, it’ll serve as a tracking and listening device.

“So, what was that all about?”

“That was so we know where she’s going… and here what’s going on inside the Vigilante clubhouse. Ever know what to do when it comes to dealing with a pack of mice?”

“No, what’s that?” The Masked Matterhorn asked as she sounded like she was going to adjust herself.

“Simple, Flush them out.”

Lance put on a pair of headphones over his ears to make himself look like he was listening to a I-pon or an MP3 device. But, in reality, he was listening to the conversation that Sonata and the other members of the “League” were having. Even then so to the point where he was surprised to see a familiar face nearby.

“Oh hi, Lance!”

Turning to his left, the Adept saw the young foal, Button Mash. “Hey Buddy. What’s up?”

“The Sky?”

“No, I mean how are you? It’s just an expression.”

“Oh, I’m doing great. Iggy’s been doing great as well.”

‘Good dog.’ Lance thought to himself mentally.

“So, whatcha doing?” The Foal then proceeded to ask.

“Well… I’ve been doing some investigating and I might have a lead on your attacker.” Lance said, giving an earbud to the foal. “Listen. I placed a microphone in there so we could hear them even though we can’t see them.”

The Foal took up Lance on his offer and took the earbud. Around now though was where they began to start hearing the group talking about the individuals that Mare-Do-Well brought in.

“You’re kidding me… She ate a foal’s mother?”

“IT’S NOT LIKE I WANTED TOO!!” They heard the girl scream. “I LOST CONTROL OVER MYSELF AND WHO I WAS!! I COULDN’T THINK STRAIGHT AND WHEN I SAW THEM, I SNAPPED. IF I COULD REDO THAT ENCOUNTER, THEN I WOULD JUST RUN AWAY AND JUST CURL UP IN A CORNER AND DIE BECAUSE I’M NO LONGER THE PERSON THAT I AM!!...... I’ve become a monster…… and I hate myself for it.”

Lance noticed the expression on Button’s face change. He now looked… upset. Like he felt bad for the ghoul after hearing this. Even though this girl was the one that took his caring mother away from him, hearing this made him believe that she didn’t do it on purpose.

“Lance…”

“Yes, Button? Is something wrong?”

“C-can you forgive somepony who did something really horrible if they didn’t mean to do it?” The young earth pony asked. It was a tough question. One that the Adept couldn’t really answer at that point in time.

“I don’t know, buddy.” Lance answered honestly. “Why don’t you go back to your home? Your father is probably worried about you.”

“Oh, okay.” Button sighed. “Just… do one thing for me please.”

“Sure, what is it?”

“If you’re trying to go after my mom’s killer…… Don’t harm her please. She just seems… Lost and needs somepony to help her. Help her instead of hurt her.”

Lance was honestly surprised by the boy’s words. This… showed Maturity in the young foal. He nodded his head in a yes motion and watched as he trotted away. Refocusing himself, he now prepared to flush out the ghoul as he went topside on the top of the building next to the taco shop.

It all started with a snap of a finger. The action had the card that he channeled into and gave Sonata to turn into smoke and flood the chamber.

“W-what the!? Is this a gas leak?!”

“Who cares?! Someone must be coming!! Mare-Do-Well, get Kaoru up on top of the building next to the taco shop. We’ll see if someone decided to mess with us.”

“Got it, Touka.”

The Adept grinned. They fell for the distraction. Still, he stayed low on the building that was next to the restaurant. He waited till he saw the target until he saw both of them.

“Are we in the clear?”

“We should be-.”

When the pony spoke, Lance used a ki based trick that he learned from the knowledge that Buu gave him. In a flash, The Adept trapped the two of them with a ring of light blue energy. His own variation of Galactic Donuts, a classic technique by Gotenks.

“What the-?!”

“Well, you have been hard to track down. At least we can finally be able to have a conversation now… Kaoru.”

The girl looked towards Lance in the restraints that she was in. “H-how do you know my name? Matter of fact, who or what are you?”

“A Displaced like you. Mostly, I’m referred to as Gunvolt or the Azure Striker. But you can call me Lance.” The Adept replied. “As for knowing about you, I hid a listening device that turned to smoke once I heard everything I needed to know. I’ve been on your trail for a while now.”

“T-trail? Mare-Do-Well leaves no trail behind for individuals like you to follow!!”

“Oh really?” The Azure Striker questioned, holding up Mare-Do-Well’s membership card for the Vigilante League. “Then you’re telling me this isn’t yours?”

“Trixie!!!”

“W-where did you find that?”

“Your trashed hideout. Along with some… other evidence.”

“H-how dare you make a fool of me!! When I get my hooves on you, I’ll beat you to a bloody pulp.”

“Oh? Interesting.” Lance said. Soon, the ring that was around the two of them dissipated as Lance adjusted his gloves. “Very well, hit me with your best shot!!”

“You’ll pay for that whelp!” Trixie said as she throw an explosive mare-a-rang at Lance. Lance however, expected this and used his Flashfield to shield himself as the explosion went off outside the barrier. Next, The Adept switched clips to Mizuchi. This was referred to as the sniper clip since it had a long range, but could only tag one thing at a time. But the point in this was to get an advantage. He saw this Mare-Do-Well as a pony Batman. Take away the toolbelt and her options were limited.

Taking aim, he fired at the next mare-a-rang on her belt, which began to beep.

“Oh pony feathers!” Trixie removed her toolbelt just in time before it exploded. “Great, Mare-Do-Well was hoping she could take you out without using her hooves.”

“Trust me, I’ve dealt with worse. My mentor throws wrenches at my head as a training exercise.” Lance smirked. All he needed to do now was hold out a little while longer. “Am I to assume that this is a duel or a two-against-one fight?”

“More like a three-against-one pal.” Said Touka as she fired a barrage of crystals at the Adept. Lance’s first reaction was to use his Flashfield, which destroyed the crystals before they could even come close.

“And you must be the companion. It makes sense since I found the shards back in the hotel room.”

“Yes and unlike my friend over there, I have no problem eating to survive.” Touka’s kagune formed into a cape surrounding herself. “That also includes you kid.”

“And all I wanted to do was just talk. You can blame Trixie for starting a fight she couldn’t win.”

“Oh I’m not doing it because of what Trixie did, I’m doing it cause you’re in league with the Power Ponies. And something tells me they’re not that understanding towards what Kaoru did.”

“The Victims son is though. He wanted me to not harm your friend and tell her that he wanted me to help you instead of harm you.”

“I’ll believe that when the kid says it to her himself in person-.”

“That can be arranged.” Came a young and familiar voice. A foals voice. Lance turned around to see Button himself standing on his hooves on the back end of the roof. Right next to him was none other than Iggy. The Displaced Dog with the stand of The Fool. He must’ve used the Stands Paraglider mode so the youngling could go up top to where they were.

“Well, I did not see that one coming.”

The next thing though that he did not see coming was an attacker in a white hood coming down from the nearby building. The assailant surprised the Azure Striker as it used it’s shield to slam Mare-Do-Well into Touka and knock them off the edge of the building. Lance’s response was automatically switching to his Dullahan clip and blasting the punk in the face, causing his hood to fall down. But when the smoke cleared, all Lance could do was stare in shock at who he was seeing.

“C-cody?”

“Who the hell is Cody?” The White haired boy replied, drawing his revolver. “I am Copen, and I am here to end your life.”

End Strike 7

Strike 8- Dancing with the Devil

When Lightning Strikes- Dancing with the Devil

Power Pony HQ

“Hey girls, have you seen Twilight anywhere?”

It had only been a few hours since the power ponies had encountered the creature who was known as “Majin Buu” and now, most of them were talking amongst each other in the room that they use for Rest and relaxation. Mostly referred to by Humdrum as The Den, Mistress Marevelous and the other power ponies were inside, trying to make sense of the events that have occurred throughout the day. Everypony had mixed reactions on the matter, even Solaria when she came into the room with a well rested Lumen by her side, who was expecting to see Lance in there with them.

“Can’t say that Ah have, Sugarcube.” Mistress Marevelous replied to the Masked Matterhorn’s “Number One Sidekick”. “Ah haven’t seen that new guy either… What’s his name again?”

“You mean Geeves?”

“Zapp, that’s only the nickname that you call him by.” Solaria reminded him. “His field name is Gunvolt.”

“With his actual name being Lance.” Lumen tacked on to the Unicorn’s comment. “What exactly happened while I was asleep anyway?”

“We ran into one of those things Gunvolt called them… Displaced I believe. Looked like an inflated piece of Strawberry gum.”

“Gum that could destroy planets!” Zapp rasped. “Don’t worry though, he was a good guy once we got to know him.”

“Says the one who picked ah fight with him in the first place.”

“AJ!!!”

Lumen herself had a bit of mixed reactions to hearing about this other Displaced. Especially after still feeling the effects of tangling with Freddy. But from the sounds of this, this wasn’t exactly the same. For one thing, this individual was a lot nicer and didn’t play any tricks or illusions on them. Additionally, from the way Filli-Second described this “Buu”, he sounded like he was capable of a lot of things and wondered something. If Lance helped him clear things up with the girls, could he have gotten something in return? If so… what was it? For now though, she dismissed the thoughts. The Breezie thought it would be better if she did not think too much on the subject.

The subject of Lance though soon came up again, but in a different sense. This was because they heard the Masked Matterhorn soon shouting from the Command Center frantically. “Gunvolt, do you copy? Gunvolt? Gunvolt!? LANCE!!!”

“Sounds like trouble.” Solaria said as the girls soon got up from where they were sitting and galloped over to where there friend was. They found their Alicorn companion frantically trying to work with one of the monitors.

“Come on, WORK!! GODDESS DAMNED MACHINE!!!”

“Whoa whoa whoa, Twilight. Calm down for just a sec…” Zapp said, only to be cut off by an Alicorn that looked like she was having a panic attack.

“Calm DOWN!!? I can’t right now. This is bad!”

“Twilight, tell us what happened.” Lumen spoke now, catching the Masked Matterhorn’s attention.

“Lance wanted me to help him with a possible lead he found out before we encountered our… Visitor earlier today. I was in contact with him until a few moments ago, where the com-lines were disconnected. Any tries to reconnect with him have failed and all I heard before this happened was what sounded like Lance encountered somepony in combat.

While the Masked Matterhorn was trying to explain everything though, Solaria was looking at a nearby Television that had the news on and bit her lower lip. “Uhh… girls? We got trouble.”

Before anypony from the Heroes of Harmony could say anything, Solaria points towards the Screen as the new report began to play.

“Shots fired from atop a Taco Shop in the Everfree Community Mall. The individuals that seem to be involved in the current standoff look to be the Azure Striker and some hooded Assassin’s Steed Motherbucker…”

Twilight had only one reaction to this as she looked at her friends. “GET HIM ON THE PHONE!!! GET HIM ON THE PHONE!!!! I WANT HIM ON THE PHONE, NOW!!!”

During this though, Nopony happened to notice that Lumen was nowhere in the vicinity. For she had one other objective on her mind. Return to her Partner.

Everfree Community Mall (Rooftops)

As soon as Copen pulled his weapon and aimed it at Lance’s head, The Adept responded with the same motion as both of their energy based shots collided into one another and cancelled each other out. However, the Adept Slayer was not going to let a blond haired boy interfere with his goals. He first planned on taking out the so called Ghoul before focusing on the Adept. With her friends and that Pesky Unicorn out of the way and the dog flying off to take the young foal it was with to safety, the only ones who were left were the hunter…… and the hunted.

Taking aim with his shield, the bottom end of the buckler soon formed a crossbow as a powerful charge was beginning to form, only to be let loose as a powerful beam. “ARROGANT RADIANCE!!”

Lance dodged the beam as he barrel rolled to his left, only turning back to see how the Ghoul reacted to the blast. Kaoru summon her kagune to protect her from the beam heading towards her. To her surprise it didn’t hurt her as much as when the Hunter shot her in the chest, but it did cause her to be pushed back a bit. After seeing this, Lance returned to the Task at Hand and charged up his Septima to perform a skill that costed him two of his three skill points.

Seconds later, a claymore of electricity was shot forth in a piercing motion, striking Copen along the chestplate. It left a brutal scar, but did minor damage to the Adept Slayer’s body. Lance himself still couldn’t personally believe that this individual was actually one of his best friends.

Back home, their plan was to attend Anime Los Angeles for all three days. However, the first day of the event was when he came across the merchant and how he ended up here. If Cody were here now, then something must’ve happened on one of those other days. And to do that, he needed to snap his friends out of this crazed trance he was in.

“I don’t know who you are, and right now I don’t care. All I do know is that I’m so gonna enjoy eating you for what you did to me at the hotel.”

“Kaoru, don’t. I know this guy.” Lance told her as he looked over his shoulder and switched to another clip, The Technos clip. “He’s suppose to be my friend, but something is causing him to not be himself. It’s like…… some kind of mind control.”

“Oh great, as if this wasn’t hard enough. So we just have to knock some sense into him then?”

“Maybe? I’m not quite exactly sure at this point. Are your friends okay?” Lance asked, only pausing for a moment to jump back to avoid an incoming shield bash from Copen.

“They’re fine, it’ll take more than that to hurt them.”

“What about the Unicorn? Your ghoul friend did land on top of her.” The Adept then began to fire using the Technos clip. Despite it not having as much tagging capabilities as his other clips, Technos fired his shots in two separate directions. Lance thought of it as a good way to distract Copen and prevent him from firing his revolver.

“Ghouls skin are as hard as steel.”

“I wasn’t talking about it like that-.”

“GET THE HAY OFF OF ME!!! YOU’RE CRUSHING TRIXIE’S RIBCAGE!!!”

“I CAN’T CAUSE I’M STILL SEEING STARS AFTER YOU WERE THROWN AT ME!!!”

“AND YOU WERE THE ONE WHO LANDED ON TOP OF ME!!!”

“Well, I guess Gravity’s a b*tch in this scenario.” Lance muttered before noticing Copen aiming his rifle towards Kaoru. “GET DOWN!!!”

Copen pulled the trigger as his shots went towards Kaoru. His intentions for this were to acquire the powers that came with Kaoru’s Kagune form. But that plan failed when Lance used a few tricks he learned from Buu to create a whip of Ki and yank her out of the way like a cartoon character getting yanked offscreen.

“What is with your friend coming after me?” Kaoru asked.

“That gun of his allows him to nullify an Adept’s Septima, or someone’s powers and possibly take it as his own. Something tells me that after seeing you use that form of yours to protect yourself, he wants it.”

“Wait but wouldn’t that make him into a ghoul just like me?”

“Not quite. The character that he is right now is a human that uses stolen adept powers acquired from fallen adepts. Something tells me that with him being with us in a world filled with Superheroes and Ponies, the rules of the game change.”

Lance was quick to react again as he switched his guns clip again. This time, it was back to the Orochi clip. The one that he used to corner the Mane-iac with. As he began to shoot, a tiny drone the size of a teacup began to fire a spray of bolts that kept Copen on the move. The Hunter noticed the Drone though and used his weapon to turn it into scrap metal while preparing another attack.

This time though, the attack was a lot different. Purple energy formed around the Adept Slayer as several Doppelgangers began to form from his shield.

“Oh COME ON!!!” Lance hollered as he was knocked back against a brick wall due to the rushing attack that came with no warning whatsoever. Kaoru was also struck by the sudden attack, but her Kagune reduced the damage she would’ve taken.

“You know for a so called hero, you’re not doing a good job at it.” Kaoru said to the Azure Striker.

“Honestly, the media took it too far. Masked Matterhorn gave me a week to prove myself before she has the final decision on if I become one or not. Today’s day two.” Lance struggled to stand again as blood dripped from his forehead.

“Figures those heroes would do that… Hey is that blood dripping from your head?”

Lance wiped his forehead and gritted his teeth. “Sh*t. Give me a second…” Before the ghoul could do anything, Lance used one of the recharged Skill points from earlier to activate Galvanic Patch.

“Damn was hoping I could taste some of it.” Kaoru stomach started to growl. “....Don’t judge me, I haven’t eaten anything in the past three months. And drinking nothing but water & coffee isn’t helping.”

“Question, does one bite help?” Lance asked.

“Depends, why you ask?”

“I can heal faster than normal. Which means if you do bite me, my flesh regenerates a few minutes later and be good as new. If you think eating will help restore your strength and help my friend snap out of it, then I’m planning to take any risks.”

“You do realize that once I bite you, I might go berserk right?”

“DON’T… try to lecture me about consequences. My partner right now is suffering from nightmares after a Displaced Spirit of Madness broke her spirit.” The Adept told her as he rolled up his sleeve, showing his free arm. “Do what you need to do.”

“Fine, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Kaoru warned, sinking her teeth into Gunvolt’s arm taking a chunk of his flesh off and swallowing it. A mask formed around her right eye, and her centipede kagune appeared along with her normal kagune. She then focus her attention onto the Adept Slayer, and vanish in split second. Lance’s flesh, like he had said before, was slowly restoring itself, but just for an added measure, executed Galvanic Patch again so he was healed. He knew what to do and if the Ghoul tried to eat him again, he could shock her with the lightning that he can channel from his skin.

Also, he knew a few things a few things about The Adept Slayer that Kaoru didn’t. He was quick on his feet, clever and crafty. He saw this as Ravenous Flies began to form around him as he shot his hand forward.

“FLESH EATER!!!”

Kaoru appeared behind the Adept Slayer, using her kagune to knock him straight into one of the air conditioning vents on top of the building. Copen was quick to get back up though. When he ganged up on her before and shot the ghoul, he obtained a regeneration skill that worked similarly to Gunvolt’s Galvanic Patch. This allowed him to get back up quickly and shield smash Kaoru’s face near milliseconds before she could strike her.

“You can’t eat if you don’t have teeth.” The hunter taunted as he watched the ghoul struggle to her feet. A new sound though attracted Copen’s attention as he now looked at Lance, who had unsheathed the blade that Humdrum made for him and used it to cut down the swarm of flies around himself.

“Well, I never thought you would have any new toys to play with.”

“Cody, knock this sh*t off. This isn’t you.”

“And I told you before, I’m Copen. Not this boy that you speak of.”

Lance sighed. Guess talking was not going to help any. Only chance he had now was to-.

“RRRRAAAHHH!!!” Kaoru rocketed forward towards Copen. This time using her centipede kagune to attack him and her normal kagune as a shield to protect her from any attacks the slayer had.

As Copen knock Kaoru back though, Lance noticed something. A new figure, emerging behind Kaoru and her Kagune. “Sorry about this kid, but at the rate you’re acting you’ll end up killing someone.” The figure said as it grabbed Kaoru and slammed her on to the roof with brute force, knocking her out.

Lance was startled by the new voice. “Kaoru!! Who the bloody hell are you!?”

“The one who’s going to kill you both.”

Lance felt his blood freeze, but he didn’t. The Adept saw this before. “You’re… The One Eyed Owl. Just what the hell do you want with her? Will she be okay?”

“Hehehe… That is for me to know, and for you to find out little boy.” The Owl lifted Kaoru up from the ground and swallowed her whole. “But then again, you’re in league with the Power Ponies so I might as well take you with me as well.”

“How about her friend?”

The Owl looked at the Blond Adept in confusion as Lance spoke. “Kaoru had a friend with her that’s also a ghoul. I’ll let you take her if you leave the two of us to take care of some… Unfinished Business. Plus… you have a limited amount of time anyways.”

“What are you-?”

“I sent a beacon signaling my position to my Mentor back at Power Pony HQ when Kaoru bit my arm using a pain sensor in my gear that has those tracking my Com-line also track my vital signs. If I’m right, you have three minutes to make a choice before they show up.”

“Smart kid, I give you that. Fine, we’ll leave for the time being.” The Owl tossed him a card with something written on it. “This is the new location for the league if you want to come after Kaoru, but know this human… If you and your Power Ponies do come after her to bring her to “Justice”. Me, the Ghoul sisters, and Arima will not show mercy to you all if you try to hunt her.”

“First off, I’m an Adept. Not a Human. Second, I’m not trying to hunt her or bring her to justice. I’m trying to help her. She sees herself as a monster for what she has become and I wanted to help her know that she isn’t that. Third, if I do come, I will come alone. I want to help her and not have her locked up. Because right now, she’s like a scared dog. No sense of direction or guidance on how to do things right.”

“Fine then kid, I’ll make a deal with you. If you can convince the Power Ponies to see her as a person that needs help, then I’ll have you and your “heroes” train her along with the league. But if you can’t and if this is some kind of trap…… Well let’s just say you better have some fighting experience with a SSS type ghoul then.” The owl lifted it’s hand at Gunvolt as if it wants to shake his hand. “Agreed?”

Lance began to think things through. It seemed like a difficult task, but not an impossible one. It wasn’t like he was going anywhere anytime soon. “Agreed. But for right now, I’ll let you hold onto her. I still have to gain some more experience and also the trust of the other power ponies before I could convince them of anything. The Masked Matterhorn and Solaria trust me, so that’s a start. But I still have a long ways to go. When I gain their trust, I’ll come to the hideout for a “visit”. Fair enough?”

“Fair enough kid. Till then, Arima will keep an eye on you during that time. You have a month to do so, and if you haven’t done so by then. Then I’ll hunt you down kid along with your team, and eat you.”

“So one month and then I visit? Sounds fair.” The Adept said. “Quick question though, where’s the guy that was here a moment ago… You know… the one with the shield?”

“Arima should of taken care of him right now, don’t worry… He only knocked out. Whatever or whoever it was that was controlling him should be off of him now.”

In front of Lance now laid the unconscious body of Copen. He was knocked out cold, probably due to whatever this “Arima” did to him. “Thank you. I appreciate your generosity… I’ll see you in a month.” With this, the exhausted Adept used what energy he had left to sense the current location of The Masked Matterhorn, who was halfway across from where he was and performed an Instant Transmission to teleport himself out. Leaving the Owl alone with Arima watching in the shadows.

“So… what do you think of this… Adept, Arima?”

“..........”

“You’re right. He can be trusted, but I want you to put him and his team to the test. Words mean nothing if he can’t back it up.”

“..........”

“You can beat him and his team, but don’t kill them. After all if he does tell them where we are you can kick their ass when one of them sneaks in to HQ.”

“.........”

“No, I’m not gonna ask him if his friend is single!!! I’m not gonna date him, plus I have the body of a seventeen year old so that would be awkward!!!”

“........” With that, Arima begins to walk back to HQ.

“Hey, get back here you jerk! I’m not done talking to you!!!”

As they left, what the owl did not know was that the part where this “Gunvolt” was going to back up his claims was going to happen sooner than they thought.

Empty Field (Not far from HQ)

While flying towards the signal that was set off by one of Lance’s pain sensors, the Masked Matterhorn did not notice to see somepony land in the fields below. The other thing she didn’t notice was for that somepony to be Lance of all people.

“Gunvolt!!”

“Down here!!!” He hollered as the Alicorn set herself down. The first thing she did though seconds after landing was smack Lance with her right hoof.

“Oww!! What the bloody hell was that for!?!”

“THAT… was for making us worried! When the pain sensor went off, we thought that you were close to getting killed.”

“Felt like that after tonight…”

“No time for jokes.” By now though, Twilight had noticed the individual next to him. “Who’s he?”

“He’s my friend, Cody. But earlier tonight, he was acting very strange. Almost like he was possessed. He even tried to kill Kaoru and I.”

“Kaoru?”

“That was the Ghoul’s name.” Lance explained. “Anyways, can you use your magic and try to figure out what caused him to act crazy a few moments earlier?” The Alicorn nodded as she started to cast a spell on him that covered the body of Lance’s friend. After a few moments though, he eyes widened. “T-that’s impossible!!”

“What? Is something wrong?”

“Yeah. What happened was that your friend was possessed by a villain we call Puppeteer. He is capable of using Magic to make others do his bidding. I need to remove him of any residue that might be still lingering around his body in order for him to be fully free from his control. Stay near me, I’m teleporting up to HQ.”

“Yes, Madam.” Lance responded, but before they could leave, a tiny voice was calling out.

“Wait for me!”

“L-lumen!?” The Adept was shocked to see her. “I thought you were still recovering.”

“My nightmares are gone now. I should be fine. Let’s go!”

With that, Twilight teleported the three of them and one unconscious body to the infirmary inside HQ. The sudden arrival startled Humdrum, who was in there looking for the bottle of Aspirin to give to Mistress Marevelous for a headache she was getting shortly after the freakout back at base earlier in the night.

“T-twilight!! You’re back-!”

“Not now, Humdrum. We got an emergency. Get Solaria in here, I need her help.”

The young dragon gave the Alicorn a Salute as Lance set his friend down on the examination table. He removed him of his hood so that way Twilight could see his face.

“Lance, please step out of the room. I need to concentrate so I can help him.”

The Adept nodded, closing the door behind him. When he walked outside, he saw Radiance and Zapp waiting outside as Solaria passed Lance. “Darling, you’re okay!”

“You can say that.” Lance said. “I think we got other issues though.”

“Oh? Like what Geeves?” Zapp asked. Lance sighed as he walked alongside the two ponies and then sat on the couch in the Den.

“My best friend tried to kill me tonight, had to help a ghoul that was starving to death as he tried to shoot us and then… It’s best you don’t know.”

Lance stopped there because he was taking the Owl’s warning seriously. He told him of a figure named Arima watching over him. So, he needed to keep his trap shut about the meeting if he wanted to live.

“What about the pain sensor of yours?”

“That was me helping the ghoul.” Lance said, showing the left behind imprints from Kaoru’s teeth. “But enough about me. I’m worried about Cody.”

“Cody?”

“My friend. Masked Matterhorn said that he was under the control of somepony called The Puppeteer.”

The name had the ponies in the room gasp. But it also made them wonder…… How is The Puppeteer able to do his magic. Last time that they remembered…

He was in Solace Asylum.

Solace Asylum (One hour earlier)

Inside the Maximum security prison, guards stood at every door for the purpose of maintaining order. But for the guards in the prison… and the inmates for that matter… Things were going to get a little loud. It all started with a simple security check. Two Unicorn Stallions that were part of the Royal Police went up to the entrance for what some would call “The Villain Vault”. It was a section of Solace Asylum where the Power Ponies locked up all the prisoners that they have accumulated over the years that the heroes have been on the streets. This time though, the guards at the check in were surprised to see what the guards were bringing in.

The newest inmate looked like a bipedal hairless minotaur. It had a mane that was Spiked everywhere with a section that had a sliver of white resemble a crescent moon.

“Err…… Who is this?”

“Newest Inmate,” One of the guards said. “Tried to attack a caravan on the side of the road and demonstrated signs of powers, so we’re putting him with the others.”

“I’m sorry… But this one doesn’t seem so… Threatening.”

Now was when the unknown figure looked at the guards, a glint of violet in his eyes. “Is there a problem, Officer?”

Soon, both guards were standing up straightly. Acting like they were in the presence of a General. “Oh no no no… There’s no problem. Guards, escort this… thing to his cell.”

The guards pressed a few keys with their hooves and soon let the two of them inside. Shortly after the door closed though, the bipedal figure lifted a hand at the two of them

“Thank you, officers.”

Two energy balls soon ran out, striking the two guards in the head and having them drop to the floor. “Good job you two. That was quite an act you pulled off, Hot Spot.”

“Hey, whatever works. Let’s break out our comrades. Third Eye? How many guards do we have?”

Soon the second Stallion closed his eyes, channeling his magic. Then, his eyes reopened. “They’re in the break room. The officers are there due to some kind of work celebration.”

The bipedal figure, which you may think was a human, now smiled. “Time to go to work.”

He walked under the guard rails and out of the sight of the security camera’s. Soon, he was close to the Break Room. Where he saw the guards celebrating and drinking steins of Cider. He then stepped in.

“Evening, Gentlemen.”

Before the Guards could react, the individual’s hands began to form mystical energy around his hands as they surged around him.

Multiple shots of energy rang out, striking the guards and causing them to lose control of themselves and pass out on the ground. Striding towards the head guard, he picked the keys from his harness.

“This could be useful-.”

BOOM!!

“If Hot Spot actually had some self control.” The Adept sighed.

He then went out into the center of the Vault, where all the villains there gathered. It looked like twenty to thirty of them, give or take. But it didn’t really matter. One of them though, a tall pony with a crazed mane looked at him.

“Who the hay is this guy?”

“He’s the one that not only set up the plan to get you out, but helped reorganize the League Mane-iac. Something that you were never able to do.”

“Why you little-.”

“Enough!! Both of you!!!” The Adept’s voice boomed as it attracted everyone’s attention. “While it is true that I got you out, I did not get you out so you two can bicker pathetically like children. Which is why, from now on, I am in charge here. One need a compass to guide them while on travel. For you right now, I am that Compass.”

“Very well,” one other pony snorted while everypony else murmured in shock and awe. “What should we call you?”

The boy smiled as he turned to look at the Villain. “My name is Nova. But you refer to me as Nova, the Mighty if you wish. And we… will be known as Sumeragi.”

End Strike 8

Author's Note

Sh*t's getting intense. Co-Written with my friend and fellow writer ElementBrigade. As for the Two New Villains, Hot Spot is a Unicorn that can cause anything to become an explosive when touched by his magic while Third Eye has Psychic abilities and can see through walls.

Fun Fact: Sumeragi is the Japanese Kanji that means "Emperor"

Strike 9- My December

Author's Note

Hello there! If you're new here and just started reading this story, welcome to the chapter.

For those who are just coming here and seeing that this story just updated, despite saying 'Completed', allow me to explain further. Last year, Grey Ghost said that since he rebooted his KH story Something from Nothing, he wanted to redo the crossover between his story and mine. I agreed to this and for a long time, this was what we were working on. This is the end result.

This chapter is dedicated to Voldine as well, a co-author of Grey's who was a good friend and passed away earlier this year. We wanted to finish what we started with her and now, here we are. Rest in Peace.

Thank you very much for your time. Have a wonderful day and happy holidays.
-Frost

P.S. I chose this chapter be uncensored because I think it would be better for portraying the characters in this chapter. I am considering going through a lot of the other chapters in this story and correct them to match this. Though, I am just thankful to have this done.

Strike 9- My December

When Lightning Strikes- My December

It had been some time after Masked Matterhorn brought Lance back to Power Pony HQ and in that time, the adept had several thoughts bouncing off the walls of his mind. Many events from the last few hours were still fresh in his memory, but there was one particular one that he was still trying to wrap his head around. His friend Cody, who he thought that he was never going to see again, was alive and in his world. Yet, their first encounter wasn’t exactly the most ideal reunion that the adept wanted. For not long after they met face to face, Cody tried to kill him.

Fortunately, Lance was able to stop him before he could do so. Yet, all that did was just leave him with more questions than answers. An examination by a spell Masked Matterhorn cast on him revealed that his friend was under the influence of a particular spell. One that was used by a villain that was supposed to be locked away in Solace Asylum. Even though the residue of the spell was now gone, Cody was still heavily injured to the point that the adept had to help take the armor off of him so that his wounds could be treated properly.

As the morning sun rose, Masked Matterhorn got a call from Detective Whooves about an urgent matter that needed her attention. With her visiting the detective and the rest of the power ponies either out on patrol or attending to personal matters, it was up to Lance and Humdrum to watch over the base while they were gone. To many, that would be rather simple. Just clean up around headquarters, make sure the command center was organized and that all the technology was working properly.

Yet, as the day went on, Humdrum began to notice something. Every once in a while, he would see Lance come back around and look into the room where his friend was being kept. The first time around when he was emptying the trash was accidental, yet as the day went on, the dragon noticed him come back around numerous times. He wasn’t exactly a genius like that of Twilight, but he could tell that something was bugging him.

Around the time they broke for lunch in the kitchen, the sidekick decided to say something, “Hey Lance? I know this is going to sound weird, but are you doing okay?”

“Huh?” the adept asked as he was starting to make himself a sandwich on the kitchen counter, “What do you mean?”

“Well, I’ve been noticing you looking towards the infirmary as we were cleaning up around the base every so often,” Humdrum replied back, “I don’t want to get ahead of myself or anything, but does it have something to do with your friend?”

At that moment, Lance let out a deep breath as he put the peanut butter and grape jelly that he was using back in the fridge, “Yeah… a bit,” he admitted, “I’m just worried, you know?”

“Why? We made sure that his injuries were taken care of and everything.” the dragon said.

“Not in that sense,” the azure striker countered, “I’m worried about how he’ll react when he wakes up.”

“Oh,” Humdrum didn’t really even think about that. Though, that didn’t exactly explain Lance’s behavior at all. If anything, it left the sidekick with more questions than answers. Though, he wanted to know more about how Lance knew him before he jumped to conclusions, “Is he a good friend of yours?”

“One of my closest friends,” Lance responded, “Back where I’m from, he and I went to school together. Cody and I were friends with four other people and each one of us had our own traits that made us stand out. That made us unique and not like everybody else. One of my friends from back home even reminds me of Saddle Rager.”

Humdrum was a bit puzzled by that statement and quickly retorted, “In what regard?”

“Oh, uh… she’s rather shy and nervous around other people, but is rather comfortable when she’s around her friends.”

“Well, that makes a lot more sense,” the sidekick let out a sigh of relief, thankful for the clarification. For a moment, he thought that he was referring to how Saddle Rager was like when she was angry instead of just her normal self, “Your friends sound like a great bunch.”

“Heh… You got that right,” the azure striker replied, “And that’s exactly why I’m worried. Ever since I came here, I thought that I had been separated from them with no way of knowing what happened to my friends. Next thing I know, I found out that Cody was here and then he tried to kill me.”

“Technically, Puppeteer tried to kill you. You know, since his magic was controlling him?” the sidekick pointed out to him. Though, that just had Lance let out a small breath as he got up to get himself a drink.

“Yeah, but I highly doubt that Cody will actually remember that since he was under someone else’s control,” the azure striker explained, filling his glass with water and putting in some ice. Once he had his drink, Lance walked back over to the table and set his stuff down, “Besides, when he does wake up, I want to make sure I can at least help try to answer any questions that he might have. Because I’m betting you that he’s going to have a lot of them.”

“How many exactly?”

“How many questions would you have if you woke up in an unknown place and saw things that you didn’t think would be possible?”

At first, the sidekick raised a talon and was going to respond. Though, after thinking over a bit, Humdrum began to understand what the Adept was talking about. “Fair enough, I see your point.”

After seeing that the dragon understood what he meant, the adept decided to ask a new question, “So, what are we going to do after lunch? Do we have any more tasks we need to finish? Maybe training to get too?”

“For me, more than likely,” Humdrum said as he finished his meal and walked over to the sink and began to wash his dishes. “For you though? I honestly think you need a well deserved break.”

When the adept heard the sidekick say that, he honestly thought that he misheard what Humdrum was saying. “I’m sorry, I thought I heard you say that I needed a break.”

“I did,” the dragon told him, stopping with the dishes as he turned to face Lance, “I know that you’re wanting to prove yourself and show that you have the capabilities of being a hero, but part of that is making sure to take care of yourself too. Let me remind you that since you arrived in Maretropolis; you had a close call with the Mane-iac, had wrenches thrown directly at your face during your first training session with Solaria, we had that strange encounter with that Buu figure that Filli-Second is still trying to wrap her head around, Lumen’s still trying to recover after that one person who called on you traumatized her and last night, you purposely let a ghoul bite your arm.”

“Technically, I had a bit of a reason for that last one,” Lance pointed out.

Humdrum sighed at that as he turned back around to finish washing his dishes and pulled open the dishwasher, “My point still remains. Heck, this isn’t the first time somepony in the Power Ponies was overdoing it. When we were first starting out, Zapp would run herself ragged and tire herself out by constantly going on patrol. Though, one of the benefits of being on a team is having somepony cover for you if you need to rest,” Once the dragon put the dishes away, he looked back towards the Adept as he was finishing up his lunch and bringing his dishes over. “Take some time to catch a breather and rest your head a bit. I’ll be sure to let you know if anything comes up.”

“Wow… uh, thanks Humdrum. I appreciate it,” Lance replied, not entirely sure what to make of it as he began to walk out of the kitchen.

“Spike, actually.”

Lance stopped, mere feet from the door as he looked back towards the dragon. “What?”

“That’s my name,” the sidekick clarified, “Humdrum is just the name I use in the field. Like how you would use Gunvolt. Wouldn’t exactly make sense to call ourselves by our code names while inside now so I thought I’d tell you my name.”

“Uh, thanks,” Lance replied, scratching the back of his head as he looked back at the dragon with a rather awkward expression on his face. He wasn’t exactly sure what to make of it, but he still appreciated it nonetheless. “I… think I’ll go take that break now. I’ll try not to be too long.”

“Take as much time as you need,” the dragon insisted, watching the adept walk out the door and down the hallway as he began to finish up in the kitchen, “These kinds of temporary breaks are rather rare nowadays.”

“So wait, let me see if I heard you right,” Lumen asked as she was idly flying right around where Lance’s nose was. After the adept had returned to his quarters, the breezie had woken up on the impression that both of them were going to be needed out in the field. However, when he shared the news to her that they were instead taking a break from being out on patrol, she felt rather puzzled. “We’re taking a break today? Why?”

“Humdrum, or as I now know him as, Spike told me that he was worried that we would be pushing ourselves a bit too much after everything both you and I had been through for the last few days,” Lance explained, trying to be as clear as possible so that his partner could understand. “He recommended that we take some time to ourselves so that we don’t ‘overdo it’. From the way he explained it, it sounded like Spike was speaking from experience.”

“Well, if we’re not going on patrol, then isn’t there something that we can do here to-”

At that point, Lance shook his head, “It’s not just patrol, Lumen. He meant everything. He even shot me down when I asked if he needed help with doing basic chores. Not literally but… you get what I mean.”

At that, the breezie couldn’t help but giggle for a moment as Lance walked over and took a seat in the chair next to the desk that was in the back of the room and set his weapon down. Though, as the adept sat down, he looked over at his friend to see that her expression had changed a bit as some birds flew by the nearby window. It was brief, but there was a look of fear and panic on her face. Almost like when they were called forth by the spirit of madness and then they proceeded to trap the breezie in a birdcage just to taunt him.

“Lumen, is everything alright?”

When he spoke, that was when she snapped back to reality. As if an illusion had been broken and she was now seeing clearly for the first time. Though, it was as Lumen’s eyes were looking around the room that she looked back to Lance with a puzzled expression, “Huh? What do you mean?”

At that, Lance just let out a small breath, “Lumen, be honest with me. Are you doing okay? I’ve noticed that you’ve been acting weird sometimes and I’m just… concerned for you, that’s all.”

When he asked that, the expression on the breezie’s face began to change rather quickly. At first, she seemed rather timid and nervous to say anything. Though, after some time, that was when she chose to speak. “I-I’m fine. T-though there are times where… Even though we’re home and I feel like I’m free as a bird, I find myself back in that cage. H-helpless and unable t-to do anything as I could only-.”

At this, Lance couldn’t help but place his hand out and have the breezie rest on it to try and comfort his companion’s distress. “Easy there. I-if it’s too much to talk about, then don’t worry about it.”

“B-but what if it happens again?” She then asked, “W-what if we get pulled away and whoever brought us is just as bad? M-maybe even worse-?”

At that, the adept was quick to interrupt as he tried to give her a look of confidence, “While it may be true that we might be called again by someone else entirely, I promise you that I’m not going to let anyone else lay a finger on you. We’re partners, and partners look out for each other. No matter what happens, I won’t let you go through what happened that day ever again.”

“P-Promise?”

Lance nodded his head, but before he had the chance to respond back, he couldn’t help but feel a little light headed as he staggered a bit in place. Yet, this wasn’t him feeling tired or anything close to that. If anything, it was exactly the same as when Freddy summoned him before. “O-oh god.”

“W-what? Lance, what’s going on? Talk to me-” the breezie replied, before her eyes widened as she realized what was happening, “Oh no. L-lance, is it happening again?”

The adept could only nod his head as he tried to get a grip on what was happening. Yet, the more that he tried, the more that it fought back and became harder to resist. The only thing that he could do was open up a pocket in his coat, “L-lumen, g-get in. Quick-”

Immediately, Lumen flew in as lightning began to crackle around the Azure Striker. Just as soon as this phenomenon started, he was gone as he disappeared in a flash of lightning. However, at the same time this happened, that was when the door was opened and someone else walked in.

“Hey Lance, is everything alri-? What the HAY-!?!”

Elsewhere (A few moments earlier)

Rubbing his hands together, Alex warded off the evening chill. Hearth's Warming Eve was upon Ponyville, gracing the town with a light snowfall. The town’s massive gazebo had been selected as the meeting spot, somewhere not too far from either house. Shifting his head, he glanced around once more for Snails.

A small glowing circle appeared on the ground near Alex, gradually filling in with a set of complex runes before the glow went from white to orange. For a second there was an image in the center of the circle of a familiar cutie mark, and then there was a burst of light and heat right beside him as the young unicorn popped through the teleportation glyph. His horn appeared to be scorched and smoking, and there was a tiny flame on his tail, but other than gasping for breath like he’d just participated in the Running of the Leaves, he was okay.

Jumping from his seat, Alex knelt down by Snails’s side. “Holy shit! You teleported!” Bringing a hand up, he gave a quick cast of Cure. “You alright?”

“Ha! Heh...wow, so that’s what she meant about it taking more out of you to go longer distances. So many little dancing stars.” Snails leaned heavily against Alex for a few seconds before managing to put all of his weight on his own hooves. “Yeah, fine, I just wanted to surprise you. Teleported all the way from my bedroom. Twilight only let me go from one side of the room to the other while teaching me.”

Alex whistled, putting a hand on Snails’ head. “That’s pretty impressive. I still can’t do it at all!” Retaking his seat, he patted the bench next to him. “I saved ya a seat.”

Snails nodded and moved over to hop up onto the bench beside Alex. A few seconds of just relaxing and catching his breath a bit more were needed before his horn lit up to pull a small carved box out of the neck of his scarf to hand over to Alex. “I ah, I found this while I was doing some bug hunting the day before Rainbow Dash blew up the factory. Dad helped me make the box for it, but I thought it’d be helpful for you with your hair if you let it grow out?”

Taking the box, Alex gingerly lifted the lid. Laying on a small cushion, a metallic sheen greeted his eyes. Taking it in his hand, Alex identified it as a hair clip. Vaguely wing shaped, it had a certain minimalist charm.

“Why wait?” Alex asked with a smile. Grabbing hold of his hair, he clipped it into place. “I’ve never worn one of these, so, tell me if I look goofy.” Turning to Snails, he held his smile. “Don’t hold back now.”

“You only look goofy when you hear something that makes you confused… or that time Screwball accidentally kicked your elbow.” Snails responded evenly, but also while standing up on the bench for a moment to get a good look. ”Black and white is always a nice color contrast. It looks like you’ve got a tiny set of wings in your hair…”

Feeling the warmth in his face, Alex glanced away. “Thanks. I’ll try to wear it more often when my outfits aren’t just heavy padding.”

Reaching into his coat, Alex felt his mouth going dry. Holding out the rectangular present, he found a very interesting knot on the floor. “I made this for you. Discord helped a little.”

“Hmmm?” Snails’s telekinetic grip slowly wrapped around the gift and took it from Alex. He gave it a brief shake since the ‘I made this’ implied there wasn’t anything alive inside, but Discord was also involved. After listening for a few seconds to make sure that whatever was wrapped up hadn’t become angry, Snails began to undo the wrapping, without tearing it as much as possible.

A thick journal greeted him, bearing the title of ‘Snail’s Insect Compendium’. The lettering glimmered different colors, each letter shifting to another shade every few seconds.

“It’s enchanted.” Reaching over, Alex opened it to a random page. “If you um... put a bug to the blank page, it’ll make an illustration of it. Then you can fill out all your observations about it on the opposite page.”

“Oh wow, that’s really neat. Thanks a bunch Alex!” He leaned in to wrap one foreleg around Alex in a brief hug. “Do they have to be alive? I have a few husks I’ve found that I kept as much of as possible. I’m sure at least one is a giant cicada…”

Alex shook his head. “I don’t think so…” He returned the hug, pouting a bit. “… Maybe we should ask Discord. Just in case.” Pulling away, he brushed his hand against the braid. “Wish I could just summon him.”

As he said that, Alex couldn’t help but feel a small shock of static as his hand was close to the hair clip that Snails had given him. At first, it didn’t seem like much. Yet, a few moments afterwards, the two of them heard a loud crash echo from a nearby alleyway that wasn’t far from the gazebo.

Rushing to the railing, Alex summoned Aubade. “Did you see what fell?” he asked, peering out into the snow. “You stay here, I’ll go see what that was.” Leaping into the snow, he rushed to the source of the sound.

Yet, when he got closer, that was when he began to hear a voice come from the alley. A somewhat familiar one, “L-lance, this was not what I had in mind when I told you that you needed to take a break.”

“T-this wasn’t what I-” Another voice, this one different from the first, spoke now, “W-wait, Humdrum? H-how did you-?”

“I was coming to check on you and the moment I opened the door, I saw a bright light followed by landing face first in… wait, Snow?” The first voice spoke again, “It’s the middle of summer back in Maretropolis, why is it snowing here-?”

Alex paused, standing at the mouth of the alley. “Spike?” he called. “What are you doing here? I thought you went up to Canterlot with Twilight?”

There was a bit of silence, followed by the sounds of movement as Alex now had a better look at who was in the Alley. Immediately, he could recognize Spike. However, he was wearing what could only be described as a superhero costume with a mask over his face. As for who was next to him, it was a human that wore an azure coat and black plated gauntlets and boots. Their eyes were the same color as the rest of their clothes, but their hair was blonde and much of it was tied together with a long braid that reached down to their waist.

It was then though that the dragon that was in the alley spoke, “W-who are you…? I haven’t seen you before.”

Staring for a moment, Alex relaxed his stance. “If I hadn’t met other Displaced, I’d swear you were wearing a bad cosplay.”

That had the one next to Spike blink, before he tried to get back up on their feet. “Other…? Wait, are you-” They, his eyes shifted as he noticed Aubade in Alex’s hands as he backed up defensively. He moved his hand down to his waist, only for his eyes to widen, “Of all the times-”

Resting Aubade on his shoulder, Alex frowned. “You alright? I’m not going to hurt you.”

At that, Spike turned to him, “Lance, what’s-” before he could finish, the dragon noticed the empty holster on his waist, “Wait… you left your weapon behind!?”

“Not intentionally, Humdrum!” he shot back, before looking back at Alex as his eyes narrowed a bit. Though, as both of them were talking to each other, Alex noticed the pocket cover on Lance’s coat to open. A tiny yawn was heard as he watched a small fairy-like figure climb out and open her eyes.

“L-lance? What’s… going on-?”

Alex dismissed Aubade, walking closer. “Wow. That is pretty adorable.”

When she heard that, the fairy turned to Alex. However, she looked at him with eyes of fear as she shivered for a moment, before flying into Lance’s hair as he shifted back in a more defensive posture. “Aah!! P-please, d-don’t let them near me-”

“Okay, everybody stop,” Spike stepped in between Alex and Lance, “I think we should all take a moment to just calm down. Especially you, Lumen.”

The fairy, Lumen, then nervously poked her head out of the human’s hair as they glanced at Alex briefly before looking at Spike, “B-but what if they were like the last one and-?”

“Look, I don’t know who you met before but I’m friendly.” Alex stopped a few steps from Lance and held his hand out. “I’m Alexander Lionheart. Nice to meet you.”

At that, the human looked back at the fairy in his hair for a brief moment, before extending his hand to shake Alex’s, “I’m Lance, and these two are Lumen and Humdrum,” he replied back, trying to come off as calm despite the circumstances of their arrival, “Though, I’m pretty sure you know that already, all things considered.”

“That would be correct.” Pulling his hand back, Alex looked between the three. “And you guys are probably freezing your asses off.”

“To put it bluntly, yes,” Lance replied back, crossing his arms as he shivered in place. Even Lumen herself was trying to stay warm by holding onto as much hair from his head as she could. Yet, it wasn’t helping in the slightest, “I-is there a place where we can c-continue this conversation that’s… well, ideally not out in the cold?”

“Course.” Alex turned, bringing his hands to his mouth. “Hey! Snails! S’okay! Just some visitors!”

Snails peaked around the corner at the end of the alley, looking more than a little confused at the sight of Spike and the other visitor. “Uhhh, Nightmare Night was almost two months ago, Spike, but that’s a spot-on Humdrum costume. Who’s your new friend and how are they a human like Alex?”

“Um… I am Humdrum though,” the dragon retorted, confused by what the unicorn just said.

Blinking, Snails glanced at Alex. “Uh, no? Humdrum’s a green earth pony colt.”

At that point, Lance just looked back at the two of them as he tried to come up with something to say. Though, there was only one thing that came to mind, “You have your own version of the power ponies?”

“I read every issue, yeah. It’s only a bit apiece. Snips has his own copies that he keeps sealed up.”

“Issues?” he asked, before shaking his head, “No no, I mean the actual team.”

“I might be slow to think things through, but I can still tell reality from fiction, sir. The Power Ponies are just comic characters, like Daring Do’s just a character in a series of novels.”

“Hey, my friends aren’t fiction!” Humdrum retorted as he narrowed his eyes at Snails.

Putting his hands up, Alex cleared his throat. “Okay! Let’s not let this devolve into shouting. In this world, the Power Ponies are fiction. Deal with it. Now, are you going to bitch and moan about it or are we going to warm up inside?”

It looked as if Humdrum was going to say something back, but a look from Lance had him back off as he sighed. “Alright fine,” he said, before looking at Snails, “Sorry for letting my emotions get the better of me.”

Snails gave him a suspicious look, then sighed and shook his head. “I guess that’s okay…but if you really are Humdrum, maybe you could help me out with something? I’m gonna run home real quick before I come over to your place, Alex. Gotta tell mom I’m going to be out a bit longer.”

Patting Snails’ head, Alex smiled. “I’ll have some hot chocolate waiting for ya.” Turning to his guests, he motioned to follow. “Come on, my house isn’t too far. Hope you guys are okay with animals.”

“What kind of animals? Like dogs and cats?” Lance asked as he and Humdrum started to follow Alex.

The trek home only took a bit longer, inconvenienced by the snow. Stepping inside, Alex savored that rush of heat. “Hey! I’m back! I have guests! Sorry about that.” Ushering Lance and Humdrum in, he shut the cold out as his two guests entered his home.

Discord stuck his head down from the top of the doorway with a slight frown on his face, then sighed and lowered himself from the ceiling on the other side with a rope of tinsel tangled around one wrist. “We were expecting your meetup with Snails to last at least another ten minutes, but it seems you’ve brought a new friend and…” he paused to take a sniff at the air. “Ah, not our Twilight’s little lizard, but from some other world. What would you all prefer, hot chocolate, eggnog, hegg nogcolate?”

Humdrum and Lance couldn’t help but blink for a moment, glancing towards each other first before Lance looked over at the draconequus and gave him an answer. “Uh, just hot chocolate please.”

“How did he know that I-?” the dragon asked himself, before shaking his head in an attempt to refocus, “Nevermind. I’ll have hot chocolate as well.”

“I didn’t mean to summon a displaced,” Taking off his winter gear, Alex bent down to pick up a ferret. “On that note. You did put a message into your token, didn’t you Lance?” he asked

“I… think so?” he replied back with a shrug of his shoulders, trying his best to answer, “I’m still sort of new to this whole thing. It’s b-been a while since I made it.”

Shrugging, Alex flopped down on the couch. “I probably just wasn’t paying attention. Kick your shoes off and have a seat.” Leaning back, he let his little companion climb onto his shoulders while Lance sat down nearby and began to loosen the bracers on his gloves. “They might take a bit to get used to you, Lance, but they might be fine with you, er, Humdrum.”

“And what about your drink, Alex?” Discord asked while snapping his tangled lion paw. Two glimmering golden chalices appeared in front of Lance and Humdrum, giving off just a bit of steam as they filled with thick hot chocolate. Humdrum’s drink actually appeared to melt for a moment before the gold turned glassy and black instead. “Dragon temperature. Yours has some ruby flakes in it.”

Humdrum was a bit surprised at that, for he didn’t think that something like rubies could be used in such a way. Though, as he took a sip, Alex and Lance watched as he proceeded to drink as much as he could after the cautious first sip. “W-woah, that’s good. Thank you very much.”

“First time tasting gems mixed with food? I think maybe a glass of water before your next helping. Don’t want to get arrested for corrupting a minor.” Discord laughed softly before giving a wink and vanishing.

“I’ll take that last one. And some hot chocolate for Snails,” Alex called after him. “So. Do you two have any questions for me?”

“I do, though I’m not sure about Humdrum,” Lance replied back as he looked at the dragon for a moment, before looking back at Alex, “Just… who was that just now?”

Before Alex had a chance to answer a snap came from the other room and a large mug shaped like a huge egg with a silly straw stuck through it popped into existence along with a note to sip carefully. It looked like it could hold the same volume as the chalices Lance and Humdrum were given. Meanwhile a similar elegant goblet appeared on a small side table with a candle hovering over it.

Taking a long sip of his drink, Alex collected his thoughts. “That was Discord. He’s my adopted mo...parent’s boyfriend. I just call him dad. He’s the spirit of chaos.” His face fell for a moment, which he hid in his glass.

“Huh… that’s a first,” Lance replied back, “I mean, I haven’t seen or met anyone like them before. Is… well,” he would then motion a hand to the chalice that he was holding as well as the drinks by Humdrum, “All of that… normal?”

“I have a giant key, live with talking ponies and became a teenage girl. Living with a chaos entity is completely normal to me,” Alex responded curtly. “You live with superheroes. I’m not sure why it’s surprising.”

“Well, it’s a little more complicated than that, but yeah,” he replied back as he took another sip of his drink. For a moment, Alex saw Lumen slowly peek out of his hair to look around. Though, upon seeing him, she scurried back into his hair like a mouse, “I just haven’t met an entity like that in my world, so I’m rather unfamiliar on the subject.”

“What about you, Humdrum? You got anything?”

When Humdrum realized that the question was kind of turned around on him, the dragon almost spilled some of the water he was drinking on himself. “M-me?” he asked, before he tried to say the first thing that came to mind, “W-well, that’s… a tough one. Maybe w-what’s your Spike like? Like, is he me, but without…?” At the last part, he motioned to his costume and his mask as he took it off now and let Alex see his face.

Alex giggled. “Yes. He’s you without the cosplay. Twilight hatched him at a magic exam and he’s been part of her family ever since.”

Humdrum's eyes widened for a moment, before he looked away briefly, “I see. And what’s Twilight like in this world? I’m going to assume she’s much different from ours?”

“She’s the princess of friendship. Whatever that really means. Has a big castle in Ponyville.”

“Well, that’s definitely different,” the dragon said, just as he finished his beverage as he set his mug down, “Our Twilight’s not a princess at all, but has the appearance of one. Anytime that we’ve tried asking about it though, she would try to change the subject despite how insistent Zapp could be.”

“Well, perhaps Twilight saw it as a subject that she’s not really comfortable talking about,” Lance spoke up as he looked at the sidekick, “At least you’re not bothering her now about it, right?”

At that, the dragon shivered a small bit as he closed his eyes and let out a deep breath, “Yeah well… After Solaria found out what we were doing, she really got on our case about it. Since then, Zapp and I just stopped trying so that way we don’t make her angry. Which is probably for the best now that I think about it.”

Lance himself could only chuckle at what the dragon said, “Yeah, I can see why Sunset would do that,” Shortly afterwards, he looked back over towards where Alex sat at, “Out of curiosity though, was there anything that you wanted to ask us?”

“What’s your world like?” Alex questioned. “A superhero version of Equestria sounds exhausting.”

“Well, if I have to be honest, I’ve only been there for…” Lance then paused, before looking at Humdrum, “How long would you say I’ve been here?”

“Uh, a couple of weeks maybe?” Humdrum shrugged.

“Yeah, I haven’t been there too long,” the adept continued, “All I know is that I ended up in a city named Maretropolis, Humdrum and his friend are part of a hero team called the Power Ponies, supervillains are a thing and it’s… a lot to take in. That and I’m basically a walking energizer bunny.”

At that part, small bolts of lightning began to crackle around his fingers. “See what I mean?”

Nodding in appreciation, Alex sipped at his drink. “Powers sound neat. Pretty sure ‘Maretopolis’ doesn’t exist here.”

“Power’s still something I’m trying to get used to if I have to be honest. Rather not short circuit something by accident,” he nervously replied, before the look on his face began to change. From Alex’s perspective, it looked as if he was recalling something that was either bothering him or something that might’ve been disturbing, “That and… well, compared to last time, you’re different from the last person who brought me to their place. In a good way I mean.”

“What happened last time?”

Lance looked up at his hair, moving a few strands to confirm that the breezie that was in there was asleep as he looked back to Alex. “Well, we were called over by this… bear named Freddy. At first, Lumen and I thought that he had good intentions. However, when we found that version of ‘Ponyville’ in that world was almost razed to the ground and that the person responsible was the same bear we trusted. In reality, he was a ‘Spirit of Madness’ and mentally tormented Lumen by forcing her into a cage and haunting her against her will. She still has nightmares of what happened to this day.”

As he finished, he let out a deep and concerned sigh, “It might not be much, but Lumen and I are partners. I just don’t want anything bad to happen to her again.”

Tapping the side of his drink, Alex nodded. “Sounds rough. And that’s on top of running into that bear from that shitty jumpscare game.”

“Alex, language.” Fluttershy trotted in, placing a plate of cookies on the table. Pausing, she tilted her head. “Spike, why are you dressed up like Humdrum?”

“S-saddle Rager?” Humdrum said, wrapping an arm around Lance instinctually. The adept himself did not expect the sudden tug and almost spilled some of his hot chocolate onto him. “W-what-?”

Giggling a bit, Shy shook her head. “Oh my, this is the first time I’ve ever met a friend from another universe. While I was Saddle Rager when we got sucked into yo-Spike’s comic book, I’m just plain Fluttershy.”

“O-Oh…” Even though he was trying his best, Humdrum was at a loss for words as he looked to be trying to process what she said.

“Uh, h-hello,” the adept spoke up, trying his best to be polite as he glanced over at Alex for a moment, before looking over to the pegasus, “Are you a friend of Alex?”

Stepping closer to Alex, Fluttershy embraced him with her wings. “I’m actually his mother.”

Now he was just as confused as Humdrum was a few seconds ago, caught off guard as he blinked a couple of times and tried his best to form words, “W-wait, what?”

“Adopted,” Alex clarified. “It was a legal thing.”

“I… huh,” he said, trying to wrap his head around that before another thought came to mind, “Does that mean that the Discord guy we met earlier is… your dad?”

“Legally speaking, yeah,” Alex answered, rubbing his neck. “It wasn’t exactly what I would’ve chosen for myself, but we make things work.”

Alex found himself nestled in Discord’s arms, who took his seat. “While I’m flattered, Alex, your mother and I are still just dating.”

The adept blinked at the sudden appearance of the chaos spirit, this time actually spilling hot chocolate onto Humdrum’s head in the process. Though, it took him a bit in order to come up with a response, since it felt like his brain was still trying to piece things together, “Well, uh… that’s good to hear.”

As that was said, Humdrum took a napkin to clean himself up before he asked a new question, “If it’s okay to ask, how did you two first meet Alex?”

Fluttershy’s features downturned. “A few ponies found him in the snow while my friends and I were still in Our Town. I’m just glad he wasn’t found while Starlight Glimmer was still in charge.”

For a moment, it looked like Humdrum found something familiar with what was said. Though, when Fluttershy mentioned the name, the dragon just shook his head and dismissed the thought. As for the adept next to him, he was puzzled a bit, “Our Town? What’s that?”

“It was a town full of ponies Starlight had convinced to give up their cutie marks.” Flutterhy’s tail curled, obscuring her flank. “If Lee hadn’t helped us, we wouldn’t have gotten ours back.”

Lance looked back at Humdrum for a moment, before looking back at the pegasus, “Aren’t those the things that kind of determine what your special trait is? Why would someone want to just… give that up?”

“I have a feeling that they didn’t have a choice in the matter,” the dragon said, before he glanced over to Fluttershy, “But… who is this ‘Lee’ you mentioned? Are they a friend of Alex or something?”

“He’s another displaced,” Alex said, moving out of Discord’s grasp. “He got here around the time I did.”

“Well, he seems friendly enough,” the adept replied, before looking over to Alex, “Was he… something in particular? Or just… normal.”

“He’s Xemnas, which means he’s a nobody.” Alex pulled his phone from his pocket, showing them a picture. “Tall as hell too.”

At that, Lance couldn’t help but blink as he recognized what Alex was talking about as he looked at the picture that was shown to them, “Wait a minute, nobody? Like ‘Kingdom Hearts’ nobody?”

Alex stared at him. “Dude, I got turned into Xion. I’m also wearing the damn cloak. How are you only now realizing this?”

That just left him a little bit baffled, “I know this might sound weird to ask coming from me with the long braid… but wasn’t Xion a girl? I-”

“I mentioned that earlier, didn’t I?” Alex asked, crossing his arms.

That had him pause, before it looked like he tried to recall what was said… and then subsequently facepalming himself, “Right, you did… I think that bit must’ve flown over my head. Sorry if I came off as rude.”

“I’ll go check on dinner.” Fluttershy excused herself, taking Discord with her. “Don’t get full on cookies!”

As the two of them left, Humdrum chose to help himself to a couple of cookies before letting go of Lance’s arm as he sat back down. “So, you… landed in the snow, Fluttershy took you in and… things just went from there?” the dragon asked, trying his best to break the bit of awkward silence from Lance’s last exchange.

“Yeah, since my physical body is adolescent, I have to live like a kid,” Alex confirmed, snagging a cookie for himself. “That means school, making friends, the whole shebang.” Muttering into the cookie, he added “Enduring shark week...”

“Enduring what?” the dragon asked.

Lance couldn’t help but move his head over to where the dragon was. Saying the first thing that came to mind before taking a sip of his hot chocolate, “I think it’s probably better if we don’t ask.”

“I’ll just say it’s a puberty thing to preserve Humdrum’s innocence,” Alex commented, hiding behind his cookie.

The dragon just blinked, before shrugging his shoulders, “I’ll just… take your word for it. I mean, compared to Lance’s time over the last couple of weeks, this sounds pretty tame. I mean, if you rule out the first day of training and everything.”

“You mean the day when Solaria decided to recreate Dodgeball with wrenches to test my reflexes,” Lance deadpanned, “Matter of fact, how do you even know about that-?”

“Zapp told me.”

“Of course she did.” he groaned, taking a cookie and having a bite of it before he looked back at Alex, “So, outside of… being a nobody, have you noticed anything else with your world that seems to take reference from Kingdom Hearts? Or is it just mostly normal, day to day stuff?”

Alex scoffed. “I’m not a nobody. I’m completely human. But there are heartless and nobodies running around.” His fingers gripped his cookie hard enough to break it. “And that fuck Vanitas.”

Just from the tone, the adept had a feeling that this ‘Vanitas’ wasn’t exactly the nicest of people. Though, it was too early to think that this guy Alex was talking about was some crazy maniacal maniac like Freddy, “Let me guess, not a very nice guy?”

A soft knock saved Alex from responding. Getting up, he let Snails into the house.

“Sorry I took so long,” said Snails, levitating a small box towards Humdrum. “I haven’t given Snips his present yet so... I was hoping you could autograph it?”

Lifting the lid, he revealed a thick hardcover book. Emblazoned on the cover was the title “Power Ponies Classic Omnibus” proudly displaying the team.

From how it looked, Humdrum just stared at the cover for a couple of moments, a bit surprised seeing the team that he had been a part of for so long portrayed quite differently. Though, the request from Snails soon broke his concentration on that. “O-oh, sure. A-anything in particular or-?”

“Oh, just to Snips.” Snails nodded sagely. “Keep it simple.”

The dragon nodded, before something else came to mind, “Uh, do you have something to write with? I… don’t exactly have any quills on me.”

Alex patted down his cloak, checking for a writing implement. Reaching into his inner breast pocket, he produced a pen. “Lucked out on that one.”

“Thanks,” Humdrum replied, before he took the pen and signed the inside cover so it could easily be seen when opened, “That was… honestly the first time anypony asked me to sign something for them.”

That remark even had Lance surprised as he just raised an eyebrow, “Seriously?”

“Y-yeah, but the girls and I didn’t really choose to be heroes to be popular or anything, so it’s not really a big deal,” he remarked.

Snails smiled, resealing the present. “Thanks a lot!” he floated another object from his coat. “It’s not much but I thought you’d like to have this.”

“Huh?” the young dragon tilted his head as he looked at Snails, then at the object itself, “What is it?”

“Got it when I went to Powercon last summer.” Opening the small box he revealed a set of pins, portraying the power ponies in heroic poses. “I want you and your friends to have ‘em.”

The adept couldn’t help but watch as Humdrum’s face was met with not just excitement, but also a bit of uncertainty, “T-thank you, but… are you sure? I mean-”

“Spike, I think if he’s offering it to you as a gift,” Lance smiled, “He wants you to have it.”

Carefully, he stretched out his claws to take the set of pins and get a closer look at them, “T-thank you. T-these look wonderful.”

“Happy Hearth’s Warming.” Replacing Snips present on his back, he walked with Alex to the door. “I hope you have a good Hearth’s Warming, Alex. Hopefully, it’s just as good as Christmas.”

Anticipation raced from Alex’s heart. A shaky smile tugged at his lips as he opened the door. “Y-yeah. Same to you.” If he hadn’t been wearing gloves, he swore he wouldn’t be able to grip the knob. “O-oh hey! We’re under the mistletoe.”

Snails blinked slowly, features twisting. “Is that a Christmas thi-”

His sentence died when Alex pressed his lips against Snails. Sound and time died away as the moment hung between them. The daze came to an end when Alex retreated inside.

“Merry Christmas! Cya at school!” Alex slammed the door shut, leaning on it as his legs threatened to buckle. His heart replaced his brain, filling his ears with its incessant thumping. The heat radiating from his face could’ve lit a bonfire.

Humdrum was going to ask something when he noticed that Alex’s legs were starting to buckle. But before he could say anything, Lance just calmly looked at him and whispered, “Let’s just give him a moment first.”

Swooning, Alex barely retook his seat. Hiding his face behind his drink, he attempted to control his emotions. “S-so uh... You wanna fuse?”

Now the adept was just as confused as the sidekick that was next to him, “I-I’m sorry, what?”

“A drive form,” Alex clarified, his thoughts clear now.

“Oh, uh,” he soon got up from his seat to look back at Alex, “Sure, I guess? But how does something like that… Well, work?”

Joining him, Alex tentatively held a hand out. “Basically, you become clothes and give me some abilities.”

That alone was still leaving Lance with a number of different questions. Yet, he was also getting the impression that the only way that he was going to get some answers to those questions was to take Alex up on it. “I think this is something that’s easier to show rather than tell, but what the hell? Let’s try it.”

As soon as he was done speaking, the adept extended his own hand out to meet Alex’s. A sound of shattering glass filled the room, consuming Lance in light. It wrapped around Alex, warping his clothing.

When everything settled, Alex was left in stylized workout clothes. An electric yellow unitard covered his body. Draped over his shoulders was a thin, blue shoulder cape in the style of butterfly wings. Within the wings of the cape were white crackling lines made to look like lightning. On his legs were bright blue warmers with glittery electric designs running wild on the fabric. With the shifting of his legs, the electric designs almost seemed to move like a live charge.

“Well this is... something...” Alex traced his body, glancing over his shoulder. “Hey, Screwball! Can you come here?”

A propeller hat popped into existence before a pink earth pony poured out of it like a liquid. With one last drip sound, she floated over in front of Alex’s face. “You rang, Mister Sister?! Nice outfit by the way!”

“Thanks.” Alex offered his phone. “Could you get a few pictures of me? It’s for Rarity later.”

As the excited earth pony went to go get her camera, that was when Alex heard something, “Hello? Alex? A-am I doing this right?”

Alex examined his new cape, admiring the pattern. “You're doing fine, Lance. Everything’s in the green.”

“Oh, thank god. I thought I was going crazy,” the adept let out a sigh of relief, “So, how exactly does this… well, work? I mean, you said clothes and abilities. I’m now a pair of clothes, so what’s the other part?”

Stretching his limbs, Alex hummed. “I’ve only done this a handful of times. Sonata gave me boosted water magic and AJ made me stronger but took away my magic. I didn’t get to try out Vash’s form...”

Clicking his tongue, Alex tossed a small orb of water at Humdrum. “Alright so, it’s not Grace or Strength so this must be Agility. What the hell can Agility do...?”

“Do you think it might tie to the powers of the Displaced you do this with? Or is this your first time trying it with one?”

“Doubt it.” Alex muttered a few thoughts, pacing around the table. Agility meant movement... so... Giving a short hop, Alex found his feet hovering several inches above the floor. A manic grin conquered his face, heralding a shout of glee. Willing himself forward, he made it to the stairs and back in half the time as he would walking.

“Well, I guess that answers any other question I have right now.”

Conjuring Aubade brought a second surprise as Widow’s Fang appeared in his off-hand. “Oh hell yes! Dual wielding baby!”

“You… doing okay over there, Alex?” Humdrum called out from the other room, “You kind of just took off and… well, the rest of the cookies are on the floor now.”

Alex quickly returned to the room where Humdrum was waiting for them, fighting the urge to do a twirl and show off his outfit. “Oh, I’m absolutely golden. I feel electric. And yes, pun intended.”

“I can tell,” Humdrum chuckled, before motioning to Alex’s new clothes, “So, how long does this last for? Because… well, I think it would be difficult to explain to my Twilight how Lance got turned into clothing.”

Moving back and forth, Alex explored the full range of his newfound movement. “I can end it at will, if that’s what you’re worried about. I’m just having fun.” Snatching up Screwball on a drive-by, he flicked the mare’s propeller. “How’d the pics turn out?”

“They turned out super duper~” Screwball said, showing off the pictures. While some showed off random parts of him like an elbow or an earlobe, there were others that captured the outfit as a whole from interesting angles. “Is Mister Sister learning to like the Sister part in his clothing?”

His response in a non-committal sound of indeterminable meaning. His clothes illuminated themselves, spawning Lance from them. “I’ll let you know later.”

As for the adept himself, the unexpected spawn just ended with him landing directly on his face. “O-ow… P-please warn me before-” he said, before noticing Screwball, “Oh, h-hello there.”

Screwball floated down to him, booping his nose. “Pratfalls are still falls, electric eel.”

“Uh… what?” Lance flinched a little from the boop, before he looked over to Alex.

Alex giggled, pulling the mare away by her tail like how one might pull a balloon. “Don’t mind her. Screwball can sound incoherent, that’s just how she talks.”

“H-huh,” he said, glancing over at Screwball now that Alex helped clarify a few things, “I… see. Nice to meet you, Screwball.”

“You alright, Lance?” Humdrum asked.

“Y-yeah, just need a quick second,” the adept replied as he got himself off of the floor and back off his feet again as he brushed some dust and cookie crumbs off of his jacket. “Okay, I think I’m good now.”

After a moment or so, once things had gotten back to some sense of normal and the mess of cookies that were on the floor was cleaned up, that was when the dragon asked a question, “So, uh, how long do you think-?”

“In the tradition of convenience, dinner is ready.” Discord’s head retracted from the group, retreating into the kitchen. “Hurry up now! I’m absolutely famished!”

Humdrum couldn’t help but blink at that as he tried to make sense of what just happened, “Okay, never mind. He just answered my question for me.”

Lance himself honestly had a couple questions of his own to ask and he didn’t want to feel as if he had overstayed his welcome. But since Alex’s family were kind enough to not only invite them into their home but also let them stay for dinner, it would be rather rude to refuse such hospitality.

The table laid out before them presented a feast for the eyes and nose. Ruled by vegetarian options, the handful of plates bearing seafood stood out like beacons. A bowl of gems sat by itself, placed at one end of the table.

“This looks amazing!” Alex snatched an empty plate, piling it high with food. “You guys really outdid yourselves.”

Fluttershy managed a proud smile as she finished placing the silverware around the table. “It’s not very often that we get to have your friends over, so I thought I’d pull out all the stops.” Slipping into a seat at the head of the table, she addressed Lance and Spike. “Please, have as much as you like! I don’t know if you like fish or have the same taste in gems as our Spike, so I tried a little bit of everything.”

“W-wow, uh t-thank you,” Spike was the first to reply, before he grabbed a plate as well and began to follow Alex to get himself some food.

“I’m with Spike, Thank you very much, Ms. Fluttershy,” the adept complimented the pegasus.Though, he decided to wait until Spike was done getting some food before getting a plate for himself, before sitting down next to the sidekick at the table.

“I did have some help,” Fluttershy said, pointing at Discord with a wing. “For some of the ingredients and gems I had Discord use his magic. He also made it so the veggies chopped themselves up.”

At first, he was going to ask more about it. But considering some of the things that he had already seen Discord do before his very eyes today, Lance thought it would be better to not ask about it and save himself the headache.

Screwball grabbed a spoon, using it to spear her food. Humming in delight, she plucked a sapphire from the gem bowl. Crushing it, she sprinkled it into her salad like croutons. “So shiny and crunchy! Blueberry stone!”

Of course, it was when Screwball did that when Spike was about to chew into one. Only to stop, look at Screwball… then to his salad, back to the gem he had in his claws and try the same thing for himself. Though, unlike the earth pony, the dragon wasn’t quite as successful as she was as it kept slipping out of his claws like a bar of soap. “Uh… how did you do that? Because I’m having some difficulties.”

Discord tapped the gem, cracking it with a talon. “My daughter can surprise me sometimes. Try driving your claw into a central point. Once it's cracked, it’ll be easy to shatter.”

He didn’t say anything, but instead did what he was suggested to do as he stuck a claw in there and applied some pressure. It didn’t happen instantly, but after a couple of minutes, he was able to get the same results as Screwball did on the first try. “Huh. I’ll have to keep that in mind next time I’m making a salad at home. Thanks.”

“To make it easy, the central point is typically where the gem has the most clarity.” Discord picked up another gem, shifting it in his paw to show off its sides. Once Spike had a view of a particular side, Discord drove his talon through it. “Like so.”

Conversation flowed like water, the two displaced swapping stories of their exploits. Fluttershy shared a few anecdotes of her own adventures. Discord regalled them all with a brief snippet of custody battle he and Celestia waged over Screwball.

“That’s when I dropped the cake on her head!” Discord howled, his body contorting from how loud his cackles were. “The entire field was covered in frosting!”

Alex had to hold back snickers at that story. “And you still managed to get joint custody with Celestia after that?”

“No. She turned me to stone for a thousand years. You are learning in that school, aren’t you?”

Shrugging, Alex put his fork down. “Eh, right now, we’re talking about stuff from the founding of Equestria.”

There were times during the back and forth exchanges between Discord and Alex that Lance wanted to say something. But instead, he kept it to himself. He found it a lot more interesting to hear more about Alex and their Equestria the more that he continued to talk about it. So, he didn’t want to interrupt them.

Though, it was at one point later on that Spike asked a question that didn’t exactly settle right with him. “Sorry if I’m interrupting, but out of curiosity, what do you and your family usually do during Hearth's Warming? Do you have any traditions or anything?”

“This is our first Hearth’s Warming together,” Fluttershy explained. “Usually, I go to Cloudsdale to celebrate with my parents. Now that we have a family here, they’re coming to us.” Nostalgia washed over her, bringing forth memories of years past. “Growing up, my father would make cloud arrangements in the backyard.”

“Really? That sounds pretty cool!”

While this seemed nice and rather heartfelt, Lance began to notice that the longer the conversation went on, the more that Alex detached himself from the conversation. Instead of saying things to add on to the discussion, he would make token gestures of nods, lackluster smiles and half-hearted chuckles. Then at one point, he picked at his plate, stood up from the table and excused himself.

Something about this didn’t quite feel right to him, and some at the table started to notice, “Hm? Hey, where did Alex go?”

Fluttershy looked around the table, seeing Alex’s spot was empty. “Oh, maybe he just went to the bathroom? I’m sure he’ll be back in a minute.”

Personally, Lance did not buy it. If anything, from how Alex was acting, it seemed like it was a completely different issue that was bothering him. However, he decided to trust the pegasi’s judgment for a moment and wait to see if he would come back to join everyone else at the table.

After a few moments and no sight of him, the adept finished what he was eating and got up from his seat. “Excuse me for a moment. I’ll be right back.”

As he moved away from the table, Lance started to go down the hall that he saw Alex leave. Yet, it wasn’t clear initially as to where he went. For even though Fluttershy’s cottage was not that big, there were still a few rooms that he could possibly be in and searching through them could come off as suspicious to the pegasus and her family.

Fortunately, the azure striker had a particular trick up his sleeve that could be of some use to him here. “Okay, let’s give this a try.”

As he closed his eyes, the adept began to concentrate his septima into sensing the presences that were around him. Aside from him, there were the four that were still at the dining room table and one upstairs. “There we go.”

The moment he saw where Alex was, Lance proceeded to look for a way up and found a stairwell that brought him to the second floor. Carefully, he approached the door and stopped focusing his septima as he was about to knock. But before he could, he could hear something from the other side

A soft sobbing came from the other side. A hollow, wretched sound, cast deep in the abyss of sorrow.

“He’s… sad?” Lance wondered. Alex had a family that cared about him, close friends and was enjoying everything so far. So, why would he be upset? What was wrong?

After a moment, the adept stopped hesitating and gently knocked on the door first, before opening a small bit, “Hey, Alex? Is everything alright?”

Alex shot up as if he was struck by lightning, quickly wiping at his eyes and turning to face the adept. “Oh, hey Lance, didn’t hear you knock. Yeah, I’m totally fine,” he hastily answered, trying and failing to look nonchalant.

That… didn’t really convince the adept that he was fine. If anything, it made him more concerned. “Are… you sure?” he asked, “Is something bothering you? You seemed uncomfortable when Fluttershy was-”

“I said I was fine,” Alex snapped, getting up to push the door closed. “If anyone asks, tell them I’ll be down in a minute.”

Lance did not like where this was going. If anything, it seemed like Alex was just pushing it aside to deal with it later. “Alex, I don’t know about you, but I’m not the only one who noticed you leaving the table earlier.”

Silence reigned and Alex stepped to the side. “Fine. Come in already.”

Lance calmly and quietly stepped inside the room as he looked back at him. He waited until the door was closed once more, before he restated his first question to him with a sincere and worried look on his face, “Alex, please be honest with me. Is everything really alright? Or is there something else going on?”

Breaking away from Lance, Alex moved to his bed. A shaky hand removed his phone from its hiding place. “I was born on Christmas,” Alex said, the tremble spreading from his hands. “She used to call me the greatest gift my...” Gripping the device, Alex suppressed a sob. “M-my father ever gave her.”

Gently, Lance placed a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to try and have him calm down a little. He had a feeling of who he possibly might be talking about, but he didn’t want to assume just yet. “You mean your mom? Before Fluttershy?”

Alex leveled a stare at Lance that made it abundantly clear he wanted to say something snarky. After a moment, he let out a sigh. “Yeah, it was from before Fluttershy. Let’s just say that the pile of vaguely person-shaped garbage that called itself my dad wasn’t my favorite of people.”

“I hear you,” he said, giving a bit of a nod. For a moment, it looked like he was going to keep to himself. Though, after a moment, he then sighed and just went with it, “If it were me, my dad is probably not my favorite either.”

“My dad’s a drunk piece of shit who showed his disappointment with his fists,” Alex snapped. “That’s what they know.” His shoulders sagged, anger falling before his melancholy. “She was sick, really sick. When I left for med school, I managed to get her into a care home. Didn’t matter how hard it was snowing, how long it’d take or how sleep deprived I was. I spent every Christmas with her.”

Now things were beginning to fall into place as he realized what Alex was telling him. Yet, the story of him missing her reminded him of something else… a very familiar story with his family that he was seeing in Alex right now and one that he really did not want to see repeated.

His fortitude broke, sobs wracking Alex’s body. “And now she’s alone. She probably thinks I’m dead and I can’t be there to keep him away from her.”

As tears poured down his face, Lance didn’t know what to say exactly. But he still wanted to help somehow. There had to be something that he could do or say to make things better for him.

“And you know what’s the fucked up part?” Alex asked. “I can call Discord dad so easily. But Shy? She tries so hard to be a good parent and I just...” he clutched the phone tighter. “Everytime I try to call her mom, I just see my mom in that hospital bed smiling like she’s the happiest person in the world.”

As Alex finished with his story, Lance couldn’t help but try to think of ways to try and help him. It was clear that something bothered Alex, but the adept did not think that it was something this deep. And with how vividly he described it, he wasn’t sure if any words were going to be enough to help lessen the pain he was already feeling.

Yet, one possible idea lingered… for later. Right now, his focus was on Alex and making sure he was okay, “I’m very sorry to hear that, Alex. I… had no idea.”

“Not like I front load conversations with that,” Alex retorted, dabbing away some tears. “No one needs to hear all that shit as soon as they meet me. And if Fluttershy wasn’t sending me to a shrink, I’d rather no one ever hear it.”

“Do you feel a little bit better now?” Lance asked, before going into his pocket and offering a handkerchief to him. “I know that subjects like this aren’t really easy to talk about, but have you told anyone in your family about this? Or have you just kept it to yourself?”

“They worry enough about me as it is.” Taking the cloth, Alex wiped at his eyes. “Piling more onto them isn’t going to help.”

That didn’t settle right with him at all. If anything, it made things feel more concerning. Still, he had to try and ask one last thing, “Even if they want to help you?”

Passing the handkerchief back, Alex pat Lance’s shoulder. “That's what therapy is for. I’ll tell them when I’m able to. Not now.”

As he was given the handkerchief back, it looked like there was something else Lance wanted to say. But instead, he kept it to himself. “If you say so. But hey, if there’s any time that you just want to talk or get something off your chest, I’m all ears. Alright?”

“I’ll think about it,” Alex said, a noncommittal smile on his face. “But I think I’ve had my fill of being a blubbering mess for the time being. Maybe we should get back to the table before we become the butt of a joke seeing as we’ve both up and disappeared from the table.”

“Yeah, that’s probably a good idea,” Lance agreed, before going over to open the door for him, “Lead the way.”

After Alex and Lance returned to the table, the rest of the evening turned out to be rather enjoyable for everyone. Fluttershy had opted to make a carrot cake for dessert, with an extra slice for Angel Bunny that had chunks of carrot visible within and on top of his slice.

“It’s not much, but I hope you like it,” she said, cutting into the dessert. ‘I can also make some tea or coffee if you like hot drinks with dessert.”

“I think I’ll just stick with the cake,” Humdrum replied nervously, “T-Twilight told me that I’m not old enough yet for coffee.”

“I suppose she would know more about dragons wouldn’t she?”

“Well, that and there’s a reason why we have to put Filli-Second on decaf when she’s off duty,” Humdrum replied.

That was enough to surprise Lance. Because if he remembered correctly, Filli-Second was the most hyper of the Power Ponies. So it came as a surprise to him that her bouncing around all over the place was normal. “Wait, are you saying that Filli-Second’s like a hummingbird when she’s on caffeine?”

“More like the Flash.” Alex took a bite of his cake, gesticulating with his fork. “Pinkie zooms around a lot. I swear she leaves after images sometimes.”

“Oh, that’s her normally,” the dragon replied as he began to eat the slice of cake that Fluttershy gave him, “When caffeinated, it’s that multiplied by five.”

Lance couldn’t help but blink at that as he tried to process what he just heard. Though, after a couple of minutes, he thought it would be better for his sanity if he didn’t. “Yeah, that’s an image I would rather not think about.”

“I’m not as bothered by it. Not after living with Screwball.” Alex hummed, leaning over to Discord. Glancing at Lance, the two shared a quick conversation. The adept took notice of it, but thought it was something private between both of them and chose not to ask about it.

Cardboard cutouts sat in their places, a little sign proclaiming ‘Out to Lunch’ hanging between them. Something that Spike picked up on and decided to ask about, “Huh? Where did they go?”

“This happens,” Fluttershy said with a giggle. “Discord likes disappearing to get surprises prepared. And when said surprise needs a conspirator, it’s pretty common that he ropes somepony into it. Looks like it’s Alex’s turn.”

“So, Alex is basically acting as his sidekick?” the adept asked, which had Humdrum look back at him with a narrowed glance, “What?”

The dragon sidekick just ignored the remarks, but had a different question for Fluttershy now, “What kind of surprises does he normally do?”

“They're usually pretty fun. But they can be a little unnerving if you're not used to it.”

“Considering that this is the first time I’ve seen anyone like him, I can agree on unnerving,” Spike added, “Though, I do remember there being reports on a figure that almost matched his description. He was called ‘Captain Goodguy’ and… well, he kind of did his own thing. Wasn’t a hero, but wasn’t exactly a bad guy either.”

“Really?” Lance asked, “Is he still around?”

“Last time we heard anything, he was last seen in Starshine City. However, that was years ago. So, who knows really?”

Collecting dishes, Fluttershy cleared the table. “Are you two staying the night? You’re more than welcome to. Discord can whip up another room.”

That had both Lance and Humdrum look back to one another, before they both turned their attention to Fluttershy. “As much as I would like that, I think both of us should probably find a way to get back to our world.”

“Yeah, if my Twilight realized that we were gone and didn’t tell her why, she would immediately assume a villain kidnapped us again,” Humdrum sighed, “But, the only problem though is… Well, we have no idea how to get back.”

“No need to worry about that,” Fluttershy assured, tucking into her cake. “Alex will know how to get you home. So make yourself comfortable until the surprise is ready.”

While there was a little bit of uncertainty, both of them just took up her suggestion and sat back down to wait for Discord and Alex to come back. They took the time to finish their cake and make some light conversation to pass the time while they waited. Questions were asked, answers were shared and stories were told with each passing moment that went by.

Striding into the kitchen, Alex approached Lance. Giddily, he presented him with a large box. “Merry Christmas, Lance.”

The adept was caught off guard and very surprised by this. He had only been here for a short amount of time, but he did not expect to get a gift like this unexpectedly. Then again, it would be rude for him to deny it after all the hospitality that Alex’s family had shown him. “O-oh, uh… T-Thank you, Alex.”

After looking at the box a bit more, he had a follow up question. “A-are you okay with me opening it now or-?”

“No, I don’t want to see the look on your face,” Alex deadpanned. “Yes, open it, bolts for brains.” He tapped at the box, giving the adept a stern look.

“Alright, I just thought I would ask,” he replied as he started to open up the box and look inside. A tablet greeted him, complete with case and charger. Several small bags rested beside it, labeled red, blue, green, yellow and enigma respectively. “Huh. What’s all this?”

“What would you say if I told you that it was books, shows and various other properties from Earth?” Alex asked in return, a cheeky grin on his face.

That was something that surprised the adept, “Wow, I… I don’t know what to say. T-thank you, Alex. I-I… wished there was something I could give you in return, but-”

Alex shook his head. “Don’t worry about it. You already gave me a keyblade. Now, all of that isn’t on the tablet. There’s about twenty sim cards tucked away in the case. Everythings a copy of mine, which includes all the protection enchantments.”

“Your generosity knows no bonds,” the adept said, a little surprised about the mention of a keyblade, but grateful for Alex’s gift as he closed the box and picked it up, “Though, could we trouble you for one more thing?”

At that point, Humdrum added on to the conversation, “Lance and I were talking and we thought that it was time for us to return home. Fluttershy told us that you might know the method to send us back?”

“Oh that’s easy.” Alex grinned wider. “Lance, our contract is complete.”

“Wait, just like tha-”

In a bright flash of lightning, both the adept and the dragon sidekick that was with him were now gone. Surprisingly, no burn marks were left behind on the floor as Alex was left with Fluttershy. Together to spend the rest of the holidays among family and friends.

“-at?”

Before Humdrum could even finish his sentence, both he and Lance realized that they were back in his room. It was the same way that he had left it when they had been called over, and when looking at the clock on the wall, barely any time had passed. “Woah… W-we’re actually back?”

“From the looks of it, yes,” the adept nodded, before he walked over to his desk to find that the weapon he left on his desk was still there. As he holstered it, Lance just looked back at the dragon, “I think I’ll take your advice and use today as a day off.”

Humdrum smiled and was going to leave the room, before the azure striker spoke up again as he combed through his hair and gently pulled out the breezie that was taking refuge inside, “Oh, and one more thing. I think Lumen’s had her fair share of traveling to different worlds for the time being. Mind holding onto her on the off chance that I might get pulled in again?”

“We just got back and you’re concerned about getting summoned again? Isn’t there supposed to be like… I don’t know… a way you can just say no to that?”

That just had Lance let out a deep breath, “Honestly, I just say that it’s part of the job description for what I am. I mean, don’t heroes usually get called upon when villains are on the loose? It wouldn’t seem right to just ignore it. I mean, it might be someone in need of help.”

The sidekick was going to say something. But he had to admit that Lance made a valid point. Humdrum and the rest of the girls took it upon themselves to never ignore any cries for help when in the field. So, if Lance was going to take it upon himself to do something similar, then why stop him. If anything, it was showing how much he had grown over the course of his time here.

“Alright then. But please, don’t try to make this a habit. If it happens too many times, Matterhorn might see this as an excuse to avoid doing important parts of your training.”

“I’ll try my best,” he promised the dragon. As Spike walked out of the room and towards the kitchen, the adept felt a bit at peace with himself. Ever since he was first summoned by Freddy, he was imprinted with the impression that Displaced were just conniving schemers who wanted to use other displaced for their own personal gain or hurt them. However, meeting Alex and his family shattered that illusion. That there were some good people out there who wanted to use their gifts to do the right thing.

It was only after he was done sorting out what Alex had gifted him though did he feel the hairs on the back of his neck stand back up and he felt a little bit light headed. There wasn’t a pulling sensation this time, but Lance was not entirely happy about this. “Oh, come on! I was on a break-”

Once again, there was another flash of lightning and he was gone. Though, at the same time, a golden coin with a familiar bear on it was shimmering. Unheard by anyone else, three words echoed in the room.

Welcome back, Kiddo.

End Strike 9

Strike 10- Fight Night against Freddy 2

When Lightning Strikes- Fight Night against Freddy (Round 2)

Lance’s body felt like it was aching all over when he regained consciousness. Feeling the carpet of the room with his hands, it felt a bit obvious that he wasn’t exactly outside like where he was with Xemnas and the others. His vision was blurred, but he was beginning to make out the sounds of voices.

“What the hell!? Dude what the f*ck did you do!?”

“I don’t know! I-I just thought it was a pin, I didn’t remember it was a token or anything!”

Okay, so whoever brought him here knew about the Displaced and Tokens. That was a start.

“Well what else could it have been!? Ponies don’t wear hairpins that often, and seriously where did you even get that!?”

“I erm… I certainly didn’t steal it from the boss’ chest pocket dimension, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

Wait a minute… Boss? Had Lance seen or met this person before. Then, things began to click. It was Freddy’s coin that brought him to this world, so whoever must’ve been talking was in league with him. Either that or didn’t know any better… Play it cool, you got this.

“BONNIE, YOU ARE SO DEAD! WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING!?”

Lance heard some rustling around as he tried to open his eyes. “W-who’s B-bonnie?”

The first thing that the Adept saw was one of two figures strangling another by the throat and yanking him back and forth like a ragdoll. Judging from the sounds of mechanical parts, Lance had a suspicion that they weren’t human. Besides the gurgling sound that he was hearing.

“Nuu, weit eh cen feex it!”

Lance couldn’t exactly hear what was said then, but just ignored it as he tried to focus on his sight. He focused on opening his eyes to see what looked like a darkened room.

“Our contract is complete!”

Contract? What contract?

“UUUHHH! OUR CONTRACT IS COMPLETE I SAID! GO BACK DAMMIT!”

Now Lance felt something tug him by the back of the head. Whatever this thing was, it was yanking him and it freaking hurt!

“WHY THE HELL ISN’T THIS WORKING!?”

Lance felt something pull off whatever the hell was messing with his head off of him and it was followed by more yelling. By the time he could see straight, he had no freaking idea what he exactly got himself into.

He saw the Animatronics… the rest of the characters that could kill you in Five Nights at Freddy’s. “What the F-?”

One of them turned to see him awake, before getting himself tackled by the one chasing it and strangling them by the throat. Lance was trying to think about what the hell he got himself caught up in. So much that he did not notice another one of them approaching him from his blind spot on the left hand side as he put a paw on the adept.

“Give ‘em a sec, they’ll tire out.”

“Jesus Christ!!”

“Buddha! Zeus! One of the others! Hey there.”

The one close to Lance put on a cheeky grin as he extended a paw. “Name’s Bonbon. Well, full name it technically ‘Toy’ Bonnie but I go by Bonbon as a nickname. You?”

Well they seemed nice enough. Better not assume the worst of them. “Name’s Lance. Lance Walker… I’m guessing you guys brought me here?”

“Well to be more specific Bonnie over there made a dingus move and did that, but we were just sorta here. Sorry about that, by the way. Uh, you wouldn’t happen to be an enemy, would you? Seems best to check.”

“I’m not exactly an enemy……” Lance began to speak, choosing his next few words carefully. “But out of curiosity, do you know someone by the name of Freddy?”

“Well if you mean Freddy the mailman, no. If you mean Golden Freddy, big ole yes.”

‘Oh boy,’ Lance thought. “Where is he?”

“Well from the fact that Bonnie was able to grab your token off him, albeit in the mannerisms of an idiot, I would have to say he’s asleep. You a friend of his then? None of us really have all the memories relating to you Displaced, so we only know some of the specifics.”

“Specifics?” Lance asked, puzzled.

“Which of the guys that the big guy’s met are jerks or pals. Stuff like that, we only have bits and pieces of the minutia of details. Why else would I be asking you all of this?”

Lance sighed, personally relieved by that statement. “Well, you said some, so I wanted you to elaborate. Besides, what were you using my token for anyways?”

“Well we were about to jam a bit, and when he called you up Bonnie was using it as a guitar pick.”

Bonbon picked up his bass and started strumming a bit.

All of this had Lance look at the Animatronics with a deadpanned expression. “Wait… So you using my Token… as a guitar pick… Matter of fact, where is Freddy? Wouldn’t the noise of your “Jam” wake him up?”

Bonbon shook his head. “Well it would if he were in the same house as we are now. He’s got a separate place; this is my house in fact. I just like hanging with my siblings, y’know the two strangling each other on the floor there? Matter of fact, give me a sec.”

He set down the bass and walked over to the other two, putting a paw on each of their foreheads and pushing them apart. They both tumbled away, and he placed himself between them as they lunged for each other. Toy Chica seemed pissed off.

“Move it Bon! He isn’t dead enough yet!”

“Stay there Bon! I’m not wanting to be dead yet!”

Bonbon sighed. “Guys, stop being idiots. Honestly, Chica you can kill Bonnie later. For now we need to get Freddy to send our ‘guest’ back home.”

Lance liked how Bonbon was able to stop the Shenanigans between the two of them. But, he then noticed the one named Bonnie. “NOPE! I already got strangled by Chica and I do not want to find out what the boss’d do after finding out that I both stole and used one of his tokens!”

Again, Bonbon sighed. “Well we don’t even know how you’re able to use one of his tokens. We aren’t full Displaced, and I would’ve figured that we wouldn’t be able to do anything like that. We don’t really have that many other options.”

The Adept himself was kind of surprised by that. For not being fully Displaced, they were capable of bringing him here? What an odd little group…

“W-well what about Shadow Bonnie!? He’s the oldest so maybe he could know how to send him back and all that! He’s made of logic, wisdom, and all that stuff, right?”

This suggestion though, had Toy Chica facepalm herself. “Seriously… Oh great. Fine, let’s just get the absolute dumbest route just to avoid trouble. Why the heck not, it’s not like the last idea you had made a massive potential problem, right!?”

“What kind of problem?” came Lance’s question out of curiosity. But before any of them could answer, Toy Chica backed up a bit and looked scared. “Crap! I actually found the right memory of this guy! He attacked Dad! That kind of problem is what I meant!”

‘Oh damn it.’ Lance mentally cursed as he saw Bonnie back up to where Toy Chica was. But, to the Adept’s surprise, Bonbon put himself in between them. “Wait… Dad!?”

“Let’s not be stupid guys. Let’s just deal with sending our guest home, seeing as he is being cordial with us and none of us have anywhere near the big guy’s strength to fight him with, okay?”

Bonbon turned back to Lance with a sigh and a normal expression on his face. “Eheh. Yeah, G-F made all of us. We’re sort’ve his kids or something, we each kinda view it differently. Still, let’s just focus on getting you out of here before he notices what Bonnie did.”

“So, you’re not going to kill me?” The Azure Striker asked. Bonbon shrugged, and Bonnie looked more freaked out than anything. Chica decided to chip in.

“Well I…! Uh. I can’t really remember why you and Dad fought.”

Lance then sighed. Maybe if he explained why, they would have a better understanding. “Should I say why?”

Chica balled her hands into fists, calling up a small aura of yellow magic on each. Lance could feel that it was nowhere near as powerful as one conjured by Freddy. “I don’t care! If you’re an enemy of Dad’s then you’re an enemy of ours!”

Bonbon steeped in front of her, his own aura of blue magic appearing. “Chica, think this through. We are in the middle of town, surrounded by shiftlings we are sworn to protect. If you start a fight, then we could make this mess so very much worse. Do you really want to make that happen?”

Lance though, personally was caught off guard by his words and had to interject at this point. “Whoa, back up… Protect? This coming from Freddy, the one who drove the ponies in town insane, put my friend in a birdcage and gave her emotional trauma, & killed Princess Celestia and Discord!? Am I hearing this right?”

Bonbon sighed again, turning back to Lance. “Well from the basic bits of knowledge we got off the big guy, your knowings are outdated. We can’t tell it as well as the guy himself can, but for the insanity he went and reset Equestria, y’know fixing up everything and making all those affected other than the princess forget all that had happened. And he never killed Celestia or Luna.”

Now a new question came into Lance’s head, referring to a figure that was mentioned earlier. “What about Shadow Bonnie? Would he or she know about what I said?”

“Yes, he would.”

Lance heard another new voice behind him. Standing on the stairwell was Shadow Bonnie, giving them all a cold stare as he observed the room. He looked just like he did in the game, though his teeth lacked the white glow and his eyes had a faint gray outline of pupils and irises, though they were still all white. He walked down the stairs eyes never leaving Lance.

“I am Shadow Bonnie, firstborn of Golden Freddy. Made of his logic and cunning, among other things. And unlike my younger siblings, I am aware of all that my father has done, as with your own actions.”

‘Well, that sounds reassuring.’

He walked down until he stood in front of Lance, standing about a foot taller than him. He made no moves that would show a violent purpose.

“Nice to meet you, I guess?”

“I suppose.” The Figure spoke. “But as they said, our maker/father has made actions to be done of those things. Currently we are in a town of his own making, populated by the race of new changelings he made, that is to say that they no longer have the insatiable need to feed off emotion. He named them shiftlings, as they have the same power, but with more control and power. The Princesses Luna and Celestia are enemies of his, but he has left them in control of their country. Celestia is still unable to fight him as she is in stone, but she is animate, with life to her. The stone insulates her power, making her weaker by comparison. Luna is in a teenage form, but that is merely from his splitting of her and the former Nightmare Moon, who he has given a second chance at life, going to another Displaced’s realm for the moment. Of course, he is a friend of fiercest caliber to the Princess Cadenza, as she made aware to him the fragment of Discord’s power that had influenced his actions. His mind when you met him was only partly his own. As of now, he has no lasting negative effect onto this world.”

“So this Discord’s magic was slowly driving him insane?” Lance then asked.

“No, it succeeded,” The Rabbit like figure said at first. “After he met with you and learned of the multiverse, he set out and succeeded with absorbing all of the parallel versions of himself, binding them into a single being. One of those was an opposing soul, one who had not fallen to Discord and thus still knew himself. Once the final piece of Discord’s power was removed from him by Cadenza, he became one with this opposing soul, beginning to recall himself. Of course he lacks the power to destroy this fragment, as such would result in it taking refuge in him once again. Of course, as a countermeasure he created all of us. We act as watchers of this town and of his claimings, and as children to him. Follow me, Lance the Gunvolt. Siblings, remain here. I wish to speak to him alone.”

Lance was a little concerned about talking with Shadow Bonnie alone. He was unsure if this could’ve been some kind of trap, but then again, they said things did change here. Maybe this was proof of that change. “Alright. Lead the way. Oh and I’m an Adept. Gunvolt is just a name.”

“I am aware. But you are the same being as Gunvolt, and thus you are a Gunvolt. And I do indeed hope you do not seek to resume your fighting with my father. For I would not allow it. My siblings are new, and vulnerable. But I am the eldest, and I was made from the start with enough power to rival even one such as Discord. And unlike my father, I am less willing to allow for fighting to occur here. It is my role to watch this place and make aware my siblings should any beings such as Displaced or the Princess were to arrive, but for the moment I am giving you the… What’s the phrase… Benefit of the doubt.”

“I don’t intend to start anything.” Lance assured him. “If what you say is true, then I have nothing to worry about.”

“That is good. I would rather my father have one less enemy by means of turning a foe to a friend, rather than by having said foe be obliterated.”

Lance chuckled mentally, but dreaded the thought of him getting blown to bits. As they walked out, Lance finally got a view of the town around them. It was beauty at first sight. The buildings were seemingly formed of smoothened stone, but made into the forms of houses he would have expected from Earth. The moon was high in the sky, and the town square they walked through was stranded, save for the occasional ‘shiftling’ walking past.

“Wow… This is quite stunning if I do say so myself.” The Adept said in response to seeing the town. “Hey, since you said that the princesses are in control of their country, is this town on another continent?”

Shadow Bonnie shook his head. “This town is constructed in an area of Equestria known as the Badlands. It seems to exist in most Equestria, but some have alternate versions. Freddy chose this place and claimed it, as there was no life here, other than the changelings native to this version of Equestria. Of course, Freddy made a deal with them, and in exchange for his converting them into shiftlings and thus mending their food problem, he moved their hive underneath the town and gained equal power to Queen Chrysalis, the current ruler. With this he also prevented a changeling attack that would occur in this timeline upon Cadenza.”

“Ahh. I see.” I’m still a bit unfamiliar with who Cadenza is. Would you care to explain who she is?” Lance then asked as the two of them walked through the nearby courtyard. “I mean, I’m in an Equestria where what you would call the Elements of Harmony are freaking superheroes.”

“Of course.” Shadow Bonnie replied as he held up a paw and a screen of light appeared. On it appeared an image of the element bearers in a group, and then a pair of Alicorns. “As you may know, these are the Elements of this and most other worlds. And these are the two princesses of Equestria, each with control over a celestial body. Celestia lifts the sun and Luna raises the moon. Of course, as they are now weakened, Freddy holds control of both but he does keep them on time fairly well.”

Another image, this time of a pink alicorn with a multi-toned mane appeared.

“This is Cadenza. She acts in a less direct role, monitoring the emotional states of Equestrian citizens and helping to deal with extreme cases wherein a pony is in need of counseling. She is more so known as the Alicorn of love, as she helps to regulate emotions in ponies that need it. She is somewhat of a ‘school counselor’ of Equestrians, keeping them decently happy. This is how she was able to see what had been left in father’s mind by Discord. Of course, when he tried to rip it out she warned him that it would destroy him to use such blunt force, and thus performed the action herself, freeing my father. This instantly made her into a trusted friend for my father, as he felt somewhat in debt to her. They exchange letters sometimes. And of course, she is told about many of the new things Freddy has made in the confines of his claimed land. Here’s one you may recognize.”

For a moment, Lance was a bit curious. Not just about the other Alicorn, but what Shadow Bonnie was talking about. He was personally surprised to see the being pick up a Mudkip.

“Wow… I honestly did not expect that. Hey, you think he might let me have one before I go?” Lance asked, curious to see SB’s response. He liked to play Pokemon as well, but thought it would be cool to have one to keep with him and assist him on various missions and assignments. Especially with all the villains that were busted out at Solace Asylum.

“If you desire one I can bring it/him/her into life myself.” He told the Adept. “Though as with those of my father’s creations you will have to guarantee the well being of it. They do not simply eat poffins and blacks as in the games, and we do not allow nor use Pokeballs.”

“I assume the diet varies depending on the type? Because I was thinking about a Riolu or Torchic since both Lucario and Blaziken are badass in my opinion.”

“Yes, though they do tend to be carnivorous or herbivorous, and that applies to other Pokemon. And I will remind you, they are living creatures, not digital imitations. They are sentient, or at least very close to it. They are friends and allies, much in the way of a very intelligent dog. Badass, true. But also a friend. It is a large responsibility.”

Lance then began to think things a bit through before making a decision. “Being a hero is a large responsibility. I believe I can manage. Okay, I’ll just stick with Blaziken though. One might be easier to handle than two.”

Shadow Bonnie nodded. “ Very well. Though I will have to start it off as a Torchic. That way it will live a full lifespan and be able to grow alongside you.”

A dark purple and black aura surrounded his paws and a wave of black energy erupted from them, resulting in a small Torchic in his palms. He held it out, and it looked at Lance curiously. It soon chirped happily as it jumped on Lance’s hands. He smiled. “Hello little guy, how are you?”

It chirped and hopped onto Lance’s shoulder, clambering on top of his head.

“There you are, young Lance.” Shadow Bonnie spoke, making the Adept think that the Animatronic was doing it’s best Professor Oak impersonation. “Now then, to see about waking my father to send you home.”

The Azure Striker waited outside a large building that was slightly taller than the others with his new friend as they waited for Shadow Bonnie to return. Lance was even now thinking about names to call the Torchic. The two best ones he could think of was Kai and Ember. Such a hard choice, but he decided to wait and see if his guide to the town can tell him what gender it was before making a final choice.

After a few moments, the door burst open and a paw slammed into Lance’s face, sending him sprawling. He heard Freddy talk.“That was for the bomb to the schnoz. We’re all good now.”

Freddy walked out with a tired expression and held a paw out to help Lance up. “So how’s super pony Equestria or whatever?”

“Alright. Been quite rough recently. Met a Majin that could destroy planets, outsmarted a ghoul, fought against heartless and found out my best friend broke all the villains out of what you would consider as Tartarus. Besides that, I met your children. Give my regards to Bonnie for using my token as a guitar pick.”

“Yeah he’ll be cleaning toilets for a couple days for that.” Freddy grunted as he repositioned himself. “I got a lot of crazy stuff in my chest, so it’s lucky for him that your token’s the only thing he nabbed. And those aren’t the only ones I’ve made, hell you can see Foxy out by the lake over there killing another one of those octowhale things that keep showing up.”

“You mean like harpooning a kraken?”

“Sorta. Think whale but with a kraken sorta superglued onto the bottom. And yeah Foxy goes with the whole pirate deal and so he keeps the lake clean and all.”

Look out Jack Sparrow. If Foxy see’s you, he’s got a pike with your name on it. “All that does is make me think of Moby Dick for some reason. He didn’t strike any white whales now, did he?”

“Dunno. Things keep showing up out of nowhere, coulda been a white one.”

Well, that was a sure vote in confidence just now.

“So, you wanna go home yet? Or ya wanna just hang around for a bit?”

Lance himself, scratched his head before replying back to the bear. “I would say that I need to go. Duty calls I guess. But, hey… you know that when I tell Lumen this… She might not believe a word I say right?” The Adept reminded Freddy. “She still has nightmares of being in that birdcage you put her in.”

“Yeah… Well here…” Freddy’s paws lit up for a moment and he moved them like he was pulling taffy. When he was done a bag of randomly glowing taffy actually appeared. Each one glowed a random color, and he took out a silver one. “Baboom! Magic taffy stuff. This will give her the whole memory reset I gave Equestria here. Well kinda, it’ll change the way she looks at it. Like she’ll still remember but it’ll be less..vivid. Sort like remembering a scary movie. And the rest of the taffy’s got a random magic effect, with labels. Like there’s a couple that’ll make her the size of a regular pony for a bit in there. Anyway, give her my apologies and stuff.”

He held out the bag. Lance held out his hand and took it. “Thanks again, my friend. I’m glad that we can put the past behind us… Speaking of which, if you need me, summon me whenever you like. It would be nice to meet Princess Cadenza next time. Shadow Bonnie told me she was pretty nice.”

“Yes she is, and same for you. Oh yeah, here.” Freddy reached out with a paw and poked his forehead. Lance felt a faint tingling.

“Bam! All hatches patted down and windows shut! In other words I just locked your brain from outside access. Anyone that tries will get the equivalent of a mental Fazbear Trojan virus in their head.”

“Like Nightmare on Fazbear Street?” The Adept asked, trying to have a little bit of fun with the bear. Freddy himself, just shrugged.

“Never saw that movie, always meant to though. Anyway, could you do me a favor and show Shadow Bonnie a few adept skills? I gave him the ability to learn stuff by watching, so he’s got the whole adaptability thing going on.” Lance sighed at that though. This was going to be hard to explain to both of them.

“Adept skills vary depending on two things. One, the user. Two, if they have a Glaive or not. I can give you an image of a glaive so you can look out for it on your travels if that helps.”

“Uh. Don’t you use a gun? I thought it just sorta took a specialized type of weapon.”

“Most Adepts use Glaives to allow them to take on different forms. Think of a weapon that allows you to obtain your full strength once you let it’s power run through you. It almost resembles the shape of a Z-Saber, but it’s Onyx in color with a gem in the middle. Different colored gems represent different powers.”

“Hmm. I thought the glaives in the game were powered by the one using them? Like a storage for them. I actually played Gunvolt a bit back on Earth.”

“Yes, but the gems on the inside contain that power. My buddy, Cody has a few of those gems since he got ended up here as Copen. It also is focused on personality. Vipers for example is based on his Anger.”

“Hmm. Though does that mean your gun has one of those gems?” The Bear then asked.

Lance though, shook his head as he felt himself and his partner getting pulled back to his world. “My gun is modified to work with my lightning based abilities to where I can channel my energy through the gun. The same goes for my blade.” He said, showing off his Katana like edge before he disappeared, leaving Freddy with Shadow Bonnie. Shadow Bonnie Placed a paw to his chin as Lance finally returned home. He snapped a paw and crafted a silver coin, making an image of his silhouette and eyes on it, concentrating for a moment before the coin erupted into light and disappeared. He panted for a moment before looking back to Freddy.

“Hmm. It seems that you may have implanted some Displaced abilities with regards to tokens into each of us.”

Freddy smirked at him. “It seems that way, doesn’t it. So, where did you send them?”

“I decided that as a way to learn more of the multiverse that I will test some of the abilities that I may have gotten by sending out my own token. That one I sent off in the same way as you, leaving it in young Lance’s pocket. Though I did not leave a message upon it, it will bear the same aura as a normal token.”

“Well alright. So, you mentioned Chica trying to strangle Bonnie? Y’know, even though you guys don’t have lungs? Or throats?”

Shadow Bonnie merely sighed and nodded, heading back toward Bonbon’s house with Freddy in tow.

Power Pony Headquarters (Night)

Upon coming back, Lance found himself inside the Gymnasium that Solaria would normally train him in. He wasn’t sure if everything was back to normal though. They had defeated the girls heartless before coming back. Now though, the Adept was unsure if the girls had changed back. His question was answered a few seconds later though, when he had a shadow linger above him and his Torchic partner.

“Why do I have the feeling that something is going to smash me-?”

In an instant, something lashed out at him, it’s hooves breaking the floorboards. Skidding backwards, Lance flipped on the lights and was surprised to see who he found.

“S-saddle rager?”

It was indeed Saddle Rager. But upon thinking that there was an intruder in the base, she took on her “Rage” form to see if she could cause them to run. Upon realizing who it was though, she shrunk back down to normal size.

“L-lance!! You’re back!”

“You’re… alright?”

“Yeah… the girls and I just had a bad dream. Nothing to worry about.”

‘So they don’t remember them becoming heartless. That’s… new.” Lance thought to himself. “Hey, I’m going to get some rest. Can you do me a favor?”

“W-what kind of favor?”

Lance sighed as he took out the taffy piece that Freddy gave him. “I was given some enchanted taffy by a friend and he tells me that this one could help her with some nightmares she has been having lately. I want to make sure my partner is ready to go so we can round up criminals first thing in the morning.”

“O-okay… But what do you mean about rounding up criminals?”

That’s when Lance realized something. Something he had to ask. “You girls weren’t told about the Prison Break?”

Saddle Rager shook her head. “Nothing about anything like that. We’ve been asleep most of the day.”

That’s when Lance sighed. “Go get some rest then. I’ll explain everything to you in the morning.” With that, the two of them parted ways as Saddle Rager went to go see Lumen and Lance walked back to his room. He took out Freddy’s coin, only to realize a new token amongst them. A silver one.

“Well, Looks like Freddy and Shadow Bonnie are looking over me now… Making friends out of former enemies… I like that.”

He returned both of them to his jacket pocket as he hung up his coat and laid on the bed. The Adept needed all the rest he could get after the events of today.

End Strike 10

Author's Note

Because getting Sucker punched by a former foe has got to hurt. Anyways, this is a part two of my earlier crossover with Archon's story, Sir Freddy the Golden. There are differences between both his and mine, so read both and see what you like.

-Frost

P.S. What's a good diet for a Torchic? I was thinking seeds and Pokefood, but I wasn't sure.

Strike 11- A tale of Two Twilights

When Lightning Strikes- A tale of Two Twilights

Location: Street Alleyway

The night was calm, and nothing bad was going on in this part of the city. But, fate always has a way of messing with us. A vortex opened in the sky, and two figures fell out of it. As luck would have it, Lee was having one of those days, and if he saw another female Displaced, he would flip his Scythe at them.

A crash was heard, and Twilight yelped, “What happened?!”

Lee sighed, “I have absolutely no idea what went wrong! It should not have closed, and the second one should not have opened!”

Twilight stood up on all four of her hooves and then she looked around the area, not seeing anything do to the darkness. Lee jumped to his feet, and stood next to Twilight. They fused, becoming more intuned.

The first thing that the combined pair noticed upon them waking up was a flyer for the “Maretropolis City Carnival” that had commenced about a week ago. Even though the information was old news, it did provide one thing to them. A location.

“Maretropolis? I’ve never heard of this place before.” Twilight questioned.

‘Maybe we’re in a place that the cities and towns are different?’ Lee asked more than answered.

The two trotted towards the other side of the alley, hoping to find some way to figure out why they were here. Taking a moment to look a big, Twilight was curious to see if there was anything on the opposite side of the paper. There was.

“Come early for a chance to meet the heroes of Maretropolis. The Power Ponies!!”

The backside had cut out silhouettes of each of them, not showing their identities or their faces. Like they were vectored in Adobe Ponyshop.

‘Heroes!? Can we see them? Maybe the Displaced is a friend, enemy, or they all are!’ Lee mentally questioned Twilight.

“Hold your hooves Lee. This Flyer is a week old. But maybe we just need to get up on top of one of these buildings and look around. Find some information before we make any attempted to find this world’s Displaced… Do you know a way we can get on top of one of these buildings, Lee?”

‘Yeah, this.’ Lee moved Twilight’s hoof towards a nearby building. A black string shot out, and connected onto it.

“Uh, this could be a bad time to mention this, but I’m afraid of hei-” Twilight couldn’t finish her sentence as she went flying towards the building at a fast pace. Twilight screamed as they slammed into where they wanted to go.

‘Damn. Note to self: need to fix hoof-eye coordination...’

“You think?!” Was the Unicorn’s only reaction as she tried to straighten herself up. “Let’s just be hopeful that it did not track any attention.

Unfortunately, For Twilight, Maretropolis is a city that never sleeps. And in this city, one mare did see the Pony fly up to the top of the building. This mare was the wife of the head detective of the Powers Division.

Ditzy Doo.

Power Pony HQ (Present time)

It was close to Five o'clock in the morning and Lance had gotten only seven hours of sleep after his “Reunion” with Freddy. Lumen was nowhere near up and the Torchic that was given to him (in Which he named Ember) was still sleeping. Turns out, as he was walking towards the command center, one pony was also up.

“Morning Twilight.”

The Masked Matterhorn turned around to see the Adept walk in. “Hey… Had a rough night?”

“You can say that… I was thankful for the hours of sleep I did get though.”

“Aren’t we always-?”

Before the two of them could converse any further, a call came into the HQ through the special communications device that was issued to all members of the Powers Division. But the caller this time was different as her face came on screen.

“Ditzy?”

“Oh… Good morning Lance. Is Masked Matterhorn with you?”

“She’s right next to me. What’s up?”

The Pegasus sighed a little. “This might sound crazy, but I thought I saw a pony flying on top of a rooftop. It looked like a Unicorn with a black mask on and had white near where the eyes would be.”

The Description that Ditzy told Lance and Twilight reminded him of Venom from the Marvel comic books. He didn’t leave out though that this could’ve been another Displaced. Especially with his encounter yesterday with Ansem. “We’ll look into it right away, thanks for the call.”

As the call ended, Twilight looked towards Lance. “Are you sure about this? No one else is up right now.”

“Let them rest. They deserve it. Right now. we got some work to do.”

As they made their way through the hallway, the Adept and the Alicorn went on the Elevator that allowed them to get on top of the closest building. But, that wasn’t the only thing that they went up for. Lance’s newest abilities that he acquired from meeting Majin Buu allowed him to detect Energy Levels. And one strange one was just about to land right here… right…

CRRRRAAASSSHHH!!!!!

…now.

“W-what just landed?” The Masked Matterhorn asked, turning to the Adept as he was seen grasping his weapon.

“Our flying guest I believe.” Lance thought out loud as he waited for the dust to settle.

Lee groaned, and so did Sparkle-Butt, ‘You okay?’

Twi mumbled, “I think so, why would you do that?”

The two mentally apologize/grumbled in annoyance.

‘Singing is cool, you have musicals all the time!’

“Not during life or death situations!” Twi shouted.

Lance heard the last outburst and then decided to do something. Making sure that his clip was the Energy Blast Clip, Dullahan, Lance tapped the unknown figure across the head with his left hand as he held his gun with his right. “Excuse me sir, but you have got a LOT of explaining to do.”

“Not now, we’re busy…” Lee spoke, him and Twilight’s voices in sync. ‘What!?’ Twilight mentally winced at the Adept’s presence, unaware of the presence of his partner.

“Uhh, Lance. Why am I hearing my voice being mixed with this… creature's voice?”

Lee growled, “Shut it Sparkle-Butt! I am not a creature, I’m a monster, there is a difference!”

“What did you call me!?”

Lee, soon realized that he got himself in a situation similar to the one he got stuck in with Silver back on her world.

“Hmm… Sprinkles would be a better word. Sparkle-Butt is mine!”

“Do you even know who you’re talking too!?” The Masked Matterhorn shot back, unfolding her wings.

“Calm down, Twilight-.”

That’s when Lee’s Twilight realized the situation. “Oh Horsefeathers… there’s two of me again.”

“You wouldn’t hurt yourself, would you!” Lee laughed like a maniac, holding his stomach. “Later Sprinkles, nice meeting ya!” Lee turned around and shot a web.

Before Lee was able to get anywhere though, a snap of Lance’s fingers set off an ear piercing soundwave, causing the symbiote around them to break apart. By running his powers through his fingers and causing them to Vibrate, the Adept was able to pitch out a piercing sound that had both Lee and the Unicorn separate. The Masked Matterhorn though, was shocked to see who was inside the suit.

“Y-you’re…… me!?”

“Dear god, we got a paradox.”

Lee tried getting away, and Twilight helped him as they tried to run. But Lance was quick to hold them down with a few Galactic Donuts. “Alright, care to explain what is going on because I got a good feeling that you’re a Displaced.”

Twilight shied away, scared stiff. And Lee wasn’t holding up either, “Okay, short or long version?”

“Surprise me. I already got a few surprises earlier in the week, including the fact that a few ghouls are in this city and I met with a Displaced called Freddy Fazbear.”

Lee sighed, “In between, I guess… My name is Lee Connors, I dressed up as Venom to Comic-Con one day with my sister. I bought a Scythe from some Merchant, and was teleported to Equestria. I was soon turned to stone because of Fat-Sun’s hatred for… Things that aren’t pony. I was free’d by Twi, when she was in danger,” Twilight looked surprised, but she still stayed away from Lance “I took her as my host, and the Vortex keeps sending us to other Displaced worlds… Anything else Mr. Loud-Fingers?”

“Okay. First off, Sorry about the Fingers. Two, My name is Lance Walker, but my teammates call me Gunvolt and three, what exactly brought you guys to Maretropolis? Don’t get me wrong, I know you said that you got here because of a Vortex, but what do you think the reason was for it sending you here?”

Lee shrugged, “The Vortex does not talk genius. I don’t know why, but I guess someone used my Token.”

“Hmm… My best guess is probably Nova.” Lance said. Lee tilted his head.

“Nova? Nova Prime!” Lee pumped a hoof into the air, and Twilight, though still scared, Face Hoofed.

“No… not that.” Lance said as he showed an image of who he was talking about. “This guy was responsible for breaking out all the inmates in Solace Asylum. What you might consider as Tartarus. Whatever the case, it’s bad news.”

Lee scratched his head, “And he summoned my… Why?”

“Probably because he thought of you as another villain to cause chaos around the city like all the others he already busted out. Moving them like pawns on a chessboard.”

Lee sighed, “Am I that evil looking...? Don’t answer that.” Lee waited, and continued, “Well, he is right about one thing,” Lee/Twilight webbed a rooftop, “I’ma cause some chaos!” Lee jumped off before Lance could do anything. The symbiote swung until he was far away. ‘Weird. I’m not sure I like him, too judgmental...’

“Well, with somepony of his position, it comes with a lot of- What the-!?”

Before Lee’s Twilight could finish, Lance was right in front of them. “Look, all I want to do is help you. You don’t need to run off like that.”

“H-how did you-!?”

“Get here? Instant Transmission. One of a few things another Displaced named Majin Buu taught me. Now, are we going to do this the easy way or-.”

Lee slammed Twilight’s hoof into Lance’s face, sending him sprawling onto the ground.

“Oh my gosh! Are you okay!?” Twilight asked panicking. ‘I’m in a bad mood...’

“You asking me or your partner?” The Adept asked for clarification. ‘If she means Lee, then Darn it, they took the hard way!!’

“You of course! Lee isn’t hurt, so why him?” Twilight pointed, then looked at her hoof Lee used to punch the Adept, “I’ve never hit a l-living thing before…”

“Just asking… I’m fine. Besides, I’ve dealt with worse. Even had a ghoul bite a piece of my flesh off. Don’t worry, I can heal faster than normal.” Lance got back on his feet as he got on the same roof where Twilight and Lee was, followed by the Masked Matterhorn landing there a few seconds later. “Now, as I was saying, I’m sorry for how this conversation first started off and right now, I want to help the two of you.”

‘Could I kill him?’ Lee asked, sounding a bit sick.

“What!? No! Why are you acting like this?” Twilight yelled, voice shaking.

‘Listen Sparkle-Butt, I have at least ten kids, most, if not all, want me dead, I was kissed on the cheek by a she-demon Displaced, and I’ve only been out of that stone prison for two day’s!’ Lee vented.

Twilight gulped, “Heh… Sorry… Wait, you have ten kids!?”

‘Yes, and they all most likely want me dead, so thats depressing! Why are you so surprised?’

“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t know…” Twilight said, feeling awkward.

‘Oh, thank you for your pity, but I don’t need it.’

Twilight sighed, “I’m not pitying you, I’m ju-”

Le cut in, ‘Oh, so you don’t care!’

“What is wrong with you! I never said I didn’t care!”

‘Oh, so you do love me!’ Lee said in mock happiness.

Twilight’s eye twitched, “Stop! I do care, but not like that!”

Lee chuckled, ‘Funny. First argument.’

“You are so arrogant!”

‘I prefer the term: Immature. Or Imp! Try that, those suit me much better!’

As they argued, Lance and Masked Matterhorn just watched on, amazed by how long this argument had gone. “Wow… you two remind me of my parents. You argue just like a married couple.”

“WE ARE NOT A COUPLE!!!”

“Well, the yelling says otherwise.”

The Venom mask pulled back, revealing Twilight’s glare. She gritted her teeth, eyes burning with anger, “We. Are. Not. A couple!”

“Okay… okay. I get it. Thanks for clarifying that.”

Twilight grumbled as she sat down on the floor. ‘Sorry...’

“Okay, I want to help both of you, but the only way you can help us is that if we work together and not try to run off… Lee.”

The two sighed in sync, “I understand… Sorry for hitting you, I’ve had a bad day. We’ll help! Wait, whats up with that Twilight of yours?”

“Can you clarify a little on what you mean exactly?” The Adept asked.

“She… has wings…” Lee stated.

“Well, she’s an Alicorn. I don’t see what’s wrong with that.”

The symbiote clad Twilight yelped, “What!? Alicorn!? I can’t be an Alicorn! How’d that happen!” ‘Good point Sparkle-Butt...’

“At one point, you would ascend to being an Alicorn. Celestia would later on see that you’ve grown from what you were once were as a filly and have you become the Princess of Friendship. Coronation and everything.”

“With great power comes a great responsibility.” Lance muttered to himself, smiling at Twilight. “You must’ve made her proud.”

Twilight looked to the floor, “How could I make her proud, when I’ve become the enemy.”

“You can’t judge every book by it’s cover, Twilight. Not everything that looks scary is incredibly evil.” The Masked Matterhorn told her. “I believe that in your world, you met a zebra that taught you this lesson. Zecora right?”

Twilight nodded, but shied away a bit, “But the Princess turned him to stone.”

‘Don’t remind me...’

“Yes, that might be true… But you two aren’t evil. I would say… Misunderstood. Let Celestia give you a chance to prove her wrong and you might just surprise her with what you can accomplish. The only way you can do that is if you work as a team. Two heads are better than one.”

Twilight froze, she never thought about it like that. Maybe she could help Lee.

“Thank you.. Me? I think I needed that.” Twilight smiled, then looked back to Lance, “We should find Lee’s Token.” The two said.

“Alright. Masked Matterhorn, do you detect any activity in the Area?”

“Yeah. Nearby the Metalworks. I feel Hot Spot’s magic from over there.” The Alicorn told him. “He’s a Unicorn that could turn anything into a potential Explosive using his magic. I feel another presence there too, but I can’t tell who it is.”

Lance then saw the Alicorn begin to ascend into the air. “Follow me.” She tells them as she began to soar through the Sky and Lance began to run and catch up using his agility to jump from building to building.

“Okay, my turn to drive.” The Unicorn declared. ‘Darn it!’

Twilight and Lee used there web fluid to catch up. ‘Hey, I have suggestion.’

“Shoot.” Twilight said.

‘Why not we call ourselves Venom?’

Twilight smiled, “I like that! Venom...”

Back at Base

“Hey, Humdrum? Did you happen to see Lance this morning?”

“No. Something tells me he’s getting to work early. I can’t find Twilight anywhere.”

“ ……… Is it just me or do I have a feeling that something bad is about to happen?”

Metalworks

It took about ten minutes to get inside because breaking into the facility was a lot harder than it looked like. Because of the old Factory being operational again, the villains running the facility were using it to mass produce weapons, armor, and robotics that were unfamiliar to the Masked Matterhorn. Lance though, recognized a few of them. They were Sumeragi designed Mechs, Tanks, suits, tanks, Pulse Rifles, and hand grenades that were from Azure Striker Gunvolt. Nova must’ve knew the blueprints of all the Sumeragi gear for being the leader of Sumeragi and what not. A thought ran in his mind that if they were able to capture some of the items that were in here, they could take it to Detective Hooves and let the Tech Experts find a way to expose their weaknesses.

Lance’s entrance was a classic “Dynamic Entry” through the front door, despite the fact that the Masked Matterhorn suggested that they should catch them by surprises with stealth. The Adept thought though that Venom would be onboard with this plan.

“Knock knock, motherbuckers!!”

“The cake is a lie! All your base are belong to us!!!”

“What the-!? How the hell did they find out where we were?!”

“Who cares?!! Kill them already!!!”

Lance smiled as he switched bolt clips to Naga. “Here they come!”

“Wait, they're going to punch us to death? Whatever…” Venom webbed a Plasma Rifle.

The goons that came at them were armed with rifles and clubs while some had burst resistant body armor as they charged at them in a large mass like a crowd on black friday. This was going to be a riot.

‘Let’s start a riot…a riot…’ Lee sang.

Lance’s first move was to tag two explosive crates near the middle of the facility and the pipes above them as he executed his Flashfield. The lightning that surged from the personal barrier was sent directly towards the tags, causing the explosives to detonate and steam to come from the pipes. His plan was to cause confusion for the enemy so he, Masked Matterhorn, and Venom would go in and knock them all out during the panic. A bold idea, but not exactly what happened. Especially when you’re dealing with Lee.

Lee began shooting the goons kneecaps with a Plasma Rifle, knocking dozens of them to the ground. He throw the Rifle at them, and used his webs to ground it fast, making an explosion that took out the majority. Luckily they all survived, and there was only ten left.

“Told you it was a lie! Oh, you didn’t know we were the cake…”

The Ten that were left were scrambling to do something, but then, a new voice rang through the Factory.

“YOU IDIOTS!!! I GIVE YOU ONE SINGLE JOB TO GUARD THIS PLACE AND YOU CAN’T EVEN DO THAT RIGHT!!! GET OUT OF MY SIGHT!!”

The ten of them left and now, standing there was Hot Spot. A red Unicorn with a long fire like ponytail and mane that looked unimpressed. He even had a few scars over his eyes. “Pfft… A unicorn, the Azure Striker and the Masked Matterhorn…… I honestly expected more if you ask me.”

“Look Rapidash rip-off, I think you overestimate your powers. And really? A ponytail, you are a man, right?”

“Buck off, Tarface. I never asked for your opinion.” He grunted again. Lance then noticed something dangling around his neck. A black…… Scythe.

“Lee, what was your token again?”

“A black and white Scythe style necklace, why?”

Lance was about to say something, but then Hot Spot gripped the token with his teeth. “Thanks to Master Nova and his experiments, he was able to extend my powers and give me a new form by manipulating the power in this accessory. PREPARE TO DIE!!!”

A black and red energy swirled around the Unicorn as it consumed him. As it faded, a new… Anthropomorphic figure was standing there and looking at Lee and Lance. Anger in his eyes.

“BURN!!!”

“You talk too much.”

“Isn’t Symbiote flammable?” Lance asked.

“Nope, common misconception. Sound is the only weakness, but fire can hurt.” Lee webbed Hot Spot’s mouth. “The movie did that to people.”

Shortly after saying that though, the Web on Hot Spot’s mouth burned off as it created a few explosives of fire and hurled them towards the three of them. All three of them split up. Lance taking a frontal approach, Masked Matterhorn taking an approach to the left while Venom took one to the right. Masked Matterhorn casted her signature Ice spell at the new opponent, only to have it evaporate and have Hot Spot’s new form grab her and throw her out the factory. Launching her into the distance.

“MY OTHER ME!!!” Twilight screamed. She backed away from the fire thrower, fearing he’d do the same to her. ‘Twilight, I’m her. You don’t have to be afraid, we’re hero’s, remember?’

Twilight calmed down quickly.

Venom webbed more Plasma Rifle’s, “We have an idea!” They yelled to Lance, gesturing to the weapons. The Adept though, couldn’t pick up on her signal because of two things. One, how quick Lance’s new form was. Second, the Volcanic Axe that he unsheathed out of his back that was as hot as molten steel. Around five hundred degrees fahrenheit.

“I’m up for any suggestions at this point!!”

“Set as many the Rifle’s around him as you can! I’ll do the rest!”

Lance honestly had no idea what kind of idea the two of them had in their heads, but right now, any idea could be a good idea. He switched clips to Mizuchi so he could knock over the weapon racks that scattered around the room, and then continued to do so after he switched again to Vasuki. What he called “The Ricochet” clip. Soon, a bunch of weapons were scattered all over the floor and it was just what Venom needed.

‘Ready?’

“No… but I can’t think of anything else.” Twilight mumbled.

Venom was standing on a mech. Twilight casted a shield spell around Lanc, and as they jumped off, they used their webs to pull the mech down on the weapons.

Lee wanted an explosion and soon got one… But it was not one that he intended. All that did was just piss off Hot Spot to the point of no return.

“YOU BASTARDS!!! I’LL TURN YOU ALL TO ASH!!!” Hot Spot screamed as he rose into the air and multiple balls of fire began to surface.

“Ahhh!” Twilight screamed, burn marks all over her.

Lee jumped off Twilight, and took his humanoid form. A Scythe as black as darkness appeared in his hand. “Will you. Shut up. OR NOT!?!?!?” He took a slash at Hot Spot.

Hot Spot saw the attack coming and met Lee’s Scythe with his Volcanic Axe. Both weapons clashing and putting the two of them in a struggle of wits. But for the Unicorn, unknowingly, he fell for the most simplest of diversions. He didn’t notice it until something tore through his back and severely damaged him.

It was Lance and the Energy Blade that Humdrum had crafted for him. “He’s down!! You and me, Venom. Let’s Finish this!!”

He nodded, fusing with Twilight once again, Scythe in hoof. ‘Sorry Twi.’

Venom charged, darkness radiating from his Scythe like fog. The weapon grew, and Venom’s teeth ripped out of his mask, their tongue long and snake-like. The Scythe was swung downward.

For Lance. He charged from the other end, radiating with Lightning. As he attacked, the Adept swung low and upward with two hands. Both strikes met in the center and caused the monster that was Hot Spot to explode in a mass of blackened light. The only thing that was left in the center of the room was Lee’s Token as it fell to the floor.

“Dadada daa da dum dada daaaaaa!” Lee humed Final Fantasy victory music as he twirled his Scythe like cloud would, then rested it on his/Twilight’s back.

Lance himself just chuckled as he picked up the small ornament sized token. “Well, guess that’s mission accomplished. Now… Mind if I try something real quick? I want to test a theory I thought of based on these tokens of ours.”

“Uh, sure. I just think Twilight needs medical care.”

“Okay, you tend to her while I try this out.” Holding the scythe, he aimed it in front of him like if he was aiming a blast at the wall. He began to channel his energy as he closed his eyes. Soon, a portal appeared, stable and everything. “Well, that was a lot more successful than I thought.”

“You jinxed it.”

“Nope. You see, since Displaced can summon each other and also get summoned, I thought of a way to get to other worlds without being pulled in like a vacuum. If my theory is correct, this gateway should lead you to your Equestria.” The Adept said, pulling out one of his tokens and tossing it to them. “Keep this. It’s my token, so call me if you need my help and I’ll answer. I think you two should get going before Masked Matterhorn gets back here with the girls.”

The Venom mask moved out of the way to show Twilight’s face, “I hoped I’d be able to say goodbye.” Twilight sighed.

“I’ll tell her for you. Now go. I rather not have that portal close on you by accident and have you lose a finger… or a hoof.”

Twilight giggled, “Okay. And one more thing. I think I’ll start being a hero back home. Heh, I guess I’m like an honorary member…”

“Welcome to the team.” Lance chuckled. “Ms. Venom.”

Twilight smiled, “I’ll see you later Gunvolt!” She said, jumping into the portal. But something happened.

They screamed, mostly Lee in frustration. “You jinxed it!” The portal closed.

Lance sighed. So far, it had been one crazy morning. Now then… Weren’t their suppose to be arrivals?

“POWER PONIES ON THE SCENE!!!”

Oh yeah… right. Lance then turned around to see the rest of the girls. “Sorry girls, but you missed all the excitement earlier. It seems though that this place was used as a factory for weapons, armor and mechs.”

“Wow… This looks like it came out of Stare Wars!!!”

“Right… Anyways, somepony should call Detective Whooves. Twilight, does HQ have a lab for analysis?”

“Yes. I’m guessing that you want to take some of these things back so we can find a weakness to them?”

Lance nodded his head as he looked back at the scythe in his hands. “Oh and one other thing…”

“Yes?”

Lance motioned his head to the exit so they could talk in private for a moment. “Venom wanted me to tell you her goodbyes. Hopefully, they’ll be going back to their world soon.”

“Thank Celestia for that.”

“I’m concerned about something though… Hot Spot said that Nova was experimenting with Lee’s token. If that token caused him to transform like that, something tells me that he made more to give to his top lieutenants. Each one different from one another.” The Adept said. “Venom was curious about one thing though?”

“Oh? What’s that?”

“She was asking if she could be an honorary member.”

Twilight giggled, looking back at her friends and remembering the encounter she had with the other Twilight. “Yes. Yes she can be.”

Lee’s token glowed, and a message came through, ‘If the Power Ponies need us, we’ll be happy to back you up!’

Twilight smiled as she trotted back over to his friends, but as he was about to walk, he heard a second voice talk to him. This time, it was the voice of a girl. But not Twilight’s voice. It was a lot different.

‘Brother……’

Lance flinched for a second, looking at his token. He could only think of one question as he put the token away.

‘What was that all about? Wait… Didn’t Lee mention having a sister?’

End Strike 11

Author's Note

Well, this was quite interesting. This chapter was a crossover with A forsaken Symbiote by Bronyparasite. It was pretty fun since it let me have fun with having two Eggheads meet each other. Even though I've been on a roll with chapters lately, I'm going to take a break right now. My fingers really need it.
-Frost

Strike 12- Analysis

When Lightning Strikes- Analysis

Power Pony HQ

Hours after Lance and “Venom” had defeated Hot Spot and Venom left through a portal to his own world (probably), The Adept had now scavenged almost every piece of tech and equipment that he could find and transported everything to the Tech Lab at Headquarters so he could analyze them and see how much of a threat this posed on the Power Ponies. With the discovery of an old metalworking factory and the amount of gear that the ponies were mass producing, the only assumption was that they were preparing for a takeover or war on a global scale. Given the materials used, most of the gear was resistant to Magic while the weapons themselves weren’t exactly… ordinary.

The Adept soon turned the laboratory into a testing facility, setting up mechanisms for each of the devices and weapons they uncovered and mannequins to use as target practice. During this though, the Adept also used a scanner on the Black Scythe he acquired from Lee in order to see if any of the materials of the token would be found in the equipment. He had a suspicion that the token somehow played a role on how the Unicorn they faced earlier was able to take on an entirely new form and almost defeat the two of them if it weren’t for him letting his guard down at the last possible second.

Some Bio scans indicated that the token was composed of the same living source that Venom used in combat. What he called “Symbiote”. But somehow, after looking at the remains of the ruined glaive that Hot Spot used that was now only an empty shell, they had very high readings of the material inside there. This concerned the Adept. If these Glaives were made of this material and given to different users, who knows what they’ll be used for or what kind of transformations will be pulled off.

A knock on the door caught Lance’s attention and he saw The Masked Matterhorn enter the room. “Can I come in? You look a bit… Busy.”

“No, by all means, go ahead.” Lance offered, pointing at a nearby chair. “I’ve been working a lot with the gear we found and made some major discoveries.”

“Oh really? What kind of discoveries?”

“Ones that would really concern me and also should concern you too.” Lance said. “Let me run a field test with the Armor we acquired to show you what I mean.” He shows the demonstration by comparing two sets of body armor. The one used by the members of the Powers Division in the Maretropolis Police Department and then the one used by Sumeragi. Using his energy blade, he did one vertical slice on each set. The difference? Not only did Sumeragi’s armor held up just like the other set, but it absorbed most of the damage better than the first set due to the active materials used in it. “This concerns me because it means that somepony in this gear could get themselves slammed into a bus and come out unscaved, making them harder to capture than before.”

“What about the weapons?”

“Thats… another thing. The weapons are also made using technology that’s not normally found around the city and run on these crystals.” Lance pulled out a few that he had extracted from the interior of a few of Sumeragi’s weapons and showed them to the Masked Matterhorn. “They’re like rechargeable batteries because these are kinetic weapons that run on them as energy, recharge when not in combat and can be switched out like ammunition clips.”

“Okay, that’s a bit worrisome. What are the effects in combat though?” The Mare then asked as The Adept sighed.

“It varies depending on the size of the weapon and purpose. But each one has a normal shot and a charged blast. Each one being quite… deadly. But I think a demonstration should be the best way to show you.”

Soon, the Adept put a clip into the three different weapon types they found there. A primary firearm, A secondary firearm and a third gun that was for heavy weapon purposes. “Alright, Field test one. Standard Long range rifle…. The Scorpion.” He said, reading the side of the weapon. Soon, he opened fired on the mannequin that had the Sumeragi issued body armor as the shots came out in strings of Rapid fire pulse blasts. Like an assault rifle. But, as it turns out, the first weapon had a secondary function when Lance accidently extended the barrier. When the weapon’s barrel was extended, it was able to fired a charged bolt and functioned like a sniper rifle. It would be a perfect tactical weapon.

“Okay… moving on. Test number two, the Crossfire Pistol.” The Adept said as he placed the energy crystal where the clip would be. The first thing he noticed was that the function of the pistol would remind him of a Desert Eagle back home. But, in addition, this one had a miniature sight that allowed for the user to look through walls using infrared technology. He found this out when he pointed at the wall to see both Radiance and Mistress Marevelous talking to each other in the next door room. For a test, he fired a few shots. The normal capabilities were standard. But Charged blasts allowed for a brief stun blast that was silenced by the weapons capabilities. Almost like his pistol on Steroids.

Finally, the last weapon test. The ‘Hellfire’ Rail gun. Quickly, Lance could immediately tell why it was given the name. Blasts of Pulse Energy were released in quick succession. Not only that, but a charged shot from this gun went off like someone fired a rocket launcher. The blast from this demonstration almost caused the whole room to go into disarray with the impact of the attack leaving an unprotected mannequin turned to ashes.

“Dear sweet Celestia.” Masked Matterhorn cursed under her breath. With this much destructive capability in the hands of such an enemy like Sumeragi, nopony could ever be safe. But, with the ones they obtained, maybe they could find a way to use the enemy’s technology against them. “Lance, is this all the weapons that we collected?”

“Besides the combat suit and the tanks, it seems like we only scratched the surface.” The Adept replied with a frown, taking out a few papers that he found in a tube. “During the excavation, I found these. They’re weapon blueprints. For more than just these weapons though. Some of these schematics are for robotics and mechanical suits. Possibly being designed at a different location after we beat Hot Spot.”

The Azure Striker brought up this because he was concerned about something else. Since Lee’s Symbiote was used to create Hot Spot’s glaive, Lance was concerned that Nova was able to create other glaives using the same material since it was a living force that could be duplicated given the right procedures. That other villains would be guarding important research wings and each one being tougher than the last. He remembered there being seven major Adepts in Sumeragi besides Nova. Each one representing one of the seven deadly sins.

Wrath, Envy, Pride, Sloth, Gluttony, Lust, and Greed.

Hot Spot was the first one to appear. The Burning Fire of Wrath. Now, Lance was beginning to wonder what else was to come. He remembered each of the other bosses, but given that this is Equestria and not a human version of it, there would be different circumstances. “Can you excuse me for a moment, Twilight. I need some air. All this thinking is giving me a headache.”

The Alicorn nodded as he walked towards the elevator and rode it up to the top floor. Once there, he stepped on out onto the rooftop. He was beginning to feel refreshed. But… only temporarily. Lance felt another presence on the roof with him and he did not like it when he felt like he was being spied on.

“Alright, who’s there?” He asked as the adept turned around.

“.........” The Figure was quiet. Possibly either deaf or mute. Which lead to Lance’s next question.

“Can you hear me?” The figure simply nodded yes to Lance’s question. He breathed a sigh of relief, but then thought through the conversation he had with the one eyed owl only two nights ago and the man that set the Unconscious Cody by his feet. “Are you…… Arima?”

The figure only nodded his head again, followed up by a question that he wrote on a small whiteboard with a whiteboard marker. [Yes I am Arima Kishou.]

“Okay Arima. May I ask why are you here? Its it because the One Eyed Owl wanted you to watch over me so I don’t go back on my promise?”

[That and to see if you are all talk and bark.]

“I assure you, I’m doing all that I can. But with the recent endeavours with the newly formed Sumeragi, I have my hands full…… We’ve uncovered weapons and technology that are years ahead of this worlds time. Almost futuristic. Now I’m trying to find the locations of the facilities that they are building them and shut them down. Maybe…… if you can help me find them, I can have some more time convincing them about Kaoru.”

Arima handed him two cards telling him about the possible locations of two of the facilities. [One hidden at a port on the coast of Sun Fransokyo while the other is located at the edge of Baltimare.]

“So everything’s not exactly in one place and hard to find. Clever devils…” Lance said. “Thank you. If I had some money, I would pay you for your help because of your generosity-.”

Arima simply pulled out his quinque and pointed it at Lance. [Be prepared to see me at this location.]

“Wait… Why? I can take care of these on my own. Or is it for something else?” The Adept wondered, asking him.

[You may be powerful then most of the beings in this world, but the lone wolf act will end up getting you killed. Rely on your team more often than just yourself kid, otherwise you’ll fail.]

“I do rely on my team. It’s just in certain incidents, me relying on them has made them become targets and I don’t want them to get hurt. They’re more than just teammates and friends to me. They’re like Family and Family members don’t let others get hurt.”

[That’s the life of being a hero, kid. No matter what happens even when you may or may not rely on them, they’ll still get hurt. You’ll know soon enough when we meet again.]

With that, Arima left the rooftop. But all that conversation did was have a chill go down Lance’s spine. He already knew about that lesson from what happened with Cody… But what Arima finished with… Did he plan to hurt anypony in the tower? Now this just made him worry a little bit more as he returned inside the HQ with the new locations he had obtained.

Sumeragi Headquarters

Over the past few hours, Nova had to deal with the news of their major weapon facility being taken over and Hot Spot being defeated. This, to him though was only a minor setback. He had already gotten all the equipment he needed and thanks to the Black Scythe he found earlier and the Synthetic material it was composed of, he was able to construct a series of Glaives not just for himself, but for the individuals that he assigned to the various facilities that were important to Sumeragi’s success. They were the different organs of the body with this watchtower being the brain. But that wasn’t his major focus when a new figure entered the room. A teenaged male pony with two horns that curved backwards. Instead of fur, it had scales along it’s body. For this was a very special kind of creature.

It was a Capricorn.

“Welcome… You must be Jumper, am I right?”

“Yes. Indeed I am.” he replied.

“I heard as well that you have some… Interesting skills. Am I right?”

“Well,” Jumper began to speak. “I wouldn’t exactly call them interesting now. Back when I was younger and using my skills in conjuring portals to travel all over the world was one thing. Then, I got bored and tried my portals for other things… Which got me into crime. But now, there's nothing really much to do anymore. Even with us busting out and everything.”

Normally, something like this would make somepony believe if this guy was for real. But to Nova, he saw opportunity. “You make it sound like you need something to… entertain you. Am I right? Well, I believe I just have the perfect opportunity for you.”

Nova now took out a glaive that he had in a nearby locker that had an sky blue colored hue and gem in the center. “There is a underwater testing facility that can’t be discovered by the likes of the power ponies. If discovered, I would like for you to use your gifts to…… surprise them. Does that sound fun to you?”

The Capricorn smiled. “Finally, something to possibly cure me of my boredom.”

End Strike 12

Author's Note

One step forward, two steps back.

Also, thanks for over 100 watchers. I'm really grateful for all our your support :twilightsmile:

Strike 13- Fate/Strike

When Lightning Strike- Fate/Strike

Power Pony HQ

He needed to sleep. Lance was beyond tired given the research he had been working on all day. He had found two possible locations for him to investigate involving activity with Sumeragi; A shipping dock in Baltimare and also a location in Sun Fransokyo. But now, the Adept just wanted to be fully rested and re-energized.

However, Fate had other plans for him tonight. While he was sleeping, A Displaced was calling upon him.

Ponyville (Gilgamesh, Saber, and Casters World)

“There that the last of the stuff.” Said Saber as she crashed onto the couch next to Luna. “Did you really have to bring a lot of stuff with you?”

“Hey, we’re pretty much on vacation for the next 1,000 years so yes.” Luna said pulling out a handheld game. “I don’t see you complaining about the suitcases of beer & wine in Celestia’s room.”

“Mostly because I prefer not to be the poor sap that tries to take that away from here.”

“Fair point, by the way where’s your friend Caster?”

“She raiding Twilights Castle.”

“Why is she doing that?”

“Something about wanting to steal some crystals, and sell them to the kids around ponyville to make a few bits.”

“......By crystals you mean…..”

“The ones hanging around her castle.”

“Oh thank faust.”

Just then, Caster teleported in out of thin air and landed on her head. “Ow! Stupid teleporting magic talisman.” Said Caster as she pulled herself up from the floor. “Guys you’ll never guess what I just found in Twilights castle before she booted me out of it.”

“Let me guess? Moonshine?”

“You finally found your brain for once?”

“No and screw you Saber.” Caster pulled a hairpin from out of her hair. “This sweetass hairpin I found in Twilights room. You think she wouldn’t mind if I have it?”

“I’m surprise that you haven’t been killed yet.” Said Saber. “Plus that’s not a normal hairpin, it’s another displaced humans token.”

“How can you tell?”

“Because it’s starting to glow Caster.”

Just when Caster realized this, A bright light illuminated from the hairpin as it cause something to hit the floor. As it turns out, it was a Male human with Yellow hair in a braid, a long blue overcoat and a bunch of fancy other pieces of gear. It was starting to wake up as Caster turned around.

“O-oww… Goddess, my head hurts…”

“Oh crap it the IRS, they finally found me!”

“Caster, shut up.” Saber retorted. “This kid doesn’t look so harmless.”

Saber’s ego basically shut herself up as the moment she got to the ground on one knee where the boy was, a specialized Pistol was pointed at her face.

“What… the hell… is going on?” He asked, his tone becoming very stern.

“Easy quick draw mcgee, you just been summoned by Caster over there.” Saber said pointing at the fox girl behind him. “And I wouldn’t be pointing that toy of yours at me like that.”

“Well, it’s either that…” The figure retorted as he held something in his other hand that sprang to life in the form of a Katana. “ … Or this.”

“Holy crap! He’s a Jedi!!!”

“SHUT UP, CASTER!!”

“Will you two shut the hell up?” Said Gilgamesh entering the room. “I mean really? What the hells going on, and why is there a little boy in our house?”

“One, I have a name. It’s Lance Walker. Two, I’m not little… and three, I was apparently summoned by Ms. Foxy Caboose over there.” The Adept told the golden haired girl that reminded him of Yang Xiao Long from RWBY. ‘Note to self: Do not try to piss her off no matter what you say or do.’

“Figures something like this would happen. Normally the Holy Grail would be the one summoning other Displaced. But given that Caster is basically Brainless, it would make sense that she would bring you here on accident.”

“F*ck you, Gilgamesh!!” Lance heard her from the other room, followed by a small burp.

“Is… your friend drinking?”

“Maybe, either that or it’s Celestia that’s drinking along with her.”

“MY MOONSHINE!!!” The group heard Luna shriek from the kitchen. Now, Lance decided to get off the floor. The girls looking at him now saw his full outfit and made them think that somehow… He was a superhero? Like the comics that Spike had told Luna about a few times.

“You evil little bastard! How dare you two drink my moonshine that took me 50 years to make perfectly with the side effect of going blind!?”

“To be fair little sister you didn’t have your name on the bottle.” Said Celestia trying to hide the bottle behind her and Caster. “Plus you still have a few more bottles left.”

“They do have my name on it you idiots!”

That was when Luna walked in and noticed Lance. “Well… I honestly never expected guests… Let me guess… Caster?”

“Pretty much yeah.” Said Saber.

“And who is this… individual?”

“My name is Lance Walker. But back where I’m from, I’m also known as Gunvolt, the Azure Striker. Pleased to make your acquaintance.” Lance told the Princess, greeting her properly. He surprised each of the girls in a way to where they think that he just resurrected Chivalry from the grave.

“Holy crap this guys a nerd.” Said Caster.

“Go home, Caster. Your drunk.”

“I’m just greeting her properly. All of you look a bit… medieval so I thought that I would treat you with respect. Plus, you look a lot like the Princess Luna that Masked Matterhorn told me about.”

“True I am, but I’m not a Princess at the moment.” Luna said. Realizing the other part of the sentence, she then asked another question. “Wait… Do you mean Masked Matterhorn? As in the Power Ponies Masked Matterhorn?”

“Yes. I got Displaced in Maretropolis and had been with them for two weeks now.”

“......So you in a world full of superheroes then?”

“In a way yes. But not exactly. Theres also Ghouls from Tokyo Ghoul and I found out one of my friends who is a Paranoid roleplayer decided to break out all the villains and cause chaos so he could have the world under his control.”

“Wow…… reminds me of the time Nightmare moon gave Derpy the powers to control and army of muffins and take over Equestria that one time.”

“So your Derpy is… What exactly?” Lance asked.

“She’s fine, though she still has the powers to create muffins now.”

Lance facepalmed himself. “Forgive me for not being clearer, but I mean what is her occupation? My Derpy Hooves is on the Powers Division of the Maretropolis Police Department along with her husband, Detective Whooves, who is head of that division.”

“Hm…… truth be told I have no idea, all she does is just make muffins for her child Dinky.”

“So… She’s the Muffin Mare that lives on Berry lane?” Lance asked, intending it to be a joke. “ ……… Oh come on, that was a good joke!”

“That something Caster would say…… but she would of done it better.” Said Celestia.

“Well, jokes weren’t something that I had to practice while controlling my powers… This space is probably too small to demonstrate. Do you know where we can find a wide open space so we don’t damage your home?”

“Oh I think I can help you with that.” Said The Holy Grail standing behind Lance.

“Jesus!! Where the hell did you come from!?”

“From your mother mortal.” The Grail answered.

“I never had a mother. She died due to loss of blood when I was born.”

“Well sucks to be you then, huh?”

“Grail you are such a d*ck, you know that right?” Said Gilgamesh. Before the Grail could say anything though, all of them could see lightning begin to surge from the Adept.

“Don’t… you dare… talk about my family like that you sick son of a B*tch!”

“Kid, I been around since the beginning of time. You think I haven’t heard something like that before? Heroes I summon have more sadder stories and lives compare to what you have.”

“You sure? Because a couple of days before being Displaced, I watched my father blow his brains out due to being in depression.”

“Vlad The Impaler was a slave at every young age, almost about the same age you are.”

Lance shot back a glare of anger. “God, you’re worse than the first time I met Freddy.”

“Oh so you met him as well?” Said Caster.

“Twice. The first time, he was turning Ponyville into Madness. But the second time, he was reformed and despite punching me in the face, I met his “Children” and also found out that he put a Pokemon ecosystem in his world. He even gave me a Torchic.” That’s when Lance heard a small chirp and turned to realize that the same Pokemon got Displaced with him, making him feel a bit cheerful. “Oh hey there, Kai.”

“Well I guess that will be a lesson for you mortal, don’t interfere with a displaced who was way out of your league.”

“Both times, I was brought to him. But the second time, Bonnie brought me because he thought my Hairpin was a guitar pick. But yeah, I did learn that. Speaking of which, aren’t we suppose to be going somewhere to demonstrate my abilities?”

“I know that, just wanted to see how pissed you would get when I talk trash about your life. Now then if you would give me a second.” With a blink of an eye, everyone that was inside the house was standing on an open field away from ponyville. “There, now you can spar with one of my servants.”

“Hmm…… Should I ask one or-.”

“I’LL DO IT!!” Caster said immediately.

“You sure? Hangover might hit you hard?”

“Screw that. Come at me, bro!!” Caster taunted, alcohol still on her breath. Sighing Lance had Kai join Luna and Celestia as he drew his weapon from his holster.

“Ladies first.”

“With pleasure “FRIGID HEAVEN!!!”" Caster tossed a blue glowing talisman at Lance. The Adept switched his clip to Mizuchi and shot it out of the air with a precise blast. Going to Orochi, he aimed at Caster and began to fire a few bolts that hadn't damaged her as much, but tagged on to her clothing.

“Hey! That took me a few days to make it glow like that, you jerk!”

“It’s not glowing because of you. It’s glowing because of THIS!!” Lance soon executed Flashfield, with the lightning from the barrier connecting with the tags and electrocuting Poor Caster, making her tail spasm and the fur burnt.

“You little bastard, if I haven’t used Mantra: Aphotic Cave at the last microsecond, then that would of hurt even more then usual.” Caster said as the mirror that was on her back now started to float around her. “Now I’m mad, and you wouldn’t like me when I’m mad.” Prana energy started to gather around her, as the sky around them got darker. But before she was able to execute anything, Lance blasted her face with a Dullahan shot.

“If you think that I was going to wait around for you to perform some kind of charge attack, then you’re mistaken.” The Adept used this moment to go on the offensive, using Instant Transmission to teleport behind Caster and attack her open backside.

Caster’s mirror block the oncoming attack, as it pushed Lance away from Caster. “Don’t underestimate me kid, you may have speed on your side.” Casters hands started to form a sickly green color aura around them. “But I doubt you be fast enough to dodge an attack faster than this. LAND OF ETERNAL BAND!” Caster fired a shot at Lance, which only grazed his cheek leaving a stinging mark on it. As Lance turn around to see where the attack landed, it landed on a rock which was being dissolved.

“Well… That happened.” Lance retorted. The skin that was grazed by Caster’s attack was healing up thanks to his quick healing. He now looked like Caster never actually hit him.

“Great you’re one of those type of heroes that can heal themselves from damage in an instant.” Caster then took an offensive stance.

“Not quite. It’s just a bonus for being an Adept. My main powers is lightning, but I gained some additional abilities thanks to another Displaced named Majin Buu. Ki based abilities are one example, but my agility is another.”

“Really now?” Caster said as she pulled out a talisman that was glowing purple. “Then tell me little boy, have you ever met a Displaced by the name of Kat Shifter?”

Lance shakes his head. “No, but I’ve met a pair of nobodies and also Venom.” He didn’t take the chance for Caster to distract him as he transmitted himself to behind Caster. Using one of his skills, he channeled a torrent of Electricity with Astrashphere.

“Now… I think either we should have somepony else take a turn or end this charade. Take your pick.”

“I’ll be taking Caster’s place for the time being kid.” Said Saber as Gilgamesh dragged the past out Caster to where the Princesses are. “Unlike my friend Caster, don’t expect me to let my guard down.” She said as she pulled out her sword which was invisible to him and everyone else. “For now you are dealing with The King of Knights.”

“Well, that seems intriguing.” Despite the fact that Saber’s sword was invisible, his sight could see a trail of energy radiating from the blade. Switching weapons, he pulled out his own sword as it formed into a katana blade that was channeling a high frequency pulse through it. “King of Knights against the Azure Striker. Sounds like a pay-per-view fight.”

“Indeed, but I doubt your sword skills are up to par with mine.” Saber then summon prana energy into both her gauntlets and feet and launched herself at Lance. The Azure Striker’s first reaction was an upward Diagonal strike, followed by his footwork causing Saber to trip and fall over.

“I might not have the best sword skills, but a warrior must use all sorts of tricks in their arsenal to gain an advantage.”

“You mean like this!” Saber launched one of her gauntlets at Lance, hitting him in the face. “Little trick I learned from Caster, when she tried to pretend to be a robot-.”

Turns out, to her surprise, despite the fact that Lance’s blade was on the opposite side of him, a second blade soon sprang forth, piercing through the gauntlet as he removed it. “Clever, but my weapon allows me to form multiple kinds of weapons at will… which also reminds me… Bullseye.”

Turns out, Lance's second end didn’t make the blade have two edges, but turned it into a bow. Launching an arrowhead he form with his Luxcaliber skill and some extra stamina. “GOTCHA!!”

Saber smiled as did even try to avoid the attack. “The everlasting utopia, AVALON!!!” Upon say that the sheath that was held her sword started to glow, as a yellowish gold barrier formed around her. Her right gauntlet that was destroyed by Lance magically appeared back onto her hand. “On of my noble phantasm that I was hoping not to use, but seeing how you forced my hands to use it.” She said as her sword became visible. “Down side to it, it reveals my swords identity.”

“And don’t think you can use any of your little trick on me, Avalon prevents you from doing that and the only to get rid of it is beating me.”

“Hmm… You forgot one thing.” Lance pointed out, showing that the barrier was beginning to crack. “The arrow, along with my blade, runs on super fast vibrations. Almost at the rate of an ultrasound. Given this and the frequency increasing every second, the time for your barrier to fall will be…”

Crack…

“Not long.”

BREAK!! It worked. However, the gamble of Lance lead to him using up all of his current skill points. Leaving him a bit drained to not perform any major attacks.

“You shouldn’t have done that kid.” Said Gilgamesh from the side line. “That was only step one, what about 2 through 10?”

“Aww Sh-.” Lance cursed shortly before seeing Saber attack him.

“Try this BURST AIR!!!” Saber launched a wave of highly pressurized air at Lance. Lance stood his ground as he took the blast head on. But one thing happened that he did not expect.

A small bit of Fire hit Saber in the face.

Lance looked in the direction from where it came from. To his surprise, it was from Kai. His Torchic.

“.........Really?” Saber said as she looked at the pokemon, then back at Lance. “I don’t feel comfortable fighting your pokemon Lance.”

That’s when Kai began to glow. From Torchic, it turned into Combusken, proceeding to smash Saber’s face with Double Kick.

“I think Kai has a protective instinct. Not letting any harm come to it’s caretaker.”

“Really, I couldn’t tell see how he’s kicking me in the face.” Saber said in a sarcastic tone.. “Do you mind calling him off? I’m a knight after all-.”

“Well, you’re the one who blasted me with air so…… Incinerate!”

Kai chirped, setting Saber on fire. Luna herself got a real kick out of it.

“.....You know what fine, you want to play chicken boy.” Saber pulled off her cowlick on her head a surge of crimson & black aura surrounded her. “I really hate-.”

“Switch!”

“Wait, wha-?” Saber never got the chance to finish her monologuing as Lance attacked head on, having Kai retreat back. “......Normally I would be the calm one out of the group.” She said as the surge of energy disappeared.

“But seeing how you want to play around and insult my pride as a knight, I’ll make sure you and your friend pay for that!” Saber yelled as her sword started burst out prana energy.

“Ah crap.” The Adept cursed.

“The Sword of Promised Victory, EXCALIBU-.” Before Saber could unleashed her noble phantasm, Luna appeared in front of her. Causing Saber to stop her attack. “M-master….I.”

“Calm down I’m not mad at you or anything, but you might want to tone it down a bit.”

“B-But he-.”

“Why don’t you go and relax next to Celestia and Caster for now, and let Gilgamesh finish up ok?”

“......Ok.”

“Good.” Luna’s attention was now focus on Lance, who she then slapped him upside his head. “Dumbass!”

“Oww! What the F-? I never intended to insult her or make her angry!”

“That maybe true, but if I do recall it was a one-on-one match. NOT A TWO-ON-ONE FIGHT!’ Luna smacked him and his pokemon. “You could of gotten yourselves killed.”

“No one said that there were rules to the fight.” Lance pointed out. “Holy Grail never said anything either.”

“True, but I figure you would of known how knights are kid.”

“I do. But where I’m from, Chivalry will get you killed. I vowed to protect those I care for with my life and I can’t just do that by playing by the rules. Sometimes, you need to step outside the boundaries in order to save a life.”

“Ugh, you young mortals always say that. But there will be times when you’ll have to fight on fairs terms, otherwise you’ll be just as bad the villains you fight.” The holy grail appeared next to Lance. “You’re still young and naive to think that chivalry had died in your world.”

“I’m young yes, but the last time I tried Chivalry, my best friend was trapped in her own nightmares because of it. I vowed to protect my friends and yes, even if it does break some boundaries, I would do everything I can to protect those I care for. I WOULD GLADLY DIE TO SAVE YOU RATHER THAN HAVE YOU FIGHT ALONE!!!” Lance shouted before storming off in a rage.

“NO MATTER HOW HARD YOU TRY, YOU CAN’T PROTECT EVERYONE MORTAL! ALL HEROES AND RULERS SAY THAT BUT IT ALL NOTHING BUT WORDS THAT YOU CAN’T BACK UP!’ Grail said as he laughs like a child.

“Grail…...you’re a d*ck.” Gilgamesh said as she and Celestia followed the pissed off Lance.

“I’m only speaking the truth kid, no different if I told you that you three are immortal.”

Lance right now, could not deal with this. He was angry, yet hurt. Kai was by him, but it didn’t do much to sooth the pain he felt. He always wanted to help others and it sickened him if he couldn’t help someone. He hated Grail already.

It felt like no one could feel what he felt in that moment.

“You know you shouldn’t have run off like that.” Said Gilgamesh appearing on a tree branch, while Celestia laid her shoulder on the tree Gilgamesh was on. “You really need to get a hold of your emotions, and try to ignore the grail.”

“I mostly do. But… would it be rude to say that the Grail is just a total jackass? Because things aren’t like the way they have it set up back in Maretropolis.”

“You’re not being rude kid, at least you don’t have to deal with that dick of a grail.” Gilgamesh walked next to Lance. “But then again you aren’t a legendary hero just like us, so you should let this get you down.”

“I know… But I feel like being a Displaced is a new life for me… But what is it worth if everyone gets on my Goddess Damned case for doing something wrong?”

“Is it any better than your old life back home on earth?”

“It is… but it’s during these instances that the memories come back. It’s like a ball and chain on my ankle.”

“First rule about being a Displaced, is that you must accept your new life as one. Second rule your old life is gone, don’t let the past cloud your judgment or your actions. Third rule don’t let crap like what the Grail said get you down, you’re a f*cking Displaced you don’t need to let your emotions get to you.” Gilgamesh then stood in front of Lance with a grin on her face. “So says I Gilgamesh the Queen of Heroes.”

Lance saw this and personally smiled a bit, then grinning to himself. “Thanks… Hey, can I try something before I go. I wanted to give Grail a parting gift for being such a Jackass.”

“You my friend have balls for trying to do something to the Grail…… If you were a few years old, I might ask you on a date.”

“Yeah… Not in that business. Plus, one would say I have stones for having something blow up in Freddy’s face.” The Adept returned. “Plus, with my Ki abilities, there’s been one thing I wanted to try.”

He got into a tight crouch and placed his hands in front of him. “I’m facing right at him, right?”

“Oh yeah it’s not that hard to miss the idiot.” Lance wasn’t sure if Gilgamesh was being sarcastic or not, but went along with it. He trusted her. Moving his hands back behind him, he began to channel his ki.

“Ka…… me……. ha…… me…… HAAA!!!!!!!”

Lance moved his hands in front of him, firing a huge beam in front of him towards the grail. Afterwards, before he began to leave, Lance turned towards the two of them. “If anyone asks, tell them that you two gave me permission to try that.”

“I’m he’ll be off somewhere plotting his revenge on you for doing that, but sure why not.” Said Celestia.

“Hey… Next time, I’ll be ready to face whatever BullSh*t he has up his sleeve.” With that, he disappeared in a brief flash; returning to his world. But also, he left a note along with the token that Caster was holding.

Thank you for having me wake up to who I need to be. Call me anytime you are in trouble and need the assistance of an Adept.

-Lance

Gilgamesh brought up a portal to Lance’s world and tossed in her’s and her friends token with a letter on them say.

“Call on us if you need some assistance in anything you need, be prepare to see Luna or Celestia come with us due to the fact that they are our masters after all.”

~Gilgamesh

P.S. Lock your fridge so Caster & Celestia won’t raid it.

“Cute kid…...we better get back before Caster does something stupid again.”

“Right…...Hope she didn’t drink all Luna’s special Moonshine.”

“Don’t worry… I did all of that already.” Celestia said with a guilty smile.

“*Sigh* I’m going to have a headache when we get back home.” Gilgamesh started to walk off towards ponyville, with Celestia beside her.

Maretropolis

When Lance woke up, he found himself back in his room with Kai. everything seemed awfully normal at that hour in time. But… this did not last forever.

“LANCE!!! We need you ASAP!!”

“Damn it… So much for sleeping in.”

End Strike 13

Author's Note

Lance meets the Knights of the Grail, but some heated debates bring back memories that lance would rather not revisit. How will the Azure Striker deal with this?

Listening to Hollywood undead while doing this so yeah. Hope this is a sufficient update for you.
-Frost

Crossover with Heroes of Equestria by ElementBrigade

Strike 15- Reloaded

Author's Note

Crossover with The Emerald Nightingale and her old Story, Delta Guardian. Thank you Zinnia for having fun with Lance!
-Frost

Anyways, be prepared for more Displaced surprises. Including the Leader of Mane Hero Six
Neon Bass Ref

Strike 15- Reloaded

Mane Hero Six HQ

Shortly after Lance and Lumen caught up on the events that had occurred and the Azure striker got his much needed shower to clean himself, the breezie guided the Adept to the Headquarters of Mane Hero Six. Lance was asked by the Masked Matterhorn to be training under their guidance for the next day or two in order to be closer to completing his training with the power ponies. The Alicorn had hold him before he left that there leader, Hiro, was unique and quite… special. This and seeing the Pony version of the huggable robot named BAYMAX got him thinking a few possibilities. But nothing that he thought of could prepare him for the sight that he was about to see.

Inside the main room, the whole place looked like a built out tech lab. Something like a college laboratory. Lance though, thought to personally expect something like this given that their headquarters was right next to a Science and Technology institute. But one thing that personally surprised the Adept was that by a workbench… was a crate filled with a few of the weapons that he was analyzing back in Maretropolis. Including paperwork based on the observations and reports on the functions of the Crossfire pistol. The other weapons weren’t there, but he was curious on why they weren’t there.

“Welcome to HQ.” A new voice greeted the Duo as it walked into the room. One thing completely shocked the Adept off the bat. The person talking to him wasn’t a pony or any kind of creature that you would find in Equestria at all. “You must be the Azure Striker that Twilight had told me about.”

It was a human. Another human. A young 14 year boy with black hair, red t-shirt, and jeans shorts with sneakers.

“I’m Hiro. Hiro Hamada. Honestly, I didn’t think that another human would end up here besides me.”

“H-holy crap.” was the only thing that Lance could say in that moment. “How-?”

“Well, The Masked Matterhorn along with your mentor Solaria wanted to keep my existence a secret. So, she helped me create Mane Hero Six in Sun Fransokyo so I can help others without having to expose who I really am.” The Teen replied. “Which reminds me, what’s your name? I know you go by Gunvolt, but I would like to know your actual name.”

“Lance.” He replied, trying to act normal.

“Okay Lance. Mind if you follow me for a second please?” Hiro asked. Lance nodded as the young genius ushered him over to the worktable. It seemed like he was hard at work at modifying the Crossfire Pistol. But to what extent? Why would he be working so hard at the inner mechanics of a Sumeragi weapon?

“Hmm… Interesting…”

“What’s that?” Lance asked.

“It seems like your pistol and this one have similar designs and function almost exactly the same.” He replied, turning around for a brief moment to see the Pony BAYMAX that Lance saw earlier trot into the room. “This is perfect… Hey Lance, can I ask you something?”

“Um sure, what is it?”

“Is your pistol the only weapon that you fight with?”

“Well, I know some martial arts and also have an energy blade for when I’m in CQC.”

The phrase caused Hiro to raise an eyebrow in confusion. Lance sighed and Lumen herself just decided to leave the two of them alone and hang out on top of BAYMAX’s head. “What’s CQC?”

“Close Quarters Combat. You know, like fisticuffs… Martial Arts?”

“Oh I see! I’m not really good with code names so I’m sorry if I don’t understand a few things.” The Genius said. “Anyways, the reason why I was asking you about this was because I was thinking about the possibility of if you were able to wield two weapons at once.”

That… caused Lance to raise an eyebrow. “Wait… you mean like using two guns?” Hiro’s response was a nod of the head, causing Lance to follow up the boy’s response with another question. “Okay, how exactly do you think this would work?”

“Well, Judging from the mechanics of your weapon and the mechanics of the Crossfire, both of them run on a respected power source. For you, it’s your electricity. For the Crossfire, it’s the crystals that come along with it. If I can change the mechanics of the Crossfire to where it runs on your electricity, then you’ll have a second weapon that you can use.”

“What about the bolt clips?”

“I can replicate it to where both guns can use the same kind of ammunition and come up with a gadget so reloading them won’t exactly be a problem.” Hiro said, directing Lance’s attention to his Laptop as he showed a scene from an action movie where one of the characters had a wrist mechanism that allowed him to reload his guns on the fly without having to stop fighting.

“Okay, I have two more questions to ask. First, what if I have to use my Septima?”

“You mean your lightning powers? Well, I was going to give you a second holster for you to set a gun to the side for if you need to use them since it looked like you need a free hand in order for you to channel your lightning.”

Well… Smart kid. “Alright, now for the other question…… Excuse me if this sounds off topic, but how come not a lot of ponies in the power ponies have said anything about you?”

“Well, like I said before, Masked Matterhorn and Solaria wanted to keep my existence a secret. They only send ponies who have almost completed their training to come see me as a final task, but almost all ponies have failed and ended up getting mindwiped. The only ones who have passed are the guys on my team.”

“I see. Excuse me, but what’s a mindwipe?”

“Basically, it means erasing the ponies memories of their encounter with me and replacing them with a different set of memories.”

“O...kay then.” Lance said, personally regretting asking that question. “So anyways, I heard that one of your teammates is known as Neon Bass. Do you know where she is?”

“You mean Vinyl? She’s busy in her recording studio.”

“Recording studio?” Lance asked.

“She’s a DJ and Electronic Music Producer. Her powers are sound based, so it kind of fits well.” Hiro explained. Speaking of which, the room soon began to blare music as a Unicorn with two shades of blue in her Mane and Tail stepped into the room, her suit fading away like a cinematic effect from TRON: Legacy as she looked at Hiro and Lance.

“Sup Hiro… Who’s the new guy?”

“Hey Vinyl, this is Lance. Masked Matterhorn sent him from Maretropolis to finish the last of his training.” Hiro introduced the Azure Striker to the fellow member of Mane Hero Six as Lance greeted her with a gentle hello.

“Well, that’s surprising. We haven’t received anypony in the last couple of months. This guy must’ve really caught her attention for sending him to us.”

“Indeed. Looking at the records she sent me, Lance; Also known as Gunvolt, has been hard at work trying to solve various cases and is known as an Adept. A human with Psychic based abilities which are demonstrated by his electricity. In addition, he is known as a Displaced. Which… according to the file, it seems like you’re not alone.”

“It’ll be too hard to explain the concept simply so yeah. I betcha Twilight had a LONG explanation on that.”

“Yeah. By the way, that package came in for you earlier.” Hiro said, pointing out the paper box as Lance opened it. To his surprise, Kai was inside. The Torchic that Freddy had let him raise and which was now a Combusken.

“Hey Kai. I was beginning to wonder where you were.”

“Wait a minute…… Somepony you sent an animal!?”

“IN THE MAIL!!?”

Lumen herself sighed. “Don’t worry you too. Filli-second likes to do these kind of things all the time. It’s normal for her.” She soon read a letter from Filli-second, which said that everything they needed to take care of Kai was in the package. As Lance emptied the contents, dozens of sweets, seeds and food spilled out onto the floor.

“...Well, I guess we have everything. Now, who’s going to help me clean up?” The sound pony sighed as she and Lance began to clear all the food off of the floor. Unknowingly though, there was something else in the box that ended up getting on Kai’s forearm. Something that resembled a corkscrew with the head of a dragon. Curiosity overcame the Pokemon, touching the gemstone with it’s claws. Lance spotted this and took the item from the Combusken, a woman’s voice resounding in his mind as soon as he touched it.

“For those of you in need, whether it’s in a fight or you just need some advice, I am here. Merely hold this trinket and call my name and I will be there. I am Zinnia. I am a Draconid. I am the Delta Guardian!”

“What’s that?” Hiro asked, peering at the object.

Lance rolled it in his hands. “A Token.” he said, holding it up to the light. “Looks familiar… Oh well, couldn’t hurt to summon them here.” Lance raised the trinket high, draconic head pointing skywards.

“Delta Guardian!” he called, before smirking. “Zinnia?”

A portal opened in the ceiling, a swirling black void of energy from which a tall, olive-skinned woman with short black hair fell, head first. The woman landed with a roll, stopping on her knees. She wore a pair of black skinny-jeans, a low-cut white tank top with floral-lace patterns, a black leather jacket with a fur-lined collar and a pair of black leather biker boots with a studded strap across the front of her calfs. An identical copy of the draconic corkscrew was wound around her ankle. The woman stood, looking around before her eyes fell on Lance and Hiro.

“Hey guys!” she called, waving happily. “‘Name’s Zinnia. Who’re you?”

“Gunvolt.” Lance said almost immediately, holding his hand out. “But you can call me Lance.”

“Hiro Hamada.”

“Nice to meet you guys.” Zinnia said, shaking their hands. “So what’s… hey, that’s a Combusken!” she added, distracting herself when she saw the chicken-like Pokemon. “Awesome! Kinda wish I’d brought Sonar with me now so I could show off.”

“Sonar?”

“My Noivern friend. Helps me take care of my Bagon son.”

The room fell silent for a moment.

“What? He’s adopted!” Zinnia asked, crossing her arms defensively.

“Oh… right…” Lance sighed, seeing Zinnia pout a little to herself. “Well, on the subject, maybe you can help me out. Kai here, or you may know as my Combusken, is currently my only partner. Since Hiro is working on a way to modify my equipment, maybe you can help me out with training Kai.”

“Sure, no problem.” Zinnia replied, already stretching out her arms. “What’d you have in mind?”

“Well, I thought that if Kai were a Blaziken and knew Mega Evolution, that he would be a good partner in the field. Of course, my Breezie companion Lumen is really good, but it’s good to have someone on your side that can fight.”

“I heard that!!” Lumen shouted from atop BAYMAX’s head.

“Yeah, yeah, I know.” The Adept sighed. They heard BAYMAX analyze Lumen’s behavior and hypothesize that the reason for her “mood swings” was because of puberty. This however, did nothing to solve the problem as Lumen just got more enraged. During this moment, Lance and Zinnia asked Hiro if there was a place that they could train without the craziness. He nodded, giving the two of them instructions to the Gym that was down the hall and to the left. Kai followed the two Displaced as they entered the room.

“Is… Is this a Pokemon Gym?” the woman asked, looking around in confusion. “How’d they manage that?”

“Yeah, I do see it’s similarities.” Lance sighed. “Now, how should we get started, Ms. Zinnia?” The Adept thought that speaking to her politely would be the best for her in the long run since he did not know how she was like personality wise.

“First off,” Zinnia began, holding up a finger. “Drop the Miss. Zinnia’s fine, or even Zoey, since that was my name before all this.” She walked out into the centre of the battlefield, shrugging off her jacket and throwing it to the sidelines. “Second, to answer your question, I’m gonna fight him. Best way to learn something is by doing it, after all.” Zinnia rolled her shoulders, loosening up in preparation before she began punching at the air.

“You… fight Kai? Aren’t you going to get yourself hurt?”

“What, ‘cuz I’m a girl?” Zinnia crossed her arms, glaring at the Adept. “I’ll have you know I held my own against a genocidal lizard monster.”

“O… kay, don’t say I didn’t warn you though.” The Adept said as the Combusken looked at him. “Kai…… Sick ‘em.”

The Combusken immediately nodded it’s head as it charged in, performing a Double Kick in order to catch Zinnia off guard. Zinnia, however, just smirked, crossing her arms in front of her, causing a green bubble of energy to expand, bouncing the Combusken back with her Protect. She followed this up by leaping forward, the barrier shattering before he as a purple energy surrounded her hand, forming a Dragon Claw hat she raked over the Pokemon’s chest, knocking him back.

“Not bad.” she commented, leaping back to her original spot. “Fast and powerful. But you need to work on technique. I saw you coming before you were coming. Observe.”

Zinnia lunged forwards, going for a punch and causing the Combusken to step back. However, instead of following through, she fell forwards, using her momentum to roll forwards before kicking out, catching the Fire-Type in the abdomen. She flipped to her feet, cracking her knuckles as Kai pulled himself up before rushing at her, his body coated in swirling flames. The move he was pulling off was Flame Charge, a fire based attack that also increased the Pokemon’s speed. Zinnia’s reflexes weren’t prepared for when the Pokemon used the attack to get behind her and strike her cloak using it’s third ability, Slash.

Zinnia wasn’t hurt, though. She’d just received a small tear in her clothes, but she didn’t let it slow her down. A few more quick strikes had Kai work on his speed as he dodged side to side, but a jab-kick to the chest sent him flying backwards a few feet as he was working to get up off the ground.

"This is getting boring. I'm starting to think fighting you would be better, Lancey-boy." Zinnia said, yawning slightly.

“I don’t think you would want to fight me, Zinnia.” The Adept replied, sighing to himself.

"And why not, exactly?"

“I have more abilities than just my Septima or what you see as my lightning… Say… are you familiar with Dragon Ball Z?”

Zinnia was about to reply, but Lance cut her off by performing an Instant Transmission and showing up behind her, catching her by surprise. “Yeah, I know some Ki based abilities and have been practicing on some others. I even taught myself how to perform the Kamehameha.”

"Care to demonstrate? Or is it a bit crowded in here?"

"Maybe later," Lance began, smirking as he looked over Zinnia's shoulder. "You're busy right now."

"I am?" Zinnia kicked out behind her, not even looking as she caught Kai across the beak. "I'm not really feeling challenged."

A frustrated growl came from behind the girl, who turned around, staring slack-jawed with Lance as Kai began glowing a bright white, blue energy swirling around him. His form grew taller, long hair flowing down his back and talon-like claws replacing his wing-hands. His feet flattened out, he fur extending to act as a pair of pseudo-trousers. The glow burst, leaving the scarlet chooc stood there in all his Blaziken glory. Zinnia smirked, turning back to Kai as flames surrounded his legs. She braced herself as Kai rushed in, delivering a powerful Blaze Kick to her side and sending her flying back. Zinnia hit the wall, sliding to the floor.

“Zinnia!” Lance shouted, before rounding on Kai. “Kai, what were-” he stopped, a light chuckling filling the room. Lance and Kai turned to see Zinnia’s shoulders shaking, her head hanging limp until she glanced up at them, a deranged look in her eyes.

“Hehe… Hehe..." she growled, now looking like a battle crazed fighter. “Now this is more like it!!”

“Kai…… Are you sure you can handle this?”

The Blaziken turned to face Lance, only slightly nodding. He showed another motion, pointing at Lance’s Coat pocket and cuffing his wrist before turning to face Zinnia again, dodging the incoming Dragon Claws that surged from her hands. As the Adept moved out of the way, he felt something in the same coat pocket that Kai was pointing at moments ago. While Zinnia had her back turned and was dodging the series of attacks that was being thrown at her, the Azure Striker found a cobalt bracer that contained a glowing gem. Quickly and unknown to the Delta Guardian, he placed it on his wrist, but became concerned for his partner when Zinnia struck Kai across the chest with a Shadow Claw that knocked the Blaziken backwards. That concern faded away, however, when Kai hopped back on his feet and brushed the dust off of his shoulders.

“You can drop the tough guy act, you know,” Zinnia stated, blocking one of Kai’s jabs and retaliating with a right hook to his beak. “You don’t have to impress me.

All the Blaziken did was smile, but as he opened his jaw, the Delta Guardian noticed something in his beak. A stone of sorts. In a moment of realization, she looked down at her Mega Anklet and then at Lance’s wrist, which now bore a Mega Bracer that matched his colour scheme.

“Oh, come on!”

“Let’s go, Kai!!” Lance said, placing his open palm on the Keystone embedded into his Bracer, pink energy swirling around the Blaziken in a sphere. After a moment, Kai burst out, now looking like he’d just stepped out of a side-scrolling beat-’em-up game. The twin horns atop his mask-like head had merged into a single horn, curved backwards in the centre of his forehead, framed on both sides by the cream fur that swept back like wings. More fur adorned his torso in what seemed to be a homage to a torn muscle shirt, charcoal-coloured feathers lying beneath the fur and down his thighs. Ribbons of flame danced from the Mega Blaziken’s wrists, and his powerful legs just looked all the more muscular as he fell into a ‘Crane Kick’ stance.

“Fine then, tough guy!” Zinnia growled, before Roaring at the Mega Blaziken with all of her might, the sheer power of her voice pushing him back. “Bring it! Mess me up! I bet you I couldn’t even trust you to tap me, let alone punch me!”

Kai took this as a challenge, stomping his foot on the ground and causing smoke to rise everywhere, obscuring Zinnia’s vision. In her confusion, Kai managed to get behind her and struck her in the back with a Sky Uppercut - this time actually hitting her, and hard. She gasped in pain and coughed up a little blood as she tried to regain her balance, dropping to her hands and knees.Lance, however, could see something else, and called out just as Kai began charging again.

“Kai, stop!!”

The Blaziken actually listened to its trainer this time, watching his opponent carefully as the smoke cleared. Zinnia just looked at the boy in confusion. “W-why did you stop?”

“Kai’s strike did more than hurt you I think…… You have wings now.”

“I-I have what?” Zinnia asked, peering over her shoulder as she did so. Sure enough, two large, draconic wings had sprouted on her back, with black, bone-like armour along their spines. The leathery skin was a deep, royal purple, and it folded perfectly when she rested her wings against her back. “Well, this is… new,” she said, unfolding and folding them to get used to her new limbs and muscles. She even practiced folding the wings in front of her like she was trying to defend herself. “Okay, I have to admit. This is pretty f***ing cool! Now… to test them out…” She said with an evil grin, looking at Lance.

“Remember when you said that you would demonstrate your powers later, Sparky? Well, now is later.” Lance was going to argue, but decided not too. He was working with just small portions of his Ki, so he had no intentions to harm her. Shrugging, he put both hands in front of him and then put them behind the Adept, charging up a sapphire like energy.

“Kame… Hame… HA!!”

The Small Ki Blast was powerful, but when Zinnia folded her wings, the outer surface caused the attack to reflect, bursting through a window. She staggered a bit due to the Electric tingle that she felt through her entire body because of the blast, but could tell that it wasn’t an attack at full power given how she was able to easily block it.

“Well… That’s quite interesting.” Lance said as he straightened himself up.

“Y-yeah,” Zinnia hissed, clenching her teeth. She could still feel the sparks dancing across her winds, surprised at how durable they were despite being so sensitive. “I guess I’m weak to Electric attacks…”

“Wait… did I hurt you?”

“A little, kinda like a pinch. Unpleasant, and it hurts at the moment, but overall harmless.” The Azure Striker sighed a little, relieved as he soon noticed that Hiro was walking in.

“Hey, Lance. I was going to check on you and- HOLY-!!!” The teenager said in reaction to seeing Zinnia’s wings. “W-what the Heck is THAT!?!”

Zinnia looked around before turning back to Hiro and pointing to herself. When Hiro merely nodded, the Delta Guardian sighed, pulling herself to her feet and folding her wings.

“It’s me, jackass. Zinnia,” she said, glaring at the young Sun Fransokyo native.

“Seriously!? You’re half dragon? That’s AWESOME!!!” Hiro said as BAYMAX soon came into the room, directing his gaze at Zinnia. “Hello, I am BAYMAX. Your personal healthcare companion… You seem to be in pain. Let me scan you now.”

Zinnia was about to protest, but after a moment, she decided to just let BAYMAX do his thing. “Scan complete. Subject seems to be young for a dragon her age, but is in the first few stages of……” He spoke, raising a hoof upward. “Pregnancy.”

That, caught Lance off guard. “What the F-? You’re Pregnant!?”

“Yeah, and?” Zinnia huffed, crossing her arms. “And I’m thirty years old, I can make decisions for myself.”

“Well… I honestly didn’t know about either of those things.” Lance replied. “Sorry for my outburst.”

“It’s fine. I’d have probably done the same,” Zinnia said, sighing. The Adept nodded, looking at Hiro. “So Hiro, care to explain the reason why you came here?”

“Well, I was going to tell you that I completed the changes you asked me to make and, with some field tests, your weapons are ready for action.” The young boy replied, handing both weapons to him. They felt good in the Adept’s hands - comfortable, but not too heavy. Lance took a moment to switch the clips in both weapons to Dullahan and fired one shot from each of his guns, both of them striking the wall with a lot more power than before.

“Oh this feels good. Matter of fact, better than good. Thanks man!”

“No problem. Oh, and I found this in the stockroom. Not sure how it got there, but I thought that you would want to have a look at it.” Hiro flipped a gold coin to Lance as both he and BAYMAX left the room. As the Adept looked at the coin, he noticed an Emblem in the shape of a monkey and a voice talking to him

“What's up? I'm Sun Wukong, The Stray Faunus. Just simply shoot the coin to call upon me for anything you might need help with.”

To Lance, the voice seemed… familiar. Like a family member he knew.

“What is it?” Zinnia asked, peering at the coin in Lance’s hands. “A token?”

“Yeah. For someone named Sun Wukong. However, that guys voice… somehow reminds me of my cousin Sean. Mind if I keep this, or do you think that there's a way where you can have-.”

Before Lance could finish his sentence, another coin dropped from the ceiling and bounced off of Zinnia’s shoulder, falling to the ground with a soft *clink*

“-one.”

“Huh,” Zinnia said, bending down to grab the coin and hearing the message for herself. “Neat.”

“Any idea who this Sun Wukong guy might be?” Lance asked.

“Isn’t he some kind of ancient Chinese story?”

“Maybe… But then again, one name can be multiple things. I know of Wukong, the champion in League of Legends. But something told me that this might be different.” Lance explained. “After all, they said to shoot the coin, which means that this guy is probably familiar with firearms or something.”

“It doesn’t have to be firearms though, you can shoot arrows from a bow.” Zinnia reminded the Adept. “And you technically shoot magic attacks at people.”

“Right… I’ll have to try it out when I have the time.” Lance said. “So… anything else we need to do before I send you back?”

“Does Kai know Flamethrower yet? Because I think I can teach him.” The Blaziken shook his head, pointing at the fire around one of his feet, his closed fist, and his claws. “Oh, so you know Blaze Kick, Sky Uppercut and Slash?”

“Wait… You can talk to Pokemon?” The Adept asked, a little bit surprised.

“I can outright talk to Dragon Types, but most have a sort of sign language.”

“I see.” he replied. thinking to himself a little. “Hang on… a Fighting types weakness is Psychic right… and Blaziken can know Shadow Claw… Do you think you can teach him that so Kai can have a backup plan when he’s put up against his weakness?”

“Sure, no problem,” Zinnia said, walking over to the Blaziken - who by now had reverted to his regular form. She held up her hand, curling it into a vaguely clawed shape. “Focus on your negative feelings. Command the shadows themselves to become your weapon.” She paused, watching Kai do as instructed. His shadow twitched slightly, and Zinnia smirked at his quick progress. “Now, pull them into your hand. Wrap them around your claws. Sharpen them until they can slice through the air itself.”

Lance watched in awe as Kai’s shadow was seemingly sucked into his feet before his talon was coated in darkness, a faint purple outline creating a black claw. He began to clap as he walked over. “Great job, Zinnia!”

“Thanks, it was nothing. I just told him what I do.” Zinnia replied, rubbing the back of her head as a light blush coated her cheeks. “I gotta say, teaching’s actually kinda fun.”

“Depends on who you are teaching.” Lance sighed a little. “Or the teacher. Majin Buu taught me my Ki abilities.”

“Majin Buu? There’s a Majin Buu?” Zinnia began vibrating with excitement. “Oh, I’ve gotta meet him! What’s hiss token? Does he even have a token? Did he come here or did you go to him? Wait, what’s he like? Is he a good guy or a bad guy? Did he use the Chocolate Beam!?”

“He’s a good guy, but I don’t know all the details. His token looks like this.” Lance told her, holding up an orb with the Majin M on it that almost resembled a jawbreaker. “Oh and apparently, he refers to himself as Gum that can destroy planets.”

“Nice, I’ll have to keep an eye out for him.”

“When you do see him, tell him I said Hi!” Lance said as Lumen flew over and landed on his shoulder. He handed her his token, a hairpin with a pair of open wings like the one he wore on the end of his braid. “Alright, Zinnia. Our contract is complete.”

“Cool. See you around, dude!” She said, just before the spectral head of a Rayquaza shot out of the ground, closing its jaws around her before exploding in a shower of stardust.

“That…… is the most coolest and creepiest thing I’ve ever seen.” Lumen added. All Lance did was roll his eyes as he looked at his Pokemon companion and then the clock on the wall.

6:13pm.

“Well, I don’t know about you two, but I would say its time for dinner. What do you think?” Both the Blaziken and the Breezie nodded as they raced back to the main room where Hiro was, so he could direct them to the mess hall.

End Strike 15

Strike 16- Moonlight

Author's Note

WARNING!!!: This Chapter is a crossover with Moon_Fire and his story with Max Caulfield: Wibbly-Wobbly Timey-Wimey? Nope, just Max. and is also the reason behind the newly added tag. The sex tag is for Sexual Humor. If you want to see what actually happens, check things out on her end. This is a Teen Rated story and I rather not have things go WAY off the deep end here. In addition, I would like to thank Shinigamisparda for his brief moments with the Mighty Warrior of Epicness, Gligamesh himself.

Now then...... Here's a question... Who wants Sun and Lance to meet one another in a future chapter? Depending on your answer, it might be sooner than you think.
-Frost

P.S. It's actually happening. If you're thinking that Lance and Max are "together", then that ship has sailed. :pinkiehappy:

Song:

Strike 16- Moonlight

When Lightning Strikes- Moonlight

Mane Six Headquarters

As Lance ate dinner alongside Hiro, both of them were watching the News Anchors describe the events that transpired in Downtown Sun Fransokyo while Lumen was fast asleep with Kai and BAYMAX in Power Save mode. Many ponies had different and sometimes “colorful” ways of describing what happened. Especially with the transformations that occurred after the so called “terrorist attack” by multiple eyewitnesses that recalled the event.

All of these things made Lance feel like somepony was trying to get underneath his skin. Like he failed at his job. Even though it wasn’t his fault, he knew that a call from Twilight would come in any minute and he would have to explain what happened. The moment that he began thinking of this, Hiro got a message on his communications device and turned towards the Adept.

“It’s Masked Matterhorn. She wants to talk to the both of us.”

‘Speak of the devil...’ the Adept thought as soon as the communication screen lit up. The Two of them could now see a magical hologram of the Alicorn like it was a scene straight out of Star Wars. Except for the fact that the Alicorn was no Princess Leia right now.

“Hello-.”

“What… Happened?” Twilight asked with a stern tone. “One moment you were going to Sun Fransokyo and the next moment, I get reports of the total Annihilation of a city, only to be rebuilt seconds later and multiple civilians undergoing species transformations.”

“Well first off…” Lance spoke. “I was minding my own business-.”

“CRABAPPLES!!!”

“I WAS!!!” The Adept shot back. “Next thing I know, A Displaced was crashing into our transport and with his arrival, another villain from his world also showed up. We fought, but the one moment that I hesitated was when she tried to destroy the entire city and wipe it off of the map. If it weren’t for Jason and HodgePodge, the town would be buried under a pile of rubble.”

“Jason?”

“That was his name. Jason Hughes.”

“What about this HodgePodge figure that you mentioned?”

“He’s… something else. Think a being that can punch a hole in reality in order to travel through dimensions and is also the reason why Bicorns and Taltzponies are showing up across the planet.”

“Great… It feels like running into Captain Goodguy again. Thank Celestia that we got Saddle Ranger to reform him.” The Alicorn sighed. She now turned a bit, facing Hiro this time. “Hiro?”

“Yes, Twilight?”

“Is Lance giving you any trouble?”

Hiro shook his head from side to side, smiling a little. “No actually. Things have been quite interesting lately thanks to him and BAYMAX has taken a liking to Lumen. Even Vinyl likes Lance and wants to do some missions with him within the next few days.”

“I see. In that case, I’ll leave you two be and contact you within the next couple of days. Just focus on your training, listen to Hiro and for the love of Celestia, don’t cause any trouble!!”

“I’ll try, but I can’t make any promises Twilight. Crazy things happen to me daily.” Lance finished his statement as the Alicorn cut the transmission. He finished his pizza that he was having for dinner and then walked over to where Kai was. Unlike BAYMAX and Lumen, he was just leaning against a wall in a standing position with folded arms. Like he was waiting on his partner to be done with his meal before he could come on over.

“Hey Kai? You awake?”

The reply from the Blaziken was a low chirp and it opening it’s eyes & unfolding it’s arms. It seemed to be waiting patiently for him.

“Can you watch everyone for a little while. I’m going to go for a walk to clear my head for a bit.”

The Pokemon nodded again, in which Lance replied with a brief “thanks” as he stepped outside. Soon, the Adept was greeted by the light of the moon as he continued to walk onto a grassy hillside by a tall oak tree. He sat down and watched the stars come alive as they danced with the night sky. The Azure Striker liked it. He felt free as a bird because of it.

But he did not know about the strange ‘Visitor’ that was nearby. Or the one that was going to call upon him.

Meanwhile…

Princess Luna was in the city of Sun Fransokyo along with a huge battalion of the night guard at her side as they delivered emergency aid to all the victims that were in the city’s hospital. Despite there being no property damage and major chaos roaming in the streets, many of the civilians were extremely hurt based on what had happened and had undergone unexplained transformations. Some ponies now had two horns on their heads while others now resemble the form of a snake. These in itself shocked and surprised the Princess as she met with each one individually. Some ponies being as young as fillies had undergone this change and her visit had hope return to them. Hope in which turned to confidence that they will get use to their new forms and overcome this personal setback.

After about twenty minutes inside the infirmary and seeing the wounded, Luna went to the head of the guard that came along with her. “Nightwing, I need to excuse myself for a moment. Can you please watch over everypony while I am gone. I promise that I won’t be gone long.”

“Certainly, princess.” The Batpony mare replied to the Princess. As the Night Guard Captain returned to assisting her fellow troops, Luna herself went on a brief walk towards the location of a crater in which was left behind from the events that had transpired. According to the reports, the entire town for a moment was briefly wiped off of the map, but then somehow was reformed together like nothing happened. In addition, after the city returned to normal, citizens began to change into the two unknown species that began showing up all over Equestria.

Calmly, the Alicorn’s horn illuminated as she casted a spell. It was a recollection spell that can show onepony that was skilled in magic the events of the past that occurred hours to even days ago. In a way, it was like time travel. However, it was just showing her holographic images of what actually took place.

What Luna saw though was quite mind bending and at first, she couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Three bipedal creatures. Two with certain crests on their chests while another one had a blue coat and a strange weapon. The Alicorn watched them skirmish between each other and heard each one of them speak all the way till the point where the one named “Jason” and the fiend responsible for the destruction of the city. But the one with the coat stayed and in fact, after the spell faded away, Luna came to see that same figure upon a nearby hill, watching the stars of her night sky.

During this moment though, as she got closer, something made Luna feel like the boy was going to disappear just like the other two individuals that she saw. In truth, that did happen. The boy that Luna saw got up on his feet as he looked upwards. “Hmm… Guess the stars need me elsewhere tonight.” With it though, he faded away, crackling electricity around him as he disappeared into the night. Right in front of Princess Luna.

Equestria (Home of the Prophet)

“Damn etiquette, making me put my hair up,” Max muttered as she rummaged through the collection of Displaced tokens that she had. “Well, I do have this one ribbon. No it doesn’t match the dress. Dammit, how am I supposed to-” She stopped as she pulled out a simple yellow lightning bolt hairpin with unfolded, silver wings near the top. As soon as her hand touched it she heard, “I am Gunvolt; The Azure Striker. Adept of Lightning. Call my name and when Lightning Strikes, I will fight for you.”

She blinked and shrugged, “Oh well, whoever this ‘Azure Striker’ is wouldn’t mind me using his Token as a hair clip. Just hope he doesn’t get summoned by accident.”

Just as she was adjusting the pin though, a warm glow began to course through her hands and the cracks of electricity began to fill her room.

“Wha- Damn it Murphy!” She said as a thunderous roar erupted from nearby her, almost like if Thor from the Marvel movies crash landed in her bedroom.

The one who arrived though was nothing like Thor. In fact, this “Gunvolt” was a lot younger in appearance. He wore an azure overcoat and gear from top to bottom and also seemed to have a long braid on the back of his head. However, the one thing that really caught her attention with this boy was that the metal clip at the end of his braid was the same token that Max was trying to adjust in her hair.

She sighed, drawing the attention of the boy, and said, “That’s what I get for trying to use a Token as an accessory, isn’t it?”

Instinct had Lance on edge as he turned and went for the holster that held one of his pistols. But when he realized that it was a girl trying to talk to him, he stopped. He noticed the sight of his token trying to hold up Max’s hair and sighed. “Trust me, I’ve had worse experiences. One Displaced tried to-. Oh Sh-!” Turning around did not do any help for Lance though as the girl who summoned him was only in her underwear. “I’ll just… step outside for a moment.”

Max glanced around, noticing her dress was still hanging on the chair. She got a devious look in her eye and stepped closer to Lance, making sure he knew she was looking below his belt. “And miss getting a show?”

“I’m invading your privacy aren’t I? Plus, I don’t even know your name.” Lance told her, feeling like his back was against the wall.

Max took a few more slow steps towards him before she stuck out her hand and said, “I’m Max. The only way you’d be able to ‘invade’ my privacy.... Well, you know~.”

Lance sighed a little, noticing the dress on the chair that was nearby. “Do you have something going on tonight? Because that looks a bit formal.”

“Yeah, another formal party being thrown by an influential pony,” She said, shaking her head. “I’d rather not go, but -- being as I’m ruler of Equestria -- I have to go to every party I’m invited to.”

“I see… Hey, since I’m here… would you mind if I come with you? I don’t want you to feel like you’re forced to go somewhere alone. That way, you can feel comfortable.”

“Hmmm....” She looked him over carefully, even circling him once and brushing a hand against his backside.

Lance felt a little unsure of what to say next, but reflecting back on what Max said earlier, he then made his next statement. “And maybe afterwards……… Then we can have a… show?”

Max gave him a seductive smile. “Oh, we’ll have more than just a show,” she said, walking over to her dress. Once she was standing next to the chair she slowly reached up and unhooked her bra, leaving it hanging on her shoulders as she glanced back at Lance and winked before shrugging it off and tossing it onto her dresser. Keeping her back to him she picked up her dress and slipped it over her shoulders, hiking up the front to remove something and then tossing it onto Lance’s head.

“U-uh… Okay then. Lead the way, my lady.” Lance said, trying to hide the blush that tried to appear on his face. He opened the door for her, allowing Max to walk out into the hallway when she was ready.

Max levitated her crown over, slipping her accessory onto her head. Sliding her feet into the high heels that came with the dress she called, “Sol, can you make sure Mun gets Golden and Light to bed in an hour? Rainbow’s already asleep on my bed.”

“Who’s Sol? A servant?” Lance asked in a low toned voice so he wouldn’t unintentionally hurt anyone’s emotions.

“She’s an AI I bought from Nono -- the one who sent me here -- after I was out of stone for... roughly a week. She has a ‘twin’ named Mun. Their first names are Zenith, since they came from the same AI core, but they have separate hulls and organic bodies,” Max explained as she took one last look in the mirror and walked towards the door. “They’re basically my family’s bodyguards and friends, rather than actual servants or something.”

“I see,” Lance said, tossing the garments that were on his head before closing the door behind them, “Lead the way, Ms. Max.”

“I have been married, Lance. If you’re going to use a title, please use the correct one,” she said as Sol matched her pace and Mun’s hull followed behind.

“I apologize… Mrs. Max? Would that work?” The Adept asked, a little unsure.

“I’d rather you just called me Max, but yes.”

“Okay Max. Lead the way.” The Adept said, offering a kind gesture that would have her take the lead.

Max lead the group to the main hall where she stopped briefly in front of a statue of a pink Celestia on one side of the door to the throne room, laying a hand on its dais reverentially. “I’ll catch him. He’ll be coming after me tomorrow, but I’ll catch him instead,” she whispered.

“I’m sorry, but I’m a bit lost in translation.” Lance whispered back. “Care to explain who’s ‘He’?”

Her expression soured and she turned to the main entrance. “The one who killed them.”

“Oh… I’m sorry to hear that… Does he have a name?” Lance asked, puzzled on the name of the one who killed the pony Max was looking at; which he saw as a memorial.

Max gestured at the statues and said, “Commander Hurricane killed Celestia and Luna.”

“Oh… and if you say that he’s coming after you… Do you need a bodyguard?”

Max sighed and started for the door. “With Sol and Mun to protect me, and my own powers besides, I don’t need anyone else. But Gilgamesh is around here somewhere and said he’d help me.”

“If you say so. I have powers myself, but you had probably already seen them when you summoned me.”

“Anyways,” she grabbed his arm and pressed herself to him. “How’s it feel to be the escort of the ruler of Equestria?”

“Quite… nice. Especially for someone as beautiful as you.” Lance complimented.

Max gave him a small smile and loosened her grip, glancing at a silver stallion they were passing as she did so. “Ugh, etiquette....”

“Is something wrong, My lady?”

“No, but if I don’t follow etiquette, Silver Plate there won’t forget it. Or shut up about it.”

“Would it be the same thing for me or am I okay?” The adept asked. Despite his appearance, not many would probably consider it as proper attire. Especially for what he carried underneath his coat.

“Probably not. If you don’t stay through the day that is.”

“Well, I’m not in a rush or anything, so I’m all yours.” The Azure Striker said happily.

Lance was really enjoying Max’s company. For being a Displaced, she was not like the other ones he had met previously like Zinnia, Saber, Caster or even the Twilight from Lee’s world. Not to mention that she was like a goddess in the outfit she was wearing. As the two of them approached the ballroom where the party was held though, Lance had a question to ask her. “Will the guards have to search me for weapons or is that not accustomed here?”

“If they did, they’d have to arrest Sol and I as well,” Max said goodnaturedly.

“So would that mean I can keep these?” Lance asked, showing the two guns he kept in his holster underneath his coat. “Or would I have to set them aside at the door?”

Max immediately closed his coat. “It isn’t the guns you have to worry about, it’s those muscles,” She said, stroking his chest before reluctantly withdrawing her hand. “I might just take you to a closet and have my way with you~.”

Lance honestly had no idea what she meant, but just rolled with it. If this was flirting, then Max was doing a pretty damn good job at it. When they went inside the ballroom, Lance could see hundreds of ponies dressed up in fancy clothes. But out of all of them, there was one in particular that wasn’t a pony that stood out the most. They looked almost human like, but had a heavy set of armor that even covered his face. “Max, Who’s that?”

Max looked over and watched as the figure pulled a monocle and a top hat from somewhere and placed them on the giant green wolf-like figure beside him. “That would be Gilgamesh. I don’t know who that wolf is though,” she said, noticeably trying not to facepalm. “I don’t think he was invited to this party, judging by the way Fancy Pants is smiling.”

“That would definitely put a term on the phrase ‘letting themselves in’. Oh and I think he’s waving at you.”

Max waved back, giving him a smile. “Well, he was good in bed last day. I guess I can forgive him of this.”

“Wait, he slept with you?” Lance asked, a bit surprised by the statement. “I thought you were married.”

“I said ‘was married’. Celestia... didn’t mind anyways if I had others, just like I didn’t mind if she did.”

“Wait… are you said that you married Celestia or am I getting this mixed up?” The Adept asked, a bit taken back by that sentence.

Max motioned towards the dance floor. “Why don’t I explain while we do a song?”

Lance took up her hand and followed her in stride, nodding his head. “I’ll take you up on that offer, my lady.” The two began to dance in motion with the beat of the song, orchestrated by an earth pony who was very talented with a Cello.

“Marriage here is more simple than earth. There are the occasional flashy ones like Cadence and Shining Armor’s, but mostly it’s just two ponies sticking together,” Max said as she watched a white mare with a spiky, two toned, blue mane walk over to the stage the cellist was on. She was beginning to prep her station, which had the electronic vibe mix into the spaces that the melody of the Cello had left open. “Most are open to... I guess you could say mistresses, but none were as loose as Celestia and I.”

“I-I’m sorry for your loss… It must be tough for you to go on since you lost someone you cared for.” Lance said. He felt the same pain before. Both of his parents had died for different reasons and both times he felt like he was to blame. This pain was only visited again in the brief moment that Eclipse wiped Sun Fransokyo off of the map before Jason and HodgePodge fixed everything. But Max… somehow filled that void. That emptiness that chewed out at him.

Max gave him a sad smile and said, “She didn’t want me to save her. She... felt that it was her time to go.” She shook her head. “I wasn’t about to go against her wishes.”

“Faithful to the end? What about her sister?”

“I had to stop her a thousand years ago from killing herself when she had to banish Celestia,” Max sighed. “She spent a thousand years without her sister, and didn’t want me to save her either.”

“I-I’m sorry you had to go through that. It just…… bothers me a little. In the world I’m from, I’m suppose to help other ponies that can’t help themselves with my gifts,” He paused for a minute, trying to catch his breath, “However, it feels different with you because in a way, I’m not sure if there’s anything I can do to help. I feel like Somepony’s trying to get under my skin. Show to me that I’m a failure. That I can’t save everyone, even if I wanted too.”

“That is a hard truth for a hero to learn. That’s why I’ve settled for just being neutral,” Max said before smirking. “But I’ll be as bad as you want in bed~....”

Lance now realized Max and the words she was saying and smiled. “Indeed, but for now, shall we have this dance? Thanks to you, I can see I’m not a failure. Not with a beautiful goddess such as yourself.”

“‘M not a goddess,” Max pouted as she leaned into his shoulder, unconsciously rubbing her cheek into it.

“True. Not a goddess, but… my goddess.” The Adept cooed, caressing Max so she could be comfortable in their current situation as they danced throughout the ballroom. Time seemed to slip by quickly as Lance enjoyed Max’s company. Thanks to her, he felt whole again. He felt confident again. And in a way… he felt a new emotion.

Love.

All too soon, the song ended and they turned towards the drink table. Max chuckled and said, “And here I thought I wouldn’t enjoy this. Thanks for joining me.”

“You’re welcome. Thank you for allowing me the chance to escort you, Max.” The Adept replied, now noticing that Gilgamesh and his companion were moving across the room.

“It was either that, or send you back right away with only a ‘sorry wrong number’,” she said before catching sight of Gilgamesh coming over and her expression soured a bit. “Great. Just when I forget about tomorrow night, I get reminded of it.”

“Ouch. Is that what you think of when you look at me? Maybe I should just avoid you for the night then,” Gilgamesh replied, holding his chest like he’d just been wounded. “So, who’s your date?”

“That isn’t what I meant.... This is Lance he’s... something called a Gunvolt?” Max asked, looking at the person in question.

“My Name is Lance Walker. Gunvolt is just a code name. I’m an Adept.” He properly introduced himself to the one called “Gilgamesh”. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“Likewise, kid. You moved pretty well on the floor there, too,” he complimented, extending his hand for a shake. “Oh, and this here’s my travelling companion, Enkidu. Say hi, buddy.”

The dog barked and sat in front of him, wagging his tail as he actually tipped his hat.

“Wow. That’s quite talented. Oh man, if only Lumen were here to meet you. She’s a Breezie that I work with as a partner on the squad we’re on. Which makes me wonder, have you two ever heard of the Power Ponies?”

“Only from that one episode in the show,” Max replied. “Didn’t really seem like the writers knew what they were trying to do with that one.”

Lance chuckled, unsure of what Max was talking about, but just rolling with it. “Actually, my Equestria is the same Equestria as theirs. Twilight and the others are the same heroes you might’ve heard of. But things aren’t quite as easy as what you saw in that episode that you were referring to.”

“Huh. So is Twilight an alicorn, or a pegasus with a horn attachment like some fans think the Masked Matterhorn was?”

“Alicorn.” Lance answered Gilgamesh’s question.

“You know, I’ve been thinking of how I could turn her into an alicorn without knowing exactly how it happens. Might just shove all the paperwork onto her once she’s one,” Max stated.

“She might have her own responsibilities too. Split it evenly amongst you and her and you should be fine.” He suggested. “Wherever there’s a badge, there's always a burden.”

“Tell me about it. That’s why I didn’t take command of the military initially,” Gilgamesh muttered.

“Being a commander isn’t my thing either. I work well with partners, but huge groups is another thing. I am learning though and that is something.”

“Heh, and here I am, trying to guide Equestria through a forest of knives while blindfolded,” Max said, shaking her head ruefully. “Still, I’d rather it be me instead of one of those once nobles.”

“Let me guess, they would want to seize power for themselves? Typical selfish jerks.”

“Most of the time, yeah, but sometimes they can surprise you. You’ll never guess who told all the panicking nobles to shut the hell up and get their sh*t together when the war in my dimension started,” Gilgamesh said.

“Fancy Pants?” Max suggested.

“Prince freaking Blueblood.”

“That child abandoning piece of crap?”

“That might be who he is here, but in my universe he was just a pompous p****. Then Canterlot got attacked by the demons of Tartarus, and a near-death experience gave him a wake-up call. He even fought on the front lines.”

“Huh, and here I had him executed. If I had known that I would’ve just sent him to Tartarus for a few seconds,” Max said as she filled a cup with some wine.

Lance right now felt a little lost in translation as he heard the two Displaced continue to converse. But he didn’t let this bother him. He just needed to wait for the subject to change to something he could fit in with. That happened when Lance heard Max ask about the Displaced that Gilgamesh had met.

“So how many Displaced have you met so far? Aside from Kat and Typhon, that is.”

“Oh boy, let’s see here… first was Xante, then there was Auric Fulcrum… Pyramid Head, Nemesis, Jason, Ben 10, Aaron-”

“Excuse me for interrupting, but did you say Jason? As in Jason Hughes?”

“Oh, you met my son?”

“Yeah recently. Had to fight with him when one of his enemies showed up in my world after trying to massacre the Breezies in Vanaheim. I think she was called… Eclipse?” Lance asked himself. “Not only that, but I happen to have met HodgePodge as well. I just didn’t know that he was your son.”

“No wonder you were worried about illegitimate kids,” Max interjected.

“Actually, it’s kinda adoption. He’s actually the grandson of Hel, goddess of the dead, but he was raised on earth by two humans. His mom actually visited Equestria as a kid waaaaay in the past, and she went back with him when he paid the realm a visit. He never had any real attachment to his earth father. Apparently he was a religious nutcase, and asked if I’d like to fill the role.”

“Well, that’s quite a story Gilgamesh.” Lance complimented the Warrior. “Jason kind of told me about his family and I told him sometime that I should visit his family and what not. That is… if the villains that broke out of the Equestrian version of Arkham Asylum aren’t stalking the streets and causing problems… Then there’s the Ghoul issue…”

Max suddenly grabbed Lance’s arm and said, “You know, you can always come here for some relaxation~.”

“Well, I did tell myself that I needed a break.” Lance said, looking at Gilgamesh. “Oh and here, I wanted to make sure I didn’t forget to give you my token.” The Adept handed him what resembled a hairpiece, but it had a pair of unfolded Silver wings that represented Freedom. Like the one on the end of his braid.

“Got it. I’ll look you up some time,” the warrior said, and pocketing the token before stepping over to the boy and whispering in his ear. “Watch yourself, kid. She’s both on the giving and receiving end of the kinky spectrum, and she’s got stamina a succubus would be jealous of. That being said, if you got any fantasies, now’s probably your best chance to make them real. I know I did.”

Lance himself swallowed what was in his throat and nodded ‘What did I just get myself into?’ he thought.

“Anyway, Maxie, do you and your new partner need a distraction out of this dull party to go play?”

Max perked up and nodded her head saying, “I think everyone would like to know about Gabriel ‘Fluffy’ Iglesias.”

“You think this crowd will be up for that? I may be childish at times, but I’m not gonna make a fool out of myself.”

“And yet you gave your wolf a monocle and a top hat.”

“There’s a difference between looking silly and looking stupid.”

“True, but I have a feeling that they’ll love an impression of Fluffy.”

“Fine, but if they don’t, you owe me some more… compensation.”

Max thought for a minute before saying, “Only if you don’t pull out at the last second.”

“Fine, but in that case you’ll have to put that mouth of yours to good work instead, because you still don’t know how to work a contraceptive.”

She smiled lasciviously and said, “Isn’t it better without?”

“Yes, but I’m not taking that risk. Now go have fun with your new boy toy, I’ve got to get myself a little more buzzed for this,” he finished walking off, Enkidu following behind him. “Alright bartender, time to test your mixing. I want a long island iced tea, a manehattan and rum and cola, stat!”

“I’m sorry sir, but... what’s a ‘cola’?” The bartender asked as he started levitating the ingredients for the other drinks.

“Well, we’re off to a great start,” he said sarcastically.

“Just get him a sex on the beach instead,” Max called over her shoulder as she led Lance out onto the floor for one last dance.

“Isn’t that your thing?” he snarked back.

Lance was lost in translation at this point as Max was leading him out onto the dance floor for one last twirl. Or so he thought… as they went into another room and she closed and locked the door.

(The Authors would like to apologize for the Lack of Romantic content in this chapter. However, this is totally justifiable since this is a Teen rated story and we don’t want it to turn into 50 shades of grey. So please, enjoy the rest of the chapter. For something a little more focused on the story and less obnoxious.)

Back in Lance’s World (Thirty Minutes Later)

When the Azure Striker returned home, it was a few hours before dawn as he re-emerged from the rift he created to come back into his room at Mane Six headquarters. In his hand, he still had Max’s parting gift, which he would now called “Testament”. A fitting name for a Heirloom that use to be part of a Warhammer wielded by Celestia herself. Taking a chain from a dog tag he found in the closet, he hung the token on the chain and around his neck.

“Thank you Max.” He told himself, right before he laid down on the bed in his room and went to sleep. Unknowing of the Goddess that would be watching over his dreams.

End Strike 16

Strike 17- System Shock

When Lightning Strikes- System Shock

Present Day

It had been three days since Lance had met Max and in that timeframe, a lot of things for him had changed. Like they had been kicked into overdrive, so to speak. Hiro had him immediately get to the final few training exercises that the Adept needed to complete in order for the boy to see if he was on top of his game. This of course, included having to push him to his limits and do anything to throw him off balance. After all, the “A” in the TESLA method stood for adaptation.

The routine for the first morning consisted of the following things. Breakfast, Bagels, and BAYMAX. The huggable robot was quick to surprise him, having Lance stay on his feet constantly in order for him to not get tackled by BAYMAX. The Adept had to dodge and weave out of the way of the caretakers diving leaps and even had to flip onto the ceiling, using Lee’s token to cling to the wall on the roof. That was only until Hiro told him to knock it off and BAYMAX had gone into standby mode. Turns out, the chase just now was actually the first piece of training that the boy genius had in store for him.

The other piece was for him to demonstrate his combat skills and tactics in a fight against some of the other Mane Hero Six members despite the fact that a few of them were asked to help with the ongoing situations involving locked up super villains that had broken out of Solace Asylum. This included Neon Bass and a earth pony that went by the identity of “canvas” due to her artistic powers that reminded Lance of Epic Mickey.

However, before their fight even began, Sumeragi decided to crash the party. More specifically, Jumper. However, he didn’t stay for long and had the soldiers that were with him try to capture them. A mistake of a fool given Lance’s new tactics, weapons and teamwork as he had Vinyl and Canvas working alongside him to knock out and capture the soldiers.

That, though, was only day one. The next day, Lance stayed behind with Hiro and the others in order to try his best to get some information out of the soldiers who attacked them. With no success. Despite this though, nothing exciting really ever happened for Lance except a call he made to Radiance, involving a gem that he found that the Adept asked for her to turn into a ring. Despite the odd request, Radiance accepted it and Lance sent the parcel by Instant Transmission. To round out the day, The Azure Striker had to leave a message for Arima, telling him that he was close to getting Twilight and the others to making him a fully fledged member of the power ponies before he could convince them to not attack or capture Kaoru.

It was now day three and the day where Lance would be going back to Maretropolis with Lumen and his Blaziken, Kai. As the sun rose up in the sky, the Adept could hear Kai chirp a little as Lumen slept in Lance’s hair and the ring that Lance requested had arrived. The original thought for him was to take the Mega stone in his bracelet and place it in the ring instead, but before even being able to think that through, something began to tug him.

“Guess someone needs me. You ready to roll, Kai?” The Blaziken chirped as Lance had him retreat into the Pokeball that Hiro had constructed for the two of them. “Alright, let’s go.”

The last glimpse of the Azure Striker that Hiro saw at that moment was him disappearing in a bright flash of lightning.

Meanwhile…

The moment that Lance woke up from hopping between worlds, he found himself inside a strange garden. Like a royal hedge maze. It seemed like he was alone, but when his sight had adjusted, the adept found himself looking at a Red haired teen in a Blood red overcoat and a sword on his back..

Lance was the first one of the two to speak. “-The hell? Hey man, are you okay?”

“Y-yeah.” The Red haired swordsman replied. “Are you a Displaced?”

“Yep. I’m guessing you got summoned too?”

“Yeah and I’m betting whoever did it is up there,” The Redhead pointed at the tower above them. “I feel a high density in magic from the tower.”

“Well of course you can.” A voice rang out and appearing in a flash was a creature that looked like a freaky mad scientist experiment and reminded Lance of when he saw HodgePodge. “Hello, name’s Loki, Master of Chaos and Defender of Balance.” Loki said with a bow. “Before you ask... No, this isn’t my Equestria. I was summoned as well.”

“Summoned? By who-?”

“LANCE!!!”

The name caused the Azure striker to turn around. He recognized the voice as he now looked at a figure with a white unbuttoned shirt with jeans, sneakers, a monkey tail and red gauntlets. Could it be…? “Wait a second… Sean?”

“Holy crap man!! It’s good to see you. Oh and call me Sun. I kind of have a reputation here.”

‘No wonder. He definitely looks like Sun from RWBY.’

“Heh… You always do wherever you go.” He chuckled, fist bumping his cousin. He was glad to see him again and personally surprised that all the noise had not woken up Lumen. “Oh right, Introductions. I’m Lance Walker. Also known as Gunvolt and The Azure Striker by the ponies in my world.”

“Sun Wukong. Faunus.”

“Nicko Nocte. Rune Slayer, pleasure to meet all of you-.” But before Nicko could finish, some pink smoke arose from behind him and what took form caused Loki’s heart to race.

“Hello boys… Names Eris. Nicko’s friend, partner, Daughter of Discord and Celestia where I’m from, Draconequus and Spirit of Chaos.”

Loki gave a smile. “Really spirit? Hey Discord come out and meet your daughter thing whatever.” The Astral projection of Discord appeared next to Loki.

“Yes?”

“Names Loki, the second and current god of chaos and this is my Discord the first god of Chaos, until the the elements of Disharmony went all fuse them together.” The Astral projection of Discord though, was annoyed by Eris’ hand passing though his body.

“Stop that.”

“Aww…” Eris pouted. “I wish I could touch him…”

“Eris,” Nicko whispered “Please behave yourself. This is technically what you wanted to call a “date” by your standards.”

“Ooh. Hehe… Sorry.”

Sun himself just sighed. “Okay, so let me get this straight. There’s four Displaced, including me, three versions of Draconequus and a one hundred percent likely of a chance that we would have Celestia come out here any-.”

SLAM!!!

“-minute.”

‘Wait, Celestia? Could that be who Max was talking about-?” Lance thought to himself before he heard a sudden and abrupt opening of doors, followed by the trotting of multiple hooves and the voice of a female that sounded a lot like a Princess in charge.

“Sun, what in the name of-!?” All four of the Displaced turned to see a shocked Fluttershy, Princess Celestia and this world’s version of Discord staring at them. “WHAT IN THE NAME OF ME IS GOING ON!!?!!?”

“Oh… right…… Maybe we should all come inside first. That way we don’t attract any attention.” Lance facepalmed himself. Despite getting a new name, Sun was still the same old him. Crazy and at times, unaware of his own situation

Nicko nodded his head. “I agree with Sun. If Loki didn’t catch their attention just yet, then Eris would definitely would.”

“Ok, I’ll be the one to start as I’m probably the one with the most experience, I am Loki, and this astral being is my Discord, I am the second god of chaos in equestria and a Displaced, what is a Displaced you may ask?” With a snap of a talon around the a bunch of small floating orbs appeared, “Pretend these are all universes, me sun, and the others come from one universe and been scattered around the multiverse… and beyond and now can summon one another via tokens, however I don’t want to brag I’ve learned how to open short universe wormholes..” Loki finished. “Now then they were answer anymore questions for you.”

“Yes. Am I to assume that you are a Displaced as well, Sun?” The Princess then asked.

“Yeah, but I had only been summoned twice. I had never really summoned any before and I didn’t know that the fang I saw earlier was Loki’s token until he told me.”

“Token?”

“Displaced can summon other Displaced by using their tokens. As a demonstration for Princess Luna, I used this stone and this pin to summon both Nicko and Lance.”

“Hello to you as well, Princess.” The redhead which Lance now knew as Nicko replied.

“Wow… I never thought that a handsome one like you would have such dashing manners.” Celestia chuckled. “Care to introduce yourself?”

“Certainly. My name is Nicko Nocte and I’m a Rune Slayer. A Swordsman who fights with Runic Magic.” The Displaced demonstrated by conjuring a ring of red runes around his body. “I can use them for Multiple purposes to help me stay on my game and survive.”

“Well you are a videogame character, what's your score? 10,000?” Loki said with a laugh.

“I don’t play by scores.” Nicko replied. “How about Lance explain about himself this time, Loki?”

“Sure go ahead.” Loki said as he decided to to do something with a map that he kept on him. The Azure Striker, who was using his energy blade to clean out his nails while he was waiting looked back at Loki and smiled, putting the weapon away behind him under his coat. In the brief second that everypony sat it opened, it showed that this Displaced was armed to the teeth.

“Why thank you,” Lance replied to the Draconequus. “My name is Lance Walker, but my Codename that I go by is Gunvolt. As in that name, my powers revolve around my guns and my electricity that I can conjure because I’m an adept.” The boy even had some electricity crackle a little around him for a short amount of time before dismissing the lightning.

“Excuse me, but what is an Adept?” Discord asked, holding Reson and Honeydew in his lion paw and eagle talon.

“Adept’s are humans with Psychic powers. Mine is my electricity, but it doesn’t mean that’s the only thing I can do. Another Displaced taught me how to use energy blasts and sense the energy or “Ki” of others-.”

The Adept was interrupted by the warm humming of an artifact that hung around his neck. To him, this was the artifact of Max Caulfield. A Displaced that he had only met a few days ago. He could hear her voice, desperately calling him.

L-Lance, something huge just ca-came up and I n-need you here!

“I-I need to go! Something just came up! Sorry that I have to cut things short.” He replied, using the token that Max had given him to cut a rift through space as he disappeared in a flash of lightning.

Infirmary (Max’s world)

A bolt of lightning soon went off in the room that Max Caulfield was in, revealing the Azure Striker in his full attire. He saw what looked like her on a Medical examination table, clinging to her chest a little and he thought of the worst case scenario. “Max? Is something wrong?” He asked, seeing her in this state. “Are you hurt-?”

“N-not exactly.... I’ve been throwing up for the past two weeks and just found out why,” she said nervously. This got Lance to be a little bit worried for her condition. Was she sick? Hurt? Worse?

“I’ll leave the two of you to work this out,” The Doctor said as he walked towards a guard that had a sprained ankle. farther back in the infirmary.

“Maxie? What’s wrong?” Lance asked, refocusing his attention on her and calling her a nickname that he came up with on the night they first met each other during the night that Max had summoned him. He tried to hold her close, but thought that it would be best to give her some room. “You can tell me anything, you know that right?”

“W-well, you know what happened after the party?” She asked.

Lance nodded his head, recalling everything that happened from the party to Gilgamesh and to what happened when the two of them were alone and by themselves. “Yeah, I stayed with you through the day.”

Max looked down at the floor, shaking her feet a little and then muttered, “Let’s just say you weren’t shooting blanks....”

Lance was confused by the phrase at first, thinking she was referring to his pistol. “But I wasn’t using my-.” Then it hit him like a ton of bricks. “Oh… Oh my god… A-are you-?”

She nodded as Lance sat down on the bed next to her. “I-I have had children before, and I’m not scared. J-just worried what you’ll do, I think.”

The Azure Striker had to take a few moments to think things through. About what happened. What they did together. What could they do now. But then, he came up with a decision. One that took Max by surprise and filled her with joy. “I’ll stay with you. No matter what you choose, I’ll always support you.” He then reached over and caressed Max in a warm hug to comfort her. “We should be proud… We’re going to be parents.”

Her smile faded a bit as she recalled something. “We live in different universes though. How’ll we be able to support each other without waiting for the summon to go through? I don’t want our son growing up without two parents like my fillies are.”

“No one said that we had to be apart.” Lance told her. “What if we were able to combine our worlds together?”

“That would leave us with two of everyone except us....”

“What if we had a gateway between your world and mine? That way, our worlds are connected. I can talk to my Twilight about it and have you come with me to explain everything. Plus…… I think there’s one other thing we should be ready for.” The Adept said as he got something out of his coat pocket. It was a beautiful gem that he asked Radiance to cut for him. Now in the golden clutches of a grip that made it a ring.

She stared at it in confusion for a second before realizing what it meant. “R-really? You f*** a girl once and bring marriage in? Lancie, as far as I’m concerned, we’re already together.”

“I’m an idiot, what can I say.” Lance chuckled to himself as he took hold of one of Max’s hands. “Plus… I thought we should make it official.” He said as he slipped the ring onto her ring finger. “Do you like it?”

“Yes, but... we don’t know all that much about each other. I mean, you don’t know how old I am, do you?”

“We have time… So why don’t we start now?” He chuckled. “Plus, I don’t care how old you are. You’re always still beautiful to me.” Lance then pulled out a small circular device, which was his communicator that acted like a cell phone and pressed the button in the center; turning it on. It showed a few holograms of places and ponies as he told me about the individuals he met and the worlds he went to. Each one with it’s own story to tell.

“Wow. All that in only a week or two?” Max asked then she smirked. “And I thought my life was packed with action.”

The Azure Striker chuckled a bit. “Well, I’ve been only displaced for almost three weeks. To me, it’s just another day in the life of your average sixteen year old displaced… with superpowers and stuff.”

“Wait, you’re how old!?!?” Max shook her head and continued, “Great, I’m a pedophile now.”

“Not to me, Maxie. You know in other countries back home, marriage happens to children around this age right? Plus… I don’t care how old we are. I care for you and to me, that’s all that matters.” The Adept spoke, true to his word.

Max blushed and gave Lance a kiss on his cheek. “I guess you’re right. Besides, the only one who could match me for age right now would be one of the princesses or Discord.”

“Heh… Yeah… So-.”

“Ugh… W-where am I-?” Came the little voice that was now peeking out of Lance’s hair. “Hunh? Lance, where are we?”

“... So that’s what a Breezie looks like up close,” Max said.

“Max? Remember when I told you about my partner Lumen. Well, this is her. Lumen, I want you to be the first one to meet Max… and she’s my special somepony.”

“Nice to meet you, Lumen.” Max reached out a finger for the tiny pony to shake.

“Same he-.” Stopping for a moment, she nudged Max’s finger to the side. “Wait, special somepony? When did that happen?”

“When Max summoned me the first time and you were getting snuggled to death by BAYMAX back at Hiro’s workshop.”

“Oh… right… that… Not my best moment.”

“So you told me your story. Now I think it’s my turn,” Max interjected. “I think I should mention first that I was a guy back on earth.”

“Same. I don’t really care about the whole creepy gender swap thing-.” Lance interjected, only to feel a little nudge at his waist from the Pokeball that was there. “Heh… Looks like someone wants to say hello.” That’s when the Azure Striker grabbed the Pokeball and tossed it out, letting Kai emerge from the device as he faced both himself and Max.

“Max, meet Kai. Kai, this is Max.”

“I thought he was a Blaziken? At least that’s ho- Whoa!” Max jumped back a little as the little Torchic flashed white and grew into a Blaziken.

Kai himself chirped, using a talon to nudge Max around the cheeks, almost like he was wanting to tickle her. “Yeah, he kind of has that impression on people.”

“So he can evolve at will? That’s a neat little trick.” Max turned back to Kai and said, “You won’t be able to tickle me there, you know.”

“He’s actually fully grown. Zinnia helped me out with that a while ago… Like almost a week I believe.”

“You met Zinnia as well? I had a wonderful time with her during and after Applejack’s bachelorette party.”

“ …… I’m tempted to ask, but I’ll just keep my mouth shut. Plus, don’t we have something to be preparing for?” Lance asked Max, offering his hand to her kindly and in a caring manner.

“Y-yeah, I should probably get back on track,” Max said as she took Lance’s hand.

“Our first order of business though… is that you need to meet my Twilight. If we want to get our two worlds connected, then we need to talk to the brains of the Operation.” Lance said as he used a copy of his own token and channeled some energy into it. “This would be the way back to my world and I believe I should introduce you to the girls… You know… before the wedding.”

“Wait…… WEDDING!?!” Lumen squeaked as Lance had Kai return to his Pokeball. “What the hell brought all of this?”

“It might be the fact that I’m two months pregnant,” Max said. “Or it might be the fact that I’m the ruler of Equestria in this universe.”

“ …… Oh dear Luna, please tell me this is a dream.”

“Sorry, Lumen. But this is actually happening. I told you that Max is my special somepony and now you know the reason why,” Lance chuckled as Max kissed him on the cheek. “Now, are you coming along or staying here?”

“......... Goddess, do children grow up fast these days.”

“That reminds me, we should think of names for the child when we have the time.” Lance said, holding Max by him comfortably.

“Should I dare ask who is the father?” Lumen asked Max as they stood on the brink of the event horizon.

“It’s almost impossible for a stallion to get a human pregnant and aside from Zinnia, that’s all I’ve had in bed for the past two months,” Max replied. “So there’s really only one who could’ve knocked me up.” Max finished her reply by looking at Lance with the most dreamy of expressions before she started. “Stars damn it! I almost forgot about my fillies.”

Just then Mun and Sol walked in with three fillies on their backs.

“Sol, Mun, bring the girls and your hulls. We’re taking a little vacation.”

The two thestrals looked at each other and shrugged, being followed by two miniature Abrams tanks.

“So why were you throwing up?” Mun asked once they were standing behind the couple.

“I’m pregnant, and this handsome man is the father,” Max replied as they all stepped into the portal.

At that moment, from across the universe, everypony could hear the sound of a startled breezie yelling to the farthest corner of the worlds.

End Strike 17

Author's Note

Yep. It's official. The Ship has sailed

Strike 18- Meet the Family

Author's Note

Another Crossover with Max. This time, explaining her story and also Lance has his first challenge as a father. A filly RD and two other fillies.

Strike 18- Meet the Family

When Lightning Strikes- Meet the Family

Power Pony HQ

Twilight was growing restless. Lance was suppose to have arrived with Lumen over two hours ago from Sun Fransokyo. Now, he was not only late, but hasn’t been seen anywhere in the timeframe he was suppose to be here. Of course, she was optimistic. The Alicorn kept in mind that he might have been summoned by a Displaced, especially after meeting Lee and his version of herself when they ran into each other earlier in the month. Now, she was waiting with both Zap and Solaria inside the command center. The pegasus was bored out of her mind while the Unicorn was calmly biding her time.

“Come on!! When will Lance be back!?!” Zap groaned. “It can’t seriously take him this long just for a small flight. Hay, I can get to there and back in HALF that time!”

“Zap, unlike you, he doesn’t have a set of wings.” Solaria reminded her. “Plus, there could be air traffic back in Cloudsdale.”

“Highly doubt it-.”

Suddenly though, a bright flash went off in the room and a few new figures entered. One of them being Lance. But another one… was different. There was a young… girl along with three fillies and two other strange individuals that the ponies couldn’t recognize.

The girl was dressed in a beautiful long gown that looked like a designer outfit that Radiance would craft in her spare time. An elegant sapphire dress that stretched from the upper chest downward and looked as smooth as silk from the trades mares that lived in Shang-hay. She took a thermos out from the bag that was at her waist and took a drink. “Ah, nothing like homemade, deadly caffeine to keep you awake,” she said.

“What the buck-!?” Was Zap’s first reaction before she looked at the ponies that were with her… and one of them that looked like her when she was a young filly. “I-is that… ME!?”

“Yep. I’m not going to go into the details that led to me adopting you for the sake of keeping this PG enough for the story.”

“How about you do some introductions first?” Lance suggested. “That way, you girls can know about Max?”

“Max? But I don’t see a guy with you.” Twilight said, confused.

The girl raised her hand and said, “Max can be a girl’s name as well. For me it’s short for Maxine.” Max turned to indicate the ponies behind her. “This is Zenith Sol and Zenith Mun. The fillies are Golden Spark, Light Sweet, and Rainbow Dash.”

“Pleased to meet you again,” the two thestrals said at the same time.

“I’m Twilight Sparkle. This is our Rainbow Dash and Sunset Shimmer. Plus, you probably already met Lance… Speaking of which, what brings you here to Maretropolis Max? I don’t think you and your fillies are here to be on a vacation.”

“I did more than just meet him.” Max held up her right hand, showing them the ring that was on the finger next to her pinkie. “We’re actually engaged.”

Twilight flinched at the sign of that. “Woah woah woah…… How did THAT happen!? Last time we saw you, you were going to Sun Fransokyo and now you’re getting married!!? Goddess, this is surprising me more than when I found out about my brother’s wedding.”

“Well, two months ago I summoned him and we went to a party, then we slept together. Then I found out a few hours ago that I was pregnant,” Max said, wrapping both arms around Lance’s left arm.

Now, that caused Rainbow’s jaw to drop along with Sunset trying to fight the verge to pass out on the floor. Lance sighed to himself as he closed the rift behind him. “I know, I was just as surprised as you guys when I was told the news as well. And I think that also leads to the reason why Max and her family came here.”

“Yep. We’re going to see if it’s possible to make a permanent portal between my universe and this one.”

“A… permanent portal you say?” Twilight said, thinking to herself. “That does sound intriguing… In that case, I would be glad to help you Max.”

“Oh Max,” Lance interjected. “I was just wondering…” The Azure Striker bent a little closer and whispered in her ear ‘Since I consider Twilight and her friends like family, do you think that Twilight could be… Auntie Twilight?’

“Only if Sparks there,” Max pointed to Zap, “is considered my fillies’ cousin.”

“Deal.”

“Wait wha-!?” Zap was about to ask, but that was when a small Rainbow Maned filly was flying up to her shoulder.

“Who’s Dis-?”

“That’s your new cousin, Sparks,” Max said with a smile.

“Sparx!” the filly exclaimed as she hugged her older self.

“Hey-! That tickles!!” Zap exclaimed, nudging the filly a little as she set herself down on all four hooves. “Kid, if you’re trying to kill me with cuteness, then you’re doing it perfectly!”

“Oh, that reminds me. I took a picture of her after she got into the cookie jar back at the palace,” Max said as she pulled out a bundle of pictures and looked through them, finding the right one in a few seconds. “She was eating a cookie as big as her head.” Max handed the picture to Zap.

“Heehee… Little Rascal. I think I’m going to get along with you just fine!”

“Okay then. If Lance or I can’t watch them I’ll let you personally take care of Rainbow for a few hours,” Max said.

“Are you sure that would be wise, Commander?” Mun asked.

“She is the biggest hoof-ful of the three,” Sol said.

Max turned to the two and shushed them. “Don’t ruin the chance for some trolling!”

“So we have Rainbow as cousin and now Twilight as the new Auntie… Would that leave Pinkie as Grandmo-.” At the mentioning of her name, a pink blur zipped into the room, almost knocking Lance onto the floor as the Earth Pony has bouncing on her hooves. “I should’ve expected that.”

“Nope, Pinkie’s the sister-in-law.” Max held out her hand to the pink pony. “I’m Max, Lance’s fiance.”

“OOOOH!!! LANCIE!!! Why didn’t you-?” That’s when her attention was diverted to the filly Rainbow Dash on Zap’s head. “SO CCCUUUTTTEEE!!!!!!!!”

“Pink pony!” Rainbow said, holding her hooves out.

“Silly Dashie, I’m Pinkie Pie!!”

“Pink Pie! Snuggles?”

Max chuckled and said, “Rainbow, you’re being too cute. Turn it down or we’ll be forced to make you the main character.”

Lance chuckled. Surprised to see her so happy that he almost forgot about Light Sweet and Golden Spark. Who were looking at him in confusion. “Oh uh, Max?”

“Hmm?” Max looked over at the other two fillies. “Oh, right. Golden, Light, this is Lance. He’s gonna be your new daddy,” Max said as she picked up both of them and handed them to Lance.

They both looked up at him and tilted their heads in curiosity, then smiled and giggled. Lance smiled as they came closer and he embraced them in a hug, being careful not to hurt Golden and her amputated hoof. “I’m glad to have you girls as family.” He told them as they hugged him back. After the brief hug, he redirected his focus for a moment. “Hey Max? Why don’t Sol and Mun go with the kids, Zap and Filli-Second while we talk to Twilight about the portal?”

“Okay. And don’t think you’ll be getting out of hearing my story for much longer,” she said handing the fillies back to Sol.

“They’re not getting out of it. I just thought that it would be easier to explain if all of the team was around,” Lance pointed to the nearby board. It showed that Radiance, Mistress Marevelous, Humdrum, and Saddle Rager were out on a mission and would return later. “See what I mean?”

“.... Fine, I’ll wait until they’re back to tell my story.”

“Thanks Maxie.” Lance replied with a smile.

Max turned to Twilight and said, “So, why don’t we get started?”

“Yes…… I was thinking the same thing,” Twilight replied, offering a hoof and pulling up a chair for her. “How should we begin?”

“I honestly have no idea. We could try experimenting on Lance’s ability to make portals with tokens. See what that brings up.”

“That is a good place to start. But from what Lance tells me, using tokens works two ways. It either summons somepony to you or you to that individual. I think the same goes for portals as well.” The Alicorn explained. “Plus, we don’t want a black hole taking everything away from either end of the portal.”

“True, I wouldn’t want to bring about the end of the country I’m ruling. How about we go see if both our Discords could help us?”

“We could. But that’ll mean we need to find him first.” Twilight told the two of them. “He’s quite Elusive at times and sometimes, only shows himself when he wants too.” By the time the Alicorn finished that statement, the three of them could hear the Chaos spirit from the other room and when they saw him; he was letting Golden Spark and Light Sweet climb on top of him and tickle him while the Filly Rainbow Dash was climbing on his head.

“WHEE!!!” The filly squeaked. “Dis fun, mommy!!”

Max turned to Twilight and said, “You were saying?”

“Why hello,” Discord said, now noticing the three of them. “I didn’t expect this.” Looking at Max specifically, he grinned a little. “You seem… new here. What is your name, miss?”

“Maxine, but everyone calls me Max.” She held out a hand for him to shake. “Nice to meet you again, Dissy.”

The Chaos spirit raised one of his eyebrows in response to the last statement as he shook her outstretched hand. “Again? But this is only the first time we-... Hold on a minute,” with that, he placed one of the fingers of his Lion Paw on her forehead for a brief second before retreating it. “Well, that is quite surprising. You seem to not be from here, but from another Equestria?”

Lance could only look at him, surprised. “How-?”

“Mind reading. It’s a gift and-. Oh my…” The spirit said in a George Takei like voice. “Now that is just kinky.”

“If you weren’t already a friend, I’d take offence at you looking at more than what I want you to see,” Max said.

“Some gifts have side effects.” Discord shrugged. “Now, judging from what else I saw, you were going to ask me something?”

“Yeah, we were going to ask you if you’d work with my Discord and help us make a portal between the two universes.”

“Hmm… Interesting… Where is he?”

Max shrugged. “Probably in Ponyville still. Had to send him there for PR so he could wander wherever he wanted.”

“PR? Like Personal Reformation?” The spirit asked. “That’s a new one. For me, I had to show my trust by putting the lives of the girls before mine during an attack on the city. I defended Saddle Rager, or what you call Fluttershy, with my life and now I’m here.” To show what he meant, he used his chaos magic to create his personal medal of honor to show his heroism.

“More like Public Relations. I’m not actually reforming him, just trying to convince everyone to let him stay free since he’s apparently the only one able to keep universes-.... That’s it!” Max dug in her bag and pulled out a folder. “Knew there was a reason I didn’t give this to him when I freed him.”

“Oh, what do you have there, Max?” Lance asked before Discord tried to sneak over her shoulder to have a peak.

“Something from someone called Auric Fulcrum. It’s supposed to be instructions from his Discord on how to seal away a universe, but it can be used to find our way back to our original universe. Maybe. I just skimmed the letter that was attached to it. What I got out of the letter said that only a Discord can understand it,” Max said, holding it out to Discord.

“Well, let me take a look at it.” Discord offered, forming a pair of reading glasses with his talon. He looked at the document with careful precision and took his time in scanning the letter. “This is quite fascinating if I do say so myself.”

“I guess it’ll take a little for you to read that?”

“Possibly… if these glasses didn’t allow me to speed read.” He pointed out. “In fact, this actually seems kind of simple given if you can read ancient equish.”

“Well?”

“Ever heard of the saying ‘From point A to point B?’ Well, for this gateway of yours to work, I need to create a gate to use as point A and then travel to where point B would take me. Once I meet that Discord, the two of us could make a second gate and create the link. However, the best way for me to travel there is have what you would call a ‘token’ of the person that lives there.”

Max handed him a picture and said, “This is my token, though I gave Lance a more personal one.”

Discord grinned and asked for it, for the time being of course. The Azure Striker nodded, handing him the ornament he named Testament. “Okay, now then. Let’s get to work.” With a quick stretch and cracking the knuckles in his paw and talon, he began to channel chaos magic through his outstretched hands. The magic swirled to life as it worked it’s magic, creating what resembled a mirror that one would hang up in a mansion. “Okay, there’s point A.”

“Can you tell Discord that I would like the other side to be in the room under the throne? I don’t want someone stumbling from here to there and getting lost or causing havoc or vice versa.”

“Will do,” Discord smiled, returning the token to the Azure Striker. “Oh and be ready, you got some company coming.” With that, Twilight looked at the board to see that the girls were back and on her way to the command center along with Humdrum. “Well, Max. You ready to share that story?” As she asked that question, Filly Rainbow landed on top of Lance’s head with Lumen inside her mane.

“Oh, the other three are back?” Max asked.

“Four. Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack and Spike.” Lance pointed out. “Oh and there they are.”

“Twilight, we’re ba- WHAT IN TARNATION!?!”

“Hello to you too, Applejack.” Max waved at the ponies who just entered the room.

“Auntie Wolf here?” Rainbow said as she looked around.

“Alright, just what the hay is goin’ on and why am ah seein’ a Filly Rainbow Dash?”

“Isn’t it awesome!?” Pinkie exclaimed.

“It’s darn confusing!!!!” The Earth pony retorted as she took off her mask and looked at Max. “Twilight, I need some explanations right now or ah’m tempted to use my Lasso to hogtie her and start asking questions.”

“Oh, I like that idea! Your room or Lance’s?” Max asked.

“Can’t you just ask Max?” Lance suggested, personally facepalming at where his fiancee was going with this.

“Who?” Applejack asked. “You mean tha girl?”

“Max is a girl’s name as well. Oh, Rarity, thank you for cutting that gem for Lance.” Max said as she showed them the ring.

“Why thank you darling-? Wait… why are you wearing it though?” Rarity asked.

“We’re getting married, Rares.” Lance sighed.

“Yep. Kinda tired of saying this, but I’m pregnant as well with his son,” Max said, pointing to Lance.

“So since Max is a Displaced, I brought her here to think of a way to connect both of our worlds together.” Lance said. “In addition, since I consider all of you as family, I wanted to see how you can be part of ours? Right Max?”

“Yeah. You know me and Rainbow already, the ones you don’t know are Light Sweet, Golden Spark, Zenith Sol, and Zenith Mun. The tanks are Sol and Mun as well,” Max explained.

During that moment, Rainbow pretended to be flying on top of Lance’s head, saying “WHEEE!!!” for a few moments with outstretched wings.

Max ruffled Rainbow’s mane a little and continued, “You should probably get comfortable because I’m about to talk about my past. Lance wanted me to wait until you all were here before I began, and I’m not going to answer any questions until the end.”

With that said, Pinkie Pie decided to “relocate” everypony into the break room and have them take a seat on the sofas and couches inside. With everypony here and a quick and simple explanation on who Cody was when Pinkie asked if he was coming, Max soon was able to have the room to herself to explain her story without any interruptions.

Especially, not right now.

“Back on Earth, I was a guy. I’m not going to go into that right now since it’s obviously not who I am anymore, but I went to a convention as Maxine Caulfield and saw someone buy something from a vendor and then disappear. Being as I wanted an adventure, I went over and bought my camera from that same vendor.

“When I woke up I was outside the Tree of Harmony’s cave and had control over time. After a few minutes, Celestia and Luna came into the clearing and I basically told them that they would fight and one of them would fall.”

“Nightmare moon?” Twilight said to herself, remembering her encounter with the Nightmare Spirit.

Max shook her head and said, “Daymare Flare. Celestia was the one to fall and Luna almost-....” She shook herself and continued. “Fast forward about two months and I wander into their baths and, uh... use all twenty bottles of Celestia’s shampoo. She comes out just as I’m getting dressed and turns me to stone. I spent the next thousand odd years training my powers and when Discord was defeated for the second time he released me.

“While I was looking for Celestia’s room I ran into the Merchant and bought stuff from him. Once I was done, I turned around and found what I was looking for. I... kinda got pissed when Celly went for coffee instead of talking with me and put lots of spices in her cup.

“Kat -- another Displaced -- helped me clear that up and.... Well, I revealed that I gave her one of those magazines and kissed her. Then she ran off to her room and I followed since Luna didn’t want to try to get a room ready for me. Celly and I talked and decided to see where our relationship would go.”

“So, what happened?” Lance asked, interested to see what was going to happen next.

“I get summoned by three dungeons divers before I can eat my breakfast the following dusk. I was gone for less than three hours, but when I got back it’d been a week and.... Let’s just say I gave Celestia a little cheering up.”

“Question?” Spike said, raising a claw. “Would you care to explain cheering up? Because the princesses are right outside the-.”

SHOVE!!

“-door.”

Max flinched, closing her eyes and clenching her jaw.

“Would somepony care to explain why I feel mine and my sisters magic within this… being? We felt it all the way from Canterlot.” The darkened pony was first to speak. Upon seeing Lance though, her eyes widened. This boy was the one who disappeared right in front of her eyes.

A quick explanation was required from Twilight in order for the princesses to understand who both Lance and Max were before she could continue. And also told Spike by cheering up, she meant spending some quality time with her.

Through all this, Max stood, looking down at the floor. Lost in thought until Lance said something to bring her attention back. “Are you okay, Max?”

“Hmm?” Max looked around, sparing the princesses a painful glance before she said, “W-where was I?”

“You were talking about you supporting your Celestia?” Rarity reminded her.

“R-right. The next week, Nono -- the vendor I bought my camera from -- appeared and I bought Mun and Sol from her. The next few m-months... were calm and-... and.” Max drew in a shaky breath and continued, “Celestia and I... spent them together. The next big thing that happened was when I found Rainbow in- in a cave tied to a stalagmite with both her rear legs broken.

“Next was Cadence and Shining Armor’s wedding and I managed to get Chrysalis into negotiations with Luna. Right before I was going to throw Cadence a private bachelorette party I got summoned again and when I went back, Medulla -- the one who had summoned me -- told me I was pregnant. I rushed to the medical wing to confirm it and then Celestia and I investigated something that crashed into the maze.

“It was Handsome Jack’s token and I decided to take Rainbow over to his universe so she wouldn’t take weeks to fully heal. The trip somehow took long enough that I went into labor as soon as I got there and I gave birth to Light and Sweet.

“Once I was able to walk, I went back and....” Max gave Celestia and Luna a long, painful look. “I arrived just in time to be there for their final moments.”

Shock ran across everypony in the room and filly Rainbow looked like she was going to shed some tears. “M-mommy?”

Max turned and picked her up, holding her close as she whispered, “Shhh, Mommy’s okay.”

After a minute or two, Max continued, “They knew about my rewinding time and told me to not save them. T-they gave me everything; Equestria, their connection to the sun and moon, and all of their magic.

“Kat and Typhon helped me turn five tons of coal into statues of the sisters after we interred them in their family tomb. Then I changed the government around, got rid of all -- well, all but Fancy Pants -- all of the nobles by using private detectives to look into their business. Tore down Parliament and basically turned my crown into a queen’s.

“Cadence is running the Crystal Empire and asked for that job from Twilight. I have no problem with that as long as she doesn’t turn evil or something. Last I heard from her was her asking if the Empire could become its own country again. I gave her the go ahead and she took up the title Empress.

“Then... then I found out Commander Hurricane was going to crash the opening of a museum I was going to in Manehattan. I proceeded like nothing was amiss and when Hurricane showed himself, I told the Pegasi following him that they could live in peace if they turned on him. Unfortunately Hurricane was betrayed and killed by his ally, a cat named Scourge. Yes I said cat.

“Not your average housecat, no. These cats are as big as ponies, and have an appetite to match. Anyways, I met Lance the night before that took place and had some quality time together. Fast forward two months and I find I’m pregnant, and you know the rest.”

Lance put his arm around Max, trying to comfort her. He knew that it was hard for her to talk about this, so he wanted to show his support in whatever way he could.

“Any questions?” Several hooves were raised. “Any that aren’t directed at how Celly managed to get me pregnant with twins?” Most of the raised hooves fell.

Twilight now had her hoof up. “At one point, you said the following dusk. Is night and day somehow reversed in your Equestria or am I just thinking too much on this?” Around then, Light Sweet decided to nuzzle herself at Twilight’s hooves, taking a nap as Golden Spark went to Celestia. Around now though was when she saw the Fillies amputated hoof.

“My goodness! What happened to this poor filly?”

“I skipped that part? The guard captain after Shining Armor had a messed up family and he took offence at me sentencing his parents to twenty years of labor, so he decided to try to kill my fillies. He ended up killing himself on his own sword after I caught him,” Max explained. “His sword was cursed with an unnamed curse that used healing magic as an accelerant while it necrotized the one that got cut by the blade. He had sliced her hoof open by the time I had seen the guard dead outside my rooms and rushed in. It had to be amputated, or it might’ve spread.

“And yes, ponies sleep during the day and work during the night mostly. The exceptions are the farmers, they try to keep a crepuscular sleep schedule.”

“Interesting…” Twilight said. “So, do you two have any plans on the wedding as of right now?”

“Not that I’m aware of. I know I don’t have a drawerful of plans.” Max glances at Radiance. “But I do know someone who does.”

“Oh?” Lance said. “Would that happen to be the pony you mentioned earlier… The one named Fancy Pants?”

“No, she has them left over from when she was fawning over Blueblood.” Max shook her head. “How she couldn’t see the corruption oozing off of him, I don’t know.”

“Well, professionals have standards, darling.” Rarity replied. “I just wished that Blueblood would have better standards over how he treats other ponies. So… Max, if I may ask, is your worlds version of myself exactly the same as me?”

“Aside from creating gems from thin air and using them as weapons... maybe? I only met her at the funeral and later briefly when she picked up her sister from the library in Ponyville.”

“My word…” She replied. “Max, could it be possible for her and I to meet. I believe the two of us can be able to help you make your wedding be unforgettable… In the free time I have of course.”

“Yeah, I’ll have to send a letter through Spike once I get back but I’ll let Rarity know about this.”

“Well, maybe we can both work some things out.” Lance commented. “After all, there are many pieces to a wedding. Maybe we can have both your Twilight and mine help organize it?”

“I would be delighted by the opportunity, Max.” The Alicorn replied, bowing like she was in front of a princess.

Max raised an eyebrow and said, “Aren’t you a princess here? I know I’m basically a queen, but still, you don’t have to bow to me.”

Twilight realized that and returned to her standard position. “Despite being a princess, I prefer to treat everypony with respect. Especially for you since you’re the ruler of your Equestria.”

“And I’d prefer to be in a small cabin on the side of an unexplored cabin with only one other person. I would like you to work with Twilight, though.”

“Perfect! When can we meet?” She asked, eyes lighting up at the opportunity.

“Dunno, I’d like it to be in three or four months, though. That good, Lance?”

“Works for me.” Lance replied back. He saw Twilight summoning a calendar and watched her go through the dates. When she found one, the Alicorn looked back at Max and took a deep breath. “Would this thursday work possibly? Or would you need to check with your me?” Before max could answer though, they heard a loud noise go off similar to magic and found Discord by the other end of the doorway he was working on.

“Alright, I’m back! And I brought a companion with me!!”

Turns out, by Discord’s side… was the Twilight Max knew.

“Oh, hey Twilight, meet Twilight.” However, her attention was focused instead on this world’s version of Luna. She was surprised to the point where some tears began to form.

“P-princess? I thought you… were dead,” Twi said.

“Uh, Max?” The Adept said. “I think you need to clear things up.”

Max tapped Twi on the shoulder and said, “You’re in a different universe, Twilight. The Luna you know is dead, but this universe’s isn’t.”

“Is that why there were two Discords at Fluttershy’s when I went over to check how things were going?” Twilight asked, the Unicorn trying to think things through.

“Yes. I was going to send a few letters by way of Spike when I got back, but since you’re here I can just ask you to pass the messages along.”

“Okay! What’s the occasion?” She asked. “Normally, you don’t have many ponies here unless something BIG is coming up.”

“I’m engaged to Lance and want you and Alicorn Twilight to plan the wedding with Rarity and Radiance,” Max said.

“Who’s Lance, Grandmother?”

Max pointed at the Azure suited Adept. “Him.”

“Oh… Well, congratulations! I believe we have some organization to get started.”

“Don’t forget the baby shower as well,” Max said, turning to Discord soon after. “Is the portal ready?”

Discord’s only reply was a nod. However, for Twilight… “Okay, wedding, Baby sho- WAIT, WHAT!?!?!”

Max giggled a bit. “Yep, I’m pregnant.”

Twilight looked stunned. But then had a look at Lance. She narrowed her eyes. “Let me guess. Lance is the father?” He nodded his head, answering her question. “Well, that explains a lot. Max, we should probably go back to the castle so we can send the letters out as soon as possible.”

“Just make sure it’s kept a secret until a month before, if you can. You have my permission to hire anyone, no matter what they ask for in return.”

“I will make sure of that. I believe my Rarity knows somepony from Manehattan that can help with the wedding dress. I believe her name was Coco Pommel?” The Mare said as she walked to the mirror like doorway to Max’s world, waiting for her to join her.

“I think I remember hearing about her. Something about getting her away from another designer?” Max asked, gesturing for Sol and Mun to follow. “I’m gonna let you take care of the foals until Twi and I have sent out letters to all the ponies we’ll be hiring, Lance. I’ll let you look them over before their hiring is finalized.”

Lance raised an eyebrow at the sudden statement. Unsure of what was said. “Wait… So I’ll be looking over the kids?”

“You’ll be watching the kids and looking over the ponies I’d like to hire before we actually hire them.”

“Okay, So I follow you or should I stay here?” Lance asked. He was missing a few details that he needed to know, so asking about them to Max would hopefully clear things up.

“I can handle writing letters, you don’t need to follow me. Oh, you might want to keep Light out of the kitchen, she tends to make a mess if she’s left alone. And you might want to make sure the magic books are locked up, Golden seems to like drawing in them more than other books.”

“Alright. Kitchen and books. Got it. When will you be back?” The Adept asked as one last question before she would leave.

“Maybe three days, maybe a week. Depends on how long it takes for the replies to get back.”

Lance nodded his head. For him, this was to be the first test future fatherhood would bring. And he wanted to make sure not to disappoint Max. “Okay. Take as much time as you need. If I need any help, I’ll just cross through the gate and come see you.”

“Okay, see you then,” Max said stepping backwards into the portal.

“Lance,” Mun said, stopping just before he stepped in. “Don’t cave at the first pouty face they give and make sure they eat healthy.”

“I’m going to take a guess that they can be very… persistent?”

Mun chuckled. “They’re as persistent as a spider and as stubborn as a mule when it comes to the things they want. They might not with you since Max has said that you’re going to be their father, but I’d still watch out if I were you.”

“I will. Trust me. Back home, I’ve dealt with pets that acted the same way.”

“Just remember, they aren’t pets,” Mun said, stepping through the portal.

“I will.” Lance assured Mun, waving goodbye along with Golden, Light and Rainbow Dash, who was back on his head again. Princess Celestia giggled at the sight of seeing him with the newfound family members that he now had. She seemed to like seeing him like this. Unaware of the troubles that fillies can bring.

A few moments after Max left, Lance led all three fillies into the Recreation room and got out a stack of paper, crayons, colored pencils, and markers for all three of them. The Adept figure that since Golden liked to draw, maybe they would like to take their creativity out on something else other than Twilight’s library of spellbooks. Other than that though, Lance knew that Pinkie Pie was baking cookies for the youngsters. While he was processing all of this though, he was lost in thought over one thing.

Kaoru. From what the one eyed owl told him, they were giving him a month in order for him to be able to prove to the Power Ponies that Kaoru was not exactly the threat that the public saw her as. He needed to be able to talk to Twilight in his own time to try and explain to her everything without Arima getting on his case. But before he could think this thoroughly though, he felt Rainbow sitting in his lap and holding a drawing with her mouth.

“Oh, that’s a nice drawing Rainbow. What is it?” He asked. Rainbow pointed a hoof at the two doodles that the youngster had done. Two stick figure based characters. But to his surprise, they meant much more to the young filly than he realized as she pointed at the first one that had brown hair with her hoof.

“Mama…”

Now, she pointed at the second one. In which had yellow hair and a blue coat.

“Papa…”

Lance smiled a little as he called over Light Sweet and Golden Spark over to him and gave them a big hug. Rainbow herself used her hooves and wings to hug Lance. “I love you, Papa.”

“I love you too, girls.”

During this moment though, Cody had just returned from his mission to see his best friend being called “Papa” by a filly Rainbow Dash. He could only wonder one thing right now… What the hell happened while Lance was gone?

End Strike 18

Strike 19- Uncle Fazbear

Author's Note

Lance's third crossover with Freddy. He's just a really cheerful guy to have fun with. Great around kids too. If your curious about what occurred when Lance was called upon, read chapter 29 on Max's end.
-Frost

Heads up, next piece of Lance's adventure will be split into three parts and will be a crossover. Just so you know...

Strike 19- Uncle Fazbear

When Lightning Strikes- Uncle Fazbear

Power Pony HQ

For quite some time, Lance found the three fillies that he was asked to keep an eye on quite enjoyable as they were silly. When Pinkie brought out cookies for the three of them to have, Rainbow herself made quite a mess when she tried to eat one and ended up putting her face in it. Light and Golden, on the other hand, were pretty much enjoying themselves. Lance’s Blaziken, Kai, was helping the Adept keep an eye on the both of them while Lance was trying to help with cleaning up Rainbow’s face.

“Geez… you are just a handful aren’t you?” Lance asked. Rainbow giggled a little bit as Lance had to set his tokens aside to help the filly get the cookie crumbs off of her face. But it was around then that the little pegasus saw a golden coin with a bear on the front. What she personally saw as a teddy bear.

Stretching out her neck, she grabbed the coin using her teeth and nuzzled the coin using her hooves and muzzle. However, when she felt the coin warm up a little, instead of dropping it, Rainbow just hugged it more. Lance himself did not even notice what the filly was doing until he turned around to see her with a coin he set down earlier. One with the familiar face of a bear that he had encountered before.

Freddy.

“Oh boy… Rainbow-.”

“Papa-?”

A golden flash went off in the room and a few seconds later, a familiar figure was in the room. A bear that had golden fur, a top hat, and a black bowtie around the neck. Freddy Fazbear himself had made his grand entrance, almost startling Kai and making Light and Golden giggle with delight.

“Here’s…… FREDDY!!!” announced the bear, trying his best to not sound like Jack Nicholson on The Shining. Mostly because of the fact that there were three children in the room.

“Um… Freddy?” Lance said, tapping him on the shoulder and almost spooking him. “Easy there big guy, it’s just me… Well, me and-.”

“Who’s dis, Papa?” Rainbow asked, using a hoof to try and touch Freddy on the nose. She giggled a little upon seeing his nose twitch a little and tried to do it a few more times, until Lance asked her politely to stop since it was impolite and that he didn’t want to tell Max about Rainbow or her sisters getting in trouble with anypony. Especially one that the little filly summoned accidently out of pure curiosity.

“Well, hello there little one-. Wait a second… Papa?”

“Technically, I am her dad. Long story short, these three fillies are my daughters now. I’m getting married in a few months-.” Lance paused for a minute, looking at Kai on the other end of the room. “I’m sure you’re familiar with Kai? He is the Pokemon you gave me after all. With him is Light Sweet and Golden Spark, my two other daughters besides Rainbow here; who happened to be the pony that used your token.” Lance held the little filly up, who held Freddy’s token in her mouth like it was a cookie that she wanted to eat.

“Congratulations man, and welcome to parenthood. If you count making and taking care of animatronics made from your own essence and a small child ‘parenthood’.” Freddy said, using two of his paws to go along with the act of putting the ending of the previous sentence in quotations. “So, who’s the lucky lady then?”

“Another Displaced I met named Max. Kind of a long story, but now we’re getting married, have these three youngsters and a fourth one on the way.”

“Good for you man,” The bear said at first, until he noticed what the Adept said at the end of his sentence. “Hold on… Fourth one on the way…?”

Freddy narrowed his eyes at Lance with a grin, elbowing him in the side jokingly.

“Lance, you sly dog!”

“Like I said, long story. But yes. That happened.”

Before Lance could say anything else, he heard something in the back of his head. “Well, speak of the devil. Max needs me to meet somepony. I’m sorry if this sounds like I’m asking a lot, but can you help Kai watch the girls for a little bit? I won’t be gone long… Hopefully.”

Lance then disappeared in a small vortex, leaving the Blaziken with the stuffed bear and the girls. Soon though, Rainbow began to crawl on top of Freddy and mess around with his hat. and the rest of his fuzzy mechanical self.

“Y-you so cuddly!”

Soon, the other two fillies came over and before Freddy even realized it, he was sitting on the ground and all three of them were snuggling him. Kai face-clawed himself because of the recent turn of events, chirping something that nopony could translate. But… then again, that was nopony. Freddy was the one who placed Pokemon in his world and was able to understand them, despite the fact that most individuals could just hear brief chirps.

“Why yes, yes I am small one! So, how’s life been with the kid, Kai?”

At first, the Blaziken was startled by the fact that he could understand him. But after the brief shock, he continued. A few more chirps were spoken briefly, explaining how Lance and him met Gilgamesh and the others in their Equestria a few weeks back.

“Oh cool, you met the Servants too? Yeah they’re pretty cool. Glad I met ‘em, they helped get the ball rolling in me making actual friends in the multiverse along with Folteren and all.”

Kai nodded his head, mentioning to him Lance’s encounters with Saber and their training session. Which ended on a not so positive note because of Grail being a total ass and getting on Lance’s case when he mentioned that both of his parents were dead. Then there was the part where before they left, he tried to blast Grail with a lightning infused Kamehameha, just to piss him off for kicks… and Luna’s enjoyment. Freddy grinned at that.

“Glad to hear that the Grail got his for being a d*ck, especially about someone not having parents. I can relate to the kid on that, both in the reasoning and the retaliation.”

Kai chirped again, informing Freddy that Lance’s mother had died because of the amount of blood that she lost when he was born and his father was driven to commit suicide. After that, came the encounter that the Pokemon had heard about with Jason. Especially when Lance met the Ormagoden side of him. From what the Blaziken could recall, Jason had crashed into his world after an encounter with a villain named Eclipse. It almost got to the point where the ensuing fight between the three of them almost wiped out the city of Sun Fransokyo… If it weren’t for Hodgepodge. Of course, he was the reason a chunk of the population turned into Bicorns and Taltzponies.

During that time though, Kai said that he was getting shipped. No literally… Shipped. When this world's Pinkie Pie, or in this case Filli-second, saw that Kai was “left behind”, she decided to package him up with a bunch of treats and send him to Lance through the mail. Kai, despite being uncomfortable, still had a hole to breath and Pinkie did write fragile on the side of the package to make sure that the mail-mares handled him with care. When he was out of the package, he was inside the location of Mane Hero Six, home to the Human Hiro Hamada, a Pony BAYMAX, and also where the next Displaced met him. The Delta Guardian, Zinnia.

“Okay the whole mailing you across the country thing I am NOT cool with. I made you guys with sentience and you should be given the respect that entails…”

He sighed, seeming to feel a bit of guilt.

“Though I suppose it was my fault, since I didn’t give you all the ability of full speech....I might have to speak with the Pink One about that. Still the Delta Guardian girl... Y’know it’s been a while but… Isn’t that something from Pokemon?”

Kai sighed, telling him that it was based off of it since she had told them about having a son that was a Bagon and that she was a Draconid. A human that had characteristic of Dragon type Pokemon.

“Seriously? Awesome! What kinds of characteristics do you mean?”

Briefly, the Blaziken said that she knew moves that a Dragon Pokemon knew like protect and Dragon Claw. Plus, she was able to teach him Shadow Claw so he could deal with psychic types and also helped him and Lance figure out Mega Evolution. At that point, Kai showed the Mega Stone that he hid under his chest fur to show the bear what he meant. But the point where the bear became curious was when he said that Zinnia had her own pair of wings.

“Okay, so taking care of a Bagon made her grow wings? How’s that work?”

Kai sighed, telling Freddy that weird things happen here on a daily basis. In fact, he was able to meet Max in person a few days after Lance had originally met her. Still though, there were a couple of things that Kai had seen with Lance talking to himself or Lumen. One being a “Ghoul Problem”.

Freddy blinked. He didn’t remember Lance mentioning it and the subject made him think of anime and zombies both… Maybe he would mention it whenever Lance got back.

Just as he thought that, A rift opened and Lance came back through, holding his coat in his right hand and just wearing his blue polyester shirt. “Okay, I’m back. Were the fillies too much trouble for you two?”

Kai shook his head, chirping a little. Freddy himself smiled as well. “Yeah yeah, we were just chilling out with the kids and Kai was tellin’ me what you’ve been up to since we last met up.”

“Wait… you can talk to Pokemon? Like Mewtwo or something else?”

“No. No Psychic stuff involved. Remember, I made Kai here. All the vocalization patterns for their dialect I whipped up and can understand.” The bear replied. “Oh and I was wanting to ask you something. Kai overheard you talking to yourself about a situation involving a ‘ghoul’, what’s that all about?”

Lance, at first, was surprised to hear that. But then, he sighed. “I was just thinking about that actually. There's another displaced here. Two in fact. Both of them are girls that got themselves displaced as ghouls from Tokyo Ghoul. A major problem with them is that when one was driven to the brink of starvation, she lost control of herself and consumed a colt’s mother right in front of him. Since then though, another being called the one eyed owl wanted me to convince the power ponies of their innocence and prove that they aren’t a threat to the public. Even put a guy named Arima to keep watch every now and then.”

“Sounds like some kinda shady conspiracy biz to me!”

“Whatever floats your boat…” Lance sighed. For a moment, his head turned as he held the same item that he used earlier. The Adept was grinning now. “Well, guess you’re going to get your chance to meet Max. She was wanting to come here to pick up the kids.”

“Mama’s coming-?” Rainbow asked, looking at the Adept.

“Yes she is, Rainbow.”

“Yay-!!”

“It may take some time, but she should be here in like five minutes.” Lance said. “She had some… things to deal with on her end. Another Displaced to be specific.”

Freddy gave a thumbs up and a shrug. He seemed to remember something and his mood seemed to drop a bit. It was about then that Lance finally noticed Freddy’s eyes. His previously damaged eye was now a shattered mess, looking to have been brutally savaged and ruined. The other was no longer a pinprick of light, but rather now had a full eye, with a golden iris and a white pinprick at the center of his pupil. He looked up at Lance as he inspected him.

“You okay Freddy? It looks like something is up with your eye.”

He waved Lance off.

“Don’t worry about it. And… Don’t call me Freddy. My name’s…”

He shook his head and knocked himself on the head with a paw. He seemed to exhale, though he didn’t draw breath.

“Calvin. My real name is Calvin…. Now to just remember it… But still. Before anything else, can you tell me if you’ve ever met or even caught wind of a Necromorph, a Cthulhu, or a Jenny XJ9 Displaced? Or at least anyone relating to those?”

Lance shook his head. “No, but may I ask you something, Calvin? Why are you… Inside Freddy?”

The bear shook his head. “I am...was… Freddy. Ugh…”

He sighed. “When I first met you, remember how I was? Violent, insane? All that?”

Lance nodded. “Hold on a sec. Kai? Can you take the kids to the break room? We need to talk in private.” The Pokemon nodded as he picked up Rainbow, having the two other fillies follow him out. The door closed behind him, leaving both Lance and Freddy in the room. “I do, but you changed since then. Why bring it up now?”

“Because I finally remembered. Kid… My mind, for the first time in a thousand years… I can actually think. When I first arrived to my Equestria… When I was first Displaced, wanna know what happened in less than five minutes of my arrival? The sisters. It was in the age of Discord, during his reign the first time in that world. The two sisters believed that I was him in disguise, and while I was scared out of my wits, wondering if the same thing had happened to my best friends, they struck with the intent to launch a surprise attack. They hit me with a spell meant to disrupt even someone as powerful as Discord himself, and this was me before I had any knowledge of what I capable of doing. I was left disoriented, confused, and afraid as they aimed to end me. Then… he arrived. Discord himself. He ‘saved’ me…”

He spat out the world like it left a bad taste in his mouth.

“He saw the potential in my abilities and while I struggled to understand what was going on, where I was… He got in my head. My thoughts dulled, my memories blown away like so much dust… When he was done, I was left as ‘Golden Freddy’... At least the version you know.”

“My god… I’m sorry to hear that.” Lance said, placing a hand on Freddy’s shoulder. He cracked a small smile.

“Kid, story’s not over yet.”

“Oh, right… Continue.”

“Alright then. Well, while I was in that state, I was a close ally to Discord. We brought the madness on Equestria and eventually the sisters used the elements of harmony on me and him putting us in stone. For a thousand years in stone, my mind and his were linked up, and he taught me every little trick he knew… Back then I didn’t have as much raw power, but I began to use skill as a substitute. When we broke out you know the story, I took out the elements’ new bearers and the princesses, leaving Equestria in ruins, Discord turned on me and I put an end to him… And then I found a certain kid’s token dropping on me.”

He elbowed Lance. “From there I got involved with other Displaced, making foes and friends alike. Something which brought out me and not...me. Eventually as I went, I finally started to recall, the influence left by Discord getting some static thrown over it. I started trying to figure out what was wrong, and so I made the choice to reverse what Discord and I had done. As far as all but the princess remembered, it was the day before I woke and all was well. There I met Cadence, and she showed me that Discord had left a big ole chunk of his power in my head… She got it out, I started doing my own biz, making my own country with Shiftlings and Pokemon, playing god like the jackass which I still am… Anyway, you met my ‘kids’, right? Well there was one you didn’t meet, but I’ll get to..that…. later. But still, the last summon got was the one that finally made the crack which broke the dam.”

He tapped the side of his head.

“It was someone I knew before getting Displaced. Meeting her again was enough to get me to finally remember everything. But still, on the night I was Displaced I wasn’t there alone. Two kids who might as well be mine and my best friend might just be out there in the multiverse, and I won’t stop until I can either find them or find a way back to our Earth. While I was meeting her though, there was trouble back in my Equestria. See, all of my ‘kids’ were mad with parts of myself as a base to grow from. But there was one that I made differently… One I made as a prison for my madness and for the chunk of power from Discord. Back then, it was my kryptonite. Just by proximity it could recombine itself into my head and make me just as crazy evil as before. I left it in an empty, powerless animatronic… By all means it should’ve slowly burnt itself out. But he didn’t. Springtrap found a way to get materials from the Displaced I met and a way to power himself up. While I was meeting Violet, he attacked. I fought him when I returned and won, but uh…”

He pointed a paw to his face, more specifically his ruined eye. “He got a few good hits in.”

“Oh… You can’t fix it… Or do you not want to fix it?” Lance asked. He knew some situations that some people don’t want to fix themselves, just to live the life of being someone else that they couldn’t be.

“Bit of both. Eye’s damaged beyond repair and not even an add-on like the one I got from the Servant’s version of Nightmare Moon could fix it. But even if it could be I might not want to fix it. It’ll make me remember my mistakes.”

“Because you might lose Calvin?”

He snickered.

“I am Calvin dude. My head’s still just a bit blurry.”

“Sorry, I just thought that you had two souls in there. Like you and the soul of Freddy. Guess that’s not the case…… Can I ask you something though?”

The Golden Bear nodded.

“Is it possible for me…… To see your actual face?”

“Well it’s not a costume, I am an animatronic, but I can just whip up a facade/illusion on my endoskeleton.”

“Can’t you just take off the top like a helmet? Your eye is right there. Something makes me think that your body is just wearing it like a suit.”

Freddy blinked and shrugged, placing a paw on either side of his head and ripping it off showing his animatronic ‘skull’ with a grin

“You tell me kid.”

“Okay, noted. Still though, despite what you look like on the outside, I still believe you can accomplish what you want to achieve. I believe you still have a heart. I saw it when you were with the girls just now.”

Freddy grinned. “Heart’s just a part of who a person is. I remember who I am, therefore I have my old ‘heart’ back. I always did have a soft spot for kids...”

That got Lance thinking a little… Thinking about something from earlier… Now a new thought came to mind. “Well, it might not be much…… But what if you got the chance to be part of the family… Not as a babysitter…… But as an uncle?”

Freddy grinned.

“Sure! Oh yeah and before I forget…”

Freddy lit up a paw and a pulse of magic went over his exposed skull, giving it a new appearance. A human face grinned back at lance, his eyes matching Freddy’s still, but now having the looks of an average human, presumably around twenty years old. He had slightly pale skin and ironically gold/blond hair, and a slightly narrow face. After a moment Freddy snapped a paw and the facade was one and his costuming/head was put back in place.

“Behold the face of Calvin!”

“Welcome to the family, Uncle Fazbear… Or Uncle Calvin to be specific.” Lance chuckled, patting him on the shoulder. “I’m glad to have you on board.”

“Glad to be on board, kid!” Lance chuckled, patting Freddy on the back before turning around, he felt another presence in the room.

A pair of white hooves covered his eyes and Celestia’s voice said, “I think you need practice with sensing where someone is.”

Lance felt the hooves on his face and smiled to himself. “Is that you, Max?”

“That mare you’re gonna marry? Nope, though I’d like to *hic* get her to try some of my sister’s moonshine.” The hooves left his face and Lance noticed a jug floating in front of his face. “Wanna try some?”

The Adept sighed. “No thanks… Also, even though you might know me… I was never properly introduced to Celestia… Plus, your energy is the same as hers, not like when I saw her briefly earlier today.” The Azure Striker had learned a few things from what Majin Buu had taught him, but expanded on that to try new skills for any necessary situation. Right now, he was feeling Max’s energy that was created from the Magic she had control over. He recognized it from the first day they met.

“Aw, you had to see through my disguise that fast?” She said, a wave of gold magic flowing down her to reveal a nice silk dress and a ring that caught the bear's attention as it glistened in the light.

“To be frank, I never saw through your disguise. I could just feel your magic in the room.” Lance said. Turning around, he kissed her briefly on the cheek before remembering about Freddy.

Freddy blinked and glanced at Lance.

“So this is her then?”

“Yes it is.” Lance said as he made his way to her. “Max, I would like you to meet Calvin, or as he’s known in his world; Freddy Fazbear. He was doing great with the kids earlier today.”

Freddy gave a mock-salute to her and then turned back to Lance.

“Oh hey before I forget, remind me to have a chat with your worlds Pinkie Pie about etiquette when dealing with sentient beings.”

“You mean with Kai? I’m sure she’ll be somewhere…”

He nodded. “Yeah. Kai, and every other one of the Pokemon that I’ve produced or led to the production of, all of them are sentient. I’m kinda miffed by one of them being shipped around like that…”

“Kinda figured they would be sentient and sapient,” Max said. Lance himself sighed, trying his best to catch her up to speed on what they were talking about. It took some time, but soon, everything was explained to Max. Now came the hard part.

“So… do you think Freddy can be a great uncle for the kids? They enjoyed being with him earlier. Especially Rainbow.” He asked as Kai brought the kids back into the room. Rainbow, immediately made her way to Freddy and jumped on his shoulder. “Teddy!!”

“Sure. Oh, that reminds me.” Max turned to a corner and said, “Lucky, come meet your sisters and father.”

“Lucky?” Lance asked, wondering what Max was talking about. Soon, he realized that the name sounded like the name of a child. “Wait… Did you adopt another child?”

“Maybe.... Yes. He barely survived being burned alive and I wanted to make sure there wasn’t another attempt on his life.”

A colt suddenly appeared with a pop. He had a grey mane and a pale blue coat. His eyes were a soft green and his cutie mark was a four leaf clover. Lance was surprised to see the youngling so quickly. “So… The girls now have a Brother? Not to mention Calvin as an Uncle."

“Yep. Wow, I just noticed that we’re going to have five children once our son is born.”

“Yeah… Hey Max, is our son…… well…… How should I put this…” He said before whispering the next part. “Human?”

“I went to the medical wing after I got ran over by a team of nine reindeer and a sleigh to see if our son was okay and the doctor said that he was growing too slowly to be a colt, so I guess that means that he’ll be human,” She said, walking over to Kai and picking up Golden.

Freddy put a paw to his chin in thought. "Still... I can't help but wonder which of you he'll take after. Time powers versus lightning septima and all. Or he'll get both..." Freddy looked up at the two.

"Welp, the next generation's gonna destroy us."

“You got run over before you visited me?” Lucky asked.

“Hey Max? Mind if I come back to your world for a second? I need to take care of a couple of things.” He asked her as the rest of the girls joined them. “Oh and did you give Freddy the Wedding invitation?”

The golden bear shook his head. “I have been invited to nothing!”

“Well, lets take a moment to fix that. Max, do you have an invite?”

“I don’t have one for him, but I can get one of the ones with a blank where the name is,” Max said. “I made several for those you want to invite and what was that about you wanting to take care of two things?”

“Well first, I wanted to send an invitation to my cousin, Sun Wukong, and ask him to be my best man. Second… I want to meet these ‘Reindeer’ that you told me about a few moments ago.” The Adept replied. He decided to put his coat back on and prepare himself for when anything else came to mind. “Plus, the blank invite can work. I can write his name in there for him.”

“The reindeer have been taken care of. Yes they ran me over, but it didn’t hurt and they have already apologized. Besides, that happened last day.” Max snapped and two scrolls appeared in her hand.

Lance took one of them and wrote Freddy’s name in there for him before handing it to the stuffed bear that the children saw as lovable. Afterwards, he told the bear that he was allowed to leave anytime he wished, especially if he was being serious about his talk with this world's Pinkie Pie. The Adept then sighed. “Still though, I wanted to make sure that this doesn’t become a repeat incident. I don’t want the word on the street being that ‘Grandmother got ran over by a reindeer’.”

“That was the headline for Equestria Daily this dusk. I liked the irony of them not knowing that’s the name of a song.”

“ …… Can I still come anyway before I say goodbye to the kids?” The Azure Striker asked.

“You can come through the portal whenever you want, that’s the reason we had it opened,” She dismissed.

“Can I have another sip?” Lucky asked, holding up the jug.

“Well, if that’s everything, then I’ll come with you for a minute before I have to go. Wanna make sure that Lucky is adjusting well to being with us beforehand.” Lance did bring up a good point. Lucky was a new addition to the family and for being somepony who was just adopted by the royal family no less, it would take quite a bit of time to adjust. So, the Adept wanted to make sure he felt comfortable in his new home.

“Sure, just don’t drink the entire jug. That’s the last until I find where Luna left her recipe.”

“What recipe?” came a curious Breezie that now entered the room and sat on Lance’s shoulder.

“The one for her moonshine. I’ve looked all in her rooms but haven’t found a secret panel, so I’m looking in my office.”

“Isn’t that Alcohol?”

“Not my Luna’s. It can affect breezies like alcohol, but for ponies it’s just a sweet, fruity drink. I think I read something about her finding out about it by experimenting with how dense she made moonlight,” Max said, taking a thick book out of her bag and flipping through it.

“Right… So, shall we go?” Lance asked. “We don’t want to keep your Twilight waiting or anything like that.”

“Yeah... about that. I actually had her get all of her friends so they could work with their counterparts from here.” Max put the book back in her bag and turned towards the portal.

“But they still don’t me… well, except for your Twilight. Maybe this’ll be the chance to meet them.” The Adept replied, now noticing Rainbow crawl on top of his head and poking at Lumen. Rainbow saw the act as playful, however, Lumen didn’t like the feeling of a huge hoof on her face.

“Rainbow, please stop poking your aunt.”

“Aww… Aunt Lumen so cute!!” Rainbow argued.

“You can cuddle her, though. Just make sure you don’t cuddle too hard,” Max said, plucking Light from her flight.

Rainbow snatched up the tiny pony, hugging her and almost losing her balance. “Yay!” Lumen sighed, snuggling with Rainbow after she got use to her hugging her and realizing that there’s probably no way out of this. Kai decided to stay behind while the Lance and the others went through the portal connecting Lance’s domain to Max’s. The Pokemon didn’t mind though. It gave him the chance to meditate in peace without any distractions… For a little while of course.

Equestria (Home of the Prophet)

By the time that Max, Lance and the kids had returned, Sol and Mun were waiting outside the doorway and expecting their arrival.

“You do know I won’t let you threaten my guests, right?” Max asked, seeing the prince in the throne room. “I’d rather be known as a gracious host than someone with an over protective husband.”

“I understand that… I just want to assure that it doesn’t happen again-.”

“Ah, Madam Maxine. You have returned-.” came the voice of a familiar individual as he trotted over. Lance turned to see the Reindeer that had just entered the room, Antlers and everything. “Pardon me, but who is this?” He asked, pointing a hoof at him.

“My apologies Prince Rutherford, this is-” Max started

“Daddy!” Rainbow interjected, plopping herself on top of Lance’s head and snuggling it. At the time, Lance noticed Rainbow holding a plushie doll of Freddy. He chuckled upon seeing that, but for the Reindeer, he was still confused.

“Come again?” the prince asked.

“My name is Lance Walker. Max is my fiancee.” The Adept told him.

“Lance heard about that little... ruckus last day and was concerned that it would happen again,” Max said, rolling her eyes.

“Wait, so he was the one that ran you over-?”

“Unintentionally! I was just being escorted. My drivers though sometimes don’t pay attention and act like idiots from time to time if I do say so myself.” The Prince sighed at the last statement after the sudden outburst. But there was one thing he wanted a better understanding of first. “Still though, I heard you define Maxine as “fiancee”. Does that mean-?”

Lance nodded his head. “We’re getting married in a few months, yes. Only a few ponies know though, so for now, lets keep this between us.”

“My snot is sealed. Still though, congratulations to the both of you.”

“Why thank you… Speaking of which, I had an idea for the invitations Max,” The Azure Striker turned to face her while he was speaking. “Why don’t we include a family photo? We can take one in the garden if you want to simplify things.”

Max’s eyes widened and she said, “Why didn’t I think of that? Yeah, let’s do that.”

“It’ll have to wait until tomorrow; there’s a press conference in twenty minutes,” Sol said.

“Twenty minutes? What for?” Lance asked, a little bit curious.

“Quill said something about letters asking if I was insane or wanting to expand Equestria,” Max said. “And then there were the questions I read in the paper this dusk, so I had it scheduled.”

“What kind of Questions?” Lance said, “Besides, where is this even being held at?”

“Most were very similar and were pointed to what kind of ‘mare’ I was. It’s going to be in one of the ballrooms, I think.”

“Well, why don’t we do the photo by the Statues of Celestia and Luna? It’s on the way isn’t it?” Lance suggested. “Also, do you need me there for the conference or are you okay on your own?”

“No time to find a camera and get it set up,” Mun interjected, catching Light before she hit the floor.

“I really think we should postpone the wedding until next year. If only to ke- wait, what am I saying?” Max stopped, rubbing her head in confusion. “When did I start caring that much about public appearance?”

“It happened gradually, I think,” Sol said.

“Hmm… Would you think the media would want to talk to Rutherford first beforehoof? Buy us some time?” Lance said, remembering the Prince’s presence in the room. “I believe they might have some questions for him as to why he’s here and what not.”

“I am actually taking a well deserved vacation. You have no idea what my brother is like,” The prince said. “But, I suppose I can do a few questions. Ah, I almost forgot; my brother would like to ally Reinia with Equestria.”

“We’ll have to work the details out later, but you can tell the reporters that you’re currently discussing it with me-” Max caught herself and turned to Mun. “You’ve forgotten that I keep a camera in my bag at all times?”

“Well, I guess we have a gameplan then.” Lance replied confidently. “Come along now, kids. Show me the way.”

“Okay, daddy!” Taking the lead, Rainbow pushed against the throne room’s doors, struggling until Max humored her and used Time to help her open it. The children guided both of their parents to the statues outside the throne room as they moved in a playful gallop with Light even flying a bit off of the ground using her wings. Rainbow even tried to join in on that as well. “Here we are!”

“Okay, come on! everyone gather around Celestia’s statue,” Max said, handing her camera to a guard.

Lance joined them, the fillies in front of him and Max. “Should Sol and Mun be in the picture too?”

“You have to ask?” She pulled the two over, making sure they were in the camera’s view. “Okay, now we’re ready!”

“Okay everyone, smile! One… Two… Three!” The camera flash went off with everybody in the room looking towards the guard. Soon Lance walked over with Max towards the guard. “How did it turn out?”

“Good, except Grandmother put her fingers behind your head,” the guard replied.

Lance turned to Max, who he saw was giggling to herself. “Was that Necessary? We are sending the photo with the invitations.”

“It was a family photo as well!” Max defended. “Besides, I couldn’t resist doing it at least once.”

Lance facepalmed at the response. “Should we try one more or are you okay this?”

“Why not? It’s a good picture anyways.”

Giving it another look, Lance then sighed with a smile. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” He then attached the picture to the second invite Max gave him before making a copy of the photo and giving it back to her. With that, he placed Sun’s name on the invitation and casted it into the void before returning to the kids. “You kids did great with the photo. Be good for mommy okay?”

“Kay, Daddy!” Rainbow said.

Lance smiled as he hugged Rainbow. “That’s my girl. Stay strong okay?”

“I will, daddy!” Rainbow replied. “Goodbye, Auntie Lumen!”

“I know you have things in your universe you need to do, but mine needs to know you, too,” Max said, giving Lance a kiss on his cheek.

“I understand that, Max. But I don’t want a Panic to ensue because of it.” He looked at Lumen as they made their way towards the room that held the portal, leaving Max with a kiss on her Cheek to return the favor. “After all, Duty calls.”

“Dooty!” Light said.

“No, not that kind!” Lumen shot back.

“Actually, that was her first word.” Max told the Breezie, using a finger to poke Lumen in the belly before going over to her.

Lance’s partner now looked back at him with an exhausted expression. “I’m never going to get used to this now, aren't I?”

Lance chuckled. “Call me if you need anything else, okay Maxie?” With him seeing Max nod her head, he walked through the doorway that would lead him back to his world before saying one last thing to her, looking at Light. “Kids sure do grow up fast now, do they?”

“They sure do. I just hope they don’t grow too fast.”

The Adept smiled, looking at her one last time before stepping in and fading away with Lumen. As they disappeared, Rainbow turned to Max. “Mama?”

A tear made it’s way down Max’s cheek as she picked Rainbow up and said, “He just has some grownup things to do, sweetie. He’ll be back before too long. I just hope he doesn’t miss a part of you girls’ lives.”

“When will he be back?” The filly asked. It was a good question. An honest question that some ponies would agree with. But Max just focused on being positive.

“He’ll be back when he’s done.” Max hugged Rainbow, trying not to let her voice waver. I just hope it’s soon.

Power Pony HQ

By the time Lance and Lumen got back, Solaria and Kai were waiting on them. The unicorn wanted the chance to briefly talk about something to him while Kai was just wanting to make sure that he came back safely. But, as the few of them were beginning to unwind from their previous endeavours, something lurked in the darkness around them.

“So let me get this straight… Freddy went to go have a chat with Pinkie before he left?”

“Something like that-.” Around now, the lights in the room they were in defused, leaving the halls pitch black. “Okay, who turned out the lights?”

“Don’t look at me, I didn’t do anything-.”

SMACK!!

Those were the only words that the Adept was able to say before he felt like he got the wind knocked out of him and his face hit the floor.

End Strike 19

Strike 20- War of Shadows: Old lover of a symbiote

Author's Note

This is part one of three for the upcoming crossover between Lee and Lance. The other two parts will transpire during the course of the War, where Multiple Displaced are brought into a single plane to take sides and fight. Enjoy.

Strike 20- War of Shadows: Old lover of a symbiote

When Lightning Strikes- Old Lover of a Symbiote

Dance Club (Lee Connors’ World)

Lee Connors stood still, fear written over his muzzle. In front of him was Clover the Clever, his old host and marefriend. Her smile was lopsided, with a dark gleam to it.

“Oh, it can be.” She said, making Lee back up quickly. A dark aura surrounded her, and her voice sounded sickly sweet.

Before he could react, Lee was thrown to the side by a black tendril. He grunted in pain, while Clover’s smile want full on. Another tendril shot out from behind her, and struck the Pony/Symbiote in the shoulder, drawing a crimson liquid. Lee screamed in pain as his mind started thinking of ways to escape.

“Wow, you seem weaker than I remember, Lee. Did that Twilight Sparkle soften you up? Or was it Celestia’s imprisonment?” The tendril embedded in Lee’s shoulder removed itself and wrapped around Lee’s throught. “It was just a matter of time before the princess killed you anyway. I just thought me coming back from the grave and killing you myself would be a worse way to go.”

Lee’s heart, mind and lunges were aching. The grey mare struggled to be free of the shadow and away from Clover, but to no avail. Twilight’s horn was enveloped in a purple aura. But as the Celestia’s student charged her spell, a dark hand appeared over her, and came down on the unsuspecting mare.

Clover cackled, “I can’t wait to have some fun with your new host! I can hardly keep my hand off her!”

Three swords appeared at either side of her, which she thrusted at the helpless Displaced. Two of the blades barely hit Lee, one scratching her cheek, and the other cutting her left hind leg. The last one embedded itself into Lee’s right hoof, causing him/her to croak a scream of pain. More fear gripped him, and his eyes widened at the sight before him.

A tendril slithered towards Twilight’s nearly unconscious form. When it arrived, it wrapped around one of her hind legs, and dragged her towards the two.

“I’ll make you do to her, what you did you me!” She said. “But first…”

The tendril holding Lee suddenly tightened so fast, that Lee heard multiple cracks. It then whipped him/her at the nearest wall, which gave way under the force, and Lee was let go. His/her broken body rolled across the ground, and he swore he heard screams.

Clover slowly walked out, smirking all the while.

The only thing going through Lee’s mind was. ‘Help… Someone, please!’

Then, a single object appeared in his/her hand. What he guessed was a M6C Magnum Sidearm from Halo(because he got it from a Halo Spartan). Black liquid engulfed it, and Lee sighed in relief.

Clover was confused, until Lee let loose a hailstorm of bullets. Clover backed up when they made their mark, but didn’t seem to do much.

Lee quickly flipped her hair and grabbed Lance’s token in his/her mouth. He/she yelled as loud as his/her lunges, “LERNCE!!! AH NID YER!!!”

A vortex began to form. One that Clover was not familiar with. However, as it opened, Lightning surged forth, electrocuting the pony. Soon, another form emerged… No, three forms emerged. One Breezie, one unicorn and what looked like a human. Then, the fourth came out, kicking the mare in a blitz of fire.

“Okay, WHAT THE BUCK WAS THAT!?!” The Breezie shouted.

Clover glared, eyes turning red. “Who the hell are you!?”

“Ugh… My head…” The human told himself. “Did anypony get the license plate number on that… Oh.” Lance now stared at Clover, not noticing Lee nearby. “You’re trying to kill me, aren’t you?”

“Kill you? I’m starting to want to… Stay out of my way, or you’ll end in the same fate as that.” Clover pointed at Lee’s pony body.

Lance looked, a little surprised at first. But then sighed. “Guess I just need to demonstrate the lessons I learned from Luna University.”

“Wait, you went to college? What could you possibly major in?”

“Pony psychology…” Soon, Lance disappeared, smacking Clover with as much force as twenty centaur. “WITH A MINOR IN PAIN!!!”

Clover dissipated into her shadow form. “Do you know who I am?”

“A whiny mare that sounds like she just got dumped by her coltfriend?” Lumen replied.

“THAT’S NOT HELPING ME HERE!!” The Azure Striker yelled.

“Just saying what everypony else was thinking,” Lumen sighed, making the Adept smack himself.

“I am Clover the Clever, apprentice to Starswirl the Bearded and founder of Equestria!”

“...... Your point being?” The Lightning Adept said back, looking unimpressed. Solaria herself was just as confused as the others while Lumen and her attended to the pony on the ground and Kai stood by Lance’s side.

The shadow turned back into her pony form, and smirked. “You’re screwed…” Three spheres of pure chaos appeared around her. Anything around them turned into a twisted, dark version of its original form. “I gave you the choice to run,” Ten Shadow’s appeared next to, and around her, “but I guess you’re too stubborn to listen to reason. You look like he used to, but you don’t act like Lee. You seem more justice oriented.”

“Lee, you say? In that case…” Lance smiled, looking at Lee’s token. “He must’ve called on me to put you in your place.” Quickly, he drew not one, but this time, two guns and began to fire multiple Dullahan shots. Ther energy blasts destroying the shadows Clover made on contact. Kai also pitched in, destroying a few shadows with his fire based attacks.

The shadows disappeared, and Clover too, though none of Lance or Kai’s attacks hit her. The dark mare appeared near to the Blaziken, a crazed grin across her face as a tendril smacked him into the clubhouse. What surprised the mare however, was that when the Pokemon hopped back onto his feet and grabbed Clover in the face before throwing her into the ground.

Clover faded back into her shadow form and passed by it. She took pony form a distance away from them.

“Wow… Just… Wow… You really don’t know who you’re defending, do you? He’s probably worse than I am!”

“He’s a friend and I don’t care what you think about him.” The Adept shouted, he felt something vibrate from his coat and went into it, finding a small gem with a note attached to it.

Hey, sorry that I had to drop this in your coat, but this can help you when you’re in a pinch. Toodles!

-Loki

Before Lance even had the time to understand what he found, Clover went back on the offensive. Multiple blades were sent flying at the Adept as Clover yelled, “Then you need to choose better friends!”

Before the blades met him, a purple shield materialized right when they were mere inches away. Twilight Sparkle limped out of the club.

“T-Twilight?” Lance said, recognizing the Unicorn mare.

She limped to Lance’s side, glaring at Clover. “Don’t. Touch. My. Friends!”

“Kai, stay with her!” Lance ordered the Pokemon. He nodded as Lance stepped out of the shield, while thinking to himself. “Loki, whatever you left behind, I hope it helps me right NOW!”

Clover the Clever glared daggers at Lance. Several swords, tendrils, and shadow ponies were summoned, and thrown at Lance. The gem he held glowed brightly and soon, emitted a powerful shockwave that caused everything that Clover summoned to fade to dust while violently throwing her to the ground. Before she could even get up, Lance got out his blade and pinned it to her face.

“You have nowhere left to run. Clover the clever? More like Not-so-clever if you ask me.”

Clover glared up at the adept. Then, she faded into her shadow form, and disappeared.

Silence fell, until a sob cut through the air. Then, Lance realized something. “Oh Sh*t, Twilight!” He hurried back over to her, trying to make sure if she was okay. She seemed fine, other than that she was staring at the grey unicorn sobbing with an expression mixed of sorrow and shock. “Twilight, are you okay?”

She nodded. “I just have a sprained hoof… I think Lee needs more help than I…” She pointed at the mare.

“Wait a minute… That’s Lee?” Lance asked. “Good lord, he looks like he’s in bad shape.” Kai returned to the Pokeball that Lance kept on him as he picked up the Mare with his arms. “Solaria, make sure that everything around town is alright. Lumen, stay with me. We need to get him to a hospital.”

“Whoa whoa whoa, hold on…” Lumen interjected. “Who’s ‘He’?”

Lance motioned to the pony he was carrying. “A good friend I know.”

Twilight stood forward, “No! We can’t take him there! Bring him to my library!” She turned to the club, “Solaria, right?” She pointed to the yellow unicorn.

“Yes?”

“My friend Pinkie is in there and hurt. Could you bring her with us? I need to explain what’s going on.”

“Got it… Oh and one other thing?” Solaria mentioned. “Call me Sunset. That’s my name.”

Twilight smiled, “Nice to meet you Sunset. I think you know who I am. And I think you can guess what Pinkie looks like.” She turned to Lance, “Ponyville’s fine. Mostly. We’ll handle Ponyville later.”

“Right… Uh Twilight… I might want to let you know this now… but given the circumstances of how we last met, Masked Matterhorn and I kept that to ourselves to avoid confusion amongst the team. So, this is Sunset’s first time in hearing about you and Lee.”

Twilight sighed. “It isn’t that confusing. Just say an alternate Twilight joined the team as a part time member- Ugh! Why are we talking about this! Lee’s bleeding out!” Twilight lifted the bleeding, sobbing, and bruised mare in her aura. “I’ll be back to pick you up when Lee’s in a stable condition. Should only take a few minutes.”

Twilight gave a final wave, before teleporting away. As soon as she was gone, the remaining heroes heard slow clapping. The only question was… from who?

“Do you hear that?” Lance asked. Solaria just shook her head, thinking that she was hearing hooves hit the ground. Instead though, when the two of them turned around, they saw something else. A human in a white trench coat. His face pale, and eyes yellow. He grinned, showing off his razor sharp teeth.

“That was quite a show! Bravo, bravo!” He chuckled, “No hard feeling about the head, right?”

“I’m sorry, but who are you exactly?” Lance asked, trying to sound polite.

The man giggled, “Me? Oh, I’m nobody, just your average… whatever I am. But, if you must call me something, then call me Time Spinner.”

“Time Spinner? That’s new…” That’s when Lance realized something that he said a moment ago. “Hold on… Would you happen to be the guy who hit me in the back of the head earlier?” When he nodded his head, the Adept twitched. “Son of a-!!”

“Silence!” Time Spinner said. “I said I was sorry, and I knocked you out for good reason… But anyway! I can’t believe how easy that was… I thought she’d get a few hit on you, but all worked out in the end.”

“Okay, I have a few questions to ask you. People don’t just randomly show up like how you did after a fight that took up the entire town just occurred.” Lance pointed out, pointing a finger at the shape that the Dance Club in ponyville was in to prove his point. “So, Time Spinner, care to explain why you knocked me out and why you are here?”

“To answer why I knocked you out, I was bored and didn’t want the group to split up. You’ll be staying here for awhile anyway.” He cleared his throat, “As for why I’m here, I thought checking up on my Displaced is a good one… Lee does tend to ruin lives in the worst people…” He smirked darkly.

“Wait… What the hell do you mean staying a while?” Lance questioned.

“Let us just say, Clover isn’t the only threat to Lee. You’ll have to help him… he really sucks at keeping himself alive. I believe I can trust you to protect my Displaced? Since you don’t have a choice. The way between the worlds is severed. The best you could do is give them a message through me.”

When Lance heard that, it was a shock to the system. It meant that he was cut off from Max. He promised to be back soon, but now, he was going to make her worried. “How long is this going to go on for? I need to give a message to someone I care for. Can you do that?”

Time Spinner stood still for a moment. Then, he sighed. “Oh, of course. I’d hate not too. I myself fell in love. I even had a daughter of my own…” A sad expression graced his face. He shook his head, “But, this isn’t about me. What’cha want to say? Wait! Just say it to me, and I’ll send THAT to everyone who you want.”

Lance sighed. He thought inside his head for a minute before opening his eyes and speaking out loud. “I want you to tell Max Caulfield to not worry about me. That I promise to be back as soon as I can. Whatever is going on, I don’t care what hell I need to go through in order to get out of this. But I will survive… I will make it through this.” He honestly assumed the last part since he did not know what else to call it given the circumstances.

Time Spinner smiled, “That you will my boy, that you will. I’ll send Jubilee to give the message. Anything else?”

“Yes, to you.” Lance snarled. “I want to make it clear that I’m not doing this because you told me to. But because Lee needs my help and it’s the only way I can get back to my Fiancee. This doesn’t mean that I trust you though. You reek of cowardice and trickery. Next time, you talk to me directly instead of surprising me with my face hitting the floor.”

He raised his arm, “Power Ponies honor. I won’t. First introductions are crap for me. Don’t call me what I reek of, I put that on me to make myself seem like… whatever you called me. I kinda zoned out… Anyway!” He slung an arm around Lance, “You remind me of myself! So heroic! But as the saying goes: You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain. Trust me, Lee knows what I’m talking about…” He moved his arm away.

“I get what you say, but the difference is that I’m not like you. I’m different.”

“Oh, tell me the difference… I’m older than you, I used to be normal, I was tricked by a Displacer, I turned into a hero, and here I am. A Displacer myself. What difference is there. You have a family? Trust me, that only amplifies the possibility that you’re gonna go rouge.” Time Spinner chuckled. “Even if you don’t, there are many friends that could betray you. And what’s considered evil to one person, can be considered good for another.”

“Maybe… But what I know is that people can change for the better. I have something to fight for.” He said. Lance remembered Freddy. From the first time they met to when he had seen him recently. That served him as a prime example to him. “Is there anything else you're suppose to be here for? You sound like you are a busy Displaced.”

“I am, but I’m also not. Time Travel is so confusing to those who aren’t meant for it. But I do have to go. I just thought I’d be friendly and warn you. I don’t think you’ll go that far off the deep end. But others might, and I’m sure that your family is a perfect target for your enemies. And if they’re gone… who’s to stop you from killing the attacker… I’m just speaking from experience.”

“To answer your question, I would stop myself. Even if I have to kill myself to do it.”

That shocked Solaria. She didn’t expect Lance to actually say something like that. Why would he say that anyways? Was it to impress this man? Did he truly mean it?

“And there comes the die part. Die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain. Think of me as the other end of that choice… Maybe… Just maybe, you're fooling yourself…” And with that, he opened a locket and looked fondly into it. “If you want to talk to me, just yell my name. After all, I’ve got all the time in the world…”

Lance sighed as he disappeared. “Wait a second… Power ponies honor? Solaria, do you know what he’s talking about?”

“N-no… But it does make me feel curious about who he is. Maybe it’s another universe or something.”

“Can we chat about it later? Something tells me that Twilight needs us right now.”

Just then, a flash of purple light engulfed the area, and Twilight appeared. “Okay, let’s go. Sunset, you got Pinkie?”

“Oh yeah, uh one second. I was held up.” Sunset soon returned carrying Pinkie in her Levitation magic. “There we go.”

“Okay. As we go, I’ll explain how Lee and I know Lance.”

“It’s kind of self explanatory. Solaria, remember when Masked Matterhorn and I told you about an individual known as Venom?”

“Yeah?”

“That was Lee and Twilight.”

“Are you freaking serious!?” The Unicorn gasped. “I never knew!”

“That’s why he had to tell you,” Twilight deadpanned. “The two of us fuse, and we make Venom. I don’t know much about Lee himself. I never got the chance. All I know is that he used to be human, then he turned into a parasite. He’s only recently a pony. I used a spell on him so he didn’t die without me when he wanted to be alone. That’s pretty much it.”

“Question though…” Lance interjected. “Wouldn’t the spell have some sort of limit? Like it could only last for a certain amount of time?” As they went in, Lance pointed at the pony on the nearby bed, who was violently shaking. “Because something tells me that’s not normal.”

Twilight sighed. “He’s gone into shock. And the spell should wear off by tomorrow-.”

“That doesn’t appear to be the case.” Solaria said as she pointed a hoof at Lee, where the magic from him was beginning to evaporate like steam. “Something cancelled it out!”

Twilight ran to Lee, mumbling, “Is this okay? Does this mean he’s dying? No, no, no… Oh!” She perked up. “The spell’s finishing up! The injuries made it complete! I didn’t even think that were possible! It’s like he’s eating the spell to make it permanent! This is great! This means he’ll be able to switch in between Symbiote and pony forms!”

Lance then realized something. This only started to begin once he used the gem, it dispelled Clover’s magic… Could Lee have somehow got caught in the blast? It would explain why the spell on him was fading away.

“No… He’s not eating it… The magic is being removed from him… It’s like what happens when you draw water from a lake. It’ll soon become empty.” Lance said. “I could only assume that this was a mistake on my end that I wasn’t aware of.”

“Oh pony feathers! I’ll have to do the spell all over again to get him the disguise back!” As she said that, Lee finally finished taking the form Twilight and Lance knew him as. The symbiote quickly jumped on Twilight, fusing with the purple mare as she purred.

After the fusion was complete, the duo sighed. “Lance… Thanks for the save… We really owe you…”

“I wouldn’t really call it that. It was my stupidity that got us into this mess.” Lance said, holding the gem from before. “Remember this, Twilight?”

The Venom mask pulled back, revealing Twilight’s face. “Yes, I do… Why?”

“I just figured out that the gem has the ability to cancel out anypony’s magic within a certain Radius. You and Solaria might not have been effected, but Clover and Lee were both caught in the shockwave that was emitted. I really need to be more careful with this.” He sighed, placing the gem in his pocket. “Can’t believe that Loki left me a few tricks to keep me alive right now.”

Lee slithered off Twilight, much to the mares displeasure. “In any case, you still saved me from Clover. Is there anything I can do?”

Lance sighed. “Dude, we’re not out of the woods yet. Not by a long shot.”

Lee raised a part of his mask that Lance guessed was his eyebrow. “I know Clover is still out there, but you don’t have to stay. I can handle-.”

“It’s not like we have a choice. We can’t go back. That’s what we were told. It seems that you caused a lot of ponies to get angry and now, we can’t go back to Maretropolis until we clear up this mess. I feel bad for having to be away from Max, but right now, we need to make sure that we clear this up… pronto.”

Lee sighed. “I’m sorry… I never asked for this…”

“Never asked for what?” Solaria asked. “For all we know, Time Spinner could just be trying to mess with our heads. Then again, he said that you ticked off a LOT of people.”

Lee seemed to gulp. “Y-yeah… I had that effect on royalty… And ponies… and family…” He coughed, “But I didn’t piss off too many that are still alive. Celly, Lulu, Clover are the only ones I know. Maybe Discord, and Sombra, but that’s it.”

That’s when Lance dropped a bombshell. “What about your sister?”

Lee froze. His “eyes” narrowed. “She’s been dead for a thousand years… Don’t even mention her… I’ve had enough heartache…”

“Dude… She isn’t dead… I heard her shortly after you left.” Lance told him. “It was brief, but all I heard was her saying your name.”

Lee started shaking. “Maybe you were hearing things… I don’t see how she could have survived…”

Lance sighed… He had to pull out the big guns. With his control of electricity came certain perks. One was that he was able to use Neuroelectric energy like thoughts and turn them into sound clips on his phone. Taking it out, he said one thing… “Just listen…”

PLAY

“Lee… Brother……”

Lee fell to his knees. “AMBER!!!” His volume made Twilight backtrack, her eyes wide. Lee started sobbing again, and Twilight quickly went to his side. She held him as he melted into her embrace.

Lance and Solaria stared at the sight. After a couple moments, Twilight pulled Lee closer and closer until they fused, and the sobs were silenced.

“I think he’s had enough… And I think I have too… I’m still surprised THE Clover the Clever is alive! She’s one of the mares that founded the friendship between all pony tribes! I can’t believe you didn’t know who she was! But, she might not exist in your world…” She sighed. “Good thing Spike isn’t here. He’d pass out. I’ve got a single spare bed… Lance will take that, Solaria can take my bed. I think I’ll do a night of study again. Lee will keep me company.” She looked at Pinkie. “But first, I’ll bring Pinkie home. The Cakes will be worried.”

“That sounds okay… But can I ask you something?” Solaria asked. “Where are your friends? Like Rainbow, Applejack, Rarity and Fluttershy?”

Twilight seemed surprised by the question. “Well, I haven’t seen Rainbow in a while. I think she’s having a bad mood or something. Rarity went to Las Pegasus to meet a client, but should be back by tomorrow. Applejack is at Sweet Apple Acres. And Fluttershy’s at Canterlot trying to apologize to the animals… I actually got a letter today that she wanted us to go there and pick her up since she ran out of money and was scared to go down the mountain… So… I haven’t talked to them in weeks.”

“Okay, but it just seems… odd for them not to be around. Mostly, they’re here to help you out anytime you need it.” Solaria stated. “Also, for some reason, I feel two presences around Pinkie. Almost like when Lee is with you.”

Twilight’s eyes widened. “W-what!?” And just like that, Pinkie shot up, screaming something about tacos. She turned to look around the library, then her eyes landed on Lance.

The first thing to come out of her mouth was, “Holy crap! It’s Discord all over again!” She seemed to be thinking, then. “Would you by any chance be able to make cotton candy clouds? I’ve always loved those… Wait, I’ve never seen you before, are you new in town?”

“You could say that. But can you answer me a question, Pinkie?” Lance asked. “We know that Twilight has Lee… Would you happen to have someone or something that’s like… a symbiote?”

Her face froze. “Wha- *Gasp* Twilight! You have one too!?” Red and black goo began to crawl around the Earth pony, almost like when Lee and Twilight Twilight became Venom. “Ta-da! Call us Toxin!”

Twilight’s facial expression was blank. “You… Had a Symbiote this whole time… and didn’t tell anypony?”

“Well, I wanted too, but then Bon Bon was… murdered… And I didn’t know who to trust!” Pinkie said this while waving her hooves, “I know everypony in Ponyville, but my Pinkie Sense never told me that a new pony came to town, so it had to be one of my friends! But I was friends with so many that if I told you, AJ, Dashie, or anypony else, it’d be spread like wildfire and alert the killer that I was looking for him or her.”

“That… Is actually good thinking…” Lance complimented. “But that makes me wonder about something. Besides Lee, who has Venom, and Pinkie, who has Toxin… What other Symbiote could be out there?”

“I think I know the answer.” Lee said through Twilight, “The first shadow I met created a bunch of them. There should be… Scorn, a purple Symbiote that can take control of machines, Scream, a yellow and red Symbiote who can control her hair in a murderous way,” Lance chuckled at that one, “Hybrid, though they’re with another Displaced named Jeffrey, Carnage, a red and black Symbiote that can see everything around it. That one is most likely the killer. And… The one I’m most scared of…”

“Hmm… Do they each have personalities?” Lance asked. “If they came from you, couldn’t they think, feel and act on their own for a short while without a host?”

Venom shrugged. “A short while, though they still need a host. The personality is probably to their respective characters. Toxin as you can see,” They pointed at the two new Symbiotes who were rolling on the floor, laughing like a child, “Acts like a three year old. Scorn, I think, will want to please her host in any way, shape, or form, Scream whispers to her host, driving them insane, Carnage is a psychopathic killer, and… Anti-Venom, is worse…”

“Hmm…… That makes me concerned on something.” Sunset said. “Twilight, you said that you haven’t heard from Rainbow in a few days right?”

Twilight’s eyes widened in horror. “Oh no! Her, Pinkie and I went to the castle together! I got Lee, Pinkie got Toxin… Rainbow must have gotten one too! Oh, this is all my fault...”

Lance now looked at Twilight. “Lee? If you got Twilight and Pinkie got Toxin, then if by the off chance Rainbow got something, then who do you think it would be?”

“At best, I’d say Scorn, at worst, I’d say Anti… But I’m not an expert. Symbiotes take hosts at random. They usually don’t care who they are. I think we should check on Skittles tomorrow. I think we all need some rest. We’ll take watch, you two get some shut eye.”

“Sure…” Lance said, laying down. Lumen though, had to say one last thing as she flew over and let Lance and Sunset sleep.

“Twilight… Lee… I have a weird theory on something… You said somepony died recently, right?”

Pinkie hopped over, “Yeah, Bon Bon… Why?”

“Well, if there was something wrong with Rainbow, wouldn’t she come to Twilight for help? Like, immediately because of how fast she is? Because I have a weird feeling that if she did… No, that just doesn’t sound right…”

“It must be either Scream, or Carnage. Unless she’s just scared… We’ll know tomorrow…”

“Yes, but what I’m saying sounds impossible. I’m saying that if either or were controlling her at the time, then she would be the murderer because they were using her like a puppet.” Lumen sighed. “I don’t want to say that a friend of yours is a killer, but I just have a bad feeling that we might be getting in over our heads on this…” The breezie then sighed, floating over to Lance. “I just want to make sure Lance is okay. He’s getting married soon and I want to make sure he’s back in one piece to return to his Fiancee and their kids.”

“Don’t worry… We’ll make sure he makes it out of this alive… Toxin? Would you search the perimeter every half hour?”

Toxin(Pinkie and the Symbiote) saluted, “We’ll make sure that nopony sneaks up on us!” The two flicked Pinkie’s wrist, and out popped red webbing that pulled them to a window that bursted open, causing them to yelp in surprise. Venom face hoofed.

“Figures… The strongest Symbiote, is the stupidest… but Pinkie’s reliable enough… I hope… Her Pinkie Sense might not work on Symbiotes.”

“Let’s just hope it helps… Who knows what we got in store tomorrow. Especially after the night we’ve been through.” Lumen sighed.

“We’ll keep an eye out… If you need anything, we’ll be sitting in that chair.”

Lumen nodded her head before flying over and sneaking into Lance’s coat pocket.

“Goodnight. See you tomorrow. And sorry about this mess, I shouldn’t have summoned you.” Venom sighed. “We just suck at being a Displaced!” They laughed.

“It’s okay man. We’re glad to help. Besides, sometimes heroes can’t do everything on their own.” They hear Lance tell them briefly, who woke up from the last comment they said. “Let’s just hope what Time Spinner said is the least of our worries.”

Venom gave a confused head tilt, but shrugged it off to Lance having known someone named Time Spinner. Solaria went up the stairs to the beds. “G’night Sunset!”

“Night guys.” But the moment she looked outside, the unicorn stopped talking. She could see something in the distance that moved. Something that wasn’t Toxin. After what Time Spinner had said to her and Lance, she was worried about if this was one of the individuals that was going to try and hurt Lee.

She used the open window as a chance to sneak out, avoiding the chance that Toxin might see her as she went into the Everfree under the cover of night. She felt something Sinister in here. Something evil… Something powerful.

“What’s a nice mare such as yourself doing here?” A dark, chilling male voice spoke in front of her. Solaria used an illumination spell to try and see the individual.

“Who are you?”

What greeted her was another human, with tan skin, and pure black eyes. “Killjoy… That’s what the white man calls me. And I will make this world whole.”

“You didn’t answer my question.” Solaria told him, now acting even more cautious, channeling her fire based powers. “Who are you? What is your name?”

He sighed, “I have no name, thank you for reminding me. Call me Killjoy. Everything calls me that.”

“And why are you here, Killjoy?” The Unicorn then asked.

He groaned, “Like I said, I’m here to make this world whole. Whole with yours, and others. I’m guessing you’ll ask me what I mean, so here’s that answer. I want to bring all worlds together. Why you’ll ask? Because there shouldn’t be a multiverse.” A sick grin spread across his face.

“Okay… Good luck with that,” Sunset said before disappearing. She wanted to be far away from that freak. With a name like Killjoy, it gave her the creeps. She soon returned back to the library, falling asleep shortly afterwards. But while the few of them slept and by the time Toxin returned, something else was happening.

The Reckoning had begun. And a Shadow was being born. This shadow… was untamed. A ravager of not just people, but worlds. A harbinger of war, chaos and conflict. It was like death itself. But it wanted more than just to be pleased by hearing the screaming of helpless souls. It wanted a war. A war that could only happen if the multiverse… was non existent. With a loud shriek, tendrils formed from the wraith, opening a stream of arcane magic that was considered to keep the world's balanced. “May the dawn of a new age… begin.”

The stream was now shattered apart like a mirror that hit the floor. The chaos that was about to unravel was nothing that anyone or anypony could be prepared for. But, the monster had left a sinister message behind.

Welcome to the Nightmare Breach…

End Strike 20

Strike 21- War of Shadows: To Canterlot... and Nightmareland

When Lightning Strikes- To Canterlot… and Nightmareland

Next Morning

The air was cool as Lance opened his eyes again. He found himself inside the same place where he fell asleep. But for some reason, he felt like something happened. Rising quickly from the bed without making any noise, Lance paced himself slowly towards the door and drew out his pistol. Looking through the window though, he had a glimpse of what was going on.

“What the hell?”

There were cracks throughout the sky. In each seemed to be a different place. Some looked destroyed, with a dark, horrid nature to them. Others, seemed to be peaceful and quaint like this one, or less mid evil like Lance’s.

“Oh, you’re awake!” Toxin/Pinkie said at the doorway. “Venom wanted to see you when you woke up. Something’s got them spooked.”

“I think I know why. Look…” Lance told the earth pony, pointing to what was going on outside.

They looked, but their face didn’t seem to change. “See what? I see some weird red stuff in the sky, but other than that, everything’s fine.”

“Was that there before?” Lance asked, putting on his coat and getting his equipment.

“The red? It was there since… midnight last night. Venom seemed extremely freaked, and started pulling books and went outside. They’re in the backyard.”

“You guys have a backyard?”

“I know, I didn’t know library’s had backyards either! You learn things everyday. We asked Venom since when, and they said Spike and Twilight built it after we beat Nightmare Moon.”

Lance thanked Toxin and then stepped outside, surprised to see Lee and Twilight. They were sat in front of another one of those cracks, this one right on the ground, facing up. They were mumbling something incoherent.

“Um… You needed to see me?” Lance said, trying to sound simple, but get to the point.

Venom jumped, “Ah! Oh, it’s you Lance… Sorry, we were up all night studying this phenomenon. Can you see it?”

“Yeah… Something tells me that this is bad. What do you see?” He asked. “Pinkie only saw them as red cracks.”

“We see worlds… Worlds like Equestria, but not the same Equestria. They exist, but it seems only you and I can see it. Toxin can see red, but when he leaves Pinkie, Pinkie can’t see anything. Ponyville doesn’t seem to notice it either.” Venom stood up, and shot a web at the portal. It didn’t go through. “They seem to be some kind of… looking glass to other Equestria’s. I’ve even seen some Displaced, though it seems one way.”

Lance had a look at them again, then he recognized a few. Freddy’s world. Maretropolis. Max’s world. There were a bunch of them in the mix. However, he then felt something. Like a cold chill went down his spine. “Somethings not right about this.”

“Wow, great deduction Sherlock. This could either mean nothing, and pass by as a natural phenomenon, or stay, and conti-.”

“No, I don’t mean that… Did I tell you that I can sense the energy radiating inside each being in the world, including Displaced?”

“Being part Lee, we would have ignored whatever you said about your powers. It doesn't suit us about knowing every detail about every Displaced we come across… But no, you didn’t tell us.”

“Well, I can. Last night, I only felt you, Solaria, Lumen, Pinkie and Myself. Now…… There’s five times the amount of Displaced then last night.”

“What!? Five time!? How is that even possible!? There can’t be that many, or that few if you’re sensing all across the multiverse! Can you sense who they are?”

“No… Only a couple I’m familiar with. But right now, I can’t tell how many. And I’m talking about right here in this present moment on this world… Um… Guys…” Lance said, looking up at a cloud above them. “Remember last night when Sunset could feel Pinkie and Toxin?”

“Yes? We remember… Why?” Venom asked.

“Well… Besides her and you… There’s one above us.” Lance retorted, gun and blade at the ready.

Venom summoned two pistols from their storage space, and pointed up, only to be rammed by a red and black pegasus.

The two pony symbiotes slammed into the fence, sending them into a house not too far from the library. Lance was quick to react as he saw the one he thought to be Carnage try to pin down Twilight and used his left hand to fire a Ki blast at the Symbiotes face. Which exploded on contact and gave the Unicorn a change to move.

Venom took that chance to buck the murderous creature in the gut. Carnage went flying, but not before another symbiote came through a wall, it’s yellow hair lunging at Venom. Scream held Twilight and Lee in a choking hold.

“Twilight!!” Lance tried to call out, trying to aim his weapons at the hair and fired out three shots from his Orochi clip before using his Flashfield to load watts of electricity into the symbiote.

Scream… Well, screamed. And recoiled from the attack. But Venom turn offensive. The duo summoned their Scythe, and webbed the side of the handle. They slashed Scream, causing her to shriek in anger, but Venom didn’t give it time to recover, as they whipped the Scythe around their head and ramming Scream on the side of her head again and again. Scream grabbed the Scythe, only for Venom to pull back the web, and disconnect it. The web whipped the newest symbiote in the face, and as Scream fell off the building, Venom webbed the Scythe once more and pulled it to them.

Carnage recovered in the air, and shrieked in anger. In Lance’s mind, he remembered when he sent out high pitched sound waves with his fingers to reveal Twilight when she came to Maretropolis. Now, he wondered if the same method could somehow work here. Holding his hands, he prepared his right hand like it was a finger gun and began to charge some energy.

“I got an idea, but I need you to buy me some time!” He told Venom, looking back at her.

Venom nodded, but Scream jumped them, the two tumbling through the house. Carnage looked as if they were about to run off, when a red and black web wrapped around Carnage’s leg, and pulled the mare down.

Lance looked to his side to see Toxin, holding the other end of the web. “I’mma comin ta get’cha!” Toxin then pulled a flailing Carnage with the web into the side of a building. Toxin’s right for leg turned into a sharp, slightly curved blade. They ran at the dazed Symbiote and host, ready to attack. Carnage saw this coming, and created a blade of their own. The four clashed, and Lance swore he heard star wars music.

“Toxin, try holding Carnage down with your webs! I don’t want you to get hit by my next attack!!” He yelled so Toxin could hear him.

Toxin nodded, never looking away from Carnage. They jumped backwards, which ended up backflipping a buck into the red symbiote, and landed on the side of a building. Carnage was too dazed to do much more, and Toxin webbed them up as much as they could. “That won’t hold them for long!”

“Okay, COVER YOUR EARS!” With that, Lance released the wave of high pitched sound from his fingers as it drove towards Carnage and hit them dead on. The Symbiote screamed in pain as it dropped down to it’s hooves.

“D-did that work?” He asked, looking at Toxin.

Toxin looked dizzy, and shook their head to clear up the haze.

Where Carnage once was, now lay Rainbow Dash with her eyes closed. Fresh scratches and bruises scattered her body. Toxin’s mask moved away from the party mares face, “Dashie!”

“Pinkie, wait!” Lance tried to tell her beforehand. He still remembered that they had to deal with Scream.

Pinkie ran as fast as she could to check on her friend, but as she got closer, Scream smashed through a wall, the intent to kill on her face. Pinkie tried to stop, but it was too late as Scream impaled Pinkie with one of her hairs.

Dash seemed to have woken up at that split second, and rage filled her features. The red symbiote went over her again, and she screamed like an animal, taking the yellow symbiote.

Lance’s first instinct was to rush to Toxin. He was worried about Pinkie. The Adept was trying to find something in order to help her and scrambled through his pockets in order to try and find something to stop the bleeding. Then, he remembered something… Something from the first Displaced he met.

From Blood Cleaver.

Going back into his pocket, he took out the Senzu bean that she gave him and held it out to her. “Pinkie, I’m trying to help. Please, eat this.”

Pinkie coughed up blood, “This… Isn’t… Very… Fun…” She tried to eat it, but couldn’t reach it. Lance lowered his hand a little to the ponies mouth, trying to help her chew and swallow the bean so it’s healing effects could take route.

Meanwhile, Carnage was blindly attacking Scream screaming furiously and desperately. Scream just dodged each attack with ease, smirking all the while.

“Wow Carnage, you sure do have a soft spot for the loud mouth… Oh, was she your friend? We’re sorry, we should’ve killed her more slowly. We are the Great and Powerful Scream!” Just as Scream said that, Carnage got a hit in. She had cut the side of Scream, and bucked the yellow boast with one hind leg.

Scream yelped, and backed off. Venom came out of the building, and the two Symbiotes circled the Unicorn.

“Did you say great and powerful? Trixie!?” Venom’s eyes widened. “You’re Scream!?”

“Great and Powerful? Look’s more like a great bitch to me!” Carnage growled.

Scream backed up, fear written over her face. She turned, and used webs to try and get away. Both Venom and Carnage glared at Scream, and they both tried going after the web haired psycho show-off. But Scream saw this coming, and shot a beam of magic at a building, causing it to collapse. Carnage was caught, and Venom had to save a little filly inside the house.

Carnage finally got out from under the rubble, and flew off. Venom pulled the filly to safety as Rainbow got away.

“Lance! Is Pinkie ok!?”

Lance gave a nod, setting her down in the backyard on a table. “She’ll be fine. She just needs rest though. What happened though that cause this was beyond me.”

Venom teleported next to Lance, “What? The hair?”

“No, before that. Everything was going fine until the Symbiote from Carnage revealed the host. For a moment, Pinkie lowered her guard down to rush to her and that’s when Scream hit her. After that happened, Carnage woke up and went at Scream. Pinkie looked like she knew who was the host though.” Lance sighed a little. The next part he said rocked Twilight’s world.

“She called her Dashie.”

“Rainbow Dash! Drats! We knew we recognized that voice!”

“I noticed something else too… It seems like your Rainbow has control over Carnage, but it’s greatly affected by her emotional state. Hence, her going after Scream after she hurt Pinkie.”

Venom paused, “Oh… oh, oh, oh! Of course! Symbiote’s don’t take full control of their hosts! They twist the desire into something of the parasite’s desire. I forgot since I changed how my bond works! It should be the same with the other hosts! Rainbow was mad since Pinkie was hurt, Trixie wants revenge because Twilight beat an Ursa Minor- non-violently, we might add.”

“That make me wonder some things… One, Why Venom chose you and Toxin chose Pinkie. And Two… Who else might be possibly hosts depending on this new information… Remember the pony who was killed in ponyville?” Lance asked, recalling last night.

“Well, most Klyntar don’t care much about their hosts other than a few key things. Lee chose Twilight because of three reasons… First, because she used to talk to him during his imprisonment in stone. Second is because he was weak, and had nopony else around. And third, because of her magical talent.” Venom scratched their head. “I guess for Pinkie, it was because of her childlike nature, and she was in the right -or wrong, depending on your perspective- place at the right time… It’s just whatever the Symbiote wants, or can get.”

Lance understood that. But then, something else came into his mind. “Alright… This might sound weird to ask, but the pony who was killed… Bon Bon right? Did she have anyone that she considered as friends or family that lived here in Ponyville?”

“Well, there’s Lyra, her adopted sister. The two were adopted by the same family. But Lyra seems fine.”

“Don’t you think though that if somepony was mourning for the death of a family member that they somehow lower their defenses to let anything in to help the grieving process?” The Adept cleared his throat. “Think about Rainbow and Trixie for a minute. Rainbow was affected by Anger and Trixie wanted revenge above all else because of her pride… Do you think that Lyra could be vulnerable because of the amount of sorrow she might be facing?”

Lance’s theory was that for the other symbiotes, they were triggered based on emotions. Possibly negative. He paused a minute, letting Venom be able to process their train of thought.

Finally, “We think you’re right, but we can’t just barge into her house and demand that she give an addictive monster that gives her the power to absorb weapons. Think of what an angry, grieving pony with your gun could do.”

“I’m not saying that we would do that. Vigilantes are formed when people believe they could take the law into their own hands. Plus, I can only use my gun. Anypony else tries to use it and it won’t work.” He sighed. “Something tells me though that we caused a lot of attention. Would Princess Celestia need an explanation for why all of this happened?”

Venom growled, “Princess Celestia doesn’t care what happens. All we have to do is write to her that it’s taken care of. Reason four of why Lee chose Twilight as a host is that Twilight is trusted by the Princess. Hiding in plain sight, and being able to tell her that ‘everything’s fine’ comes in handy… The towns ponies should be arriving to see what’s going on. I’ll take care of them, while you get Solaria and Pinkie to the train station.”

“Where do we go from there?” Lance asked, Pinkie up Pinkie just as Solaria came trotting out.

“What the buck happened-!?!”

“No time to explain now, we’ll talk later.”

“I’ll distract them, and you’ll buy a ticket to Canterlot. I’ll meet you there.” Venom turned, and slingshot themselves in the opposite direction from the train station. Lance nodded as the two of them hurried and made it over to the train station. They were able to get a ticket to Canterlot and get onboard the train in a first class room before the train left the station. Moments after they were off, Pinkie was beginning to wake up.

“L-lancie…”

“Easy there Pinkie… You’ve been through a lot.” The Adept calmed the mare as she sat next to him. “How do you feel?”

“Like I just ate... Tartarus. My chest hurts…” Pinkie said through pants. “I thought I’d never breath again…”

“Easy there. Just relax… I gave you a Senzu bean. Let it sit in a couple of minutes and you should feel better soon.” He told her. “How’s Toxin?”

“He’s in my bloodstream… He was freaking out because he thought I was going to die... and now he’s resting…”

Everyone in the cabin sighed with relief as Solaria spoke. “Well, it’s good to see that you are okay. On the off chance though, should we take you to a hospital?”

Pinkie giggled softly, “No silly… I’m fine, and if I did go, they’d take Toxin out of me… and I don’t think he wants to leave…”

“Good point.” Solaria replied. “Sorry about not realizing that sooner.”

“S’okay… I’m new to this too… I’d say the same thing… in your position Sunny…”

“Well, now that still leaves us with a lot of things to deal with at this rate.” Lance said. “First, there’s Scream and whatever other symbiote that might try and attack us. Second is the cracks in the sky. Pinkie, you can’t tell what they are, but Twilight tells me that it’s because you haven’t traveled to other worlds with Toxin yet.”

“Worlds?” Sunset questioned, only to realize something. “Oh boy…”

“Solaria? What’s wrong?”

“There was this colt I ran into last night after you fell asleep. His name was Killjoy and… well, he said something about wanting to make this world whole…”

Pinkie was about to ask, when everyone heard a knock. Outside, Twilight was glaring inside at Lance.

“Hey, Pinkie just woke up.” Lance briefly told her. “Come on in.”

Twilight face-hoofed, and responded muffled, “I don’t have any bits, and I need a ticket…”

“Oh, I already got myself an extra one for you. Lumen is in my coat pocket, so she counts as luggage.” That’s when Lumen emerged from the coat and glared at him while he slipped it through the window after opening it, and gave Twilight the extra ticket.

“I am NOT a piece of Luggage!!”

“Not with that attitude you aren’t.”

After a minute, Twilight sat down next to Sunset with blood covering her face that wasn’t there before she entered the train.

“What happened?” Lance asked. “Hit your face against a door?”

“For your information,” Twilight snapped, “The conductor was checking me out, then tried coming onto me… I bit his ear off.”

“Ouch… Teaches him not to mess with you again.” Lance said, getting a cloth out of his jacket for Twilight’s face. “Now, Sunset was saying something that might relate to what’s going on with the cracks we’ve seen.”

“A colt I ran into last night named Killjoy was saying about how he personally wanted the worlds to be whole. As in no Multiverse… Something tells me that the cracks have happened because of something he did and now… a bunch of other worlds might be combined into one.”

“Well, that must be why you guys are here. I’ll try and locate this… Killjoy, so we can kick his butt to fix these cracks-” Twilight was cut off by Pinkie though as soon as she heard the Unicorn try to place a heavy load of responsibility on herself. Laughing.

“Hahahahah! Cracks! *Snort* Like butt cracks! Hahahahahah!” Pinkie then turned serious, “Who could be called Killjoy… That isn’t a nice name…”

“Well, whatever it is, we’ll have to find him. But first, we should get some rest. It looks like the two of you have been through a lot after what happened with Scream in Ponyville.” The Adept told them, motioning to both Pinkie and Twilight while she was holding the cloth Lance gave her. “Which reminds me… anything new from Fluttershy?”

Pinkie fell asleep in an instant, but Twilight didn’t seemed fazed, “Yes, she had to sleep in an alleyway last night. She couldn’t afford a place, and the Royal Guard didn’t seem to recognize her as the Element of Kindness… Shows you what the Princess thinks of us…”

“Hey now… You don’t need to be like that. Maybe the guard was a new recruit and didn’t know who she was.” Lance said. “Let’s not point the finger- I mean hoof, at anypony just yet.”

Twilight quietly growled, letting some of her mane flop over her right eye. “Lee was imprisoned because of her… I just don’t know what to think…”

“Maybe it wasn’t Lee, but the host that Lee chose. Anything can make a mistake Twilight.”

Twilight sighed, “Okay… But I’m not sleeping. I’ve got to work on something. Mind helping me?”

“Sure I guess. What do you have in mind?”

“I’ve been thinking about how the Symbiotes seem to be able to sense other Symbiotes. Lee said he sensed Carnage, and Scream, but he was unfamiliar with the feeling since he was the only one of his kind in Equestria until the first Shadow attacked and forced him to… breed… I don’t even want to know how it happened… Anyway, if I can figure out how to use this power better, I could sense them before they attack. But first, I need you to stop that stones power from draining magic. I’ll handle it from there.”

“Hold on a sec… You said that the Shadow forced Lee to…… Breed?” Lance was a little surprised by the statement when she said that.

“Yes, and he’s hating every word out of my mouth about it. It’s a thing Klyntar can do.”

“Well, I think I found out something… You ever had that feeling when you know that someone you know in your family is nearby like a brother, sister or even parents?”

“When I was around my BBBFF, yes… I mean brother… Stop calling me that!” Twilight mumbled the last part.

“And think that, but then think about when Lee sensed Carnage and Scream… Don’t you think that’s familiar?” The Adept had an idea of where this was going. He was a quick and excellent problem solver and can recognize certain connections in minutes.

“Yes, now get to the point… But if you’re going to say he can sense family, you’re even dumber than you look. It’s an ability.”

“No, I’m not. I’m saying that he could sense them because he made them. Carnage and the other Symbiote are his children and he is the father. That’s why he could sense them. Because they are family. He’s a father… Like me…”

Twilight growled, “It’s an ability… All Klyntar can sense their own kind. He wouldn’t be able to sense Anti-Venom because he’s not a Symbiote. They can sense him too.”

“Right… What about the material though? You said Anti-Venom isn’t a Symbiote. Why is that?”

“The Shadow took a genetic… Let me phrase this so you can understand… It took the genetic start-up, and memories from Lee to create the perfect killing machines… Too good… It created perfect replicas of the beings in the comic books back on earth. Carnage, the serial killer, Anti-Venom, the clone, Toxin, the heroic misfit, Scorn, the cyborg Klyntar, Hybrid, the unstable four Symbiotes who merged into one to survive, and Scream, the psychotic killer of Hybrid’s former hosts. From what Lee told me last week, a Displaced named Jeffrey faced off against Hybrid while Lee was weak. Jeffrey won, and took Hybrid as a prize. The others abandoned the Shadow, and Lee got rid of the Shadow by sending it into a world without magic… I’ve had some time with Lee.”

“Wow… that’s quite a story. So… if Jeffrey has Hybrid, Pinkie has Toxin, Rainbow has Carnage, Trixie has Scream… Then-.” Lance lost focus as he dropped a photograph that fell out of his coat towards Twilight and Lee.

“Who’re those?” Twilight asked more softly as she levitated the photo towards her. Lance sighed to himself, before answering her question.

“The fillies and foal in the photo… are my kids. Light Sweet, Golden Spark, Lucky, and Rainbow Dash. The girl that’s in there next to me… She’s my fiancee. We’re getting married in a few months.”

Black slime jumped off of Twilight, and formed into a black Spiderman. “Dude, I think I saw her last night… I almost had a bloody nose…”

“You saw Max?”

“Through a crack… Jeez she doesn’t mind taking her clothes off… In front of everyone…”

“When did you see her?” Lance then asked.

“I said last night… Girl stripped in front of two guys… outside no less… One of them was pale with a white trench coat. Looked cool...”

“Well, we do have an ‘open’ relationship.” Lance said, the term confusing Twilight.

“Is nothing sacred!? I’ve been in one relationship, and look how that turned out!”

“Basically, open relationships a-”

“I know what it means lover boy… I just don’t see how it could work…”

“Maybe that’s because you get jealous all the time.” A smooth voice spoke. “Message delivered. Oh, and might I say, your future wife is… unique…”

“Tell me about it,” Lance sighed. “She is pregnant with our son after all.” It only took Lance a few moments to realize that Lee wasn’t the one talking during then, but instead a different person.

Time Spinner walked out of his shady little corner. Lee seemed to recoil and jump onto Twilight. “She kept ruining my conversation by punching me, and throwing me around. Then coming onto me. Oh, I do so hate it when you humans over react.”

“Right… You might want to introduce yourself to Lee and Twilight before they start to think you’re the enemy.”

“Right! I’m Time Spinner, your Displacer.” Time said with a mock bow. “I’m also the one who sold Lee that Scythe…”

“So you’re the one who sent Lee here!? You took him away from his home!” Venom snapped.

“Venom, wait-.” Lance tried to say. Before he could though, he was thrown into the back of the cabin.

“We don’t care! He took everything from us!” Venom was about to attack, when Time Spinner flicked his wrists towards the duo. Venom froze, unable to move a muscle.

“I don’t care if I took everything. You weren’t anything when I found you, just a blind, worthless teenage boy who absolutely loved his punk of a sister. If anything, I spared you the trouble that was Amber… But, you’ll be glad to know she was with friends.”

Venom started moving again, “‘Was’? What d-does that mean!?” Lee’s black Scythe appeared and Venom tried slicing Time’s head off, but froze again.

Time walked around Venom’s motionless form, looking closely at the Scythe. “I see you’re using Penance a lot… I was wondering if you’d throw it away after I sold it to you… Meh, I always loved using it!”

The scythe disappeared, and Venom fell to the floor of the train.

“So, are you going to listen to my explanation, or am I going to have to freeze you again…”

Venom growled, but made no move to attack. Lance himself tried to move and when he did, he looked at Time. “Why don’t you tell us instead of leaving us in suspense?”

Time sighed, “Killjoy is a voidborn, like dragonborn, but instead of being born with dragon blood, he’s born in the void. Created is more like it though. Him and about four others were created by none other than my Displacer, Failure, or Fail Mother… Weird name, I know. She created them to help the balance of the multiverses Displaced when the Merchant started- surprise to say, they didn’t like this and tried to kill her. Killjoy is the weakest, but that doesn’t mean he’s easy. In his eyes, he thinks the multiverse is a fluke- a failed attempt at perfection. He’ll stop at nothing to achieve his goals, even killing worlds that get in his way… I’m surprised he hasn't tried destroying more worlds, at most he’s killed ten universes and two halfs.”

Time Spinner gave a yawn, “And he’s killed more than his share of Displaced. So I’m bringing help.”

Lance raised an eyebrow. “What kind of help exactly?”

“The… Well, help is help. They’re names are Chaos Jenny, Cole MacGrath, Darth Folteren, and three others I’d rather not talk about… They’ll be here in a few days.” Time Spinner shrugged. “Anything else?”

“And which ones do you know are probably ones that are not going to-. Wait… did you say Darth. Like as in Sith lord Darth?” Lance now had a bad feeling about this.

“Personally, I’m a little worried about the time where we’ll need to wait. A few days could be a LOT longer back in our world than here. Plus, who knows what Killjoy would be doing within that timeframe.”

“Fine… You want help? I’ll get one here sooner.” Time said, rolling his eyes.

And with that, he vanished. Venom went back and sat in their seat, and the suit disappeared. Twilight looked very grumpy.

“So he’s the one who brought Lee here?!” She asked.

“Yeah… But there was something about him the other night that just didn’t feel…… Well, right.” Lance replied. “He made a promise to me to deliver a message to my Fiance Max under “Power Ponies Honor”. I’m still a bit confused by that.”

“Don’t focus too much on it. He’s probably trying to psych you out.” Lumen told him as he looked back at her. All Lance did was sigh.

“I’m going to get some fresh air, I’ll be back in a little while.” With that, the Azure Striker walked out of the train car, but instead of walking to the one behind it, he instead just walked on top of the train and sat down. Using the chance to get some air, take in the sights and watch the tears in space above them change like clouds in the sky. He used the chance to cure his boredom by shooting at any targets that seemed like a challenge. Rocks by a lake. Timberwolves trying to hunt a squirrel. That sort of thing.

His alone time was interrupted as another crack opened on the top of the train. Inside, he could see what looked like… Zombie ponies…

Three seemed to see the adept, and sauntered through the crack and onto the top of the train. “Great… Just when I thought I was getting a much needed break from craziness.” The Adept groaned, now getting both of his guns ready.

The zombie-ponies groaned, moaned, and hissed. One looked familiar to Lance… It looked like Rarity. But not the Rarity he knew. After all, she would be complaining about her tattered mane.

One of them leapt towards Lance, only for it to be grabbed by him and have volts of electricity course through the monster, weakening the body before he blasted it’s head off. The other two were already charging towards him, snarling all the way. One lept up, while the other(Rarity) took the hooves on approach. Cracking out his energy blade, he jumped to the right to avoid Zom-Rarity’s incoming attack and kicked her off the train while using his blade to dismember the other undead monster into three pieces, including the head as they also fell off the train. For added measure, he switched to his Mizuchi sniper clip to shoot the Zombie Rarity between the eyes before the Train began to go through a huge tunnel.

Once the train was out, five more zombie’s came out, but one was human! It looked like it was a Displaced, too. From what Lance could guess, he was dressed as the Medic from TF2.

“You have got to be kidding me…” The Adept snorted, looking down at his left gauntlet, showing him that he still had three skill points that he could use. Lance soon began to channel all three of them as electricity began to violently crackle around him.

Electrified chains surged from all directions, acting as spears piercing through their bodies and destroying the medical equipment of the undead medic before it turned them all to ash. The crack seemed to close, and soon, the Azure Striker could see a castle on the mountainside in the distance as they were getting closer to it.

“That must be Canterlot,” He presumed, given what Twilight told him earlier. “I better go back to Lee and the others. They might want to know what exactly happened out here.”

When Lance told Twilight, Sunset and Pinkie what happened, Twilight started to pace. She mumbled theories, possible side effects, how this could be the end of the multiverse! And then sighed.

Sunset took hold of Twilight’s shoulders, “Snap out of it!”

Twilight seemed to be calming down. “S-sorry…”

“It’s okay Twilight, I understand why you’re freaking out.” Lance said.

Twilight smiled appreciatively, then gained a look of determination.

When the train finally stopped, the six heroes, Lance, Lee, Twilight, Sunset, Pinkie and Toxin stood in front of the doors of the train. When the train stopped, the doors opened. To their confusion, music started playing.

What they saw, surprised them.

It was another human, this one wore dark robes, and a red mask hid his face. To his side was a small, orange and purple filly, wearing a black cloak.

The dark figure chuckled, “Okay kiddies, let’s play…”

End Strike 21

Author's Note

This felt fitting given the current circumstances.
Part 2 of 3.

Strike 22- War of Shadows: WRONG TARGET!!

When Lightning Strikes- WRONG TARGET!!

Friendship Express

“Why hello there, Kiddies.” The cloaked human said in a low, but menacing voice as he and the orange filly by his side “greeted” Lance, Lee and the rest of their crew. On instinct, Lance had electricity channel through his arm, but not in an attacking motion. More of a way to look intimidating as he grabbed one of his guns with his right hand and his septima energy blade with his other hand.

“Who… the hell… are you?” He growled, wanting answers.

But instead of the intended effect, the man laughed. “Haha! That’s cute!”

Two cloaked ponies came out of nowhere, “HI/HEY!” They said in unison. They sounded like Pinkie, which scared Twilight a bit.

“Diane, Surprise, give them some room.” Whispered the filly.

The two backed off, and pulled their hoods off. The one to the right had a blond mane, and purple eyes. Her coat was pure white, and her bright smile rivaled Pinkie’s. The second was dark pink, with dull blue eyes and a straight black mane. A sick smirk chilled the group to the core.

“You may call me Darth Folteren... I’m your backup...”

“Wait… you must be the guy that Time mentioned-.” Before Lance could say anything else and put his weapons away, The Pinkie Pie that Lance and Lee knew came out alongside them and saw both Diane and Surprise.

Her eyes dilated, and she ran up to them. “Ohmygosh! Therearetwomoreofme! Isn’tthatawesome!”

“Toxin, calm yourself.” Sunset told Pinkie, making sure that she would settle down and not do anything reckless. “We have some bigger things to focus-.”

“Thinkofalltheparty’swecouldcomeupwith! OhthatremindsmethatInevergaveLanceyandLeeaparty! Youguyswannahelp!?”

The blond, which everyone assumed was Surprise yelled “Yay! I’d love to help!”

The raven maned mare moaned as her smirk faded. “Damnit, I wanted to kill something…”

This made Pinkie back off a bit, “Wh- what?”

“Don’t mind her, she’s insane.” Said Folteren.

“Am not! You guys are! I’m perfectly normal!” Diane protested.

Folteren sighed, “She is… She’s nice once you get to know her though.”

Folteren turned his head to the left, which everyone mirrored, to see Diane killing ants with a Lightsaber.

“... Most of the time…”

“Well… that’s… good to know I guess. Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. I’m Lance and this here is Lee, Pinkie, Twilight, Sunset, and my partner Lumen.” The Adept finished by pointing at the Breezie on his shoulder. “I guess you are aware of the current situation?”

“Yeah… Psychopath wants to destroy the multiverse… I think our back ups almost here. Oh, and this is Scootaloo.” Folteren pointed at the filly, “She wanted to come here.”

“Really? You brought a filly here?” Twilight asked. Folteren chuckled.

“She wanted to come, and I needed to keep an eye on her since her guards sick.” The sith shrugged, “Animatronics… Unreliable pieces of crap.”

“Wait? Animatronics? Is Freddy here?” Lance asked. He remembered his last encounter with them and the golden bear and hearing that made him think that they were pulled into this conflict as well.

“Fred? Haven’t seen him since I gave Bonnie a shoto- that’s a lightsaber.”

“You gave Bonnie a lightsaber?” Lance asked, the Adept being a little jealous, yet concerned.

“Sure. I also gave Freddy my Discord…” Hearing that made Lance remember when Freddy used to be the Spirit of Madness before reforming himself. Now, the bear was going to be an uncle for his kids. Those were the times. At that moment though, the train began to slow down and Canterlot was soon coming into view.

“I think we arrived at our destination.”

Folteren seemed to be in a world of his own, but snapped out of it. “So, you know Freddy. How? Did he help you out? Saved me from Changelings, and from fighting the Elements.”

“Wait, wait! What!? You fought me and my friends!?” Twilight asked.

“Actually, I took over Equestria with the help of half.”

Twilight was originally shocked by this, but soon, Lance tapped her on the shoulder, reminding her that they were from a different world and with different worlds comes different changes of events and people. Soon though, Folteren was curious about the Azure Striker.

“What are you? Some kind of Dark Jedi? You aren’t a Sith, I’d feel your power.”

“I’m an Adept. My Septima, or as you would call it power, is Lightning and Electricity and my hand to hand weapon allows me to channel that energy into a blade. It’s a bit confusing, but I’m not a Jedi.” Lance assured Folteren, not wanting to get on his bad side. “Plus, I mostly use my guns instead of my blade at times.”

Folteren scratched the back of his head. “I guess that’s cool. So… Were you Displaced by Time Spinner too?”

“Yeah…” Lance sighed. “He hit me in the back of the head with a frying pan along with Solaria and my partner Kai.”

“He’s Lee’s Displacer.” Twilight remarked.

“Solaria? Kai?” Folteren asked.

“Oh Solaria is the secret identity that Sunset has. We’re from Maretropolis,” Lance told him, pointing at her and himself and then took out Kai’s Pokeball. “Kai is my Blaziken partner that Freddy gave me and let me raise from when he was a Torchic.”

Folteren facepalmed, “Oh this is ridiculous. A Pokeball? Kinda cruel, don’t you think?” A Mudkip popped out of Folteren’s cloak. “I keep Waffles in his own pond.”

Lance raised an eyebrow as he let Kai out of the Pokeball. “You named your Mudkip Waffles?”

“Nope, Freddy gave the name and shoved this little dude in my face and told me to take care of him. I didn’t get a choice, but I don’t regret it. He really likes human food though...” Folteren pat Waffles’ back, and the water Pokemon hopped down, making a squeak. “He’s also a troll.”

“Right. Kai here was a little impatient himself, but another Displaced named Zinnia was able to help us trust one another… even after our Pinkie decided to ship the Combusken form of him by mail after I forgot him on my trip to Sun Fransokyo… Not our brightest moment.”

“Waffles is a bit too laid back-” The dark lord was interrupted by the sound of water, and glared down at the little pokemon. “Stop using water gun on Twilight!”

Waffles stopped, and skipped until he was under a seat. Twilight was soaked, and growling. Scootaloo started laughing along with Surprise and Diane. Lance and Kai facepalmed themselves, looking at Mudkip. “You do realized that you also soaked Lee right?”

The Pokemon just curled up in a ball. Folteren removed his hood and mask. He had yellow eyes, and brown hair. “Like I said, he’s a troll, but also a bit of a jerk unless you’re Shadow, Scoots, or me. He’s squirted a member of a cult, Goldie - a replica of Freddy - , several battle droids, and even Rainbow Dash at one point. I tend to keep him away from Chrysalis, and the other rulers during meeting. And when I’m bored, I just watch him go into Ponyville and ruin others day.”

“Have you considered training him?” Lance asked, the mega bracelet on his wrist becoming slightly visible. “Maybe he’s trying to tell you that he wants to evolve.”

“My sister Shadow’s doing that! And no, he’s been that way since Mr. Fazbear gave him to us.” Scootaloo said.

The train slowed nearly to a stop right outside of Canterlot. Lance soon turned to face the nearest door as it slid open

“Well, guess we gotta take care of some dush.” Folteren mumbled.

“Ladies first?” Lance offered, letting Diane, Surprise, Twilight, Pinkie and Sunset out of the train before Lance and Folteren stepped out, with Scootaloo between the two of them. Waffles hopped over to the others.

Ponies stared at the humans, and a guard tried to arrest them, only for Folteren to shock him. “Get out before I filet you.”

“Hey, take it easy. No need to scare them more. This world’s already in a state of panic.” Lance reminded the Sith Lord, pointing at the cracks in the sky. “A lot of things are going on that might worry some ponies, so let’s just try to not make them scared sh*tless.”

“I don’t care. We’re on a deadline. The others will meet us at the caves beneath Canterlot. I’d ask if you knew, but you’re not living here… I don’t like the name Canterlot. I renamed it Terran…”

“You WHAT!?” Twilight yelled.

“Easy, both of you.” Lance said, trying to make sure the two of them don’t begin arguing. “And to answer your question, Time Spinner only told us who, not where or when.”

Folteren sighed, “Whatever… Anyway, we need to get down there because that’s where Killjoy’s base is. Time isn’t able to help, but I think… eight Displaced, and a bunch of non-Displaced can beat this moron.”

“I’m gonna go suit up. Come on Pinkie.” Twilight said as her and the party mare left.

Scootaloo looked at Lance’s wrist closely, “What’s that?”

Lance turned to look at the filly as she bumped it with her hoof. “Oh this is my Mega Bracelet. It allows Kai to Mega evolve when situations can get out of hand.”

“Mega evolve?” Scootaloo asked.

Folteren growled, “Pokemon… What’s next, alternate worlds?”

As the group waited, Folteren asked. “So… You seen Freddy recently? How’s he been?”

“Great actually. Although, he’s been… a bit down in the dumps. He told me about how he became insane and that his real name was Calvin. But all and all, he’s now Uncle Fazbear and helping me and my fiance’ look over my kids.” Lance told him. “Although, it’s been awhile since I last saw the Animatronics.”

“Calvin, huh? And congrats. Who’s the lucky bride?” Folteren smirked.

“Her name is Max. Max Caulfield last time I remembered. She’s quite an interesting person. Also likes to disguise herself as Celestia to play tricks on me.”

Folteren’s smile faded, “I don’t like that b*tch…” He shook his head, “This Max sounds nice. I’d love to meet her and the kids. And don’t worry, I’m actually good with them. I’ve got three, including Scoots, and Shadow.”

“I got four and a fifth on the way. Light Sweet, Golden Spark, Lucky, and a filly Rainbow Dash.” Lance replied, showing a picture of the family by the memorial statues of the princesses in Max’s world. “Here’s a look at them.”

“Aww! They’re cute! But beware…” Folteren paused, “Of puberty. I have a teen, and oh gosh I wish I didn’t teach her the dark side. Our fights are pretty heated.”

“Right… I’m just waiting until Max is done with her pregnancy.” Lance sighed. “Unlike our other children, our fifth one is actually human. But let’s worry about family later. I think Lee and Toxin are getting Antsy.”

Folteren pulled out a couple pendants, “Wanna fix that? These are built to give me a pony disguise. They need a week to get used to a universe, and that’s why I didn’t use it. It changes the race of a pony and/or human into anything. I used it to become Pinkie’s Granny Pie.”

“Thanks, but I’ll pass,” The Adept insisted. He had a feeling that they were getting closer. It was a chill through his body that he couldn’t ignore so easily. “Hey, did Time give you a description of what Killjoy looked like?”

“He said Sunset knew,” Folteren remarked as he started messing with the ground, “Other than that, he said that Kill was able to mess with reality, control mindless creature, and create illusions.”

“So like possess others? Mind Control?” Lance wondered. He remembered that a Jedi can do a Jedi Mind Trick, but he didn’t think that applied to the current situation.

“Killjoy ain’t no Jedi. He’s a humanoid voidwalker, like Displacers, but Kill doesn't Displace people, he kills worlds, and he’s mess with some Displacers plan. Time said he wanted us to kill him so those Displacers would give him stuff.”

“Right-.” That’s when Lance noticed that something was off. Scootaloo, who was by the two of them earlier, was nowhere to be found. “Hey, wasn’t Scootaloo by us earlier?”

Folteren looked around, then shrugged. “I think she got bored. I’ve done that before… Hey, Sunset. Mind finding her?”

“I thought she was with Twilight and Lee?”

“No, Pinkie and Toxin went together to suit up… Time told me about the Symbiotes.” Folteren pulled up a rock, and an entrance appeared on the ground. “Mind finding her? It’ll be like saving a cat from a tree.” He teased.

Venom and Toxin jumped off a room of a near by building. “We’ll help ya!”

“Thanks girls.” Lance smiled, watching Sunset and the two other ponies began to look for her. “I’m betting she’s the curious type?”

“Pretty much. Venom’ll have to stay, but Toxin’s good.” Folteren said as he descended.

“Any idea why she might’ve ran off?” Lance turned to Toxin, who was right next to him. What he heard her say though was… out of the ordinary.

“A pack of scorpions chased her into a cake?”

“Nah, it’d be a lava rat...” Said Diane.

“Oh, oh! A Llama!” Surprise chimed.

“Boredom.” Folteren mumbled.

“Hey, why don’t we make the search easier by splitting up? Pinkie can look up top with Diane, Sunset and Surprise while Venom, Folteren, Kai and I can check inside here? We can cover more ground like that.” The Adept suggested to the Sith lord.

“She wouldn’t be down here. This is where Killjoy will be, and where Violet, Tara and the others will be.”

“Did you tell her that?”

Folteren’s eye twitched, “I just opened the path, I think… She might have gone in here when I wasn’t looking… Fine. We’re still on a deadline.”

And so the Displaced want down. Venom then asked, “And Lumen? You never said.”

“Lumen always stays with me.” Lance replied. “It’s kind of obvious. She’s my sidekick after all.”

“Let’s just get down there…” Folteren groaned.

When they arrived, they saw a female red robot, an evil looking dude, and six girls in the corner. Lance noticed the girls first before any of the others and decided to walk in that direction, letting everyone else do what they pleased.

Folteren was the first to speak, “Guys! Now that we’re all here, let’s introduce ourselves! Vive, you’re up!”

The robot sighed, “I’m Chaos Jenny, or Violet “Vive” Hope.”

The evil looking dude stepped forward, “Names Cole MacGrath.”

The girls all stood up. The pink one spoke, “Names Tara Smith, Blossom, Spirit of Knowledge and Wisdom.” She pulled a white haired, and white eyed girl in front of her, “And this is my daughter Bell.”

The light blue one spoke next, “Hiya! I’m Mable Smith, Bubbles, Spirit of Nature and Harmony!” She pulled a darker blue girl in a hug, “And this is Breannin! My girl!”

The green one smiled proudly as she pulled a raven haired girl next to her. “And I’m Amber Connors, Buttercup, Spirit of… Something violent… And this is Barasia!”

Lance took initiative to speak next. “I’m Lance Walker. Back in Maretropolis, I go by Gunvolt, but Lance is fine. With me are my companions Lumen and Sunset Shimmer along with my partner Kai.” The Blaziken himself bowed as a sign of respect to everyone else around him.

“At least SOMEONE has respect.” Chaos said, glaring at Cole.

“You love me!” He replied.

‘Creepy...’ Lance thought to himself, before turning back towards Folteren and Twilight. But he soon noticed that Twilight… or in another case, Lee… wasn’t acting normally.

Twilight’s eyes were wide. “D-... Did you s-say Connors...?”

Buttercup nodded, “Yeah… Why do you as-” She seemed to notice the Symbiote on Twilight. “L-Lee?”

Lee jumped off of Twilight and embraced Buttercup as best he could.

Folteren facepalmed, “Oh, I forgot to mention Lee’s sister is here…”

“Wait a minute… You knew?” Lance turned, asking him. “Why didn’t you mention it earlier?”

“I forgot! It was a minute to you, but three weeks for me!”

Lance just sighed as he watched brother and sister reunite with one another. But the only pony in the room that wasn’t comfortable was not him, but Lumen. She heard a deep menacing laugh that quietly echoed around the room. “L-lance…”

“What is it Lumen?”

“I f-feel scared.”

Instinct soon kicked in for the Adept as out of the corner of his eye, he saw something that wasn’t in the room a few moments ago. A humanoid figure that looked like he came straight out of the void.

“He’s here!”

Everyone backed up from Killjoy as he laughed, “Wow! Is this all Stopwatch could come up with!? A tin can, a freak, six girls, a gender confused Adept, Pinkie wannabes, and a goth prince!”

“Screw you, Nocturne!!” Lance shot back, tempted to grab hold of his weapons, but restrained himself.

“I’m not goth!” Yelled Folteren as he pulled two metal rods from his sides. Beams of red and purple shot out of them, and the clones turned their own red beams on.

“You ever heard of ‘don’t judge a book by it’s cover’? I’ll rip that smirk off your face!” Chaos said as a blaster-like weapon came out of her arm.

Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup got into battle stances, and Lee retook his position on Twilight.

“Pathetic…” Killjoy mumbled as three cracks opened, and out came zombie-ponies.

“Gynoid! Hold them back!” Yelled Blossom, and Bell, Breannin, and Barasia stepped towards them, raised their arms, and beams of energy spat at the undead ponies. There were three, so the Gynoids held them off.

“Well. What else do you got!” Challenged Cole, only to get slapped by a fish at the hands of Chaos.

Killjoy just growled, and four more of him appeared… Only for the Powerpuff Girls to knock the copies away and fight them. Killjoy was surprised, but shook it off as he headed towards the Adept, Sith, Klyntar, Chaos, and Cole. A psychotic gleam in his eyes.

Lance stepped forth, in front of Cole since he was on the ground and took initiative. It had been quite some time since his skill set had recharged and now seemed like the best chance to catch the voidborn by surprise. Electricity began to form around him as he swiped away two Skill Points and the lightning went forth in a stabbing motion.

The Electric sword went forth, shocking Killjoy a little bit, but not so much as for him to back down. That’s when something else passed Lance, causing him to be knocked backwards.

Venom, with Penance out, sent the Scythe at the voidborn. His Scythe met flesh, and they tore Killjoy’s arm off.

But as Venom was about to attack again… Killjoy disappeared. Only to be replaced by a screaming Scootaloo, whose wing was not attached to her body.

“SCOOTALOO!!!” Folteren screamed.

“Sh*t!! That was an illusion!!” Lance growled. “Is anyone a doctor!?”

The clones ran to the fallen filly, picking her up and backed to a more defensive stance. Venom didn’t seem fazed at all.

“What the hell!?” Folteren growled, “Shouldn’t you have sensed there was danger!? You have a spider sense!”

“Yeah, but it’s not my fault she went missing! If you were a better parent, she wouldn’t have gotten kidnapped...”

“What!?” Folteren backed off a bit.

Lance began to notice something though. Lee’s behaviour, unlike before, was different. A LOT different. He was acting in ways that he wouldn’t have during the last two times he met. If Killjoy made Lee fall for that illusion, then could he control them? He was unsure of the theory, but whatever was going on, Lee was making things worse.

Moving towards the clones, he used the remaining skill point he had to use [Galvanic Patch], a healing skill that helped him heal the filly’s wounds. However, with his back turned, something new began to brew and it was between Lee and Folteren.

“You’re worse than Celestia! You hurt my daughter, and you don’t even care!” Folteren growled.

Venom rolled their eyes, “Like I care. She isn’t my Scootaloo, so why should I care?”

Folteren had enough. Electricity surged through the Sith’s hand, and he let loose a torrent of Force Lightning on Lee and his host.

Lee recoiled, then readied their Scythe. “We’ll protect my world no matter what!”

‘I don’t know what’s wrong… I didn’t mean that!’

Killjoy groaned, “Man… Something's… Wrong…” The voidborn opened a portal, “I’ll see you all soon!”

“Oh hell no you don’t-!” Lance yelled, shooting a fast paced Dullahan charged shot towards him, which disappeared with the closing of the portal. “Pfft… coward.”

The crack started to seal, but Folteren was still mad. “I’LL KILL YOU!!!”

Venom shook their head, “Wh…? Why do we feel weird...? Wait, is Scootaloo ok!?”

“Folteren stop!!” Lance shouted. “Killjoy must’ve put him under some kind of mind control that fades when he leaves. They didn’t-”

Folteren ignored Lance, and used his lightsabers to slash Venom. Unfortunately, Venom didn’t have any protection against lightsabers, but with Venom’s sharp skills, they ducked… But they weren’t fast enough.

“AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!” Twilight screamed.

“LEE!!! TWILIGHT!!!” Lance hollered, rushing to them and taking out his own weapon. “That is enough!! I’m not letting you try to harm my friends anymore, you bastard!! I even tried to heal Scootaloo and THIS is what I get!? That is just Low...”

Folteren backed up a bit, “I-...”

Lee jumped off Twilight and onto Folteren. Folteren didn’t like this, so he used the force to push off Lee. Lee only flew off the Sith, and Lee tried jumping on him again. Folteren tried cutting him, but Lee just took it without flinching. Lee was pushed off by Folteren’s force push again, but this time, Lee stayed off.

Buttercup ran over to see what was going on, only to see Lee fighting Folteren. She ran to help Lee, and the Symbiote attached to her.

Lance meanwhile gritted his teeth. “Alright, I’ve had enough. This charade ends now! EVERYPONY COVER YOUR EARS!!” He threw what almost looked like a rubber ball on the ground until it went off with a piercing sound that hurt everyone’s eardrums. It was the only Flashbang that Lance had, but it was the only other trick he had to deal with a Symbiote since they were HIGHLY affected by loud noises.

Lee was a pile of goo, and Folteren stood shaking. A pop sound announced the arrival of another Displaced… Or Displacer…

Time Spinner walked out with a bag of popcorn, “Wow! You not only messed up on capturing Killjoy, but you started a rivalry.”

And just then, Buttercup blasted Folteren to the side. The Sith countered by pulling out a blaster pistol and shooting the Transhuman in the eye. Buttercup recoiled, and the others joined. Surprise and Diane attacked the Gynoids, Chaos and Cole started attacking Blossom and Bubbles. Lance was about to intervene, but Time Spinner pulled him back.

“This is a fixed point. You can’t stop it. Nobody dies though. Trust me. Oh, and I told your fiancee I’d keep you safe. If you went in there to stop it, you would have gotten a Scythe and Lightsaber through your chest.”

Lance sighed. “Yeah, but still. I hate myself for this. I wasn’t able to stop them from trying to kill one another…… But maybe… there’s something you and I can do.” The last part caught Time’s attention and his curiosity.

“What would you have me do? It’s a fixed point, but I will intervene. They are my Displaced.”

“It’s not what I would have you do, but rather what I would do for you. I have a suspicion of where Killjoy might be going to. The point where he caused this whole calamity in the Everfree. You helped me with making sure I could help Lee, now I’ll help you…… by making Killjoy pay for all the pain he has caused.”

Time patted Lance on the back, “That’s a good plan. We’ll discuss more after I stop this.” The Displacer said as he disappeared.

When he reappeared, every Displaced froze. “Man I love this…” He mumbled, “Alright! You guys are killing each other, but there will be no end until both sides are gone! What about… A game! Everyone lives-.”

“You’re making this sound like Defense of the Ancients.” Lance deadpanned, leaning against a wall and calling Kai back to his Pokeball. Time rolled his eyes.

“Everyone lives, but the winner get’s to injure the other severely… Who’s in?”

Lee shrieked, “Fine!”

Folteren growled, “Fine…”

Time smirked, “Kay! I’ll call it the War of Shadows! But it looks like friends and family are a bit hurt…” He looked to the one winged pegasus filly, and hornless mare. “Let's get that fixed up.”

The mare and filly began to float. Scootaloo’s remaining wing became more leathery and black, and her stub grew a new one, but they weren’t pegasi wings, they were bat wings. While Twilight’s stub grew a new horn, but this one was black, and sharper.

“Now, those who participated in this endeavor will be in charge of either side. The Powerpuff Girls shall be the generals of the… Alliance, while CJ and Cole will be the generals of the… Empire. Lance may join either one and a general. And no, this won’t take out of your lives. It’ll happen later, and I’ll even send some people back in time to get some volunteers.” Time Spinner continued, “As a prize, everyone will gain an Insanity, or Sanity gem that enhances their powers.”

One of the people in the crowd soon raised a hand, asking about Lance and what side he would be on, He just stayed quiet, his only answer being “I have other business to attend to right now and a family to raise.”

“It’ll be months later for you. And I never said when.” Time said, “But if you change your mind, just give me a call…” Time levitated a white sleeveless hoodie towards Lance, with a pair of clock like hands on the back on it. “It was all I had…”

“It’s alright. Thanks!”

“Well, if that’s all…” The Displacer clicked his fingers, and everyone from another world like Buttercup, Surprise, Chaos, etc. Lance, Lee, and Time Spinner were the only ones left.

“Before I send you home Lance, I’d like to talk to you.” Time said.

“Sure thing.” He replied, following him out of the small corridor. A crack opened, and Time stepped through it. Lance followed, and found himself in a small cabin, or run down house. The crack sealed up behind them, and Time sighed.

“Home sweet home…” He mumbled.

“Wow… this is a pretty nice place you have.”

“It’s a bit rundown after the raiders blew it up, but I’ve fixed it up… I live in a Fallout Equestria. I’ve got a little village, and a mane six to take care of. It’s a fun life, battling super mutants and deathclaws… I gave my Pipboy to Folteren though… Oh well…”

“Say, can I ask you something?” Lance asked Time, who nodded. “Last time we met, you said that you would deliver the message to Max. Power ponies honor. Were you with them previously?”

Time seemed to slow a bit. He responded with, “Oh, that bit me in the butt…” He sighed. “Yes… I lived in yours before you. But… I haven’t been there in years though…”

“So you knew the girls before I was part of the team?”

Time smirked, “With them!? I founded them! I brought them together! Ask them who Stopwatch was, and they’ll tell you I was a hero and sacrificed myself! I bet they still have my eyeball!” Time started laughing like a maniac, “I guess they put it in a museum… I think they dedicated an orphanage in my name when I was there… New Hope I think…”

“You never told me that you lost your eye.”

Time turned to Lance and pointed at the black void where eis left eye once was, and said sarcastically, “I thought you’d see it.”

“Must’ve been the lighting late at night. Really affects what I can and can’t see.”

Time laughed, “Hah! You humans never cease to humor me…”

“Guess so… So there was something you needed to talk to me about?”

Time scratched his temples, “I just told you I was around before you… And you want to change the subject?”

“I was going to ask about what was it like then, but I knew that you needed to talk to me about something important right now.”

“I was going to tell you…” Time paused, “I’m thirsty, are you? What do you want, I’ve got Nuka Cola, and… I think chocolate milk… I’m not sure…”

“Have any water bottles?” Lance asked, taking a seat on a nearby chair.

“Sure, I’ll go get it.” Time said as he left the room. When he returned, he held a bottle of water, along with a Nuka Cola. “I love Nuka Cola, and Dash would too. Good non-alcoholic beverages are hard to come by, even for a time traveler like me.”

“I see what you mean. Wait... you said that you founded the power ponies, but now, you’re a time traveler? How does that happen?” Lance asked, a little lost in translation.

“Well, first up, I was Displaced… different than ordinary Displaced. My Displacer turned me into a male version of herself. I kept my powers, along with a few new ones. I was around the neighborhood when Twilight got her powers… Thought I was a monster at first, but after a little bit, I was able to calm her. I helped her master her powers. A psychopath named Delirious appeared, and the other arrived. Dash was scared of her powers, Applejack was a… Sorry excuse for a hero, Pinkie was new to her powers, and Rarity kept hitting everyone BUT the enemy. After we beat him, I formed the team and trained Zapp and Fili-Second, and Twi helped Radiance and Mare-velous.”

“I ended up the leader and brought more members to the team like Gadget, Daring, Reaper, and Raindrops. We used a facility to house our enemies called The Zero Zone. We sent one hundred bady’s before I left…”

“Amazing… But… Why did you have to leave?” came Lance’s next question for Time.

A dark smirk appeared on Time’s face, “The one who took my eye used a spell to banish me from that universe. Now, I live here until I can kill Roach.”

“And how does Killjoy play into this? Are he and Roach related somehow?” Lance asked. He was doing his best at trying to acquire the right information he needed to process what was going on. “If they are, then I can help you kill both of them.” The Adept knew that what he said might have sounded wrong to some people. But there was a different between Killjoy and them. Killjoy was a monster. A cause of conflict. His end would fix everything that he had damaged. All the cracked and fractured worlds. All the harmed Displaced. Everything.

Roach sounded like he was exactly the same thing. If he brought Time back… then maybe he could help him. Lance, despite being fully trained, was still uncertain of numerous things. Sunset was his mentor, but he needed advice from a true leader. No wonder Time sounded like the perfect fit.

“Heh… You could say that. Like I said before, my Displacer made Killjoy, and four others. Roach is the second only to Izra in power terms. Killjoy is the weakest, then there’s Flaze, Warzone, Roach, and Izra.”

“Then let’s knock each of their heads one at a time. Let’s send them a message. Stopwatch is coming back.” Lance finished his water, crushing the plastic bottle with his hands before throwing it away. “It’s hunting time.”

Time sighed, “It isn’t that simple… Roach is still in your world, pretending to be a prisoner at The Zero Zone. Flaze isn’t a problem because she’s left the others, Warzone is waiting, and Izra hasn’t come out.”

“Then we work our way up. Killjoy is first.” Lance smirked. “And I might have a feeling of where he could be. Sunset told me that she saw him in the Everfree the night before everything in Lee’s Equestria got fractured. Something tells me that he might be going back. But before we do, tell me something… Is there something specific I need to kill a voidborn?” The Adept knew that certain requirements were needed to kill certain creatures. Hence, Silver bullets.

Time chuckled, “Killjoy may be the weakest, cowardice, and a bit stupid, but he wouldn’t go back. He’ll hide until he’s called to action. It’s all a chess game, and Killjoy’s the rook. I’ll deal with this.”

“Yet, I’m the piece and you are the player. So, what play should we make?” Lance asked, reloading his guns.

“I think I’ll send you after Izra’s queen. Roach. All you have to do is watch him. I can’t, since I was banished. He’s too strong for you and the Power Ponies, but if he gets out, use my token and I’ll send someone who can deal with the bastard.”

“You got it, boss.”

Time stood up, “I’m not the boss of you… You do this of your own free will… Don’t tell the others about me though… I’ve ruined their lives enough...”

“You sure. It sounds like you’re the reason why all of this began. They have a lot of things to thank you for.”

“... They think I’m dead… When I was banished, it looked like I disintegrated... They think I’m dead, and I’d rather not give them more pain…” Time picked up his golden locket, “I don’t think they need me anyway. From what I see, you’ve never heard of me, so they moved on.”

“Don’t say that. There should be somepony that cares for you. Did you have a family of sorts?” Lance asked. “Surely, there has to be somepony who still believes.” At that moment, he decided to take off his coat and leave his polyester shirt on and putting on the white hoodie that Time gave him over it. “What about Pinkie? She seems to be the kind of pony that doesn’t give up on her friends.”

“Heh… You’re right… She wouldn’t…” Time sighed, then mumbled. “Loves a b*tch…”

Before they continued, Lumen made her presence known. “Is it just me or am I being ignored this whole time?”

“No, you were just quiet.” Time said.

“Right…” The Breezie said. “Still though, can someone explain to me what the plan is with Killjoy? I kind of…… dozed off.”

“Like I told Lance, I’ll deal with the spineless twerp. I’ve been meaning to use my sniper kit since Twi came back from Vault 101…” Time stood up, “Would you like something to drink?”

“Nah. I’m okay. I just wanted to get caught up to speed.”

“I have a question though,” Lance asked. “Does Roach have control over any other magics besides the one that banished you?”

“There are things even I don’t know… I think he’s as powerful, if not more so, than Discord. That’s why you’d need my backup…” Time cleared his throat. “Why don’t you help Lumen catch up. I’ll go get Sunset and fill her in.”

Lance nodded. He didn’t like his odds of going up against Roach unprepared. But, he still had a few tricks for if things were to get out of control. Especially thanks to the gem that he had from Loki. Speaking of which, he was curious to see if the new hoodie that Time had given him had any special abilities that would assist him in combat scenarios. He thought of one being the Witch Time ability in Bayonetta, where time would stop on an enemy and allow for him to get a few extra hits. But Lance decided to not keep his hopes up.

He filled Lumen in. Everything from the five voidborn’s, to Time being Stopwatch. Once he was done, Time came back with Sunset in tow, along with a brownish mare with silver eyes and a white mane.

The mare spoke, “So you’re the new Power Pony? Huh… I thought he’d look more heroic…”

“You’re idea of heroic is Iron Man doofus.” Time shot back. He looked at Lance and said, “Don’t mind Spanner, she’s mad. I gave an airship she made to your girlfriend.”

“Wait… So you’re Time and She’s Spanner? What is this, Split personality?” Lumen asked, Solaria now approaching Lance from his left side.

“My name’s Silver Spanner! My ‘split personality’ would be Gadget. I’m an ex-Power Pony.” Spanner growled.

“Like I said, don’t mind her.” Time said. “Yeah, she was from that world too… She was the techy before Hum… Uh… Drum?”

“Humdrum. That’s right.” Solaria replied. “He’s been working pretty hard with trying to make gadgets that coincide with our powers. He even made Lance’s blade.” The Adept, upon hearing that, took it out and gave a brief and simple demonstration.

“Still though, we’re getting sidetracked.” Lance said. “Time, you may continue.”

Time scratched his head. “Uh… Right? I can’t remember what we were talking about… Remind me?”

“How I was going to load a Voidborn with 9000 volts of electricity?”

Time tapped the side his head with a finger, “You’ll need more than that… I couldn’t kill him with all of my powers. From what I remember, he could just find a way to block it… But like I said, he shouldn’t be a problem. He wants to be captured, and you wouldn’t even fight him.”

“What if we found a way to dismember him from his powers. Cut him off. He has to have some sort of Kryptonite.” Lance said. “He uses magic right? Time, do you remember the gem that I used to disrupt the magic of Clover when she tried to go after Lee?”

“Yes… But that isn’t the problem… The problem is, he doesn’t use only magic. He has other powers, AND he’s locked up. It’d be murder. That’s what he wants. You’ll need to wait until he’s out, and that’ll take time… Not me, mind you.”

“I understand. How much time should we allow? That way we have time to prepare for the worst.” Lance asked. “Not to mention deal with the mess that Nova and Sumeragi had already caused with breaking out all the villains in Solace Asylum.”

“It shouldn’t be soon. Focus on that, and any immediate threats. I find knowing everything that’s going to happen has unforeseen side effects… But I think it’ll be around the time of the War.” Time chuckled.

“You mean the War of Shadows… Oh I get it, when the war is over, Killjoy will be dead. Which means that Roach will somehow know right?”

“Killjoy will, hopefully be dead yes. And then I’ll go up the foodchain to Warzone, then Roach. And finally Izra.”

“Let us know when the war is done. That way, we’ll prepare for Roach once we’re done cleaning up the streets.” Lance replied. “I’ll miss you Time. We might’ve gotten off on the wrong foot, but now, you’re like a member of what I call family. I’ll miss you.”

Time shoved his hands in his pockets, “You aren’t gonna have your kids call me uncle, are you? Cause I’ll totally be ok with that!” Time laughed, “And now you see what I mean…”

Lance smirked as the rift that was behind them to their world tore open. “I’ll check with Max on the uncle part. Uncle Time.”

“You and I aren’t so different!” Time Spinner laughed, “And call me Surge!”

“Alright Surge. Hope to see you back in Maretropolis soon!” Lance smiled. Running into the crack and leaping forth head first with Lumen and Sunset followed right behind him. Soon, the crack closed behind them, leaving Time and Spanner as the only ones in the cabin.

“Love you Pinks…” Time mumbled. Silver gave the Displacer a sad look.

“You’ll see her again! Don’t worry, we’ll get back!”

Time sighed, “That’s just it… I don’t want to go back…”

He then turned and left the cabin.

Silver sat on her haunches, “But I do…”

Unknown Location

Down through the deep and darkened corridors of a long steel hallway, two ponies walked through the hall. Talking amongst themselves.

“Are you sure something like this could work, Lauren?”

“I assure you, Mr. Armor. This will work.” The mare replied, a stern tone to her already serious voice as she looked at Shining Armor. Captain of the Royal guard.

“We are talking about criminals here. And not just petty criminals either. You’re talking about murderers, con artists, assassins and even a bounty hunter from Appleloosa. You expect them to even listen to you?”

“Oh they will comply. I can guarantee you that.” She turned her head, noticing another pony in the hall. “Mr. Armor, I would like you to meet one of the members of the team. This here is Clayton.”

The stallion stepped closer to Shining and gave him a hoof shake. “Good to meet you Captain, I’m the warden for Zero Zone prison.”

“Nice to meet you as well.” Shining replied. Soon, Lauren turned to the two stallions and had them follow her down another hallway to the left out into an open room. Almost wide enough like a gymnasium, but in the center contained a single individual. He was held up by chains and from the first sign of it, looked nothing like a pony or any other creature known to Equestria. An odd cloak covered what was suppose to be his arms.

“Gentlecolts, This here is McCree. He’s a human who had shown up in Appleloosa almost seven years ago under unknown circumstances. He’ll be the last member of the task force-.”

The words that rounded out that sentence caused the black haired human’s ears to twitch. He heard what she said and was not a fan of it. “Has he decided to join?” He heard one of the stallions say.

“Not yet, but I’ll be sure to make him comply.”

“Comply to what?” The human mumbled. Catching the stallions by surprise.

Clayton was the first to respond. “You’re giving him a choice?”

“It ain't a choice if I’m going to die either way.” The human snarled. This detail caught the stallions attention. Especially with the last part and what the Unicorn mare said earlier about them being “expendable”.

“McCree… Or should I say your actual name?” The Mare responded, walking down a flight of stairs and getting closer. She held up what looked like a leather wallet in a magical grip in front of her as she got closer. “You kept this on you, even though you don’t use it. Why?”

“It’s a memento… To the life I had before. To the family I had before. Nothing much to it. Now, what does this have to do with me now?”

“Hmm… I would say otherwise,” Lauren Order replied. “Did you have any children…?”

“One… but I don’t know anything about him anymore. I haven’t seen him in years.”

“Does he have a name?”

“......... Lance.”

The mare smiled. She was now getting somewhere. “That’s a nice name… Now… Mr. Walker… what would you do if I said that I can reunite you with your Son again?”

“It wouldn’t be much of a reunion…” He snapped back. “Where’s your proof? I want proof that my son is alive before I’m tasked to be part of your Suicide Squad.”

“That Adept? Lance Walker? Huh, I guess that apple fell far from the tree.” Clayton snickered.

“Adept?” Shining asked, turning towards Clayton.

“Gunvolt?” Clayton raised an eyebrow, “Wow, you don’t do your homework...”

“I don’t get to go into the city much. Mostly because I’m assigned to other parts of Equestria.” Shining admitted. “All I was told was of a task force that could help do missions others claim would be impossible.”

“Power Ponies got ‘em… Looks like that Stopwatch fella and this guy… Just without the beard and had a blond mane.”

Lauren overheard the two of them and sighed. “You forgot to mention his electrical powers. But otherwise, you’re spot on. So… about my offer… what do you say?”

The human, formerly known as Brandon Walker, now known as McCree looked as the Unicorn with a defiantly eager gaze. “If it’s going to have me see my boy again, I’ll take it.”

“Great, I’ll get Tree-brains and crazy over here…” Clayton said. Lauren sighed as she unchained the bounty hunter by him and got him off of his feet. They had a lot of work ahead of them that needed to be done.

End Strike 22

Author's Note

Part 3/3

And for the ending:

Strike 23- Welcome Back

When Lightning Strikes- Welcome Back

Power Pony HQ

For Twilight Sparkle, these past few days have been… troublesome to say the least. The whole charade started one morning when Lance, Lumen and Solaria didn’t show up when they were called to report for duty. Some ponies like Pinkie had assumed that they were just sleeping in. Instead though, when they went to go inside their room, they found nothing. Nothing at all. Of course, it could’ve meant many different things and they decided to wait things out.

Today was day five and almost everypony in the building was concerned, even though they mostly didn’t show it. Everypony went on with their tasks and daily lives like nothing had happened. Even though in reality, something did. Humdrum had suggested a search party, but the idea was shot down because Twilight believed that the unit needed to stick together as a whole. Even Cody volunteered to help Detective Whooves with the Powers Division at the police department.

Now, she had those same thoughts, especially after what had occurred with the founder of the Power Ponies, Stopwatch. Just as she was going to assign today’s objectives though, the Alicorn noticed that Pinkie wasn’t… well acting normal.

“Filly sense!! Filly Sense!!”

“Pinkie? What are you talking about?”

“My tail twitched three times. It means that Lance and the others are coming back!!”

Every mare in the room and even Humdrum looked at her with a confused expression. They thought that she was just joking around, trying to cheer up the group as a whole. But with the past few times that her filly sense had predicted certain events, who knows what could’ve been right or wrong. But seconds after she said that, a small tear from the void opened and spat out a few individuals, causing them to crash and smoke to rise up. The tear itself closed while everypony in the room was coughing from the dust and dander that came out of the room.

“Oh COME ON!! I just got this suit cleaned!!” Radiance complained. “And my mane is a total mess!!”

“Calm down will ya! Some rascal just landed on top of me!!” Mistress Marevelous shouted back.

“Who are you calling a Rascal!?”

Everypony in the room stopped yelling the moment they heard that voice and waited for the dust to clear up. Emerging from the dust cloud was the three individuals they had thought had gone missing. “L-lance!!? S-solaria!? Lumen!?”

“It’s good to see you too again, girls,” The Adept replied, getting up from his cramped position on the floor. However, the Adept was then tackled by an overjoyed Pinkie Pie, who was both very happy… and very emotional. She had not see him in a long time, but to her, the human almost reminded her of another pony she knew and cared for sometime ago.

“OH MY GOSH!!! You’re back!!! Where were you!? What happened to your clothes!?! You had me and the others worried sick about you!!”

“E-easy there Pinkie. A friend of mine needed help and it was kind of late notice. It took a lot longer than expected,” The Azure Striker told the earth pony, slowly getting back up. “Sorry if I made you all worried about me.”

“I-it’s okay.” Pinkie said, hugging Lance’s waist. “It’s only been four days and we’ve been really busy with kicking villain’s flanks and everything-.”

“Hold up a second… Four days?” Lance asked. He was honestly surprised that he was gone for so long. “What happened?”

“We’ve been slowly making progress on trying to recapture the villains that broke out of the Asylum some time ago, but any lead that we got on Sumeragi, they’ve been one step ahead of us,” Humdrum answered. “Even Cody volunteered to pitch in at the Police Department to give them more support and help them with the amount of cases they’ve been getting recently.” Around now was when something clicked inside Lance’s head.

He looked around the room, noticing if there was anything different or out of place. “How many criminals did you lock up this week?”

“Twenty three. But none of them varmints have any information of them.” Applejack answered.

“Hmm… I think we have ourselves a problem. You say that they’ve been one step ahead of us and that there’s no information coming from the criminals you did detain?” Lance asked thoroughly. They all nodded their heads, making Lance fear the worst. “And the only people that you have been in contact with are each other and the powers division correct?”

“Yes, but what’s the point in what you are trying to say?” Zapp rushed him, impatiently.

“What I’m trying to say is that somehow, Sumeragi is knowing about our activities and whereabouts so they stay one step ahead. Do you know what that might possibly mean?” Nopony in the room, except for Twilight, understood him. The Alicorn’s eyes widened upon realizing what he meant. “Wait… you mean that?”

“It means that there’s someone working for the enemy. A wolf in sheep's clothing… A mole.”

“Wait, are you saying that somepony we know has gone rogue!? That’s impossible!”

Lance shook his head. “I’m not saying that someone in this building is a traitor. I believe our problem might be over in the police department. Humdrum, your our technician. How good is building security?”

“Last it checked, state of the art.” Humdrum said, checking the buildings camera’s using a handheld tablet.

“Alright. My guess is that someone working in the police department is intercepting communication between us,” The Adept explained. “Which is why today seems like the day to shake things up. We normally tell Detective Whooves about our whereabouts when we’re in the field, correct?” All the ponies in the room nodded their heads. “Well, if our little mole is getting those messages, then we need to surprise them with something that they don’t expect, making them unreliable. Therefore, exposing them.”

“That could work out well. Cody is helping Detective Whooves keep things working at the station, so he could find them once they try to leave the building and escape.” Twilight mentioned to everypony. “But how are we going to find out where they are hiding?”

“Simple…” Lance replied, getting out a foldable map of the city from a nearby table. “Where have the last few incidents occurred?” Each of the girls explained a few of the incidents that had taken place and afterwards, Lance made a shape with all the points like it was connect the dots. putting a line through each of them, all the lines intersected at one exact point.

“Hey, that’s the Quills and Sofas furniture outlet.”

“That’s not the furniture outlet. That’s the old storage facility to the outlet.” Twilight corrected Rainbow’s assumptions. “It closed down a few years back. Seems like the perfect place to be hiding a bunch of villains and all the space.”

“Then it’s settled. You girls will hit that location with everything you got. Cody, on the other hand, will pay attention to the ponies in the workplace and see if one of them will crack under pressure. Humdrum and I should stay behind though. He can talk to you through comms and I need to rest after the endeavours I had gone through. Plus, I need to check on a couple of things.”

“Okay girls, you know the drill! Power Ponies GO!!” With that, the seven ponies that were once there ran out of the room and prepared to hit the streets. For Lance, he then decided to move not to the break room or his room unlike Lumen. Not to even the mirror to Max’s world. His first priority was to go to the records room. Or as Masked Matterhorn called it “The Archives”. He wanted to know a little more about the Power Ponies before he joined the team. Maybe, he would be able to learn a thing or two from them.

When he got there, he was greeted by a very powerful computer that was constructed by Humdrum and stored its records on previous and current members. It even was able to speak to him like an AI. “Hello there. My name is Iris. How can I help you?”

Lance thought for a minute before responding. “I want to see the records that you have on Stopwatch, please.”

“Processing request…” The machine whirred, streaming through thousands of records in mere milliseconds before pulling up a video source that had streams of pictures and snippets of recorded footage in a news report like montage. Soon, Iris began to narrate the sequence as it began to play.

“Stopwatch was one of the founders of the Power Ponies along with Masked Matterhorn, Saddle Rager, Radiance, Mistress Marevelous, Fili-Second and Zapp. Real name: Surging Storm. He lead the Power Ponies against at least one hundred and one villians. He was father to three children. Entropy Storm-Deceased, Aurora Spirit-Deceased, and Scootaloo-Alive. Engaged to Pinkamena Diane Pie. Unfortunately, his end came at the hands of Roach, another human that killed three other members- Gadget, Entropy, and Jubilee at Memory End Lane, which was turned into a memorial to those who died. After his death, some of the team left, and only the original members remained.”

“Wow…… Iris, can you list the team members who left after the passing of Stopwatch?” He asked specifically. Even though he knew that Time was alive, he needed to play along for the system to work with him. The system agreed, showing the portraits of three to four ponies.

“Reaper, an undead pegasus that had the ability to turn into shadows. After the death of Stopwatch, he left the group to go solo. He later disappeared. Matterhood, a clone of Masked Matterhorn with similar powers. After the death of Stopwatch, she left. She is currently missing. Daring Do, a story book character come to life. She was assumed to have a virus and is assumed dead because of it.”

Lance was surprised to hear about these. But hearing about Matterhood and Daring Do made him curious as to where their whereabouts were. He also thought that the assumption on Daring Do being dead was fake because there wasn’t much evidence on the subject matter. Before he could ask though, he heard another voice. One that sounded like a little filly. A scared little filly.

“D-daddy? I-is that you? I’m scared…”

Lance slowly turned around, looking over his left shoulder to see who was talking. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. In front of him was an almost see-through unicorn filly with a blue tint. Her mane was messy and stuck up in weird places, and seemed to be white with the blue tint. But her eyes… So lifeless… She almost looked blind… From his angle, Lance could see a skull cutie mark. A scar across her throat sent chills through him.

“You’re not daddy! Who are you!?” She yelled, her voice sounding like an echo.

“I-i’m Lance…… Wait… you said I look like your dad? Who is he?” The Adept tried to remain calm despite the scared filly looking like something from The Grudge. “I promise… I’m not going to hurt you.”

The filly shifted a bit, “I don’t know what’s happening… My d-daddy was coming to save me… Where is he!? Where am I!? I don’t understand…” She was on the verge of tears.

“There’s no need to cry. You’re safe here.” Lance tried to comfort her. “You are at the headquarters of the Power Ponies. Now… miss? Can you please tell me your name? I want to help you, but I can only do so if you help me ok?” To provide further support, he offered a hand and even took off his jacket since he thought that the youngling was cold.

“A-Aurora Spirit… Power Ponies? What do you mean? I thought we lived in White Asylum…” The filly murmured. Lance almost dropped the jacket upon hearing the name. There was no way that this could be happening right now, he thought.

“Y-you’re Surge’s daughter?” He asked, the thought of it sending a shiver down his spine.

She seemed confused, but realization hit her. “Yeah! But I just call him daddy… Does that mean he saved me!? I knew he could!” Aurora started hopping up and down in happiness.

“Easy there, Aurora-” Lance stopped once he watched the filly jump up and down, almost passing through his hands. Another shiver went down his spine upon seeing that and it caused him to drop his jacket, which also fell through Aurora.

The filly look down and giggled, “I must not be in my body… Do you know where I am?”

“Power Pony headquarters in Maretropolis.” The Adept restated.

She giggled again, “I mean my physical form. I can leave my body, and I guess I did it in my sleep… This would be a first though…”

“Umm… Aurora right?” Lance said, thinking something through. He honestly had no idea how to break to a young filly that she was dead, but soon thought of a possible method. “When was the last date that you remember?”

“Umm… A mean group foalnapped me for money… Then… Nothing… I remember pain, but…” She rubbed her throat where the scar was, “That’s it…”

“What was the year this took place?” He asked, before changing the question. “When was your last birthday?”

The filly scratched her head, “Uh… Last week? I just turned seven!” She smiled. Lance then thought back a bit. But, he still had a few details missing.

“What was the date of your seventh birthday?” He then asked, trying to keep the conversation focused on her.

“Hearts and Hooves day! We had lots of fun! Pinkie made me the biggest cake! Both my sisters and my daddy and all my aunts were there!” If it weren’t for the dead look in her eyes, Lance would have believed her eyes would have been sparkling. Taking the information he knew, he turned back towards Iris and spoke again.

“Iris, when was Aurora Spirit’s last birthday?”

“Processing……” The machine replied. It took a while to load, but in that time, Lance placed the jacket that Time gave him back on and turned towards the machine. Aurora herself tried floating up to his side, wanting to see what would happen next. “According to the system, Aurora’s Spirits last birthday was February 14, 2014. It has been over one year since that date.”

Now Lance was starting to hate Iris for saying the last part. Especially when he looked back at Aurora again.

Her eyes were wide, surprise, fear, and disbelief written on her face. Tears brimmed at the edges of her eyes, and she began to whimper.

“W-what? Th-that c-c-can’t b-be! Dadd-ddy said he would save me!” Aurora started backing up, but stopped and broke down sobbing. “Why’s it been a year!?”

“I don’t know Aurora… Bear with me here…” Lance told her, trying to assure her comfort before asking his next question to the supercomputer. “Iris, what happened to Aurora Spirit?”

“Aurora Spirit, age seven, born with the power to send her soul out of her body, was foalnapped by a terrorist organization known as Iron Hoof. They threatened to kill the filly if the city didn’t give them three million bits in two hours. Needless to say, the city denied it. When the two hours were up, the terrorists slit her throat on national television. She was buried in Butterfly Hill, one mile away from the city.”

Both Lance and Aurora looked shocked at the news. But the filly seemed to be even more scared than before. Lance, thinking quickly, told Iris to log off. That way, Aurora didn’t need to hear more gruesome details about her own demise. “So that explains it…”

“I’m… Dead? How…? Why!?” Aurora asked.

“I don’t know. But I can still see you…… Wait, you said that you can send your soul out of your body, right?”

The filly tried to compose herself, “Y-yes, I can… I can interact with things if I want to…”

“Have you ever accidentally used your powers in times of fear or panic?” Lance asked the filly. “I’m thinking that when this happened, you used your powers at the last moment to escape, but your appearance reflects the appearance of your body.” It made sense to him. Especially with the look of her mane and her… throat.

Aurora nodded, then asked, “So… I’m alive? I’m not dead but I can’t go into my body?”

“That’s my guess at least.” Lance sighed. “Hey, you said you could interact with things right? What kind of things?”

“Um…” She scratched her head, then bit Lance’s jacket, and pulled at it, “Ah cn toth thtuff ith ah thocuth.” She spit it out, “I can touch stuff if I focus. But I need to really think about it… I can also mess with things like a Unicorn can... But… I need a physical attachment in order to continue my form. I can’t stay out of my body too long or I fade away…”

“What about machines? Can that work?” Lance then remembered the communicator on his wrist and then took it off, it was the size of a bracer and fit to serve for multiple purposes. “I don’t want you to fade away on me… after all, I know your dad and I know what happened to him.”

She nodded, “Yeah, it should work… Possessing objects can keep me going… Something happened to daddy?”

“Many ponies think he died, but in truth, he was banished from this world by a bad person named Roach. He was the one that gave me this jacket actually.” Lance said, tugging at it a little to show her what he meant. “He told me that if we take care of him and a few others that are in league with him, he can come home. You want to help me bring him home?”

“Oh course!” The filly exulted. She then jumped into the bracer, “Call me Spirit. It’s my ‘codename’.”

“Okay Spirit. You comfortable in there?” Lance asked. Despite being an actual spirit, he wanted to make sure that Aurora was okay despite her current situation.

“Yep! It’s all colorful!” He heard a more normal voice from the bracer, “It feels kind of ticklish though~” She giggled.

“Is that a good thing?” Lance asked. “I want to make sure you feel good in there, okay? It may take some time, but if we work together, we’ll bring Surge home okay?”

Spirit seemed a bit too joyous after what the two heard, “Yeah! I’m fine! It tickles, and that’s good! It means I’m feeling stuff!”

“That’s good to hear-.”

“Hey Lance, are you down here?” Another voice echoed. The Adept soon realized that it was Humdrum that was speaking as he walked on down. “I could’ve sworn I was hearing you talk to somepony.”

That… made Lance nervous. “I was…… talking to Iris… Yeah, I needed to find some things that have been on my mind recently. What’s up?”

“Well, I wanted to get the chance to give you some new equipment I built for you while you were away. I thought it might be helpful for future missions.”

“Who’re you?” Spirit asked.

“Did I hear something?” The dragon then asked as he and Lance walked back up the stairs.

“Hear what exactly?”

“Somepony ask me “Who’re you?”. Sounded like a ghost if you ask me.”

“Hey! I’m… Oh, should I be quiet?” Aurora questioned. Lance’s only answer was a nod as he turned back towards Humdrum.

“Let’s not worry about that now Spike. You said you had some new equipment for me?”

“That I do. Nice jacket by the way.”

“Thanks.” Lance replied as the two of them walked back towards his workshop. In it, he seemed to be working on quite a few projects. “Wow, you must have a lot of free time on your hands if you can be working on all of this.”

“That is only just the tip of the iceberg. Most of those are incomplete, but what I have for you is finished.” The dragon replied. “First up. I came with a new attachment to your Mizuchi clip, which works as a tracking device. I call it the “Tracer”.”

“Now he’s just making up words.” Spirit whispered. Lance giggled a little to himself before accepting the attachment and placing it on his clip. He wasn’t immediately thinking that Humdrum was done. Because it seemed like he had something else in store for him. Judging from the amount of things on his desk.

“What else did you make there, Spike?” Lance asked.

“Well, most of it has been trying to repurpose a lot of the robotics that we obtained from that one Sumeragi factory. I had something in mind for you, but I’m going to need some time to build it first.”

“So I can’t get a sneak peek?”

“Sorry dude, it’s a surpri-.” Before he could finish, a ringing sound went off as both of the heroes had to hurry back to HQ. A call was coming in from Cody.

“Hey guys.”

“Hey Cody, It’s good to hear from you.”

“Same, after your disappearance act. Hey, about that mole you want me to look into… I got some good news and bad news.”

Both Lance and Humdrum looked at one another before looking back at Cody. “What’s the bad news?”

“I found the mole, but when I tried to catch him, he was assassinated the moment he walked out the door. One shot to the head did the trick and the assailant got away.”

Now Lance was a little concerned. “What about the good news?”

“The good news is that I uncovered a flash drive which I believe might contain all the information that this guy has been stealing. I’m going to send it to Humdrum so he can try to crack the code behind this thing because the best technicians down here can’t open it. Said about something having to do with a Snapdragon Firewall that’s impossible to crack.”

“Thanks Cody, see you later.” Lance replied as he ended the call. “Okay, that’s one thing taken care of. What about the girls?”

“Let me pull up their locations on screen… Wait a second… Something’s not right. Pinkie is running around the entire city. What the heck is going on?” Humdrum tried typing the keys of the keyboard with his claws to try to pick up communications. But, for Aurora, hearing the name “Pinkie” brought something up.

“Pinkie? Is she in trouble?”

“I don’t know,” Lance whispered. “I hope she is okay though-”

“Girl’s. What the hay is going on out there!?”

“Humdrum!! Thank Celestia you picked up!! We finished up dealing with the crooks here. But an unknown assailant that had ties to the police mole was killed and Pinkie’s in pursuit. What’s worse is that in the fight, her communicator broke. We lost contact with her.” The voice of Twilight Sparkle responded. “I’m worried for her. Where’s Lance?”

“Right here. What is it?”

“Please help Pinkie! I know you just got back, but we need the extra hooves on the ground and you’re the only one to fit the bill.”

The Adept smirked, looking at his bracer before running to the roof. “I’m already on it. I just need to get topside and get coordinates on her position.” Then, he looked to where Aurora was. “You ready to go help somepony?”

She nodded, looking as serious as a seven year old could. “Alright. You might want to hang on.” The Adept soon began to run from rooftop to rooftop and trying to use his lightning to enhance his speed. He could’ve used his instant transmission, but with Fili-second being all over the place, he couldn’t focus on her location to teleport himself over there. He still continued to run, using his powers to accelerate himself and Humdrum’s coordinates.

But at one point though, something happened. He heard a crashing sound nearby, loud enough like it was a car crash. “Humdrum, what the hell was that!?”

“Pinkie… crashed,” Humdrum responded. “Lance, you need to go NOW. The assailant that she was chasing just attacked her with something like a knife and her heart beat’s accelerating at an alarming rate. RUN!!!”

Spirit faded out of the gauntlet and started flying in that direction, “No!”

“Aurora, wait!!” Lance rushed towards her. But then realized something. Pinkie was now in one simple location. Meaning it was now easier for him to teleport himself there. “Get back in here, I’m teleporting myself to her!!”

She quickly turned and went into the bracer once more. Once inside, Lance put two fingers on his head and focused. Soon, he transmitted himself to where he was above Pinkie. Her attacker was a male gryphon. An eye patch over his eye, tactical combat gear, weaponry, and his talons covered in blood. Pinkie’s blood. On instinct, Lance dropped down. Placing himself between Pinkie and the gryphon.

“Squawking Hell!?” He chirped, trying to pull a gun on Lance, but he disarmed the bird and electrocuted him using his powers. The Gryphon back off, looking back at him. “Pfft… Great. Now there’s two of you.”

“Keep your filthy claws OFF OF MY FRIENDS!!” Lance roared, grabbing his weapon and aiming. He fired two bolts at the gryphon. But the bird dodged them at the last second.

“You must be the Azure Striker then. Who knew that the son of McCree has this kind of talent?” The Gryphon cringed, smirking evilly. “Come to think of it, you look exactly like Stopwatch.”

“Aaahhh!” Aurora yelled as she fazed out of Lance’s gauntlet, her form tinted red instead of blue, “You’ll pay for hurting Pinkie Pie!” Around that moment though, the gryphon dropped a smoke bomb. The alley filled with smoke briefly before it faded and the Gryphon was on what looked like a cart used for transporting goods. But the strangest thing though was that there a human on there and when Lance looked at him, it gave him serious flashbacks.

But his attention wasn’t focused on that now. He needed to focus on Pinkie. He got down on one knee and tried to hold her up properly. “Hey Pinks… You okay?”

Pinkie looked at Lance, and almost thought she saw somepony she knew and cared for. “I- it hurts…”

Thinking quickly, Lance used a skill point to apply Galvanic Patch to the exposed wounds before looking back at her again. It mostly healed up her wounds and washed away anything that could be infecting it. “How’s that?”

“B-better…” Pinkie said, avoiding Lance’s eyes. “But he got away…”

“Not quite. One of the bolts that I fired at him was a tracker and it hit his wing. We’ll know where they’re hiding soon enough.” Lance replied, helping her up. “Aurora, can you come back here please?”

The filly took her blue tint again, “Fine…” She said before going into Lance’s bracer again. The Adept brought up the screen on his communicator, seeing Aurora’s face. It was then though that the Pink Mare next to him saw what she thought was impossible.

“Aurora!? How...!? That’s not possible! I thought you…”

“Oh yeah…” Lance sighed, knowing that he was forgetting something, “I almost forgot-.”

“Hey mommy…” Spirit said, a little distressed.

Pinkie looked about ready to burst into tears, “I thought…”

“Should I give you two a moment?” Lance asked. He was able to take off the communicator and keep up the screen that had Aurora, holding it in front of Pinkie for her to see her again. It had been over a year since the filly and mare had last seen each other and The Adept knew that something like this was going to get emotional. “Go ahead, Aurora.”

“Uh… I’m not sure I know how to-” She was interrupted as Pinkie started squeezing the bracer in a hug.

“I’m sorry! I wasn’t fast enough!” Pinkie cried.

“It’s okay, it’s not your fault… It was the meanies who did the act, not the ones who couldn’t stop it.”

“But- but-”

“Hush! You told me you’re sorry, and I forgive you!” Aurora gave Pinkie a serious stare.

It took a minute, but Pinkie finally calmed down.

“Not that I’m not happy, but how are you here?”

Now it was the Adept’s turn to speak. “I found her in the archives room. She mistook me for Stopwatch and after some research, I think I found out how she’s still here. Do you remember her powers, Pinkie?”

“Yeah, soul self… Wait, you’re stuck in soul form!?”

“Well, the only likely assumption is that she used her powers to leave her body at the moment those thugs were going to kill her. Which meant that her physical form was gone and she’s stuck as a wandering soul. For added measure, when I found her, I had her be in my wrist communicator so she wouldn’t fade away in her soul form.” The Adept tried to explain, stopping for a second. “Am I confusing you?”

“Nope! That makes perfect sense!” Pinkie said. “We should tell the others I’m okay. I’m sure they’re worried.”

“I agree. We should talk about this with the girls so they could understand.” Lance replied before putting his wrap back on his arm. “Stay close to me, Pinks. I’m gonna teleport us to HQ hospital so you can get looked at.”

“Okie dokie, Lancie!” The Pink pony said, moments before the two transmitted over there. Seconds later, they arrived in the hospital wing, where Fluttershy was waiting for them. She took her time looking over Pinkie Pie, but soon, she was given a clean bill of health and allowed to leave the infirmary. Shortly after though, when the girls were in the break room with Lance and Lumen decided to join them, Pinkie almost spilled the beans on Aurora.

“Hey girls!! Guess what!? Lance has something to show you!!”

Rarity and Twilight looked at each other in confusion while Rainbow, Sunset and Spike thought it was some kind of prank. That was when Lance had the screen of his communicator face them. It was blank… for a moment. But then, the filly that all of them knew as Aurora Spirit showed herself.

“Hey aunt Twily, Dashie, Shy, Rare, and AJ… It’s… It’s me!”

“Oh my stars!!! AURORA!?!” The shock from everypony in the room was loud enough to almost shatter the windows. But after everypony calmed down, Twilight herself was almost on the verge of shedding some tears. But she still had a question that was the same one that was on everypony’s mind. “Lance… How did you-? This is actually her right?”

“Yeah… I found her in the archives. She told me that she had Soul Self powers and after some analyzing, it seemed like she’s stuck in her soul form because she used her powers to escape from her body before those crooks killed her. Right now, she’s in here so she could stay safe.”

“Wow Lance… For a minute, I thought having to handle kids would be tricky for you. Especially with you marrying Max soon.” Dash replied, complimenting him.

Lance smiled… at first. Upon realizing that, something in his head began to click. “Oh sh*t… MAX!! I’m sorry Aurora, but I need to hurry. I forgot to take care of something really important.”

With that, he slipped his bracer back on and ran towards the mirror like portal to Max’s world and without thinking straight, he leaped forward.

Equestria (Home of the prophet)

The moment that Lance hopped out of the portal, the Adept began to look around, trying to see where exactly he ended up. This was hard because the room was completely dark and not to mention, empty. He was in the Hall of Elements in Max’s world, yet Max wasn’t there. In fact, nopony was at all. He could hear commotion going on outside though as a voice came from outside the door.

“Due to a recent incident that occurred with Princess Twilight and requires the Grandmothers full undivided attention, Court for today is hereby cancelled.”

A thunderous uproar could be heard from outside, but now, Lance had some idea what was going on. Something had caught hers and Twilight’s attent-. Wait a second? Did he hear that right? Princess Twilight!? Max actually found out how to turn her into an Alicorn? That was indeed something. The Adept was de-railed out of that train of thought when a pair of hooves was heard entering the room. He turned around to see who it was and his eyes widened at first sight of the pony that entered the room.

“L-lucky?”

The Pegasus colt that trotted into the room was shocked at what he was seeing. He didn’t even think that this was real. But soon, he realized that it was. "Uh, hey there... dad. Mom and Twilight went through a mirror in her bathroom to find Twilight's crown. Apparently a pony that looks like Twilight stole it last day."

“Lucky, I haven’t seen you in a long time. How long was I gone for?” The Adept then asked as he walked over to his son. The Colt was hesitant at first in order to answer, but he was able to find the right words in order for him to say.

“A month.”

Now that caught him by surprise. “Oh god, I’ve been gone longer than I thought… Lucky, can you get Sol and Mun. I think it might be best if you fill me on what happened while I was gone.” The pegasus nodded, rushing off down a long hall to only come back with both of Max’s assistants a few minutes later. Just like Lucky, they too were surprised by his arrival and were quick to inform him of the current situation. From what happened while he was gone, Time Spinner’s message, Sun’s visit and of course, the theft of Twilight’s crown. Lance was quick to process everything, but was also wondering about a few other things regarding the incident involving the crown being stolen.

“I don’t get what’s going on…” Mumbled Spirit in confusion.

“Excuse me for a minute…” Lance told Sol and Mun as he walked to the side, soon, he brought up the screen so Aurora was looking at him. “We are currently in the world of my fiance’ Max. I had not seen her in some time, but when I got here, my son Lucky told me that she wasn’t here.”

“Oh! Sorry… What kind of name is Max?”

“It’s short for Maxine.” Lance told her. “Anyways, I was going to give her a couple of hours and if she doesn’t come back by then, we’re going in after her.”

“Okay.” Aurora nodded.

“Also, another thing… you might want to be careful while here. I got four kids to keep an eye on and a few of them are just fillies. I rather not try to scare them, okay?”

The screen turned red for a moment, “Hey! That’s not nice!” She pouted.

“I’m not trying to hurt your feelings. I just don’t want you-.” Lance turned for a moment, realizing that one of his daughters was actually within the vicinity of them. “Oh hey there, Rainbow…”

“Papa!!” The Filly cried, leaping into Lance’s arms and almost knocking the screen that held Aurora inside. She was hugging so much that it was only after a couple of seconds did she see Aurora. “Who’s dis?”

The filly in the screens eyes were spinning until she shook her head, “I’m Aurora Spirit! You can call me Spirit if you want!” She waved. On the screen, she wasn’t that bad. The scar was less noticeable, and her fur was a normalish light blue. Her eyes were purple, and a silly smile adorned her face.

“Au...rora?” Rainbow asked, tilting her head in confusion. “Cheese-it?”

“Spi-rit.” Aurora said slowly, “Whatever. Nice ta meet ya!”

“Spit-wit!!!” Rainbow cheered, almost making herself fall when she tried to hug her.

“I’ll try not to take offence…” Aurora said in annoyance.

“Take it easy there, she’s only a filly.” Lance reminded her.

“Exactly why I’ll try not to take offence… She is cute. Why does she look like aunt Zapp?”

“That’s because she is Aunt Zapp. In this world though of course.” The Adept told her.

“Like when daddy accidentally brought a genderbent version of himself to the Power Ponies base?”

Lance raise an eyebrow at hearing that… “Maybe, but more of a difference in age than gender.”

“Oh! Okay!” Aurora smiled, “I’m glad, it was weird seeing a colt me…”

“A colt you? I thought this only applied to him.”

“No, it was the whole team… It only got worse when we had to fight four twins from multiple worlds.” She giggled, “It was crazy…”

“Right… Remind me not to ask him about that next time.” Lance sighed. Soon, he guided the young filly back into her room with the others and then made her way to the room where this other mirror was. The one that Max had supposedly entered.

“You ready to go?” He asked Aurora, making sure she was okay.

“Of course!” She said excitedly, “I barely got to do anything when I was alive! Being undead is awesome! Though I could do with a body.”

“Not sure if we can find a body, but hey? Who says we can’t try.” With that, Lance went full speed ahead, leaping through the doorway between worlds once again.

Elsewhere…

Sunset was just about to wrap the base of the statue with plastic when a boy dressed in a white sleeveless jacket and dark blue cargo pants came through. He had a pair of dark colored gloves on with a wrist like sleeve on his left hand and a weird bracelet on the other, yellow colored hair, long braid and a silver charm at the end of it. "Well that's a weird getup for a pony," she said, unrolling some of the plastic wrap so she could tape it to a corner.

“Excuse me, but did you say pony?” The boy asked, sharply turning towards the girl who spoke briefly. “You must be a pony yourself if you actually know about Equestrians.”

"I was. I belong to this side of the Mirror now."

“Was? Why the past tense?” The boy asked. This girl, in his book, was hiding something.

"I left because I was too blinded by the promise of power that the Elements presented and made a life for myself here by accident. Could you back up three steps?" The boy complied, but noticed something in her speech that was offsetting. Ignoring it, he pressed a new question.

“You know… I’m looking for someone. Did anyone named Max come by here recently?”

Sunset ignored him for a moment, running around the statue a few times before saying, "Yeah. She told me what happened to my previous mentor. You might be able to find her making Pinkie's cake with Celestia."

“Alright, and where’s that at?”

She sighed and finally looked at him again. "Look, I'm usually up for talking but right now I just want to be alone for a little."

“Alright. Guess I need to start looking for my Fiance on my own then. Thanks!” With that, the boy went off.

“Well that was… Interesting…” Aurora mumbled.

"She did just learn that her adoptive mother died a few months back," a quiet voice said. Lance looked towards where it came from and came face-to-breast with a yellow-skinned person. "Oh! Oh my, I'm so sorry!"

“It’s okay, miss. I was… distracted by something.” Lance replied, looking at Aurora before whispering to her. “Please wait til we’re out in the clear before distracting me. Just for next time.”

There was a groan, and a sigh, but the filly stayed quiet. “Thank you.” He replied with a small smile.

The girl Lance ran into backed away a step, placing her hands on top of her breasts. "Oh I know! They're so distracting and huge."

“I wasn’t talking about that… I was in the middle of a facetime phone call when I bumped into you.” Lance lied, hopefully to make the conversation less awkward. Aurora made a sound like the ending of a call. “Can I ask you something though Miss……?”

"Oh, you must be a transfer student. I'm Fluttershy.”

“Okay, Fluttershy,” The Adept made the mental note in his head. “I was looking for someone I know and last I heard, they were making some kind of cake. Is there any nearby bakeries around?”

"Yes. You're looking for the other new transfer student, Maxine?"

“Wait a second, you know her?” The teen asked, a bit surprised by the revelation.

Fluttershy nodded and motioned for him to follow and whispered, "She told my friends and I that she's from a different universe and to watch for someone coming through the statue. Might be something very important for her."

“I see. Do you believe this at all?” He asked, trying to hear her personal opinion as he followed her.

"Oh yes, Vice-principal Celestia said she went through the Mirror with her."

“I see… Would you believe that I’m here under similar circumstances?” Lance how asked.

"You did come from the statue, right?"

“Yes I did, but that was after I had to come to Max’s world on my own. I was a bit worried for her after I found out that she and I had lost contact with one another for a month.” Lance replied. “Yeah… our relationship is complicated.”

"I would think so, what with you two living in separate universes."

“Well, we’re Displaced. But after some time, we formed a gateway between our worlds like the one you said at the statue. However, mine is different from hers. And the fact that we’re raising four kids…”

She stopped next to a red convertible that looked suspiciously like a Ferrari. "Oh my! You already have kids?”

“They’re adopted. Well, two of them are. The other two were from her relationship with Celestia before she… passed away.” Lance sighed. “Right now though, I would like to find her first before I get into details. I could make it easy on myself, but it would cause a scene if I did try to do it.”

Lance’s wrist started vibrating a bit.

“Hang on a second… Something wrong, Aurora?”

“I’m bored…” Aurora whispered, “And could you stop talking about how babies are made? My daddy already gave me the talk...”

“I never even-. For the love of-. I honestly didn’t think talking about raising children would lead to this. Hang on a second…” Lance pressed a few keys, hoping that would do something. To Aurora, two folders popped up. One for Music and one for games. “You think this could keep you occupied for a while?”

“Yep!” The filly beamed.

Fluttershy giggled and said, "Trying to keep an AI occupied?"

“Less of an AI and more of a pony stuck in her soul form. Maybe Aurora can explain it better.” Lance then turned the screen around to where Aurora was facing Fluttershy. She smiled, and waved. Her digital self was human with pale blue skin.

“I had an ability to send my soul out of my body to protect my physical form from harm. When that failed, I believe my powers tried to compensate for that and ended up disconnecting from my body. I’m pretty much a ghost…”

“She can also possess inanimate objects, but for right now, I think I’ll have her stay in here.” Lance said. “Now, we were on our way to Max?”

"Right" Fluttershy pulled out her keys and unlocked the car they were standing next to. "I'll drive us to Sugarcube Corner."

“Thanks. It’s been awhile since I got in a car-.” The moment the car turned on, Lance didn’t notice a mischievous grin on Aurora’s face.

The soul jumped out of his bracer and flew into the radio, “This is awesome!” She said.

A song came on the radio with the fillies giggling, “Mommy would LOVE this!”

“DANGIT Aurora!” The Adept facepalmed himself. He honestly didn’t think that the filly would try to sabotage the first piece of technology she sees. But now, it just made the current situation really…… awkward.

“What’s this?” The filly changed the radio, and a worse song came on.

“What is happening?” Fluttershy asked.

“Aurora is messing with the radio.”

The music changed again, “I like this one!” Aurora said giggling madly.

The Adept sighed. He was thankful that the drive wasn’t that long. He wasn’t thankful that Aurora was also messing with the volume controls.

“Oh, this one’s from one of my favorite movies!” Aurora changed it again. The filly started singing along, getting every lyric right.

By the time they finally reached Sugarcube corner, Lance was thankful that the car ride from hell was over. The only catch was that Aurora was continuing to sing to herself even after the car had shut off.

Once she finished, she jumped back into the bracer, sighing happily. “Daddy used to watch Willy Wonka with Entropy, Scootaloo and me… He used to watch a lot with us…”

“I see. I’m guessing you miss those times?”

“Yeah…” Aurora sighed. “But it isn’t going to happen. I’ve been gone for too long and daddy’s gone…”

“We’ll bring him back… I promise.” Lance told the filly before turning around. He was surprised by the sheer size of the bakery and also how it stood out. “So, this must be Sugarcube Corner?”

"Yes, but Pinkie isn't here since she went to visit her family yesterday. They're going to be here in two hours," Fluttershy said as she walked over to the door.

“Two hours? Something makes me think that if you’re waiting for them to show up here in two hours, I would think it’s to surprise her. Is there some sort of special occasion I don’t know about?”

"Today is her birthday. Every year she visits her family the day before and they all come here for the party. Usually Mr. and Mrs. Cake plan the party, but with Mrs. Cake about to give birth they asked us girls to help."

Hearing about Mrs. Cake made Lance think of Max and their child that was on the way, but he saved that thought for later. “How old is Pinkie turning?”

"Twenty-one. She said they would be two hours late so we're using the time to make an extra large cake."

“Hope nobody puts alcohol in any of the food. Something tells me that Max might try something like that.” Lance thought to himself. He walked towards the door, waiting for Fluttershy to open it. Being respectful as the custom was “ladies first”.

Fluttershy knocked on the door once then paused and knocked four more times. Two knocks were heard from the other side of the door and it opened, revealing a woman that reminded Lance of Rarity.

"Fluttershy, darling.... Who is this?" She said, looking at Lance.

“Madam, I’m Lance. Lance Walker. I was told by Fluttershy that a friend of mine was here. Her name is Maxine I believe?” The Adept said his words carefully, to show respect to the individual he was talking too.

"Ah yes, she's in the kitchen helping with the cake, though I suspect she's only helping by putting some sort of homemade concoction in the frosting."

“Coco- what?” Spirit whispered in confusion.

“She means mixture.” Lance whispered back. He personally made a mental note that he needed to download a thesaurus so Aurora could understand certain words and phrases. He also had a personal theory of what exactly she put in that mix given a certain drink that Lucky was asking about last time he saw her. Before the War of Shadows of course. “Should we come in?”

Rarity moved out of the way saying, "Yes, of course. Even though her... drink will make the cake look divine, I think you should stop her from sneaking it into the batter."

“Can’t make any promises, but I’ll try my best. She is quite the mischievous one.” Lance said, looking around and seeing an area labeled “Authorized Personnel Only” that was being held up by a broom. The Adept thought that this would lead to where they were baking the cake, so carefully, he knocked on the door. Out of courtesy.

“Should I go?” Aurora asked quickly.

“I can put my communicator on sleep mode and you should be okay. Feel free to have fun in there for a while. I’ll get back to you in a while, okay?”

“Okay, but if you need me, just press a couple buttons with the communicator on. Even though there’s nothing I could do…”

“Just chill out and have fun.” Lance told her, redirecting his attention towards the sound of movement by the door.

"Yeah, Rares?" A guy's voice said right before the door opened to reveal a guy that looked like Max. "What's...."

“Um… I’m looking for Max-?” Lance nervously tried to ask. However, what happened next though threw him completely off guard.

The guy lunged forward and kissed him, almost knocking them to the floor. Lance personally struggled to back up a minute, not knowing who or what the hell this guy was thinking. “Okay, what the hell? I ask a question and then I get that? Who are you even?”

The guy chuckled and cleared his throat before using Max's voice to say, "I told you I was a guy originally, but you didn't believe me."

“Holy sh*t… Oh god, I’ve missed you.” Lance said back. “I’m sorry I’ve been gone for so long. It was only a couple of days back where I’m from, until Lucky told me that it was a month.” He walked into the room, closing the door behind him. “We have got a LOT of catching up to do.”

"Not much to say on my end. Sat on my throne for a few hours every night, walked around, spent time with the foals, had sex with your cousin, beat the sh*t out of the messenger, oh! I even started work on trying to make fighter jets."

“Wait, you did it with Sun? Okay, I honestly didn’t expect that the open relationship we have was THAT open.” Lance replied, thinking to himself. “And the messenger… Would that be Time Spinner? He told me about his experience with you when you two met.”

"Yeah... I kinda went off on him for hitting you over the head with a frying pan.”

“Right… did he happen to tell you that where I’m from, he was the founder of the power ponies? Before getting himself banished?”

Max pulled a flask from his bag and poured part of it into a bowl of batter. "Nope, don't remember him saying something like that."

“Well, he is and-. Wait… Is that what I think it is? Moonshine? You really need to not try to get anyone drunk today.” Lance said, before finding a way to switch the topic. “So… about Sun… How was he?”

"Not as hopelessly naive as you were, but still a virgin.”

“I didn’t mean that… Plus, it might not be best to talk about that right now. Especially with Aurora.”

Max looked at him for a moment before shrugging. "Well, if I can adopt a foal without you knowing, so can you. Besides, this isn't Moonshine. It's a version that is super concentrated and can get anyone drunk."

“Yeah… about that… Aurora isn’t really a foal… I’ll let you see for yourself.” Unlocking his communicator, he pressed a few buttons. “Aurora, can you come out for a minute? I would like you to talk to Max.”

The humanized girl faded out of Lance’s bracer making herself known. She landed her feet on the floor, and looked shily at Max. “H-hi…”

A soft smile made its way onto Max's face as he knelt down. "Hello there, Aurora, I'm Max." He leaned in a little and stage whispered, "Don't worry, I'm the fun parent."

Aurora giggled, “N-nice to meet you… I… I just don’t do well meeting new people. I’m used to daddy and my sisters, but they’re gone for now. Lance is being nice enough to take care of me until they return…”

"Well, until they do you may consider us your family. Ah, Lance and I were going to talk about adding your daddy to our family, but he already knows what I would say, so think of us as your aunt and uncle."

Aurora smiled brightly, “Thanks! It means a lot to me! I’d hug you, but…” She fazed her hand through Lance, who shivered.

"Hmmm.... I think we could find a way around that. I'll have to ask Sol and Mun if it's possible, but if it is...." He held his hand over the ghost's head and placed it in her hair, not shivering at the contact. "You might have a body again."

Spirit squealed and ran in place, passing through the floor with a smile that rivaled Pinkie’s. “Really!? You’d do that!?”

"It'll be the least we could do for missing our niece's birthdays. Not even thinking of the Hearths Warmings we missed," Max said, smiling almost as much as the filly.

“Thanks!” She started trying to calm down, “I’ve missed a lot myself! Like my eighth birthday and Hearths Warming, and… Well, everything!” She started rubbing the scar on her throat, “This is also annoying…”

"Like I said, we have to ask Sol and Mun if it's even possible. If it is, who knows how long it'll take to make a complete body and if you'll be able to use magic? I'm not saying you shouldn't hope that everything goes smoothly, but you should be aware that there's a big chance that it might not work."

“Hey, if it doesn’t work, I’ve got an eternity to find other ways, and a multiverse I can use to my advantage. But this is more than I could have hoped for!” Aurora's smile grew, “I guess I’ll go to the car and play some music. Something tells me this is one of those adult party’s aunt Zapp used to have.”

"You don't have to try to use the multiverse. If they say it isn't possible, we can just give you a mechanical body," Max said as he stood up. "Personally I'd rather not, but it would be preferable to let you move on your own."

“Well… Thanks again! I’ll be back in two hours so you guys can ‘party hard’ as dad used to say.” She turned and faded through the wall.

"She is so cute!" Max turned to Lance, grabbing his hands. "I don't care what you say, she's not staying in your equipment. She's to get something that lets her move on her own."

“Hopefully, we will have something for her. But for right now, it’s the best we got.” Lance told him. “Plus, her powers allow her to have control over inanimate objects. I would try to find a body for her, but I wanted to make sure you were okay first. Not to mention that I had a odd theory on what could be possible… you heard of Robocop?”

Max scoffed, "Who hasn't heard of that nutjob and his 'army' of a single working 'ED-209'?"

“Well, I don’t want anything like that. A mechanical body may have numerous glitches and problems… I think I may know someone that could help in that regard though. Her name is Blood Cleaver. She specializes in talking to spirits and I believe she could also raise the dead. If I find Aurora’s old body, then maybe she could find a way for her body and soul to be reconnected again. I just need to find her token back in my room.” Lance said, recalling when she helped summon Milano Mash’s spirit to help him with the case of the ghoul that killed her unintentionally.

"Yeah, I'd rather not go digging up graveyards. And you aren't going to do it without me."

“We won’t need to. All she needs is the place where Aurora died and she’ll take care of the rest. But enough about that. Now that we don’t need to worry about Aurora…… Let’s return to the original topic.” Lance spoke, reminding Max of the topic involving Sun. “Why did he come to visit anyways? It wasn’t just for fun now, was it?”

Max held up his hands and said, "He tried to summon me for something, but I pulled back and he landed on me. I don't know what he was going to do but… Well, I-"

“Well, I did ask for him to be the best man. Maybe he was wanting to get to know you a little more and what not?” Lance suggested. “Now he probably got to know you a LOT more since you slept with him.”

Max's eyes narrowed and he smirked. "Is that a bit of jealousy I hear?"

“Nah. I’m just saying that he’s a lucky man… He didn’t give you any trouble now did he? Given the fact that he’s a monkey, I thought he might’ve pulled a few tricks on you.”

"No, but Sol had fun teasing him with bananas. All he did was give me his.”

“Right… Your tone says otherwise. Did he tease you?” Lance wondered, asking Max.

"Only with his tail."

Lance twitched a little, erasing the thought of that from his mind. “What about you though? He sounded like he enjoyed your company. Did you enjoy his? I mean, I was gone and I didn’t want to think that I was making you wait so long for me to come back.”

"He visited the same night I heard that you wouldn't be able to come back for a few days and went back the next night. I'm thinking about limiting how often I sleep with others and wearing more modest clothes because of our fillies."

“That’s… new. What made you start thinking that?” The Adept asked.

"Well, for one I called your name instead of Sun's. And for another... I found out how much of my closet was full of role play clothes." That caught Lance off guard. A lot. But he was alright with it. They were being honest with one another and that was something.

“Maybe we’ll talk to Rarity when we get back and help prepare some “Work clothes” for you for during the day-.”

“Someone called my name?” A certain purple haired girl asked as she was looking at the two of them. “How’s everything going back here, darlings?”

“Pretty well,” Lance replied before turning to Max. “Would you agree?”

"Yep, just need to get the batter in the oven," Max said, stirring the bowl in front of him. "You heard your name because Lance is a bit behind."

“Behind? I’m sorry darling, but I’m confused.”

Lance sighed, before looking back at Rarity. “Back in Equestria, Max is a girl and is also my Fiance. We’re getting married in a couple of months. I’ve been gone for a while so she was catching me up to speed on current events.”

"Yes, she explained this when we met."

"Anyways," Max interrupted. "I didn't have a lot of modest outfits so Lance thought I could ask the you from my universe to make more for me, but I already asked Coco to instead." Lance himself kept himself occupied for a short while, looking over all of the treats that were made while Max and Rarity were conversating. "Celestia!" Max groaned. "Now we have to make the base again."

Lance looked over where Max was and chuckled, covering his mouth and trying not to laugh at the sight of Celestia laying on an already frosted cake the size of a bed, snoring away. He chuckled. “Couldn’t resist now, could she?”

"And I put most of the super moonshine in that. I guess we won't be seeing Rainbow kissing Pinkie tonight. I know Fluttershy's gonna get lucky with Big Mac no matter what," Max sighed. "Well, maybe I can put a whole shot in a cupcake and give it to Rainbow. Assuming I even have that much."

“Yeah, they’ll be lucky. That’s for sure. I honestly don’t think I can get buzzed even if I tried.” Lance replied.

"You're- you want to get everyone drunk?" Rarity asked, before getting a thoughtful look. "Well, we are all older than twenty-one and we haven't had a good party yet."

“That’s not the point. I’m an Adept. To put it in simple terms, because of my rapid healing, alcohol can’t affect me.” What Lance said reminded Max of the first Captain America film, when he tried drinking his sorrows away, only for it to not work.

"Well... I do have some Dragon's Blood over in my secret stash leftover from when Kat visited last time. It can get anything drunk guaranteed."

“Right…” To try it out, Max took an eyedropper and filled it halfway, pouring it into a thimble. He tried it briefly and drank the whole shot in one intake. “Okay, I’m buzzed…… and now it’s gone.”

"That's because I didn't want you too buzzed. I helped you get rid of it from your system but let you feel it some. Plus, you're under age."

“Only seventeen-. Hey, is it just me or is Celestia taking her shirt off?” Lance pointed towards where she was, as her shirt dropped to the floor. “Maybe we should close the door?”

"... Well, at least we have a great view since she doesn't have a bra," Max said as he closed the door.

“And that’s another image to remove from my mind.” The Adept muttered, looking towards the front of the store. “Oh hey, we got some new arrivals. But I think they might be a little too young for this party.”

"Why do you say that?" Max turned to look at the door and the three girls. "Oh."

“Two words. Sweetie Belle.”

"No, they aren't going to come to the party if there's going to be alcohol," Rarity said, heading for them. Lance happened to notice something though. One thing that was surprising to him. “Hey Max, you and Twilight were looking for the crown right?”

"Yeah we found it but it ended up going down a storm drain when she accidentally dropped it," Max said. "Why are they covered in leaves and trash?"

“Look in Sweetie Belles hands.” Lance pointed out. “Something tells me that she wanted to make it up to you, so they went chasing after it. Because she’s holding the crown right now.”

"They weren't any where near us when it was lost though." Max walked over to the three and knelt down. "You found this for us?"

"Well, I recognized it from Rarity talking about it and seeing it in the case in the school. We tried returning it to Principal Luna, but she said to bring it here," Sweetie Belle said, holding out the crown. “We also wanted to drop off out present for Pinkie Pie… Where is she?”

"She'll be here in an hour and a half and I need to get back to making the cake."

"We'll help!" The three girls said at the same time.

Max jumped and shouted, "Run for your lives!" He tried running away, but ran into the wall next to the front door.

All Lance did was stop them before they come into the back. “It’s alright girls. We got it… plus… It’s kind of an… adult cake. We’ll tell you when you're older.”

“Aww…”

"Er... yes, it isn't something for girls your age to see," Rarity said as she covered the window on the door to the back.

Max peeled himself off the wall, looking at Lance. "I just had a wonderful idea. We build the cake around Celestia! It'll save time, and give Pinkie a big surprise when she pops out."

“That… might work. But you might want to make sure that she’s… well… you know… ready beforehand.” Lance implied.

"She's already ready, all we need to do is build the cake around her. And make sure she doesn't eat it all."

“Or that anything else happens. Should I help some of the other girls get the decorations ready?” Lance asked, pointing out Fluttershy having some trouble with some streamers by the door and Rainbow getting herself tangled up in wires for the lighting. Max then chuckled, asking for him to do him a favor and to check on Celestia so that they can prepare the cake.

Something told him though that this party might get a bit out of control thanks to Max’s secret ingredient.

A few hours later…

Aurora was bored to simply put it. Out of her mind bored. She was waiting around for the last few hours, waiting on somepony to come out and for the party that was going on inside to end. However, she was really surprised to see Lance walk on out and join her in the car.

“Miss me?”

The soul nodded, “I quit the radio half an hour ago… Music can only do so much.”

She faded out of the stereo and into Lance’s bracer, “It is good to listen to new music though. How’d the party go?”

“Ehh, It’s not my kind of thing. I had some fun, but now, it’s just getting a little too crazy for me.” The Adept replied, nudging the screen with his finger. “So I came out here and thought I could spend some time with you while I wait on Max. Wanna watch a movie?”

“Sure! What movie? I’ve been downloading everything that looked interesting…” Said Aurora, “Did you know that Disney bought Star Wars and are making a new movie?”

“I actually heard about that before getting Displaced. I remember hearing that J.J. Abrams, the Director of Star Trek Into Darkness was working on it. Doesn’t that seem odd that the Star Trek director is working on Star Wars?”

Aurora was quiet a moment, then, “Weird… I always thought Star Wars and Star Trek were rivals, trying to outwit each other. I guess that’s just the fan bases…”

“Maybe… Speaking of Disney, are you interested in seeing Big Hero 6?” Lance asked.

“Um, maybe. I saw it and did a search on wiki and saw it was a Marvel comic.”

“Disney owns Marvel. It’s a collaboration. Speaking of which, back home in Sun Fransokyo, we actually have a real BAYMAX.”

“BAYMAX? That marshmallow guy?”

“Yup. Someone got Displaced as Hiro Hamada and with it, we have BAYMAX. He hugged my breezie partner like it was no tomorrow.” Lance smirked. “Still though, if you want too, we can watch it. Unless you wanted to watch the original Star Wars Trilogy like you said you were going to do.”

“Never said I was going to watch those, I just said I looked Star Wars up. I’d love to watch Big Hero 6 with you!” She smiled. “Give me a second to set it up. Once that’s done, you and me will watch it on the ‘big screen’... You’ll see…”

After she said that, it took half a minute of silence until Aurora was done. “Okay, just sit back and get comfy.”

Lance’s vision went black, and he woke up in a large movie theater. Sitting next to him was the human form of Aurora Spirit, smiling at him with a bag of popcorn in one hand, a large soda in the other, and another soda levitating in a light blue aura.

“Popcorn?” She asked.

“Sure.” He replied, smiling. “I’m quite surprised. How did you get me here?”

“I didn’t ‘get’ you here. You’re still in the car. Well, sort of. Daddy used to mess with my powers and adapt them with upgrades. He gave me one upgrade he called ‘Soul Void’ which let’s me mold another realm he called the Northern Lights. It’s like a world for souls to hang out, and I can manipulate it and whoever I want as long as long as both of us are in here. It’s like a dreamland. And anything you eat and drink fills your soul. You can’t die, or get hurt.” Aurora explained, “I pulled your soul in here. Me and daddy used to hang out here before he got really busy.”

“So my soul is here, but my body is… back in the car? Okay then…” The Adept took in the scenery as he looked back at Aurora. “Well, let’s pay attention to when Max gets back. I’m sure he’ll think I’ve been sleeping the whole time.”

“Don’t worry, daddy made it so I can sense what happens outside those who I bring here. Aunt Twilight always got annoyed when he didn’t wake up after hours of yelling at him.” She giggled, “And when I was called in school. I got in so much trouble…”

“Heh… I can tell.” He replied. he realized something though the moment he reached over to grab some popcorn. And that was… he could actually feel Aurora. She wasn’t transparent or a ghost at all this time, but an actual person. It happened when he accidently bumped her arm when reaching over. “Whoa… That… was new.”

“What?” Aurora asked. “What’s new?”

“Remember when in the real world I couldn’t touch you?” The Adept asked.

“Oh… Oh, I get it. We’re both souls, so of course you can touch me. You didn’t expect me to just pass through your soul, did you?” Aurora giggled. “I’ll go set up the movie. Find a seat you like. And don’t pick the front, I hate having to look up all the time.”

“So do I. Hey, would you be okay if I sit with you?”

“Of course! Just gimme a sec while I get everything else setup. I forgot to put the movie in the player like I was supposed to do.” She disappeared, and Lance guessed she went to the projector room.

Lance took his seat in the middle, and commercials started playing. Aurora reappeared next to him, the popcorn back in her hands.

“I like watching these before I watch a newer movie I’ve never seen. It makes me feel like it just came out.” She blushed in embarrassment. “There’ll be two more after this one. We can talk until it starts, and no phones during it. I like to make it as authentic as possible.”

When the movie started, Aurora’s attentions were only on it. She seemed enraptured in it, thrilled even. It was clear that she missed doing this, even if she’d probably done it before her… death. Lance saw this as she sat down next to him, but the next thing she did had him quite… surprised to say the least.

The armrests that separated them disappeared, and she leaned into his chest to get comfortable. He looked down to see her holding onto him, hugging him no less. But he didn’t mind. In fact, he allowed for her to come in closer if she wanted too. She did, and they both enjoy’d the movie together. All the way to the ending credits.

End Strike 23

Author's Note

One MASSIVE chapter for you guys, just because you're awesome. Thank you Bronyparasite and Moon_Fire for being a part of it.

This chapter, we now dive more into the origins of the Power Ponies and some of the crews original members. BP and I have been working on a HUGE document of all the information relevant to this world and all the important individuals, places and groups. We got a lot in store for you and I can't wait to present to you guys the world and universe the two of us have created.

Also, Lance's current outfit (Since his old one is in the wash) is a sleeveless jacket that was based on Loki from Bayonetta 2. Just the color white.

Strike 24- Centrail City

Author's Note

New Chapter, New Allies, New Enemies.

Again, thank you Bronyparasite for the help with this chapter again.

Strike 24- Centrail City

When Lightning Strikes- Centrail City

Parking Lot (Max’s domain)

When Lance woke up, it was about half an hour until sunrise and Aurora was currently asleep, tired out from when they were watching Big Hero Six the other night. Getting out of the car, he soon stepped inside Sugarcube Corner to find all the girls passed out on the floor. Tiptoeing through them, he soon began to hear a strange sound. It sounded like someone was crying. Slowly, he opened up a door that was hiding the person who was shedding tears. To his complete surprise, it was someone that he knew.

“Max?” He said, rushing over and placing his hand on my shoulder. “Max?! My god, what happened!? Are you okay?” He turned to look towards me, jerking at the touch of the Adept’s hand to his shoulder and stumbled a little as he rose to his feet, his eyes expressing fear.

“N-no, please, stay away,” He murmured, backing up towards the door in the back of the room. Now Lance was beginning to worry. What the hell exactly happened in the few hours that he was with Aurora? The proud displaced that he was going to marry was now a nervous train wreck.

“Max, What’s wrong? Please, talk to me!”

“I-I don’t know, I just- I….” Lance then, trying his best to comfort Max, stepped closer and embraced him in a hug. To the Azure Striker, he was trying his best to calm down Max. He then tried asking her what happened, but then realized that the two of them probably needed someplace private for them in order to talk. Moving to the door in the back of the room, he opened it and the two of them were now outside in an alleyway by Sugarcube Corner.

“Now that we have some space, what’s gotten you so scared? The Max I know is brave regardless of what she’s facing.” Max himself just shook his head, throwing up in his hands. Lance himself got a paper towel and handed it to him. “Max? Talk to me please. You’re scaring me.”

It was then that he got close and whispered to the Adept. “I... raped her. I-I couldn’t do anything but watch.”

“W-what are you talking about?” Lance asked, unsure of what Max was rambling on about. “Did someone possess you?”

“I-I don’t know, I couldn’t stop thinking of you and Celestia or-or Sephiroth herself.... I-.... I tried my hardest to keep her out of my lust, but-....”

“But what?” He asked, desperate for Max to try to come to his senses. “Please Max, I’m here for you. Just don’t give out on me now.” Trying his best to comfort him, he soon got down on his knees and spoke to Max softly as he tried to overcome what was inside his head. “We can go home if you want. I can just leave a note for Twilight and we can have a doctor help you.”

All he heard from Max was some rambling that were only bits and pieces of a story that Lance couldn’t put together. The Adept put Max’s arm over his shoulders, helping him walk all the way back to the mirror portal that was at the base of the statue that was at Canterlot High, leaving a note for when the Alicorn Princess would eventually return to the statue.

Once they re-emerged from the portal back in Max’s home world, the Adept immediately called Sol and Mun. Both Zenith’s responded quickly, offering their assistance in any way they could. The Adept cleared his throat, noticing Max’s tired eyes as he looked back at the two of them. “Sol, help get Max to her room. Mun, get a doctor. Something’s wrong with her and she needs help right now!”

Seconds after he said that, Max slipped from the Adept’s grip, falling to the floor. Unconscious. Lance was now on high alert as he got down to the floor by Max’s side. “Max? Max?! MAAAAXXX!!!!”

A few hours later…

“Matterhorn, I need a little more time. I’m sorry, but some things have cropped up recently and now Max is in a coma.” The Adept was talking to his world’s Twilight by the com-links of his wrist communicator and now was when he could see the shock on her face when she heard about Max’s current condition.

“Oh my goddess, what happened?!”

“I don’t know, but I’m trying my best in order to help. How long has it been since I’ve left?” He asked, trying to put together all the important pieces of information that he needed in order to process the current situation.

“You’ve left only eight hours ago. In that timeframe, Cody and Humdrum are trying to crack the firewall on the USB that Cody acquired at the Police Department, Zapp and Mistress Marevelous are cleaning up some of the crime in the east sector of the city and Pinkie is still recovering from her accident earlier.”

“Well, that’s different from here. It’s almost been twelve hours in Max’s world and she hasn’t woken up yet.” The Azure Striker sighed. “I’m going to send Aurora over to your end real fast. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

“Will do.” She replied as Lance ended the call. Closing the screen that appeared on his wrist, he turned to see Lucky trotting towards him. He kneeled down to get to the colts level, noticing the expression of worry on his face. The rest of the fillies soon came over to where he was, with Rainbow sitting in his lap.

“Is mom going to be okay?” One of them asked.

“I hope so, Lucky,” The Adept replied honestly. “I’m just as worried about your mother as you are.” Soon, after a little bit, The Adept got up, letting Spike be able to take them somewhere and get their mind off of things by playing a board game or reading some comics. For him though, he just quietly entered Max’s room, softly closing the door and taking off his jacket. Max was stretched out on the queen sized bed that was in the back of the room, a white blanket covering her as Lance got closer and sat down on the bed. He still felt in the dark about what exactly happened to Max. How was he suppose to help his wife if he didn’t know what had occurred?

Then, he remembered something. An ability he had. He used it before with Button Mash in order to find out about what happened to his mother. Could that same ability work here somehow? Closing his eyes, he placed the first two fingers of his right hand on his forehead and took a deep breath.

“Hey Max. I think it would be best if you head home soon.”

“Maybe. I just need to get you the… What was I looking for again?”

“Actually sandals aren’t that important. Why don’t you return to your universe, like right now? You were away for almost a full day and we still don’t know if there is a temporal difference between our universes.”

“I... don’t know how. I know there’s... something we’re supposed to do... Ugh, I need someone to **** me.”

“Well that certainly can’t be me. So what about this thing we need to do to send you back?”

“I... can’t… Please, help me.”

“Max! What’s wrong?! Talk to me!”

“I-I... Too long. Too much.”

When Lance snapped back to reality, he had witnessed the reason why Max was freaking out earlier. He couldn’t believe it and originally thought that it was some sort of sick trick. But he then had to accept the fact that this wasn’t a trick. This was real. And Max was scared to death over what she had done. The Adept soon leaned back, trying to think clearly about everything that had just happened. Until he felt some motion on the bed and saw Max’s head move along with the rest of her body.

“Max?” He said, thinking that she was awake and could hear him. When she lifted her head and saw him, tears began to flood her face like the Hoover Dam had just given way. Crying into his undershirt as she released her sadness. All Lance did was hug her close to him, trying to comfort her after the nightmare that she had just been through. A few hours had soon passed until she spoke again. This time, in a whisper.

“You should go see if your universe needs you.”

All Lance did was shake his head a little and looked back at her, hugging her to try and express comfort. “They can wait a bit. I wanted to make sure you were okay first.”

The next part for him was hard to say. “You seemed to be in some sort of nightmare. Are you okay?”

“I’m... f-fine.” She told Lance. “You have responsibilities over there.”

“And one of my responsibilities is to take care of my family. I already talked to my Twilight; explaining what happened and she told me that it’s only been a couple hours since I left. She wanted me to make sure you were okay first above all else. I even let Aurora go back home. That way, I can help you.”

Max took a couple of moments to process this, but soon, she spoke again. “I-I just need to wait until I summon Seph. I.... I just hope she forgives me.”

“I understand that… I saw everything…” Before Max could interject, Lance turned to her and began to explain again. “My lightning powers allow me to see what someone else has seen based on the neuro-electricity in your brain. I’m sorry, but I just needed to know why you were so distressed. I wanted to do everything I can to help and the only way I would know is if I saw what happened.”

Max just shook her head, rubbing snot onto his shirt accidently, which he cleaned up using a wipe. “I don’t mind. I wasn’t in a good state to explain anything. Please, may I be alone for a while?”

Nodding his head, Lance replied as he put his jacket back on, “I can do so. I adjusted my communicator to let Sol know me if there are any changes that I should be aware of. Otherwise then that, I’m good to go. Got something to deal with on my end anyways.”

He saw Max smile, rolling over and adjusting the blanket that was over her as he came over and kissed her on the cheek, resting his hand on her shoulder. “I love you.”

“Love you too.” He heard her reply softly as Lance slowly walked to the door. Upon reaching there though, the Adept turned back around to look at her one last time. Noticing the pistol that he had given her when they first met, he picked it up and softly set it down by her pillowcase.

“Stay safe.” He muttered as he quietly left the room. Slowly walking back towards the portal that connected with his world, he sighed a little as he stepped back through the gate. Praying for Max’s safety.

As he came back though, he found Twilight and the girls in the main section of the base along with Cody and Humdrum. “Ah Lance, welcome back. You’ve arrived just in time.”

“Just in time for what exactly?” He then heard a beeping from his wrist as he pulled up a screen to see Aurora again.

“Humdrum and your friend just cracked the security code on the USB. We’ve retrieved the data that it tried to erase. I’ll let Aunt Twilight and the others explain.” She stated, turning his attention back towards the others.

“Everypony,” Cody spoke first, catching their attention. “We’ve uncovered some data from this flash drive that may surprise you. Recently, some prisoners from the Zero Zone have been moved from their prison cells. After some digging, Humdrum and I found out that they, along with a series of other individuals have been assigned to a team that is codenamed “Task Force X”. But it doesn’t stop there. The real name of this group is known… as the Suicide Squad.”

The name caused everypony to gasp. “Why would they be called something so vicious!?” Rarity exclaimed.

“The group is composed of former criminals, assassins and other individuals that have had previous run ins with the law. Given their backgrounds, these candidates have been seen as “fully expendable” and are tasked with going on missions that others would deem as Suicidal,” Humdrum clarified for Rarity. “Furthermore, we have gotten some identities on who’s on the team that was previously from the Zero Zone and other members on the squad. Including the Griffon that attacked Pinkie.”

Pressing a few keys, Cody showed the first series of images that began to illuminate on the huge screen behind them. The first being an Ent while another one being a female Earth Pony. “From the Zero Zone, Treebark and Anarchy have been acquired for this task force and the possibilities of others joining are unknown with some villains being scheduled for rehabilitation.”

“Sorry for interjecting, but what exactly are they capable of?” Lance asked.

“To answer your question, Treebark is an Ent capable of manipulating nature, advanced healing, and producing toxic spores that can release massive clouds of poison gas,” Humdrum replied. “As for Anarchy, her powers are different. She has levitation, like more unicorns, but also has the power to manipulate paint, use it for camouflage and turn into paint.” The dragon motioned his talon and asked Cody to bring up another image. This one from the day before when Lance rescued Pinkie.

“Traffic cams in the area caught Anarchy working in league with these other individuals. Through data records, we have some information on Pinkie’s assailant.” The Hunter replied, putting up an image of a gryphon with a scar over one of his eyes.

“This is Deadeye. He is a master of multiple methods of combat and assassination and is named Deadeye because of the fact that he is blind in his left eye. The only thing that we got on him is that he has a healing factor that heals any injuries that he acquires in combat.”

Now though was when Lance interjected. “When I was there, I saw three of them. One of them being a human. Do you have any sort of information on him?”

Spike nodded, pulling up a camera image of the same incident with Pinkie, but from another angle. “This one is a strange case. Appleloosa PD records say that this individual is dubbed as “McCree” and that he was found seven years ago. He had a successful surgery to replace his left arm and a few weeks later, started taking up bounty hunting contracts. Which of course, in most of Equestria, is illegal.”

Seeing the face of the person though caused Lance’s eyes to widen. This can’t be right. There’s no way it could be. Then, he remembered something that Deadeye had said to him.

You must be the Azure Striker then. Who knew that the son of McCree has this kind of talent?

“Oh my god…”

“Is something wrong Lance?” Cody asked him. “You don’t look okay.”

“I’m fine… It’s just-.” Lance thought through what he had to say before speaking once again. “I figured out who he is.”

Everypony’s eyes now looked at him, confused. Lance sighed, clearing his throat. “When I found Pinkie, Deadeye told me something. He said “Who knew that the son of McCree has this kind of talent?” before escaping. Plus, I’ve only seen that face once before and that was before I thought he died because he stabbed himself in the left arm before killing himself.”

“Who?”

Lance took in a deep breath before expelling it. He needed a LOT of confidence in order to say the next two words that were on his mind. “... My father.”

A scratching sound emanated from Lance’s bracer, and Aurora was seen scratching her head, “What a coincidence. Commits suicide, and then joins a Suicide Squad…”

“Joined may be a bit of a stretch.” Applejack interjected. “If he’s been bounty hunting for seven years, then he would more likely have to be persuaded to join rather than just say “Sign me up”.”

“Applejack makes a good point.” Lance replied back to Aurora. “Still, what do you think about all of this right now?”

“I remember Anarchy, but Treebark was before I was adopted. As for your dad, I’ll help you get to the bottom of this!” the filly said with a brave face.

“That’s what I like to hear. But first, let’s let Humdrum and Cody finish talking before we jump the gun on anything.”

“Fine…” Aurora sighed.

“Anyways, our current objective is to focus on rounding up all the Sumeragi criminals before preparing to go up against an experienced team such as this one. You are dismissed.” As the rest of the ponies in the room left, Humdrum called out to Lance as he saw him walking towards the door. “Hold on, Lance. You have been tasked with a different assignment. Detective Whooves from the Powers Division requires your assistance.”

“My assistance?” Lance asked.

“Yes. Several reports have claimed suspicious activity in Centrail City, the city north of Maretropolis. He wants your help in trying to figure out what exactly is going on up there as well as check on the Cutie Mark Crusaders.”

Lance flinched for a minute, raising an eyebrow. “The what now?”

“They’re a team of heroes that comprise of our youngest members. We haven’t gotten any form of contact with them for the past few days, so we need you to try and re-establish contact while you’re up there.”

Lance raised an eyebrow. A few of the details that he had just heard had left him with some concerns. “How young exactly are we talking about?”

“Around my age and possibly lower.” Humdrum said specifically. “After Stopwatch’s demise, we decided to form a team of fillies and foals with special gifts in order to help comfort one of the remaining daughter of his that is alive. Scootaloo, or as her alias states it, Bioware. However, one thing to keep in mind is that the full extent of her powers is currently unknown.”

“So we have no clue what exactly she is capable of?”

“Simply put, yes.” Humdrum explained. “Still, she’ll probably be happy to see Aurora. Right now, the Detective and his partner, Derpy, are waiting for you at the police station. You might want to get a move on. He isn’t exactly a fan of people who are late.”

“So I get to see my sister? Woohoo!” Aurora yelled.

“Yeah, but like Pinkie, she doesn’t know that you’re alive. She’ll probably be shocked by that as well.” Lance told her as he walked out the door, pulling up the screen so he could talk to her. “Same might go with the Detective because the entire department thinks you’re… well… You know… gone.”

Upon hearing that, Aurora’s ears drooped down a little before standing back up as she looked at him. “Well, today is the day to prove otherwise. And I don’t think I’ve met Mr. Hooves.”

“What about his wife? Derpy Hooves?” Lance asked as they entered an elevator and pushed some buttons so they’ll go to the roof. From there, Lance was able to use Instant Transmission to the top of the police station.

“I met her once. Daddy used to take me and Scoots on playdates with her and Dinky before she and Mr. Hooves became higher ranks… I’ve been surfing the history of Maretropolis.”

“Interesting-.”

“Lance, who are you talking to?” The Azure Striker turned around, surprised to see that Derpy was standing there right behind him. The grey pegasus looked at the Adept in confusion, before noticing the screen on his wrist. “Are you calling somepony? I’m sorry if I-.”

“No he isn’t. I’m a new AI system given to Lance by a Displaced.” Aurora interrupted with a lie.

“Wait… Where have I heard that voice before…?” Derpy asked. “Why does it sound like… Wait a minute. Lance, why does your gizmo sound like a filly I know named Aurora?”

“Well… That’s the thing…” The Adept sighed, extending the screen and turning it around so he could show her. “It’s not that it sounds like her… it actually is her.”

Aurora sighed, “I was trying not to make a scene… Hello Mrs. Hooves! I’m back from the dead!”

Derpy’s eyes widened while looking at her. “A-aurora?! B-but how?! W-we saw you get killed by those mean crooks-!” Lance stopped her for a moment, taking a chance to explain everything shortly after her husband trotted on the rooftop to find his wife speaking about a filly he thought was dead. After some time though, the Adept was able to clear things up and explain how Aurora was stuck in her Soul form and sticking with Lance until they could find a body that she could call her own.

“I guess that’s everything… Why don’t you tell Mr. Lance what’s up… Ooohh, what’s this!?” Aurora said, “I’ll be checking this app out, but I’m still listening…”

“Right… So Detective, I was told that we needed to go to Centrail City?”

“Yeah. Up there, we need to help Chief Spitfire. Recently, they’ve been getting a string of incidents that have been unsolved and somehow is also confusing.”

The Adept raised an eyebrow. “Confusing as in what exactly?”

“Confusing as any evidence that is found refers back to some failed government projects that are over ten years old and have said to be decommissioned.” The Earth Pony replied. “She’s asking for our help given your track record of being able to solve certain cases. Specifically, the Ghoul Incident.”

“Ghoul?” Aurora asked, “What’s that?”

“One of the first cases I had to deal with. A girl was Displaced as a ghoul, which meant that she could only be able to feast on living flesh and couldn’t eat actual foods. As of now though, I last heard that she was cleaning up crime on the streets.” Lance explained.

“Right. Back to the original topic though,” Detective Whooves paused for a minute, handing a file to Lance. “The small details that we know on the projects are code names. We only found two of them. The first being “Marionette” and the second being “Doppel”, which we knew as a cloning operation that Stopwatch and the power ponies uncovered three years ago. How they are related, I don’t know, but the chief wants our help in getting to the bottom of this.”

Lance’s bracer vibrated, “Ugh, I remember Doppel… It was a cloning project that made abominations like Brokenwatch and Hybrid. They made both of my sisters. They call themselves Hollow Science or something…”

“You are quite right on that, Aurora. My only concern is how this “Marionette” relates to it. We should get going though,” Derpy replied, motioning them to a chariot that was by the rooftop. “We’re traveling by air. Better hang on.”

Lance groaned internally. The last time he remembered riding one of these was when he met Jason Hughes and his Ormagoden form knocked him out of the sky. Hopefully, this ride would not be like that one… That was, until five minutes after they took off.

“Oh! I downloaded a new song a bit ago!” And the musicstarted.

Twenty minutes later…

“You shut up!” Aurora yelled.

A Pegasus growled, “You little brat!”

“Dumb colt!”

“Spoiled filly!”

“Both of you KNOCK IT OFF!!!” Lance told them. They had just arrived in Centrail City and things would’ve gone smoothly… If Aurora didn’t pick a fight with the Pegasus pulling the chariot. “Sorry sir, my friend at times can be quite… defensive about certain subjects.” With that, Lance added a small extra amount of bits to the normal fair that an escort was given. “Here, for your troubles.”

“But he called me unwell! Calling me that just because I played Matchbox 20’s 'Unwell' five times.” Aurora whined.

“Yeah, but you need to be able to respect other people's likes and dislikes. Which includes songs. I don’t think anyone other than you would like to listen to the same song over and over again.” He pointed out. “Maybe there’s a way to get you some headphones so you can listen to yourself or something.”

The filly spirit sighed, “Sorry…”

“I’m not mad,” He assured her as he followed Derpy and Detective Whooves to the front of the station.. “Let’s make sure that doesn’t happen again. We’re about to meet the chief.”

“Understood…” Aurora replied. As they entered inside the room, the “chief” noticed them and soon zipped to the front of the room, leaving small puffs of smoke behind from her tail.

“I’m so glad all of you can make it. I hope that the flight over wasn’t that much… troubling for you now… was it?”

Aurora groaned a bit, but tried to keep quiet. Soon though, the Chief mentioned something that caught her attention. “I was wondering because my assistant Soarin just told me about an argument that he got into with a ghost like filly on a computer screen.”

The screen on Lance’s bracer went black and silent.

“Yeah… Aurora can be a bit… offended at times.” Lance sighed.

“Aurora? You mean Stopwatch’s daughter? I thought she was dead.” The Mare replied, unaware of the current circumstances.

“Right… About that… It’s not quite that easy to explain.”

“Why don’t we talk about it in my office?” The Pegasus offered. All three of them nodded, soon following the Chief to her office as she closed the door. “Now, as you were saying?”

“I’d like to keep the ponies who know about my existence to be as few as possible. I’m not sure if my life would bring the meanies back.” Aurora’s voice echoed in Lance’s head.

“It’ll be fine,” He told her mentally. “Plus, if they try to get to you, they’ll have to go through me first.”

“It’s not me I’m worried about…”

“Is it your sister?” Lance then asked.

“Her, and all of my friends. Daddy did a big blow to them, and if they think they didn’t get their revenge…”

“Well, we can’t just lie to Spitfire now. But we can tell her not to tell Scootaloo until we personally encounter her. Not only that, but I could ask her to make sure that whatever is said in this room… Stays in this room.” Lance told her, sighing a little. “So Spitfire, can I make sure of one thing first before we continue?”

“Of course, what is that?”

“That whatever is said in here, stays in here.” He said, putting emphasis into the words he said.

“I can work with that. Now… What was it that you want to tell me?” The Pegasus asked, putting her two front hooves together on the desk she was sitting at.

“Well… Maybe it’s better if you see it for yourself.” Lance explained, pulling up the screen from his communicator and turning it around. “Aurora? If you may?”

The screen flickered to life, and Spirit’s face graced the screen. “Aurora Spirit’s, at your service, Miss Spitfire.”

“Interesting… Did you happen to design this?” She asked. Lance sighed. She didn’t realize that this wasn’t a computer program and assumed for Aurora to be an AI. Like Cortana.

“Wow… This is a first. No, I’m really Aurora. Stopwatch’s daughter and ex-Power Pony trainee… When I was alive…” Spirit said, “I’m a ghost.”

“Aurora’s powers involved being able to physically step out of her body in order to possess objects or other contraptions,” Lance clarified for the Chief. “On the day that she “died”, Aurora used her powers to leave her body before those criminals killed her. Now she’s a wandering soul and is helping me so we can find a new body for her.”

“I…… See. That is indeed quite a story.” Spitfire replied. “Anyways, I’m glad all… four… of you are here. I am to presume that you know the reason why?”

“Yes I believe we do. I was even going to ask you something, Chief.” The Detective said. “Could it be possible for Lance and Aurora to investigate the crime scenes where these incidents occurred? Maybe there is something that they can see that we can’t.”

“That does sound promising.” Spitfire replied, nodding her head. “Very well, Detective. You and your wife will help my assistant Soarin and Lieutenant’s Thunderlane and Fleetfoot go through all the current evidence we have and piece everything together. Aurora… I would like you and… umm…”

“I’m sorry. My name is Lance. Lance Walker.” The Adept apologized.

“Okay, Lance, to have a look at the crime scenes for any clues that we could’ve missed. I’ll also give you the location of the base of operations for the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Are you ready?”

“Totally!” Aurora squealed.

“Then it is settled. You’re all dismissed. Let’s get to work, everypony. Aurora, Your first location for you to look at is a few blocks from here at an alley behind the local arcade.” Spitfire told them, giving Lance an SD card that had the coordinates for each of the locations. “You can use the data on there to record the locations on your device.”

“Thanks Chief.” Lance said, taking the card.

“It’ll also include a roster list of the ponies on the Cutie Mark Crusaders. That way, you can recognize who’s on the team. I hope to hear from you soon.” He heard Spitfire say as he left the room. Soon, he plugged in the SD card into his device and opened the files. And Aurora moved to the side.

“Here’s the coordinates, Aurora. Which one is the closest one to here?” Lance asked her as she opened the file to have a look.

“Hmm… This one, I’ll put it up on the GPS app I got.” A map appeared with a purple line leading to what he asked for. “I put it on silent, so just follow the purple brick road!” Lance himself was quite impressed with the feat. Like how he could only see Aurora, it seemed like he could only see the projections that Aurora could cast. Hence, the purple line. He followed the line outside, making a right hand turn as he continued to walk down and across a street. Before stopping at an alley next to a place called “Bit Wave Arcade”. Upon first look, the thing that he noticed was that there were a LOT of trashed electronics and cameras. Like someone had purposely put them there.

“Aurora, can you salvage any data from this?” He asked, looking at each piece of junk individually.

“I think… Gimme a second…” After a moment, there was a ding, “Wireless transfer complete. Replaying last moments before loss of data.”

The screen turned staticy, then an image appeared. It seemed to be a punk like grey mare, trying to compute something off of a hastily set up computer station. But the lighting made it almost impossible to see. But they did hear only brief set of Audio before the mare set the entire place to detonate using some… Smoke powers.

“Ash, hurry the BUCK up! We’re going to get caught-?”

“Shut your trap-! I just finished hacking the mainframe. The boss will be pleased at what I just got. Now, let’s make sure not to leave any evidence behind.”

“Ash? Who could they be talking about?” Lance asked Aurora.

“I don’t recognize them…” Aurora shrugged, “They’re not professionals though. The camera’s should have been the first to go. This is just sloppy...”

“Something tells me they were in a hurry. Somepony was telling them to hurry up and finish whatever they were doing.” Lance set the stuff down, soon looking back at Aurora. “So we got a name. It seemed like that Mare had powers though. Can you tell what it was?”

Aurora was silent, then, “Ash? Her name was Ash, and maybe that’s her codename… Wait, what’s the crime? All I see are trashed cams, and those aren’t enough for Chief Spitfire to call heroes and other cops.”

“Maybe she was hacking into a database. Otherwise then that, with the explosion that happened, maybe Arson?”

“Makes sense…”

Before Lance had the chance to walk out of the Alley, he began to hear a series of hooves nearby. The sound of hooves hitting pavement made him think that it had to be either a filly or colt. But then, he also heard a dog barking and realized who exactly it was. “You have got to be bucking kidding. Aurora, we might be getting company. Can you set yourself in standby or something?”

“You mean like turning my screen off?”

“Yeah, just-.”

“Hey, Iggy. Guess who I found?”

“Too late.” But the screen shut down anyway. Lance turned around, only to soon get tackled in the gut by a overexcited colt that he remembered from a few months ago.

“Hi there, Button. I honestly did not expect you to be here.”

“Same here. How did you know that my father and I live in Centrail City?”

Lance was taken back a bit by that statement. “You live here? I thought you lived in the Everfree community?”

“We moved a few weeks ago. Iggy has been a major help now since you gave him to me.” Upon saying that, the boston terrier went over to Lance and licked his face a little. Before noticing the communicator and sniffing it a little. Pawing at it like he thought something would pop out like a jack in the box. “Hey, guess what?”

“What is it?” Lance asked.

“Thanks to Iggy, the two of us are now part of the Cutie Mark Crusaders! Don’t tell my dad though, it’s a secret.”

“Will do,” The Adept thought mentally.

“Get this mutt off of me!”

“Who are you calling a mutt?!”

“Oh… right. I forgot to mention that Iggy is a Displaced. He can basically hear you Aurora.”

“I don’t care. He better not get slobber on me. I’m allergic to dogs!” Aurora cried. A few moments later, she soon realized that it wasn’t the slobber she had to worry about as she heard something that sounded like a whoopee cushion. Only to realize, that it wasn’t one.

“Iggy! I thought I trained you to be better than that!” Button said. “Sorry about him farting on your arm, Lance.”

Lance’s wrist sparked, and he swore he heard sneezing and coughing in his head. “It’s okay. Mistakes happen. Oh and I might get to be seeing you later too. I was asked to check on the Cutie Mark Crusaders by The Masked Matterhorn.”

“Yeah… about that… we’re trying to deal with a situation back at the clubhouse. Scootaloo’s gone missing.”

Now that caught Lance’s attention. “Aurora? Did you catch that?”

“I’m still processing… What does he mean by missing specifically?”

“Can you explain what you mean specifically?” Lance asked. “I’ve been trying to look at a series of incidents recently and if Scootaloo is somehow all caught up in this, I need to act fast.”

“Well, she was taking a breather earlier in the week and going to someplace called… Memory End Lane or someplace like that. But she never came back afterwards. That was five days ago and now, Applebloom, Dinky and the others are getting worried.” Button soon cleared his throat and looked at Iggy, shortly before looking at Lance again. “If it isn’t too much to ask, could you please help and find her? I know it may sound difficult, but if there’s anypony I think I can trust with finding her, I know you’re the right Adept for the job.”

Lance got down to Button’s height and nodded. “I’ll make sure she comes back safely.” With that, Button thanked him and the two of them left. Redirecting his attention, he pulled up Aurora’s screen again. “Aurora, when was this footage taken?”

“Five days ago at 9:30 pm.”

Now Lance’s eyes narrowed. Something about this didn’t seem right. “And when did Button say Scootaloo went missing?”

“......... Five days ago… Wait… Are you insisting that-?”

“It’s only a possibility, but I think that the two events are somehow connected. The only way we can tell is to put all the pieces together from the other locations.” Lance said. “It’s like solving a jigsaw puzzle.”

“I hate those…” Aurora mumbled.

“Same here. But something makes me think that this puzzle won’t be so difficult.” Lance said, pulling up a street map of the city. “Now, if the first location was here…”

“I’ll get it…” A blue beam pointed the Adept to the next location. “Walk, five point three miles the sandwich!”

“Sandwich?”

“It’s a joke my daddy told me from earth. GPS starts saying random stuff.”

The Adept cracked a smile, but instead of walking, he used Instant transmission to reach the second spot. After looking and not finding anything, Lance moved to the third location, only to find it empty as well. Upon arriving at the fourth location though, The Adept uncovered something that could be the key to figuring this out.

It was an undamaged cell phone. It looked like someone tried to throw it against the wall and break it, but failed to do so. “Well, looks like we hit the jackpot. Aurora, can you look through this and find any phone records inside it? Something tells me Derpy and the Chief will be pleased to find out about this.”

“Easy…” Aurora soon got to work, and dinged a minute later. “Sorry, password stopped me. I’ve got five caller ID’s, and only ten calls I can recover. The caller ID’s are Psycho, Ash, Weeping Pegasi, Bomb Voyage which personally to me reminds me of the Incredibles and lastly Master…”

“Something tells me that these ID’s are code names.” Lance guessed. “What’s this about a password though?”

“Some phones have passwords, and this one did. Burner phones don’t, and those don’t have information on them, but luckily this isn’t a burner.” Aurora clarified. “The password was Puppets though.”

“Hmm…” Lance thought to himself for a minute before asking Aurora something. “Marionette… Puppets… That doesn’t seem like a coincidence. Playback the most recent call. Maybe there's something in the audio we can use.”

There was a click, and a voice came on. It was a male, but sounded deeper than usual. “Was the mission successful?”

“Y-yes master… However, there was a slight… complication in the matter when we were finishing up, sir.”

There was a pause. “What?”

“It wasn’t anything t-too serious. Psycho found a filly from the Cutie Mark Crusaders spying on Ash and captured her. She’s unconscious now.”

“Hmm… What to do, what to do… Bring her back here, maybe she can be of use.”

“Yes, Master. Which Location are we returning to though? The old base or the Maretro. We still have the equipment in the old base we can use to run some tests on her and see what exactly she is capable of.” The second voice suggested, shortly followed by telling somepony else to shut up whoever was trying to speak. However, the voice sounded like someone being hogtied.

“The Maretro. And don’t say the name out loud, you’ll inform the filly and any onlooker.”

“We’re inside the transport van and everything here is airtight. I’ll be trashing this phone though before I reach the Maretro. That way the authorities can’t trace us.”

Before the first voice could say anything, the sound of a quick turn and somepony yelling, “Get off the phone, dumbass!!”

“......... See you in an hour, master.” The phone call ended, with Lance looking back at Aurora. She now seemed worried. VERY worried.

“What’s next?” Aurora asked.

All Lance did was sigh, priming both of his guns. “Where’s the Maretro?”

A red beam pointed the Adept in the other direction. “Alright… Let’s go. We got a Crusader to save.”

The Maretro

In the tunnels under Centrail City, a pony named Sparkler, A.K.A. Psycho, was glaring up ahead with her friend Ash by her side.

“I can’t believe Steelwing got me in trouble…” Psycho mumbled.

Ash, a grey earth pony with a black winter hat rolled her brown eyes, “Leader ignores team, team does something stupid, leader gets punished for letting it happen… Circle of life…” Psycho just let out a heavy sigh as she listened to her friend continue talking.

“And now there’s this ape in our city. If he get’s close to the family, I’ll kill him…”

“Girl, you’re messed up…” Ash whistled. “Wait a second… Ape?”

“Yeah, some creature called Grence or something. Supposed to be a part of the Power Ponies.” Psycho rolled her eyes. “What’s he even doing in the city anyway? I thought Spitfire wouldn’t let an animal into her investigation.”

“Hey, that’s a bit rough. It’s not like he’d be a problem, just dangle a banana in front of him…” The two stared at each other, then burst out laughing. As they laughed though, the two of them began to hear a noise that almost sounded like rolling thunder. Only to realize that it was getting closer. After looking at each other, they soon looked at the door to Maretro and seeing that the doors hinges were beginning to lose their grip. Something was coming. Coming towards them.

“DYNAMIC ENTRY!!!”

The door soon broke off as both pieces of it were really close to hitting both Psycho and Ash. The two mares, who were previously laughing before now looked up to realize that the “ape” that they were talking about was right in front of them.

“Sorry ladies, but it’s time I have to crash your party.”

The two started backing away, then Ash smirked.

“Are you kidding? The party’s just started,” Smoke began to encircle the duo, and expand, “And you’re the guest of honor!”

Several bolts of ash shot at Lance in quick succession as the Adept used his Flashfield to block them. This before he used his weapons to unload a series of bolts from the Orochi clip he had currently equipped. Because of it, Lance was able to tag up to eight targets at once and have a small drone come out that shot in all directions except in the direction that had the adepts current location. His gameplan was to use these bolts and his powers to stun his opponents and not kill. Therefore, he could question them later.

But it seemed like both mares were not going to go down without a fight. The ash that surrounded the two protected them from the Adept’s current attacks. The earth pony sent a barrage of ash made weapons directly towards Lance. However, to their surprise, one shot from the Adept’s gun caused the weapons to disperse. The next move that he did was that upon noticing the fire alarm sprinklers above him, he blasted the cap off of the sprinkler heads and caused water to pour down from the ceiling. For an ash user, this was bad news.

Psycho stepped in using her powers, which had her mentally attacking Lance while Ash retreated. Noticing this, Lance used his Ki based abilities to form a pair of rings around Ash’s feet to try and cause her to trip. “You aren’t going anywhere!”

Ash cried out, “Help! Intrud-!”

Once the pony hit the ground, Lance now focused on dealing with Psycho, who’d recoiled from seeing a certain golden bear flash right before her eyes.

“What was that!?” Psycho yelled, narrowing her eyes.

“Well, seems like you activated Freddy’s trojan horse…” Lance smirked. “I have to admit, you’re just as clumsy as Derpy sometimes. Capturing you is going to be easy-.”

Lance was cut off as a stone pegasi rammed into him.

“Stay away from Psycho, monster!” It screamed in anger.

“What the-?” Lance cocked an eyebrow, shortly putting his hand in front of the pegasi’s face. “Back off!”

Lance then unleashed a powerful Ki Burst straight into it’s face, knocking the creature backwards into her partner. Getting up off the floor, he brushed the dirt off of his clothes. “So we got Tremor, a wannabe Delsin Rowe and Psycho Mantis… Just my luck.”

“Weep, get off of me!” Psycho yelled. The stone mare sat up and glared at Lance.

“Intruders aren’t welcomed here!” Weep growled.

“I’m sorry, but you only have yourselves to blame. I’m here to rescue the filly you kidnapped. Now we can do this the easy way or-.”

“Get him!!!”

“And they took the hard way.” The Adept grunted, using his speed to get to the other end of the room before Weep could even hurt him. However, he soon realized that the entire scuffle had caused him to attract the attention of the entire base when an ear piercing alarm began to sound off.

Several robots came from different directions holding laser rifles. “Alert: Target Acquired!”

“So you want to play hardball? Very well then!!” Lance growled, channeling three of his skill points as electricity began to violently crackle around him. Right before Weep and Psycho’s eyes, the bolts of lightning soon began to take form in massive chains that quickly spread across the room.

Multiple explosions went off from the destroyed robots as the Adept was the only one left in the carnage. “Now… Where is Scootaloo?”

“Respect the secret identity bro!” Yelled Ash, “Bioware!”

“Whatever. Where is she!? You idiots kidnapped her and now I’m bringing her back home. And if you even try to get in my way, you’re going to end up looking a lot worse than those cheap security bots!” Lance snarled. “Aurora, try accessing the facilities camera’s. I’m not so sure that they are willing to listen to reason.”

“Okay! We’ll give her up, just let us go! We’re teenagers, it was a prank!” Psycho cried out in fear.

“Kidnapping a filly is considered as a prank to you? You guys are just sick.” Lance spat in the dirt below him.

“We didn’t want to! Steelwing thought she’d squeal our first pranks, so he thought we could try messing with her!”

“Your stupidity is just as bad as you trying to lie. Besides, I already have evidence against you that says otherwise.” Lance then took the phone that he had uncovered and pulled it out. “All the data from it I’ve already pulled and lead me straight to here. Now, I want to know where the filly is and who is this master that you were talking to.”

Psycho’s eye twitched, “Don’t call me stupid…” Her horn glowed, and the remains of a train went flying towards Lance. “I’M NOT STUPID!!! I’M NOT STUPID!!! I’M NOT STUPID!!!” She continued throwing things at the Adept, and Weep got the sprinklers to stop, allowing Ash to reform her original attack.

Lance just sighed as he watched all the debris fly by. But he soon noticed something. Anytime he looked at the Unicorn, he began to see a silhouette of Derpy Hooves. Calmly, he just stood there as all the projectiles that were flying at him did not hit him at all. “You know… for some strange reason… you remind me of a pony I know in Maretropolis. One who told me was once misunderstood as well. Now I must ask… Why do you remind me of Derpy Hooves?”

Her eyes widened, then hardened, “That ditcher has nothing to do with me! She’s a bucking moron! I’m NOTHING like her!”

“Sparkler! Now!” Ash yelled, and Psycho teleported away from Lance.

The three mares stood together, “Everything's secure. Time to get out of here!”

Lance smirked. He knew that despite what they said, not everything was secure. “I’m counting on you, Aurora.”

Aurora hovered through wall after wall, looking for her sister. She had just started, and she was already a little scared. The base was broken down on the outside, but go deeper, and it’s a chilly echo of an old foe of her father's… One who Aurora feared, even to this day.

The walls were metallic with blood stains covering the majority of it. Plungers were scattered the floor along with scorch marks, and cookbook pages were pinned to the wall.

What really scared her was the menacing chuckle from behind her. Whirling around, she saw a pony she only saw once…

“Equilis…” She whispered. Luckily for her, only Displaced could see her soul self, but that didn’t stop her from shivering in fear.

A stallion with a black coat and blue eyes was ordering his minions to move crates to a teleporters. She saw a cage with her sister in it, and an idea came to her. She jumped an unsuspecting battle droid and possessed it. She turned to the cage and picked it up and walked out with an unconscious filly. She went over to a computer and jammed her fist into it and began downloading.

“What are you doing AL-34?” Equilis asked in his calm voice, “I ordered you to execute the runt, no evidence… AL?”

He jumped when the available hoof turned and began shooting. He disappeared and reappeared to Aurora’s left.

“Ah, the little survivor’s come back to play~” His soft voice whispered in her ear. Spirit turned and began firing. Equilis vanished again, and his voice came from behind her.

“I thought you were dead. Guess that just means I’ll get my own chance!” Aurora turned back around only to see nothing. A download complete sign appeared in her vision, just when a hoof went straight through the robot's chest.

Before he could finish, another robot came in. “Warning: We do not have enough time!”

Sighing, Equilis crushed the robot’s head before pointing his hoof at the computer which proceeded to melt into a pile of liquid. He hurriedly galloped out of the room, to which Aurora’s spirit sighed in relief.

‘Ugh, that was close… A couple more seconds and I woulda been a gonner…’ Aurora thought. She turned to the cage Equilis seemed to forget. Focusing hard, she picked up Scootaloo and grunted her way towards the exit.

Outside, Lance was waiting on Aurora to find Scootaloo and meet back up with him. Of course though, he did not expect for the Spirit to emerge from the facility in the form of a headless robot that was carrying the filly in her arms. The Adept chuckled to himself a little as he put his weapons away and turned to look at the mechanical droid. “Okay, when I said I was going to help you get a body, I didn’t think this qualified.”

Aurora grunted a little as she set the filly down, who was just beginning to wake up. The first thing that she could see though was Lance as Aurora returned back to his gauntlet. Dazed and confused, she posed a question. “D-dad?”

“Oh boy… This again.”

“What again?” Aurora asked.

“The notion where I’m assumed to be your dad.” Lance replied before turning to Scootaloo and waving a small hand to see if she is awake. “Hey, are you okay?” He heard the filly groan as she tossed and turned a little, trying her best to open her eyes.

“Hey, before you came along, Daddy was the only male human… Well, Roach was another, but he had this evil essence.”

When she did, her eyes widened in surprise. “U-uh, y-y-yeah! I’m fine! Who are you?”

“My name is Lance, but back in Maretropolis, I’m called Gunvolt. Are you Scootaloo?” He asked her, noticing the look in her eyes. Believing that she was scared of somehow intimidated by him, he tried to speak calmly to ease her mind. “It’s okay, I’m not going to hurt you. I knew your father.”

“Y-you knew dad?” Scootaloo spoke, surprised.

“It’s a lot to explain, but we should get out of here first before we continue,” Lance told her, trying to comfort her. “Do you know someplace where we can go?”

Scootaloo lit up, “Yeah! The clubhouse! I’ll show you where it is, c’mon!” Lance nodded his head, letting the little filly guide him back into the city. As he followed her, the Adept soon began to notice what kind of powers that she was capable of just by her demonstrating them in the field. She burnt a tree, whistled so loud it broke glass, manipulated her feathers, pulled blood from her body and controlled that, and even told him she could talk to machines.

“I use a version of nanobots to evolve my body. I haven’t figured out all my powers because I get a new one every year or so. I don’t use all of my powers though, since most could hurt me. Some are even self inflicting powers. I mostly just use fire and whistling.”

“And the whistling is loud enough to break glass?”

“Yes, but I’ve learned how to not damage my surrounding.”

“I see…” He said. “Scootaloo, can I please tell you something… and please don’t think I am crazy when I tell you this.”

Scootaloo tilted her head, “Why would I? You’re not a crazy person, are you? Cause if you are, I can’t take ya to the Clubhouse. I don’t think the team would like me doing it again...” She giggled nervously.

“I’m not… I’ve just seen many things and been on a lot of crazy adventures… Maybe instead of telling you about it, I’ll show you instead.” Lance soon brought up the screen on his gauntlet to life, which wow’d the filly at first. But soon, Scootaloo was about to get the shock of her life. “Aurora?”

“SURPRISE!!!” The ghost filly shouted, “Heya sis!”

Aurora’s smile faltered when she heard a thump, and opened her eyes. Scootaloo lay unconscious on the ground.

“We should have waited until we got to the base…” Aurora said, “At least there would have been a bed or couch or something.”

“Well, we’re close now, aren’t we?” Lance wondered. “I mean there’s a floormat that says Club entrance.”

Aurora looked closely, “Where’d that come from?”

“I don’t know. I just stepped on it and POOF! There it is.”

“That’s cool… Well, elders first. Let’s meet the team- but wait to explain before you unleash me out into the room.”

“Yeah… I was thinking of maybe waiting until Scootaloo wakes up. She did say that she was going to show us the clubhouse.” Lance reminded the spirit. “Not only that, but since the mat is in front of a brick wall, I’m thinking that there’s some sort of “Secret Knock” that’s needed in order to go inside.”

Laughing, Aurora jumped outside of Lance’s bracer and went into the wall. After a moment, the wall moved away to reveal the inside of a superhero base.

“Umm… Aurora… There was a reason why I told you to wait-.”

“INTRUDERS!!!”

“And that’s why. Dang it!!”

The soul jumped back into the bracer. The loud noise caused Scootaloo to slowly wake up from her daze as she struggled to get back on her hooves. Once she realized what was going on, she turned back to Lance, jumping in between him and the door. “W-wait!! It’s me, Bioware!!”

“Oh really?” An unknown voice spoke. “Then what’s the password?”

“Double Sundae.” She replied angrily. Her reply was soon met with a unexpected motion as a pony soon proceeded to dive and tackle her in the chest. That pony would happen to be Applebloom, one of Scootaloo’s newest friends.

“Scoots! Yer okay!” The yellow filly cried out. “Ah thought Ah’d never see ya again!”

“Applebloom, why did you have to tackle her like that?” A filly Unicorn asked as she stepped out. “Matter of fact, who is this and what the hay caused the alarm to trip!?”

Scootaloo was helped up by Applebloom and replied, “Uh, Lance. He’s from Maretropolis. You work with the Power Ponies, right? Well, he saved me from some bad guys…”

“To answer your question, yes. I’ve been working with the Power Ponies. Humdrum asked me to come check on you guys since he hasn’t heard radio contact in the last week and also needed me to help Detective Whooves and his wife Derpy with a case.”

“Uhh… Yeah, about that communication thingy… Ah kinda spilled mah soda on the control panel. Bioware was the one who kinda fixed that thing.”

“Well, maybe Aurora can take a look at it and see what else needs fixing.” He suggested. Unknowingly, him saying Aurora’s name brought up confusion amongst the three fillies.

“Wait a minute…” Sweetie Belle interjected. “Isn’t Aurora the name of Scootaloo’s sister? I thought she was dead.”

“Well that’s rude! I thought she was dead. Really!?” Aurora yelled through the screen on Lance’s bracer.

“Yeah… It’s a lot to explain and it’s going to be tricky unless you have an understanding of Aurora’s powers,” Lance cleared his throat as the four of them went inside. The fillies led the Adept to a nearby table, where a lot of things were at the time. Since the three girls all sat in elevated office chairs, Lance just decided to stand so he wouldn’t give the impression of him looming over them. “Now Scootaloo… Aurora told me that her powers were revolved around her “Spiritual Form”, am I right?”

“Y-yeah,” She replied, “She loved scaring everypony with it.”

“Well, that’s the thing. She technically isn’t dead because she went into her spirit form moments before the crooks hurt her. The only problem now though is that unless she can’t find someplace to be in like my gauntlet, she’s trapped in that form. Until we can find a body for her, she’s basically a ghost.” The Adept explained.

“Right… maybe we should get to fixing the control panel.” Applebloom suggested, nudging her head in the direction of the console. “The sooner that you get this done, the sooner that you can get to… What’s the detective’s name again?”

“Detective Whooves. His wife, Derpy is also there with him-.” Unknowingly though, the mentioning of the pegasus caught the attention of one of the fillies in the base at the time. A small Unicorn with a blond like mane and lightish colored fur.

“D-did you just say… Derpy?” She squeaked, catching Lance’s attention as he turned around. The Adept got down to his knees so he would be the same height as the little Filly and nodded his head.

“I did little one. Why, is something wrong?”

What he heard next really caught him by surprise though as the filly looked back at him with the most innocent of eyes.

“C-can I see her? Please? I-i’m her daughter, Dinky.”

End Strike 24

Strike 25- Family

Author's Note

Another crossover, another chapter over 10k words. Be warned that this will contain future spoilers involving both One Winged Angel and Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey-. Nope, just Max. Read at your own risk.

Next Chapter: The Countess of the Night.

Also, why do I get the feeling where the interactions between Lance and Kat are almost like Sonya Blade and Johnny Cage in MKX?

Strike 25- Family

When Lightning Strikes- Family

The Clubhouse, Centrail City

The sun had set along the horizon as the night sky covered the entire metropolis that was Centrail City. For Lance though, he was taken aback from something that was said to him earlier by one of the members of the Cutie Mark Crusaders named Dinky Hooves. It was her telling Lance that Derpy Hooves, the wife of Detective Whooves, was her mother. It was shocking at first and honestly, the Adept did not know how to handle the situation. The best he could do was calm her down and promise that she would get the chance to see her in person one day. He personally saw this as vague, but given the circumstances and him just rescuing Scootaloo not too long ago, he didn’t have a lot of knowledge on the pending situation.

The thought of Derpy being a mother soon made him remember about Max. Last time he had seen her, she was an emotional trainwreck. Hopefully, she had gotten some time to rest and recover during the time that he had been gone. But still, he should check on her just in case.

Taking off his wrist gauntlet, he set it on the dashboard of the Clubhouse’s Mainframe and pulled up the screen. “Hey Aurora, can I talk to you for a second?”

The ghost like filly soon appeared on board the screen and her face lit up to having her name called. “Sure, what is it?”

“I need to go check on Max and see if she’s doing okay. I’m still a little concerned for her and I want to do everything I can for her.” Lance explained. “Do you want to stay here with Scootaloo and her friends? I was thinking you would get bored if you stay with me, but the choice is up to you.”

Aurora thought it over for a few minutes, but then faded out of Lance’s bracer into the main screen of the Clubhouse’s computer system. “I’ll stay here and help keep my friends company. Give Max my best wishes for me!”

“Will do,” The Adept replied before he stepped outside the base, putting his bracer back on. Just as he grabbed Max’s token though, he noticed that he received a voicemail. Turns out, it was Filli-Second that was trying to reach him. Why though? He wasn’t sure.

“Hey Lancie!” Pinkie cheerfully answered as soon as he opened his inbox messages. “I got someponies that want to say hi! Come on kids, say hi for Lancie!!”

“Hi Daddy!!”

“Hey, Dad!!”

“Papa!!!”

To Lance’s surprise, he was hearing the voices of his children. Soon, Pinkie was back and explained everything. “Maxie wanted me to watch the fillies for a while. Just call me back if you get this message okay?”

The phone call ended with a small and subtle beep as Lance looked back at the communicator. He smiled. If the kids were with Pinkie, then they were in good hooves.

Equestria (Home of the Prophet)

When the Adept walked into the room, he was greeted to an empty room that was mostly dark. The only light that was on was one that came from Max’s room. He couldn’t find Sol or Mun, so he did what came naturally to him and just walked to the door. Where he was greeted to hearing Max talk to herself.

“I’ve put this off for a long time, so I need to do this now while I have a break.”

Hearing this got Lance to be a little… curious. So, cautiously, he knocked on the door to Max’s room. Softly, but enough for her to notice.

She sighed and said, “Come in.”

“Max, it’s me.” Lance spoke. He had a feeling that the words would catch her attention.

The door was flung open and Lance was tackled, hitting the opposite wall just as a pair of lips met his. The Adept did not think that Max would try to throw herself onto him the moment that he came back. “Well, somepony excited to see me? I thought I came to check up on you. How are you feeling?” He asked as he got another kiss on the cheek.

“Better now that Seph and I kissed and made out last night.” Max kissed him again and continued, “I was just about to call Kat, check up on her and let her know the situation has been handled.”

“Well, that’s one way to fix a problem.” Lance chuckled, before asking his next question. “So, how is Seph now that you ‘fixed’ things?”

“Well.... That can wait a bit to explain. I’ll need to summon her while I do so the two of you can get to know each other. First, though, I’d like to find Kat.”

“Kat? You mean the mare from when you asked me about Bronze?” Lance asked, recalling when Max summoned him while the kids were with Uncle Fazbear.

“Yeah, her,” Max said, raising the token up to where Lance could see it. “I promised her I’d bug her a lot until she found some happiness for herself.”

“You sure that’s a good idea? I thought the best thing to do was to give her some space and check on her once in awhile. Not bug her consecutively.”

Max’s face turned into a petulant pout as she said, “Kat would be an exception to that. She’s so stubborn it’ll take more than I can do alone to get through to her.”

“Wasn’t this the same girl that could control gravity?” Lance wondered. “You probably don’t want yourself getting nailed to the floor with that kind of strength.”

“Don’t worry, she won’t hurt me. Much.” She stood up from where we sat against the wall and said, “Hey Kat, you there?”

There was a silence for a moment before, “Maxie?!” the diamond shouted. “This is not a good time!”

“Oh, okay. Would you like me to call back in.... five seconds?” Max turned to look at Lance and shook her head. She was not going to hang up. All Lance could do was fold his arms and watch as Max pressed on.

“No! I’m busy!”

“You having some complications, Max?” The Adept asked, noticing the look of displeasure on his wife’s face.

“No, just running into Kat’s huge stubbornness.” She started to walk back into her room.

“Look, I don’t care what you and your boy-toy are up to because, in case you can’t hear in the putain background, I’M FIGHTING BUGS! Now go away!”

“I HEARD THAT!!!” Lance reacted. “Plus, would you need backup?”

“No! You’ll only get in the way!”

“Hey, you better get used to us asking if you need help. We’re your family and we don’t want you dying.” Max sighed. She noticed Lance prepare both of his weapons, just in case for when things get… messy and teleported her own bag to her, checking to make sure her weapons were in there. “I know you can handle yourself, but don’t just brush us off like that.”

“I don’t take help, I give help. Now leave me alone! I have bugs to kill!”

“What kind of bugs? Giant ones like from Starship Troopers?”

“None of your business!”

“Sheesh, I try to make conversation and ya bite my head off.”

“You know…” Lance retorted before getting closer and whispering to Max. “If I can get a reading on her energy, I can teleport us there with Instant Transmission if that works for you.”

“That’ll take less time than following the convoluted path the signal’s taking,” Max whispered back.

“If you two are done distracting me from my job, I’m gonna hang up now.”

That was when Lance smirked. “Found her. You ready?” He asked, placing a hand on one of Max’s shoulders.

Max smirked as well. “Yeah, just make sure we’re moving when we appear. I wanna take a page from Guy Sensei’s book.”

Lance nodded his head. “Let’s roll then.” With that, he placed the first two fingers of his other hand on his forehead and channeled his energy while Max held her bag. Both of them soon disappeared, leaving no trace behind in Max’s room.

Kat grumbled as she flipped her phone closed. “That girl,” she said, striking a changeling with her sword, stowing away her phone in the same motion, “She’s gonna be the death of me, I just know it.”

Before she could take another swing all of the changelings in front of her were shoved aside as Max shouted, “DYNAMIC ENTRY!!!!”

In addition, after her entrance, the Adept that was with her landed and sent out multiple bolts of chain lightning out to strike her attackers. “You said you had this handled? I’d say otherwise.” Lance sighed, offering a hand to Kat, who was trying to get up off the ground. “Need a hand?”

Kat smiled, taking Lance’s hand as he helped her up… only for her to throw him to the ground in the same motion. Max was about to question why when Kat’s fist suddenly struck her in the nose, sending her to the ground as well.

“What on Earth were you two thinking, you putain de morons?! I told you, ‘No’! Now go home before you get in the way!” she screamed at them.

“If that’s your way of saying ‘thank you’, then I’ll be fine with it.” The Azure Striker retorted as he hopped back on his feet. “Plus, when I saw you just now, you looked like you were in a corner and going to get yourself killed.”

“What do you think we were thinking? I told you, I’m going to try my hardest to get you to have a bit of happiness and I can’t very well do that if you’re dead,” Max said, freezing the entire area around them.

“I don’t have time for this,” Kat groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose. She turned away from them and pressed a two fingers to her ear. “Corporal, I’m sending you a package. I want it supervised and restricted…. Yes, that kind of package. Get the bands ready.” Kat looked over her shoulder, giving them an icy glare. “We’ll talk afterwards.”

Before they could ask what she meant, Kat snapped her fingers and the couple were plunged into a portal. Upon exiting out of the portal, they were swarmed by several ponies in military uniforms, placing strange metal bands on their wrists.

“Sorry ma’am, sir,” one of the ponies said. “But the general’s orders are to be followed to the letter considering your kind.”

“You gotta be kidding me.” Lance groaned. “We at first saved Kat’s life and now we’re getting arrested? This sucks…”

“Well, at least we aren’t going to be executed. No one’s heartless enough to execute someone that’s pregnant,” Max said, a slightly unsure smile on her face.

“Don’t get ahead of yourself.” Lance told her, directing his attention to the ponies in front of him. Trying to inquire more information, he then asked “Excuse me sir, but what are the contents of this… letter that you speak of?”

The stallion gave him a weird look. “Uh… it’s an expression, sonny.” He shook his head slightly. “Never mind that. As per orders, you two will be restricted to the base here. And don’t even try to get those bands off, only the general herself can unlock them.”

“Sorry. Sometimes, I can’t understand expressions.” Lance said, turning to Max before looking back at the stallion. “Still though, could you be a little careful with my wife? She’s in her fourth month of pregnancy and I don’t want anything to happen to our son.”

“Don’t worry your little heads,” the stallion nodded. “Long as you don’t cause any trouble, you’ll be treated like proper guests. See?” He pointed to where a nurse was currently bandaging Max’s broken nose.

“You migh’ wanna make sure Kat doesn’ hi’ me while I have dese on. I won’ be able do survive da hi’,” Max said once the nurse was done. “She migh’ be mad s’ill ‘bou’ Seph.”

“What I think she means is that she’ll be still mad at us for trying to save her life.” Lance interjected, looking back at the stallion who he assumed to be in charge while Kat was elsewhere. “Speaking of which, what the hell is going on anyways? Where are we?”

“You’re in what was meant to be a town called ‘Appleloosa’,” said another woman’s voice. Lance and Max turned to see a human woman walking out of one of the tents, her black and red hair billowing slightly in the breeze. “You must be Max and Lance, Kat has told me much about you.”

“Umm… I’m flattered, but who are you?” The Adept then asked.

“I’m Lieutenant-General Raven Masters and I’m in charge of the combined Equestrian Military Forces.” She smirked at them. “Welcome to the war.”

“We aren’ ‘ere do join, we’re jus’ sayin’ hi to Kat and telling her abou’ Seph,” Max said sticking her hand out anyways. “Nice do mee’ you ‘dough.”

“Good thing,” Raven said, shaking Max’s hand. “You wouldn’t even be allowed to enlist. As if we’d allow aliens into our forces, ha! This isn’t ancient Earth. Though, it looks like my sister did quite the number on your nose. You must have really ticked her off coming here.”

“Dat an’ she’s prob’ly mad abou’ wha’ happened between me and Seph.”

“Right…” Lance sighed. “And just when I thought that dealing with Kaoru back in my world was a pain in the ass.”

“Oh you’re from her world, huh? That was awhile back,” Raven smirked. “And it’s more than likely it’s because you got in her way. Rule one on this battlefield: don’t get in Kat’s way. It’s for your own safety.”

“Actually, it was for a different reason. In order for a friend of mine to come back to his senses, she needed to control her Kagune and to do that, she had to dig her teeth into my arm. That was almost two months ago and since then, I haven’t seen her.” Lance explained, using his teeth to roll up his sleeve and show what used to be bite marks on his right arm. “But enough about that. What happened between Kat and Seph?”

“Well, ‘parently I lef’ Kat’s token and Seph though’ it was a sort of payment. Seph summoned Kat and she helped Seph do ge’ do Nigh’mare do try do help me,” Max explained. Lance sighed a little.

“Does anypony happen to have healing magic? I can only make out half of what she’s saying.”

“This isn’t Canterlot, we only have field medics on hand. If you want to get her cured, you’ll have to wait for Kat to come back with some healing crystals. We used up the last of the stock on that last soldier that got wheeled in here.”

“And that gives me another reason to wish I had my hands freed,” The Adept groaned. “I have a skill to heal her, but my energy was closed off once these restraints were put on me. Damn things.” Lance was finicking around with the handcuff like bracelet, trying to pull it off with no success. “Well, damn… Hopefully, plan B would work… Nah, too early to use it.”

“Yeah, those aren’t comin’ off,” Raven shook her head. “Your kind can’t be trusted to use your powers so I’m not taking any chances. Half the world is dead so I’m not allowing people like you make it worse.”

“You’re thinkin’ da wors’ of fam’ly? I know ya don’ know us, bu’ still. I don’ kill ‘less i’s someone tha’ hur’ a foal or my fam’ly,” Max said, giving Raven a slightly peeved look.

Raven returned the look with a glare. “You may consider Kat family, and she considers you family, but that doesn’t apply to me. I actually know Kat because I grew up with her. She is my sister while you’re just someone she met on her whacky travels. I know her more than you will ever know. I even know her actual name. Don’t think you’re gonna get special treatment here. You’re… tourists,” she practically spat. “You’re here to look, see the sights, then get gone and stay gone. It’s not your world and that’s how it’s gonna stay.”

Max glared right back as she answered, “I migh’ no’ know Kat like you do, bu’ fam’ly’s fam’ly and where fam’ly calls home is mine as well. Don’ ever think I’ll give up on fam’ly.”

“Me neither.” Lance joined in. Unexpectedly though, he heard something come from the communicator on his left wrist. As he turned to look, what he found surprised him. A white seethrough wrist watch with a purple lightning strike on it. Aurora’s voice called out.

“Lance! Scoots had to take care of a baddy and I’m bored!” The screen whined.

“Holy sh*t. Aurora? How did you get here?” The Adept asked, a bit taken aback after seeing the filly unexpectedly show up.

“I used soul search. It’s like that soul realm, but I can pull myself to you instead of taking your soul into my world.” The filly responded like it was the most obvious thing she’d said. “Through brick, void, or flesh I can appear where you are… Unless there is lead involved or something created by magic.”

“Aurora… do you realize that we’re in another world right now?” Lance asked, turning the screen so she could show her. With that, Raven also got a glimpse of the filly as well.

Raven barely paid her any mind. “Cute kid, now back to the issue at hand. Once Kat gives you the clear, you’re getting the f*ck out of here. It’s already hard enough explaining this sh*t to Celestia, so I’m not going to put up with more of it on this planet.”

“Hey, watch your language. Aurora is just a filly. And we came to talk to Kat. Not to get bossed around by you.” Lance shot back. “Speaking of Kat, where is she?”

“Attent hut!” a soldier sounded off, everyone, including Raven standing stock at attention.

“At ease!” Kat’s voice echoed out, everypony going back to their tasks. She walked right up to Raven and the others. “You,” she pointed at Max. “My tent. Now.” She strode right off to the larger tent down the way.

“Should I follow?” Lance asked.

“The general said only her,” Raven said, indicating Max. “You don’t disobey orders, civilian.”

“He comes. No arguing,” Max said, motioning for Lance to duck into the tent as well. Lance complied and hurried over before Raven had the chance to say anything back to her. As both of them were inside, they stood in front of Kat at full attention.

“I said only Max,” Kat said, sitting at her desk and looking over some papers. She never even glanced at either of them.

“Max told me to come.” Lance said back.

Kat sighed, setting down the report she was reading. She clasped her hands together and took a deep breath. There was a quick silence before she spoke. “What in the great name of all that is good and holy were you two thinking in coming here?”

“Max wanted to talk to you about something important.” The Adept said, turning to her.

“I heard you help’d Seph get Nigh’mare back do normal. I just wan’d you do know tha’ she and I talked and... work’d t’rough what happened,” Max said from slightly behind Lance.

Aurora popped out of Lance’s wrist communicator, “Who’s Seph, and who are you? I’m confused…”

“Aurora…” Lance sighed. Before saying anything though, he was interrupted by the Shifter they were speaking to.

“I’m Kat Shifter, General of the Combined Equestrian Military Force and the only hope this planet has right now of it’s people surviving.” With each word she spoke, her glare got darker at the couple. “I told you both not to come here and you directly went out of your way to disobey. I don’t care what your reasons were, but you pointlessly risked your lives by coming here. As for the Seph thing, that was over three years ago and I’ve moved on from what happened on that world.”

“I know Seph told you wha’ I did, and I know you’re from da sou’h and a small down a’ tha’. Ev’ryone in small downs knows rape is wrong and I knew you’d wanna hear i’ from me tha’ I had been possessed ever since Celes’ia gave me her power.” Max sighed, shaking her head. “Please, we aren’ your soldiers, we’re your fam’ly. I don’ wan’ dere do be any’hing do force us apar’.”

Kat just sat there, looking at them with her head leaning on her fist. She rolled her eyes and sighed before shoving a green crystal across the desk. “Fix your nose. Can barely understand a word you’re saying.”

“That’s rich coming from the one who broke her nose.” Lance shot back, a little angered by Kat’s remark after what happened before.

“Lance!” Max said, turning to him as she crushed the crystal in her hand. She pulled the bandage off her nose.

“You shouldn’t have gotten in my way,” she said as if his anger meant nothing… which to her it really did mean nothing. “You were in a place that you weren’t supposed to be and paid the price for it. That’s what happens in the real world, not your little fantasy lives.”

“Would you say that about your situation?” Lance shot back. “I’ve had enough with the smack talk that you’re giving my wife and I.”

“And I’ve had enough of getting life advice from a politician and a vigilante,” Kat spat both words as if they were vile to her tongue. “You’re in the middle of a war that has lasted for over a thousand years and has destroyed this planet.” Kat stood and pulled down a map of Equestria behind her, showing them the map. She pointed to a spot on the map. “The dragons. Extinct.” Another spot. “The minotaurs. Extinct.” Another. “The griffons. Less than a hundred are alive.” She continued listing off race by race, saying they were either dead or dying. “The only races truly left surviving are the ponies and the ones doing the killing: the changelings. This isn’t some mystical monster fight that can be won with a Deus ex machina. This is a war that will cost more lives than any should. You are not meant for something like this and you will not be allowed to. You are welcome to stay the night, but after that, you’re both going home and are never allowed to return. Do I make myself clear?”

Lance looked at Kat, angered a little by her statement, but sighed. “Yes… General.”

Max glared at Kat for a few more moments. “You could send the remnants to my universe or even Lance’s. Let the changelings starve!” She said before storming out of the tent.

“They won’t starve. Not so long as she still lives,” Kat muttered to herself darkly.

“She?” The Adept asked. “She who?”

Kat eyed Lance for a moment. “Classified. Now get out of my tent. I have reports to go over.”

Lance sighed. Before he left the tent though, he told something to Kat. “The Needs of the Many excel the needs of the few.” As he soon walked out of the tent, he began to scan the area for Max. Now, he had an idea in his head. One that might help them. If only he could find her first. He turned to see Raven nearby a group of Soldiers and approached her cautiously. “Excuse me, but did Max come through here by any chance?”

Raven pointed off to the distance with her thumb. “She’s sulking. I was waiting for you before talking to her.”

“No need. Kat upset her. She even offered to take in refugees, but Kat refused. She said that the changelings can’t starve while she is alive?” Lance told her. “I’m guessing these bands don’t come off until we have to leave?”

Raven nodded. “Kat has the keys to your bands. She’s the only one strong enough to keep your ‘kind’ in check, so she keeps them on her person at all times. Now go find your girl, there’s someone you two should meet.”

Taking her advice, Lance walked over to where she was and approached her cautiously. “You okay, Maxie?”

Max sighed and shook her head. “I’m just a little frustrated at her stubbornness at us not helping at all.”

“I am too. Come on, Raven says that there’s someone we should meet.” Lance insisted, having Max stand next to him as they walked back over towards Raven. “Lead the way, Madam Raven.”

Raven motioned for them to follow as they walked through the camp. As they walked, Max and Lance got a chance to properly observe the ponies at work. Several were just minding themselves by playing cards or having contests of strengths. What stood out the most was that all of them were scarred or were missing limbs or other parts of their bodies. Not a single one was untouched by harm. Raven held open the entrance to a tent, motioning them in. “Careful not to touch anything, he’s rather finicky.”

“Wait… He?”

“You’ll see,” she said cryptically. As Lance and Max turned around, they now began to see what she meant. Inside the rather large tent, were stacks upon stacks of metallic scraps. A few ponies were moving about, putting the pieces together, while another voice was shouting.

“...no no no! Part A connects to part C like this! If you put it in like that, you’ll break the entire structure! Do I have to draw you another picture?!”

Raven led Max and Lance towards the voice, eventually a green pegasus wearing a pure white lab coat came into view. “Still screaming at my troops, Ben?”

The pegasus groaned. “If they knew what they were doing, then I wouldn’t have to yell.” He caught sight of the other humans and groaned even louder. “Oh gods, not more Displaced.”

“Nice to meet you too, Ben,” Max said with a slight smile. “Kat told me a bit about you on one of her visits.”

“I believe this is the first time we’ve met.” Lance replied. “I’m Lance Walker and this is my fiance’ Max. I would introduce Aurora but… I think Kat’s yelling at us scared her.”

Ben looked at them with a quirked eyebrow before looking at Raven. “Kat snapped on them for coming here during battle.”

“Ah,” Ben said, understanding the situation. “Well, I’m not surprised, with all the stress that happens around here, it’s about time that she finally found an outlet to vent.” There was a green flash of light as the pegasus turned into a human man. “Figured since we’re all human here, might as well look the part.” He turned and headed towards a work desk and began fiddling with a few of the scraps. “I told you it was only a matter of time.”

“I still doubt your little theory will come to pass,” Raven said back.

“If I didn’t have this bracelet on I’d give her a real outlet. And if I wasn't pregnant,” Max said, just noticing that her stomach was larger than it had been.

“Yeah, these are a real pain.” Lance groaned. “Can’t channel my Septima or Ki with this. Should I address you by your full name or just your first one, Mr. Tennyson?”

“My last name is ‘TenX’. Not Tennyson, he’s a completely different person,” Ben waved off. “As for allowing Kat to vent, beating either of you senseless will do nothing. She has plenty of changelings to kill. The stress is more from that little witch who’s in charge of those bugs.”

“I was going to ask about that,” Lance pointed out. “Kat said that was classified.”

“She just doesn’t like admitting who’s at fault for the destruction of this world. I’m sure you’ll be seeing her before you leave. Something as odd as you will surely make waves among the changeling ranks. Especially since you were seen on the field. Oh yeah, she’ll take some interest in you.”

“Again, who is she? Does she have a name?” Lance asked. He knew that things would only be easier if he actually knew the name of who this person was rather than referring it as “She”.

“Why not just let us take the survivors and just let her destroy the planet, then?” Max asked. “Sure, it’ll be a loss, but-”

“Max, hang on.” Lance interjected. “What if the opponent she is dealing with is another Displaced?”

“Then let her kill them. They’re part of why the world is destroyed, Ben said so himself.”

“Not entirely. Ben also said that she doesn’t like admitting who’s at fault… Wait…” Lance paused, thinking something through. He remembered when back home, he watched TRON Legacy and remembered how Flynn in the film created Clu, who later turned against him. But that just didn’t sound right. “Maybe we should just let Ben tell us what’s going on. He has more experience here than either you or I do.”

Max sighed. “Fine. I don’t like seeing Kat like this, so let’s try to help a bit.”

“Same here.” The Adept sighed, looking back at Ben. “Go ahead and continue, Ben. Sorry if we interrupted you.”

Ben waved it off, still only focused on his desk. “I’m used to youngin’s interrupting my old man speeches. I’m cynical and I embrace it. Nothing wrong with that.”

“Crystal,” Raven said.

“Like that!”

Raven shook her head. “Her name is Crystal Gravity, the queen of the changelings. She’s a gravity shifter like me and Kat, as well as another Displaced.”

“Hmm… Crystal… Gravity…” He thought in his head, before looking at Max. “Hey, Raven? Can I ask you something? For being a shifter, is it a genetic trait or something you just learn like magic?”

“It’s gifted through the Void,” Ben answered. “From what I’ve learned from Kat, it takes the place of magic inside a pony’s body, removing both its and human’s potential for performing normal magic.”

“I see.” The Adept answered. “I’m sorry. I just have a lot on my mind and everytime I think of when Kat mentioned her as she, that it had some sort of important meaning to it. It’s like trying to solve a rubik’s cube. Only ten times harder and somehow, the answer is right in my face.”

“There’s a raw hatred between the two of them,” Ben replied. “You’ll probably find out why soon enough.”

“Why don’t we just tell them?” Raven asked.

“And where’s the fun and suspense in that?” Ben asked ruefully with a big ol’ smile. All that did was remind Lance of Discord.

“Look, Kat’s already made me mad and I don’t want to go off on anyone, so please. Tell us what’s happening,” Max said, having been rubbing her temples for the past few minutes. “I hate being a buzzkill, but I don’t have the patience to deal with this.”

Ben just smiled more. “And I’m a little troll who despises your existence. What do you think I’m gonna say?”

“Ben,” Raven said warningly.

He just waved off her anger. “Just leave me to my work for now so I can go home. You’ll be late for the show if you wait here any longer.”

Lance was displeased by this outcome. All it lead to was more riddles. Then, something clicked inside his head as he looked at Max. Before looking back at Raven. “Raven, where is Bronze?”

“He’s in Canterlot with his sisters and Kat’s marefriend,” Raven responded as she lead them towards the exit.

“Kat has a marefriend?” Max asked confusedly.

“Yeah, a pony from another world, if you can believe it. Her name is Sugar Belle.”

“Huh, never thought she’d get with someone again after Typhon.”

“Yeah, him,” Raven said, shaking away some stray thoughts. “By the way, what is up with that stupid looking feather?”

Max reached up to the feather near her left ear and gave Raven a withering glare. “This ‘stupid’ feather is a gift from Sephiroth. I’ll forgive your ignorance just this on-” She stopped, feeling along the feather for a moment until she pulled it from where it was tied. Her eyes widened at how ragged it was. “What happened to her?” Max whispered before looking towards Lance. “We’re leaving. I have to make sure Seph isn’t-.... Make sure she’s okay.”

Raven shook her head. “I can’t authorize the removal of your bands. Only Kat can get them removed and right now, she’ll be far too busy to unlock them. But…” She sighed, dragging her hand down her face. “I know I’m gonna regret this, but, you’re welcome to try and drag your friend here if you’re so concerned. Be warned, she will have to be cuffed as well.”

“I don’t care what Kat is doing. I’m not going to drag Seph here because she’s sore about what Kat did to her universe.” Max placed the feather back in her hair and turned towards the exit of the tent, walking swiftly. “I might see her as a sister, but no one stands between me and one of my lovers.”

“It’ll be easier to drag her here,” Raven called after her. “Kat’s the only one that can send you back to your own multiverse!”

“Don’t care. She’s going to send us on our way.” Max flung the flap of the tent open and left. Lance himself was unsure by the turn of events that just happened. Most of it he couldn’t hear correctly due to the constant sounds of metalworking in the background. It wasn’t until Raven got his attention again that he noticed that Max was outside.

“Yeah… I’m glad to hear that Bronze is safe, but I think we drifted a bit from the conversation… You said that Bronze has sisters right? How many?” The Adept was asking about this because there was a certain clue that he noticed involving this Crystal Gravity. Every time that she was referred to by her name or just mentioned by She, Lance noticed a change in the speaker's voice. It sounded as if this Crystal Gravity was once a friend, but betrayed them. He thought that, but then erased it from his mind when he remembered that Kat had previously stated that the war had been going on for thousands of years. Of course, he had one method to find out the reason why. It just required to get this stupid band off of him first.

“He has two, but is that really important right now?” Raven replied. “Your wife just stormed off and is probably gonna get herself arrested by one of the mps.”

“She just needs to calm down. From what she told me, Seph has been going through a lot of emotional turmoil and she’s just concerned for her.” Lance explained. “She was like that when I first met her. Celestia and Luna had only died two months prior and she just needed someone to talk to. Now, we’re together. I’m not saying that I’m ignoring her, I just know that sometimes, the best thing people want is some space.”

Raven sighed and shook her head. “I’d better go stop her. If she gets arrested, that’s more paperwork than I wanna deal with.” She raced towards the exit, calling back, “Ben! Keep an eye on the other one.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he waved off, not really bothering to answer her. Lance noticed this, smirking a little.

“Need a hand?” He offered.

“Not really.”

“Well, with Raven having to handle Max and the fact that I rather not break any rules I don’t know about, I’m just gonna stay here.” He told him.

“Then keep quiet and don’t touch anything,” Ben said back. “I’d rather not have to rework this stuff and be here any longer than I have to.” Lance did so. But as time passed, he was beginning to worry a bit about Max. So, he calmly left the tent and began to look for her. It was close to nightfall and the streets were being dimly lit by street lamps.

“Now, where could you be?” He thought to himself as he continued to look around. After asking a few guards, they told him that Max was asked to go to the room that Raven was graciously allowing them to stay in for the time being. But knowing Max and given her temper just a few moments ago, he highly doubted that she would be there and instead be on a one woman manhunt looking for the shifter.

As he looked around, he noticed a few of the ponies walking into the remains of what appeared like an old bar and one of them talking about a “Show” being performed. He was curious to see what this was about, so he cautiously made his way inside. Despite the run down appearance outside, inside looked rather nice, almost like a classy restaurant out of the forties. The lighting was dark with only a few candles set up around the large central room, but Lance was able to make out a large stage at the far end of the room. Looking around, he was able to spot Raven sitting at one of the rear tables, though it was position on a higher platform than the rest, allowing her to overlook the entire area. Max was there too, but she didn’t look happier about it. As he approached, he saw why: she’d been handcuffed to her seat and was being forced to remain where she was.

Lance then sighed. “I thought you were supposed to be blowing off steam. Now what the hell happened?”

“I tried to get up near the stage so Kat could see me staring at her through the entire show, but some of the soldiers got in my way. I beat them to a pulp, but Ravi here got the drop on me,” Max said, glaring at the woman across from her.

“Don’t give me nicknames,” Raven said nonchalantly as she took a sip of what looked like red wine.

Lance facepalmed at what he had just heard. “Max, you’re just going to get yourself in deeper trouble like this. Night’s already fallen and something tells me that you’re just… tired.”

“I’m not tired, just wanting to make sure Seph isn’t badly hurt.” Max turned to face the stage.

“Might as well take a seat, kid,” Raven gestured to the third seat next to Max. “Sit down, enjoy the show, go home. Simple as that. She only ever does one song, anyway.”

“Yeah why not?” Lance replied, taking up her offer. “However, I’m getting a weird feeling that this won’t exactly be… simple.”

Raven shushed him as the lights began to dim even more. From the top of the stage, a few gems began to glow and illuminate the stage itself in a soft light. Kat walked into the light in her pony form, wearing a black dress that sparkled brilliantly from the spot lights. She walked up to a microphone at the edge and tapped it a few times, sending a small bit of feedback through. She bowed gently as a the band began to play. The sound of a guitar echoed into the hall, Kat’s soft voice following it as she began to sing.

The ponies in the audience gently bobbed their heads to the sound, smiling as the feeling of the song flowed over them. Even Raven was bobbing softly to the music, never tiring of Kat’s voice. The whole time, Kat put every fiber of her being into the music, letting her feelings wash over her audience.

Lance himself was surprised by the amount of talent that the shifter had and, for a minute, was in tune with the song. However, something made him feel… uncomfortable. It started when he thought he saw a brief flash of green reflect off of Raven’s wine glass. But he wasn’t the only one who noticed it.

Max stood, looking among the crowd. “Raven, get this handcuff off of me. We’ve got company.” Lance himself got out of his seat, scanning the crowd for anypony that seemed to not be part of the crowd. He even looked at the entrance, only to see the two guards at the door.

“It was only a matter of time,” Raven said darkly as she stood. “Kat!” she called to the stage, getting the shifter’s attention as the music died down. “We got company!” Just as those words left her mouth, a pony walked into the center of the room and burst into green fire. Every soldier was instantly at arms, spears and swords directed at the now revealed changeling.

“At ease!” Kat demanded, shouting the order across the room. “It’s only a messenger drone.” The fire died to reveal a very lanky changeling, looking like it might collapse any second. “Speak creature, before your time is out.”

Raven shattered Max’s handcuff and lead her and Lance towards the stage, stopping just below Kat’s left side. “This should be good, and hopefully the drone can last long enough to give us something to work with this time. The last one’s barely lasted a couple minutes before the poison killed them.”

Lance wanted to ask about what the poison that Raven mentioned was about, but did not. He had a strange feeling that the drone here was not the only thing amiss in the room. “Something about this isn’t right. Why would they send the weak one in as the messengers? They look like they’re about to die.”

“He is,” Raven informed him. “Messenger drones are fatally poisoned before being sent out. That way they don’t spill any information from interrogations.”

“Does the poison have an antidote or is it like radiation?” Lance then asked. “Because one would think that if you cured him, he would still be alive to give you more info when held in captivity.” All he got was a nudge in the chest, telling him to shut up as they tried to get something out of the drone.

The drone wheezed for a moment before once again being consumed in green fire. This time, however, was not what Lance or Max were expecting. The fire revealed a human woman dressed in an elegant green gown that showed off a perfectly curved body. But that wasn’t what struck them. No, it was more that the person standing in front of them was Kat herself.

The woman chuckled, a voice just like Kat’s coming out of her mouth. “So… these were the new Displaced my drones reported seeing earlier today. Not as impressive as I had hoped, but I suppose you need every advantage you could have, eh Kat?”

“Crystal,” Kat seethed, turning into her human form and jumping down from the stage. If it weren’t for their clothes, one wouldn’t be able to tell the two apart. “Should have known you’d show your mug here.”

“But of course. I like to know what’s happening on my world after all.”

“This isn’t you world!” Kat shouted with fury.

“More so than it is yours, Shifter.”

“Okay, just what the actual hell is going on?” Lance demanded, tempted to make a move but restrained himself. “This doesn’t make any sense at all.”

“Yes, it does. We aren’t in our multiverse, and neither is the Kat I know. That one that just appeared is this multiverse’s Kat,” Max said, pulling out her sniper rifle.

“Great, this makes me think Stephen Hawking all over again.” Lance muttered to himself. “And just what the hell do you want?… Crystal.”

Crystal looked at the couple, her red eyes looking right through them. She smirked smugly. “I wanted to see the new… meat. Hmm, oh yes I know you two. Maxine the time manipulator and Lance, the adept. Your worlds here were so, mmm, delicious.”

“You have no right to speak our names, b*tch. You are part of the reason I can’t leave here right now, so you’re standing between me-” Max leveled the weapon at the woman. “- and my family.”

“Oh put your toy away, girl,” Crystal said, waving her hand to the side and sending the rifle flying from Max’s hands. “I have come for no fight today. My children need their rest to claim this camp on the morrow. I simply came to see what the other multiverse could bring. I wanted to see if i-”

“You would’ve been dead before you came into the camp if it wasn’t for this bracelet. I’m only holding back from breaking it because I don’t want to make Kat angry.”

Crystal chuckled that smug little chuckle of hers. “Oh yes, I’ve heard of brother Ben’s little nullifier inventions.” Kat and Raven glared darkly. “Don’t give me such looks, sisters, we specialize in stealth, after all. It’s only a matter of time before your secrets reach my ears. And don’t flatter yourself, Maxie. I will admit that you’re a little bolder than your counterpart was, yet still, she fell and was consumed like every Displaced will be in this multiverse when I’m done.”

“I’m more than just a bit bolder. I’m stronger, too. Sombra has proven a very good trainer, as well as a good lay.”

There was a discomforting smile forming across Crystal’s lips. “Oh, yes. You’ll be an excellent claim when the moment comes. Putting an incessant little whelp like you in her place will be oh-so-much fun. I’ll have to make something special for you, my dear. Something exceptionally special. However, it will have to wait. The child forming this message is about to die, so I must bid you, adieu. But I want to leave you with a little memory of little old me.” She lifted a finger and pointed at Lance.

Kat’s eyes widened. “No, Crystal, don’t you-”

“Death Beam!” she fired a purple energy beam that pierced right through Max’s chest. Crystal hmmphed. “Sympathy for your mate. How pathetic.”

“Maxie!” Kat shouted before looking at Crystal with eyes of pure hatred. “No more!” she reached out with her own hand and clenched. The image of Crystal disappeared with a smirk as the changeling underneath was crushed into dust. Kat immediately crouched down to Maxie while Lance was watching dumbstruck.

“Get a medic!” Raven shouted, the soldiers scrambling to get the doctors.

“N-no, just... Get this bracelet off me, it’s hindering my immortalities,” Max stammered out.

Kat immediately brought out an odd looking key and touched the tip to the bracelet, causing it to separate and fall off. Kat’s eyes were full of fear the whole time.

Max coughed once as she laid a glowing hand on the wound. “I’m lucky that wasn’t an actual curse. Damn that b*tch! If I wasn’t pregnant I’d go show her my full power and crush her for trying to kill Lance.” Suddenly, Max felt arms wrap around her head and tears falling onto her hair. She looked up to see that it was Kat who was crying. She smiled and wrapped her own arms around Kat. “You know how I am, Kat. And you know I’d do the same for you.”

“This is why I didn’t want you to come,” Kat whispered, Raven making sure none of the soldiers were watching and minding their own business. “It’s too dangerous for more of us here. She’s too powerful and I can’t risk losing any more family than I have. Please… please Maxie, for once just listen to me and go home. I can’t go through losing another sister because of my own faults.”

“You won’t lose me. Not to that clone, not to anything. Besides, I was trying to find you for the past half hour to tell you that I wanted to go make sure Seph was alright.”

Kat wiped away a few tears. “Alright. I’ll send you home and you can go to see Sephiroth. But promise me you won’t ever come back here. If I need you, I’ll call, but you can’t come here again. Promise me that.”

Max shook her head. “I can’t. While that clone is loose, you’re in danger. I don’t-”

“I’m serious here!” Kat said, shaking her slightly. “You can’t come back. Crystal is my responsibility now and no one else’s. Especially not yours. But for me to beat her, I need to know that you’ll be safe away from here. I can’t fight here knowing you’ll just pop up here again out of nowhere. Now, promise me, Maxie. Pinkie promise me you’ll stay away.”

Her eyes closed and she turned her face away from Kat. “I-I can’t. I already let two family members die right in front of me, I don’t want to hear of a third when I can take steps to avoid it.”

Kat sighed deeply. “I understand.” She stood up and backed away slightly. “Then you leave me no choice.” She took a deep breath. “Maxine and Lance, our contract is finished, you are banished from this world.” A portal opened behind the couple and began to suck them into it.

Max stood and looked right at Kat, shaking her head. “I don’t care if you eventually come to hate me, but I won’t let you keep pushing everyone you care about away. Please, I know you’re hurting about everything that’s happened to you. You can deny it all you want, but I can see it in your entire being that you’re in constant agony. Just let someone help, that’s all I ask.”

“I have Raven,” Kat said, not even bothering to look in Max’s eyes. “She’s all I need for now….. I’m sorry.”

Raven picked up Max’s sniper and threw it into the portal just before Max herself and Lance were sucked into its oblivion.

Upon arriving back in Max’s room, Lance just looked at her with shock. A lot of things had just recently happened and right now, he was really concerned for her. He was going to have a look at her injuries, until he realized that he still had the metal band on his wrist. “Max? Do you have the key for this?”

Max sighed. “Yeah, Kat slipped me the key when she thought I wouldn’t notice.” Max tossed Lance the key, pulling Seph’s feather out of her hair once more. Lance took a moment to unlock it and take the band off. But instead of breaking it, he actually kept it in one piece. The Adept was thinking that something like this may be useful later. But then he turned to Max again.

“We should have a doctor look at you. I’m a little concerned about you getting hurt just now.” He told her.

Max turned to him and looked at the left side of her chest and the scar that could barely be seen there. “I already healed it.”

“That isn’t my concern.” Lance said as she fixed herself up. “I’m concerned for the child. Do you think being in Kat’s world affected his development?”

She rested a hand on her enlarged stomach, noting that it was larger than before. “Let’s go see Home Remedy then.”

“Lead the way, Maxie.” Lance replied, kissing her on the forehead before helping her up.

“After we see Seph, though. I think the trip just advanced my pregnancy, so there shouldn’t be anything to worry about.” Max cleared her throat and said, “Seph, you alright? I have someone I’d like you to meet.”

A translucent green drop appeared out of thin air and hit the ground, only to somehow cause it to form waves as if being a liquid itself. Small wisps of green began to rise from the point of impact, circling and waving around each other until they reached beyond his own height. Slowly they split down the middle and drifted apart to form an oval shape while seeming to gently lift the veil of reality itself, revealing the vast void behind it. A few seconds later a tall woman with the body of an amazon’s wet dream emerged from it. Toned in all the right places but not overly so. Her hair cascaded down her shoulders and back like rivers of liquid silver. She was clad in a long, form fitting, black coat, open on the front even lower than her belly button, only held together by two straps crossing over her breasts. There were metal guards on her shoulders and a pair of pants, that left little to imagination, completed the attire, ending in two heavy boots, that almost reached her knees.

A small smile graced her lips and her teal eyes lit up when they fell on Max. “You called?”

Max marched right over to the other woman with a glare and slapped her, sending her out the window. Her hand glowed white and ‘Seph’ appeared back in front of Max, crashing into her. Max stood her ground and wrapped her arms around the other woman, pressing her face into her breasts as she said, “I knew I should’ve gone with you!”

The silver haired woman struggled to get out of Max’s grasp. “What the f*ck, Max. That hurt.”

“It should’ve. It scared me when I noticed your feather had wilted.” Max’s grip tightened a bit before loosening to where Seph could escape.

Which the woman did, standing to her full height again and rubbing her cheek, where a red mark showed. She frowned down on Max, but more in confusion. “My feather did what?”

“Wilted; aged; got roughed up. I thought you were dying when I saw it.”

Seph flinched and averted her gaze, mumbling under her breath, before looking back at Max once more. “Sorry… I kind of got beaten up by Celestia pretty bad.”

“You need to be more careful!” Max pulled Seph in for another hug. “I don’t want you to die before you can have your child.”

The latter of the two hesitated before reciprocating the hug and sighing. “In my defense… it wouldn’t have been so bad if this blue pegasus from the elements hadn’t barged in on our fight. She distracted me long enough for Celestia to land a few blows…” Her voice faded to a whisper. “Shattering the bones in my arms…” The appendages in question twitched at that.

“Don’t. You’re still alive, so don’t tell me what happened.” Max let go of Seph and gestured to Lance. “This is Lance.”

Seph’s eyes widened slightly and a faint, but still visible, blush appeared on her cheeks when she looked at him. “Erm… hi. Max told me about you.” She straightened her posture and walked over to him, the red on her face somehow deepening with every step, until she stopped and held a hand out for him to take. “My name is Sephiroth, nice to meet you.”

“Same here.” Lance replied, shaking her hand. “It’s nice to be able to meet you in person, Sephiroth. Are you fine with me just calling you Seph?”

Shrugging, she retracted her hand after the shake, but despite looking relaxed, she seemed to struggle with something. “Sure, why not? Max and Kat called me this several times now so it’s alright.” Finally losing whatever inner conflict had befallen her, she averted her gaze and coughed awkwardly into a fist. “Has Max asked you, yet?”

“Nope. I was gonna tell him what all happened before asking him,” Max said, putting an arm around the taller woman’s shoulders.

Sephiroth nodded and crossed her arms in front of her chest. “That makes sense. So how much does he know already?”

Lance just raised an eyebrow and folded his arms for a minute. “Know about what?”

“What happened when she summoned me,” Max explained. “You know the main thing about that.”

“Yeah, I get that. But I have a feeling this is about something… Else.” The Adept replied back. “You did tell me that the two of you had forgiven one another, but I think there’s a little bit more.”

Seph nodded again. “Yes. After we parted ways, I accidently assumed that Max had left a black diamond behind, as some kind of payment. I was really mad and tried to blast it to pieces, which led to the summoning of Kat. She dragged me out of the hole I fell into after what happened and when I was able to think clearly again, I noticed that something about Max’s behavior was very wrong. So very not Max.” She paused shortly. “If I’m being honest I may have been in denial about that Max could have been the one responsible. The thought that she was somehow influenced or even possessed hurt way less than the alternative.” The silver haired woman shuddered and bowed her head enough for her hair to hide her eyes.

Max’s grip tightened a bit and her face turned to shame. “Even though that was caused by the Nightmare, I realized that... I might’ve actually ended up like that, given a few years. I was... for lack of a better way to say it - focused on sex and lust so much that I was constantly thinking of who I might sleep with next.

“I... I wouldn’t have forced myself on you, but... I-I don’t know how I would react to you in a year or two.” Max buried her face in Seph’s shoulder, trying to hold back her tears.

Lance himself during the scenario felt like he was a relationship counselor after hearing all of this. “So… I guess you two have apologized to one another, but I may ask… What does that have to do with what Max needed to ask me?”

“Sorry, got carried away. After I convinced myself that Max was possessed, I wanted to free her but the only one I know of, that has any expertise with the inner workings of a mind and ethereal beings is Nightmare Moon, who was at that moment a brainwashed husk of her former self in captivity by Celestia. Kat helped me with that, though. We infiltrated the castle and managed to get pretty far until we encountered Chetyre, the new god of chaos in my universe.” Seph sighed deeply. “Because I’m immune to chaos magic, I told Kat to head on without me, while I would take care of Chetyre, but he tricked me.”

The woman shrunk a bit in on herself before continuing. “He took the form of Discord and caught me by surprise. I just remember seeing him move towards me and something about green flashing eyes. The next thing I remember is waking up in a dungeon, chained to the wall…” She shuddered again. “I’ll spare you the details, but Celestia and Chetyre tortured me for almost 24 hours. Kat was the one who saved me. She had restored Nightmare to her former self and then left, only leaving behind a short letter and instructions how to travel through the Void with the help of a token. So I grabbed Nightmare and came here to free Max, only to break down under the weight of my memories from the torture…” Her voice faded and she was visibly shivering now. When Lance saw that, he put his hand on her shoulder to comfort her.

“It’s okay. You don’t need to share everything if you don’t want to.” He assured her.

“I think I should tell the next part, though,” Max said. “When Seph collapsed Nightmare took a glance at Seph’s memories and saw what they had done to her and... well, tried attacking me because of it. I got her to calm down and let me join her in Seph’s memories, but...” Max shook her head, trying to stay calm if her white knuckles were anything to go by. “They used her fear of losing a child and the fact that she didn’t know I prevented a pregnancy against her. Nightmare and I managed to calm those memories, though, and once it was-”

That was the moment where the taller woman broke free of Max’s arm and rushed over to a nearby trashcan only to throw up.

“I think that was a little too soon.” Lance mentioned. “So to summarize, you tried cleaning out what is fake, you two made up and now were here?”

Max’s eyes gained a glimmer of her usual impishness and she turned to Lance. “We did more than just make up.” Her hand glowed and she touched a finger to her temple, pulling a pink-ish wisp of something out that formed a small crystal ball. “Here, I’ll let you experience it first hand.”

Seph shot to her feet and glared daggers at Max. “Don’t! Just don’t!”

Max smiled at her as she tossed it towards Lance, only for a black gloved hand to snatch it right out of the air. “I said no, Max!” And before anyone could question what was going on the silver haired woman absorbed the sphere into her. For a moment her eyes went out of focus before she suddenly reared back and roared. “FFUUUUUUUU!!!!”

“Something she didn’t want to see?”

Max giggled and produced another pink sphere. “Nope, I planned on her trying to stop me and gave her my first time with Celestia.” This time though, instead of tossing it, Max just handed it to Lance. For a brief moment, he was taken aback by the memories stored inside. After seeing it, he looked back at both women, one of which had her whole face encompassed by a raging blush and was panting slightly. Surprised, but quite relaxed.

“Well… That was interesting… Say, do you want to wait on seeing Home Remedy til tomorrow?” Lance asked, sitting down on the bed in the back of the room. “I think that after everything we’ve been through, we need to let off some steam.”

“Maybe in a little, but first, I still need to ask you something.”

“Okay, what is it?” The Adept asked, unaware of what was to be said to him at all.

“Well, during Seph’s stay she asked me if I could give her a child. Because of that I resolved to let you decide if she could join us. Like for good.”

“You mean… as a second partner?” Lance asked, getting a look from Max that he saw as a ‘yes’. “Sure. I’m all for it. Since Max is okay with it, so am I.”

Sephiroth just stared dumbfounded, still red as a tomato. The Adept chuckled a little when he looked back at Sephiroth. “I think Seph is a bit surprised by my answer.”

Max leaned in and gave him a kiss. “I kinda knew you wouldn’t say no.”

“I don’t want to sound unappreciative but don’t I get to decide if I want him as a partner?” The silver haired woman had crossed her arms in front of her chest again. Lance himself just sighed.

“Are you saying that I need to prove myself to you somehow?” He asked, raising an eyebrow.

Max clapped her hands together and said, “I know! A small duel right here. First to down their opponent, or make them unable to fight wins. No drawing blood, though, it’ll be hard to clean that out of the carpet even with magic.”

“So a friendly bout? Hmm… Are you sure? We could end up destroying your room.” The Azure Striker mentioned, looking at Seph for a minute, only to notice her pleased grin.

Max’s hand lit and he heard her speak in his ear, “Don’t worry, just remember to use your body against her.”

“That could mean a lot of things,” He whispered back. “Any weak points?”

Max’s hand met her face. “... Just use what I gave you and try to make her too… distracted to fight.”

Lance himself now deeply sighed. “You seriously want us to do it now, do you?”

“She has a huge strength fetish. If you avoid her attacks and just pleasure her, she’ll fold like a house of cards.”

Lance grinned a little. Speed and Agility were two qualities of his that had worked out well for him in the long run. “Okay, if we’re doing this, is it with or without weapons?” He asked Seph. “My guess would be without, but I don’t want it to be ‘unfair’ for you.”

“Max said no drawing blood, so I can not use my weapon.”

Lance sighed a little, taking off his jacket and setting it on the coatrack. The jacket contained both of his guns and his Energy blade in the pockets, so he wouldn’t need to use them. For added measure, he took off his gloves as well, revealing the light colored bare palms of his hands. “Ladies first?”

Seph, for her part, set her gloves taut and clenched her fists. “You will regret that.” Her whole body was enveloped in a red aura before she simply vanished from sight only to appear right in front of him with her fist already buried into his stomach. However, to her surprise, Lance barely budged as he used his right arm to graze her lower chest. Seph felt a little bit of tingling there and noticed the small amounts of electricity dancing around his fingers as he loosened himself from Seph’s strike and got behind her, adding a small shock around her upper legs.

With an involuntary grunt she stumbled forward to get away from him, the blush on her face renewed. But instead of trying to punch him again, she swiveled on one foot, while kicking the other one in the direction of his face. The Adept saw this coming and moved his head to the left, followed by another shock around her knees and inner thigh. As she fell forward, a third shock occurred, but this time around the back of Seph’s neck. Lance made sure to be careful around this area though because he didn’t want her to get hurt accidently.

This chain of actions caused her to actually moan. She jumped away from him and shot him an irritated glare. “What the f*ck are you doing?!”

“No weapons, but it was never clarified whether powers were to be used. Plus, I learned that certain pressure points can affect a fighter’s performance.” Lance calmly replied, a spark of electricity coursing through his open left palm. “Back in my world, I don’t kill targets. I knock them out and capture them. It’s part of my training.”

Shaking her head, she actually looked relieved. “For a second there I thought… nevermind.” Her hands began to glow with a black, swirling aura. “Kat brought something to my attention. I almost forgot about this.” In the next moment the air around them grew literally heavy as gravity itself seemed to decide that it was time to drag them down with ten times its usual pull.

“Increasing the gravitational pull? I thought that could be learned from someone like Kat.” Lance sighed, only shaking a little bit at the knees as he stood his ground. “Too bad we were banished from her realm.”

Suddenly the gravity returned to normal and Seph blinked confused at him. “What?”

“Care to explain, Max?”

“Kat isn’t in our multiverse and she’s fighting an evil version of herself,” Max said, showing them the scar. “I got this when the evil clone tried to hurt Lance.”

To Seph’s surprise, Lance wasn’t paying attention to Max and instead used the opportunity to shock her one last time around the neck. “Sorry Max, but I couldn’t help taking advantage of a distraction.” He spoke with a chuckle in his voice.

Sephiroth actually and truly squealed when he did and jumped away again. When she glared at him this time, she was blushing like mad and panting slightly. “You… you are doing this on purpose.”

“Purpose? You really need to think again. I was just following some advice Max gave me. That’s all.” He sighed.

The silver haired woman growled aggressively turning to face Max, only to see a halo of Max’s magic above the other woman’s head as she whistled nonchalantly. “You. Why am I not surprised in the least?” Then her gaze snapped back to Lance. “Are you aware, that she deliberately made you tickle me in… intimately sensitive places?”

“Hey, I knew you were in no shape to actually fight anyone,” Max said, glaring at Seph. “You might not be for the next month or so. So, I told Lance to not actually fight you fairly so you wouldn’t exacerbate the wounds you already have.”

“Right.” Lance replied, sitting on the bed again. “I didn't want to hurt you on top of what you have already been going through.” For a moment, he noticed that his shirt was soaked in sweat and slowly took it off, exposing his chest and upper body. “God, why is it so warm in here-?”

He was interrupted by a low whine, that turned into a growl. When he looked up to discern the source he was tackled to the bed by Sephiroth. Max herself just looked at them, intrigued a little as she got up to close and lock the door to her room. Putting up a sign that read “Do Not Disturb”.

Next morning

When Lance got up, he found himself in Max’s room. Both Max and Seph were sound asleep as he slowly crawled out of bed to get his clothes off of the floor, working his way to the bathroom. The Adept was covered in sweat and really needed to take a good shower to get himself cleaned up before returning back to Centrail City. This wasn’t that hard to do, but things began to get a little more complicated as he was drying off. He could hear some noises in the other room and can clearly distinguish some of them being Max and the kids once he got his shirt and pants back on. But around the time where he got the water out of his ears was when he realized that he forgot his jacket. Slowly, he walked back in, trying the best to be calm.

“Morning Max. Morning Seph-.” Lance couldn’t help but stare at both of them, surprised by what he was seeing. The kids were nestling in the bed with both of them as Max looked back at him.

“Morning Lancie,” She said, putting her arm around Seph, who was covered in Fillies. “Just letting Seph bond with Golden and Light.”

Seph just inclined her head in a greeting, not really looking back at the Adept while she watched the two foals she was nursing before speaking. “Good morning.”

Lance just looked back at Max and sighed. “Yeah… Bonding… Hang on, if the kids are here… then that means-.”

“Hiya Lancie!!”

“Gah!” Lance reacted, caught by surprise as he fell to the floor. “Pinkie!!”

All Max did was chuckle as she looked back at the mare that had entered the room. “Hello Pinkie.”

“Hi there, Maxie! The fillies were really behaving themselves-.” She said before noticing Seph in the back of the room. “OOH!! Who’s the new pony?” This actually got Seph to look up from her downward gaze earlier and notice the earth pony.

“And who would you be? It’s quite rude not to introduce yourself first if you want to know who I am.”

“Oooh!! I’m Sorry!! I’m Pinkie Pie!! Super Duper Party Planner and Filli-Second of the Power ponies!!” The Earth Pony answered Seph’s question. However, her behavior caused Seph to frown a little. She wasn’t exactly a fan of it.

“I’m Sephiroth. And since you seem to like titles, I’ll share a few of mine. Angel of Destruction, Dragonslayer and - my favorite - Godmother to all Children. I’d like to ask you to turn down the shouting a little bit, if possible.”

Max gave her best apologetic smile as she glanced back at them. “Yeah, we just woke up and Seph is obviously not a morning person,” Max told the two of them. “Besides, she isn’t really a fan of your usual attitude.”

“Right,” Lance sighed, getting his coat off of the coat rack. “Well, Pinkie and I should get going. I still got some work to wrap up in Centrail City and also some members of a Suicide Squad to track down-.”

“Ooh! Ooh!! You mean the group that has your father be part of it!?”

Max though, did not take the news of that kindly. “Wait, father? Your father is in your universe? How come this is the first I’ve heard of him?” Seph herself just stayed out of the conversation and continued to focus on the kids while Lance got out an image of McCree to hand to her.

“That’s the thing. It’s the first I’ve heard of him too. I thought he was dead because he committed suicide. Now he has a mechanical arm, is a bounty hunter, and is known as McCree.”

“Huh, I wondered if I’d ever meet a Displaced from that game.” Max handed the photo back to Lance and continued, “What’s he done to get on something called a ‘suicide squad?’”

“Bounty Hunting. Seven years of it. Anything he could to make a living. I don’t know all the details though. This is the only thing we have on him.”

“Then it might not be hard to get Celestia to pardon him and send him here.”

“Actually, the only info we have is on a flash drive from a mole we uncovered at the police station. An assassin shot him between the eyes before we could question him.” The Adept explained to her.

Sephiroth’s voice chimed in. “If I’m understanding this right, you’ll have to leave, soon?”

“Unfortunately, yes,” Lance explained. “Centrail City and the Cutie Mark Crusaders need my help in catching a group of Vigilantes. It’s all in a day's work.”

Max seemed to be a little intrigued as to why Sephiroth had interrupted the two of them as she turned slightly to look at her. Her gaze was fixed on Lance and without any warning whatsoever, her black wing flared into existence out of nowhere, missing Max in the process, so that it was spanned behind her back. “Max? Would you do me a favor and select one for Lance? My hands are a little occupied at the moment.”

It took a bit of time for her to select the right feather as she had to remove a few broken ones off of her singular wing. After a while, Max soon took one and handed it over to the Adept as Sephiroth began to speak. “It’s directly bound to my life, and as you saw, I gifted one to Max, so I’m offering you the same. If you ever need my help or just want to see me you can use it to summon me, as it doubles as a token. But it is also my promise to the both of you, that there will always be a deeper connection between us.”

Taking the token, Lance decided to add it as an accessory to the hilt of his energy blade as he looked back at them. “Thank you. Now, it would be kind enough for me to provide you with the same thing.” The Azure Striker told her as he formed one of his tokens in the palm of his hand. “Use it to call on me or just for any purpose you see fit. Max uses it as a Hairpin to keep her hair tied down so maybe you can do the same thing.” With that, he left the room with Pinkie Pie so he could leave the two of them in peace.

“Now we just need to check on Aurora before we head back.”

Not long after he said that did he hear a brief series of giggles and as they rounded around the corner, Lance and Pinkie soon saw the young ghost filly with Sol and Mun. “There you are. I was wondering where you were, Aurora.”

Aurora Spirit immediately stopped, “Uh, I got bored and found Sol and Mun. They’re fun!”

“I’m glad you like them, but we should get back to Centrail City before Scoot begins to worry about you… again.” Lance sighed, preparing his bracer so the ghost filly could slip in. “It’s time we catch some puppets.”

End Strike 25

Strike 26- The Countess of the Night

Author's Note

Warning: Some parts may get a bit... graphic later. Mainly, this is a Crossover with The Blood Countess, a Displaced story by ElementBrigade based on the Character Shalltear Bloodfallen from the Anime, Overlord.

What's next? Cleaning up in Centrail City. Also, two new... idiots join the Suicide Squad.

Notice 8/11/16: May need to be redone to fit the new and present story. Like I said... MAY need to be redone. It's undetermined right now.

Strike 26- The Countess of the Night

When Lightning Strikes- The Countess of the Night

The Clubhouse, Centrail City

At the crack of dawn, the Crusaders were up, alive and kicking. But a lot of them were wondering the whereabouts of two of their new friends. The first being Lance, who was “Gunvolt” in Maretropolis, and the second one being Aurora, who happened to be Scootaloo’s sister. Their questions were answered when they found the two of them, along with Filli-second, crashing into the kitchen after being spat out of a small wormhole. But all this lead though was to more questions being asked by a ragtag bunch of confused and excited fillies.

At first, Lance thought about just saying a white lie to them. But then, he remembered about Scootaloo and Aurora. Their father was a Displaced and wouldn’t believe him otherwise if he lied directly in their face. So, the Azure Striker tried to explain it to them in the best way he could, while mentioning Max and the foals that Pinkie was helping babysit. It took almost half an hour, but soon, the team understood what he was talking about.

“So, to get back on track, what do we need to do today?” Scootaloo asked, looking at the Azure Striker. Lance sighed, pulling out a map of the city before pulling out some pieces that looked like it came from a MONOPOLY game.

“Simple. The Puppets have been causing problems in the city and before we stop whoever is in charge, we need to find out as much information as we can on them. Now, when Aurora and I encountered them, we got a good look at what they're capable of.” He explained before taking a deep breath. “One has Psychic powers, another can turn into Smoke, and a third one is basically a moving stone statue. Plus, Aurora got a look at who their master is.”

The filly nodded, “Yeah, and you guys aren’t gonna like it. His name is Equilis, one of five ex-secret operatives from the government.”

“Hey! I remember him! He helped foalnap Entropy for The Cupcake!” Scootaloo said, “Weren’t they detained along with the Purple Mare?”

“No, only Cupcake and Purple were taken to the Zero Zone. Equilis didn’t do much but give them Entropy.” Aurora clarified. “I met him only once when he watched my… Execution along with several other bad guys.”

“So, with that in mind, we need to do some surveillance and try to find a way to infiltrate Equilis’ hideout from anything we can find. Aurora, can you bring up a list of the ponies we encountered yesterday?” Aurora nodded, going through the data she stole from the old warehouse they were hiding in and bringing up the list.

“Here you go.

“Thank you kindly,” Lance replied with a smile before bringing up a projection of the list “Now, from what we have, there are four juveniles that if we encounter them, we are to capture them. They don’t know any better and I believe that if they’re following someone such as Equilis, an former secret operative, they deserve a second chance. The first one is Psycho, and she has psychic abilities along with her magic. Second is Ash, who can turn into Ash and smoke along with using it as an explosive. Third is Weeping Angel, a stone pegasi that can hit you with the force of a brick wall. As of now, we don’t know who the fourth one is, but from the code name of Bomb Voyage, he sounds like an explosives expert.”

“And Prench if you ask me.”

Lance them turned around to notice Lumen flying into the room. “Oh, hey there Lumen. When did you get here?”

“I was with Pinkie Pie raising the foals until we came here.”

“I see… Well, that makes sense.”

“Didn’t Psycho mention something about Steelwing or something? And what was up with her mental freak out when you mentioned Mrs. Hooves?” Aurora asked.

“I don’t know. Maybe she knew her before from somewhere. As for Steelwing, that could be someone’s real name instead of a code name. It’s all speculation.” For a moment, while he was talking, Lance heard something brief in his head. What he heard was a call for help.

“Whoever you are… Please, help me.”

Realizing that it must have been a Displaced that was in danger, Lance soon got up and left from the table. “Change of plans. Someone’s calling for my help and needs it fast. Pinkie, can you help Scoot and the others with their mission here today?”

“Yes sir, Lancie!” She replied, saluting the Adept.

“Thanks.” The Azure Striker said briefly before looking at the Breezie and the ghost pony by the table. “Lumen, come with me. Aurora, I would like you to be helping Scootaloo with her mission today. I assume that you two won't be causing any shenanigans while I’m gone right?”

“I promise nothing.” Said Aurora plainly, “But we won’t break anything.”

“Okay, if anything happens while I’m gone. Just send me a message. I believe that since you have been in my communications device, you can send messages to me no matter where I am in the void. So, if you need my help, just give me a buzz. If you’re done, you can visit me as well.” The teen soon adjusted his clothes, wearing the white sleeveless hoodie that Time Spinner gave him with a black undershirt to go with his pants. “Alright Lumen, time to go and we better hurry.”

The Breezie wasn’t able to say anything before Lance put her in his coat pocket and tore a hole in the void, running through it. As the crusaders looked at one another, one of the rookies decided to break the ongoing silence…

“So… are we going to need disguises?”

Just as Lance arrived at his destination, he felt his foot going into the face of somepony that was in front of him. Looking up from his landing spot, he found himself inside somepony’s room and noticed that the stallion he just kicked was holding a human like girl against her will, restraining her to a wall. Not to mention that it looked like the stallion’s pants was on the floor.

“Now this is just too sick.”

“W-who are you?” The girl asked. Lance could tell that she was afraid. Almost like when Max was afraid a few days ago. The Adept started by getting to work on freeing her from the magical restraints that held her to the wall, but before he could introduce himself, the Unicorn Stallion he kicked tried to release a spell at him in a fury of mystic rage. For Lance though, he knew that his efforts were futile. Especially when he had the gem Loki gave him.

Holding the gem out, the magic that was rushing towards him soon became golden dust as it faded away into nothingness. The stallion was beyond speechless. “W-what!?”

“Wrong answer.” was the Adept’s only reply as he took out his gun and fired off three rounds from his Vasuki clip before releasing enough electricity to send the assailant through the window behind him. Midflight, Lance used his abilities in Ki to restrain his arms and hooves to prevent whoever he was from struggling. Turning around, he soon offered a hand to the young girl that he had just rescued. “Sorry about that. I guess you’re the one who summoned me?”

“Y-yes I- wait, what!?”

“My token,” The adept pointed it out to the girl, which was used to tie the back of her hair. “You used it to call out to me. Anyways, I’m Lance. But before we deal with anything else, we should make sure that your… attacker has been dealt with by the authorities.”

“Way ahead of you.” Shalltear smirked as she summoned up a lance had of holy light that was aimed that Bluebloods head. Until Lance put a hand on her shoulder.

“Not like that. Put it away, someone’s coming.” He told her as he heard the sound of hooves in the distance

“Tch…… fine, but don’t blame me if the f**ker gets back up and attacks me again.”

“I would already have other ways of dealing with that. Plus, I highly doubt he’ll get of those restraints.”

“SHALLTEAR!!” Both of them soon turned to find Princess Luna and the mane six running in her direction, shocked to find the stallion restrained in his current state. Lance assumed that since the girl reacted to the word, it could possibly be her name. “What in the name of the night happened!?”

“Long story short. Prince Blueblood tried to have his way with me, that is until Lance came out of nowhere and saved me before anything happened to me.”

“To be more explicit, Blueblood was going to rape her.” Lance interjected, causing some ponies to gasp in shock and horror. “If I had not intervened and restrained him when I did, I don’t know what would’ve happened.” He looked to see the Stallion squirming on the floor and a tent being pitched in his midsection. “Oh for god’s sake, somepony get him out of here!!”

“Guards!” yelled Luna as two bat ponies suited in armor appeared. “Take Blueblood to the dungeon until we can have a word with him in the morning.”

Lance watched for a little bit more, backing up to give Shalltear and the other ponies some space as he patiently waited for her to finish her conversation with the Mane Six and this world’s version of Princess Luna. As a way to show courtesy. It would be rude to eavesdrop on a conversation that wasn’t his. However, the conversation between them soon included him when this world's Rainbow Dash was talking to Shalltear.

“Not to change the subject or anything, but who’s the colt the long ponytail?” Rainbow asked, thinking that Lance was someone suspicious. “Is he in league with Blueblood?”

“No, he’s the one that saved me from Blueblood.” Shalltear said as Luna turned her attention at Lance.

“You there, boy.” She called out, getting his attention. “Are you the one that saved Shalltear from my nephew?”

“Why yes, that would be me.” He nodded, answering Luna’s question. “My name is Lance. Lance Walker. Nice to meet you… Hang on a second. Lumen? Are you okay in there?” Luna was about to ask who was this ‘Lumen’ that he was referring to, until a small butterfly like figure emerged from his jacket and nestled in his hair.

“Next time Lance, warn me before you do that again.”

“What the-!?” Luna responded, backing up a little.

“Yeah, that’s my friend Lumen.”

“What is she if you don’t mind me asking? She kinda reminds me of that annoying fairy from the legend of zelda.” Shalltear muttered.

“She’s a breezie.” Lance told them. The response got Twilight to be curious and start looking inside her book on Equestrian Species to find it.

“What’s a breezie?” Rainbow asked before she was cut off by Twilight.

“Breezies are a race both rare and intelligent magical creatures native to Equestria.” said Twilight answering Shalltear’s question.

“Well, that’s one thing that reminds me of our Masked Matterhorn.” Lumen whispered. However, Twilight’s hearing was better than Lumen realized.

“I’m sorry but who’s this Masked Matterhorn?”

“...... Maybe we should explain about where we’re from first before we dive into specifics.”

“Yes, please. Because right now I’m getting a little bit annoyed about all that has happen to me over the years, and moments ago.” said Shalltear as she pulled herself off of Pinkie Pie.

“Well, first off, you need to understand the Multiverse to understand us-.”

“Here we go…”

“Lumen, please be patient.” Lance sighed.

“Can you make it short, sweet, and to the point?” The countess asked. “If you haven’t notice I would like to know how you got here, and to be left alone after this.”

“I didn’t just get here. You summoned me.” Lance replied. “You see, Lumen and I aren’t from this Equestria. There are multiple others in the universe, each one with other people like you and I who got Displaced as who we are. It is also the reason for my powers.”

“......You could’ve just said multiverse theory.”

“Right. Still though, you used my token to summon me when you needed it, so I’m going to do my best to try and help you.” He replied, sighing a little. “I know two other displaced that have been in the same situation as you and I think it would be very beneficial for you to meet them.”

“I don’t need help alright? All I need is to be alone for a few days, and I’ll be fine.”

“Yeah… Your words say one thing, but your tone means another.” The Adept sighed. Yep, this girl definitely reminded her of Max. “How about we go on a walk… friend?”

“......Fine, but if you do anything or trying anything.” Shalltear summon a pack of wolves from her shadow. “Then my friends will have something to eat tonight.”

“Are you sure if they want to eat lightning?” Lance asked. “Plus, I just wanted the chance to get to know you a little better. I did save your life a few moments ago.”

“I’m just saying, because after the sh*t I went through today you can’t actually expect me to trust you that easily.”

“I believe you there.” Lance replied. As they walked, he noticed a lake far from town and decided to walk towards it. It’s reflection was beautiful with the light of the moon shining across it. “But I believe that if you are kind to others, they can be kind to you.”

“.....*Sigh* Fair enough I guess. Come, let us have a walk by the lake then seeing how you want to get to know me.”

“I don’t mean it in a weird way. I just thought that you needed someone to talk to.” Lance replied. He noticed a huge boulder and blasted it with his Ki. After a few more blasts, the stone turned into a set of two throne like chairs for them to sit in. “Would you like a seat, Shalltear?”

“Sure I guess.” Shalltear took a seat while her pets simply laid down next to her. “So what do you want to talk about?”

“Well, I would say about my abilities, occupation and that. My family back home is not something I want to talk about though.” Lance then noticed the clothes she had and the Umbrella she carried. “You look quite elegant in those clothes. The Umbrella fits well with your outfit as well.”

“Thanks I guess, so mind telling about yourself before I tell you about myself?”

“Well, I’m an Adept. They’re humans with psychic abilites. Mine is my lightning. Besides that, I’ve been taught to control Ki by a friend of mine and I have another partner with me too, but that I can show later. Where I’m from, I’m basically a hero.”

“Is that all? I was expected something a little…..well interesting to say the least.”

“And when I mean hero, I mean Justice League. My world is filled with superheroes and Twilight and her friends are like their own Avengers.” Lance told her. “But I didn’t want to tell you everything because I didn’t want to be a showoff. The gun I used is only one of two that are linked with my powers as well as an energy blade… If Aurora was here though, she’ll surprise you. But enough about me for right now. What about you?”

“My name is Shalltear Bloodfallen. I’m a vampire that have lived for over 1,000 years, though I maybe old I still have a….somewhat stable mind of a 15 year old. Skills…..well I prefer not to show you.”

“If you think I can copy them or something, then you got me mistaken.” The Adept explained. “I only have my powers, combining them.”

“Still I don’t trust you so I won’t be showing you much.”

“Well, I saw you summon those wolves and a holy spear. I think that’s a plenty if you didn’t want to show me much.” He mentioned. “Plus-.” He then heard a beeping notice from his communicator and looked at it. “Excuse me.” With it, he pulled up the screen and a filly was seen on screen.

“Aurora? Why did you need to call me? Did something happen?” He asked the filly, who looked upset.

“Apple Bloom called me a wannabe hero!” Aurora whined.

“Ah didn’ mean it like that!” Apple Bloom’s voice was heard in the background.

“That was uncalled for!” Scootaloo was heard, “She just came back from the dead and you insult her?”

“Ah said Ah didn’ mean it like that! All ah said was ‘what kinda hero were ya’, and Aurora over reacted!”

“Okay, all three of you calm down.” Lance told them. “Aurora, you can come here if you need to take your mind off of things. Applebloom, please think what you’re going to say before doing so.” With that, he ended the call. “Sorry about that, Ms. Bloodfallen. Sometimes it’s hard to manage work, family and life.”

Aurora suddenly appeared, her wounds of the past looked extra fresh though. “Especially when they’re combined.”

“You have children?”

“Actually yes. First, there’s this little filly.” Lance pointed at Aurora. “Even if she is a partner for me in the field, I see her as a daughter. But also, I have children yes. Two foals, a Filly Rainbow Dash and then a colt named Lucky.” Lance then took the photograph he kept with him so Shalltear could see for herself.

“........I hate kids……” Shalltear said as she handed the photo back to Lance.

“I think I can speak on behalf of all kids, we dislike people who say that.” Aurora stated.

“Easy you two,” Lance tried to calm the tensions down. “Kids can be annoying and bothersome at times, but they learn and grow over time. Both Max and Seph realize that, Aurora. Can you try your best to show some respect to them?”

“Tch, I could care less if they hated me because I said it. I only show respect to who I see who doesn’t annoy me. And I still stand by what I said about kids.”

Aurora’s throat gushed with black liquid as her body flickered between red and blue, “Whatever…” She whispered.

“Does it look like I care about you opinion kid?”

“You okay, Aurora?” Lance asked. “You don’t look so good right now.”

“I’m fine…” She growled, “Never better…”

“Your old wounds are opening again.” Lance told her. “I think your emotions are affecting the healing process.”

“There isn’t a healing process for ghosts. I have to stay this way until I get a new body.” Aurora said.

“Yes, but your wounds look like they have been… reopened. How about you take some time to rest while I talk to Shalltear. Get your mind off of things. Watch a Movie.” Lance suggested to the filly.

“As you wish-” Aurora stopped herself and shook her head, “Okay.” She started fading into Lance’s communicator.

“Sorry about that. Aurora is a bit… determined to be right on certain subjects.” The Adept replied. “Where were we?”

“I lost track after that annoying kid interrupted us.” Shalltear said while rubbing her head in annoyance.

“Aurora has good intentions. Just ill timing. I think you were asking me about the kids Max, Seph and I are raising. I think you might have some things in common with both of them though.” He mentioned.

“Tread carefully about what you’re about to say next boy, because right now I don’t need anyone’s help and the sooner you leave the sooner I’ll take care of Atlas’s bloodline.”

“Murder won’t do you good. With Blueblood exposed though, they’ll start uncovering more of whatever he’s hiding if you let their investigation continue. You should find something to get those things off of your mind instead of on your mind. Trust me, they will pay for his crimes and more than just against you.”

“Stupid and naive, just like how I was when I was young. You think that’ll stop? Don’t make me laugh. In case you haven’t notice, ponies like Blueblood have connection with either other ponies or other being from different nations around the world. Even if that does happen that won’t stop his side of the family to continue in hunting me down for their own personal gain. The only way to make sure that this never happens again is to burn, kill, and slaughter the family bloodline until nothing is left.” A crimson aura slightly formed around the countess. “Then, only then will I know peace.”

“Well, I hope you succeed…” Aurora’s voice said without sarcasm, or humor, “Daddy taught me when to kill. Only when there’s no other choice.”

“Well, There are two things to keep in mind.” Lance replied. “If you looked at Blueblood’s face. He’s not angry anymore, but afraid. This time was the first time you fought back. They might bring others from around the world, but you can bring Displaced from other worlds to fight for you. The second thing is a proposal… Blueblood will be getting a huge sentence for sure. Rape is no small crime. But maybe, you can convince the Sisters to have you either kill him if he gets the death penalty… or make him your servant. Either will teach him the error of his ways in the long run and will also provide you with blood.”

“Mortal... Unlike you who still have his morals and values,” Shalltear appear in front of Lance. “I threw mine away when I imploded Atlas along with the rest of his friends or family that join in his little play time with me.”

“Then force Blueblood to see it from your perspective.” Lance retorted. “I’m trying my best to help you here Shalltear, because I see you as a friend. Only if we let go of the past can we move on with our lives.” Lance told her. “Besides, other ponies might be afraid of you, but I am not. I see you the same way I see my other friends, Max and Sephiroth. I see you as a friend in need.”

“ENOUGH!” The countess yelled as she summoned Spuit Lance into her hand. “You expect me to forget the hell I went through for the past 1,000 years? To forget how Altas star treated me and experimented on me?”

“I’m not asking you to forget what Atlas did. I’m telling you to put Blueblood through the same hell that you felt. Drive him insane, force him to confess not just his deeds, but the deeds of the entire family.” Lance then took a glove off of one of his arms and showed the bare skin. “You seem thirsty. Feel free to have a drink.”

“I don’t need you blood. What I want is for my revenge to be unleashed upon Blueblood and his family.”

“And the first step to do that is in your own room. You remember that his pants are still there. Which would mean that the keys to his home would be there too.” The Adept told her, “ Given that the rich bastard lives in a mansion, he must have a library or study room where they keep records of everything. You find enough evidence on more than just your situation, then not just one member, but all of his family will be exposed, caught and arrested.”

“Lance, stop. I don’t think she’s going to listen to you.” Aurora tried.

“Well, she needs to listen to someone. Shalltear had just got back on even ground with Celestia and Luna. If she kills Blueblood, she’ll be encased in stone again or worse.” Lance pointed out. “Plus, Blueblood is corrupt and did a very bad thing. He must be brought to justice.”

“I’m only on even terms with Princess Luna, that idiot of a sun princess will pretty much give that pig of a unicorn community service just like she did with Atlas all those years ago.”

This though, got Lance thinking. He remembered the orbs that Max could make to place her memories in and let others see them. Maybe this could work. “What if you had Celestia see your memories? I know they may be personal, but a witness account can serve as crucial evidence.”

“I had enough of this, if this is your attempt in trying to change my mind then it’s not going to work. I’m going to kill him and the rest for their ancestor’s sins against me, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

“Good luck.” Aurora mumbled, still no humor or sarcasm.

“... I can help. If Blueblood is in a dungeon… Why not cause a riot?” Lance suggested. “The commotion would cause him to try to find safety and that is when your opportunity will present itself. Rich folk like him would try to find a place to hide. Make that his downfall.”

“I don’t need help, I’m going to kill him and the rest with my own hands.” Shalltear began to walk off, only for Lance to reappear right in front of her.

“Just trust me. You may be over 1000 years old, but your mind is only fifteen. If you don’t think this through, you can end up killing yourself in the process. I even know a few people that hate Blueblood just as much as you do.”

“Lance, she isn’t going to listen at all.” Aurora groaned.

Lance sighed. “Well, isn’t this a tricky one… Guess, I’m going to have to get on an even playing field for me to help.”

“And what pray tell does that mean?”

“I can feel your power and I feel that… you’re not at your strongest. If so, you would use [Silence] to prevent him from not hearing you, [Mist Form] to disguise yourself, and [Implosion] to make him collapse inward on himself before making it look like an accident with [Wall of Stone].”

“How the hell do you know about that?”

“When you first introduced your name, I had my communicator run a search on it and see what it will bring up. The first thing I found was an ability like with the powers you would be capable of.” Lance explained, showing the screen with the list before dismissing it. “There’s a difference between using your skills and then using them in ways that aren’t limited to where your character is from. Don’t be afraid to shake things up a little. That’s what I was told. But something seems… different for you. Were your powers affected somehow?”

“I don’t know what you are talking about? My powers are not affected by anything.” Shalltear said as she look away from the Adept. “Dammit, how did he know about that to?”

“Prove it.” He said, standing with his arms stretched out and letting his jacket fall to the ground. “Your emotions might say one thing, but if you do have the power and the will to kill me, then all I say is try.”

“You seriously want me to try and kill you? Did you land on your head when you were just a kid or something?”

“I’ve been wondering that same thing…” Aurora added.

“Fine, but don’t blame me for your stupid mistake kid.” Shalltear raised her arm as a spear of light appeared. “But if you do die I get to have your body, and make it into my personal servant.”

“That’s if it happens.”

“Then let’s find out! [Purifying Lance!]” Shalltear tossed her lance at the Adept as a runic circle appeared on his left shoulder. “Don’t think you can block or dodge this attack.” A large cloud of smoke went off in the area as the Lance made contact. But as it faded, something caught her attention. Lance just stood there. Unharmed. Like nothing happened to him. But like before, she saw the jewel in his hands and soon began to feel drained.

“Not the smartest of moves. This gem that Loki gave me allows me to negate the use of magic on a specific target or specific area. You may recall Bluebroke trying to attack me before and his spell fading along with your restraints? This is the same measure.” He then put the token back in his pocket, looking back at the Vampire. “However, it can only be used three times and after each time, it takes two hours to recharge. I’ve already used it twice.”

“Then try this then [Maximize Magic, Vermillion Nova!]” In a blink of an eye the adept’s body was covered in flames. “Hope your body isn’t too damaged once I kill you-.” Shortly after saying that, the flames disappeared.

“You forgot what I said. Cancels all magic in a specific area. The area is as big as the lake and invisible to the naked eye.” Lance sighed, picking up his jacket off of the ground. “Now, as I was going to say, I want to help you gain your powers… and in the process, meet someone that I think can help you.”

“I don’t need anyone’s help especially someone that is getting in my way of my vengeance. [Summon Household!]” Shalltear’s shadow expanded as a pack of wolves appeared from out of it forming around the countess waiting for the order to attack.

“I’m being serious now, Shalltear.” Lance told her, grabbing the hilt of his energy blade as it hummed to life, the black feather dangling by his fingers. “Please listen to me, I do not want to hurt you. But if I have to do this, then it’s because it’s your own fault.”

“Shut up! I don’t need help from anyone, NOW DIE!” With a snap of her fingers, Shalltear ordered her wolves to attack the Adept. As Lance prepared his stance for battle, only one thought lingered in his mind as his had was now holding onto the black feather.

“Max, Seph, if either one of you can hear me, I need your help. I found a Displaced who was hurt and torn apart by the events of the past and was a victim like Seph. If you can hear me, please. Help Shalltear.”

“You think calling for help is gonna change anything? Call whoever you want, it won’t change a thing!”

“And we were just about to start actually doing something...” Max said, sounding a bit disappointed.

“Am I interrupting anything important?” Lance mentally asked out of curiosity.

“Nah, not really. We were just sitting down to plan out a huge annual party. We’ll be there in a minute.”

“Wanna take a break and help a Vampire that reminds me of you and Seph calm herself down? She’s tempted to go on a massacre after almost becoming a rape victim after being asleep for over 1000 years.” He asked. Honestly, he didn’t think that Max would hear him. But soon, something told him otherwise.

A butterfly portal opened then and spat out the woman who held two passengers. “Da fluff d’you say?!” Max said as she set down Lucky and Rainbow.

“Who the fu-”

“Did you seriously have to bring the kids!?” Lance Retorted.

Max turned to give Shalltear a reprimanding look and said, “Keep your language clean around my foals, please.” She turned back to Lance. “Yes, I did. Sol and Mun are keeping watch over Golden and Light.”

“Well, guess I need to improvise. Lumen, get Lucky and Rainbow to cover. Keep them safe.” Lance told her, the Breezie saluting as she had the two of them follow her, trying to help them walk on two hooves. “Now, Shalltear, please calm down. I’m only trying to help you.”

“The only time when I will calm down is when I kill Blueblood, and the rest of his family. I will not be denied my vengeance, and no one is going to stop me! Wolves, rip him apart!”

The wolves bounded forward, only to freeze mid-leap when Max raised her hand.

“W-What the?”

Max turned to give Shalltear another reprimanding look. “Hush. You’re being a petulant, spoiled brat. We are not your enemy, nor do we want to be.”

“Then get out of my way and let me have my vengeance dammit! [Maximize Magic, Brilliant Radiance!]” Shalltear said as a column of holy light from under Max engulfing her. “Now stay out of my-.”

Max giggled as the magic seemingly tickled her, passing through without doing harm. “Ah, I watched part of the anime you’re from and read the wiki on your powers.” She smiled and walked past the still frozen wolves. “That power purifies the unholy; destroys those that harbour ill-will for others. Me? I just want to protect my family from those who mean them harm.”

“Then take your family and get out of my way! [Maximize Magic, Vermillion Nova!]”

Max’s hand flashed white briefly before a thick shield of the same color sprang to life in front of her, leading her as she continued to walk straight towards the panicking girl. Lance used the moment to try and help Lucky and Rainbow get out of the way. He knew that with Max here, she got this in the bag.

“N-No, h-how can you be this powerful?” The countess asked while backing away in fear. “S-Stay back, I’m w-warning you.”

Max shook her head, teleporting to behind the girl and wrapped her in a hug. “Please, we’re here to help you.”

“LIES! YOU’RE LYING JUST LIKE CELESTIA DID, JUST LIKE ALL THOSE PONIES THAT TRIED TO HELP BUT DIDN’T! I WON’T BE TRICKED BY ANYONE EVER AGAIN! [Greater Teleportation!]”

Just as she was saying her latest spell Max placed a bracelet around her right wrist, preventing the girl from disappearing. “Please, calm down. We aren’t going to hurt you. Celestia hurt me as well by imprisoning me in stone in my universe. I was awake for the thousand and twenty-four years I was immobile.”

“Let me go or else I’ll implode you just like I did with Atlas star!” Shalltear yelled while trying to struggle her way out of Max’s hug.

“Shh... It’s okay, no one can hurt you while I’m here. I won’t let anyone try,” Max whispered, still holding the struggling girl close as she brushed her fingers through Shalltear’s hair.

Rainbow, getting away from Lance and Lumen, flew quickly over and wrapped her arms around the girl and started nuzzling her cheek, cooing and nickering in an attempt of her own to calm the girl.

“.......Why…..why does everyone want to stop me?”

“Because, if you rush in now, you’ll only kill yourself. If you let your emotions free it will help to make you see more clearly.”

“Showing off your emotions is for idiots, those who see your emotions will take advantage of it.”

“Not if they’re truly your friends and family.” Max paused as the girl’s struggling receded. “Lance and I are the truest family you’ll ever find.”

Shalltear gritted her teeth in annoyance as blood started to drool from the side of her mouth. “Let me go.”

“Please, You’re only hurting yourself by bottling all this up.”

“Like you would know! You’ve never been raped, drugged, humiliated, or used as a test subject for someone’s sick pleasure!” Tears of blood started to run down Shalltear’s face. “You didn’t have to go through that for the past few years of your life have you?!”

“No, but Rainbow was brutally beaten and raped by her parents. I was the one who found her tied to a stalagmite in a cave with both of her hind legs broken and her wings plucked of every single feather. Do you know how hard it is to see a six month old filly like that?”

“..........”

“It was hard to keep from breaking down and force myself to carry her to the medical wi-ng.” Max’s eyes slowly filled with tears as she continued, “I can’t imagine what you went though, m-my heart breaks when I try t-to....”

Shalltear slightly turn her head to see Max’s face tearing up. Upon looking at the human, the crimson aura that was surrounding herself vanished along with her anger. “Please…..let me go.”

Max shook her head and buried her face into the girl’s shoulder. “You’ve been through so much and haven’t been able to fully absorb everything that’s happened. I-I...” Max shook her head again before continuing in a whisper too faint for Lance to hear.

“N-no, please, just…..I just don’t want any kids like her near me….please.”

Max nudged Rainbow to get her attention and motioned for her to go back to Lance. The filly nodded and said, “Okay, mama.” Before turning and floating towards the Adept.

“Thank you.”

The woman nodded again and whispered something else Lance couldn’t quite catch, a shield going up around the two as Max took the bracelet off the girl and placed it into her bag.

Once the bracelet was off, Shalltear turned around and placed her face onto Max’s chest while hugging her tightly. For the moment, Lance let the two of them talk to one another, giving them some space in order for things to be resolved.

He was tapped on the shoulder a moment later and turning around revealed Sephiroth standing behind him, looking at the two. “Seems like Max has everything under control.” Her gaze then traveled to him. “Sorry for being late, but I had to get Golden and Light to Sol and Mun first.”

“Glad you can still make it,” He replied, pointing at Shalltear, “She’s been hurt by horrific events that have happened in the past and I thought that we could be able to help her. Not to mention she’s quite powerful.”

A sad expression took hold of her face. “I can relate…”

Lance noticed the expression, placing a warm hand on her shoulder. “Hey, you okay?”

“Well we told you what happened. But what was unnecessary to mention, at that point, is that I carried Discord’s child a thousand years ago. It was killed in my womb… and they made me believe that it was him who did it.” Tears had entered her eyes, but she wiped them away. “Celestia and Chetyre tortured me with the memory of Max raping me hundreds of times…”

“It’s alright there, Seph. We’re here now… Shalltear had gone through things that are just as bad. Over a 1000 years ago, she too was raped. But Celestia let them off with a slap on the wrist. She killed them, was asleep for over 1000 years, woke up again to find out that the bloodline of her attacker lived on and tried to rape her tonight. She summoned me because her arms were bound to the back of her head, where my token was at the time.” Lance said as he tried to calm her, “I just really feel bad for what happened to her.”

Shaking herself free from her thoughts, she looked around. “Where are Rainbow and Lucky? Max had them with her.”

“My breezie companion Lumen had to have them move out of the way so they wouldn’t get hurt and Aurora is in he-.” The Adept replied, pointing at the nearby tree. Around then was when he saw his communicator and realized something. “Oh and I almost forgot to introduce you to Aurora...”

Sephiroth shouted over in the direction he had pointed out. “Rainbow? Lucky? Are you alright?” Then she blinked in confusion. “Who’s Aurora?”

“We’re okay, just still trying to get used- whoa!” Lucky fell from the tree, somehow landing on his two hooves. “Uh...”

“Nice landing,” Lance congratulated Lucky before looking back at Seph. “Aurora is a ghost filly that is the daughter of another Displaced Max and I had met before called Time Spinner. She currently just stays in my communicator because she’s been ruptured from her physical body.” He showed Seph the young filly for a brief second, who was distracting herself by watching the classic “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” and singing to the music.

After staring for a while she asked, “So she’s kind of a ghost?”

“She’s a filly that had the ability to remove her soul from her body, but now that her body is gone, her soul remains… So yeah, basically a ghost.” Lance then closed the screen and turned around. “Incoming…”

“Other mama!” Rainbow exclaimed, careening into the woman’s chest.

Managing to keep her balance she enclosed the filly with her arms and smiled. “Hey there. You’re pretty fast, I’m impressed.”

“Hey there, Rainbow.” Lance chuckled, messing with her mane a little. “How are you, my little rascal?”

Rainbow giggled and said, “I good, daddy. I bestest walkerer!”

“Silly Dashie, It’s walker. Ironically, it’s my last name.” The Adept chuckled again, hugging his daughter before looking at Lumen. “Oh yeah that’s right. Lumen, I would like you to meet Sephiroth.” The Breezie looked up, a bit intimidated by the look of her and how tall she was compared to her frail size.

Sephiroth had a caring and motherly smile on her when she looked from Rainbow to Lumen. "Nice to meet you. Max and Lance added me to their own little herd."

“Nice to me-. Wait a second… Herd?”

“Right… I knew there was something I was forgetting…” Lance sighed. “Seph is going to be my other partner in our marriage.” The Breezie’s eyes widened, looking at Seph with pure shock that she almost passed out right there and then. “Don’t worry, this is normal. Wait til you have seen how she reacted when Max told her about our child.”

Chuckling, the woman returned her attention to Rainbow and stroked her mane. “Did you have fun playing with Lumen?”

The rainbow maned filly nodded, but pointed to the shield. “Mama try make sis not sad. I help!”

“Great job, Rainbow.” Lance told her. “I’m so proud of you.”

Rainbow’s smile grew even bigger, a blush claiming part of her face as she nuzzled into Seph, accidentally making the two straps across the woman’s chest pop open. Lance then took the chance to keep an eye on her while Seph tried to deal with the straps on her clothes.

She got her straps closed again fast enough but that brought a thoughtful expression on her face. “Say… Lance. Why exactly were you so… quick to accept me in your relationship with Max?”

“Well, she told me about how she was really sorry for what happened to you and from what she told me, you were a nice person.” Lance replied, hugging her a bit. “So, I thought it would be good for you to be part of the family. Just like Aurora.”

“I just wondered, because-” Halting in mid-sentence she blinked thunderstruck. “Care to run the last part by me again? I think I misheard.”

“Max and I adopted Aurora.” Lance clarified. “Sorry if I didn’t mention that earlier.”

“So you showed me a ghost filly that lives in your arm-bracer-thing and didn’t think to tell me that until now, why?” One of her eyes twitched slightly.

“Sorry. I thought Max already told you. Guess I was wrong.”

“Let’s go find her then,” Max said as her shield lowered.

Sephiroth facepalmed hard enough to cause a shockwave, that sounded with a loud slapping noise. “Great. First Max tells me that I’m part Succubus and now I learn that you both forgot to mention one of your children?”

“It did feel like we were forgetting something last day,” The woman in question said as she led Shalltear over, thirteen materias floating around her.

“Wait, you’re part wha-?” Lance’s comment though was interrupted when a powerful punch from Shalltear smashed into his face and sent him into the wall.

“Well I feel a little bit better after doing that.”

The silver haired woman, holding Rainbow in her arms, still, nodded towards Shalltear in appreciation. “Thanks, I think I needed that, too.”

“You’re welcome. No offense Lance, but you were kinda annoying me to some degree earlier.”

“Yeah… my apologies.” The Adept groaned, stumbling out of the wall. “So, what do we do now?”

Max’s expression darkened and she said, “We show Celestia exactly how she hurt our newest daughter.”

“Still finding weird that I’m being called your daughter, even though we're not blood related.”

Lance sighed, clicking a button on his communicator. “What about adopted daughter?”

“That’s what I meant,” Max snapped. “I’m still going to call you my daughter regardless.”

“Fine, but don’t expect me to call you two mom or dad.”

“I wasn’t expecting that at all, Lady Bloodfallen.” Lance complied.

Sephiroth just shrugged. “Well, I won’t do it if you don’t want to. I just got four children yesterday and learned of a fifth right before you punched him.” She gestured in Lance’s direction. “So I’m a little overwhelmed right now.”

“Hey I don’t need to be looked after you know? I can take care of myself, hell I even got my own house over there.”

“And Max is royalty.”

“Already told her that,” Max said before pointing to Lance’s communicator, which was vibrating. “Looks like Aurora wants to say something.” Lance smiled, letting Aurora come out to say hello to everyone.

“Who won?” She asked, “If Lance is dead I don’t wanna stay here.”

“No one is dead, Aurora.” Lance deadpanned.

“Not yet, anyways,” Max added, spotting a white figure in one of the castle’s windows. She teleported over to just outside the window and drew a circle on the glass.

Seph sighed deeply. “She’s not actually going to kill her, right?”

“If she does, then I have no problem with that. I could always just make her into my servant if Max does kill her.”

The window shattered except for inside the circle Max had drawn, which fell and broke anyways as Max pulled Princess Celestia out and threw her towards the group.

“Did the plan have chucking her out of a window be part of it?”

A completely black wing erupted from Sephiroth's back and with one flap she brought herself into the path of the flying alicorn, totally halting her movement with a single hand to her throat, while still holding onto Rainbow and not budging one inch.

“What in the name of Faust is going on here!?” Celestia asked as she fell to the ground.

“We just need to talk to the princess, however, business hours are closed.” Lance sighed. “Princess, we need to talk to you about something important-.”

“This isn’t about that measly worm, Blueblood,” Max said, pulling one of the materias from its orbit around her. “This is about Atlas.”

“The guy from Astro? Why? He wasn’t that fun of a villain…” Aurora commented randomly.

“Wrong Atlas…”

“Bioshock’s Atlas?”

“No. It’s a Pony named Atlas Star.” Lance deadpanned. “Anyways…”

“It’s payback time jerkface!” Shalltear said looking at Celestia with a smug look on her face.

“You!” That was all Celestia could get out before Max pushed the crystal into her head, forcing her to take in the memories. “W-What was that? What did you just do to me?” She asked with a mix of shock and surprise on her face.

“I believe Shalltear can answer that.” Lance sighed, crossing his arms. Aurora hovered behind him and copied his crossed arms look mockingly and nodded once.

“One down, twelve to go,” Max said in an almost emotionless voice, pulling the rest all at once and pressed them into the mare’s horn.

“Like I told you before, Celestia, this is the stuff that jerk you gave me away to did to me for the past 13 months. I even had physical proof of what he did all over my body, but you still gave him a less if not harsher punishment than what I got.”

“If it weren’t for me or anyone else here, your nephew might have forced her to relive those same pains,” Lance added on. “They don’t see her for a living being. Unlike us, they only see Shalltear as property.”

Max fixed Celestia with a glare, “I didn’t see more than a fourth of that first slab of memories I gave you. I couldn’t stand more than that. If you can watch all of that and still not give that entire line a death sentence, then you aren’t fit to wear that crown at all.”

Celestia shook her head as she tried to regain her composure. Seconds later she pulled herself up from the ground while whipping some of the dirt off herself. “Be that as it may, what Shalltear did was against the law. Not on-.”

“She acted because you did nothing!” Max shouted, slapping her into the lake. Celestia skipped several times before finally sinking into the water near the opposite shore.

“Wow… I heard of the phrase knocking some sense into her, but that is beyond me.” Lance sighed. “Remind me never to tick you off.”

“Duly noted,” Aurora said. “She seems a bit of a… Moronic, is the best way I can describe it.”

“Which one?”

“The one currently drowning,” Max said, stretching her back. “Dammit...”

“Easy there Max,” Lance said, standing by her side. “You should take a rest. Don’t overdo yourself.”

Sighing, the one winged woman snapped her fingers, making a room-full of water appear with Celestia in it. “Oh… woops.” She snapped again and the water vanished, leaving the Alicorn behind.

“I can’t help it. I just-...” Max sighed and shook her head. “It was just my hormones taking over there.”

“Just try not to wreck the place please? I still have a home here, and I prefer not to have it get destroyed.” Shalltear said while petting one of her shadow wolves for comfort. “Plus I don’t think Princess Luna would like that you killed her sister like that.”

“Speaking of Luna, where is she?” Lance asked, curious to find out the answer.

“Over here.” Luna said while watching from the sidelines. “Not to interrupt or anything, but why are you beating the living daylights out of my sister?”

“Take a look at Shalltear’s memories I gave her,” Max growled, giving Celestia another glare.

“Oh... right…”

“Wait you knew about what happened to me?” Shalltear asked focusing her attention at the moon princess. “When did you do that?”

“During your stay at Canterlot when Nightshade told me that you were having a nightmare.”

“So, you can walk into others dreams…” Lance summarized. “That sounds very handy… at times.”

“So you knew of this and you did nothing?” Max snapped. “Why didn’t you share that with your dear sister?”

“It’s kinda hard to talk with your sister when she’s too stubborn and hard-headed to listen.”

“I could knock some more sense into her if you want.” Max raised a fist and half-turned back to Celestia.

Sephiroth chose this moment to firmly place a hand on Max’s shoulder, holding her in place. “Max. I can understand that you are furious, but do you really want to get any more violent in front of your children?”

Max growled once more but lowered her fist, visibly forcing herself to calm some. “Go look at some of the memories. It’s far worse than what was done to you.”

“I’m not doubting that, not for a single second. But this won’t help for real in the long run. None of them.” She exerted a little pressure on Max’s shoulder. “Celestia is to blame for a lot of what happened, but she wasn’t the one hurting Shalltear. If she has to answer for that, then it should be to the victim, not to you.”

Max closed her eyes and took a deep breath and let it out slowly, calming a bit more. “Here I thought you would be the one at her throat for letting a fifteen year old girl get raped who knows how many times.”

“You know me, Max. I’m struggling not to draw my sword. But I won’t ever deny a victim his or her compensation for pain and suffering. Also I think that we should not outright kill a princess in another universe, at least not before checking for other options.”

“I wasn’t going to kill her. I actually thought she’d at least faint from seeing what Shalltear went through.”

Lance watched as the two of them continue to talk. Then, when the two of them were taking a breath, he then spoke. “I know that what happened was over 1000 years ago, but Celestia should be held responsible for not dealing with the situation properly. Rape is a serious crime and it isn’t something that you just give someone community service for. However, we are only outsiders and therefore, should not bother with this world’s affairs. I believe Luna would be the best candidate to deal with the situation.”

“That is true, but I think Shalltear should be the one that decides on a suitable punishment for my sister. Wouldn’t you agree?” Luna said.

“Like I said before, I think it’s up to Shalltear. So yeah, I agree.” Turning her head to face the girl in question, Sephiroth nodded.

“My only concern with that is that Shalltear would want to punish them by killing them because of how angry she is on the matter,” The Adept brought up to the three of them. “What if the two of you came to a compromise?”

“I’d rather have Blueblood’s head on a platter,” Max said, giving Celestia a dirty look.

The one winged woman looked into Shalltear’s eyes for a moment, before closing hers. “If she wants to kill them, then it should be this way. I trust in her judgement, because she is more than capable of handling her own situations and considering the consequences of her decisions. She won’t condemn a pony to death on a whim, or if they don’t truly deserve it.”

Shalltear appeared right in front of Celestia with her spear pointed at her throat. “Every fiber in my being wants me to kill you for what you did to me.” She said as she lowered her lance. “But seeing how I’m friends with Luna, I’ll let you live for the time being. Blueblood on the other hand dies along with his bloodline, unless there are decent ponies in his family tree that aren’t jerks then they will serve me until the end of time.”

“Hmm… Luna, do you have a scroll on the bloodline of Blueblood? So Shalltear can look through it when she has the time?”

“They’re in the Canterlot archives, I’ll get them tomorrow seeing that it’s nighttime and I have to deal with my former nephew.”

“I guess that settles that then.” Lance sighed, looking back at Shalltear, who was with his two fiance’s. “Max, Seph. Make sure to help Shalltear with getting her token ready and give her yours too. Aurora, Lumen and I are going to have to depart. We have some work to do back where we are from.”

“Who’s ‘Seth’?” Asked Aurora.

“She’s mine and Lance’s fiance,” Max said, gesturing to the woman beside her. “And her nickname is Seph, not Seth.”

“Right. Aurora, you ready to go back to Scootaloo?”

Aurora floated there for a moment, then, “You two have a weirder love life than Aunt Rarity’s fantasy’s.”

“Just be lucky that she didn’t hear you say that.” He sighed, waving goodbye. “Max, Seph, I’ll see you back in your world later, okay?”

“Okay,” Max said.

Lance, before he left, hugged his children and kissed both Max and Seph before he looked at Shalltear. “I hope to see you again soon. Just make sure to behave yourself.”

“I make no promises, but I’ll try not to cause that much trouble.”

Lance smiled, messing with her hair a little. “I mean with your new brothers and sisters.”

“Oh... great.”

Sephiroth fixed Lance with a stare. “I need to talk to you before you leave. Preferably alone.”

“Oh? You want to talk someplace private?” He offered to Seph.

“Yes.” Her tone was dead serious and she handed Rainbow over to Max before walking towards Lance. The two of them began to walk, but then, Lance realized something. “Hey, Aurora. Lumen. Seph wanted this as a private talk. No exceptions.”

“Aww… Okay.” The Breezie said, before floating over to Dash’s nose.

“Request received.” Aurora droned, then shook her head, “I- I mean, sure thing!”

With that, Seph and Lance were both by themselves as Lance used his Instant Transmission to send them to Max’s domain. No one was there at the current time, so the two of them could freely talk to one another.

The woman took a deep breath, fixing him with an unreadable stare, still.

“Seph? Is something wrong?” He asked, confused by what she is trying to tell him.

“Max told me that I have the magic of a Succubus in me, making me part demon, magically speaking. And I don’t know if this hasn’t influenced your decision to let me join you two.” Doubt and fear were clear in her voice now but she still kept her stare.

Lance shook his head, holding Seph in for a kiss before backing up. “My decision to let you in was not influenced by any outside force. Not even magic. And even if you do have the magic of a demon, I’ll still love you and care for you anyways.”

She hesitated too long to return the kiss. “But how? How can you still say that? It could be possible that I make you feel this way without you noticing!”

“Seph…” Lance lifted his arms up showing the hairs on it. “If there were a magic like that, the hairs on my arms would be standing on end like if I were in a cold room. Otherwise, I feel normal. And you… my dear angel, should not worry.”

“The magic of succubi from my universe is more than just subtle. It finds the cracks to seep through unnoticed. Heck even I hadn’t noticed until Max told me.”

“True,” Lance replied, hugging her a little. “But, we aren’t in your universe. We are home… Do you need someone to stay with you? You seem scared.” He offered, holding her a little closer now, hugging her.

Sephiroth reciprocated the hug and sighed. “I think I need that, but you have other things to worry about, at the moment. Max will be here soon and I’ll be alright.”

“It’s okay. Aurora can call me if there’s an emergency and Max is with Shalltear,” He replied, smiling a little. “Now, how about I escort you to your chambers?”

“I don’t really have chambers here, you know? And if I’m being honest, I don’t want any, as I’ll always prefer Max’s. Just like I wouldn’t want my own room in your universe. Nevertheless… I’d like you being there for me.” The last part made her blush and avert her eyes. “Max couldn’t refrain from teasing me earlier…”

“Oh? Now that may be something I can help you with… right?” Lance smirked as the two of them continued to walk through the hallway leading to their room.

End Strike 26

Strike 27- Second Chances

When Lightning Strikes- Second Chances

Unknown Location

The Unicorn named Lauren Order was filing some paperwork in her office late into the night as the Moon shined brightly through the window that she had in the back of her office. It was a few hours until midnight, but with her position in Celestia’s cabinet, her job was very important. Not to mention trying to keep the Suicide Squad under wraps after news of their existence almost surfaced to life recently. Not to mention having to deal with some… newcomers that were just as insane as they were destructive.

A knock on the door to her office soon caught her attention as she looked up from the Manila folder that she was analyzing. “Who is it?” She asked, cautious about if it was some sort of intruder that might’ve infiltrated through the security checkpoint at the front of the building.

“You wanted to see me, Ms. Order?” A voice from the other side of the door said, calming the Unicorn’s earlier suspicions as she set down the folder.

“Yes, Mr. Walker. Please come in.” Lauren had earlier requested for the Lawbringer that called himself McCree to come to her office as he took a seat. The reason for this was so that she could explain to him some recent changes going on and also review with him the assigning of partners for when the members of the squad are not working in huge groups. “I am to believe that you know the reason as to why you are here?”

“Is it to go over the previous mission?” He asked.

“Well, your previous mission was a success, but no. That’s not why you are here,” Lauren explained, using her magic to turn her computer screen. “You will have two new members to your team, but the difference this time around is that these two aren’t Equestrian. They’re humans that lost their sanity and are just flat out destructive. In fact, destruction is the only thing that satisfies these two… so, they will be on future missions that require a demolitions squad or explosives.”

The screen showed two men. Both of them shirtless, but one looked skinny and covered in smoke while the other one was huge in size. The smaller one of the two had a mechanical leg While the other individual used a spiked tire as a shoulderpad and was seen holding what looked like a meathook. Changing images, Lauren now focused on the smaller one as she began to explain who this person was.

“We don’t know who or what his real name is for the current moment. But, we’re are just going to call him by what he calls himself; Junkrat. As you can tell by his Frag Grenade launcher and by the explosives on his shoulders, he’s highly dangerous. We were originally going to have him locked up in a maximum security facility with his accomplice. He was arrested on multiple counts of Arson and Explosives charges, Over one million bits in property damage and armed robbery.” Lauren gave McCree the details as he listened in on the information she had for him. “Known to be obsessed with explosives and always wanting to “cause mayhem”.”

“Joy. How are you going to keep someone like that in line?” McCree questioned as he rubbed his chin with his mechanical arm. “He doesn’t seem like the kind of person to be taking orders so kindly.”

“We already have that covered with these two. There are explosives inside both of them and for Junkrat, he’s a walking bomb. If either one were to go rogue, we press a button and then, they’re dealt with in a fiery explosion. Ironic because he also said that if he were to die, he wanted to go down in a blaze of glory.” She then used her magic to have the image change again to the second individual, whose face couldn’t be seen because of the mask hiding it.

“His accomplice, on the other hand, is not like Junkrat. We’re calling him Roadhog because of the tattoo on his chest and also because of his proficiency with motorcycles and machines. He was arrested because of Extortion, Armed Robbery, Kidnapping and multiple counts of theft. Not to mention willing to use violence as a way to get what he wants.” Lauren soon turned the screen back around, looking back at McCree as she explained to him that both of them would soon be in the field with the rest of them. “Now, there’s another thing I want to talk to you about and that’s the discussion of assigning you a partner.”

McCree now raised an eyebrow, looking back at the Unicorn. “Partner?”

“Of course. We never allow for the team to run missions on their own, so instead, we have each team member be assigned a partner to back them up. In fact, your partner should be coming soon.” With a knock on the door, McCree turned around as he heard Lauren tell the individual behind the door to come on in.

A white Earth pony mare with a dark red mane and a cutie mark of a paint brush. Her mane and tail looked as if they hadn’t been kept in her life, and her dark blue eyes held no interest in anything but Lauren, “I’m here, what’s wrong? I haven’t done anything yet.”

Lauren chuckled a small bit, looking at the mare. “I know. I called you for a different purpose, Ms. Anarchy.”

Anarchy turned her head sideways, and noticed McCree. “Who’s this guy?”

“This is Brandon Walker, but he is known as McCree. You two are going to be partners.” That small bit actually surprised the both of them as they looked at one another before looking back at Lauren Order.

“What!? Partner? I don’t need a partner, especially one I’ve never met before!” Anarchy growled.

“That’s why I’m calling you two here now.” Lauren spoke up, showing her authority in her voice. “Given how dangerous the circumstances are if we were to send one of you on your own on a mission, you would attract attention immediately. The same goes for McCree because of his reputation with being a bounty hunter for the last seven years, which is considered illegal. If it were me, I would have to pair you up with someone like Deadeye or worse than him. Be thankful that I’m not going to reconsider my decision. Both of you are dismissed.”

“Yes ma’am,” Anarchy sighed, “Thank you.” She turned to leave. Only for McCree to soon follow suite and actually be walking next to her.

“There something you want?” She asked in minor annoyance.

McCree shook his head. “No, miss. I was just thinking that I want to get the chance to know you a little better if we talked for a bit.”

Anarchy sighed, “Fine. What do you want to know?”

“Well, maybe to start, just some basic information about one another. I would ask about family but…… it’s a sore subject for me.”

“Sore for me too,” Anarchy said, “I guess I’ll start with I have paint manipulation, turning into it, creating it, etc, etc. Got levitation like a Unicorn blah, blah… Crimes I’ve been told that I did are murder, arson, theft, corporate espionage, attempted hacking of national secrets, tagging property and some more…”

“Well, before I even got any reputation here, I previously thought I was dead.” McCree grunted. “Back in my own world, I tried committing suicide since my wife was already dead and the stress of trying to raise my son was taking a tole on me. When I woke up though, I found myself alive, in the middle of a barren desert… and with this.” At the ending of that sentence, Anarchy was finally able to see the Mechanical arm that was hidden underneath the red cloth he had around his neck.

Anarchy felt nervous as she looked it over, “I… Looks bad…” Feeling stupid, Anarchy chuckled nervously, “I mean, uh, sorry. Things, uh, happen...”

“It’s alright, Miss Anarchy.” He replied. “I’ve been able to get by for the last seven years by hunting criminals with bounties on their heads, even though my methods of getting them gave me the reputation of an outlaw. I used the bits on food and anything to help me get by… Then, Lauren had me be here… because she said she found my son.”

“That’s tough,” Anarchy felt a tinge of pain at that last part. “I understand, family things.”

“Yes… Even though I missed him dearly… I don’t think I can be able to get myself to face him after everything I said and did in my old life. Hell, from the news, he’s a hero in… Maretropolis I think? Deadeye even said that he encountered him on the last mission I was on.” He sighed, taking out a small locket that contained an old family photo of him and his young son at the age of four. “Do you think he would even want to listen to what I have to say to him?”

Anarchy shrugged, “I don’t know. I’ve never seen a father son relationship like that, but I’d say it’s a fifty/fifty chance on either.”

“Well, it’s a chance I’d take if I can see my son again…” McCree turned to go down another hallway, just as they approached the door to the temporary room that he was staying in. “Would you like to come in and continue our conversation? Maybe have a drink?” He offered to the earth pony as he held the door open.

“Guess I could,” She replied as she trotted in and sat down on a chair. The human placed his hat and utility belt down that carried his gun and other cylinder devices that looked strange to the Mare. He walked over to the rooms kitchen, but before getting anything, he asked Anarchy another question.

“Do you have a preference to what you would like to drink?”

“Something sweet would be nice,” She replied. McCree looked in the refrigerator and got some options.

“Juice okay with you? Or do you want something a little stronger than that?”

“I know you shared your story, but that doesn’t mean I’d get drunk around you. I- I mean, yes, juice would be fine.”

McCree nodded, pouring two glasses of Orange Juice before putting the juice carton back in the fridge. “I just wanted to know. Last time I asked if someone wanted juice, my wife and I were just dating and she wanted me to make her a Mojito.” He soon came over with both glasses and set them on the table.

“But I’m not your wife,” Anarchy chuckled, “It’s okay, some- Uh, what’s a Mojito?”

“It’s a cocktail from where I’m from. One with White Rum, Mint, Lime, sugar and soda water.” McCree explained, lifting his glass a little. “So when I heard you say something sweet, I was considering making one, but wanted to ask you first.”

“Weird…” A multi colored aura enveloped her glass and she lifted it to her mouth as a smirk played at her lips, “Any questions for me?”

“Well, I told you about my struggles with family… What are yours exactly?” He asked her. “It’s okay if you don’t want to talk about it-.”

“I’m fine,” Her smirk turned sickly dark, “Remember the murder charges? Well, that was mostly mine. Got tired of my husband, so I off’d the bastard. Had a child, but nurses said she didn’t make it.”

“Didn’t make it?” McCree asked. “Did they say why?”

“Said she had a birth defect and died an hour after I had her.”

“I’m sorry for your loss… What did you name her?”

“... Drift…” Anarchy sighed, “I don’t wanna talk about it.”

“I’m sorry. I overstepped my boundaries with that one,” He apologized. “My wife died shortly after my son was born. She went into cardiac arrest and… lost too much blood. I was holding my son, Lance in my arms when this happened and… I just can’t forget the last words she told me before she was lost to me forever…”

“Enough of the sap, the past is the past and onto the future we go!” Anarchy said. McCree nodded his head in agreement as he smiled. Lifting his glass, he proposed a toast.

“To putting the past behind us?”

“To putting the past behind us.” They clicked their glasses together and took a sip. “Wait, I don’t have a place to sleep…”

“That’s alright. You can stay here.” McCree offered to her. “It’s nice to have some company and someone to talk to. I haven’t had that in such a long time.”

A confident smile appeared on Anarchy’s face, “I think we’ll be good partners, McCree.”

“I believe so too, Anarchy.”

Centrail City

It was some time before the Azure Striker named Lance returned to Centrail City and in that amount of time, too many things had taken place. While spending time in Max’s world, all three of them found out that because of her fight with Celestia, a curse was placed on Seph that prevented her from having children. Of course, Seph herself took it very hard on herself and Lance had offered to stay behind so he could be there to support her. But Max told him that he had his responsibilities back in Centrail City and that those could now be ignored.

Now, he was in the city, looking over all the information that was collected about Equilis and the “Puppets” that he encountered when rescuing Scootaloo. The only information that he had was an old cell phone, data from the hideout that held the young pegasus and local surveillance. Not exactly a good start in his book, but at least it was something.

“How do you think the CMC are doing? Or the Detective’s?” Aurora asked from Lance’s communicator.

“Well, The Detectives have the same information on this case as they do. Not only that, but the Cutie Mark Crusaders are trying to be more careful now after the incident with Scootaloo’s disappearance.” The Adept told her as he looked at the phone again. “The one thing I’m trying to piece together is where this other location is. We already missed them at the first one and we can’t mess up with this place because it’s the only other option we have.”

“Well, we could check the database of that Marionette project. Maybe, since these whackos are the next generation of them, maybe an old base from the project is being used.” Aurora suggested.

“You bring up a good point. But how many facilities did the Marionette Project have though?” Lance brought up the question. “If a project like that is compromised, wouldn’t they have a sub-lab to fall back to?”

“Hmm… I’m checking,” After a minute, Aurora laughed, “Most of it’s redacted, but I was able to get a group of places… Well, a number. Seven. Out of those seven, five were decommissioned, and three of those were torn down. Only two bases were left untouched and unused, but I have no idea where they are or what they were called.”

“Do these bases have GPS coordinates?” He then asked, “If so, then we can use that to find the locations of the two that remain.”

“Yes, but they are restricted… Heavily.”

“How heavily are we talking about here?” Lance then wondered and asked. “Nothing you can’t handle I hope…”

“I can handle it, but I’ll need a stronger computer.”

“Could the CmC’s main system work?” The Adept asked as he walked over to the console of their main computer.

“Yes,” Aurora nodded.

“Alright, let me get you plugged in and run the search. I’m going to get ready.” He told her, setting his communicator down and plugging it in with a USB cable. For him, he took the chance to prepare both of his guns, his energy blade and any other gadgets he would need. During that time, he had everything that he needed, including the band that Kat had placed on him that restrained his powers. He thought it would be necessary to have, even though Equilis wasn’t a Displaced.

“Processing…” Aurora droned. It took three minutes until she came back, “Sorry, I couldn’t acces Weird Al… Wait, sorry, wrong thing… I got the GPS locations, and the closest is a military base a few miles up north. It’s also apparently where they held the Marionette’s.”

“Which two of the bases has been active with any kind of activity? Even though the Military base is likely, we don’t know if they’re using one of the bases as a decoy.”

“It’s a GPS tracking device with a small amount of information, not an activity tracker. And the other one appears to be in another country…”

Now Lance felt like he was getting somewhere. “Get ready, I’m unplugging you from the system. We got a location. Now let’s go stop that maniac.” He pulled the small cable, making sure that Aurora was safely back in before unplugging it fully. With the coordinates in hand, he used Instant Transmission to teleport himself to where the location was. About 100 feet away from the prime target. If the facilities were well protected, then precautions must be taken. “Aurora, what can you see?”

“Seems the base itself isn’t well secured other than a few hot spots and the outside… Why don’t we call backup?” Aurora cleared her throat, “I mean, what use is a team when you don’t use ‘em?”

“What exactly could they be able to do? We’re too far away from the city and there isn’t any cell reception in here. They must be using some kind of device to jam my communications. Any suggestions on how to play this? We could bust through the door again, but I think that they might be expecting us this time around after our last stunt.”

“I see six lifeforms and a bunch of ‘bots, but I don’t think these are like the last batch. Three are in the mess hall, another is in one of the bedrooms, another is walking around the back, and the last is in the administrator's office.” Aurora listed, “Conclusion: Sneak into robot control room at center of base and shut down security, continue to Equilis - most likely the one in the office - and deal with any resistance. Me and Lumen stay in control room and reprogram security to attack Puppets. Probability of success: 67%.”

Lumen, at the mentioning of her name, soon woke up from her sleep, yawning. “Did someone call my name?”

“Yeah. It’s time to get to work.” Lance told him. He took a few minutes to explain the plan to her before she was on board with it. However, she would prefer to be able to have the security used to contact the Detectives instead of harming the Puppets. The Breezie believed that anypony would follow somepony if they believed in their message. They just needed to expose Equilis.

With the mission starting, Lance made his way to the back of the facility, climbing the chain link fence before sneaking through the door that was left open. “Aurora, I need some directions.” He whispered.

A purple line appeared, directing him to an open window. A warning flashed in his vision saying there was a pony in the room to the left. Taking precautions, he hid low and behind a corner, switching to his Naga clip as he waited for whoever was there to pass. “Who is it?” He asked Aurora mentally.

“Enemy designation: Psycho. Currently inside and to the next room, assumed focused on some form of schoolwork.”

Lance raised an eyebrow at the part of her doing schoolwork, but soon found a way to get around her. Underneath his current location was the latch to an air vent, which was big enough to fit him. Slowly, he crawled through the vents to avoid the presence of the Unicorn. However, he waited for the door to open on it’s own as in came Steelwing. “Sparks, it’s time to eat. Better hurry up before it’s gone.”

“I’m working,” Psycho said, “Mind holding a spot for me? I’ll be down in a minute.”

“Yeah, but you better hurry. We don’t want you to miss out on your meal like Bomb Voyage did last week.” Lance used the small conversation between them as the chance to sneak away through the door that was left Ajar.

“Aurora, it seems that the Puppets are gathering to eat dinner or something. I just spotted Steelwing talking to Psycho about it… How far away is the control room from the mess hall?”

“It isn’t that far, tenth room up ahead we’ll arrive. Then five rooms after that is the control room.”

Taking her advice, the Adept pressed on, following the directions that he had given her as they passed the mess hall and went to the control room. He had to avoid the robots at all costs in order to not set off any alarms and soon, he found the door labeled “Control Room”.

“Aurora. That door needs a passcode in order for me to get in.” He told her, “Can you override the door?”

Aurora jumped out of Lance’s communicator and faded into the door. A couple seconds later, Aurora possessed Lance’s bracer once more. “2, 1, 8, 5, 9. Five digit password in older bases take longer to process.” the door opened quickly, with two security drones on the other side. They pointed their gun at Lance, ready to fire. Lance was two quick for them, shocking both of them with electricity and overloading their systems before they fell to the floor.

“Alright, we’re here,” Lance smirked as he closed the door, locking it so no one just sneaked in on them. “Aurora, Lumen. Let’s begin with phase 2.”

“Understood,” Aurora said as she possessed the main computer. “Shutting down security and locking in Puppets, synchronizing Lance’s communicator to this mainframe, and calling Centrail City police department. Require Lumen to accept everything I do.”

“Got it.” Lumen said, saluting Aurora.

“Okay, Aurora. Send me a blueprint of the second floor… also… does this building have a speaker system? To announce things to the Puppets.”

“Indeed, I shall link control of that to your bracer.” Aurora said.

“Thanks Aurora.” He said as he looked up and pulled down the emergency ladder from above them. “Keep doing your best. Make sure that the speaker system can also connect to the police. They would probably like to hear what Equilis has to say.”

“I’ll record everything.” Aurora affirmed. With that, Lance quickly climbed up the ladder and appeared on the second floor balcony. Scanning his surroundings, he noticed another door to enter, but was unsure if this was the door to Equilis’ office or just another hallway. That was until Aurora contacted him again.

“I’ve given you the blueprints, and I should tell you this… Don’t go in there, it’s just a nursery.”

“Wait a second? Nursery? Why would a operation like this have a nursery?” He asked. “Something about it doesn’t add up. Are there security cameras in there?”

“Yes, there are camera's everywhere.” Aurora responded.

“Patch me into the camera’s in that nursery. There must be something going on in there that Equilis doesn’t want us to know.” Lance told her. He pulled up the small screen on his wrist as Aurora began to connect him to the same feed that she was seeing.

What he saw disgusted him. Cradle tipped over, black sludge covered the floor, small pony skeletons were held up by some kind of magic that made each one look like a trophy, and the words ‘ABANDON’ were written in blood on the wall. This was just too cruel. But then, he remembered what happened when Psycho snapped at him after he mentioned Derpy Hooves.

How she said her mother abandoned her.

“Dear god. This is a brainwashing room. Aurora, get any possible footage recorded here and save it for the detectives. Equilis has got a LOT to answer for.”

“Got it,” Aurora replied, “Equilis’ office is two hallways down and to the left.” Following her directions, He moved down the hallway as she instructed, but before entering the door, he pressed the button needed to capture the audio and play it throughout the entire base.

“Here we go… Aurora, what does it look like in there?”

“I think he’s waiting for you…”

Waiting? That didn’t make sense at all. Something told him that this was somehow a setup. “Aurora, before I go in… What is Equilis capable of?”

“From what daddy told me, Equilis has the power to poison anyone he touches, control his density and turn into mist. He’s pretty strong.”

“Thanks… Preparing to breach in three… Two… One.” With lightning in his feet, he kicked the door in as he drawed his weapon and pointed it at the pony in the room.

Equilis sat behind his desk, glaring at Lance. “You think that you can walk on in here and shut down my security and I wouldn’t notice? Tacky…”

“I’m glad to have caught your attention. Now, I have some questions that need answers and I want you to answer them now.” Lance snarled. “Why did you set this whole thing up? What’s the reason for everything you are doing?”

Sighing, Equilis stood up from his seat, “I’ll humor you. I can guess you’re familiar of a government project known as the ‘Marionette’?”

“Partially. Care to fill me in?” The Adept retorted.

“The Marionette Project was a Black Ops division created by Versatile. Made for the sole purpose of doing the nasty jobs nopony else could do. They stole thirty children with a special gene that, combined with a rare chemical, triggers a genetic mutation. They would then train them from foalhood and eliminate the weakest links by pitting them against one another. By the end, only five would do the bidding of the project. With me so far?”

“Yeah… You’re one of those five?”

He nodded, “Me, Joking, The Purple Mare, Cupcake and Lash were the five. We did hundreds of missions that you’d have nightmares of. Unfortunately, the program was shut down due to a reporter getting information about it. A mare named Lauren Order shut the program down, but Versatile couldn’t let any more information get out to the public… So they tried to cut off all loose ends. I’m still on the run.” Equilis trotted up to Lance, “To get our revenge, we took thirty children and did the same that happened to us. Poor Lash couldn’t handle it, so he committed suicide. And now we’re in the present.”

“So the Puppets… Psycho, Ash, Weep, Steelwing and Bomb Voyage… They’re the five that survived from this batch… You had them kill other ponies from a young age to see who would be useful to you to use as pawns. This team you put together is to try to finish what the Marionette Project could not do on it’s own.”

Equilis sighed, “Yes… I guess you’re right...”

“What about the nursery? And the writing on the wall?”

“The skeletons were failures, the weakest links. On the wall? I think that was a dying failure calling out to their parents.”

“To make them think they were abandoned… Even though they weren’t. You stole them from their parents.”

“I did to them what Project Marionette did to me.” Equilis sighed, “But now you know too much… It was fun chatting about this though, therapeutic in a way.”

“Heh… Now I have a question for you Equilis… Do you honestly think that I am the only one who heard what you had to say?”

Equilis frowned, “What- No… No! You couldn’t have!”

Lance smirked, showing his bracer. “While we were talking, I was recording everything you said and blasting it out on all police channels and throughout this facility. Now, even the ones who you tried to raise as soldiers know of your deceit.”

Equilis screamed as he lunged at Lance, “They were going to be perfect! They were going to be gods!” Lance used instant transmission to get behind him and switched clips on his weapon to Vasuki as he fired off a shot. The bolt deflected off of a wall and hit Equilis in the lower back and right shoulder.

“They were going to be convicted killers. You stole their lives from them to try to make your personal weapons. That is just too cruel and must be stopped!”

“They would have given me justice!” Equilis shouted as he turned into mist and flew at the Adept. Thinking that the pony was going to charge in at him and increase density once he was close, The Azure Striker began to emit electricity from his entire body in a FlashField to protect himself. Equilis was shocked away from him and turned back into a pony. “Will this nightmare never end…” Equilis had tears in his eyes as he backed up next to a sealed window.

Lance now drew out his second gun and aimed both of them at his opponent. “I’m giving you one last chance to give yourself up. Resist and I will use lethal force on you.” He snarled, waiting for Equilis to make a move as he tried to get closer.

“Never stopping… Never ending… Never… Never...” Equilis’ eyes turned red, and black tar drizzled down his eyes, “Tool… Plaything… Used… Nothing but a broken stallion… One escape…” Equilis started convulsing, crying and knelt.

“The Hell?” The Adept spoke briefly. “Aurora, what the hell is going on with Equilis? It looks like he’s crying out… Tar.”

Aurora didn’t respond. The only this that did happen was Equilis screaming in agony. He turned around and jumped out of the window and fell…

“Aurora, he just jumped out the window! I’m going after him!” Lance yelled, hopping out of the window. “What’s the detective’s ETA?”

“Two minutes, they’re c-coming as fast as they c-can…” Aurora said, punctuated by a sickening splat. Equilis hit the ground, with Lance using his FlashField to slow his own descent.

“Okay, stay there. I need to verify something…” Lance said, trying to get closer to Equilis as he looked at the stallion on the floor. He had a feeling that he wasn’t dead. That this was a trick to throw him off guard. But he wasn’t sure. Nevertheless, he remained cautious.

It only took one look to see that Equilis’ head was split open, eyes staring at nothing. The red eyes remained, and the tar continued to ooze out of his eyes. Lance was just glad all of Equilis’ insides were inside. “Aurora… Equilis is dead.” He told her, just as the police were arriving at the front of the facility. Lance turned to see Detective Whooves and Captain Spitfire gallop over to where he was.

“Lance!! Are you okay? What happened?!” The captain asked before looking at the dead stallion on the ground. “Is that-?”

“Equilis? Yes.” He told her, noticing Lumen flying back to him and Aurora returning to his communicator. “He went crazy and then jumped out the second story window, falling to his death… But there’s something that still bugs me…”

“What?” Aurora asked shakily.

“Look at his eyes,” The Adept pointed out. “That’s not blood at all. It looks and smells like Tar.”

“Goddess, that’s disgusting.” Lumen replied, disgusted by what she was seeing.

“I think it’s the same substance as what we found in the nursery.” Aurora added.

“Possible. Spitfire, can you have a forensics team run some tests to find out what the hell this stuff is?” He asked. “There’s still one thing that the Detective and I need to do…” Lance soon was walking alongside Detective Whooves and his wife Derpy. Leading them into the facility. The first thing that he noticed was that one of the five Puppets was gone. Four of them remained.

“Why did you bring us in here?” Derpy asked.

“Ms. Hooves… Did you once have a daughter?” Lance saw Psycho shaking, eyes wide and slowly trotting backwards. “It’s okay… There’s nothing for you to fear Sparkler. ”

Derpy’s eyes widened and her husband gasped. Derpy crept closer, tears in her eyes… “S-sparkler? I-is that you?”

Sparkler just stared wide eyed at her mother, tears welling up in her eyes. She tried to speak, but couldn’t find any words. Finally, she nodded once, whimpering.

“Oh my…” Derpy soon broke down, hugging her daughter as tears began to pour down her face. “You have no idea how long I’ve missed you, my little Sparky.” Lance himself looked back at the other ponies in the room, watching them to see what they were going to do. Ash seemed focused on Sparkler and Derpy’s reunion, holding her chest as if it would explode, Weep seemed depressed sitting in a corner, probably rethinking her life, Steelwing doing the same thing. Lance then decided to sit down next to Ash.

“Hey…”

“Shh!” Ash harshly shushed, tearing up over her friends reunion. Lance saw this and then soon realized something. It was unfair for Sparkler to see her family again and not let anypony else see there parents. So, he walked over to the detective, telling him that he wanted to help these four. Once they were calm though, Steelwing posed a question.

“W-what happens now…?”

All the Azure Striker did was just sigh. “Well… for one thing… we’re going to give all four of you a second chance…”

“R-really…?” Sparkler asked, holding onto Derpy for dear life.

“Th-that’d be real kind o-of y-you…” Weep said coming out of her corner.

“All four of you deserve to be back with your family and use what you are capable of now in order to help those that can’t help themselves.” Lance smiled, looking at each of them. “It may take some time, but we will try to find your relatives and help all four of you with what you have been through. I honestly can’t think of the horrors you might have been exposed to, but I believe it’s time to put the past behind us.” Looking at all of them, he soon went over to Ash and kneeled down. “Are you ready to take the next step?”

She nodded, “Y-yes…”

Lance smiled, “Welcome to the team then. I have contacts with the power ponies in Maretropolis. Meaning that I can help you four become official members of the team.”

Ash’s mouth hung open, Sparkler started shaking, Weep shied away mumbling something about not being good enough, and Steel stared, dumbfounded.

“All of you are well skilled and good enough to be able to join. You can either come with Detective Whooves and I to Maretropolis or stay in Centrail City to work with the Cutie Mark Crusaders. But ALL four of you deserve this chance.” He told them, getting ready to leave the room with Derpy and her family. “You ready to put the past behind you and start a new life?”

“You know it!” Ash cried out, “We are finally able to get away from this horror fest! Awesome!”

Lumen herself was smiling when hearing that. “I agree!! Hip Hip… HOORAY!!”

Within the week that followed, the former members of the Puppets were accepted to be part of the Power Ponies. Weep and Steelwing stayed in the hometown of Centrail City and became part of the Cutie Mark Crusaders under the supervision of Captain Spitfire and the rest of the Centrail Police Department. Sparkler and Ash went back to Maretropolis with Lance, Derpy, and Detective Whooves and also were welcomes with open arms into the Power Ponies and the Police Department’s Powers Division. They were even thrown a massive “Welcome To Maretropolis” party by Filli-Second upon their arrival at Power Pony HQ and even gave them a lot of gifts to celebrate any birthdays they might’ve missed.

Now though, Lance had something special in mind for Ash. “Ash, there is somepony I would like for you to meet. Follow me please.” The two of them continued to walk as the Pony followed Lance through the portal that was linked to below Max’s throne. As they entered and walked upstairs, the Adept soon called out. “Max! Seph! I’m back!!”

“Lancie!” Max said as she jumped from her throne onto his back.

“Why hey there, beautiful.” Lance playfully told her. “I got someone I would like for you and Seph to meet.”

“Oh?” She turned to look at the pony next to him. “Please tell me you didn’t adopt her, our family’s big enough as it is.”

“No, it isn’t that. I’m her Mentor.” Lance replied, giving Ash the opportunity to introduce herself.

“I-I’m Ash, pleasure to m-meet you.” The teen thrust out her hoof shakily.

Max smiled and knelt down to shake her hoof. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, too,” Max said. She gave the young mare a thoughtful look before continuing, “How good are you with foals?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never been around a kid before.” Ash shifted nervously.

“You know, catching a criminal is much easier than catching a foal. I believe Golden Spark, Light Sweet, and Rainbow Dash are playing hide and seek over in the west wing.”

“I’ll go… Try.” Ash tilted her head, “Where is the west wing?”

Sol came over then and said with a smile, “I can show you where they are. I’ll need to tell them that you are okay to play with.”

“Okay,” Ash said as she trotted over to Sol. “Lead on… Miss...?”

“No Miss, just Sol.” The thestral said, turning towards the door to the throne room. Lance chuckled a little as he watched them move down the hall.

“So, what do you think of her?”

Max smiled and wrapped an arm around Lance, leaning her head on his shoulder. “I think I’ll have a hard time not thinking of her as my daughter. Oh, just so you know. Don’t. Panic. The giant fire-breathing dragon is Seph’s trainer.”

“Wait wha-?”

“Seph wanted someone she could really train with, so Murphy sent word to Barbaroi about that.”

“I think you told me about Murphy, but who is Barbaroi? Matter of fact, where are they?” The Adept asked, looking around trying to find out where she was. He was curious to see who or what this dragon was like.

“The other side of the mountain for the night. Barbaroi is the dragon of the Hunt and was the first ever dragon to exist along with his mate.”

“Well, I guess we don’t need to worry about them for a while… How are you holding up? You know? With the baby?” The Adept asked her, wondering how everything was going along with Max’s pregnancy. Then, something came up… “You know… We haven’t actually thought of a name for our child yet. Want to take a few minutes to decide? I know that Seph would want to do it with us… but she’s… occupied.”

Max blinked, then smacked her forehead. “We’ve known our child has been a boy for the past month and we haven’t thought of giving him a name. We’re off to such a great start as parents.”

“Hey, we’re new to this. We can make mistakes,” Lance replied. “Got any ideas off of the top of your head?”

“Well, why don’t you give him his first name and I’ll give him his middle name?”

“That seems fair,” The Adept took a few minutes to think on it. “Why not Lyall? It’s an old scottish name that means “Wolf”. Does that sound good?”

“Okay. Now... His last name’s going to be Walker... hmm...” Max gained a thoughtful look for a few moments before she continued, “How about Arthas? Lyall Arthas Walker.”

“Heh… I like it. One question though… Was it your intention to make his initials spell out “LAW”?”

Max smiled and gave his cheek a kiss. “Maybe...”

“Oh god, you are clever. That’s one of the many reasons why I love you.” Lance chuckled, kissing her back.

“I’d have to be in order to run a kingdom.” Max pulled Lance forward a bit and gestured to the door. “I think I can take a break and spend some time with family over lunch.”

The Adept smiled, liking the sounds of that. “Did you have something specific in mind for the meal, my dear?”

“No, but I had thought you’d be back sooner than a week. I know I know, big responsibilities and all that.” She sighed and leaned her head on his shoulder again. “At least I’m almost fully recovered from all that magic I did in Shalltear’s universe.”

“Ah yes, I was beginning to wonder how she was doing. Anything new with our… daughter?”

“Haven’t heard anything yet. I’m actually considering turning off my main Token until I give birth.”

“Hmm… That could be a good idea… But I’m curious as to why you would want to turn it off?” During the moment that he asked, Max could see him fiddling around with an object that looked like a stone of sorts with an engraving in the center of it.

“Twice as I travelled through the void, my pregnancy was accelerated. I don’t want to get to a universe in the middle of a fight and double over because I went into labor.”

“You… make a good point.” He replied, now tossing the stone he held in the air before catching it again. This peaked Max’s curiosity.

“Okay, what is that? If it’s a token, whose is it?”

“Ah right,” Lance sighed. “Remember when you called me to the infirmary when you first found out you were pregnant? Well, before I came to see you, I was seeing Sun for the first time since I got Displaced and I also met this guy named Nicko. He’s actually kind of awesome, wields a rare and strong magic and another Draconequus named Eris travels with him. The Rune Slayer’s mark I’m holding is his token.” Looking at the token, he thought something through before giving it to Max. “Trust me, I think you might like him.”

“Okay, I’ll summon him so he can meet the family around dinner time.” She set the token in her bag before going back to leaning a bit on Lance. “Oh yeah, a bit belatedly but the kids and I managed to pull Seph out of her funk. We learned how Sol planned on giving Aurora a body after Seph had a match with her and Mun.”

“Well, that was sudden.” He replied. “Does Aurora know about that or is it a surprise?”

“I don’t know if it’s supposed to be a secret, but Sol’s growing her new body in herself.”

“Wow… So she’s going through a pregnancy like you are?” Lance asked. “I didn’t think that could happen to Zenith’s. But hey, maybe she could explain more to us over lunch.” He paused for a minute, then spoke again once he realized something. “Oh and word of warning, when you invite Nicko, don’t be shocked when Eris tells you that she is Discord’s daughter.”

“With how many universes are out there, I kinda figured I’d run into someone who’d say that.” Max opened the door to the dining room and held it for the Adept. He thanked her kindly as the two of them walked inside.

“Yeah, but the circumstances of how we met would make anyone’s head spin. Besides Sun’s Discord and Eris, the one who summoned us was a Displaced Draconequus named Loki.” He said. “You should’ve seen Sun’s Celestia react to the site of not one, but three Draconequus in front of her.”

“Heh, that would’ve been fun to see.” Max groaned as she sat down in a chair. “Damn, I might love the fact that I’m carrying our son, but this is putting a lot of strain on my lower back.”

“Would you like me to get a cushion for your back then?” The Adept offered.

“No, I’ll just need a massage tonight when we head to bed.”

“Anything for you, darling.” Lance smiled. He wasn’t quite sure if Max was teasing or something else. But what he did know was that his family had a bright future ahead of them.

End Strike 27

Author's Note

And with that, we conclude the trip to Centrail City. More will come in time, but right now, I have a big crossover in the works with Of Magic and Machines. Also, I got plans for future stories and chapters for some stories in the works. I just need to get things organized.

As for this story, I was going to roll with an idea that Bronyparasite suggested to me some time ago. What it is though, I won't tell you... But what I do plan on is some chapters that are mostly focused on McCree and Anarchy. And yes, they are being shipped. AnarCree.

Oh and here's an explanation on the two new "idiots" in the Suicide Squad

Strike 28- Power Pony Pool Party

Author's Note

Alright. So this is the first of two back to back crossover's that I'm doing with ElementBrigade. The first one being with the story Heroes of Equestria while the second one in the next chapter is going to be with the Bleach Displaced story,Masters of Imagination. All that while he has to take care of the kids. Not to mention Lumen discovering her... hidden talents.

Oh and Lance's jacket that Time Spinner gave him allows for some bonus abilities. Read on to find out for yourself.

Next Chapter: Imagine that
P.S. I just found out that Azure Striker Gunvolt is on Steam. Who else is surprised by this?

Strike 28- Power Pony Pool Party

When Lightning Strikes- Power Pony Pool Party

Power Pony HQ

The next morning after he spent a relaxing dinner with his family and a few friends of theirs, Lance was asked by Max if he could be able to watch the kids for the next couple of days while some preparations were being made for the wedding. Of course, he soon realized that them being here meant that he needed to spend some quality family time with the kids. To his surprise though, today was a hot day during the summer. But thanks to Pinkie, her suggestion on what to do to counter the weather lead to what they were going to do today at Power Pony HQ.

They were going to have a family pool party. The facility had a huge swimming facility that would work for Lucky, Golden, Rainbow and Light along with allow Lance the opportunity for some quality family time. Masked Matterhorn even allowed for Pinkie to take today off so she could help with the kids and have fun with them. Now though, Lance was wearing an old part of shorts that would work for swim clothes, trying to find out where one of his daughters ran off to. He remembered that Lucky, Light and Golden were with Pinkie Pie. But where could Rainbow be?

His question was soon answered when he heard a crash come from his room and saw the little filly covered in the collection of tokens that he had gathered over the course of adventures. “Rainbow, What are you doing in daddy’s room?”

“L-looking for pool toys!!” The filly cheered, lifting her tiny arms in the air playfully. Lance chuckled as she held a tiny Golden Ax in her mouth and a talisman on top of her head like it was a hat. Helping her clean up a little, He cleaned the mess off of the floor before trying to take the tokens from Rainbow’s mouth. It was then though that they dropped to the floor… and started to glow.

“Uh oh…?” The filly said, watching as two new individuals tumbled into the room and crashed into the furniture. Lance was lucky to not have the barreling human cannonballs hit her daughter. But then realized whose tokens they were once they started speaking.

“CELESTIA! I’M BORED!”

“For the love of faust Caster, go bother with the ponies in town!”

During this moment though, Rainbow trotted up to the first figure and nudged her head against whoever it was. Seeing that it had tails, she acted like a kitten and tried to pounce on them like it was a game of catch the tail.

“I think we just been summoned Gilgamesh?”

“Really? I didn’t notice.” Gilgamesh said as she turned her attention at Lance. “Oh hey Lance.”

“Hey girls, long time no-” His sentence was cut off when Rainbow proceeded to tackle Caster and knock her over onto the ground playfully. “-See.”

“Help! I’m being attacked by a mini pony!” Caster yelled trying to escape Rainbow.

“That… is my daughter.” Lance told them as Celestia and Gilgamesh turned around. “I’m getting myself married in a few months and for a couple of days, I was asked to watch over the kids.”

“Who’s the lucky mare?” Celestia asked.

“Not mare, Lady,” The Adept answered, “Have you met Max Caulfield by any chance? Her and Sephiroth?”

“We met Max, but not this Sephiroth person.” Gilgamesh said appearing next to Celestia. “Why’d you ask?”

“You just answered your question.” Lance smirked, getting a surprise reaction from all three of them.

“So you’re the lucky S.O.B that knock Max up.” Celestia said nudging Lance’s side playfully. “Never thought I picture you as a married man.”

“You do realize that when I first met her, it was two months after she had to bury both her Celestia and Luna? Her previous lovers?” Lance sighed. “Can we have this conversation later? My Pinkie and I are trying to help get a pool party together for the kids since it’s one of the hottest days of the summer. Wanna help?”

“Might as well, seeing how we got nothing better to do today.”

“Great. Because Rainbow was messing with your tokens because she thought they were pool toys.” The Adept chuckled as he picked the little youngster off the floor and let her have a piggyback ride on her back. “Plus, it’ll introduce you to the other three kids we have.”

“Lead the way kid who get’s owned a lot.” Caster said following Lance along with Celestia and Gilgamesh. Ignoring the comment, Lance grabbed a few of the inflatable rings and foam noodles along with a couple of beach balls and brought them to the pool area. “Alright, everyone. We got some new arrivals to be helping us out. This is Caster, Gilgamesh and their Celestia. Girls, this is our Pinkie Pie, Golden Spark, Light Sweet and lastly, my son Lucky.” At that moment, Pinkie was working on setting out the first set of party treats she had in the kitchen while Lucky was helping both Golden and Light get accustomed to the cool water in the pool. Soon, the Pink mare came hopping over, surprising Caster.

“Hi!”

“Dear god, more mini ponies!” Caster said hiding behind Celestia.

“Ugh, why did we have her make a token again?” Gilgamesh asked scratching her head in annoyance.

“Actually, these are normal ponies,” Lance corrected, “Trust me on this one.”

“Hey Lancie! Can one of your friends help me bring in the treats from the kitchen. I would think that the Foxy one will be just perfect to help me!” She said, nudging at Caster’s tails and rubbing her head against them. “Her tails are super soft by the way!”

“Yay, this world has a Pinkie Pie!” Caster said as picked up the pink pony, and began to cuddle her. Pinkie Pie also cheered, telling her that she needed Caster to be her assistant as they walked down the hallway and took a left. Leaving Celestia and Gilgamesh with Lance and the kids.

“Ugh, I can’t believe I’m stuck babysitting.” Gilgamesh said with an annoyed expression on her face.

“Less of babysitting and more of just having fun.” The Adept told her. “Oh and Celestia, you might want to tie your mane back. The kids will mistake you for the Celestia that Max knows if you don’t.” Without any warning, Lance leaped and dived into the pool, splashing Gilgamesh and Celestia when he landed nearby Lucky and the kids. Rainbow soon jumped after him, landing herself on his head.

“Ugh, fine.” Celestia pulled out a rubber band and tieing her mane back. Once she did that the sun princess snapped her fingers as she changed from her normal outfit to wearing a black bikini top, and swimming trunks. “Prepare to lose against the princess of pool parties.”

“Count me out. Do you know how long it takes to get my hair to look like this?” Gilgamesh said pointing to her hair.

“Come on, Gligamesh. Do you really want to be helping Caster now or be having fun?” Lance smiled, trying not to get splashed by Lucky and Celestia as Rainbow held onto his shoulders. “Trust me, we can have some time to talk and what not after the kids tire themselves out.”

“No offense kid, but you’re not my type.”

“Dang it! I don’t mean it like that!!” He was going to continue, until he got blindsided by Light and Golden as they focused on splashing him. “Agh! Hey!! NO SNEAK ATTACKS!” All they did was stick out their tongues in laughter and continued splashing. Soon. the room took up sides. Celestia, Golden and Light against Lance, Lucky, and Rainbow. With Gilgamesh being spectator… and possible referee. Then though, Lucky suggested that they play a new game.

Since they had a beach ball and a net could be placed up in the center of the pool, why not play a bit of pool volleyball? It was already three on three and Gilgamesh was watching over them from the sidelines as they were splashing and diving for the ball to hit it over the net. Later, when Pinkie Pie and Caster had returned with all the baked goodies, both of them decided to cheer and take sides on who would win in this friendly competition.

“Go, Celestia! Kick that epic fail boys butt!”

“Go LANCIE, show him what you can do!!”

The Adept smirked as the ball came back over the net. Rainbow used her head to boop the ball into the air before he sprung upward, smacking it across them and in bounds before hitting Celestia’s face. The ball afterwards soon landed in Caster’s lap and all the kids were laughing based on the recent turn of events.

“You awesome, Papa!” Rainbow said cheerfully, Hugging Lance again.

“Thanks, Dashie.”

“Champion of volleyball, huh Celestia?” Gilgamesh said sarcastically. Celestia said nothing as her right started glow for a few seconds. A red aura appeared around Gilgamesh as she stood up and fell through the open window that was nearby. “YOU ARE SO GONNA PAY THAT SUNBUTT!”

“Was that necessary?” Lance asked, letting the kids continue playing in the pool as they stepped out and he got to drying himself off.

“Yes it was necessary. Plus it’s not like she’s gonna die from something like that.”

“You’re having her fall from five stories.” He deadpanned.

“We’re legendary spirits that can take physical form. We can pretty come back as many times as we want.” Said Caster appearing above Lance.

“ … Good point.” He sighed, taking a seat on the nearby chair. “So how have you guys been since we’ve last seen each other? Where’s Saber and Luna?”

“If you’re wondering where Saber and Luna are, they’re in the holy grail war.” Grail said appearing from out of Caster’s mirror. “But I don’t you would even care seeing how she won’t be the same afterwards.”

“The aftermath of war? I got a feeling of that when I last met my friend, Lee.”

“Unlike most wars, this involves Magi and Servants against other Magi and their Servants to obtain the holy grail and receive it’s wish. Those who fail to defeat their opponent at the end of each week will be killed by the Mooncell within the school that the tournament is being held in. Then again if do win you opponent still dies.”

“How many players start the game?”

“Usually there be at least 999 Magi to start, but seeing how they been killing each other for past few months. The number is now down to 163, it’s pretty interesting to watch how humans would do anything for a wish. It almost makes me laugh.”

Lance looked at what the grail told him and then thought of something that resembled it. In a Manga named Zatch Bell, 100 humans were paired with children called Mamodo that had special powers that can be channeled through their spellbooks. Each of the children’s books would develop over time because of the emotions of their human partner, but if their book is burned, they’re sent back home. The only one that remains would then become king. But for them, this was different.

“Geez, and just when I thought the War of Shadows was bad enough…”

“HA! Compare to that it’s nothing childs play. Though I have say that Luna and Saber are going an impressive job on surviving this long, especially after what happen in week 3.”

“Do you even get it?” Lance asked. “I was with them when the initial event began… to me… I was the reason the War happened. Time Spinner told me that it was a fixed moment in time. One that can’t be corrected. But I don’t know if what I did to help was for better or for worse.”

“Wow, you messed up real bad if you’re the reason why the war started.”

“Well, it wasn’t all me… There was someone that tricked all of us into attacking one another. Folteren’s daughter was hurt and so was Lee’s host. Hell, I’m thinking Freddy’s there right now. I don’t want any of my friends like you guys to die from something that horrendous.”

“This is how humans are. Whether it was someone that tricked them, started something, or want something. This is the eternal flow of how humans are, and this will continue till the end of time.” Grail said as a portal appeared in front of him. “Remember this human, no matter what you try to do to save other people or ponies. You can’t save them all from a brutal fate.” Lance nodded, acknowledging what the Grail had told him, but then, he thought of a question that he had to ask in that moment.

“Do you have any advice for being a good father?”

“Only one, don’t ever let your enemies know you have kids. Other wise they’ll either kill them, or turn them against you.” Have saying that, the grail left Power Pony HQ and return to the Holy Grail War.

Lance took the thought and then replied to Celestia and Caster. “He… makes a good point actually.”

“What do you expect? You’re the superhero of this world so you pretty much a even bigger target for villains to come and attack you.” Celestia said as she summon a beanbag chair for her to sit on. “Personally I would recommend taking your kids back to Max’s world until the heat here cools down, and you taken care of any major enemies in this city. And I don’t mean to send them to rot in jail, I mean killing them so they won’t come after you or your loved ones.”

“We’ve already had come off a major case in Centrail City. Plus, Max and Seph are getting their Bridal dresses tailored by Max’s Rarity.” Lance told them. “They should be okay here though… Hey, quick question…”

“What?”

“I’ve been learning a few new tricks when it comes to my combat loadout… Would Caster or you be up for some Sparring? Pinkie can watch over the kids.”

“Normally I would allow that, but seeing how Caster is a bit….destructive I’ll have to ask you not to fight her until you get to my world. Mostly because she a god , and I don’t want her to mess anything up in your world.”

“Hey!”

“But I do have someone that can give you a run for your bits.”

“Actually, our training room was built to have us handle extreme conditions of any kind. Even Sunset when she started chucking wrenches at me.”

“Given the circumstances I still have to say no, because you have built to withstand stuff from your world, but not a fox girl who is possible Pinkie Pie’s ancestor.”

“Caster’s her ancestor? That’s a surprise.”

“If they can defy the laws of physics then that pretty much fits the bill. I mean look watch she’s doing now.” Celestia said pointing to Caster who was juggling a mini version of a sun, moon and black hole. “What kind of person does that without the use of magic or powers?” Lance just shrugged, honestly not knowing. “My point exactly, and seeing how she broke the command seal I got from grail I don’t want to have this please wrecked. So for now you opponent will be one of my other servants.”

Just as Celestia said that Gilgamesh entered back into the room covered in dirt, glass shards, and a metal pole sticking out her stomach. “I hate you so much right now Celestia.”

“Well, maybe we should take this elsewhere. Just let me change clothes and I’ll be ready.”

“Wait what’s going on?”

“Lance is gonna fight against one of Celestia’s other servants.” Caster said still juggling.

“This should be interesting to watch.” Gilgamesh said as she started pulling pole from out of her stomach.

When Lance came back, he was wearing a white sleeveless jacket and Dark navy pants with his gloves on and feet as well. “Okay, let’s rock.”

“Alright then,” Celestia said as she lifted herself off of the beanbag chair. “Lead the way epic owned kid.”

Lance did, guiding them into the room as he set it up. The entire room was spread out to where it was 200 yards across in both directions and was a recreational facility for other activities. Primarily though, it was used for the power ponies and other members to train in. It was everything, including weapon racks and numerous pieces of training equipment. One thing that Celestia notice though was a torn out sandbag that was in the trash bin.

“Why is there a sandbag in the trash bin?”

Lance sighed, noticing that. “That must’ve been when we last had Iggy here.”

“Who’s Iggy?” Caster asked.

“A Displaced Boston Terrier that had the power to control a Stand. A spirit guardian based on willpower. His Stand, The Fool, allowed him to control Sand. Hence the reason for tearing the sandbags apart. He’s with Button in Centrail City right now, helping the Cutie Mark Crusaders.”

“Well that explains why it’s there, so are you ready or what?” asked Celestia as her left arm started to glow. Lance himself smirked, electricity flowing through him as he prepared for who she was bringing out. “Alright then.” Celestia raised her left arm as a red symbol appeared in front of her. “Come! Hero of the distant future, the hero with no man! ARCHER!” A blinding light filled the room for a few seconds, only to disappeared and reveal a dark skinned man with silver white hair wearing a red coat like robe.

“Care to explain why you summon me here?” Archer asked, only for Celestia to point in front of him.

“You’re gonna be sparring with Lance over there.”

As he looked at him, the Azure Striker began channeling electricity. But something was different that Celestia, Caster and Gilgamesh noticed this time around. They knew him for one being able to immediately pull out his gun. But this time, it looked like he held out the hilt of a sword that didn’t have a blade.

“Interesting.” Archer said looking at Lance’s weapon.

“I thought it be fair to try something different to switch things up.” He replied, letting his electricity flow around him. “Just because I’m called Gunvolt in the field doesn’t mean I have to always use firearms.”

“Interesting piece of weapon, I’ll give you that. But won’t do you any good if you’re not skilled for it.” Archer said as he summoned two blades into his hands.

“Oh trust me,” Lance replied, taking the hilt and gripping it tightly. The small piece whirred to life. Revealing a straight edge blade that was just as long as a normal katana. “I might have a few surprises for you.”

“We shall see boy.”

“Go Archer! Kick that boys ass!” Caster yelled. Lance smirked, eager to see what this Archer was capable of besides wielding two blades.

In a mere second Archer vanished from Lance’s sight, only to appear behind with a blade pointed at his next. “Rule number one, never underestimate the speed of your enemy.” Archer removed the blade only to deliver a strong kick to Lance’s back sending him back a few steps away from Archer. Lance smirked though, catching Celestia’s attention.

“You should also not underestimate your enemy if you get too close.” He returned the comment. Archer could now see that his leg was partially covered in electricity. “I have lightning flow around my body in defense and if anyone isn’t prepared for it… The limb they attack with will be partially paralyzed.”

“Really now? Been awhile since I fought against someone that can do that.” Archer made his blades disappeared as he summon a bow and a sword in each hand. “Then I guess I’ll have to go with long range attacks then.” As Archer aim for the boy, he once again vanish and appeared in the air. “Hound of the red plains: Hrunting!” Archer said as he fired the arrow hitting Lance in the stomach dead on. However, the arrow itself was soon stopped as a massive outward surge of lightning flew the arrow to the ground and sent lightning up Archer’s leg.

“Really my friend? I’ve been only scratching the surface of one of the things I’m capable of.” Lance smirked, sheathing his blade. He went into his jacket pockets, drawing out both of his guns and aiming back at Archer. “But if you really want to play the range game, then let’s go.”

Celestia herself was surprised by this. How he fared on his own now was way different than before. How much time had actually passed since when they last met?

“Guess I don’t need to hold back then seeing how I was only holding back on account you’re just a kid.” Archer said as he summoned another sword in his hand, only this time it was a spiral shape. “Don’t blame me if you get hurt.” Pulling back the arrow mana started to flow wildly from out of the sword. “The fake spiral sword: Caladbolg!”

“Why do I get the feeling I’m gonna get blamed for this?” Celestia said as she took cover behind Caster and Gilgamesh. The arrow went off with a powerful blast, almost shaking the entire building and causing the windows to break. In the smoke though, Archer felt himself getting pinned in both shoulders and the chest.

“You’re a fool to think that something like that could easily trick me.” Lance told him, only getting roughly shaken up from the blast. “Now, it’s my turn… VOLTAIC CHAINS!!!” Instantly, Chains of Lightning formed all around the room, taking hold of his opponent before sending hundreds of volts of electricity through him. Despite this though, Archer still had a lot of fight left in him.

“Cute trick, but if you think that’s gonna stop me, then you really never dealt with someone like me.”

“Heh… Your drill sword didn’t even land a scratch on me.” Lance told him. Switching clips again, he began to fire off dullahan energy rounds at blazing fast speeds in Archer’s direction.

“The I guess I’ll have see if your weapon can damage you then.” Archer said as he moved out of the way of Lance. “Trace on!” In a blink of an eye Lance’s weapon were made in an instant.

“Heh… Nice trick… However… there’s one thing that you did not keep in mind.”

“And that is?”

“Try firing it.” Archer smirked and tried. However, nothing happened. “Now you see the problem. I can only use these weapons because they function off of my electricity. Since you don’t have a Septima and you’re not an Adept, you can’t use them. They’re basically just props to you right now.”

“Who said I made them to be just like yours?” Archer fired again, only this a burst of mana fired out only nicked him slightly at his head.

“Didn’t see that coming.” Gigamesh said.

“Pfft… That tickled.” Lance smiled. Soon though, he disappeared to where he was right behind Archer and blasted him once he turned around. Archer used the blast to his advantage as he turned around in the air and summoned two blades that resembled yin and yang. “I am the bone of my sword.”

While for Lance, his skill points had been slowly refilling as he put one of his guns away to draw out his sword. Now he had a blade in one hand, gun in the other and electricity crackling all around him. “Lightning that flickers…”

“Steal is my body, and fire is my blood.” Archer launched his blades at Lance like jet being launched into the air.”

“Like a star, that purges all that violates its realm.” Lance now had focused all his power in his blade as he pointed it straight in front of him. The Small thin blade grew in size and took the form of a much bigger blade and with one swing, deflected Archer’s blades. “LUXCALIBER!!!”

“I have created over a thousand blades.” Archer switch to his bow and continued firing at Lance. “Unknown to death, nor known to life.” Lance though, was dodging and weaving the incoming attacks, trying to get close to

“I have withstood pain to create many weapons.” Archer once again moved out of the oncoming Adept as he fired a barrage of arrows at Lance only for them to bounce off him. “Yet those hands will never hold anything.” Just as he landed a ring of fire appeared around Archer as he dismissed his bow, and kneel down on one knee. “And so as I pray.”

With him kneeled down, Lance was up in front of him. Pointing Luxcaliber at him. “Do you yield?”

“UNLIMITED BLADE WORKS!!!” As he said that the flames that were surrounding him started to enter into the ground. Cracks started to for as flames started gush out from underground as the entire room was engulfed in a bright light. Seconds later the light disappeared as it reveal that the room had changed from what it was before, to a barren field covered with swords sticking up from the ground. Celestia was wondering where Archer was only to see him standing a few feet away from Lance. They thought the fight was over…

Until a bright flash went off, blinding them. When it died, a filly spirit stood dazed and confused in the center. Aurora groaned in what an adult would guess as grumpiness. “Frak…” She mumbled.

“Aurora?” The filly turned around at Lance’s voice, seeing him standing nearby.

“Lance?” She tilted her head, “What’s going on? Where are we?”

“In a training room,” He said. “I’m trying to hold my own against a Displaced. If you can help me, that would be very kind of you.”

Surprised, Aurora quickly leapt to his side, “How can I be of service?”

“Well… Anything that can help me beat this guy in the next few minutes.” Lance retorted. “Any ideas?”

“You are wearing daddy’s jacket. He’s been known to enchant things from time to time, so it wouldn’t surprise me if he messed with something worn by you,” Aurora suggested.

“I know Aurora. But this jacket didn’t come with an owners manual. I need you to help me use it. You know your father more than me, so I’m putting all my faith in you in order to help me.” He told her, standing up back on his own. “Let’s do this together… as a team.”

Smirking, Aurora possesses the jacket, changing it’s color to a deep black, and a red aura sparked off of Lance. Two dark blades appear in each hand, also with red aura spilling from them.

Archer raised his hand up as the blades surrounding the both started to fly up next to him. “Each blade with in this reality marble were forged by the world’s greatest blacksmith that I was given throughout my life. Mean that even if you had that barrier to protect you from weaker attack, I bet it can’t protect you from swords that can counter your electric barrier.”

All Lance can do is chuckle a little… “Who said that I’m using my powers right now? Let’s go, Aurora.” With a flick of a wrist, Archer launch the barrage of swords that were surrounding him at Lance. All the Adept did was smirk, waiting for the moment Aurora told him to do something.

“Raise your right hand!” When The Adept moved the hand and the motion was done, the swords seemed to slow down to the point of nearly stopping. “Time powers are hard to control, even if I’m helping, so you might want to move.” Lance took Aurora’s advice, slicing forward and dashing towards the opponent. When Archer looked at the blades, he saw them actually breaking. The marble rusting away and cracking under pressure.

“Don’t think those were the only blades you had to deal with.” Archer said as four oversized blade appeared beside him, and were launched at Lance. Again, The Adept swung his newfound blades and striking them to where they turned into broken pieces of metal. Archer smirked as fired four more again only for them to meet the same fate. Lance then used instant transmission to blast himself forward, having the Adept’s blades clash with Archer’s two swords.

“Interesting little trick boy, had you fought against Lancer you would of been defeated in two hits.” Archer said as he pushed Lance backwards with a strong kick to the stomach. However, this though came with a consequence as when the Adept flipped backwards, the edge of his blade hit the top of Archer’s left shoulder. It left a burning cut along the side. But as the servant looked at it… he saw something else happen.

His flesh was beginning to corrode. Be eaten alive by whatever had hit him. And the pain was brutal. “Tsh, and here I thought this would be the last time I had to fight someone with a skill like this.” He said as he cut the affected part of his arm before it begun to spread. “Great, this could be a problem.”

“Aurora, I’m beginning to get real tired. If we are to win, we need to pull out all the stops. Got one last Ace in the hole?” Lance asked.

“There’s something in here called Cold Storm. It’s the strongest move I can access.”

“Okay, what do I need to do?”

“It’s simple, just hold out your hand, think of the target, and scream Cold Storm at the top of your lungs.” Lance himself followed Aurora’s instructions as the power from the vest began to radiate from his right hand as he used his left one to hold it in place. Archer could feel the temperature change in the room as The Adept thought of his opponent. Then, he followed the last step.

“COLD STORM!!!!” A large blue laser shot out of his hand, completely encompassing Archer. The sound of it made Lance feel sadness, as it was a thousand cries for help, all in agony. One thought echoed through his head: Failure.

“RHO AIAS!!!” Archer raised his other hand a shield in a shape of a seven petal flower; with seven lense like barriers appeared blocking the oncoming attack, only for two of them to break. However, Lance, despite the amount of pain he was put through, did not falter. He thought about his children… Max… Seph… Time… Aurora. All the people that counter on him and needed him the most. Even though failure echoed through his mind, his determination to live propelled him forward.

Somewhere inside his hair, a young breezie was beginning to glow, she woke up to the sight of her wings beginning to change along with her body. Taking up a new form, letting her voice be Lance’s guide… and letting an Anthem take root. Lance didn’t even have time to notice what was happening. All he felt was a surge of energy and power, which in turn he channeled into the blast he was firing. The amount of strength was now causing rho aias to falter.

“Heh, not bad for a human.” thought Archer as Lance’s attack reached the final barrier. The final barrier start to crack as the red coat hero pushed whatever mana he had left into rho aias. Celestia saw what was going to happen as she summoned a magical force field around herself and her servants. Seconds later the final barrier shattered as a huge explosion engulf the entire reality marble. As the reality marble disappeared, Celestia made the force field around them disappeared as she watch in shock at what Archer looked like after the battle.

“Impressive, for a human that is.” Archer said as his body started to disappear. “But you’re still not at that level of being a hero just yet.”

“Heh… T-thanks…” Lance coughed. “I-i’m an Adept by the way.”

“You’re still human, because you were originally born human. Whether you change the way you are, you’re soul is still human.” Archer said as he started to walk off. “Know this human, once you have surpass your future, then you can be a hero.”

Struggling to stand, Lance cocked a grin. “Hope I get to see you again soon, Archer. That was a lot of fun.”

“We’ll see.” With a smile on his face archer faded away into dust leaving behind a red gem for Lance. “When you are ready to face your future, give me a call.” Just before Lance was able to pick up the gem though, onepony had the audacity to knock him upside the head.

“You ****ing moron!” Celestia yelled. “You killed my piece of eye candy!”

“Oww!!!” Lance moaned. His body had taken a huge drain in energy and because of Celestia, the top of his head was bleeding. His body was still trying to recover from all the energy he had expended as his jacket turned white again and Aurora returned back to his bracer.

“Celestia, careful. You almost cracked Lance’s skull open.”

“Oh NOW you care about me!?” Lance snapped. “Talk about passive-aggressive.” Sighing, he used what strength he had to line himself up on a wall. “Besides, I didn’t kill Archer. He just returned to your world and left that gem behind.”

“Who’s the fairy lady?” Caster asked pointing at Lumen. It took Lance a second to notice this, but when he did, the Adept was very surprised to see the new look of his friend.

“L-lumen? You look… different.”

“Y-yeah… I don’t know why though… All I did was just… sing?”

“That was an anthem… I believe you now have a Septima as well.” He told her as she returned to the form of a Breezie and landed on his shoulder. “You’re an Adept like me.”

“A-awesome!!” She gasped, trying her best in her own little way to hug him, only with having to settle with cuddling his hair. Looking up, she soon became confused. “Who are these people?”

“I’m Santa, and these are my helpers.” Caster said pointing to Celestia and Gilgamesh; only to get a smack upside her head. “Ow!”

“Really?” Lumen said with a snarky tone. “I didn’t think Santa would have tails or go through a sex change-.”

“Lumen!!”

“What? I was being honest-!”

“More likely too honest.” Lance said to himself mentally.

“You do realize I can **** your world up right?” Caster said as she was about to do something to Lumen, only to be stopped by Celestia.

“Look Lady, I’m sorry. I was just joking around, but you took it too seriously.” Lumen sighed. “So please, calm yourself… and your-.”

“Lumen… You are trailing on mighty thin ice here.” Lance groaned.

“Hehe… Sorry… Anyone a healer here? Lance just exhausted himself of a lot of his stamina.” The Breezie asked, looking at Celestia and Gilgamesh.

“I don’t think Celestia would help Lance seeing how he killed Archer.”

“I TOLD you, I did NOT kill him!” Lance was trying to protest, before coughing up more blood. “He just returned and left behind that gem. I believe that’s his token.” To show he was telling the truth, he pointed in the direction of the gem, which Celestia noticed off of the bat. “H-he also said that the only way I can be a h-hero is that if I surpass… my future.”

“Oh that test…… all I have to say is be prepared for what you see.” Gilgamesh said looking away from Lance. At that moment though, someone new happened to trot in, seeing all three of the women standing up and Lance on the floor.

“Hey Lance, I was told that-.” Solaria stopped speaking once she saw the three girls in armor and him coughing up blood. Acting on instinct, she used her powers to blast a fiery phoenix towards them. “GET AWAY FROM HIM!!!”

“Solaria, stop-!”

“Gilgamesh, you know what to do.” Celestia said as Gilgamesh summoned magical chains wrapping themselves around Solaria. But the Unicorn wasn’t letting that hold her down. “Caster if you please.” Caster appeared in front Solaria and booped her nose.

“I always wanted to do that to somepony else.” Caster said. However, it wasn’t long before her finger caught fire because of it.

“Gilgamesh, put her down. Solaria’s my teammate.” Lance groaned as he tried to self heal himself with Galvanic Patch. “Sunset, I need you to calm down. Caster, Gilgamesh and their Celestia are friends of mine. While Archer…… is something else.” Turning to Celestia, he sighed. “Her powers allow for her to conjure flames as hot as the sun. I didn’t want you three getting hurt, so please… Put her down.”

“For the record, she can’t hurt me.” Celestia said as she ordered Gilgamesh to let her go. “It’ll take more than that to hurt somepony like me.”

“Noted…” Lance replied, noticing that outside, the sun was beginning to set and the moon was going to rise soon. “Well, I’m almost done with you guys… But I might need Caster to help me with one more thing.”

“And what would that be?” Caster asked.

“Putting the kids to bed.” The Adept told her, just as the door flung open and Rainbow, Golden, Light and Lucky came walking in with their pajamas on.

“Oh…...nope.” Caster said as she pulled her top hat from out of nowhere, and entered inside it. “Get the fire pony to do it.” It didn’t help though that Rainbow Dash soon trotted over and looked inside.

“Can you pwease read me a bedtime story?” She asked with the cutest of expressions on her face.

“... Darnit, fine I’ll do it.”

“YAY!!” Rainbow Dash cheered, trotting back to her room. After she picked up and began wearing the top hat that Caster was in.

“PUT ME DOWN!”

“Not until we in my room!” Dashie told her, happily prancing with her newfound hat. Lance chuckled at that, watching as all the ponies began following Rainbow and Caster.

“I think I found Caster’s one true weakness…” Lance snickered. “Filly Rainbow Dash.”

“I HOPE SOMEPONY KICK YOU IN THE NADS!”

Lance just ignored that, redirecting his attention to Celestia and Gilgamesh. “So, once she’s done, you guys are free to go. However, I can give you guys some food if you want to make Caster suffer a little.”

“Normally I would take you up on that offer, but we better get going soon. Mostly because something weird might happen in Ponyville or we might get summoned by another displaced.” Gilgamesh said while leaning against a wall.

“Alright, well I need to-.” A small buzz went off on his arm as he looked at it for a moment. Seeing three figures in white like clothes from Bleach engaging Cody on the roof “Excuse me, I have something to take care of real fast.”

“Care to explain what’s going on?”

“There’s some activity on the roof that I need to see. A couple of humans that resemble Quincy’s are engaging my friend Cody right now.”

“...Word to wise, if you see a pony with blonde hair and red eyes. Don’t and I mean DON’T piss him off.” said Celestia rubbing her neck.

“Let me guess, You met them?”

“I have, and let’s just say you are no match for him.”

Lance took the advice as he walked into the elevator, pushing the button for the roof. Upon getting up top, he heard the sound of flames as he looked to see Cody. Upon seeing who he was fighting though, he was only able to get a few shots off before they fled in retreat.

“Lance, that was the weirdest kind of help I had received in a while.” His friend told him as he was taking off his hood and putting away his gun and shield.

“Let me deal with them. You go get some rest,” The Adept replied. But before they were able to go anywhere though, someone new had arrived on the roof. Thinking it was some sort of backup, Lance and Cody prepared to draw their weapons. But what they saw when they turned around though… was another story.

“We….can not….allow…...you to….follow.”

End Strike 28

Strike 29- Imagine That

When Lightning Strikes- Imagine That

“We… can not… allow…… you to… follow.”

Lance and Cody were both equally surprised to be looking at the person in front of them. He was dressed in Quincy uniforms, just like the three others that Cody had encountered earlier. Only this time, his face was hidden. Out of the two of them though, Lance was the first one to speak.

“Says who?” He asked. “We were tasked with trying to keep this city safe and your people just attacked my comrade. They’re vigilantes.”

“To be fair, your friend pointed a gun at Bazz’s head, what do you think was gonna happen.” Both of them looked up, only to see an anthropomorphic pony with a blond mane and red eyes wearing the same kind of garb that the first person was wearing. As he lowered himself onto the rooftop, the new stranger had only one thing to say in that moment.

“Hi.”

Thinking that this new individual was only here to talk, Lance casually greeted the new arrival. “Hello to you too.”

However, things weren’t quite exactly the same when it came to his friend as he was walking to the nearby elevator doors. “Your friend was complaining about why they can’t kill somebody, so instincts told me that they were criminals.” Cody replied, shrugging as he tried his best to be apologetic. “I’ll leave the Displaced to you Lance. The Detective needs me at his division early tomorrow so I’m going to leave the Left Hand and Imagination to you and Lumen.”

“Wait Wha-?” Lance didn’t quite catch the last part, but he didn’t have time for his question to be answered when the anthro pony spoke again.

“That might be hard to do seeing how you can really leave until Pernida say so.” As he landed, Lance was able to realize who exactly this Displaced was suppose to be. Gremmy V Thoumeaux, the Visionary. Member of the Vandenreich Sternritter. If this was the case, then the other people that were here were somehow related to the group of Quincys. Lance also noticed the doors to the elevator closing shut, meaning that Cody had left him to deal with these two. Aurora herself was currently asleep and Lumen was snuggling in his hair… again. “So you two are suppose to be heroes? I have to say I’m not very impressed.”

Lance sighed upon hearing that, putting his weapon away and looking back at Gremmy. “Copen is busy with working for the police department and I’m getting married with two wives that are Displaced.” He was careful enough not to expose his friends identity, yet keep it related to the topic at hand. Gremmy himself was surprised, but only for a short second… and it had nothing to do with the hero part that the Azure Striker had mentioned before. More likely, it dealt with the second piece of his statement.

“ …… I get the feeling that you have sex outside of marriage, I take it?”

“The relationship I have with Max and Seph are open, meaning that they’re okay with letting me do it with anyone…” He replied back, before noticing the context in which the visionary was speaking in. “But when did this topic switch to Sex all of a sudden?”

Gremmy couldn’t help but laugh at this sudden information given to him. “I’m sorry just something that came to my mind, that’s all.” While this was happening, a little bit of Lance’s hair began to ruffle as a light cyan breezie stumbled out and the Adept felt his hair getting pulled.

“O-oh my head…” Lumen spoke briefly, before seeing the two people in front of her and Lance. “W-what’s happening?”

“Oh, so you have a breezie friend as well?”

“Yeah, this is Lumen.” Lance told him as she floated up to his shoulder. “Or as my kids would say, Auntie Lumen.” It only took seconds for him to almost get scolded by the breezie before Gremmy’s companion caught his attention for a brief second.

“Sir.”

“Oh right… Pernida, please go inside their HQ and get the info that I need.” With a small nod, the second hooded figure disappeared in a blur, leaving Lance and Lumen alone with Gremmy on the roof. The Adept was surprised to hear about the task that Gremmy had instructed his colleague to perform. Walking into a highly secure facility that was bound to cause alarms to trip was the mistake that a complete idiot would make… or a tactical genius. Either way, Lance had to keep up his end of the conversation. Sighing, he spoke again once he had an ideal plan in mind.

“If you needed something, you could’ve just ask politely.”

“I could, but I prefer to get what I need personally. That and I wanna see what you’re made of seeing how you’re the talk of the city from what I heard.”

“I guess news travels fast then.” Lance thought to himself. He didn’t want to engage Gremmy in a fight that he could not win. After all, Caster’s Celestia told him to NOT piss him off. So, he took the non violent approach. “I only demonstrate all my power when I need to-.” The Adept soon heard a click from the nearby elevator and turned around, only to find his small cyan filly of a daughter galloping towards him in fear.

“PAPA!! I’m scared!! There was this big… Hand monster inside my room…” Well, that explained where exactly Pernida ended up… It didn’t take long for the young pegasus to notice Gremmy nearby though as she soon started to reach out and try to touch the colt’s blond mane. “Who Dis?”

“The name’s Gremmy V Thoumeaux.” The colt replied to the Filly’s question. “I’m the leader of the Wandenreich Sternritter’s.”

“G-Gwemmy?” She asked, puzzled. Lance noticed that his daughter seemed to be taking a liking to Gremmy. Hell, with his powers of imagination, he might be a good relative for the kids, especially with Max a few months away from giving birth.

“Something tells me she likes you,” Lance chuckled. “We already have a Displaced Freddy Fazbear be one uncle. Maybe we can form a truce and I can talk to Max about having you be part of the family. As an uncle of course.”

It didn’t take long for the Quincy to reply to that. But not in the way the Adept expected. “Sorry, but no.”

“Too busy? Or something else?”

“I don’t join weaklings.” The Visionary replied with a cold tone in his voice, making Rainbow shake in Lance’s arms.

“You only think I’m weak because I haven’t showed you my power. Max, when you meet her, has the power of both Celestia and Luna. Not only that, but lightning isn’t the only thing I’m capable of.”

“Tell me boy… Ever wonder why I’m the leader of the quincy’s?”

“Imagination. And you aren’t the leader. The Emperor is. Right?” The Adept asked, remembering the logic of how everything worked in Bleach.

“If you mean my uncle, then no. And you should know that Imagination is the strongest power there is.” Gremmy told him, appearing next to Lance in the blink of an eye. The Azure Striker though didn’t lose his composure.

“Yes… But what if you don’t have the time? My wife can rewind short bits of time and also freeze it. So, how can you imagine if time is standing still?”

The question though was blown off by Gremmy. “Buddy, 1,599 years old. You think I haven’t met someone that can do that. Imagination allows me to imagine anything, that inclu-.”

“Whee!” Rainbow leaped onto Gremmy, knocking him by surprise as he leaped out of Lance’s arms and on top of his head. “I-imagination!! Imagine you… as a pillow!!”

“As much as I want to I can’t, I pretty much imagine myself as a pony to try to get with Vinyl Scratch.”

“How did that work out for you?” Lance asked him, chuckling a little at Rainbow messing with his mane.

“......I prefer not to talk about.” Gremmy said in a dark tone as he lifted Rainbow off of himself. He then placed a hand on Lance’s shoulder “And I’m sorry for what I’m about to do to your left arm; seeing how your friend isn’t here.”

When Gremmy did place his hand though, electricity surged through his body and through his nervous system. “Watch it. I rather not start any violence in front of my daughter.”

“Relax I’m not gonna hurt you, but your daughter will laugh at you soon when I leave.” Gremmy said removing his hand from Lance’s shoulder. “Anyway just a little heads up from the league, they’re starting to have second thoughts about you.”

“Well crap,” Lance thought, “I was beginning to wonder when that will bite me in the ass again.” Keeping his composure though was hard. Especially when he was dealing with a blond quincy that made him think he was looking at the Reaper. But he then thought of a way to solve his current problem… And that was involving something that was left behind from Kat.

“Why is that? Because I haven’t been focusing on helping Kaoru?” He asked, acting calm to prove his point. Never give in to pressure from the person you were talking to. “I’ve been busy with trying to manage my duties as a hero and as a father. That’s a tall order, my friend.”

“Your excuses are invalid. You gave your word that you would do something about this, and so far from what I heard from Chrysalis you’re not doing your part. And because of that we’re gonna have the meeting tomorrow night seeing how you put Kaoru on the side burner.” Gremmy said as his facial expression turn dark that only Lance can see. The Adept smirked. Now was when he needed to play his trump card.

“I did yes. And right now, I’ve had Detective Whooves’ division, Masked Matterhorn and Solaria agree with me.” Lance told him, explaining how multiple ponies were convinced that Kaoru wasn’t a monster to them. “One question though, is it true that Kaoru is afraid of her own self?”

“She a ghoul that can only eat ponies, what do you think?”

“Then I have something that might help her.” The Adept soon got out what looked like a bracelet and a key to go with it. The two items that he held onto after Max got them off of him. “When I was in Kat’s domain, she used these to nullify our powers and prevent us from using them. If my guess is correct and Kaoru puts it on, she’ll feel human again. If there comes a time though that she needs to take it off, she can use this key to disengage the wristband and then become a ghoul once more.” He then put the two items in Gremmy’s hands, looking back at him. “I know that I haven’t been at my best, but I am doing what I can now to help her. Maybe this could be a good starting point.”

“I guess for the time being this should keep Eto from coming after you.” Gremmy said as he placed the bracelet and key into his pocket. “Like I said before the meeting will be tomorrow night at this time. And I’ll be here for a few weeks cleaning up the mess you and friends fail to do.” Now was where Lance though the art of persuasion could be… useful… right now. Recent reports from only a few hours ago had detected new Sumeragi activity and one of its top members now taking the form of an Adept with a Glaive.

“We’ve been working around the clock trying to clean up loose ends. It’s only getting harder now that we have a Suicide Squad trying to cause more trouble. However, what can help us is that we start by taking down Sumeragi. Some of our reports we’ve been getting have said that a few of its top members are trying to set up shop in the same area the league is located. You better hurry before something happens.”

“I wouldn’t worry about the league, I left a few copies of myself to make sure nothing happens.” Gremmy informed him. “And before you say anything, they’re not weak. The more me there is, the more powerful my imagination is. Also if you see a giant meteor fall out of the sky, that means they’re taking care of the problem.”

Lance sighed. The visionary was definitely dripping with overconfidence about this whole thing. “Right… However, The one you’re dealing with is named Third Eye. Or by his new codename, Zonda.” Lance told him, handing a printout of the individual that he was talking about. What was once a unicorn now looked more like a human. Just with black pieces of armor, a longer, lighter colored mane and now looked more like the actual character in Azure Striker Gunvolt. “Not much is known but-”

“If you haven’t notice I’m almost like a god, only difference is that I don’t abuse my powers like most people would.” He said, again making the Adept feel that he was acting rather overconfident. “I’m Gremmy the visionary, what make you think I can’t just imagine his powers to be useless.”

“Because you don’t know if you’re dealing with him or just an illusion. Plus, he’s nowhere near you.” Lance then sighed, looking back at him. Now was probably the time where he tried convincing him a bit further. Given what he said about weaklings, he considered that as a good place to start.“You said that you are looking for powerful people, right?”

“Normally I am, why you ask-.”

“Gremmy, don’t even think about.” A new voice spoke as Lance noticed a breezie like Lumen appeared in front of the Visionary. “What did I tell you about picking fights with other displaced?”

“Oh come on I wasn’t gonna kill...I was just gonna rough him up a bit.” The Adept chuckled upon hearing that as he soon noticed Rainbow returning to his side.

“Plus, I believe it was one of your people that scared my daughter, Gremmy.” Lance pointed out to him. “She did say that she saw a “hand” monster. Would that happen to be Pernida?” Now Lotus looked back at Gremmy, face-hooving herself as she scolded the Quincy.

“That would him yes…..Gremmy, please tell me you didn’t tell him to kill anypony?”

Gremmy himself shook his head, looking back at the breezie. “Relax, I only told him if anyone attacked him…… He can break or twist their arms, legs, or wings; but to not hurt any children.”

“GREMMY!!!” The breezie shouted at him, unaware of Lumen nearby. “We’re not suppose to be causing trouble!”

“What? It’s not like I told him to kill them,” Gremmy sighed deeply, looking back at his companion.“Plus this would be a good thing to help him evolve. Poor guy still trying to learn how to make full sentences.”

“He looks like the grim reaper! Of course somepony will attack him!”

“Oh really? Like who?” Just as he said that, Lance turned around to notice Gremmy’s colleague stepping out, putting an unconscious Applejack and Rainbow Dash on the floor of the roof while his daughter shivered at the site of Pernida. To her, this person was the monster that she saw only a few moments ago. The “hand” monster.

“Problem…… Attacked…… not kill.” The left hand stuttered, slowly moving the two unconscious mares over in Lance’s general direction.

“Oh… oops.”

“GREMMY!!!” Lotus yelled at him, while the Quincy gave a sheepish grin. Lance just rolled his eyes at the sight, calming his daughter a little as he looked back at the Visionary. “And just when things were going so well…”

“Not my fault you guys are quick to jump the gun without thinking.” Gremmy replied, sensing the sarcasm in the Adept’s voice. Seeing that though had the Azure striker know what he was going to say next. Especially when after he checked in with Humdrum before Caster and Gilgamesh arrived earlier today.

“Well, if by anything, we have a maximum state of the art security system. It’s probably what alerted them.” He sighed, explaining the possible reason why the two unconscious mares were warned by Pernida’s presence. “So how about this, I’ll let you have the file and I can help make sure these two get the care we need. That way, no further violence is necessary. We already backed up our systems and transcribed all of our files onto our database, so you can keep that. Consider it as a token of appreciation for doing business with you.”

“Fair enough, I’ll return here tomorrow night with the league for your little meeting that you been putting on the side burner for too long.” Gremmy said as he and Pernida vanished from Lance sight. “Let’s just hope you don’t screw this up.” In that moment, the Adept thought that he was in the clear. That he didn’t have to worry about the Visionary. As he turned to help pick up AJ and Rainbow with his daughter next to him, he said something else that soon… caught Gremmy’s attention.

“Okay. Oh and Gilgamesh and Caster said Hi.”

The Visionary soon reappeared on the roof upon hearing Lance’s words. “Oh so they’re here as well? Been awhile since our last meeting.”

“They were and the only advice they gave me was to not piss you off. Not sure why because you seem like a nice guy to me.” He explained, causing Gremmy to chuckle.

“Oh I can be nice when I want to. Mostly because I prefer not to kill or fight anyone weaker than me. And seeing how you’re weak, I prefer not to humiliate you in front of your peers.”

“You mean my daughter?” Lance asked, pointing downwards at Rainbow, who was still hugging onto his leg after meeting Pernida earlier and shaking because of how scary he was to the young filly. What the Visionary said afterwards though was the most… confusing part to him as the words that came out almost sounded like riddles to him. Either that or the quincy was trying to play mind games with him.

“Well her and anyone else who is watching.” Gremmy said, looking behind Lance. “I know your friends are watching us while we’re talking.” Now that part confused him. The Adept did not know exactly what the hell the Quincy was talking about. Up here, it was just him, Gremmy and his daughter.

“Actually, most of them are asleep and Cody had just retired for the night. The only ones who aren’t asleep are the ones your friend knocked out, myself and Rainbow here.” He tried to clarify, but it only cause Gremmy to roll his eyes.

“I mean the other Displaced, idiot.” He sighed in annoyance. That though, did nothing to help the Adept.

“... I’m sorry. Can you be more specific?” He asked. But the response he got from him was what he personally thought… was uncalled for. Especially around Rainbow.

“Caster, Gilgamesh, and Celestia you dumbass!” The Visionary shot back, the sound of something hitting the rooftop right behind Lance. The Adept ignored it though. This was obviously some kind of trick. He remembered that they were going back to their world, not stick around in his. “For a superhero you’re not that bright to some degree.”

“You know… Those three had just returned home five minutes ago…” The Azure Striker deadpanned. Thinking that what he was trying to say about Caster and Gilgamesh was a trick that Gremmy was trying to pull off with his powers, he then asked a new question. “Did you just imagine yanking them out of the void or some sh*t like that?”

“Are you trying to piss him off?”

The voice caused Lance to turn around quickly, only for him to get smacked upside the head by the same Celestia that he had only met a few hours ago. “We came back because Caster forgot her hat!”

Oh, so that’s the reason why…

Still though, he had to snap at one part. “How THE HECK WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW THAT!?! I can’t sense magic like you guys can!!”

“Dear god you’re the superhero of this world? I’m surprised that you lived this long.” Gremmy said with a smirk on his face.

The Adept at this point had personally had enough. He needed to focus on other things than rather get insulted left and right by a pride filled Quincy. “Right… Anyhow… I’m going to let you four deal with this mess. I gotta return my daughter to her bed. Bye.” With that, Lance held onto his daughter and the two mares by his feet. He soon used Instant Transmission to bring him back to Rainbow’s bedroom. The filly was relieved to be back in someplace that she saw as a safe place. She chuckled when her father put both Applejack and who she saw as Auntie Sparks next to each other where they looked like they were cuddling each other. In their superheroes garbs no less.

“Alright, let’s tuck you in,” Lance smiled, heading to the filly. But he was personally surprised to hear her ask something when he got closer.

“P-papa?”

“Hmm? Yes, Rainbow?”

“C-can I sleep with you tonight?”

The Adept at first, was unsure. But then remembered that she had just been through a very traumatic experience. So, why not? “Sure honey. Follow me.” As the two of them left her bedroom though, Lance unexpectedly got the surprise that Gremmy left for him. A frying pan knocking him upside the head. Upon seeing that, Rainbow chuckled a little, but Lance just sighed as he picked up the pan and brought it back to his room.

Inside his room though, the Pan began to shift and change forms. Now it looked like a brain inside a glass case. But this wasn’t just an ordinary brain. It was a token.

Gremmy’s Token.

"I am Gremmy, leader of the Vandenreich Sternritter. You need my help? I'll come to your aid when needed."

“Well THAT sounded a bit nicer than the actual person.” Lance thought to himself. Turning around, he placed the case on the back of a nearby shelf and sat down on the bed. Rainbow was already snuggling under the sheets as he was getting under the covers. But it was then though that his daughter asked a question out of curiosity.

“Papa? Is Gwemmy… bad?”

Lance raised his head, looking at the filly. “Why do you ask?”

“Well, he was saying some bad things…”

The Adept sighed. “Do you think he is bad?” The filly shook her head, causing the Adept to smile as he messed with her mane. All that mattered was that his daughter looked at things positively. As he looked at her, she soon pressed her head against his chest and stretched out her hooves to where they were around him.

“I love you, papa!”

“Love you too, Dashie.”

Meanwhile…

“Ugh… My head…” Applejack groaned, looking back at the cyan pegasus that was underneath her as her vision was slowly readjusting. All she remembered was having to deal with a strange intruder only a few moments ago. Now they were in Twilight’s room-.

Wait, Twilight’s room!?! How the buck did they get there? That immediately caused her to wake up rather quickly as she heard the sound of trotting hooves coming through the hallway.

“Rainbow!! Get up!!!” She used her forehooves to shake the mare underneath her, but by the time she was finally waking up, a nearby light switch clicked and Twilight walked with a book in her levitation magic. The book dropped to the floor, but the magic still continued to swirl around her horn.

“WHAT THE HAY ARE YOU TWO DOING!?!”

“Err… Twilight. Let me assure you, this isn’t what it look’s like.”

End Strike 29

Author's Note

Now... to take a necessary break. Crossover's with Lance are on a temporary hold right now since Bronyparasite and I have something planned for the next few chapters. Crossover for this chapter was with Gremmy from Masters of Imagination

Lance Own Count: 13

Strike 31- Duality

When Lightning Strikes- Duality

Power Pony HQ

Waiting could drive some people nuts. For Lance, it wasn’t like that. He was patient, but when he was worried, it could drive him crazy. Aurora had possessed his communications device, but she had not responded to him in a long time. The Adept was being concerned for the little filly and soon began to tap on his communicator. Like knocking on glass to try and get someone’s attention.

“Aurora? You okay in there? It’s been almost a couple of hours, please say something.”

There was static, and then a black version of Aurora appeared on the screen, eyes red and teeth sharp, “Aurora’s n-n-not home…”

“W-what the hell!?” Lance flinched. “Who is this!?!” This… thing that was on there now was nothing like the filly that he knew. “What did you do to Aurora!?”

“O-o-oh~ Alw-ways with the b-blameing games, huh Lance Walker?” The black filly giggled, but a twitch of her head and she was glaring. “N-no rest for the w-wicked…”

“W-what… are you?” The Adept asked. He wanted answers… and he wanted them now.

“Hehe-e-e-eheheh…” The black filly’s echoing voice continued for a bit, before she froze. The freeze didn’t last long, and the filly was glaring, “You d-did this t-to m-m-me… They were al-almost perfect… No escap-pe…”

Lance’s eyes widened. He remembered those words as he soon began to realize the undertone that went with the voice. “Oh my god… Equilis.”

“N-not any-anymore. Yo-you stripppppppped that away from-m me…” Equilis began chuckling like a broken record, repeating the same three seconds over and over again. Lance then began to wonder how this happened.

“How did you get in there?” The Azure Striker asked the once alive maniac. “And if you aren’t Equilis anymore… what do you call yourself now?”

“I th-think b-b-b-Black f-Filly is be-e-e-etter than-than nothththththththing…” The Adept thought this through for a minute, but soon realized something. What used to be Equilis was now Black, while Aurora was white… It make him think of Yin and Yang. And one other word.

“Equinox…” Lance told himself. “You are a part of Aurora. You two are two halves. Equinox is the picture as a whole… But why did you do this? Why harm Aurora? Are you trying to get to me through her you sick bastard?!!”

The replaying laughter returned, but lasted all but a moment, “I h-had n-n-no intention of-f-f this… Last-t thing I remememememember was-s sitttttttttttttttttttting in m-my offffffice…”

“Wait… if that’s the case… then tell me something… How do you know Aurora?” The Adept asked. He saw it as strange that he knew her name immediately and the only guess that he had was that he had seen her before. “I want you to tell me… everything.”

Crimson liquid trailed down Equinox’s cheeks, the white parts of his eyes turning black and his head twitched. “W-wouldn’t y-y-yo-you like to kn-know… He he he he he he he he… Her and I-I-I are cl-closer than-than you th-think, Azu-ure Sti-i-iker...” And the screen went static.

“W-wait! Get back here!!” Lance responded, until the screen went to static and he missed his chance. That was… until he realized something. Equinox and Aurora were technically the same filly right now. So whatever he knows… she might know too. Plus, Aya wasn’t back yet.

The screen returned, and the white/blue filly groaned, “Are we still in the sewers...?”

“Oh god, Aurora!” Lance said, relieved. “For a moment, I thought I lost you… are you okay?”

“A bit of a headache… Which is ironic because I don’t really have a head.” Aurora joked lightly, “What’s going on? Did we win?”

“Y-yeah… We’re back at HQ now and Aya is meeting Max.” Lance told her, before having to clear his throat. “Hey, Aurora… Can I ask you something?”

“Sure, I’m an open book.”

“There’s something that’s been on my mind for a little bit since we got back from Centrail City…” Lance told the filly, trying to not spill the beans on his encounter with Equilis. “How did you know Equilis?”

“Oh, that’s actually kind of… Complicated. When daddy was still in charge of the Power Ponies, Equilis and the other Marionette’s were a pretty big threat. There was Joking, but… I can’t remember that one's gender, too much makeup. The Purple Mare, Cupcake’s, and Equilis himself. Last guy killed himself two years prior. Equilis helped out the other three, leading to Sweetie Belle's capture and Joking’s death, as well as The Purple Mare’s capture, etc, etc. He was also witness to my death firsthoof.”

That got Lance curious at something. “If he witnessed your death… then who killed you?”

“A terrorist leader… Rather not talk about it…” Aurora looked away.

“Aurora… Are you trying to hide something from me? It’s okay, you don’t need to be afraid. Just tell me… Talk to me like I’m Stopwatch.”

“I just don’t wanna think about it…” Aurora sighed.

“O… kay. New question… Did you have any parents?” The Adept tried asking, unknown as to what subject he wanted to switch it too.

“Of course I do! What kind of question is that!? It’s like me asking you if you were born!” Aurora said. “My mother raised me until she was mugged and killed, then I met my future daddy!”

“As in Stopwatch… Aurora, I was asking who your biological father was.” Lance told her. This though… got a different reaction from the usually cheerful filly.

“I said my mom died in a mugging… My father… I think mom said she was drunk…” Aurora wiped her eyes, “That I was a mistake…”

“Aurora… It’s okay. Please, stay strong. You can tell me. It’ll be our secret… Pinkie Promise?”

“There’s not much to tell. She said he wasn’t around too long, and paid for my future. She said he didn’t want to be in my life because he wasn’t nice, but he wanted to make up for that. I really don’t know about him.”

“Hmm…… Hey, Aurora?” The Adept asked. “You said that he wasn’t around… but paid for your future…? Something about those words seems… off.”

“I don’t get it either, but the bits were lost.”

“No, I didn’t mean that… For your future… the way those words sound just reminds me of… Equilis… Aurora, do you have an identity on the Marionette that killed himself?” The Azure Striker asked her, which in turn had her look at him with a surprised reaction.

“No, just… His code...name… L-Lash…” Aurora’s breathing increased. “What are you saying?”

“I’m not one hundred percent sure on this… But what if Equilis knew you because he knew your father… I saw Equilis jump out of the window back at his hideout that lead to killing himself……” The Adept paused, trying to find the words to accurately say it right. “What if your father was Lash?”

Shaking her head, Aurora grumbled, “I don’t feel up to your hunches. Turn the mute button and call me when there’s a real emergency… Lash is not my father, are you trying to villainize me?”

“N-no… Aurora, I care for you… a lot… I’m just worried about you. You're like a daughter to me and I don’t want ghosts of the past coming back to haunt you. Again, it’s just a theory. It can be completely false. We have no way of knowing if it’s right or not right now-.” His sentence was stopped when he heard a knocking on the door and noticed Aya standing outside. He walked over to the door and soon unlocked it for her, welcoming her inside. “Oh hey, Aya is back.”

Lance’s aunt raised an eyebrow, “It’s been nice meeting your wife and kids, but I feel really tired now…” There was a click, signaling Aurora turning off sound on her end.

“You want to go back to New Yoke?” Lance asked his Aunt as the two of them walked out down the hallway.

“I’d stay here, but I can’t let my nephew babysit me, can I? And you have too much to do here anyway, a big family, bad guys, and even a few mysteries.” Aya chuckled.

“Heh… right. Which reminds me, Twilight and Pinkie will be coming with us too. They want to talk to the police chief in charge so they can have a team of heroes established there. They’re on the roof I believe. I need to ask Humdrum for something first before we leave.”

“Sure, I don’t even know who he is, neither do I care.” Aya said as she turned left, “This way to the roof?”

“Yeah, just take the elevator up there, it should be on your right.” He told her just as he entered the command center. He found the dragon fiddling around with a tablet until he noticed the Adept.

“Hi Lance!”

“Hey Buddy, I was asking if you could do me a small favor.” Lance asked him, handing a small piece of paper. “I need a DNA test of two subjects. Both are deceased, but I want to see if they are somehow similar.” When Humdrum opened the paper, his eyes widened and he was quite surprised at what he was seeing.

“A-are you sure about this? Why do you need me to do it?”

“It’s just to ease my mind a little. I had a theory that’s been bothering me like an itch I need to scratch and I was going to ask if you can do it while I’m with Masked Matterhorn and Filli-second in New Yoke. You’re not trying to back out of it now, are you?” He asked the dragon.

“N-no!! I’ll get to it ASAP!”

“Thanks buddy! You’re the best!!” Lance yelled, running out into the hall and racing up the stairwell. He ignored the elevator and just ran up the stairs as he soon arrived up there, Masked Matterhorn and Filli-second waiting for them with Aya.

“Sorry about that. I’m here now.”

“Okay, let’s go. It’s nice meeting you miss Sparkle,” Aya said.

“Uh, Aya. I told you that they’re coming with us.” Lance deadpanned, reminding her of what he said earlier.

Aya glared at Lance, “Is it a crime to say it’s nice to meet someone?”

“N-no. My apologies.”

“S’okay. And cut the proper crap, we fought a zombie alligator in a sewer with a bunch of ponies,” Aya lightly punched Lance’s shoulder, “And besides, I’m the cool aunt who shoots like a cop.”

Matterhorn and Filli-Second giggled, and Lance looked away, embarrassed. When they stopped, Aya stated, “And if you’re looking for a superhero team, I think I know one.”

“Really?” Mask asked, “Who?”

“I really don’t know them that well. They’re the same ponies who helped Lance and I in with the… Infestation in the sewers…” Aya rubbed the back of her head, “I hope I don’t need to do that often…”

Lance shrugged, but before he could say anything, Matterhorn said. “Really? Hmm… Maybe we should meet them. What do you think?”

“Sure. They were asking a lot of questions about if I was in the power ponies and what not. There leader, Mist, really reminds me of Twilight. Probably because of her mane.” The Adept replied. “Alright, let’s go.”

“Okay, let’s go. One trip to New Yoke!” Mask said, and then there was a flash of light. When they could see, they were standing in the center of New Yoke. “Huh, it’s been awhile since I’ve been here.”

“I guess this is good… Where too?” Aya asked.

“You remember where these heroes are located?” Lance asked. “Maybe we should talk to them first.”

“Yeah… No… They kept teleporting around… But they did give me a communicator. I’ll call them up, but let’s meet the chief.” Aya said.

Before the other two can say anything, Pinkie Pie soon decided to “volunteer” to meet the chief and then raced through the streets of New Yoke. Lance just stared blankly, surprised. “W-well… That’s one less thing to worry about. Now… Aya? You were going to call them?”

Aya nodded and pulled out a watch. She placed it on her wrist and pressed a button on it.

“Aya here. Have Surprise pick me up, along with two others.”

“Password?” Asked a southern accent.

“Password!? There wasn’t a password before!” Aya shouted into the watch.

There was laughing. After it calmed, “Sorry sugar, ah was just messin with ya!”

There was a popping sound, and the white pegasus stood on her hind legs, forelegs spread, a goofy grin plastered across her face. “Surprise!”

Twilight herself was quite surprised herself on how much this mare reminded her of Pinkie. Lance himself just chuckled. “Nice to see you again, Surprise.”

“Nice to see you too Lancie! I can call you Lancie, right?” Surprise then slapped her hooves on either side of her head, “Oh my gosh! I’m getting distracted again, I’m sorry! This happens everytime I get excited and I start to ramble…”

“I’m fine with you calling me that, Surprise. Heck, even Pinkie and Max call me that so I’m quite used to it.” Lance replied as Twilight soon trotted up next to him.

Surprise’s eyes widened, “Uh-uh… What’re you doing here Masked Matterhorn?”

“Well, I heard so much about a group of heroes that have been helping Ms. Aya in New Yoke so I thought I take the opportunity to meet them in person and ask if they want to become part of the Power Ponies.” Twilight said cheerfully, a little surprised that this mare knew who she was.

“Oh… Mist won’t be thrilled about this…” Surprise turned nervous, “Jeez, Fly, you really screwed up…” The white Pegasus whispered that last part, but Lance and Aya heard. “Anyways, best take ya home… Our home, I mean, I wasn’t telling you to go back to Maretropolis! And I didn’t mean I don’t want you to go home either!”

“We understand Surprise.” Lance smiled, patting her on the head. “Ready Aya?”

Aya nodded and took hold of Surprise’s wing. She turned to Twilight, “She needs a physical contact to teleport you. She said she was injured awhile back.”

“Ah okay.” Twilight replied, placing her hoof on Surprise’s back. Lance placed his hand on her head and all three of them were ready.

All four blinked away and reappeared in a dank, underground shelter. Though the place seemed old and damaged, Lance and Twilight had to admit the tech laying around seemed more advanced than Humdrum’s equipment. Sitting at a monitor screen was Firefly and… Applejack?

“Hey Aya. You bring Lance back with ya?” Asked the pink Pegasus, not even looking over her shoulder. On the monitor were two tabs, one was a security camera image that ‘Applejack’ was looking at, and the other was a first person shooter that Firefly was playing.

“Was that Applejack?” Twilight asked, looking at Lance and Aya, who shrugged.

Applejack turned quickly, her eyes landing on Masked Matterhorn. “Oh buck me…”

Firefly looked over her shoulder, drinking a soda, until her eyes too landed on the leader of the Power Ponies. She spit her drink onto AJ’s face. “Aw hell no!”

“I’m sorry!” Surprise cried, “I couldn’t just ignore them!”

“Uh, what is going on?” Lance asked, turning his head to look at Surprise and Firefly.

Surprise looked away, guilt in her eyes. “I want to tell you, but… Mist wouldn’t like that…”

Before anyone could move, Mist walked into the room with Posey and a light blue Unicorn with Radiance’s look. They stopped upon seeing their guest’s, and Mist’s face fell.

“Guys… I don’t see what’s wrong,” Lance told them. “We came to bring Aya back and also Twilight wanted to ask if you wanted to be part of the team. Filli-Second is here too, but she’s-.”

“No!” Yelled Mist, “I’ve been trying my hardest to not intervene, but then we were pulled into that sewer, and now you’re trying to recruit me to a team I’ve been avoiding for four years! I already destroyed time, I won’t mess anything else up!”

“Whoa, hang on a second… Time?” Lance stopped her. “What the actual hell are you talking about?”

Mist’s eyes widened, and there was silence. “I… I didn't…” Tears welled up in her eyes. “I just…”

To Mist’s surprise, Twilight herself soon trotted up to her, holding her close and using her wings to comfort her. “Don’t be afraid… I’m not here to harm you…”

Mist began sobbing. Posey stepped forward. “We’re time travelers from the future…” Twilight looked back at her, surprised a little. But still remained calm as she comforted Mist. Lance soon had a look at all of them, realizing what they meant. This all made sense now. It was the reason why their technology was so advanced. It was because it was from the future.

Mist began to calm down, and when she did, she pulled out of the hug. “My full name is Twilight Mist…”

“Surprise Storm!” Surprise added.

“Ugh… Firefly Dash…”

“Ah’m Applejack Three.”

“Glory Belle. And Posey is just Posey, though you could say Posey Shy.” Glory said.

“Oh my…” Lance said, looking at all of them. The revelation of their names were quite a lot to take in. But, he soon was able to take everything in. Just as Mist was about to speak again.

“My mother's name was Twilight Twinkle, your daughter… Until we came back in time…”

“I WAS NEVER BORN!!!” Cried Surprise, “Granddaddy and Grandma never had daddy!”

“Same with me…” Mist sighed. But for Lance, one thing caught his attention. Specifically, with Surprise.

“Surprise… who is your grandfather?”

“Surging Storm…”

“Wait a second, Time?”

“Who?” Surprise tilted her head.

“Time Spinner… He’s… some guy I met a while back.”

“No… I don’t know who Time Spinner is. My grandfather was Stopwatch, the old leader of the Power Ponies…” Surprise sighed, “And because my dad wasn’t born until a year after their wedding… Neither was I…”

“Why is that? I mean with your father not being born…”

“My dad was born at least one year after Pinkie and Surge were married. Roach killed him and it’s one year later, my dad isn’t born…” Surprise explained.

“ …… He isn’t dead.”

That one statement caught everyone’s attention in the room immediately. Except Aya, who fell asleep a little while ago.

“Wh-what?”

“I met him. A while ago. This Time Spinner I said earlier. He is Stopwatch,” The Adept told her. “Roach didn’t kill him. Instead, it looked like he died, but he was actually banished into the void. He asked me for my help to bring him back and because of that, he also gave me this.” Lance explained, tugging at the jacket Time gave him.

Twilight looked back at Lance, slackjawed. She couldn’t even form any words. Surprise though, could.

“OhmygoshareyouseriousheisaliveandIcangetmydadbornagain!?”

Twilight Mist, like her grandmother, couldn’t form a word. She just stared blankly ahead.

“You mean we can fix everything!?” Firefly asked, energized.

“I believe so…” He replied, “Remember when I said Roach? The reason why Time is gone is because he used a spell on him that banished him. He made me promise that I would have to do one thing that can bring him back.”

Surprise leaps into Lance’s arms, hugging and kissing him. “Thank you thank you thank you!”

“Easy there, Surprise. I haven't said what I needed to do yet.” Lance sighed, gritting his teeth.

Firefly ripped Surprise off of Lance, “Dude, her birth was prevented, and you just gave her hope again. If you were hyper like her and got the same news, you’d be the same. So what is this thing?”

“...... I need to remove him from the picture.”

“Roach...?” Asked Posey, “You mean kill, don’t you?”

Lance nodded his head as he gritted his teeth. “The only way that the spell can be cancelled is if the one who cast it is dead. In this case, it’s Roach-.”

“Lance! Be serious here!! Y-you’re talking about murder!!” The Masked Matterhorn stuttered.

“I wasn’t done Twi. Time told me that he is just as powerful as Discord and that he is right now just biding his time until he gets out somehow. He wants me to wait until that time happens.” Lance explained. “However, I can’t do it alone. It’s suicide if I do.”

“T-then can’t we help you-!?” Lance’s only response was him shaking his head.

“He told me that the only backup I would need is his because he knows more about Roach than anyone else. He doesn’t want the lives of other ponies to be endangered if you just charge in blind. He’s a voidborn for all we know and Time told me that even with his powers, he wasn’t able to kill him.”

“Okay… Then we’ll wait. What else can we do?” Firefly shrugged, “And this is cool and all, but… Why are you guys here again? I kind of dozed off and forgot.”

“Well, we were bringing Aya back and wanted to establish a team of heroes in Manehattan,” Twilight explained. “Ever since the incident with the villains in the Solace Asylum getting busted out by Sumeragi, trying to get them all locked back up has been very… Difficult. So, we wanted to meet you and ask for you to join the team so you can help. Many hooves make light work.”

Before any other person was able to speak, all everyone could hear was a brief whoosh!! and soon, one other pony appeared next to Twilight. The one and only Filli-second. “Hey Twi-.”

“Gahh!!!” Surprise jumped and blinked away. Firefly did sort of the same thing, but used herself as an energy rocket and broke through a door. The rest either rolled their eyes, stared after her, or ignored it all together.

Aya groaned after she woke.

“Oh hey, Aya.” Lance replied, noticing his Aunt was awake. “How did you sleep?”

Shrugging, Aya said “It was okay.”

“Did we wake you up on accident?” Twilight asked, thinking that Firefly crashing through the door was the reason why she was woken up.

“Why are we so focused on my sleep, I’m not an old lady.” Aya sighed.

“Yes, but we’ve only been talking for almost fifteen minutes.” Lance deadpanned. “Plus, Pinkie’s arrival caused Surprise to flee in panic.” Pinkie herself giggled at hearing the name “Surprise” and soon began to take her time exploring the area. She saw the task of finding the mare like a game of hide and seek. And soon… she found her hiding in the kitchen.

“Hi there! I’m Pinkie Pie!!”

The white pegasus just stared for awhile until, “I know… I’m Surprise.”

“Hi! Why are you so down in the dumps, Surprisey?”

“Uhm… No reason.” Surprise said.

“Come on now. There’s always a reason for anything.” She told her. “It can be our secret. Pinkie Promise?”

“No… I just… Talk to Lanci- Lance. He already knows.”

“Come on now… Don’t be a party pooper.” Pinkie said, nudging her nose.

“It’s too confusing… But okay.”

Surprise began to explain to Pinkie that she was a time traveler, and Pinkie’s possible granddaughter. Once she was done, she waited for her grandmother's reaction. Nevertheless, Pinkie was actually filled with joy, hugging Surprise tightly.

“I now need to throw a party for my possible Grandfilly!!!”

“You believe me?” Surprise asked, “What am I saying!? You’re my grandma! Of course you believe me!”

“Come on, Surprise! Let’s gather your friends!! I need to throw you all a party!!!”

Surprise nods and trots with the pink mare back to the others.

Twilight Mist lets out a depressed breath. “Okay, let’s get serious. I think with all that’s going on in this time period, it’s best we help with Eve and any monsters in New Yoke. We’ll be happy to assist, but you can’t tell anyone about our origins.”

“Sure thing,” Twilight Sparkle replied. “It’ll be our secret.” Lance nodded, but soon got a ringing on his communications device.

“Excuse me for a minute, I need to take a phone call.”

“Okay. Oh, Surprise, could to take me, Aya and Sparkle to the Commissioner's office? I think it’s best to get this out of the way. Everypony else guard the base.” Mist ordered. They all nodded their heads and soon left as Lance went into another part of the base. Pulling up the screen, he soon realized who the call was from.

“Humdrum? What’s up?” He asked, looking at the dragon on screen, unknowing of the pink Pegasus who was listening in.

“Hey, where the heck are you guys?”

“In New Yoke,” Lance told him. “Can’t say much though. Twilight’s talking to the police commissioner.”

“Well, I got two things to tell you. The first thing was about the tests that you wanted me to run. You know… the blood samples?”

‘Blood samples? What blood samples!?’ Firefly thought.

“Yeah, the DNA test on Lash and Aurora. What did you find?” He asked. The dragon though, had a look of uncertainty on his face.

“Well… that part is very hard. The pony you wanted me to test it with has not shown up on any records at all. But I ran the tests with what Centrail City found on Equilis… and the results of that… are an exact match to Aurora.”

“What the hell?” Lance cursed. “How the hell does that make any sense?”

“I don’t know man. I’ll try looking into it for you, but right now, there was a situation in Seaddle involving Zapp and Cody. They ran into Sumeragi over an hour ago and they stopped and defeated the man there. But what he had to say before fading away was… confusing.”

Humdrum soon pulled up a video file of what Cody was seeing during the last bit of the encounter. It was Jota, the Adept that was known as The Prideful Silhouette and was able to control pure light. He was about to fade away. But what he said sent a cold chill down both Lance’s spine and the spine of the pony watching.

“The Countdown has begun. The countdown til Zero Hour……”

“Zero hour?” Lance questioned. “What is he talking about?”

“That were trying to figure out. Stay safe, Lance. I got a bad feeling about what he was telling us.” The Dragon told him before the call ended. As the Adept sighed, he soon turned around, seeing Firefly just staring at him.

“I’m pretty sure this wasn’t in history…”

“Well, this can’t end well…” Lance replied, soon realizing something. Going to his communicator, he pressed a few buttons before speaking again. “Aurora? Are you there?”

“I’m always here,” She deadpanned, “What is it?”

“What are the names of the facilities that the power ponies keep villains locked up besides Solace Asylum?”

“Um… Three, there was Highpoint where we kept radioactive villains, Dangerzone where dad stored a thousand robot villains and the Zero Zone that stored everything else.” Aurora listed.

“Never heard of it…” Firefly said. Lance soon realized something. The clip said Zero hour and the prison’s name was Zero Zone. If that wasn’t a small clue, then he did not know what it was.

“Aurora… Who is in the Zero Zone?”

“Just about every villain dad’s fought, like Hybrid, The Purple Mare, Fantasy, a few Power Pony clones, and Delirious, dad’s first enemy.” Aurora explains, “Why?”

“I got a bad feeling that something is going to happen…” The Adept briefly stated, looking back at Firefly.

Elsewhere

Five transport chariots road down a street. Two armed squads of police ponies trotted alongside them, armed with sub machine guns and riot shields.

“This is Zeta Bark. Prisoner transport three is one hour out, over.” Said a squad commander into his radio.

“Roger Zeta Bark, we’ll have the cells awaiting, over.” A voice over the radio replied.

One of the police snickered, “Zeta Bark? Are you serious?”

The commander rolled his eyes, “Shut up, Clayton said Honey Heart would do the codenames.”

“I still can’t believe you dumped her, she’s the nicest mare I’ve ever met, and my mom’s a doctor!” Another squad said, laughing. However, a purple vortex soon glowed in front of the carriages as a bipedal figure stepped out. Before any of the squads could react, the being sent forth a powerful energy blast that had the carriages and their passengers flying everywhere. The Adept known as Nova smiled. So far, everything was going according to plan.

“Oh no! They’re loose!” Screamed one of the ponies before his neck was snapped. Several transport guards opened fire on a couple prisoners, but unfortunately they failed in capturing or killing one.

“Ha ha! I can’t fathom how awesome that felt!” Yelled a sewed up mishmash of the Power Ponies. With the wings of Zapp, the horn of Masked Matterhorn, the body of Mistress Marevelous and Saddle Rager, legs of Filli-Second and mane/tail of Radiance. Her voice sounded like all six lapping over each other.

An Earth Pony with a white coat and blond mane stepped out of the carnage, “Oh… Guys, you know I don’t like the bloody stuff.”

“Oh, somepony give Fantasy a chair, he’s gonna faint.” A purple mare said sitting down. Around then was when Nova tried to get their attention.

“Ahem…”

Everypony around looked at him. One of them groaned in the background, but the purple mare trotted up to him, curious. “And who do we have here...?”

“The reason why you aren’t locked inside your cells anymore.” He spoke, surprising them.

“Oh~ Well then, why is it you did that?” The purple Earth Pony asked.

“What do you want is what she meant.” Said a rainbow maned Pegasus with cybernetic limbs.

“You may not know who I am, but I am also the one who broke out villains such as yourself from Solace Asylum,” The Adept told them. “My name is Nova, The head of Sumeragi. And right now, I am giving you two options… You either come with me and we will begin to wreak havoc upon those that locked you up in the first place… or refuse and see how you will fare with the authorities once backup arrives… And make it quick, I don’t have all day.”

Several left quickly, but most stayed. The purple mare got a bit closer, “And what do you plan to do to us?”

“I would grant you your chance at revenge.” Nova said calmly. “You must have a deep hatred against the heroes that threw you in the prison in the first place, am I right?”

The cyborg Pegasus trotted forward, “Yes…”

The purple mare smiled slyly, “I don’t think hate is the right word… And I think you’ve gotten our attention.”

“I do that with a lot of ponies…” Nova told them, before he used his powers to send the ponies remaining who were interested to Sumeragi’s headquarters. But before he left, the Adept felt another presence inside one of the cells. Blowing off the door, Nova soon noticed the individual in the cell and walked up.

“Well… who do we have here?”

A deep, gruff voice chuckled coldly, “You should leave… I’m not someone you’d be interested in…”

“Who are you?” He asked. This was the first time the Adept ever heard anyone openly refuse his help.

“I’m a being who was born without a name… But have since achieved one. Ponies call me Roach.” A human figure appeared in Nova’s vision. He had brown hair with a yellow right eye and a grey left.

“Ah yes… the one who fought against… Stopwatch, was it?” He asked. Nova had taken his time into looking back into the history of this world and had come across Stopwatch while doing so. “I have heard about you…”

“I don’t enjoy that title… It’s too boring and overused. I didn’t fight Stopwatch, I played with him until I was bored.” Roach said in a deadpan.

“Well… There wouldn’t be a point in trying to convince you of anything… So instead,” Nova got a photograph from his pocket, placing it inside Roach’s cell. “I will give you something to look forward too. Goodbye, Roach.” With that, Nova disappeared in a flash of violet light.

A picture of a blond Adept with a Breezie sat at the bottom of Roach’s cage. The Voidborn picked up the photograph, and a twisted grin appeared on his face.

“Well… This looks like fun…” Roach pulled out his grey eye and stared at it while a red one took it’s place, “Oh, this will be… Fantastic…”

End Strike 31

Author's Note

A case of split personality gone wrong, time travel and villains on the loose? Just another typical day at the office.

Next Time: Homefront

Strike 32- Homefront

When Lightning Strikes- Homefront

Power Pony HQ

By the time Lance returned back to base, he was surprised at what was going on. Cody was back at the police department apparently, Zapp was with Mistress Marevelous, Solaria & Saddle Ranger and Filli-second was with Masked Matterhorn back at New Yoke. Which left him Humdrum and Ash with Radiance. He could hear Ash training in the Simulation room, but where he found the dragon and the white unicorn was someplace… different.

The Adept had found them inside the break room, the dragon sitting on one of the nearby beanbag chairs while Rarity was relaxing on her own personal sofa. She had a clipboard in magic aura and a quill with her as she began to write some things down. Despite the open glass windows and them being able to see the hallway outside the room, they didn’t notice Lance walk in as they continued to talk.

“You want a new suit, darling?” The unicorn asked, getting a nod of approval from the dragon.

“Yeah, I think I’ve outgrown my old one and thought that it was time for a new suit in general. Maybe one of those one size fits all kind of suits if you ask me.” The unicorn giggled at that though, jotting down the comment as a note on her pad of paper as she looked back at Spike and prepared her next question.

“Alright, darling. What did you have in mind for the suit specifically? Something brave? Heroic?”

“Well, I was thinking of something that made some heroes stand out… Ooh! Like Captain Cosmos!” The Dragon cheerfully replied, recalling every detail he remembered of her. “Everypony remembered her before she disappeared. I can picture it right now. The suit, the design… Oh, the cape and the boots-.”

Before he continued though, he and the Adept behind him heard the crumpling of paper and soon, Humdrum felt the paper ball bouncing across his forehead as he only heard two words from Radiance. “No capes.”

The dragon soon raised an eyebrow, looking back at the mare in confusion. “Umm… Radiance? I don’t mean to be rude but… don’t I get to choose how the suit is designed?”

The mare soon glared at him with a sinister look in her eyes before letting out a deep sigh. “Humdrum sweetie… Do you remember the hero that was once known as Avalanche? Tall, handsome stallion. Had snow and ice powers?” The dragon nodded, confused though at where exactly she was going with this. Lance though, had a feeling of what was going to happen.

“The date was November 10th, 1974. Another villain appeared with a machine to control tornados and the wind around him. He saved the day… if it weren’t for his cape getting snagged in the machines exhaust fans.”

Humdrum just rolled his eyes and looked back at Radiance. “Rarity, with all due respect, Avalanche was not the most brightest of heroes. His team mates said he had snow for brains-.”

“Amorous Archer!” Radiance cut him off. “ May 21st, 2005. A perfect bowmare that can help use her arrows for good and had any arrow reach her target. She had her cape get snagged by one of the arrows she fired and it took her with it all the way across the city.”

“Umm… Radiance? I think you might be taking this a little overboard? I mean you can’t just-.” The dragon tried to tell her, but the unicorn pressed on, ignoring his thoughts and continued speaking.

“Cobalt Colt, caught while galloping off a building!! Hightail, snagged prior to takeoff!! Sidewinder, entangled in a security gate at the mayor's office!! Monsoon, cape got tangled as he was trying to stop a hurricane from reaching Griffonstone!!! NO CAPES!!” The unicorn yelled furiously, accidently throwing her pad of paper to the side. Which in turn, hit Lance in the face.

“Oww! What the heck guys!?”

Both of them turned to see the Adept and the bruise left on his forehead. “Lance? I thought you were in New Yoke with Twilight!!”

“She and Pinkie had got things under control there, so I came back to check on you guys.” Lance replied, not mentioning his encounter with Twilight Mist. “How’s Ash doing?”

“That… we don’t know. Haven’t checked on her yet since Humdrum here asked me to help him design a new suit for him.” Radiance glared at Humdrum, who gulped upon being looked at. Soon though, the pony they were talking about had opened the door upon noticing Lance’s return.

“Uh, hey. What’s going on?” Ash asked. She was wearing a black helmet with the number 69 painted in white on it as well as a black suit with the same numbers on the right shoulder.

“There you are,” the Adept smiled, getting down to one knee to get on her level. “I was just wondering about you. What’s with the fancy suit though? I’m kind of curious about that since I haven’t seen one of them before.”

“It’s the pony training suit. Mask wanted to test my powers and see how they work, and how far they’re developed. They apparently did this to everypony back in the day because they didn’t know what they were.” Ash said, “She’s been freaking out about the how and why because the scans don’t show anything, whatever that means…”

“They don’t show anything?” The Adept asked. He clearly remembered seeing her show her powers when he had encountered her in Centrail City. But he wondered why it wouldn’t show anything. “Hmm… That’s strange.”

“Twilight said there were reading but they were unclear, and whatever was making my powers work was throughout my body. How’d it go in New Yoke?”

“It went… rather well. Twilight and Pinkie are talking to the commissioner right now, but the one thing that confused me was something that Humdrum showed me when Cody and Zapp got back from Seaddle. Have you seen this?” He asked, showing him the transmission of the Zero Hour warning from earlier.

“Wow… What the hay does it mean?” Ash tilted her head.

“I’m not sure, but I have a hunch that it’s connected to the prison facility named the Zero Zone.” The Adept explained. Soon though, Radiance was rushing back from central control and opening the door.

“Everypony, we got a situation.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Armed Robbery at the Maretropolis Museum-.”

“Cool!” Ash said, but a glare from Radiance made her change her statement, “I-I mean, oh no, what’re we gonna do… Heh...”

Radiance had Ash and Lance follow them into the main command center, where she put everything related to the current events on screen. “About a few moments ago, these two criminals that the police department called “The Junkers” just set off a massive charge of explosives and stole a Royal Ruby that was on display from Neighland. They only have one accomplice, who I personally am surprised to see out on the streets.”

“Who’s that?” Lance asked. Humdrum soon pulled up a few keys to show a white pony with a brown mane and no cutie mark that Radiance had seen before.

“Anarchy. An earth pony with the power to control and manipulate paint… Personally, I thought that she was locked up in the Zero Zone.” Humdrum said.

“Well she isn’t now.” Ash commented, “Maybe they let her out on good behavior… Do they do that?”

“Not with ponies in the Zero Zone,” Humdrum told Ash. “Most ponies, like Anarchy, are supposed to be incarcerated for life. How she’s out now is beyond me.”

“Still, whatever the reason, we need to deal with three of them.” Lance pointed out. “Radiance and I should pursue those Junkers while Ash should go after Anarchy. We can have Humdrum on comms to help her if she gets in trouble.”

“M-me on a mission!? On my own?” Ash asked, surprised.

“You worked really hard to get to this point Ash,” Lance told her, getting down to her size. “You can do this. I know you can. Now, who ready to kick some bad guy flank?”

Ash threw her hoof in the air, “I am!”

The Adept smirked, looking at Radiance as she god her mask on. “Alright team, let’s go!”

Anarchy trotted in circles, bored out of her mind. “What am I doing here...?” She mumbled to herself. All she remembered was to provide support for two of the other members of the Suicide Squad, but she wasn’t exactly told how. Both Junkrat and Roadhog were an insane pair of idiots that left destruction everywhere they went, so why did they need her?

She soon saw a reason that was running across the rooftops. A white unicorn in a suit along with a blond human. By Celestia, that was Radiance and the Azure Striker! How did they get word of what was going on so quickly!?

“So, you’re the one who helped Rathog and Junkroad!” She heard from behind her.

Anarchy wanted to laugh, but she kept her calm. “That isn’t how you say their names.” She turned around to see Ash. “You seem a bit lost, kid. Want me to show you the door?”

“Wha-” Ash was cut off as a blast of white paint hit her in the face, blinding her. Anarchy tried to hop off the roof, but a blast of ash knocked the wild out of her, causing the paint controller to land on another building.

Anarchy looked up at Ash, surprised to see no paint on her face. “How-”

As if to answer her question, Ash turned into her elements and rematerialized on the same rooftop, flakes of white and grey circling her, “I’m not some newbie, Anarchy. I’m a full on nightmare.”

The white mare burst out laughing and righted herself on her hooves, “You’re messing with the big leagues now, runt…”

Ash just glared and sent a barrage of smoke and ash towards Anarchy, but this time the villain turned into black paint and just rushed through it like nothing. The paint morphed into a tall bipedal with blade arms. Anarchy began her assault, trying and failing to strike Ash, and only achieving small scratches when the teen wasn’t paying attention.

Ash tried her hardest, but any attack she dealt, Anarchy would either dodge or the attack wouldn’t do anything.

Anarchy’s form turned white, “I would love to continue this, but it’s getting boring…” Anarchy turned into her pony form and just fell off of the building. Ash galloped to the edge and turned into smoke to follow.

Anarchy landed on the ground and looked up, “Would you just quite? I don’t even know what I’m supposed to do to you!” As Ash was about the collide with Anarchy, she turned into her pony form and the paint master sidestepped. Ash lay unconscious on the floor.

“Still don’t see the point in me being here.” Anarchy muttered in annoyance. But soon, the crackle of lightning can be heard and when she turned around, a fistful of electricity was slammed into her face as it sent her flying a few buildings. Lance felt Ash’s energy diminish earlier and tried to hurry to her. Now, he was using Galvanic Patch to help heal her and regain her strength.

“You okay?”

“My face hurts… And I can’t do anything to her…” Ash groaned in pain.

“That wasn’t nice~” Cooed Anarchy as she stood up, “I feel all fuzzy now. Oh! Hi Radiance! How are you, it’s been a year and a half since the last time I saw you, is your sister getting better at math?” An evil smirk made it’s way onto her face.

Radiance cringed a little. Earlier, trying to pursue the junkers on hoof was like next to impossible. But Lance was able to tag their motorcycle so they could trace it back to their hideout later. Right now, Ash needed backup and she needed whatever help she could get.

“Don’t you start… How the hay did you get out of the Zero Zone in the first place?”

“Need to know, and you don’t need to. I’m here, not there, that’s what matters… Oh, and your sisters schoolwork… Oh! I just thought of something!” Anarchy’s face twitched in excitement. Her body went back into it’s bipedal form, but much to their horror, it turned into Stopwatch’s old self. “Hero vs. Hero… Sort of.”

Lance now grinned a little. “If you think that I’m the same as Stopwatch…” The Adept soon blurred out, quickly accelerating forward and slashing across Anarchy with his energy blade. The weapon’s heat radiated from the hilt as the cut went across her body. “Guess again… Faker.”

Anarchy yelped in pain and backtracked. She held her wound and giggled, “I don’t see a difference… Other than he was willing to go farther…” She pulled out a weird stone that glowed with a blue aura, “And sometimes I was even a match for Stop…” She crushed the stone, and blood trickled from her eyes. A spark of purple lightning came from her hand, and a sword made from blood came from the other, as well as a strange vibration from her body, “I’ve been known to copy well…”

And suddenly she was behind Lance and went for a cutting motion that hit it’s mark. However, the one thing that surprised her was that Lance didn’t move. At all. Instead, he grinned and turned to look back at her.

“You think a simple trick like that could surprise me. The pain is real sure, but I know exactly where you are.”

The illusion died, and Anarchy stepped back, “H-how… Even Stopwatch took days to figure it out!”

“Unlike him, I can sense and control energy. Your little rock was pulsing with so much that I could tell what was the real you and what wasn’t.” The Adept told her, his abilities healing the wound. “I told you that I wasn’t the same as him. Now, you slipped up.”

“Maybe, but there isn’t a prison that could hold me. There’s nothing you can do anyway.” Anarchy said, shrugging, “I haven’t commited a crime, and if you say I hurt Ash, I’d say it was self defense, which it was.”

The Adept smirked. “Good… but not enough. What are you now? A Drifter… or would you happen to know about something called The Suicide Squad.”

“A Suicide Squad!? Ha! I wouldn’t commit suicide or be affiliated with that name! I’d call it Ravagers or Doomsday! Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some shopping to do!”

“Highly doubt that…” Before either party could say anything, a shot went off in between Lance and Anarchy. Turning in the direction, Anarchy’s eyes widened at who she was seeing that landed on the rooftop.

“Well… I guess that’s my cue. Love to stay and chat about old times, Rarity, Lance, but I gotta go!” She jumped up to the rooftop and joined the shooter. However, to her surprise, he didn’t leave yet. He instead just looked at Lance for a couple of moments. All before he heard some shouting from his partner. He then turned around and took off with her, but Lance noticed that something had landed at the point where the gunslinger was standing. Moving forward, what he found was an old photograph. One that he remembered with a note on the back.

Stay safe, Son.

“Wow, these humans keep coming out of the woodwork…” Ash said sitting up. “What’s that?”

Lance sighed. “It’s a picture… from my childhood.” He said, turning around a little and looking back in the distance. “That man was my father.”

“Wow, you’re family’s coming out of the woodworks. Aunt, Father, who’s next, your cousin?” Ash joked.

“Actually, he’s already Displaced. I still need to make sure Aya see’s him though,” He retorted as he placed the picture in his back pocket. “But let’s not focus on me though, Rarity? How come Anarchy knew your name?”

“W-well… she and I once knew each other at one point along with everypony else I know when I used to be a Mane Stylist.” The White Unicorn told him. “Her name is Pale Heart… She’s really jealous over me and my sister, Sweetie Belle though.”

“Must be a psycho thing…” Ash said.

“It’s because she always wanted to have a daughter, but a few days after giving birth, her child was stolen from her. She even told me what her name was going to be,” Radiance continued to speak. “After her child was taken, she… well… snapped.”

“What was the child’s name?” Lance asked out of curiosity, remembering the case with Equilis and the stolen children.

“She called her child… Drift.”

“What a coincidence. My names Drift Rod.” Ash said, snickering. But Rarity wasn’t laughing. She instead was staring at Ash.

“Oh my stars…” She gasped.

“What?” Asked Ash.

“T-that’s the same name she gave her child… Drift Rod.” That’s when Lance realized it too.

“Holy sh*t…”

“Oh come on guys, it’s only a name. How many foals could have been named Drift-.” Ash said. Until Lance cut her off.

“How many foals besides you and Sparkler were taken from your parents that survived?” Lance told her. “There was only you, Sparkler, Steelwing and Weep. Not to mention the fifth one that bolted the moment the police showed up… Ash… Do you realize what this means?”

Ash just glared, “There were more than five that we killed… I’m not going to go around assuming that a supervillain who was friends with a mentor that had a baby taken with the same name as me when it could have been anyone who stole the kid.”

Lance sighed, looking towards his bracer. “I think I can figure out a way to solve this one. Hey Aurora, can I ask you for some help?”

“No, Ash’s DNA is about as messed up as Cupcake. I wouldn’t be able to unless I worked on it for weeks 24/7.” Aurora simply said, “But… I’ll give it a shot.”

“I don’t need a DNA test. I need you to look through the medical records at the Maretropolis hospital. Look for the name “Drift Rod” and see what results you find.”

“There’s a problem with that. I tried the same thing for Sparkler, but when I looked up her birth in the database, they said the foals died as a fetal and give no name.”

“Must’ve been cover up,” Lance cursed. “I just want to make sure that there aren’t any other ponies with the same name. Can you do that?”

“Only in Maretropolis? Because then we’re leaving out a lot of possible groun-” Aurora was stopped as Ash growled.

“If she is, I don’t want to know! I don’t care about a mother or father, I just don’t!”

“Ash, please… this is only for us to know. We don’t care about that… we just care that you have a better future.” Rarity told her, calming her down. “Aurora. I was there in Maretropolis hospital when Pale went into Labor. It’s the only place she would ever go due to her being… stubborn.”

“I’m not scared of you guys… I just… You know how you picture love? That it’ll be perfect, that everything you’ve dreamed about is how you want it…”

Lance bent over and placed a hand on her shoulder. “I know. My life wasn’t perfect either… My mother died on the same night I was born. I watched my father kill himself right in front of me. Now, I see you guys as a family that I would want to be a part of rather than the life I left behind. Personally, Ash, in a way… you’re like a sister to me. I never had siblings, but in a way, I feel strongly connected to you. So please… just take it from me. Life can be scary at times, but… you just have to be brave and persevere.”

Ash just stared at the ground, “Fine. Just don’t tell me, I don’t wanna know…” She began trotting away, followed by Lance and Radiance as they went back. Unaware that Aurora had finished the search.

It only had one result.

Meanwhile,

“You were fighting my son?”

“I wasn’t gonna kill ‘em. I even used an illusion stone I took from a newer member I knew. She doesn’t need it though.” Anarchy threw the remains to the side were on, “I’d say he was… Meh. Kinda decent, but I can’t really compare. You can either hurt me unfairly, or you can’t at all.” McCree just looked at her in shock.

“Did he hurt you?”

“A little, but I heal fast.” Anarchy said.

“From what I remember, my son is always one to catch you by surprise.” The gunslinger explained as he hung up his gunbelt and poncho he was wearing. “Thirsty?”

“Nah, I’m good. Thanks for asking though.” McCree nodded, pouring himself some water before taking a seat at the table they were at.

“Sorry if I’m pressuring you about what I said earlier. The first thing you don’t want to hear about after seven years of not knowing is becoming something you didn’t think he was before.” He told her, taking a sip. “His aunt, Silvia, always had me a little bit worried after her husband died. But she was relieved a bit. Told me that he was a complete asshole.”

“Boy I know the feeling…” Anarchy sat in a chair and laid back. “But what’s this got to do about ‘seven years of not knowing’.” She said the last part teasingly. “The Silvia thing kind of came out of nowhere.”

“Seven years ago was when I first came here… and the last thing I remembered was me committing suicide.” He told her, setting his glass down. “I thought I was dead, only to wake up here. When I found out that this was a different world, I realized that I left my son behind in a world I had forgotten. I’m trying to hold on to what little memories I have left… Ironically though, you’ve been helping me.”

“Flattered, but what I meant was why you told me about Lance’s aunt.” Anarchy questioned, “Seemed out of the blue.”

“Yeah, it just seemed good in my head at the time. I really should think more before saying something I regret.” McCree answered, looking back at her.

Anarchy giggled, “Yeah, you should…”

McCree smiled a little, noticing the mare’s tone of voice. “Somepony’s a little cheerful tonight. I remember that you weren’t so… open to being partners with me when we first met.”

“Eh, I guess you warmed up to me.” Anarchy smirked, “And that was when I didn’t know you. The cat’s out of the bag, so I’m comfy.”

McCree smiled a little. He noticed the sun about to set and then turned to look back at Anarchy. He noticed the pony shiver up a little as he got up and put his glass in the sink. “Cold?”

“Yeah… And my bed’s being cleaned after I… Painted it in my sleep.” She blushed, “I get weird dreams.”

“Well… if it’s okay with you… you can sleep with me if you want.” He offered, taking off the shirt he had on and placing it in a nearby laundry hamper so he can stretch out his mechanical arm.

Anarchy’s face went from pink to full blown red and her nose looked about ready to bleed. “Wh-what...?”

“Well, I don’t want you to have to sleep on the couch or the floor, so I’m letting you sleep on my bed. As for your dreams... maybe you just need some company?” He offered. “I’m not trying to make this weird or anythi-.”

“No! I’m f-fine with it!” She almost too eagerly said. She scratched the back of her head, “I-I-I-I-I mean… Sure…” McCree looked at her, opening the door to his room and out of respect, allowed for Anarchy to go in first. She trotted in and sat on the bed. McCree soon followed her inside as he closed the door behind him and looked back at the mare.

“Comfy enough for you?”

“I-it’s fine…” Anarchy said, trying to hide her face.

“What’s wrong?” He soon asked. “Why are you trying to cover your face?”

Anarchy rubbed her cheek, “This is embarrassing…”

McCree shook his head, having his arm be around her shoulders. “No it isn’t. Actually, I think it’s kind of… cute.” The last part he stuttered, unsure if it was the right word to say or not.

“C-cute…?” Anarchy looked up at McCree, slightly shocked. “What does that m-mean?”

“Well… It means you look… beautiful.”

“B-... Beautiful?” Her body turned red and her forelegs were jittering. But McCree tried to ease her tensions by laying a hand on her back.

“Hey… It’s okay… What’s wrong?”

“N-nothing… It’s just that… No one’s ever said I’m… That… Not even my… Not even Rebel.” Anarchy’s breathing was heavy, “Thank you…”

McCree just smiled, using his arms to hug her a little. “You’re welcome… Pale Heart…”

“Oh… You’re such a sap.” She joked, “I think you’re warming me up!” She laughed. “I’m still sleepy, your son’s really tiring.” She smirked slyly.

“Well… Maybe I can help you relax a little…”

Back at Power Pony HQ

As Lance and the others return from their mission, they were only given a short break before alarms were going off in every sector of the building.

“What the-!? What’s going on?!” Humdrum was frantically trying to figure out why the tower’s alarms were frantically going off right around now. But soon, he found out exactly what happened. “Oh no… We got a code red!!”

“Oh no!” Ash said, before tilting her head, “What’s a code red?”

“Think like when you burn cookies in an oven, but worse.” Humdrum told her.

“That is pretty bad,” Ash said, “So what’s up?”

“Well… Earlier today, officials from the Zero Zone were doing a prison transfer. However, it was interrupted when a punk from Sumeragi caused the carriages to go everywhere. Almost all the villains in the transfer, except for one, are on the loose and Blaster is back with her crew in Detrot and trying to cause trouble.” Radiance soon let out a gasp of shock, but Lance and Ash both looked at her in confusion.

“Who’s Blaster?”

“She’s a clone of Zapp. But her creators turned her into a cyborg before letting her and clones of the other Power Ponies loose. Blaster did turn good, as well as Echolight and Saddle Breaker, but the police department at the time attacked her base and killed all of her team besides a few, and she was placed in the Zero Zone.” Aurora explained, “They did something to her and now she’s insane and in charge of the clones again.”

“Call Zapp and the others and have them get to Detrot. Ash and I can rest here and try to find out who else got out because of this attack.” Lance told them, while Rarity used the chance to hurry and meet up with the rest of her team. “Aurora, can you help Humdrum with finding out who got out?”

“Sure thing, I know most of them.” Aurora faded out of Lance’s bracer and possessed the main console. A little sprite of Aurora appeared, “Ready! Just don’t mess with my sprite!”

“I won’t.” Lance told her.

“Let’s get started Humdrum!” Aurora said. Humdrum cracked his knuckles and then opened up a few different documents. One from before the transfer and after. All Aurora had to do was cross reference the names and see which ones weren’t on the list anymore. It took some time, but soon, the two of them were able to find out all the information that they could from just those two documents alone.

“Alright. Got it! Aurora, you’re up!”

“Ohh… This isn’t good…” The spirit said, “Some of daddy’s biggest foes are out. Luckily Roach is still locked up though. But we got pony’s like the Purple Mare, Fantasy, Shipper, the clones, Big Brother and Little Sister, and more…”

“Why do Big Brother and Little Sister remind me of Bioshock?” Lance questioned.

“That’s actually what daddy said. Those two are pretty much undead, barely any traces of pony left in them.”

“Great…” Lance groaned, before asking a new question. “What about the others? What are they capable of?”

“Just about everything you could think of. Shipper can mess with emotions, Fantasy can bring story book characters alive, Purple Mare can… Bend reality, etc, etc. There are too many to list off.” Aurora stated.

“Which one’s should we be the most concerned about?”

“Purple Mare… Um, the clones and Hybrid are pretty bad, and there’s one called Raindrops who went nuts.” Aurora said, “She had the power over water, but Roach messed with her mind and now she has nightmare powers.”

Lance thought all of this through inside his head. Then, he thought something… that he needed to address. “Guys… Something’s not right.”

“Is there anything that’s right?” Asked Ash, then she looked down. “Aw crap, I wore my training suit on the field!”

“No, it isn’t that,” Lance told her as he saw Ash begin to take off the suit. “Think about it… If Twilight, Solaria and the girls are engaging the clones… and we’re the only one’s here… Why do I get a feeling that something is going to be knocking at our door real soon?”

“We just figured out that not only has Anarchy and your father teamed up, but that also the Sumeragi has broken out a lot of Stopwatch’s old enemies he’s taken years to defeat. I think we all know somethings gonna knock on our door.” Ash suggested. It was only then did the three of them feel a small rumble as Aurora returned to Lance’s bracer. The three of them looked at each other as Lance grabbed one of his guns. There was a shift in the air… and something did not feel right at all.

He then turned around, looking at Ash. “You just had to jinx it, didn’t you?”

“What’s a jinx?” Ash asked.

“You know… when you say something you don’t mean to happen… but it happens anyway?”

“I call that a coincidence… What-.” That was when Lance noticed a few pebbles land by Ash’s hooves… and his eyes widen.

“Move-!!” Lance yelled, dashing across the room and grabbing Ash as the cracks gave way in the ceiling. A purple mare soon crashed into the room, grinning sinisterly… But it wasn’t just any purple mare…

It was The Purple Mare…

“Hello sweetie~” She said. Her eyes were black where they should have been white, and white where there was supposed to be black. “I’m home~”

“It’s the Purple Mare!!!” Screamed Aurora as she flew away. Ash stared at the mare in fear, and Humdrum prepared to run. But instead, Lance just stood there. He didn’t move an inch. Instead, he stood his ground. Looking back at the mare with a stern gaze.

The Purple Mare smirked darkly, “So… You’re the one who killed my last brother. I’d applaud you on a good job, but I’m too angry.” Her smirk turned into a frown.

“Killed would not be the right term to use. Exposed him of his evil-doings yes, but Equillis killed himself. Jumped out a blood window from two stories up. My weapons can’t split his head open like a fall from that high up can.”

The Purple Mare’s face turned into a scowl, “But you’re the one who broke his mind! I won’t be that easy! He was family… No one touches family.”

“Ironic coming from the fact that he took children away from their families.” Lance grinned, electricity crackling around him. “You made a grave mistake coming here…”

“Nah, I’m not really in a grave yet. Nova’s a nice guy though, you met him yet Lance?”

Lance himself flinched at Nova’s name. What did he have to do with this psychopath though? His old friend was better than making friends with crazies. “I’m surprised by the fact that you know my name… did Nova tell you that?”

“No, I read the paper.” Purple joked, “Of course. He helped free us.”

“I figured as much… I’m curious about one thing though… Ms. Mare.”

“Call me Purple.” she said.

“Purple… I believe you had an old colleague that has long been gone. Went by the codename… Lash-?”

“Lashy’s none of you buisness.” She said, glaring, “And why am I not killing you all? I’m better than useless dialogue!”

“Well, how about a compromise. One last question… and then you can try to hit me with your best shot… Purple.” Lance retorted. “Did Lash have any family at all? Children? I bet you know the answer judging from your insanity.”

“Insanity is a way of perspective. In my eyes, you’re all crazy!”

Seconds later, a bolt went flying past her neck as smoke fizzled from Lance’s gun. “Answer the damn question or the next one will hurt.”

“He had family, yes.” Purple said, smiling proudly… “What, you asked two questions, did he have family, and did he have kids. I answered the first because you said it first and I only agreed to that!”

“Then why not this… Answer the second question… and I’ll let you strike first.”

She tapped her chin in thought, “Nope. You lied about your agreement.” And with that, two grey souls appeared either side of her. The two child spirits trotted closer to Lance.

“I never lied…” The Adept retorted, disappearing in a blitz and reappearing in front of her, “I gave you an opportunity that you passed up.” With electricity curling through his two front fingers, he slammed them onto the purple mare’s forehead as electricity danced around the two of them. Lance though, began to see things that… were beyond shocking. He couldn’t even tell if this was true or not. Until one thing he saw really caught his attention.

It was a mare. A mother, holding a newborn in her hooves. The mare herself looked exactly like the purple mare, but one thing though made no sense at all.

The newborn looked exactly like Aurora.

The Purple Mare snuggled the newborn and looked up to see a light blue Unicorn.

“She looks too much like you.” She teased.

The stallion just rolled his eyes, “Gem, the genetics go half and half, she’ll have your wits, and my looks.”

“But Lash~” Whined Gem. Lash just tapped her nose.

“I know…” A sorrowful look crossed his face, “You know we can’t keep her. They’ll do tests on her, and Equilis says they’re making them harder. She won’t survive.”

Gem looked to the baby, tears welling up, “I… I know… Lash… Are we going to lose our minds?”

“I… I don’t know. I met somepony a few years ago, her name is Sweetheart. She’ll take care of her.” He picked the foal up. She started to cry, and Gem quickly stood up.

“Wait! Can I… At least name her?”

Lash nodded. Gem looked at the foal shakily, “Aurora Spirit…” She choked out.

When Lance snapped back to reality, he could not believe what he had just seen. Or what he had just found out. The search for answers on Aurora’s family was over. But what he had found out was not what he expected at all as he skidded backwards and away from the mare.

“Holy sh*t… You… You’re Aurora’s mother.”

“Yes,” She said before smacking Lance, “And you never asked permission inside my head you bastard!” Three spirits appeared, each looking like a foal. “It came to my attention when Stopwatch killed Joking…”

“Then why are the hell are you trying to attack the one taking care of YOUR DAUGHTER!?!”

“I lost my filly the day I lost myself… Or is it found myself, I think it’s that one.” She then rolled her eyes, “Plus, she thinks Sweetheart was her mother… I’d hate to destroy what she thought reality.”

Lance just gritted his teeth as he stared her down. But something in his eyes made The Purple Mare flinch a little. The glare in his eyes reminded her strangely of… Equilis. “You are sick. No wonder you’re the way you are. You’ve lost your sanity so much that you don’t deserve to have Aurora. Now I know why she’s afraid… Because you are a psycho.”

Purple deadpanned, “I think we’ve already reached that conclusion.”

“No wonder you’re just like Equilis and Lash-.”

“Lash never did anything to you!”

“True, but you both did something to Aurora. You abandoned her. And for that… Lash deserved what he got.”

Purple laughed, “Abandon her… You’re joking. I saved her from experiments that five grown ponies went mad over! It was keeping her safe or letting her die!” She shrieked.

Lance though, just spat at the ground, looking back at her. “If you really did care for her, then you would not lie to her about her whole life. You made her whole life a lie. If it weren’t for Stopwatch, who knows what would happen to her. She see’s him as a better parent then either Lash or you.”

Purple’s eyes turned red, and so did the spirits. All of them leaked black tar, and Purple choked on it. The spirit’s rammed into Lance, causing him to howl in pain. He still held his ground, trying to fire a few shots off and fight against the enraged mare. But anything that he did… couldn’t hurt her.

The Purple Mare began to smile. The spirits began shoving themselves inside of Lance, their cries echoing through his subconscious.

“You don’t know… Do you…?”

Images of Equilis being cut open, awake and screaming in pain as scientists played around with his insides, injecting something into his exposed heart.

“The Puppets may have been taken and forced to kill one another…”

The image of Purple flashed in his head, alone in an enclosed room as hours, days, weeks passed without so much as a drop of water.

“But we were the playthings of ponies… We went through the same things and more…”

Another image, this one of a mare he hadn’t seen before.

“Please! Let me out! It hurts! Please!!!”

Her cries were ignored as a few stallions strapped her to a table and prepared a syringe with a glowing red liquid. They injected her, and she cried out for her mom. She was nothing but a teenager.

“They added more ponies to the mix, but they ended their lives in insanity. Didn’t try to help them or anything. Only the five of us survived.”

It was the mare again, crying in her cell. A pony guard came in, a gun trained on her. She looked pleading, begging almost. The Unicorn guard shot her, but she miraculously survived. He was about ready to terminate her, but she bit onto his neck. He started shooting her, and each bullet went through her, drawing blood. The guard tried to do a headshot, but she ripped his horn off, severing his magical connection. She jabbed it into the stallion's neck, killing him slowly.

The mare coughed up blood, and started to freak out. But she stopped, and started laughing.

“And leaving Aurora in the hooves of a friend is worse…”

Lance snapped back to reality. The Purple Mare was trotting away.

“I’d kill you if you were younger! So there isn’t any fun for me… Ta ta!”

“Not yet… I have a present for a monster like you” The Adept said, covered in his own blood as he got off one shot. A Mizuchi bolt. It went off with blazing speeds as it struck the mare in the right shoulder. She yelped in pain, and shot a translucid spike into Lance’s knee. The Adept howled in pain. Falling backward onto the ground as his left hand grabbed the spike. “A monster that murders children for fun.”

With the last of his strength, he yanked the jagged spike out of him, shortly before passing out on the floor and watching the mare leave through the window in the distance.

Detrot (A few moments earlier)

Blaster, a clone of the hero Zapp. That was what she was. All she was. Over and over… Until she shot her creator in the face.

“Timber!!!” The cyborg screamed as the TNT at the bottom of a skyscraper went off and it went sideways with a satisfying crash. Looking over her work, Blaster nodded and high hoofed Saddle Breaker, a clone of Saddle Rager.

“That was impressive!” Said Black Mask, Masked Matterhorn’s clone, or Echolight. “But there needs to be… A song after it!”

“Echo!!” A voice cried out, catching the attention of the three mares as Masked Matterhorn, Zapp and Saddle Rager soon landed. “Stop this now!!!”

The trio turned around. Blaster smirked, “Or what? You guys didn’t care when we were taken, sad or chased out of Maretropolis!”

“We’ve got a new gig with the Sumeragi! At least that has anti-jail cards!” Yelled Saddle Breaker. She turned to Echolight and whispered, “They do, right?”

Echo shrugged, “I donno, I just joined because… Reasons?”

Blaster stomped on the ground in anger, “What did I say!? Don’t get confused!” A white helmet wrapped around her face, “I don’t think our parents even cared anyway.” Blaster put extra emphasis on the word parents and she looked at the three mares.

“You want a fight? You are going to get it!!” Zapp growled, charging in at Blaster while avoiding the attacks that came from the cyborgs mounted shoulder cannons. The Energy blasts caused the other two mares to scatter as they clashed with their Doppelganger counterparts. Zapp herself clashed with Blaster, trying to use her lightning to overload her systems. But Blaster was too quick for her, using her shoulder cannons to blast the pegasus into a nearby building.

The power pony was quick to bounce up on her hooves, but the direct hit that she had taken moments before really weakened her.

“Hahahah! Oh, you have no idea how long I’ve waited for this mom.” Blaster spat her last word as electricity shot from her hooves. Zapp dodged immediately to the right, using her powers to cough up a cloud of dust to blind Blaster.

“Blaster, what is the meaning of all this!? We gave you a home and now, you act like this!!! We didn’t know of your disappearance until we heard of you getting locked up!!”

“And you left me there.”

“Because you murdered somepony! You’re just abusing your gifts, Blaster!! This isn’t what I trained you to be!!! I taught you better!”

Blaster stared at the ground, “Is that what they said...? What I did…? I was arrested because I was framed! My creators wanted to get me off the streets, so they told Clayton to arrest me!” Two energy blades came out of her hooves.

“What-!? Who the buck is Clayton!!?”

“The person running The Zero Zone!” Blaster shot out of her turrets. Zapp used her powers to emit an electric force field around herself. Blocking all of Blaster’s shots. She was going to go catch Blaster by surprise, but soon, an urgent call on her radio com-line went off.

It was Humdrum.

“Girls!! All of you get back here quick!! The base has been hit!”

“What the-? Blaster, you sly little-! Did you try attacking the base!!?!” Zapp shouted.

Blaster growled, “The child killer wanted a distraction, so we gave her a distraction.”

“Wait… Child killer?” Then, Humdrum’s next transmission came in. The message not only shocked her, but scared her too.

“HQ’s been attacked by the Purple Mare. We’re okay… but Lance… he’s bleeding out bad.”

“Oh no… Twilight, we need to retreat now!” Zapp yelled, racing past Blaster and smashing her face when regrouping with her friends. “Lance’s is in bad shape. He’s bleeding out because of that child murderer!!” Twilight herself was shocked, but soon used her magic to whisk them out of there. Blaster though, looked back at the mark on her face… and grinned.

“Heh. See you soon mom.”

Saddle Breaker helped her up, while Echolight sighed sadly.

Infirmary

“Is he… Gonna be okay?” Ash asked, nervously.

“He’s breathing and his body heals faster than normal,” Twilight told Ash as she used her magic to set him on the bed in the medical wing. “But I’m not sure when he will be awake. Sometimes, things like this could take just a few hours. But other times, it takes much longer to heal… I still can’t believe he actually removed the spike that was impaled in him on his own.”

“Guys! Guys!” Aurora yelled from the central computer, “Purple Mare wasn’t here just to toy with us! She stole or wiped every file we had!” Twilight was shocked to hear that at first, but Spike had already been one step ahead. In his room, he had a 160GB flash drive that had backup files of everything they had. Also, anything that was stolen from a foreign source would activate an erasure algorithm that he used based off of Stopwatch’s Partner, Gadget. However… one thing the Drake could not prepare for was an… unexpected guest.

“WHERE’S THE F**KER WHO HURT LANCE?!” Max bellowed, completely surrounded by a white aura. Her hair was waving in a non-existent wind and her eyes blazed white.

Ash nearly fainted, and Aurora was too shocked. Everyone else was just shocked.

“M-max!?” Solaria was the first to speak as she saw the fuming woman. “Max, calm down please!! You’ll disturb him-.”

Max’s voice quieted, but it was no less powerful. “Calm down?! His token starts spitting out lightning and then I find him like this and you tell me to CALM DOWN!?”

“Hey… Look at the bright side! He’s stable!” Ash giggled nervously, already shaking in fear.

The livid woman turned her gaze to the mare, the aura fading a bit. “That may be so, but the one who did this will die a million deaths before I’m satisfied with revenge.”

It was only then though that Max heard something other than the voice of the ponies around her. “M-max?”

Max was instantly next to the bed, not a trace of her rage left as tears fell from her face. “Lancie... If you didn’t have responsibilities here, you’d be safe in my universe.”

“Max, don’t cry… Please…” Lance told her. “I’ve already seen many things… I don’t want to see you like this…” The Adept tried to adjust himself in his bed, soon removing the covers to show all the bandages that spanned across his chest, arms, and the leg that the Purple Mare had impaled earlier.

“The one time I rush over without Discord...”

“You wouldn’t want to deal with what I faced, Max… She’s more than what you think-.”

“What? Like a crazed child murderer!?” Rainbow snapped as she bursted in. Lance shook his head, giving a deep breath.

“Girls… can I just have this talk be between Aurora, Ash, Max and I please?”

“Dude, Aurora doesn’t need to hear anything about this sicko.” Ash said.

“Yes she does, Ash. I’m serious…”

“It doesn’t matter who she is,” Max hissed. “She’s killed children, and she’s hurt you. Nothing will save her from my wrath.”

“It does matter, Max. SHE’S AURORA’S BIRTH MOTHER!!”

Max paused at that, but her anger didn’t abate. “She gave Aurora up, she has no ties whatsoever.”

“I saw her and her husband name her in her memories. I heard them say that she has their DNA and her powers. I even freaking heard that she was going to give it to a pony named Sweetheart! And if it weren’t for Time, Max, she would have been dead!”

“The mare that did this to you is still dying at least once by my hands.”

“Wait wait wait, Purple Mare is Aurora’s bio-mom, that means-” Ash was interrupted.

“That’s not the main focus right now. Purple Mare has given us problems before and it’s the reason why she’s supposed to be Incarcerated for Life,” Twilight explained. “Her powers are too dangerous. Controlling seven souls, as well as her reality warping powers… It was only luck that we captured her…”

Lance then sighed. “Which is why I need to rest now. I want to have some time with my family before I deal with this anymore… and I know just who to talk to… even though he is the last person I would want to speak with.”

“No. I’ll talk with this person for you,” Max said

“Max, I’m not letting someone else do my duties for me. Besides-.”

“I THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO LOSE YOU!!” Max lunged forward, burying her face in Lance’s chest and sobbing. “I-I-... P-pl-lease... don’t...” She shook her head and fell silent, her sobbing barely audible. The Adept himself was surprised by Max’s emotions. All he could do was hold her close and try to comfort her.

“Later then… You can come with me if you wish. But right now, I’ll just have you stay with me.” He said, hugging her as she cried. Then, he realized something. “Hey, where the hell is my jacket?”

“It got some dirt and blood on it…” Ash said sheepishly. “I can get it now if you want.”

“I don’t need to wear it, I just need to see it. Lumen was in my jacket pocket during the attack. I wanted to see if she was okay. Because I swear, if she was sleeping the whole time, I want to put her in a headlock.”

Ash shrugged, “I’ll go see if she’s still in there.” She turned and made her way towards wherever the jacket was.

Lumen soon emerged from the jacket pocket, yawning and tired. “Hey Lanc- OH DEAR CELESTIA! WHAT HAPPENED!?!”

“Stuff,” Ash said, “I‘m gonna go take a shower.” With that, Ash left. Soon, everypony else left, leaving the Breezie with Max and Lance. Unaware of Aurora being nearby.

“Hang on, Lance. Give me a second and I can help.” Soon, the breezie began to use her newfound powers, taking on her new form and letting a teal energy flow around Lance. His skin soon bloomed back to life and now, when he spoke, it sounded less… croaky than before.

“Thank you, Lumen.” He told her, moving his hand to the bandages on his arms and taking them off. His arms were completely healed and there was no signs of scratches or anything. As he moved to his leg, the same effect happened there. No injuries and he felt fully healed and energized.

Lumen was snatched from the air by Max and pulled into a hug as the woman whispered, “Thank you for doing that, I would’ve but... m-my magic hasn’t fully recharged.”

“It’s okay, really Max. I’m just trying to… Uh… Y-you’re squishing me!” The hug loosened some, but not enough for her to escape the embrace.

“Sorry... Mood swings and all that.”

“I-it’s okay… Would it be weird to ask if I can… well… stay with you two?” She asked.

“Not at all… Max?”

Max chuckled and shook her head. “No, it wouldn’t. The fillies are already calling you Auntie Lumen anyways.”

“O-okay…” The Breezie replied, floating over to Lance’s shoulder and nestling inside his hair as the Adept made room for Max on the bed. Letting her join him for the time being.

Tomorrow, he needed to meet the last person he ever wanted to ask for advice.

Zero Zone (Next day)

“The prison may look bad, but we’ve still got most of the prisoners.” A security guard stated as Lance and Max followed, “Still, can’t believe Clayton’s okay with you guys visiting him.”

“We’re only here to ask him a few questions,” Lance told him. “My friend and I aren’t here to cause trouble.”

“It’s not trouble I’m worried about. He tends to piss even the inmates off, and that’s saying something. Once, I even caught him in another cell terrorizing one…” The guard shook his head, “He almost runs the place…”

“Which makes him the right person to talk too. Trust me, if he tries anything, he’ll be in for a surprise.” Lance ensured the guard. “Which cell is he in?”

“One oh one.” He said. “Last cell. Good luck.” The Adept continued to walk across the hall, his accomplice right next to him.

“Max, when we meet this guy, I want you to please not do anything provocative.”

“I won’t be the one to mess this up,” Max growled, cocking her shotgun. “He takes even a single twitch towards you...”

“I’m honestly beginning to wonder how you even got that past security…” He told her. “Still whatever the case is, keep your cool. Because I have a feeling that you really won’t like this guy.”

“I’ve had to keep my cool in court with all those thinly veiled threats and insults. If I can handle a few ponies telling me to my face that I’m a liar and still keep up a convincing smile, I can handle Roach.”

“Alright…” The Adept sighed, reaching the end of the hall and turning around towards the cell. “We’re here.”

“Well… This is a pleasant surprise.” Said Roach from behind the bars, “I think I recognize you two. Lance and Maxine, right?”

“And you are Roach… How do you know Max’s name though?” The Adept asked, resisting the temptation to grab his weapon.

“Not so much for us, Drake,” Max growled.

“Funny,” Roach said, standing up in his cell and moving towards the bars, showing his glowing red and yellow eyes, “I see you’ve failed to kill Killjoy. And since he’s the easiest of my siblings…”

“My business doesn’t involve your kin, Roach.” The Adept told him. “The Purple Mare dropped by for… a visit yesterday. My colleagues say she’s impossible to capture. However, I believe you can say otherwise.”

“Otherwise,” Roach smirked. “There.”

“That’s not what I meant… The guards say that you basically own this facility. Which means you know how to defeat her. Is that true?”

“I… May have met her. Her head’s pretty whack.” Roach chuckled, “Yeah, I know her. But what’s in it for me?”

“I believe me not being tempted to kill you right now is a good start. Care to add on, Max?” Lance asked.

“How about this, you’re let out into the Multiverse to do whatever it is you do in exchange for you giving us the info and letting Stopwatch and his followers back into the universe?”

“Now that’s not gonna happen. I can come and go as I please-”

Max suddenly lunged forwards and snapped a bracelet around his wrist. “Not now you can’t and I’m the only one who has a key for it. So you deal with us, or you die in here once the inmates find that out.”

“Hahahahaha!” Roach backed up and sat down on a chair, “You’ll need a 101 on this place. No prisoner is allowed out of their cell because they’re too dangerous. I really don’t care about my powers because they’re too strong. I’ll make the deals here, sweetie.”

“Tch, just try using one, you’ll find out how helpless you are. Besides, all it’ll take to get a guard to transfer someone to your cell is a few well placed words, some greased hooves...”

“Problem: everypony who ever hated me are outside, everyone else is working for me.” Roach sighed, “My deal was that Lance here comes to visit me every once in awhile. I’ve been pretty lonely here. And you don’t have to be an ass about this!”

Lance looked back at Max for a minute, before looking back at Roach. “So… You’ll tell me about the Purple Mare in exchange for visiting you… How often?”

“Every few days, at the very least three times a week. I’m not that bad once you get to know me.” Roach pulled a grey eyeball out of his pocket, “I’ll even through in Time Spinner’s eye! Don’t worry, it’s not squishy.” Lance almost choked at seeing the eye, but soon, he let Roach place the eye in his hand.

“You got yourself a deal.”

Max growled again, but turned away and started stalking off. Lance sighed, looking back at him. “Look, I didn’t make this choice to see you as a friend. Because of Nova, the whole god damn prison is now spilled out into the streets. You are the only one who knows about what they’re capable of. Now, tell me about the Purple Mare.”

“Well, other than her brain was rewired, she likes kids but ends up killing them for some reason. Have you seen those spirits that are around her?” Roach raised his eyebrow.

“Yes. Her powers involve the spirits of the dead. Something about bending reality too I believe. Do you know of the filly that Stopwatch was raising? Aurora?”

“Yes, yes, I know who she is, now can you focus on what I’m trying to say? Those spirits are the test subjects she killed, you know, like those newbies you recruited. These spirits are overprotective of her, and that’s why she’s so hard to beat. Surprise attack? Ghost will kick your ass.” Roach explained, “So, if you can take them out of the equation, she’s vulnerable. As for her reality warping. As long as you don’t try to shoot her, you’ll be fine. Her powers are limited to nonliving attacks and objects.”

“Sounds like psychological warfare.” Lance retorted. “How to deal with the spirits though is another thing. I’m not sure if my lighting can affect them in any way.”

“No, it’ll be like shocking Aurora. No, I’ll tell you that, but I’d at least like to know if your fiance’s going to take this thing off, I’m dying to know if I can’t watch the next episode of the Walking Dead!” Roach said, laughing.

“She’s… well… not in the best of moods I believe. She does hate you for what you did to Time.”

“Oh, that banishment thing? That was a year ago, I hear Spin is doing fine… For the most part…”

“Yeah… Back to the original topic. How to deal with the spirits. Guns won’t work and neither will lightning. Have a plan C?”

“I was on this before it was a problem… It’s simple, just…” Roach scratched his chin, “Sorry, I’m having trouble remembering ghosts weaknesses here, I keep thinking Ghostbusters. Oh! Yes, I remember! There’s something that they’re weak against! Flesh, oh I am good!”

“Flesh?” The Adept asked. “What the hell does that mean?”

“Do you see Aurora possessing living beings? No, because she really can’t. She can pass through them, but if she tries to posses, she’ll get stuck and begin to fade away. There’s a spell I know that can make it so that if they touch you, they’ll be forced to try and posses.” Roach hypothesized, “About the only problem for your conscious is that the spirits will die and Purple will begin to die without them.”

“And you are sure that only you knows that spell?”

“I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one. We live in a multiverse of stupid people, one of them is bound to be an idiot and make it. It’s a simple spell, and I give Masked Matterhorn five weeks to make it.” Roach said, “Is that it? If so, do come back and tell me how painful she went out.”

Lance ignored the last saying that he said as he walked down the hall. Soon though, he met up with Max again near the start of the hallway. However, he wasn’t sure if she was happy with his decision earlier.

“Finally done talking with that family-breaking-...” Max closed her eyes and took a deep breath, crossing her arms.

“Max, I’m sorry I didn’t ask you about it first. But a lot of these new problems I need to face I have no knowledge of.” Lance told her before speaking again. “I’m sorry I didn’t talk about it with you first… I just don’t want anyone I care for to get hurt and have me not be able to do anything to help them… I don’t want to be useless. I don’t want my family getting hurt because I couldn’t do anything to protect them.”

Max’s expression softened as she stepped closer. “Lance, I bought Sol and Mun so they could help me protect my family. I hadn’t known it would grow so big, but still. That’s why they’re here. You might not see the foals as much as I do, but you’re still helping to protect them by making this world safer.” She pulled him into a hug and continued in a softer voice, “You don’t need to actively protect them because I and everyone else in my universe will protect our family with our lives.”

Lance, realizing this, smiled as he hugged Max. “Thanks… I needed that… Can I go with you back to your world? I really now want to see the kids. I haven’t seen them in almost three days. I miss Rainbow’s smile.”

“Sure. Let’s get away from that creep and have some relaxing family time.”

Lance smirked at that last part, looking back at Max. “I’ll be down for that…”

End Strike 32

Author's Note

Thanks to Nova, shit has now hit the fan and one of his "associates" has introduced herself to Lance. Will he be prepared for when she strikes again?

Strike 33- Knockout

When Lightning Strikes- Knockout

Power Pony HQ

It was some time after he had met Roach and now, Lance had a lead on how to defeat the Purple Mare. However, there was only one problem. It required magic, one thing that Lance could not do. He knew how to control his Septima and his energy thanks to Majin Buu’s visit sometime ago, but magic was one thing that he did not know about. He had previously tried to ask Twilight and Sunset about it, but the process just seemed too complex for him to understand. Still though, Roach told him that a spell needed to be cast on him if he had any chance of defeating the Purple Mare.

Right now, he was right now conducting research with Iris. The Supercomputer that was inside Power Pony HQ’s archives. Twilight was occupied with the rest of the power ponies on trying to track down the whereabouts of Blaster and her team of clones based off the superhero squad. Ash was right now getting some rest and he let Aurora get some much needed sleep. The poor filly had been through enough traumatic experiences after the Purple Mare had almost killed him, so it was safe to say that she needed a chance to ease her mind a little.

“Iris, can you run a search on all spiritual related spells that can be cast by a magic user?”

“Processing…” While the machine was going through it’s network and databases, Lumen soon emerged from Lance’s haircut and floated over to him.

“You sure that you are going to find what you are looking for here?” Lumen asked, “We could just as easily wait for Twilight to get back.”

“She has her hands full with the Copycat Crew,” the Adept explained. “Plus, the only thing that Roach gave me in regards to this spell is the information on it. Not a name.”

“You are really trusting this guy?” The Breezie questioned. “He’s the bucking reason why Time Spinner is banished.”

“I know. But he’s the one who knows about all the ponies in the Zero Zone that got out. In a way, he reminds me of Raymond Reddington.” Lance told her. Noticing her confusion, he began to explain about him. “He’s a character on a TV show back in my world called ‘The Blacklist’. A criminal who was number four on the FBI’s most wanted list and has been in hiding for twenty years. Until he turns himself in one day out of nowhere. Why? Because he has information on the most dangerous of criminals that are invisible to the naked eye.”

“I see where you’re going with this. Just be careful around him Lance. I don’t want you getting banished the same way he did.” Lumen deadpanned. Soon, Iris had finished her search and was ready to tell the results that she had uncovered to the two of them. The Supercomputer had uncovered multiple results in the search and had narrowed it down to twenty different results. But as the computer named each one of them off, one name seemed to have caught his attention.

Soul Force Trap. Where souls would be forced to try and possess a body, only to not be able to escape. This must have been the spell that Roach was talking about earlier. When he heard Iris explain everything in precise details, it accurately matched the Voidborn’s description. Now all he needed to do was ask Twilight about the spell and he could have her cast it on him.

Though, as he was finishing up, he was beginning to hear some racket coming from upstairs. Or more specifically, the roof. Lumen herself thought that an earthquake was going on and tried to hide inside Lance’s hair again. But the Adept just moved back to the elevator and went to the roof. If it was coming from outside, then it was possible that he could see what was going on from the rooftop of HQ. However, what Lance found though… surprised him.

It was Derpy Hooves. Just this time in a strange yellow and red suit with Red gloves on and a white cape. “What the heck-? Derpy? Are you okay?”

Derpy had a goofy smile on her face, but what she said next surprised the Adept. “Yes I’m fine, strange hairless ape. Wait, how do you know my name?”

“Well, this is quite odd. Did she lose her memories?” Lance thought, before speaking. “Derpy, you work at the Maretropolis Police Department and I’ve met you a couple of times before. It’s me… Lance?”

“Um… I never met you before, mister Lance. Wait there’s another pony of me?”

“Another pony of you?” That soon had the Adept begin to think a little as he soon thought about asking her about her costume. “Hey, what are you doing in that costume anyways?”

“I don’t know really. All I remember was buying some materials for Dinky’s Nightmare Night costume from a salemare, when all of a sudden when I bought a pair of gloves I found myself here in this city.”

“You mean Maretropolis?” All the Mare did was look at him with a confused glare.

“Maretropolis? What kind of city is that? I never heard of it before.”

Now was when Lance was finally starting to piece together all the details. She wasn’t from here, got a pair of gloves from a salesmare and soon woke up here? Holy crap, this Derpy is a Displaced!

“Um… are you okay?” She asked him, before he cleared his throat and redirected his focus.

“Derpy… are you familiar with the power ponies?” He asked her. All she did was tilt her head a little before speaking again.

“No, but Dinky has been asking me to get the comic book series of them. Why you ask?”

“... Derpy, my friends are the power ponies… You are in another world. Displaced…”

“What’s a Displaced?” Derpy asked. “Is it some kind of place where ponies get free muffins?”

Lance shook his head a little, chuckling internally. “Not quite. Maybe we should talk about this inside. I have a couple of muffins in the kitchen if you want one.” The Mare happily nodded her head, happily bouncing around on her hooves.

“Okay! Lead the way hairless ape name Lance.”

He chuckled a little, looking back at the mare. “Just call me Lance. I’m an Adept, not a hairless ape.” Before they went inside though, he held his hand out in a fist and held it in front of him. “Hoof bump?”

“I never tired a hoof bump before, but okay!” Derpy raised her hoof towards Lance’s hand, only for her to send Lance flying into a wall when her hoof made contact with the human’s hand. Nevertheless, that shocked him. A lot.

“O-okay… Not… what I was expecting…” He coughed out, spitting out a small bit of blood. Derpy though, was personally freaking out.

“AH! I’m so, so, so, so sorry! I didn’t know I had that much strength in me to do something like that!”

“I-it’s okay. Really… My body heals faster than normal,” He told her, trying to emphasize to the mare that he wasn’t extremely hurt, even though he felt like he was bulldozed by a freight train. “So don’t stress yourself out… How about we get you that muffin?”

“R-Right, let’s go get some muffins.” Soon, the Adept had the mare follow her to the kitchen, where there were a few fresh Blueberry muffins that were left out there for her to have. Once he put them on a plate and warmed them up for her, she was ready to start munching away.

“Enjoying them, Ms. Derpy?” Lance asked, watching as she ate to her heart's content.

“Yay!” Derpy cheered as she was devouring the muffins in joy.

“So… About what I was saying before…” Lance started to speak, only for Derpy to cut him off.

“Hey, you wouldn’t happen to know a way to get me back home do you? There’s a sale this weekend for free muffin, and I was hoping to get some for Dinky and Sparkler.”

“Y-yeah…… about that… I’m in the same situation as you.” Lance explained to her, “Are you familiar with the existence of other worlds besides Equestria?” Derpy’s immediate answer was no. Meaning that it would take some time to explain this. Seeing a pomegranate on the counter, the Adept grinned as he walked over to grab it along with a kitchen knife.

“Well, maybe some visual assistance can help. Say, this for example, is Equestria. It may look like one place or world on the outside… but on the inside…” He told her, using the knife to cut the pomegranate in half and reveal all the seeds inside. “There are multiple other versions of Equestria that either are similar to the one that you are from or not… the problem is that it’s almost next to impossible to travel between them freely… I want to help you Derpy, but right now… I just don’t know how to start.”

“Y-You mean I’m stuck here? B-But what about my home?” Derpy asked as she began to freak out a bit at the sudden realization. But not in the way Lance had expected. “What about the free muffin sale?!”

“I don’t know… But I’ll do everything I can to help you. You’re welcome to stay here at Power Pony HQ… and I can have Pinkie make a LOT of future muffins for you.” Lance told her, coming over to sit right next to her. “Why buy muffins when you can get as many as you want here for free?”

“I’m not allowed to use the oven at home again.” Derpy answered, lowering her head in shame. “I accidentally burned my house down… twice.”

“Leave the baking to Pinkie Pie…” The Adept chuckled, trying to comfort her. “She has an emergency stash for when anything goes wrong.”

“Okay, so what do I do know?” the mare asked as she flew over to Lance.

“Well, you ended up in my world… normally for a Displaced, they end up with the powers of whoever they are Displaced as… Do you recognize the costume that you are wearing?”

“No, I don’t really read that much comic books.” That, got Lance thinking. The only way for her to find out about her powers… would be to run a few tests.

“Hmm… I got an idea… Follow me.” He told her, getting up from his seat and having the mare follow him. Soon, he entered the training room and within ten minutes, had set up three separate tests for Derpy. One being a stack of crates. The second being a training dummy. The last one being a dummy with full on tactical combat gear. “Okay, Derpy. Remember when you hoof bumped me earlier and threw me into the wall?”

“Yeah, what about it?”

“I want you to try the same thing to each one. I would like to observe what happens when you punch them.”

“You sure you want me to do that? I don’t want to destroy this place if I accidentally send one flying off.”

The Adept sighed, chuckling a little. “This training room is designed so members of the power ponies like myself can handle anything under any circumstances. Watch.” To show an example, the Adept took out a gun that he had in his holster and shoot at the nearby window, only for the glass to keep the bolt he fired inside and have it stop dead in his tracks. “Whatever happens in here, this room is designed to keep it in here. So please, feel free to punch to your hearts content.”

“O-Okay.” Derpy said as she walked over to one of the practice dummies. “So I just punch it like this?” she asked as she punched the dummy wearing tactical combat gear in the chest, only for it to be sent flying out of the training room. “Um… I hope I don’t get blamed for that giant hole over there.” she said, pointing a hoof to the hole she made.

“O… kay. Continue.”

“Alright!” Derpy took a charging stance as she charged at the other dummy. She immediately stopped as she turned around and bucked the other dummy out of the room, only this time the pegasus sent it flying towards the ceiling. “This is kinda fun actually. Is there anything else you want me to hit Lance?”

“Did you hit the crates?” Lance asked, pointing at them.

“Oh, I forgot they were there.” Derpy said as she troted over to them. When she appeared in front of one of the crates, she raised a hoof and slammed it into the crate causing a hole to appeared in front of her. “You sure you want me to keep punch-.”

The noise caused by the previous attacks however, had soon attracted the attention of a wandering pony that was shocked by the amount of noise. That pony… was Ash. “What the hay is going on in here!?”

“GAH!” Surprised that somepony yelled from behind herself, Derpy accidentally bucked the poor pony that was behind her and sent her flying out of the room. Just like with the dummies, only this time Ash was flown out of one of the holes. “Oops.”

Lance sighed, facepalming himself. “Looks like Ash is going to have a long trot back by the time she lands.”

“You think she’ll be angry that I hit her on accident?”

“Probably…” Lance deadpanned with a deep sigh. “But once I explain it to her, she might calm down. She’s actually my partner and student.”

“Oh...so are you a teacher for a school or something?”

“Not exactly. Let me put it this way… I’m a hero… she’s my sidekick.”

“Oh, so you’re like Batmare and Robin?” The Mare wondered, asking Lance.

“... Something like that yes.”

“Oh okay. So what happens now?” She asked.

“Now we should introduce you to Twilight,” The Adept told her. “Or as her secret is, the Masked Matterhorn.”

“Wait, Twilight’s a superhero?”

“In this world, many ponies are heroes. And now… you are one too. We should come up with a name for you, just to be safe.”

“Sorry, but not really a full time hero per say. I’ll just do it because it’ll be a hobby of mine.”

“That may be the case, but with great power comes great responsibility. Heck, you can take out anything with a single punch… Oh, I got a good name. One Punch Mare?” He said, the only idea that came to his mind.

“But, I like my original name. I don’t want to change it.”

“No, I didn’t mean actually changing your name. I mean it as a hero name. A secret Identity. Mines Gunvolt since my powers are electricity and my weapons are my guns,” The Adept explained. “I was just suggesting it as a secret identity.”

“Why keep your name a secret?”

“So that way villains don’t know who you really are. If a villain knew who you were, they would go after the people you know and care for. You wouldn’t want that right?”

“I guess you’re right...Oh I have the perfect name for myself.” Derpy said, as she struck a funny yet an adorable pose. “The Muffin Mare.”

Lance chuckled at hearing that. “Well, follow me. My Twilight would probably love to be able to talk to you.”

“Okay, lead the way Lance.” The Adept chuckled, letting the mare follow him to the control room, where the Masked Matterhorn had just returned recently. He greeted her calmly and she was going to respond back. Until she noticed Derpy trot into the room as well.

“Lance, what is Ms. Hooves doing here?”

“Actually, this Derpy is a Displaced. She now has powers.” Lance explained. “If she punches anything once, the force of the punch will demolish anything in front of it. Sent me flying into the wall on accident by trying to give me a fist bump.”

“Hi!” Derpy said as she waved at Twilight.

Hello. You must have quite some amazing abilities based on what Lance had said,” The Alicorn explained. “I’m curious though as to how you ended up in our world though.” Lance had told her about how the Displaced worked and tried to explain it to Derpy the best he could. However, the one thing that confused the Alicorn was how exactly Derpy got here in the first place.

“I don’t know really. One minute I’m buying some materials for Dinky’s Nightmare Night from a salemare, then the next thing I know I find myself free falling from the sky and crash land into an office building’s window.”

“I found her on the roof earlier today after trying to look some information on some spells,” Lance told Twilight. “Afterwards, I learned about the powers she was capable of and also found out she was a Displaced. Something tells me that she might get along well with Filli-Second.”

“Um Lance, who’s the pony wearing the 80’s outfit?”

“Oh my apologies,” The Masked Matterhorn replied, taking off her mask as soon as she realized that she was still wearing it. “I’m Twilight Sparkle. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Hooves.”

“So you really are a hero, just like Lance said. But why do you look like you’re wearing an outfit that i would wear in the 80’s?”

“This wasn’t technically my first choice for an outfit,” Twilight replied. “Radiance was the one who designed them.”

“So she dressed you up as a pony from the 80’s as a joke?”

“No, these are our actual suits. Radiance is… well… our Rarity.” Twilight pointed out.

“....She really need to make a better outfit for you, because your outfit is… well kinda lame.”

“Well, it’s what they got for right now…” Lance sighed. “Rarity refuses to make any new suits that have capes like yours because of the amount of incidents involving heroes and capes getting snagged by something.”

“Okay… so what happens now?” Derpy then asked.

“Right now… We should let you get some sleep. You’re going to need to get some rest before meeting the rest of the team.”

“But I don’t feel tired, plus it’s still morning.” Derpy said as she pointed outside.

“Derpy… It’s almost Sundown.” Lance told her, just as the sun was beginning to set and the moon was beginning to rise. “Still though… Where’s Ash? Has anypony seen her?”

A cloud of smoke appeared and Ash materialised, a black eye evident. “Right… Here… And who said I was like Robin!?”

“You okay there Ash?”

“Do I… Look okay!?” Her right eye twitched, “The tartarus just happened!?”

“I accidentally punched you across town.” Derpy answered, while hiding behind Lance. “You kinda startled me from behind by yelling, sorry about that.”

“Derpy here, basically has the power to demolish anything or send people flying with one punch. That’s why I would call her One-Punch Mare. However, I only see one problem. Since this Derpy is a Displaced… we might get her confused with the Derpy Hooves back at the Police Department.” Lance pointed out. “Derpy, do you have any nicknames that we can call you?”

“Nope, I’m just gonna stick with my original name.”

“O...kay then. I’m going to check on Aurora. See you guys in a little bit.” With that, the Adept used that as his cue to leave the room for a brief moment.

“Okay, bye Lance!” Derpy said while waving goodbye to Lance. The Adept waved back as he turned around the corner and went down the hall. He went to walk back into his room to check on Aurora and see if she was doing better after the fiasco with the Purple Mare. By the time he was in his room and putting his communicator back on, he was beginning to receive a phone call. Checking the caller ID, he saw that it was Psycho and soon answered.

“Lance? We got a problem here. Not a bad guy, just… A lost mare.”

“A lost mare?” He replied. “Could you care to be a little more… specific?”

“Another me… She calls herself Amethyst Star, and she’s a cyborg.” He heard her reply. “Not a clone, I checked.”

“That must be Derpy’s daughter… Well, one of them anyways.” Lance realized. Looking back, he then sighed. “I… see. Ironically, I found myself in a similar situation earlier. Bring her to the roof of Power Pony HQ. Earlier, I found a mare who was looking for her daughter. I’ll explain once you get here.”

“Okay, Psycho ou- wait, I need a new codename. Psycho sounds too villainy… Sparkler Hooves out.” With that, the call ended and Lance ran up the stairwell, arriving on top of the roof once again. The night sky and the lights of the city made the place look… amazing. But he knew that he wasn’t suppose to be taking in the sights and instead, looking out for Sparkler and this… Amethyst.

Soon though, both mares arrived on the rooftop while he was waiting. If you consider arriving landing on top of them. “O-oww…”

“I think this is the place, good thing we landed on something soft.” Amethyst said.

“G-girls… You’re choking me…” Lance breathed out.

“Hey Sparkler, who’s the hairless ape we’re sitting on?”

“Mr. Walker,” Lance heard Sparkler groan a little.

“Oh…I think I broke him.”

End Strike 33

Author's Note

This is more of a simple chapter which focuses on the story One Punch Derpy and the encounter from his point of view.

Strike 34- Into the Lions den

When Lightning Strikes- Into the Lion’s den

Canterlot

The calm quiet evening skies would normally be a perfect opportunity for nobles or members of royalty to relax. Unwind from the stress of the day. However, that wasn’t the case for Prince Shining Armor. After he met with Lauren Order, one of the top prosecutors in Celestia’s Day Court, she allowed him to have a glimpse at her rehabilitation program. One that she called Task Force X. However, it was not like what she had told him when she first mentioned it to him.

These were violent criminals. Ones that would normally be locked up inside the Zero Zone or another maximum security prison. So why was she trying to collect them. Out of some of the ones he seen, a lot of them were what he considered as “insane”. Just how was a prosecutor suppose to be able to handle all of them? Then there were some of the field reports that he had seen from Maretropolis. Where certain suspects matched the descriptions of the inmates at the rehabilitation facility. Just why would they been seen by witnesses though is unknown.

“Shining?” He soon turned around, looking at his wife, Princess Cadence. “Are you okay? It looks like something is troubling you.”

He shrugged a little, waving it off with his hoof. “I just have a lot on my mind, that’s all.”

“Honey, you’ve been acting strange ever since Ms. Order allowed you to her facility.” She pointed out to her. “Can you please tell me what’s going on?” If it was one thing with Cadence, it was that she could tell when something was bothering her husband. So, instead of lying to her, the Stallion first casted a soundproofing spell around the room before filling her in on everything he had witnessed. From Lauren’s facility to its inmates and the suspicion that he had involving some of the inmates being seen as witnesses of a few violent crimes. During the whole time, Cadence was surprised. But she knew that something had to be done. Thankfully, Shining told her the details of the facility and where he thought that the location was.

Because while Shining was asleep, the princess of love used it as her chance to depart. Heading to the back of the room, she placed her hoof on the wall as a small silver line that glowed scanned her hoof. Soon, the dresser where she kept her clothes turned around, revealing a mask, suit, quiver of arrows and a perfectly forged bow. For Cadence had a secret. Before she met her husband, the Alicorn was known by the identity of the “Amorous Archer”, a hero who used her magic and bow to bring justice to criminals in Canterlot and Maretropolis. However, when she became a princess, she had to hang up her suit and bow in order to take on the roles and responsibilities that came with her position. However, with all the criminal activity that had recently transpired, she had been teased and tempted over and over again to finally brush the dust off of her equipment and get back in the field. And now… Now seemed liked the best time to get back in the game. She had a location, her equipment, and a distinct knowledge of where she would be headed.

What’s the worst thing that could happen?

Meanwhile…

“Okay… I believe that should hopefully do the trick.” Lance spoke as he set his gun back on the table he had out in the training room. The Azure Striker, after some recent encounters with villains such as the Purple Mare, Roach and Eve, had decided to try and test with some new bolt clip prototypes while he let Aurora rest in his communicator. He had Spike earlier begin research on what was required to cast the Soul Force Trap spell that Roach had told him about, but had not heard any information about it within the last hour.

His new clip modifications were based on two things. The first being the original properties of some Sumeragi weapons they seized when Lee and Twilight first arrived. Second was based on his clips and the Energy Properties inside Dullahan. He was trying to see if there was a way to combine the two and the results… paid off. His tinkering led to the creation of a new clips that had the energy based capabilities of Dullahan. But on contact, the projectile could weaken enemy shields and hit from long ranges. In a way, it reminded Lance of the Carbine from the Halo series.

However, his tests soon had caused Aurora to stir from her slumber.

“What’s up...?”

“Oh hey,” Lance addressed, putting his weapon down for a second to look at the filly. “I was just testing a new bolt clip I came up with while tinkering with my weapons. Sorry if I woke you up.”

“It’s okay… I’ll watch.”

Lance nodded his head, until a small beep went off on his communicator, forcing him to have to holster his weapons and tools. “Well, looks like Spike must be done with finding what we need.”

“And that is…” Aurora asked expectantly.

“A specific item we need in order for a spell to be cast on me. One that can weaken the Purple Mare.” The Adept told her as they left the training room and made their way down the hallway.

“Okay… What spell?”

“Soul Force Trap… Do you know of her powers Aurora? You ran the only time I encountered her.” He pointed out.

“Yeah… She’s foalnapped me twice, but let me go after I stabbed a hook in her shoulder.”

“And you know that she controls spirits that possess objects like you can right?”

“Yeah, that’s how I couldn’t escape.” The filly tilted her digital head, “What are you getting at?”

“This… may be hard to take in so bear with me… I visited Roach in the Zero Zone and-.”

“What!?” She yelled, rage causing the bracer to vibrate. “He banished my dad!”

“Aurora, I didn’t have any other choice. The guards at the facility told me that he knew a lot of things about the prisoners in the Zero Zone before they escaped, so right now, I’m only using him for information. I’m not intending to be best friends with him because I’m still planning on killing him to bring your dad back. But, he was the one who told me of the way to defeat the Purple Mare.” He tried to tell her, doing his best to calm down the young filly. “It’s the spirits she controls.”

Aurora stayed quiet for a bit. “He made a deal with you, didn’t he?”

“He would provide information as long as I don’t harm him. Plus, right now, Max placed the band that I had on in Kat’s world, nullifying his powers. But there was one… other thing that he gave me as part of the agreement,” He told her, putting his hand in his pocket as he pulled it out for Aurora to see. “The eye he stole from your father. Not the best of gifts to give honestly… I’m guessing you are still wondering why?”

“I want to know what you had to give him. He always has an end game.”

“Strangely enough, a visit. Ten minutes at least, three times a week. Apparently, he’s getting lonely.” He told her as he turned around a corner. “What he told me though was that the Purple Mare’s powers are like your possession abilities, but different. Spirits can’t possess living beings because they would get trapped inside the body of the target they are trying to get and fade away in there. The spell I’m researching is supposedly trying to pull those spirits in like a magnet and when they fade away, the Purple Mare’s abilities weaken.”

Aurora didn’t respond.

“I’m sorry Aurora… I didn’t think it through properly… After what happened… I didn’t want myself to feel weak or unable to protect you and the people I care for the most. I promised to bring your father back and I will be able to bring him back. Even if it kills me.”

“... I never said I wanted that…”

“I hate myself for even going through with it… I should’ve thought about it more before actually talking to him. If I could go back into the past and change my decision, I would. But I can’t… And now I feel like I betrayed you and your father because of what I did.”

“Just… See what Spike has…” Lance nodded as he approached the room.

“We make a great team Aurora… I don’t want my actions and choices to cause everything to fall apart.” He told her, shortly before walking inside. “I’m here Spike. What’s up?”

“Well, I found out about what your spell requires, but the item itself is very… what’s the word… rare.” He replied back, handing a tablet for Lance to observe as the dragon tried to press a few keys. “For the spell, you need the energy inside a Soulstone. It’s a rare stone that allows it’s user to interact with the spiritual plane. Recently though, a huge shipment of them has been purchased, but with the attack by the Purple Mare, I can’t seem to track down where that shipment is headed.”

“Why?” Aurora asked.

“I think somehow, somepony messed with the algorithm in the database and all I’m getting now are user errors. I remember that I have backup files of the servers, but replacing everything could take almost three days at most. And if I’m correct, you don’t have three days.”

“No. The Purple Mare knows that the HQ has been weakened and I believe she will come back to finish what she started. We’ll need to be ready beforehand.” The Adept told him.

“I’ll help,” Aurora said hopping out of Lance’s bracer, “I can fix it in an hour.”

“That can work. I was going to suggest if you wanted to stay with Humdrum for a little while and just talk to me through Comms.” Lance told her. Soon, thanks to Aurora’s assistance, Humdrum was able to get the maps feature working on the monitor.

“It looks like the shipment is heading to a… rehabilitation facility? That’s… odd,” The drake spoke, scrolling down on the current page. “Okay, this just keeps getting weirder the more I read it. The facility is owned by a mare named Lauren Order-.”

“Law and Order?”

“No, Lauren Order.” Spike clarified, pulling up the image of the pony he was referring to. “She’s one of the head prosecutors of the Canterlot Day court. Nicknamed The Iron Madame because of her fierce personality and courtroom tactics. hasn’t lost a single case involving massive criminal cases like murder and terrorist attacks.”

“Why the hay does she have a rehabribatation?” Aurora said and failed at pronouncing the word.

“Rehabilitation,” The Adept clarified. “It means trying to have criminals learn the errors of their ways and wipe themselves clean of their life of crime. I still wonder why she would have that. With her being a lawyer, I think this pony would more likely want vicious criminals to be locked up for life.”

“Same here,” Spike replied, before noticing two dots on the screen. “Okay, what are those?”

“Wait a second… those are the signals from my tracer bolts!” The adept spoke. “I came up with Tracer bolts in order to give off a signal that allows me to find their location. I only fired two of them though. One of them against Deadeye and the other one at the Motorcycle of Junkrat and Roadhog.” The adept then analyzed their locations, only to find that they were inside the perimeters of the facility they were analyzing. “Something about this place seems fishy.”

“What are you thinking, Lance?” Spike asked him.

“I think I need to pay a visit. You two can stay on comms, I’m only going to take a look around and see what I can find.” He told them. “Heck, if I could get a couple of soulstones, it will not only help with the spell, but maybe we can run some tests on them and see what other things they could be used for.”

“Okay, but if anypony finds out, I’m going to tell them that it was your idea.” Spike retorted. Lance though, just smiled as he left the two of them to get back to fixing the system. As he made his way up to the roof though, and Lumen was awake again, something else was waiting for him.

“Well… this is an unexpected surprise.” He said. “Hello again… Gremmy.”

“Hello…..forgetful idiot.” Gremmy said as he let Eto jump off his back.

“Warn me the next you’re going to do that next time.” Eto said before glaring at Lance.

“Hello to you as well. Care to tell me why you dropped by unannounced?”

“Lance, who are these people?” Lumen asked, flying by his shoulder as he looked at them.

“To put it briefly, they’re displaced,” Lance told the Breezie, pointing a finger at Gremmy. “That’s Gremmy, the one responsible for having a Frying Pan drop on my head and the other one is Eto, who is keeping an eye on Kaoru. Speaking of which, Most of the power ponies have agreed with me on not seeing her as a criminal though. However… things have escalated.”

“My patient is drawing thin boy. We gave a month and a few days to have the meeting set, and right now I’m about a few seconds away from wrecking this place….but seeing Gremmy is here I won’t be attack your base… yet.”

“So this meeting is strictly for business? I see… Umm… I have a question.”

“What’s your question boy?”

“Who’s the girl with the taco’s right behind the two of you?”

“Oh her? That’s Sonata… you know I don’t even know how she even got here?”

“I think I might know, but I’ll say she’s just like Deadpool only different.” Gremmy said patting Sonata on the head.

Lance chuckled to himself upon hearing that. “So you replace Chimichangas with Taco’s and you get her? That makes sense… Anyways, you said that you wanted to set up a meeting? Well, I have nothing scheduled three days from now. Is there any specific details I should know about? Oh and we’re not meeting in New Yoke. There’s a Mitochondria outbreak there.”

“I know, Chrysalis was over there taking care of some… personal business.”

“I understand… Speaking of business, we should set up our meeting. Three days from now, right here, at sundown. Just us or do you want the whole team to be a part of it. Because we’ve recently acquired some new… members.” Lance sighed at the last part, playing a recording that he had on his wrist from earlier this afternoon.

“So, that is your report?”

“Yes…”

“You killed a so called Vaccine Man…”

“Dead.”

“And you rescued a filly who was looking for her parents?”

“With the big swirly eyes.”

“*sighs*… You really need to let us know when you’re going out into town.”

“And you need to get some more muffins in here!!!”

“That… is Derpy… the second Derpy… Also known as One Punch Mare.”

“That would explain what we saw on the news today. Also, as I said to you before, we are holding the meeting tonight.”

“Alright… Just one small thing to note, the rest of the team is not here. They have to deal with the new wave of criminals that some jackass broke out of the Zero Zone.” the Adept informed them. “I suggested that if you wanted to meet with the team, we needed to schedule a better night. Hell, I was almost killed two nights ago because of a freaking villain that broke out of solitary confinement.”

“You had about a month to get this meeting ready, and so far placed a girl that you gave your word to help. But instead you placed on the side burner and went on to do your own-.”

“Technically… It’s been twenty seven days. A month is thirty. You either are seeing things wrong or one of your team mates messed up the calendar.”

“Oh yeah, I remember using the calendar as a placemat on Taco Tuesday!” Sonata recalled, causing Gremmy and Eto to look at her.

“.....Listen boy.” Gremmy said as he caused the building he was on to shake. “I don’t really care what time is was or date, but seeing how you didn’t make any time to see Kaoru she’s pretty getting stressful to the point where she can’t go outside normally.”

“That bold of you given the fact that you two are acting like her parents and not letting her come here to say it herself. Listen, I’ve already convinced all of the power ponies to believe me and the entire police department. However, I can’t do everything for her. She needs to be brave enough to where she can appear in public and catch the attention of the people… If the police department is right, someone is going to try and attack the Mayor when she’s giving a speech tomorrow. Since it’s an international event, she doesn’t want the power ponies to be there to cause tensions between countries… However, that doesn’t mean that Kaoru couldn’t step in and save her. It’ll be a nationally televised event. If she pulls this off, it’ll allow the city to see who she truly is.”

“Yeah that might work… if you can get from out of hiding inside her room after what happen to her last night.” Eto said.

“Last night? What the hell happened then?” Lumen asked. “We weren’t told of anything that happened last night.”

“Because you busy with other stuff like you always are, anyway Kaoru was attacked on a mission last night by some monster named Carnage Kabuto. It was… one sided fight seeing how she came back a bloody mess.”

“Oh, are you talking about the monster that Derpy punched at the harbor a few hours ago. Yeah, he’s dead.” Lumen said to them, catching their attention rather quickly.

“My point is after that fight.... she hasn’t been the same.” Eto said with a look of depression on her face. “Took Adagio two days to get her back to her...somewhat normal self.”

“ … Because of the band… Did you even remember to give her the key to take it off or did Taco Girl take it as a keepsake?” Lance asked, noticing her fiddling with it between her fingers. “And that… answers my question… Look, I can’t help you two with everything. You two are trying to suck me dry like vampires. And not the Twilight kind since they’re complete BS. Listen… life can knock you down sometimes, but it depends on you if you want to get back up again. I don’t have the answer to every problem you try to come at me with… For one thing, why can’t you just talk to Lotus? Isn’t she Gremmy’s boss and the one who keeps him… in line?”

“*Sigh* Look we tried to talk to her about that, but whenever certain ponies try to talk to her see just shuts down and-.”

“Then let me talk to her, dammit!” Lance snapped, stopping Eto mid sentence and causing her eyes to widen. “She’ll be wanting to talk to a real human being that knows about what she’s going through more than ponies who think they know.”

“Okay one, you don’t yell at a lady.” Gremmy said as he tossed Sonata a button “And two, Sonata if you would.”

“First off Gremmy, hearing excuses doesn’t solve anything. Second, I’m giving you my time to help her not because you’re telling me too, but because I care for Kaoru. You wouldn’t know anything about it because you don’t act like you care for anyone but yourself.”

Gremmy said nothing, but pulled out a key. “Mental lock one… unlock.” He said as the key disappeared into dust.

“Oh sh*t. Sonata, Lotus. Get him out of here while I cool Gremmy down!” Eto said as Sonata and Lotus rushed over and teleported Lance off the roof, and into Power Pony HQ. As they appeared inside the kitchen, all they heard from above them was a sound of an explosion.

“Remind me to send him the bill for damages later,” Lumen said, noticing Lotus. “So you must be Lotus? It’s nice to meet a fellow Breezie like yourself.”

“Yep, Lotus the name. I take it you must be Lance’s boss?”

“No actually, we’re partners.” Lumen told her. “I help him with missions and stuff. His hair makes a good place to sleep too.”

“Says the one who sleeps any chance she gets.” The Adept retorted.

“Hey!!”

“Reminds me of Gremmy. Speaking of that.” Lotus said as she press the button that Gremmy gave to Sonata, as a pan fell towards Lance’s head. But this time, Lance actually caught it by the handle and set it on the nearby stove, catching them by surprise.

“I don’t fall for the same trick twice.” He told her, “Speaking of which, where’s Kaoru? We might have a limited amount of time before Gremmy gets back here and I rather not have him leave a burning path of destruction in his wake once he gets here.”

“I’ll lead you Kaoru under two conditions.” Lotus said, as she flew in front of Lance. “One, you apologize for what you said about Gremmy. He may be a *** at time, but that doesn’t mean he’s heartless bastard as you think is and I will not have you speak ill of a man who’s a hero and a soon to be father in this world.”

“Woah, back up… Father? Oh sh*t, I didn’t realize that.” Lance replied. “Sorry Lotus… I just don’t really like people with that kind of attitude. I will apologize… Hang on though… who’s the wife?”

“Oh a sweet little mare named Night Glider, I have to say Kat was right they do make an adorable pair when you think about it.”

“Remind me to have Max and Seph get the chance to meet them… Hell, maybe invite you and them to the wedding… What am I saying? I’m getting distracted again. Lotus, I’ll will apologize in a minute. This conversation is distracting me from helping Kaoru.”

“Good, and condition two.” Lotus facial expression changed from happy to bloodlust in a matter of second. “NEVER PISS HIM OFF LIKE THAT EVER AGAIN!”

“Sorry, it’s hard to keep myself calm around him.” Lance replied, turning around to Sonata. “Care to lead the way to Kaoru?”

“Okay follow me please.” Lotus said as she turned back to normal. “You know you should be lucky that I came along with Gremmy.”

“I am completely actually. I actually feel like I owe you guys something because you really pulled me out of a pickle there.” He told her, not knowing that they were passing the door to Touka’s room. They walked a few doors down to where Kaoru’s room was suppose to be. On the front though was a sign saying KEEP OUT in bold lettering.

“I guess this is it?”

“Moondancer is inside with her for comfort, so try not to piss them off like you did with Gremmy.” Lance nodded his head, thinking that the possibility of that happening was next to impossible as Kaoru and Gremmy were two totally different people with opposite personalities. Maybe he’ll get along easier with them if he just remained calm and composed.

“HEY KAORU! IT’S ME SONATA! CAN I COME IN WITH A FRIEND?!” Sonata asked as she banged on her door. There was a moment of silence as the door opened up to her and Lance. “Okay, let’s go in.”

“Ladies first.”

“Wouldn’t that be you seeing how you have a ponytail, and have a girly figure?”

“No. That would be you because I don’t sound feminine. Plus, I was being nice.”

“Oh okay.” Sonata said as she entered the room, only to be sent flying out. “I think she’s busy!” she yelled as she crashed into Adagio and Aria.

“O… kay.” He replied, slowly knocking and opening the door carefully, looking at Kaoru for the first time in weeks. She looked way different than before and her hair was a mixture of Black and white. “Umm… Am I interrupting anything?”

“Go away.” Kaoru shouted, using Moondancer as a shield.

“Please… I’m not here to harm you. Lotus told me what happened and I just wanted to talk. I’m not here to hurt you and your… friend.”

“I said GO AWAY!”

Calmly, Lance closed the door behind him. “Kaoru, please… calm down. There’s nothing to be scared of.”

“Calm down? WHY THE **** SHOULD I CALM DOWN?!” Kaoru yelled as she point a quinque in the form of a sword at Lance. “After all the sh*t I been through the past two to three weeks being attacked by the police, different groups of heroes, some of the power ponies, the police department, and the mutant kabuto beetle man thing. Why should I calm down?”

“Because Carnage Kabuto is dead and the Police Department and Power Ponies no longer see you as a threat anymore… They’re trying to welcome you with open arms, Kaoru.” He told him, looking at her. “You’ve been cleared of all wrongdoings you might have done. Including what happened when I first met you. Everything is a clean slate now… You’ve been given the chance to start anew.”

“You really think that would change anything?!” Kaoru yelled as she tackled him to the ground. “You don’t get it do you? Even if I’m free from what I did everyone will still come after me, no matter what. And you…… you’re really pissing me off for not helping me.”

“Who said I didn’t help you. I was the one who helped clear your name. I was the one who gave Gremmy the band so he could have you be human again. I did everything I can do to show to them that you aren’t the person they think you are… Now that you have a clean slate, your actions affect how you are seen… And there is something that might help you.” Carefully, Lance retold everything that he told Gremmy to Kaoru and Moondancer. Every single detail. That way, she would know that there was indeed, a chance for her to be seen for not the monster she had become, but for her heroism in saving another one’s life. But one thing that he noticed that Kaoru expressed was the fact that she felt alone. That no one cared for her… He was about to prove her wrong.

“Kaoru, everything I did up to this point I had done not because Eto or someone else told me too, but because I cared for you as a person. Sure, life might knock you down at times. But it’s how you respond and how you get back up on your feet that makes the real difference.”

“N-No, I’m not going out.” The girl said as she crawled under her covers. “I’ll go out for killing criminals, but I’m not going out for stuff like that.”

“Do you realize that when I told you this, I mean it as a massive swarm of criminals will storm the building and be taking hostages?”

“Let the league handle it for all I care. I’m not going to it and I’m sure as hell not going to get myself killed again.”

“The league wants you to do it… Or they’ll probably give the job to Sonata… Which reminds me…” Lance told her, pulling out a string with a metal piece attached to it. “Sonata meant to give this to you, but forgot. It’s the key to release the band off of your wrist. Meaning you will have full access to your powers. You aren’t a monster, Kaoru. You’re a friend to me… And friends help each other.”

“Just leave me alone dammit! I don’t need help from a guy who only stood at the sideline and watch!”

“Look… I’ve been helping you because I did it out of the generosity of my heart. But if you don’t want my help anymore… Prove it to me. Eto and Gremmy still think that you’re a child trying to learn how to walk for the first time. Prove to me that you don’t need my help by doing this. If all goes well, it’ll tell me that you can take care of yourself and that Eto doesn’t need my assistance anymore.” He told her, looking at Moondancer before looking at Kaoru again. “Prove to them that you are the strong and brave Ghoul that I remember from a few months back. Show them what you are capable of.”

“If you haven’t notice idiot, I’M NOT A GHOUL ANYMORE!” Kaoru yelled as she pushed Lance out of her room with the help of Moondancer. “Now stay out of my room and stay out of my life. I don’t need help from someone who thinks he help just by standing on the sidelines while the other did the work for him.” With that she slammed the door in front of Lance. Not before he grabbed it and her slam caused a portion of the door to break.

“Do you honestly think I left you on the Goddamn sidelines? You have no idea what I did. What I had to put up with, or the amount of times I almost DIED to keep my promise.” He stopped, rolling up his sleeve on the arm that so long ago, she had bitten. It had more scars now. Scars from fights, near death and everything else.

“I thought you would change if I let you be human again… Now I realize that was one of the biggest mistakes I have done. I’m sorry, Kaoru. But you left me no choice.” Taking the key he was still holding, his blinding speed had the key pop the band that was on Kaoru’s wrist off of her as it fell to the floor. He picked them up, giving them to Moondancer. “Please… look out for her. She may not want to hear it, but I care for her like a daughter. Please watch her.”

“... If you want to know what happen to her, go ask Adagio and she’ll tell you the damage caused to her. But I will keep her safe for you.” Moondancer said as she wrapped her kagune around the broken human.

“Thank you… Before I go though…” He told her, his arm still exposed. “Let her eat. If she does, some clarity might return to her.”

“She’s not a ghoul anymore remember?”

“... You don’t get how the band works.” Lance told her. “She isn’t a ghoul as long as it stays on. When it’s off, she becomes a ghoul again. The band is used to nullify her powers, but when it’s removed, her powers return. I’m guessing Gremmy didn’t tell you that?”

“*Sigh* Just go talk to Adagio and you’ll know what I mean.” Moondancer said as she turn her attention back at Kaoru. Lance sighed, closing the door before going into his pocket and leaving his token on the doorknob with a message for her. As he turned around though, he was surprised to see that the woman Moondancer mentioned was behind him. And proceeded to slap him in the face.

“Hm, odd? I figure my hoof would be stunned when I did that.” Adagio said.

“It would only work if I’m channeling my powers. I’m not right now because I’m trying to not cause any turmoil… Wait… were you snooping on our conversation?”

“Well I am the league's medical doctor after all, and I was gonna check on Kaoru until you came. So you wanna know what Moondancer was talking about?”

“Let me guess… Uncontrollable rage… suicidal tendencies… Sonata trying to force her to eat tacos?” Lance sighed, realizing he wasn’t getting anywhere. “Well, this might be surprising… but Kaoru is a ghoul again. I took off the band on her wrist so her powers could fully return to her.”

“Sure you did, but it didn’t.”

“Hang on… it?” The Azure Striker asked. “The band only nullify’s a Displaced’s powers when the user is wearing it. When it is taken off, their powers return to the owner. Are you telling me that there’s something that I don’t know about?” The Adept was asking her this because he wanted to make sure that he wasn’t missing anything important.

“Let me tell the damage of Kaoru when she was fighting that mutant beetle.” Adagio said as a digital screen appeared showing Kaoru’s destroyed body. “When Moondancer was able to get her and Kaoru here. Half her body and almost vital organs were destroyed, and for some reason while fighting him she couldn’t recover from his punches.”

“Well, that only proves something else… The band must not be on when she fights.” he told her. “It nullifies her rapid healing abilities. That’s why she couldn’t recover as quickly.”

“You don’t understand, she wasn’t wearing the band that Gremmy got from you.”

That, caught Lance's attention. “She wasn’t…? Wait… have you scanned her for an x-ray yet.” He asked, thinking of something that came to mind. “Kabuto might be dead, but there’s something that doesn’t add up… and I have a feeling of what it might be…”

“Can I please finish before you rudely interrupted me?”

“Oh, my apologies. Continue.”

“Thank you. Now as I was saying, by the time she got here, Kaoru was nothing but torso and an arm. So I did the best I could to try to patch her, but due to the mutated cells in Kabuto’s body, it prevented her from recovering. So I had to do the alternative.”

“Alternative?” He asked.

“I used some of the energy from the band to make certain parts of her body that were vital and needed to replace quickly. So after two days of surgery I was able to fix Kaoru back up, but I had to remove the kagune from her along with her reproductive organs, and have to replace pieces of her brain that couldn’t recover.”

“ …… Damn… this is not good.” he looked at her. “The band was not suppose to be used for those purposes. Now, you’re preventing her from ever being able to fight again…”

“So let me get this straight.” Adagio said as she gave Lance a death gaze. “You would rather you have just let Kaoru die?”

“Not if you give her a cure. My blood can cure those remedies.” He told her. “I have advanced healing. It can remove the poison from Kabuto. All you need to do is get that band out of her.”

“If you were here two days ago then it would’ve help, but seeing how you were busy-.”

“Don’t you god damn lecture me about what I do. I’m trying to help your comrade and you are just trying to delay me helping her.” He shot back. “Now, do you want Kaoru to be back on her feet or still moping in her room? If you let me do this… I won’t even tell Gremmy how you abused the gift that I gave him.”

“Interrupt me again and I’ll have Arima kick you out. Now as I was saying, while you were busy trying to clear her name. Granted you’re blood is quite interesting on the healing aspect, but organs are already placed inside her and unless you want her to die by having me remove them, then I suggest instead of trying to fix my hard work I suggest you try finding someone that can help her cope with a being brought back from the dead, and getting the sh*t beat out of you like rag doll.”

That conversation though, had Lance realize something. Nothing had to be removed… It just had to be reversed. “The bands don’t need to be removed… They’re metal right?”

“Once her body is recovered I’ll be removing the bands.”

“I’m leaving the medical work to you… But I highly suggest you quicken her recovery. There’s a narrow window of opportunity that she needs to make and if she can’t make it… Then her depression would get worse… Moondancer can fill you in on those details.” Lance told her. “Oh… and I’m sorry for cutting you off again and getting mad. I just get real frustrated when I can’t help anyone…”

“I’ll let it pass this one time lightning boy. As for Kaoru it’ll take more than a few hours of her to recover. Right now, she’s going through the healing phase, than we have to help her get back to physical strength normally for her body to get used to being normal, and during that time we need to help her cope with her near death experience. Unlike you who’s used to something like that Kaoru isn’t, and rushing things like this won’t help.”

“...... I’m not used to it.” He told her, catching her attention. “I was in the same position as her. When that happened to her, I almost was killed as well. You may not think of it, but I had to cope as well. Cope from the feeling of not being able to protect those I cared for. There’s a way to do it, but it involves the league seeing her more than just a member of an organization… You need to see her as family.” Lance sighed, narrowing down a bit as he placed his two front fingers on her forehead. Normally, doing this would have him see the memories of those he touched. But instead, the process was reversed. Adagio was seeing the memories of what happened to Lance. But not just seeing them. Feeling them. Putting her in the same position he once was until she came back to reality.

“You may not think that I’ve been through some of these experiences because we’re on opposite sides of the law, but as the saying goes, don’t judge a book by it’s cover.” He soon turned around, walking back to where Lotus would be… Until he was unsuspectedly yanked into Touka’s room as the door slammed behind him.

“Well what do we have here?” Touka said wrapping her kagune around him. “The Azure Striker, here in our base, and injured no less.”

“That would be because you pulled me by the neck.” He clarified. “And for clarification, Gremmy needed my help with Kaoru so he had me talk to her. Hopefully, things work out… I’m still going to have to apologize to him.”

“Not to be a **** or anything, after hearing your so called talk I don’t think that did anything to help. I believe it takes a woman’s touch to help her with what happen to her… no pun intended.”

“Try telling that to Sonata. She was thrown into two of your teammates.”

“A Displaced Female, not a pony simpleton.” Touka deadpanned. The way that she was acting was really starting to give Lance flashbacks to Max and Seph. The tone. The way she spoke. Everything. Especially with the way she yanked him into there.

“ …… Right… I’m guessing there’s a reason why you yanked me in here?” He asked, looking around and noticing something on her open laptop. A sound file titled “Lance and Max’s fun”. That… caught his attention really quickly as he looked back at her. “How the hell did you get something like this?”

“Sonata left a small speaker device on you while you weren’t looking. Have to say, even though she’s not that bright she does one hell of a job placing stuff on people.”

“That might explain why I found chips in my pocket the following morning,” He murmured to himself. “Still though, why exactly are you snooping on us… Are you jealous?”

“Maybe, who knows, but I will say that I want a piece of Max’s boy candy.”

Lance smirked a little, looking back at her. “Well… I’m guessing you don’t know that I’m in an open relationship… heh, I got some extra time on my hands.”

It only took a little while for Lance to be able to finally be able to get back with Lotus after Kaoru yanked him by surprise. But the first person to talk wasn’t her though, or Lumen. But instead, it was the filly that was helping him with Comms. He had turned it off shortly after speaking with Gremmy. But it wasn’t until later that he turned it back on again to the sound of both dragon and filly yelling at him.

“Lance! What have you been doing!?” Aurora asked rhetorically.

“Sorry Aurora… I had to take a slight detour and help some… acquaintances.” Lance told her. “I’ll be making my way over to the facility shortly.”

“Hurry up, we don’t have much time for fun. Purple Mare just broke into the Thingamajig and destroyed it as well as stole Sandy.”

That… definitely made Lance hurry up. Everything that occurred after that, including the apology to Gremmy was just a blur as he raced out of there and used instant transmission to teleport himself to the roof of the facility. Turning around, he found a door that had a security lock mechanism on the front. “Aurora, patch me into the network. I’m going in.”

A few seconds later, Aurora said, “You’re in, Lance.”

“Thanks!” He told him, before quietly creeping in through the door. Activating a headset he kept on him, the Adept worked his way down to the second floor. Looking for a map, he soon came across a field plan of the entire facility.

“Okay guys, I found two possible locations. One is a storage room and the other is Lauren Order’s office. Which one seems to be the closest to where I’m at right now?”

“Head to her office,” Spike replied back. “The storage unit is just below it, so you can drop in shortly afterwards.”

“Well, that’s convenient.” Following the dragon's words, he made his way to the office of Lauren Order, only to find another security panel. Aurora assisted him with the override and soon, the Adept was inside. The immediate thing that he saw to the right was a cardboard box that was partially glowing. Soon, he opened it up and found his target.

“Jackpot.”

Taking a few crystals, he slipped them into his jacket before turning around. He was going to leave… If it weren’t for a Manila folder he found in the trash can. Taking it out, he soon gasped at what was labeled at the front of it.

PROJECT: MARIONETTE- SUBJECT: EQUILIS

“Holy crap… Aurora… You aren’t going to believe what I found in here.”

“What?” The filly asked.

“Lauren Order has a subject file here on the Marionette Project. Specifically, Equilis. How the hell does she have something like this?”

Aurora was quiet until she asked, “Spike? Any ideas why Order has it?”

“I don’t know… Bring that file back with you Lance. There must be some clues inside that can tell us what is going on.” Lance nodded, placing the folder with the crystals in his jacket.

“Okay, I believe I got everything I need. Making my exit now.” He told them, working his way back up the stairs. However, before he could transport himself back to HQ, a clicking sound was heard and caused him to freeze in his tracks.

“Don’t… move…”

Lance paused, slowly turning around. Looking at the one pointing a gun at him. Eyes widening. “Dad?” Soon, the mare that he saw only a couple of days before appeared next to him, forming from a puddle of paint.

“Boo!” She whispered into his ear, smirking devilishly.

“Anarchy… Now is not the time for pranks.” McCree told her, refocusing his attention on the Adept in front of him. “Who are you?”

“Wha-?”

“You look like my son, but I have no way of proving that you are. Tell me your name now.” He snarled, looking at him with an intent to kill. Lance sighed, taking a deep breath.

“My name is Lance Walker. Son of Brandon and Tiffany Walker, Nephew of Silvia Jiris and Cousin of Sean Jiris. Sixteen years old.”

Those few words alone, caused McCree to drop his gun. “Holy sh*t.”

“McCree, we don’t have time for gawking!” Anarchy said, turning her arm into a white blade.

“Anarchy, stand down… This boy here is my son.” He told her. “He’s family. Now… why exactly are you here?”

“I needed a Soulstone to defeat someone who almost killed me.”

“Wha-? YOU ALMOST DIED!?!”

“Comes with a job.” Lance sighed.

Suddenly, red sirens went off. Anarchy pulled her hoof from the panic button. “Sorry, no snoops.”

“I was going to take my leave anyways… Better hurry and get back to Drift and the others.” Lance said, shortly before teleporting himself off of the rooftop, leaving both McCree and Anarchy there… stunned. McCree was stunned because he didn’t know that his son could teleport. Anarchy though… was surprised for a different reason.

“D-Drift…?” She shook her head, “We can’t let him get away, I saw him with a document.”

“What document?” McCree asked. “All I saw him with was the stones. Plus, the documents would be in the archives room. Not in the office where we saw him come out of.”

“I thought…” She sighed, “He had to have taken something! Why was he here!?”

“Not sure, but something tells me Lance couldn’t have gotten far. He looked exhausted when we saw him.” The Lawbringer said, turning to her. “Go get some rest. I’ll tell Curse, Choke and Blackout that they have something they can chase.”

“Okay, Aurora. I got everything.” The Adept told his partner through his communicator before looking around him. “There’s one small problem though. I need to recharge my energy and right now, I’m stuck in a field miles from that facility… And I think I somehow attracted company.”

“Uh… Look around and find some kind of landmark. Maybe you can get help.” Aurora said. The Adept looked around, soon noticing a wooden sign not far from his location.

“Okay… I found a sign with some directions… Paradise Tower… half a mile from here.” He told Aurora. “Never heard of that place before. Any idea what it is?”

“Uh, no… It sound familiar though. I heard a news report that told ponies to steer clear of that area… Good thing you aren’t a pony!”

“Sounds like a good place to lay low. I’m sending the soulstones to you along with the file I picked up.” He told her, using his ki to teleport the items to Spike at the base, keeping two of the three Soulstones to himself as he hurried through the branches and the trees. “I’m going to take cover until whoever is chasing me gets bored.” Around now though, was when he looked up to see what this Paradise Tower actually was. A silver shack made out of metal… That was a Tower?

“Weird…” Lance thought, only to hear some commotion come from behind him. He heard three voices and they were talking to each other, looking for him.

Seeing that there was no time to stick around, Lance ran towards the tower and closed the door behind him. Inside was a button labeled ‘Down’. Looking at the button, he approached it carefully and then pushed it. “Down? The hell does that mean?”

His question was answered when the stone slab he though was in front of him turned out to be a set of elevator doors. “Oh… So that’s what that is.” Soon, he stepped inside as the doors closed behind him.

Immediately, the lights went on. Illuminating the area in a weak glow. A hologram of a green mare appeared with a familiar voice.

“Welcome to the op-opening day of the Pararararadise Tower Memorial Museum-m-m. My name is S-Sandy-y, and I will be your tour guide for th-this fine d-d-day.”

Lance was initially shocked at seeing Sandy. But the one thing he noticed was that this one didn’t seem to notice him. The AI must’ve been reprogrammed to serve as a tour guide. “Hello.” He said briefly, to test the theory he had involving her being reprogrammed as he waited for a response.

Instead of responding, the image of her faded and the projector short circuited with sparks flying. The farther he went down, the more static he heard from his communicator. So, in the best interest, he shut it off as the elevator slowed down and the doors soon opened.

The area was desolate, only a few pieces of paper here and there. A desk with dust all over it, and a steel door behind that was everything else. Another hologram appeared of Sandy.

“This place was once a lab used by Dr. Igneous Rock, also known as Delirious. He was an evil scientist who wanted to test the limits of what a pony can do. He was stopped by the Power Ponies, and their team was formed soon after. We decided to repurpose this place to give everypony a chance to see the great wonder of the deceased Stopwatch and the team he left behind. The lower levels are off limits to children and are for adults with a strong stomach.”

“Something tells me that down there, I might find out something important.” He told himself. Proceeding forward, he kept his hands by the holsters of his weapons as he cautiously proceeded to the steel door. Carefully, he pushed it open and stepped through.

This section’s lights turned on, and a dozen mementos from the past that Lance had never seen before were lined up on separate ends. Another hologram appeared.

“This sections are trinkets that the Power Ponies donated to-to-to this museum. Things they collected fro-from past villains like Fantasy, Anti-Zapp, and even Hybrid.”

“Hybrid?”

This time, Sandy responded. “Hybrid: An experimental clone that was a hybrid of all the Power Ponies founding members excluding Stopwatch. She was captured and turned into the Zero Zone and was considered a fierce foe with all the powers of the team.”

This made Lance think of Discord, power wise. Multiple Powers in one body. “I see. Please continue.”

“She fought the Power Ponies on three occasions, and could morph into any of her DNA templates. She was created by the same ponies as Echolight, Blaster, Saddle Breaker, Fili-Minute, Marevelence, and Dullness.” It finished, having Lance think of the same ponies that had been released early because of Nova. He continued to walk farther down the halls, until a sound caught his attention. It sounded like movement. But other than him, there was no one else unless the ones that were chasing him made there way down here.

“How many are here in attendance?” He asked, thinking that a question relating to the exhibit might give him an answer he was looking for.

“One.” Came the reply.

“Maybe they’re cloaking themselves.” He told himself. “Let me know if anything changes. Let’s proceed.” He spoke out loud, continuing to walk forward.

“Shutdown AI, password delta-one.” A male voice said. Lance looked around and spotted two red eyes. “What the hell are you doing here?”

Lance turned around, lightning being emitted from his arms. “I could ask you the same thing. Who are you?” He shot back, resisting temptation to draw his gun.

“This is my base,” He said before coming out into the light. His grey hooves clopped on the floor, red eyes glowing, and he was wearing a cloak, shielding his face. “I’m the Grim Reaper...”

“Very funny-”

A Scythe appeared out of the shadows, as well as a Sword, “It wasn’t a joke… I am the Grim Reaper.”

“And just when I thought Masked Matterhorn was the oddest of names.” He mumbled to himself. However, his words were still heard by the pony in front of him.

“How do you know about lady Matterhorn?”

“I’m on the Power Ponies. She’s my teammate.” Lance told the individual. “I’m known as Gunvolt.”

“Never heard of you…” Grim said, “And I don’t take kindly to strangers in my abode. I’ve had enough of heroes…”

“You must be the reason why this place has been haunted for an entire year… You’ve locked yourself in here, didn’t you?”

The stallion chuckled, “It’s only been a year? I thought it’d been over twenty…” Grim tilted his head, “Are you here to clear me out?”

“No… I stumbled upon here by accident… Now I know how much Twilight and the others cared for Time…” Then, it hit him. If Grim here locked himself in here, there needed to be a reason. “Why did you lock yourself in here? Was Stopwatch important to you?”

Grim growled, “Leave me alone… You’ve made your point you know about Twilight… And Stop was my friend…”

That’s when Lance realized something. Grim here was just like Twilight Mist and the others in New Yoke. They didn’t know the truth about Time. He thought he was dead along with Gadget. “You speak of him as if he was dead…”

“Aren’t we all? One day, everypony I knew from the team will be dead… Sooner or later…” Grim sighed.

“Then you must be mistaken… I know the truth about your friend… and I’m planning on bringing him and his companions back.” Lance told him. Noticing that when he looked at his communicator, there was no more static as he turned it back on. “Aurora… Can you hear me?”

“Yeah! Oh, I read up about the Paradise Tower. It’s apparently haunted by some kind of monster. There were even a few deaths!”

“Thanks for the input.” Lance sighed, ending the call. “I apologize about that… Now, where was I-?”

“You were leaving…” Grim growled. It sounded more animalistic than a pony would.

“That’s not it. Stopwatch isn’t dead. He’s alive, but banished. Because of Roach.”

Grim started giggling. It was low at first, but gradually turned into laughter and the full blown cackling.

“You think I’m trying to be funny?” Lance told him, unclipping his blue jacket to reveal the white one that he was wearing underneath. The one that Time gave him. “Roach banished him from this world. He gave me this-.”

Grim slashed at Lance with his scythe. The hood fell to reveal black veins and white mane. A twitch in his right eye told the Azure Striker that this pony wasn’t well.

“Death comes to all. Whether we like it or not… Hehe… Stopwatch taught me that!” He swiped again, barely missing Lance, “Twilight’s gonna die! Everypony will die and I won’t!!”

Lance though, smirked. “There are also those that cheat death. See for yourself!!” With that, his two front fingers reached Grim’s forehead, letting loose a wave of energy as the pony in front of him began to see things he couldn’t understand. What was the truth. The truth he didn’t believe.

But Reaper slammed his hoof into Lance’s chest, sending him flying. “I don’t care… What’s the one thing a pony can’t escape? Death… I am no exception. My friend, my family, will all die… But I can’t…”

Lance just staggered. But, surprisingly, Grim saw him grinning… “I get it now… You can’t die… because you already have. You’re no reaper… You’re undead. Great… this is worse than the Purple Mare trying to beat the living hell out of me.”

Reaper sent a barrage of spikes towards Lance, as well as summoning a bow with black arrows. The Adept dodging the spikes and using his powers to block the arrows. However, something was making Lances skin crawl. Like whoever he was talking about… was close.

Before Reaper could continue his attack, a sword went through his chest. He cried out in pain, dark red blood dripped down his chest.

“Hey Lance! I was wondering where this moron was…” The Purple Mare said. Lance’s response was putting himself in front of Reaper, stopping her from moving any closer.

“Don’t… you dare… step any closer.” He growled in a threatening tone.

“Or what? You’ll call me names again? Call me a bad mother or a psycho?” Purple giggled.

Lance smirked. “Try me.”

“Why are you protecting him? He’s unkillable by me, I’ve only slowed him down.”

“True… But the same can’t be said about you.” He told her.

“Wow, I’m so scared…” She yawned, “Blaster, say hi…” Just then, a small explosion went off near Lance. “She’s got a sniper rifle trained on you. I heard you visited Roach, so I’m not taking any chances. Whatever he told you isn’t good for me.”

“Actually, he told me the opposite. He gave me only one piece. I had to figure out the rest on my own.” He told her, standing there. “But, I’m a little curious about something… How much of a moron do you think I really am?”

“I’ve seen worse. Maybe under average in most regards, but above in others.” Purple said, eyes narrowed.

“Heh… I wonder though… How long would it take for Blaster to realize that her position has been given away and the moment she fired her gun, a signal was sent to HQ. Meaning that she might have… other problems to deal with.” Within seconds, the cyborg’s position was compromised as electricity crackled through the air and another explosion went off. When the smoke cleared, another pony stood amongst them.

“I’m here!!” A voice cried off as one more teleported in by Lance’s side.

“Zapp and I came here as quickly as we could.” Twilight spoke, turning around only for her to look shocked. “G-grim?”

Blaster landed next to the Purple Mare, holding her disconnected left foreleg in her right. But there was a sudden explosion and three mares landed on the other side.

“Oh buck!” Blaster yelped, “They weren’t with the escapees!”

Lance narrowed his eyes, seeing them. “I know exactly what they are,” He said, noticing the patched on their clothes. “They’re suicide squad. Twilight, take Grim and get him out of here. Beforehand, cast that spell on me.” Looking back at the Purple Mare, he let the mare cast the spell as he was coated in an aquamarine glow. “Be careful though, Grim is unstable. Extreme caution is advised.”

“Got it.” She said, before looking back at him. “Don’t die on us tonight.”

“I won’t.” he affirmed her as the Alicorn teleported them out of there. “Now… looks like we have ourselves a mexican standoff… Who has the guts to make the first move?”

“Well, I was hoping to fight Matterhorn, but I guess you’ll do.” Said the lead mare. Her eyes were teaming with dark magic, “My name is Curse, villain turned hero turned villain and turned into a Squaddie. Pleasure is yours, Lance Walker.”

“Choke, that’s all I’m saying…” Said a Pegasus with an orange coat and mane.

“And… Oh…” Said the last mare, looking at Zapp, “... Sister…”

“Anti-Zapp!” Screamed Blaster as she charged her turrets and charged the Pegasus.

“And that is the first move.” Lance sighed. “Zapp, do whatever you can to stop them. However, don’t attack Purple Mare. She’s mine.”

“Got it. Need to deal with Anti-me first, but Ms. Violent is all yours.”

Purple Mare called two of her spirits, and Curse jumped one and used her magic to somehow shove it back into the Marionette. It didn’t last long, though, as it came right back out.

“Oh my gosh, this is getting ridiculous…” Said Purple as Curse shot bolt after bolt of dark magic towards Purple. However, Curse did not see Lance whip out his gun and blast her with his new Carbine Clip. Pushing the mare into a nearby exhibit. Before looking back at the Purple Mare.

She smirked, “I thought we were having a threesome!”

Lance rolled his eyes. “Your sexual humor is not my forte.”

“I’m hurt… So you’d never do me?” Her smile never faltered.

“Not if you were going to snap the neck of our child.”

That time she frowned, and growled. Three more spirits came out of her, adding her total of souls to five. “You don’t know me… I’d never hurt Aurora.”

“Try saying that to her after she stabbed you with a meathook.”

Two of her spirits swiftly rushed Lance and tried to posses him, only for them to be pulled in and disappeared like they were sucked out of the air with a vacuum. With a hand, Lance pointed it at the other three and the light that surrounded him soon had the same effect happen to them.

“No! Please no! Anything but that! I need them!” Blood shot out of her nose mixed with black tar.

“You may need them, but they don’t need you.” Lance growled. “They deserve to be set free. To go to heaven. Not bound here to the earth like you force them too.”

Her eye twitched, “They were the only… Things keeping me… Going…” She collapsed, crying out blood and tar mixed with tears. Lance walked over to the fallen mare who was trying to stay balanced, placing his hand on her forehead as his energy glowed brighter.

“I release thee from what binds you to the earth… You may now go in peace.”

A mirthful chuckle escaped her lips, “You have no… Idea, do you…?”

“I do. But let me tell you something… Remember when I told the Masked Matterhorn to cast that spell on me? You probably did since you were there… But I’ll let you in on something… Remember what I said about Roach?”

She nodded feebly.

“Well,” Lance told her, taking out a Soulstone and placing it on her forehead. Before putting his glowing hand on it, he said two words as it’s magic caused the soulstone to overflow and burst. “I lied. What he told me was exactly the small piece I needed to solve the puzzle that you are. Goodbye… Rest in peace.”

A sudden pain entered his hand, and he saw the stone was gone. Purple’s eyes died, her final breath being, “Aurora… I’m sorry…” And she was gone. The stone lay fifty feet away, broken as the souls of the children disappeared into the night.

Blaster looked in his general direction and screamed, “No!” She hovered over to the lifeless body and glared at the Adept, “You bucking bastard! Now I really know what heroes haVE BECOME-!!!”

Before she could finish, Lance’s gaze met hers as he soon teleported himself to the nearby ledge. “You don’t know a damn thing about her… She gave away her own daughter… KILLED children for fun… It wasn’t me that did the final blow. The Spell was suppose to have her trapped in the stone… someone knocked it out of my hand.”

“This isn’t a movie!” Blaster backed up, “I’ve killed… So are you gonna trap my soul in a stone?”

“No…” He told her softly, teleporting behind her and placing his fingers on her forehead. “I’m going to have you see the truth.”

The memories of Purple Mare ran through Blaster’s head. After it was done, Blaster pulled out a turret and shot Lance in the stomach, sending him flying. “Stay away from me!”

“Nice try…” He told her, showing his second jacket underneath and the body armor under that. “But I’m not that easy to kill. Listen Blaster…”

“Stay away!” She hovered away and bumped into a mare Lance didn’t see before.

“BLASTER!! BEHIND YOU!!!”

Anti-Zapp placed her hoof on Blaster, and before the cyborg clone could even flinch, all of her energy was drained in one go. Blaster screamed in fear and pain, but ended up collapsing on the floor.

The black Pegasus shrugged, “Sorry, nothing personal RD, I’m just doing what I’m told.”

And with that, Anti unleashed the drained power into Blaster’s head, shocking her body and causing her turrets to explode. She flew over to the others and Curse teleported them away. Lance ran over to her, trying to see what he could do to help her. The mare was weak and from what he could see, a small gauge of her energy running low. “Zapp, back up a second. I’m not sure if this will work, but I am not going to try and let her die on my watch.” With it, he had his electricity run through his hands at the highest amount he could and placed it near where the cyborgs heart would be. Trying to do his best to jump start it. Soon, his hands felt something that he wanted to feel… A pulse.

“S-she’s alive!”

“W-where am-m I…?” Blaster croaked.

“You’re okay, Blaster… We haven’t gone anywhere. But you need medical attention-.”

“Who’s Blaster?”

That stunned Lance. Looking at Zapp, he motioned for her to come closer. “Zapp, we got a problem… Blaster’s lost her memories.”

“W-what?” She gasped, looking at the pony lying on the ground, who fell unconscious a few seconds later. The adept soon patched himself into Aurora, trying to contact her.

“Aurora, we got a situation.”

“What?” The filly asked. Lance could not tell her what happened with the Purple Mare just yet… or be brutal and say I killed your mother just now! So, instead, he made it brief.

“The fight’s over. Purple Mare has been defeated, but we have a situation. Anti-Zapp was here and she wrecked Blaster. She can’t remember who she is anymore.”

“I’m already confused, but I’ll contact the others. Can you teleport her here? I’ll call an ambulance wherever-.”

“I’m teleporting us to you. Call Sparkler though. I might need her to take a look at Blaster. Since she’s a Telepath, she might be able to help mend Blaster’s mind.” The Adept told her, picking up the unconscious mare like a child that had fallen asleep. Within seconds, the Adept used the last of his strength to teleport them to the control room, where Spike had a stretcher laid out to lay Blaster down on as Zapp followed him, leaving Aurora and Lance by themselves.

“Well… This isn’t confusing at all…” Aurora said sarcastically, “We’ve beat Purple Mare in record time, Blaster was there for some reason, and Anti-Zapp is back. She was supposed to be locked up though…”

“Let me guess… Zero Zone?” Lance sighed. “Something tells me that all the trouble we’re going to be facing is coming from there specifically… But, I think I know why Blaster was there.”

Aurora was confused for a bit, until Lance began to explain. “Think of it. If one member of the Power Ponies was alone, it would give her a chance to ambush them. If she killed me, she would use it to send a message to Rainbow. Now though, she’s in an even worse state. Anti-Zapp even blew off her shoulder cannons.”

“Okay… I’m still confused though. Last I checked, the Zero Zone still had Anti.” Aurora said, “A lot of inmates are still there in the new facility.”

“Is that what the report says… Because last I looked when I was there, only Roach was there.” He told her, before catching himself. “S-sorry, I didn’t mean to bring him up.”

“Yeah, that was the only one there yesterday. They had two more shipments that weren’t interrupted.”

“Right, let’s not worry too much about it right now… Hey… umm… do you mind if I join you? You know… in the spiritual plane.” He told her, tossing the other soulstone he had aside. “I’m sorry for upsetting you earlier and… well… I wanted to make it up to you… Are you up for a movie?”

Aurora looked nervous, “Sorry, I can’t… My spiritual plane has been wonky for the past few days and I’ve been scared to go in there. I’m not in control, but I guess it’s because I don’t have a body.”

Lance raised an eyebrow while taking off his jacket and setting it on a nearby desk chair. “What if I was with you? You don’t need to be scared if I’m with you…”

“I… Don’t want to be there right now. It may have been my safe haven before, but ever since Equinox- I mean Equilis died, things are… Stressful…”

One piece of that sentence caught Lance’s attention. Something wasn’t right. “Hold up… what was that you said? Ever since…”

Static started to appear, and Aurora began to panic, “Not th-th-th-th-this agaaaaaain!”

“Aurora? Aurora, stay calm-!” Lance tried to tell her, but his pleas were on deaf ears as the static became more and more frequent. He saw Aurora freaking out, grabbing her head and screaming. But then, her face looked to have peeled off and what was behind it was what Lance did not expect to see at all right around now.

“Y-y-y-you’re pisssssssssssing me-me off more a-an-and more, Walkkkker.”

Equinox. He was back. And he was more angrier than before.

End Strike 34

Author's Note

Happy Halloween. Today, you get an extra long chapter just because I'm nice. With it, a few things are checked off Lance's to-do list. But not everything is as easy as it may seem. And sometimes... you need to play the hand (or hoof, depending on your preference) that you are given.

I will have to take a small break from this story so that way I can focus on some of my other ones. I do have a surprise for all of you. Just pay attention to the smallest of details in order to find out what it is. Now... Rise from the Ashes

-Frost Out

Strike 35- Answers

When Lightning Strikes- Answers

Power Pony HQ

This was not exactly the best of times to have old demons emerge from nowhere to come haunt you. For Lance, Equilis… Now known as Equinox, just forced himself to appear in front of him and making it look like he tore off Aurora’s face to replace it with his own.

“What the hell is your problem!?” He snarled at the digital construct. “Ever since you showed up, you’ve been tormenting Aurora! What is this suppose to be, payback!?”

The morbid filly glared, “You ju-just killed-ed the la-last Marionette-ette! Purp-Purple Mare wasn-n’t as dan-dangerous as you sai-said.” Lance thought about it for a moment. Before looking back at the construct, with a new look in his eyes.

“You expect me to believe you? I’m not convinced.” He told Equinox, getting out the manila folder he was hiding under his clothes and slamming it down on the table. “With what you are doing to Aurora, I am not going to believe an entire word of anything you tell me. Maybe I should peak through this folder to find out the truth. It is about you after all.”

“Go ah-ahead.” Equinox dared.

Lance, listening to his words, opened the file. “Let’s see now… here’s something for you. “Romantically attached to Joking,” Whoever the hell she is… “Patient's parents were killed by a SWAT team due to a resistance in Prance.”...” Lance soon moved through the reports, reading each of them one by one very descriptively. “Shall I continue or get to the main point?”

Equinox just glared, almost frozen in lag. “Gooooooooooo ahhhhead-d-d-d-d, call me a-ycho. You’ve’ve’ve’ve already-eeeeeeeee thrown every insulllllllt possible-le.”

“Tell me why I would find this in a building that belonged to Lauren Order.”

“Missssssszzzzzz-z-z-z Orderer was the-the mare who-ho covered up Project Marionette. She made-ade us disappear, who caused us to-to run-n and hi-i-i-i-i-i-ide...” Equinox laughed.

“Son of a b*tch…” Lance cursed. “Tell me something… this isn’t the only file there is of this project now… is it?” The Adept was thinking in terms with what was going on presently and what could’ve happened. She was the one who was keeping the Suicide Squad out of the eyes of the media, so the same thing must’ve happened with the Marionettes. Then, he noticed one thing he overlooked.

“With the personality you have now… Why did you free another test subject?”

“What?” Equinox asked, confused.

“Page 2 out of 4 on the report by Cleaver Lever on you says and I quote “freed a future test subject named Steam Show”. Why would someone as heartless as you free a subject of the same tests you were going through?”

“This isn’t some fairy tale W-walker, I wasn’t born heartless as you say… I was molded…”

“That is what I thought… The Black Tar that was pouring out of you… The substance was turning you into something that you are not. You weren’t born heartless, I understand that. You were made into something that you despised. Your free of your body now… so why still act like you’re bound to it.”

“The black tar isn’t corruption, it’s the beginning. The project would start at a young age. They’d give you a chemical, and that would give you the powers. They train you, mold you into a killer. After you were thirteen, they’d send you to assassinate targets. After some time, the original Marionette’s, myself included, tried to stop it. We didn’t know what we were fighting for… Then, the next step began.”

“Next step?” Lance asked, listening to the projection carefully.

“We wanted freedom. We wanted to have a normal life, to meet our family’s… Even if they hated us… They decided to cut off that desire, as well as add to our power. They wanted to kill our mercy, our innocence, our… Humanity, you’d call it. Around that time, Purple and Lash heard what they’d done to Joking and I, so they sent their filly off to be safe. It gave them what they wanted… More than that.”

“ … So you were forced to fight without a purpose… Equinox, listen… I believe you on that, but it still feels like you are hiding something from me… I found out about the Purple Mare through Roach, so unless you want me to ask him for something, tell me now. I have a feeling that there was more than just the four of you. If I remember correctly with the Puppets, you had five subjects. If you applied the same fundamentals from Marionette to the Puppets, then there is a fifth marionette…” He told Equinox, his gaze unchanged. “Would you want me to make this easy and have you tell me… Or do I have to take you with me to go meet him personally?”

“There were f-five of us. Lash committed suicide after he realized what was happening, Joking was murdered by your predecessor, I… Broke, Purple was just killed… Only one I can think of is Cupcake, but she was supposed to be dead…”

Now he was getting somewhere. “Suppose to is not the same as actually. When I defeated the purple mare, something broke the soulstone I used to beat her with and whatever it was felt like the curved blade of a knife… What powers did Cupcake have. I’m asking this because I’m not going to make the same mistake my predecessor once did.”

“I’m… Not gonna tell you in great d-detail, but she has the powers of whoever she kills… More than that, I cannot say. She’s my last sibling.”

“Thank you. Equinox… I’m not going to harm her. What happened to you and the other marionettes is wrong and cruel. With Cupcake though… I want to give her a second chance.”

“That may be easier said than done. She’s the most violent of us, and, in your terms, the craziest of us. If you won’t kill her, I’ll say that her power absorbing is triggered through… Eating flesh…”

“Like cannibalism? Eating the flesh of her victims?”

“Indeed. She also steals the wings and horns of the normal ones to gain the elements of other races for a limited time.” Equinox explained, “Now I must b-be going. There is nothing more to discuss, correct?”

“Not for now… Just please… don’t scare or harm Aurora. She’s family to me and really important.” Lance told the construct before sighing. “If I need to talk to you, what should I do?”

“Say my name. I’m n-not in control, so don’t bring my new name up to the child… And I haven’t scared her since the sewers.”

“That doesn’t make sense… she said your new name seconds before you popped in. Also, she says that what use to be her safe haven now haunts her ever since you… broke.”

“I can safely say, we share this mind. Only one of us can be awake. We share some memories, but that lasts all but a few seconds. As for the haven, it’s most likely my second treatment getting into her system. She’s becoming like me while I’m becoming ‘purified’. This is all a theory.” Equinox said as Aurora’s face began to heal, “It’s all her…”

“P-purified?” Lance asked himself softly, before he noticed the filly being fully healed. She heard him groan, looking back at her with a look of concern. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah… What were we talking about?” Aurora asked.

“I was beginning to think that I would let you rest here.” He told her, not wanting to tell her about the conversation he had with Equinox. “I’ve been having you help me the last few days and I was thinking that you deserved a break. Let you get some sleep.”

“I can’t sleep… No matter how tired I am, all I can do is fake sleep and gain energy through electricity.”

“Well, It is getting late. I was going to get some sleep before checking in on the new guests back in the infirmary.” He replied, walking his way back to his room as he closed the door behind him. “Can you wake me up if Twilight and the others need me?”

“Sure thing.” The soul said. With that, Lance laid his head on the bedrest and closed his eyes. Tomorrow was a new day. And hopefully, it’ll be a lot better than what happened tonight.

Unfortunately for Lance, the Adept was unable to get all the sleep he needed. He was rudely awakened by a loud crashing noise that ran throughout the entire floor. As he got up and briefly put some clothes, the only thing that he was wearing was his pants and a sleeveless shirt. He was surprised when he noticed that no one else was awake. But that’s when he remembered that everypony else was sleeping on the floors below him. Not wanting to disturb Aurora, he quietly opened the door to his room and began to slowly make his way through the hall. Tip toeing across the floor.

The Azure Striker treated the current situation like a stealth exercise. Whoever was awake was completely aware of their surroundings, so he needed to approach wherever the noise came from quietly and with the utmost of caution. In addition, he had his weapons clip be switched back to Cerberus, the standard clip for when having to deal with certain opponents. As he creeped through the hallway, he soon came to realize that the sound came from one of the infirmary rooms that was farther down the hall.

He first entered the room, but could not feel any presence of life in there. He could however, make out what looked like hoofprints. Quietly, he followed the tracks, which surprisingly lead him to the kitchen.

What he found though was quite surprising. It was Blaster, the clone of Zapp that was trying to kill him earlier, trying to drink directly out of the milk carton that was in the fridge like a filly trying to not get caught by their parents. When the mare saw him, her face began to blush due to outright embarrassment.

“Um… Hi?” She giggled nervously. “Do you know where I am? I’m supposed to be at Locust Labs. My designation is RD-17.”

“RD-17…?” Lance asked, thinking this was some kind of mental hallucination or that she was somehow seeing things. He needed to call Sparkler, but couldn’t just straight up alarm the pony in front of him. “Miss, I think you’re mistaken. I’m not sure that I’m familiar about this Locust Labs that you are talking about. Would you mind if I make a quick phone call so I can try to help you the best I can?”

“Okay…” Blaster said. With that, the Adept excuse himself briefly to return to his room, grab his communicator and call Sparkler. However, when he heard the phone pick up, he was surprised at who he was talking too.

“Lance? Why are you calling at four in the morning?”

“Oh, My apologies Derpy. Is Sparkler there?” He asked. “Something important came up. You know… Hero stuff?”

“Oh I see, hang on a sec, I’ll get her for you.” The Mare replied, letting Lance wait for a little bit as he walked back through the hallway. Soon, Sparkler picked up and wasn’t really happy to be disturbed from her sleep.

“What is it? I have a migraine right now and I was just about to save the day from a group of space raiders…”

“It’s Blaster. She’s walking around and acting like she is some sort of robot. I know she’s a cyborg, but she’s now calling herself RD-17. Can you come here and take a look?”

“I got her earliest memories available. Her real name is RD-17. Zapp told me she named RD Blaster because she disliked her having the first two letters of Rainbow Dash as Blaster’s name… I’ll be there in a bit…” Sparkler grumbled.

“Thank you. I’ll just keep her occupied until you’re here.” Lance told the Unicorn as he ended the call and walked back into the room. “Miss? I believe I have some good news… and some bad news.”

“What?” Blaster asked, tilting her head.

“I don’t know about the place you were mentioning or your designation. But the good news is that somepony I know might help you.” Lance told her briefly. “She’ll be here as soon as she can. For now though, just sit down and relax.”

“I’m not allowed to relax. My creators will punish me if I do!” Blaster began to panic, “They’ll take me apart!”

“E-easy there… Calm yourself… This is a safe place…” Lance tried to calm down the scared mare. “No one is going to punish you or harm you. We want to do everything we can in order to help you, okay?”

Blaster was hyperventilating, but nodded. She sat down and opened a compartment in her only foreleg, “Why are my programs missing?”

Lance assumed to himself that by programs, she meant the mechanics in her equipment that she could interact with. Trying to act professional, he responded to her the best we could. “You were injured when you were brought into the emergency room. We had to shut down some programs so the doctors could help treat you effectively. Honestly, I did not expect you to recover so quickly.”

“I was created to heal quickly due to my rapid aging. My metabolism is all wonky, so I heal faster than you naturals.”

“Naturals?” Now that caught Lance by surprise. “I’m sorry, but could you please explain what you mean by that? I’m a little confused.”

“I’m a clone… A test tube baby, if you will. My template is Zapp of the Power Ponies.” Blaster explained.

“Would that explain your codename? RD-17?” Lance asked, looking back at the mare for a brief moment. He soon realized that RD must’ve been off of Rainbow Dash’s initials, but wasn’t sure what 17 meant. Did it mean that they tried multiple experiments that had previously failed? “Do you have an actual name?”

“RD-17 is my name. I was given it at birth, same as the other ten clones.” Blaster said. Now that surprised Lance for a different reason. He remembered that Blaster and the other clones, but that only added up to six. Who were the other four? Maybe it would be something that he would ask later.

“Is there a name that you would prefer to be called?” He asked, kindly.

“I don’t have a prefered name. I was given RD-17 for a reason, but if you wish to give me a nickname, I’m fine with that.” Blaster said.

“Hmm… would Blaster work for you? Your regalia reminds me of MegaMane and the first thing that came to mind was his blaster.” He replied. “However, if you aren’t a fan of it, I can suggest something else.”

“I’m okay with that. It sounds nice.” Blaster smiled. “I think I’ll do that relaxing thing now.” Lance smiled, watching as she just continued to sit there. He offered her a drink and poured her what remained of the milk in the carton and gave her a plate of cookies to go with it to give her a nice treat. Something to keep her calm and relaxed while he waited on Sparkler’s arrival. Soon, he noticed the Unicorn arrive in the hall outside, getting up from his position. “Excuse me for a moment.” He told her, closing the door behind her as the Adept met up with the unicorn.

“I better get something out of this…” Sparkler grumbled, “I was having one of my favorite dreams…”

“I’m glad you came. Blaster was freaking out earlier, saying that her creators were going to punish her and asking about why her programs are missing. She also kept mentioning about this… Locust Labs a few times. Right now, I’ve done everything I could to keep her calm, but I’m afraid that if she freaks out again, she’ll wake everyone in the entire building.” He explained, recalling everything that she told him. Also, he mentioned about the whole thing with ten clones and him only knowing about six of them. “Have any idea what that means?”

“I’ll check her mind, but I do remember there being a clone of Stopwatch and a Hybrid, the last two are a mystery to me until I check her mind… I think Entropy was another clone, but she was made after the memories I retrieved. As for everything else, I remember seeing her creators abuse her and even forced her into the cybernetic experiment after they figured her heart was too small… The programs were gone after she was zapped… Locust Labs was the group the created the clones and from what mom told me about the whole Equilis situation, they’re the remaining members of Project Double, a sequel to Marionette’s if you wanna think like that.”

“Marionette again?” Lance groaned, “And just when I thought that dealing with the Purple Mare would put my mind at ease…… Hey, can I ask for your opinion on something?”

“Sure…” Sparkler nodded, yawning, “Anything… Except about sexual things, mom said I shouldn’t talk about that.”

“Well, when you were explaining to me about the clones and marionette, it made me think of Blaster and the rest of them like Ash and you guys when I first saw them… Do you think we can give them a second chance just like you guys?”

“Dunno. Masked Matterhorn said they gave them a second chance already, but Blaster and Fili-Minute went nuts and brought the others down with them. And you still haven’t actually met any of the clones besides Blaster… It all depends…”

“I see your point,” Lance acknowledged her words of wisdom as she looked back at her. “Something about the clones just makes me feel… uneasy. Shortly after I woke up after being thrashed by the Purple Mare, Rainbow was telling me of her brief encounter with her and she said something that caught my attention.” He soon turned back to Blaster, watching her as she chewed on the cookies he gave her earlier.

“She said something about being framed. Being framed for something they didn’t do and that was why they were forced to be in the Zero Zone. Did you find any memories that match something like that?” He then asked Sparkler.

“I’ve only been able to piece together a few memories as well as something messing with her head. It could just be her insanity you saw when she fought you in Paradise Tower, or… Something saboteur… It’s too early to tell. What I gathered from the database after checking Blaster’s memories was that she and Fili-Minute, as well as their team of reformed villain known as the Fallen Angels killed an officer as well as twenty-two civilians.”

“That doesn’t add up.” Lance told Sparkler. “She did not look like she was insane when she was fighting Anti-Zapp. I saw that she looked scared. Fighting to protect herself. Insanity is doing the same damn thing over and over again, but expecting a different result to come out of it…” But then, he remembered something. When Sparkler described the events that unfolded, it was reminding him of when he encountered Cody the first time, only for him to try and attack him. It wasn’t until later that Twilight discovered that he was being controlled by somepony called the Puppeteer. “Did you see anything unusual when you were helping her yesterday?”

“I already said, there was interference. I’ll let you know if I find anything else. I’ve got two patients to work on and the mind is a delicate thing.” Sparkler stated. “Am I going to have to work overtime tonight...?”

“No, but how about this. I’ll go check on Reaper. You help Blaster. I’m getting a weird case of Deja’ vu when hearing about Blasters story. Give me some time to find out some information before I get back to you on that… Also…” Lance told her, tossing a pouch with a bunch of bits inside. “Consider this as a bonus. It’s a way for me to say thanks.”

“Thanks…” Sparkler said as she walked over to the cyborg. Lance smiled a little, but as he turned around, he personally felt a chill down his spine as he went back into the medical room. After his creepy encounter with Reaper the first time they’ve met, something told him that trying to help him now would be just as hard. Especially if we was still just as crazy.

When he reopened the door, the light from the moon was glowing through the room, drifting over to where the Undead pony was resting. Or in Lance’s mind, waiting. He wasn’t sure if someone like him would be able to sleep, but nonetheless, did everything he could not to disturb him as he walked over quietly. Only to be startled by his red eyes giving off a fierce glare at him, almost having the Adept trip and fall on the floor.

“What do you want?” Reaper asked, “You’ve captured me, now what?”

“Captured would not be the right word.” The Adept told her, sitting in a chair. “You had a sword pierced through your chest and was on the verge of passing out. I had Twilight help you because of your condition. Now… I just wanted to check on you. Possibly talk. I’m not here to harm you.”

“Not like I care. I’m already dead.” The stallion said, “What do you hope to accomplish? Having me rejoin you so Twilight and the others would praise you for returning their lost comrade?”

“I do not need any praise. You made a significant impact on all of them,” He told them. “I don’t do things for any rewards or a purpose. I just believe that what I need to do is the right thing. I wouldn’t leave anypony to sit there and die, even if they couldn’t die. It would reflect badly on my personal conscience.”

“So it’s a moral gain… I don’t suppose if I told you it was futile, you’d let me return to Paradise Tower…”

“No, because… I believe you can help me and I can help you… Hearing what you were saying earlier made me think about one of my own personal fears. If I wasn’t strong enough to protect those I cared for.” Lance told him. “If I wasn’t able to protect what I saw as important to me… then who am I really?”

“You’re a man who’s lost everything… Sound familiar? It should…” Reaper stated. “You’d lose everything important… Maybe even yourself… You fear this, but it’s apart of life…”

“I know… I don’t want my fears to haunt me. I want to learn how to overcome them. I believe that there could be something I can learn from you.” Lance had been in this scenario before. Before being Displaced, his mother died during childbirth and his father committed suicide. Leaving him to live all alone and to fend for himself while trying to stay strong and educated. Now though, ghosts of the past might come back to haunt him. So learning from Reaper could help prepare him for what was to come.

“I hope you don’t think I’ll tell you everything’ll be alright… Everything fades… But, what my past self would tell you is that heroes have a way of coming back. You said Stopwatch is alive? Well, then nopony has died yet. Good for you… What do you hope to gain from talking to me?”

“A reason to stay strong. You refer to yourself as your past self. But I don’t believe that. Your body may be dead, but your soul is still alive.”

Reaper laughed hollowly. “When I was revived, my soul had already passed a month prior… I’m just a recreation of a dead assassin.”

“So you’re a zombie… a philosophical one?”

“Yeah, that’s what I gathered. If you want words of encouragement, here. You’ve got a filly who needs you. Aurora, if I’m not mistaken. You’ve also got friends who can take care of themselves. You don’t need to take all of the trophy’s, it’s a team sport…” Reaper said.

Lance thought of it for a minute, then realized what he meant. “Thank you… that means a lot. Ironically, you remind me Twilight when you speak like that.”

“Her and I spent quite a bit of time together. She was my mentor.” Reaper said, laying down on his back. “Do they still do that? Mentors, I mean.”

“Yeah. Solaria was mine and Twilight helped too,”

“Just wondering…” Reaper sighed, “Will that be all Gunvolt?”

“Yeah, I believe so.” He replied, getting up from his seat. “I’ll not disturb you. You look like you need some much needed rest.”

“I was stabbed through the chest, so yes.” Reaper deadpanned. “If you have any questions, I’ll be here.” Lance himself nodded his head, leaving the undead pony be as he closed the blinds and left the room. Reaper and Sparkler gave him some much needed advice and right now, he was glad that he had the chance to talk to them. As he walked back to his room and put on his jacket and the communicator he kept on him, he felt a surge of confidence in himself. Thanks to them, he now had some answers to questions that have been confusing him. It was an effective start, that was for sure.

As time slowly ticked away, The Adept began to focus on clearing up some of the things inside his room. With all the Displaced he had been meeting and all the other things going on in his life, the Azure Strikers room was a total mess. He kept most of his tokens on his bookcase along with any other items he might’ve needed along with his equipment. This included the modified secondary that he tweaked and fixed so it resembled the Magnum Pistol from Halo and also Kai’s Pokeball. He thought that it would be a good time to get the chance to work with him again after the storm of events that him him like a freight train. After holstering his weapons though, he felt something in his pocket that he previously forgot to put away.

Time Spinner’s eye.

“Damn, I almost forgot about you…” He thought to himself. Carefully, he channeled a little bit of energy into the eye and opened a portal into the void. With a twist of his wrist, a barrier of energy protected the eye from harm. Calmly, he began to speak.

“Time, it’s me, Lance. I want to talk to you on some things that have been coming up recently. Ghosts of the past that you might know more than me have begun to roam around Equestria and I need your advice on how to handle them. I can’t say much, but if you do receive this, it means that I need to talk to you. I hope this finds you well. It is your eye after all.”

After he was finished, the Adept tossed the protected eye into the small void pocket and closed the tear in space. Afterwards, he picked up what remained of his gear and began to step out. That was, until he ran into someone he knew in the hallway.

“Hey there, Geeves.” A familiar voice teased. Looking up, Lance groaned to see a cheerful Cody in front of him.

“Cody, I’m not one for that Nickname after Dash used it too many times before I got her to trust me.” Lance deadpanned. “Besides, what are you doing here? I thought you were working with Detective Hooves.”

“Had to stop by here to pick up some equipment that I left behind this morning,” His friend explained to him before grabbing something out of his back pocket. “Oh and before I forget, I found something for you that might interest you.” The Adept Hunter then tossed something towards the Azure Striker, who soon caught it with both hands before inspecting what exactly he caught. It was a curved piece of metal with two ends and a grip piece in the middle. Two sets of symbols were on the knobs as Lance looked at it closely.

“Hang on… is this what I think it is?”

“The Energy Sword from Halo? Yeah, I uncovered it while the Detective and I were cleaning out a few storage facilities after arresting some ponies on suspicion of selling narcotics and illegally storing weapons.” Cody explained. “I found it as odd for one of these to be showing up in a not so futuristic world as ours, so I thought it would be a Displaced’s token.”

“Not a bad though,” The Adept replied, clipping the hilt to his belt. “I’m going to look into it. Rather not delay you if you were going to grab your tools.” His friend chuckled, walking past him as the Azure Striker walked to the roof of Power Pony HQ. Once he had some space, he unclipped the hilt from his belt.

“Hmm… I wonder…” He spoke to himself, firmly gripping the device. With an outward swing, the blade burst to life, stunning him at first. “Okay, that’s just f***ing awesome.” He smirked before having the sword disappear. Still, this didn’t answer his question about if the weapon was indeed a token or not. For him though, there was only one way in order to find out.

Holding the weapon in hand, he began to channel energy to open a gate to the void like before. But, there was a difference between the previous method and what he was doing now. Right now, he was holding onto the hilt of the weapon so that way, this opening in the void would lead to its plane of origin. Once the Azure Striker found it, he leaped inside without a second thought.

End Strike 35

Author's Note

Complete File Entry on Equilis:

From: Cleaver Lever
Subject: Equilis

Page 1/4

Patient is male, Earth Pony. Suffers mild anger issues and weak bone structure in his left foreleg, suggest not taking him to his limit, it could cause permanent damage. Abilities have been upgraded, but he refuses to show them. Density shifting is about as much as we know.

Patient seems to be growing more attached to Joke. Possible that he’s fallen in love with her. I’ll see how it goes. Perhaps I’m just thinking too much.

Patient's parents were killed by a SWAT team due to a resistance in Prance. Deceased.

Page 2/4

Patient is romantically attached to Joking. Suggest keeping them apart until his feeling for her are gone.

He seems to be faring better than the females though. I guess that’s good… I also found he freed a future test subject named Steam Show. Currently, we don’t know where the colt is. He was already injected with the first treatment. Patient was punished by forcing him to be in charge of the other ‘Puppet’s’. He’ll have to force them against each other and kill/punish the disobedient.

Page 3/4

This one is gonna be sort, so I apologise. Patient has been acting… Strange… He’s been talking to the other subjects, about what, I don’t know. I believe he’s trying to escape. Suggest we add to the security.

His mental health is also degenerating fast. He’s been talking to himself, as well as calling out for his ‘brother’. I don’t know what this means, but further investigation is advised.

Page 4/4

Patient has been ignoring us. He didn’t eat all day, as well as outright attacking our medical doctors. We have no idea what’s happening to him or the other subjects. He’s also been getting sick. Perhaps it’s the latest treatment.

The rest of this will be a personal note.

This treatment is the worst thing we’ve done to these ponies. They get dizzy, sick, and one of them nearly died. This isn’t what I signed up for… Then again, what did I sign up for…?

With this chapter, I tried to answer the questions in which have been bugging Lance for some time. Along with it, we also get to learn more about Blaster and Reaper.

Backstories:
Reaper: An undead hero that Time Spinner (Stopwatch) brought to the Power Ponies. He was the first male pony of the group, and became close to Masked Matterhorn. After Time's banishment, he left the group to go solo.

Blaster: A cyborg pegasus clone of Zapp and a test subject of the former Project: Double, a secret project created with the goal of making clones based off of the early members of the power ponies. After the project was dismantled, Stopwatch took her and other clones based off of the rest of the Mane Six and they formed the team known as the Fallen Angels. However, the team was thrown into the Zero Zone after reports of Blaster and Filli-Minute (The clone of Filli-second) going nuts and killing 22 civilians and an officer in the line of duty, even though they claim that someone else framed them.

For a better understanding of Reaper, watch this:

Thanks again for all your support.
-Frost

Next Chapter: Adept meets Alpha

Strike 36- Adept meets Alpha

When Lightning Strikes- Adept Meets Alpha

Unknown Location

In the Everfree forest, the Displaced known as the Azure Striker had just arrived in what appeared to be a dark and disturbing forest. At first, he thought that he was back in Lee’s world. But he remembered that he was currently in the War of Shadows, so something like that would be impossible. He remembered seeing forests like this before, but not in the sense which made chills crawl down his spine. What made things more difficult was that even though he had his communicator on him, Aurora wasn’t with him. Instead, he let her be so that was she could get as much rest as possible.

Right now though, the Adept turned around at the sound of growls coming from around him. “Oh come on, seriously?” As he backed up a little, he then noticed what exactly he found himself dealing with. Wolves with a coat of timber and wood. Heh… Timberwolves. Ignoring the mental puns, he cringed a little as more of them soon began to swarm in.

“Well… I guess it’s time I taught you wolves some new tricks,” Lance snarled, drawing out both of his weapons as he switched the clips to Carbine. One of two new clips he recently made. The other being Magnum, which fired off bolts from his weapons like actual handgun bullets. “Trick one, play dead!” With that, he squeezed the trigger and the first few Plasma shot began to ring out and hit the monsters right between the eyes as his electricity also went off as well. At the same time, something else was going on and unknowingly, the Adept would soon get there attention.

Meanwhile...

Another simulation battle between red and blue grunts was occurring right under Cloudsdale as Church watched in amusement. “Why do I have to be the one with this happening?” He formed his binary rifle and aimed at the encampment near the edge of the Everfree Forest. The distance from Canterlot would not be enough to stop over 100 thousand years of technology.

A gunshot was heard in the distance, well not really a gunshot but more along the lines of something similar. Curiously, another was heard which sounded almost exactly like a Magnum, but not standard issue, “A source of power has been detected in the Everfree Forest,” Delta said as his transparent form appeared in front of Epsilon, or Church as we know him.

“Source of energy?” Church asked curiously as he looked at the Pelican parked next to him on his sniping post.

“Yes, life force presumably,” Delta said as a waypoint appeared in Church's peripheral vision. He sighed and disassembled the binary rifle before unsealing the hatch and walking in before closing it with the push of a button, “My best plan of attack as of now is to leave Cadence II in the care of Candy Melody and ask the Elements of Harmony if they have noticed anything strange. Rushing headlong into a possible trap is not an option,” Delta said.

“Whatever ya say D,” Church acknowledged as he walked up to the controls and loosened his digital connection to Delta, “You fly us to the RP,” he told the AI as he walked to a panel and looked inside the impossibility before him, “Not going to be needing much…”

A whine was heard as the engines powered on loudly, attracting attention to it for but a moment before it was already over a mile away from its previous location. A moment later the ever familiar view of the Everfree entered the AI’s sight.

A familiar prismatic pegasus latched onto the cockpit and started making hoof gestures to the sky. Delta soon activated a few algorithms from the pelican’s onboard computer and her voice came clearly through the obviously clear reinforced glass, “Church! You have to help! There is lightning striking near the town! The weather company didn't schedule a storm today…” She bemoaned as she slumped down to the ground.

“I'll be there in a second,” He said as he looked at Delta, “Stay here. I am not risking someone getting on this ship,” Church said seriously. Delta just shrugged as Church grabbed his main armory of weapons, A gravity hammer, two SMGs, two energy swords, a UNSC gauss sniper rifle and a bolter pistol, “Open sesame,” He said as the hatch opened and closed behind him.

Rarity and Applejack were talking to Rainbow Dash before they turned to him, “Where did it come from?”

“That’s the thing.” Rainbow Dash retorted, pointing a hoof at the nearby forest, “It came from deep in the Everfree.”

“Wish me good hunting then, I'm going in. Delta, I need you to fly above the forest and track my movements.”

For the Adept who had the stones to start attacking a group of Timberwolves that were planning on ambushing him, he was now moving and staying on his feet to keep moving. For a moment, he thought that he saw a Pelican hang above his head, so he used the brief moment he had to latch a tracer bolt of the underbelly of the aircraft. Tracer bolt’s for the Adept were trackers, allowing him to pick up on traces of a trail that it would make. He wasn’t sure if whoever this Displaced that was here was either friend or foe, but the more he stayed hidden, the better.

Back to the chase, he was sending lightning straight at the Timberwolves and causing them to burn to a crisp. However, more kept on appearing from every known possible place in the woods. But that though was not the least of his worries.

“Okay, you pups are really getting on my nerves.” Lance snarled. Looking at his right wrist,m he remembered that he had three skill cards remaining which recharged over time. Once in a clearing deep in the forest, he began to channel all of his power through his body and into the palms of his hands. The electricity around him began to form into massive chains that were released outward in all directions.

One of the Azure Strikers strongest moves in his arsenal that he only used when the situation called for it. The Ability spawned Lightning chains in all directions that shocked all opponents within the vicinity and any other foe within it’s radius. Which through numerous field tests, was almost half of a football field. But the chains also reached out farther when they were released into the air.

All the Timberwolves and a few Manticores around him were now piles of ash. But he did allow a few of the remaining ones a chance to flee. It was the least he could do. He wasn’t a monster, that he knew.

Walking further in, he was beginning to wonder if the nearby town he had a brief glimpse of or the pelican above him would notice all the commotion down below as he trekked further into the forest.

“Did you see that, Director?” A higher ranking Lopez bot asked from inside a surveillance room in the pelican, “That wasn't lightning. That was an intentional offensive and systematic elimination of a threat. You have to be careful. You know what will happen if this armor gets in the wrong hands,” Church ignored the bot as he passed red and blue corpses which ended at the edge of the encampment he was advancing from, “Spare me the jargon, Just be prepared to drop reinforcements if things go haywire,” He ordered as a flash was seen in the distance. Church took off at a medium sprint of about 35 mph down the forest, jumping over holes in the ground and severed tree branches.

“We are not dealing with a simple threat, Director. You have-”

“Don't make me override AI instructions,” That shut up the incessant commander. Church saw scraps of wood nearby and scorched earth, “Now… where did you go?” His vision changed from the night vision filter he was using to thermal in a split second. Many readings were found, Manticores, Hydras, and some obscure mythological creatures that did not make sense. But one reading in particular caught his attention. A human shape running through the forest.

Church tapped his coms since he preferred it to just accessing the network like a normal AI would. Though if the need came he would do so.

“This is Epsilon ACN-1982, mission accomplished. The VIP has been found, codename Mike Oscar,” Church said.

It was only after a little bit of adjusting could he hear what the human was saying. “For now you can stay, right here we will play, until somehow you can find a slightly different frame of mind.”

“Tristam and Braken, Frame of Mind?” Church asked himself in confusion. Yes, he could still remember those days back on Terra as he now called the planet where he would just play music such as that while on the computer. Back when life was simple… “Definitely a displaced,” He remarked to himself.

Again, the sound was heard. But Church could also notice that the individuals heart rate was increasing. This person was now going faster than before. “You can lift your head up to the sky, take a deeper breath and give it time, you can walk the path along the lines with your shattered Frame of Mind.”

“Wow. How rude,” Church said with offense.

“What the hell? Who said that!?”

“Who said what?” Church retorted as he cloaked himself with an improved version of the covenant active ammo but it lasted many times longer and did not flicker if he ran.

Originally, Lance was trying to calm himself from the mess he had gotten himself into. He was trying to sing the lyrics of a song that he remembered and let the melody of the beat sooth him. That was until some jackass that sounded like Church on Red Vs. Blue had the audacity to interrupt that. In fact, he couldn’t even see who it was.

“I’m talking about what you said, Moron!” He retorted.

“You come into my universe, bringing in slavery and death! And then you have the nerve to insult me?! Nah I’m kidding, you set yourself up for that reference,” the voice he heard replied, cheekily. Lance just sighed a little, trying to observe his surroundings. If this guy was hiding somewhere, then he needed to figure out who he was. For all he knew, his back was against a cliffside and in front of him was forest. Which meant that this guest was hiding in the shrubbery. So… He decided to test a theory. He held out one of his guns in his right hand, while igniting the energy blade he found earlier with his left. If this guy was somehow related to it, then he might recognize it immediately.

“Nice little Type 2 you got there,” The same voice said.

“Heh… still getting accommodated to it.” Lance said. In the pathway in front of him, there was a puddle of water. But one thing looked to be what he called… off. After all, why would it be avoiding a huge section of the ground below the size of a footprint.

Taking his second gun, he switched clips to his Magnum clip and shot at that particular section. Which in turn, caused a loud scream of pain.

“YOU F***ING SH*T!” The voice screamed, as it clutched the foot in pain, revealing Church from Red vs Blue, with one large key difference. He was decked out with weapons…

“You were seriously trying to go on a rambo manhunt after a 16 year old kid and the one thing that gave you away was where you placed your foot?”

“Well excuse me, I didn’t think you would f***ing shoot me!”

“And I didn’t think you would make me think of Handsome Jack!” Lance shot back. “I already had an entire pack of Timberwolves trying to turn me into their chew toy today.”

“Eh, you’re lucky I’m an AI. Otherwise I would be bitching about this until kingdom come,” Church said as he watched his armor stop leaking blood. The Azure Striker was personally surprised by that, but rolled with it.

“So what did you need, before you so kindly announced your presence to this entire universe. Yes, I doubt I was the only one who noticed you,” The blue spartan explained as he pulled up a hologram which showed an entire shipyard of Covenant Assault Carriers near a UNSC firebase with a few ships in orbit above the planet, “Luckily they are mine. Now do you mind telling me what you are doing here? I know it is possible for you to get here on your own.”

“Honestly, I was trying to find out what a energy sword would be doing in the middle of Maretropolis,” The Azure Striker sighed. “Thinking it was a Displaced token, I just opened a rift in the void with my energy and just hopped in.”

“Ah, you better not have ripped a hole or anything, Loki would be angry about being called back this early. Relatively speaking.”

“Hang on… You know Loki?” The Adept asked. “The Displaced Draconequus. God of Balance and what not? I saw him only a month or so ago.”

“It started when he came to another Displaced’s universe while holding my token. I was summoned while I was driving a warthog with my daughter and then nearly crashed into three different displaced… Who apparently all inhabit the same universe. Apparently, Loki clicked send on a phone that looked like a Samsung Galaxy Note and appeared there. Anyway he came to my universe to… hehehe… Fix the warp. I may have interacted with a few Warhammer Displaced…”

“Hang on a minute… Daughter?” Lance asked, remembering about his own family. “I’m guessing she’s adopted or something?”

“It is complicated. I wiped her memories and de-aged her so that she could restart her life. She had nothing but depression and hatred left. If I had left her… She would have ended up as a sacrifice for a dark god…”

“Sorry to hear that… I hope the best for her and you then,” Lance nodded, looking back at Church. “You aren’t the only one who is in the role of father right now. In fact, I already have some children.”

“I… I have a confession to make. My daughter's name is Mi Amore Cadenza.”

“Who? That sounds like a French Actress.” Lance retorted. “Besides, not to one up you or anything like that, but the family I now started might make Tucker jealous.”

“No. I mean… She was the former princess of Love. And oh, well Tucker was never lucky.”

“I’m guessing you need details?” The Adept asked. “You probably wouldn’t believe me unless I told you.”

“I don't really want to know. I recently learned I have at least a few million years to live. It's depressing.”

“You sure? One of the fillies I’m raising is Rainbow Dash.”

“Oh wow,” Church pulled up a picture of Cadence II as a filly and showed him, “This is my daughter.” Lance had a look at the photo, smiling a little as he saw her. It really reminded him of his own daughters back home.

“Nice. I think Max and Seph would really like to see her one day,” He replied back, handing the photograph back to Church.

“It could easily happen right now… She isn't in a school after all. But… that is up to you.”

“Ehh, I rather not freak her out. Besides, If you were Displaced as Church, wouldn’t you have Delta be her teacher?” The Adept asked. He remembered that in the webseries, Church, or as he was known as The Alpha, was made up of numerous other AI that represent numerous pieces of the Alpha as a whole. Delta represented Alpha’s knowledge, while other AI like Gamma, Omega and Theta represented other pieces of him.

“I am logic, not emotion, nor am I anything but logic. I am only able to help with technological or logical matters.” Delta said through Church’s voice command mic.

“Right… Aurora would be thrilled to meet you guys. However, I left her back in my world so she could recuperate.”

“There is something you should know. You know how I am Epsilon-Church?” The question from the Spartan had Lance nod his head in understanding as he waited on Church’s answer. “I am memory. Now take that literally.” A holographic projection of Lance appeared next to Church.

“Hello, I am you in Epsilon’s memory.”

“Well, I’ll be damned. Aurora would be jealous if she was seeing this right now.” The Adept replied, looking back at his bracer where his communication device was. This however, did not go unnoticed by Delta as it was the second time the Displaced had mentioned her.

“You seem to be worried about something. Are you in need of something?” Delta asked.

“Not quite something… more like someone.” Lance told them, adjusting his shoulders.

“Is my assumption that you can go back but you don't want us in your universe correct?”

“No no, it’s nothing like that… You see, I probably mentioned my partner Aurora twice already and it’s because she’s my helper back home in my world. She’s what you may call a ghost and is stuck in her soul form. The only way I can talk to her is through my communications device. Her powers allow her to possess objects and machines, but she feels safe with me. It’s a spirit that acts like an AI. Only difference is that she has emotions and feeling like a pony… because she is one.” Lance paused for a moment to let that sink in before continuing. “However, two weeks ago, when we defeated a villain named Equilis, his was able to get inside where Aurora was when he died. He calls himself Equinox and he’s the opposite of everything Aurora is and is forcing her to see nightmares of herself. Now the filly is haunted by her own self and the place she used to call her haven. I want to help her…… I just don’t know where to start.”

“That is… it is… So what you are saying… How simple yet complicated. What were your approaches?”

“One thought was to find a way to split Aurora and Equinox, but I’m not sure about some of the circumstances.”

“You said she was like an artificial intelligence. We are able to split. When an AI was forcibly taken-.” Delta was interrupted.

“This has nothing to do with an AI. I’m talking about an actual soul.” Lance interjected. “She is a soul that has been separated from her body.”

“Yeah… about that… unlike what you may think. I don't actually have a soul.” Church said. Lance sighed, nodding his head in understanding. “How do you think I am able to do things that even other smart AI can't? They have a piece of a soul. I guess… I could never understand.” Church sighed in defeat. Lance though, walked over and put his hand on his shoulder. Church removed his helmet revealing a human face, “You see this? This isn't even mine. I don't even have my own physical form.”

“It may not be yours, but the decisions and choices you make are… Besides… I have a thought on the physical form part… You remember in season 2 when the red team had the robot kits?”

“Yes.”

“And you can possess machines right?” Lance added on.

“... I have to show you something.” Church waited until suddenly, his pelican landed. He was about to show Lance just how much the laws of reality didn't apply to him. As he got on board the aircraft, he noticed that the complete interior of the vehicle was way different than the ones he had seen numerous times before. Thinking there was a reason behind it, he waited for Church to explain everything to him.

“You are going to flip out but… You need to know this. The ship goes on for over 10 miles.” Church said with a laugh. He looked at a panel and put a palm on it which caused the floor and ceiling to start descending. When it stopped, they were in a cafeteria. “Need anything to eat?”

“More likely drink. Running from beasts that were trying to kill me makes me thirsty.”

“Hey! Bartender! One four liter bottle of sprite for the teen!” Church teased. A mare behind a counter rolled her eyes at his antics and went behind a door before returning with a jug of sprite which she floated to Lance. The Adept was first surprised by the service… and the size of the drink itself. He grinned though, opening it up and pouring a drink. He wasn’t going to finish the entire thing. After all, he was only thinking about having a small drink. Not a massive one such as this.

“So the inside of the pelican basically turns into anything you picture in your head?” Lance replied. “That is quite awesome.”

“Basically the most overpowered thing ever. Though I obviously won't spawn Galactus or anything like that…” Church somehow shuddered, making Lance chuckle a little.

“Yet, it’s bound to only the inside of your pelican… Or am I missing something?” He asked, wanting to make sure he understood the AI.

“...Uh… Heheh… about that… Where do you think I got these weapons?”

“Armory. UNSC. Standard issued equipment… You took something from the Chief, did you?”

“No… I may have spawned some of them. Lopez bots helped develop some of the custom variants though.” The last part though caught Lance’s attention. Lopez was what you would say at the misunderstood one. Everyone on Red vs. Blue thought they could understand what he was saying, only to have it backfire. In turn, this provided some comical moments as well, but Lance honestly did not think the spanish speaking droid was actually here with them.

“Doubtful?” Church chuckled. In spanish, the AI soon made a request that Lance couldn’t understand. “I need twenty LBs in the cafeteria,” The doors opened and the exact twenty Lopez bots entered and were armed to the teeth with miniguns, gravity hammers and Hydra MLSR.

“What do you need?” A Lopez bot that wore blue EOD gen 2 armor instead of the brown MJOLNIR gen 2 like the rest asked.

“Guard that door.” Church pointed to the doors they came in from. They nodded, taking position by the door like they were ordered.

“That… is impressive.” Lance replied. “However, how does this relate to you getting a body?”

“You'll see.” You could practically hear the smirk in his tone. “Now… do you have any phobias or anything I should know about?”

“Not really… Why are you asking this?” Lance asked, puzzled a little. “Should I be concerned?”

“I'm going to be blunt here. Yes. Yes, you probably should.” Church said without any humor evident. He nodded at the Lopez bots to follow the duo before walking in front of another panel door. “Are you sure you don't have any fears? Visceral anyways.”

“Not exactly… But I can think of something.” The Adept replied. After a couple of minutes, he then thought of something. “Okay, got it.”

“Hmm?”

“You familiar with Dragon Ball Z Abridged? Then I have two words… Mr. Popo.”

Church did not say anything, he just reached for his smg and expended the magazine on the wall. He then, ejected it and inserted a new one and just held it. Soon, something began to emerge from the shadows on the wall as it began to take form behind Church. It soon smiled widely as it looked over Church. Turning around, he was now looking at the same being Lance was thinking of.

“……Hi.” Church stared at Lance before slowly tapping his fingers on the wall which confused everyone. After a few seconds, a hole opened up and before anyone could even begin to blink, he snatched two boltshot pistols and waited for the being to make a move. Only for him to disappear a few moments later. But when he was gone, a couple of the Lopez Bots were also missing. When one of the bots asked where they were and where they would possibly be, Lance had only one thing to say as he sighed.

“I’ll tell you what they’re not…… safe.”

“Eh. I have a few million more where that came from. And remember that Lopez and Delta both always made backups of themselves a ridiculous amount of times?”

“Good point.” Lance replied. “So, where exactly are we headed?”

“To the… Biochamber.” Right as he said that, the wall in front of Lance slid open. Revealing a horrifying sight. Bodies belonging to every species you could think of were being preserved in what looked kind of like Bacta tanks from Star Wars.

“Well… that’s a thing. What are you then? A collector?” He asked. Church and the Biochamber strangely reminded him of The Collector from the Marvel universe.

“... I think the previous owner might have been a void dweller or something. Or it was one of the Elders from Marvel.”

“That I agree with. What I mean is where is the pelican headed. Not us.”

“We are currently in the Andromeda Galaxy.” Church lazily showed Lance a projection of the shop and its location. “We don't really have a destination.”

“I was asking because I thought that with what happened earlier and seeing this as your domain, don’t you think some of the ponies you would know would want an explanation on what happened earlier? Unless of course, you don’t want to share about getting shot in the foot.” The Adept mentioned at the end, chuckling a little.

“Three words, Men in Black. Two more words. Flashy stick. A few more words, memory go beddy bye.” Church removed his helmet revealing… MLG sunglasses… As he looked at Lance innocently in the same way Discord would.

“ … Are you sure you want to try any memory based tricks. You might not find what you’re looking for inside my head… unless you want to scare yourself Sh*tless.”

Now Church looked at Lance in confusion, “Wait, what made you think I would use it on you?”

“You said memory go beddy bye… Which only assumes that you might want to erase my memory. Truth is, unless you want a trojan horse of a certain someone making you quiver for the next five nights, I don’t recommend it.”

“I was talking about the ponies.” Church said with a facepalm, “This is getting boring, want to go to Earth?”

“Actually, I was thinking about getting back to my universe soon.” The Adept had to inform him. “I don’t mean to crash the party, but I have responsibilities that I can’t ignore. How about if I need advice or anything, I’ll just stop by to come see you?”

Church though, stared at Lance in horror, “Responsibility…” He started glitching out like Roland did in Spartan Ops, repeating it like when Dr Halsey said Undid Iridium.

“Church…? God dammit, I broke him. Look, I’m sorry about that… I probably didn’t mention that I’m on the power ponies. I’ve should’ve said it sooner. People count on me to help them whenever I can and I have a family to protect as well.” Lance tried to tell him. “I have three daughters, a son and two wives to look over. If they get hurt, I will only blame myself for not being there sooner-.”

“UNSC AI override enabled.” Church was ejected out of his armor and into his holographic form. “Give me your token. Now.” He sounded like an officer. Lance complied, taking out his token of the hairpin at the end of his braid that resembled a pair of open wings as he left it for him in front of him.

“Scan complete,” A feminine electronic voice that sounded like Sheila said, “Destination: Unknown multiverse sector 9284-A7B.”

“Umm… I thank you for all of this, but you guys don’t have too.” The Adept insisted, “I rather not be preventing you guys from completing things in your world.”

“We're already here.”

“Oh… well, thanks guys. It was nice getting the chance to meet all of you.” The Adept replied as he used his own token to tear open a hole in the void. “I’m definitely going to remember you guys. Memory is the key after all.” With that, the Adept leaped inside the rift as the hole slowly closed shut behind him. Leaving Sheila, Lopez, Delta and Church inside the pelican.

“I was going to give him a departing gift. Oh. Portal still has a location.” Church threw a care package that held a bunch of UNSC weapons and Forerunner gadgets into the portal. “He's going to love infinite ammo.”

When Lance woke up again, the Adept found himself not in Maretropolis, but in a wasteland desert that expanded for miles. There was almost no signs of life around him and a dry breeze was felt all around him. The Azure Striker though, felt like he had been here before. Everything about this place seemed… familiar.

It was only a few moments later though that when he turned around, he found a wooden shack right behind him with a metal roof and holes in the walls. Now he was getting a sense of Deja’ vu as he approached the door, knocking on the front of it, but not too hard to where it would have the door be pulled off of it’s hinges.

There was a yell on the other side that sounded familiar. A female voice grumbled, “Alright already! I’m coming!” The old door opened to reveal Silver Spanner, one of the banished Power Ponies, wearing some kind of power armour and pointing a shotgun in Lance’s face, “I’m currently pissed about Time, what do you want?”

“Sorry to disturb you, Spanner. I somehow ended up here when trying to get home,” Lance told the mare. “Is Time out hunting? If so, I can wait.”

“Yeah, she’s hunting down a moron who shot Entropy in the shoulder along with her ‘son’. Come on in.” The weapon disappeared as the mare trotted towards a couch, “What possessed you to throw Time’s eye in my face?”

“Wait, it landed on your face?” The Adept retorted. “That was not what I expected honestly.”

“Any message to Time goes through me. She get’s… Busy a lot. Sylar, one of Spinner’s ‘guns’ takes care of difficult situations, Entropy takes care of watching over our Displaced, and Jubilee takes care of those pesky interferences like Killjoy.” Silver said, levitating a can of Nuka-Cola over towards herself.

“Well, I had a message for Time in the eye I sent. A lot of things have been happening back in Maretropolis and a lot of them relate to you guys before you were banished. So I wanted to see what advice he had. Should I bring you up to speed?”

“Sure. Time told me that Aurora’s back, glad to hear, but that’s it. How’s my old team and my replacement?” Silver said, taking a sip of her drink.

“Doing well actually, but there’s been some… hiccups. You familiar with the Marionettes?” Lance asked.

“Yeah, Purple broke my horn and Equilis helped the killers of my sister. What of them?”

“They’re dead. But… Equilis is in the same place where Aurora is. He’s now become a second half of her and refers to himself as Equinox. Not to mention he told me who created the project.”

“Hm… Me and Time tried to keep the Projects hidden as best we could… What they do is beyond the crimes of Roach. Have you killed Cupcake yet?”

“Equinox thinks Cupcake is dead, but he’s unsure.” The Adept told her. “That’s only the tip of the iceberg though. Remember the Zero Zone?”

“Oh buck… Don’t tell me… It took us three years to capture all of them!” Silver growled, “I hate when my work is undone…”

“Not all of them are out though. Only a major portion. Strangely though, when given the chance, Roach stayed behind. He didn’t escape with the others.” Lance told her. “Not to mention the fact that the clones are also out, but Blaster just lost her memory because of Anti-Zapp.”

“Anti? Damn, this is getting way too complex… You know who she is, right? And why she’s named Anti-Zapp?”

“I have a feeling. Dash’s sister? Opposite of everything she is?”

“Close. Dash’s little sister, and her ability is draining and redirecting power. She was caught in the same incident as her sister, but is messed with her brain unlike Dash. Anti tried to reform with Blaster, but I heard Clayton arrested her a week before the banishment along with her team, but some died.” Silver stated.

“Yeah… something about that seemed off to me. Zapp told me that Blaster told her that she and her team were framed. By who, I don’t know. But I have a theory since she did mention Clayton.” the Adept then took a deep breath before speaking again. “Are you familiar with The Puppeteer?”

“Not sure. My memory isn’t what it used to be.”

“Well, Twilight told me about him. He’s a villain with the ability to possess and control somepony to do something against their will. He did this to my friend Cody and I’m starting to think that the same thing happened to Blaster and them. Clayton does seem like an Opportunist if you ask me.”

“Clayton’s a bastard, and I never trusted him. Once, he tried to arrest Time’s daughters Aurora and Entropy. The others thought it was justified because he didn’t know they were friends of the group, and later hunted Time when the terrorists threatened to blow up city hall if they didn’t turn him in. He’s no good.”

“Good thing I don’t trust him,” Lance sighed. “I need to look into it a little more, but I think I’m on to something.” The Adept soon adjusted himself in his seat as he looked back at Silver Spanner. “On another note though, you might not believe who I found yesterday.”

“I can believe anything. Try me.”

“Reaper.”

Silver stayed quiet for a bit until, “Yeah? Is that it? Fleshcolts not that rare of a sight, you should have smelled that brain eater before Time enchanted him. Reaper’s not surprising.”

Lance sighed before looking back at Silver. “Actually, he left after you guys were banished and when I found him, he was straight up crazy.”

“Guessing Echo left to… Dang, I really miss everypony there…” Silver sighed. “Who’s in the group now? Because if that yellow mare and Breezie are a part, then I’m so sorry I got banished…”

“Solaria and Lumen are there, Twilight and the Girls are there, Humdrum as well, plus I’ve been training a new filly called Ash. But before I continue, you might want to listen to this. It’s an audio snippet of Reaper.” With that, Lance pressed play on his communicator and the clip began to commence.

“Death comes to all. Whether we like it or not… Hehe… Stopwatch taught me that! Twilight’s gonna die! Everypony will die and I won’t!!”

Silver winced, “And I shipped Twi and him… This is the same thing that happened to the other Undead ponies… There was a program that was designed to extend the life of the rich, and Reaper was an experiment.”

“I feel bad for him. He’s stable now, but he really questions his existence.” Lance explained. Soon though, he heard a yawning sound as a small Breezie began to emerge from his hair. To Silver’s surprise, it was Lumen.

“Dear Luna, that was a great nap-.” She stopped speaking the moment her eyes laid on Silver. “S-silver!?!”

“Glad to know I’m liked,” Silver rolled her eyes in sarcasm, “At least you remember me.”

“H-how is this happening right now?” Lumen asked, looking at Lance.

“We’re in the world Time was banished to.” The Adept told the Breezie briefly before Lumen floated over to Silver and tried to hug her around the ears. To the Breezie, this was what she called an emotional reunion.

Silver sighed, “Cute.”

Before they could continue, the door burst open to reveal a female… Time Spinner?

“Ow! I hate this!” She yelled, falling over while holding her stomach.

“The hell happened to you?” Lance asked. “Did you get shot or something?”

Silver blushed, “Worse… When we were banished, Time… was separated from his original self, meaning his pony heritage… And his gender…”

“I SHIFT INTO A WOMAN ONCE A YEAR!!!” Time screamed on the ground.

“Well, twice. One for your period, and the other for heat… Stuff…” Silver looked away, “I bucking hate you…” With that, Lance soon remembered what he needed to give Time as he grabbed the eye from off the table and walked over to her.

“Need some help?”

“I got it…” The Displacer groaned as she got up shakily, “This is the only downside to being me…”

“Well… maybe this can help a little.” The Adept told her, opening his hand to reveal the eye that had been stolen from him by Roach.

“My eye… How… Generous…” She took the body part, “It’s useless though. I can’t attach it anymore.” She groaned, “I’m sorry, this is a bad time… How about I just leave and come back after this using my time powers, okay?”

“Actually, I wanted to get the chance to talk a little. I told Silver a few things about what was going on and I thought it might be appropriate that you would know as well.” The Adept told him. “To summarize, Equilis and Purple Mare are dead, a portion of the villains in the Zero Zone have escaped, but Roach stayed behind. Reaper’s went off the deep end and Blaster’s memory has hit the reset button. Now Silver and I were saying that Clayton might’ve framed them for something they didn’t do… and that was before you came in.”

“S-sorry about that, it get’s hard to control myself… When this happens. That sounds like you’re making progress. What do I need to do?”

“Well… there’s something up with Aurora though that you need to know.” Lance sighed. “She’s not herself now. That bastard Equilis is now residing in the spirit domain where Aurora would be. Now he calls himself Equinox and he’s the opposite of what Aurora is. Almost like he possessed her.”

Time sighed, “Okay… Okay, I can help with this.” She used her powers to summon a salt shaker, “This should help with keeping them separate for the most part. You’re planning on getting her a new body, right? Well sprinkle this on her new body and it’ll separate them completely. Equinox will be forced to help you as your new spirit, and the changes to Aurora will be reversed.” She squeezed her old eye, turning it into a memory card, “Install this into your communicator and the next time she’s in it, she’ll be unaffected by the soul merge.” Lance nodded his head, inputting the memory card and letting it sync with his glove before it chirped a little to say that it was recognized.

“Alright, perfect. It’s in.” Lance told her, noticing the sun go down in the distance as Day turned into night. “Thanks for your help Time. Mind if I stay here a bit though? I’m kind of exhausted after what I was doing earlier.”

“I… Okay. I’ve got a spare bed, just… Nevermind. Uh… S-Silver? Mind showing Lance and Lumen to the guest room?” Time asked the brown mare.

“Sure,” Silver nodded as she trotted towards another door and opened it, “Hey, get out b*tch!”

Inside was another Trixie, “I am great and power-” But before she could finish, the bed ate her and proceeded to spit her through the room.

“And stay out!” Silver yelled before sighing, “I hate that mare. She keeps coming in here to ruin my tech… Okay, that’s your bed. If you need me, I’ll be downstairs in my workshop… Can I ask you something?”

Lance looked at Silver before letting Lumen rest on the bed. “Sure, what is it? Is it about Time?”

“No, it’s about the team back home… Is my replacement… Better than me? I know you don’t know my work, but I’m asking if they like his stuff better than… Mine, when I was around…”

Lance sighed, walking to where the Mare was and closing the door, allowing Lumen to get some rest. “Humdrum is… okay at best. He said once though that his work was nothing like yours. He even saw you as an idol. I think he wanted to be your student until… you know… the banishing?”

“R-really? I had it in my head that I’d been fully replaced… Thanks. Maybe I can give you a souvenir to give Humdrum.” Silver shrugged, “Maybe something I made for myself that got pulled with me that might help him.”

“I think he would like that a lot.” Lance smiled, looking back at her. “However though, right now, I’m a little concerned with Time. I know that she’s trying to toughen it out but… I just feel like she needs help.”

“Lance… Time’s a big… Thing. She’s gone through this three million times, it’s her heat. She’s gone this far a virgin, so I’m not afraid.” Silver giggled, “She’s been waiting for Pinkie. I think it’s sweet.”

“Yeah… I think she’s been waiting for him to… hey… I just thought of something…” The Adept then realized. “Remember how Lumen came with me here? Do you think Pinkie can come too? She’s been waiting too long for Time to come back to where I honestly think she cries herself to sleep. Maybe this could give her hope again?”

“You think she’s ready? I’m not sure you told her, from how Time’s been acting.”

“I told her about Time. It’s a little complex on the details, but she and Twilight know about Time. I told them and they believed me.” He explained. “I just thought that it would be best for the two of them since they’ve been separated from each other for so long… Heck, I think it’s worth a shot.”

“Hmm… I have a better idea. I know this guy who’s pretty strong, and he may be able to make a body for Time to control in Maretropolis. Give her a date at Sugarcube Corner and all. It won’t last long and Time will be weak after, maybe even sick, but I know he’d love it.”

“That may sound like a good plan in theory, but I’m concerned about the control part. Time’s already tired as it is and I don’t want him to feel sick just to see the mare of his life again… Gimme a second.” With his token out, Lance used it to conjure what appeared to be a two way portal. But in reality, it was a link to the dimensional mirror back at his base. On the other side, he could see Filli-second just returning home and looking at the mirror. The moment she looked at Lance though, with Silver Spanner behind him, she ran and leaped through the semi solid mirror, knocking Lance to the floor and tackling Silver in a Pinkie Pie death hug.

“Gah! Buckedybuckbuck!!!” Silver screamed in surprise.

“SILVY!!! Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!!! I can’t believe it’s you!!!” Pinkie squealed, helping Silver off of the floor. The one thing Silver noticed though was a small amount of tears in her eyes. “I’ve missed you so much… Time too……”

“Sorry for the… For making you sad. It is good seeing you again though.” Silver said. She scratched the back of her head, “I’ll… I’ll get Time. She- he doesn’t know you’re here. He’s… Different. Kind of scary-looking, and… Not right…”

“Not to worry!” Filli-Second cheered. “No matter what he looks like, he’s still Stopy Woppy to me.”

“Yeah… I’ll get him and get myself out of this power armor. Be right back, or not.” Silver said before leaving the room. It only took a few moments though for Time to hear the commotion that was going on as Lance was waiting with Pinkie Pie.

“P-Pinkie?” Time’s feminine voice called out, “What- No, you can’t see me like this…”

“S-stopy?” Before Lance could act, Pinkie used her powers to bolt into the same room that Time was in. “STOPY!!” She hollered, lunging herself onto Time as she hugged her the same was she hugged Silver. Not paying attention to the fact that Time was not the same as she once was.

The Displacer was beyond stunned. She seemed scared, surprised, paralyzed, and above all… Heartbroken. Lance saw it in her eyes.

“I’ve missed you for so long, Stopy…” Pinkie told Time, eyes closed and not easing up on her grip. “I-i…” Tears soon began to fall down her face as she hugged the Displacer while crying. “I THOUGHT YOU WOULD BE GONE FOREVER!!!”

“I… I…” Time’s one eye teared up as well, and she hugged the pink mare, “I’m so sorry… I shouldn’t have gone after Roach…” Soon, the mare snuggled next to Time and tried to ease her tensions.

“I-it’s okay… We’re here now… If it weren’t for Lancie, I would’ve lost hope… He helped me believe again…” Pinkie told Time, catching her attention.

“He told you? I… I didn’t want to hurt you again… I still can’t come h-home…” Time Spinner held her marefriend closer.

“I-i know… but he promised me that he’ll do whatever he can to help make sure you come home… but now… I want to stay with you… just for now…” Pinkie told her, kissing Time. “I love you, Stopy.”

Time stood up wobbly again, “Kay. Let me explain a bit before we continu-ue.” Time moaned in pain and set Pinkie down, “My new appearance is temporary. This place is my home, as well as Silver’s, but she stay’s in the basement with… And Entropy sleeps in her own realm.” The earth pony soon opened her eyes, seeing the mare that Time was now. Yet, she wasn’t scared… or put off at all. In fact… she was smiling.

“Oh Stopy… you look amazing.” She cooed, rubbing her nose against Times.

“Y-you really like it...?” Time asked, blushing beet red.

“I think we should give them some space… they deserve it.” Silver whispered to Lance and Lumen.

“Yeah. It seems like it.” Lance replied, closing the door behind them. Not before Pinkie said something that both Lance and Silver could hear.

“I love you, honey. I can’t wait any longer… I need you, Stopy.”

“Yup, definitely needed the space.” The Adept said, moving away from the door and to where Silver was. “Well, at least Time can be happy now.”

Silver’s face was burning as her aura surrounded the door. “Just to be safe… Anything you need? I can make something, or answer any questions.”

“Maybe just something to eat and what not. I want to get some sleep soon, so maybe I’ll sleep on a full stomach.”

“I heard it makes you sleepy… Okay, I’ll make you something. Anything specific?” The Adept just shook his head, telling her that he wasn’t planning on having anything huge. Just a small snack before getting some sleep. Leaving the choice of the item to her.

She teleported away, and a few seconds later returned with Doritos and a small Burrito, “Will these do?”

“I think the Burrito would do fine. I can save the Doritos for when I get back.” he told Silver as he sat down at the table. “What kind of Burrito is it?”

“I think it’s a… Beef.” Silver said and turned to Lumen, “And you?”

“Oh, it’s okay…” Lumen said, eyeing on the chips before darting towards them. “Mine!”

Silver almost burst out laughing, but kept it under control. “Like I said, I’ll be in the basement. Time probably moved to the master bedroom, so it should be okay. If you haven’t gone down there by tomorrow, I suggest you do.”

“Okay, thanks.” Lance replied, turning his attention back to eating before he heard Silver trot out of the room. The Adept soon finished his meal, returning to his bedroom as he took off his jacket and shirt before falling asleep.

When Lance was starting to wake up, it was the early morning and he could still see the moon glowing in the night sky. It was peaceful… until he heard some giggling going on right next to him. That was when Lance turned around to see both Pinkie and Time laying right next to him and the lock on the door meddled with. “What the Fu-!?”

End Strike 36

Author's Note

Crossover with LostFaith and his Displaced story "The Alpha"

Next chapter, we hit the ground running.

Strike 37- Blindsided Part 1 of 3

Author's Note

The next three parts for Lance all coincide with the theme "Blindsided." Part one here consists of Chrysalis as we go more into her backstory. Parts two and three are currently in the works, but it will be some time before they are published and released. Thank you ElementBrigade and BronyParasite for helping me a LOT with this chapter. Expect more to come in 2016.

Strike 37- Blindsided Part 1 of 3

When Lightning Strikes- Blindsided Part 1

Time’s Shack (The following morning)

By the time morning came, the sun was brightly shining into the dim windows as he slowly woke up. The Adept was trying his best to get up, but it took him a few minutes to finally feel awake. He became wide awake though because of the note that he found by his jacket.

In the Basement. Need you ASAP. -Silver.

That’s when he shot up and proceeded to get dressed before looking around. Time wasn’t here at the shack and he could still here Pinkie snoring, but he couldn’t tell where the basement was. Until he opened one of the doors in the shack and proceeded to fall down a flight of stairs that lead into Silver’s workshop.

“Oww. Ow. Oww! Oh god, that hurts.” Lance shook his head, brushing the dust off of his clothes before looking around. Seeing Silver looking at him with a grin on her face. “What’s so funny, Silver?”

“You falling down my stairs. I’ve only seen one person do that.” Silver giggled, “Entropy, Time’s adopted daughter.”

“Well, I’ve only been awake for nearly fifteen minutes,” The Adept deadpanned, taking her note out of her jacket. “I got your note, what’s up?”

“Well first,” Silver gestured to the workshop, which was in horrible shape but had a pattern. The stuff that was available would have made Humdrum drool. There was a cage in the far corner that had blood covering it, and… the corpse of a pony… “What do you think?”

“Of what? The contraption, your workshop, or the dead pony? Because I’m not a fan of trophy kills.”

“Trophy kills? Oh, no, he’s the food for Time’s pet. She has… Weird tastes… And I mean everything.”

“Who is she?” Lance asked, looking around a little bit. “Is she some kind of Displaced?”

“Famine, and she’s… An experiment Time had when he was alone and… Messed up. She’s an alternate Pinkie he changed into an Amnesia: Justine monster.”

“Dear god… That’s disgusting.” The Adept tried to hold back the smell as he looked at the Unicorn. “Why the hell would he do that?”

“He was lost. After his banishment, he started hearing voices of his dead mother. This lead to him starting these experiments. He was lost in insanity, nopony with him… He took her and two others, changed them, and kept them here. The other two are also alive, but they’re in another place with Famine.” Silver stated.

“Why do I have a feeling that you’re going to relate this to something else? Where is Time even?” Lance asked. “Pinkie is still asleep in her room.”

“Time went back out to hunt a few Void Breach. Weak Void Dwellers with Psi Splitter.” Silver said, “Time’s been out there ever since you two… y’know…”

“...... Y’know what? Was it a few months ago… or more recent?” The Azure Striker asked. He soon sighed, waiting for a response from Silver.

“Years actually. Two hundred to be precise.”

Lance was surprised at first, but then soon realized something. “...Killjoy. Is it with the War of Shadows or something different?”

“What do you mean?”

“You mean Time didn’t tell you?” The Adept asked. He soon recalled everything that happened with Lee, Folteren, and the first time he met Time. With that, he also explained the War of Shadows and how he was planning on using that to try and draw out Killjoy so he can finish him off. This was after the last time they tried, Folteren’s Scootaloo got hurt and Lee’s Twilight got scared by Folteren in a burst of rage.

“I know that, but what about Killjoy being with the War?”

“The original purpose of him gathering everyone was to draw him out. Now, he’s drawn more Displaced into the fight and all this to kill him. If it’s been two hundred years since we last saw him, what happened? Is the war over? Is Killjoy dead? I’m only asking because it’s been a few months in my world along with Max.”

“No, Time is just time traveling. She’s been preparing it ever since she hit two million years old. And all that trouble for Killjoy? Hah! It isn’t for that weasel, it’s for his entire family. Time couldn’t care less for Kill.”

“I know. If Kill was… well killed, excuse the pun, then it weakens Roach…… What else do you need me for? I’m going out there to find Time. She and I need a serious chat.” The Adept retorted, looking back around towards the other end of the room.

“Okay, let me get Humdrum’s stuff.” Silver said as she pulled a metal rod. “This is an Xiophoricatic, but everypony calls it the multi-tool. It’s designed to act as any and all tools. Might help him out.”

“I agree. This after he got chewed out by Radiance for having a new suit not have any capes.” Lance told her as he placed the tool in his jacket.

“Those are overrated. I like something useful. I always wore a helmet that doubled as a computer with it’s own A.I.”

That… caught Lance’s attention. After his conversation with Church, the Adept was now a little more content with remembering people such as Aurora. “What was the A.I.’s name?”

“Sandy. I lost all copies of her when we got here though, and I doubt the team still uses her. She was useful, but I heard of new programming available when I was banished, so they most likely replaced her.”

“Well Damn…” The Adept cursed. “At HQ, the A.I. there is Iris. But I have ran into Sandy a couple of times. There’s the team's old hideout in the park and then… Paradise Tower.”

“Really? How’s the museum?” Silver asked.

“It became a memorial for Stopwatch, but for the past year, it was abandoned and haunted by Reaper. Also, Sandy there was reconfigured there to be a tour guide. Whoever did that is a cruel son of a b*tch.”

“Well… That’s all the Sandy’s I installed… Only other place would be Old HQ, but that place was bombed…”

The Adept was going to the stairs, but the mentioning of the Old HQ caused him to stop and turn around. “Wait… Old HQ? I wasn’t aware about that.”

“Yeah, before our banishment, the Power Ponies lived in a place called White Asylum. It was our base for almost Time’s entire leadership role until Roach blew it up with Cupcake, killing two of our members.”

“Who are those two?” He asked, eager to get out the door and try to catch Time and his friend while they were still out there.

“Paper List A.K.A. Hotshot, and Kite, no alias.” Silver said a bit sad.

“Sorry I asked about them… I just needed some information. I plan to stop there after talking to Time. Ever heard the saying One man's trash is the next man’s treasure?”

“Yes, that was my moto.”

“Well… I’m going to be digging through Rubble shortly afterwards.” The Adept replied as he walked up the stairs, out the door and out of the shack. Looking at the ground, he could barely see a series of footprints that were in the ground along with another set of prints he could not recognize. “Now then… Let’s see where you two went off to.”

Elsewhere…

“Aim for the head!” Screamed Time as she was chased by a white bipedal with a chainsaw, “Psi! Shoot it’s head now!”

“I’m trying!”

“Well try harder!” Spinner yelped when the white humanoid picked her up by the belt and held her with one hand. “Now! Before it breaks my back!”

Psi took a deep breath, aimed for the things head and shot. The bullet going right through the humanoid’s skull. Time fell on top of it as it crumpled.

“This amuses me not…” Time looked towards Psi, “Don’t scare me like that again, I don’t want Silver nursing me again.”

“Sorry about that, but you know I was never the best in high stress situations.”

As Time deeply sighed, she turned around, noticing something… or someone for that matter, running towards them. He stood out a little because of his Azure jacket and-. “Lance! What are you doing!? It’s...” She looked at the dark sky, “Six AM!”

“Your point?” He asked, finally arriving by her as he caught his breath. “Besides, I needed to talk to you.”

“Bout what? I’m hunting Breach and having-.” Time was cut off.

“About the War of Shadows. I just had a talk with Silver and from what she told me, you’re not telling me the full story.”

“Of course, I’m a Displacer, it’s what I do.” Time smirked.

“What about the fact that you’re using this to get at Killjoy, even though you really don’t give two sh*ts about him.”

“Kill’s working with Warzone, and they’re trying to revive their oldest sister.” Time Spinner stated. However, Lance didn’t care about that. He couldn’t care less right now. Unaware of Psi’s presence nearby.

“If you do not mind me asking, who are you?” Psi asked.

“Sorry about that. I’m Lance Walker. I’m sorry that I came off abrupt. I’m just a little… Irritated at Time right now.” He apologized, holding out a hand for Psi to shake.

Psi shook Lance’s hand. “It is alright, You’re a Displaced right?”

“Yes I am,” He replied. “Displaced as Gunvolt. Reason for my electricity abilities and some other things.” He looked back at Psi and wondered something. “What are you displaced as?”

“Oh, Psi’s not Displaced, he’s… A Void Dweller.”

“Oh so he’s like you… and Loki?” Lance asked, trying to make sure they understood him when he asked his question.

“Oh, yes… Psi is a Displacer. I’ve been helping him master his abilities ever since I created him.” Time smirked and slung her arm around the sphere, “Guess you could say I’m his mom!”

Psi moved out of Time’s reach. “While I am grateful of you for teaching me how to use my powers and creating me, I would prefer you don’t do that again.”

“I see what you mean, Psi.” The Adept replied. Although, thinking of Time as his creator just made him think of her as a Mad scientist. Especially with the thought of Famine still fresh on his mind.

“Yes after a while that just gets annoying.” Psi replied back. “So you’re Displaced as Gunvolt? I remember seeing that while picking my first Displaced, good character.”

“Thanks. I appreciate the compliment.” He replied back, looking at Time briefly before looking back at Psi.

“I’m going to ignore that comment, Psi, but if you call me annoying again I’ll lock you in a parallel universe as a mare and send Jubilee after you.” Time glared at the sphere, “Now get out of here before I turn you into yarn.”

Psi Splitter disappeared, leaving only two in the wasteland.

Spinner turned to Lance, “What else do you want to know? I’m a little frustrated right now that I have to explain myself to you, dad.” Time rolled her eye.

“I was just trying to find out about some things before Pinkie and I head back to our world.” the Adept told the Displacer. “Which includes a little bit of… clarification. I would like to know what exactly your plan is with the Voidborn. You said that you were going to deal with Killjoy, but Silver told me that you couldn’t care less about him and that this is a plan to draw out the rest of the family. And why do I feel like I’m being used as a pawn in your chess game?!”

Time laughed, “The less you know, the better! Killjoy is a piece of work, even killing one of my experiments. That got him on my death list. Pissing me off isn’t something anyone does… If telling you gets that pretty little head away from me, I’ll tell you.” Time clicked her fingers and an image of Killjoy, Roach, a bulky looking man, a red skinned woman, and a pure black woman that looked like Spinner, “These are the Voidborns. Tough guys name is Warzone, high on my list while Killjoy was low. He’s smart, strong, and really makes me want to tear his head off. The red skinned woman is Flaze, but she’s not on the list, she’s about the only one worth a damn. And the last is Izra, the woman who sent Roach after me and played with me for twenty years. She’s my main target, and the war will help me get to her. That good? Or is this not the answer you were looking for?”

Time stomped over to Lance, her eye turning red and black, “She’s tormented me, killed my experiments, and broke me!”

Lance just looked at her now, startled, but firm. “The more reason why you can’t do this alone. If she broke you once, she will do it again.” He put a hand on her shoulder for a moment, looking at her. “Trust me… I want to help bring you back. But you can’t go on a one man crusade to do so. You need to let other people help you. Let other people in… I’m going to go back to Maretropolis with Pinkie. Just… think about what I said.” With that, the Azure Striker began to walk back to the shack that the Displacer called home. Returning to see Pinkie Pie and Lumen waiting by the door.

“Ready to go home?” He asked them. Lumen nodded, but Pinkie was still looking at Time in the distance as Lance walked inside. “Pinkie?”

“Hunh?” The Mare asked, snapping out of her trance and looking back at Lance. “Oh yeah, sorry. I was just… thinking.”

“It’s alright. There’s nothing against thinking.” He told her. “We’ll see Time again soon, okay?” The pink mare nodded, turning around and soon following Lance through the same mirror that he used in order to create the doorway in the first place. The way home.

However, as Lance stepped through, he thought he heard somepony scream. Somepony that was in trouble. He was worried a little because somehow, he heard the voice before.

Later…

Throughout the brief time that the Azure Striker had returned back to his world, he didn’t feel completely focused. Something had been bothering him ever since he got back to HQ. Lance had been thinking over and over about the voice he was hearing and tried to remember who’s it was. Twilight herself thought that he was hearing this because he had been working too much lately and that the Adept needed a day off. So, she told him that he could use the chance to get a rest and maybe take a nap while he was at it. Lance, for one thing, actually decided to take her advice. With everything involving Time and also the amount of things going on back in Maretropolis, he thought that a small snooze would help him.

But as he laid down and closed his eyes, the Adept began to hear those cries for help again. But this time, he could hear them clearly. He was seeing Rainbow Dash, his daughter, running, before it abruptly ended with darkness setting in and a loud scream. The motion caused Lance to wake up, shocked by what he saw as he was startled awake. As he looked at the door though, he could see Ash outside. And she seemed to be a bit… concerned for him.

“Lance, where were you!?”

“Hunh? S-sorry… I was… tired after taking care of some things. Twilight told me to take a nap, but all it did was cause me to see a nightmare.” The Adept told her, rubbing his eyes a little as he got out from under in and was now sitting on top of it. “What’s up?”

Ash sighed, “I was told by Radiance you’d help me with something… Guess I’ll ask someone else.”

“What do you need my help with?” Lance asked, curious as to what his assistance was needed for.

“Well, Radiance and I were tracking a lead as to the whereabouts of the Power Clones, but Radiance needed to work on something.”

“Hmm… Is Sparkler still with Blaster? I might have an idea on how to find them.”

“Sparkler’s been here ever since you called her in… She hasn’t stopped working… That’s beginning to worry me too, now.” Ash said.

“Well, Sparkler might have a reason to take a break.” Lance replied. “With Blaster being a Cyborg, she must have a map and transmitters that her partners keep on them so she can find them if they’re split up or lost. If she turns the map on, you might find their locations.”

“Thanks Lance. I’ll check it out… And I mean Sparkler’s been just sitting next to Blaster, non-stop working. She hasn’t taken a break, and she hasn’t said a word.” Ash said, before shaking her head, “Anyway, I’ll get to work. Maybe when Spark is done she can help you… Oh, and Lance?”

“Yes?” Lance asked.

“Why is Pinkie acting weird? I mean, weirder than usual.”

That… caught his attention. Was this some sort of effect from meeting Time? “I’ll… get back to you on that. I need to find out what she is doing before making any assumptions.” With that, the Adept began to get up, but before he left, Ash told him something else. She told him what exactly was going on with their team mate.

“She’s been… Skipping and humming to her stomach… Once, Humdrum said he heard her… Purring out Stopwatch’s name. What the hay is wrong with her?”

“Let’s just say…… She was able to meet someone important she hasn’t seen in a long time.” The Adept retorted. “Leave her to me.”

“Of course.” Ash said bowing slightly. With that, Lance walked over to where Pinkie’s room was. Right off the bat, he could tell exactly what she was talking about.

The pink mare hummed to herself, laying flat out on her bed, trying to hug herself. She wasn’t even aware of Lance being nearby until Lance knocked on the door and caused the mare to spring upward from her position like when a dog hears a doorbell. “Pinkie? You alright?”

“Oh, hi Lancie!” The Mare greeted. “I’m just… excited.”

“Excited?” The Adept asked. “What is there to be excited for?”

“Oooh!! Lot’s of things, Lancie!! Especially when we help get Surgey back home!” Pinkie cheered. Lance then sighed a little, looking back at her a little as he closed the door.

“Pinkie… I know you’re excited for Time coming home, but it might be a while before hand. Can you not be distracted by it?” Lance asked.

“I just saw him- er, her for the first time in a year! I thought he was dead! What would you do if Max was is Surgey’s shoes and you were in mine!?” Pinkie said, not losing a single bit of joy in her voice.

“You… got me there.” Lance replied. “I’m proud for both you and Time, but I just want to keep the fact that you met Time between us for a couple of days. Many things are happening right now, so we should wait until things are calmer before we tell the girls that you might be having a foal.”

She giggled nervously, “Yeah… Sure… Oh, wait! I haven’t had a preggers test!”

Lance sighed a little, looking back at Pinkie. “You mean a pregnancy test?”

“Well duh!” Pinkie booped the Adepts nose, “What else would I mean!?” The Mare soon whooshed out of the room, almost blowing Lance into the nearby as she gallopped down the hall. It only took a few seconds for Pinkie to be joyfully screaming in delight over the results that she had gotten. It got to the point where Lance couldn’t tell a thing she was saying as the mare bounced up and tackled him to the floor.

“P-pinkie! Care to tell me what exactly is going on?” All she did was drop a small test to the side as she nuzzled her face into his chest.

“I’m going to be a mommy.”

Lance’s eyes widened. Looking at the mare, he soon was able to get up and properly hug her tightly. “Congratulations, Pinkie!! This is amazing news!!”

“Not even going to ask…” Grumbled a mare they didn’t see before. It was Sparkler.

“Wait… how did you get in here? The door was closed.”

“Door was ajar. I heard to and opened it the rest of the way.” Sparkler grumbled again, sounding dry. Lance noticed her eyes had dark circles under them, “I also was searching floor you…”

“I’m sorry about that. Something came up… You should go get some rest, Sparkler. You earned it. Thanks for your help earlier.” He told the mare.

“Best keep blather under heavy shidashin… Sidation. She’s… Not taking well to my powers, I had to fight hard inside her head, and her cybernetics were programed for anti-telepathic linshs. Links… It set off a failsafe and when she wakes she’ll tr-”

“Sparkler, you should really get some sleep. I’m sorry I brought you here so early, but you deserve a much needed nap. Hell, sleep in my room if you want. You earned it.” The Adept told her. He could understand bits and pieces of what she was saying, but those bits and pieces were enough for him to proceed. “We’ll keep Blaster under sedation and I’ll let Twilight know about the failsafes.”

Sparkler shook herself awake a bit, “Call mish… Miss… Mom and tehh her I’m dane… Done…” With that, the Mare passed out, but not before Lance caught her and proceeded to place her back on the bed in his room. Before he left though, he looked back at Pinkie one last time.

“Let’s keep the foal thing under wraps until we don’t have villains trying to attack us.” Lance suggested. In response, Pinkie nodded before the Adept left and placed Sparkler on the bed in his room. As he finished putting the sheets over her, he soon called Derpy Hooves, letting her know about Sparkler being done, but that she needed a nap before she could come home. All of that was acknowledged by her as she thanked the Adept for his help before hanging up the call. But it wasn’t enough time for the Azure Striker to catch his breath though with the thoughts that have been coursing through his head.

Besides, there was a few things that he had to be reminded before going anywhere. Specifically, with Detective Whooves. He left a file for Lance while he was gone on someone that had shown up out of nowhere, killing all of the prisoners inside of the Solace Asylum. He even executed the prisoners publically, taking control of all the major television networks to reveal himself and his vendetta. Plus, not only that, but based on the details they could gather, it seemed like this vigilante was not working along.

He called himself “Death Gun” and his group was named “Laughing Coffin”. From what Lance remembered from back home, both of those were related to Sword Art Online. Which means that this vigilante… was a Displaced.

He sighed deeply, groaning a little as he set the file aside. Only to find a bigger manila folder. This time, relating to Derpy (One Punch Mare) and all the shenanigans she’s been a part of. “Seriously? I can’t keep my eye off of that mare for two seconds before something crazy happens.”

Putting aside the folder that contained all the Derpy related incidents, he then looked over his current equipment. Aside from what he normally carried, he decided to keep Blood Cleaver’s knife on him. He had a feeling that he was going to need it later on as he walked out of his room, heading towards the command center. When he didn’t find him there, he decided to head towards the mess hall. The second most likely place where they might be.

“Hey Humdrum, you there? I needed to give you something before I check up with Derpy Hooves in New Yoke-.” The second he stepped in the door, he found something… else. The entire League of Vigilante Justice was there, along with Gremmy and the others. “What the Fu-!?”

“Surprise Motherbucker! We’re here for the free taco meeting!” The one named Sonata shouted at him, throwing a taco at Lance’s face.

“.....That’s not why we’re here Sonata.” Gremmy deadpanned.

“Shh quiet genie. You’re master is talking.” She replied. Because of the unexpected arrival of the league, the Adept grew a bit tense as he closed the door behind him.

“Look, I already cleared Kaoru’s name and Twilight is informing the other heroes to not target her anymore. Is there something here that I’m missing or is this some sort of messed up revenge plan. Because Touka already told me what Sonata is capable of with Tacos.”

“No but that is on my list of things to do to with, but that’s not it.” Chrysalis said as she untied a pony that was next to her. “I’m wondering why they’re still coming after her even though you did send the message to the other heroes. Unless you only send the message to the heroes in Maretropolis?”

“I bet he only sent them to that M.I.S.T. team and CMC team.” The mare added on, smirking as she rubbed her wrist.

“For your information, this was sent out to ALL teams… My only guess is that Kaoru is being hunted by a third party… You familiar with Lauren Order?” He asked. “She’s set up a Suicide Squad to do tasks that others see as… well, suicide. This includes heists and killing high valued targets. Otherwise then that, I’m not sure what the problem is because there are only four hero teams. Including this one, MIST, CmC and Mane Hero 6.”

“.....Raindrops?” Chrysalis said as she looked at the pegasus.

“Who is Raindrops?” Lance asked. “I’ve never heard of somepony named that before.”

“Me b*tch.” The mare said. “Bleeding Nightmare, at your service.”

The name immediately caught Lance’s attention. But for a different reason. “Wait… you’re that traitor Aurora told me about.” The Adept pointed out. It was only then that his band began to glow a little. “Why is a psychopath here? I already had to deal with Purple Mare. I don’t need somepony else trying to wreck the place.”

“I was gonna have her join my league if she’s willing to join us in hunting down any criminals.” Chrysalis said as she smiled at Lance. “Having somepony like her hunting and killing criminals would be very useful. Plus she pretty much hates you guys as much as I do so it’s a win win in my book.”

“... Okay, back up. Care to explain why you two hate us? I’m kind of lost here.” He asked. “Besides, I can only help if I actually know the reason why.”

“Oh? Twilight didn’t tell you?” Chrysalis said as she looked at Raindrops. “Should I tell him or should you?”

“I wanna, you two keep babbling I haven’t talked much…” Raindrops grumbled. “Second year of Stopwatch’s command, him and Zapp were sent to Wonderland for a few months. Chrysalis killed a civ when she got her powers and was sent to the Zero Zone while Clayton was starting up. Twi couldn’t get Chrysalis out because only Mr. Winter could, and he decided that Stopwatch needed to make the choice, but after a few months of convincing, she was able to free Chrysalis but on the condition that she be removed from the team, and so Twi agreed.”

“I don’t trust Clayton. That decision and everything about it is uncalled for. You should’ve had a chance to redeem yourself.” Lance told them, only to be interrupted before he could speak again.

“Shut up, I’m not done! And I said Mr. Winter, not Clayton.” Raindrops snapped.

“Is it wrong that I find you very attractive right now Raindrops?” Chrysalis asked.

“Yes.” Raindrops grumbled. “Anyway, I found Chrysalis’ actions were justified. Killing villains did more good than harm, so I continued her work in the Power Ponies but Stopwatch thought I was going overboard. I mean, so what if I tortured a filly to get her father to talk!?”

The Adept growled to himself. “You make a point on Chrysalis, but you are different. What you do is worse…”

“I’m not gonna lie, but I would do the same that Raindrops did if the criminal did have a family and had important information about something.” Chrysalis said.

The Adept said nothing to this, but just listened. If he would keep his trap shut right now, it would do more good than harm.”

“Not done!” Raindrops yelled. “I saw the problem with the Power Ponies and left to find Chrysalis, but turns out that when you break out criminals, they tend to kill those you care about… Like my mother… Because somepony freed the Zero Zone… Chrysalis…” Raindrops glared at the Changeling. “And you know what? That’s when I really saw the light… Nopony, or being, is innocent… The only cure is total annihilation… I want you all dead…”

“... Really now… And who taught you that?” Lance asked. “Because that would sound like something Roach would say.”

“That is true… wait, you’re not working for him are you?”

“I worked for him for awhile, but I learned that on my own. You’re all a parasite, I’m just the exterminator…” Raindrops said, beginning to walk towards the door. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to tell my boss why I was kidnapped.”

“So I guess you’re going to kill me then huh?” Chrysalis said as a smile grew on her face. “Am I correct?”

“Eventually. You and Twi’ll be my last victims… But I want to stretch my legs so if I get caught I’ll have had at least a month free.” Raindrops said, like she was speaking normally.

“Alright then.” Chrysalis reached into her coat pocket and handed her a communicator and a SD card. “When you’re finished training or being free for a month. Meet at this location near the league's HQ. I’ll be waiting for when you want to kill.”

“Chrysalis, what are you doing?” Trixie asked her, confusion setting in on her face.

“What? Raindrops was pretty much right, we all are not innocent. Not to mention what I did all those years ago and what happen to her mother was pretty much my fault. It’s the least I can do after what I did to her, and I have no problem dying by her hooves. Just one request if you’re willing to hear me out Raindrops?”

“Shoot.” The yellow mare stated, sounding bored.

“When you kill me, could you bury me under under that peach tree that we would usually hanged out under when we were in the Power Ponies?”

“I-I’ll see if I’m in the mood…” Raindrops said, sounding a bit unsure.

“Thanks, and I know this too late…..but….I’m sorry.” The Changeling told her.

“You’re right, it is too late…” she said coldly before taking her leave.

The Adept that was just there just watched the two of them carry on. Neither of them addressed him during the conversation, so he decided to wait until they addressed him while they were talking. However, it was during this time that he noticed movement outside the window at a nearby building. Thinking that it was unimportant, he looked back at them, continuing to wait on the conversation. “Okay, so now that the history lesson is out of the way, both of you are two former heroes with some very screwed up pasts. But what does that have to do with what you want right now?”

“Chrysalis was talking about her past when Masked Matterhorn came in all pissed off. Mask said that Chrysalis was the reason Raindrops went bad.” Ash commented from her corner. The Adept was quite surprised to notice her there, but didn’t say anything about it.

“…… Okay, judging from what I can tell, all of this is pointing towards the Zero Zone.” The Adept said, “More specifically, the one in charge of it. I don’t trust Clayton because I believe he is oblivious to what is happening in his own prison and cuts corners when trying to get things done. There’s already been a breakout involving inmates of the Zero Zone and Roach told me that Clayton is not to be trusted. Is there anything I’m missing?” After he spoke, Raindrops was clearly away from the area. Leaving him, Ash and the rest of the league in the mess hall.

“Well, I might have to give leadership to Trixie in about a month or so.”

That caught the Adept’s attention real quickly. “You’re giving up leadership? I’m both surprised and confused at the same time. Why is that?”

“Long story short, let’s just say it involves me, Raindrops, and stuff from the past.”

“Let me guess, rather not talk about it?”

“Boy if I told you what I’ve done in the past, it’ll pretty much fill up an entire novel or two.” Chrysalis said as she cracks her neck. “All I know it that my past is coming back to kill me, and let’s just say I’m more then welcome to accept death with open hooves-.”

It was then though that the Adept saw something flicker outside. A red light that instantly set off alarms in his head. It was a laser sight. And it was pointed at Chrysalis head. “GET DOWN!” Without warning, the Adept dived towards the changeling, tackling her away from the window as multiple gunshots went off, barely missing her as they ricocheted around the complex. One of the shots hit the clip that the Adept would use to keep his jacket together as it split open.

Looking down at the changeling, he tried making sure that she wasn’t hurt. “Are you alright?” The Changeling just looked at him as he wanted to make sure she was okay.

“You know if you wanted to have your way with me, you can at least buy a changeling dinner first~.”

After hearing that, Lance noticed his jacket was unzipped and zipped it up three quarters of the way before looking back at her. “You know, I wouldn’t mind buying you dinner after somepony tried to assassinate you.”

“Oh right, I almost forgot about that. Gremmy, if you would please?” She asked, hearing a sigh from the person she was talking too.

“Should I kill them or send them flying across the city?” The Quincy asked her

“Sending them flying would be best really. I’m not in the mood to kill at the moment.” With that though, the Changeling finally noticed the outstretched hand that the Adept was offering him so she could be back on her hooves again. “Thanks… I guess… why are you helping me?”

The Adept sighed for a minute before looking back. “Because I believe you. I believe your story and I believe what was done to you is wrong. You are a nice person Chrysalis and I want to do what I can to help you… Now, you were saying about dinner? You might need to relieve some stress after somepony tried to kill you.”

“That’s why I have Sonata here with me.” Chrysalis said as she points at the taco loving pony, who was being thrown by Gremmy as she was heading towards the sniper.

“LEEEEROYYYYYYYYY JENKINSSSSSSSSS!” yelled Sonata as she threw taco bombs at the sniper

“Also no offence, but you’re not my type. Not because of your personality or because you’re a human, but I’m into mares.”

“I’m fine with that. Trust me, my fiance’s actually like to swing both ways.” He told her. “Still though, maybe we should leave Sonata and Gremmy to deal with the sniper. What kind of food do you like?”

“As long as it’s not sour or bitter, then I’m fine with whatever.”

“Hey, I’m getting dinner for you, so I’m letting you pick.” The Adept offered. “Plus, I’m not needed anywhere else right now so this doesn’t really need to be rushed.”

“If you haven’t notice I have no idea where to eat at the moment. I mostly just order takeout for the league… speaking of takeout. Aria!”

“What?!” She shouted across the hall.

“Order some chinese food for the league! Make sure it’s the usual this time!”

“You know… that gives me an idea… Chinese?” The Adept asked her. “I heard there's a good restaurant downtown.”

“Hm… alright I guess I’ll go to this restaurant downtown.”

“Okay, Follow me.” The Adept told her as he offered her a coat to wear before the two of them began to walk through the streets of Maretropolis.

Later that Night

As the night progressed, Lance began to learn more from Chrysalis in regards to her origins, what happened to her in the Zero Zone and what the changeling had been doing ever since being released. The Adept himself could not believe the torment that she was forced to go through and in a way, felt sorry for her. But, with that said, he was also keeping an eye out on clues for what exactly put her in that situation. Inside the Zero Zone, she was beaten, tortured and abused. Something that would be seen as unacceptable in most prisons. But according to her, everypony there just turned a blind eye. Again, this was unacceptable in many different ways and primarily, against the law.

“And that’s pretty much my entire story of how I used to be a power pony, and Zero Zone in a nutshell.” She finished, clearing her throat a bit. “Any questions?”

“Damn, that’s Horrible.” The Adept replied, thinking of the first question that came to his mind as he looked back at the changeling. “How were you able to handle all the torment you were forced through?”

“The moment I got out of Zero Zone, I pretty much took it out on the Power Ponies. When ever I would see them on one of my missions, I would attack them to the point where they’re sent to the hospital. That or have Sonata go to their HQ and mess up the place by pressing a lot of random buttons. Last time she was there she pretty much caused a computer virus to be unleashed into the Power Pony supercomputer.”

“That must’ve been with Sandy before she was replaced.” The Adept thought to himself briefly before speaking again in a low tone to himself. Throughout the whole night though, the talk with Chrysalis strangely reminded him of another Displaced that needed help and guidance. That being the Blood Countess, Shalltear Bloodfallen. “Still, I feel bad for what happened to you and I couldn’t even imagine myself bearing through all of that hell like you did.”

“Don’t be, you’re not the one that left me to rot in that place without knowing what was going on in there.” Chrysalis said as bit her lower lip.

“Well, mark my words on this,” The Adept said, turning towards her. “I’m going to make Clayton feel sorry that he turned a blind eye on everypony that was tormented, hurt and abused in there. Your story gives me a reason to fight for what’s right. And the first thing to do is to fix up the Zero Zone. What happened to you should not happen to any other pony ever again.”

“... You know, out of all the power ponies that I hate… you I don’t hate out of all of them.” Chrysalis said as she open the door to the league’s HQ. “You have that spark in your eyes that says you’re telling the truth and you’ll actually do something about it.”

“I will. Cross my heart and hope to die.” He told her. “I’m not a pony, but I am open minded. I trust you because I know that you weren’t lying to me.” Before she said anything, Lance had a small bit of lightning in his hands flicker as he spoke again. “My senses allow me to read heartbeats. If one’s heartbeat is beating too fast, then they’re hiding something. However, yours was the same throughout the night… Trust me, Chrysalis. Clayton will have hell to pay for this.”

“I’ll take your word for it, Lance. Now if you’ll excuse me I have to prepare myself for a fight coming up in one month.”

“What kind of fight?” He asked. “Is it for leadership over the League?”

“Oh no I’ll have Trixie take over. It’s more of something from the past that I caused in my blind rage.”

“I see…” Lance told her, not wanting to push it in asking more details. “Do you need anymore help? I know that you’re back at your hideout, but I wanted to make sure you were in capable hooves first… Unless you want me to stay that is…”

“It’s fine really, you don’t have to worry about me Lance. I do have my friends to help me remember?”

“I know, but you sent two of them after your sniper, one to get takeout for the others and technically, I don’t think you called for everypony to return to base.” The Adept pointed out, seeing that the hideout was mostly empty. He figures that Kaoru and Touka were either asleep or doing something else, but didn’t want to leave them out either. “That’s why I wanted to make sure you were alright first. Everypony I know, like you, is a friend and family member to me-.”

KNOCK KNOCK!

The knock on the door caught the Adept by surprise. Either Sonata was back very quickly or it was Gremmy. But that was personally his first guess. Turning around, he soon asked Chrysalis a question. “Were you expecting company?”

“Not unless it’s the pony from the chinese takeout place.”

“You want me to go check? Just to make sure?” He offered, seeing that Chrysalis looked partially tired.

“You can if you want, but if it’s those tax collector then you can shock them if you want.” Lance chuckled at the sound of that, walking over to the door and slowly opening it.

“Who is it?” He asked, looking outside partially.

“I’m here to see the leader of the League of Vigilante Justice. We know each other.” A muffled female voice echoed. Lance thought for a minute as he sensed the pony speaking. Heartbeat was normal, she was speaking the truth. However, he needed to be careful

“What’s your name?” The Adept then asked, cautiously.

“Monochrome Sunset. She’ll love to see me again.”

Again, pulse was normal. Yet, something seemed… off about this mare. “Okay, hang on for just a minute.” Lance told her, walking back to Chrysalis as he slowly closed the door. Careful enough not to do anything suspicious. “Chrysalis, somepony by the name of Monochrome Sunset is here to see you? She says you two know each other?”

“M-Monochrome S-Sunset?” Chrysalis said as she began to shiver with fear. “Oh dear Celestia.”

“What’s wrong?” He asked. “You’re freaking out like I just talked about the Grim Reaper. Who is she?”

“You know how I told you about the group I join before I made the league? Well let’s just say Monochrome is one of them that I… left… behind in Zero Zone when I was still young and blinded by rage to focus on other things.”

“What do you think she’s here for now?” Lance asked, tempted to draw one of his new forerunner weapons that Church gave him before meeting Time again recently.

“If you were left to rot in Zero Zone after you helped a certain pony or changeling escape, what would you do when you’re finally out?” It took a few moments, but soon, Lance realized the reason why.

“ … Revenge.” Quickly drawing one of his guns, the Adept went to the door and prepared for a possible breach. “Get to cover. Something tells me that she won’t take so kindly for you refusing to see her. And with your friends gone, it’s only you and me. Try calling for backup, I’ll hold her at the door.”

“Right.” Chrysalis said as she ran off into her office to call for backup.

“Buck this…” Mumbled a male voice before the door was knocked off its hinges. “Chrysalis! We’re home!” A very pissed off stallion said. He wore a long coat and an odd hat, but what almost got Lance laughing was his Grumpy Cat Cutie Mark.

“ … Okay, I’ve heard of Grumpy Cat, but this is something completely different.” He said, before pulling out a boltshot handgun as it glowed with energy. “You got five seconds to state your business. Starting now…”

“We wanted to see Chrysalis and tell her how we appreciate her leaving us to join this half assed vigilante group.” A mare wearing a white mask with a crudely drawn on smile. Pulse this time was higher than it was originally. They’re hiding something.

“Bullsh*t,” Lance spat. “I can tell that you’re lying.” From there, electricity began to surge around the room. “Four seconds…”

The grumpy cat stallion rolled his eyes. “Ask her, ape. Are you that stupid that you think she’s perfect?”

“Sourpuss, quiet.” said the masked mare. The name though, triggered something. Lance was told by Chrysalis that one of the ponies that used to be in the same group she was in during her time in the Zero Zone was under that name.

“Heh… I would say that you are the ones who slipped up now…” The Adept grinned as he looked at them. “She told me about you and how she left you. You're the vigilante group that she was a part of before she made the league. Now… enough of your games. Your time is almost up.”

The mare named Monochrome growled as she stared the Adept down. “Sour, go.”

“What!? And leave the traitorous b*tch!? I’ve waited for this moment ever sin-” Before he could finish, the mare let out another deep growl at him.

“Now… I’ll take care of the Gunvolt and bring Atomic Changeling back to base… You’ll get your fun...” With that, the stallion left. However, something else hit the Adept as he inhaled what appeared to be blue smoke as he fell to one knee. Right now, he was stuck in a daze. Struggling to understand what’s going on around him. He could hear talking, two to three ponies fighting one another. But he couldn’t tell what was happening. His body was fighting the gas he inhaled, but it was messing with his senses. He was beginning to wake now though and during this time, he saw Chrysalis blast the hoof off her attackers with her powers. He could now fully stand back up as they stumbled towards him. As she turned around, the mare was shocked to find that the Adept that was previously on the floor right in front of her. Electricity surging at the highest velocity and weapons drawn.

“Did you forget about me!?” He shouted, shocking one attacker with a few bolts of lightning.

“Well you got up quickly then I expected. I was just enjoying myself before you woke up.”

“Save it,” Lance snarled, firing a set of Vasuki bolts that ricocheted off of the walls and hit the attackers coming for Chrysalis. Before they could react, lightning surged through those bolts that hit two others that were known as Sleeper and Solar, causing them to drop to the ground unconscious. “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Be thankful that I only knocked your companions out. All of you have got a lot to answer for.”

The mare just grinned, simply saying one word. “Knife.”

The Adept recognized the tactic. He had seen it before. The mare must’ve either carried a concealed knife or can turn her body into a weapon. Hence the name Monochrome, which was a type of metal.

To his surprise, a knife was stabbed into his back from another pony. Chrysalis recognized her instantly as Alice. But to the Adept, this was too… simple. “Okay, I have to admit… That was clever…” The Adept grinned, coughing up some blood. “However… you also made another grave mistake.” He knew that when it came to metal objects, they were conductors of electricity. He was going to have lightning surge through the Knife, until he heard a shout from Chrysalis.

“Don’t let her absorb any kind of electricity!”

At that, Lance turned around, cursing to himself as he blinked over to Chrysalis’ position in the room. He let the changeling pull out the knife as his body began to heal on his own. But he wanted to know something. “So, who was the one that had the bright idea to stab me?”

The mare named Monochrome, also known as focused on her downed teammate while the attacker made herself known… It was a filly covered in blood.

“Still into fairy tales, Alice?” Chrysalis growled.

“Fairy tales… No… I… I don’t find them fun… The Cheshire Cat want’s to know why you hurt Parasol.” The filly asked, her mane drifting to the side.

“Because she attacked me first, that and the fact that you all are pretty much gonna kill me.”

“You abandoned us! We- I thought of you like a sister!” Alice glared as horns grew onto her head, her coat went pale and her eyes went blood red.

“What I did to you all was something that can never be undone. For that, I am sorry... But even if you all are planning to kill me I would have no problem with that.” Chrysalis raised a hoof at Alice as her eye had a dead expression on them. “If you can find it your heart to forgive me for what happened, then I’ll let you all go. But if you can’t and you keep coming after me.” The white aura that was surround Chrysalis started to take the shadowy form of the grim reaper. “Then I will kill you without showing you all any mercy.”

“It isn’t just that you left us, but that even when you had this team you never once tried to get any of us out. Grape at least tried, while you had fun.” Monochrome snarled. “And it’s not like we even wanted to come back, our new leader wants you.”

“I wasn’t having fun, honestly I wasn’t. I was trying to form the league to not only defend Maretropolis, but to get you all out of Zero Zone.” Chrysalis lowered her arm as the aura around her disappeared. “Throughout the past three to four years I’ve been training this league to be able to break into Zero Zone and bust you out. But the moment when I have the ability to come back to get you all, you all disappeared from that place.”

“That’s going to make this harder…” Fallover said.

“I could never forget you guys, you all were first group of ponies that accepted me for who I am.” Tears began to flow down Chrysalis’s face.

Monochrome herself was quiet for a bit before she signaled Alice to retrieve Sleeper and Solar while she picked up Parasol and her unattached hoof. “We came here to get you. Our new leader wanted to talk to you about joining our group again.”

“Why would you want somepony like me back?”

“Our new guy doesn’t care about the family, he just wants results. Since the Master, Slendermane and Mercury left, the new mare wanted us to force you to join. That’s all I can say…” The mare said with an edge in her voice.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t join.”

“That’s why this is hard…” Monochrome said as she trotted out of the doorway. “There’s no room for failure… Kill us if you have to…”

“Why not join me and the League of Vigilante Justice? We’ll be willing to accept you as our friends or a member of the family.” Chrysalis said as she ran over and reach for Chrome’s hoof. “Please, let me make it up to you for what happened to you three years ago.”

“I… I can’t… I have no choice…” The mare told her.

“Then tell me who’s making do this! Please, I don’t want to lose you all again!”

Monochrome looked hesitant upon hearing her friends plea. “I’ll keep in touch. She’s too strong right now… Best I can say is it has to do with a new organization…”

“Who’s in charge of this new organization?”

“I can’t say too much… Find Ma- Perfect Pace, he knows more than me.” Fallover said before she galloped away.

Alice dragged the knocked out ponies out of the base. Chrysalis said nothing as she watched her former family run away from the league HQ. Lance walked up next to her wondering if she was okay. Only for his question to be answered, as Chrysalis buried her face into his chest and begun to cry. The Adept held her close, trying to comfort her.

“It’s going to be okay,” he told her as she continued to shed her tears while leaning against him. Holding her in his arms like if she was one of his children. “I’m here for you.”

“Why?” Chrysalis asked. “Why would you care for somepony like me?”

“Because leaving somepony in the state you're in goes against everything I believe in. I’m here to help you Chrysalis. You’re overwhelmed with hurt and you need help making sure that your broken heart can heal.” He told her. “I’ve felt this kind of loss as well… and I’ll be damned if I let you go through it alone.”

“J-Just take me to my office please. I need some rest after all this.”

“Sure,” He told her, picking her up in his arms as the changeling pointed out where her office was. Pushing the side of it with his body, the door opened as he walked in. “Where do you want me to set you down?”

“At my desk. The chair can turn into a bed when I need it to be one.” He nodded, setting her down gently on the chair as requested. Like she said, the chair soon began to glow a little, turning into a bed for her to lie down on. Once the task was complete, he looked back at her with a concerned look in his eyes.

“Anything else I can do?” He offered.

“.....Could you stay with me for a while? Just until I fall asleep.”

The Adept nodded after giving it some thought. “I’ll stay here with you. I’ll help keep you safe.” He promised.

“Thanks, if only Twilight and her friends were more like you.” Chrysalis said as she laid her head on the arm rest.

“They don’t know you like I do.” He told her, getting her a pillow for her head. But it was when he touched her head that he realized something. “My god, you’re cold! Almost like you're freezing to death.”

“Side effect of going all out. Had to change my molecular structure in order to stand a chance against those I fight.”

The Adept cringed a little, shaking his head. “This isn’t normal. If I leave you like this, you’ll freeze to death in your sleep. What can I do to help you?” Around then, Chrysalis felt the Adept’s hand on her shoulder. Warm to the touch.

“Mind if you cuddle with me until I get warm?”

That… surprised the Adept. But, true to his word, he couldn’t just say no. “No, I don’t mind.”

“Good, because I’m bucking cold at the moment.” The Adept nodded, lowering himself to her as he let her feel his warm embrace. To the Adept, this was helping the changeling mend her broken heart. To help her heal her broken soul. To help her stay warm and stay alive.

End Part 1

Strike 37- Blindsided Part 2 of 3

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Strike 37- Blindsided Part 3 of 3

Author's Note

Finally, I got this finished. You will not believe how long it took for me to plan and figure this out. I always wanted to try and have a family member that was on the same level of kinkiness, but couldn't exactly decide who. Then came the DLC for Smash Bro's and this happened. Now we get to learn more about Lance's relatives, family members and a new trick he has up his sleeves to combat future opponents. The original plan was to finish it up with Max, but since Max's author is taking a break, I decided to change things up with the final part of this three part strike.

Next Strike: Angels fall.

Strike 37- Blindsided Part 3 of 3

When Lightning Strikes- Blindsided Part 3

Canterlot (Late Evening)

All across the royal city, the life that came with living inside Canterlot was vastly present everywhere that you would go. Many ponies that lived within the cities walls would be having a good time and doing many different kinds of activities throughout the night whether it’s drinking at a bar, dancing at a club, or just having fun with friends. But if you come across any nobles or well known celebrities, they would be wanting to have things go exactly their way and make other ponies do what they say by threatening them with their position in political power.

Such was the case for Prince Blueblood, a Unicorn noble who had a very deep hatred and disgust for normal ponies that he saw as “commoners”. They were a sickness to him. One that needed to be eliminated like the flu. They were what he believed as the scum of society and when he was passing through with two of his personal guards, almost anypony that did not want to cross his path stood out of the way of him in fear of what he possibly might do. He was returning to Canterlot Castle after a long day talking with other nobles and public officials along with hearing the news that came from the city of Maretropolis. News talking about heroes capturing villains and how they have been helping things become more peaceful across Equestria by their actions. There were only a few teams that he had heard about before, but honestly, he couldn’t care less about them or the strange beings that were also reported in those cases. Because there was no possible way that they were able to lay one of their dirty hooves… or hands for that matter, on him.

Tonight though, as he was about to find out first-hoof, was a different case. As he was just about to approach the royal gardens, a strange figure could be seen prowling around nearby a rose bush. It wasn’t a pony, that was for sure. In fact, it almost resembled one of the female “human” like figures that he had heard about before in the reports from Maretropolis and New Yoke. It had a black mane, wore an evening gown that twinkled with the night sky and had a pair of glasses on it’s face. But something about the individual… didn’t feel right with Blueblood.

As she turned around though and began to look at the Prince and his two personal guards, she chuckled a little upon seeing them. “Well, if it isn’t the snobbish prince and the lackeys that he always goes around everywhere with… How adorable…”

“Did she just… Have the nerve to insult me? ME?!” The prince thought to himself as he stared at her while gritting his teeth. “How dare you, you commoner filth-!!”

“Oh now… Did I struck a nerve? Because that is no way in order for someone like yourself in order to talk to a lady.” Whatever she was doing was really beginning to anger Blueblood. He personally believed that this… creature needed to be taught a lesson. She had the nerve not only to insult him, but was beginning to notice that the way she was dressed made it look like she was trying to expose herself to him.

“Guards, arrest this Harlot now-!” Now the playful look from the individual turned into a glare as both guards try to seize her. But in the blink of an eye, Blueblood saw his two personal guards get smashed into a garden statue and the other one sent flying into him before crashing into the ground.

“Now… aren’t you just a treat… But, I really believe that you need a personal attitude adjustment.” Within seconds, the outfit of the woman changed as her old one disappeared into slivers of black hair as she grabbed him by the collar and began to drag him away, adding a restraint to cut him off from his magic to add to it.

“I-i demand to know where the hell you are taking me this-!” He shouted, before having a series of hairs cover over his mouth and prevent him from speaking.

“If you can just shut up for five seconds and not say anything stupid, then you wouldn’t have put yourself in this f*cking mess,” She scorned him. “Now… I believe a visit to the gates of hell is in order.”

Meanwhile…

In the late hours of the night, some ponies were still awake and trotting through the streets of Canterlot. A few such ponies included two princesses and a high ranking official of the royal guard. Princess Luna, Princess Cadence and Shining Armor were going to a place that the Lunar Alicorn though could help ease the captains troubled mind. Around two days ago, Shining Armor was personally concerned that Lauren Order, one of the day courts top prosecutors, was using a “Suicide Squad” for her own purposes or to gain political influence in the court. But if he tried addressing those concerns to Celestia, it would be seen more as an accusation than anything else.

Luna though, thought she could help the troubled unicorn. Which of course was the reason why they were all going to meet somepony that was a friend of hers. Somepony that she thought could help him ease his mind a little.

“So Luna,” Cadence asked. “Where exactly are we going to meet this friend of yours?”

“We’re going to his bar-.” Luna replied.

“Your friend owns a bar?” Shining them spoke up. “No offense, princess… but I don’t know if getting drunk would help me here.”

“I understand that. But he’s only a bartender because he owns the place. He also has many other important roles at the gates of hell.”

“The gates… of hell?”

“That’s his bar’s name. Now follow me. I know exactly where to go.” The princess replied before her horn flickered to life with magic. Seconds after a brief flash of light, both Shining and Cadence found themselves in what appeared to be an old fashioned tavern. The neon sign above them flickered bright red as it said “The Gates of Hell”. As they got up though, the two of them saw Luna standing at the counter, looking at a new figure. One with darkened skin, a bald head, sunglasses over his face and a dark overcoat.

“Well Luna, you are just full of surprises. I never expected to have you show up… with guests no less…” It said, using it’s outstretched thumb to light a cigar.

“It’s good to see you again, Rodin,” Luna greeted the figure, slightly bowing her head a little. “I brought my niece and her husband because they wanted to ask you about some things in Maretropolis.”

“Maretropolis you say?” Rodin asked, taking a puff from his cigar with one hand and scratching his chin with the other. “That city has been busier than heaven and hell combined. Especially with all the… interesting heroes that have been there as of late.”

Shining Armor’s eyes twitched a little at the last line. “I beg your pardon?”

Rodin sighed a little before looking back at the unicorn, setting his cigar on a nearby ashtray. “Shining Armor correct?” The pony nodded. He was going to say something before Rodin interrupted him in the process. “You might not have noticed anything since most of the cases down there are solved by the police department and not the military, but there are a few individuals whose species are called “humans”. Several of them have been should on different circumstances. Some of them temporarily, but others permanently. Nevertheless though, it is my job to make sure it doesn’t get out of hand.”

“Shining Armor also told us that Lauren Order found one,” Luna spoke. “And I met one of them with my sister.”

“I’m going to assume that it was a blond haired kid in his teenaged years that goes by the codename Gunvolt?”

“Yes but-.” Just as the alicorn was about to speak, a crash from the front door caused everypony to quickly turn around. Walking in was a short haired woman with strange black clothes to match her hair and a pair of glasses. However, what she threw in was even more surprising. It was Prince Blueblood.

“Oh my Rodin… I did not know that we were expecting company.” She spoke, her tone being a mix of serious and playful. “No matter… I found ourselves a prince that needed to be taught some manners.”

“Rodin, who is she?” Luna asked. “And why does she have my nephew tied up and gagged?”

“The names Bayonetta, darling… Or Ceraza, whichever one you prefer.” The woman spoke. “As for him… He not only had the nerve to offend me and have his guards arrest me, but he also called me a harlot in public. Such a dirty mouth and very insulting if you ask me.”

“Bayonetta, please…” Rodin groaned, looking at her while putting out a cigar with a curled up fist.

“Alright, fine…” The woman sighed, slamming her foot into the ground as a shot of sorts went off. It wasn’t until the ponies looked at where the source of the noise came from that they noticed a pair of blue pistols strapped to her heels and matching the ones that now appeared in her hands. “Run along now, little colt… and remember… next time… DON’T mess with a witch.”

Luna was quite surprised to hear the last part as she saw her nephew run for his life out of the bar and into the streets of Canterlot, terrified by what just happened. “A witch?”

“Not the kind you’re familiar with presently Luna, she’s an Umbra Witch.” Rodin pointed out to her.

“Wait a second…” Cadence thought to herself before speaking up. “I thought those were extinct.”

“Cheeky,” Bayonetta giggled. “That’s funny to hear coming from a rare and possibly endangered species such as yours, your highness.”

Shining himself though, like the other two ponies in the room, was still lost. “I’m a bit lost, what is an Umbra witch?” It was then that Rodin himself took out another cigar, snapping his fingers as he puffed out another cloud of smoke.

“Umbra witches are witches with powerful control over demonic magic and the power of “witch time”. Bayonetta here hunts angels from heaven that have soared too close to the earth. She also helps with other tasks that are too dangerous for anypony else to handle.” Rodin took another puff of smoke, setting some cinders from his cigar on the ashtray again. “I’m also glad that you have arrived, Bayonetta. These three were telling me something that you might see as… interesting.”

“Oh it takes a lot in order to try and interest me… But it doesn’t mean that they can’t try~.” She cooed in a teasing manner as she sat cross legged on a barstool.

“Remember when I promised that I would tell you if any other humans showed up. Turns out, these three found a couple.”

The Umbra witch grinned a little as she looked back at them. “You had my curiosity, but now you have my attention. Please, do continue.” Both Shining Armor and Luna used the chance provided to catch Bayonetta up to speed, telling her of the human within Lauren Order’s personal squad and the blond haired boy that was part of the power ponies. “Pray tell… did you get any of their names?” Bayonetta asked them, trying to act like she was amused by this information.

“Well, the boy referred to himself as Lance Walker when I met him-.” Luna was going to continue, until she noticed the Umbra witch’s expression briefly change.

“Lance Walker? Is that right?”

“Why yes it is… Why, do you know him?”

“Know him?” The Witch retorted. “That’s the same name I gave my son in my own world shortly before dying and… well, Rodin giving me a second chance.” The woman soon got up out of her chair, ignoring the others in the room and walking to the nearby closet as she wiped off some of the mucky flesh like substance and feathers off of her weapons in her hands and on her feet. “Now, if you don’t mind, please continue. I’m itching for the chance to meet him in person… all grown up.”

Power Ponies HQ (Rooftop)

“Why are we here...?” Aurora groaned groggily.

“That’s… kind of a deep question there Aurora… But if you mean physically, it’s because I wanted to take a breather from the craziness downstairs with Radiance trying to make Zapp take off her suit so she could fix a few tears.” Lance told her as a loud echo could be heard from an open window.

“YOU ARE NOT MAKING ME STRIP IN FRONT OF YOU RARITY!!”

“Identity revealed, Rarity Belle is The Radiance…” Aurora deadpanned.

“True, but technically, we are a few stories up so… I highly doubt anypony would be listening… or paying attention for that matter.” The Adept replied as he slowly began to walk to the stairwell. Until he heard something land nearby.

“You don’t seem even a bit scared with how many villains are out there?” Aurora asked.

The Adept chuckled only for a moment as he put his hands in his pockets. “Well, that’s the thing… If a villain was trying to follow me… they would try to not make their presence known instead of crashing on a rooftop.” With that, he turned around to see two familiar faces. But something was different about one of them.

“Kaoru… you have twins now?”

“B*tch please, though when you think about it. It would be interesting to be actual twins.” The response had the adept raise an eyebrow as he looked at not just Kaoru, but two doppelgangers along with Sonata as they were on the other end of the roof

“B*tch… Where have I heard that…?” Aurora asked. “Oh right, that’s what that one mare called me before I died…”

“Aurora, not now…” Lance whispered as he looked back at them. “So Kaoru, what’s the deal? I already made sure you were good with us and the cops, but something tells me you are here for a different reason…”

“Just here for a test run to try something out. Thanks to Ember for helping me in my time of need, I feel a little bit better about myself.” Kaoru said as she pulled her quinque from off her back.

“Who’s Ember?” Lance asked out of curiosity. “Is she another Displaced?”

“Who cares…?” Aurora asked, bored.

“Pretty much yeah. You know the old saying, it takes a womans touch.” Kaoru said as her quinque took up the form of a buster style weapon.

“I see…” He said, looking back at her. “Look, I rather not get in a fight after the shenanigans that happened earlier today when a wild Deadpool appeared out of nowhere to start messing around-.”

“Oh so you met Deadpool too huh?”

“Who’s Deadpool again?” Aurora asked. “A b*tch? Pfft!”

“The Merc with the Mouth that held up Twilight Mist earlier like it was the opening of the Lion King and thought that I was wielding a lightsaber… Yeah, it was awkward.” He said, looking back at Kaoru and Sonata. “So what brings you here-.” It was then that he noticed several lights go out in the distance and several crashing noises as something came towards them. Leading to Lance facepalming.

“That was… the worst landing… of all time...”

“Not my fault… the building was in the way.” Derpy said as she notice Sonata and Kaoru. “Oh hi girls, how’s it going?”

“Hi Ms. Hooves.” said Sonata and Kaoru in union.

“I was going to ask if you met before, but I believe that answered my question.” The Azure Striker asked as he got a muffin out of his coat and gave it to her. “Here you go. Saved this for you before Zapp and Humdrum could eat up all the rest.”

“MUFFIN!” Derpy yelled as she flew at the muffin, then into a building. “Oops! My bad!”

“…… Okay, how did that happen from me just handing her a muffin?” Lance asked, before speaking up. “You know what, just don’t… I rather not want to know the answer to that.”

“Wow, almost everyone’s here…” Aurora said dryly. Lance rolled his eyes for a second and sighed. Before actually fully understanding the context of what she was saying.

“Hang on… almost everyone?”

“Mrs. Brea. Every main hero Displaced is here besides her.” Aurora said.

“Ah right…” He said, looking back at Kaoru as Derpy flew back up and took a seat next to him. “So… as I was saying… what’s up?”

“Just here for a test run. Plus I wanna try some stuff out that I got from Gremmy before he left.”The ghoul replied back.

“Like a new gadget or something?”

“Something like that.” She replied as the Ghoul looked back at the Adept, still confused on one thing. “You know, this has been pestering me for the past five minutes, but who the hell is talking to you?”

“That… is Aurora.” He said briefly before the Ghoul interjected.

“What like your A.I or something?”

“More like a ghost.” Aurora said, fading out of the bracer halfway to wave.

“A ghost. You never see something like that before.”

“My name is Aurora Spirits Storm. I’m the daughter of Stopwatch.” Aurora said.

“Who’s Stopwatch?”

“He was a Displaced who was in charge of the Power Ponies. He was the original leader.” Aurora said.

“What happen to make him not be the leader anymore?”

“He was banished from this universe by a jerk.” Aurora stated. “He’s been gone for a year and a half.”

“Ouch, that sucks.”

“He’s coming back, Lance said so!” The spirit gleefully cheered, causing the ghoul to raise an eyebrow as she looked back at her clones.

“Um, okay….” Kaoru said to herself as Lance sighed to himself before looking back at the Ghoul and the Siren.

“That’s the plan at least. It’s busy trying to balance tasks on different ends of the city. Not to mention different dimensions,” He replied back. “But it is a goal I plan to achieve.”

“What are you guys here for?” Aurora asked.

“Well, Kaoru said earlier that another Displaced named Ember not only healed her, but also allowed for her to have two clones of herself. Not to mention that she was out here in order to test something. Possibly having to do with that ghoul version of a mega buster on her arm.” Lance hypothesized, pointing out the details for her as the ghoul stretched out her hands.

“You could say that yes. Right now she’s needs someone strong enough to test her skills out. And who’s better than a certain adept.”

“So let me get this straight… You came out here… all the way from recovering… just to fight me again?” Lance said, shortly before sighing as he looked back at her. “How do you propose this test? Me being a target or actual sparring?”

“Actual sparring.” Kaoru said as her kagune like tail and ears appeared. “Wanna test something out before I take a break from heroing for a while.”

“Okay, but I know a place where we can actually do it that doesn’t involve us causing property damage. Just place your hand on my shoulder and you’ll see,” He said, walking over and using his Instant Transmission ability once Kaoru and Sonata complied. When they opened their eyes again, they found themselves inside the Power Pony HQ training hall. Which from first glance looked like the inside of a huge gym. Just with combat equipment and a simulation grid. “Welcome to the training room. Anything that happens in here, stays in here so it won’t damage anything.”

“Impressive, this will do nicely.” Kaoru said as she lifted her quinque onto her shoulder.

“Same here.” He said, taking off his blue longcoat to where it only showed the sleeveless white Jacket that Time gave him as he prepared his weapons for combat. “Ready to get started? Something tells me that you don’t want me to go easy on you.”

“Nope.” She said as her quinque started to glow. Lance smirked, holding both of his guns at the ready, but now thought of something new. After his fight with Deadpool earlier, the Adept decided to modify his guns by breaking down the energy blade that Humdrum built for him and instead applied the tech used in the blade to his firearms. So, as he channeled his electricity, his guns now spawned two curved blades as he aimed at the ghoul.

“Neither am I.”

“Then let’s begin.” Kaoru said as she begun to flash step towards Lance. The Adept himself smirked a little, leaning back to dodge the first strike as the newfound blades he channeled clashed with the ghoul. As it held still, Lance used his strength to adjust the position of his guns to around eye level as he switched clips to dullahan and squeezed the trigger. Firing two shots as it distracted Kaoru for only a brief second.

“Don’t think that’s going to work on me.” Kaoru said as she threw a ball of clay at Lance as it attached itself to his chest.

“What the hell is this suppose to do-?” He thought to himself as he tried to cut if off. Until something began to happen.

“Don’t think that I haven’t change since the last time we meet.” Kaoru said as she pulled out a detonator and pressed it. “You’re looking at the league's tactical officer.”

“Oh SH-!” Lance cursed mentally as she flicked the switch and has the clay detonate, causing an explanation to go off as the ghoul began to laugh a little.

“Oh look at me, I’m Lance. I’m a hero with the power ponies. I’m so amazing-!”

“You call that a tactic?” He sighed as the smoke from the explosion faded away and only showing minimal injuries that were beginning to heal on it’s own. “Dear god, get it together…”

“Who said that was the only trick I had?” She asked as she pointed down at the land mines under Lance’s feet.

“Oh really?” Lance said, taking one step as he reappeared behind Kaoru and struck her from behind. Causing her to stagger as he looked back at her. “It’ll take a lot more then that to surprise me. But if it makes you feel any better, I’ll give you one free shot. Just know that if you screw it up-.” Lance was cut off mid sentence as he felt something hard hit him from the side. From what he felt, it was Kaoru’s buster quinque as her clone blindsided him.

However, the Adept remained unphased by the attack. In fact, he was actually smirking a little as he wiped off some blood that dripped from the corner of his mouth. “-You’re going to regret it!”

“If I didn’t regret killing those insane displaced from the Asylum yesterday, what makes you think I’ll regret doing this?”

That caused Lance to stop for a second. “Wait… what?”

“Yeah kinda went on a search and rescue mission yesterday to save Aya and some others who got kidnapped and was brought over there.”

Now was when the adept stopped what he was doing, holstered his weapons and folded his arms. “O… kay. Wait, you know Aya?” He asked her, surprised and a bit confused as to how the ghoul knew her.

“Well I did save her from a fate worse than death...though I wish I was there sooner after what they did to her….” Kaoru said as a grimdark expression appeared on her face for a moment before turn back to normal. “But after I saved her, we kinda….well we’re dating now.”

That immediately caught the Adept off guard as it caused Lance’s eyes to twitch a little. “Wait… so let me see if I understand this right… You’re dating… my aunt!?”

“Yeah… wait Aya’s your Aunt!?”

That’s when the Adept facepalmed himself. “Yes she is. She’s my aunt and my cousin Sean, who got displaced as Sun Wukong from RWBY, is her son.” The Adept then drew in a deep breath before looking back at her. “If that’s the case… I’m proud for you two… just please help her out when she needs it. Some things have a tendency to come back to haunt her.”

“Well it’s a good thing I’m on break then huh?” Kaoru said she started to feel a little sick to her stomach. “Ugh.”

“You okay?” He asked out of concern for her. She looked like she had to race over to a trash can and puke her guts out because of the expression that lingered on her face.

“Y-Yeah I’m….never mind.” In an instant, Kaoru’s face turned green as she threw up on the training room floor. “Oh god, what the hell is that smell?”

“What have you exactly eaten recently?” He asked as the mechanism in the training room disposed of the mess that Kaoru had made.

“Nothing, but something in this place is making me remember the smell from Mount Massive Asylum with the room full of dead torn up bodies, and Chris Walker awful body odor.”

“... Why do I get the feeling that you treated that place like an all you can eat buffet?” The Adept questioned as he looked back at her.

“In case you haven’t notice, I’m no longer a ghoul mister I’m not very good at details.”

“I don’t mean you. I mean the other you.” He said, pointing at one of the clones that looked like the ghoul Kaoru.

“I doubt seeing how I order it to keep watch over the exit.”

“What about your other doppelganger?”

“The clones act like a shadow, they can do what a normal person can do, but when it comes to eating it’ll just fall through them.”

“I see… Okay, I rather not want to know the answer to the question of why it smelled like that place,” The Adept said. “You’re free to go back… just… keep an eye on Aya okay? Sometimes I worry about her.”

“Don’t worry, I will seeing how I’m heading over to her place tonight.”

“Thanks Kaoru, I really appreciate it.” The Adept replied as he left the room. It took a few moments in order for her and her teammates in order to make it up top, but upon arriving up there, the ghoul, her clones and the siren soon encountered an unknown entity.

“My oh my, is this place an urban jungle or what? I always seem to run into the most fascinating of species.”

“Dude, is that who I think it is?” Asked a clone as the other clone next to her looked at the intruder up and down.

“No doubt. It’s every fanboy’s eye candy, Bayonetta.” The clone next to her replied. “You think she won’t kill us?”

“Kill you? I was just wondering what a pair of ghouls and a siren would be wandering around here for?” She teased. “Possibly sticking their nose where it doesn’t belong?”

“Hey that only happen one time!” Sonata said as she tossed her bucket of tacos off to the side. “Plus we’re here because of Lance.”

“Oh now that’s just hysterical. I remember meeting my sister Aya a while ago and now you actually have business with my son? Don’t tell me it’s because you have needs that you haven’t satisfied yet.” The Witch mocked as she folded her arms.

“Wait a minute Aya’s you sister and your son is Lance?” Kaoru said as she appeared in front of Bayonetta. “Geez, why didn’t anyone tell me about this?”

The witch giggled, looking back at her for a minute. “Oh kids these days…” Noticing Kaoru’s movements towards her, she turned to face her on the side and smirked. “Ah ah ah… Didn’t your mommy tell you not to advance on a lady so quickly? You should buy her dinner first at least.”

“...I’m gonna have ask Aya about you after our date.”

“Oh my… someone is eager… But let me answer that question… with another question… Have you heard the phrase “A life for a life”?” She asked the ghoul, interested to see what her answer would be.

“Why does that sound so familiar?” Kaoru asked as she tried to think of an answer.

“Let me make this simple then, darling.” The Umbra witch sighed shortly after waiting a few seconds. “Before I came here, I died in childbirth. The first ever breath that Lance took as a baby was when I took my last. Then… I met Rodin. He gave me a second chance and now, here I am… Now, if you would excuse me… there are some angels from Paradiso that wandered too close to this city. I’m going to enjoy clipping their wings.” With that, Bayonetta soon disappeared as she left the ghoul and the siren on the rooftop. Surprised and confused.

But it wasn’t the only surprise that was in store for the witch that evening. When Bayonetta had finally completed her job, she felt something bothering her as she turned around and smirked. “You know… It’s rather quite rude to sneak up on a lady… Why don’t you show yourself before I decide whether or not to put a bullet in your head…”

“I thought you’d be more hospitable to your little sister.” Maya Brea said, walking out of the shadows. “Seems you can’t trust family not to kill you…”

“I trust family… but I don’t trust you… I had a suspicion about you and it looks like I was right. You were the reason why Aya was put in that forsaken hellhole of an asylum. Not only that, but out of the three of us… You were always one to keep secrets… So spill it out. What’s your reason for being here?” The Witch demanded as her weapons were held at the ready.

“That hurts…” Maya said, tilting her head. “Aya wasn’t supposed to get out so soon. But I suppose I’ve got no other choice than to improvise… Dear sister…”

Before she could make a move, one shot was fired past her as one of Bayonetta’s guns was seen with smoke coming out of the barrel. “Sisters would not throw other sisters into the real version of inferno. Don’t F*ck with me… I’m tired of your games.”

“I knew this was gonna happen…” Maya spat out blood. “Gonna happen eventually… You could never care for me, even before I died.” Maya’s face turned blue.

“I cared for you… But I’ve stopped caring once you decided to sell your soul to that b*tch named Eve. What’s in it for you hunh?”

“You think I work for Eve!? Hah! She’s your f*cking niece!” Maya laughed insanely as her form changed.

“Oh my… Well that’s just brilliant… I now feel like a f*cking celebrity in this town…” Bayonetta sighed as she stared down her changed sister and ignored her words as her left eye glowed immensely. “Now… Let’s dance… Sister.”

End Strike 37

Strike 38- The Sufferer and the Witness

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Strike 39- The Writing on the Wall

Author's Note

If you have noticed my recent blog, then you probably already know that as of right now, this story is going into a temporary hiatus. But I do have some interesting plans for the future thanks to the hype of some of the summer movies for 2016... You probably know what I mean by that... Anyways, enjoy the chapter and have a good day.

-Frost

Strike 39- The Writing on the Wall

When Lightning Strikes- The Writing on the Wall

Mane Hero 6 Headquarters

The morning after the escapades of the other night, Lance and the rest of Mane Hero 6 were up bright and early trying to uncover everything that their team mate Vinyl had retrieved the other night. Unfortunately though, the mare herself was trying to get some much needed sleep after what she had heard the other night and this caused her to toss and turn all over the place because of the nightmares in her head involving her best friend. All this though, just made her teammates and friends worry about her.

“Do you think she’s going to be okay?” The Azure Striker asked as he and a couple of others watched the Unicorn struggle to get some rest.

“I’ve known Vinyl for a long time, Lance.” Hiro told him as he looked back at the Adept. “Vinyl can overcome anything that she’s up against. But some things she can only overcome on her own.” The teen may have looked quite young for his age, but he knew just what words to say at the right time. Besides, even if they could try to help their teammate right now, the bigger issue that they had to deal with right now was The Countess. After yesterday, there was now the possibility that there were other lackeys working alongside her. Some that weren’t even in the power ponies database or the police database either. All they had was names of the two ponies named Black Widow and Shadowmere along with the fact that there was the two mares that were Octavia’s sisters. Not to mention the fact that one of them mentioned the “Countess’ colts”, which meant that the Countess… Like any other possible bad guy… had minions (who probably preferred being called that instead of Henchmen).

His train of thought on the matter was interrupted when Noteworthy trotted in and looked back at the two of them. “Hiro, we’re getting a call from the Sun Fransokyo police chief. Something came up that he wants our help with.”

Both of them looked at one another in confused before Hiro responded to the stallion. “Chief Macintosh needs us? Does it have to do with the Countess?”

“Not quite. Let me get you on the phone and you guys can talk with him.” The Stallion said, guiding them into the Control Center just as Lance noticed Applejack walk into the room.

“What in tarnations is with all the darn commotion?” She asked, just finally getting her suit back on as she followed us inside.

“The Police Chief of Sun Fransokyo needs our help,” Lance explained to her, turning back around to Hiro for a moment as Noteworthy was helping set up the console they used to talk with them. “What was his name again? Mac… something?” However, all that did was cause Applejack’s eyes to widen as she stared back at the both of them with an expression of shock on her face.

“No way… Mac’s here?!”

Both the adept and the genius looked back at her, surprised by the mare’s reaction to what they were talking about and also confused as to how she exactly knew about the city’s chief of police. “You know him?”

“Know him!?” Applejack retorted. “Lance, Big Mac’s mah older brother! Nopony in mah family besides Applebloom knows that I’m… well… Mistress Marevelous.”

“What? I thought your Granny knew!” Aurora asked all of a sudden.

“No Aurora, she doesn’t. Her memory isn’t what it used to be and with the fact that I have a lot of relatives… Family life isn’t what it used to be anymore,” The mare replied. “Ever since he was a colt, Big Mac wanted to find out what happened to our parents after they went missing. I just… didn’t think it would lead to him becoming part of the police force. Out of all of my siblings, Mac is… well… a bit protective at times.”

“I’ve never actually met him… Kinda weird seeing as I was friends with Applebloom.” Aurora said. However, all of them soon directed their attention to the screen as Applejack herself stepped out for a moment and the computer screen lit up.

“Morning everypony,” The stallion on the other end spoke. “I’m sorry for having to have all of you up this early, but we needed your help in investigating something as soon as possible.”

“What seems to be the situation, Chief?” Hiro then asked as both Lance and him looked back at the stallion.

“While I was helping you look into the acts of the Countess, something strange came up. There was an incident that took place at an old building outside of the city. It used to be an old pizzeria dedicated to the power ponies before it was closed and had to be shut down. This morning, one of the lieutenants who works with me on the force found the body of one of Sapphire Shore’s friends laying out here all mangled and twisted,” The Stallion explained, showing photographs of the scene and of the victim. “We don’t know what happened, but we’re treating it like a homicide. If a couple of you can come down and help clear some of this up, we can see what other leads we can find on the Countess.”

“Pizza!?” Aurora squealed. “I lov- Oh… Nevermind.”

“We’ll be there as soon as possible,” Hiro replied, pointing to Lance. “Oh and before I forget, a couple of the power ponies are trying to help us out with some of the things happening around here. I’ll send them your way.” With that, the call ended. But all Hiro got afterwards was a major scolding from Applejack and a whack over the head. “Oww! What was that for?!” He reacted, a bump forming on the back of his head.

“THAT was for sending me out in the field to where MY BROTHER is, you varmint!” Applejack snapped. “Would you really send me out to a homicide with the location of it being a place dedicated to the power ponies?!”

“Hang on… you know about this place?” Lance then asked, hearing what Applejack just said and causing the mare to sigh.

“Yes… It’s one of a couple of locations for the restaurant called “Power Ponies Pizzeria”. After one of our friends was saved by Stopwatch, a friend of ours named Cheerilee opened up a restaurant dedicated to us… However, despite the fact that it’s now owned by a stallion named Crescent Moon, there were many cases over the years that caused them to shut down. Cases of foals going missing, bodies turning up dead and also sounds of movement inside the restaurant… even though it’s been abandoned for three years.” Mistress Marevelous explained. “There’s even been rumors that the souls of those missing foals have possessed some of the equipment that run the place… but again, that’s just a rumor.”

“Originally, the rumor was that Aurora was dead. However, she’s here with us,” Lance pointed out. “I’m not sure how this is any different.”

“Lance, I had an ability that saved me. These are ordinary foals.” Aurora said.

“True, but what’s happening is anything but ordinary… Enough talk though, we can find out more once we’re there.” The Adept insisted. “Geez, all this talk with souls is just bringing up bad memories of the Purple Mare…”

Aurora nodded. Her, Lance and Applejack soon made their way over to the location. Applejack herself trying to stay calm and not stress herself out. Which was hard to do because to her, she had not seen her brother in years. Once they got there, there were only a couple of stallions there, who looked to be part of the Forensics team that was analyzing the body along one other Stallion. A big red one with a Orange mane and a bit of a beard on his chin.

“Must be Big Mac.” Aurora remarked. “Hey… This isn’t Power Ponies Pizzeria.”

“It isn’t? Maybe it used to be before they used the property for something else.” He told her, just as the stallion turned around to face them.

“So, you must be the ones from Maretropolis that Hiro was talking about,” He said, looking back at them. “Name’s Big Macintosh, Chief of the Sun Fransokyo Police Department.”

“Lance Walker, also known as Gunvolt by the Power Ponies,” Lance introduced himself. “This is Mistress Marevelous. She’s a friend and partner of mine on the team.” Applejack herself nodded, replying with a simple ‘hello’ before Big Macintosh looked back at them. “So, what do we know about what happened?”

“Well, as of now, DNA test from the forensics department of the force have confirmed who the victim is,” The Stallion replied, handing a manila folder with some photographs. “The mare’s name was Sassy Saddles. Lived in Manehattan and worked as a fashion designer for many performing artists and did commissions for many of the nobles in Canterlot. She was out here on a business trip to meet Sapphire Shores… however, how this happened to her was another story that we’re still trying to piece together.” Lance nodded, taking the chance to get a little closer to see for herself.”

“She was obviously crushed from all angles…” Aurora said.

“Yes, but what could’ve caused it?” Lance said to himself as she looked down and inspected the body. “Did she have any friends?”

“Searching… Searching… Rarity Belle is all I’ve come up with, but she lives in Maretropolis.”

“Aurora… That’s Radiance.” Lance reminded her in a whisper, now groaning to himself. “Oh god, she’s going to be a emotional wreck when we break the news to her.”

“Lance, we’re in front of the police… Did you just reveal our teammates secret identity?” Lance took a moment to look around, only to notice that nopony was paying any particular attention to them as Lance placed the tarp back over the victim.

“Seems like everypony is minding their own business. One thing that bothers me though is that a lot of blunt force trauma would be needed to cause wounds like these… What do you think could’ve done such a thing?”

“I suppose it could be magic. An advanced levitation spell could easily do this. Perhaps we should talk to the owner.” Aurora suggested. Lance thought about it, walking over to Big Mac in the process.

“Chief… is it possible for us to talk with the previous owner of the facility?” Lance asked him while he was walking up to the stallion.

“I already tried that before calling upon you. I wasn’t able to get much information out of him. He barely even had a clue about anything that could’ve happened here.” Big Mac replied back, causing the Adept to sigh. Then, he remembered something… A trick that he had done before regarding the case with Milano Mash a few months back. Walking over, he took a deep breath, removed the tarp off of the body of mare and placed his hand on the forehead of the corpse as he closed his eyes.

“H-hello? Anypony here? I somehow got lost and I was hoping I could find some directions back to the city-.” Scrape… Scrape… “W-what was that?”

There was a low, distorted growl. A few moments later, what looked like an armless Fluttershy jumped out of nowhere and screeched, it’s jaw unhinged.

“S-STAY AWAY FROM ME!!” The mare shrieked, scrambling to her hooves as she tried to run. Only to trip a few feet later and land face first on the floor. “Oww!” Frantically, she tried to open the door… Only to find it barred shut and unable to open. “N-no! This can’t be happening… LET ME OUT!! Somepony… Anypony… LET ME OUT!!!”

The Fluttershy… Thing, headbutted the mare, knocking her out. But the last thing that was seen was another… thing moving towards her. One that looked like… Sunset Shimmer… But it had nothing but two small glowing lights for eyes as it inched closer to her.

“Nighty night…” It said.

When Lance snapped out of the vision, what he saw was triggering serious flashbacks. These creatures weren’t like ordinary beings… they were Animatronics. Almost like Freddy and the ones he knew from before… But these ones were different. Something about them seemed… off. But it made him think that they were machines possessed by the souls of the dead. It wasn’t until Aurora spoke that it snapped him out of his train of thought.

“You okay Lance?” Aurora asked.

“Y-yeah… Just processing a bit…” He told her, shaking his head a little to snap back to reality as he walked back over to where Mistress Marevelous and the police chief were.

“Why don’t we speak to the newest owner.” Aurora suggested. He thought about it for a moment, before looking back at Aurora.

“That may help… Who’s the new owner though?” He asked her, stopping for a second so he could talk to the spirit.

“I can’t get a name, but her address is close. Seven blocks away.” He heard her say, pulling up a streetside map on Lance’s bracer as he looked back at his teammate.

“Hey Marevelous, I’m going to go have a talk with the newest owner. Meet you back at HQ later?” He asked, her response followed by a nod. But before he was able to go anywhere, he soon heard the chief speak up and catch his attention.

“Excuse me, Lance. But can I talk to you for a minute… in private?” The Adept nodded his head, gulping down his nervousness as he looked back at the stallion, walking back over in his direction. But the first thing he said once they were far away was what surprised him the most. “You know… I was surprised when I saw you show up here with my sister of all ponies.”

“Ah crap…” Lance cursed mentally.

“Don’t get me wrong, I myself was surprised… But Applejack, no matter how good she tries, isn’t always the best when trying to keep secrets.” The Stallion replied. “Can I ask you to do me a favor though?”

The Adept raised an eyebrow, folding his arms for a moment as he looked back at her. “What kind of favor?”

“Can you make sure that she’s alright?” Big Mac asked. “Ah know that she and I have gone our separate ways, but I feel like I still need to look out for her, even if she’s a full grown mare… Can you just please keep an eye on her? Help her out too? I know that this whole Countess thing is a little personal because the Countess used to be a friend of AJ’s, so please… don’t let her feelings cloud her judgement.”

“I’ll do what I can,” Lance promised the stallion. “She’s my teammate and an important friend to me. I’ll make sure nothing bad happens to her.” With that, the stallion nodded his head, thanking the Adept as he walked back over to where Applejack was and the two of them left. Even though AJ went straight towards the base, Lance himself followed the directions that Aurora had provided for him and soon ended up at the address that she had on his gauntlet.

It was a crummy apartment building with three floors and seventeen apartments. The door was open.

“She live in apartment five on floor two.” Aurora said. Lance nodded, going up the stairwell since the elevator was out of service and walked up to the second floor. Upon arriving, he saw a small plaque that was the directory of all the room numbers on the floor. Including room number five as he approached it and knocked it softly. Trying not to disturb whoever was inside.

“Excuse me, is anypony in there? I just want to talk…”

The door opened and a green mare with a red mane opened up. “What’s up dude?” She talked slowly, and her eyes were kinda droopy. Personally causing Lance to think if this was actually the same mare that Aurora was talking about.

“Uhh… Would you happen to be the owner of the old pizzeria that closed down a couple years back?” He asked. “I’m investigating a couple of incidents that happened there miss…” Pausing to look at the name plaque by the mailbox, he then sighed and spoke again. “Tree Hugger?”

“Oh, yeah… I work for a company that bought the place. We’re trying to, like, revive the place.” Tree Hugger said. “We spent a small fortune on the new Animatronic. And we moved locations. So what’s the problem man?”

“Well… How should I-... Wait a second, Animatronics?” Lance asked, coming inside shortly after the mare held the door open for him.

“Yeah. Those old ones, like, had a bad vibe about them. So we made new ones.” Tree Hugger said, trotting over to a couch and sitting on it. The place smelled like smoke, and something bad from the kitchen.

“What sort of… bad vibe do you mean specifically?” He then asked, taking out a small notebook to write some notes down for him to look back on later.

“Well, there were those murders. And the bad smells from the original Animatronics.” The mare explained to him, recalling what she could remember.

Lance wrote these things down, then looked back at the Mare and asked her a question. “Can you describe the smells? Was there anything… off about them that really caught your attention?”

“I never smelled them, but the customers said it was bad. There was also complaints of blood and mucus coming out of their eye holes. But that’s ridiculous, I checked the suits myself and they, like, had no problems.” Tree Hugger said, pulling out a cigarette.

“Well, that’s going to make it definitely hard to sleep tonight.” Lance thought to himself, trying to ignore the smell as he asked his next question. “I was told that there were some reports of movement inside the buildings… even after closing hours and sounds of scraping metal… Are you familiar with anything related to that, Ms. Tree?”

“Dude, just call me Tree Hugger, we’re all living creatures.” Tree Hugger said. “And yeah, we let the Animatronics walk around at night. It helps make it so they, like, don’t rust.”

Upon hearing that, it made Lance stop what he was doing and look back at her. “You let them walk… at night? Wouldn’t that be consuming electricity?”

“We, like, charge them up during the day. We use solar panels to run the place.” Tree Hugger said. “It’s a flawless system. Is there something wrong?”

“Well… What would happen if somepony was inside the facility at night? I’m asking about this Tree Hugger because I’m helping the police chief investigate the death of a mare that was found inside the complex this morning.” The Adept explained for her.

“Oh man… Total bummer dude.” Tree Hugger said. “Well, it must’ve been, like, someone from her life…”

The Adept looked back at the mare, raising an eyebrow. “Someone from her life? Who are you talking about, Tree Hugger?”

“Like, I dunno. All I do is facts about the pizzeria. Who, like, died? It wasn’t the night guard, was it?”

“No, the night guard was the one that called the police,” Lance recalled from the police report. “The one who died was a mare that was a friend of Sapphire Shores. One of the wealthy business entrepreneurs in the city… Why, were the animatronics based off somepony you knew?”

“You could, like, say that… I actually knew Saddle Rager. She, like, saved my life.” Tree Hugger offered Lance a cigarette, but he denied the request. His father had a habit of smoking when he was with him, but he didn’t like the smell of tobacco everywhere and always had his windows open so it didn’t fill with smoke.

“You knew Saddle Rager… Like seen her more than once… talk to her?”

“She and I, like, talked every once and awhile. We kinda lost touch after that whole…” Tree Hugger cleared her throat. “Silvermine incident… I don’t even know if she knows I’m alive… But I, like, found my calling.” Lance took a moment, writing the last portion of her sentence in his book, circling Silvermine Incident in it and writing on the side ‘Investigate Further…’ as he closed it and put it back in his coat.

“Well Tree Hugger, it’s been a pleasure talking to you… and if anything new comes up at all,” He said, pulling out what looked like a business card. “Feel free to reach out and call me.”

“Sure dude, ditto.” Tree Hugger said, handing Lance her own business card. “You need you relax your aura, man…” The card itself read BoltingShadow, while it had the address to her apartment and a phone number to reach her by on the back end of it. With that, Lance stepped out of the room and closed the door behind him, trying to brush off his clothes. After that, while walking up to the roof, he asked Aurora for a simple favor.

“Hey Aurora, can you call HQ back in Maretropolis? I need to ask Saddle Rager and Radiance something real quick.”

“Done.” Aurora said in a flash, and the screen went to Skype. It showed Saddle Rager there, who looked like she was distracted for a minute. But when Lance spoke up, all it did was cause her wings to flutter and for the pegasus to roll out of her chair and onto the ground, causing Radiance to come in a few moments later.

“Why Lance darling, it was a little unexpected for you to be calling so soon… Did something come up while in Sun Fransokyo?”

“Yeah, but it’s a lot to explain,” He replied, before he remembered that he had some news to break and deeply sighed. “First though…… Radiance, something came up here this morning and… well… I have some bad news… Applejack and I found Sassy Saddles-.”

“You did?! How is she? Is life in Manehattan going well for her? Did she use that mane care product that I recommended for her?” Rarity asked, only to see the grim expression on Lance’s face. “Lance? …… Lance, what’s wrong?”

“Radiance… AJ and I found Sassy Saddles as the victim of a murder case that we’re investigating… I’m sorry Rarity, but she’s… gone.” The Adept told her, trying his best to not sound like he was telling her the news bluntly. “If there’s anything I can do… Just tell me…”

“ ……… Have her funeral be here in Maretropolis… I want to be able to make her one final dress before I see her one last time.” The mare said, holding back her tears as best as she could. “J-just… what happened to her…?”

“I’m still looking into it… but it also brings something up that I need to ask Fluttershy… Are you two familiar with something known as The Silvermine Incident?” He asked them. “The incident involving what happened to Sassy occurred at a location that used to be the Power Ponies Pizzeria out in Sun Fransokyo. I had a talk with the current owner and she mentioned the Silvermine Incident while we were talking… Any idea what that is?”

“That… Was an operation Fluttershy, Twilight and… A former member of our team went on. It was a hostage situation. The Purple Mare kidnapped them. Twilight said it was a failure.” Rarity explained.

“Failure as in the hostages were killed and she got away?” Lance asked, before thinking of another question to add onto that. “Where did this take place?”

“Like the operation was dubbed, a silver mine outside of Maretropolis. That failure cost the lives of ponies close to us.” Fluttershy said. “Where’d you hear about it?”

“Well… The mare that I talked too about it lives here in Sun Fransokyo… I think the name was Tree Hugger if I remember correctly.”

“Tree Hugger!? She’s alive!?” Fluttershy almost fainted.

“Y-yeah… From what she told me, she’s been trying to ‘revive’ the building that the incident took place and remodel it… She also gave me her business card if you want me to send that over to you.” The Adept offered, “The only thing that she gave me other than the stench left behind on my jacket.”

“Tree Hugger was one of the hostages. How in Equestria did she survive!?” Rarity was shocked.

“To be honest… I’m not so sure.” Lance replied, looking back at them after Fluttershy captured her breath. “I’ll try talking with her tomorrow, AJ is probably wondering where the hell I am right now… Oh and Rarity, can I ask you one more thing? I might need a spare set of clothes. With the way the case is going, we might be here longer than I originally thought and I’m going to have to do laundry tonight for sure.”

“I’ll send them as soon as I can. Filli-Second is out on patrol, so sending it to you may take longer than expected.” Lance nodded at that point, looking down to notice some of the greenery that had been lying through the cracks of the apartment… That though, made him think of a question to ask his teammates as he looked back at them.

“Hey… just out of curiosity… did Tree Hugger have any sort of powers when you two knew her?”

“No. Why?” Fluttershy asked.

“I was just curious… that’s all.” He said. “I’ll see you guys back in Maretropolis.” With that, the adept ended the call, sighing to himself as he looked back at Aurora. “Well that could’ve gone better… You ready to go back to AJ at HQ?”

“Yeah. What was that about Tree Hugger having powers? Dad told me she was basically Fluttershy’s damsel.”

“Well… Fluttershy said that Tree Hugger was suppose to be dead… but then I thought… Like how you used your powers to survive and escape dying and how Coloratura discovered hers when she felt in danger… what if it was the same thing for her? Did you happen to notice all the plants in her apartment?” The Adept asked her, causing the spirit to think a little.

“Lance, she’s a hippie, and her cutie mark is related to plants. Her name’s Tree Hugger for crying out loud! Not everyone has powers. I got mine through my parents, Coloratura got her’s because of a toxin.”

“You’re not getting my point… What if the plants… and nature… were her powers… Back home, there was a comic book character called Poison Ivy, who had control of those same abilities-.”

“Lance… Not everyone’s a supervillain. You’re not getting my point. I have a bunch of movies in my room. If you didn’t know I had a power, would you assume I have the ability to control movies?” Aurora groaned. “Sometimes, I wonder if you’re the real child. Lance, be realistic.”

“Aurora, it was just a thought that came up inside my head. It’s no big deal… Let’s just forget that I ever thought of it and move on. Applejack’s waiting for us to come back anyways.” The Adept insisted. “I’m sorry that if I’m boring you or anything like that, I just feel better when I get the chance to speak my mind a little. That’s all…”

“When you speak your mind, it’s always outlandish. Like Ash being related to Anarchy.” Aurora explained. “Next you’ll say the Animatronics killed Sassy Saddles.” That had Lance not say anything, causing Aurora to become a little concerned… until she realized something and put it together. “Oh come on…”

“Don’t give me that Lumen… I saw it for myself. One of my abilities with my powers is to see visions through my powers, whether that person is alive or dead. I used the same trick before I met you and just now, I saw two Animatronics kill Sassy Saddles. One of them being a Fluttershy without a foreleg and another one of them looking like Sunset Shimmer.” Lance explained. “You may not believe me, but I know exactly what I saw Lumen…”

With that, the Adept used his abilities to return back to HQ and to the room he was staying in. He personally was thinking of some things in order to get to the bottom of this case, but he did not want to resort to getting information from Roach. He was now only a last resort for if he had no other options when it came to a case. But trying to understand the Silvermine Incident and The Purple Mare’s involvement along with what happened was tricky… However, in order to understand it more… it seemed like he needed to understand more about spirits.

“Lumen… Can I ask you something?” The Azure Striker asked as he pulled up her screen on his gauntlet. “You told me before about the Purple Mare’s abilities, but could you give me a refresher real quick?”

“She can summon the souls of her victims.”

“Hmm…” He thought to himself, before asking something else. “Could she have them do anything? Other than what she did to me when she broke into the base like how you would control machines?”

“Kinda. More like how one would control another with a control chip.” Lumen said.

“So… Hypothetically speaking… She could force those souls to do things against their will?”

“Pretty much, but most of them seem to enjoy it.” Lance personally could disagree, but decided to focus on asking Aurora something else.

“Do you think it would be possible for her to have her put the souls of certain victims inside contraptions… Like you do with machines, but prevent them from getting out?”

“Oh my god… Lance, the souls aren’t controlling the Animatronics. You killed Purple, how the hay would she be able to fuse the souls she lost during our fight into a few robots thousands of miles away.”

“No I don’t mean then… Think about before then… Radiance said that the Silvermine incident was a failure and that they weren’t any survivors. It was an incident that the Purple Mare was involved in before I even arrived here.” He told her, allowing her time to process this information for herself.

“Lance… Just because Tree Hugger was abducted by Purple Mare doesn’t mean the two are connected.”

“That’s not what I mean… Are you thinking about the other victims?”

“Aren’t we talking about Sassy’s death?” Aurora asked. Lance sighed, fully taking a deep breath before continuing.

“What I’m talking about Aurora is that the victims from the Silvermine Incident had their souls robbed by the Purple mare and stuffed into the suits of the Animatronics. This would explain why there would be no survivors and also why I saw those same Animatronics kill Sassy Saddles… You don’t need to believe me if you want, but I’m going to get to the bottom of this. Even if I need to do it myself.”

Aurora sighed. “Lance, there were no survivors because Purple blew the mine up. The whole place collapsed.”

“That would be the case… but remember… Tree Hugger was suppose to be dead…” He replied back as he turned to see the new clothes that Rarity had sent to him. “There’s something about this that just bugs me… and not in a good way.”

“Why not ask Tree Hugger?” Aurora suggested.

That… was a good point. One that Lance originally overlooked. “... Good point.” Taking the card he was given, he took out his communications device and dialed her number, waiting for it to connect.

“Hello? This is Bolting Shadows office, would you like to speak to Tree Hugger or our president?” A mare asked.

“I would like to speak to Tree Hugger please.” Lance replied in response.

“One second…” The mare said. Then Tree Huggers voice was heard.

“Y-ello?” Tree Hugger asked.

“Hey Tree Hugger, it’s Lance from earlier today.” The Adept spoke, only to think that he was somehow calling at the wrong time, “ … I’m not interrupting anything now, am I?”

“Nah man, I’m free until the pizzeria is open. Though I might act as the new Night Guard.”

“New Night Guard?” Lance asked. “Man, and I was going to ask if I could come over. There was a few… things I was confused about while trying to process the information you told me about the place along with some other files and I wanted to see if we could somehow clear this up. You know… to avoid any confusion?”

“Sure. What do you wanna know?”

“Well, it’s kind of hard to explain over the phone, so would it be alright for me to meet you back at your place? I can be there in ten minutes if you need some time to get ready.” He asked, multitasking in the process as he looked over the new set of clothes that Rarity had sent him only about half an hour ago.

“Sure dude, my door’s unlocked.” Tree hugger hung up. Causing Lance in order to chuckle a little as he closed his communication device and went into the bathroom to change clothes. When he came out though, the outfit that he had on was one that really surprised Lumen based on his newfound appearance. His coat was now that of a navy blue shade along with some newfound features and a replacement for the clip that he had on the end of his braid.

“What do you think? I honestly did not expect for Radiance to have an entire spare outfit on hand… But then again, it is Radiance after all.” The Adept admitted as he looked back at Lumen, who was right now in the computer that was inside the room that Lance was staying in.

“Seems great!” Aurora said.

“Thanks. I’m glad to hear that,” He said as he holstered his weapons and looked back at her. “Well, I better get going. Think you can handle being here with AJ and the others while I’m gone?”

“Yep.” Aurora grinned.

“Alright. I’ll be back as soon as I can,” He assured her, but then looked back and added onto what he had already said. “Call me if anything happens okay?”

“Okay, but you do the same!” Aurora said happily. Lance smiled, nodding his head before leaving the facility and making his way back over to Tree Hugger’s place. Once there, Tree Hugger welcomed him back inside.

“Want a drink?” Tree Hugger asked.

“Do you have any water?”

Tree Hugger nodded. “Who doesn’t? Let me just get a bottle.” The mare trotted into the kitchen and returned with a water bottle. “The water this place provides doesn’t do good things to my temple, if you know what I mean.”

“Like doesn’t taste well?” The Adept asked as she handed him the bottle and opened it up.

“It isn’t healthy. I, like try to use my bits sparingly.” Tree Hugger explained.

“Water not healthy? Please don’t tell me this stuff is contaminated.” He thought to himself as he decided to close the bottle and set it on the coffee table. “So Tree Hugger, about what I was saying earlier…”

“...” Tree Hugger waited.

“You mentioned something about a Silvermine Incident briefly when talking about Saddle Rager and how you two… lost touch after that. I tried doing some research about it, but it was hard as hell to understand it because of how the report was formatted. Can you please tell me a little more about it so I could understand it better?” He asked politely, hoping for the result in the end to turn out positive.

“Sure man. Some confused mare took me captive along with a few others because of our relationships with the Power Ponies. She was planning on, like, killing us, but when she left, some radical ponies saved us.” Tree Hugger said.

Now THAT was the opposite of what he was told by Rarity and Fluttershy. “Could you describe this… confused mare for me?” The Adept asked her.

“She was purple… White eyes…” Alright, that was the Purple Mare. That he could tell. But one thing still bugged him though… and hopefully, Tree Hugger could answer that for him.

“Okay, and what about the ponies who saved you? Could you describe them?”

“Nah… I don’t see how that’s important to Sassy’s murder.” Tree Hugger said.

“Well, that didn’t work…” He thought to himself. Until he thought of an idea. “Good point… but there's been something that’s on my mind revolving this and also something I… well, saw in a vision.” He wasn’t quite sure if he would get her attention with that, but the thought of her saying about her Aura and everything else lead to him wanting to take a gamble with it. “Would you like for me to explain what I mean?”

“Sure, it’s always good to relieve one's troubles verbally.” Tree Hugger said.

“Well, when I work on cases like these… I have a special talent besides my normal abilities. That talent allows me to see visions of the last thing somepony see’s before they die… For the case of Sassy Saddles though… she was locked inside the restaurant, running away from an animatronic with a missing foreleg… Yes, you heard me right. I saw an Animatronic. The same ones you said you let walk around at night? Well, this one was chasing her and just before she died… She saw one other Animatronic… But this one… actually could speak… And looked similarly to a mare I know in Maretropolis.” The Adept explained fully, hoping not to confuse Tree Hugger in the process while he recalled everything for the mare. “Does that explain why I’m a little concerned?”

Tree Hugger scratched her head. “I suppose… Look man, how about you come in tomorrow night and check the place out. But, like, the only legal way to do that is becoming an employee.”

“Well, how exactly am I… wait a minute… are you suggesting that you hire me as a night guard?”

“Well yeah, tonight was Electric’s last week. I was gonna do it myself, like every week we don’t have a night guard, but I dislike working that late.” Tree Hugger stated. “I work day shift, so working both isn’t good for my aura.”

“Makes sense… So if I’m understanding it correctly, I’m going to be taking on the night shift for the week while I’m here?” He asked, thinking that this was temporary until either A; he would get to the bottom of this… or B; he was to go back to Maretropolis within five days. “Sounds like something I can handle.”

“Great dude. Come in tomorrow and I’ll see you then.” Tree Hugger smiled. Lance himself felt relieved that Tree Hugger was able to understand him and also very thankful that she had given him an opportunity to get to the bottom of this. It was progress, that was for certain. But as he walked all the way up to the top of the apartment, the Adept was unaware that somepony… else was there to greet him.

“So, you’re the one who’s been chasing me.” A synthetic, slightly female voice said. Lance turned around, only for his eyes to widen a bit at what he was seeing. He did not have much time to react though to those words as he felt an ear piercing screech go through him before being sent back a few feet near the edge of the rooftop.

Wiping the blood from his mouth that slowly dripped, he looked back at his attacker and grinned. “And you must be the Countess that I’ve heard about…”

“Countess Coloratura, pleasure is yours.” The Countess said, smirking herself. She coughed for a moment before returning her gaze back at the adept. “And you must-must be Gunvolt.”

“That I am… Are you okay? You sound like you’re sick.” Lance asked, unsure about if it was something with her voice or if the mare wasn’t feeling well.

“Why does that matter?” Countess asked. “Some of us had to deal with screaming for years.”

“What? Is it rude to be concerned?” Lance asked the mare. “I just thought that I would be polite.” He folded his arms and when Coloratura sighed deeply for a moment, the adept activated a beacon on his position to alert Applejack. Hopefully, she would get there in time, but right now, Lance had to find a way to stall her in the meantime. “However… I have a slight feeling that your version of getting acquainted with me is killing me right here.”

“You really are sharp.” Countess said, trotting closer. “I can’t have you interfering with our plan.”

“Hang on… Our plan? Would you happen to be working with someone other than those minions of yours that you have used before… or is it with somepony else entirely.”

Three more ponies appeared around Lance. One of them looked like Pinkie, but had an orange coat and darker orange mane with yellow highlights and ocean blue eyes. Another was cyan with a red mane, and the last was a white coat with a pink mane.

“Yeah… Somepony else entirely.” He said, cursing his bad luck at being outnumbered four to one and hoping that Applejack or someone else will show up soon.

“Allow me to introduce you to Bumblesweet, Magnet Bolt and Twinkleshine.” The Countess said. The last name just causing Lance to chuckle to himself as he looked back at them and laughed a little to himself in the process. This though, just angered the Countess and also confused her.

“Is my name funny to you!?” The pink maned Unicorn asked, glaring.

“Oh I’m sorry, your name just makes me think of a nursery rhyme that parents would tell their foals.” The Adept commented, not sure what kind of response he would get from the mare.

Twinkleshine growled. “You bucking jerk!”

Bumblesweet though, laughed. “He’s right, your name does suck!”

Magnet Bolt sighed. “Can we just kill the ape?” She raised her hoof, causing nearby metal objects to hover.

“Polarity? …… I’m tempted to say a certain joke on the subject, but I think I will wait on that matter.” He said to himself as he watched the mare float these metallic items around her.

Bumblesweet shook her puffy mane, and dozens of bees swarmed out of it. “Hope you aren’t allergic, beecause I’m ready to fight, honey.”

Lance had nothing to respond to that. But instead, he let the mares try and do their worst to him as the swarm was sent towards him along with the metal objects. As they made contact smoke was rising everywhere and it made it hard to see. But when the dust settled, the Adept was brushing the dust off of his jacket as bolts of electricity hovered around him.

“That did sting… a little…” He smirked, clenching his fists and planting his feet into the ground. “Now though… It’s my turn.”

“Nope!” Twinkleshine shouted, pulling out a greatsword and charging at Lance rapidly. He blinked behind her, using a ball of electricity to strike her from behind as he backpedaled to ready himself against the other ponies that were going to attack him. He was unfortunate enough to not realize his attack did nothing, and was sent flying by his own attack.

“Well, this is new… Even if lightning attacks aren’t as effective against me, she was able to rebound it back towards me… Need to be careful of that.” Lance thought to himself, shortly before noticing the other two ponies prepare a follow up attack to Twinkleshine’s deflection.

Bumblesweet sent large bees at Lance that somehow shot their stingers, which sparked as they flew at him. Magnet Bolt sent random pieces of garbage at him at lightning speed. The Adept was successful in dodging most of them while also switching clips to Dullahan in the process. His bolt clips would be ineffective here since Magnet could send the metal flying back towards him, but Dullahan was an energy based projectile. This worked out well in his favor when he shot a few rounds from both his weapons and broke Magnet’s concentration.

This was all for naught though as the Countess shot a focused sonic attack, which somehow caused Lance to become paralyzed. That worked for a bit… until a rocket propelled hoof smashed into the side of the Countess’ head. Turning, Lance soon saw Hiro and BAYMAX flying in on their location. “Well, looks like the Cavalry is here.”

The Countess only smiled wider. “Two down, five to go… You’re Hiro, correct?”

“And you’re the Countess.” Hiro responded. Only in that moment did Lance notice something. The Countess was actually amused when backup arrived instead of concerned or afraid… It felt like she wanted them to arrive.

“Hiro, something’s not right…”

“Oh please, we found her and she doesn’t seem too much to handle.”

“So… Where’s everypony else?” Countess asked, circling Hiro and BAYMAX. Only to feel herself get wrapped up as she was hogtied from behind.

“Sorry to disappoint you Coloratura, but it’s only us for tonight.” Lance looked up to see Applejack at the end of the Lasso as she tried to keep her friend secure.

“Hello AJ… It’s been a long time… How’s your brother?” Coloratura grinned evilly. Only leading to AJ smacking Coloratura with her hoof.

“Watch your tone with me, Coloratura… You have got a lot to answer for.” The mare snarled, looking back at Lance as the Adept was looking back at the three other ponies nearby. All who were equally surprised at the fact that somehow, other members of the Power Ponies showed up… and they didn’t know how he did it.

“I don’t have a tone anymore thanks to you Mistress Marevelous.” Coloratura said coldly. “This isn’t my voice. I lost that years ago.”

“Lance, watch them.” Applejack sternly growled, having him and Hiro watch her accomplices as the earth pony looked back at the Countess. “Now, start explaining why are you causing all of this… the robberies, the murders… everything. Explain now… because my patience with you is running thin…”

“Oh come on AJ, isn’t it obvious? I work for someone, like always.” The Countess laughed. “I made myself a deal with the Devil, and you’re all invited.”

“Enough talk, Who are you working for!?” Applejack growled, her grip on the lasso tightening as the rope began to compress around the countess.

“You wouldn’t and couldn't understand… I fear him more than I do you, friend.” That, caught Lance’s attention as he looked back at the Countess, walking towards her.

“And who would he be?” Lance then asked her, trying to see if the question asked from a different interrogator would provide better results.

“I’m already a dead mare…” The Countess said hollowly, and the group around them heard a beeping sound. “Boom…” Lance was caught off guard by this as Hiro and BAYMAX backed off, but he was trying to find out where it was coming from as he heard the beeping increase. “If you don’t comply with my demands, I’ll make a crater the size of this city. And now that I know you’re all here, I can safely say I’ve got two superhero teams. Tell them if I’m lying AJ.”

The mare herself was silent in response, but Lance himself took initiative, seeing that AJ’s silence was her saying that she was telling the truth, even if he personally thought that the mare was bluffing. Still holding onto his weapons, he then said something simple. “Name your terms.”

“Release prisoner zero from Elyse Asylum, bring me Bioloo, and give us the access codes for Paradise Tower.” The Countess said. “Oh, and also… I’m taking Mistress Marevelous as a hostage.”

“That wasn’t part of the plan.” Magnet said, glaring at the Countess. “I’m telling the boss.”

“Such a shame… You were very nice.” The Countess said. Magnet’s eyes widened and she tried to run, but the Countess shrieked directly at her head, which made her collapse. “Now, you have twenty-four hours to deliver all the aforementioned items here or I’m detonating the bomb.”

“Wait, there’s really a bomb!?” Bumblesweet yelped. “That’s what they injected us with!?”

“I don’t have codes on Paradise Tower… and what the hell is this prisoner zero you’re referring too?” Lance asked.

“Miss Filli-second knows the code. And go to the asylum to find out.” The Countess said, smirking and wrapping a foreleg around Applejack. “The timer starts… Now.” She said before disappearing with Applejack. Lance only had mere seconds to respond as he pulled up his communicator to contact Filli-Second.

“Filli-Second, we have an emergency!” Lance tried to contact them, only to not be successful. “Dammit…” It was around then that he noticed Twinkleshine and Bumblesweet had not left the scene… primarily because they seemed to be too terrified to do so… Especially when they just found out that a bomb was injected into their bodies without them knowing, but nevertheless soon escaped. Now… He was unsure what the hell he was going to do at this rate… But he couldn’t give up… not while he could still fight and do something.

Several hours had passed since being kidnapped by her friend and right now, Applejack would do anything to get out of the restraints that were placed on her to knock some sense into her friend. But she knew that anything she tried would be in vain. Her friend was long gone now… jumped fully off the deep end and not the same pony she knew.

“So AJ… I bet you’re wondering what I’m doing.” The Countess said, grinning triumphantly.

The mare stayed silent, stubborn as hell as she stared down her friend with eyes of anger and rage for what she did.

“Fine, don’t speak.” The Countess, her goons and Applejack had landed a helicopter outside of Paradise Tower. Applejack’s eyes widened when she saw a few familiar ponies…

“Oh look, it’s the original…” A mare that looked identical to her said. She wore a black stetson and vest. “Bet ya didn’t see this comin’.”

This mare was Marevolence. Like Blaster, she was a mare that was a doppelganger of herself. But how she was here was beyond her. Shortly though, the small group, lead by the Countess herself, had entered a building that was by Paradise Tower. They were to wait in the Cathedral that was next to the Tower while they were waiting on the Azure Striker. But shortly after they entered, all of them soon heard a feminine voice echo across the room

“Another set of lost souls, I see…” All of them turned around, only to find a tall, yet slender woman in a religious nun like outfit approach the group from behind.

“Damn it, I thought this place was abandoned!” Marevolence said. “And another damn ape!”

The Countess rolled her eyes at the clone. “Oh please, she’s just a nun… In a laboratory...”

“My my… It is rather rude to assume the worst of anyone based on first appearance.” The nun replied, holding a book in her hands as she looked at all of them… and then saw Applejack. “Especially when you are trying too hard in order to discipline someone by force… But I must ask… what brings you here at this hour? Is there something you are looking for?”

“We’re waiting for the Gunvolt to deliver… Some stuff…” Bumblesweet said, only for the Countess to glare.

“Hmph… I see… And what would be the end result that you all seek?” Something did not seem right to Applejack at this point… like the one who was speaking now was… hiding who she really was. She could tell by her words. “Is it strength… power… revenge… or is it an item that can grant all three?”

“Yes… Why do you ask?” The Countess asked, narrowing her eyes.

“My oh my… Is it wrong to be just a little curious?” She asked. “Besides… I’ve never actually had visitors in a long time. Too long in fact.”

“Well… I’m Countess Coloratura, this is Bumblesweet, Twinkleshine, Mistress Marevolence and Mistress Marevelous.” The Countess remarked. Marevolence didn’t trust the nun.

“Nice to meet you!” Bumblesweet said, beaming. “Is it true that there’s something called the Left Eye around this place?”

“Hmm… I see… But if you are here for the Left Eye… Then you’ve made a grave mistake coming here.” Within seconds, the woman flipped the book into the air before having it be sent at Bumblesweet’s head at rocket speeds. With another few quick motions, the nun that was thought to be showed her true colors… as her left eye gave off a sinister glare. “For you see… I am the bearer of the Left Eye…” A smash of her foot broke Applejack’s restraints as four guns soon can be seen on both her hands and feet. “And besides this one here… you all have met a terrible fate, haven’t you?”

“... Buck, this was just supposed to be a simple grab!” Marevolence shouted. “We haven’t even gotten into the tower and already Bumblebrain bucked up!” She only had seconds to react as the newfound opponent dashed at her at blinding speed, striking her up close with a series of chained kicks. Even if that mare was able to block most of them, she still did not expect the giant oversized fist that was going at her.

The Countess though, was able to shout her out of the way. “Get to the tower!”

Marevolence, Twinkleshine and Coloratura retreated. “We never wanted your stupid eye!” The pinkette shouted. Only for Bayonetta to reappear in front of her and shoot at her point blank.

“If it were so… then I would’ve let you go… However… you f***ed up a second time…” The Witch warned them. “You dare mess with my son…” The hairs on her body began to move as she called upon Inferno to summon a vicious beast. “... And I’ll let Gomorrah feast upon your damned souls.”

“W-we w-wouldn’t h-harm a hair o-on his h-head…” Twinkleshine gulped.

“Oh really… I think the mare I freed could say otherwise…” She said as the beast that was Gomorrah roared and unsheathed its fangs.

“N-no! It’s true, he attacked us!” The Countess added. “He’s f-fine… I m-may have made it so he couldn’t move for a minute, but that’s it!” That was when Gomorrah disappeared, but Bayonetta grabbed Coloratura by the neck and pointed a gun to her head.

“You try hurting the Adept again… and you’re going to have to deal with more than just me… Got that?” She threatened.

“Y-yes…” The Countess stuttered as Twinkleshine left and Marevolence grabbed Bumblesweet and ran out. The Witch sighed, looking back at Applejack as she just stared at her, slack jawed.

“Who or what the bloody hell are ya?” Applejack asked.

“That… is a long story… But can you do me a favor and keep a secret?” She asked. The mare nodded as the two of them were talking for a bit, filling each other in on what was happening before Bayonetta asked if she could keep their meeting a secret. She did not want to startle Lance right now… Especially not with everything that was going on and the last thing she wanted to do was distract her son.

Because she had warned the mare that this was only the start of an even bigger plan that was set in motion.

Unknown Location

The Countess breathed heavily, barely able to keep herself together. What was that? Fear for her life? No… It couldn’t have. She wanted to die, she was too tired to go on for much longer.

She noticed a group of ponies outside Paradise Tower’s entrerance. The Power Clones, the clones of the Power Ponies stood at attention. They looked like mercenaries since their leader, Blaster, was gone. Then there was Symphony and Fiddly Faddle, looking demented as always with the cult’s second in command, Shadowmere. And then there were the Wondercolts. Their leader, Sophistica AKA Bleak and her group, Heath Burns AKA Inferno, Tennis Match AKA Hardball, and Captain Planet… That was it, he used his actual, retarded name.

And finally… Raider… Her boss.

She wasn’t happy.

“What were you doing!? Who the buck knows that b*tch will do to our operations!” Raider’s yellow eyes glowed. “And calling all of us here wasn’t part of the plan!”

“With the loss of our benefactors, and the Shadowbolts and Sumeragi moving in on our turf, and the fact that the Power Ponies, I thought-”

“You didn’t consult me. We’re bucking vulnerable!” Raider snapped, then sighed, trying to keep calm. “Get everyone inside… Other than that, you did good.”

Coloratura nodded and prepared the elevator. The leaders went in first with her while Raider stayed behind.

Once everyone but Raider and the Power Clones were inside, the six mares sat and waited.

Twilight’s clone, Echolight, also known as Flamestorm, was… On fire and wearing glasses. Pinkie Pie’s clone was a darkly clad mare, her face hidden by what looked like a hockey mask and large yellow goggles. She wasn’t given a normal name like Flamestorm, but was known as Filli-Minute. Rarity’s clone was a grey version of the real thing, emotionless and bland, she was the same as Filli-Minute as her only know name was Dullness. Fluttershy’s clone was… Unique, compared to the others. Only Flamestorm and her shared something in common with their original selves, as Flamestorm was a bookworm and Fluttershy’s clone was timid and oddly kind. But the most noticeable thing was that she wore a pure white cloak, and wielded a long, silver claymore. She was only known as Claymore.

“So… How are you girls?” Marevolence asked awkwardly.

“Horrible.” Dullness replied boredly.

“Okay, thanks for asking.” Flamestorm said.

“... Fine…” Claymore stated quietly.

But Filli-Minute was staring straight ahead, not paying attention to the others. She was looking forward to the inevitable fight. To prove she was better that Filli-Second.

“Ooooooookay… You know, I realized...” Marevolence said.

“What?” Flamestorm asked.

“That I forgot how much I hate Dullness…” Marevolence said, while the others nodded. Even as all the ponies gathered and talked amongst themselves, nopony could shake the feeling that somehow… something was watching them… All of them… Including their boss as she turned around, thinking that something was behind her.

“Who’s there?” Raider asked, surveying the area. Silence continued to linger for a moment, but upon turning around, her eyes widened upon the figure that somehow entered their base undetected.

“Good evening, everypony… I don’t intend to bring any harm.” It was Nova… the one in charge of Sumeragi. But how he got in here or why he was here in the first place was beyond everypony.

“So you’re Nova… I’ve heard a lot about you.” Raider said.

“The same goes for you… I can even recognize a few familiar faces of some of the prisoners of the Zero Zone I… liberated.” He said, for the lack of a better term. “However, I’m here for my own reasons and, if you hear me out, I think it can benefit both of our causes… Data? If you may please…” Some of the ponies looked at each other in confusion, only to be beyond stunned when they saw a pony dressed in black and Neon green with a set of eyes that were similar to the Purple Mare. Except that the eyes were the same as the mane… and it emerged straight out of the goggles that Filli-minute had around her neck.

“Whoa- ah!” Filli-Minute yelped.

“This is Code Cracker… or as he was known as before being locked away, Data Breach. Once a Hacker, he is now an adept with powers revolving around Code, tech and machines, even going as far as going through active networks itself to infiltrate security networks… Which of course brings me to this.” He said, looking back at them. “I want your group and mine to become partners… and I think I have exactly the right bargaining chip for this kind of deal.”

“Oh? You’ve got my interest…” Raider said. “Go on.”

“Well… Code recently informed me of a mission that went… sideways. After something in particular with a prisoner in the Zero Zone I believe it was?” Nova’s words caused Coloratura and a few of the other ponies that came back recently to blush in embarrassment. “Well… Maybe this could be useful.” From his horn, Code had bits and blocks of pixels from his body take form and solidify into a small device that resembled a USB flash drive.

“... Be clear with what you have. Do not hold it back.” Raider said.

“Now now… Think clearly… What do you think Code might’ve retrieved that would be essential to your cause?” Nova asked them, only causing Raider’s eyes to widen.

“The codes?” Raider asked.

“Exactly… And there’s more to it… You see, there’s this lawyer named Lauren Order that has what would be phrased as a Suicide Squad at her disposal. Both her and the Power Ponies are thorns in my side… Plus, if I remember it correctly…” She said, looking at Filli-minute and Marevolence. “One of it’s members, Anti-Zapp, is responsible for the tragic defeat of a friend you knew… Blaster I think her name was?”

Filli-Minute snarled, and Marevolence, Flamestorm and Claymore seemed to tense.

“This Suicide Squad has hindered my plans… And the Power Ponies killed a friend of a friend…” Raider smirked.

“Which brings me to my offer… We form a coalition to help each other’s causes… and the codes you need and the data Code managed to acquire is yours to keep. All I ask is that we work with one another and not share any secrets between each other that could hinder our future success.” The Adept asked. “I have several ponies who are Adepts that are on my side and also have equipment that could be beneficial for future encounters… Plus, we are developing some ace’s that might be to the liking of some of you.”

“Hmm… Seems we may have ourselves an alliance. Now, how are we supposed to know the other is telling the truth?” Raider asked as Filli-Minute swiped the code and went into the elevator. “Don’t mind her, she just wants to use the codes.”

Nova just grinned, all before a screen popped from Code as it showed a line moving up and down like a heartbeat monitor in a hospital. “Data here has been scanning my pulse and others in the vicinity since the start of this conversation. Any spikes in the heartbeat mean that something is being hidden.”

“Yet, the only thing is that she doesn’t have a heartbeat… or possibly… no heart at all.” Code growled, looking at the mare.

“What can I say? I died a long time ago… Or I was born without a heart.” Raider grinned. “But I can assure you, my goals are nowhere near as… Grand as yours. What is your goal?”

“My goal you say… Well, it is to simply help guide those who are lost. I’ve met many through my time here and have helped several. But I ultimately believe that in order to help everyone… I must have no opposition. We may discuss your goals another time, but I don’t believe you answered my question… Do you agree to these terms?” He said one last time, offering an outstretched hand for her to shake.

The mare placed her dark blue hoof in his hand. “I agree…”

Nova smiled, looking back at the mare as he grinned a little. “I’m glad you are on board with this new coalition… Now… I should get the chance to introduce you to the rest of my… companions.”

End Strike 39

Strike 40- Heroes Association

Author's Note

To make up for the lack of updates, here's one massive one for you. A lot of things have been going on lately, but with the announcement of the Azure Striker Gunvolt: Striker Pack coming this September, I decided to finish things up and get this one done.

Second, there was THIS announcement with ASG at AnimeExpo that really got me excited and looking forward to winter season

And with Azure Striker Gunvolt 2 coming in September, I'm pushing to make sure that a lot of elements from the second game in the series will be added into this one as well and also stick with the current themes right now with this story. Thanks for sticking with me so far everypony. I really appreciate all the support!!

Oh and just for kicks... Here. (Not adding this to the story, but I think some of you will get a kick out of this)

Crossover again with One Punch Derpy

Strike 40- Heroes Association

When Lightning Strikes- Heroes Association

Sun Fransokyo

For a while, Lance was worrying about Applejack. The damned countess took her as a hostage and fled without even him being able to do anything to stop it. It lingered in the back of his mind for quite some time. Especially since she was vital to a LOT of the cases they were investigating here. For a moment, he felt like Murphy’s law had been enacted. That what can go wrong… will go wrong. But that motion was soon blown out of the water once he felt a hoof on his shoulder and heard a familiar voice. “Sorry about that, did ah make ya worried?”

Hearing that almost made Lance feel like he was about to jump out of his own skin as he looked back at the mare, who was standing right behind her. “Good lord, AJ. You scared the crap out of me!! I-i’m thankful that you’re okay… Did they… did they hurt you at all?”

“No actually, I snuck out while they weren’t paying attention. Even got my Lasso back too,” She said, motioning it to Lance so he would see it and feel relieved in the process. The Adept breathed out a sigh of relief and hugged the mare for a moment before something else popped into his mind as he looked back at her. “Ah broke out of some place they were stopping at on the way to their base and galloped off before they could notice.” Now, this exactly wasn’t the truth that AJ knew… but after what she had seen… and the promise that Bayonetta had her keep… The less words that were said, the better.

However, Lance noticed that. “Hang on… How exactly did you-?” But before he could be able to ask her, a new transmission came in on his communicator and to his surprise… it was from a sender called “Genos”. However, when he opened it up, he soon realized who exactly this pony was as soon as he heard her voice.

“Oy! This thing working?”

“Amethyst? Is that you?” Lance asked out of confusion. “Why does your caller ID identify you as Genos?”

“Yeah, I’m pretty much using his ID for a moment to make this call actually.”

“I would like to have it back when you’re done please.”

“Yeah, yeah, this won’t talk long.” He heard Amethyst groan to herself before looking back at him. All this did though was cause Lance to look back at AJ and have her go back to Mane Hero Six’s HQ to let the others know they were alright while he took this call. He then took a deep breath and looked at the cyborg before speaking.

“Amethyst, where’s Derpy? Is she with you?” From what he remembered, Amethyst had to keep an eye on her mother at all times unless they want accidental destruction to the city. In a way, it made Lance feel like this was a plot setup for The Incredibles when all the heroes would get blamed for the property damage that occurred during the times they were saving the world. “Matter of fact, where are you even?”

“You know the stadium place where they have hoofball training and events? Well we’re pretty much here for a hero testing from the Heroes Association.” That though, was not a name that he had heard of before at all. In fact, Twilight and the other ponies back at Base never said anything about it and from checking the link he had with IRIS, which served as the Archive on all the records of heroes from past to present, nothing about this Heroes Association ever came up at all.

“What the hell is a Heroes Association?” He asked, confused and wanting to inquire more information.

“Think of them as the power ponies… only much better and have a better budget.” Amethyst replied, looking back at him.

“Did they form recently? There hasn’t been any history of them or anything in the archives.” He pointed out, interested to hear Amethyst’s response.

“Hell if I know. From what we heard from Tatsumaki, one of the heroes saved somepony named Filthy Rich a couple of years ago and next thing this place was made for those who wanted to become heroes. I’m surprised that you or Twilight didn’t know about this seeing how you guys are always on top of stuff like this.”

“We are. It’s just that we haven’t heard of it before. My only thought on it was that it probably was a private institution before it went public, but again, that’s just a thought,” He said before clearing his throat. “Now that that’s out of the way though, could you explain why you called? It’s almost daybreak.”

“Well seeing how these guys are pretty much having themselves opening for heroes, I figure you and the power ponies would be interested in seeing how things work here.” Now that seemed like a opportunity not to pass up. The Power Ponies on their own already had a few branches within the main team that stretched out across the country. Being partners with an Association such as this one might be beneficial and help them cover more ground when fighting crime or resolving cases. However, it all depended on first impressions and from the way this sounded, it made it look more like a business meeting than an opportunity.

“Well, I think I may have some time. Are you back in Maretropolis, because I’m going to have to travel from Sun Fransokyo to catch up with you guys.” He said, looking around a bit as he listened to Amethyst’s next reply.

“They’re holding the testing center in the stadium in Sun Fransokyo actually. We pretty much flew here from their HQ in Maretropolis.” Amethyst stated, prompting Lance to bring up a holo-map on the side to find the waypoint for their location so he could follow the coordinates for the stadium once they were acquired.

“Alright, I found the waypoint. Give me a second and I’ll come here as fast as I can. See you soon.” With that, the Adept ended the call and began to follow the coordinates as he dashed across the rooftops of buildings, his presence only symbolized by a small amount of electricity that was there.

“Was it really necessary to use my ID to make your call?” Genos asked as he placed his ID card into his saddlebag.

“And pay fifty bits for a long distance phone call? I think not. Plus using your ID let’s me call anyone for free, so it’s a win and a steal in my book.” Amethyst said causing Genos to roll his eyes.

“And how is your friend going to get here in time then?”

“Well, he is quite agile… Plus, I bet you that when he does get here, he’s going to make a superhero landing.” Amethyst added on to that statement, only causing Genos to be a bit more confused. That was, until the same person that she was talking about landed from the top of the stadium onto the ground on the opposite side of the field as electricity surged from his hands. “See? Superhero landing.”

“You’re zero point five seconds late.”

“Well, I was told about it a little unexpectedly and I had not been here before, so I couldn’t be able to teleport here since this place is entirely new to me.” The Adept replied. “I apologize for being late though, I did not know that I was on a time rush.”

“Hm… Amethyst, deal with your friend. I have patrolling to do.” Genos said as he lept onto a building a and off into the city. Lance sighed, looking back at everything around him before looking back at Amethyst.

“Nice friend you have there…” Lance sarcastically said as he looked back at the cyborg. Unaware that his entrance had attracted a very large amount of unwanted attention around him.

“Nice going, idiot. You drew attention to yourself.”

“Hey, you didn’t tell me how to get in here or where the front door would be, so I had to improvise,” The Adept sighed, looking back at her. “So what do we have going on here?”

“It’s testing, what do you think?” Amethyst said sarcastically, only causing Lance to fold his arms in response as he let her speak. “The Heroes Association are looking for heroes to help out around the cities seeing how things are getting out of hoof with you guys.” The Adept remembered exactly what she meant with that. The prison break of the Zero Zone by Nova and Sumeragi had contaminated the entire country because of letting out dangerous and loose criminals into the streets. Of course, they had been working on trying to lock them back up, but with overwhelming numbers, they couldn’t do it all on their own.

“It wasn’t our fault. We were blindsided unexpectedly… and now that is becoming a major pain in the ass with having to clean up the mess and admittedly, we can’t clean it all up on our own.” He said while the last part he said silently, looking back at her and letting her continue speaking.

“And that’s where we come in. We deal with both small to Dear Celestia, it’s the end of the world!! Problems.” She explained to him as she projected a small holo-screen titled “Threat Levels”. They were organized out and labeled from top to bottom on how major a threat level would be and the effects of said threat levels. The smallest scale was Wolf, which implied the appearance of a being or group that might pose a threat. The next scale up, Tiger, was an unspecified threat to a large amount of equestrian lives. The third tier scale was Demon, which implied a threat to a whole city and it’s functionality. Fourth tier was Dragon, implying a threat to multiple cities. The last tier was Goddess, and that was the most dangerous of all. It was used to describe a threat to not just the entire equestrian population, but also to the world as well. What may be seen as an Extinction event.

“The structure of this system is… quite accurate if I must admit… But how do you determine who are the best people to send out to deal with a specific threat?” He then asked as they were walking. “I mean, you can’t exactly send a rookie to fight a demon level threat, so do you have some kind of system to determine who is capable for certain threats?”

“Why do you think we’re having a test here? Depending on what grade you get you’ll be starting off as you work your way up to being an S rank super hero.” She replied back as they went through a certain set of doors inside. “Welcome to the testing center for becoming a hero.” Lance was honestly surprised and a bit blown away by what he was seeing. This was nothing like Maretropolis, but it was attracting the attention of a lot of ponies and other individuals from different species who were eager to sign up.

“Holy crap… This… is something else entirely.”

“I know, we didn’t expect that many ponies to sign up for this.” She replied, turning her head for a moment to notice a few of the other ponies that she remembered from Maretropolis. “Hey aren’t those ponies from Maretropolis?”

“I’m not too sure,” Lance replied, “But judging from their appearance and the way that they are dressed, they must be here for the event… Like to inspire others to sign up?” He pointed at the table, which showed a couple of their saddlebags open and some ID’s out in the open for anyone to see. But those ID’s weren’t ordinary. They were ones that were distributed by the Heroes Association and judging from the silver like color on the cards, their ranks seemed very high up. “I’m going to take a wild guess that they’re upper class heroes from the heroes association.”

“B rank heroes get silver color cards, A rank gets gold, S ranks get jet black, C ranks get bronze and D ranks get a clear colored card.” Amethyst informed him as Lance looked at it again, noticing that only a couple of the cards were silver… while the rest were gold.

“A’s and B’s… Why they’re over here instead of outside helping with the exams is beyond me.” Lance sighed, looking at Amethyst and changing the topic. “So, hows your family doing? Getting adjusted to life here?”

“Despite having a few damages to the city, we’re doing pretty well.” Amethyst replied back, looking at the Adept for a few moments before noticing something and saying something to him in a low voice. “Look alive idiot… you’re catching the attention of almost everypony in this entire place.”

“Never expected to see someone from the power ponies to sign up to take the heroes test.” said a pony wearing what appears to be garb from neighpon walk up to them. “I’m surprise the rest of your poorly gathered team isn’t here.”

“I’m here because Amethyst called me. The rest of the team is having to deal with other cases… Also, not to be rude, but who are you?” He asked, turning around to face the pony who was talking.

“S rank 4, Atomic Samurai.” Amethyst said after a quick scan of the amber colored earth pony. “From what the records show, his swordsmanship is unparallel to anypony else in Equestria. Be warn, he’s on of the 16 S class superheroes.”

“Noted,” The Adept said on the side. “Care to inform me why an S class is here and trying to bother me and my friend?”

“It’s rare to see a human in a place like this. Especially from a group of ponies that can’t handle themselves very well. I’m surprised you group is still operating under certain conditions.”

“And I’m surprised that you decided to choose that to wear here. I can even see the dry cleaning tag on the back of your clothes.” Lance pointed out as the tag flew in his face.

“Lance for the love of Celestia, shut the buck up.”

“What? I thought with the fact that he’s a samurai, I expected him to wear some kind of armor or something.” Lance shrugged, looking back at him. “Besides, can’t we just get along? I’m here to be with my friends. Not to start any fights.”

“You disrespected a samurai’s outfit. That’s something you do not do if you wanted to be on his bad side.”

Lance sighed, looking back at the earth pony. “Look sir, I’m sorry for insulting you, but I’m not asking to start anything. Can we please just let this go-.”

“A little too late for that kid.” said a familiar voice as Amethyst looked behind Lance to see Derpy, Tatsumaki, and Dinky floating towards them.

“Hey guys…” He said to Dinky and Derpy before looking back at Tatsumaki. She seemed to be saying something, but couldn’t exactly tell because Derpy tried to tackle him the moment she got close enough. Leading him to have to stand up while Derpy was on his shoulders. “Little help here, Amethyst?”

“I would… but this is too funny to pass off to watch.” The Cyborg giggled. Lance sighed, only to see a catering cart farther down the aisle with the one thing that would drive the mare on his shoulders to chase after it… and unfortunately, Atom Samurai was directly in her path.

“MUFFINS!!” She hollered out, bolting off after the cart while knocking the samurai pony to the ground and causing both Lance and Amethyst to facepalm themselves simultaneously. “YOU SHALL BE MINE!!”

“Of course she does something like that.”

“Care to explain why The Azure Striker is here?” Tatsumaki asked as she looked over Lance. “I always thought that he was… much taller than this.”

“Height is not something I’m rather focused on… and also, Amethyst told me about what you guys were doing, so I thought I would come see for myself. After the “Zero Hour” incident a while ago, we’ve been working tirelessly not just here, but with other teams in different parts of Equestria. So when I heard about you guys from Amethyst, I thought I would come check it out.”

“Hm… I can see what you mean, but you’ll have to talk with Filthy Rich about something like this. I mean you’re free to try out and all but due to the power ponies… past history involving… well you should know.”

“I have a pretty good feeling of what you’re talking about…”

“Look nothing against you or anything, but after what Chrysalis told and showed us...it’s hard for most of us S rank heroes to actually cooperate with your team. But if you’re able to convince Filthy Rich to work with you guys then be my guess.”

“I understand about Chrysalis. That was back then though and this is now. I don’t know much about the power ponies past, but I am not letting that determine my appearance in society or our future either. If you want me to convince Filthy Rich, I will… and I think I know the best way of getting his attention.” Lance said, turning around to a spare clipboard that had a signup sheet for the Heroes Association as he filled it out and had it ready.

“That might work...though I’m pretty sure your test will be a bit different from the other ponies seeing how your...well...you know.”

“You don’t need to beat around the bush… plus I’m up for anything that I might necessarily have to face.” He said, looking back at them for a moment.

“Okay then.” The earth pony said as she levitated the clipboard towards herself. “I’ll take this to Filthy Rich to see how he takes it. It shouldn’t take long for him to look over it so I’ll be back in a few minutes or less.” Tatsumaki said as she flew off. Causing Lance to look back at Amethyst and the others.

“If you’re wondering who she is, her name is Tatsumaki S class Rank 2, A.K.A The Terrible Tornado.”

“Thanks… How you got to be friends with her is beyond me… but I think she might be a good pony to work with in the field.” Lance replied. Shortly after that, he heard his name being called and he proceeded to where they were going to have him take a test to see how capable he was intellectually. It took him twenty minutes to complete the exam before he was able to meet back up with the others as they were waiting for him.

“Well, that part’s done… what’s next?” He then asked.

“Now we test your physical abilities.” said Maud as she entered the testing room that Lance is in. “Please follow me sir to the testing grounds.” Lance nodded and followed after the earth pony. But hearing Maud’s response just caused Amethyst to look back with confusion.

“Grounds? They never called the testing areas that… something’s not right…” The Cyborg said as she looked back at Dinky.

“I’m guessing because he’s with the power ponies, that his test is different than how the test is with the ponies here. You don’t think something bad might happen to him do you Amethyst?”

“No… but I think that how they will test him now… might go against the regulations of the event.” She said, looking back at them. “We better hurry over there before anything bad happens.”

As Lance went back outside, he now happened to notice that the field outside now had an arena like field laid out for them like if it was the Cell Game in Dragon Ball Z. Just without the obnoxious pillars in the way. He was instructed to stay on the field, but honestly did not expect that the test was somehow rigged.

“You will be test on your strength in this place.” Maud said as she stood on her back legs and took up a fighting stance. “We will be your opponent to see if your skills are up to the test.”

“Okay… and who’s we?” Lance questioned, scanning the area to see if there were any more opponents to join the fight.

“That would be Maud and I.” Tatsumaki said as she levitated into the room next to Maud.

“Two on one?” He asked, before sighing and clenching his fists. “I’ve handled worse… Way worse than you could possibly believe.”

“Yet you never faced something like us.”

“I’ve faced many things that you might not be able to comprehend and lived… So hit me with your best shot.” Lance dared them as he prepared himself.

“With pleasure.” Maud said as she darted in front of Lance, as she tried to deliver a right hoof to his face. But was unmoved by the blow as he followed with a counterattack that was a palm strike to her front leg and a turn to land the earth pony on her back. As she got back up with a sweeping kick, Lance blocked the next two strikes and added a palm strike on her back leg. For a moment, Maud felt like she was just getting started… but then, something else happened. Something Tatsumaki noticed immediately when Maud was struggling a bit to move. “Paralysis to the joint, not a bad move to use.” The mare said as she quickly jabbed her left back leg, causing it to move freely. “But you need to do a better job if you want to beat me.”

“That’s only one part of the plan…” Lance told her, only to have Maud charge at him as he prepared himself. His plan was to see what Maud was capable of in close quarters combat and effectively find a way to defeat her without having to exhaust too much of his powers. He was going to save that for when up against Tatsumaki.

“You’re gonna need to think of a better plan than that Lance.” Tatsumaki said mentally as she smiled at the adept.

“Mind games? Original…” He said as he waited to expose an opening in Maud’s furious combination of fists. No soon after though, he found one flaw to expose as he unleashed a forward jab filled with electricity that struck around the ribcage, staggering Maud.

“Not bad...but.” Maud used her right leg to keep her from staggering back as she delivered a counter body blow to his chest. “You have much to learn.”

However, when she thought that she hit him, the body dispersed into electricity as it wrapped around the mare’s body… and more electricity was seen being emitted from her forelegs. All while Lance was right behind her… and unleashing one of his strongest skills.

“Interesting ability.” Tatsumaki said as she watches the fight. Seeing the giant blade of lightning form from his hands and send Maud flying out of the ring.

“I got a lot more strength where that came from.” He assured her.

“You fought well against Maud, but now you’ll have to face me now.”

“That… is sort of obvious.” Lance sighed, looking back at her as some lightning began to channel around his hands and churn around his fingertips. “Bring it on though. I’m eager to see what the Terrible Tornado is capable of.”

“Be careful what you wish for.” Tatsumaki said as she point a finger at Lance, causing him to levitate into the and to be slammed him into the ground with enough force to create a man size crater around him. However, in response, Lance smirked as he disappeared from the crater to reappear behind Tatsumaki and blasting her close range with lightning. However, this did not do much damage to his opponent. “Nice try, but you’re dealing with number 2 of the S class heroes.” She said as she simply pushed Lance against the floor of the battle ground, and begin to push gravitational pressure upon him.

Despite the pressure though, Lance still held his ground. He had handled worse before and wasn’t going to let Tatsumaki beat him so easily just because of the amount of gravity that was pushing around him. The Adept had already figured out that this was a battle of minds… and all he needed to do was disable hers… or not hold back anymore. “Let’s see how much pressure you can withstand.” She said as she add 10k force of gravity upon the Adept.

“Well… Guess that means I don’t need to hold back myself either… After all… I was only using a quarter of my strength.” With that, electricity began to crackle through the air as the Adept added more strength to his septima. The pressure radiating from him actually allowing him to form a flashfield around him, which caused him to be able to slowly move on his own again and counter some of the weight on his body.

“Let’s add some more pressure.” Tatsumaki said as she added 20k force of gravity onto Lance, causing the floor to crack from the pressure. From afar, Amethyst thought that Lance himself was not going to survive… but soon, she heard something in her head that told her otherwise.

Amethyst, back up as far as you can. If you get hit by my next attack on accident, it can disable your systems.

She wasn’t sure how she was able to hear this, even if the Adept wasn’t able to speak, but soon, the lightning around the arena… and around Tatsumaki took form, latching onto the pony unexpectedly as chains of lightning began to surge violently.

“VOLTAIC CHAINS!!” The Adept roared as the electricity struck Tatsumaki with the force of a raging thunderstorm, pushing her to the edge of the arena… but not exactly off. It was an attack that the psychic herself never expected to see from the Adept… and she was quite impressed with it herself.

“Impressive, but useless!” She yelled as psychic barrier appeared around herself shielding her from the raging thunderstorm. “You think you're the only one with lightning based powers? Don’t count on it-” However, before she could finish her statement, she felt a blast of energy hit her in the face as it showed Lance drawing out one of his bolt guns.

“They call me Gunvolt for a reason… Plus, I highly doubt your objective is to test me… I told you I handled worse than that… Hell, I’m still alive after one of Derpy’s punches.” The Azure Striker grinned at her as she looked back at him. “Plus… would you really want to try and kill me if one of your higher ups is watching this?”

“.....Fine, but don’t blame me if you regret it.” Lifting a hoof she aimed it at his right shoulder. “Crush.” Lowering her hoof a loud bone crushing sound could be heard that filled the room. Despite that though, the Adept didn’t holler in pain or even scream. He just flinched before putting his hand to his shoulder.

“Galvanic Patch.” He muttered as a turquoise like energy began to glow and heal his wounds and broken shoulder. “There… still sore, but no more broken limbs…” He said as he looked back at her, asking a new question on his mind. “By the way… remember when I mentioned higher ups? Does that Stallion in the suit count?”

“Depends, because there’s a lot of ponies in suits so you have to be specific.”

“One with armed guards and just came from a Heroes association chariot?” The details provided by the Adept were also added on by one other thing that happened shortly afterwards. “Oh and by the way… that stallion is looking in your direction… and he looks really… really pissed off.”

“Does he have a slick back mane?” The Adept nodded his head in an affirmative motion as he holstered his weapons away and stopped using his powers as well, giving him a chance to recharge in the process. “Great, it’s Filthy Rich…”

Hearing the name now made Lance recognize that the stallion was the one who first created the Heroes Association and also helped form the organization to where it was today. Looking towards the two of them, his eyes narrowed towards the Esper as he cleared his throat. “Tatsumaki, what is the meaning of all this?”

“What? Just testing to see if The Azure Striker is all the news claim he is.”

“And you test that by trying to break him apart?” He asked, raising an eyebrow as he looked back at Lance, who was trying to reduce the leftover pain in his shoulder before looking back at the earth pony. “Tatsumaki, this hasn’t been the first time that you ignored regulations in order to do what you believe is right.”

“First of all, I don’t do that believe is right crap unless it’s required. Plus it’s not like I was gonna kill him or anything… I was just gonna break a few bones in his body.” Filthy Rich groaned and one of his guards facepalmed from the Esper’s ideals as the stallion went to look at Amethyst and the others as soon as Lance had already exited the arena.

“We will discuss this later… I would though, like to have a word with Mr. Walker and Ms. Amethyst… in private please.” He asked as he trotted indoors through a hallway chute that was from the field level section of the stadium. Lance himself looked back at Amethyst, who also seemed a bit confused by what the stallion wanted to talk about.

“Look if this about the muffin stand I would like to say… it was Lance’s fault.” Amethyst said as she pointed a hoof at the Adept.

“Something tells me that it’s not exactly that…” Lance said, looking towards Dinky as she was with Derpy and Tatsumaki. “Hey Dinky, can you keep an eye on things out here? Hopefully this won’t take long.”

“Okay.” Dinky said as she trotted off to where Derpy was. With that, both the Adept and the Cyborg walked inside, following the path that lead them to Filthy Rich and even relying on overhearing a few ponies saying where he went to in order to locate him. Soon, they were greeted by a couple of guards, who were actually expecting them as they let the two of them into the stallion’s office.

The office itself was a lot like the office for the CEO of a well known organization. However, there were several pictures on the walls to add to it and a family photo on his desk as the stallion turned around to face them. “Welcome… I’m sure you are wondering why I called you here…”

“Yeah, why are we here anyway?” Amethyst asked, getting straight to the point.

“Besides the fact that I wanted to apologize for Tatsumaki’s… headstrong decision. I want to congratulate the both of you on the results of your exams for the Heroes Association.” He said, holding up a clipboard while looking at the papers on it. “Both of you have the exact same scores on both your written and… physical examinations. You got fifty out of fifty on your physical exams while you both only missed one question on your written exam.”

“What question did we miss?” Lance wondered, just out of curiosity.

“I believe Amethyst’s question was on the first hero to be recognized in Maretropolis while your question was to name one S class hero off the top of your head. I would only guess that you meant Atomic Samurai, but the ones who graded your exam mistook your… handwriting.” Filthy Rich replied back to him, showing the answer that appeared to be somehow smudged a little because of the loose ink of the pen he was given for the test. “They thought your answer was… Afro Samurai?” All Lance did was sigh a little as he glared back at Amethyst, who was snickering to herself in the process. “Nevertheless, both of you with these scores were easily able to make it to A class ranking.”

“Oh hell yeah, suck it losers that thought I couldn’t make it!”

“Amethyst… You have a lot of expectations on your shoulders now… Because you have actually made it to the top of the class. You are A Class, rank one while Lance here is rank two. Both of you demonstrated a lot of talent out there today and I am excited to see you two help the Heroes Association while out in the field,” He mentioned, clearing his throat a little as he looked back at the two of them. “However… the same can not be said for your accomplice… the one known as Derpy Hooves?”

“What did she get on the test?”

“As far as I can tell… Barely anything. Take a look for yourself,” Filthy Rich told them as she showed the Exam paper that the pegasus was using… and the big smiley face and doodles that were littered all across the page. Including little figures of Amethyst and Dinky near the back of the test. “She only answered questions related to muffins on the test and everything else she drew all over. However, her physical exam scores make up for that, giving her an overall score of 71 out of 100. For right now, she’ll be in C class for the time being… But it also requires some extra work on her behalf if she wants to rank up and not get dropped from the roster.”

“Extra work? What does that mean?” Amethyst questioned.

“Since we get so many possible candidates for heroes in the C class category, anypony who inactive gets dropped after the first week. To stay with the association, all C class heroes are required to commit one heroic deed per week to rank up on the leaderboards. The bigger the deed, the higher the rank will go up.” Filthy Rich explained to both of them. “These heroic deeds don’t necessarily have to be just dealing with monsters. C class hero deeds include also stopping minor crimes such as purse snatchers and bank robberies. I can assure you that once she makes it to B class, she won’t need to worry about this requirement since we only apply it to C class heroes.”

“.....This...is going to be a pain in my flank.”

“We’ll find a way to work things out,” Lance said to her as he looked back at the stallion. “Thank you for your time, Mr. Rich.”

“No, Mr. Walker… Thank you for everything you are doing in and outside of Maretropolis,” He said, looking back at him. “I first thought of this association one day when I was one of the civilians saved by a hero named Stopwatch… That may have been sometime ago, but because of that, I believed that everyone has a chance to help someone else… and even though he is gone… I see some of Stopwatch in you, Mr. Walker. It’s an honor to meet you.”

That was honestly something that Lance never expected to hear… like at all. Never at all during his time here did he expect Time’s name to come up during all of this. He had nothing to say… in fact, all he did in response was just briefly nod his head, say thank you and walk out the door with Amethyst. But there was one thing though that he had to disagree with… and that was when the stallion said that he saw a bit of Stopwatch in him.

If only he knew what the man was like now… and how much he had changed.

His train of thought soon ended though when Amethyst began to speak up, poking his arm with an outstretched hoof.

“So now what do we do?” She asked. He was going to respond, but something on his communicator was buzzing as he turned back towards her.

“Well, I think this is where you need to get back to Derpy and I need to get back to work… Sorry about that, but duty calls. Feel free to call me if you or the association need my help, alright?” He told her, making sure the cyborg got the message before he looked to see what was trying to contact him.

“Yeah I better go make sure she doesn’t break anything by accident.” Amethyst replied before heading back outside. When she left though, Lance turned to the communicator he had and seeing the caller ID personally made him worried… for more than one reason.

It was labeled “Taco Squad”, which only meant that the sirens were trying to contact him. “Great… Please don’t tell me that Sonata is trying to prank call me…” The Adept groaned, teleporting himself to the roof of the stadium before answering the call. “Hello?”

“Finally, I been trying to call you for the past hour. We need you back here in power pony HQ!” Right away, Lance can tell that this was not Sonata, but her sister Adagio Dazzle. One of the three sirens that were part of Chrysalis’ team.

“Hang on… Adagio, what’s going on?” He asked, noticing the change in Adagio’s voice from the last time he encountered her. “Is something wrong with Chrysalis?”

“Well we decided to take Chrysalis around the city to get her mind off of work. It was going well until we passed by your HQ… things went downhill after that…”

Now that was not a good sign. Definitely not a good sign. “Hang on, I’m on my way. I was finishing up something in Sun Fransokyo, but I’ll be there right now.” With that, he hung up the call and focused his powers so he could transmit himself back into Power Pony HQ in a heartbeat. Once he got there though, he only found Twilight there, along with the sirens trying to restrain Chrysalis as he walked into the room. “Okay, what the hell-?”

“Chrysalis calm down! Blasting Twilight like swiss cheese won’t solve anything!” Aria yelled as she held on to Chrysalis along with Sonata.

“Yeah, plus she would taste awful.” Sonata added only for Aria to glare at her.

“That’s not what I meant idiot! And keep holding her down!”

At this point, no one had even noticed that Lance had even entered the room as he facepalmed himself. Sighing a little, he did the only thing that he thought would attract their attention as he unholstered one of his weapons and fired a shot into the ceiling with the Dullahan clip. The impact causing everyone to look in his direction as he put his weapon away. “Alright, is everyone done with trying to go at each other’s throats?”

That question was only answered briefly by Chrysalis, who used the chance to smash her hoof directly into Twilight’s face as she sighed deeply. “Okay, now I’m done…”

“Okay… Now before any of you say anything… Just… what the hell happened?” Lance asked as Twilight tried to get up on her hooves and walk off the punch to her face.

“I just felt like going for a stroll, that all.” Chrysalis said with an innocent look on her face.

“Chrysalis…” Lance sighed, looking back at her. “If that was really the case, then why did I not only get an emergency call from Adagio, but also saw the sirens trying to restrain you from lashing out at Twilight?”

“What? It’s not like I’ve been holding a lot of repressed anger towards her and her team for past few years for what they did to me, and had me locked away in the zero zone, where they experimented on me to point where I want to kill them one by one.” Chrysalis said as a creepy smile appeared on her face along with her left eye twitching.

“Chrysalis just… stop. Twilight and the others did not do anything to you. Plus, for that matter, she told me that someone else was in charge of the Zero Zone…” He waited for a minute, before looking at one of the sirens. “How long has this been going on for?”

“Oh I’ve been quite well.”

“Though your repressed anger towards Twilight is what triggers you to anger.” Adagio mumbled, which caused Chrysalis to glance at her. “What? After looking over your medical records, you are one time bomb away from going Tartarus on Twilight’s flank. Well that and a few other physical and mental problems.”

“You’re not helping my case Adagio.”

“I’m just saying.” She replied. However, what surprised Lance more right now was not just the look on Chrysalis… but the look on Twilight’s face… And the first few words that she said to her.

“Chrysalis… I’m sorry…” She said, now sounding a bit different from before. “I’m sorry for what happened to you… what they did to you… and how they treated you. I tried everything I could… but it was beyond my control. Ever since Stopwatch disappeared, it has been harder and harder to try and be in charge of a team and take on a position that originally, you never thought you were ready for… I had faith in you… and I’m sorry for what happened. But I know now that words mean nothing to you… and if I had a choice, I would go through pain that would be MUCH worse than what you had gone through in order to understand how you feel… This position that I’m in… I had no choice in the matter. I did not decide to become leader… It was forced upon me when Stopwatch died… And what you’ve been through… It hurts much worse to me because there was nothing I could do to stop it… I’m sorry… but I don’t think you would give an honest hoof about what my words mean at all… do you?”

Adagio looked at Chrysalis in fear and shock as she and the sirens backed away from the now angered changeling. From what they could tell, pieces of the floor that she was standing on started to slowly disappeared as a white aura wildly spewed out from around her body. “Like before, your words mean nothing to me after waiting for you to get me out of that hellhole. Do you know what it was like for me to be in that place. Of course you don’t, you been inside it to actually know what it was like. You had every opportunity to get me out….no you had it but you chose not to seeing how your on the side of justice. I've forgiven you for what happen to me all those years ago, but if you think I’m going see you as anything more than the one who placed me in Zero Zone…if it wasn’t for that fact that I’m friends with Lance, I would personally erase you and the rest of the power ponies from the face of the earth.”

It was then though that something with Twilight began to change. Her face from before, and her body, had now looked her and beaten. Things that Lance had not seen before. “Do you honestly think you are the only one with scars?” She said, now as the light of the room showed that the area along her chest and dangerously close to Twilight heart was a large gaping scar. “On the night that you were locked up and when I failed to get you out, I felt like I failed you and the others. With Stopwatch gone, I personally went through a depression and even had tried to hurt myself. I felt like what happened then was one of my biggest regrets. I was forced to put you in there because I had no other choice… I never asked for any of this Chrysalis… I never wanted you to be in there and I never wanted myself to be this was because of it… You were like a sister to me… and on that night, I believed that not only did I fail you… but I had nothing else to live for.”

“......” Chrysalis said nothing as she took a deep breath, making the white aura around her disappeared. “During my time in Zero Zone, an old colt told me this. We all have that power to chose what to do. We can either do as we are told and follow who ever order we are given, or we can chose to not follow them and go beyond the laws of Equestria.” The Changeling Queen said as she turned around and began to walk out the room. “Instead of complaining about it like I’ve done long ago, do something about it.”

Lance himself was at a crossroads right now. Twilight herself was trying to regain her composure, but Chrysalis was trying to leave while they were working things out. The two of them had gotten this far in the conversation, but needed to finish it. So, he followed Chrysalis out, trying to get the chance to talk to her. But instead, it was she who spoke to him.

“I said all that I had to say Lance. Don’t think that your words will change my opinion on Twilight.”

“I’m not saying anything…” Lance said to her. “Look, Twilight is trying to ask for forgiveness from you and even if what you said was helpful, she would still think that you would never forgive you. She’s not the same pony that you remembered back then… this was her trying to open up to you… Can’t you at least give her a chance? I gave you a chance to open up and talk to me, so how hard is it to do the same for her?”

“If she wants my forgiveness then she… no, her team will have to prove it to me.” Chrysalis said as she open up a portal to her base. “Her team against my team. I wanna see how strong she has become over the past couple of years.”

“Isn’t there any other way that we can solve it without fighting… She had already tried to prove it to you by admitting what she did wrong. None of the others in the team were involved in this. It’s just between you and her.” He explained, sighing a little before thinking of something else. “Do you need me to help you with anything else… I want to help you however I can… in any way possible.”

“Words mean nothing if you don’t have the strength to back up your claim. She is the leader of the power ponies and they are the strongest team in this city so this shouldn’t be a problem, right?”

“Don’t you already have a fight to prepare for?” Lance then asked, remembering the last encounter in their base. “Remember? With the one’s that tried to kill you before?”

“These are the term to my forgiveness. Either she takes them or leave them. And I’m not changing my mind otherwise Lance.” He thought it over, before looking back at her. However, he was surprised to hear Twilight come up from behind him and speak.

“If you want to settle it like that, then I’ll agree to your terms… on the contrary that you and I will have to settle this. My friends were not involved in the matter, I was. So therefore, it should be between you and me, Chrysalis.” She responded, now with her confidence returning to her. “Are we clear?”

“This will be a team on team battle to see if you and your friends are strong enough to see if I can see you all as an ally. So far Lance has proven himself that he can be counted on, but for the rest of you it’s still up to debate. So you have a choice now. Fight me and my six members or not.”

Twilight growled, but complied with Chrysalis’ offer without even thinking twice. Lance sighed, glad that he had helped resolve the conflict between them, but surprised when Chrysalis looked towards him after the Alicorn walked away.

“Be sure to tell the others about this along with me and Twilight’s history.”

“I’m sure they’ll already know. I recorded the audio file and everything into a folder for them to look at on their own time.” Lance replied, looking back at Chrysalis. “Would you like anymore help now that that’s out of the way?”

“.....You’re going to look after the sirens while I’m on my break.” Chrysalis said as she pointed a hoof at Sonata who was trying to open the powerbox in the hallway. Lance chuckled, slyly letting off a bit of static electricity that made the powerbox almost shock Sonata.

“I think Adagio and Aria can control Sonata… besides, after bringing up a subject that brings back bad memories, I thought I try to help you the best I can.”

“Buddy, as drop dead gorgeous as I am, even a mare like me need her time alone.” She said, causing Lance to smile a little.

“Alright. But just give me a call if you need my help alright?” He told her, putting a hand on her shoulder. “Some things we can’t always do alone.”

“Alright dad, I’ll be sure to call you when I’m in a sticky situation.” Chrysalis snickered as she soon disappeared… leaving Twilight going into her office and Adagio and Aria trying to get on Sonata’s case for messing with the powerbox… twice.

“I better get back to Sun Fransokyo before AJ begins to wonder where I am.” Lance thought to himself, making sure that the Sirens were okay before leaving the room and going back to where he was before.

Shortly after returning back to Mane Hero 6, Lance happened to find that almost everyone, even Aurora herself, was somehow asleep. He understood that it was incredibly late, but there had been some things on his mind that were bothering him. Earlier, he received a message from another displaced that he had came across in his travels. A message that contained some… disturbing evidence. Evidence that circled around one person in particular.

Time Spinner.

The whole thing he had heard drove the adept to the point where he himself wasn’t able to get much sleep because of the millions of possibilities regarding him and what he heard bouncing off the walls of his mind. But he couldn’t figure out what it was by thinking on those possibilities… He needed facts.

And the only way to get those facts was to talk to the individual himself. Using his token, Lance put his coat on and walked through the portal he conjured into what he remembered as Time’s shack. Hopefully, he could find the displacer somewhere within this mess…

The place was falling apart. Even worse than the last time he’d gone there. Silver Spanner was sitting at a table, looking tired as hell.

“He’s not here… Not yet.” Spanner said dully.

“Silver, are you okay?” He asked, noticing how tired she was. “My god, you look like you went through several all nighters working on something.”

“Yeah… Something like that. With Time almost gone, I’ve been working on my last project.” Silver said. “I feel so old saying that… Heh...”

“Silver, you need to rest. I’m sorry, but I can’t have you be pushing yourself too hard like this… Wait… what is your last project?” He then asked, confused by what she meant by that and the fact that he couldn’t exactly see any sort of contraption that looked to be halfway built like the last time he was here.

“Yep… After this, I can go home. And I won’t build another thing.” Silver said, then rubbed her eyes. “I used to love making stuff… But I’ve grown sick of it.”

“Why?” He then asked. “Did something… happen?”

“How old do I look?” Silver asked.

“To be honest… you don’t look a day over thirty. You’re just extremely tired and need some rest.” He told her, trying his best to be truthful while also not insulting her in the process. “Wait… don’t tell me… are you…”

“Am I what?” Silver asked, annoyed.

“S-sorry. I just thought something crazy… Must be the whole thing with Time on my mind and all that.” Lance apologized. “Anyways, as you were saying?”

“I’m older than I look. A lot older than I look because Time’s been keeping me young. So, I’ve been making things for him. When Time’s dead, he said that I could go home. And I want to forget about this. I want to live like I was never banished, so I’m gonna erase my memories to a certain point.”

“You mean before you and Time were banished?” Lance asked.

“Yeah, and maybe I won’t act so old. If I forget all of this, maybe fixing stuff can have an appeal. Maybe I’ll even be happy again.” Silver sighed. Lance himself felt really sorry for the mare. He never realized how much she had missed the old days before she was taken from her home. Sighing, he had one answer for it.

“Well, if that’s what you want to do… Then I support you in that decision.”

“I don’t need your support. I’m a grouch all the time and I hate it! So much information’s in my head that I get a migraine just thinking!” Silver screamed. “What do you want, I get that Time’s in heat and on her last legs… Well, leg, her other one gave out already…”

“Okay, easy there…” Lance said, waiting for Silver to do so. Once she was calm, the Adept soon replied. “I need to talk to Time because I got something earlier today that involved him… and the fact that anytime he displaces someone… he murders them in cold blood.”

“That’s just how he displaces people. Their bodies get in his way, so he has to remove them. He’s gotten weaker, and bloodthirsty, but that’s in his nature. Like how you eat meat, he thrives on death. He’s never been human. When you’re in a universe where everything is flipped, such as the alignment of your friends for years, wouldn’t you go mad if your fiancee tried eating you?” Silver stated, standing up.

“I understand… but this is personal…” He told her. “He killed someone that was important to me… and that’s something I need to discuss with him personally.”

“Should I summon him?” Silver asked. He just nodded softly, asking if she could summon him into another room so they could talk amongst themselves so she could be left to working on her own project.

Silver pulled a stopwatch out of a bag next to her. She changed the time to 12:00, and pressed the button on the top. She tossed it into a room Lance hadn’t seen before.

“Don’t freak out… They’re not exactly… Alive anymore.” Silver said coldly, almost like she’d seen a ghost.

“Wait… Who’s they?”

“They as in he, she, gender neutral. Calling Time a male or female is false, as he, she, it is genderless. It confuses me too.” Silver explained.

“Wow… That’s the first time I’ve heard about that.”

“It’s something Time’s sensitive about.” Silver said. An explosion went off in the room where the Token was thrown. Only making Lance raise an eyebrow a little.

“Should I be worried about that?”

“‘Should I be worried’, he says!! About what, ass****!?” Time screamed as she walked out. Most of her was covered in green flames. “You know what? F#ck you Lance, and your little b#tch-aloid over there!” She roared, giving Silver the middle finger in her rage. “Ah’m hungry! Where’s the damn baloney?!”

“In the fridge.” Silver said, bored.

Time saluted her. “Your assistance with the needy is commendable, c*ck sucker!”

“Forgive me for not preparing you. He’s pretty much gone and he’s been swearing like that all day.” Silver stated as Time stumbled towards the kitchen.

“It’s not your fault Silver… I’ve been in that same position before… Why do you think my Uncle and Aunt never got along so well?” Lance said, trying to assure Silver not to worry and stress herself out while he was waiting a little for Time to calm down. He used his energy based powers to have the flames slowly dissipate and go away, trying to do something to help even if Time probably did not want it.

“What do you want Lance?” Time asked as she walked in, a slice of baloney in her mouth. He sighed, looking firm at her in the face as he approached her with a single question on his mind.

“You displace people by killing them…” He said, causing Time to reply with a obvious groan as the Adept cleared his throat. “Then tell me why did you kill my Aunt Silvia? Or who you know as Aya…”

“Aya… Aya… Oh, right. I needed to get rid of her body. At the time I displaced her… Let’s just say, I wasn’t myself.” Time said as she teleported an alcoholic drink into her hand and took a sip. “I looked into her future, and eventually saw her suicide. I implanted a dream into Sun’s head and… Well, let’s just say Izra did some crap to me.”

“Izra?” He asked, confused a little by what Time had said to him. “What does Izra have to do with it?”

“After I did some stuff with you, Izra’s lacky Roach displaced some oddities to attack you. I thought, ‘since Lance is being so nice, and since he’s busy, might as well send Aya after them’. Needless to say, I didn’t expect it to get this hairy.” Time said. “What with her… Kidnapping.”

“Kidnapping? What the hell are you talking about?” Lance asked, lost in translation.

“You must be hazy on the details. In short, Aya was investigating a lead that I told her was a bad idea. She didn’t listen, and… Well… To keep this conversation teen friendly some bad people did some nasty things to her. She’s fine, but scarred.” Time stated. This made Lance think of many things, but ultimately, he was worried for her.

“Trust me, her future has many strifes, but in the end, it all pays off.” Time added, smiling smugly. “Trust me Lance, you can’t baby her forever. And before you get angry at me, let me just say that I didn’t do anything to her but alter her location. She needs this just like I needed molding.” Time took a brown sphere in her hand and examined it. “Trust me. It’s like peeling an orange with your hands. You need to pull off that useless skin to get to the best part.”

“I don’t get the metaphor you are trying to imply, but I’m just gonna act like I understand what you are talking about.” Lance sighed, looking back at Time. “But just because I don’t spend that much time with her doesn’t mean that I don’t care for her. I only have a few members of my known family left and with Max and I getting married, I want to do what I can to help Aya. Hell, last I checked, she wasn’t sure if Sun was actually alive.” The Adept sighed for a minute shortly before looking back at Time.

“My point is this… Aya was already fragile before being Displaced… I just don’t want it to get any worse.”

“Lance, when I first arrived in your universe, I found myself alone, with no one I knew here. I was weak, scared, and as you put it, fragile. I toughened up. If Your aunt wants to stay safe from being shattered, then she can quit. She doesn’t have to be a hero. I think that speaks volumes about her character. She’s not as fragile as you think.” Time explained. “Being fragile doesn’t mean you’re helpless. It just means you have room to improve. You and I have different kinds of love, yours is nurturing and sympathetic, a bit over protective and jumpy, where as I’m a tough love kinda guy, who pushes those I know to their limit. It’s not my fault.”

Now Lance was beginning to understand. In fact, strangely enough… he was beginning to see why many people compared him to Time. Despite the way that she said things and also the way she does things… there were some points that both of them could agree on… “I understand what you mean completely… I myself still have room for improvement. Maybe I’m just overthinking this unintentionally-.”

“Unintentional… It is intentional. You want to see things for better or worse.” Time chuckled. “Let me change my form.” Time’s gender changed into it’s original state. “Better… You know, as I see things now… You and I are even more similar than I first thought… There’s something I never told you.” Time gained a sorrowful expression.

“Heh… Never thought I see the day where you actually tell me that.” The Adept replied, before noticing Time’s expression change as he looked at him. “Is something wrong?”

“No… I’m fine.” Time said. “It’s just that I hope you don’t end up at a similar end as I. Being a plaything of The Alice is a curse.”

Now was when Lance was a little confused on who Time was talking about, but decided to not stress him out by having him explain everything to him. “I’ll try my best not to.”

“Is that all?” Time Spinner asked.

“For the most part… unless if there is anything else you would like to ask me before I leave.” The Adept replied. “The whole team back home is scrambling to lock all the villains that broke out when Nova sabotaged a Zero Zone prison transfer… Other than Roach, who stayed behind, we’ve been trying to find everypony that escaped and lock them back up-.”

“Roach shouldn’t be a problem anymore…” Time said, almost grinning darkly.

“Yeah… if you consider the fact that he was willing enough to provide information on the other convicts in exchange for me visiting him.” Lance sighed. “Hey, sorry if it sounds like I’m asking too much, but do you know about Blaster by chance?”

“Yeah, she was a clone of Rainbow Dash that was meant for evil, but ended up forming a team of reformed supervillains called the Fallen Angels before they ended up framed. Why?”

“Well, after getting blindsided by Anti-Zapp, she lost all memory of who she was. It got to the point that when she woke up, she thought I was a doctor, said her designation was RD-17 and needed to go to Locust Labs. She’s recovering now, but I want to try and help her somehow… Any advice?” The Adept asked after explaining to Time about the situation.

“The best advice I hate is to replace some of her components. Being fried like that could’ve short circuited her systems. Other than that, try to keep her away from other clones unless they’re friendly. I have a feeling that when she had her memories, she wasn’t the same mare I knew.” Time said.

“Alright, thanks… Now, I better get back to AJ and help her track down that Countess before she causes any more trouble.” What he said might’ve been simple, but before he could prepare his token and get ready to go home, something else was mentioned to him.

“That whacko? I thought she was killed in the Zero Zone years ago.” Time mused.

“Wait… what the hell are you talking about?” He asked, raising an eyebrow. “We already encountered her a couple of times in person. Why would you think she is dead?”

“Oh right… Everyone who knew about it is dead or here. You see, before the Zero Zone didn’t let the prisoners out of their cells, Coloratura was murdered in the courtyard by another villain who snuck in and basically exploded, freeing some of the villains. Coloratura was caught in it and was trampled by the fleeing prisoners.” Time sighed. “Only Whisper, Silver, Soundhound, Jubilee and I were there, as the rest of the team were busy fighting the Underdog.” Lance, upon hearing this, only did the first thing he could think of and sketch out the Countess that he saw, giving Time the drawing and explaining everything to her. Including the spiderpony and how some of them worship someone named “Corrode” while also mentioning the events that had been happening recently.

“Does this look similar to anypony you might remember? Did Coloratura have a roommate or something during her time in the Zero Zone by chance?”

“Yes… A mare named Cloudkicker.” Time stated. “She was an oddball.”

The new name had Lance raise an eyebrow as he looked back at Time. “Define odd. I’ve met a few already… anything about this one in particular that might be different from the rest? Like powers or whatnot?”

“I never knew. But she was suspected of being in a cult.” Time said. “Unfortunately Corrode isn’t a name I’m familiar with.”

“Well, some research on the name led to some… creepy results. Listen to what Aurora told me when she researched the name.” Lance then took out a small recording device that was synced to his arm and soon played the transmission.

“Well… I got some things. Corrode was apparently a Draconequus who found a flaw with how our world works… Quote: “If evil always returns from the seeds of life, then why keep it around?”, he’s renowned for killing a large populace in the Ice Age.”

“Like I said before… creepy results…”

“Wow… Like Discord? I met a Draconequus once, other than Discord.” Time said. “Never heard of him though. Much as it pains me, I can’t see into your future.”

“Right… One last thing though… after what happened with Coloratura… did you find Cloudkicker anywhere afterwards?” Lance asked, thinking of a possibility inside his head. The Adept needed to ask Roach about both the Countess and Cloudkicker, but hopefully with this, he had some idea of what exactly he was dealing with.

“I faced her a couple times, and only once when she was released. She doesn’t have much in the way of powers, but she did poses deadly skills. Ask Reaper for more info.” That… was something that Lance could go off of and work with as he made a mental list in his head of the people that he needed to speak too.

“Alright. Thanks for the help… I’ll keep you up to date on the case if anything changes.” He assured him before disappearing in a flash of lightning with his token in his hands.

Upon arriving back in Sun Fransokyo, Lance knew he had a lot on his plate to work with. But with help from Time, he had some leads to go off of and somewhere to start. There were two particular individuals to ask about this case. Roach in Zero Zone and Reaper back at base. He was thinking about starting with Reaper since that would also allow for him to check on Blaster. Before he left though, he just sighed to himself, thinking about the rest of the team and everything done to lock up all the loose villains, despite the amount of times that they had locked them up previously.

“No rest for the wicked it seems.” The Adept sighed. He couldn’t rest now… he had a job to do and people to protect.

End Strike 40

Strike 41- Whispers in my head

When Lightning Strikes- Whispers in my head

Power Pony HQ

It was only a few hours before Sunrise and around now, the sidekick named Humdrum could not sleep. It wasn’t because of all the things that were going on right now with his friends and fellow heroes that were either still at the main headquarters or in various cities across Equestria… But more likely what was going on right now. He was hearing various noises coming from the control room and with each passing minute, he was concerned about the possibility of the HQ getting hacked into since if that were going on right now, the defenses were not going off like he had programmed them too. It was driving him crazy and by the time he finally decided to do something about it, what he found surprised him.

“Cody?” He said, noticing the human working away at the computer console in the control room. “You look… different.” When the dragon said that, he was referring to the new set of gear that he was seeing him wear. No longer was he wearing the bulky jacket and clothes anymore, but this time his new gear looked more like a flight suit that Zapp or any other pegasus pony would wear.

“Oh, good morning Humdrum… I didn’t expect you there.” He said, almost pulling out his weapon until he realized that it was Humdrum that had just entered the room and not someone that was trying to break into the base.

“Cody, what are you doing? It’s four o’clock in the morning.” Humdrum pointed out to him as he walked over to where the human was.

“Well, I had finally gotten around to making some necessary modifications to my equipment and right now, Aurora is helping me with an important piece of my new gear set.”

“Hang on, Aurora’s here too? I thought she was with Lance.” Humdrum mentioned, causing Cody to point at the computer screen… and the tiny pony like sprite on the monitor.

“Why don’t you ask her yourself?” He suggested, turning back to the monitor before speaking up. “Hey Aurora, we got ourselves a visitor.”

“Oh, hey…” Aurora said, focused on her work. “I downloaded myself here while Lance sleeps… Or whatever he’s doing…”

“O… kay. So what are you guys working on exactly? Well, besides your new… look.” Humdrum asked as he looked back at Cody before returning his gaze to the computer screen.

“Well, remember how Lance has Lumen to help him in combat for when he’s in tight situations?” Cody posed the question for the dragon, reminding him of how Lance was able to recover so quickly after the attack on the base by the purple mare. “Well, Aurora and I are creating an AI companion for me to use that’ll assist me in similar cases… It was originally hard at first, but Aurora was able to find a backup copy of the code for one of the original Sandy AI’s that was created by Gadget when Stopwatch was still leading the team.”

“How exactly were you able to find a backup copy? I would think that most of the Sandy AI’s have deteriorated, been stolen, destroyed or have now turned into a crazy robot mare that Lance ran into when checking on M.I.S.T. in New Yoke.” Humdrum asked. His question was valid and with everything that had been happening as of late, if any mistakes happened here, they would have two Sandi AI’s on the loose doing who knows what.

“That may be true, but after some digging, we found some things that may surprise you,” Copen mentioned as he pressed a few keyboard commands. “I’ll let Aurora explain the details to you. She may be more experienced in this field than I am so I’ll let her tell you how we came across it in the first place.”

“I’ve been doing a lot of… Questionable things, looking through Gadget’s personal stuff and found a lot of code for making Sandy in the process. I’ve already begun digital construction, but I’m having trouble with parental blocks.” Aurora said.

“Hang on, why would an AI need parental blocks?” Humdrum then asked Aurora, partially confused by that last statement that she had told the two of them.

“Well, from what Aurora told me, when an AI is first created, they’re born in a child stage and mature over time… So you wouldn’t want them to be exposed to some subject matters because, like a filly or a foal, they wouldn’t exactly understand.” Cody explained, remembering all the time that he had to learn about internet safety back before displacement. “Aurora, have you tried placing a safesearch function on there or something?”

“No! I mean there’s a parental guidance on the supercomputer! I can look up my… uh… I can’t use the codes I added. Y’know, to make the AI not Sandy like? And have more personality?” Aurora said.

“Well, let’s focus on one thing at a time and not overthink things. Perhaps with Humdrum here, he can somehow pitch in and assist me out here while you’re working on everything inside the mainframe. Two heads are better than one.” Cody suggested as he had Humdrum take up a seat.

“I have no head…” Aurora said in a deadpanned tone before mentioning something else. “And most things are running in the background. I need better wi-fi too on top of that.”

“It’s a figure of speech… Plus we are using the HQ’s own wi-fi, which is one of the best private networks in the entire city,” Cody added to that, giving her some additional instructions on top of that to help Aurora out now that Humdrum was going to help them. “Just tell us what we need to do and we can do whatever we can to assist you from out here.”

“Fine, import any useful files from the Sandy program, then do an update, then add some programming to connect this AI to your stuff specifically, and finally build a digital body.” Aurora listed off. “I’ve already done just about everything else.” Cody nodded, asking Humdrum to hand him a USB cable so he could plug in his equipment and allow Aurora to access it. He plugged in what appeared to be a small pod, a communications bracer similar to Lances, but fit to his armor and lastly, his blaster. If all of this was going to work, then he needed to make sure that the AI they were creating had a link to all the important pieces of his gear that it needed access too.

“Aurora, I just plugged in my equipment so the AI can be connected to it. Humdrum’s looking through the files of the Sandy program to see what kind of source code we could find. I’m beginning the algorithm for creating the body.” He informed her, hitting the enter key on the keyboard so the sequence can be initialized.

“Great. I’m gonna run diagnostics after we’re done.” Aurora said. “It’s kinda weird… Making a ‘Sandy’. She was my nanny while dad and the others were on missions.”

“Now that you mention it, it does seem weird… We should give it a different name since the AI is based on the original Sandy’s code, but isn’t actually a Sandy in particular,” Humdrum then suggested as he sent the last of the files that were required to Aurora. “Any particular ideas?”

That was when Cody interjected and spoke up so they could hear him. “Now that you mention it… I had one, but how I came up with the name may sound… silly.” That just got Humdrum to stare at Aurora for a minute before eventually looking back at him, folding his arms and raising an eyebrow in the process.

“Well shoot man, it’s your AI. Go ahead and say what you’re thinking about.” Humdrum replied back.

“I was thinking Lola.” The human then replied. “Strangely enough, the first thing I thought of when I was thinking on Lumen was her Anthem abilities and when Aurora mentioned how Sandy was her nanny, I thought of the name Lola since nannies would sometimes since lullaby’s to foals and fillies to try and have them fall asleep. So… Lola.” He then turned to Aurora and then asked her a question. “What do you think, Aurora? Does Lola sound like a good idea?”

“Sounds humany… Whatever, I’m a filly after all. Not like I’d name anything good.” Aurora stated.

“Hey, you’ll learn more as you get older. Now, how’s the body coming along?” He then asked, wanting to check on Aurora’s progress with the state of the creation process. If all went according to plan, then the AI would be ready to sync with his equipment and gear to do some test runs with it before they could get back out in the field. All his gadgets from before were reconstructed from the ground up and he wanted to make sure that they were successfully tested before going immediately into the field.

“The 3d model is complete. Here’s an image.” Aurora popped up the model for Lola.

“That looks perfect. You’re awesome at this Aurora!” He complimented her as he pressed a few more keys. “Alright, begin the final phase for the creation sequence Aurora. Let’s see if all our hard work is going to finally pay off.”

“Voice boxes… Done! Downloading!” Aurora stated. The data of the AI soon began to take a physical form as Cody cuffed both of his hands and provided a place for the AI to form as it woke up for the first time. It looked for a little bit at him, nervously as it also looked at Aurora on screen.

“W-where am I?” It then asked, followed by a question that was directed towards Cody. “Are you my daddy?”

“Well… That’s… Different…” Aurora said, stunned. The AI soon moved it’s head, looking around frantically before saying something else that caught Aurora by surprise.

“Mommy? I just heard you. Where are you, Mommy?” The little AI the size of a breezie soon said in a small panic. This in turn caused Humdrum to try to keep control of himself from laughing his head off as Cody looked back at Aurora before turning his gaze to Lola, who was looking at him with a face that looked like she was on the verge of crying. “Daddy, I just heard Mommy, where is she? Please Daddy, I want to see mommy!”

“I wonder if this is what Lance has to go through when living with Max.” Cody mentally thought to himself as he tried to calm her down. “It’s okay, Lola… There’s no need to cry. It’s gonna be okay.”

“I-I’m right here!” Aurora said in a panic. She hated it when others cried and she had no body.

“Mommy!!” She said, now relieved as she stood up, almost tripping inside of Cody’s hands. That only caused the human to look back at Aurora before she looked back at the two of them. “Yay! The whole family is here… including Uncle Spike!!” That small statement… caused Humdrum to stop laughing and in the process, was stuck on trying to process what was happening.

“Aurora… What was that one thing you were having trouble specifically?” Cody then posed the question for her as she then realized what he was talking about.

“Parental… Guidance… Uh oh…” Aurora gulped.

“Something tells me we’re going to be in for a VERY long morning.” He told her as the human then looked at Humdrum. “Humdrum, can you get some coffee brewing… I have a feeling that both of us are going to need it.”

“Uh… I can’t have coffee.” Aurora said, only causing him to facepalm himself. Yep, this was definitely going to be a long morning.

Meanwhile...

The first thing that McCree had woken up to this morning was the sound of gunfire. His mind had immediately thought that somehow, somepony had broken into the facility and began to shoot up the place. Which meant that whoever it was would possibly be coming for him and Anarchy next. Shifting over and getting out of bed, he proceeded to put on his clothes, grab his belt and load the bullets that needed to be in the revolver’s chamber before holstering his weapon. But as he was doing that though, his partner was slowly beginning to wake up.

“What the buck’s going on…?” His partner, Anarchy, groaned as she groggily woke up.

“I’m hearing gunshots downstairs… Even with security not going off, it could likely mean that someone has broken in here and began shooting up the guards.” McCree informed her quickly in a whisper like tone so they could not alert whoever was doing the shooting. “We need to get down there and find out who the hell is causing that racket and what the hell is going on. Because I rather not wake up to the sound of a bullet going through my skull… again.”

“Okay.” Anarchy replied, fully awake and in serious mode. McCree had been noticing her lack of immaturity in her around him. It was a nice change of pace with her former ‘whatever’ personality in dangerous situations.

The mare slithered out of her bed in her paint form, and reformed in quick succession. McCree slowly went to the door, checking to make sure that there wasn’t anything on the other side before proceeding. With an all clear, both of them were up and out the door… and can get a better idea of where the shots were coming from.

“The gunshots are coming from the armory,” He whispered to Anarchy as they slowly moved forward… only to hear something else along with the sounds of gunfire and what appeared to be rockets blowing up. “Is it just me… or am I hearing music?”

“Not just you…” Anarchy said, her ears folding onto the back of her head in concern.

“Wanna join me, come and play. But I might shoot you, in your face…”

“Okay, that definitely sounds concerning…” McCree said to himself, remembering something that could be helpful to them right around now. The Armory had three doorways, one on the west side of the compound and south side that served as a main entrance and an entrance for the employees while the door on the east corridor was to be used as an emergency exit. “And damn, I can’t see anything from this angle… Anarchy, can you see if you can access the guard entrance and get a better view of who the hell is causing all that racket?”

“Come on, shoot faster, Just a little bit of energy! I wanna try something fun right now, I guess some people call it anarchy!”

“Roger.” Anarchy said, before running to the other entrance. It took a little bit for her to see what was going on because of all the smoke in the room and the noise from the music. But when both of them began to die down, the mare was able to have a good view of who exactly was causing all this chaos and left the entire shooting gallery covered in bullet holes.

And right now… it was talking to it’s rocket launcher like it was an actual person.

“Can we retire now?” A pale human female asked as if she was pretending to be a male. “No! We just started, Fishy! I haven’t even used a minigun yet!” She added normally.

“Who the tartarus is that…?” Anarchy asked herself in a whisper.

“But we can plant a garden and live out in the country!” She said to herself. “Hmm… Nah.”

“Okay, she’s crazier that Anti.” Anarchy whispered, before heading back to McCree to inform him. “Hey, looks like another human. This one’s crazy.”

“Yeah but… oddly enough, it feels like I’ve seen her somewhere before.” He replied back to her, looking again and noticing something different this time. “Anarchy, I’m not sure how this person got in, but if she thinks that blowing stuff up and shooting the crap out of people is fun to her, then we may have a problem… Unless if she’s here for the same reason Junkrat and Roadhog are… Where’s Lauren Order?”

“I don’t know, I just woke up. But if I knew, I’d say in her office.” Anarchy shrugged.

“Well, unless if she says otherwise about this… Jinx… then we should take this as a possible threat…” Just as he said that though, he looked back at her to see that she was aiming her rocket launcher straight at the door they were hiding behind. “Oh sh*t, get back-!!” Just as he said that though, the crazy human fired at the door, blasting it off of the hinges as it sent McCree and Anarchy skidding backwards. All while she was treating it like it was her grand entrance.

“Honey, I’m home!” She screamed at the top of her lunges. She then spoke as she played with the launcher, “That wasn’t nice! The door was unlocked! I don’t care, I’m being a badass. But- No… No sweetie, momma’s busy.” McCree was going to draw his weapon, but then heard another voice that stopped him.

“I see that you decided to make your presence known, Ms. Jinx…” Turning around, McCree and Anarchy could see Lauren Order trotting into the room and looking at all three of them. But mostly looking straight at Jinx.

“It’s just Jinx, Laura.” Jinx said, then tossed her rocket launcher onto Anarchy. “Where’s the vending machine, I wanna snickers. You're not yourself when you’re craving snickers.”

“I tried giving you that last night, yet you're still the same way this morning.” Lauren pointed out. “Besides… do you think that it’s a good idea to drop your stuff onto your teammates like they’re your servants? Because it isn’t for your… talents with weapons and explosives, I can still trigger the bomb in your neck.” The unicorn now held out what looked like a tablet that had a mugshot of Jinx sticking her tongue out and acting all silly… all while the word ARMED was lit up in red capital letters.

“Ooohh~! Red button!” Jinx said, attempting to push it.

“You touch that and you die… besides… I believe that you may know about one of your new… associates, Mr. Walker.” Lauren then told her.

“Could you clarify on what exactly you mean, Ms. Order. I’m not quite understanding how I am related in all of this.” The gunslinger told her as he holstered his pistol and looked back at the mare. “I mean, only a few minutes ago, Anarchy and I found her turning the entire shooting range into a mess of bullet holes while singing about destruction and shooting people in the face. Are you saying that there’s more to her than that?”

“Hey! No, you’re pretty much right.” Jinx shrugged.

“Allow me,” Lauren Order sighed as she looked at Jinx for a moment. “Aster…”

“Yeah...?” Jinx suddenly did a one eighty and her voice went low. Something caused McCree to look at the girl with a raised eyebrow as she watched the mare speak again. This time, what was said though surprised both him and Anarchy.

“Would you care to share to us how you know Lance Walker…” The Mare then said, causing McCree to be a little bit on edge at the mentioning of his son.

“I… Only remember… Bits and pieces… But we were friends. Very close…” Jinx said, then gripped her head. “Ugh… My head hurts… I don’t wanna remember!”

“Are you sure it’s a good idea to have her on our team? She looks like she needs to be in an asylum.” Anarchy said, her eyes narrowing her eyes at the pale human who started laughing uncontrollably.

“That’s what I was originally told… but I still believe that there is still some good in her… You may come back now, Jinx.” The mare said briefly before the human was back to normal. “I always have a reason for bringing on new members and fortunately enough, I figured out how it’ll work… Out of the main members of the Suicide Squad, there are two groups. One for Order… and one for Chaos. It’ll help with any mission that may require more than the usual team of five that are needed… Which also brings me to something I need to mention.”

“And that is?” McCree asked, looking back at Anarchy for a moment before returning her gaze to Lauren Order.

“Once everyone is awake… We have a job to do in Sun Fransokyo… and it’s going to require two teams like I mentioned before. Don’t worry though… You’re not going to be on the same team as Jinx… Because her job on this mission is going to be a lot different from the one that you two are going to do.”

Anarchy looked to McCree worriedly. “How different?”

“Let’s just say that what you are going to do does not involve the first thing that Junkrat would say when he wakes up in the morning.” Lauren sighed, only to hear the same squad member she just said yell off the top of his lungs.

“Ah, it is a perfect day FOR SOME MAYHEM!!!”

“And that’s how I made Sparkler faint by burping the alphabet.” Ash said, finishing her story about annoying her lifelong friend. The ninth story. During her first day in the Puppets. Halfway through, said day. During their first meeting. “Ah… She made me forget where my stuffed animal was for that, but it was worth it.”

“Right… Would you like anything to drink this morning? Glass of water?” Hiro then asked her as he offered to get mare a beverage from the fridge in the kitchen.

“Yeah, thanks.” Ash nodded. Hiro got a cold glass of water for her as he set it on the table for her. Just as she was about to drink it, Lance soon came into the room and sat down right next to them.

“Hey… Mind if I join you guys?”

“Nah, I don’t mind.” Ash said, before sipping her water. “This cult is weird… Vinyl’s taking that Octavia thing hard.”

“Yeah… Wait, how do you know about that-?” Lance then asked before remembering something. “Let me guess, Aurora told you?”

“Mostly. That and Vinyl isn’t acting normal.” Ash replied. “Hey Hiro, you got a phone? I wanna talk to a friend.” That surprised Lance for a moment as he looked back at Ash for a moment. He didn’t want to question her and ask who it was, all because it would sound like he would be intruding on her privacy.

“Yeah, here. Just don’t take too long. BAYMAX would get on someone’s case on the health problems with talking on the phone too much. Yeah, trust me, Neon had to learn the hard way.” He informed her.

“Thanks. Sparkler’s been having it tough at the Power Ponies Divisions HQ.” Ash stated, then went to the phone. While that was going on, Lance himself had a glass of water as well while trying to sort out all the things going on inside his head. Especially with what Time had told him when he mentioned the Countess. He wasn’t quite sure about what would be going on, but he had to be prepared nonetheless and could not let his guard down.

“Hiro, I’m going to have to go meet someone today in order to ask them about something that may help us with tracking down the Countess,” He then said after finishing his glass. “Can you and Ash do me a favor and try to find out about if there are any kind of ties between her, this Cult of Corrode and also where they might be next?”

“We’ll try our best. The Countess has been doing everything she can to not leave any kind of trail behind for us to track. Though, I think Honeycomb can help us with making sure we do find something.” He said, causing Lance to nod his head… and also raise an eyebrow for a moment.

“Wait, who’s Honeycomb?”

“She’s one of our friends that helps with coming up with gadgets for the team as well as a skilled computer expert. She goes by the codename “Hornet” when out in the field.” Hiro briefly explained. “If any leads do come up, we’ll tell you as soon as possible.” Lance briefly thanked him as he placed his glass in the sink and looked back at Hiro. Ash was still on the phone, but Lance made sure to also have Hiro tell her where he would be. Now he had to go pay a visit to a particular… friend to get some answers.

“Good to see you Lance… Wish I was feeling better though.” Roach said in his cell. He was laying on the bed, paling. “Your wife forgot to free the shackle… Heh...”

“Well, she doesn’t exactly have the most amount of trust in you. You are in a prison for a reason,” Lance pointed out to him as he got closer to him. “I wanted to talk to you about some… conflicting reports of a case regarding an individual that had spent some time in this facility.” From his back pocket, he unfolded a photograph of the countess on the first day the incidents in Sun Fransokyo were happening. “We’ve been trying to track her down recently, but when I mentioned it to Time Spinner on the side, he thought that she was dead. I thought you would be able to shed some light on the subject.”

“It’s not hard to see, Gunvolt.” Roach said, placing his hands behind his head. “She’s dead. Gone. Left in the dust with people that aren’t remembered like Faithless and Comet Tail… And walking again, as those fools are. The Cult of Corrode’s leader invented a chemical that’d keep someone alive, even without blood, a heart… Etcetera.” That was news to him. Still, he needed to understand a bit more.

“Who's this leader… and where can I find them?”

“I assume you’ve heard the Cult referring to an ‘LH’, have you not?” Roach asked, smirking like he knew something… Well he obviously did. Lance thought it over, trying to recall if any of the ponies from the mansion had said anything like that before having to get out of there pre-emptively. “LH is what they call their leader… Lemon Heart. She’s the physical leader. I pity the poor child.”

“We didn’t hear anything about a Lemon Heart. The only names I did here were Black Widow, Shadowmere and the two sisters of Octavia Melody named Symphony and Fiddle,” Lance told him before following up on a specific detail that stood out to him, “But can you explain a little more on physical leader? I’m not quite sure if I understand what that means.”

“Corrode is dead. Well, kind of. His body was destroyed a long time ago, but his essence lives on. The physical leader is the mortal tasked with leading the cult in his absence.” Roach explained. That made a small amount of sense… but then again, some of the audio footage that they had gotten thanks to Vinyl still confused him.

“Is this cult known for any… extreme practices?” He then asked, just for clarification.

“You’re talking about a cult that worships a world ending demon… They aren’t exactly the nicest of creatures.” Roach said with a bit of amusement in his voice. “But I have to admit, they’re not all in the group for the same reason. Like the Melody triplets…”

“You know about Octavia and her sisters?” Lance then asked upon hearing this new detail.

“Yeah. Filly was being groomed as a host last time I saw her.” Roach said nonchalantly. Now this made Lance curious a little… and wanted to follow up with another question.

“Would you expect her and Symphony to torture Octavia?” The Adept asked her, providing Roach the “audio” of when they had to give Octavia her punishment for staying out late one night.

“Totally. They’ve got an artifact that acts like a dagger but has no permanent effects. It’s a torture device meant to keep the victim alive. The cult use it to… “bring out the demon”, in their sacrifices. Or hosts. She’s probably their secret weapon and they’re ripping her up, increasing her body’s tolerance of pain. You see, the artifact adjusts so that you’ll always get a new form of agony, meaning you can’t get used to the pain of multiple stabs.”

“Because each one isn’t the same as the first…” The Adept thought to himself, now beginning to think something over in his head. “Good lord, I feel bad for Vinyl… Roach… If you are a part of this cult… you’re forced to be there? You can’t leave?”

“Pretty much. Their enforcers torture any retaliation into submission. A mare named Shadowmere heads this division…” Roach smirked, knowing Lance knew who he was talking about.

“Trust me… We’ve met.” Lance sighed, but getting back to the topic at hand. “And now that you mention this… I got a really bad feeling that someone is going to reach their boiling point… and when it does happen, the results aren’t going to be good… First though… I need to find the Countess, that’s step one.”

“Oh, she’s living at her old orphanage in that city.” Roach stated, beaming. “Man it feels good to be the hero.”

“Next… is there anything specific that the Cult is searching for. Any reasons behind the Countesses string of attacks and robberies?” Lance then asked, trying to find a way to piece it all together and form a gameplan inside his head.

“What were they again?” Roach asked.

“Robbed a couple of banks, a Sapphire Shores concert and a charity fundraiser for a non- profit organization that used to belong to her.” Lance labeled them out. “The cops weren’t able to get footage of the incident since the crooks used an EMP to disable security footage at the banks. The concert was broadcasted live around the world and the charity was a private fundraiser.”

“Well it sounds like personal reasons… Although… Can you show me the names of the banks?” Roach asked. Lance nodded, going into the manila folder of all the Countess related incidents and pulling out the shortlist of the banks that were hit.

“Hmm… Uh oh…” Roach tapped his chin. “This is troubling. One of the banks that was hit has a special key that belonged to the owner of a history museum. He stored a key in there a month ago to an exhibit of an artifact that an unknown cult used to activate a demon in a host… Like Octavia.” Now Lance realized why… and he needed to do something.

“How long would I have in order to prevent this from happening?”

“I dunno. Depends on-” Roach was cut off as his TV blared a news report.

“-A hostage situation at the Sun Fransokyo museum, where super powered criminals are holding employees and funders hostage-” Roach turned the TV off.

“Better go, hero boy.” Roach stated, smirking. Lance himself had no time to lose and immediately teleported out of the facility to a building nearby the Sun Fransokyo museum. He had activated his communications band and was already working on dialing Hiro and the others when he heard gunshots from the opposite end of the city. When he did sync up with Hiro, the news was not great.

“Hiro, what’s going on?”

“What’s going on is that we got a hostage situation at the mall and a couple of maniacs on the other side of the city going on a rampage,” Hiro informed Lance as he had connected Cody into the same call in order to communicate with them. “Lance, the Countess is the one holding the hostages at the museum…”

“Hiro, what’s going on is more than a hostage situation. I just figured out why the countess was robbing the banks.” Lance told him as the connection with Cody came through. “Cody, are you there?”

“Yeah I’m heading to you, what’s going on?”

“We got a major situation happening right now and there’s a lot more at stake than just those hostages… Where’s Aurora? I just cracked the code on what the Cult of Corrode is going after.” Seconds after Lance had asked that question, he soon heard Aurora loud and clear on the line.

“What!? Can’t you let a mother teach her foal!?” Aurora screamed on the other end. That had Lance sigh a little and then lead to Cody having to chime in on her part.

“It’s a lot to explain…”

“Well, we got a big problem. The Countess is taking hostages in the Museum… and I know why… She wants to awaken a demon-.”

“Nice dramatic pause.” Aurora complimented, unaffected by the demon part.

“Aurora, this is bad. If we don’t stop this and that demon gets loose, thousands of ponies are going to die and I am NOT letting that happen.” Lance said back to her as he went across the rooftops. “Especially because of the fact that the host of this demon is Octavia. They’re trying to bring it out of her so the Countess can control it.”

“Wait, Coloratura’s with the cult? Plot twist!” Aurora stated.

“That’s not even the tip of the iceberg. Remember Reaper back at HQ and how he’s undead? Well, it seems as if the Cult of Corrode is responsible for that happening to him. And not just him, but also the Countess.” The Adept told him. “Cody, I need you to scan the outsides of the building and look for ways to infiltrate the building. Hiro, get your team ready on standby for if we need backup. Those two junkers that are causing trouble will likely run into the heroes association, so let’s have all hands/hooves on deck for this.”

“Wow, we’re a bucking comic book!” Aurora said, groaning. “Okay, I’m coming. Sorry sweetie, mommy's gotta go for a bit. I’ll be back.”

Aurora then transferred into Lance’s bracer, just as the Adept made it to the roof of the building. Using his electricity to override the electric lock on the roof, the Adept began to make his way downstairs and then halted by what appeared to be a security room.

“Aurora, can you get control of the camera’s and find out where they are?” He whispered. “I need to know where the relic is and where they are. If it’s possible, we can intercept that thing before they even reach it.”

“As long as it’s wi- Uh… As long as I have direct access to it.” Aurora had to correct herself. Lance placed his hand on the wall that was adjacent to the computer inside, allowing the spirit to slip into the machine and access the feeds that were rolling.

“What’s it look like?” Aurora asked.

“I’m not sure, but it should have it’s own separate exhibit. Look for anything related to ancient cultures.” The Adept advised her.

“Lance… Do you realize that this is a security monitor, and that everything is labeled by numbers?” Aurora asked him annoyed. “I don’t tell you how to do your job.”

“And sometimes, things blindside you… Did you check the main entrance where the Countess may be? She probably told her lackeys to go find it and where it might be. I’ll go on ahead, you guide me.”

“Found it. There’s a plaque that reads ‘Dagger of Peace’. And since the cult’s all about, you know… Killing for peace.”

“And just when I thought that the group has too many members with stabby tendencies… Just direct me to the room and I’ll do my best to take care of the rest-.” Lance was going to finish, but then he heard some movement on the floor above him and com chatter from Cody outside.

“Lance, we got a problem… There’s a third party here and you’re not going to like who it is.” Cody told him from outside.

“Surprise me.”

“It’s those two lackeys from the Suicide Squad that you and Ash encountered with Radiance. It’s your father and Anarchy.” Lance cursed at that. The timing was not the best and whatever they were here for could affect him being able to get to the artifact.

“Why the hell are they here?”

“I honestly have no idea, but they got a sniper outside watching them along with a new new member wreaking havoc with the Junkers.” His friend told him as he got his equipment ready. “Should I-.”

“Just stay on standby and DO NOT engage. One shot and those hostages in there will be the first to die. Contact Hiro and check to see if he can bring one more member for support,” The Adept said as he took a right and went to a nearby corridor. Before stopping to hear something that Aurora was telling him.

“Uh, Lance? I think you’ve already got backup…” Aurora contacted Lance. “There’s someone taking out the goons.” She sent Lance an image of the pony in question and Lance just grinned at the sight of it.

“Well speak of the devil, that’s the one that Hiro was telling me about this morning,” He sighed. “That’s Honeycomb, Codename: Hornet. And with that, we have one less job to worry about… Let’s get back to what we were doing before-.”

“Lance, we have a situation.” This time, it was Hiro talking. “I was briefing the team on what was going on and when Vinyl saw that Octavia was one of the captives, she bolted!”

“Wait… Oh crap! If Melody’s one of the captives, who knows what other hostages are other cultists!” Aurora panicked. The Adept soon ran to the next door and kicked it down, running along an overhang to try and reach the exhibit in time before any catastrophes would ensue. Looking down from the railing, he leaped on down and got to the doors of the exhibit, barging through then as he made it.

Two of the Countess’ personal minions held Octavia and Hornet at gunpoint. Oddly enough, Hornet looked like a ponified Honey Lemon from BH6. Lance himself had his weapon drawn and aimed at them. “Drop your weapons and release them now!”

The Countess herself rounded the corner, an insane grin on her face. “Why if it isn’t the Mistress’ lackey, the Azure Striker… I’ve been waiting for us to meet on my terms… Too bad the ditcher isn’t with you-.”

It was then that two shots went off, hitting both of the lackeys point blank in the head as Lance turned to see a familiar face… that was staring down both the Countess and himself. “Heh… it’s high noon already…”

“It’s midnight…”

“Still ain’t going to prevent me from putting my next shot right between your eyes,” McCree snickered. “Now either we can do this the easy way or the hard way… You’re choice lady.”

Lance then drew his second pistol. “Like bullets aren’t going to work on a mare that’s already dead… Isn’t that right, Coloratura…?” This was not going to end well with the current situation… and his father bolting in just made it even worse.

“That mare’s dead. I’m only the Countess.” She said, visibly angered.

“Bullsh*t… You’re still you, yet your heart no longer beats. I know somepony who's the exact same way and not himself anymore. And it does not make what you’re doing right. Stop this now… Or this will hurt…” Lance, upon saying that, then noticed one of the guns that his father had… was now drawn at him.

“I don’t know whatcha planning, son… But if it gets in the way of what I have to do… Then you will be the next one in an early grave.” McCree snarled, one gun drawn at both the Countess and the Adept. “That dagger is my objective… Hand it over missy… or I will put a bullet through your skull.”

“Eh, I’ll die either way. If I succeed, if I fail, if I refuse… And It’s not like I have it yet.” She said, motioning to the display case. However, as Lance looked at them, he could hear hoofsteps. Turning, he saw Vinyl racing over to them… and that’s when all three of them heard the glass case in the back of the room shatter.

“Badunkidork.” Cloud Kicker said from behind the case as she took her rifle and fired a shot. Unfortunately for the Countess, it entered her throat.

She toppled to the floor, her dark blood barely dripping.

Octavia looked at Vinyl, eyes wide and confused. “V-Vinyl?”

“T-tavi! Are you okay?!” Vinyl said, worried about her friends safety. “I-i came as quickly as I-.” But the mare stopped once she saw the look on Octavia’s face. Her eyes were wide, staring at the unicorn like she had just betrayed her… like she had broken a promise. “Tavi?”

But it only got worse… “You used me…”

“T-tavi? What are you talking about? Why would I-?!” Vinyl said, trying to speak, but it didn’t help. The mare did not want to hear what her friend had to say.

Octavia’s irises shrank and rage filled her voice. “You lied to me!”

“Octavia, please! Why would I do that?! You’re my friend!! I care for you-!!” The Unicorn pleaded, but to no avail. The earth pony was right next to the display case now, having backed up.

“I was a fool… How could I be so stupid!? You needed me to get close to my family! You even tried to-” Octavia started to tear up. “You tried to get into our house, you’re the reason I was punished…”

Vinyl’s eyes were tearing up at this point. “Tavi… I… I’m s-sorry… I care about you! We were roommates dammit!! You’re the sister I never had because the rest of my family does not give two sh*t’s about me… But… you did… You were the only one who cared about me… and I cared so much about you… You’re important to me, Tavi… and I would rather die than see you go through this pain ever again!!!”

Octavia glared. “You never once reached out to me since college… Heh, the voices were right…” Octavia began grinning. “I hate you!”

“Dammit Tavi, I TRIED WRITING TO YOU EVER SINCE WE GRADUATED!! I wanted to get back in touch with you ever since then. Never once have you replied back to the hundreds of letters I sent… Dammit Tavi, I LOVED YOU! Now… this isn’t you… Please… just stop…”

“The voices… Whispers in my head… Heh…” Octavia chuckled, lost in madness. She grabbed the dagger from Cloud Kicker, then cut her cheek, which healed almost instantly. Her eyes changed to red, and her grin turned sharper. McCree’s first instinct was to shoot her the second that happened… But unfortunately to him… his shots had little effect on her now.

“T-tavi…?” Vinyl asked, now seeing the monstrosity that was beginning to take form.

“There is no ‘Tavi’... Only Shabris the Damned.” The husk of Octavia said, her grin turning sinister. To Lance, this was bad. Like WAY bad… They needed to get out of there now. But the howl they soon heard threw everyone out of the room as the walls were torn away with ease. McCree was thrown onto the overhang above them while Vinyl was launched into a stone statue at the end of the hall, knocked out cold by the impact.

“Oh sh*t……” Lance cursed to himself. “This is BAD!”

Octavia, or Shabris, let out a dark chuckle. “Your world shall burn! I have minions to awaken-”

While he was boasting though, a circle of magic soon popped out from the ceiling as an oversized turquoise heel smashed onto Shabris’ head. That… was followed by the sounds of someone walking in and the sound of high heels against the floor. “Starting the party without me? That is rather rude of a demon like yourself…”

“Oh, hello witch. Looks like the families back together- oh, wait, I forgot your sister and you had a fight. I hope Maya’s okay~” That lead to the demon getting a shot in the face as Bayonetta’s eyes narrowed. “Learn… To take a joke… B*tch!”

“Well, looks like someone’s been rather naughty… and rather rude… and I don’t like pets who disrespect their masters…” She snarled, her left eye glowing now as she turned to Lance. “Well boy… Let’s see if you can keep up…”

End Strike 41

Author's Note

A lot of stuff is going on in this chapter, so let me begin breaking it down for you. First off, the introduction scene with Cody and his new gear is so that he can take on the look of Copen from Azure Striker Gunvolt 2. Let me provide a visual reference for what he looks like now.

Not only does he have new abilities and gear that differentiate him from before, but he also has a new AI named Lola that works similar to Lumen.

Second, The Suicide Squad have their own Harley Quinn this time... or in this case... a Loose Cannon

Third, we are now diving deeper into the Cult of Corrode plot and this time, we reveal their true intentions. However, what has happened so far will have particular ramifications on the heroes. Here's some information on the new villain Shabris the Damned thanks to my fellow author BronyParasite

Shabris was once a unicorn stallion way back when. He was a powerful mage, although his practices were... questionable. In fact, he was part demon (Kinda like Raven from Teen Titans), but he wasn't really demon-y in appearance... In fact, his demon side really wasn't anything at all. He didn't look demonic, had no powers, and even didn't have any urge to do unspeakable things.

But one day, he was bitten by a vampony... and this had awoken his demon heritage, making his part vampony and part demon. Afterwards he began a crusade, learning that his power as a mind controlling demons son, and a vampony gave him manipulation over the vampires of the world to a degree. He used this power to band the vampire clans together and began an uprising...

Unfortunately for him, this lasted all but 24 hours and most of his tiny army (since other, stronger clans, were over seas) fought too long, and the daylight caught up with them, turning all but a few stragglers to ash.

He himself barely survived, and basically begged for his life... Funny thing was, the advisor to the ruler Shabris attacked spared him, as long as he swore as a vampire to obey him... Shabris agreed, thinking he could get away when he healed from the light damage, not knowing he was bound to the advisor... Who was secretly Corrode.

So after a BIGGER war in Equestria's past, with Corrode's army of cultists and blind fools, Shabris was cursed to suffer his existence inside of a host. Corrode was banished out of his body, and the cultists retreated to hide until their master returned.

Of course, that was when curses were legal. New laws have been put in placed to where the use of curses or dark magic can lead to massive consequences for those who perform them and are caught in doing so. However, the Cult of Corrode continues to use them... and Shabris has been waiting for the day that he will exact revenge on the world and those that tortured him while in his stasis.

Thanks for reading guys. There are a couple more chapters left in this arc before things really kick into high gear, so I hope you ready for what's in store.
-Frost

Strike 42- A Flash of Azure

When Lightning Strikes- A Flash of Azure

Sun Fransokyo (Night)

Immediately after hearing shots break out inside the museum, there was a change in plans in what Mistress Marevelous and Cody were tasked to do. Originally, they were trying to observe what was going on inside the facility and assist Lance from outside the building. However, they were now focusing on trying to evacuate any nearby civilians along with the hostages that were able to get out of the museum. Directing them to an evacuation center that was set up close to where the facility for the Heroes Association was. Of course, with all the current chaos going on right now, this was very difficult in order to pull off. But with Hiro and a few others from Mane Hero Six, everypony that was within the vicinity of the museum was escorted away from the facility with only minor injuries and no casualties.

Despite this success however, during the evacuation, both of them lost contact with Lance and Aurora. They were both inside the museum at the time that this was going on and for some strange reason, anytime that Cody or Lola tried to reach them, all they got was static. It made him a little concerned for his friend… but it made his AI extremely worried for the one that, only a few hours beforehand, she saw as her mother. “Daddy, is mommy going to be okay?”

Cody sighed for a moment before looking at Lola. “Of course she will be… I have faith that both her and Lance will be able to pull through this.” The mentioning of his friends name made her unintentionally confused as the AI looked back at her father with a puzzled expression across her tiny synthetic face.

“Who’s Lance, Daddy?” Lola asked him as Cody looked back at her with a surprised look on his face. He had to think it over a few times to himself before actually saying anything because he did not want to give off the wrong impression of him accidentally. Taking a moment to compose himself, Cody then responded to Lola.

“He’s a very important friend to me… Almost like a brother if I have to be honest.” He told her as Cody looked back at him. “Sometimes he and I get on each others nerves… but Lance definitely knows that the difference between right and wrong. He’s… very special in many ways and I’m lucky to be able to fight alongside him.”

“Oh… I see…” Lola replied. “Do you think Uncle Lance is going to be okay?” That surprised Cody, but made him chuckle in response to the AI’s question.

“Yeah, I think he’ll do just fine. He’s got Lumen and Aurora with him and they work together as a team,” He told her. “He’s got this.” Just as he finished speaking, the two of them noticed Applejack tending to a white unicorn with a spiky mane and tail that was made up of two shades of blue. It looked like the pony had taken a serious beating as he went over to them.

“Is everything okay here?” He asked, looking at Applejack as she looked back at the teen before returning her gaze to the Unicorn.

“She’s okay but… shaken.” The earth pony told her as the unicorn looked at them. “Her name is Vinyl Scratch and she’s been telling me that her friends not… well herself.”

That had Cody raise an eyebrow in response as he looked back at both of them. “What do you mean, like lost her sanity or something?” Applejack shook her head in response and looked back at the unicorn as Vinyl looked back at him and began to speak.

“N-no it’s not that… Some… thing just took control of her.” The unicorn replied, stuttering a little in her speech as she looked back at her. “Calling itself… Shabris the Damned or something like that. Oh goddess, Tavi…” Vinyl lowered her head once more, moping a little to herself as Cody and Applejack tried to comfort her. But something from Lola soon caught him by surprise as she soon caught his attention.

“Daddy, somepony from the crowd of ponies we just evacuated is now running towards the sight of the museum.” Just as he turned around, he saw what appeared to be a tall mare run past him and into a dark alleyway towards the museum. He wasn’t able to recognize who it was at all because he only had a glimpse of it, but either this pony knew what she was doing or was just plain crazy.

Museum

A purple coated Earth Pony mare with green eyes and a mane of different shades of light pink, and a blue Earth Pony filly with a darker blue mane and purple eyes on her back, trotted up to the police blockade. “Hello officer,” The mare started calmly. “What’s going on?”

“Ma’am, this area is closed off to civilians,” The officer that was by the blockade informed her. “I would advise for you and your daughter to please head back to where the other evacuees are before you get yourself hurt.”

“Oh, she’s just my student. She wanted some extra credit.” The mare stated. “What’s going on?”

“I said that this is closed off to civilians. There’s a battle taking place inside the museum and we’re trying to not have it spill out onto the streets. Our magic department has already hinted traces of demonic magic and the heroes association has classified this as a dragon level threat.” The Officer repeated, adding a little more information. “Who are you two anyways?”

“I’m Cheerilee, although ponies know me better as Ms. Teacher, and this is Tunnel.” The mare said as the filly put on a red mask that covered everything but her eyes. “We’re not civilians, so please step aside so we can assist in the battle.”

“I don’t know who you are, but I’m not sure if this is something whoever you two are can handle on your own. So ma’am please take your sidekick and-.” An explosion was heard in the background as they turned around to see a brief glimpse of the Azure Striker inside dodging incoming attacks as he looked back at the other officers.

“I hate the Association… They’re outshining everyone and they’re so inexperienced…” Cheerilee said. The officer was going to say something else in response, but another voice soon spoke up.

“Is there a problem here, lieutenant?” The officer turned around, stuttering a little as the stallion looked back at the Red Earth Pony that was wearing some body armor over his chest.

“C-Chief Macintosh! I-i’m just telling these Civilians to just head ba-.” The officer was interrupted as he looked over to see who he was referring to before grinning a little.

“Why hello to you Cheerilee… I honestly did not expect to see you out here… Now of all instances really.” He smirked, turning to the officer. “Let them pass.”

“Y-yes Chief!” The stallion soon let the mare and filly passed the structure that was blocking them off as he left Cheerilee and the filly with the chief.

“I was in town helping Tunnel with special lessons. She wanted to visit the museum, the little archeologist.” Cheerilee stated as she walked past.

“Really? And what lead you to come here. Was superhero retirement boring for you?” He chuckled a bit, before clearing his throat. “I’m glad you are here though, we just may need your assistance… and I’m not talking about the department here.”

“The Hero Association?” Cheerilee asked.

“Actually no… They’re only helping with the evacuation efforts.” Big Mac informed her before looking back at the Museum. “Two of the Power Ponies from Maretropolis were in town helping us with earlier cases. One of them is back with the evacuee’s… the other is inside the museum and in a dogfight with whatever’s inside there. We lost contact with him earlier when the demonic magic surges were detected by the PD’s magic department.”

“Perfect. And before you ask… no. I’m not coming out of retirement.” Cheerilee added before setting the filly on her back onto the ground. “Assist these stallions in any way you can, but remember to not take off your mask no matter what they say, okay sweetie?” After the filly’s nod of confirmation, Cheerilee speed-trotted towards the entrance.

“One last thing,” Big Mac added on. “That other power pony member I was talking about… isn’t actually a pony. Motion trackers are picking up three forms in there, so be careful. You’ll identify who the Power Pony member is because he’s the one who uses Electricity.” All Cheerilee did was smirk a little and just chuckle at the Stallions comment as she looked back at him for a brief moment.

“Mac, after all the years you’ve known me, when have I ever not known who the big heroes are…” Cheerilee then continued into the museum. Big Mac sighed deeply. Hopefully, Cheerilee would take his advice and still be cautious nonetheless.

Strands of shadow soon went passed the Azure Striker as Lance ducked around several of the exhibits of the museum and used them for cover to dodge any of the attacks that were coming at him. This was going to be a difficult fight for him to get through for two reasons. One was that he needed to defeat Shabris, but the other was because he also needed to save Octavia. Shabris was now using her body in order to attack both him and the Umbra witch that was right now an unexpected… but helpful ally in this fight. But the main problem was that he was trying to harm Shabris… but not harm Octavia.

Something that was technically impossible given the circumstances.

“What’s wrong Umbra? Too afraid to crack an egg?” Shabris asked mockingly.

“Hardly…” Bayonetta snickered as she fired two more shots that richochet off of some museum props and grazed the back of her opponent’s head. “As for you Shabris, I’m very disappointed in you… using a mare like the one you chose as a living shield… Is this because you are too afraid to fight a lady? Or because you haven’t grown a pair…”

“Now here’s the funny thing about that… In truth, I’d love to fight you with my real body, but as it turns out, it’s dust now… I waited too long to come back. Oh, by the way, how does it feel to know that your husband p*ssied out of raising your son? That you left your little sister alone? And that your entire family has crumbled into dust?” That was followed by a huge fist landing in Octavia’s face from the wall behind Shabris.

“Say that again, Shabris… SEE WHAT HAPPENS!!” The Witch glared as she looked back at the Adept, who was trying to tag the body of the mare so he could knock her out with his Septima as electricity was emitted from his arms.

“Struck a nerve… How about the fact that your parents died… And they’re oddly not… Here? Even though your demented sister Maya, who died the same day, is…” Shabris snickered through Octavia’s mouth. Bayonetta said nothing, but Lance honestly did not know what the hell this demonic bastard was talking about. He tried to strike her with his powers, but that didn’t do anything… instead, he saw her smirking before hearing something behind him.

“Lance, look out-!!” As he turned around, he was nearly clipped in the shoulder by a shadow like spear… only to notice that it was far worse than he thought.

“Lumen, NO!!!” The Breezie that was his partner… had a blow that nearly struck a hole through the center of her little chest as Lance was able to catch her before she fell to the floor and tried to keep her alive using Galvanic Patch. She was okay, but really hurt in the process. “P-please… stay with me…” He said, watching as the Breezie fought for her life as she tried to stay alive after suffering such an injury.

“Maybe you shouldn’t have a Breezie with you on missions… They’re very fragile~” Shabris grinned. Lance said nothing, but just grit his teeth. Though he was relieved that the breezie was still okay… Shabris had now really pissed him off and was now wanting to make him pay for all the people that he hurt. Vinyl, Octavia, and now Lumen… and his partner was the last straw.

However, he did not so easily give into his emotions… because he was soon caught off guard by the sound of something approaching the three of them. He turned to see what looked like a mare with a dark purple fur coat approach them as he tried to understand who was this mare and why was she here of all places.

“Amateurs…” The mare said boredly. “Can’t a mare have some fun without a demon ruining her day?”

Bayonetta turned towards the earth pony before smiling a little as she straightened up her posture and turned towards the mare. “Oh my… what do we have here? Some mare decided to eavesdrop on the fun that we’ve been having… Are you wanting to just watch… or get a piece of the action?”

The mare rolled her eyes and ignored Bayonetta. “I think you may need me.” That had both the Adept and the Umbra Witch a little surprised… and confused as well. But Bayonetta was just really intrigued.

“I’m not normally one who's interested in a foursome, but if you insist on taking part, then I won’t be stopping you,” The Witch replied as Lance reloaded his weapon. Lumen was okay for the moment and decided to hide within the Adept’s clothes to keep herself safe in the meantime. “But what makes you think you can just strong arm a demon such as this one, Miss…?”

“Cheerilee. Ms. Cheerilee of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. I’m their mentor.” Cheerilee looked at Lance. “I believe you’ve met my students, Walker.”

“That I have,” Lance nodded his head, looking back towards the earth pony before speaking up and saying something in response. “I heard that they learned many great things from you… Now, I’m going to presume that you know how to stop Shabris without harming Octavia?”

“Of course…” Cheerilee said, her irises and pupils vanishing, leaving only the white of her eyes left, before she looked at Shabris. Lance’s vision started to fade, along with Bayonetta’s, before they shook themselves out of it, only to be in a broken world. One that made Lance think that they were either in some other place… or in Octavia’s Mind. Her shattered frame of mind that is. Pieces of debris were everywhere and some of the shards that looked like shattered crystal appeared to have images that he assumed were memories.

Then, he saw the real opponent. Shabris the damned himself. And he looked just as surprised as both he and Bayonetta were on how they got in here in the first place. He was a tall stallion Unicorn with a dirty white coat, raven black mane, and crimson red eyes. Behind him was an unconscious Octavia, shackled to the ground by chains. She looked like she was suffering… and Lance was going to do everything he could in order to help free her.

“Ah I see… Very clever indeed, Ms. Cheerilee,” Bayonetta commented. “To truly beat that son of a b*tch, we need to fight in his domain to actually hurt him.” She smirked a little as the Unicorn turned to face them. “There’s nowhere left to run, coward-.”

“Let me deal with him,” Lance interjected, lightning crackling around him along with his powers beginning to glow as he stared down Shabris. “I have a score to settle with him and this bastard’s got a lot to answer for.”

“Lance, he’s a demon.” Cheerilee stated matter-of-factly. “Lesser or greater, you’re not strong enough to fight him on your own.” However, the Adept boldly refused to back down. Earlier, when Lumen was hit out in the physical plane of existence, Lance felt something awaken inside of him. A storm that was brewing and ready to be unleashed. Cheerilee may have not seen it then… But she was about to see it for herself first hand along with the Umbra Witch next to her as the small glow began to form azure colored flames around him and the end of his braid now changed colors from the blond it was a second ago to light blue as he stood his ground and waited for his opponent to come at him.

“I don’t care if he’s a demon or not… He’s more of a coward that’s afraid to get his hooves dirty than anything else.” Lance taunted.

“You think that just because I have no body of my own means I’m a coward… I’ll show you why that’s not the case.” Shabris said, before dozens of tendrils appeared around the entire world. However, the second that they closed in on Lance, the Adept disappeared, dispersing into static electricity as he caught his opponent by surprise. Shabris stumbled a bit before sending his tendrils at Lance at high speeds. But again, the Adept disappeared in static electricity and this time appeared behind him and delivered a roundhouse kick to the face as he crashed into a stone pillar nearby.

That… caught Bayonetta by surprise. “Well… this is a new development… He wasn’t doing that a few moments ago.”

“It may be new.” Cheerilee started, before noticing something else. Something that seemed like… music. It was odd to her because she wasn’t aware of what it was. But if she looked closely enough, she could tell that the power was not coming from Lance in particular, but from the breezie that was with him. It was her Anthem… and it was helping the Adept in taking on Shabris.

“You can’t stop me…”

“Heh… We’ll see about that.” The Adept smirked, looking back at him and waiting for him to make his move.

“You’re an annoying ape, aren’t you.” Shabris appeared behind Lance, before impaling him with his horn. All that did was cause Lance to smirk as he soon grabbed Shabris’ head with one of his hands.

“You fell for it.” He grinned, sending a massive amount of electricity through Shabris’ system and pushing him back a little bit before using one of his skills to patch up the wound. “There’s more to me than you might think, but by the time you realize that, I’ll already be through with you.”

“You have no idea who I am!”

“True… but what I do know is that you hurt too many people that I care for and I’m going to stop you before you hurt anyone else… Because you have no idea what I am capable of.” He warned him as his powers glowed brighter. In that moment, the small glow from before it was vibrantly lit ablaze as he was surrounded by the azure aura of not just his own power, but also from Lumen’s Anthem as well.

“Septimal… SURGE!!”

“Demon Force!” Even with the new power increase, there was one thing that Shabris still could not understand. It was when he tried to hit him earlier and failed to do so… twice. What he did not know was that this was one of Lance’s new abilities. A passive trait named Prevasion. As long as Lance had a little bit of energy to spare, he could disperse into static, making certain attacks useless. And the more times that Lance used it… the angrier Shabris was.

“Even if you stop me, you’ll never be able to save this damned world…” The demon sneered. Only for him to get blasted in the face in the process. Lance had a feeling that he would use his words to try and distract him from the task he was trying to accomplish. But his sole purpose right now was for him to defeat Shabris and rescue Octavia… and to do that, he can’t so easily be distracted by this demonic monster. “You have no idea what you’re doing… I’m the hero here… This world is falling apart, there are too many evil beings in this world!”

“Yeah, one of them being you,” Lance replied as he tagged Shabris with his gun using the Orochi bolt and began to shock him with his septima. “The world has changed since you had last seen it. True, it may not be perfect… but it still my home… and there is no way in HELL I’m letting you take that away from anyone!!” He slammed his hand into the ground, causing some of the chains he would conjure from his Voltaic Chains skill to emerge from the ground and try to strike Shabris. The demon may have been quick, but if the chains didn’t get him, the lightning definitely did shock Shabris for sure.

Shabris was hit, but didn’t cry out in pain. Instead, he continued. “Octavia’s own friend betrayed her… Her parents, while for our cause, abused her. What kind of world do we live in?”

“She NEVER wanted this life at all!! You FORCED her to be part of something that she didn’t want and you manipulated her into setting you free! You talk about betrayal and the thing is, Vinyl never betrayed her… You manipulated her into thinking that… and that is what cowards like you do. Use others when you can’t do something yourself!” Lance’s outburst lead to more of his attacks locking onto Shabris as the intensity of his electricity increased, damaging Shabris even more. “If you had actually asked her for what she wanted, she wouldn’t have wanted any of this. You did nothing to help her… all you did was make her suffer!! What the hell is your part in all of this? Why would someone like you want to control somepony that never wanted to be in a damned cult in the first place!?”

“Because I have no choice…” Shabris snarled, his red eyes glowing intensely.

That… had him stop. “No… choice?”

“I can only posses a willing host… Somepony who was willing to stab themselves with my knife… I was forced to serve Corrode in life, but I died. And so he forced me into that dagger so that the Hollowed One would be my new vessel…” Shabris said.

“But why would you serve Corrode? I get that you were forced since you just said it,” The Adept mentioned as he holstered his weapon. “But… why?”

“I was a half vampire in life… I hadn’t matured as one to get beyond a lesser vampire, so when he promised to free me in exchange for my freedom from imprisonment, I’d have to pledge myself to him… Little did I know that by doing that, I, as a lesser vampire, was bound to his soul for eternity… Not even in death can I escape him.” Shabris then grinned. “But I’ve come to accept his way of thinking!”

“You always have a choice…” Lance interjected. “There is never a damn instance where you do not have one… The Cult made Octavia think that she had no other choice and look at what you’re doing to her. You have her chained up to a wall and look more like a prisoner than anything else. Shabris, there always is a choice no matter how grim things are.” The Adept’s words did little to help Shabris though as he continued to glare back at him in anger and rage.

Shabris laughed. “Corrode wants me to finish his work while he’s sleeping… I am only a puppet in a bigger picture. Your heroic philosophy doesn’t work on me though. I’m forever Corrode’s servant, in life and undeath… Don’t get me wrong, I don’t actually care for Octavia at all. I only exist to serve my master.” Shabris then sent a fireball at Lance. The Adept dodged it, but in turn, the projectile hit his weapon and knocked it to the floor. However, the Azure Striker focused less on that and more on Shabris.

“Well, I care for Octavia and so does a lot of ponies… and the only way to show that to her is to STOP YOU!!”

“You can try all you want… Octavia’s not leaving my control…” Shabris laughed as he healed.

“You can’t kill him Lance!” Cheerilee shouted. “Octavia’s sorrow is feeding him! You need to free her and force Shabris into her place!” Upon hearing this, Lance grit his teeth as he had the power around him die down as he turned his back on Shabris. For a moment, the demon thought that he was running away… only to realize that he was in fact, trading places with the Umbra Witch that he was fighting alongside as she now decided to take a turn at thrashing the hell out of the demon.

Meanwhile, the Adept soon rushed over to Cheerilee and got down to her level as she was trying to help Octavia. “What do I need to do?”

“We need to unchain her without damaging the chains. We’ll need them for Shabris.” Cheerilee stated calmly.

“Like undo her shackles?” The Adept questioned, noticing the cuffs around the earth pony’s hooves on all four of her legs.

“Yes,” Cheerilee touched Octavia’s forehead with her forehoof. “Touch my hoof and we’ll wake her up. After that, we need to convince her to stop wanting Shabris.” The Azure Striker nodded his head, but first used his abilities to pull his weapon off of the floor and holstered it before touching Cheerilee’s hoof.

Octavia jolted awake. She looked out of it slightly. “What’s… Going on…?”

“Octavia? Are you okay?” Lance asked her,

“Who are you? Was… Was it all a dream?” Octavia asked, almost hopefully.

“Octavia, listen... Please, we are trying to help you,” Lance proceeded to speak to her as he tried to help the earth pony as best as he could. “This right now… is not a dream. But we want to help you right now… What do you remember?”

“Vinyl… She only asked to hang out because of my sisters…” Octavia’s face went blank.

“Octavia… Listen… Vinyl really cares about you and… she’s not been herself ever since she last saw you.” Lance told her, placing a hand on the earth pony’s shoulder. “She didn’t ask to hang out because of them… she did it because she really cared for you… Vinyl would never betray you Tavi… she was just scared of what you would think if you found out who she really was.”

“Then why would she contact me, and then you heroes show up that same day… Shadowmere warned me, but I didn’t listen.” Octavia’s eyes teared up.

“Octavia… Listen… sometimes we all do things we don’t normally do if it involves someone we care for… After Vinyl took you home that night, her powers caused her to hear what happened to you that night and for the next few days, she blamed herself for having that happen to you… Heroes like her and I do what we do on a daily basis because we believe that at the end of the day, we can be able to save lives. Especially those that we care for… Right now, Vinyl’s a wreck… because she believes she failed to save you.”

“And I’m pretty sure that reuniting with you would be hard any other way for Vinyl.” Cheerilee added. “Seeing how your family keeps moving.”

“How did you-” Octavia started, but stopped. “Nevermind… What am I doing!?” The area suddenly shifted, the world slowly repairing itself as her shackles fell off.

“Right now, Shabris is trying his best to control you. Force you to think that Vinyl betrayed you and such… we’re trying to help get rid of him and make sure that you can be yourself again.” Lance told her, turning his head to see Bayonetta still fighting against Shabris, who didn’t even realize that the shackles had come off of Octavia.

“No… That’s what you’re doing.” Cheerilee stated coldly, before Lance and Bayonetta woke up in the real world.

A few seconds later, Octavia dropped to the floor. Cheerilee’s eyes went back to normal before she calmly trotted to the exit. When Lance got up, he looked back at her before asking the immediate question that was on her mind. “What the hell did you just do-!?”

“I saved her, and stopped a demon. What else is there?” Cheerilee grumbled coldly.

“If that’s the case, what happened to Shabris?” Lance then retorted. Before Cheerilee did that trick of hers, she didn’t see the demon die off or disappear in any way, so his immediate assumption was that something happened to him. Like if he was resealed away or-.

“I made it so he’ll suffer the same way Octavia did… With extra security.” Cheerilee said bluntly before trotting towards the door.. “Now, I have a filly to take home.”

“O… kay… that still doesn’t explain where he is though.” The adept pointed out.

“I told you to not break the shackles…” Cheerilee replied simply.

“Uh… The shackles never broke… Wait… are you saying that you sealed him… inside of her?” Lance asked upon realizing what she meant and also remembering something that she said earlier. “Like you used the shackles on him instead?”

Cheerilee nodded, “Yes. He’s connected to Corrode, so his death would only free him.” What the earth pony said now made sense to him, but also around now was when Bayonetta was rising back up to her feet as she looked at the familiar scenery around her.

“Aww… and it was almost time for the best part.” She complained for a moment before looking back at Lance and Cheerilee and the rest of the carnage that was around them in the present moment. “So what did I miss?”

“Ugh… Why do my teeth hurt… So much?” Octavia groaned as she stood up. She was back to normal, save for a pair of fangs. Lance, noticing this, looked back at Cheerilee and stopped her for a moment.

“Cheerilee… did you notice that what you did now had some… side effects?” He questioned her, pointing out the fangs to the mare just as she was about to reach the door and step outside now that the chaos had subsided from earlier. “Besides, wouldn’t you want to explain to her what just happened?”

“I told her in her mind… She’ll remember. Melody,” Octavia looked at Cheerilee, confused. “You may want to run… You’re a vampire now.”

“Wait wha-?” Lance replied, before noticing Cheerilee bolt out the door. “Hey, what the hell!?! This doesn’t help fix things!!” He sighed shortly before turning to notice that now with all the chaos winding down… somepony was coming their way. It took only a moment to realize who it was, but it wasn’t him who said who it was.

It was Lumen. Who was still recovering, but knew who it was. “It’s Vinyl!!”

Octavia flinched. “I… I need to go…”

“Sorry, Miss… but I believe you can’t leave this one.” Bayonetta replied. Before she could reply, Vinyl soon showed up… and seeing Tavi made her eyes water up a little as she soon pulled Octavia into a hug before she could say anything.

“T-tavi, you’re okay!!” Vinyl cried out. “Dear Celestia… I am… really sorry for everything, Octavia. I just-.”

“It’s… Okay…” Octavia said quietly, weakly wrapping her hooves around Vinyl hesitantly.

“T-tavi… I’m sorry for everything… It’s just… I really care for you… and the thought of you getting hurt just… makes me think that I’m not being able to do my best to help protect you,” She told her. “T-there was something I wanted to tell you… but I was really… really afraid to share it to you with everything that was going on.” The Unicorn’s horn lit up a bit as she held out something for her. “I like you Tavi… I like you more than a friend and… well… you are very important to me… and I want to show you how important you are.” It was only then that Octavia realized what that something was as Vinyl dismissed the spell and in her hoof laid out something she never expected. It was a ring, and a beautiful one at that. Gold with a small cut diamond in the center.

“I don’t want to lose you again Tavi… you are more important to me then anything…” She told her, holding her closer.

“B-but… We- we haven’t even gone on a date…” Octavia’s emotions went all over the place. “How can you think of… Of that… With me?”

“Honestly… when I saw you again for the first time in years, it felt like a date to me. I just… don’t want to lose you after everything that’s happened.” She replied, telling her while trying to wipe the tears away. “I’ve missed you… and I sure as hell do not want to lose you again.”

“I… Of course!” Octavia hugged Vinyl tighter. Lance was glad to see that the two of them could be happy, despite the hardships that both of them had been through in order to get to this point. It almost reminded him of his relationship with Max, even though his relationship with her and theirs weren’t quite exactly the same. He was just glad that they could be happy.

Of course, there was still one other person that he had to thank as he turned around to look at the one other lady in the room. “Hey uh… thanks for… well everything.” He told the Umbra Witch that was in the room.

“You’re welcome dear… I’m glad to see that someone here other then that pest earlier has some sense of manners.” Bayonetta sighed to herself. Lance was curious as to who this person was, but soon realized three things right away. One, the dagger of peace that was originally on the floor and also the cause of this entire mess was gone… Two, his father was nowhere to be found… Three, the emergency exit door had a small splash of paint on it as it was left open. Meaning that the only thing he could think of was that his father took off with the dagger that caused this whole charade to unfold in the first place.

But there was something else that was on his mind as he looked back towards Bayonetta. Over the course of the fight with Shabris, he had thought that somehow, she was… well… important. Like related to him somehow other than just being a displaced. He didn’t necessarily think of what to ask her though… but it was someone else who had commented on that same thought.

“Hey Aurora, is it just me or does this lady and Lance look similar to one another somehow?” Lumen then asked, getting the strength to fly up and return to her usual hiding space in his hair.

“They’re both human… One’s blonde, while the other has black… I see no real resemblance. And if they ever were, then it would’ve been lost when they were Displaced. Aya was one Displaced that happened-”

“Oh? So I take it that you met my sister already, did you?” Bayonetta spoke up, surprising Aurora since she could hear her… and also surprising Lumen and Lance upon mentioning the whole sister bit with Aya.

“Sister?” Aurora asked, dumbfounded.

“Aya’s my younger sister, yes.” The witch replied. “Why do you seem so surprised?”

“Wait, hang on… If Aya’s your sister… and she’s Lance’s aunt… that would only mean… No… But that seems impossible!!” Lumen protested, speaking up and catching both Aurora’s and Lance’s attention.

“What seems impossible?” Lance then asked.

“Lance, if what she’s saying is true…” Lumen replied before looking towards the Adept and Aurora as well. It took her a moment to think over what she wanted to say before telling her the first thing that came to her mind. “Then this lady here…… She’s your mother.”

“Woah, wait a second…” Lance replied. “My mother died when she gave birth to me, how the hell can she be here if-?”

“Fate has a funny way of giving you second chances when you least expect it.” The woman replied, before looking towards the Adept. That had Lance caught off guard immediately… and left him speechless as he tried processing everything.

“Okay! What the buck…” Aurora stated, confused.

“Maybe it’ll be best for you to come with me…” Bayonetta replied, looking towards Vinyl and Octavia. “Sorry ladies, but I’m afraid we must depart for the time being. Congratulations though. You two look perfect together…” With that, Bayonetta had the two of them follow through a door that she opened… and found themselves in the strangest of places.

It looked like an old rundown bar that had a very dim set of lighting as both the Witch and the Adept walked into the room. “Welcome… to the Gates of hell. It may look a little rundown, but the owner of this place may be just the person that can answer any questions you three might have.”

That surprised Lance for a moment. He was still skeptical about if this woman was actually who she said she was, but hopefully whoever the owner of this place is, they could help a lot. “And who would the owner of this place be?” That was when he heard some footsteps and saw someone new step out. The owner looked to resemble that of an african american male in appearance with a shaved head and everything… but he soon realized that he wasn’t exactly a human the moment his thumb lit on fire in order to light a cigar.

“Well… who do we have here… The Azure Striker from Maretropolis no less… and his two companions no less.” He spoke, taking a puff of smoke before cracking his knuckles. “I’m surprised that you found your son so quickly, Bayonetta.”

“Can I go home…? My head’s hurting…” Aurora groaned.

“Sure Aurora. Tell Twilight that I’ll be back soon okay?” The Adept replied, letting Aurora return back to base for the meantime as Lance looked back at Rodin as he took a seat near the bar. “Okay… Mr. Rodin-.”

“Please, Gunvolt, just Rodin is fine.”

“Then if that’s the case, just call me Lance then,” he insisted. “I believe I have a couple of questions that you can answer.”

“If it is about Bayonetta, then I can confirm that yes… she is your mother.” Rodin replied, causing the Adept to be confused even more. “Some Displacers like myself have reasons for doing what we do. For her, I gave her a second chance… which is very hard to come by sometimes. Originally, I brought her here to help me stop the Angels from Paradiso that wandered too close to the earth so that way they could not interfere with daily life for Ponykind.”

“So you forced her to bring her here?”

“Force, no. I do not force anyone to do anything. I used to be an angel until I fell from Paradiso,” Rodin told him. “I just merely gave her an offer… One that she accepted. However, it was unexpected from both of us for you or any of your friends and family members to enter here too…”

“Didn’t you bring us here like you did with Bayonetta though?” Lumen asked, leading to Rodin shaking his head.

“I did not… My only Displaced actually is Bayonetta herself.” Rodin replied, taking another puff of smoke before noticing something with Lance’s equipment. “Say, would that happen to be your weapon?”

“Uh, yeah… It kind of took a bit of a beating during the fight with Shabris.” Lance admitted before looking back at him.

“May I see it?” he asked. Turning to Bayonetta, who nodded her head yes, Lance took out his bolt pistol and let Rodin examine it. For a moment, he thought that the bar owner had basically stolen his weapon… but it wasn’t until he came back that he gave the weapon to the adept… along with something that looked like ammunition clips. “Your gun’s still functional, but I added something too it. I made some changes to how your weapon functions so that way your bolts and your clips are two separate components of your gun. Different clips you have can affect both the amount of targets you can tag at once and also the strength of your septima as well. I also took the liberty of naming them too.”

When Bayonetta saw that… and saw the names, she soon laughed a bit. “Oh that’s just hysterical… You named the clips based off the same archangels that you had me take their halos all those years ago.”

“Hey, I’m calling this as my blessing to him,” Rodin replied, handing the gun back along with the eight clips in question. Raphael, Michael, Gabriel, Uriel, Raguel, Zerachiel, Ramiel and finally… Lucifer. “Besides, I think you should be glad of the fact that you’re with your son after who knows how long.”

“That I am thankful for.” Bayonetta replied, taking a moment to hug her son and be with him… until something else interrupted them accidentally.

Aurora appeared next to Lance, her eyes wide in a horrified manner. “Why me…”

“You okay, Aurora?” Lance asked her, concerned. “You look like you just saw something you can’t unsee.” That was before she heard Bayonetta giggling in response as she looked back at the two of them. “What’s so funny mom?”

“That’s the same look your cousin had on his face when he saw your father and I in the bedroom.” Now Lance just facepalmed himself, groaning in response as he looked back at Aurora before looking back at her.

“Wow… that just real nice. Really helpful right now.” He said sarcastically as he

“I saw aunt Twilight… And Reaper…” Aurora shook her head. Trying to purge what was inside her head as he looked back at the two of them with a faint blush on her face. “T-they were…”

“There’s no need to describe it Aurora, I think we’re good.” Lance mentioned to her.

“So, what’re we gonna do about the vampire. We don’t want another Kaoru incident.” Aurora got off topic.

“I think Vinyl can handle Octavia for the time being. If they need any help, they can just call Hiro or us.” Lance mentioned to her before turning to Bayonetta and Rodin. “It’s been one hell of a night… no pun intended. But I think Aurora and I need some rest.”

“One thing before you go, Mr. Walker…” Rodin spoke, catching his attention. “It may be best for you to know of something that transpired while you were fighting that demon in Sun Fransokyo… While you were in combat, the combined power of both you and the Muse of your breezie companion set off something that had not been seen before in years. It set off a Lifewave. A powerful force of nature that is responsible for many things in this world… It’s been lead to believe that it’s responsible for the first ever unicorn and pegasus to ever exist in the world along with other species, but the one you set off is… rather unique.”

“What are you talking about?” Aurora asked.

“Lifewaves normally come in one of six stages… Each that affects one of a few forms of life… However, the one that Lance set off is the seventh stage. The Septimal Stage…” Rodin told them as he smothered his cigar into the ashtray he had. “It is from the seventh stage that Adepts like yourself are born… You, Mr. Walker, are responsible for bringing a new generation of Adepts into this world.” That had Lance speechless… He had originally thought that only he and Chrysalis were Adepts. Adepts that did not get their powers from that such as Sumeragi, but through natural means… now, because of him… more of them were to soon be born in this world… and he now definitely felt the weight of the world on his shoulders in that moment.

“So more villains… Wonderful!” Aurora laughed, almost maniacally.

“Or…… more heroes…” Lance thought, thinking this over. “You know Aurora… maybe this is a good thing… I’ve actually been thinking of something I wanted to propose to Twilight for a long time now and this just gets me even more excited to do it.”

“What?”

“You know how the Cutie Mark Crusaders have their own team, Chrysalis has hers and Mane Hero 6 has theirs?” The Adept asked, getting a small nod from Aurora. “Well, I was going to suggest about what if I formed my own team. Ash can be on there, you can too… and with the fact that these Adepts would be coming out soon, I want to give them a second chance.”

“Wouldn’t that be a first chance?”

“True, but think of Ash. She was never given a chance. I don’t want there to be any adepts that would end up in the same position she was originally in. I want to help them the best I can and set an example for them too. They don’t need to fear there gifts.” Lance replied as he looked at Aurora in response. “And I would really like for you to be a part of it too.”

“I’m going wherever you’re going, whether I like it or not.” Aurora chuckled. Lance smirked at that, but in doing so, his spiritual companion thought of another question to ask. “Hey, what’s our team’s new name?”

The Adept soon heard the question and thought it over… before coming up with a name. It was one that he originally remembered back home… and that he thought it would be good given that Nova had already formed Sumeragi. “QUILL. The Quorum of Unrestricted Intelligence, Law and Liberty… or QUILL for short.”

“Mist and Quill, what next?” Aurora sighed.

“Who knows.” He replied. “The world is a strange place… but something tells me that things may just get a little more interesting around here.”

“May? You know we just left a demon vampony in the hooves of a team that only accepts six member, and she may need someone to help her become a hero, right?”

“Well, I want her to be comfortable with her newfound position first before I ask her about it. She needs time to get adjusted to her new changes first.” Lance replied to her statement. “You don’t just immediately try to pressure her with something when she’s still trying to get used to your surroundings. Hell, Lumen didn’t pressure me into trying to join the power ponies when we first met.”

“And you think Vinyl can help her? They may be close, but I doubt Hiro’s team would know how to handle a vampire, let alone a seventh teammate.”

“Some things take time, Aurora. I’ll contact them about how things are going in a week or so and then I’ll see how things are going.” Lance told her before stopping for a moment to go back to where Bayonetta was. He may have just found out that she was indeed his mother, but he did not want to forget about her. Taking the chance, he hugged her for a short amount of time before looking back at her.

“I’m glad I got the chance to finally meet you.” He said briefly before Bayonetta responded.

“Same here… You have definitely grown up a lot, my son.” She said, shortly before the Adept walked out of the bar with Aurora as well. When they opened the door though, they surprisingly found themselves back in Power Pony HQ and the Azure Striker sighed to himself after looking down at his hands and having some lightning surge from it a couple of times before returning his gaze to Aurora.

“Hey Aurora. Other than Twilight right around now, where is Humdrum and everypony else… I get that Applejack may still be at Sun Fransokyo, but what about the rest of the team.” He asked her, letting her sync with the terminal that was in the main control room.

“Radiance, Zapp, and Saddle Rager are out on patrol. Fili-Second’s fast asleep. And Humdrum’s...”Aurora stopped for a seconds. “Right behind you.” That had Lance turn around for a bit, surprised to see the young dragon that was standing right behind him since he looked to be half awake in that present moment.

“Oh… Hey Humdrum. You look a little exhausted.” The Adept pointed out as the dragonling rubbed his eyes a little and looked back at him. “Did you get enough sleep?”

“Hardly…” He groaned a little. “With all the racket I was hearing, I mostly laid awake.”

“No sh*t.”Aurora deadpanned.

“Both of you be nice…” Lance sighed. “Besides, it's more likely that you two could be able to get some rest now than earlier.”

“Lance… I’m a friggin’ ghost… I haven’t slept since the night I was foalnapped, then my throat was slit.” Aurora growled.

“I’m sorry Aurora, I didn’t mean it like that.” He told her apologetically. “I meant it as like taking a break. Hell, you’ve been helping both Cody and I non-stop, so you should just take a break. We’ve already had enough excitement for one evening… and I still have something I need to check on before I get some rest myself.”

“And what’s that?” Aurora asked, her attitude shifting.

“Remember what Rodin said about more Adepts showing up? Well, before that happened, there was only one other Adept besides myself who did not need to rely on a glaive from Sumeragi to control their powers.” The Adept explained. “Of course, she’s been busy with preparing for a turf war happening in the near future, so I was just going to give her a call and see if she was available or not… But beforehand though, let’s check on Sparkler and see how she’s doing.”

“I’ll get her up on the main comline.” Humdrum replied, tapping a few keys on the keyboard as Aurora phased into the computer as well. After a few seconds, they were connected to Sparkler and Lance soon heard the mare respond to him calling her.

“This is the Maretropolis Police department, what’s your emergency?” Sparkler’s voice asked.

“Sparkler, is that you?” Lance asked out of confusion. For a moment, he thought that she would recognize the caller ID and answer him like how she did the last time around. Something definitely did not sound right with this. “This is Lance Walker, I was calling to check in and see how you were doing at Maretropolis PD.”

“... I got demoted. Stuck answering nine-one-one calls.”

“Ouch… Sorry to hear about that.” Lance commented before sighing to himself. “I would ask about how you got demoted, but I think you would not want to talk about it.” That was when a thought came to him and then he spoke up once again. “Hey, Sparkler… can I ask you something?”

“I suppose.” Sparkler replied.

“Well, I was going to propose an idea I had to Masked Matterhorn about forming my own team like how there’s the Cutie Mark Crusaders in Centrail City and such. When it does get approved, would you like to be on it? I’m going to have Ash be part of it as well.” He asked her, thinking that the mare would not want to stay around at the Police Department all day and be answering phone calls for a living.

“Beats working here. Sure, you’ll need my expert talents anyways.” Sparkler boasted.

“Glad to hear it. We’ll call you again once the team is up and running. I’ll make sure to tell Ash you said hello as well.” He added, not wanting to hang up just yet because he wanted to hear a response from Sparkler first.

“Okay, but don’t call me. I’ll send you my new address, so once you’re in Maretropolis in person just come over.” Sparkler said, before hanging up. Lance smiled at that, taking a moment to compose himself first. Excusing himself from the room, he soon pulled out his communications device and dialed a number for the other adept that he was mentioning earlier.

Soon, his phone was connected to the other one he was trying to contact as someone else picked up on the other end of the line.

“Hello? Is this the neighpon restaurant?”

“Chrysalis, it’s me.” Lance sighed as he took off his jacket and set it on a nearby coat rack. “Can I talk to you for a moment or are you busy right now?”

“I’m not Chrysalis… wait, how do the ponies at the neighpon restaurant knows Chrysalis’s name?”

“Sonata, give me back my communicator!” That soon explained what Lance was hearing in the background as he heard a new voice on the other end of the line… and for that matter, one that he recognized. “Hello, who’s on the other line of this transmission?”

“Hello to you to Chrysalis,” Lance chuckled for a moment before speaking up. “It’s Lance. Are you busy right now? Because I can always call back later-.”

“Actually, I think I might need your help with something. Mind dropping by here for a few?” She asked, just as Lance put on some more casual clothes for him to wear.

“Sure thing. I’ll be there as soon as possible.” He told her, hanging up the phone call and walking out of his room to tell Humdrum that he would be back sometime later before going to the rooftop and using his abilities to transmit himself to Chrysalis location.

It was only just a few moments ago that he had called her, but it was around now that the Azure Striker had soon arrived outside of Chrysalis’ hideout. He originally thought about transmitting himself into her office, but decided to play it safe and knock on the door like anyone else would. Though, the second that he was going to knock, he began to hear the chaos that was going on inside.

“W-Wait a minute! Maybe we can talk about this? Oh dear Faust, not the chair!”

“You call yourselves Adepts!? I seen three year olds that can do a better job then you two.”

“Not the face, not the face!” Lance was about to ask what the hell was going on in there, but had to react quickly once the door was slammed open and out came Chrysalis and Kaoru. Flying out of nowhere and into the ground. He turned to find the two of them slowly getting up and wondered what actually happening. That was, until he slowly turned around to see someone completely new standing by the door.

“Thirty years of being chronologically asleep and this is what I have to wake up to? A bunch of pansy ass Adepts? How pathetic.” Lance just raised an eyebrow at the girl as he looked at both Chrysalis and Kaoru before looking back at the girl in confusion. Strangely enough, she reminded him of Nicko, the Rune Slayer Displaced that was quite powerful, but one who would seriously get angry if someone commented on his height. “Who the hell are you, candy ass?”

“Who has an a** made of candy!?” Aurora gasped excitedly, looking around.

“Excuse me?” Lance asked, to both the girl and also Aurora… who just happened to return to him. “Chrysalis. Just who in the world is she?”

“We found this weird container underneath the base. When Adagio opened it up, we found her in it.” She replied, causing Lance to look back at the girl in question.

“If that’s the case, then let me ask you the same question,” Lance then retorted back at the girl in question. “Who are you?”

“I asked you first, piss ant.” She snapped at him angrily.

“Watch it… My name is Lance… but I’m an adept that goes by Gunvolt in the field,” He replied, channeling electricity through one of his hands to demonstrate his Septima. “Now that I’ve answered your question, would you please answer mine?”

“Not bad, but if you think that’s going to intimidate me you need more that that little man.”

“Who said I was trying to intimidate you?” Lance then questioned. “Besides, that was only a brief demonstration of what I’m capable of. I’m not trying to pick any fights here.” This still wasn’t helping him and the girl had not even said her own name yet. “I only wanted to talk to Chrysalis, but it seems like what she wanted to talk about included finding you as well… So, like I said twice now, who are you?”

“Gibril, and as for that little demonstration of what you’re capable of… it’s weak.”

“I’m not trying to fight you, so I only needed to show off a little bit. That was only a small percentage of my full power… Besides, I should’ve expected some new adepts to be showing up, but I honestly did not expect one that was once human like myself.”

“Kid, I've been here for the past thirty years even before you and the rest of you shrub lords came along.” Gibril mockingly boasted like she was suppose to prove something with that statement.

“You just said you were asleep for thirty years.” Lance replied to her, noticing the difference in her story. “I believe you’re contradicting yourself… Besides, one of the reason why I wanted to talk to Chrysalis was for the exact same reason… More Adepts are going to be turning up now and it’ll be more than just us three.” Just as he finished saying that, he heard a small yawn and then saw Lumen emerge from his hair as she looked at them.

“Lance, can you please cut it out with all the racket?” She yawned, before noticing Gibril. “Hunh? A little girl? Lance, who is she?”

“… What did you call me…?”

“Oh god, Lumen, why did you HAVE to say that!?!” Lance thought to himself as he changed clothes to his combat gear with the snap of his finger. Gibril, the same adept from before… was fully pissed off right now at what Lumen just said. What happened next though was not like anything he had seen before. A book, almost similar to the books on magic that the Masked Matterhorn kept in her room soon appeared in front of her and the moment she cracked it open, a dark surge in power swirled around her, changing the girl's appearance from the one that she originally had earlier… to her Adept form that she now had turned into.

“I was going to spar with these two to see how the new generation of Adepts are, I think I’ll see how you fair out first seeing how by looking into your eyes you have some combat experience.” That at first surprised Lance, but soon, he became a little more intrigued in order to try to see how He would hold up against Gibril.

Especially since it allowed him to try some of his newest techniques. “If it’s a fight you want, it’s a fight you’ll get.” He replied, letting some of his septima flow around him as he looked back at the adept in front of him. From the ground, she conjured spinning metal blades that whizzed past his head as the Azure Striker used his speed to dodge incoming attacks and stay on his toes while trying to land a tag on her.

“Nice reflexes kid, but don’t think that’s all my attack can do.”

“I never doubted that you just had one trick up your sleeve.” The lightning adept replied, channeling his flashfield as the lightning from it connected with some of the tags that did land on his opponent. Lance’s priority right now was to see what Gibril was capable of and also figure out what her Septima was.

“So, a lightning user huh? This should be an interesting fight.” He heard his opponent comment as some blades soon formed from the ground, having him barrel out of the way. One moment though, Gibril was directly above him and planning to attack from above. But… Lance had a surprise waiting.

“Crashbolt!” Snapping his finger, a powerful bolt of lightning surged directly from his current position, striking anything that was below him or above him. This was indeed useful and to his surprise, unlike much of his other abilities, Crashbolt and one other attack did not need him to use one of his skill cards in order to pull it off.

“Nice move, but you should know basic science when it come to lightning and metal. Especially when someone can make a lightning rod like this!” Lance just smirked, and when she tried to have a blade emerge from the ground, Gibril was caught off guard when the adept turned into static electricity and disappeared from where she was standing to the opposite side of the battlefield.

“And now you’ve made one crucial mistake,” Lance replied, looking back at her as he brushed some of the dust off of his shoulders. “You helped me figure out your septima.”

“Doesn’t matter if you knew or not. But I’ll give you a little bit of info. You know I can control metal after saying what I just said right?”

“Yes and with it, I figured out two other things… you not only are using the Iron in your body to make some of your creations, but also the metal ore within the ground we walk upon to have your creations emerge from the ground.” Lance replied, smirking a little. He had a feeling that she would try something on him, and he had planned ahead of time just in case.

“That also means I can also control the iron in your body as well.” She boldly proclaimed, lifting her arm out and thinking she got a good grip on it… only to feel something pushing her away in the process. “What the hell did you do-?”

“Easy… I figured that with metal, there was a little bit of magnetism involved, which would explain how you would be able to pull it out of the ground,” Lance replied, looking back at her. “Opposite polarities attract to one another… but when they are the same, they push each other away… my electricity made the iron in my body the same polarity of the iron that you control. Making it impossible for you to pull it out of me.”

“Now….I’m….PISSED!!!” She roared, the armor on her shoulders moving down her arms and forming a pair of red claws, changing forms on the fly and charging at Lance. The Adept quickly changed tactics, having to try and combat the berserker and trying to hit her with his Luxcaliber ability, only for him to miss in the moment and for Gibril to get behind him. Where his blind spot was completely exposed.

“And you weren’t before?” Aurora asked.

“Not helping me here!” Lance said shortly before having to narrowly dodge her attacks. He tried using his Flashfield to protect himself, only to realize that those claws could release a powerful shockwave that his Septima wasn’t able to protect him from as it threw him into the side wall of Chrysalis’ hideout. “Ugh… Damn, that hurt.”

“Oh I’m not finished with you yet!!” She announced, causing what appeared to be one of those old medieval torture devices to form from the ground and around her as the doors slam shut, causing blood to run along the ground. But from that blood, Lance found himself trapped in what looked to be a metal cage as the doors of the coffin opened. Showing Gibril… and how she was flat out… pissed off.

“Aw crap.” Lance mumbled to himself, looking at his bracer to check his skill cards before he said something to the breezie in his hair that accidently started this entire charade. “Lumen!!!”

“Uh… I’m sorry?”

“Sorry isn’t helping me here!!!” Lance snapped.

“I’M GOING TO ENJOY RIPPING YOUR ASS A NEW ONE!!!”

“What space would you? The rear hole is already big…” Aurora muttered.

“Not helping me here!!” Lance shot back as he barely dodged another attack. However, he noticed that wherever Gibril had landed, there was a small puddle of blood wherever it was… and that was not a good sign. He barely had time to react when blades soon emerged from the blood, nearby trying to chop him into pieces.

“I HEARD THAT COMMENT YOU LITTLE SH*T!”

“Who me? Or Aurora?” Lumen asked, confused a little bit.

“Who’s a little sh- Sorry… I’m just saying tearing Lance a new a** would be kinda gross, seeing as you’d get crap everywhere. You don’t have to be a skank about it.” Aurora grumbled.

“Both of you, stop!! You’re going to get me killed like this!!!” He snapped, skidding backwards as he had more electricity spewing around him. Only to feel something strike him from behind as he felt Gibril’s claws along his back. “Son of a-!”

“Pay attention to the fight idiot!” Gibril yelled as she started to perform multiple slash attacks that hit Lance while he planted his feet on the ground. “Never let outside distraction distract you. Especially with someone like me! The first Adept!” That had Lance growl for a moment… but what Gibril couldn’t tell was two things. One… she was not the first adept. He was awake and moving before she was.

Second… he wanted to have her come at her in a berserker barrage… because it was only at this close of a range that he could execute a new power. Originally… he was going to use his Voltaic Chains ability, but thought that the chains themselves could be manipulated by her. But there was one… other ability that was to be used for close range attacks.

“Let praise be unleashed… as blades of lightning cleave sky… yielding great glory…”

In a matter of seconds, a giant blade of lightning that was easily twice the size of Luxcaliber was summoned, striking Gibril head on and destroying the cage that was around them. The original skill of Luxcaliber would normally require two skill cards and only be just as strong as he was. Grand Strizer on the other hand was twice as strong as Voltaic Chains, but only had a short range to whatever was exactly in front of him.

The impact that it had on his opponent though… was staggering. It easily knocked Gibril out of her transformed state and sent her flying into the same wall that she had thrown Lance earlier.

“C-Cute little move you did there.” Gibril said as she appeared from underneath a pile of broken scrap metal having parts of her outfit covered in dust and scars. “Had I not made that metal clone of myself, that would’ve done a number on me. Well that and if I didn’t insulate my clothes with rubber.” She said, cracking her neck.

“Heh… not so much of a candy ass now, aren’t I?” He said, offering a hand to help her up off the ground so she can stand upright.

“Still have much to learn. But you’re better then these greenhorns are.” Gibril said as she reach for Lance’s hand as she pulls herself up, only to smirk as she headbutted him on the head.

“Yeah… I deserve that one after all of that.” He sighed, rubbing his forehead a little. “Hey Chrysalis, can I talk to you for a second? You did say there was something you wanted to discuss with me.”

“She’s not going to throw stuff at us is she?” Chrysalis asked as she poked her head around the corner.

“Only if you don’t make her angry… anything else you want to add Gibril?” The Azure Striker asked her as he looked back at the Iron Adept.

“No...but I am going to be training these two for next few years or so depending.”

“You mean Kaoru and Touka?” Lance then asked, confused. “They’re not adepts though…” Of course, there was something that Chrysalis had not told him yet since she didn’t get the chance.

“Yeah… let’s talk about this in my office.” Chrysalis said as she looked over at the giant hole of her office. “Or whatever’s left of it.”

“Well, if there’s someplace where we can have some privacy, that works for me.” Lance replied, trying to fix up the door of her office. Something told him that this was going to be a LONG conversation.

“Let’s go to where Adagio is at. She’ll explain what happen.” Great… even better.

End Strike 42

Author's Note

:pinkiegasp: Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!
What is it Pinkie?
:pinkiehappy: This is the first time you used something from the actual Azure Striker Gunvolt Soundtrack!
...

So anyways, I've felt as if I had been putting this off for far too long, so that may be why this chapter feels like two chapters merged together. This time around, I've actually taken some time to add more of the elements that you would find in not just the two gunvolt games, but also the short story called "Azure Striker Gunvolt: Fleeting Memories". Cheerilee's backstory will be in a future chapter and according to BronyParasite (The guy who helps with Aurora, Shabris and a lot of other characters), Octavia's story is far from over, so expect something with that going on later.

As for the inclusions based on Azure Striker Gunvolt 2, Lance has unlocked some new skills and abilities, including both of the "spirit septima's" along with other powerful attacks. Have a look at the video below so you can see what I mean.

Now, what's next for Lance is actually something I'm looking forward too personally. It has been a while since I've done a collaboration with another displaced writer and the author that I'm going to be working with for what I would say is a small entry in Lance's next arc is going to be exciting. For now though, this concludes the Countess/Shabris arc and I'll see you guys next time.

Peace out,
-Frost

P.S. I have some ideas for ponies that will take part in his team, but I'm always looking for suggestions. Just suggest a character (From the show, not an OC) and what kind of powers that they should have and I'll take it into consideration.

Strike 43- A New Journey Part 1

Author's Note

And to surprise you guys, another chapter is complete. This next arc is part of a multi part crossover with the universe created by Pen Dragon in his stories known as "The Displaced" and "A New Destiny". I highly recommend that you read them first in order to fully understand what Lance is getting himself into because a lot of the characters mentioned are tied into those two stories, including the new enemies that Lance and Lumen need to defeat and the new allies and friends that are in need of their help.

This is going to be a long and exciting ride, that is for sure... and I am glad that all of you guys are along for the ride.
-Frost

Strike 43- A New Journey Part 1

When Lightning Strikes- A New Journey Part 1

Sumeragi Headquarters

Over the past few weeks, after their partnership with the criminal known as the Countess, Sumeragi had been operating in secret while the public’s attention was on her recent string of incidents in Sun Fransokyo. Their leader, Nova, was hopeful of the organization's success. Even with the defeat of both Hot Spot, who was in charge of their weapons manufacturing operations and also another villain that was another pony he trusted named Third Eye; who was assigned with the crucial job of establishing and protecting the Amaterasu Radio Tower in Seaddle, Nova refocused on the options he still had remaining along the east coast of Equestria. This included Merak’s ocean base along the coast of Baltimare and also the operations of two other main storage facilities used by Sumeragi for different ponies.

There was knock on the door to his office as Nova soon spoke, not even turning to the door. “Enter.” He boldly stated, followed by the doors widely opening as the earth pony soldier that was once outside his office soon stepped inside.

“Master Nova, I bear some unfortunate news…” The Earth Pony spoke. “First and foremost, in an altercation with the Adept known as Gunvolt in Sun Fransokyo, our newest ally known as the Countess was captured by the hero team named Mane Hero 6 and her colleagues are at Power Pony HQ in critical condition…” This did not cause Nova to budge as he still looked outside the window of his office and looked across the sky and the endless domain of clouds.

“That is… rather unfortunate… but we right now already got what we needed from them. Her and her allies are no longer needed at this stage in our plans.” He knew that the pony was a lieutenant because of the reflection of the pony’s ranking patch along the right foreleg in the window in front of him. “Tell Zonda to drop the Countess and her colleagues from the active roster and-.”

“Actually… there was something else that needed to be addressed,” The soldier added on. “Around the same time that she was captured… One of our convoys that was delivering supplies to Merak’s operations was attacked. Evidence indicates that the assault was carried out by an adept with a Septima we have yet to identify. When we sent a recon team to investigate, we found the supply convoy sliced apart and several soldiers inside impaled by swords made of ice along with this symbol frozen on the inner wall.” The picture soon emerged in front of Nova after the soldier pressed a button on his foreleg that had it emerge in front of him. “We have tried multiple times in order to contact Merak about the situation, but we have lost contact with him some time after finding this. He’s been radio silent for the past few hours. How should we proceed?” Processing all of this inside his head, Nova had to put together a few different pieces together… and all of them lead back to the symbol that was presented to him.

“We shall treat this like any other threat. Whoever these ponies are, they cannot be allowed to interfere with our operations. Is that recon team that reached the convoy still in the field?” Nova asked, turning his head to see that the soldier nodded his head. “Have them try to establish manual contact with Merak and his team at the Aquabase, but proceed with caution. If this Adept that’s on the loose is still out there and approaches you, take them out. They don’t seem to be the cooperative type given the evidence presented, so use whatever methods you have at your disposal to dispose of it.”

“Yes sir.” The pony acknowledged, leaving the room with a salute as it walked down the hall. Unknown to Nova though, the pony was grinning as the small reflection of a mirror glimmered in the darkened hallway.

The Mighty had been fooled. For the mirror belonged to the adept that went by the name known as Zonda… and he believed that Nova was a fool. Foolish enough to trust him… and foolish enough to allow for him to add new and eagers souls to his cause. For when the time was right… The love of Eden will spread through the world like wildfire… and cleanse the unclean.

Power Pony HQ

It had been a couple of days since the events that rocked the city of Sun Fransokyo and since then, things had began to calm down. Octavia was living with Vinyl while she was helping Mane Hero 6 with cleaning up the damage left behind by the attacks with the Countess and her allies. Speaking of which, some of those same ponies were in the infirmary in order to get out the bombs that were implanted inside their heads. Lance believed like with the ponies that were with Sparkler and Ash, all of them deserved a second chance. But in order to get that chance, they need to surgically remove the bombs before they could help out.

It was in that time that Lance had also tried to reach Max and Seph, but was unsuccessful in reaching them. It just made him wonder what was going on in Max’s world… but right now, the Azure Striker was in the control room and right now, an idea came to his mind as he spoke up. “Hey Aurora, are you busy right now?”

“A bit. Working on learning programs for Lola. Cause she’ll need to learn about stuff I haven’t implanted into her yet.” Aurora stated. “Why? Is there something you need?”

“Actually, it was something I just thought about that I wanted your input on,” The Azure Striker spoke up. “Remember how you can possess electronics? What if we can come up with some new gadgets that you can interact with in the field and expand what you can do in the field?” He had thought of this when watching Humdrum trying to experiment with some gadgets of his own, only to end up having to do multiple test runs after the first few of them blew up in his face.

“Huh, that’s a good idea. Would you carry them, though?” Aurora asked.

“That’s the thing. We’ll need to find a way to make them portable so I can put it inside my coat. I thought of one idea though that you might like since it can give you more space to move around and a little more freedom in the process.” He told her, taking a deep breath before speaking again and pulling up an image on his armband. “Are you familiar with quadcopter drones? Like those miniature helicopters the military or army would use?”

“Uh… No…” Aurora stated, annoyed.

“Well, they’re small portable devices that can fly through the air very fast. Not to mention that some can be equipped with cameras and in some cases, weapons. I thought that if you could be able to control one of these, not only can reconnaissance be easier, but you can also assist in taking down and capturing bad guys too.” He explained to her before dismissing the image. “I just thought you wanted to have a bit more freedom than just be standing still inside a computer monitor like with the last few missions. I think we can even add a cloaking device to the drone so nopony can see you fly around.”

“Okay! But it’d have to be light in order to keep it flying.” Aurora stated. “Anything else?”

“That… I’m going to let you come up with,” He said to her, surprising her in the process. “I thought that the best way to come up with gadgets that you can interact with is for you to come up with them yourself. You know your powers better than I do, so I thought you can come up with them. I wanted to have these gadgets so that way you have something to interact with if you happen to come with me next time a Displaced summons me.”

“Come with you?”

“Think of it… The only times that you have been able to come along have been to places where there has been some form of technological equipment for you to interact with. Unfortunately, that only has been when we went to see Max and a couple other of occasions. And if I have more tools in your arsenal you can interact with, we can be able to work more as a team in other places… Besides, it must be boring having to stay here anytime I get summoned right?” Lance told her, thinking that Aurora would agree with him on that subject.

“You rarely take me along anyways…” Aurora deadpanned.

“I know and I want to change that.” Lance told her as he had his arms at his sides. “You have been a MAJOR help for me in the field and to me, you’re more than a partner Aurora. You’re a really good friend that has really helped me in a lot of sticky situations and I am really grateful for that. I just want to be able to take you with me more often so you can help me even when I’m not in Maretropolis.”

“Okay… I’ll need Humdrum for it, though.” She said to him in response while finishing the last few bits needed for the algorithm she was working on for Lola.

“I think he was in his room last time I saw him. He’s been trying to work on some gadgets himself… and yet in the trial runs, some of his devices have blown up in his face.” He said, just as they heard another small explosion from Humdrum’s workshop. “Case in point…” Followed by a huge cloud of white smoke as Humdrum soon emerged with a fire extinguisher in hand as he had to blow the white powder from his eyes.

“How hard can it be to make something that doesn’t blow up in your own face!?!” He groaned, trying to clean up the mess that he made accidently.

“Yeah… I think he may need some assistance. Despite his talent, he can’t do everything himself.” The Adept mentioned to Aurora. “Of course, that’s when you’re done with what you are working on with Lola.”

“I suppose. Anyways, I’ve got other projects, like… Stuff.” Aurora stated boredly. “Like locating a new base for your new team, telling Ash and the others, get something together to track adepts, and lastly something to get Octavia blood supplies.”

“Just take it one step at a time. That’s how I do things in the field and it works for me.” He advised her so she didn’t have to take on too many things at once.

“Lance, I’m doing them all right now. Well, most of them anyways. I don’t know how, but my brain's processing has been speeding up lately and I’ve learned how to do four things at once. Weird, right?” Aurora laughed nervously.

“Yeah… Just make sure to take breaks. Even if you think you can take things on like that, it also leaves a bit of a margin for error,” Lance told her, before feeling something pull at his shoulders. It was a familiar feeling to him and all it did was make him sigh to himself. “Well, speak of the devil… Aurora, we may need to pick up on this conversation later. Someone Is summoning me now… First time someone has in a few weeks.”

“Good luck, Lance. Oh, and I’ll tell the others of your plan for a new team.” Aurora stated, in which Lance acknowledged shortly before he disappeared in a flash of lightning and leaving a burn mark on the ground… which only made Humdrum more agitated.

“Oh come on! I just cleaned this floor an hour ago!!!”

In a flash of light, The Azure Striker found himself in an unusually large room completely made of marble and with red tapestry hanging from the walls that had the emblazoned emblem of a golden phoenix. It was definitely different from what he was used to, but whoever summoned him did have class to say the least.

“It seems your the one my spell has summoned here,” A voice called out, he turned to see a tall bird like hybrid in golden armor as wings of fire came from behind him as he slowly turned around to face the creature.

“Would you happen to be the one who summoned me?” Lance asked him. He was rather curious to hear what the response would be from this… individual. He assumed that it was a male from it’s voice, but back where he was from, not always is everything what it seems to be.

“I am and I’m in need of your help,” The figure told him in response, which prompted Lance in order to come up with a follow up question to say in response to the avian like figure.

“Okay, but could you please tell me your name first?” He asked for inquiry. It would be best for him to know the name of the one who asked for his help and summoned him here. After all, some would see the motion as being polite.

“I am Zsoltan, the newest member of the Elder Siblings, and as for why I called you here it’s because I need your help to find my mentor; Lord Suicune, who resides in an unknown world. The other Elders have deemed him a traitor even though he hasn’t committed any crimes whatsoever and are offering a price for his head,” he explained.

“I’m not a bounty hunter, I’m a hero back where I’m from and I don’t capture or kill for profit-.” Before he could finish, Zsoltan raised his hand in response, which had Lance stop speaking so he could listen to what he had to say.

“I’m not asking for you to hunt him. What I want is for you to warn him about what’s going to happen. This world is a prison for those who fall prey to the mysterious email they receive, therefore I cannot leave this world without a means of transportation which is forbidden here. But you can, you can deliver my message to him, before it’s too late. He must live to save both worlds, for I fear if he doesn’t live than not only my world will continue to worsen, but your world may suffer the same fate.” That part definitely caught the Adept’s attention. If anything were to happen to his world, then that would mean that other worlds would be next… including Max and Seph. This was definitely a task that wasn’t going to be easy, but to him, this was important and something he can’t ignore.

“He isn’t strong enough to fight the other Elders, but if he has some help, than he may have a chance to save our corrupt system.”

“Then where can I find him,” He responded, surprising Zsoltan in the process. “And what exactly would I be up against? Because it feels as if the moment I go looking for him, anyone else who is looking for him will consider me as a target. The more prepared I am, the more likely I can get your message across to your Mentor.” That, had surprised Zsoltan. He didn’t even get to finish fully trying to convince the Adept to help him before he said yes. Whoever this was, he seemed rather determined to do the right thing.

And that was the kind of person he was looking for. “I admire your courage, but as I said before I don’t know where he is, but I do know someone who could help you, but I warn you she can be a bit… quirky ever since he left.” He explained. That made Lance curious, having him think to himself before responding to him.

“Can she find out where his last known whereabouts were?” Lance then asked him. Around now was when he noticed something in particular with this… Zsoltan character. That over the course of this conversation, he never asked for his own name. He would’ve thought that he would’ve wanted to know that first. Even if he did not use his token to summon him here.

“She’s the only one to know, but she wiped her hard drive when he departed to the other world, but I think you can activate her backup drive.”

“Trust me when I say this… Something that may be wiped isn’t fully gone and some have a tendency to leave a trail behind.” He said, looking at Zsoltan as there was a bit of electricity coming off of his hands. “But before we start… let me ask you something… How come you didn’t ask for my name when I first arrived here?”

“Because I already know who you are, Lance Walker. I have special insight that allows me to see into other worlds, but I’ve never had to use it until now.” He explained to him, clearing up some of the confusion that was in the Azure Striker’s head before continuing with what he was saying. “Anyway, I believe we should get to the point, her name is Exuberant Witness and she’ll be here shortly. I want you to take her with you. She can help you find Lord Suicune, wherever he may be.”

When he heard the request to take this person with him, the Adept soon became concerned. Sure, she can be a help… but it will divert his attention to not only finding this Lord Suicune, but also making sure she was protected as well. It would all depend on who or what this Exuberant Witness was and if it was possible for her to defend herself. “And how long until she arrives here?”

“It shouldn’t be much longer, but once she gets here I want you to be calm. She has been having troubles as of late,” Zsoltan advised him, after all this was a stranger he hasn’t met yet, but the Adept was unsure by what exactly he meant by troubles. Sure, someone can have troubles, but what kind of troubles was something else.

It wasn’t long until humming echoed throughout the room, soon the one known as Exuberant Witness entered the room. “Oh, Lord Zsoltan I wasn’t expecting you to bring a guest.” When Lance first saw the Exuberant Witness, he was surprised honestly. He was expecting a person at first, but it turned out that the witness was actually an AI core. But something told him that there was more to her than meets the eye.

“Exuberant, this is Lance Walker, he’ll be taking you to find Lord Suicune. I suggest you get your little project that you’ve been meaning to try.” That made Lance raise an eyebrow as he heard that. What did he exactly mean by ‘project’? And how exactly was it going to help them? “I’m sure you're curious about her project, she has been working on building her very own body.”

Now that reminded him of Aurora for a bit as he looked back at her before looking back at Zsoltan. “Her own body? I know I’m in no position to judge, but I’m curious as to why would she need her own body.”

“Must you really ask that? I’ve done nothing but float around for the past two thousand years. So yes I think it’s time for me to actually have a body!!” She shouted, causing both of them to back up just a bit by her outburst.

“Like I said, I’m not judging. I was just curious. Sometimes, the more information I have to process, the easier a task is for me.” The Adept explained to her, smiling a bit. “I’m not trying to ruin things for you.” Exuberant Witness really reminded him of Aurora because of her enthusiasm and temper. And in a way, he felt happy for her that she was getting her own body after so long. “Speaking of tasks… maybe we should begin focusing on the task at hand now that you’re here.”

“Hand? What do you mean by hand? Are you implying that because I don’t have hands?” she asked as her usual purple eye changed to a dark shade of red. Zsoltan couldn’t help but chuckle a bit as he watched her temper rise.

“Like I told you she has been having troubles controlling her emotions ever since Lord Suicune has left, but her new body should help her control them to some degree,” Zsoltan explained.

“Ah. My apologies then,” He then replied before looking back at Exuberant Witness. “I didn’t mean to insult you. I was just using a figure of speech. What I mean is-.”

“I know, I was just teasing you,” She laughed. “I’ll be back momentarily, I need to upload my schematics to my lovely body.” Okay, now that part was not like Aurora. In fact, it reminded him more of Max than anything else. But what she said also meant that he and Zsoltan could be discussing something in preparation for the journey ahead.

Yet, it was also now that someone… else was awake as Lance felt a bit of movement in his hair and looked up to see Lumen, his Breezie companion, waking up a bit before looking at Lance, yawning a little. “Uh… Lance? Where the hay are we?”

“What a peculiar creature? Tell me what is it?” Before Lance could respond, he heard Lumen personally sound scared as she hid behind him.

“Lance, he’s not going to eat me now, is he?” She asked, sounding worried. At this, Lance just chuckled as he facepalmed himself.

“No, Lumen. Zsoltan summoned us and he needed my help with something important,” He told her, before looking at him and answering Zsoltan’s question. “Lumen here is a breezie. She’s been helping me out a lot and was actually the first person I met after getting displaced and like me, she’s… special.”

“Interesting,” It wasn’t long until he began hearing footsteps. “I believe that is Exuberant on her way up.” Lumen was going to ask something, but instead just kept it to herself as the Adept turned around towards the direction in which he heard the footsteps from. Soon, a blue android entered the room, looking back towards both of them.

“Ah, Exuberant I presume?” Zsoltan asked.

“Yes it’s me Zsoltan and I’m ready to go now.” She answered as the synthetic soon noticed the little small wisp by Lance’s head that was Lumen.

“W-who is that?” she asked, a bit scared by Witness’ new appearance as the Adept she was with sighed a little.

“That’s Exuberant Witness… She’s going to be helping us right now.” Lance replied, taking the chance to give her a simplified version of what was going on before looking back at the android. “Well, if everything is in order then, how are we going to find Lord Suicune?”

Just as they were about to leave, alarms began to go off, frightening Lumen as Zsoltan got up from his chair and pulled out a golden curved sword. “You three need to get out of here right now!”

“What about you?!” Lance shouted, worried for him as he felt Exuberant grab hold of his wrist tightly. “We can’t just leave you behind!!”

“Listen, I didn’t tell you this, but the Elder Siblings have decided to release an old foe of ours four thousand years ago. I’ve only heard of them from legends, but they have been the Displaced greatest enemy before we locked them away and they’ll attempt to kill Lord Suicune.” Zsoltan explained as the doors began to shudder from the loud banging.

“Who’s that suppose to be-!?” Lumen said before hearing something break. Now Lance was concerned as he looked around and told Lumen to stay with him. Looking at him, the breezie listened as the Adept told him one last thing before he followed Exuberant.

“Thank you… I won’t let you down, Zsoltan… Be safe.” With that, he turned towards the android and bolted down the hall as she closed a door behind him. “Lead the way, Exuberant.”

“Listen, we need to head to a secluded area where I can activate my teleporter,” She explained to him, as they took a right turn down the hall.

“Can someone please explain what is happening!?” Lumen asked, partially panicking now. “And who was that old foe that Zsoltan was trying to tell us?!!”

“It’s enemy from not only Lord Suicune’s past, but mine as well. They were known as Prometheans and they were all created by a Displaced named Warden Eternal, but he was defeated before the third war with Vlitra…..Why would Lord Yasha want to release him?” She wondered as she opened a blast door. Now though, Lance thought this over and then realized something. Church gave him a collection of weapons that he never happened to use yet, but he did take some of the weapon mechanics of some of them and turned them into bolts.

And now seemed like a perfect time to use them. “Whatever the case is, if it’s a fight that they want, then they got another thing coming. Are we getting closer to where you need to set up the teleporter?” He asked, preparing his weapon with one of the custom bolts he forged called the “Carbine” just in case if their pursuers got through the door.

“Don’t worry we’re here,” She said, as a holo projection of a keypad appeared from her wrist and began typing as fast as she could. Lumen looked around the room as Lance held his ground as he heard loud pounding coming outside the doors.

“There’s nothing in here!! Where’s the teleporter?!!” Lumen shouted, panicking as she flew around, as Exuberant typed faster.

“I’m working as fast as I can! It ain’t easy using this new body you know. I’m trying to activate right now!” She explained, just as Lance began to hear voices outside the door.

“YOU SHALL NOT ESCAPE US!!!” Yup, definitely not a good sign at this rate. Given the circumstances they were in though, the Adept decided to try and figure out a way to buy Exuberant some time. And the best way for him to do that was to add a powerful electrical charge to the blast door. So that was anytime one of those creeps did slam it, they would be greeted with a powerful electric shock that might disrupt their systems since it was with the same amount of power as an EMP or plasma blast. But this was just focused on the door itself and not on anything in the room that could disable what was protecting them from everything outside.

“Okay, I tried to buy us some more time! How much longer until that teleporter is ready?” Lance asked, hurrying over back to where Exuberant was at.

“It’s ready, but we need to go now!” Without hesitation, Lance went to the android and prepared himself to go through the teleporter with Exuberant next to him.

Soon the doors burst open as a Promethean Knight, roared in rage as it charged. Lance turned around, drew his weapon and fired at the knight’s exposed chest several times and throwing a flash grenade for added effect. “Let’s go!” He yelled, leaping through the teleporter before any of the other prometheans can regain their vision and chase after them.

“Let them go…..they don’t even realize that they’re playing right into my hands,” The tall Promethean said as it entered the room.

“Of course Warden,” One of the other soldiers replied, walking over the fallen body of one of their own as the Warden noticed it on the ground before it began to degenerate until nothing was left. Whoever was in the room at the time… just killed one of their own. That to him… was a concern. But only just a concern. Especially with what he had in store for them.

Those two will lead us straight to Suicune...it’s only a matter of time.

When Lance was able to get back on solid ground, he found himself in a totally different place. Not like where he originally was just a few moments ago. Unlike when he was talking with Zsoltan and Exuberant, which took place indoors, they were now outside… in the middle of a huge and big forest no less. Lumen herself was trying to get her senses together while Lance was looking to make sure that Exuberant made it through the Teleporter with them. “Exuberant, you alright?”

“I’m alright….it’s just hard to imagine that the Elder Siblings would risk releasing them,” Exuberant said, as she looked towards Lance as a sly grin appeared on her cybernetic face. The Adept offered a hand to help her up, hoping for it to be a kind gesture to her.

But he soon received a surprise hug from the android. Which caught him by surprise… especially since his arms and the rest of his body were locked in an extra tight vice grip because of that single gesture. “Uhh… ouch?”

“Thanks for helping me get out~” she said, seductively.

“Uhh… You’re welcome?” He gulped, still not budging from the way she was holding onto her. Good lord, Exuberant was now reminding him of his fiance more and more the longer she was helping him. And he wasn’t sure if that was a bad thing or a good thing.

“So where are we exactly?” Lumen asked, as she flew out of Lance’s hair once more. Looking around as her body faintly began to glow a little and provide some light.

“I… don’t know, Lumen.” Lance said as Exuberant loosened her grip on him as the Adept turned around to face the android. “Do you possibly know where we are, Exuberant?”

“From my calculations I think we’re on planet Equus….” she answered.

“Hang on… Like a different Equus than the one we’re familiar with?” Lumen asked, only getting a nod from Lance in response. He soon noticed a sign on the ground as he walked over to it and looked at what was on the wooden board. Reading the words Everfree Forest across the front of it as he set it back down.

“Guess we’re in a place called the Everfree Forest…” The Adept said, based on what he knew and also the wooden board he found. “Now how do we proceed?”

“Well… uh… funny you should ask?” she said, fiddling with her fingers. That had the Adept think of something for a moment as he looked around his surroundings. Listening to the wind blowing through the trees and the environment of the forest around him before coming to one solid conclusion.

“He’s right behind me, isn’t he?” The Adept asked, before turning around and not seeing anyone there. “Nope, guess not.”

“Uh...no the thing is I don’t know where he is exactly…. I only knew that he was on this world after upgrading my hard drive. I did managed to retrieve a few photos to give you a clue about what he looks like.” She explained. That did help, but the Azure Striker needed to analyze the photo’s first before trying to piece everything together.

“May I see them?” He asked politely, she handed him the photos of this Lord Suicune. Each one of these looked to be in a different location, but there was one feature in each of the images that did stand out to him upon observing its contents. Each one of these shots showed him nearby a big open lake with some trees along one side of it. It made sense to him, since Suicune is a water type pokemon. The question though… is where was the lake?

“From what I can understand it’s only images from my memories. I vaguely remember him since I was told to wipe my hardrive,” She replied to him, which was understandable given the circumstances. Fortunately though, there was only one possible way out of the forest. So by sticking with the path in front of them, they would find themselves out in the clearing soon enough.

“Well we better get out of here soon, the last thing we need is to run into trouble,” Lumen said, flying around Lance’s head as the two of them followed the pathway out of the Everfree. It took them ten to fifteen minutes on foot in order to get out of the woods and enter an open clearing, but in that time they covered a substantial amount of ground… and Lance was surprised at what was waiting at the end of it.

It was the lake. Like the one from the photographs. He even cross referenced the two to make sure that he arrived at the right place. “Do you think this is the place, Exuberant?”

“It looks similar, but the lake in the photo was from my world.” she said.

“No two worlds are exactly the same, yet sometimes, certain things can bare a similar resemblance if you take the time to analyze it long enough,” It was then that the Adept also happened to notice what appeared to be a cave near one side of the lake. If his assumptions were correct, then there was a possibility that the person they were looking for was just inside that cave. The only way they were going to find out though was by going to have a look for himself. “Can you stay here? I want to take a closer look.”

“Alright, but I don’t think he’s here, after the first Displaced war he…. Changed.” Lance looked back at her for a moment, wondering about what she meant before he walked closer. For one thing, he did feel that something was in there. But he wasn’t sure about what that something was. Another things was that he was confused as to why these Displaced had gone to war in the first place? Was it a dispute? A crusade? What would justify such acts of war? And… were the prometheans somehow involved?

“What happened to cause this war?” Lumen asked, leading to Lance facepalming. He was trying to be discreet since it was possible that Exuberant’s memories of the war vanished along with the wiping of her main hard drive, but curiosity got the better of the Breezie than self control.

“I’m not sure if she really wants to talk about that, Lumen.” Lance told her, despite what the Breezie said next.

“Come on! Aren’t you the least bit curious.”

“Yes, but I rather be respectful. Some subjects such as that may be hard for someone in order to talk about. Back where I’m from, some soldiers returning from war get post traumatic stress if they’re asked to recall on such things.” Lance informed her. “And with Exuberant having to erase her main hard drive, she might not recall as much information on the subject.”

“I wasn’t part of the first war considering it happened over four thousand years ago, but I know enough to at least give you a general idea.” she said, pulling up her holo projector. “When the Elder Siblings first founded the realm of the Displaced, there was a total of Eleven leading and back than there was a total of 400,000 Displaced back then. But as after a century had passed the one named Warden Eternal had discovered a way to make Prometheans and that’s when he became corrupted with the idea of power and managed to convince four of the other Elders to join him. 150,000 lives were lost in the first war and The Warden and the other four were imprisoned by the remaining Siblings.” It was hard to believe that someone would go as far as kill so many people. Lance and Lumen could hardly believe it as Exuberant went on.

“I may not know much about Lord Suicune like I used to, but the first war changed him after seeing so many lives die. Than we have the next wars roll in and it only made things worse for the Displaced. We’ve only had peace for about a century, but now possible the universe is at stake now. I can’t tell you about the other two wars, but what I can tell you is that The Prometheans are dangerous and if we don’t Lord Suicune than everyone in this world, my world, and your world will suffer the same fate.” She stated loud and clear as she began to head down the same path that would hopefully lead them towards a town. Lance took one last glance at the lake, before following after Exuberant.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Lance replied back. “But I have seen war like this before… so I know how he might feel.” With is, he looked around, trying to see if there was any possible sightings of the person they were looking for. Most of the ponies that were there were quadruped like the ones on his world. But their presence seemed to possible startle them. Perhaps even scare them with the frightful look he was seeing in there eyes.

“Lord Suicune was here, since my detectors are picking up a trace of a Displaced, and from the readings it’s very strong,” Exuberant explained as she closed her holo projector. “I suggest we avoid any contact with these ponies…” He did agree with her on that point, but he had a feeling that avoiding any contact with them was next to impossible. Especially if he thought that Pinkie Pie was out trotting around. Lumen herself just continued to hide in Lance’s hair as the two went around the perimeter of the town while Exuberant kept track of the trace she was picking up.

“Lance? Are you sure we can’t just leave? I mean this isn’t really our fight?” Lumen asked.

“Lumen, if this isn’t stopped now, then those prometheans may come for our world next,” Lance told her. “We need to stop them now and to do that, we must find Suicune.”

“Alright, but let’s try to hurry please...I don’t want to see you get hurt.” Lumen told him as Lance assured her that he was going to be fine. As long as the two of them stayed together, they could get through anything.

“Damn it! The trail ends here, it doesn’t make any sense. My new body’s detector should have led us to him, but instead were left at the center of a pit.” Now that definitely caught his attention.

“Do you think something might have happened here?” Lumen asked, peeking her head out of Lances hair for a small minute.

“If I had to guess a fight must have broke out a few days ago seeing that this pit is actually a crater.” She pointed out, looking at the ground and scanning the residue on the floor.

“He’s right, I’m picking traces of another Displaced here, but I don’t recognize it,” Exuberant said. Now that had Lance a little more concerned as he looked back at the her as the android was scanning.

“Where does it lead to?” He asked, fearing the worst as he looked around the area for any other signs of damage. If Exuberant could pick up the trace of the other displaced and this fight was going on right now, it meant that the adept needed to hurry if he were to reach Suicune in time.

“I don’t know, but it looks like it ended in a draw, meaning that this can’t be Lord Suicune, because if it was him than his trail would have still be intact. But then again, he could have been holding back,”

“I mean what direction.” The Adept interjected. “I got a bad feeling that something is happening and if we don’t act now, it may be too late for us to save him.” He wanted the answer to come out clearly. If he was given a direction, he can run and catch up before anything bad were to happen. But he needed to know about it and needed to know about it now. Because there was no time to lose.

“But like you said, this happened days ago, there isn’t a trail for me to follow. I can think of a few theories they could have either teleported or something must have taken them,” That was when Lance realized something… He remembered that he could trace energy signatures. Placing his hand on the ground of the crater, he closed his eyes and felt the two traces that she was referring to… but felt something else too. Those same traces… just farther away from where they presently were. One was weak and the other was stronger than it. He didn’t want to second guess anything and instead, opened his eyes.

“Found them…” He said to himself, looking back at Exuberant. “Stay here for now… I don’t want you getting hurt in the process.” With that, Lance placed his index and middle fingers from his right hand on the front of his forehead and transmitted himself to the location of the two energy sources. Meeting the Displaced Majin Buu helped the Adept learn how to read energy and also how to use Instant Transmission. Meaning it wasn’t long until he arrived at the two sources he detected.

Just as he got there though, what he saw… startled him. “I don’t know why you would bother challenging me again Monster X after you humiliated yourself a few days ago.”

“Our previous battle was only a minor setback, but this time I didn’t come alone,” With a snap of his fingers two Promethean soldiers and three Knights warped behind X.

“Oh you have got to be kidding me,” Lance groaned. “I thought I had to deal with enough of those guys already!”

“You're just a fool Monster X, if I wanted it, you’d be dead already,” Suicune stated, as his eyes began to glow. The ground began to shake as a blue aura formed around him. “It seems that I’ll have to show you the true meaning of fear, X!”

“Activate it now!” Monster X ordered as one of the Promethean soldiers activated two generators that sent an electric shock, paralyzing the Elder Sibling as he roared in agony. “Did you honestly think I was going to allow you to humiliate me again. Once I deliver you to the Elder Siblings they’ll make me one of them!”

Now was the time to act. “Oh HELL no you don’t!!!” Rushing in, massive amounts of electricity began to surge from him as massive static chains emerged from the ground as it struck the promethean soldiers and caught the Kaiju’s tail. This was only the first step in what came next as the Adept soon released a huge amount of power into obliterating the prometheans and their contraption.

By the time that the skill was complete, Lance was now back by Suicune’s side, but standing in front of him as he growled and gritted his teeth. “That was for what you did to Zsoltan, you heartless bastards.”

But Lance soon received a right hook from the Kaiju as it stood up unharmed. But it in itself did little to affect the Adept. Sure it was painful, but he ignored the pain because of the amount of anger he had.

“Did you honestly think that attack would affect me? HA! All you did was give me a power boost from both the electricity and radiation coming from those troops,” X stated.

However, all the kaiju saw was just Lance smirking as he said something that surprised him. “Who said that you were my target?” That was when X realized a little too late that the machine that once held down Lord Suicune was destroyed and nothing more than broken machinery as the pokemon itself got back on all fours.

“Your first mistake was underestimating this Displaced, and the second was to think that could hold me down forever!” Without a second thought Suicune unleashed a powerful air slash at the Kaiju, causing its armor to crack, feeling nothing, but pain.

“Damn You! This isn’t over just yet fools! Beast King it’s time!” X called out, soon a large humanoid lion came out of hiding with a vile smirk on it’s face.

“Hehehe...I thought you said you didn’t need my help X,” he stated.

“Just shut up and deal with that runt! Than help me finish off Suicune,” X said as he tackled Suicune further into the forest, devastating trees in their path. Lance himself had little time to react as he had to think of a way in order to take down Beast King. He felt that, given what X was capable of, a change in tactics may be necessary. But he wanted to know the full extent of what he was dealing with first.

“Hehehehe….looks like I get to enjoy playing with you, Runt!” Beast King said with glee as his claws came out. “Lion Slash!”

Multiple waves of air slashes appeared in the air as Lance used his speed to dodge it and get behind him. He didn’t attack though, because he wanted to analyze how quick his reaction time was and how long it would take for him to notice where he was at.

The power of Beast King’s attack made a clean slice through dozens of trees. If he had been caught in that attack than he would have been killed for sure. “Hahahaha! I take it you're impressed by my power? I’ll let you in on a little secret, that was only a taste of what I’m capable of…” Oh he knew that already… and he had an idea of how to deal with him quickly. But unlike a friend of his back in his world, he couldn’t defeat the beast king in one punch… But he could do it in a single attack once he had the right amount of power. Now, he had to focus on looking for potential weak points.

The Beast King could only smirk as he walked towards the Azure Striker. “For a runt, you’re fast,” With a quick blow to his chest he sent Lance hurdling towards a tree, causing it to crack on impact. “But not fast enough!” Yet when he did hit him though, he got a powerful shock of electricity through the arm he used to hurt him, making it numb and unable to move on his own.

“You're only making this more enjoyable runt, I still have one arm and two feet to use.” That Lance knew and it was also something he was going to change. Despite the Beast King being mostly animal, he still had a human like bipedal structure. Meaning there were certain parts in the nervous system that he could disable with his electricity and make the Beast King unable to use his arms or claws. “What’s wrong? Cat got ya tongue?”

He soon stepped in a puddle of water, something that Lance did not see before, but must’ve formed when Suicune was there earlier. With quick thinking, he switched to his Vasuki Bolt clip and tagged the Beast King’s foot and electrocuted it with his septima. Sending massive waves of pain through the beast with the amount of electricity that was currently shocking him.

The Beast King collapsed to the ground, drenched in water as steam of smoke came off his body “Maybe next time you should be more aware of your surroundings instead of taunting others. Anything with water can easily react to electricity since the two don’t mix very well.” Now though, he had to see if everything was okay on Suicune’s end and if he was able to deal with the Kaiju he was facing earlier.

Before he knew it the Kaiju was sent flying to where The Beast King laid. Noticing the volts of Electricity on his body he absorbed the energy to increase his strength as much as possible, but he soon realized where Lance was standing and a vile smirk creeped across his face.

“Why didn’t I see this before? You are the edge I need to not only defeat Suicune, but to surpass the Elder Siblings!” He shouted as he tackled Lance to the ground and began to absorb the electric energy off of him. However, there was one thing that he did not know… and that Lance had remembered.

Two can play this game. And with a quick shot to the eyes, Lance grabbed hold of X’s head and began to re-absorb the electricity that it stole from him. With X blind, he could not see the adept and was flailing his arms aimlessly as the Adept recharged his strength before kicking the Kaiju off of him. “Hit him now!!” He yelled, noticing that Suicune was just returning back to where he was a few moments earlier.

At great speed, he soon vanished from his spot and appeared behind X as he tried to recover from Lance’s surprise counterattack. “I warned you not to underestimate this Displaced.”

With one final attack, Lord Suicune unleashed a powerful Hyper beam, incinerating the Kaiju to dust. Monster X was no more and the Beast King was done for the moment and just a roasted lion right now. Suicune soon turned towards Lance with a glare as he approached the young Adept. “Who are you?”

The Adept sighed, taking a moment to catch his breath before speaking. “My name is Lance Walker, but back in my world, I sometimes go by Gunvolt… Zsoltan sent me and Exuberant Witness to come find you.”

“Return home Lance Walker, you’ve done enough as it is,” Suicune said spitefully.

He shook his head, holstering his weapon before looking at Suicune. “I can’t. Not right now and not after getting this far. You’re needed right now and Zsoltan put his faith into me in order to find you before the prometheans could kill you! The Warden Eternal is free… and he is looking for us. We’re being hunted now… and if we don’t stop them now, they could hurt my world and many others next.”

“Do you think I care about him or your world? I’ve slayed hundreds of those Prometheans since they’ve arrived and I killed thousands of them during the war. I could care less about you or your world. My only concern is protecting this one and nothing else.” he stated loud and clear with a scuff.

That had Lance form a question then. “Then why did you care about me? I want to help you and even risk my life to help you because I know it’s doing the right thing. I don’t care if that Lord Yasha or whatever he is calls you a traitor, but I was asked to help you and I decided to do it because if I can’t help them… then who will?” The Adept then sighed as he caught his breath and looked back at him. “Zsoltan sacrificed himself to make sure I can find you… I’m not going to let that sacrifice be in vain.”

“You still don’t get it do you? He can’t die, he’s a Phoenix! All you’ve done was waste your time here. Also I never said that I cared about you. I said that X shouldn’t underestimate you. There’s a difference.”

“I know…” Lance told him, “And I don’t care about that… What I care about is making sure that not only this world is safe, but mine and many others are too… and I don’t care if I have to risk my own life in order for you to see it, but there is something that’s worth fighting for and I am not going back on what I promised. Because that would be me just lying to myself.”

“I see, well I’ve heard all that I need to hear from your arrogant mouth! All you care about is your world. Tell me if you didn’t have friends, family, or even a lover would you still protect that world? I said all that I need to.”

“I LOST ALL OF MINE BEFORE AND I AM NOT GOING TO LET IT HAPPEN AGAIN!!!!” The outburst from the Adept caught Suicune off guard. “My life before this one… was sh*t… being displaced gave me the chance to start over… I saw wars start that began with a mere misunderstanding and how that tore apart everything… And I don’t want it to happen to any world after what I’ve seen.”

“SHUT UP!! You don’t know the first thing about loss kid. I have lost everything and I endured war for thousands of years. You know nothing! Go and protect your world and I’ll protect this one. They aren’t after you, they are after me. I’ll be returning to Canterlot and if you know what’s go for you than I would leave now and prepare for a war once again. Besides enduring it once nothing compared to what I’ve been through, ” With that said, Suicune was about to take off… until someone else decided to speak their mind.

“Alright, just WHAT THE HELL is wrong with you!?!” That did not come from Lance, but instead from Lumen as the Breezie furiously flew over and got in Suicune’s face. “Can’t you see that Lance and I are only trying to help you!?! You obviously know that this is something you can’t do alone, but you just ignore it and still charge into the fight anyway!! If it weren’t for Lance and I showing up when we did, you would've been captured by those freaks and this world would’ve been threatened by them!! Where’s your goddess damned respect, you jerk!?!!”

That… caught Lance off guard. He never actually would’ve expected Lumen of all people to do something like that… Like at all. But she did have a point about what she was trying to stress to Lord Suicune. The only problem though was that he did not want to hear a thing about it. He still thought of this as his problem to deal with and that they should stay out, even though the evidence from their last encounter clearly stated otherwise.

“I did not ask for his help, and I already had a counter to deal with it myself. I won’t here another word that comes from the mouths of you Displaced, even if you aren’t little breezie. You befriended one and that’s a mistake you’ll regret in the future. This world is under my protection and I will protect, even from you. So I’ll leave with a warning, if you try to interfere again, I’ll see to it personally that you won’t see the light of day again,” Without another word, Suicune dashed off into the forest, not to be seen again.

“What a jerk!” Lumen stated. Lance couldn’t believe that Zsoltan put so much faith that Lord Suicune could restore peace to the universe, but instead of meeting a hero. He was met with a heartless being with no care for his own kind. What exactly happened to him? What could have made him this way?

“We need to go find Exuberant and head straight for Canterlot,” Lance said, as Lumen flew back on his head as he began walking back, but he began to hear a loud groan from the Beast King as he sat up.

“Now do you see why the Elders want him dead?” he asked as he leaned back against a broken tree. “He only cares for this world and nothing else. The Displaced is dead to him and he’ll kill every single one of us.”

“You’re wrong, Zsoltan knows what the other Elders are planning and Suicune is the only one who can stop the Prometheans,” The Beast King could only laugh in response to the Adept as he growled back at him.

“The Elders can take care of those rust buckets anytime they want, you’ve been played….hahahaha…” His laughter was soon ended as Lance pulled his weapon out, switched to his Carbine Bolt and shot him right between the eyes.

“Like I said, you’re wrong.” He spoke firmly, “There was a reason why Zsoltan put his faith in me… and for that matter, why I must put my faith in him.”

Back at Canterlot

Celestia sat alone in her bed chambers, pondering what the future may hold. For three weeks now she has come to know a legendary Displaced and has come to see him as a close friend. She felt his familiar presence in the room as she got up and turned her head towards the direction of her dear friend.

“How long did it take for you to deal with those other Displaced, Suicune?” She asked, giving a genuine smile.

“I’d rather not talk about Princess,” he answered. The answer in itself surprised the alicorn, for she did not expect this kind of tone or response from him at all. In fact, something about him really made her concerned.

“Is something wrong?” She then asked. “It looks like something’s on your mind.”

“It seems there’s more Displaced entering Equestria, but this one isn’t from the realm of the Displaced, but somewhere else. It’s mind boggling, and I don’t like it,” He replied, only for Celestia to giggle in response.

“I’m sure it’s nothing and I’m sure the problem has been resolved,” Celestia positively spoke to him, even though the thought in itself meant something completely different to Suicune.

“I hope so, the last thing I want is for you… or the girls to get hurt,” He said, avoiding eye contact as a slight blush appeared on his cheeks.

“But I have to ask you? Was this Displaced evil?” That… had Suicune freeze up a little. He was unsure of what to say to her in response for a moment before thinking it clearly through his head.

“No…. but I don’t trust any Displaced, whether they're from another world or my own.” Suicune replied. He never wanted to trust another Displaced again, especially after everything that he had been through over the years.

“Suicune, if this displaced isn’t evil, then there should be nothing to worry about,” She told him. “This one is not like the ones that you had seen before and not every two displaced are the same… Tell me though… why were they here?” Celestia was curious as to the reason why this displaced, whose name had yet to be mentioned, was here if it wasn’t to cause trouble in her kingdom. And she had a feeling that Suicune knew the answer.

“I… he wanted to help, but my rage got the best of me again. I just can’t bring myself to trust any of the Displaced.” He admitted shamefully to the princess as she looked back at him. Sighing a little, she walked over and placed a hoof on his shoulder.

“It’s okay, Suicune. We all sometimes make mistakes we later regret… including myself,” She said, remembering when she had to banish her sister to the moon all those years ago. “If he wants to help, then let him. Let him see you the same way I do.” With that, the alicorn sighed as she looked back at Suicune. “There’s no shame in asking for help from others. You don’t have to take everything on yourself.”

“Fine… But I would rather you summon them here, I’d rather not go as far as meeting them in person. Even what you say is true…. I still don’t trust any Displaced.” he replied, before laying on the ground and fell into a deep slumber.

“Sleep well my friend… still, you’ll see that whoever is trying to help you… can be a close ally or even a friend.”

End Strike 43

Strike 44- A New Journey Part 2

When Lightning Strikes- A New Journey Part 2

Everfree Forest

As both Lance and Lumen exited the Everfree Forest, the breezie herself was still infuriated by Suicune’s behavior earlier to the point where it felt like the only thing that he was hearing on the way back was Lumen’s ranting. When she was done though, all she did was decided to fall asleep inside his hair because she wanted to get the entire subject of Suicune off of her mind.

Lance after a while… began to wonder why? Why would Suicune act that way towards him and Lumen, just what was he hiding from them? He didn’t do anything wrong, but Suicune’s actions towards him made him feel as if he somehow messed up unknowingly. Which really got under the skin because of the amount of responsibility that being part of the Power Ponies came with. He was supposed to be a good person and a role model for others, especially if he was going to form his own team of heroes in the future. However, this was a major blow to his self confidence. Of course though, one of the main things that he thought about was about one other person who helped get him and Lumen here in the first place.

That being Exuberant Witness, and shortly after stepping out of the forest, he soon noticed her nearby… patiently waiting for him to come back. “So did you find out what the trail lead to?” she asked, folding her arms.

“Yes, but you may be surprised by what happened.” He told her, before explaining what happened in full detail. From Suicune to the prometheans being there, Monster X planning to capture him and then the Beast King showing up later. Monster X and the Beast King were no more, but Lord Suicune himself ran off. Even after Lance insisted that he was only there in order to help him. Even the mentioning of Exuberant herself had no effect on the Pokemon.

“He’s a lot different from how you described him before, but yes, somehow he’s definitely changed. He even went as far as to piss off Lumen… and that’s a rarity in itself. What do you think would make him so… well Hostile? Was it how I approached him or something I said?” The Adept finished explaining before turning to the android.

“Even war can change someone in one way or another, but to think he’ll go so far as to threaten you just for helping? It’s just a little hard to believe….”

“I would agree with you there.” Lance acknowledged her. “He said something about you protect your world, I protect mine like I was trying to take away his job. That’s not what I’m here to do. I’m here to help him because unlike in my world, where I can have someone else take over for me while I’m gone, he doesn’t have that.” That… in a sense was true. This world, besides Suicune, had no other displaced that he could call his allies. Meaning that any possible displaced, whether friend or foe, would be treated as an enemy. Maybe that was the reason why he was so hostile to him earlier. Yet he was still unsure as to Suicune’s true reasons for his behavior.

“Well while you guys were gone I did managed to have retrieved an old video in my data banks, but it’s not much to go off of, but I think it’ll help,” Exuberant said,

“What’s the video about?” Lance raised an eyebrow as he looked back at her. Curious as to what she found.

“I don’t know? I’ve been trying to get it to work, but it’s been encrypted by my previous programming, which I have no memory of at all.” For a moment Lance thought that there was something he had that could assist with that and remembered that he had his gauntlet… however, he then remembered that he was cut off from Aurora, the one who normally helped him with breaking through encryptions. Meaning that this… he was probably going to have to do the hard way… and that was to carefully use his powers to override the file without trying to destroy it either,

“May I have a look at it?” He then asked, having his gauntlet at the ready. “I think I may know something that can work, but I need you to trust me on this.”

“Okay I’ll trust you, but don’t do anything naughty~” she said, winking at the Adept. The Adept rolled his eyes, receiving the video file as he applied some of his electricity into the gauntlet he had. Just like when he first arrived back in his world and had used some electricity to tinker with certain devices, Lance was using his electricity to bypass the security inputs on it. All… except one.

“Hey Exuberant… this is asking me for a password,” He told her, looking back at the android in confusion. “Any idea what I should input?”

“I don’t know? My programming is still trying to recover as much memory as it can, but I believe we could try and access it later once I regain my memories on it,” Well that was just great, the only lead they had to finding answers was protected by a password that Exuberant so happened to erase from her memories.

“Suicune must have thought of everything if he’s trying to keep his secret safe. Well the best we could do now is head to Canterlot and hope that Celestia will listen to reason.” Lance suggested, but there was still one issue. He had heard of Canterlot… but never actually had been to Canterlot before. So finding his way around there would be like trying to navigate his way out of a maze.

But the thought of that wanted him to try something with the password thing. That it wasn’t asking for a specific word in order to have it run… it was asking for a symbol. That was not only surprising… but also made him think of a possible answer. Before being displaced, he had an old DS game called Pokemon Ranger: Guardian Signs where the player could trace out different symbols to call upon different legendary Pokemon… and one of the Legendary Pokemon that he liked to call upon ironically was Suicune. He remembered the Symbol that represented the Pokemon and began to trace it precisely on his gauntlet, hoping it would work.

Only to have one surprising response. “Access Granted.” That was a surprise even to the Adept, but still, his gamble paid off. Within seconds, what was originally guarding the video was down and the footage itself was ready to be seen. “You were saying?”

“Well not only are you charming, but smart too,” She complimented as she pulled the video up on her projector.

The video began to play. And who was speaking surprised Lance personally… because it was the person that he was asked to look for.

“Exuberant remember, once the portal is complete, I want all data of me to be erased. Except for this video,” Suicune reminded her.

“Of course, my lord,” she replied.

“Anyone who so happens to discover this video, I want you to know the truth of all Displaced. Every single one of them has been corrupted by power, besides a selective few who still wish to return to their past lives. Know that you as an individual are stronger as your true self. Not as a Displaced. Displaced are weak, pathetic, power hungry creatures. It’s a sign that they have lost their humanity and have forgotten who they really are.”

“Prove that you are strong enough to resist these temptations and maybe you’ll find peace. As for me I have decided to leave this wretched world, because this once peaceful and happy place has turned into a prison for those who have lost their way. I can only trust the two Displaced that I have known for the past few centuries with this secret. And if you're wise enough to heed my words. Than you’ll leave that world and either find a place to live out your days, or return home to Earth, your one and true home. I won’t be going home, because everything I had is gone and I’m alone… Exuberant… you are free to go… That’s all I have to say.” And with that the video ended leaving nothing but a fuzzy screen. Upon looking at it… Lance had only one thought for it… and it was that he was not what Suicune had tried to label the Displaced as. The ones he knew, including himself, were not like this. They weren’t consumed by their gifts. It instead made them who they were. For one thing, there was nothing in order for him to return too back home. Everyone he knew and everything that he helped put together and care for was in the world he arrived in.

Then… there was this prison. What Suicune and them know in secret… If that were the case… then the secret needed to come out… and the walls of the prison needed to be torn down.

“I’m starting to recall some of these events, but it’s still fuzzy,” Exuberant said, placing her hand on her chin as she’s trying to think.

“Is it true what then mentioned about this… prison? Because Zsoltan and you also mentioned the Warden Eternal coming from such a prison as well.” Lance replied, wanting to hear her input.

“That world is a prison itself, Lance. For over two thousand years I’ve been there, hoping to one day leave that place. The prisons are for the Warden and the other traitors which are created by the Elder Siblings.” she explained.

“And how the hell do these Elder Siblings define who’s a traitor?” He then asked. “Because whatever they are doing is the reason for this… We need to help Suicune and it seems that the only other way that would be possible is to put a stop to what they’re doing.”

“Even if we did tell everyone about this, they would still consider him a traitor, he was an Elder Sibling, before he passed his position down to Zsoltan. The Displaced today see the Elder Siblings as gods, and even if one steps out of line. They’ll see it as treason and will do anything to please them. To the point of taking out those who betray the Elders,” Exuberant explained.

“Well, I know about gods and whoever does that to them is sickening,” He growled, before thinking of something in his head. “Even if they’re gods, that doesn’t mean that they’re perfect. They have flaws too… and a major flaw might lead to the chance we need… The Elder Siblings were the ones to release the Warden Eternal right?”

“Yes, but the people see it as an act of redemption, the Warden was probably the best option since his defeat in the first war was mostly due to Suicune’s forces. It’s like a cover up, the Warden gets his revenge and the Elders remain in power.” Exuberant added.

“Then I know how exactly we’ll make it a bad decision on their part,” Lance replied, looking back to where he just was as he sighed a little. “Deny his revenge… and make sure he can never get it…” He knew it sounded crazy, but if these siblings think they made the right choice in releasing the Warden Eternal… then he was going to prove otherwise. After all, there were some things that he had been working on in his spare time that could play a major factor into this. First was that his Dullahan and Carbine Bolts were enhanced with Promethean technology courtesy of Church… the second was that he had been rebuilding the energy blade he once had and taking it out now, the energy of the blade itself replicated that of the Warden’s own sword for a minute before he dismissed it.

“I doubt that your plan would work Lance, the Elders have been around for over four thousand years. Defeated the most powerful enemies in existence and have found ways to stretch the truth. The only one who could change the decision of the other siblings is Lord Yasha, the strongest above them all. But with his relationship with the other three is strong and wouldn’t hesitate to agree with them,”

“In their universe, yes… But I’m not of their universe… and I don’t play by their rules…” He said. “I stopped the Beast King and even sapped Monster X of his strength. What I would believe would be two other members of that prison… a

“Sadly that’s not the case, they were part of Suicune’s old military in the second war, before Lord Ozai requested them to join. The prison is filled with god like beings that were formed when the Displaced was first founded. Trust me I know, especially with the third war against Vlitra and the Gohma.” That was then that something clicked in Lance’s head. He had heard of the words Yasha and Gohma before… and then realized something.

“If that’s the case… Then tell me something… did these Elder Siblings ever betray anyone on their own?” He asked, thinking of something in his head. “Like betray someone that was once a sibling like them… Because one particular name is coming into my head right now every time you mention Yasha.”

“No, I have all records of the Displaced and Suicune was the only one who was betrayed. There hasn’t been any others that have been part of the Elder Siblings.” She explained.

“Then let me ask you something… Does the word… Asura… mean anything to this topic?”

“Ah, yes… he was part of the final battle against Vlitra, before sacrificing himself to imprison Vlitra. But that was over a thousand years ago. So if you’re thinking he could help, I seriously doubt it.” Exuberant replied, diminishing any previous thought he had.

“Well damn… that makes it a bit harder then…” Lance cursed. He had thought that somehow, there was someone that could help him other than Suicune.

“Besides there hasn’t been anyone who could come close to defeating the Elders in a fair fight. The closest I would have to say was Monster X, but from what you told me he’s…..sorta dust now,” Lance was about to reply until he heard someone cough right behind him.

“I think you guys are going to need someone who could help Lord Suicune with that,” Soon Exuberant and Lance turned to see….the Beast King still alive somehow.

“Okay, just how the actual hell… You were electrocuted by lighting, shot point blank in the head and you are still alive? How does this even make sense?” The Adept questioned. “Please don’t tell me you got a healing factor or something like that…”

“Hehehehe….so very funny, one I have a very thick skull and it wasn’t the first time I was shot in the head point blank. Secondly I have nine lives, well seven to be exact because someone killed me today!” Beast King said, growling at Lance mostly. “But I’m willing to let bygones be bygones, I heard what the video said and what you’ve two been talking about. But I hate to break it to ya, but before I even got here the Elders have figured out a way to travel between worlds thanks to the Warden,” Lance groaned at this… before realizing something.

“Is it because of something the Warden came up with or-” He asked, the thought of that coming off the top of his head. Only to get a much different response than the one he originally thought of because of the Beast King.

“No it’s because two idiots actually figured out a way to travel to other worlds. The Elders were able to find… energy thingys or something. But they have to go the long way around meaning they’d have to travel through multiple dimensions just to get here,” Beast King said, scratching his head.

“Why’s that?” Exuberant asked.

“Something about the portal not allowing them to travel through, like a barrier was placed there to keep them from coming through. So, now other worlds are being invaded by the Displaced. Not to mention others have been converted into the Displaced as well,” Lance was shocked at this revelation. Other Displaced are being taken in by them… by force no less. That was low… and that made his blood boil.

“How many worlds have been taken?” Lance asked.

“I believe three of them have been taken, but their wasn’t that much resistance on any of them. Only ponies and individual displaced. Honestly I think the wars we’ve had were much more horrifying than that,” Beast said, but Lance pulled out his gun, switched the ammo to his Dullahan bolt clip and held it up towards his throat.

“Talk… now!!” Lance demanded.

“Listen, we were tasked to kill Lord Suicune, but Lord Ozai and Elysium are more interested in doing it themselves. That’s why both of them are traveling to this world since we can somehow travel through it.” Beast King explained, but Lance himself needed him to spill out everything. Not just bits and pieces like what the lion was doing right now in order to save his hide.

“And how the hell were you and that freak you were with able to get here in the first place other than with the Prometheans?” He countered, acknowledging what the Beast King said, but knew that it wasn’t the full story.

“Like I said, we were able to somehow because the portal accepted us,” Hearing this though, made the Adept then think of something else… they were trying to find a way to bypass it. So they didn’t have to use the teleporter in the first place. Because it only accepts some, but not others.

“What happens to those that aren’t accepted then?”

“They have to travel the long way, like the Elders.” He said, making him realize something.

“So you’re telling me that the reason for those other worlds and people are being converted because they can’t get through…” He repeated himself, before having some of his electricity through his arms. “Now… I’m pissed.”

“If you’re a Displaced, than you’ll be forced to join or perish. I told all that I could offer, since most of this stuff I’m not suppose to tell, but between the two of us, the Elders are quite pissed that they can’t come this way.”

“I’d rather die like Asura did to save the people I care for that I call my own family then join and be a coward to myself and to everyone I care for. I’m not going back on my word and I’m not giving up now…”

“Who are you calling a coward?” Ignoring the Beast King, he then turned to Exuberant and looked at her. He needed to warn Suicune of what was happening… but also needed to stop them too. This was all started because of him and Exuberant… and he was going to not let it continue onward.

“Exuberant, warn Lord Suicune… But while you’re at it… remember how we got here originally?” He questioned, seeing if the Android remembered.

“If you are planning on going back, then I’m afraid I can’t do that…” she replied.

“I was not asking for you to send me back… I was asking for you to bring them here. They’re tearing apart worlds to get to us and one of them is one that my own family is on. We need to steer their attention away from them and into the canyon where we were earlier. Because I will be damned if I let those monsters destroy anything I worked so hard to protect.” He growled, a fierce cyan glow being emitted from his eyes and from his hands. “We’ll need a new plan then… confront them somewhere where they can’t cause harm to anyone… because I’m sure as hell not going to let them get away with this. They need to pay for their crimes and for what they have done.”

“I don’t think it’s possible to summon them, something’s keeping them from getting in and we’ll on make things harder on us than it already is… we need to convince Suicune to listen to us first, before we do anything rash,” Exuberant said, as the Beast King nodded in agreement.

“That’s why getting to him is a higher priority…” Lance said, before looking at the Beast King. “Except he… needs to stay. Suicune will still see him as a threat rather than an ally after the last confrontation and tensions are already tight as it is.” The Adept then told Exuberant as they both looked at him. “There’s a cave nearby a lakebed on the opposite end of town. Go there and remain hidden until we say otherwise.”

“Sorry, but I think I’ve had enough of this world… I am going back home. See ya around!” With that said, the Beast King disappeared into the forest. Lance wanted to go after him, but if he did, it would only delay him from delivering the news to Suicune. That and the fact that the Beast King had to deal with whatever lived in the Everfree first beforehand before he was able to truly go back to his home. Turning to Exuberant, he only had one thing to say.

“Let’s hurry. The more time we waste here, the less time we have to warn Suicune.”

“Okay, I think I can navigate us through Canterlot city and we should be able to reach the castle by nightfall.” Exuberant explained. He nodded his head and let her lead the way to where they needed to be. Hopefully, to bring them there sooner than nightfall.

Back at Canterlot

“Sister, should I go find those Displaced that Suicune spoke of?” Luna asked shortly after her sister called for a recess to the day court. The Solar Alicorn was honestly surprised to hear this question the second that she had trotted into the hall of elements to find her sister suited in battle armor and armed with a sword.

“I believe so, but be aware that these Displaced are dangerous and could possibly harm you,” Celestia warned, but judging from her grin she could tell that she was confident in her abilities. “You must use force only if necessary.”

“Worry not, dear sister! From what Suicune described, it seems that this one won’t be an issue for me to handle. After all, Monster X and Beast King aren’t close to our power, meaning this Displaced won’t be any different.” The Lunar Princess boasted triumphantly, almost beginning to shout in the royal canterlot voice. Celestia could tell that she was confident. But they were to find this Displaced to ask for help, not to pick any fights.

“Remember you need to bring them here to discuss more about this problem they have,” She reminded her sister gently, but still wanted to make sure that she took her words to heart. “Not to demonstrate the power that you possess. If this displaced was able to not only help Suicune, but survive in a fight against both of the opponents that he described, then this is one to not be underestimated. Do I make myself clear?”

Luna then sighed, actually acknowledging her sister this time and changing her tone of voice. “As crystal, sister. I shall be back soon!! Look forward to our arrival!” With that, she began to triumphantly trot out towards the door.

“Good luck, Luna,” She said, wishing the best of luck for her sister. Suicune described this other Displaced as strong, but Celestia was confident that this wouldn’t be such a difficult for one such as her sister. But it did not mean that she should not be cautious. If this displaced was like what Suicune had told her, then she should approach him with the utmost of caution.

“I take it your sister is on her way to pick up those… Displaced?”

“Yes she does intend to Suicune, but she shouldn’t have to be the one to do this task,” Celestia answered, giving the former Lord a questioning look. Suicune knew this very well and only gave a light chuckle.

“True, but you know why I can’t Celestia, being near any Displaced, besides those who were close to me, would be bad. I wouldn’t be able to control myself if I was alone with them. You know what I’m capable of if angered. Especially when you threw that building at me with your magic.” Suicune countered, causing the Princess of the Sun to blush in embarrassment after what happened nearly a month ago.

“I do recall our battle… but that’s all behind us now. We’ve come to know each other since then, and in that time a lot of things have changed.” Celestia told him in response, but before she could continue, the two of them could hear some commotion outside.

“What in the blue blazes is going on out there?” Suicune asked, hearing a loud rumble coming from the outside. Only to see Lance being chased by Luna as she was waving her swords around like a maniac.

“Oh for the love of all things holy, I told you I’m NOT a freaking villain!! Can you listen to me for like two seconds!?” The Adept yelled as he had ducked his head to dodge a vertical slash from one of the lunar princesses scimitars.

“That is exactly what a villain would say, you deceiving cretin!” Luna shouted, as she fired a bolt of magic from her horn at the Adept. However, unlike when he dodged her slashes earlier when she was running, Lance just hold still as the blast phased through him, his prevision turning him into static electricity as the magic collided with a nearby wall.

“Look, my friend and I need to talk to Suicune immediately, but we can’t do that when you are trying to cut off Exuberant Witnesses’ head and shooting magic at me!” The Azure Striker tried convincing her, before another shot towards his head was fired, only with the same result as the last one. “We need to warn him of what’s happening-!!”

“I’m guessing we’re going to have to step in?” Celestia suggested, but Suicune could only watch in amusement at the Adept’s expense.

“Not yet, I find this rather funny and this doesn’t happen everyday you know,” Celestia could only roll her eyes in response to what the Pokemon just told her. However, there was one thing that immediately caught his attention… Making this less amusing… and much more serious.

“Look, the longer that it would take for us to warn him, the more worlds that Elysium and Lord Ozai would tear through in order to go after Suicune!! We have important information regarding his safety and the safety of the kingdom, so PLEASE listen to me!!!” The Adept shouted, trying to get Luna to listen to reason. But when he did, it was then that one of Luna’s blades scraped his cheek, way too close to his eye, but enough to draw a bit of blood before he tried to heal himself. “What the hell do I need to do in order to get you to stop!?!”

“You Displaced have been nothing but trouble for us, if you really are Suicune’s ally, than tell me why were you hiding from the guards? Or running away from me when I approached thee?” She asked.

“I wasn’t hiding from the guards at all! Besides, how else do you think ponies would react if you were in the same position I’m in!?” He questioned, using Instant Transmission to teleport himself behind Luna and to gain some distance between him and the Alicorn trying to attack him. “I don’t want to fight you, so can you please just calm down for two seconds and listen to me!?!”

“Luna!” Celestia called out, landing beside her along with Suicune, both with looks of disappointment. One towards Luna… while the other was towards the Adept.

“You couldn’t have heed my words, Lance Walker.” Suicune said, just as Exuberant Witness caught up with Lance and both of them looked at the Pokemon. “And I thought I ordered you to erase everything on me, Exuberant.”

“Because there’s more to this than you might know, Suicune.” Lance addressed him, getting to one knee as a sign of respect. “And you need to know this now… because the longer you put this off, the worse the current situation gets.”

“Also, she had a backup drive.” Lumen answered the second question. “Didn’t have everything, but just a few things to start.”

“Still you should have heeded my words, this isn’t your fight and the longer you stay the more who’ll suffer in your world,” he stated, before turning towards Exuberant. “It’s time for you to take Walker home, Exuberant. He doesn’t understand what he’s getting into.”

“No, I don’t believe you understand what is happening now…” Lance interjected, turning to Exuberant Witness. “We found out that those who are coming after you are tearing through dimensions and enslaving every potential displaced they could find to do their bidding just to capture you. I had friends and family that are in those other realms of the multiverse and I will be damned if anything happens to them.”

“Lord Suicune, we were also told that the ones who were leading this campaign to capture you were two individuals named Lord Ozai and Elysium. However, it appears that they want to capture you themselves rather than send their troops to do it.” Exuberant then spoke up.

“I figured Ozai would be behind this, but it’s hard to believe that Elysium would do anything like that. She always obeys Yasha. Why would she work with him?” He asked himself, before looking back towards Celestia and Luna. “It seems that you made a point about this one, Celestia, but if they are staying here than I want you to keep your eyes on him,” Suicune soon turned towards Lance with a deadly glare of hate. “Don’t trust him.”

With that said, Suicune turned away from the group and headed back into the castle without another word. Lance and Exuberant could only look back towards Celestia who looked at them suspiciously. “I don’t know whether to trust you, but I know that you're here to help us.”

“I hope you aren’t deceiving us, otherwise I make you regret it deeply!” Luna added, almost shouting in the Canterlot voice, before following after her sister. Shortly after that though was when the Azure Striker turned his head to look at Exuberant, who had another sultry grin on her face again.

“Guess this means we get to stay together?” Lance could only shudder at her words as he cleared his throat. Yup, she was definitely acting like his fiance with the kind of advances that she was trying to do on him. But his attention was on Lumen after what Luna had just said.

“Hey Lumen are you alright?” Lance asked, as the little Breezie shuddered in terror within his head.

“Please, Luna don’t kill me, I still have so much to live for…”

“Lumen, I think you are over exaggerating just a little…” The Adept sighed, looking back at Exuberant. “So what now?”

“It would be best to follow after the Royals, they might know more….”

“NO!” Lumen shouted, just causing Lance to roll his eyes.

“Like we have any other choice Lumen… Just stay out of sight and you won’t need to worry about Luna.” He told her as the two of them followed the sisters inside the castle that to them was more than a castle. It was their home.

Back inside the Castle, Suicune had wondered why this Displaced was determined to help him? It didn’t make any sense to him. All the Adept had to do was go home and the Elder Siblings would leave him and his world alone, but he still stayed despite his warnings. Was he just a crazy fool… or was there another reason behind it? He considered the possibility, but thought it would be best for him to look into it another time.

“That fool has no idea what he’s getting into, but I suppose hearing him out would be fine. Then I’ll send him on his way.” He thought to himself in that moment as he watched the Adept look around the Hall of Elements. “Celestia, is this truly the only way?”

“I know you’re not fond of him, but he has information on what’s happening on other worlds,” Celestia said before whispering the next part. “Plus, when he was talking, I had a lie detection spell active. He’s telling the truth, Suicune… And if the two that he speaks of are just as strong as you… I fear that Equestria may be in danger if we don’t have him help us.”

“Celestia, I was the third strongest member of the Elders, but you make a valid point about one thing in particular,” He replied to the sun alicorn. “It’s the fact that Elysium is working with Ozai? Why would she work with him? She hates him, as far as I know.”

“So… is this Elysium a friend or special somepony from your world?” she asked hesitantly, but received a different response.

“No, she’s the last person I would even consider a friend, she would always claim to be better than everyone other than Lord Yasha. She always had a bad attitude towards others,” she didn’t know why, but she felt relieved to hear that for some reason.

“Oh good… for a moment, I thought she was somepony that was important to you,” Celestia commented. “It’s always harder to have to face a threat that’s someone you know and care for dearly.”

“I know… I know the feeling, Celestia,” He added, but as Celestia was about to say something, Lance and Exuberant walked into the room.

“Suicune? We need to talk about what’s been happening as of late…” Before he knew it Suicune’s eyes began to glow and somehow Lance was pushed back by the force. Exuberant soon ran to his side to help him up.

“You shouldn’t address him like that… I suggest it would be wise if you’d call him Lord Suicune for now on, otherwise you going to be spending a lot of time in the hospital,” Exuberant explained to him, simply replying with a nod as he stood on his feet once more.

“My apologies. Lord Suicune, we need to talk… if you are not too busy of course.” He corrected himself, seeing the pokemon with the alicorn next to him and thinking that he was interrupting him accidently.

“Fine, the sooner the better…” Suicune replied with a mild gruff, but he remained calm due to Celestia being present. “Well, are you going to inform me on what’s happening or are you going to just stand there and waste my time?!” Lance nodded, taking his time as he and Exuberant explained everything to him in full detail based on what the Beast King told him. Needless to say, hearing about how Lord Ozai and Elysium were trying to reach Suicune and what they were doing in the process really got his attention. Especially with the imprisoning of many others who were forced to be Displaced.

“I see, so they are taking those who were already Displaced and forcing them to join? Though I’m not surprised since it’s something Ozai would do, but still if Elysium is really involved like you say, than we might have a problem. Elysium is the second strongest of the Elder Siblings and if she’s working with Ozai, than she’s doing this for some other reason, but what?”

“That we don’t know… still, what we also know is that the Elder Siblings have been releasing prisoners that were originally locked away in order to come after you as well,” Lance added on. “One of whom went after Exuberant and I on the way here. I believe you know him as the Warden Eternal.”

“That isn’t a surprise since I’ve already fought those prometheans and you already told me this in the forest. I’m not too worried about him since our battle ended over four thousand years ago.” Suicune explained, but received a questioning look from Celestia.

“Even so, shouldn’t you still be worried? He is after you after all.” Celestia said.

“Yes and given the fact that one of the same Elder Siblings that’s coming after you let him out, something tells me that they were able to make a deal between one another. His freedom in exchange for his cooperation in hunting you,” Lance presumed, trying to put together certain pieces of the puzzle together. “It’s just a theory, but given everything we know, we’re still trying to figure out some things… yet, we shouldn’t be taking this lightly either. When I found you, those prometheans and Monster X used a device to weaken you and strain your powers. I have a feeling that we may be seeing something like that again.”

“Even so, I actually would have been able to escape with one of the abilities I learned during my training when I was first Displaced. Even though you’re right, the Warden wouldn’t rely on traps as much as his minions. He would rely on his multiple bodies, which was one of the reasons why we couldn’t destroy him…” Suicune explained, as he still tried to think of a way to finish the Warden. “If the Warden wasn’t around, then maybe Exuberant would be able to take over. But since he has so many bodies, the best option would be to imprison him again.”

“Because it would be too hard to find the main host… I get your point,” The Adept acknowledged his reasoning and what he was trying to say to him. “So, we’re dealing with Lord Ozai, Elysium and the Warden Eternal…… Lord Suicune, can I ask you something?”

“If it’s a stupid question than I’m not answering, but ask away,” he replied.

“You mention the Elder Siblings and how Elysium is the second strongest… but who exactly is the first? Is it this Lord Yasha that I heard Exuberant mention before or someone else entirely?” The Adept asked. It was an honest question and to an extent, it fit the topic that they were discussing. So, Suicune obliged and began to provide an answer.

“I’m sure Exuberant already told you that there used to be eleven in total, well five of us run the Displaced presently, while the other five have been imprisoned. But there was one who could rival the power of all ten. She was the one who had the idea of founding the Displaced in the first place… we knew each other for a very long time… her name was Amaterasu and she was the strongest among us, but she was killed before we made the ritual official.”

“I-i’m… sorry to hear about that.” Lance commented, not sure what to say after hearing about what happened to the one known as Amaterasu as he shrugged the back of his head. He now personally regretted asking the question, thinking that it seemed a little too… personal from the way Lord Suicune described it.

“I think… we’re done here… I’ll be retiring for the evening,” Suicune said, turning away from Celestia, Luna and the other Displaced as he exited the throne room. Celestia could only sigh as she followed after him, leaving both Lance and Exuberant alone with the night princess, who could only glare at them with hate.

“It seems you’ve upset both Celestia and Suicune, and for that I’m afraid you’ll have to leave to your rooms.”

“I-i’m sorry, I didn’t mean to bring up something that would cause emotional pain for them…” Lance apologized, looking a little down himself as he walked in the opposite direction of where Suicune and Celestia have left the building. The Adept after that moment wasn’t like his earlier self… which actually surprised and concerned both Luna and Exuberant.

“Sorry doesn’t change the fact that they’re upset now, Suicune has been through more than you can imagine and my sister understands his pain more than anyone here. If it were up to me, I would obliterate the lot of you and be done with it.” she stated, turning away from them. Only for her turn back to them. But before she could say anything, she noticed one thing drop down the Adepts face.

A tear. Something that was emotional… yet to Luna, was puzzling. Suicune was the one who was upset… so why would he be as well?

“You and Exuberant shall be sharing the same room, when Suicune is in a better mood I expect you to apologize to him.” All the Adept did was nod his head to himself as the doors closed behind him while Luna retired to her own quarters… however, something was still fresh on her mind and that was the Adept’s change in emotions. What would cause such a quick change on a subject such as the one they were discussing? For the princess of the night… it seemed like there was only one way to find out.

And that was by seeing his dreams.

“I believe it’s time for me to find out what he’s hiding,” Luna said, trotting towards her room to make some necessary preparations before going into the dreamscape. For one thing, she could only enter the dreamscape at night, while everypony was asleep and also, she could only be in there all the way until the morning. Which meant she had roughly ten or so hours to find out more about the Adept before he was to wake up. So, lying down on the bed in her room, she cast the spell and let her body rest… while her conscience was to go into his dreams.

Right away, upon first entering the Adept’s dreams, things were a blur. She could the sounds of an infant crying and the sounds of doctors working in the background as the vision became worse. For a moment, she felt like something about this… didn’t make sense. Until she heard something. “Doctor, we have a problem. We’re losing her!”

“Wha-? How!?” Another voice was heard.

“Her child is born, but the patient is losing too much blood. If we don’t do something right now, the patient will die!” One of the other doctors told her, when they heard someone else walk in. “Sir, you can’t be in here-.”

“I’m the father. What the hell is happening to my wife?” The new figure said, rushing to the side of a woman panting as the beeps of the machine keeping her alive were more rapid. “Cera, please stay with me! Cera!!”

The woman didn’t say anything originally… but before the silence was drowned out, Luna heard one last thing. “H-honey… o-our boy… name him Lance… Lance Walker.” That… startled the alicorn. She had only realized that the mother of this child had died just to make sure that he was born and living. The scene ended with her husband grieving for the loss of the one he loved… and cherishing the child he had with him.

But that did not last forever. Shortly after seeing this, everything around Luna began to blur and change, now showing what was once a newborn child now starting to grow up. The age of a foal, around nine years old. He was walking home from school with someone else that was a dear friend to him, and when he opened the door, both of them heard a loud bang go off. Loud enough to echo in the distance and pierce their ears. The young child himself thought it was just nothing and saw his father lying up against a wall… thinking he was asleep.

“Dad, I’m home!” He said, trying to get his father’s attention. He was unresponsive, causing the young boy to shake him a couple of times. But what Luna did see that the child didn’t… was the smoking gun along the floor and a note. Stained red. “Dad? Dad, come on, please wake up dad… Dad? Dad!? DAD!?! DAAAAD!!!!!!!”

Luna was speechless. How could someone like him at such a young age go through something that tragic? First, the loss of his mother when he was born and now his father when he was just a child? That was just unheard of… and as she was about to find out, this was before he was originally displaced. Everything had soon zipped past her like it was at the speed of light, leading up to the moment where he no longer was in his world anymore and in an Equestria completely different from the one the Alicorn knew. But there was something that she overheard, something that sounded like the Adept’s own voice.

“Before I was originally displaced… I felt as if there was nothing I could do to prevent something horrible from happening. But now… I don’t see my displacement as a burden, but rather as a chance to actually do something. These powers I have and what I have done back in my world has helped me change the lives of many ponies I’ve met,” She heard, seeing images of the Adept in numerous different scenarios, whether it was with somepony he knew or summoned by another person. “Sure, I’m not perfect… Hell, no one is… But at least instead of not being able to do something about it, I can be able to help them. I have met many other displaced that I have become friends with. Those who weren’t forced to work for the Elder Siblings… Not to mention that some of the family that I thought was dead… just happened to be in the same scenario I was in…”

For a moment, Luna could see the silhouettes of two individuals. One male and one female as they were semi transparent while Lance was facing away from where Luna was. “I wanted to help Lord Suicune not because I felt as if I had no other choice… but because I make it part of my duty to help whoever is in need. Even if someone doesn’t necessarily ask for it. Because if I can’t help them… then that just reminds me of the times where I wasn’t able to help anyone at all… and I don’t want that to affect who I am now.”

“I believe you… Lance Walker, but Lord Suicune is someone I’ve come to know and my sister cares for him deeply. I can’t change his mind about you helping us, only you can, but I’ll support you as best I can,” Luna replied, smiling a little, before she finally left the dreamscape. Not noticing that Lance had a small smile on his face as she left.

In Celestia’s room, both Suicune and her sat beside each other on the bed as her dear friend cried in anger and sadness. She had never seen him in such a state before. This Amaterasu must have been very important to him if he were to react in a manner such as this one. She didn’t want to see him like this, it was just too painful for her and she didn’t know why? Suicune could barely keep it together as he furiously wiped away his tears. “Damn that Displaced for asking that, why the bloody hell did I answer his damn question?”

“Suicune, you shouldn’t blame him for asking… but I have to ask… who was she?” Suicune, could only look at Celestia as she waited for his response. But he trusted her above anyone else with this secret and would be damned if he told anyone else. She was someone he could trust.

“She was the first person I met in the Displaced… she was young, beautiful and had a kind soul unlike most I’ve seen. You could say that she was the one for me, and back than I had different views on reality and cared for anyone who entered the Displaced. But the first war changed everything and because of it, I lost her. And I had barely confessed to her as well,” He soon let out a slight chuckle as he rested his head on the bed. “It’s funny that fate would chose to take her away first… just as I declared my love for her. Soon one by one, everyone I knew had either died in the three wars or had perished of old age. My sister was the last to go and now I’m alone. One of the reasons why I left in the first place.”

Celestia didn’t know how to respond, she felt sorry for him… but she didn’t know how to tell him. It hurt, not just because of how much he lost, but how she wished she could have been there to help him when he needed it. “Suicune… I may not… I wish… Oh, look at me? I can’t even tell you how I can help.” she didn’t want to cry, but she couldn’t help it. Suicune had been through more pain and sorrow then she could ever endure in a millennia.

“Celestia… I know you want to help, but I’m happy here in Equestria. This world is my home and I promise to protect it and everypony here. Especially you Celestia, you’ve been the only one other than those in Ponyville I can count on,” Suicune said, hugging the sun princess, causing her to blush in surprise.

“Suicune, promise me that you’ll stay safe? I don’t want to lose… a friend like you.” She asked. Only leading to her friend to turn to her and say something else in response to the princess.

“I promise.” Celestia wanted to say something, but before she could the sounds of knocking began to come from her door.

“Sister? Are you alright?” Her sister asked, knocking on the door once more.

“Yes… Luna I’m alright… Just needed to speak with Suicune.” She replied back, noticing the look on her face and seeing that there was something… different about Luna. Earlier, she seemed to be very hard on their newfound guest. Now… she seemed different.Is something wrong, Luna?”

“I’ve visited Lance Walker’s dream and I may have… misjudged him for who really was,” Hearing that surprised Celestia a bit, but all it did was make Suicune not want to listen. “He went through a lot… even before he was displaced.”

“Even so, Luna I say that we should send him on his way. He may be here to help, but his world needs him. His heart is in the right place and I can’t have him get involved in this war,” Suicune said, getting off the bed to face the two sisters. “He would be better off back where he was before being Displaced.” That, made Luna shook her head.

“No, he wouldn’t… Lord Suicune, I’m sorry to say this, but from looking in his dreams I found something about him… he has nothing to go back to.” That… only confused the Pokemon as he looked at Celestia before returning his gaze to Luna. “He… doesn’t have anything to go back too. Earth isn’t his home anymore.”

“Then he goes back to whatever world he had come from… No one shall be harmed or involved in this war.” Suicune stated, he knew that the Displaced was stubborn and would do whatever it takes to remain here to fight a fight that isn’t his to begin with.

“He’s not here to bother you. He’s here because he wants to help others… something that he wasn’t able to do on his own beforehand… He wasn’t even able to help out his parents, one of whom killed himself just as he was coming home. Lord Suicune, with all due respect, I saw for myself that this Displaced… this Lance Walker… He is here not because you asked for it, but because he believes that it’s part of his duty to help whoever is in need, even if they don’t necessarily ask for help. He’s doing it because he knows that it’s the right thing to do… and yet, you are calling him foolish just because he just wants to lend a hoof in support.”

“Even so, I know for a fact that he has loved ones somewhere,”

“Not back where he was from originally… I’ve seen his dreams and they are based on his memories… He’s met countless other displaced that aren’t as terrifying or vicious as the ones you described. He’s not selfish or greedy, but kind and generous. You should not judge him so easily,” Luna advised him. “Because he has a lot of strength and power from within.”

“I never said he was selfish or greedy, he doesn’t know what’s coming, and even if his friends are on other worlds than he needs to fight with them. If he doesn’t leave first thing tomorrow then I’ll shall make him,” Suicune declared, causing Celestia to gasp in shock.

“Suicune, you don’t actually plan too…” But before she could finish, Suicune interrupted her and continued on his declaration.

“I can only pray that he’ll listen to reason, and if not then he’ll have to prove to me that can survive in a battle against an Elder Sibling.” Suicune then said to her, noticing a butterfly pass on across the outside of the window as it flew off. The three of them were by themselves for the moment, but as time passed and they returned to the main hall, they soon heard someone else speak to them.

“I apologize for intruding, but could you please clarify on what you mean by making us leave?” It was the same Adept from before at the other end of the hall as he looked back at them. All three of them equally surprised.

“How-?”

“Lumen was flying past your window when she overheard what Lord Suicune said. And from what it seems, he’s just itching to try and get rid of me, one way or another.” Lance then sighed, looking back at him. “Look, I know how much you don’t want me to be here, but I’m here for a reason.”

“Hehehe… Foolishness must run through your family seeing that you keep saying such ridiculous things. You have until tomorrow to leave, and if you don’t… than I shall kill you,” Suicune warned the Adept as he continued to glare.

“Why else do you think Zsoltan had called me here in the first place?” Lance then posed the question. “He could’ve chosen hundreds or many other potential candidates. Why would you think your own student chose me instead of anyone else. You aren’t alone, Lord Suicune. Your apprentice is watching over you and he sent me to help.”

“You have until tomorrow… Oh and if you truly do respect me than you’ll heed my words and take Exuberant with you back to the world you live in, this is my final warning.”

“I do respect you… and I will leave… but only after no more threats will come to try and harm not only you, but also those who care for you. I am not going to run from this, and I will face it. I’ve been through hell and I’ve endured through worse… I don’t quit and I don’t fear anything that comes my way… even death.”

“I guess I was wrong… You’re a bigger fool than I thought. Tomorrow you shall face the consequences of defying me, Lance Walker.”

“I’m an idiot at times, but not a fool… I just know what’s right…” He said, looking back at him. “You may be strong and I respect you for that… but you can’t take on everything alone. There’s nothing wrong with asking for help.” With that, he walked out of the hall and had the doors close behind him.

“We shall see, Lance Walker,”

“I’m not sure you understand… tomorrow I’m going to prove you wrong,” Lance said to himself, heading to his room where Exuberant had been waiting.

“You do know it’s time for bed~” She said, once again being flirty as she laid on the bed.

“This is going to be a long night…” Lumen said. Lance couldn’t agree more. Exuberant right now truly did remind him of his fiance… and he wasn’t quite sure if that was suppose to be good or bad.

The Next Morning

For the rest of the evening, the Adept was barely able to get any sleep at all. He wasn’t sure if it was because of Lord Suicune’s warning or because of the fear of what Exuberant might do to him while he was sleeping, but he still felt as if he needed to be prepared for what today would bring. Granted, the sleep he did get was just enough for him, but now was when he felt that he needed to make sure that he was ready for what was in store for him.

Rising up onto his feet, the Adept walked out of the room where he was originally resting in order to make sure that he was properly equipped and ready for anything. His pistol was locked and loaded and had all the bolt modifications from the day before, which was a relief for him because he thought that Exuberant would take it from him and dismantle everything in order to examine his equipment for science, and everything else he had seemed to be in working order.

However, what he did seem to notice was that the amount of power he had with his lightning had… significantly increased since his encounter with Monster X. He assumed that draining the kaiju dry of his powers added it to his own, but he was a bit unsure on that theory. After all, it was a theory and there was no real proof behind it.

Once everything was ready, he soon stepped out the door and watched the sun rise in the distance. He wasn’t sure when Lord Suicune would arrive, but right now, this was the calm before the storm… and he still needed to be ready even if he took the chance this morning to not feel on edge.

“It seems you chose to ignore my warnings and decided to face me instead,” Lance soon turned to see Lord Suicune, standing at the entrance. “You’d have to be very brave or very stupid to challenge me Lance Walker.”

Soon his eyes began to glow and everything around them began to shift as Lumen and the two Princesses arrive in time to witness this change. The skies colors had changed from a lightish blue to a dark purple and the guards that had surrounded the castle had mysteriously vanished.

“What happened?” Lumen asked, taking in this sudden change of the environment.

“This is known as the void, a separate dimension that is parallel from our own reality,” Luna explained to the breezie. “This is where Celestia and Suicune had their first battle.”

“Well, this is something…” Lance replied, looking around as he stretched his shoulders. The entire city itself was now a ghost town as Suicune, the princesses, Lumen and himself were the only ones inside as he looked back at him. “So what happens now?”

“It’s time for you to learn to never disobey someone who could kill you!” Suicune soon vanished in a blink of an eye and appeared behind the adept, slashing at his back with ice claws and throwing him across the floor. This did little to hurt the adept though… and also put the Pokemon at a bit of a disadvantage. By striking him, his ice claws had an electrical charge stored in it and because of it, allowed for Lance to connect those claws with his septima as he shot out a bolt of lightning that destroyed the claws in a single blast.

“Cheap trick… but clever… though it’s going to take a lot more than that to beat me.” He warned him as more electricity began to radiate off of his body. Letting his power form as he shot off two more bolts before trying to use his speed to quickly get around him.

“I could say the same, but those toys don’t have any effect on me, only a Pokemon’s attack or a member of the Elder Siblings could really harm me with attacks that involve electricity. Also my attack was simply to see you’re endurance. Now that I have an idea I can increase my power just a bit,” Suicune explained as he formed a large sphere of energy from his mouth and fired it at the adept. This time though, the Adept was the one to surprise him… He did not dodge the energy sphere, deflect it, or even counter it.

Instead… he sent it back at his source. The Adept in any training simulation he had put himself through was going over different kind of abilities to use for different scenarios. For this, since it was energy, he was able to figure out the frequency of it’s power and send it directly back at it’s source, catching Suicune off guard.

“Even if I can’t harm you, it’s best for you not to underestimate me… I already gave you a warning… now it’s time for me to get serious as well.” The Azure Striker grinned, adopting a particular fighting stance as his gaze narrowed while looking at Lord Suicune. “Whenever you are ready…”

But what he didn’t know was that the Pokemon he thought was standing there was nothing more than an illusion as it vaporized in the air. Lance looked around to find where he was hiding. But before he knew it he felt an incredible force slam him straight to the ground, cracking the surface on impact. Lord Suicune stood atop of the Azure Striker with a deadly glare as a scratch appeared on his cheek. Soon he lifted him up from his hair and threw him into a build, before tackling him straight through it.

“You should give up while you still can, leave to the world you care for and you won’t have to suffer a painful death. This world is under my protection and the longer you stay, the closer they’ll get to your world,” To his surprise however… the Adept was not in pain, but grinning. “Fine then, I’ll just have try harder to convince you.” Suicune began to slash at his opponent repeatedly with his ice claws.

“You know what’s funny… the fact that you didn’t see that I wanted you to be this close.” Lance smirked, snapping his fingers as a vertical bolt of lightning crashed down from on top of Suicune. Lance had used Crashbolt in order to strike him, but it only worked when his opponent was directly below or above him. With this case, Suicune was above… and in his range as the blast caught him off guard and he used both of his feet to push the Pokemon away. Gaining some distance from him as he recharged his EP gauge for his Septima.

“I’ll admit that you caught me by surprise by that one,” He said, wiping the dust off himself as he cracked his neck, but looked at the Adept who was beginning to take a few steps back, not because of fright, but to try and gain an advantage, but he was oblivious at how truly powerful he was. Of course, that was Suicune’s thoughts on it. “But everything you’ve done is nothing compared to what I can do.”

But for Lance, he knew how strong he was just based on observing yesterday’s encounter, and he had a feeling that he had a lot more in store. However, there is one thing that felt… off. It felt like Suicune was doing this for another reason. Not out of the feeling to beat him… but it seemed as if he was attacking him based on his emotions. There had to be another reason why Suicune was acting this way… and somehow, he needed to snap him out of it. “You know, I bet you can do a lot more if you actually focused your attacks… something else is holding you back. Because if you were being serious, when you pinned me down, you would’ve gone straight for my heart instead of attack in an enraged fury.” He pointed out, surprising both Luna and Celestia as both the Adept and Pokemon are looking at one another.

“It seems you’ve picked up on it, clever but I only did so because Celestia has never seen me kill anyone before, but since you’re asking for me show what I can really do, than I shall show you taste of what I can actually do!” Before he knew it, Suicune was gone in a blur and was struck across the face from the Pokemon and was sent flying across the courtyard. Lance soon landed on his feet, but Suicune stood behind him as his two tails wrapped around him.

“I gave you a choice… and all you can do is be stubborn,” Suicune swung him with speed into a building. Soon he fired another sphere of energy at him. One in which Lance deflected before getting attacked by Suicune once more.

“So you decided to let your emotions blind you from what you need to actually do… That solves everything.” Lance smirked. Even though the amount of damage he had taken would normally kill anyone else, he had a different trick up his sleeve as a light blue glow began to illuminate his body. “Perfect timing, Lumen. Now it gives me a reason to get serious.”

“You were only using 15 percent of your power before and were going to get yourself killed. Why not use all of your Septima?” Lumen questioned.

“Because the power from Monster X I absorbed gave me a power boost. Yet, I was unsure how much of a boost that would be. So I was taking it easy to see what effect it had on my normal attacks before deciding to go full scale,” The Adept explained, electricity surging from him as it combined with that of the azure glow that was around him. “Now that I figured out how much of an increase it is… I can use it to my advantage.” Now, with a quick step, Lance vanished from Suicune’s vision, causing the Pokemon to look around and trying to figure out where he went.

“Impressive speed, but if you think that’ll be enough than I’m afraid that isn’t going to be enough, I’ll let you in on a secret of mine… I haven’t even started to started fighting seriously, you’ve only experienced a little taste of my power. You’ll never come close to even matching 50 percent of my power.” However, just as he said that was when the pokemon was blindsided by an electric punch that sent him flying through a building and into a wall.

“Who the hell cares about percentages anyways? Sure they may change, but what matters more is not how much of a difference it is…” He heard, before he turned to see the Adept directly behind him. “But what you actually do with that difference.” Now was when Lance executed the second of two Spirit Septima’s he had gained. The first was Crashbolt and the second was named Dragonsphere. A lightning sphere that was charged with the Adept’s septima. He knew the attack wouldn’t do much, but his point was to show that he could fight and when he let the sphere detonate, it sent Suicune back a considerable amount of distance. “Because I use both speed and strength in combat.”

Suicune however still stood, unfazed by the attack as he looked at the Azure Striker with a melancholy look, before grinning at him. “I ain’t done just yet Suicune, I’m going to prove to you that I can help you!” Lance, began to charge his Septima once again, drawing in his strength and putting in all of his energy into being able to continue fighting and prove him wrong.

“Then hit me with all your might and I’ll show you that you never stood a chance,” Suicune stated and awaited for Lance’s final attack. The Adept poured every ounce of power he had left into one last attack. He began to think of all the people that were counting on him. Max, Seph, Twilight, her friends, Cody, Aya… Everyone. All the people he knew that were important to him helped him have his power grow as his lightning violently surged as if a storm was around him. He needed to make this count, and he was sure as hell not going to let everyone down.

While his power rushed through him, the Adept burst forward, unleashing a multitude of strike from different angles at blinding speeds. Then with one last attack, he charged and tackled Suicune to the ground while activating one of his skills in the middle of his strike.

Upon activating it, a violent surge of lightning whirled around the Adept as three electric spheres rotated around him, each one exploding on contact with Suicune while the main sphere that surged around him was used to body slam the pokemon into the side of Canterlot castle. He wanted his attack to be true and come from the power within him, so the best way to demonstrate it was to be up close and personal. Which worked… temporarily.

Suicune was unfazed by the attack and managed to pull himself from the castle wall. He had not felt an attack like that for almost two thousand years. He was impressed to say the least, but it was time to put an end to this conflict that this Displaced had started. “I won’t lie to you saying that I hadn’t felt that. Not many have been able to harm since the third war, but as I said to you before you never stood a chance. I shall now show you true power.”

“Bring it on then… I’m not going anywhere.” Lance boldly declared as he stared him down.

“Very well, I gave you a chance, but now you’ll face the consequences,” Without any effort Suicune, appeared in front of the young Adept and used his ice claws to slash at his chest, before freezing his entire body. Unable to do anything Lance could only watch as Suicune’s power began to rise. A small beam of light appeared in front of the Pokemon’s mouth, growing size. “If you truly believe that you are worth of fighting by my side, than you’ll have to survive an attack that only has a fraction of my power!”

Soon the sphere grew to be twice the size of Suicune, increasing in power. The two princesses could only watch in horror as Suicune unleashed his Hyper beam on the Azure Striker. He tried to escape the prison of ice before it could reach impact, but instead, his feet were frozen to the ground and prevented him from moving. The Adept only had one possible chance to pull off a miracle and to do that… he needed to surprise him.

The pokemon watched as the the blast made contact with his opponent. Almost tearing a hole through the wall behind him as it coughed up a cloud of smoke and dust from the impact. Suicune thought that the matter was over and that everything was said and done… Only for him to be proven wrong.

“So are you done going through your emotional turmoil yet or are you going to try and fire more blasts at me again?”

“You call it emotional, but it isn’t. I never cared because in the past I have faced those who had similar abilities like you only to fall or surrender to my power. Now that’s out of the way, I would like to end this quickly if you don’t mind,” Lance soon was blasted repeatedly by small spheres of energy coming from him. But even with the injuries he had, all he did was smirk a little.

“So I survived an attack and you still try to kill me afterwards? I highly see that as fair in my book… But then again… why would you play fair anyways?”

“You intend to keep fighting me… even though you know you can’t win. Why can’t you see that? I promised Celestia that I wouldn’t show my true power, but you’ve left me no choice. If you won’t surrender willingly, then I’ll injure you to the point where you can’t even stand anymore!” Suicune growled as Lance only looked at him unfazed by his words.

“Tch…” The Adept said, trying to regain his footing as his gaze met Suicune’s. “Stick and stones may break my bones, but words like yours will never hurt me… I don’t care what I have to put myself in order for you to actually see the truth. But whatever it is, I will put through whatever pain you give me to keep my promise.”

Suicune could only sigh as he looked down on the ground for a moment, thinking of Celestia’s promise before looking at the Adept once again. “Forgive me, Celestia.”

Soon the Pokemon’s power had once again increased to it’s highest point and in a blink of an eye, Suicune slashed at Lance’s leg, breaking the bone. He cried out in pain before dropping to one knee, coughing up some blood as he looked back at the pokemon before his next attack caused him to fall flat on the ground. Still making an effort to get up, the Adept tried to use his arms to prop himself up. Only to see Suicune’s next attack as he was ready to strike. Suicune did not enjoy making him suffer, but he thought it was the only way for him to see the truth of the true threat that is coming for him.

Next, Suicune used his twin tails to grab hold of one of Lance’s arm and dislocate it before blasting him in the chest with an aurora beam. Lance was laying on the ground in pain, as tears appeared on his cheeks, for a moment Suicune thought he had seen the light only for Lance to kick him with his other leg. “Foolish child, why don’t you just give up!”

“I don’t… I don’t quit, I don’t give up and I don’t run. True I make mistakes… everyone does… but I’m not a coward,” The Adept coughed again, more blood dripping forth as he glared at Lord Suicune. “Besides… if you really wanted to kill me… you would’ve already done so.”

“I have been taking it easy on you, Lance Walker, but I think it’s time for me to end this once and for all. I’ve had enough of you constantly refusing to be with the ones you care about! It makes me sick that you’d chose to help me over your family!!”

“Then what do you think your Celestia would think if you just murdered someone who was only wanting to help you. Because by helping you… I can make sure that my family will be safe as well…” He boldly stated. It was the last straw that was needed to enrage Suicune as another hyper beam appeared from him, ready to fire at a moment's notice. That was, until a figure stood between the Pokemon and the Azure Striker.

“Suicune, this has gone on long enough!!” Celestia shouted as she stood over Lance in a protective stance, wings flared out as she glared at the confused Pokemon.

“Celestia stand aside, Now!” Suicune demanded, but the Sun Diarch would not stand down as she stepped closer to the Pokemon.

“This isn’t right and you know it, Suicune. He can’t defend himself anymore, so why must this continue? Would you be willing to hurt me to get to him?” She asked. Tears began to form in her eyes as Suicune still was determine to end it.

“He would chose to abandon his family, just to help someone he doesn’t even know! Please don’t make me do this to you?”

“My decision is final, I won’t let you take his life. This isn’t the Suicune I’ve come to know! What happened to the one who had compassion towards children, who was willing to defend the innocent from threats? Where’s that Suicune I’ve come to care for?!” She shouted as tears began to stream down her cheeks, as Suicune began to see just how much pain he had caused to the one he cared for the most. The hyper beam he had charged up began to dissipate, as Celestia embraced him.

“I’m… sorry I didn’t want it to come this far, Celestia. Please forgive me?” He begged as he began to cry as well. The only other person he had come to care for was crying because of him. Even though the battle was over, Lance still feared that Suicune would kill him for not leaving his home.

“Uh… Excuse me…? I-i don’t mean to ruin the emotional moment but… Please help Lance!! H-he’s my friend and I don’t want to be without him! He and I are more than just partners… He’s like family to me. Like a brother I never had.” Lumen asked, he was hesitant, but as promised Lance survived his assaults to the very end and agreed to let him help for what it’s worth.

Suicune approached the injured Azure Striker, still upset that he would be so stubborn to help an old fool like him. “Don’t make me regret this… Gunvolt.” Soon a blue flame appeared from his paw, shocking the Adept about this ability he had. Soon the flame consumed his body, healing his body of all the wounds he had before, but still the pain of the flames stung as he was able to stand on both feet once again.

“I… thought you… could only use… Water type abilities?” Lance then asked, confused a little at what Suicune was able to do.

“In the Displaced… anything is possible… even magic. After all, you demonstrated something similar like me. The only difference is that I’ve learned abilities one can only dream of having,” Suicune stated, leaving the Adept in place as he walked towards Celestia and Luna. “I shall return us back to our dimension now.”

Soon the sky’s color returned back to it’s normal blue color as the guards that surrounded the castle returned. Even all the buildings that had been destroyed were repaired. Like nothing happened at all. Lance could only sigh in relief as Lumen grabbed the side of his head, wailing.

“Lumen, it’s okay. We’re back now.” He assured her, looking back to the pokemon as he walked on over to them. Despite everything that had happened, he still had a feeling that Suicune would be stubborn like before. But, that thought quickly changed once he heard the Pokemon speak to him.

“I know you plan on staying, but why get involved in a fight that isn’t even your own? I’ve endured thousands of years worth of war and sorrow and yet you treat like it’s nothing… tell me what is it that makes you like that?” He asked, turning towards the Adept with curiosity.

“I’ve always thought of protecting those around me… using the powers I have been given to assist and help others when in need. To do what’s right… and sometimes, the best way to protect those I care for is to stop the threat before it even reaches them.” He told him, looking back at Suicune. “When I agree to help other people, it’s a promise. A commitment that I do not break. Something I see all the way until the end and not stop halfway. I promised Zsoltan that I would help you… and I never go back on my promises.”

“It seems you and I have one thing in common, something that you’ve reminded me today, so as thanks I shall teach you one ability I know and something that will help you right now.” Suicune said, as both Celestia and him gave the Adept a sly grin.

“Something… in common? Zsoltan mentioned the same thing, but never told me what that was,” The Adept replied. “I’m… a bit curious to know what it is?”

“Well one, it has something to do with what remains of your clothing… I suggest you get some new attire, before she sees you,” It was funny that he had mentioned that as a few moments later, the outfit that he had on soon began to repair itself slowly.

“Funny thing is, Radiance in my world, or who you may know as Rarity made this outfit. It’s strong enough to outlast anything and if it is torn apart, it can restore itself since it’s synched with my Septima.” Just as he finished that, he looked back at Suicune and smiled. “As you were saying?”

“I would check again if I was you… My ice claws can cancel magical objects or natural abilities that objects possess … it shouldn’t be long until those begin to undo themselves… Also I would avoid Exuberant if I were you… I take you’ve already figured this out… but she’s very perverted.”

“It’s not magic,” The Adept deadpanned, sighing a little at his comment afterwards. “Also, I noticed… and truth be told, she really is reminding me of my fiance… and I’m not sure it that’s suppose to be a good thing-.” Just when he said that though, he felt a pair of robotic arms wrap around him as he fell face flat on the ground. With Exuberant being behind him.

“Looks like you and I get to spend the day together since you're staying now~!” She cheerfully spoke as Lance slowly got up.

“Greeeeeat.” He groaned sarcastically, before looking to Suicune. “How am I supposed to break the news to her that I’m going to get married?”

“She’ll either separate you or join you two… she’s perverted as I said,” He whispered to him as Celestia joined them.

“I may only know her from stories he told me about, but I’ve heard she never takes no for an answer.” Celestia added, as Suicune nodded in agreement.

“Yeah… I hate to break it to you, but I’m part of an open relationship so…” The Adept said, sighing a little before saying something else. “I’m marrying two people… and the families already big enough as it is.”

“Good luck telling her that… she’s done this in the past, but I have a feeling she’s going to be stuck with you till the day you die. And I get a front row seat to see this to the end… hehehe,” Suicune, Celestia and Luna laughing as they left the two alone as he turned to try and see where Lumen was… and found her talking with Exuberant.

What happened next was something the adept really did not want to deal with right now. “He’s WHAT!?!!”

“Dammit Lumen!!”

End Strike 44

Strike 45- A New Journey, Part 3

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Strike 46: The Search Part 1

Author's Note

After originally failing to try and gather many potential displaced to help Lord Suicune from Quicksilver's world, the Pokemon decides to help the Adept by teaching him a new ability for him to use in the future. But to do so, he needs to learn a very important lesson... one that he must remember as he goes up against his hardest challenge yet... a being that was originally banished by the Elder Siblings for claiming that he was one of them.

Claiming that he was a being of purity... a being of authority... and a being of justice

Like I had mentioned in the last couple of chapters, this is still part of the crossover that Pen Dragon and I are working on with his two stories on Suicune... but it also goes into another story that I'm helping him come up with and has yet to be released. More details will come later with time, but for right now, enjoy the chapter!
-Frost

Strike 46: The Search Part 1

When Lightning Strikes- The Search Part 1

Canterlot (Suicune’s Domain)

Suicune sat alone, personally wondering if he put too much responsibility on Lance. He hardly knew him and yet, he’s trusting his world, his future in the hands of a child. Why he did so? He’ll never know, but if Celestia trusted him, then perhaps he should give him a chance. Suicune can only hope that he’ll return with his allies to fight against this threat that had yet to come… but nevertheless, needed to be ready for.

It was shortly after having this thought that he did… but at first, he looked… disappointed to see that only two have managed to return back with the Adept. He personally thought that it was because they just straight up ignored him… but all the scratches and battle scars on their bodies proved that theory wrong in an instant… and it also made him concerned.

“Lance Walker… What happened? Where’s Zenyatta and the others you spoke of?” He asked, but Lance did not answer. Instead, the breezie in his hair did as she flew out and soon began to talk to the legendary Pokemon.

“They were with us and we thought that we were safe, but that jerkface Cobalion tricked us with the shield generator they had to keep them out!” Lumen spoke before getting to the next part… which was hard to say for her personally. “Zen… and the others… sacrificed themselves so we could make it back…” Suicune for his part was shocked by this revelation. He feared that his message did not reach Lance, before he closed him off.

“I see… I tried to warn you Lance, but you closed of the link before I could tell you that the Sentinels can’t be shut down on Yellow Radio’s ship. They could only be turned off in Ozai’s region.” Suicune explained.

Lance groaned, looking down on himself before looking back at Suicune. “I figured… but I found that out by tricking Yellow Radio into telling me… Even if they couldn’t be stop, they can be stalled and I used my powers to not only meddle around with all of the Sentinel’s Source Code to mess with their functions, but even stole his files for Exuberant to look over and destroyed his work station. I figured that given the limited amount of time we had that if Exuberant had intelligence on the Sentinels, she could help us find an… achilles heel for the them. They may seem indestructible… but it does not mean they’re invulnerable.” The Adept did bring up a valid point, but Suicune was not quite so fond of his eager optimism right now. Still though, he was able to successfully bring Quicksilver here along with his Pinkie Pie, so the mission wasn’t exactly a complete failure.

Besides, there was still more worlds that he needed to have Lance visit in the remaining amount of time they had left. And hopefully, more allies for him to bring back safely. “I suppose you did a good job… still, Zenyatta was an old friend… one of few that remain. He was part of my counsel and Cobalion was part of my guard, before they retired. What I’m wondering is why Cobalion would betray Zenyatta? He was like a son to him.”

“Well, shortly after he tried to use some weird shadow crystal ability to keep me stuck to a wall, he went on a glory speech that a cultist would go on. Saying that ‘the multiverse is right to fear us… they were the future, the ones who will inherit the multiverse and anyone, whether displaced or not, will suffer the same fate as the Displaced who continued to defy their gods’ along with some other things.” The Adept explained, going as far as to impersonate Cobalion himself when he was telling Suicune about what his messages was. Which definitely caught Cobalion’s attention. “It was like he was praising some dark god or something. Do you have any possible idea what this could mean?”

“He did mention something of a brotherhood, Lance. Like right before you broke out of his attack and sucker punched him to the floor,” Lumen added. “Fight together in a brotherhood of our kind… A new tomorrow that starts today. Those were his exact words.” The breezie hoped that this could’ve been some kind of clue that somehow Suicune would know… but she did not want to get her hopes up so soon.

“Sounds like something that would come from a cheap movie!” Quicksilver commented, only for Suicune to raise a brow at this new Quicksilver that Lance told him about, but decided to leave that question for another day.

“I don’t know what he means by brotherhood or anything along those lines, but I think he’s referring to the Elder Siblings.”

“True, but for some odd reason, there seemed something… off. I mean, I’ve encountered Yellow Radio, Monster X and the Beast King and unlike those three, Cobalion was rather calm and appeared to be hiding something behind his composure. I don’t know, it’s just a thought,” Lance said as he scratched the back of his head. “Still, I was able to get Quicksilver and Pinkie Pie back safely, as well as stealing all of Yellow Radio’s files… so what’s next?” The Adept’s question made Suicune think he was pretty eager in order to continue helping Suicune. After all, there was more worlds that Lance needed to reach before Ozai’s arrival… and in some cases, some worlds could either use up less… or more of the little time they had left.

The Adept originally had two months, but with his recent adventure to get Quicksilver, he now had only about four and a half weeks remaining before Ozai and Elysium were expected to arrive. “Lance I believe I made an offer with you before… Did I not?”

He did remember that Suicune made an offer for him, but right now, with everything that had just happened, the Adept needed a bit of help trying to remember what the offer was.

“You do not remember do you?” Lance simply nodded, only for Suicune to mentally face palm as he groaned in response. “You truly are a simpleton!”

“Hey, I spent the last two days trying to get all this stuff done and not get decapitated by the hands of crazed murderbots,” Lance replied back. “All I remember was that you said something about you teaching me an ability, but never actually saying what that ability was… was that the offer you were referring to?”

“So you can think… here I was believing that you had low level of intelligence, but moving on from that… I shall teach you one of my abilities. Meet me back here tomorrow morning to begin your training. Get some rest, you’ve earned it.” He said, blinking his eyes once only for Lance and the others to end up falling into a fountain.

Meanwhile…

The echoes from the halls inside the ship known as The Phoenix King made Lord Ozai’s meditation was much more difficult than the previous days. Soon, he felt the presence of two others enter his chambers. Two fellow siblings. Opening his eyes and turning around, he soon saw Elysium… alongside a very surprising guest. Lord Yasha himself. It was an honor to have him onboard the ship… however, he was not sure why exactly was he here.

“Lord Yasha?! I wasn’t expecting you to be here-” Before he could finish Yasha simply flicked Ozai across the room.

“Ozai… tell me why Yellow Radio and Cobalion have failed to complete their mission in killing the one that is assisting Suicune?” He asked, Ozai coughed and spat some blood that was in his mouth and stood up to face him.

“I wasn’t aware of their failure till recently and I’ve already sent word out to them to return to the Phoenix King immediately for punishment.” The firebender replied honestly as he looked back at Lord Yasha. “Assisting a traitor is one thing… but whoever this Displaced is, he is much more skilled than we were lead to believe if he managed to avoid not only Yellow Radio, but also that of Cobalion.”

“I am fully aware of that… but I’ve decided to remove the death sentence on this Displaced… I want you to bring him to me alive. With proper training he’ll make an excellent commander in Elysium’s armada.” Yasha said bluntly, it was hard to tell what he was feeling behind that mask. That was when they soon got a transmission in from none other than one of the displaced they were talking about only a few moments ago. Yellow Radio. Yet, there was one big difference… Originally when Elysium had saw them, Yellow Radio’s laboratory was fully operational. Now it looked more like a smoldering wreckage.

“Stupid thing, please work-. Oh, thank the siblings it works! Yes!!” They heard the jester cry out in relief before noticing that Lord Ozai and Elysium were on the other end. “Oh… right… My lord, both Cobalion and I have received your orders to return imme-.”

It was then that Lord Yasha spoke to the yellow jester, making him stop talking as the deity had something to say. “Yellow Radio… there is no need to return. I have a special assignment for you and Cobalion. Bring me that Displaced that interfered… but bring him to me alive. I have something special planned for him.”

“You want him… alive?” They soon heard Cobalion speak up. “That single displaced is the reason why Yellow’s work station is wrecked, his computer systems aren’t operational and also stole all of the files containing his research. He was even able to mess with the source code programming on the sentinels and make sure that it was saved before frying the terminal he was… using.” That caught the siblings attentions rather quickly. The sentinels themselves were powerful soldiers and unstoppable in combat… but this displaced was attacking them from a different approach. To Ozai, it reminded him of a specific bending art used by Waterbenders called bloodbending. An art that allows you to control the blood in a person’s body and bend it to a person’s will.

This displaced was crafty… but Yasha’s mind was unchanged. “Still… bring him to me and bring him alive. That is an order.” He strictly told them before closing the transmission personally and turning to Ozai and Elysium. “There was something else I needed to discuss with both of you… something that could be… problematic to our efforts.”

“What seems to be the issue my lord?” Elysium asked.

“Zamasu has escaped from his prison… Of course, Rayquaza has already gone after him, but I want you to send the Warden to assist her… If it’s possible.” Yasha ordered, both Elysium and Ozai had unsure looks, but nodded nonetheless.

“He is still in the pursuit of becoming a god after all those years? I would think that being in that pit for so long has driven him mad.” The firebender commented afterwards.

“He’s nothing but a delusional fool if he believes that he’ll surpass us. If anyone is considered a god it’s us, then that pathetic traitor,” Elysium added with huff.

“Indeed. Still, he is a threat not to be taken lightly,” He advised them. “In the meantime though, I want you two to keep me informed with your progress on the hunt for the traitor and your progress in capturing the displaced helping him.” Both Ozai and Elysium acknowledged his words before the deity vanished shortly afterwards. Leaving the two of them to stay the course in hoping that… sooner or later… they would be able to find the traitor.

The traitor once known as Lord Suicune.

Back at Canterlot

“So what was it that you were going to teach me?” The Adept asked Lord Suicune as the two of them were now conversing amongst themselves in Celestia’s garden. It had been a few hours since Lance had originally returned and now, he was ready to learn what Suicune wanted to teach him. He had a feeling that this ability that the pokemon was hinting at will be quite beneficial the more he continued to search for other Displaced to help them.

“Now before I teach, tell me… do you have any allies that are outside this dimension?” He asked the Adept. Lance took a moment to think, followed by him answering his question shortly afterwards.

“Yes I do. Were you looking for anyone specific?” Lance then asked. “Quicksilver has speed and Pinkie is a wildcard. I know some friends and allies that are skilled in magic, combat and various other areas. One even taught me how to use energy, a lot of techniques associated with it and teleportation.” The adept’s sentence was finished by him channeling some ki through his hands to form a sphere.

“Describe one of your friends for me, anyone will do.” Suicune then asked.

“Well, off the top of my head, there’s a Displaced I know named Nicko. Highly skilled in Rune Magic and Swordsmanship. Has even expanded along the lines of what he knows to come up with new ways to use his powers and abilities,” The Adept told him, holding a card that had the Rune Slayer’s picture on it. “There’s one thing you should know… despite the fact that he’s 25 years old, his size makes him look like he’s a teenager since he’s around five foot two… and he gets pissed off whenever anyone refers to his height or calls him a kid, runt, pipsqueak, etc.”

With all the details he had received his body began to glow as his form began to alter itself. Light grew immensely, blinding the Adept for a brief moment. Once the light faded, Lance turned to see not Suicune, but Nicko standing before him, it was a close resemblance except for one thing. He was definitely taller than Lance. “Today as one of my students I shall be teaching you how to shapeshift.”

“Wow… that is definitely going to come in handy,” Lance commented to himself before realizing that Suicune was still talking. “Oh my apologies, do go on.”

“As I was saying… this will not be easy, so for the rest of the night I want you to sit here and hold this leaf in your hand do not let it go… and do not leave this spot no matter what. Don’t let anything break your concentration.” He explained, Lance didn’t know what to think of this exercise. There wasn’t anything else to it, just sitting there and doing nothing… Other than holding the leaf.

“I don’t want to sound rude, but is this all-?”

“Necessary? Yes, yes it is Lance,” Suicune replied without the Adept being able to finish his question as Lance took a seat on the ground below him. Seating criss cross like he was in a meditation position. “I shall be back shortly.”

As he turned around the corner, he was met with five different figures, who each wore cloaks. Suicune could only let a small grin creep along his face as he gave the order. “You know what to do my friends.”

Meanwhile, for Lance, he just focused his concentration at the task at hand and even went as far as closing his eyes so he could truly concentrate and focus on listening to what was around him. In a way, it was allowing for him to be in sync with what was around him and the energy that flowed through it. From what was in the ground he walked on to what was in the air. He could feel that of himself and also the living creatures around him… to an extent, of course.

At he was, until he heard a familiar voice call out to him “Hey Lance! Come on we’re going to throw Suicune and Celestia a surprise party! You need to come now!!” It was of course none other than Pinkie Pie.

“I would like to join you guys, but Suicune asked me to do something very important,” He said from his spot, not moving an inch. “Sorry Pinkie, but I can’t. Maybe after we help him out we can though.”

“Oh, come on! You’ve been working your butt off for awhile now! I say you deserve a break from all that work.” She said, trying to tempt him to come. “There will all kinds of sweets, snacks, games, food, cake, sweets and snacks.”

“You said Sweets and Snacks twice…” He deadpanned.

“That’s because there’s double of… EVERYTHING!!” She replied, grabbing his shoulders and shaking him, but he didn’t move from his spot, even though he was tempted to go.

“Yeah… if this is Suicune’s party that you are throwing, then aren’t you suppose to be… well… entertaining your guests?”

“It’s a surprise party For… Suicune And Celestia,” She whispered in his ear, before shaking him more as she kept repeating the words ‘You have to come.’ repeatedly over and over again… yet, not budging.

“Lumen may enjoy it. I wish I could Pinkie, but Suicune asked me to do this and if he see’s me there, then he would get mad at me for not doing what he asked for me to do.” Lance firmly explained to her with a deep sigh.

“Well can’t you at least help me set up for the party? It doesn’t begin for an hour… Please!” She begged as her eyes watered up a bit as her lips quivered a bit. Making an adorable face like that would have worked if she was a little filly. But Lance did not budge, nor did he see the face since his eyes were firmly closed shut.

“I’m sorry Pinkie… but my decision is final,” He told her as he let out a deep sigh. “I wish I could, but I can’t… not if I want to do everything I can to help Suicune.”

She simply nodded and headed off around the corner, hiding a devious grin as she pulled out a remote and with a simple press of a button a loud bang went off as she peeked around the corner to see that Lance had cake covering most of his back, but he refused to move an inch, no matter how annoying it was. “Rats!” was all that he heard as Pinkie disappeared.

“Damn it Pinkie… If I wasn’t stuck sitting here, I would come and help…” Lance thought to himself. “Sorry about that.”

“Why sit here than?” Lance soon turned to see Quicksilver eating a bag of chips.

“It’s a long story…” He said, returning back to the original position he was in. “It’s part of Suicune’s teaching me a technique and to do it… I can’t be disturbed…” The last part had a glare to it as he shot it in Quicksilver’s direction, firmly holding onto the leaf that Suicune asked for him to.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” He asked. He sighed, closing his eyes again as he sighed deeply and just concentrated. “Look do you really want to miss the greatest party of all time? I mean everyone is going to be there.”

“What a likely story… Yet, I’m feeling Pinkie pacing in circles in a nearby hallway, heard her say rats off of the walls and you just happened to show up seconds later?” Lance told her, putting out each piece of information on the table. “That’s a very likely story.”

“Well one of course I got here in seconds… Super speed remember? Also I took this out of your pocket sometime after Suicune dropped us in that fountain.” Pulling out a photograph.

“Funny… I don’t have many pockets and if I did, I would’ve felt it.”

“So this isn’t you and Lumen arguing… then I must be dumb as a rock. These guys look so much like you,” He said sarcastically showing the photo of him and Lumen. However, there was one critical flaw in that presumption.

“Lumen and I have never had an argument within the time we worked with one another. Sure we’ve had disagreements… but never arguments… and also, Lumen nevers like ponies taking photographs of her.”

“Well I didn’t take the photo and it was in your pocket… you just too slow to notice. Oh, well I tried to convince ya, but hey Pinkie can’t say that I didn’t try. Well gotta go.” And he was soon gone in a flash as Lance went on.

“Or you spend too much time running around. Have you ever considered slowing down and taking some time to think things through.” He thought to himself as he still focused on what he was doing… taking a bit of time to clear up the thoughts in his head as he channeled his energy to his hands.

All he needed to do was relax and this would be over before he knows it, but he soon heard the sounds of wings flapping towards him, breaking his concentration once again, he looked up too see Princess Luna overhead, landing beside him. He was curious as to why she of all ponies would be here with him? It didn’t make much sense.

“Young Displaced… Your friends are throwing a surprise party for my sister and Lord Suicune and I was curious whether you’d be attending this event or not?” She asked.

Sighing once again, the Adept spoke. “Like I told both Quicksilver and Pinkie, Lord Suicune asked for me to sit here and not move from this spot as part of a lesson he’s trying to teach me. If I complete the lesson, I can have another ability I can use to help Lord Suicune.”

“True, but even a warriors need a break from training Displaced, even I need a break once in awhile, but the offer is still open if you wish to join us once the party starts.” Luna told him in response.

“I would like to join you, but you know how Lord Suicune gets if I disappoint him,” The Adept replied, looking in her direction for a moment before closing his eyes again. “Hopefully, the sooner that I finish this, the sooner I can join you.”

“Who says he has to know?”

“Trust me… he finds out one way or another…” Lance sighed.

“Even so, Displaced… you must take a break after all that’s… Uh never mind… Still I say you should take my advice and relax even just for a little bit,” She explained, leaving the Displaced to think about what she had said. He did… but had a feeling that Pinkie, Quicksilver, and Luna were part of something in order to distract him. Throw him off of his game… but he pursued to not let that distract him.

Two hours had nearly passed and he did his best to remain seated in his place, no one else had bothered him in awhile, but he had a thought in the back of his head telling him that they weren’t going to give up so easily. At least that’s what he thought until heard the sounds of a familiar breezies wings fly near him. He turned to see Lumen wearing a very tiny maid’s outfit, that was extremely cute… and also off-putting.

“Uhh… Lumen why are you wearing that?” He asked as the breezie flew in front of his face. He had not seen Lumen wear any form of clothing before, nevermind something like this. Something was definitely not making sense here.

“Do you like it? Exuberant and Luna made it for me!” She answered, only to land on his head and flaunt it as she did a little dance. Lance would personally facepalm himself right now, but in thinking this did he come up with a reply.

“It looks great on you, I really like it!” Lance replied for a moment before concentrating again. For a moment, he thought that his actions was a sign of ignoring her and then spoke up. “Lumen, I’m sorry if I don’t have much to say right now. I’m trying to concentrate on something that Lord Suicune asked for me to do.”

“Aww… but they worked so hard… Even Exuberant made one for herself and was planning to seduce you with it…” She quickly clamped up her mouth quickly. “Ops.”

“I know… and I’m glad they helped. But… Lumen, after what happened on the last world with Quicksilver, I realized that the only way that I could be able to actually help people… and not have people die like Zenyatta and them is for me to change. This is suppose to be a first step in helping myself reach that point.” The adept told her in response.

“Oh… Well I understand, but Exuberant will be coming out soon. Just a heads up and if you find what I’m wearing cute, than what she’s wearing will make your nose bleed,” She said, giggling in response as she flew off, after Lance asked her one last question.

“Question first beforehand… would it make me think of Max again?” His question was not without reason… and that was because the synthetic was reminding him of his fiance more and more every time he saw her.

“Hehehe… that’s a secret Lance… They said not to spoil any of her surprises.” She answered, flying off to the castle, leaving the Adept alone to continue his focus.

It had almost been ten minutes since Lumen left and Lance had been expecting Exuberant to show up by now, but he closed his eyes to try and concentrate. At least he tried too only to feel a metallic hand rest on his shoulders as heard giggling from behind him.

“I found you~.” Lance heard, not moving an inch as he felt Exuberant’s hands on his shoulder.

“Hello to you too, Exuberant,” He replied back simply. “Lumen told me you were coming and that you made that dress for her. Was pretty stoked about too.” That was not quite the response that Exuberant was expecting from the Adept. He didn’t even take the time to open his eyes and actually look at her as she was still behind him. Before deciding to move around him and be in front of him this time around to see if she can get his eyes open.”

“And here I was planning on revealing my new outfit… it’s very formal you know.” She replied, as she sat in front of the Adept.

“I already know you’re wearing a maid’s outfit, Exuberant,” He told her, only to receive more giggling from the android. Tempting as it was to look… he still kept his eyes closed.

“Who said anything about Maid’s Outfit… Unless you’re into that kind of thing.” Good god, did she really have to go there? All that did was just make Lance feel more creeped out than anything else. Not even wanting to open his eyes now as he just sighed for a moment and straightened up his back.

“Exuberant, is there… another reason for you being here? Because in the past three hours; you, Lumen, Luna, Quicksilver and Pinkie Pie have all been trying to take my attention away from something that Lord Suicune specifically requested for me to focus on… so would it be possible to assume that you five were asked by him to try and distract me?” The Adept’s question was met by silence as his hand was still focused on holding onto the leaf and not loosening up on his grip at all.

“Well… Lumen did tell me that I could find you here~ She wanted me to bring you to the party since it’s about to start in an hour… Considering Lord Suicune is planning something Big! But I thought it would be a bit more fun if it was just the two of us out here,” She replied.

“That’s funny… because in the past three hours, I did not hear her sing any songs regarding forming any parties-.”

“That’s because the guests haven’t showed up yet and we’re still setting up, Suicune wanted to do something special for Cele-” She quickly stopped in mid sentence as she began to giggle, If Lance could only see what she was up too, or even move for that matter.

“Or the fact that I haven’t heard her use her party cannon. Knowing my Pinkie… and any other Pinkie I have already met, her party cannon is a primary tool for forming parties…” The Adept brought up a very valid point and one thing that Exuberant happened to overlook. Something that caught her by surprise if she was honest with herself. At least until the sounds of shooting began happening within the castle, causing him to open his eyes to see streamers shooting across the glass roof of the castle only to see Exuberant wasn’t wearing anything seductive, but something formal like she said. She was wearing what looked like a teacher’s uniform that seemed a little tight for her, but still looked cute nonetheless. She was even wearing a pair of cute glasses.

Yet, he still knew one thing… and that was that Lumen would not lie to him. She did say that she would wear something to make his nosebleed. So given this, Exuberant’s formal wear seemed to have another meaning to it. “Okay, that was honestly not what I was expecting… still though… Exuberant, please do understand when I say that I can’t make it to the party you guys are putting together. What Lord Suicune wanted for me to do was important and after what happened previously… I want to be able to help save more lives instead of watching them die right in front of me. I’m not trying to be a grouch, but this is something I see as important.”

“You can be a real idiot sometimes you know that? First off you didn’t even tell me how I looked! Secondly we were only trying to get you to relax at the party Suicune was planning.”

“Woah, hold up just a minute… we?” Lance questioned. “So you were planning something! And I thought that the increased pulse from everyone else was just a fluke.” Over the course of everyone else seeing him, Lance felt that everyone he met had a slightly higher pulse then normal. Which, to him, meant that they were either hiding something from him… or not telling him the entire truth…

Lance soon received a slap on the back of his head as Exuberant glared at him, her eyes weren’t red, but pink instead. “Baka! You still didn’t tell me how I looked! God, you really are an idiot! I mean come on wasn’t it obvious that we were trying to convince you to come. Also I took the time to make this for you and you still haven’t told me how I looked!” She said, fixing her glasses while puffing her cheeks… if she had any that is.

“Okay… I’m sorry. You look wonderful… yet, you caught me at the wrong time. I’m sorry Exuberant, but I can’t come.” Lance’s reply soon lead to him looking back at the leaf he was instructed to hold onto. Exuberant was going on a rant in the background, but he wasn’t listening right now. Instead, he was paying attention to what was flickering around the edges of the leaf as it began to glow.

“Fine… Have it your way… and here I had something planned for you later tonight, but I would seem I’ll have to make you beg for it~” She said, as a devious smirk appeared across her face, sending a shiver down the Adepts spine as her eyes turned from pink to purple, before walking off, swaying her hips. But the Adept wasn’t paying attention at all and the moment that Exuberant left was when the leaf was fully glowing now as Lance cleared his mind and let the leaf to continue what it was doing… thinking it was part of the test that Suicune gave to him.

“You still haven’t figured out what my intentions are have you Lance Walker?” Suicune’s voice began to echo within the air as Lance opened his eyes to see the leaf fly off his hand and began to summon the mighty Pokemon, wearing a black tux.

“You know I expected better from you Lance,” He said, straightening his bow tie.

“I was lead to believe that you wanted me to focus on the leaf, have a clear mind and not have any distractions break my concentration,” The Adept replied back. “And given how you were so strict about wanting me to leave the first time we met, I was lead to believe that the same attitude would be demonstrated in your teachings… I did not mean to come off as Antisocial to everyone. I was just lead to believe that you would chew out my ass if I ignored what you specifically requested for me to do.”

“Yes I did tell you that… but I also expected you to relax when handling the leaf. You are young and I expected you to be a bit rebellious, like I was when I was young. But there was a test and it was a simple choice. Where does your loyalty lay… with the ones you care for? Or the cause? And even though I appreciate that your loyal, but I’ve always had an oath. Family comes before anything.” He explained to the Adept.

“My loyalty lies in who I care for… but even with Exuberant and Lumen, all of you are friends to me. I care for my friends… but by being with them, it also poses a risk that leaves you vulnerable.” The Adept told him. “But you’re more then a friend… aren’t you?”

“I am not your friend, I’m your mentor… But answer me this… If you had to chose between me and your family. Who would you chose?” He asked Lance.

“...... My family… God, why am I such an idiot?” He said to himself, groaning a little. “The answer is right in front of me and I am damn blind about it the whole time. What the hell is wrong with me?”

“Hehehehe… Well looks like you realize your mistake. Now tell me what do you plan to do now?” He asked.

“Then what the hell is the damn point of this exercise? To mock me for my poor choices?” The Adept retorted. He wasn’t liking the way that Lord Suicune was speaking to him. It was like he knew everything about him already, including his life before displacement. “I wanted you to be my mentor because I did not want anyone else, including my family, to die! I want to not feel like I can’t do anything to save a life when it turns out that I can!! What I do now is that I continue learning from you… But not this change who I am as a person. I still want to be a hero… and help people. Including you.”

“Lance… Friends come and go… but family is eternal and must be treasured. Trust me my student… you’ll make the right choice when the time comes. I suggest we head to the party before the guests arrive.”

“I treasure my family… but why would you do this if none of the people that tried talking to me were family… Except…” He blinked and realized what he was talking about. “Lumen…”

“Now you see right? You shouldn’t feel bad for making a mistake like this… My mentor taught me the same when I was still learning to use my powers.” He said, with a light chuckle.

“Honestly, after all of this, I feel like sh*t,” He replied back as the Adept looked back at him. “I was an ass to everyone who was just trying to help me and I pushed them away? How is that suppose to make me feel? Hell, Exuberant probably would not even want to talk to me right now because of the way I acted around her.”

“Don’t be so sure,” He soon heard above him as he looked up to notice that Lumen was above him. “I told her that you focusing on something can make you like that… So she’s not really mad. Just a bit irritated is all.”

“Perfect timing little breezie,” He said, smiling as Lumen landed on top of the Pokemon’s head.

“Lance, don’t beat yourself up over this,” The Breezie then said to him. “He knows that you care for your family because I told him of how much you care for Max and Seph. In fact, this was also another test… Lord Suicune asked for us to come and talk to you to see if we can possibly distract you somehow. He told me that when it comes to stronger abilities, it requires a lot of focus and Lord Suicune asked for us to see if your focus could easily be broken… So you got half of the lesson right.” With it, Lumen soon flew over and landed on top of his head as she smiled at him. “Besides, no matter what happens, I’ll always be with you.”

“T-thanks Lumen…” Lance replied with a smile added to it. “I needed that.”

“Now we better head to the party… I want some of that cake,” Lumen said, earning a chuckle from both Displaced as she looked back at them. “What, the last cake I had did not taste good.”

“Well Lance Walker, you have a kind friend… look after her, I fear that she may be the only family you may have left.” Suicune said, entering the castle. Lance was unsure what he meant by that, but decided to not let that affect him as he joined up with everyone else, apologized to Exuberant, and enjoyed his time with them.

The Following Morning…

“G-good lord… what the hell was in that cake last night?” Lance groaned as he slowly woke up out of his bed. It was 5:30am right now and he had been awake for the last half an hour because he felt as if something was bothering him. At first, he thought it was a stomach ache… but later on, when his head began to hurt for a minute, he had a feeling that was not the case. Still, he did his best to not let it affect him as he slowly rose up from his bed, walked over to the bathroom and began to clear up his face.

Some time after getting dressed though, he was surprised to find Lord Suicune standing in his room… shortly after getting out of the bathroom no less. “Uh… good morning to you as well? I honestly thought you would’ve knocked on the door.”

“I don’t need permission from you, Lance Walker! What I want to know is why in the audacity you would do that at Celestia’s party!” He asked, his face was flushed red as he growled at the adept.

“Uh… Do what? Matter of fact, are you okay?” He asked him, puzzled. “I wouldn’t do anything at all to disrespect you, so what exactly are you talking about?”

“You honestly don’t remember do you? Damn it, I knew having Pinkie serve that hard Cider was a bad idea!”

Lance just raised an eyebrow, looking at him in confusion. “I don’t drink Cider… Wait, are you drunk?” He asked, looking back at the pokemon and wondering if he was going to be okay.

“The Cider wasn’t meant to be alcoholic… Let me explain, it was a special drink made for both Celestia and I… but it looks exactly like Apple Cider, but your friend somehow got a hold of it and you-” His face says death was approaching as he glared at the Adept.

“All I had was water last night.” He pointed out to him… only to hear someone else burp a little as he felt a rustle in his hair as he looked up to see Lumen in a daze.

“B-boy… That drink Exuberant gave me was greeeeeat…” She said in a daze. “You should’ve had some Lance.” All the Adept could do was facepalm himself as he groaned a little.

“Oh, don’t think I’m happy with you either Breezie… You were the cause for all this!!!” He said, for a brief moment Lance could swear he saw flames come from the Pokemons maw.

“Me!? All I did was drink the beverage Exuberant offered…” She complained, pointing out something to Lance.

“Wait a minute… Exuberant was handing out drinks?” Lance asked, realizing that this sounded like the beginning of a recipe for disaster. “So THAT’S why everyone was stumbling around…?”

“You remember that! But you can’t remember what you did to me and Celestia!!!” He shouted, as flames really did peer out from his mouth.

“Lord Suicune, with all due respect, I don’t have any powers or anything at all that would do something to you and Celestia! Please, think about what you are doing...

“Exuberant is right! You are an idiot!”

“What did I do then!?!” The Adept shouted. “You keep on saying that I did something, yet you never said what it was!! I would not do anything to anyone, especially my mentor who I respect for god’s sake!! So why the accusations?!”

“Because you were the one who tripped and kissed… MY CELESTIA!!!”

“Uh… What the actual f*ck are you talking about?” The Adept asked. He was beginning to think that something was wrong with Suicune. The red blush on Suicune’s cheek would not make sense because it wouldn’t make sense for it to be there is Suicune was downright angry at him. “Suicune, I would NOT do anything to ruin your relationship with her and I respect it 100%. I would not even dare do anything LIKE THAT to your Celestia for christ’s sake! Can you just take like five seconds to calm down and think this through!?”

“Damn it… I know you didn’t mean to do it… but it happened!! Two drinks were served last night and one was to Lumen!!! The other was for somepony else. And because of that pony she hit you on the head and you fell! ON MY CELESTIA AND KISSED HER!!!” He explained.

“Wait… Who hit me on the head?” Lance asked. “I’m sorry for whatever happened, Lord Suicune. I apologize for everything… but if you said somepony hit me on the head, that meant that they knocked me into Celestia… and I would already be unconscious at that point.”

“You did pass out once you hit the floor…” Lumen then added, trying her best to help.

“I know… but quite frankly I can’t find that pony… meaning you're the only ones that’ll have to take the punishment for this… after all, Lumen was the one who offered the second drink to the other pony. Now tell me, would you prefer fire or ice?” He asked as he closed in on the duo.

“Oh NOW I remember… I gave the second drink to Pinkie Pie.” Lumen said as the thought came to her, causing both Lord Suicune and Lance to say the same statement at the exact same time, shocked by her statement.

“You did WHAT!?!!”

“I gave it to her thinking that Exuberant forgot to give her a drink and gave it to her instead,” Lumen replied, her memories coming back to her. “Who else would giggle before knocking Lance on the head?”

“Pinkie Pie was with Quicksilver all night… but perhaps you're onto something, but I’m very angry right now and you’re the only one I can release it on!” Suicune replied.

“Look, I already apologized and you don’t need to try and murder your own student!! Please, calm down… can we get off of this subject and regain our focus? Lumen’s recovering from a hangover, so she may not remember all of the details right now. And we only got a month left before Ozai and Elysium are to arrive,” The Adept pointed out to him so that Suicune did not have to break his bones again. “Shouldn’t we focus on trying to find yourself some allies rather than try to kill me right now?”

“You have to the count of ten to start running right now! One, Two, Three…” Suicune warned, but with the adept not moving. By the time he reached ten though, he got an… unexpected interruption.

“Suicune, what in the name of the sun are you doing!?” The noise came from Luna as she slammed the door open. She had originally come to talk to the Adept about the events of the night before and had Celestia come with her so the Adept could apologize. But as she was opening the door, the alicorn found Suicune attempting to kill Lance…… again.

“Nothing at all Luna… Just making sure that Lance Walker gets out of the room, before I lose my temper…”

“I brought Celestia with me so we could explain the situation to our guest, only to hear your voice roaring down the entire hallway. I already have my guards looking into the situation and trying to find out who was the mare that did this…” Luna told him, just as her sister stepped into the room as well. Who immediately saw Lance as soon as she stepped in.

“P-princess…” Lance stuttered, gulping a little as he looked at her, then back to Suicune before looking back at Celestia. “I… am truly sorry about the events of last night! I swear it won’t happen again!”

She didn’t look happy with the Displaced, but she was calm unlike Suicune. “You are too never speak of what had transpired last night! Suicune and I were…”

“I swear we’ll never talk about this again. I’m truly sorry that the two of you were embarrassed the other night…” The Adept said once again.

“You will make up for this Adept! I may not be able to hurt you! But that doesn’t mean I can’t humiliate you like you did to Celestia… Now we will talk about punishments once you return from your next task! There’s a displaced who is currently residing in another Equestria that has a striking resemblance to an old guard of mine 4000 years ago. Travel there now, before I decide to break your bones in front of the Princesses!” He shouted as Celestia blushed a bit in embarrassment.

“Lance Walker I may not be happy with you either… but do forgive your mentor. He’s been drinking a lot after what happened between the two of us. I’ll see if I can calm him down.” She said, walking past the Adept as she suddenly kissed Suicune, surprising everyone in the room.

“O… kay, is there anything… I’m specifically looking for with this next Displaced?” He then asked after clearing his eyes a bit.

“N-Nathan… Phoenix…” Was all he said as both him and Celestia blushed intensely. The Princess soon turned back to face everyone else.

“Leave now!” She said.

“Wait! Isn’t this-” Before Lance could finish, they were all thrown out of his room and the doors locked.

“My… room…”

“Well it was your room.” Lumen answered, trying to hide her blush. “But it looks like it’s theirs now.”

“I… shall inform Exuberant of… the situation.” Luna said, as she quickly trotted off, ignoring the sounds coming from the Adepts room. Lance headed off in the opposite direction, pretending none of that happened.

“Remind me to request a different room when we get back Lumen?” Lance asked as the breezie nodded.

The Throne Room

Lance and Lumen were alone in the throne room, waiting on Exuberant and Luna to arrive so then could go look for the next Displaced. So far, their only lead was a name. Nathan Phoenix… but it didn’t really explain much in terms of who or what he was to be precise. There was also another thought on his mind regarding Exuberant… and that had to deal with last night. She may have possibly seen who was the pony that hit him over the head. She didn’t have to know a name, but a visual reference could work just as well. Because he knew that for Ponies… when it comes to identifying them, a cutie mark was basically like a fingerprint. Each one was unique and no two ponies can have the same one under any circumstances. So, if they got a glimpse of the assailant’s cutie mark, they could get down to the bottom of this rather quickly.

It was only some time later that both of them did arrive. But he did not want to bring up a sore subject once more… especially if Luna already had her guards on the case. “Hello you two,” He greeted them with a slight bow. “How are you doing this morning, Exuberant?”

“I can’t believe you actually did that you pervert!” She shouted. “Kissing the Princess! If you’re going to kiss someone than kiss me!”

“Uh, Exuberant… Not to interrupt you, but somepony hit Lance over the back of the head and pushed him into Celestia,” Lumen caught her up to speed. “He was knocked out cold before even colliding with her.”

“Well it should have been me! Not some old pony! No offence to your sister Luna,” She said, as Luna shook her head.

“None taken Exuberant,” She replied. At that point, Lumen’s head was beginning to clear up as she looked at one of the tapestries on the wall. It’s design decorated with numerous fleur-de-lis’ in multiple colors.

“Uh… guys… I-i think I remember something from last night…” Lumen said, coughing a little before turning to face Luna and the others. “I… can’t remember what she looked like… but her cutie mark looked a lot like those symbols on the banner over there. Like two of them on top of one bigger one.” After saying the last part, she pointed towards the tapestry that she was looking at before hearing Luna respond.

“I suppose we shall deal with this another time… but for now I think it would be best for you to continue on with your mission. After all this next Displaced could be helpful.” She suggested.

“That I agree,” Lance replied back. “It would give time for Lumen to rest and also time for me to try and see if we can get any allies to assist Lord Suicune.” He was originally going to mention Luna informing her guards of the new information that Lumen had provided, but decided to refrain from bringing up a sore subject.

Even though Exuberant was upset that Lance had kissed Celestia and not her, she simply nodded as she opened the portal nonetheless, ignoring the Adept as he tried to ask what their next location was… only for Lumen to beat him too it.

“Hey Exuberant where are we going?” Lumen asked, only for the android to whisper the information to the breezies ear.

“Don’t tell that perverted jerk okay,” She said aloud only for Lance to facepalm himself.

“Exuberant, for the love of all things holy, I am not a pervert! You’re angry, I get that… so how do you want me to make it up to you?” He asked, trying to see if there was anything he could do so Exuberant wasn’t mad at him anymore.

“Take me on a date next time and maybe I’ll forgive you,” She said confidently.

“Hmm… if that’s the case… then how about after the mission. I know you are helping me get there, but I highly doubt that traveling to other worlds where there is a high possibility of either one of us getting killed is considered a ‘date’.” The Adept then took a moment to compose himself before looking back at Exuberant. Good lord, he hoped that Max didn’t want to strangle him around the neck by the time he got back home for this. “Oh… and remember when you said about how you wanted a kiss from me?”

“Yess~” She said getting a bit excited. It was then that the Adept them walked over to her and pulled her in for a kiss on the lips. Unlike the accident that happened last night, the adept intended to kiss her this time. He had a feeling that by doing this, Exuberant would calm down a little and not see him as some stupid jerk. He held it in for a while, before the two of them let go as Exuberant looked back at him.

“How was that?” Lance then asked her, wanting to hear her input on how he did. Her entire body literally turned bright red as she giggled a lot. Lumen couldn’t help but smile and cheer for them.

“It’s about time Lance! I had a feeling you weren’t going to do it!” She said, hugging the side of his face. “I can’t wait to tell Max about this!”

“Hold your horses on that one… I’ll tell her once we meet her, but first… I believe we got a job to do.” He told her, looking back at Luna… who was patiently waiting on them.

“Well I guess you should get going… Pervert~” Luna giggled, winking at them as she pushed them through the portal, before Lance could say anything. “I think that went well.”

“Yeah~.” Exuberant said, giggling still as she tried to suppress the redness of her blush. Still Luna thought to herself… how was an android was able to blush? “Uh… Luna… not to sound impolite or anything… but did you make sure to send Lance to the right coordinates he needed to be at?” The android did bring up a pretty valid point as she looked back at the alicorn, who just tilted her head in response.

“I don’t know… I’m not the android here am I?” She replied as she took a seat at Celestia’s throne, while Exuberant checked the coordinates on the teleporter.

“GOD NO WRONG BUTTON!!!” She shouted as she say that only a single digit was entered incorrectly. “Oh god, this is bad… this is really really bad…”

“What happened Exuberant?” Luna asked, only for the android to turn her head slowly before letting out a nervous chuckle.

“We… may have sent them… to a red zone…” She gulped, as Luna raised a brow.

“I’m sorry, but could you repeat that? It sounded like you said dead zone.” The mare asked, causing Exuberant to facepalm herself.

“Not a dead zone… A red zone is a place where we shouldn’t be at this time… and will most likely have something… deadly.” She chuckled nervously.

“Oh… that is indeed problematic… but I’m sure that if anything, Lance would be able to handle himself and whatever is thrown at him.” Luna said with a smile. “After all, he’s made it this far… I’m sure he’ll be just fine.”

Elsewhere

For Lance right now, unlike where the last time he went traveling to another world where he had jumped in feet first, Luna pushing him into the portal almost felt as if he was being thrown across a continent… and when he finally landed, he felt his back his a wall as the rest of him crashed down. Thankfully, he used some of his flashfield to slow down his descent… but it still stung the moment he was able to move on his own. “Uh… G-god that hurts… Lumen, are you okay?”

His question was answered when a dizzy breezie soon fell asleep inside of his hair. He figured that would happen at some point… but he did not think that he would land right where he was now. It was Canterlot. Specifically, the same hallway they were in only mere minutes ago… But Luna wasn’t there and neither was Luna. Could this have been some sort of accident somehow? Only was he knew for sure would be to-.

“What are you, Creature?” He looked up to see that it was Celestia… with a battle axe big enough to cleave his head from his body.

“W-woah there…” Lance replied, looking back at this Solar Princess with a nervous look on her face. “M-my name is Lance… I-i’m an adept. I was sent her to look for someone…” He was nervous for a moment, but it was another voice that soon spoke up and catch her attention. And that came from the pony next to her.

“Princess, this one doesn’t have the dark energy that we felt earlier… I don’t think he’s here to harm us.” When he looked over, the adept’s heart almost skipped a beat. It was Sunset… scratch that, another Sunset… but she was an Alicorn and not the unicorn that he remembered from back in his own world. It was still strange seeing the pony that gave him the chance to be part of the power ponies here, but he had seen stranger things and this was pretty low on the list.

“That is true… Forgive me for the hostility young one. I am Princess Celestia… Welcome to Equestria.” She told him, helping the Adept back on his feet. “I would want to continue our conversation, but we have a bit of a… situation at the moment.”

That caught Lance’s attention as he looked back at both alicorns with a raised eyebrow on his face. “A situation? Should I presume that based on what your… accomplice said earlier that is isn’t really a good situation?”

“Indeed… But I think it would be best for you to return home-” But before she could finish, Lance spoke up.

“Yeah… hate to break it to you, but I didn’t come here on my own. Someone sent me here to look for someone important, but it also means that I can’t go back until they’re ready to bring me back…” He said before noticing something different. A mass amount of energy that has the same equal strength as one of the princesses. Better yet, just as powerful as Suicune. “One last question… does this situation involved the massive energy source that’s just outside the castle?”

“This dark energy is spreading across the globe… It’s unlike anything I’ve ever felt before… If you really want too… then please go with my student and see what is causing all of this?” She replied.

“Uhh… Didn’t you hear what I said?” The Adept repeated himself, sighing for a moment when they looked at him with a confused stare. “What I mean is that whoever it is… he’s already here.”

Celestia looked confused for a moment, before she could reply the roof came crashing down, almost crushing the Adept and the others, before Celestia used her magic to create a barrier over them. Soon laughter began to fill the air as Lance looked up too see someone that looked familiar.

“So this is the energy that I’ve been sensing?” Lance thought to himself as he looked back at the figure he was seeing.

“Hehehe… So these are Equestria’s strongest warriors.Well… If you value your lives… than Praise me… for I am purity… I am Justice… I am your one and only God… Zamasu!”

End Strike 46

Strike 47- The Search Part 2

When Lightning Strikes- The Search Part 2

Canterlot (Suicune’s domain)

After his time alone with Celestia, Suicune himself finally felt at peace. After four thousand years, he had finally found a mate to call his own. But even though a few minutes had passed since Celestia had left for an important meeting, he decided to catch up on his studies. ‘It would seem I still got it after all these years.’

Everything was quiet for the Pokemon as he read his book on Equestrian History. At least it was quiet until he heard Exuberant shouting down the hall in a panicked state of emotion. “Urgh… I can’t relax for even a little bit!”

“Lord Suicune is going to be so upset…” He heard the android panic, all while Luna stood next to her and watched her work in her frantic state.

“I’m sure that he’ll understand-.”

“Understand what!? That we accidently sent Lance into a red zone! Only one digit on the coordinates was off and who knows where we sent him! Both you and I are equally responsible for this and we need to get him back before-.” Just as she said that, the android froze up, finally noticing the Pokemon opening the doors. “L-lord S-suicune?! I-i-i d-didn’t see you there-!”

“What did you two do?” Suicune said, glaring at both Luna and Exuberant.

“I-it was an accident! We sent Lance through the portal, only to realize that one of the digits for the teleporter’s coordinates was off. We’re trying to find a way to regain contact with him, but it was only a few moments ago that we found that he’s in a red zone.” Exuberant told him in a panicked state, looking at the screen she had as the android was analyzing the world itself. Then… something began to flash. “Oh no… it’s getting worse.”

“Bring him back here, now!” He ordered, frightening the android as she immediately began to open the portal once again to summon the Adept. Only for it to not work as he commanded.

“It still needs t-time to recharge, Lord Suicune. I n-need ten minutes, tops!” Exuberant told him based on what he knew. “Can you try contacting him? Letting him know that we need to pull him back as soon as possible?”

“You do have that mental link with the adept,” Luna then mentioned. “I pray for his safety, but we need you to help him… He is your student and you are his mentor after all.” Lord Suicune just growled at this, annoyed by all of the bad luck that has transpired recently. But hopefully, they could be able to bring the Adept back here safely. But he will soon realize what exactly his student was up against… and the horror that had broken free from the prison that it was thrown into.

‘It couldn’t be… Could it? Damn if it is… I’ll have to step in immediately.’

Few moments earlier…

Just as the new figure arrived in the room, all Lance could do was stare at this… Zamasu figure in utter disarray. Something told him that this guy was flat out crazy and from the sounds of calling himself a god, that would tie in very well with the whole crazy theory. So, taking the time to breath a little, he asked one question off the top of his head to the newcomer. “Uhh… Who or what the hell are you suppose to be?”

All that did was cause the white haired being to look at him with a grin on his face as he turned to face the Adept. “I can see that you must be a new Displaced… I understand if you don’t know me. I am Zamasu, the most powerful being in the universe and it’s one true god.” However, the Azure Striker personally saw this as a sign of pride, arrogance and overconfidence coming from him… and what he was demanding from Celestia and Sunset earlier was not that of justice, but that of spreading fear and having people submit to him to stay alive.

“Yeah… hate to break it to you, but you’re wrong on two things… one, I’m not what you say as a new displaced… two, do you honestly think that justice is forcing others to bow before you? If so, then that is not the kind of justice I pursue.” He told the visitor truthfully, shocking the kai that floated above him. He must have hit a nerve seeing that Zamasu’s face formed a scowl as he stared down at him.

Lance had barely any time for him to react to that as a white halo soon began to take shape around the shinjin as his gaze narrowed immensely. “Hehehe… Speaking to a God like that…” Just then, a blade of red energy began to form from his right hand as he used the blade to quickly fire off a barrage of energy blasts in his direction. “… will not go UNPUNISHED!!!”

This move caught the Adept off guard and gave him barely any time to react, thinking that he was going to get hit by the blast only for a gold barrier to form around him before the energy blasts got close enough to hit him. He turned to his right to watch the magic around Celestia’s horn glimmer as it formed the barrier that was around him to protect himself. The alicorn’s emotions immediately changed as the Azure Striker could now see anger in her eyes and in her tone. “I shall give you only one warning, Zamasu!” Celestia warned the intruder, pointing the battleaxe that she had with her towards him. “Leave this world now or face Judgment!”

All that caused Zamasu to do though… was laugh hysterically as he looked at the Alicorn. “Foolish Alicorn… can’t you see the stupidity in that statement?” He questioned, rechanneling the red energy blade around his right hand again. His energy flowing around him and surprising everyone in the room by the enormous amount of power all around him. “I AM JUDGEMENT!!” Shortly thereafter, both Zamasu and Celestia charged towards one another, her weapon clashing with his blade as it set off a ripple effect that caused many of the pictures and items hanging around the room to fall. Causing Lance to plant his feet and try to hold himself down as best as he could as he watched both of them take their fight to the skies above Canterlot.

Watching the fight originally made Lance think that both of them were equally matched. But as they clashed, the Adept could tell that something was off. Like Zamasu was just toying with the Alicorn and waiting for the right opportunity to strike. His constant barrage of attacks were too fast in order for Celestia to keep up with and because of this, a single slash of his energy blade caused the axe she held to shatter to pieces. Followed up by a kick to the stomach that send the Alicorn plummeting to the ground.

While the alicorn was struggling to stand, all the Kai did was look down upon her and dust off the debris on his clothes as he stared directly at her. “Foolish Mortal… you defied a god and now look at you… helpless.” He mocked as his power increased again and soon began to crackle around one of his hands. “Justice shall be delivered by my hand…”

It was then that Lance noticed that the energy forming around one of Zamasu’s resembled that of lightning… and if he learned anything from his encounter with Monster X, then there was a possibility that this form of electricity could be absorbed by him. And if this were true, it would put him on the same exact playing field as the Kai above him. Quickly, he used Instant Transmission to place himself in front of Celestia just as the lightning was close to killing her. Coughing up a cloud of dust as he got a power boost from the energy he absorbed. Turning to the Alicorn, he had only one thing to say.

“Run… leave him to me,” The Alicorn was speechless, but nevertheless listened to his words as Lance looked back at Zamasu as he had his own energy form around him.. “Hey dumbass… who said I was going to let you do whatever you pleased? I don’t care what you call yourself… but it doesn’t make what you are doing right…”

“What I do is Justice, you simpleton! I am a God and I will not be denied!” He roared, preparing to fire his holy wrath at the Adept. Yet, Lance gambled at the possibility that Zamasu himself needed to charge his attack and used Instant Transmission to warp behind him and grab hold of his head before throwing him into a mountainside far away from Canterlot.

‘That way no Civilians will be caught in the crosshairs…’ The Azure Striker thought to himself before chasing down the self proclaimed god. Hopefully, if Celestia had listened to him, she would urge an immediate evacuation of the city and any other cities near it. Now, as he was coming across his opponent, Lance was personally surprised to see Zamasu struggling to stand up after landing.

“Tell me something…” The Adept then said, shortly after catching the Kai’s attention. “Do you feel pain? If you are truly a god, then you would be just brushing the dirt off your shoulder like it was nothing… and yet, you struggle to have yourself stand upright. You talk about being a godly being… but that’s all you do…” In an essence, Lance was right. All he had heard from Zamasu in the past few minutes was nothing but talk. Nothing to demonstrate or show to backup his claims at all as he looked back at him. Now he waited to see what the Kai would do in response.

“Hehehe… I shall admit you took me by surprise, Mortal… But I am a god and what you’ve done was just luck… It’s a mistake I won’t let happen again!”

In the blink of an eye, Zamasu charged at him, catching the Adept off guard. ‘Sh-!’ He mentally cursed as the Kai grabbed hold onto his foot before proceeding to crush it with only his energy. It made Lance growl in pain, but also woke up the breezie that was in his hair at the same time. But he was thrown straight into the ground, before he could say anything to his friend. Zamasu was about to deliver a final blow, but what Lance saw his partner do really caught him off guard.

Lumen was getting in Zamasu’s face, biting into it and causing the Kai to lose focus. Trying to swat at Lumen like it was a fly in someone’s face. It was surprising yes… but it did provide time for not only his foot to heal, but also for him to prepare an attack while Zamasu’s back was turned.

“Back off, you bully!” He heard from Lumen, using a small bright flash to blind the Kai as she came back to him. “Whoever this guy is, he’s a real jerk.”

“Agreed… Let’s pull off this next one together.” The Adept got a nod from Lumen as she activated her Septima, Anthem, so the two of them could combine their strength was together. After some time though, his attack was fully charged as he planted his feet and moved his arms forward. “Ka… me… ha… me… HA!!!”

The blast of energy that he fired directly as Zamasu was twice the size of the Kai himself and also just as fast. As it closed in on him, Lance originally thought that this guy would use one of his own attacks to push it back… but instead, he used his hands to deflect it after trying to block the entire attack. This told Lance something crucial in his head, but in the meantime, he just heard Zamasu speak as he stared down the Adept.

“I’m surprised you were able to… conjure up energy in such a short amount of time…” He heard Zamasu compliment him as he looked back towards Lance. The Adept was personally surprised at one thing… even with him using only thirty percent of his strength with the added on boost to that, he was still able to push the self proclaimed god into a corner. Which went along with what he noticed earlier… but decided that before assuming everything, he would try to poke around a little for information. “What is your name, Displaced?”

“Why would I tell you? Are you an Elder Sibling?” Lance growled, glaring at the Kai as the memory of what happened back in Quicksilver’s world was still fresh on his mind. “You are just as strong as that punkass Cobalion… are you trying to kill me because you want the traitor for yourself?”

“I have to say that I’m surprised you know about the Elder Siblings and I may not know who this Traitor is, but he isn’t my concern-.”

“BS…” The Adept interjected, feeling that his last statement was somehow a lie as he shot back. “You just want to make Lord Suicune suffer just like those two other siblings Ozai and Elysium now, don’t you? With your talk of justice, I would think that you would want to deliver some of that justice to the one that the Elder Siblings call a traitor…… or are you just a puppet like The Warden Eternal?”

He did see the Kai’s ears twitch a small bit from the sound of the Warden Eternal’s name, but nevertheless, Zamasu remained composed as he looked back at him.

“Hehehehehe… So that’s who the Traitor is? Honestly I could care less for him… My score is with the head of the Elder Siblings Lord Yasha! He denied my right to rule over the Displaced, but now that I found this world… I can remake it in my own image… Once my full power returns I shall cleanse the world of all mortals and once I’ve completed that I shall reach the title of A DISPLACER!!!” He shouted raising his power even more as he laughed maniacally. What he was talking about was beyond absurd. Someone like him? A displacer? There was no way in hell that he or any other displacer he knew for that matter was going to let this madman become one.

Still, despite Zamasu’s dialogue… Lance was paying attention to one other thing that Zamasu still seemed to keep on doing. “So are you going to keep monologuing or are you going to actually do something? Because like I said earlier… you just talk. Not act.”

“We’ll meet again… Once my full power has been reached… But in the meantime…” He soon looked down and saw the small town of Ponyville and grinned as he pointed two of his fingers in it’s direction, unleashing his Holy Wrath upon it. Destroying the town. Before disappearing with Instant Transmission.

“Get back here, you bastard-!” Lance shouted out, wanting to go after him… if something else already didn’t get to him first.

‘Lance Walker, we’re bringing you back now!’

‘What-? No, just-!’ But before Lance could even have the chance to respond back, he was soon whisked away by a portal as the buildings around the area slowly began to crumble and fade away.

Back at Canterlot

By the time Lance got back, the Adept was sent flying into a wall behind Celestia’s throne as he was struggling to try and get back up to his feet. When his vision was back and his hearing was in check, all that he heard next was Lord Suicune shouting at him. “Lance Walker! Why didn’t you alert me of your situation?!” Suicune glared at the Adept as Exuberant helped him too his feet.

“God… give me a chance to get my senses back in order first…” He groaned, looking at him. “Besides… Luna told me not to disturb you while you were with Celestia… I just thought that speaking mentally was also disturbing you as well.”

“He’s got a point.” Lumen added on to his statement to show support.

Suicune let out a sigh, before looking back at Lance and Lumen. “You were lucky I brought you back with my powers rather than wait for Exuberant’s teleporter to finish charging.”

“Yeah… just why the hell did you bring me back anyways?” The Adept then asked in confusion. “I was looking for that Nathan Phoenix guy like you asked, but then-.”

“Lance you were in a Red Zone… that’s the last place you want to be right now!” Exuberant explained. “I accidentally… put in a wrong digit.”

“The hell is a dead zone?” The Adept then asked in confusion, followed up with Lumen asking the same exact question. “It sounds like a dead universe or something. Could you please clarify on what that means?”

“Okay well, after we got back from Quicksilver’s world, I made some adjustments to the portal and added a universal map with different zones.” Exuberant began to inform him as she pulled up a hologram of different worlds to serve as examples. “It shows where we’ve been and where not. The green zones mean that those area’s are safe. As for the red zones, well those are area’s that are either taken by the Elders or aren’t safe to be at.” She explained.

“Hunh… Well, that explains some things…” The Adept scratched his chin as Suicune and Exuberant looked back at him, noticing him take off one of his shoes to see if his foot was healed before putting it back on.

“What happened in that parallel world, Lance?” Exuberant asked. Lance scratched the back of his head for a moment as he looked back at both of them.

“Well, immediately after landing, I ran into that world’s version of Celestia along with an Alicorn version of Sunset Shimmer… however, shortly after arriving, the sky began to darken and some jerk claiming he was a god shows up, beats the sh*t out of Celestia and then he and I fought before turning to wipe Ponyville off of the map.” The Adept told them, causing the alicorn’s in the room to gasp a little. “I believed he called himself… Zamasu.”

“It’s what I feared… He finally did it… He’s broken out from his prison.” Suicune said. “I don’t want you going back to that world… do you understand Lance?”

“Well, for breaking out of prison, he’s relatively weak…” The Adept told Lord Suicune in response. “When I did clash with him, he didn’t have the energy to conjure massive attacks and when I unleashed a fully charged Kamehameha at him, he deflected it instead of coming up with one of his own attacks to counter it… Besides, how long was he in this… prison for?”

“Zamasu… only shows his true powers to true threats… you may have just caught him off guard. Zamasu’s power is equal to that of my own, but I do wonder how you were able to harm this Kai?” Suicune asked, curious to hear the Adept’s response.

“Well, for a finisher, he tried to strike down the Celestia in that world with a lightning based attack. So, similar to the encounter with Monster X sometime ago, I put myself in front of her and used my powers to absorb the electricity from the incoming blast. It put me on the same level playing field as him, but by the time he disappeared and you pulled me back, the power boost wore off.” Lance told him. “Even with the boost, I was only using a good third of my total strength so that way I still had something if the fight were to drag out longer than expected.”

“Still, that was only a temporary boost… you wouldn’t have stood a chance if the fight did drag out longer. You could barely move when you fought me.” Suicune

“True, but unlike you, Zamasu seems to be easily distracted if you insult his pride… Plus, I don’t think you would actually have any lightning based attacks for Lance to drain,” Lumen pointed out as she floated next to Lance. Which in turn caught him by surprise. “What? I do notice these things every once in awhile.”

“Even so… you are forbidden to return to that world until the Elders are taken care of.” Suicune stated. “Do you understand Lance Walker?”

It pained for him to agree to those terms, but the Adept nodded in response to acknowledge Lord Suicune. “I understand… I’m sorry for not contacting you on the matter sooner.”

“Hey… this may seem off topic…” Lumen then interjected, taking a sniff of the air around her as she floated around Suicune and Celestia. “Why does Lord Suicune smell like Celestia and Celestia smell like Lord Suicune?”

Both of them blushed intensely as they both avoided looking at the Breezie. “It’s… nothing at all Lumen.” Celestia answered, trying to hide her blush. All this caused Lance and Lumen to do was sigh as they looked at her while Exuberant was giggling. Soon though, Lumen then spoke up as she looked at both of them.

“Really? Because from the circumstances and some of the sweat that’s on your bodies, it looks like you two-.”

“Lumen…” Lance interjected, wanting to make sure that the breezie did not say anything stupid. Yet, despite the small interjection, the breezie still went on with the statement that she was previously saying. Not even deciding to go as far as to pick her words carefully because of the fact that nopony else was in the room.

“Oh come on… and with all the times you were with Max and Seph, I would think that it would be obvious,” The Breezie pointed out, flying away for a bit towards where their room was to confirm something before coming back. “Because right now, our room reeks of sex.”

“Our old room… I need to remind Luna that I need a new one now.” Lance sighed.

“I want her out of here… Now!” Suicune shouted as ice shot out from his mouth, almost hitting the breezie.

“Hey, I’m sorry!!! Please don’t kill me!!” The frightened breezie whimpered. “I’m too young to die!!”

“Maybe that’ll help you think twice on what you want to say before you say it,” Lance groaned as Lumen retreated into his hair, shaking a little as he felt some of the fibers tug at his skull. “I apologize for Lumen’s behavior… sometimes, she’s too curious for her own good. It’s a bit hard for her not to get in other people’s business… especially if it’s private.”

“Could you do us a favor you two?” Celestia asked.

“Uh… sure what do you need princess?” Lance asked.

“Both you and Lumen stay perfectly still for just a brief moment,” She said, only for the duo to look at the princess questionably.

“Why would we-” Before Lumen could finish asking, Suicune froze them in a block of ice, preventing them from moving an inch. Celestia and Suicune began to laugh as they exited the room.

“I hope you’ll learn that kissing my princess will have big consequences you two,” Suicune said with a smirk, before closing the doors. Exuberant couldn’t help but laugh as tried to thaw them out with a heat gun, but taking her time to amuse herself. Before Lance released a wave of energy that solved the problem already.

“We already learned that lesson…” Lance groaned. “Speaking of which… Shouldn’t we start looking for the one who tripped me at the party?”

“Yeah… about that…” Lumen mentioned, speaking up so they could hear her. “After what happened in that… red zone thingy… I think I remember something else on the mare who tripped you.” That… was good news. But Lance really did not want to get his hopes up just yet.

“You did?”

“Y-yeah… there was somepony else who was with her,” Lumen mentioned. “A unicorn stallion. Blue shaggy mane, weird moustache, unicorn and his name was Fancy Pants after I heard him greet Celestia last night. He also had another pony with her… who he introduced as Fleur… something.” Still, even if that wasn’t a full name, it was still a clue for something.

“Hey Exuberant, where’s Luna right now?” He then asked.

“She’s in a meeting right now… but I believe you made me a promise~” She said, gleefully.

“Ah… right,” he remembered, looking at the breezie that was his partner. “Lumen, you can stay here and wait for Luna then… I have a promise to keep with Exuberant right now.”

“It’s fine… but I’m not waiting for Luna… I’m going hunting for whatever’s left of that cake!” She said, flying to a drawer and pulling out what looked like a small daring doo hat before flying out the window. Lance mentally facepalmed, but it at least kept her occupied and besides… The room he once had did reek of sex… but what he didn’t notice was that Lord Suicune and Celestia definitely wrecked the place.

“So… where would like to go for our… date, Exuberant?” The Adept then asked her.

“Hmm… I don’t know… Surprise me!” She said, smiling at the Adept.

“Well, I just thought you had a… particular preference.” He replied back.

“Well I hear that there’s a carnival in Ponyville happening… we could go there if you want.” Exuberant suggested to him. It was a… good idea to say the least. Because strangely enough, even with the amount of time that he had been with Max, Seph and trying to help Chrysalis since she was a fellow adept, he had not gone on a formal date with… anyone. It will be a new experience… and hopefully, Exuberant doesn’t go extremely overboard with anything.

“Sure, I’m all for it. Lead the way.” He insisted.

“Okay… but first… I think we’re going to need a ride and some bits… I didn’t exactly bring any form of currency.” She said sheepishly.

“I can work with the currency. As for the ride, we have been there before, so I can teleport us there.” The Adept told him in response.

“You know we can’t always use our powers to make things easier… besides a girl would prefer a ride. That way we can sit together.” The Adept didn’t know how to respond to that… after all this was technically his “first” official date.

“I suppose we could ask Celestia or Luna for a ride? But are you sure we can’t just teleport? It would make things a lot easier…” He said, but from the pouty face Exuberant was making said otherwise as he sighed a little bit. “Alright… I see what I can do.”

‘Pouting works every time.’ Exuberant thought as she suppressed her giggling.

Few hours Later...

Back in the halls of Canterlot, Suicune, Celestia, and Luna watched as Lumen, Pinkie, and Quicksilver play with cards. So far things seemed smooth… yet, Lumen at times seemed to be confused with what they were actually playing.

“Okay… do any of you guys have twos?”

“Lumen, this is blackjack, not go fish,” Quicksilver reminded her for the third time so far in this game. “Besides, why can’t you just say hit me like how Pinkie and I do it?”

“Because that… can come out wrong.” She gulped, glancing at Celestia and Suicune for a brief second before redirecting her attention back at the game.

“Fine… hit me Pinkie!” Pinkie then handed him a nine and that only frustrated the speedster as he threw his cards into the air. “Oh, Come on! I broke again!”

That just made the Breezie feel relieved. “I can’t believe I’ve won the last three games without even knowing what the rules are like!” She said joyfully as she looked at Pinkie Pie, who was giggling at Quicksilver right around now.

“No kidding! And you won all 735 Twinkies he brought with him!” Everyone simply glanced at the enormous pile of treats that the earth pony was referring to, almost causing one of the princesses mouth’s to hang ajar as Lumen’s mouth watered and her eyes sparkled. Nothing could stop her from jumping into the pile and start munching away.

Well, nothing except for the door being kicked down as they heard Exuberant shout from the other end of the hall. “Honey, I’M HOME!!!”

“I take it you enjoyed your date, Lance Walker?” Suicune said, staring at him with unusually large bear in his hands. He was doing the best he could to hold onto the Ursa Major plushy that Exuberant won from some of the carnival games that she participated in as the Adept was barely catching his breath.

“Y-yes… I-i… did.” He panted as Exuberant yanked the bear out of his arms and began hugging it.

“IT’S SO FLUFFY I FEEL LIKE I’M GONNA DIE!!!”

“Let me guess she won it because you failed to do so? Am I right?” Suicune asked. Only causing Lance to sigh and shake his head as he noticed that Lumen was in the pile of Twinkies nearby.

“Actually… she’s the reason why the test your strength challenge is broken. Somepony dared her to do it, she did and won the grand prize from it,” He panted, taking a much needed seat in a nearby chair. “I tell you, she has the stamina of a six year old who’s had too many cookies… Strangely enough… I considered this as training. Speed for keeping up with her, strength for carrying the bear… and agility for every time she almost threw a baseball at my head near the dunk tank.”

“Well… you… at least had fun,” Lumen said, munching on a Twinkie.

“Yeah… we did…” He said, finally catching his breath as he looked back at Suicune and the Princesses. “On another note…… I don’t exactly mean to be that guy right around now… But Lumen remembered something from last night that could help with the search that Luna’s guards are doing right now.”

“She already told us while you were out… there’s nothing we can do about it now. Besides I’ve already forgiven you for … what happened. The pony responsible was Fleur de lis and right now she’s leaving with her husband on a luxurious cruise to the hay-hamas islands.”

“Oh… well, sorry about bringing it up again.” He scratched his head in response. “Anyways… I know it’s late and... everyone’s having fun,” He stated, watching as Quicksilver looked in disbelief as Lumen somehow managed to eat the final Twinkie. “But I think we should address the fact that what I found in the… red zone… may make things slightly more difficult.”

“I’ve already told you… that area is forbidden… you and Exuberant shall head off to find Nathan Phoenix tomorrow and that is final! Now I suggest you take a seat and watch these three play. It’s quite amusing.

“I understand… yet, there was something Zamasu said that really makes this whole thing… bad,” Lance insisted, remembering something from his encounter earlier. “He wants to become more than just a god, but also a displacer… someone who has people become displaced. I know that you might not care so much for him, but don’t you think what he’s striving for is worth some concern at least?”

“Zamasu will never become a Displacer… I should know since the laws were written. Only an Elder Sibling can have such a power. Which is why he’s trying to draw out the elders from our realm. Mainly Yasha, but no one has the power to defeat him which is why everything Zamasu says is only insane.” Suicune explained.

“Hunh… And I did think that he was all talk for a reason…” Lance mumbled to himself before looking back at Lord Suicune. “Nevertheless, is there anything I should do in preparation for meeting Mr. Phoenix? I understand that I will be with Exuberant, but is there anything I can do to get ready. I felt caught off guard when I encountered Zamasu today, so I want to feel prepared for when we meet him tomorrow.”

“Only to remain calm and try not to startle his kids… Now I suggest you take a seat, it looks like Quicksilver is about to lose it.” Suicune and the princesses began to laugh as Quicksilver lost another 200 twinkies to Lumen.

“This has to be the best day of my life…” Lumen said as a single tear fell from her cheek as Quick began to hit his head against the table.

“In all honesty he shouldn’t have been cheating… cheaters never win,” Celestia said taking a sip from her teacup as she snuggled closer to Suicune.

“I’ve… never seen Lumen this happy before,” Lance smiled, watching as Lumen was trying to dance on top of the mountain of Twinkies as he set something down by Suicune’s side of the table.

“What’s this?” He asked.

Lance just chuckled as he looked at both of them. “It’s the key to the room I was in… previously. I may not be needing this anymore since I did ask if I could switch rooms.”

“Very well… you shall be staying with Exuberant from now on then,” He said, only for Lance to gulp as he looked back at Exuberant who had recently joined in their little game. “Just try not to do anything naughty with her… after all, you did just started dating and that should take time.”

“I went on a date with her so she could stop calling me a pervert.” Lance deadpanned after his forehead fell forward onto the table. “Plus, you do realize that she already knows the kind of relationship I’m in since Lumen told her right?”

“Not a wise choice on your part, Lance Walker,” Celestia said. “When you take a lady on a date, it means you’ve just started a relationship. Besides, what’s wrong with Exuberant? She’s a nice girl with a good heart… even if she’s a bit flirty.”

“My fiance’ Max is the same way… in her world, she’s the one who has to raise the sun and moon after the Royal Sisters died to save her life. Most importantly though, there’s Seph… who has been through a lot of stuff and is similar to Max in terms of power. Lastly though… We’re already raising kids.”

“Well… if they're okay with you marrying two of them… I’m sure they wouldn’t mind a third to this little harem you have. I may not have my niece’s understanding of love, but I do know that love is something that can take shape in all forms. Whether it’s with one partner or multiple.” Celestia explained, kissing Suicune’s cheek, causing the Pokemon to blush.

“Yeah… We have four kids now and Max is pregnant with our fifth. Two of them, Light Sweet and Golden Spark, she had on her own while two of them she adopted-.”

“Then there shouldn’t be a problem… I’m sure your future wives will understand, Lance Walker… besides Celestia and I had something similar”

“… You said that just as I was going to mention that one of the fillies that she adopted was Rainbow Dash.” The Adept sighed, before looking back at the two of them. That… surprised Celestia for a minute as she raised an eyebrow before looking back at Lance.

“Well… you’ve certainly been busy haven’t you?” Luna said with a smirk.

“A bit yes… Oh and if you were confused on why Rainbow is a filly, Celestia… in Max’s world, Spike is the element of loyalty instead of Rainbow. I know… it sounds weird, but trust me… some worlds are different from others.” The Adept told them as he was given a glass of water from one of the servants that came to their table while Lumen and Quicksilver were still playing their game.

“Lance I’ve seen a Displaced that is literally a puppy that wears a crown and multiplies… but I would like to hear more about your world.” Suicune said, with a light chuckle, Lance never thought of some being displaced as a puppy.

“Well, to start… It’s almost similar to some things here… but instead of Ponyville, there's a city called Maretropolis and in it, Twilight and her friends are a group of superheroes… each one with their own form of powers besides their respected form of magic,” Lance began as he looked at them. “You with me so far?”

“Keep going… tell us more,” Luna said, Suicune on the other hand simply laid his head on the ground as Celestia rested hers on his.

“Each one of them got their powers in one way or another and later on formed a superhero team called the Power Ponies. Over time, they had faced many threats and put many villains behind bars. But when I first got there… they were unsure what exactly I was because of the fact that I knocked out one of their villains in defense before I had to run out of there. Yet, they soon had me recruited and had Sunset Shimmer train me… if you consider training trying to dodge wrenches that are thrown at you.”

“Sounds like Ozai’s last wedding, before he got divorced.” Suicune said.

“Suicune… your people have some weird customs.” Lumen said.

“Well that’s only with Ozai’s region,” Exuberant said as she placed a full house on the table. “Ha, try and beat that Lumen!” Lumen countered that with whatever she had in her tiny hooves… which turned out to be a royal flush. “How are you doing that? You don’t even know what we’re playing.”

“Sheer luck I guess?” Lumen shrugged. “Now hand them over!”

“So yeah…” Lance sighed as he watched Lumen try and wrestle for the Twinkies that Exuberant was trying to hide from her. “With my world, there are a lot of things there that I have to deal with, including different groups. A lot of them are teams associated with the Power Ponies, including the Heroes Association in Sun Fransokyo and my aunt is in New Yoke with another team. And the main thing is… I’m not the only displaced in that world… and one of them is a pony.”

“Well it seems that even Displaced can become ponies… but tell me does your world have enemies?” Suicune asked the Adept.

“It does, but their focus is on the world we’re in… and when I mean by one of them is a pony… I mean that a pony was actually displaced.” He clarified, looking at them for a moment. “Have you heard of the name Derpy hooves?”

“Yes, she’s actually the mother of one of my students in Ponyville,” Suicune said, as his paw began to glow and summon a corn for the Breezie. “You shouldn’t eat too many sweets or you’ll turn fat and juicy for the crows.”

“I said I’M FINE DAD!! I can fly JUST fine, GOSH!!!!” Lumen said in a sugar filled daze as she flew over to Lance’s hair and passed out.

“Well uh… take what I said before… then think of this. There are two Derpy Hooves in my world. One that works for the Maretropolis Police Department… the other got displaced and has the strength to defeat any monster or anything she comes across… in one punch.” Lance told them, adding a photograph to what he said as he let them observe it. “Her family members also got displaced too… Dinky is insanely smart and has a backpack filled with a crazy amount of gadgets while her niece Amethyst is a cyborg.”

“I see… I’ll be sure to check your world, but for now I think you should keep your friend from any sweets for a very, very long time,” Suicune said, at least until his eyes began to glow, causing everyone to shield their eyes, before reverting back.

“What happened, Suicune?” Celestia asked.

“Two more worlds are being invaded… Nathan’s world… and another I’m not sure of.” He replied, before turning to the Displaced. “You will have to leave a bit earlier than I anticipated Lance.”

“Wait what’s the other world?” Lance asked.

“It appears to be a world shrouded in darkness… I can’t imagine why they would go there? Lance I need you to find Nathan and bring him here! I fear that he doesn’t stand a chance on his own.” Suicune explained. Lance nodded, looking back at Exuberant, who dropped her oversized Ursa plushy on top of Quicksilver as she raced over to him.

“Ready when you are?” She said, pulling the Adept close as she giggled.

“I’m ready.” With all said and done, she opened the portal and they raced off to find Nathan Phoenix.

Ponyville

When Lance and Exuberant arrived what they saw was just horrifying. Corpses of ponies filled all of ponyville and many of the buildings as far as they could see were destroyed. Lance hasn’t seen this much destruction before, it was painful to even look. Lance was about to head towards what remained of Twilight’s Castle until Exuberant pushed him into a building as a small ship passed by and three Promethean soldiers and two knights, dropped in the center of the town.

“Stay quiet, if they see us they’ll alert the others,” She said, laying on top of the Adept as she looked to see where the prometheans were doing. Lance couldn’t help but blush at how close she was to him. Especially with how she normally acted around him at times.

“Search the area for any survivors! We need more prisoners to work in the mines!” A Promethean Knight ordered as they began to spread out, Exuberant’s arm soon began to transform into a plasma gun as one of the Promethean soldiers passed through where they were as Lance pulled her back.

“Wait just a second…” He whispered, having her move back to where it was out of the Prometheans possible line of sight. “One of them said something about working in the mines… do you think their ship has the location of where they are?”

“Of course they do, besides I wasn’t going to do anything… I was only going to engage if they approached any closer. I’m not an idiot!” She stated quietly, before looking over to see where they were headed.

“The area is all clear! Let’s return to the mine shafts with the prisoners we already have!” One of the soldiers told the knight as both of them watched the four Prometheans drag a cage of prisoners behind them.

“So are we going to follow them and let them lead us to the mines or do something now?” The Adept whispered, waiting for Exuberant to tell him of a plan before they pull off anything risky.

“We need to find Nathan… We can’t risk following them, we were barely able to escape from them last time. Our best option is to find Nathan Phoenix and get the heck outta here.”

“And how are we supposed to know if Nathan Phoenix is not in one of those cages?” Lance whispered. “Because if the Warden Eternal is the one behind this, then they’re ordered to capture Displaced because of Ozai.” He reminded her as the Prometheans began loading up the cages.

“I looked up whatever information we had on Nathan Phoenix and trust me if he was a pony than he’d already be dead. He’s supposed to be one of the seven gate guards within the Displaced for the north region. Trust me if he was captured than we wouldn’t have come here in the first place.” Exuberant explained as they quietly slipped their way into the remains of Sugar Cube Corner, surprisingly it was the only building that was left standing.

“So why exactly are we hiding here? Wouldn’t we be spotted if they do another sweep of the town?” Lance asked Exuberant in response.

“I’m pretty sure we’re safe here, besides it looks like they're heading back to their ship.” Exuberant said, closing the blinds to the window. “I’d say we should get some rest before we continue our search.”

“I can agree… but should one of us keep watch if they do happen to come back around?” Lance then proposed to Exuberant. “You can’t be too sure when you are dealing with Prometheans right?”

“True… I guess I’ll take the first watch,” She said while Lance tried to clear some things off of the floor and look around to find something that would be used for a bed and pillow. But as he was looking around, he soon came across something that looked to be hiding behind some flour crates.

“Hey, Exuberant… I think I found something you might want to see.” The Adept told her, ushering her over to come see what he happened to discover.

“Ah, I see you’ve found one Nathan's Infobots, I haven’t seen one of these things since the third war,” She said, picking up the small robot, judging from it’s condition it was definitely in need of repair.

“Maybe this could provide a clue on where he possibly is?” The Azure Striker suggested as he looked outside for a brief second to see that the coast was clear. “Is there a toolkit somewhere-?”

“You do realize that I’m an android and tech is my thing right?”

“Oh right… must’ve overlooked that. I just thought that there were specific tools used to repair these kinds of bots.” He replied back, scratching his head a little in embarrassment.

“You can be real dense you know that?” She said with a sigh. “I can probably download it’s memories into my data bank to save us time, but that’ll take some time… Also just so you know… I find it quite charming when you are clueless~”

“Well, I’m not familiar with many of the things outside my world, so I’m still learning I guess.” Lance told her as Exuberant worked to download the infobot’s memories into her databank while he took her role on keeping watch for the most part.

“Dang it!” She shouted as the infobot literally began to fall apart. As it fell apart though, the Adept then noticed something as the mouth of the bot began to extend and form a tv. When he took a closer look, he was curious as something that caught his attention.“I was able to recover some of the data, but everything else was encrypted with a virus. I can play what I was able to get on the screen if you want?”

“Give me a second and let me try something,” Lance said, using his right hand to place it on the infobot while he put his left hand on Exuberant’s shoulder. Closing his eyes, he began to use his powers for two main reasons. First, it was to bypass the encryption and the virus. Second, it was to serve as a link for him to transfer the information he was able to retrieve to Exuberant. Afterwards, he looked back at her as his powers died down. “Did that help?”

“Oh, Yes~.” She said as her face was completely red and for a moment Lance thought he had short circuit her with the steam coming off her. But nonetheless, she still played the video that she managed to get.

November 24, 2026

“Alright another day here in Equestria… Okay so how should I start this? Well it’s been almost a thousand years since me and my family left the Displaced and made a home here in this Equestria… I do wonder how’s the boss doing now? Anyway getting off track… So what else is there to say? I’ve been living the good life and today is actually me and my wife’s an-” Before he could finish what he was saying a loud explosion could be heard outside of the Bakery and the sounds of screams was all that could be heard in the background. “EVERYONE GET OUTTA-”

The video ended and the screen cracked. “That must have been when the Prometheans attacked.”

“But the date can’t be right? When we were in Canterlot, the invasion happened only a few minutes ago.” Lance said, looking at the timestamp and the scenery around them. Something seemed off about this place… like there was something that he wanted to hide from the enemy.

“The time zones are very different, what seems like days here is only a few minutes passing in Suicune’s world.” She explained.

“I figured that… but look back at the clip.” He told her, slowly rewinding it a bit. “The window in the background shows that it was broad daylight outside… now it’s almost pitch black. This must’ve happened earlier in the day… if those Prometheans were still looking for survivors, then it was possible that somehow he might’ve escaped with a few of the survivors.” Looking around back in the room, he noticed something hidden behind a supply shelf and looked around to make sure they didn’t miss anything.

“Well… the attack obviously happened a few days ago… They must have left somewhere and those Promethean’s are still trying to track him.” She said.

“You think there might be some other clues in some of the other buildings? That ruined castle looked to be somewhat important.” He pointed out. “I mean, the Prometheans landed there like they were guarding something while they sent the soldiers to get the cages. Maybe there’s something there that’s making it easier for them to come back here in such a hurry.”

“Look I know you want to find Nathan, but that was only a search ship and those guards were only looking after the ship. That’s only a search ship and nothing more… Those troops are nothing more than a bunch of backstabbing scavengers!” Lance noticed that there was a pitch in Exuberant’s voice, making it sound a lot angrier than normal as he looked back at her in concern.

“Exuberant, are you okay?” He asked, worried that she was overdoing it somehow.

“Look… I’m fine, just a little… irritated is all,” Exuberant assured him, but Lance had a feeling that she wasn’t telling the truth.

“Irritated about what? Exuberant, you're making me worried…” The Adept told her, placing a hand on her shoulder as a way to show he was concerned for her. “What’s wrong?”

She took a deep breath, before looking back at Lance. “Remember I was only a monitor when we met?” He nodded his head for a moment, allowing her to continue speaking. “I was a nurse during the two wars and some Prometheans that weren’t imprisoned worked on the staff with me… but they… they were always mean… always grabbed me and used me as ball… I was working on a body similar to this one… but they destroyed it and attacked me… Suicune was there to stop them during an inspection and destroyed them… the worst part of it all is that every last one of them are my brothers and sisters!”

Lance was shocked to hear this, surprised to hear these horrible things that happened to her. “I-i’m sorry Exuberant… I never knew that these kind of things happened to you.”

“Because of them… I had problems controlling my emotions when I was still a monitor… I just wish I could have been something different… maybe they would have liked me if I wasn’t this…” She said, crying for the first time. That was when Lance spoke up and placed his hand on her cheek.

“You are different… you aren’t just a ball like your siblings thought of you to be… you’re more than that and have helped both Lord Suicune and I get this far… and for that, I am thankful to have you be by my side.” He told her, showing his appreciation for everything that Exuberant had done for them. “You are not like them… you are different and I like that…”

“Really? You like me for me?” She asked, clearing her eyes as she looked at Lance with hope. “Do you really mean it Lance?”

“I do… I like you for who you are, Exuberant.” He said, straightening up so he could look at her around eye level so he can look directly at her before speaking. “And I would not want for you to change at all.”

“Thank you…” With joy, she pulled the Adept in and kissed his cheek, before hugging him. It was the last thing she did before powering down to rest. Lance himself smiled as he looked back at Exuberant as he noticed that there was a smile on her face when she powered down. That, to him… told him that he was definitely doing something right as he fell asleep.

“Young Displaced… why are you here?” A voice called out to him. “Why help a traitor… when you can take… his powers for yourself? Don’t you desire power to… protect your family?” Lance looked around, noticing that the area around him was no longer what remained of Sugarcube corner, but what looked like a dark cloudy horizon.

“Who are you?” Lance asked, looking around to see where the voice was coming from, only to not see anyone around him

“Someone who has existed for before the universe was formed… I’ve gone by many names… but for you child… you can call me… a friend.” Lance saw what looked like an old pale creature who concealed himself in a black cloak as he slowly approached him. “Are you afraid of me child?”

The Adept looked at the person, but then told him a response that even the cloaked figure didn’t expect. “I’m not… I have seen many things… some a slight bit stranger than normal… but nothing really that would make me afraid.”

“You should be… for I can do anything… I’ve created worlds beyond imagination… and I can tell that deep down that you are afraid… I’m a deity… Tell me, Lance Walker… Do you honestly trust Lord Suicune, and this female you lay with?” The stranger asked as he summoned an image of him laying with Exuberant and another with Suicune talking with Celestia.

All Lance could do was nod his head. “I do… Unlike some people, like Zamasu, who would betray the Siblings for power… Suicune only betrayed them because he wanted to choose what he would do with his life… he wanted the freedom to choose instead of being told what decisions to make… in a way, he reminds me of myself.”

“Ah… but answer me this… did he make you his apprentice?” He asked, as the Adept nodded in response to the figure’s question. “Well… did he tell you that once you’ve… completed your training you’ll become an Elder like him?”

“In terms of strength… or do you mean something else?” The Adept then asked, looking back at the figure. “My choice for having Lord Suicune teach me is my own… I want to protect my family, my world and everyone I care for and I’m not going back on my decision.”

“Tell me this… can you protect them from aging? Why do you think Lord Suicune hates Displaced… why he hates the Elders?” That made the Adept think to himself as he looked back at the figure.

“Because he had no family left to return to… They were gone.” It took Lance a while to figure it out, but after some time, he realized why Suicune was happy to be with Celestia.

“Now imagine when he gives you… the same gift… you’ll suffer the same fate as him… watching as all of your friends and family fade away like dust in the winds.” The Figure said, placing his hand on the Adept’s shoulder. He thought it over, as the Adept closed his eyes. “Immortality can be a curse.”

“You don’t have to suffer that fate… Gunvolt… All you have to do is kill Suicune with this dagger and he shall be reunited with his family and you’ll have his powers… and the best part is that you can die peacefully with them,” He said, placing the dagger in his hands, until Lance’s eyes began to glow. “What is this?”

His powers glowed as his hair slowly began to change colors. From yellow, it turned into a light blue as his eyes glowed as he gripped the dagger… and used it to strike the stranger in the shoulder. “NO!” He roared, as right in front of the figure’s eyes, his body began to change as he was now towering over the cloaked figure… in a new form.

“Hehehe… yet you fail to realize that they are turning their backs on you… You’ll see in time, Lance Walker… ” The Stranger soon began to turn to dust as this new form destroyed the darkness around the Adept… bringing light into the dream that he was in. But what the Stranger did not realize… was that he messed with the wrong displaced.

“THIS IS MY CHOICE… MY DESTINY… THINGS MAY HAVE BEEN DIFFERENT WHEN YOU CAME INTO BEING, BUT TIMES HAVE CHANGED. UNLIKE YOU, THERE ARE PEOPLE I CARE FOR… AND THEY WOULD NEVER TURN THEIR BACK ON ME!” With a roar, he released a powerful blast of lightning that actually left a stinging burn on the figure as the cloak turned to ash. “YOU ARE WRONG!!”

“You are wrong-” The figure turned to ash and Lance suddenly woke up, sweating as he saw Exuberant snuggled closer to him with her cheeks still stained with her oily tears, but she was still smiling. But Lance felt something within his hand… and it was the same dagger the stranger had given him. With a deep breath, he decided to step outside, using his right hand to channel some electricity to form a blade as he cut the dagger apart.

“I don’t care what you try to tell me… Lord Suicune is who I trust… Not a stranger such as yourself.” He growled, letting the broken pieces of the dagger burn to ash as he walked back inside to return with Exuberant. But as he returned to his sleep… the ashes slowly began reform.

‘Hahahahaha… you can’t change the path I’ve set for… Lord Suicune… You are all ponds in my little game,’ He heard the figure speak once more after falling asleep again.

“Screw your path…” Lance shot back, a bright aura forming behind him as he was blinding the figure as he heard him holler in pain and agony as his voice disappeared from Lance’s head. “I forge my own destiny… Not you.”

The Next Day

Lance felt a cold chill as something was poking his cheeks, waking him from his slumber. When he opened his eyes and began to prop himself up, he soon happened to notice what was exactly poking him this time as the Adept was now fully awake. “M-morning Exuberant…”

“Morning Lance… Y-you ready to get going?” She asked, moving of the Adept so he could stretch his limbs. It took him a moment, but he soon hopped back on his feet as he got up and looked back at the android, offering a hand to help her up so she was ready for the journey as well.

“Yes I am… Let’s see if there’s anything useful we can find in that old castle first before going to find Nathan,” He suggested. “Maybe there’s some more tech you can interact with inside.”

“Yeah maybe… if I can make a suggestion… our best bet is to head towards whatever remains of Ponyville's castle,” She said, pointing at the ruins of Twilight’s castle, with a simple nod, they both began to make their way there. “If Lumen were here she’d have something funny to say… or at least keep us distracted from all of… this.”

“I know what you mean… but she’s back at the Canterlot with Suicune and Celestia… I still can’t believe that your Elder Siblings would be responsible for so… much destruction.” Lance informed her as they got closer to the castle. On the way, they happened to find a small locket with a photo of a young family inside. Husband, wife, and two foals that were very young. It almost made him feel sick because of what the prometheans did without a second thought. He set the locket back down and stood in front of the home before closing his eyes for a moment. “Rest in peace…”

Shortly after muttering the small prayer, he returned back to Exuberant as they began to move some of the debris out of the way of the entrance to the castle as they made their way inside. Trying to observe anything that might just be out of place… or out of the ordinary.

“I think I see something over their, buried under all that rubble…” Exuberant pointed out, seeing what looked like a small hand. Lance rushed over there immediately and began removing the debris as Exuberant used her plasma gun to melt away the difficult pylons that have seemed to collapse on whoever… or whatever, was underneath the rubble. “It looks like another infobot… maybe this time it will have more information.”

“If that’s the case, let me extract it and transfer it to you like yesterday at Sugarcube Corner,” He insisted, performing the same process as he finally pulled the infobot out of the rubble. Once again, he used his powers to safely decrypt and transfer the files that were encased inside the tiny robot so Exuberant could access them. “Alright, that should do it. And the transfer was a lot shorter than expected-.”

“Your so forward, Lance~ Just warn me next time okay?” She said, winking at the Adept.

“ … Are you going to be a tease every time I do that?” He then asked, raising an eyebrow in response to the Exuberant’s flirty remarks.

“Do you even know what you're doing when you do that?~” She asked, leaning towards him as she whispered something very inappropriate, causing the Adept to blush intensely for a moment. Causing him to now regret asking the question he said previously as he looked back at the android.

“Well… that’s something… Did you get anything that follows up from yesterday?” He asked, trying to change the topic.

“Well… this is only an audio recording and from what you’ve recovered, but I think what’s in the audio itself could be beneficial to finding Nathan Phoenix,” She told him in response as the android pulled up a holoscreen with the audio recording encased in it as Exuberant soon hit the play button to the audio sample.

October 12, 2026

“Well I managed to have finished building-” The Audio went fuzzy as Exuberant tried to restore the connection. “- An underground tunnel just in case of emergencies-”

“Damn… that’s all I could get… unless you want try and… transfer more data~” She said, sticking her robotic tongue out at Lance, who simply groaned as he looked back at her and took a deep breath before looking around a little.

“Exuberant, we need to focus… if that audio was correct, then Nathan built a tunnel to escape out of here… Let’s look around to see if the entrance is somewhere within the castle.” He told her in response as the Adept went back to examining the room around him and looking to see if there was anything that was hiding a possible secret entrance to the underground tunnel they just found out about.

“Maybe I could use my scanner to locate any secret passageways or something,” Exuberant said, as her eyes began glowing, scanning the room.

“You can try… but if Nathan did not want to be followed, he would possibly have something in place to fool scanners… But go ahead and try if you want. If you find anything unusual, point me towards it and I can take a closer look.” Lance insisted as he let Exuberant begin scanning the main hall of the castle as she began to walk around and continue her scan throughout the rest of the building.

“AH, HA! I think I found something!” She said, standing in front of an empty bookshelf, which she lifted off the ground with ease and threw it across the room.

“Woah there! Are you trying to get people’s attention? That could probably be heard all across town.” Lance sighed for a moment before looking back at her. “But what did you find?”

“Well one, there’s a doorway here, but it’s locked and needs a code that only Nathan knows… not to mention a hoof print from Twilight. Also Lance, you should eat more protein and minerals… seriously no wonder why you had a hard time carrying a stuffed bear~” Lance thought this over… but then did something that Exuberant originally thought was… strange. He took some time going through the trash to find what looked like an empty milk carton. Tearing the sides off, he soon pulled out what looked like a small clear sheet of plastic that he first pressed firmly against the scanner.

But as he slowly lifted up the clear plastic sheet, it now had the hoofprint that they were looking for. He originally thought that in order for it to see if it worked, Twilight would’ve had this entrance tested multiple times. Meaning multiple different times she placed her hoof on the scanner and multiple times that she left a hoofprint. Including one recent one. Flipping it over, he looked around to find a mannequin of a pony nearby as he took the mannequin’s foreleg and pressed it against the plastic sheet. The machine beeped for a few seconds… and then asked a question to the two of them.

‘Please enter your security code.’

Lance smirked. That was step one out of the way… and now to step two. Recalling the infobot from the other day, he remembered that Nathan said something about the date being very… important for him and his wife, so he placed in the first code that came to mind.

“I think I could figure out the code… but I could use a little help.” She said, hooking a cable to it and trying various passwords.

“Yeah, if Nathan finds that the machine has been tampered with, he might get suspicious.” He replied, going to the machine and pressing the number sequence 1124. The machine beeped once again… and then said this.

‘Access granted. Welcome, Mr. Phoenix and Ms. Sparkle.’

Soon the door began to open, revealing what appeared to be a stairway. “We should probably get going?”

“Yeah, agreed.” Lance replied, reattaching the foreleg he had back on the mannequin and leading the way for both of them as the door closed behind them. It was originally pitch black in the tunnel, but some of the electricity around one of Lance’s hands served as a light so the two of them could be able to see through the tunnel. “I wonder where this tunnel leads too…”

“I don’t know… but the scans say that it keeps going down, Seriously how much time did this guy have to make this?” Exuberant asked, looking at the Adept who didn’t know how to respond.

It took a few minutes, but they had finally made it to the bottom of the staircase and saw a long dark hallway with scraps of metal scattered across the floor. “Exuberant, how much time has passed since we got here?”

“Well… we’ve been here for 18 hours…. So about eighteen minutes have passed in Suicune’s world… So there really isn’t any rush unlike Quicksilver’s original world.” Exuberant told him as the Adept sighed in relief. Still though, he did not want to delay any time they would use in order to prepare for Elysium and Ozai’s potential arrival.

“Hey Exuberant… Is there anything you can tell me about Nathan before we meet him? Like what is he like or anything like that?” The Adept asked her shortly after Exuberant finished her original statement.

“Well I only know that he was a gate guard that worked for Suicune for about… 1000 years or more… Not much data on him, but if Suicune trusts him… than he can’t be all bad, right?” She was unsure, but that’s all he had to go by so it was okay for the moment.

“Yeah, I just thought that the infobots would somehow provide a clue as to who we’re looking for. Like an image or something to go off of.” He responded back as they continued to navigate through the passageway. But as they reached a door, Lance tripped over a wire and Exuberant was electrocuted by the trap, shutting down automatically.

“Exuberant!” Before he could rush over to help her, two darts hit the back of Lance’s neck, causing him to fall over onto the ground for a short bit. He heard the sound of something walking towards them and from the sound of it being metallic, he thought that there was a promethean nearby. So, he waited for whoever attacked them to come closer, waiting until whoever it was to bend over and inspect him… as he used the chance for a surprise maneuver. Catching their attacker off guard by blasting some lightning in his face as he used the moment that their attacker moved backwards to pull the darts out of his neck and rush to Exuberant to check on her condition.

“Who are you? How did you get in here? Are you working for them?” A large robot with a single eye and large gun glared at them.

“E-easy… we don’t mean you any harm…” Lance told the robot, honestly surprised at the size of his weapon. “We aren’t your enemies and we aren’t working for them either. We were told to find someone named Nathan Phoenix because a friend of his needs his help-.”

“Who’s asking?” He asked, placing his gun at Lance’s forehead.

“Lord Suicune asked for his help… I’m his… ally and student,” The Adept told him. “My name is Lance Walker and the one you happened to electrocute was my friend Exuberant Witness… We were told to come find you, but is seemed like the Prometheans and the Warden Eternal got to you first.” The robot placed his gun down, before glancing at the Adept and android.

“Answer me this? Is that… killing machine with you?!” He pointed at Exuberant.

“They aren’t and Exuberant is not a killer…” He said sternly. “She’s been helping me so I can find you… we found infobots in Sugarcube Corner and in Twilight’s castle and used them to get us here. I would have Exuberant play them back but… you sort of short circuited her…” He sighed, taking a moment to place a hand on her shoulder as the video clip from the first infobot began to replay on his right bracer, letting the robot see for himself.

“We are not your enemy… we only wish to help you… We figured out how to use the door by using a clear sheet of plastic to place Twilight’s hoofprint on as well as a mannequin foreleg for the sensors to read accurate weight and the passcode was the number’s 1124… the same date on the infobot log that… if I am to accurately presume… was your anniversary.” The information that the adept told the robot caught it by surprise. How he was able to figure out not just the infobots, but also the security door was just surprising.

“Okay, but I don’t trust her… if I was you I’d take her out! One of those Prometheans could destroy a town… they took my wife, my children, and my friends… Don’t trust her,” The robot said.

Lance had nothing to say… but he did have one piece of info that could be possibly helpful… he just needed to know one thing. “When was it that you came into the tunnel?”

“Two days… I’ve been trying to find survivors, but they either have been captured or killed.” He answered.

“When we came here last night, Exuberant and I found a promethean ship that was looking for them. But there was one thing that I heard one of the soldiers say that caught my attention.” Lance told him as he played back another audio sample for the robot.

‘Search the area for any survivors! We need more prisoners to work in the mines!’

With that clip, Lance dismissed it and turned towards the robot. “From this and the fact that we saw them carrying a cage, I’m lead to believe that any prisoners they capture would be somewhere in the mines that they mentioned… if we track one of their ships, it will lead us straight to them… and hopefully, we can find your family there.”

“Tell me something I don’t know… all prisoners have been locked up tight in Canterlot.”

“You may not have been able to harm them… but I can,” Lance then said, showing what he meant as he showed an example by firing a dullahan bolt across the hall, enhanced by forerunner tech. “I can be able to stop them and Exuberant knows where to go… we only wish to help…”

“We’re talking about an army here… not just a few squads… because I can take them with ease, but we’re talking war machines, powerful Displaced, and not to mention an Elder Sibling up there.” The robot explained. “Wait, I almost forgot to introduce myself… names Nathan, but can you put… her outside?”

“Outside where? We’re in a empty hallway underground. The only outside would be at the end of the tunnel… and with what you said… Let’s just say that I’ve been involved to the point where I’ve stolen Yellow Radio’s database, screwed up his Sentinels and been trained by Lord Suicune. Trust me… you don’t know the kind of things I’m capable of until you’ve seen them firsthand.”

Nathan looked closely at Lance’s eyes as he held Exuberant. “Don’t tell me that you’re… with her are you?”

“Define with. I was summoned by Zsoltan and have Exuberant as a companion and a friend. She’s not your enemy. In fact, she hates prometheans.”

“I think you know what I mean? Fine do what you want, but keep your eyes on her… Don’t want her near my stuff… no matter what you say, she’s one of them.” Nathan said, walking back inside to what appeared to be his secret hideout.

“Can’t you just talk to her then?” Lance asked, looking to see if there was anyway to restore power to Exuberant’s systems. “If you give her a chance, then you may realize she’s not what you think.”

Nathan looked back at them, before pulling out a switch, turning the power back on in the halls, waking the android again as power returned to her systems. “W-what happened?”

“I met Nathan… he tazed you because he saw you as an intruder and thinks you are a promethean.” Lance told her, going into detail on what was said before helping her to her feet.

“No… I didn’t, my trap removed the energy from her power core.” Nathan explained.

“Different world, different tech. I did not know how it worked.” Lance shrugged, looking back at Nathan and then Exuberant before returning his gaze to Nathan again. “We should get moving to wherever you’re staying so we can come up with a plan.”

“We should head up to the surface… make sure those things aren’t around and see if we can fix those camara’s in the castle. If you two want to help… than grab those extra camara’s in the corner,” Nathan said, pulling out his gun again. “I’ll look around to make sure they aren’t around.”

“Anything we’re looking for specifically? Like description wise?” The Adept asked, making sure he had all the right information that he needed at this point in time.

“We are trying to at least bring some of our systems online… that way we can know if any Prometheans roll into town. Than we can try to figure out how to free Canterlot, but with an Elder Sibling is up there… I doubt it!”

“I understand what you mean though… the only one I’ve fought with was Suicune and that was a disaster… We’ll have to free your family and get out quickly.” Lance told him in response.

“That could work, but we’ll need a layout of Canterlot… like a map to know where the prisoners are being held.” Exuberant suggested, as Lance picked up the camera’s from the corner.

“Alright… but first you two… lovebirds… go take care of those camera’s. I’ll scout out the town, see if any survivors out there.” Nathan ordered, leading the two of them out of the tunnel. Lance was going to respond, but just ignored it as he followed him out of the tunnel.

Because the sooner they get this done… the sooner they can storm the gates of Canterlot and rescue his family.

End Strike 47

Strike 48- The Search Part 3

When Lightning Strikes- The Search Part 3

Ponyville (Nathan’s realm)

Ever since his encounter with the one known as Nathan Phoenix, Lance at first… was not sure what to make of him at first glance. Other than the fact that their initial meeting involved him knocking out Exuberant and getting shot at with knock out darts, the Adept figured that this displaced would not trust either him or Exuberant right away. What surprised him though was when Nathan said that Exuberant should be destroyed. He knew that the android was not like any of the other mechanical beings or AI’s that he had encountered before, but in a way… Exuberant was different. Despite her metal body and what she was capable of, she felt more… human than any of the others he had encountered before.

The Adept was also taking into account of the fact that Nathan himself was still a bit upset over what the Prometheans did to his home. In a way, Lance understood why he would not trust her right away… and the fact that it may require some serious convincing before the robot could even consider Exuberant as a comrade. After all, if a few prometheans caused this kind of devastation, who knows what Exuberant could be capable of if she had to fight.

He had to set this aside in his mind though once all three of them got back up topside. Right now, their primary task was to get some of the town’s systems operational again along with the camera’s installed in the castle. That was step one and a very important step at that. Though, since Lance figured that Nathan himself was more familiar with the tech they were trying to use rather than he was, the Azure Striker had both him and Exuberant watch Nathan’s back as he scanned the area for anything that seemed to be in need of some necessary repairs. Which seemed rather difficult because a lot of what they may be looking for was possibly buried under rubble. When Lance and Exuberant found the two infobots from before, that was just by pure luck. This time… they may need more than just luck on their side if they were planning on finding anything that could properly function without blowing up in their face.

“I’m starting to think that Nathan doesn’t really like me that much,” Exuberant said, turning towards Lance with a blank expression.

“Well, he’s just upset.” The Adept sighed. “I mean, the Prometheans stole everything he wanted to protect and destroyed what he had built over several years. But once we get some of these things up again, he should hopefully be okay.”

“It doesn’t matter… No matter where I go, I’ll always be seen as one of them.” She replied. For her it only made her depressed as she continued to scan the area for more of Nathan’s tech. “Lance, do you care about me? Even if I’m a Promethean?”

“I do. Even if you are one, it doesn’t change what I think of you or how grateful I am of you helping me so far.” Lance told her, trying to encourage her a little.

“And if something bad were to happen to me or if I do turn out to be like them, would you stop me?” She asked. “Well would you?!”

“I would try whatever I can do to save you first.” He told her sternly. “Hurting you would not be something I want to do. You helped me get this far… and hurting you or anyone that’s innocent goes against who I am as a person.” The Adept though, was confused as to why she would be asking these kinds of questions. Was there a reason for doing so? Was Exuberant concerned about something happening to either him or her? Many questions were going through his head and none of them had any answers yet.

“Lance, after all the time I’ve spent with you, I know that is not true,” She said, turning back towards the Adept with that blank expression. “You are always focused at the task at hand and you are always determined to do what is right. I wouldn’t doubt that you would stop me and honestly I wouldn’t even mind. Maybe dying isn’t so bad, it’s better than being placed as one of them!”

“Exuberant, I’m being serious,” He told her. “After… well, after going to the carnival with you… Well, because of you, I’m changing as a person. Focusing on the task at hand is important, but it’s also important to make sure that the people helping you are also safe too, Besides… you remind me of Max. If I fail you, I feel like I failed her.”

“Let’s just… find Nathan, I’m sure he’s got those cameras back online,” She said, passing the Azure Striker, hiding a single tear as she pressed on. Lance couldn’t figure it out, it was as if Exuberant was changing. Something wasn’t right.

‘Confused as to what is happening young Displaced?’

“Oh god, not again…” Lance groaned. He knew that voice… and he was sick of hearing the creepy one speaking to him all over again. “Could you please just get out of my head already? I’d rather not deal with your BS right now… I’m not killing Suicune and I’m not listening to you.”

‘Have it your way, but don’t blame me for what happens next. This machine needs you more than ever and you’ll be the one responsible for it’s future.’ With that said, the voice dissipated as it’s laughter echoed throughout the air, leaving the Adept alone with his thoughts. He was really getting irritated with this guy always happening to show up and mess with him somehow and irritate him. Still though, he thought it would be best to stay with Exuberant more and make sure that she was okay, so he decided to stay nearby her and help. After all, they were partners and partners looked out for one another.

The two had arrived at the castle to see Nathan repairing some of the cameras. “So are the cameras fine or do I need to make repairs?”

“They were fine, the sooner we get you back to Suicune the better.” Exuberant stated, taking a seat at an old chair.

“What’s up with your friend?”

“I… don’t know, but I’m going to go find out. Just let us know when your done.” Lance told him before walking over towards Exuberant. He decided to sit nearby on a corner where there was a countertop for what appeared to be a kitchen from the looks of things. Looking at Exuberant though, he tilted his head and paced himself before asking Exuberant something. “Hey, are you alright?”

“I’m fine… just a little upset is all,” she replied, staring at the sky. “Lance, can you tell me more about your family?” That… left Lance a bit puzzled originally. He wasn’t sure if Exuberant was talking about his family with Max or his family before being Displaced. He wanted to ask for clarification, but was a little worried about how to say it since he did not want to make her even more upset.

“Do you mean my family before I was… well Displaced?” He asked, just to keep it simple and not over complicate things for either of them.

“Yeah… I just want to know.” She replied, drawing out a deep sigh from him for a moment before the Adept looked back at her.

“My family is… well, hard to explain. Life before I ended up as a displaced really wasn’t exactly how some people would want it…” He started off, looking back at her for a moment before speaking once more. “For one thing, I did not have a mother to raise me like most people would.”

“Go on… It can’t be as bad as my life was,” Exuberant insisted. Though, she was soon about to eat her words.

“My mother died giving birth to me… It was only my dad, my aunt and my cousin raising me in my early years… But my dad was deeply depressed from losing my mom and… over the years, it was getting worse.” The Adept sighed, recalling everything for a moment and trying to combat the feeling to give into emotion. “Ultimately… he committed suicide just as I walked in the door… I was only seven years old at the time, but the memory of that still haunts me some nights while I sleep. If it weren’t for my friend Cody, I would’ve ended up just like them. In a grave because I felt that I had nothing to live for.” It was hard for Lance to tell her this, but it felt good that he had someone he could talk to about it. It was then that some memories of the old days came back to him.

Before he was displaced, there were five other people that were very good friends of his. They had all in a social communications class in middle school and all of them attended the same high school after 8th grade. Cody was the first friend and one that he knew from his childhood. Noah, or who would later become Nova, was one of the first kids he met back in that same class. After that was Romeo, someone who would freak out and over exaggerate on anything that he saw as unsanitary (including a children’s petting zoo), Aster; a shy and quiet one who really reminded him of Fluttershy and lastly, Sonya. One of the brighter students of the five of them and who everyone asks for help with when they needed help with grammar on essays.

Now, Cody and Noah ended up under the same circumstances as him… but it made him wonder about what happened to the other three. But his chain of thought was interrupted when he heard Exuberant talk to him.

“I’m sorry to hear about your mom and dad… it must have been hard for you. Well at least you had your parents, even if it was for short moment. All I had was… my twin brother.” She said as her hand tightened into a fist.

“He was really important to you now… wasn’t he?” He asked her out of curiosity. “I never had siblings, so I don’t know what a bond between siblings is like… but… S-sorry! I didn’t mean to interrupt. Do continue.” The second part of the statement he insisted after he realized his mistake, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment.

“Well I sorta did the same so it’s not a problem,” She said sheepishly. “Anyway we were only a few months old and our parents abandoned us at an orphanage… all we had was each other and as we grew up we would grow apart. One day… he disappeared without a trace and I was on my own. The only thing I had left of him was his old Halo games. I guess those were what kept me going and that was all I would do… play Halo online. By the time I was sixteen I met someone who worked at Bungie and offered me a job there in the mail room. True most would think that working in a mail room would suck, but sometimes great people have to start somewhere.”

“I figured I could rise to be one of the greatest game designers… so I accepted it and the following day I was about to start my first day there at least I was, until received an email on my computer… Next thing I know I’m trapped in a floating head in a world with others like me. That’s when I discovered that my brother was there, trapped in a prison with others. I learned of the many crimes he’s committed and I’ve mostly kept it to myself until I joined Lord Suicune’s medical team in the second war… It’s not fair… why would someone just… take us away and trap us in place we don’t belong? Why?” Exuberant said before she began sobbing. Lance could not believe it when he heard it, but he could not ignore what he just heard.

“I don’t know… I ask myself that sometimes… and I still can’t find an answer…” The Adept told her. “I’m sorry to hear about that, Exuberant… To hear that someone you care for… someone that you have been separated from and cared for… would do something like that… It’s just heartbreaking.” He wanted to ask who was Exuberant’s brother, but the Azure Striker refrained himself from doing so. The subject did not seem like one that Exuberant wanted to talk about, so he decided to not ask about it and just try to show that he was there for her.

“It’s alright… once we bring Nathan back… I’m going to shut down.” She said. “I thought I could handle it after creating this body, but I’m not… I’m just too weak and you know I’m right Lance… I-I need to be alone!”

“Exuberant, Wait!” Before he could catch her she teleported away. As he tried to give chase, Nathan placed a hand over his shoulder.

“I think it would be wise for you to leave her alone for awhile.” He heard him say. Even though he was right in a sense, Lance felt as if Nathan was a reason for the way she was acting. After all, it was him who compared her to the prometheans that triggered this in the first place. “If anything it was my fault, I shouldn’t have been so harsh.”

The Adept sighed and looked back at the robot as he began to speak again. “I understand that… yet it feels as if there’s something I’m not doing in order to help her. Like a missing piece or something,” Lance then cleared his head for a moment as he looked back at Nathan. “Nevermind about that, that should be something for later. Did you make any progress on restoring those systems of yours?”

“Everything should be good. Once we get my family, we can get out of this hell hole,” Nathan said, heading back inside the castle. The Azure Striker was going to follow him, but turned around to see if Exuberant was going to join them in a minute or two. But upon turning around, he could not be able to see her. He knew that she couldn’t have gone off too far… or cry while cloaking herself like Claptrap in Borderlands 2 when he wasn’t able to face his mortal enemy…… stairs.

Turning back to Nathan though, he then asked a different question. One that was based on a subject that the robot himself happened to bring up. “What place did you have in mind for your family?”

“Well, since Suicune needs my help like you told me, I figured that they should remain in Canterlot with the Princesses. Only until we take care of the Elders first.” He explained, while loading up his arm cannon. “Well I have a way for us to get into mines, but we’ll have to be quick about it.” That caught Lance by surprise though as he looked back at Nathan for a minute and raised an eyebrow.

“You’re not going to wait on Exuberant? I get that time is of the essence, but I originally thought you told us to stay together.” He questioned, looking back at the robot as he processed what Lance just told him. “Besides, she has the teleporter that got us here and can get us to Suicune. Without her, we don’t have an escape route.”

“I know, that’s why I need her to teleport us there. If she gets captured than you’ll be trapped here like the others. We can’t take that risk.” He explained to him. That did make a lot of sense. Exuberant was the only one with the means to transport them out of there and if she was captured, there would be no way back. Even though he could transmit himself, it would require too much energy and unlike Exuberant, he could not be able to teleport to another world entirely. Which is why, whenever he did use it, it was only for short range or long range because the longer in distance the destination was, the more energy and stamina he would use up. “You better tell her the plan now, she’ll be back at any moment.” That he was going to do… once he saw her of course. But a few moments passed with no sign of her and Lance was getting worried.

Just as he was about to go out to look for her, he happened to notice the android walking back to join them. But, it was then that he noticed something else that stood out too… or more likely… someone. “You have got to be kidding me…” He sighed mentally, seeing the familiar and ugly mug of another person he and Exuberant had seen before… and was now beginning to regret letting him off the hook the first time around.

“THE BEAST KING HAS RETURNED!!” Before long, he leaped off the roof of an old house and landed in front of Exuberant with a disgusting grin. “Well if it isn’t the little baseball Exuberant… I have to say that I’m impressed that you’ve made yourself a rather attractive body. Now I suggest that you come with me quietly and no one will get hurt.” However, he didn’t seem to pay attention to the fact that Lance and Nathan were directly behind him. Especially when the Adept’s initial reaction was going to be kicking the Beast King into a set of trees like he did before. But before he could do that, what happened next was unexpected.

“NOT IN A MILLION YEARS JERK!!!” Exuberant shouted as she blasted the Beast King in the chest with her plasma cannon, sending him straight into an old house.

“You’ll regret that you b*tch!” He growled as he climbed out of the rubble, dusting himself off as he pulled out what looked like a communicator. “She’s not cooperating, send in unit one-” Now was when Lance decided to act as he shot the communicator, breaking it before the Beast King could say anything else.

“Not happening… Exuberant, were going!” Lance called out, hoping that she heard him and would immediately get moving. Just as he set off a surge of electricity in the Beast King’s face to temporarily blind him so he couldn’t see.

Exuberant just stood there with a scowl as she looked back at Lance, before long Promethean Knights appeared on the roofs of the town. The Adept didn’t hesitate at the sight of this though as he had a plan in mind for what he was going to do next. Once Exuberant was close to him and Nathan, Lance charged up his septima and had all three of the skill cards he had in reserve at the ready as the crackling of electricity in the air was all around them.

“Lance, get out of my way now!” Exuberant demanded, as she loaded her Plasma cannon and shooting a Promethean in the leg. That immediately had Lance cut off what he was going to do and listened to Exuberant’s commands. He was originally going to use his Voltaic Chains attack to serve as a diversion for them to escape while also taking out some of their forces in the process, but assumed that the android had a plan up her non-existent sleeves and listened as she fired off another plasma cannon shot.

Before she could fire a third shot though, that was when Lance grabbed her shoulder and pulled her out of the way of an incoming blast from a promethean sniper taking aim at her. “Exuberant, get to Nathan. He’s got a plan, but needs your help. I’ll buy us some time!”

“Let go Lance, I have a score to settle with them!” she said shoving the Adept’s arm away as she continued to fire at the Prometheans.

“Yet we need to get out of here and we can’t do that without you! I promise that you can settle the score with them, but please just listen to me!” Lance told her, his electricity resurging. “Go… NOW!!”

The second that his electricity and the chains from the lightning flared to life, it provided the perfect distraction for Lance, Exuberant and Nathan to escape. Along with getting rid of almost all the prometheans in the area, which was an added bonus as well. The bright light from the electricity made it difficult for any of their pursuers to see them, so it was the perfect opportunity to slip away with all the current chaos going on around them. Nathan opened a secret hatch near a building and they slipped in, unnoticed.

But before the Adept could say anything, Exuberant slapped him across the face as the color of her eyes were bright orange. He could tell that she was pissed at him. “I HAD THEM, YOU JERK!!!”

For a moment, he just stood there, not moving at all as he let the pain of that set in. He knew that she was mad at him, but with the current situation, the more time they spent fighting meant less time for helping Nathan. Who, in which, was nearby when Exuberant roared at him just now. “Listen you two, nows not the time to be arguing right-”

Before he could finish Exuberant grabbed his arm and threw him over her shoulder to the ground. “I don’t want to hear a word from you. This is between Lance and me!”

That was when the Adept turned back around, part of his face still red from the smack across his face as he looked back at Exuberant. He was still processing something… but there was one thing that came to his mind once he thought it over. The Beast King wanted her, not him. If he were after him, then he would not care about Exuberant or not even pay attention to her. However, the circumstances were different. This attack meant that they weren’t going after Nathan and him, but her instead… and that seemed troubling.

So he needed to ask someone else first before speaking aloud. “Lord Suicune… Are you there?” He waited a small bit first, before finally getting an answer from the displaced he was trying to contact.

“Yes Lance Walker what is it? It hasn’t been that long since you left.” He heard the Displaced respond as the Adept mentally sighed for a moment.

“Well, a lot of things have happened here. I’ll fill you in on those details later, but something happened just now that doesn’t seem… right.” He told him as took a deep breath and stretched out one of his shoulders. “Just as we were about to leave, we were attacked by the Beast King… yes, him again and a group of Prometheans. However, they only seemed to be interested in Exuberant. I think someone wants to capture her.” He explained everything in detail to him while also taking a moment to let the other two know that he was contacting Lord Suicune for the moment. Once he was done though, the Adept had one last question. “Why do you think they want to go for Exuberant instead of Nathan?”

“I’m not sure, but what happened? Why do you have a hand mark across your face?” He asked, which surprised Lance because he did not mention her slapping him at this point right now. So how could he see him?

“Exuberant slapped me and got angry. She was telling me that ‘she had them’ and called me a jerk, but I think that’s because they want her to be overconfident. Make it more likely for her to make a mistake somehow.” He sighed, stretching his neck for a moment. “Do you think that’s possible or is it too early to tell at this stage?”

“I don’t know, but I suggest you take care of Exuberant at this moment… From what I can tell is that there’s a lot more to it than that. If I had to guess, she’s more angry at you then the Prometheans if she slapped you.” Suicune replied, causing Lance to sigh a bit as he thanked him mentally before turning his attention back to Exuberant. The talk in his head may have lasted only a few seconds, but he still needed to say something.

“Exuberant…” He sighed, trying to think of the words in his head.

“Tell me Lance, did you even considered how I felt even once? Or remember the promise you made yesterday?” She asked.

“I did and that was why I wasn’t going to leave you behind… Even if Nathan said that as an option, I was not going to abandon you. Not even with the odds stacked against us…” Lance told her in response. But what he said wasn’t setting in with what Exuberant was telling the Adept.

“Don’t you dare lie to me Lance, I heard you talking with Nathan about his plan to go to Canterlot by yourself… leaving me behind.”

“Just because I was talking to him about it doesn’t mean I was for it… Exuberant, please just calm down and listen-.” He ushered, only for the android to snap at him once again.

“Just shut up! If you want to storm the gates of Canterlot with Nathan… Fine, I’ll just get out of your way.” She said, turning her back towards the Adept and walking down the tunnel, ignoring anything he says as she pulled out her plasma cannon. “When you finish getting Nathan’s family and getting back to Suicune… I’m done. I thought you were the one… but I was wrong.” Lance was trying to process what to say or do next, but instead, the third person that was with him soon spoke up.

“Exuberant, Lord Suicune wouldn’t want you to do this.” Nathan tried to reason with her, but she ignored him and continued on her path, disappearing in the darkness of the tunnel. This was bad… really bad. Everything he was trying to do and what Lord Suicune told him to do was falling apart… just like with his father years ago. And now… he was asking the same question that he would ask at his father’s grave before coming here.

“What… what did I do wrong?” He asked, just closing his eyes for a moment as the question was repeated inside his head.

“Listen, Lance. This is all my fault… I’m the one who treated her like them. I was just so angry that I alienated her. Look, go after her and fix this. I’ll go on ahead.” Nathan said, before patting Lance on his shoulder. “Tell her I’m sorry and I hope you’ll fix things with your girl.”

“I… I can’t.” He said, having his hands grip tightly into fists. “She’s not mine… But Lord Suicune told me to take care of her… I did not start this mess.” It was in that moment that he grabbed his weapon out of his holster as he looked back at Nathan. “She wouldn’t believe me… but if you told her yourself… that she would believe. Actions do speak louder than words.”

As Lance started heading down the tunnel, Nathan could only whisper to himself. “But I’m not the one she cares about.”

Both of them continued down the same hallway for a little while longer, checking all around them to make sure that they would not get ambushed at any particular point. Farther in though was when both of them reached something that made things even more difficult for them. The path that they were on split into two separate pathways. Not to mention that there were some fresh puddle of what looked to be a bit of promethean blood stained across a sign. Using his hand, Lance wiped it away to see the two words that were on the sign.

Canterlot Caverns.

“Well, we made it at least…” Lance sighed, only to look at both pathways for a moment before looking back at Nathan. “But the path splits… One way would lead to Exuberant… while the other would possibly lead to your family… which path do you want to take?” It was a valid question since the likelihood of running into who or what they were looking for was a 50-50 chance. But with it, there was also risks too. Not to mention that there could be prometheans lurking in the tunnel system.

“I think we should go left… either way we’ll find my family.” He explained as the two took the left path and continued to follow it. After what felt like an eternity, they had arrived at their destination, only to see the horrors of what was inside the mines. Everywhere there were Prometheans surrounding thousands of prisoners and some of them were Displaced.

“Do you recognize any of them?” Lance then asked, trying to use one of his gadgets to get a better look at everything from their current position. He was asking because he felt as if some of the Displaced that were down there were some people that Nathan happened to know, besides his family. If he did know them, then there were a few possibilities that formed in the adept's mind. Of course though, the important factor was if he happened to know them.

“I do, those four down there with the mine carts, that’s my family.” He said, pointing at them in the distance. Lance was about to move until he saw Exuberant being held by two Promethean Knights as a large Promethean approached her with a large sword.

“Exuberant Witness… Our meeting is long overdue. I’m am the Warden Eternal… Keeper of the Domain and the Displaced secrets.” He said.

“I already who you are.” She stated defiantly. This was a bad situation… Her storming off lead to her getting caught by the enemy and now, the android was in a very tough position right at this present moment.

“This is bad… Exuberant’s being held captive by the Warden Eternal,” Lance whispered, pointing it out to Nathan so he could see. “What should we do? We can’t get out of here unless she can teleport everyone.”

“We can’t do anything for her now, if we do this we’ll lose the only chance we have at saving my family. Even if we can’t get back the same way we came, we can stop them here, but I’m not letting you get yourself killed. They’ll kill you before you can even-” But before he could finish the sounds of cheering coming from the Prometheans interrupted him. Warden Eternal grabbed Exuberant by her head and hoisted her into the air.

“You had a choice to join us… But now you’ll submit to my power,” He said, before crushing Exuberants head brutally. It was too late as the remainder of power was snuffed out. “Take whatever remains of her body to Cobalion, he has plans for her… destroying her vessel doesn’t mean she’s gone.” That last part caught Lance’s attention as he felt anger boiling in him and also the feeling for him to do something. But when he heard the Warden’s words, it puzzled him. Where would Exuberant be?

“Head to your family…” Lance told Nathan, preparing his weapon for combat. “I’m intercepting them before they reach that cold bastard.”

“Ain’t going to happen, if what Warden says is true then there’s still a chance to save her and you’re going to need help.” Nathan said, folding his arms.

“I know. But how the hell are we going to do that?” The Adept questioned, glaring back at him as he asked that to him. “Lord Suicune told me to take care of her and make sure nothing happens… and after I saw Cobalion murder all of the displaced that we’ve tried to help before in cold blood, I’m sure as hell not going to let him do anything to her… Do you have a plan or something for this?”

“Not really, we need to follow them, but we can’t let them see us. If only I had my cloaker than we’d get through with no issues.” Lance groaned at that, but soon happened to notice something that stood out to him. Electrical wires… and loose ones at that. He had a hunch for something he could do with his lightning based abilities, but he had never tried anything like that before.

“You might want to step back for this.” Nathan simply did as told while he watched the Adept’s hands surge with electricity. After a few minutes, the Adept disappeared from sight and the only thing that the robot could see was a small electrical spark resonating from the wires as it went along all the way further into the mine.

The two Prometheans could only groan as they began to scrap most of Exuberant’s body parts in a incinerator. “Why can’t we just take the body over to Cobalion’s… he can fish for whatever it is he’s looking for?”

“Because everything about this b*tch is useless… all except for this.” He said pulling out a microchip from the body. “This is all he needs for Project Beetle and besides it’s not like she can do anything at this moment hehehe!”

“Fine just get it to him so I can get back to watching the slaves!” The Promethean Knight said as he watched his comrade teleport away with the chip, leaving him alone… with a electrical wire that was loose dangling behind the soldier. It was caught by surprise the moment that it felt a blade pierce through it’s chest as the assailant that emerged from the electrical wire behind him. Using some more of his energy, he also got the one missing piece that was left out of the conversation he was listening in on.

Cobalion’s location.

‘Don’t worry Exuberant… I’ll put you back together soon.’ Lance promised, disappearing again. ‘I just need the most important piece.’

Promethean Lab

Cobalion simply watched as Yellow Radio worked his magic on the ultimate weapon for his cause. He could only watch as Project Beetle was nearing completion. “That should about do it, Commander… all I need now is Exuberant’s microchip and you’ll have the very first super soldier in the living flesh. Quite literally in this case.”

“Well done Yellow, but did you add the control chip to our little project?” The Pokemon asked, raising a brow as the Jester laughed sarcastically.

“Of course I did. You didn’t honestly think I would allow Exuberant to escape with the only means of locating Suicune, did you?” The jester mocked as he continued to work hard on his special project. However, there was one particular question that might’ve distracted him for only a moment.

“And what of the boy? The displaced that’s with her and also responsible for meddling with all your previous research? Did the Warden say anything about dealing with him?” Cobalion asked, his tone as sharp as the edge of a knife as he spoke.

“I have a feeling he’ll come here to rescue his damsel in distress, but he’ll only find his ultimate destruction. What better way than to test her powerful might against one of the Displaced’s most wanted.” Radio explained as he cackled to the Pokemon.

“Very well… I’ll allow this, but if this plan of yours fails, you’ll have to answer to more than Lord Ozai and Lady Elysium,” Cobalion warned as he soon walked through the twin sets of doors that soon opened for them. Leaving Yellow Radio to his work. But as the pokemon walked down the hall, he noticed that the same promethean that gave him the chip earlier had not returned to his post… and seemed to be having trouble with something.

“Forgive me for being late… Commander! We needed to dispose most of the useless parts of that body Exuberant made, but we recovered the microchip just like you asked.” He explained. Cobalion could only smirk as he levitated the chip into his hoof. Yet, for the promethean a few seconds later, he seemed to be having trouble with something.

“Hey… Hey, Exo… Dammit.” The promethean cursed, catching Cobalion’s attention. “Apologies, commander, but my partner’s communications device has gone offline. I can’t seem to reach him to direct further orders.”

“Hmm… see to it that he has it repaired, I shall extract Exuberant’s life force from the chip and mold it into my own image. Just incase Yellow Radio’s control chip fails.” Cobalion explained as he returned to the lab. Unknowingly though, that last comment did not go unheard as some of the lights in the hall above him began to flicker for a small bit before going back to normal. “And see to it that Warden doubles security… I want to be sure that no one gets any idea’s of disturbing our little project.”

“Of course Commander,” The Promethean told him as he went off to go deliver the message to Warden immediately. Leaving the Pokemon to proceed to the laboratory with the chip that was salvaged.

“Back so soon Cobalion? I take it that they delivered the chip?” The Jester asked with a chuckle.

“Yes… But I’ll be taking over for now with inserting Exuberant into the body. I want you to summon Beast King here immediately… Tell him that his new bride is about to awaken.” At that though, the two of them heard several of the lights above their head began to burst. Shattering the ceiling above them and causing them both to turn their backs for just a quick moment.

All before Yellow Radio felt a simple tap on the shoulder… and turned around to get a shock filled punch to the face. “Special delivery!!” It was Lance’s cue to emerge… and he was downright pissed. “Sorry for crashing your little party, but Exuberant is not yours to keep.”

“Get him out of here!!! I’m not done transferring her soul into the vessel!”

“With Pleasure~ Let’s take this outside!” Yellow Radio said, tackling the Adept, before warping out of the room and into a secluded area with empty minecarts.

“So the reject Kefka wannabe actually wants to get his hands dirty now, does he?” Lance mocked, holding his weapon at the ready. “Sorry, but I’m not in the mood for carnival games.”

“Oh, what a pity… I even invited an old friend~” Radio said, waving his baton in the air that began to glow, summoning a familiar large feline.

“Well if it isn’t the little runt! I’ve been waiting for the chance to shred your disgusting face!” Beast King said, towering the Adept in new armor. All that did was just make the Adept growl a little as some electricity formed around him.

“You two are beyond stupid…” Lance taunted, his electricity crackling around him like the sound of a whipcrack every few seconds. “Because you pissed off the wrong adept… There’s a corner in hell for thieves like you.”

“Hehehe… We’ve learned from our mistakes from our last encounter with you. This time your on your own. Lord Suicune won’t save you this time or that ***** you’ve been with.” Yellow taunted as he glared back at him.

“Don’t forget Yellow that she’s going to be my wife once Cobalion awakens her.” Beast King pointed out, irritating Yellow Radio with the numerous amount of times that he had been bragging about it over the last few weeks. Yellow had honestly heard enough about what the Beast King wanted to do once he had his bride and he was getting sick of it.

Unknown to the both of them though, their comments and rude remarks were just fuel to the fire that was Lance’s rage. “Oh, did we struck a nerve Adept?” The question was answered with a punch to Yellow Radio’s face that threw him back against a wall… but once the jester got up… The words the Adept said… caused for him to see a silhouette emerge around the Azure Striker.

One of a fallen warrior who gave his life long ago. “You BASTARDS!”

“Hehehe… What’s Lance? Upset that you aren’t getting married to that android?! She’s mine now!” Beast King shouted as he uppercutted Lance into a wall. Only for the Adept to remain unfazed as he tilted his head.

“I felt that… a little.” He smirked, before disappearing in the blink of an eye to kick Beast King below the belt as he smashed into a wall. The armor receiving dents from the impact as well as a crack down the chestplate. Before the Beast King could get back up though, the Adept went at him again, delivering another strike that delivered an even deeper crack into the armor. Enough for him to place his hand through and let off a powerful discharge of electricity that would fry the Beast King’s brain because of the armor all around him and the metal serving as an energy conductor for the inevitable.

“Was… that supposed to hurt. I don’t work like that no more!” The Beast King Grabbed Lance by the throat, strangling the Adept. “Yellow Radio made this armor for you specifically. Now this time I’ll make sure you’re dead-”

But before he could finish a large metal fist struck the Beast King across the face, sending him crashing into the wall. “You know… I told you to wait for me! Just be glad I was able to free some of the prisoners, including my family.”

“Well… if you’d show up a few minutes earlier, you would’ve heard that the real reason why they wanted to capture Exuberant is so that was the primal pervert over there has his own personal b*tch… Lord Suicune told me to take care of her and I am not letting you take her and get away with how you insulted Max!” Lance snapped.

“Urgh! Gross, you would have thought that they would have come up with a better idea than that!” Nathan commented, only for Yellow Radio to chuckle in the distance.

“Even though you are my enemies… I agree with you completely. I mean it’s my creation and the only reason why we allowed this was because -”

“You want a weapon to kill us all and capture Lord Suicune… I heard your plan already and… It’s to cliche.” The Azure Striker shrugged his arms, looking back at him. “If you could only be a little more original, they you would be less lame… Besides, I already trashed your stuff once already and I can easily do it again.”

“I’ll take care of Beast King… You take Yellow Radio.” Nathan told him, causing Lance to nod his head as he redirected his focus back at the jester.

“Yet, would you hurt… someone you care for so dearly?” Yellow asked, pulling out a small screen, revealing Lance and Exuberant sleeping next to each other. “That’s why we needed her my boy.” Lance was silent… but soon had his electricity crackle even more wildly as his eyes began to glow in response as he glared at Yellow Radio… and his energy began to taken form into something Yellow Radio… nor anyone for that matter… ever expected.

“YOU BASTARDS… ARE GOING TO PAY!!!” The lightning soon roared to life as his energy and power overtook him and a bright light consumed the whole cavern. When Yellow Radio opened his eyes again, what was once the Adept was now replaced by an Azure colored dragon with lightning crackling all around it as it lunged at the jester.

“FIRE CRACKER!!!” Yellow Radio shouted, waving his baton in the air, creating a cloud of fireworks, managing to teleport back to Cobalion where he was almost done with the transfer. Yet… it was only a few minutes later where the dragon he escaped soon followed him, crashing through and causing a large hole to open in the ship as the dragon’s claws raked through Yellow’s chest, wounding him.

Just as Lance was about to strike Cobalion, a small yet, powerful fist struck his face, sending him flying out of the room into the mining area where Nathan Phoenix and Beast King were exchanging blows. It was strange because the pain was only minimal in the form he was in, but with the remaining amount of time on it, he needed enough strength to get him back there. He had a score to settle… and a friend to rescue.

“Lance Walker allow me to introduce to you too Exuberant Witness… The Destructor!” Cobalion declared as a female figure stepped out with a small gun and a holographic gauntlet.

“You bastard! GIVE HER BACK!!!” Lance roared, using what was left of his energy to do something… different. He reverted back to his normal form, but had the remaining energy from his transformation serve as bonus strength for his Septima.

“Exuberant? I think it’s about time you take care of our unwanted guests,” Cobalion said with a smirk as his dark purple eyes shined a bit before turning away from him and towards the Adept.

“LANCE WALKER!!!” Exuberant roared as she fired from her hand gun. Causing the Adept to activate his Flashfield at the last second to protect himself, only for the Quarin to leap from the ledge to strike the ground, shattering the protective barrier. “I’m going to enjoy killing every single one of you rebels! Commander Cobalion will secure our future as the dominate rulers of the multiverse.”

“Exuberant, stop! This isn’t you!! You aren’t thinking straight!!” The Adept tried reasoning with her, only for her to continue attacking.

“I’ll admit you’re quick Lance. But this is only one of the new powers I’ve acquired. There’s a reason why I’m called, Project Beetle.” Soon, her form began to alter slightly as blue armor formed around her and two large insect wings sprouted from behind.

“Exuberant, we don’t have to do this!! Where’s the friend that I knew? The one that had fun back home at the carnival! Where was the one I cared for dammit!?!” Lance yelled, trying to do his best to not harm her and to get her to snap out of her current trance.

“Lies! You were never my friend! Friends don’t leave each other behind! My path is clear now and Cobalion is the future for the Displaced! If I can’t have you! THAN NO ONE CAN!!!” She yelled as her arm formed into a large plasma cannon, firing at the Adept ferociously.

“COBALION IS GODDAMN LYING TO YOU!!! HE JUST WANTS TO USE YOU AS A WEAPON!!! I CARE FOR YOU, DAMMIT!!! I DON’T WANT TO LOSE YOU AND I AM NOT GOING TO LET YOU BE TAKEN AWAY!!!” The Adept roared in response, putting his weapon away. “I WOULD NEVER ABANDON YOU!! YOU KNOW WHY!?!”

“AND WHY’S THAT!!! ALL YOU’VE DONE WAS TOLD ME LIES!!!”

“NO!!! I WOULD NEVER ABANDON YOU BECAUSE I WANT YOU TO BE PART OF MY FAMILY!!!” The Adept’s words were nothing more than truth. There was no lies tainting what he said. Ever since they met, the Adept felt as if he could relate to Exuberant somehow. He wanted to ask if she wanted to become part of the family, but was too nervous and personally embarrassed to ask. Fearing that she would lash out at him and reject him for even asking.

“I-I want to believe you… But there’s no Proof that you even remotely Care! Cobalion told me that you're my mission and I belong to only the Beast King.” The Quarin said, striking the Adept across the face, but it didn’t stop him from what he did next.

That was when the Adept moved forward and did something unexpected… He hugged her. “They don’t know who you are… I do… and I want to be with you… to the end of the line.”

“Prove it to me than!” She demanded, and from the sound of her voice, she was crying behind her helmet. The Adept then looked at her, looking as he said one thing.

“Let me see your face… and then I can show you.” The helmet was soon gone, revealing the face of a young girl with short black hair and sapphire eyes. As he looked back at her, the Adept moved up one of his arms to hold her closer to him… and proceeded to kiss her in response. It was only one kiss… but that one kiss was all but enough for the young girl that was in front of him.

“Lance! As much as I hate to ruin a… romantic moment, but I could use a little help with these these Prometheans!” Nathan said, struggling as Prometheans piled up on him.

“Hahaha! While they keep him busy I suggest you let my bride go. Now!” Beast King said, but from the looks of it, his face was all torn up and his arm was missing as well as an eye. Lance himself used a hand to blow off all the prometheans on Nathan’s back as they all violently crashed to the ground. Shortly before looking back at Nathan.

“How many lives did you take from this guy?” He then asked. “He was at six or seven last time I saw him…”

“Five and I’m going to take care of his last life right now… I suggest you guys get out of here and find my wife Sonata outside. I’ll meet you guys soon, but I think it’s time I take care of these mines now!”

“And how do you plan to do that?” Exuberant asked, but soon they watched as the robot began to grow in size, shattering the ceiling above them. That just left Lance realizing what he meant.

“Oh crap…” He said, feeling the ground shake as a few of the stone walls began to crumble. “We need to move! This whole place is going to collapse!!”

“Lance I’m sorry! This is my fault! I should have just stayed with you!” Exuberant said apologetically. “I’ll try to get us out of here with the Teleporter!”

“It’s okay,” He calmed her. “You’re here now and that’s what matters… Now let’s get out of here and join up with Nathan’s family. “

Meanwhile the Beast King could only gawk at the titanic robot towing over them as he heard Yellow Radio laugh maniacally, teleporting away before he could request his help.

“Damn you Radio! You can’t just leav-” Before he could finish a massive robotic hand wrapped around him, crushing his bones and organs.

“Keep your hands and feet in the vehicle at all time and… ENJOY YOUR FLIGHT B*TCH!!!” Nathan then threw the large feline out of the mines and into orbit, before firing off his cannon, causing an explosion in orbit. Killing the Beast King for good this time.

“Man… I’m glad he got what he deserved,” Lance said, breathing a sigh of relief. “He was a real jerk.”

“I know… I’m just glad he wasn’t my first. I don’t even want to think about it!” She stated, almost puking and Lance could only cringe in agreement. But soon the one named Sonata appeared before them as her sudden appearance almost caught them off guard.

“I want to thank you guys for looking after my husband Nate and thank you for helping him rescue us.” She said extending her arm out to the Adept and Quarin which they gladly shook separately.

Soon, Nathan began to shrink back down to his original size and was met with several hugs from his children. “I’m so happy to see you again!” Lance himself felt glad that not only was Nathan able to see her family again, but also glad to have Exuberant back. It was good for him to tell her how he felt… and even better for her to feel… alive once more. In his mind, this was mission accomplished.

Yet, someone else happened to ruin the moment. Someone that was waking up inside the Adept’s hair as she yawned a little. “S-so what did I-?” Before the breezie could process anything, she soon gasped and said the first thing that came to mind. “Holy sh*t!! Where are we!?!”

“Oooh, a butterfly!” One of Nathan’s Kids pointed out.

“I’m a breezie, not a butterfly!!” Lumen snapped. “Can someone please explain what happened!?” That lead to Lance facepalming himself before looking back at Nathan and Exuberant first before returning his focus back to his friend.

“Maybe we should get back to Lord Suicune first before having to explain something. It isn’t really safe here right now,” The Adept pointed out, tilting his head in the direction of the mines that had already collapsed a few moments ago. “Plus, I think Nathan and his family need a much deserved break. Would you guys agree?”

“Yes please! And thank you for helping me get my family back!” He said, holding his fist up for the Adept’s response. Lance soon smirked as he fist pumped Nathan’s extended fist and also did the same with Exuberant. But ended it a little differently. And by ending it, it meant doing the same thing BAYMAX would do with Hiro back home.

“Seriously?” Lumen asked as Exuberant chuckled a bit under her helmet.

“Yeah, remind me never to do it like that again.” She said sheepishly as everyone laughed along with her.

“Heh… just wait until you actually meet BAYMAX back home.” Lance smirked for a moment before laughing alongside them. “So, is there anything else we need to do here before we get going?”

“I-I don’t remember much… most of the data- Oh no…” Exuberant said as she began to hyperventilate.

“What’s wrong?” The Breezie asked.

“The location of Suicune’s allies… they’re missing!” That just raised a few red flags as Lance looked back at Nathan. Yellow Radio must’ve stolen the information from her main hard-drive when he was using her for the new body he was making.

“We got to hurry and get back. This is urgent… Do you at least remember the last coordinates you used?” Lance then asked, remembering that the last set of coordinates in particular was back to Suicune’s Canterlot.

“Yes… the files for Suicune’s location are still there, but I don’t want to take the risk of them finding a way to travel to our world. I need time to clean out my memories and find a way to remove that stupid control chip installed in the back of my neck.”

“Well, why don’t we get back to Ponyville first?” Lance then suggested, looking at the robot before turning to Exuberant. “Nathan got the systems back up, so we should be safe in the meantime. I can also help with the chip too.”

“Thank you Lance.” He heard her say, along with Nathan nodding his head in agreement with the Adept’s suggestion. It took them a few moments in order to return back to Ponyville, but once there, everyone got to work on trying to undo the damage that happened to the town because of the Prometheans. While this was going on though, Lance and Exuberant were in a separate room from everyone else, so the Adept could help her with the chip.

“Alright. Now let’s begin…” The Adept said while examining the back of her neck. After seeing the chip, he soon realized one thing that would be a bit of a problem. Given that Exuberant was no longer an android and her new form this time was more human, using his powers could also hurt her. And after all the pain that she had been through already, the last thing Lance would want to do was hurt her again. “Is there any recommendations that you want to make regarding how I should proceed? I don’t want to do something that would unintentionally hurt you.”

“I’m fine with anything… just be gentle please?” She asked, blushing.

“Okay, sure.” He said, softly placing one of his hands on her left shoulder while laying the other one on the back on her neck. As he was analyzing it and thinking it over though, two options came into his head. Option one was to take out the chip and crush it, so they don’t have to worry about the enemy using it again. Option two though was to take it out and for him to use the chip to trace the enemy's whereabouts. However, after some much needed thought, option two sounded way too hard to pull off. Especially in their current state right now.

Carefully, he grabbed hold of the chip and grabbed hold of it between his thumb and index finger. “I’m about to take it out right now… Just tell me if you feel any pain, okay?”

“Okay,” She responded, shutting her eyes as he slowly pulled out the chip. All she could do was bite down on her lips as he pulled it out. Once the chip was removed though, the Adept used one of his abilities with his Septima to heal the area where she might’ve felt any pain and she felt relieved that it was out of her.

“There we go… One possessive chip removed. You doing okay?” The Adept asked, just to be sure that Exuberant was doing better now that someone… or something was gripping at her mind and controlling her.

“I’m fine… it just stings at the back of my neck.” She said, rubbing it. Even though her neck was in a bit of pain, it was still better than being a puppet. “I’m just glad that it’s out… I don’t even want to think of what that perverted cat wanted to do!”

“Well, he’s gone now… for good this time,” The Adept replied back before taking a seat nearby her on the floor and then thinking of a question to ask her. “Are you adjusting to your new body?”

“I’m doing well… But this suit is still a bit… tight~” She said, winking at the Adept. That almost got Lance to blush a little, almost distracting him for a bit as he looked back at her after thinking it over in his head.

“Do you need help… well… taking it off?” He asked, scratching the back of his head because of how nervous he was. He wanted to help Exuberant however he can, but he was unsure how his question would come across to her. “That way you don’t feel so uncomfortable?”

“We can take care of that when get back to Canterlot.” She whispered in his ear, before exiting the room, swaying her hips. Even with her new body, her personality did not change one bit at all… and Lance was actually really thankful for that. Mostly it was for the fact that she did not kill him, but it was also because he did not want to lose a friend. Someone who was important to him.

But now, they had to get back to Canterlot. That was the primary task to complete before getting any much needed rest and relaxation.

‘Lance Walker? Can you hear me?’ The sounds of Suicune’s voice echoed throughout the room. Something that caught the Adept by surprise originally since it was mostly him that would be asking that question to Lord Suicune instead of the other way around.

“Loud and clear, we just got Nathan and his family and also pushed the Prometheans out of his world. We’ll try to get back to you asap.” The Adept informed him, shortly before asking a question. “Why? Is something going on back in Canterlot?”

‘Not necessarily… Celestia and I have been talking and we felt it was time for you and the team to relax. Once you get back, have Exuberant meet me in the throne room so I can insert the coordinates to a new… location.’

“Okay, but heads up… Exuberant is a lot different than you last saw her. Beast King and Cobalion tried to pull a stunt of kidnapping her and inserting her into a new body so she could be a weapon for them, but it backfired. Not to mention that the Beast King is dead and Exuberant’s body is more… let’s just say…” It took Lance a few more moments in order to think over the proper term, but soon, he got it. “Human… granted, she still has a lot of her other capabilities, but her body isn’t out of metal anymore.”

‘Very well… I shall have Celestia insert the coordinates instead. After all it would be wrong for me to do that now that she’s… human!’ But judging from the tone of his voice he sounded almost afraid, there was a little more to it than that and the Adept couldn’t help but smirk.

“The only change is her appearance, not what she can do… You familiar with the DC comics character, Blue Beetle? Think that, but a female version of it… and she has an Omni-tool from the Mass Effect series.” Lance explained in layman's terms, only for him to remember something. “Can I ask you one other question though? I’ve been hearing this… other voice in my head and I wanted to hear your thoughts on it.”

‘Do you know who it is?’ Suicune asked the Adept, figuring some more information would be able to help him identify this other voice.

“Well, first off, he referred to himself as a Deity. Someone who existed before the universe was formed. He also tried to tempt me with an offer… one that I refused.” Lance explained to him as he was about to reach the most important part of the subject at hand. “His offer was to take a dagger he gave me, kill you with it and take your powers for myself. He tried going as far as to say that if I do it, I would be able to protect my family. But I refused because I made a promise to help you and I will not go back on it.”

‘This voice? Did he have a name, because I have never heard of a being that has existed before me within the Displaced.’ Suicune asked, before recalling what Lance had said. ‘This dagger he gave you… what did it look like?’ The Adept soon began to recall those important pieces of information as he thought it through in his head.

“He said he went by many names, but honestly, with how creepy, old and dark he was and how his tone was as sharp as a sword. Yet, he kept on insisting that I would see him as ‘a friend’. The dagger itself though… it was relatively short and almost something you would find a necromancer carry if he was wanting to steal your soul. Even had creepy engravings to match.” The Adept told him as accurately as possible as he got up off of the floor. “Does that ring any bells?”

‘At the moment I can’t recall that I have heard of this being? I suggest you remain cautious… you never know when he’ll try to manipulate you again?’ Suicune soon ended the conversation, leaving Lance alone with his thoughts… yet he wasn’t alone

‘Now that was an interesting conversation Gunvolt! But you can’t trust him… he’s not what he’s all cracked up to be?’ The being from before appeared out of the shadows slowly approaching the Azure Striker. ‘I wouldn’t try anything… I isolated this room from the outside world and I neutralized your powers.’

“And just what does the guy that reminds me more of a Count Olaf impersonator want with me now?” Lance asked, remembering when he enjoyed reading ‘A Series of Unfortunate Events’ by Lemony Snicket while he was still in middle school. “If you’re trying to tempt me with killing him, then the answer is still no.”

‘I know I can’t make you kill him… Your heart is pure to it’s core, but what I have to say may change your opinion about him.’ The Adept was more intrigued by this guy’s attempts to change his mind rather than concerned. ‘What do you know about the Elder Siblings?’

“Enough for me to not agree with them. They play with people’s lives and freedom’s like there toys. And when they break, they just throw them away.” Lance told him.

‘That is where you are wrong! The Elder Siblings were created by me… I simply gave one the idea with my powers to form a group that would watch over the Displaced that were casted into their realm, but the one named Amaterasu… Attempted to destroy the society that they’ve spent years building. So I manipulated Warden Eternal to kill her before she could destroy the world that they have built. But Yasha, Suicune, Elysium, Ozai, and Gardevoir… were already manipulated by the Canine that they started the first war. Suicune is a puppet to her evil and just like her, he’s manipulating you.’ He soon ended the tale as he awaited for the Adept to respond.

Yet… all the Azure Striker did was shake his head in response. “Do you honestly think you can fool around with my head that easily? Amaterasu is the representation of the sun… and of light. You are the shadow that’s trying to combat light… hope… and the possibility to let Displaced choose their own destiny rather than having it be chose for them. That’s why I stick with Suicune…”

‘Yet you fail to realize that I was the one who gave her the idea in the first place. She betrayed the plan to destroy it! Explain that Gunvolt?’ All Lance did was smirk as he looked back at the figure.

“Oh I understand… I just don’t give a damn.” He shot back. “Mark my words, this whole thing that you started will come back to bite you. And when it does, I’ll be the one who would be saying I told you so.”

‘We shall see… Once Yasha, Elysium and Ozai are defeated… Cobalion will bring a new about the golden age for all Displaced. Besides Suicune plans to make you his successor… and I won’t be there to tell you that I was right and you’ll spend eternity watching as your friends wither away. Even the ones named Maxine and Exuberant will disappear… after all it is the gift of the Elder’s. Everyone you care about will be gone in time, regardless of their eternal life. So I shall take my leave now. But remember, immortality can be a curse.’ He said, before disappearing back into the corner. Before Lance could say anything, he heard Exuberant’s voice coming from the other side of the door.

“Lance, are you okay in there?” The Adept himself took a moment to readjust his surroundings first before looking towards the door.

“Yeah, I was just informing Lord Suicune about our success with Nathan.” He said, not mentioning the other half of the conversation because he didn’t want to make Exuberant feel worried. “I’ll be out there in a minute.” Yet, just as he was about to reach for door handle, he heard… something new.

‘You must not trust the other!’ Another voice stated, surprising the Adept. The sudden statement almost had Lance hit his head against the door before turning around and looking all over the room for a moment.

“W-who said that?” He asked, wondering if the small statement would have the voice speak to him again.

‘No one must let anyone know that you’ve spoken to the other. Fate has choose you to stop Cobalion before the reckoning of darkness can spread. No one must know of him or me until the war… begins.’ Upon hearing that, the Adept looked down at the wooden floor and noticed that grass and nature soon began to break through the floorboards. Something that wasn’t there before. ‘Before I depart… I leave you this gift.’ Soon, a golden sword sprouted out of the roots of a small cherry blossom tree behind him. The weapon itself may have looked short by appearance from far away, but as he got closer and felt the grip of the blade, it became warm to the touch.

But once he had both hands on the sword it began to glow brightly, blinding the Adept, before falling backwards and landing on the ground. ‘You must save all Displaced.’ before the voice dissipated.

The Adept looked back at the tree… then at the sword… and once more at the tree. “It may seem like a lot of weight on my shoulders, but I won’t let you down… but before I go… I must ask something.” He thought of it carefully, but there was only one question on his mind right now above all others. “Who… are you?”

‘A Friend.’ she answered, before the entire room had vanished in a blinding light. When Lance reopened his eyes, he found that the sword he had originally held onto had now disappeared and the grass and trees were no longer there. Scratching his head a little, he was a little confused as to what happened, but decided to not focus too much on it as he walked over to the door so he can join up with Exuberant and the others.

Not even noticing the cherry blossom petals that fell off his jacket as he closed the door behind him.

End Strike 48

Bonus Strike (48.5)- The Shade

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Strike 49- Retribution (Part 2)

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Strike 50- Absolution

Author's Note

The first of two chapters that I have already written out talking about what is going to happen for Lance as he gets home. First one here focuses more on him trying to forgive himself after what had happened in the last arc. Also, the title of this chapter also serves as a small hint at what will be coming soon. If you can successfully guess what it is, you will get a cookie.

Also, Lumen now looks a lot like Joule from Azure Striker Gunvolt 2

A little bigger in size, but still has her muse and still just as comical. Hope you guys like all of this. I'm excited to show you what I got in store for the story and the events that'll take place.
-Frost

Strike 50- Absolution

When Lightning Strikes- Absolution

Maretropolis (Earlier that day)

It was a partially rainy day in Maretropolis as a few beams of sun began to peek through the clouds in the sky. But today though, it was anything short of it being peaceful. Right around now, the two heroes named Zapp and Saddle Rager were not only on the job with catching someone who was suspected for Arson, but also saving the ponies inside the home that he had recently torched. Several middle class families were crying and sobbing a little as Saddle Rager tried comforting them… all while Zapp punched the stallion who did this in his face before hurling him into the back of a Maretropolis PD carriage.

“That’ll teach your punk ass not to do that again!” Zapp growled as the cops took the unconscious criminal away and turned to see Saddle Rager with all the ponies outside. She knew now that she had to make a call to a few other heroes in order to help the families that were affected by this arsonist’s actions. So, the pegasus trotted up to where her friend was and spoke to her. “Who in their right mind would do something like this?”

Saddle Rager just shook her head, looking around and wondering where the rest of her team would be, but at the corner of her eye, she happened to notice something move. Turning around, the mare happened to notice that a small cardboard box in the alleyway was moving a little. She was concerned that it may had been in the fire that they just rescued anypony they could out of and now… no longer had a home. So, slowly going over, Saddle Rager nudged the box just a little bit. Just to be sure that she did see it move before making any assumptions.

In response though, she noticed the edges of the cardboard box move a little as she peaked to have a look inside. What she saw though… made her feel very saddened and also feel bad. It was a small black cat, almost the size of a kitten. But it had no collar on and looked to be in pretty bad shape. It didn’t even look like it had eaten in days. “Aww… you poor thing… Are you okay, little guy?” She asked, trying to see if it would notice her. Which it did, but it just curled up and fell asleep.

“Saddle, you found something?” The mare heard her friend ask as she happened to notice her friends; The Masked Matterhorn, Mistress Marevelous, Solaria, Filly-second and Radiance, show up to help some of the other families.

“I f-found this cat here hiding in a box… Poor thing looks like it lost it’s home in the fire.” Saddle Rager spoke, looking back at the pegasus. “Are any of the ponies here missing any pets?”

“No actually… I actually happen to know the owner from a friend of mine and this building has a strict rule against anyone having pets here,” Zapp told her, before noticing the little cat that was asleep. “Still… little Smoky there looks like he’s been through a lot.”

That… gave Fluttershy an idea. “Smoky… that sounds like a good name to call him.”

“Woah, wait a second… you are actually going to take care of it? Remember the last time we brought a pet home that you rescued? It chewed through one of the sandbags that we had in the training room.” She reminded her. It was a while ago, when the Power Ponies were first having the Adept that was now referred to as Gunvolt go through his training that Saddle Rager had brought home a small dog that was named Iggy. It definitely did not like Zapp at all, going as far as to bite her in the nose the moment that she suggested to her friend that she should take him to a shelter.

“Iggy was a different case, Zapp. Now he has a home with Button Mash back at Centrail City. Besides, this little one looks to only be a couple months old.” Saddle Rager insisted. “I promise that I’ll take full responsibility if he happens to do anything mean to you or anypony else okay?” Zapp herself sighed a little in defeat as she looked back at the pegasus that was her teammate and her friend.

“Okay, but I’m not cleaning up after that cat if he makes a mess in my room.” Zapp told the fellow hero in response.

Power Pony HQ (Sometime later)

“So this is what your home base looks like…” Katy chimed a few moments after she and Lance had entered the compound. “It’s rather… spacious… I like it.”

“Less of a home and more of a headquarters to be precise, but you get the idea.” The adept told her as they stepped inside the main room and looked around a bit. “Hunh… I think most of the girls are out on patrol… perhaps Humdrum and Cody are here.”

“I remember you telling me about Cody, but whose Humdrum exactly?” Katy asked out of curiosity. She didn’t quite recall him mentioning anypony… or anyone with that name for that matter and she wanted to make sure that she knew who exactly she was meeting before they somehow ran into them and possibly embarrass herself in the process.

“He’s a baby dragon that helps out Twilight and the others. Humdrum’s just his hero name though. We all know him by his real name, Spike.” Ironically, it was just as he said that that he saw the dragon walk out of the back room and over to where he and Katy were standing.

“Oh hey, there you are Lance,” the dragon said at first, before turning to notice the… newcomer that was right next to him. “Um… Not to sound rude or anything, but who’s your friend?”

“Spike, this is Katy. She’s a displaced who wanted to come back here with me after I was last summoned… Speaking of which, how long has it been since I… well… left?” He was a bit nervous to ask because of how long he had exactly been gone for, but the answer that he got from Spike was one that he wasn’t really expecting at that point in time.

“Lance, you’ve only been gone for half a day. We’ve been able to cover for you while you have been gone, so don’t worry about it.” That… caught both him and Katy by surprise. When they were out helping Suicune out back home, almost a year or so had passed by in the blink of an eye. Now, they were finding out that the whole entire time… had only been hours for everypony back home. Which, to him, was rather eye opening.

“Wow… uh, that was… not what I expected honestly.” The Adept replied, scratching the back of his head for a moment as the dragon happened to notice something a bit… off about him.

“Hey, where’s Lumen? I thought she left with you to wherever you guys went.” That had Lance stop scratching the back of his head… and the look on his face now had Katy look a little uneasy as she looked at Humdrum.

“Hey, Spike right? Why don’t you come come show me around the base for a bit? I think Lance needs to get himself settled in.” That had the dragon… nod a little bit as he looked back at the Adept for a small bit, but when Spike spoke to Katy again, he sounded more concerned than normal.

“Uh… Is Lance okay? He doesn’t… well normally act like that…” All the girl could do in the moment that Spike asked that was just sigh for a moment before turning back to the dragon again.

“He’s been through a lot… and it’s a lot to explain.”

When she got back to HQ that evening, it took only a few moments for Saddle Rager… or otherwise known by her real name Fluttershy, to get the cat that she found home as the pegasus got herself a warm towel to help dry it off. She did not know how long the cat had been out in the rain for and was worried that it would catch a cold, so the mare had used the town she warmed up to help make sure that the small black feline was not freezing.

After a little bit of time though, she then decided to place a small collar that the mare happened to have for Iggy if he had happened to stay. But the collar was too small and she happened to realize that after making the purchase and coming home that it was actually a cat’s collar. Placing it around the small cats neck, Fluttershy soon held her up and smiled. “Welcome to your new home, Smoky.”

The cat laid around lazily, before scratching at the collar. Making the pony giggle in response as she looked back at him in response. “Stay right there, little rascal. I’m gonna go wash up for a moment and be right back.” With that, the mare turned the lights off to the room and stepped out. Closing the door for only a brief moment.

Soon though, she heard the television turning on. Which was odd… because she didn’t normally watch TV a lot. Not to mention that the only one in her room was… Smoky. She then heard the refrigerator opening and slamming, which made the pony’s fur stand up on end as she shivered in place. Did somepony intrude into her room? What was going on?

Slowly, she opened the door once again and crept inside her room… but what she happened to find was something that was not the cat that was originally in the room with them.

A human. A male one, slouched in front of the television while he ate some of her food, most likely cold noodles or something. He had blue hair in the front, but black in the back with two spikes that looked like ears. He was also fully dressed and wore white cargo pants, black boots, and a light blue trench coat that ended torn and black at the bottom. He was watching an old sitcom rerun, looking bored.

Fluttershy almost squeaked a little in response to seeing the intruder as the door closed behind her. The sound of her squeak alerting the… intruder of her presence in the room as he slowly turned his head towards her.

His red eyes bore into her with an emotionless mask, and creepy dark bags under his eyes. His starring continued until he spoke in a scratchy voice. “You only have seventeen channels… You need to get better cable.” He turned back to the TV. “And something strong to wash down food. Your cupboards are baren.”

“W-who are you and what are you doing in my r-room?” She told the stranger, a little scared even though she was trying her best to be brave. “Don’t make me kick you out of here!”

“That would imply you want me here…” The man grumbled. “I’ll tell you mine if you bother with yours, lady.”

“What I want is for you to answer… my… question.” She told him. “You would not like me when I’m angry.”

“Fine, but I rather not call you Saddle, it sounds dirty by pony standards. Must be why you wear latex!” He laughed at his own joke. Only making Fluttershy grit her teeth as she trotted over to him and nearby the other side of the room.

“Wait… how do you know my-?” Just as she asked that question, the mare caught one of her front hooves on the curtains that were along the wall, knocking them over as Sunlight soon poured into the room. When Fluttershy looked back up, she looked at where the figure previously was… only to find the cat she rescued earlier and no sign of the same human that was here a few moments ago. “S-smoky? What… just happened?”

Smoky stayed napping on the ground in the light. However, that was when Fluttershy thought of something. Taking the bar that the curtains were originally on, she hung everything back up and closed the curtains so no sunlight would come into the room. Causing Smoky to turn back into the… intruder that was just in her room as she turned on a nearby lightswitch.

“Smoky… just what are you?” She then asked, now that the pegasus knew that the very same cat that she had rescued had now transformed into the lazy human that was eating through her food a few moments ago.

“Alright, you caught me… I’m a vampire.” Smoky said, shrugging in defeat.

“But… you don’t turn into a bat…” She said, tilting her head in confusion. “A vampire… cat?”

“You think that all vampire’s are the same? I know one that turns into a porcupine. I only know of one who turns into a bat.” Smoky said.

Fluttershy frantically shook her head. “N-no. It’s n-not like that… I just… well… I’ve only heard about Vampony’s, but never have actually seen one before.” She admitted, looking a little bit embarrassed in response. “But… can you… well… explain it to me? So I could… well, understand? I promise I won’t throw you out, Smoky.”

Smoky shrugged. “This is a bother… I’m a subspecies of vampire, like Vamponies, called a Servamp. Let’s just say we’re the bottom of the barrel and leave it at that...”

“Servamp?” The pegasus repeated. “I-i’m sorry, but for a moment, I thought I heard you say servant…”

“It’s a play on words.” Smoky replied dully.

“Oh… uh… not t-to be rude… but it j-just sounds like y-you put two words together.” Fluttershy told him, a little nervous in her response as she looked around her for a little bit before noticing something… off. “Uh Smoky…? W-what’s that g-glowing blue r-ring around your neck?”

“It’s a contract leash.” Smoky replied, looking at the said ring that was around his neck before groaning again. “Very bothersome.”

“Uh… how is it bothersome?” Fluttershy then asked. “I-I don’t know a lot of things like you, s-so please tell me w-what you m-mean… I-if you don’t m-mind, that is.”

“My sub species is, as you said, a combination of two words. Servant vampire. Giving me a name begins a contract that can only be sealed with the blood from the namer.” Smoky shrugged. “You named me, so until this leash is gone, I’m bound to you. Bothersome, no?”

“Uhh…… I don’t know. A-again, I d-don’t know much about you or your kind…” Fluttershy mumbled. “D-do you… well… need to form a contract to… well… survive?”

“It’s not a necessity. I’ve lived about ten or more years without a master’s blood since my last one was killed.” Smoky ate a bite of his noodles. “But I am weak without it. Blood isn’t my food, but it’s my adrenaline so to speak. And my power’s fuel.”

“P-powers?” She asked in confusion. “You mean like L-… I mean Gunvolt?”

“I’m a vampire, I have powers. Super strength and… Other things I don’t know the names of, I just do them. Or did. I haven’t in years.” Smoky stated, before going back to watching television. “It was bothersome…”

Fluttershy though, despite Smoky’s attitude, was wondering something. Was this guy… somehow like Lance and Cody? Did he originally have a home on Earth before ending up here as a Servamp? It was a question she wanted to ask, but was too nervous to say.

“You have any Bretzels? You know, the bread kind, not those little hard things.” Smoky asked after finishing his food. The pegasus herself didn’t answer that question, but by now, she had mustered the strength to speak up.

“Smoky…… Were you originally human before coming here?” She then asked him.

“Yup.” Smoky replied. “My cousin wanted to bring me to a convention. Can’t remember what kind.”

“W-well… I know a couple of people that h-had the same thing happen to them.” Fluttershy told him in response. “They’re friends of mine… but some of them here are also really powerful enemies.”

“Alright…” He replied plainly, without adding anything.

“M-my friend Twilight also m-met one too… I think his name was Lee… something last time s-she told me.” Fluttershy said, trying to have Smoky somehow be engaged in the conversation despite his lazy attitude.

“So that blind bastard made it… Bet everyone did.” Smoky said, his face staying in a frowning position. “I know there are other people around here. From Gunvolt, to Stopwatch, to Copen, to…” Smoky zoned out of the conversation.

But then there was one last thing that came on her mind for Fluttershy… and it was on a different subject. “Umm… Smoky? A-about what you said with the… c-contract?” That was followed by her extending her right forehoof up and onto the table. “I-I don’t mind if you n-need to m-make the contract with me.”

“No offence, but I don’t want a master. You’ll only end up getting involved.” Smoky said, no change to his tone. “Powerful ponies are after me, and I’d rather not have baggage.”

“But you can’t just be running all the time! You need your power to fight back.” Fluttershy said to him. She then thought of a line that her friend Rainbow Dash would say and then without thinking, said it aloud… before regretting it a few seconds later. “What good is having strength if you are just going to run like a coward?”

“That’s cute and all, but you have no idea who I’m running from…” Smoky stated. “They’ll stop at nothing to capture or kill me. And anypony I come in contact with.” He stood up, stretching. “I’mma take a nap… This conversation’s been bothersome…” Fluttershy still wanted to say something to him, but that was when the sliding door to the balcony opened and the wind pushed the curtains away… and outside… she saw something different.

“Smoky? Who’s that outside?” She asked, knowing for a fact that the pony outside was one she had not seen before.

“Oh bother…” Smoky groaned, before a dark humanoid figure appeared behind him and kicked him out of the window. Unfortunately for Fluttershy, the leash appeared and dragged her with him, causing her to hit the figure as they fell to the ground below.

The figure stared at the balcony for a moment, processing what just hit them. They pulled out a cellphone and dialed up someone before speaking in a dark and distorted voice.

“Ma’am, I’ve tracked down Locke Connors...” They said, walking to the ledge on the balcony, peering down at Smoky who held Fluttershy in his arms.

“Excellent work, Phantasm. Remember, even without being in a contract, Locke is still difficult on his own. Proceed with caution.” came the response.

“About that… I think he’s already started one with a yellow pegasus mare. How should I proceed?” Phantasm asked, jumping onto the railing.

“Wait… Phantasm, what’s your current location?” The voice then asked.

“I’m in Maretropolis in an apartment complex next to some… building that looks to be some sort of headquarters.” The sound of some typing and some computers were heard over the mic… followed by another voice.

“Oh boy… this could be a problem… That mare isn’t any ordinary mare. She’s Saddle Rager… and you’re by Power Pony Headquarters. Dammit, what did Locke do to get himself in this kind of situation now?” She heard the other voice speak. “Focus on Locke and the mare. If anypony else from the Power Ponies shows up, do NOT engage. Locke is top priority here.”

“Capture or execution?” Phantasm asked, climbing down the building.

“Capture. I want him alive.”

“As you wish, ma’am.” The Phantasm replied once they hit the sidewalk. They turned around, seeing Smoky sitting up with Fluttershy next to him. The Phantasm walked over until they were close enough to be seen, while creating smoke around them. “Step away from the vampire!”

Neither of them did, but instead, Fluttershy put herself in front of Smoky. “I’m not letting you harm him!”“I don’t plan to kill him. He’s a fugitive, and I’m taking him back home.” The Phantasm said calmly. “We’re on the same side, Rager. You are Saddle Rager, right?”

Fluttershy said nothing, but instead glared at Phantasm. “I am… but I never told you… Smoky’s no fugitive and I am NOT letting you take him!! So either back away with him or I’m going to get angry… and you won’t like me when I am angry.”

“So naive… I work for the government, so you either hand him over, or I’ll be forced to kill you.” Phantasm said, showing off a claw on their right hand. “I admire Gunvolt, and admired your former leader. So it would be such a shame.”

“I’m… Willing to drink your blood now!” Smoky shouted in pain.

“No! Don’t let him bind himself to you, there’s no way out of it!” Phantasm shouted.

“I… don’t… CARE!” Fluttershy shouted, smacking Phantasm in the chest with her back hooves. “I became a hero to help others… and I am NOT going to abandon Smoky!”

“And how’s he worth protecting? You don’t know how many he’s killed.”

“Ponies can change… and he’s reminds me of my brother! If I can’t help Smoky, then I can’t help him-.” Fluttershy’s comments were interrupted as the Phantasm lunged towards her, claw outstretched. The blade stabbed the mare in her foreleg, causing Fluttershy to stumble backwards. But it was only a few seconds later that Phantasm soon noticed an error in their actions.

The foreleg they wounded… was right next to where Smoky was… and it was bleeding the blood needed to complete the contract. “Smoky, now!”

Immediately, the Servamp bit into Fluttershy’s foreleg and drank her crimson liquid. He was almost instantly on his feet, and staring down the Phantasm. “Hello… Tell Lauren I said ‘hi’.” He said, before dark claws appeared in his hands with a blue aura around them. He was too close for the Phantasm to react, other than to shout in pain as he stabbed the claws into their stomach. Smoky pulled his claws out of Phantasm, before kicking her to the ground.

Smoky licked along his claws, smiling down at the Phantasm. The Phantasm couldn’t move, as their blood was pouring out too quickly, forcing them to put all their strength into pressure.

“D-did you… kill it?” She asked, nervously.

“Her… Phantasm’s a woman. She’s bleeding out, but if the paramedics get here quick enough they might put her out of our misery.” Smoky said darkly as he corrected her and got back on his feet while . “Hopefully euthanize Order’s dog… If we’re not lucky, she’ll survive like always.”

“S-smoky,” Fluttershy stammered… “L-let’s get out of here… I-I don’t want to stick around here. Let’s go back home.”

“Home’s a little too dangerous right now. Might I suggest a friends place?” Smoky shrugged, pulling out a yellow pill that he continued to swallow, and suddenly he transformed into his cat form.

“A f-friend? W-who?” She asked.

“I don’t care…” The cat grumbled. “I’m stuck doing whatever you want, Mistress.”

Fluttershy almost blushed at that. “O-okay… L-lead the way I guess.”

“Can’t we go to that… Zapp’s place?” Smoky asked. “I don’t have any friends.”

“My friends and I all live together at headquarters.” Fluttershy pointed out to him.

“Then let’s go there, Mistress.” Smoky replied, hopping onto her back. “Let’s go before this smoke clears and the Polizei get here.” Fluttershy nodded, before flying with Smoky back to their home. Back to her room as she closed the door, locked it, closed the curtains and made sure that the main door was locked and the windows were closed too before anything else.

“So, looks like I have a lot to explain… Bother…” Smoky grumbled. “Where should I begin? Who I am, who Phantasm was, why I’m on the run, etcetera.” Smoky, for some reason, didn’t change back to his human form.

“Which ever you think is important first.” Fluttershy replied. “I have all night.”

“Ugh, fine. So, why I’m on the run should be the start…” Smoky started. “Well, my last Eve-that’s what my master/mistress is called- was in charge of… I think a top secret group for the government. Or they are the government. She was assassinated, and I was… Most likely supposed to make the next in charge my Eve. But, I didn’t want to be forced to be with someone else… I’m not sure what they want now, though. So I just run.”

“You ran… because you wanted to choose your next master instead of it being chosen for you?” Fluttershy asked.

“That, and I wanted to get out.” Smoky shrugged. “The Phantasm is one of the current leader’s top assassins. A human like me and the Gunvolt, but she has no powers.”

“No powers? But how was she on to you so quickly like that?”

“She’s smart… What she lacks in abilities, she makes it up for with intelligence. She’s smart and cunning, and at the pique of human physique.” Smoky explained. “If she’s dead, then we’ll have less to worry about.”

Fluttershy nodded, before then asking the first thing that came to her mind as she looked back at the cat. “Smoky…… do you have another name? Like one before I… named you?”

“My original name was Locke Anthony Connors.” Smoky replied.

“So… this… Lauren Order… knows you by Locke?” Fluttershy asked. “Don’t worry… we’re familiar with her though.”

“You obviously aren’t, since you have trouble saying her name, Mistress.” Smoky stated.

“It’s been awhile since we last heard of her… we know of her Suicide Squad and also her job records and position in government, but some of the things we have on her we’re still trying to sort out.” Fluttershy replied. “But we do happen to know she acquired villains once locked away in the Zero Zone and also McCree… who’s actually a displaced that’s-” She stopped talking the moment that she heard some knocks on the door.

“Fluttershy, are you in there? We heard you talking to somepony and heard some scuffling. Are you okay?” Her friend Rainbow Dash asked… before presuming something. “Oh dear Celestia, she’s got a coltfriend!!” That last comment had Fluttershy’s cheeks turn red as she turned towards Smoky, partially embarrassed.

“N-no! It’s not that, Rainbow!!” She said, trying to come up with a white lie in order to tell her friend… and also hope that Applejack was not with her at the time.. “I was… just watching TV. They had an action movie on and Smoky seemed to like it, so I was watching it with him.”

“Oh… Well, I guess that makes sense… Anyhow, strangely enough, after being gone for a while, Lance just came back… but he’s… well, not himself.” The mare said. “He looks rather depressed to be honest. Can you help him?” That came as a bit of a surprise to Fluttershy. Lance wasn’t normally the one to get easily affected by emotions. Most of the time the pony that gets affected a lot would ironically be her. Not to mention that Smoky’s comment about him possibly needing something fluffy didn’t quite help her with trying to come up with a reply for her friend.

Then a thought came across her mind as Fluttershy turned back to the door to ask the first question she could think of off the top of her head. “Wouldn’t Lumen help him out?” It was a logical question because of the fact that both the Adept and the Breezie were good partners and if one wasn’t feeling alright, the other would do what they could to back them up. Yet, now seemed rather… different. Especially with Rainbow’s answer.

“That’s the thing… Lumen’s… not there. I haven’t seen her since she and Lance left…” The mare on the other side of the door replied. “You don’t think something happened to her now… do you?” The thought of that was the last thing that Fluttershy wanted to think of in this present moment as she looked behind her to see that Smoky was trying to sleep… shortly before finally giving her friend an answer.

“I don’t know… Let me talk with him and see what’s going on. Maybe I can help cheer him up.” She replied, causing her friend to tell her thanks as she left to go back to her own room. Now… it was time for her to help another friend… once Smoky was done complaining about Rainbow Dash when she muttered about him under her breath.

“What a nagger. And you call that thing a friend’ Mistress?” Smoky asked dully, while licking one of his paws as Fluttershy sighed deeply.

“She can be very… cocky at times.” Fluttershy said, sighing a little in response. “But she’s extremely loyal with the rest of us… and also has had bad experiences with pets. Including Dogs and Cats.”

“She’s going to be bothersome to me…” Smoky grumbled.

“I’m sure she’ll warm up to you if you give her the chance.” The Pegasus insisted, but all that did was cause Smoky to blow her off and try to go back to sleep.

“Might as well go see what’s up with Debby Downer…” Smoky added, only to have Fluttershy glare at him in response. She knew that Lance was a good person and that he would help her if she was in the same position he was in right now. “So, you gonna just stand there? Or are you going to go help the man?”

“I am, but you told me about the leash, so that means I’m taking you with me,” Fluttershy told him back. “You can sleep once we get to Lance’s room. Just please don’t… well… transform on me.”

“Whatever you say, mistress.” Smoky said, uninterested

As the moon shined upon his room and also where he was staying, Lance had a lot of thoughts running through his head. Mostly though, they weren’t good thoughts. Even though he and Katy had survived against the Elders and won… their victory came at a price. That price… was the price of his friend, Lumen. The small breezie… was very important to him. She was the first person she had met in Equestria, the first friend he had here… whatever adventure he embarked upon, she was right there with him.

But now… he wasn’t there when he needed him most… and to him, he saw this as failing her. Failing his first friend… and failing the one pony that he owed everything to. Without her, he wouldn’t be at where he was at right now. But most importantly, he wouldn’t have met Twilight and the others. Now… without her, he felt lost.

It was while he was thinking this that he heard the door to his room creak open. Surprised that he didn’t lock it, he turned his head a little and asked who was there. Turns out, it was actually Fluttershy… and she surprisingly had a cat on her picture. “Oh… Hello, Fluttershy.”

“H-hey Lance… C-can I uh… come on in?” She asked, prompting him to nod in response as she then came in and sat next to him on his bed… and the cat that was with her soon sat on the bed. Making him curious as to who the cat was or why it was there.

“Did you bring the cat just to make me feel better?” He asked, causing Fluttershy to look back at him surprised in the process.

“N-no, it’s not that… Smoky here just didn’t want me to leave him, so I decided to take him with me,” Fluttershy said, shyly. “He gets scared when on his own…” The Adept looked at the cat for a moment before looking back at Fluttershy. Smiling a small bit before sighing deeply as his smile disappeared. Fluttershy saw this as concerning as she looked back at the Adept and tried to comfort him. “Lance, what’s wrong?”

The Azure Striker sighed as he looked back at the pegasus. He only had one question for Fluttershy… and he wanted to hear her honest opinion from her. “Fluttershy…… do you think I’m a failure?”

“Wha-? No!” She immediately replied back, surprised to hear the Adept talk to himself in such a negative manner. “Why would you say something like that? You’ve been doing great things and helping lots of ponies-!”

“Yet, when it matters most, friends I care for end up in harm's way… It happened with Lee and Twilight, it happened with Octavia and Vinyl back in Sun Fransokyo and now… now it’s happened again. But this time, it hurts a little more.” The Adept replied, placing a curled up fist to his heart. Soon, Fluttershy asked one important question that was on her mind.

“Lance, where’s Lumen? She would normally help you in these kinds of situations…” Even though her question had the best of intents… it did little to help Lance in that moment.

“...... She’s…… gone.” The Adept’s words shocked the pegasus, but shortly afterwards… what Lance then said made her realize why this was hard for him. “L-lumen s-sacrificed herself… to protect me…” That lead to him explaining everything that had happened and for the Adept to recall the painful memories of losing a dear friend. It was personal to him because Lumen was the first person he had met upon displacement and she had been there through everything that the Adept had done. Now though, he was unsure about how he was to move on without her supporting him. It took a long while in order to try and help him, but Fluttershy was doing her best to help him however he could. Smoky hopped off of Fluttershy and sat by Lance’s feet and made a somewhat groaning noise.

“Lance, you don’t need to be so hard on yourself… Even if Lumen isn’t here with you, she’ll always be here in spirit-.” However… what she did not expect was for her words to have a literal meaning to them.

“AAGH!! CRAZY VAMPKITTY!! GET AWAY FROM ME-!!!”

That caused Lance and Fluttershy to immediately stop talking as they looked down to see what appeared to be a small glowing orb of light nearby Smoky. Which he ignored. However, the voice of who had just said that immediately caught Lance and Fluttershy’s attention as they looked at the orb of light and saw who it was.

“L-lumen!? B-but how-?!” The Adept was at a loss for words. He was now seeing his partner, who he originally thought was dead, right in front of him as a spectral wisp. How exactly was this possible? “How are you alive?!”

“Uh… W-well, you see… I-i’m not actually alive… Like with Aurora, this is my soul… form I think she called it… but unlike her, my soul merged with yours.”

Smoky looked to Fluttershy, before twirling his paw in the direction if his small, fluffy head to indicate that Lance was losing it. Aurora continued to explain everything to him, letting him know that the only reason why he had not noticed her sooner was because he was too saddened by her loss to notice that she was still with him. It took a while to get this settled in Lance’s mind, but he then had one last question after he fully understood everything.

“L-lumen… T-thank you for telling me about this… But what was this about a vampkitty?” He then asked, finding himself recomposed.

“W-well, when I was looking at the cat down there… I felt some of his energy and… well… it really reminded me of what happened back at Sun Fransokyo with Shabris…”

Smoky ignored them, falling asleep. That was… until she said something else. “I mean it was already bad enough with Lauren Order and your father trying to kill you along with the Cult of Corrode, but… I’m just concerned… After all, she did want that dagger that got Octavia possessed at the museum-.”

The cat that was clawing at Fluttershy’s mane, who in response looked back at them while the Adept was still trying to process everything. “W-well… She’s… uh, not wrong?”

Both Lumen and Lance at this point we're beyond puzzled as they looked back at the Pegasus and the cat right next to her. “What do you mean?”

“W-well… Smoky’s… well, he’s… he’s a displaced…” Fluttershy squeaked, looking back at them before looking at the cat. “Can you show them Smoky?”

Smoky glared up at Fluttershy, disappointed that she had already told them about him. “Don’t give me that look, Smoky. I trust them and you can too.” She sternly told him.

“Trust has no factor here. I just don’t want to talk to anyone else.” Smoky said, reverting to his true form. That caught Lance by surprise as he looked back at Fluttershy. Who soon sighed as she began to explain to Lance what was going on. Everything from the contract to Smoky being a servamp, she tried recalling to the best of her ability. “This is a bother…” He said after she finished.

“Can I go now?” Smoky then asked.

Fluttershy turned to him and then spoke up. “Don’t you remember the leash? We can’t be too far apart from one another without trying to drag each other across the floor.”

“So you two are like… bound to each other by the contract that is in place. Wherever one goes, the other comes with you?” The Adept asked for clarification, looking back at Fluttershy in the process.

“Yes. If one of us gets too far from another, there’s a leash that pulls one or the other back to where within close range of each other.” Fluttershy explained, demonstrating as Smoky tried to leave the room, only for her to yank him back in.

“Well, kinda… Really, only Fluttershy can interact with it, and only when her will forces me to do something. If we’re separated for twenty four hours, Fluttershy will die. Although it’s highly unlikely since she can drag me around whenever.” Smoky added, which may had sounded amusing to Lance at the time, but it was then that Lance had a question that was on her mind.

“So why was Lauren Order interested in you in the first place? Was it because you were a displaced or because of what you were capable of?”

“If only it were that simple. I’m a rogue agent of hers.” Smoky replied.

“You mean were?” Lumen then added on. “You know, since you’re on the run and that sort of thing?”

“Rogue. Meaning ex. Meaning I quit and ran away.” Smoky grumbled, rolling his eyes. “She wanted to force me to bond to a new Eve who works for her.”

“Ouch… And just when I thought that having my father be in her suicide squad was the tip of the iceberg when it comes to her,” The Adept commented as he thought something over… before asking Smoky something. “Still… I’m curious to know about the other servamps. If we are to somehow run into them, then it may be best for us to know about them and be prepared. Would you care to tell us more about them?”

“Fine… But you aren’t going to like it…” He grumbled before looking up in thought. “There are eight Servamps in Equestria, including me. Each of us have a base personality of the seven deadly sins, except the little runt of our family… We call him the black sheep cause none of us cared enough to remember his name.” Smoky said in a dry manner.

“No wonder he’s the black sheep then…” The muse next to Lance mumbled, before the sight of Smoky glaring at her made her afraid and hide behind the Adept in fear.

“Ignore Lumen… she has a bad habit of saying things out loud before thinking it thoroughly inside her head,” He sighed before clearing his throat and looking back at him. “I’m going to take a guess though that you represent Sloth…”

“Wow, how did you know Lance?” Fluttershy then asked, curious to hear the Adept’s answer… even though it was kind of obvious.

“Well, he already said ‘this is a bother’ while he was speaking, making me think that he’s extremely bored… I think the rest speaks for itself,” The Adept replied before looking back at Smoky and then saying something. “No offense, by the way.”

“None taken… Scratch that, some taken.” Smoky said with distaste. “Anyways… The other six are mostly men, with the exception of Wrath. I know of two that work for Lauren.” That caught Lance by surprise as he looked back at him and listened to Smoky as he was explaining the two servamps in question.

“The first is Old Child of Pride. Although he’s known as Drac as far as I remember. If his Eve’s still alive, then his name’s Drac. Then there’s my little brother, Lawless Greed. His Eve and mine died around the same time, but while I ran he stayed.”

“So Pride and Greed are with Lauren… which is ironic since she has pride, but shows no signs of greed, but that’s irrelevant,” Lance spoke as he counted his fingers and was now holding up four of them in his right hand. “Which leaves us with Lust, Envy, Wrath and Gluttony… that sound right?”

“And the Black Sheep. But yeah. Gluttony lives in Prance, Lust works for royalty, and the last three I lost contact with.” For Lance, that pretty much summed things up thanks to what he was telling him. Hell, it may not be anything to do with Lauren Order right now, but at least it was a start. “Hey, turn on the TV. I’m bored.”

Lance looked back at him before looking back at Lumen and Fluttershy as he sighed for a moment. “Sure… I needed to catch myself up to speed anyways.” The Adept then opened up a drawer that had the TV remote inside as he turned it on. Fluttershy herself got down on the rug where Smoky was as he looked back at the pegasus. However, their attention was soon directed to the tv not just by the news story they were covering, but also footage of the place in question.

Lauren Order’s facility. “We have some breaking new developments this evening of a cyber attack that had occurred inside this facility here outside of Maretropolis. According to a statement released today by Lauren Order, she stated that an investigation is under way on what caused not only a bunch of classified files to be stolen from this top secret facility, but to also be on the lookout for the individual that calls themselves ‘Sombra’. The prosecutor also has said that anyone with possible details leading to a capture or arrest should contact their local police chief immediately.”

“Sombra? Fluttershy, have you or Lumen heard of somepony by that name?” The adept asked them, which caused them both to shake their heads as they looked back at him.

“No… the last time something like that was heard was back with the tyrant in the north called King Sombra… but that was several years ago. Team Arrowhead back then had to handle him in order to free the Crystal Empire, but that’s old news.” Lumen said as she looked at Fluttershy… only to see that Smoky… wasn’t exactly a cat anymore.

Smoky grumbled, “I think it’s a pony pretending to be Sombra… A copycat. Who’s a hacker, what’s up with that?”

“M-maybe… or it could be somepony n-new…” Fluttershy suggested, looking back at him before noticing something off when the tv flickered a bit. “W-what was that?”

“What a bother…” Smoky groaned. The TV flickered again… only for it to go to black as something began to form from the center of it. A symbol of a digital skull… followed by a silouette of what looked like a bipedal figure as it began to speak. However, the most surprising part of this was that it wasn’t just happening for them.

As Lance looked outside and moved to the command center… he realized that it was happening across the entire city. Not just HQ… but everywhere. “What the hell-?”

“Well now, Ms. Order… you and the heroes of maretropolis here seem to enjoy playing these little games of yours…” The voice said, which caused chills to run down Lance’s spine as he turned to the main screen. “Now… how about we play a real one?”

“No… f*cking way…” Lance cursed as he looked at the screen. Fluttershy and Smoky (who was now a cat again) followed him out, but it was also now that Cody, Katy and Humdrum stormed out of the labratory from the bottom floor.

“Lance, what the hell is going on? First thing I know is that I’m working on Humdrum with Lola, then she’s gone.” He said, before turning to see the screen… and as the city darkened, a hand on screen stuck out… and showed both Lola and Aurora trapped in tiny purple cubes.

“Oh my… Look who we have here… I never thought there would be advanced AI such as you in a place like this.”

“Help!” Aurora screamed.

“Mommy, I’m scared!!”

“Lola!! Give her back!” Cody snarled, furious at whoever was doing it.

“If you want them back… come and find me…” She said, before the screen switched to a skull as it was diminished. “Adios~” It was then that light returned back to the city and everything else was functioning normally as Lance was trying to think on what to do next. However, it was Cody himself that stormed out of the room to grab his gear as he was wanting to get out and find them.

“Cody, stop! Without Lola running your equipment, you’ll-” Humdrum tried to talk some sense into him as the hunter loaded his weapon.

“I don’t care! She took Lola and I promised to keep her safe, I’m going after her.” He said, before Lance tried to calm him down.

“Cody, Spike’s right. Without Lola monitoring your equipment, you can barely be able to engage in combat, let alone go after her,” The Adept told her before looking at both him and Humdrum. “We don’t even know where she is…”

“You two don’t…” Another voice spoke up, surprising both of them as they turned to see Katy leaning against one of the dashboards for the main computer. “But I do… whoever they were, unlike most of the stuff in the city, they can’t hack into Teal. Plus… she can track anything that produces energy, whether it’s biological, technological, or magical.” It was then that she happened to notice Smoky as she looked at him and giggled. “Aww, cute kitty~”

Other then the last statement, Cody and Lance looked back at the two of them as the Adept asked a question. “Wait… are you saying that Teal may know their location?”

“It’s not a matter of may, Lance. She can be able to detect things from a few miles away.” She said, while pulling up a holoscreen of a top down map of the location for them to see. “In fact, we already got a location… however, I’m not sure why I think she would choose an old factory to be a hiding place.”

That had Lance look at it closer… and with it, made him groan a bit in response. “Oh boy…”

“What, you know that place?” Cody then asked, which in turn caused the Adept to nod his head for a moment as he formed the words to speak. Lumen herself was just as surprised as he was, but she decided to let Lance do the talking instead.

“Cody… that’s where I first ended up when I was displaced.”

“Are you guys gonna at least figure out where the signal came from…?” Smoky asked. Shortly before hearing a squealing sound as Katy proceeded to hug him.

“Eeee! It talks!! Can I keep him? Can I?”

“Uh… That’s not how exactly adopting a pet works-” Lance replied.

“Not with that attitude!” Katy boasted, which caused Lance to facepalm himself while Cody was trying to process what just happened. Which, in turn lead to one dragon actually deciding to speak up.

“So are you guys just going to be standing around talking about cats or are you going to go save Aurora and Lola?” Humdrum asked, which lead both of them looking at one another as they came up with a plan.

“Okay, I may not have Lola on me, but I still need to watch your back,” Cody said before Lance waved him off.

“Let’s let Humdrum worry about the details. I know where I’m going.” Lance assured him, before using his instant transmission to disappear seconds later… all while Katy was still cuddling Smoky and petting his ears as Fluttershy looked on in amusement.

“Get off of me, crazy lady…” Smoky grumbled, but made no attempt to escape. “Such a bother…”

“And just when I thought you were going to ask me to not stop~” Katy snickered, which in turn caused Cody to facepalm himself as he looked back at her.

“Oh dear lord, we have another Max.”

It only took Lance a few seconds to reach the abandoned facility, but he was already aware of the general surroundings since this was a place that he had been there before a long long time ago. But now was when things were different. “Teal, I’m here… do you and Cody have anything for me?”

“Well… that’s the thing… you’re in the clear, but something here doesn’t add up…” His friend told him over his intercom as he scanned his surroundings. Everything seemed quiet… some would say too quiet, but others would think it’s a trap. However, Lance didn’t think it was like that at all. In fact, most of the clues for the… game she was suggesting involved two things… one, trying to figure out where she was. Check. Two, trying to figure out who she was.

He had a theory on the second one, but needed confirmation on it first. However, as he got closer… Something stood out to him as he went farther in.

In the center of the abandoned factory, where there was a major hole in the roof… were two floating cubes. Something that originally made him think that rescuing Aurora and Lola seemed far too easy. Yet, just as he was about to reach out for them… That was when he heard Aurora speak.

Not out of relief… but out of panic.

“Lance! She’s behind you!” Hearing that single voice caused Lance to whip around as he drew his weapons, while Sombra aimed her SMG directly at him as her cloaking was diminished. They glared at one another, while the woman named Sombra herself smirked a few seconds later and did something that surprised the Adept.

She drew her weapon back and chuckled. “Oh you have no idea what it took to make this meeting happen…” Lance just stood there, dumbfounded a bit as he lowered his weapon hesitantly and looked at her.

“Meeting? You went out of your way to kidnap Aurora and Lola, just to meet me?” Lance questioned, looking back at her.

“Why yes… it took pulling a few strings and having to acquire some information from the perra Order, but I believe that it has been all the more successful…” She smiled, using her fingers to pull up a few pieces of information she had… which, caused old memories to surface inside his head as he looked back at her. “But it’s good to see you again… Amigo.”

Now was when it clicked… and his thoughts on it blew his mind. “Holy sh*t…”

“Lance, you okay? What’s going on-?” Cody said for a moment. Aurora and a few others were confused too… until Lance finished the other half of his sentence.

“Sonya? Is that you?” The only thing that Sombra did in that moment was smile to herself…

And slap him across the face. “Oww! What the hell was that for-?”

“THAT was for all the sh*t that happened after you, Cody and Noah disappeared,” She snarled. “After you three went missing, everything else in the group began to break apart! Now I came here trying to find everyone and get them back together, only to find out that Noah is some Digimon Emperor knockoff and that Aster has gone mad… At least you haven’t changed.”

Well, that was the understatement of the century. “What about Romeo? Wasn’t he still with you two-?”

“I haven’t found anything on him. I looked at the records I took from Lauren Order’s personal prison, only to find you four and no signs of him… Wait… Is Cody listening to this right now?”

“Don’t tell her I’m here-!”

“He is.”

“DAMMIT! WHAT DID I JUST SAY!?!” He snapped, while causing the Adept to roll his eyes. Sombra took this as a sign to continue talking as she then pulled up what looked to be a familiar face. Jinx.

“Have you seen this one before?” She then asked, causing Lance to nod his head in approval before she continued. “Well, you are going to be surprised to hear this… that’s Aster.”

“Woah woah woah, back up… That’s Aster? The shy, rational and smart girl that was part of the group?” He then asked.

“Yeah, the most innocent… who is now the most insane… to make matters worse, she’s on Lauren Order’s Suicide Squad,” Sombra grumbled, before asking her something. “So… apart from all the Equines, what other people I should know of that are here?”

“Well, if you met my father, then that’s one. My mother Bayonetta, who’s an Umbra Witch, is second. My aunt Aya is third and always keeps a gun on her at all times and lastly, other than Copen, I have a cousin who’s Sun Wukong from RWBY.” That, to Sombra… was a lot to take in… and also a massive headache.

“Aye aye aye, seriously? Does your family like have a gun fetish or something?” Sombra said, and in response, Lance could hear Katy laughing on the other end of the comline.

“What made you say that out of the blue?” The azure striker asked as Sombra facepalmed herself in the process

“Think of it… You just described each one of your family members carrying a particular firearm. One in which sounds like she had innuendos for days, Amigo.” She sighed, looking back at him. “Well… now that we have that out of the way… I want to talk serious for a moment… After all, we can still be friends, right amigo?”

“We can… but what are you trying to imply?” The adept asked cautiously.

“Simple,” She said, moving the cubes containing Aurora and Lola over to him. “I let you have your little companions back… and you… help out your old friend every once in awhile… What do you say, Amigo?”

“Whoop her ass, Lance!” Aurora shouted. “If this is a friendly reunion, then she’s not a friend worth reuniting with!” However, Lance just sighed in response to that.

“Don’t mind Aurora… she’s… well, it’s complicated…” He sighed before looking back at Sombra before hearing another voice speak up.

“Yeah, what momma said! F*ck her up!” Lola then blurted out of nowhere.

“Sweety! What have we said about language!?” Aurora hissed. “Lance, I’m serious! If this lady foalnapped us and is trying to bargain for our freedom, she’s not good news!”

“I was still going to give them back anyways…” Sombra sighed. “I’m a hacker, not a kidnapper… You two just happened to get caught in the wrong place at the wrong time… Come on Lance…”

It was then that Lance made his decision. “Aurora, Twilight originally thought that Chrysalis and her group were bad news, but look what we found out about them over time… Don’t judge a book by it’s cover…” He sighed, before the cubes returned to him. “However… Since you said you were going to give them back anyways…”

“Oh now? Getting frisky aren’t we?” Sombra chuckled… only to get the most strangest of responses from Lola.

“That’s what she said!!”

“Lola, what did I say about taking after mommy?” Aurora groaned, her voice sounding bitter.

Ignoring that last statement, the Adept then began to speak. “Can I think on this?”

“Take all the time you need,” Sombra told him, before walking back to the back of the hall. “No seriously, I mean it… I added something for you to drop a line by when you want to talk…” Just as the hacker was about to leave though… was when Sonya then said one last thing. “But I have been doing some reading into your friend… and I believe there may be something that she would like to know.”

“What?” Aurora asked with venom in her voice.

“How to bring you back to life… and get you a body again.” Before Lance could say anything or stop her, Sombra walked away, leaving the Adept just as shocked as Aurora was.

“H-how would you know...?” Aurora asked, her voice faltering. “How would you know something that Lance has been try-...” She stopped in her tracks, going absolutely quiet. “Why am I just now hearing this…? And from some hacker…?”

“Mommy? Are you okay?” Lola then spoke up, noticing how her ‘mom’ was feeling down on herself.

Aurora didn’t respond, though there was a dark aura around her. Lance didn’t know what to say… matter of fact, he was just as worried for her as Lola was. Yet, neither of them were the ones who spoke up.

It was actually Teal. “Heh…… That was too easy…”

That had the Adept flinch for a moment before getting on the comline as he spoke to the scarab. “Teal, what are you talking about?”

“Well, let’s just say that while you and your friend were having your conversation and Katy is still snuggling with the team mascot, I was able to actually take something from her without having her find out…” she replied, submitting her findings to the adepts bracer for him and Aurora to see in person. “Turns out, she got this most recently from the Canterlot Library about four hours ago… It’s a chapter from a book on dark magic, most specifically… Soul Restoration.”

“That won’t help with my lack of body.” Aurora grumbled.

“There’s also something here too…… Hey, Lance… Are you familiar with something by the name up Sumeragi?” That question had immediately gotten Lance’s attention as he looked up at Aurora and Lumen before responding.

“Yeah, what about it?”

“There’s a side note here on this saying about a…… stratacombs underneath Manehattan and the fact that there had been a series of ponies going missing in the area… I’m not sure what it is, but if this is about souls and necromancy, then something tells me that it’s not good.” Teal added. “They even have a codename for it… Project Nyx.”

“Then shouldn’t the government investigate? Or, hay, even us?” Aurora asked.

“Well, I would think that they would have MIST investigate it since they’re in the area, but with the Mitochondria incidents over there, things are already tight as it is…” Lance told her before looking at her and Lola. “I already have half a mind to go over there right now and get to the bottom of this.”

“Yeah… about that, the calendar on the bases computer here says something about a ‘Grand Galloping Gala’ that you and the rest of the power ponies were invited too…” Teal commented, which surprised the Adept in that moment… but not as much as when he heard her say this. “Also, I’m not sure if I’m reading my scans correctly here, but it says here that Twilight’s pregnant.”

Aurora and Lance were quiet for a moment. Although, the filly ghost did finally speak. And her reaction… was almost the same reaction that Lance had… to an extent.

“What!?”

“Teal, how could you possibly know about that?” The Adept questioned.

“Hey, whenever Katy and I see new people now, I not only scan them for memory, but the scan reveals any major physical conditions… I myself am still trying to figure out how this whole thing works… In any case though, you should come back… Cody’s been in the shooting gallery for the last twenty minutes taking out his frustrations on other targets. He’ll be glad to see Lola and Aurora are okay.” Teal informed them… only to hear someone else speak in the background… that being someone both Lance and Aurora were familiar with and prompted them to come back to base rather quickly.

When they got back, the Adept noticed Reaper trotting over to them as Aurora reconfigured herself with the equipment, “Is Aurora safe?”

“Yeah, she is… though, who decided to take her left us with more questions than answers.” Lance replied, showing Reaper the information that Teal sent a few moments earlier. “A new hacker in town named Sombra somehow acquired some information regarding Soul Restoration… and claims that there’s a way to get Aurora a body again…”

“I helped too!” Teal then spoke up, before looking at Reaper and saying one more thing as she flew to where katy was. “Also, congratulations. You’re a father now!” Which in turn wanted Lance to smack his forehead really hard against something for the abrupt interruption just now.

Reaper stared at Teal for a moment, his face growing darker and darker as he glared daggers at her. Lance himself sighed as he looked back at the undead pony for a minute. “Just… don’t mind Teal. She’s new around here and whenever she meets anyone, any physical conditions of that person come to notice… also, Teal has the habit that Lumen does about saying things without thinking them properly. It’s almost like I’m seeing a reflection of Lumen in a mirror.”

“This better not be permanent…” Reaper sighed.

“Well, Lumen herself has been going through some… changes as well.” He said, looking back at him, just as he saw Katy and Lumen trying to face each other in… what looked to be some kind of foal’s card game.

“That’s some OP bullsh*t right there!!!” They heard Lumen abruptly shout out when Katy caught her by surprise.

“Uh… what are you two doing?” Lance then asked before they saw Spike walk over to them.

“Both Katy and Lumen are trying to win a card game I introduced them to called Po-Ni-Oh.”

“...... I’m sorry, but did you just say Ponyo?” Lance asked, puzzled by what the dragon was trying to tell him.

“Yu-Gi-Oh pun…” Smoky grumbled miserably… all while he was still being petted by Katy.

“Well… that clears that up… God, my brain hurts after everything that happened today.” The Adept Groaned for a moment before looking at the clock and seeing that it was a couple of hours before midnight. “I’m not sure how much longer I would be up before crashing… I think I might need some sleep.”

“Alright. Oh, by the way, Ash and Sparkler have been looking for Adepts recently. I think they’ve found some.” Reaper added. That immediately got his attention rather quickly for a couple of seconds as Lance looked at him.

“They… did? What did they find?” Lance asked him as he folded his arms and turned himself in the same direction Reaper was.

“Ask them tomorrow.” Reaper stated. “You’ll collapse with everything that’s happened today.” His point was made clear when Lance almost lost his balance and then rubbed his eyes.

“Yeah, I guess you're right… I’m going to bed, see you in the morning.” As the Adept walked back to his room, all it did was want Katy to have the game with Lumen be finished already. That way she could go to bed as well.

The Following Morning

Ash and Sparkler were sitting at a table with Lance while the Adept was trying to have breakfast. But as he was waiting for his coffee to cool down, he was also listening to both of the mares as he looked at them.

“Alright, our searching has proved fruitful!” Sparkler said excitedly. “First off, we were able to convince Bumblesweet and Weeping Pegasi to join QUILL. They’ll be here tomorrow around noon.” The psychic mare started, grinning from ear to ear.

Hearing that had Lance almost spill his coffee as he processed the names. He knew Weeping… but Bumblesweet… “Hang on… wasn’t Bumblesweet originally with the Countess? What happened to them after Sun Fransokyo?” He asked, wondering if there was some form of ‘missing link’ that he didn’t happen to pick up on while Sparkler was talking. “The mare that had bees in her mane?”

“Don’t you remember? The Countess stuck a bomb in her head. Plus, I clearly remember you saving her and forgiving her.” Ash said with a smug smirk.

“My bad girls… It’s just… for me, when I was called upon by a displaced, you might think I was gone for 12 hours. But to me, I felt like I was gone for almost two years… I’m still trying to get my senses back in order… especially with the late night I had the other night.” He apologized, taking a drink of his coffee as he looked back at them. “So about the bomb you mentioned… Did that get removed?”

“I think you short circuited it, and it was removed later. She was in Solace Asylum until about a week ago when she was cleared.” Now Lance’s memory was coming back to him. The coffee was helping out rather well and he then remembered what happened.

“Yeah, it was removed… However, I drained the battery supply for the bomb’s detonator so it wouldn’t go off. If it short circuited, it would have blown her to bits…” He said with another drink of his coffee as he looked back at them. “So besides Weeping and Bumble, did you two find anypony else? Like something new?”

“I said it was fruitful.” Added Sparkler. “We found several potential Adepts, as well as five confirmed ones. Three of those are hesitant, and we hope to get a call from them in the future. The other two are willing and able.”

“Have you gotten an idea on some of their powers or what they are capable of?” Lance then asked both of them, which, in response caused Ash in order to speak up.

“We have. One looks really rad and promising…” She said.

“Though concerning…” Sparkler added.

The last part got Lance’s attention rather quickly. Not just by how it was positively described by Ash, but by the tone in Sparkler’s voice. “Would you care to describe ‘concerning’? I know that we may all have different abilities, but we’re not using them to just show off what we can do.”

“From my knowledge, she basically can makes bombs. Anything could be a bomb.” Hearing that caused Lance to cough and almost drop his coffee cup on the floor as he cleared his throat. But it was then that Lumen came into the picture… which surprised both ponies since she looked a lot different this time around than before.

“So let me see if I heard that right… Her powers transmute anything into an explosive?” Lumen asked, even though Sparkler was still surprised by her newfound appearance. “What? Do I have something on my face?”

“Uh… Who’s that…?” Sparkler asked, eyes wide.

“Oh… right…” Lance said, almost forgetting what was important. “That’s Lumen… however, like Aurora, she lost her physical body and is a spirit… Only difference being that certain ponies can see her, her soul is fused with mine and she… well, a lot more mature for her age.” Turning to Ash, the Adept sighed a little before groaning a bit.

“Damn…” Ash just commented.

Sparkler groaned. “Figures… You’re just a magnet for the undead…”

“Don’t remind me…” Lance groaned, looking back at her as she sighed. “And just when I thought last night was the tip of the iceberg… Still, we’re talking about this pony being able to conjure living bombs?”

“Why do I have the feeling that she is completely scared of her new abilities?” Lumen then asked, which only frustrated the unicorn a bit more.

“Alright, can we get off of this?” Sparkler grumbled. “There are five candidates, not one.” The Adept apologized, allowing for the unicorn to continue what she was trying to say while he placed his dishes from breakfast in the sink. “The other one’s actually here. Tenderheart, the Power Ponies former nurse. She even treated Comet Tail after he was placed here.”

“Hunh… I think I remember meeting her once, but briefly… What did you find out about her?” He then asked, curious as to the kind of powers she now had.

“She has the ability to heal almost any flesh wound. She’s actually training her powers on Coloratura and heading her throat.” That came as news to Lance. He wasn’t aware of the fact that the Countess being treated for anything, let alone what happened at Sun Fransokyo. But nevertheless, he then redirected his thought to something else… “So I guess that Tenderheart is willing to help while the first pony isn’t?”

“Yes. She’s one of the two who are ready.” Sparkler mentioned. Which, prompted the Adept to ask who was the other one that was going to help them out.

“A mare named Yuma Spurs. She’s a country mare that’s been saving her small town from petty crooks for a while now. Ever since the lifewave happened.” Sparkler said. “She’s really devoted to the ‘hero code’.” The unicorn even gave Lance a picture for him to look at as he examined the photograph… which lead to him asking something shortly afterwards.

“Well, she looks to have a lot of determination… does she have any known powers or abilities?” He then asked as he gave Sparkler her photograph back.

“Super Strength, Persuasion, and Shock Absorption.” Sparkler listed. “She’s good against single targets, but when there are multiple threats, she’s easily overpowered.” That was good to know… and again, seemed all the more reason to have her join QUILL. However, before the Adept could ask anymore questions, it was when they all heard some commotion going on from where the center of the command center would be. And it sounded like Twilight was talking to someponies.

“Hey, was Twilight having somepony over this morning?” He asked both of them to see if they happened to know about what was going on.

“No… Why do you ask?” Ash questioned.

“Well, I’m hearing Twilight talking to two ponies… One sounds like Detective Whooves while the other is somepony I can’t recognize.” The Adept sighed as he finished up his coffee and set it in the sink. “I’ll be back in a moment. I want to see what’s going on first. Mind waiting for me?”

“Sure.” Ash waved him off. With that, the Azure Striker got up from the table and walked over to see who the Masked Matterhorn was talking too… Yet, what surprised him was the site of a new pony. One that had a cream colored coat and a mane and Tail that reminded him of candy and sweets… which was ironic since a piece of wrapped candy also happened to be her Cutie Mark.

It was only after this though that Twilight happened to notice he was actually there. “Oh hello, Lance… didn’t think you would be up this early after your late night last night.”

“Honestly, I didn’t think so either…” He mumbled before looking back at Detective Whooves and the new pony that was in the room.

“Well, Lance. I would like for you to meet Bon Bon.” The Alicorn introduced her. “She’s from the organization known as SMILE.”

For a moment, the Adept blinked in response… confused by what she meant, before having to ask. “Uh… just out of curiosity, what does SMILE stand for?”

“SMILE, or Secret Monster Intelligence League of Equestria, are an organization that provides intelligence on potential monster attacks and on some cases, deals with them firsthoof. They’ve been providing information for the Heroes association and police departments across Equestria for a while now.”

Yet, it was in that moment that Bon Bon happened to address his presence. “So, you’re the Azure Striker…”

End Strike 50

Strike 51- Panic at the Gala

Author's Note

Just as a heads up, this chapter was actually done before Strike 50, so it's kind of the reason why you won't be seeing some characters like Katy and Teal in this one. This chapter also covers something new I was wanting to test and I hope you like what I have in store for you.

One of the things that is mentioned is also the fact that Lance is assembling his own team. Well, coming up, we'll be seeing him try to get some teammates... each one with more stranger powers than the next. Until then, Enjoy!
-Frost

Strike 51- Panic at the Gala

When Lightning Strikes- Panic at the Gala

Power Pony HQ (Maretropolis)

Inside the main hall of the headquarters that was the home of the power ponies, the group of heroes happened to have some… visitors today. Detective Whooves, also known by his undercover name of Time Turner, from the Maretropolis PD and also a mare named Bon Bon who was part of the Secret Monster Intelligence League of Equestria… or SMILE for short. It was originally suppose to be a conversation between Twilight, Time and Bon-Bon, but since Lance happened to be there at the time, the Masked Matterhorn invited him back into the conversation.

“So, you’re the Azure Striker…” Bon Bon said, examining Lance thoroughly.

“Yes I am,” He replied respectfully as he looked at both the detective and the agent before looking at Twilight. “What brings the both of you to HQ? Anything we can help you with?”

“I was in the neighborhood and saw Detective Whooves walking up to the building, and thought that it would be fun to pop in with him. Plus, I wanted to speak to you about the team you’re trying to assemble.” Bon Bon said calmly.

The Adept nodded his head before looking back at her before putting his hands in his pockets and speaking. “You mean QUILL then…”

“I suppose so. QUILL, MIST, what’s next, am I right?” Bon Bon asked, failing at humor. She then cleared her throat and asked, “It’s hard enough keeping track of the existing five or so super powered teams. Why make another?”

“Well, after the events that occurred most recently in Sun Fransokyo… I’ve received news that there are going to be more ponies and individuals who would be adepts like myself. I wanted to make a team to help those who have recently discovered their powers and also help them both understand what they can do… and have them use what they can do for good purposes. The power ponies can’t tackle everything by themselves, so I just want to do my part to help.” The Adept told them… before then asking something. “Sorry, did I confuse you? I know it was a lot to take in but-.”

“I get it. But making a new team separate from the Power Ponies seems a bit far fetched.”

“Not exactly separate… We’ll still be associated and Twilight said that she can help us however she can. I just want to be able to figure out a way to help those in need without those who do gain such abilities being scared of what they are capable of and see themselves as monsters.” He sighed. “It’s a little complicated and my friend Aurora and I are working everything out right now.”

“Alright… Well, anyways, I’m sure Time Turner has something important to say. Right Detective?”

“Oh right…” The detective spoke up before looking back at Lance for a moment. “Mr. Walker, are you familiar with the Grand Galloping Gala by any chance?” For a moment, he looked at Twilight for a second before turning back to the detective and shaking his head.

“Nope, can’t say that I have. I would think though with the words Grand and Gala that it’s some form or royal party or celebration?” He assumed off the top of his head.

“That is… partially right. The grand galloping gala is an annual royal celebration that is help at Princesses Celestia in Canterlot. Since it occurs in less than a few days, I was asking Twilight here if she and her friends were going right around the same time that you happened to walk into the room.” The detective pointed out, causing Lance to scratch the back of his head in embarrassment because of his ill timing.

“Well, to respond to your question Detective,” The alicorn then said as she looked back at the earth pony. “My friends and I will be in attendance at the gala. In addition to that, Princess Celestia has also invited Lance to join us too. I was wanting to tell him later, but since the subject came up, I thought it would be better to inform him now.”

“Wow… Thanks for telling me, Twilight. Now I need to make sure I have the right clothes for the event or else I’m going to have to ask Rarity in order to help me with making a suit.” The Adept sighed a little in embarrassment. “But since you did bring up the subject, will you be going to the event, Detective?”

“Yes, but not as a guest,” The stallion replied back to him. “I was asked to be a part of the security team for the event tonight and oversee the festivities so things don’t exactly get… out of hoof so to speak. The last few gala’s have been known to have things get a little out of control, but with all the current incidents going on, Princess Celestia has asked some of the police cheifs from across Equestria and some of the members of the guard to come up with a special security force for the evening.”

“Ah, I see…” Lance replied as he looked back at them and noticed Bon Bon excusing herself from the room for a brief moment as he looked back at Detective Whooves. “Well, I hope you do enjoy your time there nonetheless. Is there anything else you would like to discuss?”

Bon Bon left the tower and placed her hoof against her ear. “Bug’s been placed. You hearing this?”

“Yes… This info may not exactly be a lot, but it can be of use.” A mare’s voice spoke to her as Bon Bon noticed that Detective Whooves was actually finishing up his conversation with the two heroes. “I believe all the preparations are in place. If it’s time to take action, then we can take it from here, Agent Drops.”

“Good, I need to get home or my roommate will ask questions.” The mare replied. “My turn to make dinner… Heh…”

“Good… Then I’ll take it from here.” She heard the reply back, confusing the earth pony for a moment.

“Wait… Shouldn’t there be a separate handler for the field?”

“Agent Drops, the mare that you are talking to is the handler for the agent that the ICA has selected for this assignment. The only reason why I am actually in contact with you is because you are the client and the board has permitted me to have direct communication with you.” The mare explained to Bon Bon. “Now that I have all the information that I need, I can be able to brief the agent we’ve selected and commence the contract. Do you understand?”

“Yeah…” Bon Bon grumbled as she trotted away from the tower. “Agent Sweetie Drops out.” She then pulled out her earpiece and tossed it into a nearby trashcan.

Location: Classified

Shortly after the conversation with the client had ended, the mare that was originally talking to her continued her trot to one of the main rooms of the facility that belonged to the ICA (International Contracts Agency). In that room was one of the handler’s best agents that had just returned back to the facility for a short while. To prepare himself for the next briefing that he was about to receive.

The thing though about this agent was that the handler could not find any records of his past. The only trail she found was something about a doctor in Romanea, but that only lead to nothing. Still, what had him be one of the best agents in the ICA was not because of his past, but because of the wide range of skills in his possession. Making him just as deadly as a lethal dose of poison.

As the handler approached the stallion, she took into account his visual appearance. Had no eyebrows, no mane and no tail with a cutie mark of a strange insignia. But he always dressed rather sharp. Preferably going on assignment with a particular suit for the occasion. One with a white dress shirt and a red tie to match, as he was wearing right now. As she approached him, he said nothing… and just listened to what the handler had to say as she pulled up a series of images while she was speaking.

“Good evening 47… Your next assignment will take you inside the grounds of Canterlot Castle, where the annual Grand Galloping Gala celebration is to be hosted.” She explained while bringing up a few images of the location… and of one pony in particular. “Many ponies are set to attend this event, including your target Charming Fortune. As his name suggests, he is a rich millionaire and business mogul, but what he uses his assets on is an entirely different story.”

Not long after saying that, the images changed once again, this time to a place that was unfamiliar to the agent and also not the streets of Canterlot. “Mr. Fortune is an important link to one of the most secret government facilities across Equestria. The Black Box site known as the Zero Zone. According to our files, even though it's description claims to keep some of the most dangerous criminals and supervillains off of the streets, recent incidents involving sightings of these alleged felons poses a different story and one that the ICA and our client, are looking into.”

The images cycled once again to the target, but now with one more mare added to the mix this time. “Your job is to terminate him, but only after he meets with Canterlot Lawyer, Lauren Order. Their conversations may provide insight into what has been going on and also how the Zero Zone and some of these incidents are connected.” This was of course, followed by the potential risks that could hinder his success with the contract. “You must be cautious though. Security is higher than usual and also, some members of the Power Ponies, including the Adept known by his hero name "Gunvolt" are also in attendance this evening. It is also confirmed that Lauren Order will have a personal escort with her throughout the course of the evening, but no confirmation as to who or what her escort will be.”

Now was the final recap for the briefing before the handler left the agent and allowed for him to get himself ready. “Two objectives, a very public event... but that hasn't stopped you before. I'll leave you with time to prepare... Good Hunting, 47.”

Canterlot (Evening of the Gala)

“Why do I have to wear a crummy dress…?” Ash groaned, squirming in her silky silver one piece dress.

“Tonight’s suppose to be a formal gathering from what I have been informed Ash… I’m not a fan of it either, but we’re just going to have to go with it.” Lance sighed as he stretched his arms and tried to have himself feel comfortable in the dark navy suit that Rarity had tailored for him a few days ago. Sure he was thankful for the seamstress coming up with it on such short notice, but with the fact that he was not wearing any clothes that were rather… roomy like with his suit, he still felt as if his clothes were rather… foreign to him.

“Oh, don’t be a downer about that. Both of you look amazing!” Both of them heard Lumen from behind them as she sat down on Lance’s shoulder. “You guys are lucky to get to go to the Grand Galloping Gala. Especially since you two were both invited by Celestia herself!”

“To be guards…” Ash grunted. “Where are the others at?”

“I believe they’re inside… and actually, Twilight told us that we were invited as guests. Detective Whooves was one of the ponies invited to be part of the security force tonight.” Lance clarified for her. “Also, I heard from Spike that Twilight’s taking a date with her… and honestly, when he told me, I was surprised because of the way he acted around me when I first met him.”

“Oh… Why were we all invited?” Ash asked, looking at her watch. “And why is this line so long!?”

“Excuse me, sir,” One of the guards spoke up, looking at Lance and Ash as they turned to face him. “Would you happen to be Lance Walker?”

“That I am… this is Ash, she’s my friend and a companion with me tonight.” The Adept replied shortly afterwards.

“Right this way please…” The guard insisted as the both of them happened to follow the stallion to a side entrance that was next to the main gate where everypony was coming in at as he opened the door for them. “Enjoy your evening.”

“Finally… I wonder if anyone we know is here. Besides our team.”

“Depends on the definition of ‘know’.” The Adept replied back to her before looking to see if there was anyone at the party that he could recognize from outside. “Maybe they’re inside the castle right now, I can only see…” Yet, it was then that he noticed someone that he did know… not just as an ally or friend though. “Holy crap.”

“Lance!” Aya shouted, waving to her nephew. “Didn’t know you were invited too!”

“Me neither,” He said, excited to see her as he and Ash walked over to her before giving her a hug. “God, it’s been too long since I’ve last seen you.” That was when he took a look around and a question formed in the back of his head. “Is the rest of your team here or just you?”

“Well, some. The rest had to stay home and protect New Yoke. How about your team?” Aya asked. “They all here?”

“Yeah, we got the Cutie Mark Crusaders covering us since they got enough members to keep an eye on both Centrail City and Maretropolis,” The adept replied back as he looked back at the crowd. “Hell, from what Spike told me, Twilight has a date with her tonight.”

“Well, that’s sweet. Bet Mist would love to figure out who.” Aya giggled. “I’m pretty sure she and Posey are here. We got four new members since the last time… Oh, I heard you fought a demon!”

“Well, there’s a bit more to the story then that… It was a demon yes, but not one in a physical body. It possessed a mare we met in Sun Fransokyo named Octavia and really gave Aurora, Applejack and a few of us over there a hard time…” The Adept paused for a moment to think through what exactly he was going to say next before speaking once again. “Hey, can I ask you for some advice on something?”

“Depends. Dating’s not my area of expertise, really.” She said with a hushed voice.

“I wasn’t going to ask about that.” The Adept then sighed at Aya’s teasing as he noticed Ash wander off to go get some food from the buffet table.

“Alright, seriously, what’s up?” Aya questioned.

“Well, about what you mentioned with the… demon incident,” He started off, thinking the words over inside his head before telling her. “One question first… Have you met Bayonetta at all?”

“... Yeah. Why?”

“So you know who she is then… Alright, this may make things easier.” Lance then sighed for a second before speaking up. “First off… Bayonetta was there during the demon incident and we had to fight together to get the situation under control. Afterwards, we had a discussion, reunion and all that, but one thing she told me near the end really caught me by surprise… There’s going to be more Adepts.”

“Sounds like business will be booming…” Aya said with a tired look.

“Yeah… The main point is that because of what I was told, Aurora and I are forming our own team. Twilight’s helping out with it and I already got the name, but I was wanting to ask about… well… leadership advice.” He then explained to her fully.

“Alright, I only have three things to say. Three things that are the foundries of leadership. One, your team depend on you to lead them. Two, trust and truth. Three, a level head.” Aya stated. “Other than that, I’ll need questions to answer.”

Lance chuckled at the last part, but then heard something that caught him by surprised. “Lance… You’re not going to believe this…”

“Lumen, I’m a bit busy right now…” He mentally told her as he tried to form a question for Aya. But what she told him next soon brought all of that to a halt.

“Lance, it’s Lauren Order! She’s here…”

That… had Lance stop what he was doing and look behind him. Scanning the crowd to see where the mare could possibly be… and unknowingly confusing his aunt in the process. “You serious, Lumen-?”

“What’s wrong? Are you okay?” Aya asked, a look of worry donning on Aya’s face.

“Yeah… I just noticed something that caught me off guard,” The Adept said in the moment, before asking Aya something. “Hey, have you ever heard of a mare named Lauren Order?”

“Nope. Why?”

“It’s a long story, but let me explain…” Lance then told her as he began to inform Aya on the situation regarding her. “Lauren Order is one of the best prosecution attorney’s and lawyers on Celestia’s court… but there’s another side to her… Are you familiar with one thing back home called ‘suicide squad’?”

“No. Sean was more interested in those things.”

“Well, let me give you a small briefing…” He said, while he mentally told Lumen to keep an eye on her for if she does anything suspicious. “The whole point of the suicide squad is that it’s composed of some very bad people who are capable of doing some good. In the DC universe, it involved a lot of bad guys, including Deadshot, Killer Croc and Harley Quinn. If they follow by the rules, they live. If not, they die… Now think that concept… and apply it here. Lauren Order is the one who runs it, based on what we know, and it’s comprised of former villains that were said to be locked up and also displaced… including… dad.”

“Who’s next, the family dog...?” Aya sarcastically quipped with a shrug.

“ … Aya, you’re not taking this seriously… Dad has a bomb implanted in him and to where he has to go on missions and do what she says or else it goes off like a grenade… and through the two times I’ve encountered him… He’s tried to kill me twice.” The Adept told him. “Now… to cut to the chase… I reacted just now because I overheard that Lauren Order was attending the event tonight.”

“First, I have no sympathy for the man who abandoned you. Second, what are you going to do about it?” Aya asked. “You can’t go arrest her. If you could, the police would’ve gotten her.”

“That’s the thing… I don’t know, but I’m having someone keep an eye on her. Try to figure out the reason why she’s here first and not draw up any red flags.” Lance replied, looking back at her for a moment before sighing. “But for now, let’s just act casual and enjoy the evening.”

“Fluttershy, are you sure that you wanted to bring your new companion with you?” Twilight asked as she looked at the pegasus and the small cat that was resting on her back. “I know that you are comfortable around animals, but I honestly didn’t think you would bring one with you.”

“I-i just thought that Smoky would keep me c-company tonight. T-that’s all.” The pegasus squeaked as she looked back at her friend… and also her date tonight. Comet Tail, AKA Reaper.

“You know that your friends are here, right?” Comet Tail asked in his monotone voice. Not too long ago, Twilight snapped him out of his depression… Mostly.

“I-i know, it’s just that… you have a date with Twilight so Smoky’s kind of… like… my date… tonight.” She said, her face forming a blush around her before she looked back at her friends for a moment. “Please excuse me for a moment…”

With that, Twilight and Reaper watched to see her friend head on out to where the food was served while she looked back at Reaper in confusion for a moment before shrugging. Yet, she soon happened to notice a familiar face trot nearby as they turned around and noticed her. “Mist? Is that you?”

The mare stared at the two, a look of pure shock on her face. Comet Tail, on the other hoof, looked on in amusement. “She looks surprised… Maybe she needs some breathing room.”

“Possibly… Mist is somepony we met out in New Yoke with the hero team that’s there named MIST. I honestly did not expect for her to be here tonight though,” She said on the side. “Maybe we’ll have the chance to talk to her later then.”

While this was going on inside the ballroom, outside of the room, Fluttershy herself was needing a chance to catch her breath. She honestly thought it was a bad idea to bring Smoky with her. But it wasn’t like she had any other choice. The contract she was in meant that they were bound to one another… and that one could not stray far without the other behind her.

“Something feels wrong, mistress.” Smoky said, popping his head out of Fluttershy’s purse.

“What do you mean?” She said, looking down for a moment before feeling somepony bump into her. “Oh gosh! I’m really s-sorry about that, miss!”

“It’s alright,” An all too familiar voice to Smoky replied to her as she brushed some dust off her shoulder. “Would you happen to know where Celestia’s garden is by any chance?”

“U-uhm y-yeah. Out the back door and i-it’s to your left.” Fluttershy replied before asking something. “W-what’s your name?”

The other mare just smiled for a moment as she looked back at Fluttershy for a moment. But her reply soon made the fur on Smoky’s back stand up. “Lauren… Lauren Order. Have a good evening, ma’am.” Before Fluttershy could say anything, she looked to see that the mare had already left… before she was even able to ask if she wanted to guide her to the garden.

“Order… Just my rotten luck.” Smoky grumbled. “Figures… She must have Tafiir.”

“Who?” Fluttershy whispered as she went to a place where she could look at Smoky and talk to him without anyone noticing her. “Smoky, who is Tafiir?”

“Another Servamp. There are two of them who work for Lauren, Tafiir is one of them.” Fluttershy gulped for a moment, scared to ask the follow up question that popped into her head at the time, but finally got around to saying it.

“A-and the o-other?”

“He’s a retard who can’t do anything useful… They only keep him around is because he’s immortal and they can’t figure out how to kill him…” Smoky said, smirking to himself at the thought of the Servamp he was thinking of. While he was thinking that though, a stallion walked past the two of them and in the same direction of the garden. However, unlike most of the stallions who were there, this one did not have any eyebrows and showed no emotions. But the look on his face would intimidate anyone at first glance. He also seemed to be dressed as a waiter as he passed on by.

Someone that would make Fluttershy even more timid… but make Smoky rather… curious as to who they were.

“I think that guy’s not supposed to be here…” Smoky stated. “Want me to kill him?”

“N-no!” Fluttershy squeaked, her tone though being serious as she glared at Smoky. “You can’t just k-kill someone based on s-suspicions! He may be part of the s-staff here tonight!”

Smoky leaned against his paw. “I’m pretty sure he had the look of a killer…”

“T-that could just be how he normally looks! You can’t judge somepony based off of what they look like, Smoky.” Fluttershy glared at him before thinking of a different question to change the topic. “Now I h-have a question… if it’s possible that Tafiir is here… do you think he knows y-your with me?”

“Pretty much. Unless he was asleep, he knows.” Smoky said.

“W-would he… come a-after us?” Fluttershy then asked, a little worried.

“I think he’s on a fixed assignment. Guarding Lauren. So we should be fine.” He said, causing Fluttershy to breath out a sigh of relief as he looked back at him.

“So he wouldn’t… well… wouldn’t pay attention to you, even if he knew you were there?” The Pegasus then asked for the last time, thinking something over inside her head.

“I’m sure… At most thirty one percent sure.” Smoky replied. “But the two of us could handle him.”

“W-well… um…” Fluttershy said, looking back at Smoky. “What if w-we don’t need to f-fight him… b-but just keep an eye on L-lauren? If s-she’s going to the garden, then m-maybe she’s-.”

“Fluttershy!” Both of them heard as they happen to see Lumen go over to where they were as she was trying to catch her breath. “D-did you…… s-see… Lauren Order come through here?”

“Y-yeah… W-why?”

“Well, Lance wanted me to keep an eye on her since he’s talking with Aya. Which way did she go?” Lumen then asked the two of them. “Oh hi, Smoky cat… how are you?”

“It’s just Smoky… You know I’m not a cat.” Smoky grumbled.

“Oh come on… can’t I just mess with you a little bit?” A grumble from the cat was all Lumen needed to hear in order for her question to be answered. “Nevermind… So… back to what I was asking you guys…”

“Royal garden. Be careful, she has a-”

“Thanks, Mr. Kitty!!! You’re the best pet anypony can have!” Lumen said, ruffling Smoky’s ears before flying off towards the garden without a care in the world.

Smoky watched with tired eyes. “I hope Tafiir eats her soul…”

“Smoky!!” Fluttershy snapped once more… before realizing what he said. “Umm… can he actually do that?”

“I’d be pleasantly surprised if he could…” Smoky replied.

Over the course of the evening, many ponies were there for being able to have fun, meet new people, and enjoy themselves. But for Lauren Order, her reasons for being at the Gala were not the same reasons as everypony else. For her, it was strictly business… and the pony she needed to talk to was here tonight as she approached the garden and began to wait for him. They were suppose to meet at the top of the hour. But, given the personality of the client in which she was meeting… he would normally be late.

He only showed up five minutes after their scheduled meeting time. A beige Earth Pony with a brown mane and dark green eyes trotted up to her, wearing a black suit with a blue tie.

“So sorry I’m late, Laurry!” He almost shouted.

“You know, I think I’ve asked you before to not call me by that nickname and for you to keep your voice down.” Lauren glared at the earth pony as she looked back at the earth pony. “There’s a reason why I called you here for a meeting. This is not like college when we were just classmates.”

“I still think of you as a dear friend, Order. So, why’d you call me here? What do you need?” Charming asked.

Lauren cleared her throat for a moment before she got specifically down to business. “We had an incident at the main facility for Task Force X. We’re still working on figuring out and tracking down who's responsible, but from we can tell, a security breach at the facility lead to two Task Force X members being… eliminated.”

“Please, tell me I have to get you a new asset, because I’m already having trouble keeping Clayton in line. There aren’t enough prisoners in the Zero Zone.” He said, groaning a bit.

“I wasn’t finished…” She told him coldly, looking at him with a chilling glare. “I don’t want you to get a new asset… but I want somepony else to stop interfering with my work. It was shortly after the incident that Dr. Hailstorm showed up, uninvited no less, and tried to cause more problems with Anarchy. I don’t want to deal with that mare or the ponies that are with her anymore because they will be the downfall of this whole project if it falls apart.”

“Hailstorm’s… A big fish to catch. You know what she’s done, right?” Fortune asked. “What am I going to do?”

“Just tell Clayton. He’s sure to have something that could deal with this issue… besides, if he doesn’t, who else would have to explain what else happened at my site.” She then told him, catching him by surprise. “Because this wasn’t just an ordinary accident that you can easily shrug off… this was cover for something bigger that affects both myself and him too.”

“Alright… I’m not the middle stallion though.”

“One more thing…” The unicorn then told him as she used her magic and pulled out a photograph for Charming to look at. “I want you to bring this to Clayton and have him look it over. The accident at my site was cover for a hacker who identifies themselves as “Sombra” to access information at my facility. Even went as far as leaving a message to remember them by. I’ve tried to look into it, but any lead I get one moment ends up being terminated. If Clayton knows a way to find out who they are and track them down, that will be one less thorn in my side.”

“Clayton’s got friends, but he’s still just a warden. I think I know someone else though.” Fortune said, pulling out a phone and searching through the contacts before texting the number to Lauren. “Should help. Master hacker if you’ve ever seen one.” The unicorn looked at the number for a moment as it reached her phone before looking back at him.

“Appreciated…” The Lawyer said before looking back at him. “If that is all that needs to be discussed then I believe we are done here. You should get a drink and have a look at the stars while you are here. I heard that the view from the top balcony is a view to die for.”

“Thanks. Hey, you should relax a bit too. I think your job’s gonna go to your mane.” Charming joked, trotting off. “Oh, and the number’s free of charge!” Lauren Order just rolled her eyes for a moment as she watched him trot off back to the party. Along with a bald headed stallion following shortly behind him.

“Thanks… Jerk.” She sighed for a moment, getting up for a second as she went to pick up her bag as well. “Tafiir? How are we doing?”

“Depends. There’s a lotta hostility in the area, from Sleepy, to that Lance guy… Hard to keep track.” A tiny porcupine said as it’s head peaked out of her bag.

“I mean immediate threats.” she clarified. “The Azure Striker and the rest of them know that it’s too early to try and come for me right now. I mean anything else other than that.”

Tafiir tapped his chin. “... Huh, that waiter had a dark presence… Stink of death all over him.”

Now that caught her surprise for a moment. “Which one? There are numerous ones around the event.” She asked as she looked around the outer patio, only to not see either Charming or anypony else that was outside.

“Bald stallion, a bar code on the back of his head. He stinks of a killer. I think he went inside a little after Charming.” Now Lauren’s heartbeat was racing up a little as she motioned towards the crowd. Looking for any possible signs of the stallion in question, but to no avail as she looked around.

She could see Twilight Sparkle talking with a member of MIST named Mist, she could see several other members of the Power Ponies that evening enjoying themselves, Lance Walker talking with Aya Brea and even the mare she just passed earlier walking over to them. But no signs of Charming at all. The mare needed to find her friend before something bad happened to him.

As the earth pony himself looked out over Canterlot and began to drink out of a wine glass, he could see the stars twinkling above his head before sighing to himself. Making himself feel at ease as the alcohol went through his system. Perhaps tonight was a night to die for, he thought to himself.

Perhaps it was…

It was only shortly after this though that he felt something suddenly wrap around his neck as he gasped for air. Choking on something thin that was around his neck. Yet… struggle as he may like, what was choking him soon lead to the fatal snap of his neck as all the air he had was deprived of him.

A silent kill… Now though was the challenge of getting out of here… unnoticed.

“So is that everything that you found out, Lumen?” The Adept asked his companion as he returned to him. She had just filled him in on all of the information that she had overheard before coming back to Lance as the party itself was drawing to a close. Many of the guests from earlier were leaving and the only ones that seemed to be left were a few of the well known nobles in Canterlot, Aya, Mist, and Posey along with Twilight and the rest of her friends that came with them this evening.

“Yeah, pretty much… Whatever it is, it’s some kind of mess that Lauren Order’s trying to clean up back at her place-.” She said, before turning around to notice something. “Hang on… something’s… not right.”

“What’s wrong?” He asked, looking around to see if something was out of the ordinary.

“It’s Lauren Order… She just came back in… but not as composed as she was earlier. Something is really getting under her fur if it’s making her look that worried.” Hearing what Lumen said made Lance assume that something was going on that did not quite feel right with the current situation. His assumption was proven correct the moment they saw her go upstairs and begin searching the rooms on the second floor.

It wasn’t clear as to what she was searching, but from the looks of things, she seemed rather… fixated.

“Hey, something on your mind?” Twilight Mist asked. Breaking his concentration for a moment as he looked back at her.

“Oh hey, Mist… Didn’t notice you there.” He said, scratching his head for a moment. “I was just… thinking. That’s all.” For a moment, there was a small bit of silence while he was trying to think of a question in order to ask Mist and change the subject. Then, he figured it out. “Did you have fun tonight? Get the chance to see Twilight at all?”

“Y-yeah…” Mist replied. Though… the tone of the reply seemed… off.

“Mist, are you okay?” Lance asked her for a moment, noticing the change in voice and expression as he took a moment to sit down. “You look like you just saw a ghost.”

“Oh, it’s nothing…” Mist replied, “Only saw my grandfather and grandmother on a date… Possibly first one.”

“Actually… Twilight’s helped reform Comet in a way and… well…” Lance sighed for a moment before thinking something through and then whispering a question to Mist. “Can you keep a secret?”

“Yeah… I pretended to be a normal pony for four years.”

“Well… here’s the thing,” He then replied, a bit of sweat coming down his neck as he looked at her. “After Aurora and I were done in San Fransokyo, she came home early to find them together… and alone… Remember when I told you about Pinkie and how you said that Surprise will be born?”

“Oh gosh…” Mist’s eyes widened in surprise and disbelief.

“Think that… but instead of Surprise… it’s you.” Lance told her, sighing a little as he looked back at Mist. “I know it’s a lot to take in, but-.”

Mist raised her right foreleg. “Stop… It was, but trust me when I say this. It doesn’t matter to me. Unless all of my friends are okay, it doesn’t matter.”

Lance paused for a moment, but then understood what she meant as he looked back to her and smiled. “I’ll make sure that they’ll be okay, Mist… I promise.”

“I know you’ll keep it. Now, let’s try to enjoy this party, I’ve always wanted to meet Princess Celestia.” It was in that moment that Lance had an idea… and also happened to notice the Princess of the sun not far from where they were standing. Now he only had one thing to ask her in that moment.

“Why wait?” The Adept told her, having her follow him as the two of them walked on over to where Celestia herself was standing. “Princess Celestia, it’s good to see you this evening.”

“Same to you, Mr. Walker.” The alicorn replied at first. “I’m glad that you were able to make it along with Twilight and her friends.” It was then that she happened to notice the pony standing next to him as her focus was now towards her. “Why hello… Who do we have here?”

“T-Twinkle Mist!” Mist lied. If she went with Twilight Mist, there would be many questions she didn’t want to ask.

“What a lovely name, Twinkle…” She replied, before asking her a follow up question. “Did you enjoy the gala tonight?”

“I’ve been thoroughly enjoying it, Princess.” She replied proudly, making the alicorn chuckle a little bit in response.

“Well, you certainly do remind me of Twilight, that is for sure.” She said, before smiling and using a hoof to rub her mane. “It’s been a pleasure meeting you two… but even so, I must retire for the evening. Good night, you two.” With that, she soon trotted upstairs alongside her sister and a couple of her guards as the two of them noticed the rest of their friends outside. When going to join them, one of the guards that was there at the time almost bumped into Lance. But before he could say anything, the guard’s cold gaze had him stay silent as he trotted away from the castle grounds.

“What’s that guy’s deal-?” Lumen asked… followed by her, Lance, Aya, Twilight and her friends, Smoky, Comet Tail, Posey and Mist heard the screams that came out from the second floor of the castle.

“What was that?” Twilight asked, sounding rather concerned as Lance looked back at Aya for a moment.

“Only one thing… trouble.” The Adept said as he looked back at the castle and heard all the guards mobilize inside the castle as they responded to the situation. “Should one of us go look inside or-?”

“Not it.” Smoky announced. Causing Lance to look at him for a moment as the cat peaked his head out of Fluttershy’s purse.

“What do you mean, not it?” Lance then asked him. “What are you talking about?”

“I call not it. Meaning not bothering to go.”

“Smoky, do you know what’s going on up there?” Fluttershy then asked, looking back at him while everypony else was mostly talking amongst themselves.

“No, why would you think I’d know what a scream meant?” That was when some of the guards came out and began looking around the premises before a familiar face, Detective Whooves found them.

“Oh thank Celestia you guys are here and okay… Everything was going fine, but now we got a major problem.” The detective told them as he looked back at everyone outside.

“What kind of problem?” Lance then asked, looking back at the detective as he sighed deeply. What he had to say next though caused everypony’s blood to freeze.

“Somepony at the gala tonight was murdered.”

As he walked away from the castle, the scene behind him slowly slipped into chaos as the stallion who was known as 47 slipped into a darkened alleyway. Removing any trace of the armor he had used in order to escape and properly disposing of it. Once it was done and he was far away from the castle itself, he tapped his right ear once with a hoof and then spoke up. “It’s done.”

“Well done, 47. The money has been wired into your account… We will be continuing to look into the Zero Zone with our client, but you have made this task much easier.” The mare on the other end of the line replied as she spoke up. “The more that we find out on the situation, the more we can prepare for the next step. In the meantime though, there’s another task you can take on that’s still within Equestria’s borders.”

The stallion stopped for a moment and took some time to process it while he gotten himself a train ticket and proceeded to leave out of Canterlot. But after a short amount of time, he then spoke up. “Do continue…”

At this stage now… the mare that was sitting behind him… kindly obliged his request and quietly gave him a manila folder with the label classified on the front of it. “Certainly… back in the day, there used to be a militant terrorist organization named Iron Hoof who were composed of mercenaries, arms dealers and many other known criminals. They used to be quiet and in the shadows, but quickly drew attention to themselves when they demanded a ransom and held a young girl hostage. Unfortunately, the mayor of Maretropolis never gave into those demands and they killed the poor filly on live television…”

“And what does this have to do with right now?” He questioned, going through the files and coming across a particular profile.

“Your target is a former high ranking members of Iron Hoof, which fell apart when their leader was captured and sentenced to die… Ironically, that case in court was the first case that Lauren Order had prosecuted in… and in turn, made herself recognized for putting the killer to justice.” The mare informed him before continuing. “And in turn, made her first enemies. The first target, a stallion named Morningstar, has been running one of the most vicious gangs in Manehattan and is planning on going after individuals who may have signs of special abilities or powers. The other target, is a mare named Silk Thread, a member of the Manehattan police department and also Morningstar’s mole into all police activity inside Manehattan and New Yoke as a whole.”

Processing this now, it was then that he remembered that this train was one that was heading straight towards Manehattan. The location where the targets were. But at the closest stop the train arrived at, all the mare did was take the manila folder, putting it in her purse and walking towards the door of the train before saying a final goodbye. “Good luck, 47.”

End Strike 51

Strike 52- The Underground

When Lightning Strikes- The Underground

Canterlot

Every one of the Power Ponies and M.I.S.T. who were in attendance that evening was caught off guard when Detective Whooves told them of what they had just uncovered. At first, it honestly seemed impossible to commit a crime… matter of fact murder somepony with how heavily guarded Canterlot Castle was this evening. Lance himself was trying to think of if there were any witnesses or someone they could question as to if they saw anything, but the Adept’s idea was shot down once the detective told them that they had already thought of that, but none of the guests tonight saw something… or somepony being suspicious.

“Figures… I wonder how the news are going to react that two super powered teams failed to stop or even catch an assassin…” Ash grumbled, blowing a lock of her mane away with a sigh.

“To be fair, nothing seemed out of the ordinary at all and the body was found after the Gala… So right now, we’re calling this as a police investigation,” Detective Whooves spoke up, cutting off Lance and Twilight before they could even speak. “And before you ask, only the police departments are going to be involved in this case. Unless there is any evidence or possibility of somepony with supernatural abilities being the one who murdered the victim this evening, we’ll take care of everything from here.

“Ugh, figures…” Ash grumbled, rolling her eyes. At that moment, Lance noticed Aya and Twilight Mist leaving the ballroom. Remembering something off the top of his head, he soon caught up with them and spoke up to get their attention.

“Hey Aya, Mist… Can I talk to you about something for a moment?” He asked them, “I mean, aside from what just happened.”

“Sure.” Aya replied, turning to Lance. “What’s the matter?”

“Well, there was something that we came across recently that might relate to something you guys are investigating back in Manehattan,” The Adept replied to them as he looked at both his Aunt and also the pony next to her. “Are you guys familiar with the missing pony cases going on in your neck of the woods?”

“New Yoke’s the most crime ridden city in Equestria just above Maretropolis… There are a lot, but I keep tabs on most.” Mist stated.

“Well, according to something we uncovered… there may be a connection to some of the missing pony cases and also the rumors of a hidden Sumeragi facility in some… stratacombs under Manehattan.” He explained, showing them the images and more information that they uncovered from the file that Teal had… acquired from Sombra most recently. “We don’t know much, but according to this, there's something here about the use of manipulating souls and necromancy… which from what I know is a very forbidden form of magic. I was wanting to look into it, but since I know that you guys are more familiar with the area then I am, I thought I would ask to see if you wanted to assist me with this.”

Aya seemed a bit shocked at that, but nodded. “Alright… But you’ll be under our supervision. Authorities there aren’t as… Friendly with outside heroes as Maretropolis. Since only more recently have they been getting the help they’ve needed.” She added.

“Thanks for the heads up. With Katy and Teal helping us with Comms, we shouldn’t have any trouble with-” However, before he could finish his sentence was when Mist soon interjected and cut him off.

“Who are Katy and Teal…?” Mist asked, raising her eyebrow.

“Katy’s a displaced and Teal’s her helper. I met them most recently and they have been wanting to help. She’s like Blue Beetle and Teal’s been helping us with advanced communications.” The Adept explained simply.

Mist stared at Lance for a moment, before nodding. “Alright, I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that. We’ll meet you at the M.I.S.T. base. There are some new faces around, too.”

“I was going to ask when you wanted me to come by, but given how this may seem rather urgent, we have no time to lose,” Lance told them as he looked back at them. “Gimme a bit of time to get changed out of these clothes and geared up. Once that’s out of the way, I’ll head directly to you guys.”

“Alright. Oh, and try to ignore Miles!” Aya added as she and Mist left. The Azure Striker was… unsure about how to comment on that statement, but just let it slip as he turned to go back to where Ash was waiting for him.

“What… Was that about?” Ash asked, tilting her head in confusion as her mentor walked back over to where she and the rest of the power ponies were.

“Well, I was asking if they could potentially help us with what we uncovered the other night and…” He said, before looking down for a moment and chuckling a small bit. “Well, let’s just say I’m going to need my work clothes.”

Shortly after going back to Power Pony HQ to change clothes and make sure he had everything he needed in advance, Lance soon arrived at the front of where M.I.S.T’s base was. And true to what Mist had informed him about earlier, there were definitely some new faces moments after he walked through the door. Some in which he was curious about… while others he was downright intimidated by. Which included the “Miles” person that Aya had mentioned previously as he went looking for Mist.

Mist was with two other ponies, one of which was a newer face. A stallion with a grey coat, white mane, and blue eyes. The other was a female griffon with a lighter grey coat and black feathers on her head and the end of her tail. She looked a bit thinner than ones he’d seen from time to time.

“Oh, hello Lance. The personnel here are mostly normal police officers who… Specialize with taking care of the weaker threats. They mostly handle the Mitochondria threat.” Mist stated. Though Lance was a little confused by what she meant my mostly normal and by weaker threats, he decided not to question it as Mist continued to speak. “This is Professor Bill Neigh and Giselle AKA Mattermane and Flash-hook.”

“Nice to meet both of you,” He addressed them kindly as they turned to face him.

“Oh! You must be Lance Walker, the ma’am’s nephew.” He spoke with a tint of british in his accent. “The pleasure is ours.”

Giselle stared at him for a moment. “S-sup…” She murmured in a shy manner. Almost reminding him of Fluttershy back in Maretropolis is it wasn’t for the faintest hint of german in her voice.

“Why thank you both… how are you this evening?” He asked both the stallion and the griffon casually. He knew that there was a mission to do, but it didn’t mean that he had to completely avoid any social interaction with them.

“We’re fine, but I’m afraid we have other matters to attend to. I wish we could stay, but there’s an incident over on the twenty sixth.” Neigh said. “We must speak afterwards though, I’d be happy to converse with any relative of the ma’am.” He said, before trotting off with a smile, Giselle following behind.

Mist stared at them momentarily. “He’s very upbeat, even when others are in danger… He was a teacher, but he was affected by the chemical that gave Ash her powers.” Mist remarked plainly. “Some of the ponies here have taken to calling them Inponies…”

Lance was honestly surprised from that. Something other than the Lifewave gave some individuals powers? That was new to him in many ways. Especially with how soon the events in Sun Fransokyo were.

“It’s an odd occurrence. Clearly you remember the Countess? Her powers were given by that chemical.” Mist added, clearing things up a bit as he looked back at her.

“I see what you mean… for me, the thing I found that was funny was the timing of all of this. Ash and Sparkler back in Maretropolis were helping me out because we have been finding several ponies becoming adepts after what happened in San Fransokyo.” He told her before looking back at Mist. “But let’s not get ourselves too distracted by that. You ready to go? Or is Aya coming to help us?”

“Aya’s already out. She’s waiting for us. You said tunnel, right? Where should Aya meet us?” She asked for clarification as Mist turned to face Lance.

“More like a possible underground facility,” A voice came from the Adept’s gauntlet as he looked at for a moment beforehand. “Oh, Hi! I’m Teal by the way. You must be Mist right?”

“Yes…” Mist stated. “I’ll repeat myself. Where should Aya meet us?”

“Well, according to what information we have, it’s possible that where we are going is underground since a scan of the building shows a facility underneath a warehouse that’s not on public records… Yet, given the fact that the corridors are tight and also the entrance to the place is well hidden, I’m going to need this… Aya to help with something else.” Teal said for a moment as she took a deep breath and spoke up. “Making our own entrance.”

“Care to be specific?” Lance asked.

“How much more specific can I get? With the steel warehouse that you two are heading to, it’s easy to punch a hole through it with the right explosives. If we have your aunt blow open a hole at a specific point in the warehouse, that could open up a tunnel that leads to the facility underground. Which will allow for both of you to drop in rather quickly.” She explained… even though that seemed like the most obvious way to draw attention to themselves.

“Alright, I’ll relay that to Aya and she’ll meet us there!” Mist announced. “Do you think the three of us can handle this?”

“I believe so…” Lance replied as he followed Mist. “Lead the way.” With that, the two of them left the compound in order to go meet up with Aya as they followed the navigational directions that Teal had provided for them. It took them a short while to make it since they were traveling by running from rooftop to rooftop, but eventually they were able to successfully make it over without drawing any possible attention to themselves.

Once they arrived, Lance saw something… Strange. Aya was waiting for them, but was wearing an odd looking suit. One that… he honestly never expected at all as the two of them made it over there and landed next to her. “Hey, we made it… Nice choice of clothes, Aya.”

“Elegance made it. She thought I needed a hero costume instead of casual wear.” Aya remarked in response to the Azure Striker’s compliment. The outfit himself reminded Lance of the original outfit that Lightning in Final Fantasy XIII would wear. Only difference being that Aya’s hair wasn’t dyed pink in order to play the part and she still had her firearms in place. He was tempted to make a silly joke based on it, but decided to restrain himself from doing so as he looked around the area. There was a strange smell to the area as he looked to see where exactly would the explosives that Aya was to place be found. That question was answered when he looked into the nearby hallway and found a few blocks of military grade C4 with a remote detonator attached to it stuck near the middle of the hallway on the floor and to the base of the wall nearby.

“So I guess we’re primed and ready?” He asked, looking back at Aya for a moment as she turned back around and walked over to where they were with the detonator for the charges in her hand.

“Pretty much. What are we looking for?” Aya asked.

“Possibly any ties that could be related to the missing people… but also be on the lookout for anything related to something called ‘Project: Nyx’. We don’t know what it is, but if it’s something Sumeragi was working on… it’s possibly something that isn’t good… Not to mention that if there is a link and if there are some people still alive, we’ll need to rescue them.” The Adept told them after processing it for a moment… before then thinking of something as he had his bracer out. “Teal, what do the city records say about this facility?”

“Well, according to these records, there hasn’t been any activity through the last few months, but it seems like this used to be some medical facility… something with giving patients Mare… i… juana… Did I say that right?” After hearing that, the Adept groaned a bit as he rolled his eyes. Now he knew why there was a strange smell in the air. It was because of the plants used to make the drug that was being distributed here.

It was also then that he realized something… something that they should take some precautions about before detonating the charges. “Yes you did… and it also tells me that we’re going to need to control the size of the explosion. Anything too big and those plants might catch fire and set off alarms… Got any idea’s Mist?”

“I could create a force field around the explosive.” Mist suggested, which… upon giving it some thought, seemed like the best way to approach the situation.

“That… actually might work. Go for it. Once the fields in place, Aya’s all clear to set it off.” The Azure Striker told them, hiding behind a corner and peaking out to see the explosion go off once Mist had established the force field.

And with that, the plan went off flawlessly. Lance watched the smoke and the flames from the fiery explosion be encased in the dome as if it were the crystal ball of a fortune teller. Keeping it under control as it died down shortly afterwards. “Nice job… I recommend having the smoke and everything set around the place and hop on down. Careful though, it’s one very long drop. Have Lance go first though.”

“May I ask why?” Lance then asked in response as he looked down at his bracer.

“You’ll see the reason why you drop down… Just trust me on this one.” That was a bit of an odd response from Teal as he looked back at both Aya and Mist before dropping down feet first, letting his Flashfield slow down his descent as he landed on the ground… and everything around him except for a series of lasers and a panel on the wall was glowing bright red. “Did you make it?”

“Yeah and I can’t see a damn thing down here… did they kill the power?” He asked, looking around as he then heard the next response from Teal.

“There hasn’t been power to this place in a while, but my readings indicate that those panels on the wall allow for you to interact with the lights in the corridors. Just zap it with your lightning and you should disarm the lasers… Though, bear in mind, it seems that these switches and lasers are color based. The color switch you shock disarms that particular color laser.” Teal told him in response as he did what she told him. “It’s clear right now… not picking up any motion readings other than some security bots.”

“Security bots? What kind of place has security robots?” Mist asked as Aya pulled out what looked like binoculars and peeked through it. After a second, she gave them to Mist.

“I only have two guesses… either they don’t want anyone getting in… or don’t want what may be in here getting out.” The Adept thought as he switched the bolt clip in his pistol to the Orochi Bolt, only noticing the binoculars that she was holding afterwards as he then asked both Aya and Mist a question. “What are the binoculars for though?”

“Heat vision.” Aya said simply.

“Hunh… Are you picking up anything?” He then asked her, carefully holding onto his weapon just in case something came too close to them.

“Nope… Nothing… I’m a bit worried.” Aya stated. That was definitely concerning. Either there was no one inside, the enemy was trying to suppress the heat… or they were dead. The last one he honestly did not want to think about as the three of them began to proceed forward. Mist being right next to him as Aya covered him from behind. Watching the floor for any other laser barricades that they might come across.

They soon found one… but it was with a blue light. Not a red one. “The switch for that is up ahead… but it’s guarded. Take out the machines that are there and hit the switch to go deeper into the facility.” Lance nodded on that, noticing the robots that she was talking about as the adept dashed closer. Firing one shot from his weapon had a small drone pop from his weapon, releasing seven different tags in a 180 degree angle as he used his septima to put them out of commission before hitting the switch. Turning the surrounding lights blue instead of red.

“Alright. Laser hatch should be clear. Let’s move down.” The Adept spoke up as he made his way back over to where his aunt was along with Mist. However… as they slowly descended deeper into the blackened abyss, that was when they began to see some of the damage that was present.

“What the… hell?” The Adept asked as he could only see a small extend of the dimly lit hallway that was torn to shreds. “What exactly could cause something like this?”

“Whatever they were working on… And I have a feeling I’m out of my depth.” Aya noted, pulling out her gun. Lance could see Sumeragi’s emblem on one of the nearby walls… and what looked like a series of small drones that were floating around the room. An idea came into his head, pointing his gun at one of them and firing a shot at the tiny robot to tag it.

“Lance… What was that?” She asked, raising an eyebrow. He held up a finger for a moment, asking for her to wait a second before sending a bit of his electricity to the drone. When the lightning reached it, the robot emitted a high powered flashlight around the area as it illuminated the area for a small bit… and revealing some of the bodies that were on the floor as the Adept looked back at his companions.

“I figured that the drones in the area were there for more than just floating around… however, I did not expect for them to do that…” He said, looking back at his comrades and seeing the sight of the poor pony’s dead body laying on the ground. “Whatever did this… must be extremely dangerous if it left behind a body count.”

“We should head on and take care of the threat as fast as possible.” Aya stated, rage clear on her face.

“The type of drone Lance just tagged should temporarily light the path ahead while you’re searching for the next panel at the end of the hallway.” Teal advised them as Lance saw what she was talking about. However, it was also when he noticed that there was a rather… lack of security in this particular section. Something that Lance was concerned about as they made their way closer to the panel that was farther down. Upon finding it, he tagged the panel… but did not shock it just yet as he turned to Mist and Aya.

“Guys… watch my back… I have a bad feeling that once we turn the lights on, something will be stirred awake and come after us.” He said to them.

“Quit your yapping, we’re already on it, right Aya…?” Mist said, only for no response. “A-aya...?”

“Boo!” Aya shouted, causing Mist to scream in such a high pitched manner that it echoed. Which also caused Lance to zap the panel due to her startling him too… But as the lights came on, it was followed by the sound of a growling noise that caught their attention rather quickly. But what it was coming from was another story.

It was the bodies that they had just passed… but they were on all fours, had no color in their eyes and were looking downright predatory. They… were undead. And coming straight at them. “You have got to be kidding me…” The Adept said, opening fire and tagging the first one that came at them and shocking it in midair as it lunged towards Mist. Turning to ash upon it’s death as it let out an agonizing screech. “Just when I thought Mitochondria gave me the creeps… This though… seems completely different.”

“Honestly the Mitochondria have these things beat in the creep factor…” Aya stated coldly. “You only saw the lesser ones…”

“Whatever the case, let's watch our backs in case more of… whatever those things are, show up.” Lance advised them, readying his weapon as he looked around for a moment. “I think there was a blue laser gate back on the opposite side of where we came in at. With the field down, it should be dismissed.”

“Lance is right on that. Though, be careful. Whatever you just encountered, I wasn’t able to pick up on my motion tracker. So keep your eyes open.” They heard Teal advise them as they kept moving. Which surprised him because even though Teal was not able to pick up any motion of the zombies that just attacked them, she was able to detect the security forces earlier. Eventually, the three of them made it back over without any major difficulties as they approached what was once a gate blocking the path forward and was now leading them into another room. Yet, it was in getting to the other room that they also heard the sound of a siren above their heads… and a few mechanical constructs that were armed with chainsaws now emerged from the floor and were marching towards them.

They quickly worked to dispatch the bots and disable the alarm above them as they made their way towards an elevator door. Which… mostly looked functional as Mist pushed the down arrow and the doors shortly opened a few seconds later. “The lights are out, but the elevator is still working? How does that make any sense?” Lance thought to himself as they descended down and the doors were open upon reaching the bottom floor. Met with even more pitch black and a blue laser gate to the left as they walked in.

Shortly after they left the elevator, Teal patched back into their comm unit and then spoke up once again. “The panel for that should be farther down… activate it and come back for what’s behind that gate over there.”

“Uh… is there anything behind that gate over there?” Lance then questioned, hearing a short sigh from Teal in response. “What? It was just a question.”

“Yes, but behind that gate is some supply canisters. And it might be possible that they contain some things that Aya and Mist might find helpful. Like ammunition, rations, something to restore magic… Whether or not you decide to do that is all up to you.” She told him as the Adept looked to his two comrades.

“I’m full.” Aya stated.

“Combat ready.” Mist added with a determined glare. Lance chuckled a bit as he got back on the comline while they proceeded forward.

“Teal, we’re already good to go. I think we’ll pass.” The Adept spoke, which lead to them moving forward and proceeding to find the panel farther down into the facility. At one point though, Lance had to place his arm out in front of Mist and prevent her from taking a step forward. Which, not only caught her by surprise, but also confused her.

“What was that for?” Mist asked, staring at Lance with a sceptical stare. The Adept himself looked back at her for a moment before sending a spark of electricity to another wandering flashlight drone in the area directly above them. The light illuminating that there wasn’t any kind of floor in front of them… and if Mist had taken one more step… she would’ve fallen into a pit of spikes.

“I saw a faint glimmer of something sharp ahead… and from the looks of it, the damage to the facility has caused several pits like these to come out of the floors-.” Just as he finished that was when the drone he just zapped earlier flew into another set of spikes farther down that was from the ceiling. “... And also form above our heads… great…”

“Well... Not it!” Aya called out.

“Not it!” Mist added.

“Seriously?” The Adept deadpanned, only to backtrack a bit and get himself a bit of distance before he began to ran forward. “Well, sometimes the only way out… is through!” Just as he jumped, he air dashed across the chasm without any problems while also finding a sturdy flat wooden board nearby as he laid it over the gap so Aya and Mist could cross.

It was also then that Teal had something to ask. “Hang on… If Mist is a unicorn, why can’t she just teleport across the gap rather than have to wait for Lance to form a bridge to cross?” That was… actually something that had dawned on the Azure Striker after the fact as he looked towards the Unicorn and waited for her response.

“I… Never used that spell. I never found a use for it since we always had Surprise around or one of the other thirty teleporters.”

That… caught Lance by surprise. From what he had known about Mist, he thought that she would be able to teleport with ease just like Masked Matterhorn would. Yet, given this newfound statement, it turned out that was not quite the case. Then again, he was not sure what kind of missions that Mist would go on without Surprise either since he didn’t want to be nosy. “Well, given the fact that there is likely to be more of those and less wooden boards to use for walkways, maybe you can use it so you and Aya can cross these gaps safer… of course, I’m just a mechanical beetle and don’t have a clue on how magic works, so I’ll let you decide on the matter.”

“I can make a ramp and then hover over the spikes once you two are across.” Mist said, channeling magic through her horn as a bridge made of light appeared over the spikes. It was small and there were parts that weren’t entirely stable looking, but they were few and small. “I’m a destruction magic user. In my training I wasn’t a support mage, and I never needed magic other than the basic, average, advanced and master battle spells with necessity spells like levitation and one practical spell which allows me to make a computer in my mind.” Mist explained.

“Well, that’s… Damn, I have to admit. Even though I don’t use magic, that sounds pretty cool,” Lance complimented her as Aya used the light bridge to cross one of the gaps ahead as they proceeded. “So is magic based on the type of mage or how it’s used?”

“Would you… Care to explain what that means?” Mist asked.

“Well, based on what you’re saying about not being a support mage, I would think that there are other classes of it. Like different types…” He asked, before using his Flashfield for an example. “For example, when it comes to Septima’s, mines mostly defensive since the Flashfield I have around me is used to protect me. While, something like the Sumeragi goon we ran into named Merak has a utility based septima that can create wormholes from the fabric of space.”

“It depends on what spells you’re able to main. Imagine a tree, and there are different types of branches.” Mist began to explain to him while the three of them continued to go through the darkened hallway and search for the switch they were looking for. “To exercise one type of spells, casual, alteration, destruction, defence, support, and miscellaneous. Though there are some trees that grow branches faster and stronger than the rest in all fields, like Twilight Sparkle and Starswirl, though usually they only happen once in a generation… Most Unicorns stick with casual, or the occasional mage that comes along with a prefered magic like support, which study that for most of their lives.”

“Hunh… That’s rather interesting… and different from Adepts…” Lance told them as they approached one part of the hall with the switch they were looking for. “For Adepts, whey they find out about their powers, they sometimes don’t get a say in what kind of powers they get. But with practice, they can find ways to work around it. Like even though my powers are defensive…” To show an example, he turned on the next switch for the emergency power and when the zombies that were awoken soon after lauched towards the Adept, Lance executed his Luxcaliber skill and had a huge claymore of lightning tear through them rather quickly. “They can also be used offensively…”

“Mostly Unicorns don’t really care about offence in this time period other than a few vigilantes, government agents, and the military. Other magics are rarely ever used besides studies and experiments. Making new spells, etcetera.” She told him as they now were able to move forward since they now had light to see and did not need to rely to shocking anymore bots in the area.

“That’s intriguing… How about we pick up on this conversation at M.I.S.T. base after we finish the mission? Rather not get distracted and have one of those leapers ambush me while my back is turned.” The Adept suggested to the Unicorn as he looked back at her and noticed something in the distance that surprised him. It was a floating platform that was hovering over another bed of spikes.

“Right- oh come on! Is this a platformer or something!?” Mist growled. Aya sighed, already tired.

“Analyzing…… Based on structural integrity and appearance, it seems to be that way. It can only move one direction though and it seems to operate based on electrical currents.” Teal then spoke up. “In addition to that, there’s a secret shaft that can be used by Mist and Aya to cut the travel time down. Of course, Lance himself will have to figure out his own… approach.”

“Which means I’ll be going the long way around… That sounds about right…” He said, before looking over to where they were as Aya busted open the vent entrance. “Why can't I use the shaft though?”

“Now where would the fun be in that… Also, the air shaft has electromagnetic sensors that if you go through it, it can disrupt my communications with you guys. I get major interference when I come to anything with a source of magnetic energy.” Teal informed them as he looked back over to where Aya and Mist were upon hearing that small detail.

“What?” Aya asked.

“She’s saying that if I go down the tunnel the same ways you guys do, it’ll disrupt communications,” He clarified for her. “Meaning that I’ll have to take the long way around so she can still help us the farther in we go.”

“We’re not splitting up if that’s what you’re getting at.” Aya said, narrowing her eyes at her nephew.

“Well, if you’re gonna do that, then I’ll just disconnect for the moment and come back once you're out on the other side… or done with the mission, whichever you prefer.” Teal replied, cutting the comline as Lance looked back at Aya and Mist. He let both of them drop in through the vent first before coming down afterwards, using his flashfield to slow his descent as he soon landed on the other side of the vent. Noticing three switches now that were colored red, blue and green, he tagged all three of them and shocked them as now the whole place was lit up completely.

“Let there be light…” He said to himself with a chuckle… before they all heard something… or someone speak.

“W-who turned the lights on?” They heard a weak voice speak farther down the hall. “I-is somebody there?!” Whatever it was sounded rather scared and terrified, but it also came not that far down the hall as both the Adept and the Unicorn looked in the direction where it came from… before noticing Aya in a frozen trance like state.

“Aya? Are you okay?” Lance looked to her, even waving a hand around her eye level to see if that would have her snap out of her trance, but with no such luck.

“Maybe we should help the damsel?” Mist suggested.

“You got any ideas? Aya looks like she just saw a ghost.” Lance pointed out, before thinking of something.

“You know… I’ll stay here for a bit, you go make sure the owner of that voice is safe.” Mist grumbled. Ironically, that’s what he was thinking… But he wasn’t quite so sure if Mist was entirely up for staying behind. So, the Adept turned around and proceeded down the hall… looking to find a young white haired girl that was almost trembling in fear. Even backing away from him when he first came into the room.

“W-who are y-you… are you with t-them?” She asked, which, upon response, was not like what he had expected. He honestly thought that he would find some kind of filly or lost child, but this wasn’t what he expected.

Getting in character though, he then introduced himself to try and calm the mare. “Easy there… My name is Gunvolt. My companions and I are here to help.” Lance told her, using his hero identity to introduce himself. Yet, he still needed to figure out what the hell exactly happened to her. “Are you okay? What’s your name?”

“T-those people… that called themselves S-sumeragi kidnapped me… but w-when I woke up, I was all alone… What did I deserve to be taken like this? I-i didn’t do anything to t-them!” The girl cried, making Lance feel sorry for her as he turned to see if Mist and Aya caught up with him. He was also curious as to why she was all alone… but more importantly, he wanted to find a way for her to get out of this place without being harmed.

“For now, let’s just get you someplace safe.” He suggested. But unexpectedly… the girl replied afterwards.

“T-there’s a path up ahead that c-can lead straight to the surface… But I-i can’t get past the barrier blocking the path forward…” She said in a low and upset pitch while the Adept looked ahead to see what she was talking about.

“Alright… We’ll get the path cleared up, just give me a moment,” He assured the young mare as he walked over to where Mist and Aya were at before speaking to the Unicorn. “Is Aya going to be okay? I just got done talking with who was the owner of the voice.”

“I’m… Fine! It was nothing!” Aya responded in a hasty manner. Though, to Lance, it didn’t seem like it was nothing as he sighed for a moment and looked back at Mist and Aya.

“There’s somepony here that was taken by Sumeragi and says that she knows a way out. She’s rather timid like Posey and Fluttershy, but she told me that there’s a path that leads to the surface once we clear the blockage ahead.” The Adept informed the both of them so they could be brought up to speed on the current situation.

“Posey isn’t that shy… She just has a stutter…” Mist rolled her eyes as she floated over to his side. Aya sighed, ignoring Mist.

“The point being that if we can clear the obstacles ahead, we may be closer to finding the heart of the facility and the way out of here,” He spoke just as he returned to where the young girl was standing.

“Then let’s not waste time and get a move on.” Aya remarked, priming her Glock. Upon joining up, both Lance and Mist were able to combine their abilities to clear the path forward as they moved further in. However, it was when they did move further in… and they got to a certain room in the facility that the anxiety of the girl was growing even more unstable.

“W-what is this place?” She said to herself, trembling a bit as they ventured farther in. However, it was when they reached a particular room… one that resembled a testing facility… that mood suddenly changed… and was going through a psychotic breakdown. “Ah… Ah! M-my head… my head hurts!!”

“Are you alri-?” Before Lance was able to finish his sentence, the girl bolted off into another wide open area, screaming in pain. “Hey, wait!!”

“What in Equestria’s wrong with her?” Mist asked. Lance wasn’t sure, but what he did know was that they needed to help her however they could. As all three of them approached where she had ran off too though, they saw that the mare was not shaking as much… but they were not prepared for what happened next.

“I…… r-remember now… I… We…” Before the Adept or any of his companions could say anything, they watched as a purple glow formed from her hand materialized into something that Lance was far too familiar with.

A glaive. “Oh sh*t… This is bad.” Just as he said that, the girl was consumed by a dark purple and black energy as it swirled all around her. Transforming the mare’s appearance… and causing this single mare… to split into two.

“So she’s an Adept. Should’ve guessed.” Mist stated, glaring. “Sumeragi, right?”

“Yeah… and real bad news…” Lance spoke, now seeing the two ponies in front of them. The first one was shaking a little… while the other one was standing firmly on her hooves.

“Phew… I’m finally out of there.” the second person spoke, sounding more serious than the first… and even going as far as to glare at the first one and hit her over the head. “Hey dummy, how could you go and lose your memory like that? You worthless vessel…”

“I-i’m so sorry…” The first one whimpered in a scared tone, sounding rather terrified of the second. The second one meanwhile now glared towards Mist as she had a devilish grin on her face.

“And to answer your question, little one, you’re correct. I… no, we are Elise…” The second one spoke.

“So wait… you were an experiment to Sumeragi?” Aya asked, confused. “Yet you… Work for them… And I thought Miles was backwards.”

“Well, you see… the plan was for me to take place of this useless girl… wanting to replace her submissiveness with a more… aggressive persona.” She smirked, causing the first one to start apologizing again as Lance then asked a question now.

“What happened though? Where are the personnel?”

“Oh? Didn’t you see them on the way down?” She asked… only for the next detail to shock all three of them. “You know, the living corpses?”

Or at least, she thought all three would be shocked. Only Lance was. “Honestly, what a dumb question, Lance. Undead are my specialty, and you’re a sloppy necromancer.”

“Yet, these are corpses that have been risen with no magic required whatsoever… Unlike one such as yourself, little wretch,” The second Elise growled. “I know you are undead… and I know something else too.”

“Oh…? You know nothing, you psychotic little brat.” Twilight’s eyes turned red as an unstable grin formed on her face.

“I know that you lost someone dearly… I can tell because of the act you put up…” She smirked. “Our power can reverse the touch of death… and it was something that Sumeragi was rather eager to get their hands on… So that’s why we ‘gave’ it to them… fulfilled their purpose.”

“You mean massacred them…” Lance growled, gritting his teeth before the first Elise jumped onto a pole behind Aya… and had a series of Kunai’s form in her hands.

“Call it what you like… but do know this…” The Second Elise threatened, getting on the pole behind her. “Once we kill all three of you, we will have you be discarded like the rest… but boy… Oh, we are going to turn you into our new plaything.”

“And the creepiness just went from zero to a hundred in less than ten seconds…” Lance sighed, priming his weapon.

“Eh, I’d say a cannibalistic pedophile would be creepier.” Aya added, lighting her hand with a red-ish glow with a thought, surprising Lance.

“After we eat the other two.” Elise then laughed as she readied her kunai to throw at them.

“You were saying, Aya?” Lance asked in response to that additional comment their opponent made.

“Still, not pedo creepy yet.” Aya added. “Well, at least I can test out my plasma.” That just had Lance raise an eyebrow in confusion as he looked back at her. Wondering what exactly was she talking about. Aya sighed, “I’ve learned a few tricks.” She then emphasized this by sending a plasma bolt into the second girl, forcing her off of the pole due to the force.

Shortly before the girl used one of the part of her hair, that served as a whip, to pull herself back up.

“You’re outclassed. Surrender now, and you’ll live.” Mist threatened, glaring at the second.

“Talk is cheap,” The second Elise said as they threw a series of kunai’s at the three of them. Though, even though they dodged the projectiles, once they touched the ground, the knives soon turned into snakes that went immediately after them.

Mist vaporized half in a second, and Aya took out the rest with an odd weapon that looked like Kaoru’s Kagune, but it was in Aya’s hand and took the form of a red spike. She used it to stab through the snakes heads in the blink of an eye. Afterwards, Aya used her pistol to shoot the first Elise through her chest as she looked for cover.

Yet… despite her thinking that one of them was done for… she was about to find out that taking them down was not like what she expected. “Resurrection!!” Shortly after the second Elise called out the name, the first one was soon back up. Alive and breathing as they were still attacking them. The two of them noticed that Aya’s spike shaped weapon was beginning to be a problem… and had a plan to try and take it out of the picture.

“Gorgon’s Gaze!!” Lance himself had a bad feeling about this and as soon as he realized what they were doing, tackled Aya out of their line of sight. However, since the hand that held held red spike was caught in the gaze, it slowly began to turn to stone… while leaving the rest of the woman rather pissed off.

Mist shot a shadowy energy spike from her horn, which impaled the second Elise in her chest, but refused to vanish.

Meanwhile, Aya grounded. “What… Was that for…?”

“I was trying to help you… Look at your hand,” Lance told her, trying to help his aunt however he could. “She tried to go all out Medusa on you and if you looked directly at her, you’d be nothing but a stone statue.”

“You might want to help Mist, sweetpea.” Aya said kindly. Which… in Lance’s mind, was rather off. He did not remember her aunt trying to use motherly nicknames like that. However, it was something for him to worry about later as he turned to Mist and hurried over, just like what Aya told him as he tried to help formulate some kind of plan for getting out of this mess right now. Because right now, even with anything that Mist tried, their opponent was shaking off some of her spells like it was dandruff due to them reviving each other.

“Damn it! Hold still!” Mist shouted.

“Mist, hold on a second!” Lance told her, dodging a few kunai and using his flashfield to protect himself from the snakes that followed. “Going in like that isn’t going to help! I’m coming up with a pla-.”

However, it was just as he was going to tell Mist what they were going to do was when one of Elise’s knives struck him in the leg. Causing him to drop to the floor in pain as Elise proceeded to throw two more kunai to pin down his hands as he screamed in pain. “You’re staying right where you are, Azure Striker.”

Then, in a moment, Aya hand was now back to normal as she pointed her glock to the first Elise, and her AK-47 towards the second. “You hurt my nephew, see how I like that!” And in one moment, shot both of their heads to pieces… causing the rest of the bodies to reform into the black glaive that the little girl was originally holding before it whisked away in a flash.

Yet, for the Adept, he was still extremely weak… “H-help… g-guys…” Mist was at his side a second later, a vial of brown liquid inside.

“Here, this helps with recovering from… Things. Posey never said what, only that it heals you.” Mist said to him.

However, the Adept weakly shook his head as he looked back at him. “T-take out… k-knives. B-blocking… Septima… T-they’re nullifying m-my powers.”

With that, Mist used telekinesis to pull the blades in his hands and right leg out and shoved the liquid in his face. He gasped for a moment, coughing a bit before finally regaining some strength to actually move. Nothing major, but a few motions. “T-thanks… I would’ve been a g-goner if you didn’t help me, Mist…… Looks like I owe you one.”

Meanwhile, Aya looked at her hands as she trembled. “D-did I just… Kill someone…?”

The only response she got was when Lance was able to get up on his legs and shook his head. “No… an adept with a glaive only dies if the glaive is shattered into pieces… Sumeragi must’ve put some sort of emergency r-recall function into their glaives for the wielder to retreat after suffering a certain amount of damage… It’s happened with two other Adepts we’ve encountered. One that Twilight and I fought, the other with Copen and Zapp.”

“But I still tried to without… Hesitating…” Aya said, falling to her knees, an empty look in her eyes. Lance thought it would be best for him to help out his aunt in the present moment. Tried to comfort her.

“You saved me though… both of you did… and I am really grateful for that,” He told her, pulling her in for a hug. “If it weren’t for you and Mist, who knows what would’ve happened to me…”

“I think I see a Sumeragi computer that’s intact… You two stay here.” Mist said, before booking it. Leaving the Adept and his aunt alone as he tried to comfort her.

“I’m… Like her…” Aya said, barely above a whisper.

“Like who?” He asked her, wondering what she was talking about in order to understand what his aunt was saying.

Aya stared at the ground blankly, “My… Torry… Maya… There’s no difference between us. We’re the same.”

“No… Don’t say that…” Lance told her, placing his hands on Aya’s shoulders. “Aya… No… Silvia, I don’t know who this person is, but you aren’t like them… You and still the Aunt Silvia that I remember that would do anything to protect her family, including me. So don’t put yourself down… people look up to you Aunt Silvia… I look up to you… But we all make mistakes sometimes… that’s just what makes us human…” Aya looked like she was about to say something else, but was cut off by Mist.

“Holy mother of Celestia! What in Tartarus were they thinking!?” That had red flags go off in both of their heads as Lance and Aya both turned to Mist upon hearing her say that. Her tone and reaction was anything but good, so this wasn’t to be taken lightly.

“Mist, what’s going on? Did you find something?” The Adept asked as he helped Aya get up on her feet before both of them went over to where the Unicorn was and what she had uncovered from the computer she was investigating.

“They… made their own Adept.” Mist said shakily. “They made a human body with Adept abilities… Oh Celestia, what were they thinking!? A synthetic Adept… And it’s in this facility.” Hearing that immediately had Lance’s concerns burst through the roof as he looked at the information on screen. It was true… Sumeragi had made their own synthetic adept. But what the original purpose for it was beyond them.

“Do they have any data logs in here as to why it was created? There’s gotta be some form of records here.” Lance asked Mist as they looked back at the monitor.

“It seems they wanted to make a mindless Adept that was easily clonable. They must’ve wanted to make an army powerful enough to do whatever they wanted.” Mist stated, staring at the screen and processing everything on there. “Looks like the project was almost complete, but they wanted to prevent anyone here from using it for themselves… They were about to begin mass producing them in a few days from now.” It was then that the Adept noticed something on screen above the reports that Mist was reading as he pointed at it.

“Hey, what’s that up there? Is it… some kind of video file?” He asked, catching Mist’s attention as Aya was catching up with them.

Mist clicked on it, and a black tab with a purple line appeared. When there was sound, the line moved, indicating that there was noise in the recording. It was an Audio file… but what it was about was something that was unknown to the three of them as the recording began to play.

“Okay… This is Doctor Bright Mind… and today is day ten of our work on Project Nyx… today, we found an adept with a powerful gift that would be most beneficial to the project. For you see, in order for the Project to be fully successful, it needs to become a living being… it needs a soul to give Nyx life. The Adept that we brought in, a little girl named Elise, has an incredible gift. Her septima is called ‘Rebirth’ and with it, we can bring Nyx to life. Our only issue at the moment is that the girl is too weak and submissive at this moment. We would need for her to have a stronger will and personality for the project to be a success and for us to please Master Nova… Elise is currently undergoing implant surgery so we can put in a stronger personality and toss out the old-” At that point in the recording, there was the shattering of glass and alarms going off as they heard the sound of thrashing and ponies screaming before the doctor was stuttering. “E-elise? W-what are you doing here-?”

“Oh doctor… I just decided to visit and show you how grateful I REALLY AM!!!” The recording ended with the sound of maniacal laughing from Elise and the screams of agony from the doctor as it sounded like he was torn apart to pieces. Sending a cold chill down their spines as Lance was at a loss for words.

“My god…… That’s just brutal.” Lance cursed under his breath, still processing what he just heard as the line was no longer moving.

“Let’s just clean this place up and gather every bit of evidence. Lance, what were you looking for?” Aya asked. Only to see him stuck in thought before bringing the comline back open.

“Hey Teal… Can you patch in Aurora to us? I think we found something that she needs to see.” He told her, which in return caused his device to sync up after a few seconds as he heard a new voice from the other end of the line. This time, it wasn’t Teal though.

“Yeah?” Aurora questioned. She sounded bored.

“I think we found something that might catch your attention…” Lance told her in response. “Remember that lead in Manehattan we were told the other night? Well, I’m here with Mist and Aya and just found out what it is.”

“Oh? What did you find?”

“Sumeragi was trying to make their own synthetic adept, which they called Project Nyx,” Lance began to explain as he took in a deep breath and tried to give her the short version of what would’ve been a very long explanation. “They had an underground base in here that was ravaged, but from what we found, they were almost complete with the project… but the body was missing one important thing.”

Aurora stayed quiet, though Lance could tell she was too invested in what he was saying to speak. So… he finished his explanation with one last important piece. “It’s missing a soul… They were trying to get an adept that could revive the dead under control in order to give their little project life, but the whole thing backfired… Do you think it’s possible that-”

“YES!!!” Aurora cried out in joy so loud that her voice was echoing around the entire facility.

“Alright…” He spoke, before turning to Mist and asking her a question now. “Mist, where is the project at now? Like it’s location here?”

“I’ll get it,” Mist said. “Then I’ll send it to your HQ once I’ve run some diagnostics. Okay?”

“I’m okay with it, but you’ll have to ask Aurora about it too.” He smiled.

“Lance, she’s not going to be thinking straight.” Mist said with a chuckle. “I know what you’re thinking. And until I know that the body won’t affect her soul, I’ll keep it safe.” He sighed for a little bit, but then thought of something.

“Why can’t you just do the diagnostic at HQ? I mean, we have the equipment for you to use back there and it’s better to do it there than in an abandoned facility like here.” He pointed out to her.

Mist glared at him. “You know, I’ll pretend you didn’t say that. The tech at our HQ is better, and closer. Imagine if you went back in time and wanted to do a diagnostic on a fingerprint with the first computer ever made...”

“I know, but I was thinking that maybe the diagnostic is something both you and Aurora could do together… Besides, if you do it by yourself, she might think you're sabotaging it.” The Adept suggested. “How about I bring Aurora to your HQ and let you two give it a diagnosis while I take Aya out for lunch or something? My treat.”

“By Celestia! Just let me do my thing without you breathing down my bucking back!” Mist seethed, massaging her temples with her magic. “It’ll only take a day… I don’t need some filly in my way.” Lance sighed, nodding his head and looking back at her.

“Sorry, I was just trying to look out for Aurora… She’s… really important to me like how everyone is on my team, but it feels like how I’m her adoptive father since she originally saw me as Stopwatch back in the day… I was just trying to look out for her and got all caught up in it.” He spoke apologetically before looking around. “But we can’t do anything until we find it first.”

“I’ll do it, the file has all the information I need to locate it.” Mist said, grumbling to herself. “You and Aya go have your lunch. I’ll be fine… I can call Surprise.” With that, both Adept and Human found their way out of the facility and back topside as they went back into Manehattan. They had been down there for a relatively long time to the point that it was almost noon and now, both of them were getting hungry.

“So where would you like to go eat, Aunt Silvia?” He asked her while both of them were walking down the street. Lance himself was wearing something far more casual this time (Long green jacket, jeans and a white t-shirt underneath) as he looked back at Aya walking next to him.

She was wearing casual clothes as well which made her look… Oddly different and almost normal(brown sweater/jacket, white undershirt, faded blue jeans and sneakers). Well, not too different from how he remembered her before displacement, but something of that degree.

“Um… I don’t know, I usually just eat leftovers that I can eat, or whatever Posey cooks for the group… That I can eat without vomiting. Hay isn’t easily digestible, am I right?” Lance chuckled at that, noticing a flyer for something on a nearby wall as he took a chance to look at it.

“Hey, there’s something here called ‘restaurant row’... says it’s got numerous different choices for food. Why don’t we go have a look and you can choose where you would like to eat?” He suggested, handing the flyer to her after taking it off the wall.

“Alright, looks like a unique place. I’m in.” Aya said with a smile. “Does it have an address?”

“Well… from the looks of it…” he said, before lifting his head up and noticing something. “Oh wow… it’s right across the street… I feel stupid for not noticing that earlier.”

“... I feel even more stupid.” Aya said in a dry tone, though she didn’t lose her smile. “Well what are we waiting for?”

“Lead the way.”

After a while though, Aya had made her decision… and it was one that Lance in particular was honestly surprised about. “So, what exactly made you want to give curry a try?”

“I don’t remember what it tastes like. Memory loss and all that.” Aya said, shrugging. The Adept chuckled as both of them sat down at one of the tables inside the restaurant and began to look through the menu’s that were at the table.

Soon, a waitress trotted over, smiling happily. “Hello, my name is Sugary Cupcake and I’ll be serving you this afternoon.” She had a dark pink coat with green eyes, wearing a waitress outfit and a snow hat that covered her mane, and to Lance and Aya’s surprise, visible scars over her face and one massive one on her forehead, but he decided to not question it as the mare continued to speak. “What drinks would you like to-to-to… Oh my gosh, you’re Gunvolt!”

Aya gave Lance a cheeky grin, all the while the Adept was rather surprised that somepony recognized him.

Within moments though, the mare calmed down. “S-sorry, I’m a fan of heroes… A-anyways, what would you like for a drink?” The Earth Pony asked, pulling out a piece of paper.

“Just some water would be fine, please.” Lance asked calmly.

“Alright.” Cupcake replied, turning around on her hooves, before trotting to the kitchen.

“She seems sweet… Oh my god, did I just say that…?” Aya cringed.

“Heh… Never thought you would say something like that…” Lance chuckled as he continued to look at the menu a few minutes later. Considering what options he would want to have, not even noticing the waitress from a few moments ago arrive at the table until she was close by.

“Alright, here are your waters. You two ready to order?” Cupcake asked.

“Yeah, I’ll take a… Paneer Masala.” Aya stated. Lance looked down at his and then showed the menu to the waitress.

“I’ll like your Curry and White Rice please.” He then told the Waitress. “And I think that’ll be all for now.”

“Alright, I’ll go get your order ready.” Cupcake said, skipping off. Lance heard Cupcake when she was near the kitchen, shouting to the cooks. “The heroes want a Paneer Masala and another Curry with White Rice!”

Lance smiled before returning his attention to Aya. “She seems rather nice.”

“I already said she seems sweet.” Aya replied, a goofy smile donning on her face. The Adept chuckled at that as he took a drink of water for a moment before looking back at her.

Meanwhile, Cupcake was talking to the chief. “Can you believe that two heroes are eating at our establishment!? I mean, this is insane! Saffron, this is the ultimate advertisement grab! ‘Eat at the Tasty Treat -Azure Striker’! Think of the possibilities, Saffron.”

“I know, Sugary…” The pony she was talking to named Saffron replied back. “I just…… I’ve had a lot of things going through my head recently and life’s been rather… difficult as of late. Heck, I’ve been doing everything I can just to get by and help keep the restaurant going… Not to mention I’m worried for my father…”

“All I’m saying is that getting this place busier means more money, which means you can hire new staff, which ends with more time for you and help for your dad.”

“I get that… it’s just that… there have been other things besides my father that have had me well… distracted. Not to mention my father’s next medical appointment is coming up soon and I’m hoping that nothing bad comes up.” She told her back. Cupcake slung her foreleg around Saffron’s neck.

“Look, just let loose and go with the flow. My mamma always told me that things happen, and worrying about them only made things worse. Like… If things are going to happen one way or another, they happen.” Cupcake said with a laxed voice.

“Yeah… I guess you're right… I just don’t want anything bad to happen to this place…… Uh… Cupcake… are you paying more attention to me or the food you’re trying to cook?”

“You’re the chief, sweetheart.” Cupcake snarled, letting go of Saffron. “I have a bathroom to clean…” Cupcake said, trotting off. Saffron did so, making sure that the meals for the two were properly cooked fully and placing them on plates as she used her magic to set both dishes on a tray. Preparing them to be served as she went out the door of the kitchen to the table where the guests were sitting as she brought them their meals.

“One Paleer Masala for you, miss… and one Curry and Rice for you too.” Saffron replied. “Enjoy your meal. Sugary will be back in a moment.”

“Thank you.” Aya said, looking at her food.

“Thank you very much.” Lance also commented in response before the two of them began to eat. Since Cupcake said that she had a bathroom to clean… and there were no other customers here at the moment, Saffron thought she would check on Cupcake and see if she could offer a hoof and help her.

After a while, Cupcake and Saffron came out of the bathroom just as Aya and Lance were finishing their meal. Cupcake was just about to ask if they wanted anything else to eat anything else, but it was them where a very scruffy unicorn stallion burst through the door to the establishment, pointing a pistol at Cupcake. “Nopony move!”

“Bucking hippies…” Cupcake groaned.

“You talk like that to me again and I’m putting one in your skull, Pinky,” The stallion snapped, before noticing Saffron walk out and growling at her. “Hey! I told you not to move-”

It was in an instant that the unicorn’s brain clicked… and she was forced to reveal her secret. Everypony in the room could notice several different images that resembled animals form around Saffron, before one of them was next to her. That animal being a cheetah… and in a matter of seconds, Saffron dashed at the stallion so quickly that he couldn’t even process how to react as a hoof smacked him so hard in the face that it caused him to drop his weapon.

Next… there was a different animal now… an elephant. As Saffron placed her hoof down over the weapon, the sheer force from it turned the once perfect weapon into a useless pile of scrap metal. Finally, the last animal that was seen was a tiger as she threw a punch that sent the stallion flying out the door.

Yet… when Saffron realized what she did… her eyes could only widen in horror as she looked back to her friend and guests. Before darting off through the back room and disappearing out of sight as Lance was trying to process what he just witnessed. “Holy sh*t…”

“We should go after her.” Aya said.

“No… Aunt Silvia, that’s not what you think it is…” Lance told her, trying to have her see what he was talking about for a moment.

“You mean the fact that she has powers?”

“More like the fact that those powers were triggered by her emotions and instinct…” He said, before saying three words that told Aya what he meant. “She’s an Adept.”

Aya stared blankly at Lance. “I don’t care… She just stopped an armed pony with abilities. I want to talk to her, that’s it. Did you think I wanted to arrest her?”

“No… My concern is that since her powers are synced with her emotions and that since she’s currently distressed, she may accidentally use her powers on you…” Lance told her in response. But before he could try to reason with her, Aya cut him off.

“Yeah, and the ponies she runs into know that! Lance, if she’s in distress and you think she could accidentally hurt me, then that applies to everypony on the streets! We need to talk to her and calm her down!”

“That…… was actually what I was trying to suggest, but you took the words right out of my mouth before I could even say them.” He said, scratching the back of his head before looking at Cupcake. “Ms. Cupcake, are you okay?”

“I’m fine, don’t worry about me. I’ll see to the customers.” The earth pony then replied back. Though, Lance had one other request upon remembering the unconscious stallion outside the door.

“Okay… Could you also call the police so they can arrest the stallion that just barged in here? We’re going to see if we can help your friend.” He asked politely.

“I’ll take care of him, and tell Saffron that I’ll close the shop for her!” Cupcake added. Aya nodded, before rushing out of the shop’s back door as Lance followed her. Leaving the earth pony to switch the sign on the front from ‘OPEN’ to ‘CLOSE’ as she looked at the stallion that was on the ground.

“I don’t like guns pointed at my head… I’m sorry, I can have my normal fun with you, but I’m on a time constraint.” She said, before using her hooves to break his neck. She then dragged him upstairs before dumping him in a bathtub and dumped a ton of chemicals into it. “Thank Celestia you’re a skinny one…”

After about an hour, she drained the bathtub and washed the chemicals down the drain. Afterwards, she left the shop with a smile and a skip in her step.

As she went on her way, she bumped into a bald stallion wearing a suit and red tie. “Oh, sorry mister assassin!” She said happily, before going on her way.

Once she was home, she sighed and entered the basement where a Pegasus mare made of stone laid on her floor, torn apart and barely moving.

“Oh, you’re still kicking Weeping Pegasi? Wow, you’re tough!” The mare weakly struggled, but ultimately failed. “You know, I’m a fan of heroes… They’re so fun to tear apart…”

Weeping Pegasi sobbed, closing her eyes.

Cupcake chuckled before she spoke. “You ever read the story of Little Red Riding Hood? Adorable story… A little girl, delivering sweets to her granny. I wanna do a little roleplay with you… You can be Little Red, Gunvolt can be the Woodcutter, and your friends can be Granny!”

Cupcake picked up a sledgehammer as she turned on a radio where an upbeat song played. “Only the Woodcutter doesn’t save you… Or your Granny…”

With that, Cupcake brought down the sledgehammer onto the screaming Weeping Pegasi.

End Strike 52

Author's Note

"This secluded prison has fallen prey to a two-headed snake with no regard for the laws of life and death..."

-Pre Mission text, Underworld (Azure Striker Gunvolt)

"We're not alone here..."

-Opening moments, Outlast II

So yeah... this one was a bit harder to pull off for multiple reasons. But with time, patience... and having to edit a previous chapter so all of this made sense, I give you this. One of the things that I decided to do (with help of BronyParasite) is have a situation where even though Lance is very strong on his own, he'll still need help from his teammates, family and friends. Case in point, what we got here today with regards to what happens here.

Most of the chapter is based on the "Stratacombs" mission in the original Azure Striker Gunvolt, just with a few subtle differences for during and after the mission is done. But some of the other elements afterwards are from something rather... different.

Also, here's something for you guys from BronyParasite.

BP: Hello everyone! Hope you enjoyed the ending there, because there's more of that to come~ And it'll get worse before it gets better. Hehee~

On that lovely note, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and have fun trying to figure out the abilities of Saffron. Enjoy!

Parts of the song were inspired by this song by A Day to Remember.

Strike 53- When they come for me

When Lightning Strikes- When they come for me

Manehattan, New Yoke

The moment that he was trotting down the street in Downtown Manehattan, 47 was already beginning his hunt for the targets he was assigned to eliminate. Despite the sudden abrupt appearance of an enthusiastic mare calling him out… nopony really seemed to pay a lot of attention. They were all just either self absorbed in their own personal bubble, with some wearing earbuds to block out the noise of all the urban chaos around them. Something that he himself was also doing right now. But instead of listening to music or the news, he was listening a briefing from his handler, Diana.

“Welcome to Manehattan, 47. This city is well known for it’s bustling hoof traffic and activity around the city, so you should have no trouble with blending in with your surroundings. Our intel has picked up some information stating that our targets are going to meet each other later this afternoon, but could not find out where the meeting is taking place or the purpose of it. I advise that you look for a higher than normal security presence in any particular area that does not consist of officers from the Manehattan Police Department while also reaching a supply cache left for you in an abandoned housing complex, if you need it of course. The building has been marked nearby and it’s in one of the more… poorer parts of the city and it painted rather brightly. Good Luck, 47.”

With the briefing finished, the stallion crossed the street at the crosswalk he was at and began to make his way through an empty alleyway. Once on the other side of the alley, he now began to notice some of the much… older housing complex’s that were in the urban side of Manehattan and how most of the homes were painted different shades of colors that resembled bricks while others were a rather light shade of grey. Though, the one home that was most certainly different from the others because it’s color was a rather faded yellow shade. It was the sight of the safehouse that he was informed about.

For this mission, most of the items he would normally carry with him had to be placed in the supply cache that was in the abandoned building. Leaving him with carrying a lockpick, several coins and also the garrote wire he would normally keep with him. Other items, such as firearms, explosive charges and also poison would be in the cache in order to avoid suspicion. Trotting across another street, he soon approached the door that was at the side of the housing complex and used the lockpick to get inside. Once upstairs, he was able to acquire several different tools that he would need to carry out the assassination, including explosive charges that were triggered by a motion sensor and a pistol with the silencer attachment on it.

Not a moment too soon though, did he hear something from the window that caught his attention. Outside of the building and under the open window were two ponies, dressed in what almost looked like military equipment, but not of the same origin as that of the police department, that was for some. So… he decided to listen in. “Hey, we got a notice just now from the boss. They found an adept running out of Restaurant Row and trying to find its whereabouts now.” One of the two stallions below said, which, did not sit well with their partner.

“Ugh, again? Do we really need to try and capture every single adept in this goddess damned city?” The second stallion spoke up. “I mean, sure we’re getting a lot of benefits out of it, but some of the stuff that these guys are giving us are experimental. Don’t you remember how Brass Hoof got blown apart when he tried to use his rifle after it overheated?”

“That was an accident. The guy was more focused on trying to get his job done and not take any precautions… Besides, that one mare working with the boss is going to be conducting a field test with the same equipment this afternoon.”

“Seriously? Where?”

“At a former power plant that shut down a long time ago a little ways past Second Avenue and Faust Street. I know the place because I used to work there before the company there went bankrupt after the freaking plant had a meltdown sixteen years ago or something.” At that point, 47 stopped listening to the two stallions who were talking and now made a note of the location. Second Avenue and Faust Street.

Which was also followed up by his handler soon speaking to him through his earbuds. “Interesting… It appears that the group that Morningstar is in charge of has been given some experimental tech by the Sumeragi Group, but the older versions of the weapons had caused some self inflicted casualties because of the main core of the weapons exploding after overheating too much… Silk Thread is planning to give a demonstration with a new shipment at the abandoned power plant outside the city . A little bit of sabotage can not only eliminate Ms. Thread, but also destroy the weapons. Going out with a bang as they say.”

Meanwhile…

The instant that Saffron took off and ran, both Lance and Aya began to chase after the mare through the streets and alleys of Manehattan. However, it was only a short while after commencing the chase that they realized that the unicorn was much faster than either of them were. Forcing Lance to try and call in some extra help from Teal in order to try and somehow track her.

Luckily though, it did not take long for Teal to find Saffron and after five minutes, she discovered where she was hiding. “Found her… your speedy friend is hiding out at an run down power plant not far from your location. It’s only her that’s there from what I can tell, but I’ll be keeping watch and let you guys know if something’s up.”

“Thanks Teal. You have an address for the factory?” Lance then asked as he looked back at Aya for a moment while waiting to hear a response.

“Yeah, it should be past the intersection between Second Avenue and Faust Street. It’s not far from your current location. Good luck you guys.” Teal replied, before cutting off communication as the adept looked back towards Aya for a moment.

“Do you still need a bit of time to catch your breath or are you alright?” He asked Aya out of concern.

“No, do you?” Aya replied. “My body isn’t fragile. I can run a marathon.”

“I’m alright. I just thought I would ask since she outran both of us like she was a cheetah on the serengeti.” The Adept spoke up before looking back at her for a moment. “Let’s go find that plant. I’ll let you take the lead since I’m not too familiar with the streets around here.”

“It’s quite a ways away. Outside of the city, in fact.” Aya said. “But we’ll need a ride. Give me a second…” Brea pulled out a phone and began texting. Two minutes later, an armored police transport came from around a corner with the initials of MIST on the side in white.

“Wow… I… gotta admit, that’s pretty awesome if I do say so myself.” The Azure Striker admitted as he looked back at Aya.

“I wish I could’ve had my own car, but it’s still being made.” Aya replied as she walked over to the transport and opened the back doors, where there was no one inside. “We have a small number of vehicles since we’re still waiting for Celestia’s seal of approval for the funding. Paperwork is a bore.”

“Sorry to hear about that,” Lance said as he sat down in the back of the car. “It’s been way too long since I last had a ride in one of these… then again, the last time I did ride in a vehicle, it wasn’t an experience that I want to remember.”

“Well, let’s make this a better time.” Aya replied as she slammed the doors shut. She knocked on the wall, signaling the driver to move. “I told them the coordinates. Shouldn’t be long.”

Upon realizing that Aya wasn’t the one who was at the wheel, the Adept now had a completely… different question to ask her. “Wait… Who’s the driver?”

“Limestone. She’ll assist if we need a pair of hooves, but that’s only in case of emergencies.” Aya replied. “Now, we wait…” Lance personally was relieved when he heard that it was Limestone who was driving. The last time he had been the passenger in a vehicle was when he was still trying to help out Suicune a long time ago… and back then, it was Pinkie Pie trying to drive a makeshift UNSC warthog while being completely oblivious to the passengers in the back of the car… and almost causing Lance to get motion sickness.

Thankfully though, this car ride was not like before and they were able to make their way over to the abandoned power plant in one piece. Upon stepping out of the car and seeing it for himself, this began to give him a few flashbacks to when he had originally landed in the abandoned power plant outside of Maretropolis. The same one that had Zapp gain her powers. Though, it wasn’t a good idea to assume that the same thing happened here. “Well… this is promising. Ready, Aya?”

“One second…” Aya replied, looking at her phone. “Apparently this place had a meltdown kinda like what happened over in Maretropolis, only this place didn’t use electricity. It used Nuclear fusion. So we should be careful, lord knows how much radiation is left over.”

That… caught him by surprise as he asked a new question now. “How long ago was the meltdown?”

“Sixteen years ago. There was a huge fiasco where this area was evacuated, and only seven years ago did the authorities contain it.” Aya read from her phone. That… just had Lance curious for a bit before thinking of something else inside his head. Yet, he then turned his attention back to the factory and think of a different question.

“Okay… now the only thing that confuses me is why would Saffron want to run all the way here? Even with the radiation…” Lance pointed out. All Aya did though was just shrug her shoulders as he sighed for a moment before both of them carefully entered the complex. There was only half of the front door at the facility since it seemed as if the other half was completely melted off. Something that made Lance partially curious… and partially concerned about what else would they find once they were inside.

However, the second they stepped through the door… that was when they saw something that caught them by surprise and even made Lance look at Aya in utter confusion. “Is that… a lion?”

“What…” Aya asked, not processing. “The… F*ck!?” The moment that she said that, the lion that was there ran off to the back of the room near the stairwell before disappearing in a cloud of dust. It was something that neither of them expected… but the lion wasn’t the only one in the room. On one of the railings above them was another animal perched up and looking over at them, this time with it being a hawk. Before either of them could do anything, the hawk took off from it’s perch and flew down to the same stairwell where they saw the lion disappear.

One by one, several different animals made an appearance. Even some of them going through Lance and Aya, but not actually touching them. In fact, it just felt like a soft wind rolling over them. The only consistency being that they all disappeared as soon as they went up the stairwell. Which, in turn… had Lance go up the stairs and follow them as each one of the spiritual animals, no matter big or small, made their way to a broken down office along the catwalk of the second floor.

“It’s okay! We don’t want to hurt you! We just want to talk!” Aya called out. “I know what you’re going through!” Lance wanted to believe that, but he was still unsure of what exactly were they going to find once they actually went inside the office. But… when they got to it… they didn’t find her… but they found something else that was on top of the table as he walked over to see what it was.

It was a picture frame… and inside it… was a picture of a young filly that was hugging her mother as they were smiling at the camera. Yet… it was a few seconds later that he realized something. “Aya… you might want to have a look at this.”

“Huh, well… I think I know why she came here…”

“Do you?” It was then that both of them turned around, only to see the distressed unicorn mare at the door to the room… with a spirit like fox on her shoulder.

“Lance… Why were we chasing her again?” Aya suddenly asked.

“To try and help her…” Lance sighed, before looking back at Saffron. “Saffron… why did you run? We want to help you, so why did you run?” The mare looked away for a moment as the fox on her shoulder dropped down and disappeared, but after taking a moment, she try to keep herself composed as the unicorn spoke up.

“I… am scared… Not of myself… or what I can do… but of what might happen,” She told both of them. “When I was just a little filly, my mother used to work in this plant and provide for my father and I… but when the meltdown happened, she wasn’t able to make it out in time. My father is all that I have… the restaurant that we own is something that we built with our own hooves from the ground up… but now, we’re finding it harder and harder to find customers and keep it open… It only gets worse when they are on the hunt.”

The last part… caught their attention as the Adept soon asked her a question that just formed on his mind. “They?”

“The Jackals…” She said, looking back at both of them. “A few months ago, they were just a small group of criminals that were doing petty crimes… But when they got a new leader, they soon began to terrorize members of the community that my father and I call home. What’s worse… whenever we saw somepony acquire powers… they were immediately taken by them. Using weapons that we have not seen before and put the police department at a complete disadvantage… Now, I fear that they are coming for me and to take me away from my father… and he’s not the same as before.”

“What do you mean?” The Adept now asked, looking back at her as she tried to hold back the tears a bit.

“He has a very bad heart condition… CHD,” Saffron spoke up, which made Lance’s own heart skip a beat upon hearing that. “He’s on the waiting list for a heart transplant, but we don’t have anything to pay it for. We only get a little amount of money each month and either have to put it towards keeping a roof over our heads or medical treatments. And with his condition getting worse, I fear what would happen if I’m not there for him and something bad happens.”

“We’ll deal with the Jackals…” Aya said, her eyes narrowing into a glare.

“You can’t… not on your own…” She insisted. Which, lead to Aya coming up with a quick and rhetorical response as Lance noticed a small window nearby and saw something flicker from outside.

“I have an entire team dedicated to this. I have powers just like you, and I’m sure that my division and I can handle them.” Despite Aya assuring this to Saffron and the Unicorn feeling uneasy about it, Lance himself then thought of a different question to ask for a moment.

“Saffron… what were the powers that you demonstrated? Is it based on the animals we saw?” To this question, both of them now noticed Saffron glow a bit as each one of the animal spirits that they saw earlier were now standing behind her.

“Yes… My powers aren’t like that of the ones the heroes in Maretropolis or Manehattan…” She told them both, looking back at them for a moment. “I have the power to take on the aspects of different animals in nature… Animal Mimicry. When I ran, that was the speed of the cheetah. When I broke the robber’s weapons in the restaurant, that was strength of the elephant… and earlier, I used the Cunning of the fox to hide from both of you and appear behind you.”

“And when you are stressed… the animals you call upon are visible?” The Adept asked, who gave them a reassuring nod. “Saffron… I-”

“Lance, we got a problem!” A voice blared from the communicator on his wrist. “You got enemies the size of a small army swarming in on your location now! And to make things worse, they’re outfitted with Sumeragi tech!” Hearing that caused Saffron’s eyes to widen as she hurried to a nearby window to see for herself.

That was when they heard her say something that put a chill down their spine. “They’re here.”

Aya pressed a button on her phone and held it up to her ear. “Lt. Pie, we have company. Stall them until I’ve arrived.” She ordered, before hanging up. “I’ll deal with them. Lance, stay here and guard her.” Lance nodded for a moment… before something came up on his communicator.

“Uh guys…… We got a different problem here,” Teal then added to the conversation. “I just ran facial recognition on some of them and one of them is actually a member of the Manehattan Police Department. Secondly, the pony that looks to be in charge was once second in command of the terrorist group, Iron Hoof-” And at that moment, he heard Aurora scream and the comms went down.

“Teal? Teal!?” Lance tried reaching her before closing the call. “Crap, comms are down…” That was before he looked back at Saffron and Aya for a moment before thinking of an idea. “Saffron, did this place used to have a security room?”

“Yeah, but this place hasn’t had power in years-”

“I think I can help with that…” The Adept told her, looking back at Aya and explaining what he was talking about. “If the systems run on electricity, I can tap in and take control of some of the security camera’s in the building. With that, I can tell Aya where they’ll be coming from so she can deal with them as quickly as possible. But I’ll also need your help too.”

“M-my help?” She asked, nervous to hear what he had in mind.

“If we can use your spirit animals to point out targets for Aya, it might help with taking down huge groups of foes the best way possible-” It was at this moment that they heard an explosion come from the front of the plant, shaking the catwalk they were on.

“I-i can try…” She mumbled, shortly before guiding Lance to where the old security room was in the back of the facility and providing Aya the chance for her to get herself armed and ready.

Outside, Limestone watched as the massive amount of soldiers in combat gear began to swarm in on all sides of the abandoned facility. A little while ago, she had tried to contact Aya to get back in touch with her, but was unable to reach her by communications. She had no clue what to do in order to know that she was okay as the earth pony waited for the rest of her team to arrive, but took the time to use some of the resources in the truck to analyze the foes that they were up against.

But… there seemed to be some complications with that plan once two of the guards she was surveying spotted the vehicle. “Hey boss, we got something nearby that looks like the size of a freaking armored transport. I think somepony is spying on us.”

That most certainly caught the attention of the pony that Limestone assumed to be their ‘boss’ as he noticed it. “Well, get off your flanks and go investigate. You two are not going to get anything done by just standing around!”

“On it, boss!” Both guards shouted out as they began to carefully approach the transport. Weapons at the ready in case whatever was inside came out and attacked them.

When they rounded the transport, they were surprised to find that there was nopony there. “The buck-?”

The moment that the first guard spoke up though… was also when he was bucked in the face seconds later. Dropping to the ground and catching the attention of the second guard, who also received a buck to the face before he could fire his weapon. Limestone then appeared in an instant.

“You were truly an inspiration…” Limestone sarcastically remarked, rolling her eyes as she stripped them of their weapons, went over to open the back doors of the armored truck and tossed the stallions into it. She locked it before turning invisible once more and moving closer to the newcomers. Before overhearing a couple of them speak.

“You ever heard from the two guys who went to check out that… makeshift carnival float over there?”

“No, and who cares about them anyways? All I have heard from them was complaining about not being treated respectfully. I mean, since when was this organization a daycare for crybabies?”

“Not from my understanding… yet, I remember Rockbreaker coming back from taking a wizz recently, but he’s acting a bit different… A lot colder than usual. And that’s not normal for him.”

“Still, we should make sure Silk Thread’s all prepared. The moment she gives us the demonstration on how to use these weapons, we break in there seconds later. God, who knew that a group of assholes like Sumeragi could come up with this kind of tech?” With that, one of the guards left while the other one just maintained his post. Not even noticing that of Limestone hiding nearby.

‘Stall, stall, stall…’ Limestone thought to herself, looking around desperately. It was a few moments later that she soon noticed somepony that, in her mind, was possibly this Silk Thread that the soldiers here were talking about. After all, her mane and tail took almost looked exactly like white silk and her cutie mark was that of a Silk Thread going through a sharp needle. She now trotted towards where the gate of the original facility would’ve been if the power plant was still operational, but now was addressing the attention of all the ponies that were there.

“Alright, everypony listen up!! We got a high priority target that is taking refuge inside this old plant. Normally, the possibility of radiation would be a concerned, but with the protecting provided by our… employer, so to speak, this should not be a problem. They also provided us with high functioning weapons that we will be using to capture the target and eliminate the others inside.” She was then preparing the weapon for a demonstration, but just as she was about to fire it, something occurred that caught Limestone by surprise.

The weapon short circuited, causing an explosion just as the mare realized the problem. The force of the blast threw her against the transport against the vehicle and threw everypony else off guard. Including the one that Limestone had seen the others refer to as ‘Boss’ from inside the vehicle. “Everypony spread out!! We’re going to breach and make those bastards PAY for what they did!!”

“Target eliminated. A rather… explosive end if I do say so myself… now to Morningstar.”

Limestone sighed. ‘Welp, time to distract…’ With that, she jumped into a group of enemy soldiers, dropping her disguise and shooting two constant beams of energy, and spinning. The soldiers around her dropped instantly, their heads severed from their bodies. ‘Eight. A bit of a disappointing kill count.’

“What the hell-?!” Another one shouted. “Boss, we got another one!! Some grey mare just dropped half of Squad A!”

“The Hell do you-?!” They heard back, before then hearing something else. “Oh bloody hell… That’s NOT an Adept! That’s the daughter of Igneous Pie! The Devil of Light!! All forces, use defensive countermeasures and work on that breach!! I’m coming out there now!!!”

“Hahaha!” Limestone burst out laughing, using her beams of to vaporize three other soldiers. Afterwards, she jumped onto another one and smacked his face with a glowing hoof, causing him to scream.

“Ah! I can’t see!” Limestone then bashed his head into the ground, and afterwards jumped behind cover from an onslaught of bullets. As she pressed her back against the crate, she panted heavily and attempted to calm herself.

‘Don’t go overboard… Even if Marble isn’t here…’ Limestone thought as she shook violently. However, her break was short lived when she felt something slam against the ground and caused the crate to move. Turning back to see an eagerly pissed off earth pony with a spiky mane as he growled at her.

“There you are…”

“Took the world right out of my-” Limestone began, but was cut off when she was forced to dodge an incoming hoof. “Mouth… Well, pleasure to meet you mister...”

“Pleasures all mine… Your father left quite an impact on many ponies in more than just Metropolis, little mare…” He growled, glaring at her. “He was the reason I lost everything. My family… friends… I once followed someone who could get me revenge, but that did not work… Now though… Thanks to Sumeragi…” At this point, Limestone watched as a faceguard soon appeared over the Stallion's head as she noticed something on the armor.

‘Project Delirious’

“I’m going to enjoy SNAPPING YOU LIKE A TWIG!!!”

“You think I didn’t suffer from that stallion too? My mother died and I was used as a lab rat. I watched my younger sister get turned into black slime…” Limestone said with a yawn. “Honestly I’d love to help you kill my father, but that’s really impossible now, is it?” The only answer she got was a hoof to the face that sent her flying against a concrete wall. Blood spewed from Limestone’s mouth as she screamed in pain, her eyes wide with pain.

“Bastard…” Limestone choked, shuddering in pain as she pulled herself out of the rubble and wiped her mouth. “The tartarus have I ever… D-done to you…?”

“My wife was on a team of agents sent to capture your father… only to be cut down by a filly who was able to use light.”

Limestone froze. “Oh… I remember her…” The grey mare sighed. “I made sure to kill her slowly… Not that I had a choice in the matter, but still.” An insane grin spread across Limestone face as she began to chuckle darkly to herself. One of the camera’s along the outside of the building soon focused on them as it caught the attention of who was controlling them.

“Aya, we got a problem… You mentioned that Limestone Pony that is on your team right?” Lance said, concentrating his Septima on the computers that were tied into the security system while Saffron was nearby. “Well, she just killed a handful of the Jackals outside and their leader threw her against a wall.”

“So?” Aya asked on the comms. “I saw it. And I’m ready to assist her.”

“You sure you won’t get in the crossfire?” The adept asked, only realizing something once he zoomed in a bit more. “Because she… doesn’t look as composed as when I saw her before. She almost looks like she’s gone completely insane.”

“I’ll be fine. And Limestone does have some psychotic tendencies. She’ll be alright when I deal with the one who’s hurting her though.”

Lance himself heard what Aya said, but there was something else he was concerned about as he looked closer as the suit that the stallion was wearing. “That… may be difficult. It looks like the suit that he’s wearing is enhancing his strength, speed and other senses. Not to mention that it’s Bulletproof and is Sumeragi gear… which only stops working if the suit short circuits…”

It was then though that both Aya and Lance heard something that… caught them by surprise. This time… from Saffron. “Let me help with that…”

“It’s okay, I’m not using bullets.” Aya said.

Aya walked out of the front door and inhaled deeply. She then picked up her RPG and made her way to where Limestone and the stallion who was attacking her.

“Sir, I have to ask you to step out of the illegal battle suit and surrender yourself this instant or I’ll have to use deadly force!” Aya shouted. The only response that she did get though was when the stallion stomped on the ground to have a chunk of earth the size of a minivan rise from the ground… before throwing it in Aya’s direction.

“You stay OUT of this!!!”

Aya jumped out of the way effortlessly. “You think you're so important, don’t you? Your wife died, so what do you do? You take matters into your own hooves and make others suffer. The legal system’s supposed to handle out justice, and you’re making things harder for them, which in q makes your wife's death pointless and meaningless.” Aya said in a way that only a mother could as Limestone slipped away in the stallions distraction.

“They failed at justice…” He growled, seeing the mare try to run as he then gave an order. “Open fire!”

“You heard the Boss! LIGHT EM UP, BOYS!!!” One of the soldiers yelled as all of the Jackal’s weapons were aimed at Aya as several blasts flew past her. Almost hitting her if she didn’t move out of the way in time. Aya then shot her RPG at the soldiers, causing a massive explosion, killing all but a few stragglers.

“The justice system may not be perfect… But it’s ponies like you who cause it to fail.” Aya then, in an instant, reloaded her RPG. “Morningstar, you have failed Equestria!”

“Say that to my FACE!! I DARE YOU!!!” He roared, one of the gauntlets around his hoof vibrating as Aya heard Lance speak to her.

“Aya, jump! He’s going to destroy the ground!!” Aya took Lance’s advice and leaped off of the ground. She then, to Lance’s shock, thrusted herself straight into Morningstar’s suit with a stream of fire coming from her hand.

“You have failed!” She shouted, firing her RPG point blank. The resounding explosion sent Aya flying, an unseen force field around her dissolving.

“... Okay, when the hell did you learn that? That was freaking awesome!” Lance asked, just as Aya was beginning to get back on her feet. Turning around, she was surprised to see that somepony had already gotten to some of the other troops. But it wasn’t Limestone, it was Saffron… and she had a pair of tiger claws radiating around her front hooves.

“Which one? The force field or fire?” Aya replied, chuckling as she winced. She hadn’t escaped the attack unscathed. Her legs were burnt, and her boots ruined.

“Both… but I’m going to assume it’s a long story. Oh and also, Saffron’s decided to help you and Limestone and she-” Before he could finish what he was saying though, something within the resulting cloud of smoke began to move as Lance spoke up. “Oh come on! He’s STILL alive!? What is it going to take to make this guy give up already?!”

“I can’t take another shot like that… Surprise only gave me two rounds anyway.” Aya said.

“Umm… Lance?” Saffron then asked, looking back to where Aya was before looking at the smoke that was beginning to die down. “You said that suit can short circuit, right?”

“Yeah, it’s the only weakness, why-?”

“One of the animal aspects I have is the shock of an electric eel…” She spoke up. “I-if I can get close and apply enough of a charge…”

“ … then you can disable it… Holy crap, you’re a genius!!” Lance spoke up, “But this guy is definitely somepony you can’t take on by yourself… Aya, how are you and Limestone doing right now?”

“I’m in pain, but I can still distract him long enough for you to sneak up behind. Just hurry.” Aya replied, taking a shaky step forward.

“You heard her, Saffron-”

“Vixen…” The single word that Saffron said… actually confused Lance for a moment.

“Uh… what?”

“Her codename.” Aya cut in, before sprinting at Morningstar as she opened fire on the stallion. “She’s a hero now. It only makes sense.” Saffron chuckled at that, before glaring towards where the target was and following Aya.

“Okay… Vixen. I actually like that now that I think of it… but enough talk. Once you got the charge, apply it to the back of the suit. It’s where the core processing functions are.” Lance told them, which got a nod of confirmation from Saffron as Morningstar noticed both of them coming at him.

“You THINK you can stop me!?” He roared, breaking off a section of asphalt from the ground and throwing it at them. “I will not be defeated so easily by freaks like you!!”

Aya was unfortunate enough to end up with a slightly sluggish dodge, which lead to her receiving the asphalts bottom half smacking her face and sending her flipping backwards. Brea nursed her face and she groaned. “Balls my nose…!”

The stallion himself was now solely focused on Aya, who was now beginning to head in her direction. Yet… it was in this commotion that he was unaware of Saffron being behind him… or for that matter, what she was planning. With all the energy she could muster, Saffron struck the back side of Morningstar’s suit… which, soon began to affect his suit and also the processors inside.

‘Warning: Suit Integrity Compromised. Please-’ But at this point, Morningstar did not care about that at all. He had come so far to getting what he wanted, only for the suit that made him invincible to falter because of a single strike from a mare. That was not strength to him. That was trickery.

“How dare you take this AWAY from me!? How dare you-!”

“You are under arrest, Morningstar, for the attempted murder of federal officers, the illegal distribution of weapons as well as many crimes I’m too tired to state…” Aya grumbled after standing up. “If you do not comply, I will use force.”

“Over my dead body-!”

BANG!!

The shot was fired when directly through the Stallion’s skull, causing him to fall over as Lance soon raced out from inside. Looking towards Aya now, “D-did you just-?”

“No, a sniper!” Aya replied, crouching next to the window and looking out. She barely caught a glimpse of what appeared to be the shooter, but could only see the shadow and not make out any of the facial features of the pony as it hid behind an armored convoy. Lance himself saw where it was and tried to dash over behind the convoy, only to not find anything.

“Sh*t… there’s nopony here,” he cursed, before hearing sirens nearby. “Aya, did you call in those guys?”

“Yeah. M.I.S.T. and the local police should clear things up. We’ll interrogate the survivors… I think Lt. Pie and I went a bit overboard...” Aya chuckled nervously.

“Okay… Uh… is Vixen still with you?” He then asked her as he was beginning to walk on back to where they were. “I want to-.”

“LANCE!!!” A high pitched noise went out from his communicator, which almost made him think that it was going to destroy his eardrums as he looked to see that it was Katy contacting him. “Finally!! Aurora and I have been trying to patch communications and get in contact with you for the last hour! What happened?!”

That just caused the Adept to try and readjust his hearing before replying back to them… sarcastically at first. “It’s good to hear from you too…… On a more serious note though, we’re okay. Most of the ponies here who tried to kill us are now in custody… aside from their leader. The one that Teal was trying to fill me on before we lost contact with you guys. It really beat the crap out of Aya and one of her team members.”

“Wait, back up just a second,” he then heard Katy speak up. “How did that guy stand up to you in the first place? Their leader was just an earth pony.” It was at this moment that Lance finally got back to where everypony is… and found that inside the vehicle that Morningstar was in, there looked to be a tablet of sorts that was left laying out in the open… and undamaged.

“I don’t know, but somehow they got their hands on some Sumeragi Tech,” He told her in response. “I found a clue that could help us look into it though… Is Aurora okay though?”

“I’m… not sure… When Teal mentioned that guy earlier, she just… freaked out…” Katy told her in response. “When are you coming back?”

“Give me a moment to handle something here and then I’ll be there… I just need to talk to somepony and then I’ll come back.” He said, looking to see Saffron as the unicorn was walking to him, prompting him to finish up his call. “Hey… Uh… I-i’m sorry about all of this-”

“What’s to be sorry for?” Saffron asked, surprising him now. “I’m the one who should be sorry… about how I reacted earlier. You and Ms. Aya helped me overcome my personal fears… and now, I want to help others just like how you helped me…”

“Well… I haven’t exactly helped you yet,” Lance sighed for a moment, looking back at the unicorn. “But there is a way that I can… You mentioned your father and his medical problems, correct?”

The mare nodded, “Yes, why do you ask?”

“Well… I believe I know some ponies that can help him receive the care that he needs… and you don’t need to pay any bits for it-” That… caused some tears to form in Saffrons eyes as she threw her forelegs around the adept and pulled him into a tight hug. Personally, she could not believe that he was doing this for her… and was thankful all the same.

“T-thank you…”

“I… wasn’t quite finished-” He spoke up, causing Saffron to look back at him in response. “I was also gonna mention that I know some ponies who can help you with the Tasty Treat.” That, prompted Saffron to hug him even more and almost knock Lance to the ground because of how generous he was being.

“T-thank you so much!! I-i will never forget this…” She said, which… made the adept glad that he was able to help her however he can… and give her a much needed miracle.

Later…

Sometime after everything that had happened in Manehattan, Lance was finally back at QUILL HQ and brought Katy and the others up to speed on what happened. Going as far as giving Katy the tablet he happened to find while looking inside the armored transport of the Jackals to see if they could find some leads on how exactly did Sumeragi weapons and armor got into their hands. However, his main focus wasn’t exactly on that.

His focus was on Aurora. After what happened earlier, Lance wanted to make sure that she was doing okay. The adept got really concerned for her when he heard Aurora scream just shortly before communications went down. So just as he got to his room, he then spoke up to try and catch her attention. “Aurora… can I talk to you for a moment please?”

“S-sure…” Aurora replied, appearing in front of Lance with a downcast expression.

“Hey… are you okay?” He asked, noticing Aurora’s change in behavior. “I got really concerned for you after what happened earlier.”

“Oh yeah, I’m fine, I just learned that the ponies who killed me are still out there but with a different name!”

“... That was one pony… and he’s dead.” Lance sighed. “Somepony assassinated him before we could interrogate him for info…” He wasn’t sure how to continue… but still wanted to try and comfort her.

“And what if he isn’t the only one…?” Aurora asked. “What if I get my new body and they kill be again, but I don’t come back?”

“I’m not going to let them.” Lance told her almost immediately. “If they want to get to you, they’re going to have to get past me first. I’ll make sure nothing bad happens to you, okay? I protect you with everything that I have… because I care for you… a lot.” He wanted to reach out and hug her, but almost forgot that she was a spirit in her current form right now. “I don’t want you to have to go through the same thing all over again.”

“Even daddy couldn’t save me…” Aurora choked.

“Aurora…” Before he could continue though, he heard a knock on the door and it showed Katy peaking inside.

“Oh… sorry. I didn’t mean to intrude… but I think one of your friends from Manehattan decided to stop by for a visit.”

“What…?” Aurora asked.

“Who is it?” The Adept then spoke up, the statement from Katy catching his attention.

“I… think it was Twilight… something-. You know what, I’ll just tell her where you’re at.” She said, leaving the room for a minute and leaving both Lance and Aurora rather puzzled by what she said. That was… until they met who she was talking about.

Twilight Mist stepped into the spotlight. “Hello Lance, I’ve completed Aurora’s replacement vessel.”

“Oh you did?” He asked, looking back at Aurora for a minute and then looking back at Mist. “Come on in then. Let’s not make her wait any longer.”

“I can’t exactly… Bring a lifeless body.” Mist said, hunching over, as if ducking to hide her face. The Adept was caught off guard by that. Honestly, he thought that Mist was able to somehow bring it with her or have Surprise teleport over to bring it to them, but that seemed to not be the case.

“Oh… Okay. Was there anything you happened to notice while inspecting it?” He then asked, wondering if there was a different reason for her being here other than her telling them that her inspection on Aurora’s new body was finished. “Like some things we should know about before we have her go in it?”

“Well, there may be a problem with motor controls…” Mist began tensely. “Because she’s a pony, and the body’s humanoid… I mean, her control over the body may end up limited.”

“Hmm…” Lance, for a moment, scratched his chin before looking back at Twilight Mist and asking the first thing that comes to mind. “Is it something that would be limited when she first tries it and gets accustomed over time? Because she was able to take control of items, such as bipedal robots for instance, without any problems.”

“Robot’s are an entirely different story. You see, imagine that you were Aurora, and when you take over non-organic things, it’s like playing a Gamecolt game on the proper system. However, imagine that taking over something organic is like playing the same game, but it was forcefully shoved into a home console that has many more buttons and requires things that that system can’t emulate. Thus you only have a partial game with a lot of missing features. However, this is all theoretical and could be my paranoia for the worst possible thing to happen.” Yet, despite it sounding theoretical… it did concern Lance a bit.

“Well… Aurora, what do you think about all of this?” The Adept asked, not wanting to leave her out of a conversation that was specifically revolving around her.

“I’m down with a little risk. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.” Aurora announced. Causing Lance to nod a little as he looked back at Mist.

“I know that it may seem concerning, but if Aurora is okay with it, then I’m okay with it.” The Adept told both of them in response.

“Then it’s all ready. I cast a soul bonding spell that’ll let Aurora fuse with it permanently. She won’t be able to use her powers for a long time, if ever.” Mist added. “And I think that the other Power Ponies should know about the change ahead of time.”

“Let me take care of letting The Power Ponies know,” Lance told them, getting up for a moment and stretching his arms. “I’ll let you and Aurora handle the soul bonding.”

“I’ll call you when it’s finished. I think Aurora deserves to be reintroduced to her loved ones.” Mist added as Lance guided them out of the room while he went back out to QUILL’s command center. All while smiling to himself in the process.

Yet… As he was getting all of this ready though… that was when he found something in the command center that confused him at first. It was a cardboard box… with a paper that had the question ‘What’s in the Box?’ written on the side in what looked like a blood red marker. To the point that he was a little nervous on opening it.

“Hey, w’sup Walker!?” Ash shouted as she entered the room.

“Uh… I’m okay,” Lance told her. “Did you see anypony bring this by earlier?” Ash shook her head in response, causing Lance to feel a little sick inside as he slowly opened it.

What was inside though… made him sick to his stomach as he fell out of his chair. Ash asked him if he was okay and attempted to try and see what's in the box, but Lance told her not to. Not as composed as he was earlier. “Ash, don’t look in there!”

But it was already too late… and what she saw… scared her to the core. For inside the box, was the head of her friend… Weeping Angel.

End Strike 53

Author's Note

This... was much longer than I had originally wanted to be. Mostly because of some of the things I wanted to do on the side, but another major factor was because of the fact of what happened to Linkin Park and that of Chester Bennington last week. I got into music and listening to different songs because of them and now that the lead voice is gone, that... really hit me hard personally. So... After letting it set in, I took it upon myself to finish this, all while listening to the song that inspired this... And these lyrics.

'Oh when they come for me, Come for me, I'll be gone...' -Chester Bennington.
Rest in Peace.

On that note now, we now begin something that is... personally going to be fun. Finding ponies who will be members of QUILL... and tracking down the one responsible for what happened to Weeping Angel (AKA, Weeping Pegasus from the end of the last chapter). Let the Cupcake Saga begin.

Bonus points for whoever can guess the reference at the end.
-Frost

Strike 54- When Angels Fall

When Lightning Strikes- When Angels Fall

The moment that Ash saw what was in the box, Lance immediately became concerned for her. He did not get the chance to know Weeping Angel like Ash or Sparkler did, but from what he did know, they were more than just teammates. They were good friends and some would even say that they saw each other as siblings. So finding out that you just lost somepony that was like a sister to you could take a massive toll on them unexpectedly… and right now, he was very worried about how Ash would react to all of this.

The earth pony hadn’t moved since she’d seen what was in the box. There was no emotion besides shock and horror. Lance himself was worried about how she would react… but now another concern came into his head… and that was what if other former members of the puppets would be targeted too. But right now, he had to wait on calling them… and right now serve as a shoulder to cry on for the devastated mare.

“Why wasn’t it me…?” Was all she could say before collapsing. The Adept immediately responded by hurrying over to her and trying to make sure she was okay before looking back at box. She still had a pulse, but was overcome by the sheer shock of everything… which prompted Lance to make an emergency call to Sparkler moments after checking on Ash.

“Come on, please pick up,” He thought to himself, hoping that Sparkler would respond and pick up the call on her end since this was a MAJOR emergency.

“Yes? This is the Hooves residence…” Sparkler’s voice replied, sounding as if her nose wasn’t working.

“Sparkler, we got an emergency and need your help… bad,” The Adept told her right away before taking a deep breath and then speaking again. “Somepony’s killed Weeping and decided to send her head in a box to HQ. Ash is devastated now.”

There was silence for a moment, before Sparkler suddenly coughed violently. “What the buck!? Weeping’s…” She trailed off. “Buck! Whoever bucking did that is going to pay! I’ll kill them myself-!” Her fit of rage was cut off by her hacking.

“Sparkler, are you okay?” Lance now asked upon hearing her hacking and coughing. “You don’t sound so good.”

“Overheat flu. Unicorns get it every once and awhile when they overuse magic. I’m sensitive. But that doesn’t matter, I’m coming over there!” The call ended much sooner than the azure striker expected. For a moment, he was going to mention that their main focus should be Ash, because he would need their help. But with the fact she hung up first, that wasn’t the case.

“Hey Lance, there’s something-...” Comet Tail began as he trotted into the room, but stopped when he saw Ash. “Did she faint, or did you knock her out?”

“Fainted. Somepony killed a friend and former teammate of hers, followed by sending their dismembered head in a box,” He told her, pointing out the parcel for Comet to see for himself. “I’m having Sparkler come over so she can help Ash, but what bothers me is who the hell would want to target her friend like that?”

“You might want to keep that on the downlow right now. Sumeragi just claimed that a crime was their doing…” Comet said indifferently.

“That’s what we’re trying to do,” Lance replied, before looking back at her. “I’m just worried about the safety of my teammates. Not to mention that Aurora is getting herself a new body and she was worrying about the bad guys coming for her after a run in with a old Iron Hoof member earlier in the day.”

“This is kind of important to me… I haven’t told anypony else about this. I’m here to tell you that there’s a debriefing. I’ll get Tenderheart to take care of Ash, and have Quill guard the members of the Puppets. And the CMC, since Steelwing’s most likely still there.” Comet Tail informed him. Though, there was something that Lance was a bit unsure about when he heard Comet mention it a few moments ago.

“Wait… what kind of debriefing?”

“The Power Ponies are waiting. I’ll debrief you all there.” Comet Tail said simply, before trotting away. Lance, thought it over for a moment before he then heard another set of hooves come into the room. Thankfully, this time, it was Sparkler as she turned to see Ash passed out on the ground.

“She’s still breathing, I checked her pulse before you came here,” Lance replied, before looking at Sparkler. “I’m glad you could make it though.”

“I wanted so badly to find Weeping’s parents… Even her real name… I won’t rest until the monster who did this comes to justice.” That made Lance surprised by her determination, but also left her a little concerned because of how much she was wanting vengeance.

“I hear you… Sparkler,” He said, to get her attention at first before continuing to speak. “I just had a talk with Reaper just now. He told me that he’s going to have Tenderheart come help Ash and make sure that Steelwing’s safe… He wanted to debrief the power ponies and I on something though. Can you hang tight for a little bit until I’m back? I’ll try to come back as soon as I can.”

“Sure, I need a nap anyways…” Sparkler grumbled mildly as she slumped to the floor, coughing and sneezing. After seeing that, Lance personally decided to take the box that had Weeping’s head in it, close it, tape the top off so nopony could accidentally open it and placed it under his bed to get back to later before heading off to Power Pony HQ. Right now, this incident was a QUILL matter, so they should do their best in order to keep it that way right now.

When Lance entered the de-briefing room, he saw every member of the Power Ponies present. Comet Tail, or Reaper, was standing in front of a giant screen where the image of a smoking building was shown.

“Alright losers... and Twilight, Sumeragi decided to come back into relevance.” He pointed at the image behind him, which showed a smoking building. “Right here we have the remains of the Faithful Charity building. The one made by our fallen comrade Meadow Flower, AKA Faithless. Seventeen were injured, two were killed and brought back as mindless ghouls and then killed again by the PD. This leads me to the meat of the problem…”

Personally, Lance had several questions for Reaper at this current point in his talk. But right now, he decided to hold off and let him finish first. Wait til after the briefing so he could then ask questions and not make himself look like an idiot. But now was when Twilight spoke up instead. “What do you mean, Comet?”

“Clearly that adept you fought recently had something to do with the ghouls… So, who did all of the damage? The store’s front was smashed into with enough force to create a hole far bigger than anything an adept has been able to accomplish… So that adept must have some form of help.” Comet stated. “Meadow was one of my friends… One of our friends. She sacrificed herself for where we are now, and I won’t let this insult on her grave go without justice.”

With the talk of Adepts and also the fact of ghouls, Lance was reminded more and more of when Aya, Mist and him encountered Elise just two days ago. And now he felt that he needed to speak. “Excuse me for interrupting, but where did this all take place?”

“I already told you…” Comet Tail said as he scowled.

“Lance dear,” The sound of his name being called soon had the Adept turn towards Rarity as she began to clear her throat. “Meadow was a friend of ours that set up a charity organization that was stationed in Manehattan. The picture that Comet is showing is what happened to her building.”

“Oh… sorry then, do continue,” He replied back, being quiet for now so he could hear Comet speak. However, there was someone that not many other ponies could see that… was not really comfortable with this.

“Lance, this whole thing is just… off to me.” Lumen spoke to him mentally. “Up until now, Reaper seemed like the kind of pony that did not even care about adepts at all. Now he’s acting like he knows everything about them. What’s up with that?”

“Well, this case seems to be a bit more… personal.” Lance replied mentally. “He did say that Meadow was a former member of the team before Time got banished, so yeah.”

“I mean more then that,” She spoke to him. “For one thing, how did he even know where QUILL was located? The only pony that knows about where we are stationed at outside of our team is Twilight and the girls. Secondly, how did he know of your fight with Elise?”

That… brought up a valid point. The only ones who knew of that particular operation were Aya, himself, Lumen, Teal and also Mist. He did tell Twilight that he was going to be in the area at the time, but not exactly what they were doing. So… how did Reaper know about this? It was something he needed to ask him later. “Lumen, thanks for bringing that to my attention.”

“Somepony has too…” Lumen chuckled, which caused Lance to sigh as he continued to listen to the rest of Reaper’s briefing. “But that makes me wonder… do they know of the recent incident with the Jackals?”

“MIST are fighting with the Power Ponies Division, even though they’re overworked as it is. There are rumors that they’re planning an enforced curfew because of all of the crime. It’s so bad, I think we should investigate without telling them.”

That… made Lance remember something he picked up from the other day. “You bring up a valid point… and with what you said on Sumeragi, Comet, I think there’s something that makes this even more of a concern,” The Adept told them as he pulled out something from the inside of his coat. “Yesterday, when I was helping an adept and the newest member of QUILL, we were caught off guard by a group who called themselves the Jackals… not only were they lead by a former member of Iron Hoof, but they were using experimental sumeragi tech. I found this tablet inside one of their vehicles, so maybe it’s got some information that could help us.”

“Why would a group like Sumeragi work with a bunch of nutjob street thugs?” Zapp then asked, looking at Lance.

“Well, the newest member of our team, known as Vixen, said that they were given weapons and items in exchange for capturing newfound adepts and delivering them to Sumeragi.” He said, which caught several of the ponies in the room off guard.

“That’s just horrible!!” Fluttershy squeaked, looking back at Comet and Twilight. “We have to help them somehow.”

“It’s unknown if the Jackals are the only ones with business ties to them, but something tells me we can find the rest of their ‘clients’ on here.” The Adept replied, before taking a moment to sit down. “Sumeragi is a threat, that is for certain… but in order to try and really stop them, you have to do more than defeat their members, right?”

“Hmm,” The Masked Matterhorn began to think a little on that statement, before then realizing something that she didn’t recognize beforehoof until just now. “You… have a point. When Lee was here, we found an old factory that Sumeragi converted into a weapons facility… That just makes me think that Sumeragi acts more like a company or a business than a group of villains…” Shortly after saying that, she turned back to Reaper and then asked him something. “With that in mind though, Comet, how do you think we should proceed? MIST is only stationed in Manehattan, but Sumeragi is in all different parts of Equestria. Zapp and Copen even encountered one of them in Seaddle two months ago.”

“We should quickly get over to Manehatten to investigate. We don’t want them to uproot and leave.” Reaper said sternly. “That’s my recommendations. Though I’m not in charge. Your call, Twi.”

“We can, but we’ll also need to have Humdrum look into the tablet that Lance brought back. If it does give us leads onto ties with Sumeragi, then maybe we can figure out how to cut those ties.” Twilight then spoke up as she looked at Reaper. “Only a few ponies should go to Manehattan since we don’t want to create a huge amount of commotion. Since you’re so determined on it, I’ll let you choose who you want to take with you.”

“I suppose taking Zapp, Lance and you would be the best.” Reaper stated. “Zapp and your abilities would be effective against the ghouls, and Lance has experience with undead.”

Reaper’s answer did not sit well for Lance… for more than one reason. One thing was that he needed to speak with someone regarding the package they got at QUILL this morning. Second, there was Aurora. He wanted to be back for her and hold a small surprise party for her in celebration of getting her new body, but with Reaper pulling him along like this, it would make a dent in his plans. “Reaper, I thank you for suggesting me for it, but there’s one thing about this that bugs me…”

Twilight raised an eyebrow for a moment, looking back at Lance with a confused look on her face. “What is it, Lance?”

The adept sighed for a moment, choosing his words carefully before speaking. “Don’t get me wrong, I like what you want to do and how you want to do it, but what I’m confused about is how you got the intelligence on Elise in Manehattan? MIST and QUILL kept information on the encounter as confidential, so I’m just a bit curious about how you know about it.”

“I was given the information… I thought you sent me the files?” Reaper replied.

“No, we didn’t.” He shook his head, remembering that he had them locked for a reason.

It was also then that Zapp decided to speak up on something. “So wait… if Lance didn’t give Comet the information… then who did?”

“It could be that someone from QUILL might’ve sent it to Reaper on accident or something, but let’s not focus on that right now,” Twilight said, before looking at Lance. “Is there anything else you would like to mention, Lance?”

“Well, this may not sound good at first, but I’ve got something going on this afternoon that’s really crucial,” Lance told them before looking at Reaper. “Since you looked at the file, you may have also seen information regarding an abandoned secret project of theirs right? It was titled at ‘Project Nyx’ in the file.”

“No…” Reaper stated.

“Well, let’s just say this then… all of you remember what happened to Aurora, right?” That was followed by many different nods of the head and even Pinkie looking down at herself for a moment before he spoke up. “Now, here’s the thing… Project Nyx was Sumeragi’s attempt at creating their own adept, but it lacked a soul… It means that by tonight, Aurora’s going to be getting herself a new body.”

That threw everypony off guard, but most importantly, Pinkie. “R-REALLY!?” Lance confirmed that by nodding in response to Pinkie’s question, while also looking back at Reaper and the others.

“I may have experience on Adepts and some with the undead, but I don’t know a lot about Meadow Flower. So I would feel out of place other than the parts you need me for… Though, if there are some things you should know, zombies like the ones Elise controls are very susceptible to electricity of any form. With Zapp's powers, I think you have that covered… though, I may be wrong.”

“Well, thanks… I’d rather not just go with the two of us, but I suppose I have little choice. Pinkie’s going to be busy, Rarity’s going on vacation, and Applejack has an appointment with Solace Asylum.” Reaper said. “And Ash… You know.”

“Yeah…” He sighed, before looking back to Pinkie. “Hey Pinkie, can you come to QUILL’s HQ to set things up in a couple of hours. I need to take care of something first, but then I’ll be there to help set up.” She nodded her head and then trotted out of the room. This was followed by everyone else leaving the meeting room as Lance began to go back to QUILL to grab something.

Something he needed to bring with him for a visit.

Half hour later…

“Sorry I haven’t had the time in order to be able to come see you like we agreed upon,” The Adept replied back as he approached a familiar face. “Everything’s been going so quickly that I forgot.”

“Oh, I’m not happy at all… Why should I help you when you break your word?” Roach grumbled as he laid on his bed.

“The circumstances were out of my control…” Lance told him, sighing a little bit before putting what looked like a box on a nearby table. “I got myself displaced to the point where two years over there was just two hours here and we’re still trying to clean up a few incidents in Manehattan. But… I need your help with something… Somepony murdered a friend of one of my teammates and then decided to ship their head to us in a box. Given the severity of the case and how the Power Ponies have not encountered anything like this before, I thought I would ask you-.”

“Seven, right?” Roach interrupted.

“Yeah, like the movie with Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman… however,” Lance then proceeded to untape the top of the box so Roach could see the head for himself. “The one that was sent to me was one of the ‘puppets’ that used to be under Equilis… Given that two of my teammates and a friend of theirs were reformed members of Equilis’ group, you may see why I’m concerned.”

“This goes beyond just your friends…” Roach said, rolling his eyes. “But what do I get out of this?”

It was something that Lance knew that he would do, but something he needed to think on first before answering. “Is that band from Max still on you?”

“Yeah…” Roach replied, showing the ring. “I’ve gotten ill since. But I have a better reward… I want you to do something for me, after all of this is over.” Lance thought it over, but first, he decided to do something that Roach honestly did not expect. He walked over and with a swipe of a finger, used the key to open it as the band fell to the floor.

“I may be late sometimes, but I did promise to get this off of you…” He remarked, before saying something afterwards as he picked up the band and placed it in his pocket. Shortly after the band was removed, some color began to return to Roach as the Adept looked back at him. “So what is this thing you want me to do?”

“I’ll tell you after things have calmed down. Let’s just say it’s a minor favor. Someone I care about.” Roach stated. “The culprit’s not going after the Puppet’s, she’s going after your team. This Weeping Pegasi was trying to join your team, no?” That… was actually right. A day or so after QUILL was formed, Ash told him that Weeping wanted to be a part of the team. To which, he allowed her to.

“Yes… Who is the culprit though?” He then asked, looking back at her.

“You’ve taken down Equilis, the Purple Mare, and the other two, Joker and that one guy whose name escapes me died before you arrived… But there’s one more Marionette left on stage.” Roach explained, counting them off using fingers before having his thumb stick out to represent the one that was still left. It took Lance a bit of thinking, but soon Roach told him the answer. “The last dancing Marionette. The one who finished the Purple Mare off. Three years ago, when Stopwatch was still new, she massacred seventy one ponies without getting caught. And her death tally has just risen since then.”

“So she was the one who threw the knife…” Lance said to himself, scratching his chin. “But why my team? And why now of all times?”

“You caused the deaths of her last remaining teammates. She’s been waiting for the right time to emerge. And with you making your own team, she wants to send you every message that she can.” Roach told him, which sent a chill down the Adept’s spine as he glared at him for a moment. “Make no mistake, Lance Walker. She is no normal threat. She’s suffered worse than the other Marionette’s, which cause others to commit suicide. She will kill, and there’s nothing you can do to stop that.”

That lead to him looking back at the void dweller for a moment before sighing. “What is her name… and where is she likely to be? I made a promise to Ash and Sparkler that I’ll help Weeping rest in peace, so I want to do what I can to make things right.”

“I can tell you where she is right now… But you’re not going to like it, Lancey boy.” Roach replied, closing his eyes. That had Lance be a little bit concerned for a moment, before the adept nodded his head in response, telling the void dweller that he was ready to hear her answer. “A little shop known as the Tasty Treat.”

That had a personal alarm set off in his head. “That’s Saffron’s place! But the only other pony that would be there besides her and her father would be… Oh no.” He thought to himself. Before Roach could say anything else, Lance grabbed the box and quickly teleported out of the room just as fast as he came in. Trying to patch into Teal and the others as he was running over there as fast as he can.

“Teal, come in! Teal, where are you!?” He shouted, taking a sharp right as the adept kept on hurrying.

“Lance, what in the world’s going on? Your heart rate’s-”

“I don’t care about that! Can you try to get ahold of Vixen!? She’s in danger!” The Azure Striker told the AI. But after a few moments, he got the response that he did not want to hear.

“Unfortunately, we can’t reach her. She normally doesn’t turn on her communicator until after she closes up the Tasty Treat, which is in a couple of minutes-” That had Lance hurry even more now as he frantically told Teal to make sure that Ash and everyone else stayed at HQ until he got back. Hoping that he would be able to reach Saffron in time.

The Tasty Treat

“And that’s when I dropped the microwave! Hahah! He was crying something about how his parents would kill him!” Cupcake said, laughing at her own story as she cleaned under the tables. “Man, these customers leave so much gum under our tables… You listening Saffy?”

“Oh yeah, sorry!” Saffron apologized from the other end of the room as she was drying off the last of the dishes that were left and using her magic to put them away. “I was just getting the last of these dishes put away before we close up… though, I think one of our utensils is missing.”

“You count utensils? Maybe a customer stole it during rush hour or something.” Cupcake shrugged. “Hey! You and I should go out! We could use some filly time, just the two of us. It’s been a while. Maybe a movie...” Saffron considered the idea, especially since her father was getting a lot better after receiving the much needed heart transplant.

“Yeah sure just… gimme a second…” She replied, looking around a bit. “And when I mean utensils, I meant one of the knives that we were using to cut up ingredients. I wasn’t sure if we misplaced it somewhere or it just happened to end up in the sink already and I took care of it earlier.”

“I might’ve used it to unclog the sink. I’ll replace it later, just in case, m’kay?” Cupcake replied, smiling. Saffron nodded her head, turning around with her back to her as she was beginning to close the blinds to the store and also flip the sign from ‘OPEN’ to ‘CLOSE’. Unaware of what Cupcake was doing in that instance. Cupcake quietly trotted up behind Saffron, an evil grin on her face as one of her hooves reached behind her back.

“Hey, don’t worry about it, I got the blinds here,” Saffron then said upon noticing her hoof nearby, using her magic to have the shades drop. “There we go, all done.”

“Oh no, it’s not that~” Cupcake pulled her hoof from behind her back, revealing a…

Cupcake with poorly written words that read “Congratz on Becomin’ a Super Heroine”. “I’m a pastry baker, not a writer…” Cupcake blushed.

“Aww… How sweet.” The unicorn replied, giggling a bit. “Sorry, I didn’t mean for that to come out as a pun.”

“I love puns anyways.” Cupcake said, giggling herself. “Go on, eat! It’s your favorite flavor~!” Saffron, hearing this, decided to take a bite out of it as she was surprised by the flavor.

“Oh wow… this is wonderful!” Saffron replied, looking back at her and thinking of something. “Hey, since we are celebrating, how about we have ourselves a drink?” She said, before walking over to a fridge inside the kitchen as she pulled out a small bottle of what looked like champagne. But it was a non-alcoholic wine with a grape like taste to it as she poured two glasses.

“Oh~ How romantic~ But you haven’t bought me dinner yet!” Cupcake snorted as she sat down, barely containing her bubbly mood. For a moment, Saffron smiled as she placed the glasses on the table and poured the drinks, she went back in order to put the cork on the cider back and set it on the counter.

Cupcake sniffed her drink, before taking a sip and cringing. “Yuck… Tastes like the real thing...” Cupcake looked at the floor and lightened up. “Oh! Found the knife!” She reached down and grabbed the handle with her teeth, and lifted it off of the ground. “Oneshdry Fahffron, ah shink ah mah haf jasht mishpwashed i’!” She shouted as she walked into the kitchen behind Saffron.

The only thing that Saffron saw in that moment… and a certain Adept as he came through the door, was Cupcake coming at her with a knife. “What’s going on here?” He said, staring at Cupcake for a moment as Saffron fell backwards on the floor. Immediately though, Cupcake could see the box he was holding. The box that she had sent to them.

Cupcake spat the knife into the sink and grinned. “What’s in the box?”

Lance looked back at her, before speaking up. “I think you already know…” He said, before looking back at Saffron. “Saffron, are you alright?”

“Y-yeah. We were just celebrating me making it as a hero and-” However, when Saffron got on her feet was when one of her hooves accidently kicked the box towards Cupcake. Hitting an uneven tile that caused the box to flip over… and for the head that was inside to roll to Cupcake’s hooves like a soccer ball. “What the-?! Lance, why-?”

“I honestly want to know myself…” He said, looking back at the Earth Pony.

“Why would somepony vandalize a statue? And then send in in a box to you?” Cupcake questioned, tilting her head in confusion.

“This isn’t a statue… this is the head of an actual pony… and a little birdy told me that the one responsible resided here…” The Adept spoke up. “Your name was Strawberry right? Strawberry Cupcake?”

“Yeah, why?” Cupcake questioned, backing away from the head with a shocked face.

“Does the name Weeping Angel seem familiar to you?” He said, paying attention to the mare’s facial expression to see if it caused some kind of different reaction from her. “That’s the name of the pony whose head I found in that box… and the same little birdy told me that the one responsible for what happened to her… would be going for members of my team.” Hearing this now… and seeing the shocked reaction on her friends face, Saffron’s eyes began to widen.

“W-wait. You’re not suggesting that… Strawberry wouldn’t hurt anypony!” Saffron spoke up at first, sounding defiant… until a bit of reality began to creep in. “Right? …… Cupcake?”

“Course not!” Cupcake said back. “Besides, he’s talking to birds. Don’t you think that’s a little too Disneigh Princess-y?”

“It’s an analogy…”

“What’s an analogy?” Cupcake asked. Causing Lance to sigh in response as he looked at her.

“The point is… I was told that someone who worked at the Tasty Treat was the one who not only killed Weeping Angel, but was responsible for hurting other ponies too while Stopwatch was still around.” The Azure Striker spoke up as he paid attention to Cupcake and began to watch her. He did not have his weapon drawn because he did not want to come off as intimidating to her, but the adept could tell that she was panicking through a different method. For a while now, Lance had been able to sense the presence of other people through feeling neuroelectric pulses. However, most recently, he had found that those pulses were connected to a pony’s heart rate. And Cupcake’s right now was beating rather fast as he turned around to help Saffron on her hooves for a moment, shortly before turning to face Cupcake again. “Of course, I may be wrong… but I would like to ask you some questions-”

“You’re insane!” Cupcake suddenly shouted. “I didn’t murder a… statue! And you’re saying some “birdy” told you that I killed said statue because of… What!?”

“Woah, woah… calm down…” Lance sighed, looking back at her and trying to calm the mare down. “That birdy is a contact of mine that has information that hasn’t been inaccurate. As for a motive… she would blame me for what happened to two other ponies that were in a group called the Marionettes…” He paused for a moment in order to get his thoughts together, shortly before clearing his throat and speaking again. “However, I don’t trust the contact fully, so I wanted to ask some questions and hear your side of the story. Because all of this might’ve been a misunderstanding.”

“Lance, I’m getting a strange reading from that pony.” Lumen spoke to him as she lightly dropped onto his shoulder. “Like a mixture of different forms of energy and septima from her all mixed in a blender. Normally, there’s supposed to be one reading per pony, but this one’s different.” Hearing this surprised Lance as he then mentally asked a question to his companion.

“Do you recognize any of them?”

“Well…?” Before Lumen could say an answer though, that was when Cupcake decided to speak up.

“Would you and your bug… Please back away from me…?” Cupcake growled, glaring at Lance with an intense anger. Lance nodded, backing up just a bit… before realizing something.

“Wait… You can see Lumen?” He said, sounding surprised for a moment. “But, the only other ponies besides some of my team that can see her are those that are…… adepts…”

Cupcake’s eyes widen slightly, one of her hooves dragging against the ground backwards. The hoof soon felt itself hit against a door that was behind her, which was the door that lead out to the compost and trash bins outside. All of this while Saffron just stared at her, eyes much wider than before.

“Y-you’re… an a-adept?” She said in disbelief, a part of her not wanting for that bit to be true… but also knowing that she can’t deny it either.

“I forgot! I left the oven at my apartment going!” Cupcake said, before spinning and slamming into the door behind her. “See ya later for fillies night Saffy!”

“W-wait, Cupcake!!” She said, trying to go after her, but her friend was already too far gone. “Cupcake…… why… why did you leave like that?” Saffron was rather upset by everything that she had just found out. All of it and how nervous she was… made her believe that it was possible that Lance was speaking the truth. But part of her was still unsure.

“Come on, we should go find her,” Lance replied, looking back at Saffron and holding the door open. “Lumen, can you tell where she went?”

“I think so, but it may be hard. You’re running against the clock here,” The breezie notified him. “You still have to get back to QUILL and prepare Aurora’s party. Which means you would only have thirty minutes before having to go back-.” She stopped for a moment, before feeling something that was… bad. “Guys, somepony else is going after her.”

“What?” The Adept replied, looking back at Saffron. “Who?”

“I don’t know, but her presence feels rather cold and evil. If she’s going after her, then it’s not for a good reason. You need to hurry, now!” Lumen told them, which soon had both of them give chase, searching the city of Manehattan for Cupcake.

Cupcake galloped through alleyways at great speeds until something in her path caused her to come to a sudden halt. “You…”

“Cupcake! It’s been ages! You don’t look a day over twenty! Though I’d say you look worse for the wear… Did somepony cut your face open?” An older mare said. Laurette Hailstorm.

“Doctor, your eyesight must’ve gotten worse since I cleansed them with your husband's blood.” Cupcake grinned. “I sense that you brought other adepts…”

“So the lifewave did affect you… I suspected that the chemicals would reject it, but you’re the first specimen to achieve two separate powers from two means! Fascinating!” Laurette smiled enthusiastically. “I knew you were a keeper…”

“Ew, that’s just disgusting, hag.” Cupcake gagged, pounding her chest as a mare and stallion dropped behind her. The mare had an orange coat and white mane, while the stallion had a bright yellow coat and bright blue mane. “Love to stay and chat, but I have an oven to shut off.”

“Don’t worry, Fiery Fricket and Goldengrape will take care of you.” Laurette motioned towards Cupcake.

Goldengrape, the stallion, trotted forward as his mouth swelled up and he shot a wad of green spit. Cupcake sidestepped just in time to watch the wad hit the ground and burn through the road.

“Nifty! Care to teach me it?” Cupcake asked, confusing the stallion before she motioned her hoof towards him, then the brick wall. He flew into the wall as Cupcake grinned. “What a gentlecolt!” Blood exploded outwards and Cupcake examined the stallion’s corpse. “Ah, that makes sense.” The moment she said that, she turned to the mare and repeated what the stallion did, causing her to jump out of the way, horrified.

“Wonderful! So that’s what the Lifewave gave you!” Laurette proclaimed. “It’s like finding my long lost daughter! You have so much potential.” Cupcake though, just ignored Hailstorm’s rhetoric as she trotted over to the dead stallion that laid in front of her. Blood spilling out from the mouth as she placed a hoof on the stallion as she began to absorb his powers.

However… as she finished doing that… the next pony she heard speak was not that of Hailstorm… but somepony else. “C-cupcake?” This caused the mare to look up immediately. Realizing that both the Azure Striker… and her friend… had just caught her in the act.

“They-!” Cupcake spat out, before furiously scratching her mane. “Celestia damn it! This wasn’t supposed to happen!”

“Cupcake, please… tell me the truth…” Saffron said, looking back at her and wanting to hear it for herself. “Who are you…?”

Cupcake’s shoulders sagged as she closed her eyes. “You want to know who I am? I’m the strongest adept in Equestria. Strawberry was a name I added to my real name. Glazed Cupcake, born under the codename....” The mare reopened her eyes and grinned, revealing two discolored orbs and bladed teeth, one was blue, the other red. “Cannibalizer.”

“She was the first Marionette.” Laurette cut in. “My masterpiece. When all of my strings were cut, she was the only one to remain moving on her own. And the only one to flourish and excel in the wild. If you assist in her capture, then you’d both be greatly rewarded.” That had Lance grit his teeth as he looked at Laurette.

“And just who do you think you are?” The Adept shot back, glaring at Hailstorm. “Don’t you realize the kind of things she’s done? She’s killed ponies and you’re saying you are just letting her do it? That’s just sick…” Saffron herself couldn’t bear what she was hearing from any of them… but she had a question for Cupcake as she looked back at her.

“Cupcake… were you really my friend because you wanted to be friends with me… or am I just another pony with powers you want to have.” She said, looking at her friend with a fierce gaze. “Please… I want to know the truth… why did you become friends with me…?”

“I didn’t even know you had powers to begin with… You weren’t just another adept. I care for you and your father, but these adepts-” She pointed to the corpse at her hooves, “They don’t deserve their powers! I’m doing the world a justice and cleansing them and using their gifts to continue my work! Their powers were an offering to me.”

“And I intend to put your powers to a better use.” Laurette stepped in, smiling. “You may think my methods are cruel Mr. Walker, but until now I couldn’t find dear Cupcake. I would’ve stopped her long ago. Now, either assist me, or get out of my way.” It was then that Saffron had one last question for Cupcake.

“What about the girl… the one you saw as a statue…?” She replied, wanting to hear her answer be in one last question. “Did she deserve what happened to her?”

“Yes…” Cupcake replied bluntly. “I’m going to save this world from itself.” It took a moment for Saffron to process this… but what happened was something Cupcake did not expect. Saffron had used her powers to not attack her… but to instead keep Hailstorm away from her. Which, surprised even the marionette and also Lance.

“Saffron, why did you-?”

“I don’t agree with killing… but I don’t like that mare…” Saffron said in response as she looked back at Cupcake. “Cup… I’m sorry that all of this happened… but as a friend… can I ask you for one last thing?”

“Of course! I’m an open book now!”

“I… well… Weeping was going to be a new friend of mine along with the other members of my team…” She said before looking back at her. “Can you… well… can you give us the rest of her body? I don’t think it would be right for the last thing her friends would remember her by is a severed head… Please, Cup… as a friend?”

“I was actually planning on mailing you all the whole body, but it was too heavy. It’s in my apartment with my other things.” Cupcake replied, before her eyes widened. “What the-?”

In an instant, Cupcake was hit with an oncoming fireball that set her face ablaze. Lance turned around towards the other adept, but froze at what he saw. “Oh sh*t…”

Ash was standing at the entrance, her eyes glowing with a fiery blaze. Her rage was apparent as her coat was layered with cracks of molten lava.

“YOU KILLED MY SISTER!!!” Ash screamed in pure rage as Cupcake screeched in pain from the fire that engulfed her body. In Lance’s mind, this was bad. Really bad. Torn between trying to stop Ash from doing something she would regret and trying to help Vixen do the right thing. The burning murderer suddenly jumped into the sky, her adept powers allowing her to leap over the tall building to her right. “No you don’t!”

Ash ran straight into the wall of the building, melting through it in an instant. Which meant bad news for Lance and Saffron right now. Immediately, Lance tried looking at the time. Fifteen minutes. They only had that much time to not only calm her down, but prevent her from trying to destroy the city in her rampage. Saffron herself had already given chase, but it took Lance a moment to call up Sparkler in order to get her on the phone. “Sparkler, where exactly are you? We got a situation!”

Sparkler’s sick voice replied, “I know! QUILL’s already in the area and engaging both Ash and Cupcake!” Lance looked around him, only to realize that the other mare from earlier, Hailstorm, was already gone. Leaving him to move topside as she looked back at the two of them.

“Sparkler, that’s the problem! DON’T engage Cupcake! Ash doesn’t know what she’s getting herself into!” The Adept panicked, looking back at them.

“What are you talking abou-” Lance then heard a scream of pain from somepony other than Ash and Cupcake. Prompting him to hurry.

“Vixen and I saw it firsthand. Cupcake absorbs the powers of anypony she kills that has powers-!”

“But if that were the case, wouldn’t she be stone?” Sparkler asked. To which, the Adept dashed through a gap between buildings and was horrified with what he saw.

Bumblesweet, AKA Killer Bee was leaned up against a wall, cradling what was left of her right foreleg while Ash was beating the remains of Cupcake as she screamed in rage. Lance was the first to rush down as Saffron hurried right behind him, the mare tending to Bumblesweet while the Adept trying to intervene. “Ash, stop this now!!” He tried to grab her hoof in the process, only to be blasted backwards by some of Ash’s powers as he was thrown into the side of a dumpster.

“I’m not a child! I know what I’m bucking doing!” Ash shouted as her coat reverted. “She deserved to die, and if I could I’d do it all over again…”

“Ash, look at me… You’re not a killer. This isn’t you… this isn’t-” Before he could say anything else, he looked back at the mare as the adept looked at her. “Weeping wouldn’t have wanted for this…”

“You barely knew her! Don’t you dare tell me who her and I are! We used to beat ponies up for fun!” Lance did not know what to say… but whatever happened just now… this was not the same Ash that he remembered taking on as his sidekick. He thought Ash could be better than this… but now he was beginning to worry that he lost her. “The Puppets did terrible things… Weeping was a coward… She would’ve…” Ash choked up.

“Drift Rod!” Sparkler shouted from the other end of the alley. “What the buck is wrong with you!? Weeping was a tragedy, but she wouldn’t want us to relapse!”

“Look who’s talking? You were the worst! I bet if your parents knew what you’ve done, they’d disown you in an instant!” Ash shook as she spoke. Sparkler stared shocked, almost scared.

“Both of you, STOP!!!” They turned around, not to hear Lance say that… but instead hear Saffron shout that at them. “D-don’t you two realize that this is tearing us apart? I may only have been here for a day, I get that… But your friend wouldn’t want for us to be fighting each other… She would’ve wanted for us to move past this and remember her differently…” It was in that moment that Lance happened to notice something flicker in the ash that was Cupcake’s remains as he walked over and brushed it up. Finding something underneath.

“Saffron and Sparkler are right… We shouldn’t be fighting each other now… But I know something we can do,” Lance replied, looking back at Sparkler. “Do you all know where Paradise Hill is?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Head there… and I’ll tell you once I’m back. We need to make this quick though… and we’re going to make sure that Weeping won’t be forgotten anymore.” He said, shortly before reading the label on the keyring as he disappeared a few moments later.

“You do that, I’ve got somewhere else to be…” Ash grunted as she turned around and trotted away.

“Where are you going!?” Sparkler shouted.

“Anywhere but here… I’m sick of all of this responsibility and suffering.” Ash grumbled, her head sagging. Sparkler growled a bit. But sadly, there was nothing much in that instance that she could really do. So, instead, Sparkler had decided to go with Saffron… and also tend to the mare that also happened to be there too as they went to Paradise Hill.

As they arrived though… Sparkler was caught off guard by what she was seeing Lance do in that particular moment. He had found a stone pedestal… and found the other half of Weeping’s body as he was trying to use his powers like a blow torch to weld the head in place. Not to mention that there was a small silver plaque below the statue.

To Weeping Angel, may your kindness carry you far. You will be missed.

“I think I’d change her actual body for a real statue, but the gesture is appreciated.” He heard Sparkler say.

“It would have only been better if Ash were here to see it…” The Azure Striker told her in response. “I had this in mind because I thought it would help both of you… Ash is more than just a teammate. She’s like a sibling I want to help raise… Seeing what happened now makes me think I failed her.”

“You didn’t fail her, Lance. She’s just troubled. It’s hard adapting to a change, and I think… It’s only been easy for me because my family’s there. Ash has nothing to keep her stable. She’s a piece of paper in a storm where everything else has or is a paperweight.” Sparkler replied, sounding much better. It caused Lance to look back at her and sigh a little bit in response to that analogy.

“I wanted to be the paperweight for her… to keep her held down and safe… but she slipped out from under me…” He said, looking down for a moment and sagging his head. “I’m really not feeling good about myself now…”

“There’s so much going on nowadays. How about this? You and QUILL deal with Sumeragi, Power Ponies deal with Maretropolis, and I’ll work on Lauren Order. Thus far you’ve been dealing with so much. Now, go back home and celebrate Aurora’s special day.” Lance could agree with that. After all, they were not far from QUILL’s HQ. He still had time to spare before she came back.

“Alright, but remind me to talk to you about Lauren Order when you’re up for it…” He said as he began to walk back to where the party for Aurora was being prepared. “For now though, Let’s focus on Aurora. After all, it’s her special day… and I wouldn’t want to miss it for the world.”

QUILL HQ

After arriving back at base, everypony had all hooves on deck in order to make sure all the preparations were made. Pinkie Pie herself was even there, setting up all of Aurora’s favorite foods from the time that Aurora had her original pony body along with a few new ones added to the mix. A few others were able to make it too and soon, everything was in place for the big surprise. Even Katie made sure to contact Mist and Cody in advance so that way she was clued in on what Lance and the others were planning.

Soon, just as they were finishing up, they heard the door at the front of the room click, prompting for Saffron to shut off the lights as they heard Mist and Aurora walk inside. The room was dark enough to hide everything from view, but they needed to wait for when they were close enough before they turned the lights on. The door creaked open, and the occupant of the room heard a single set of footsteps ‘clack’ against the floor.

Just as it got close enough though, Lance had Saffron turn on the lights as the light began to pour into the room. And everyone now saw who had just walked in. “Surprise!!!”

“Yah!” A young girl with purple hair and slitted blue eyes screamed in shock. Caught off guard by all of this as Lance soon got down at her level.

“Welcome home, Aurora… We thought we hold a celebration for you that’s long overdue,” He smiled, shortly before Pinkie zipped in and almost tackled the girl. Embracing her in a tight hug.

“Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!! I’ve missed you SO MUCH, Aurora!!” She happily cheered, which was soon followed by Lola, Cody’s AI, flying over to the girl and hugging her too.

“Easy there, Pinkie. Maybe we should give her some space,” The Adept advised, prompting Pinkie Pie to let go of her as the girl looked back at Lance. “So… How do you feel, Aurora?”

“Kinda… Weird… Everything feels warm and I even feel more than I remember when I was alive. I also feel wobbly.” Aurora responded unsure.

“It’ll fade. And thankfully there weren’t any mishaps. She should be kept under surveillance until next month for safety.” Mist remarked as she entered the room.

Lance turned to her, smiling a bit as he felt very happy and also relieved that there wasn’t any hiccups with this. “Thank you, Mist. I really appreciate you doing this,” He said, before helping Aurora up. “You want to stick around? We got this whole thing set up as a way to welcome Aurora back home.”

“We even have long overdue birthday presents!!!” Pinkie Pie cheerfully declared.

“It wouldn’t be right, Aya’s freaking out about something that happened to Sun and she needs some moral support.” Mist replied.

Hearing that caught Lance off guard though… “Wait wait wait… Something happened to Sun?” He asked, looking back at her in shock.

“I don’t know all the details, only that he was hurt and Aya blames herself for it.” Mist rolled her eyes. “Even though it clearly isn’t.” Lance thought it over inside his head for a little bit… thinking over what exactly could he do before looking back at her.

“I can come by tomorrow morning to check on her if you’d like… I just want to be here for Aurora right now though.” He said, looking back at her before looking at everyone else as the party was just beginning.

“There’s no problem. Aya will be fine. Trust me, this is nothing.” Mist replied, nodding her head confidently.

“Alright. Do call me if anything changes though.” He said to her, before turning back to Aurora. “So… what would you like to do first, Aurora?”

“Piggy back ride!” Aurora cheered, raising her hands in the air. Lance smiled, getting down on his knees and letting Aurora climb on his back before picking her up and carrying her all around the room as everyone was celebrating. For tonight, they were all here for her… and for some ponies, they were glad to have her back.

End Strike 54

Author's Note

So... after this, we got several things going on. Some that are good and some... not so good. Here's the breakdown.

-Aurora finally has a body to call her own, which looks like this
-Ash is MIA, needing a break from the hero business after what has happened most recently.
-Cupcake may seem to be dead... but I can guarantee you that we aren't killing her off so quickly.
-Someone is leaking information that's top secret to QUILL to the power ponies. Either that or someone sent it on accident (No confirmation at this point in time)

Also, here's a bit of lore for you in regards to one of the ponies Reaper mentioned early in the chapter. Meadow Flower, also known as Faithless, was once an original member of the power ponies while Stopwatch (AKA, Time Spinner) was still active. The second pony that the power ponies ever recruited onto the team originally after they formed, her powers were to absorb incoming attacks and protect her comrades in tough battles. But after a battle against a villain which caused her to absorb a lethal and poisonous toxin, it slowly killed her from the inside. She's the first recorded death of a team member for the power ponies, but most ponies remember her through the charity organization that she created to help those in need. A charity that Time Spinner poured his heart and soul into... and in which Twilight Sparkle continues the legacy.

Hope you like the chapter! Enjoy!!

Strike 55- The Turn of a Page

When Lightning Strikes- The Turn of a Page

Manehattan (Earlier that day)

For the unicorn mare named Blank Page, she was just a pony who was at the wrong place at the wrong time. She was just a pony who worked two jobs, trying to support herself and her son and was coming home after meeting with her sister, Written Word. However, it was as she was crossing the street that things began to change. For one moment, she was just walking past an open alleyway. Wanting to get home to her son, Poet.

The next moment, she was violently thrown to the ground as the sound of a large explosion set off in the alleyway. She did not know what was going on or what lead to this… but all that rocked her mind was hearing one particular sentence being shouted at the top of somepony’s lungs in pure anger and rage. “YOU KILLED MY SISTER!!!”

Blank could not understand anything that was going on as her head began to hurt and her vision became a bit blurry. She wasn’t severely hurt… but the mare was rather shaken by what had just happened. Before long, she looked to see if her saddlebag was still okay. Her sister had give her a special birthday present to give to her son tonight. Thankfully, it was okay… but it was as she turned her head back around that she felt something… odd.

“You’re hungry like I was… Like I am. Feed yourself by taking the power of another adept.”

For a moment, she turned around, looking to see who was talking to her. But since she didn’t see anything, she then thought to herself. “Who… was that?”

“Call me Cupcake… Hehehe…”

“You… can hear me think?” Blank thought, partially scared, but a little startled by everything that was happening. “W-what do you want from me? I-i just want to get back to my son. Please… I’ll do anything if you could let me go back to him… He’s all I have.”

“Don’t worry… Just find another adept, and everything will become clear.” The voice told her, causing her to shiver a little as she looked around for a moment. Trying to understand what was going on. She was scared… but just wanted to get out of here and get to the train home.

A few moments later, she saw a bipedal figure for a few seconds talk to another pony. Only before they disappeared by some form of teleportation. She shivered a bit at the sight of the figure on two legs before they left… yet, it was the sound of somepony else that caught her off guard. “Excuse me, miss?” When she turned around, the unicorn found herself looking at a police officer that was standing right behind her as he soon asked a question. “Would you happen to know about what happened here?”

All she could do was shake her head as Blank looked back at the officer and shake her head in response. “N-no. I was just trotting to the train station and then… the blast happened. I heard some screaming, but that was it.”

“Are you hurt at all?” Blank thought it over for a moment. Trying to think if mentioning what she was hearing was a good idea at all. But then going against it, telling herself that if she just listened to this… Cupcake… she can be able to get home soon.

“No, just a bit shaken…” She said, before looking to her pocket watch and realizing something. “Ah! I’m almost late for my train!! Sorry officer, but I need to go!” Grabbing her saddlebag, the unicorn began to bolt her way over to the train. Hoping that she made it and arriving just a minute before the train left the station. On the way over, she tried to take a moment to think over what had happened in the last five minutes. Processing everything that happened.

By the time they reached Whinnyapolis, nopony was even left on board the train as she got off and began to trot home. But moments before she was able to approach her own apartment… she heard someone call out to her. “There you are… I’ve been looking all over for you.”

Fear began to set in as the strands of fur began to set in as she slowly turned around. That voice she knew… it was the sound of her ex-husband, Scrollstainer. But how he was here was impossible! When they got divorced, she specifically made sure that a restraining order was filed so he could not be within several hundred yards of her or her son. “S-scroll? W-what are you doing here? You can’t-”

Before she could speak, the shadow that was cast because of the overhead streetlight soon emerged from the ground as it grabbed her by the neck and threw her against the ground. Hurting her and making her cough up a bit of blood in the process. “W-what was that?”

“Sleep… Everything will be fine, Blank.”

“W-what are you going to do?” She fearfully thought to herself, “H-he’s dangerous!”

“Trust me, you’re getting home… I’d never lie to you.” Cupcake said in a chilling voice. “Just sleep...” Blank did not know if she was one to be trusted… but at this point, there were no other options.

“Okay…” She said, closing her eyes. Just as the stallion looked back at her with a grin on his face.

“Giving up already? Where’s the hopeful and positive smile that you always put on? Aren’t you glad to see me?” He asked, before attempting to attack her with another pair of shadow like claws. However, what was different this time… was that as her eyes were closed, the smile on her face was widening immensely as she dodged both incoming attacks without opening her eyes.

When she did though… they were much different than the eyes of the mare that Scroll had remembered before as he grit his teeth. “The hell?”

“That’s right, darling… Hell’s here to drag you back.” Cupcake said, grinning as the blood he drew began to form into a projectile, which she sent into his chest. Causing him to fall backwards as he looked back at her with a growl. Trying to use his newfound powers to create a series of shadow like spears to try and skewer her.

However, the mare was able to easily dodge each one of them that was thrown at her… and in the blink of an eye, she was directly in front of him.

“The devil’s come to collect her dues… Heehee~” He felt a hoof enter his chest at lightning speeds. Causing him to cough blood as his vision was going blurry. Only trying his best to somehow hurt this demon mare that he thought was his wife. But an attack at her head at close range, even though it hit her… did not kill her.

“W-what are you?” He said, a bit fearful of who this mare was. “What are you, you monster!?”

“I’m a masterpiece… I’m unkillable… I am… in need of your powers…” Cupcake said with a demonic grin, slowly inching towards the stallion. All that would come next was the sound of a stallion screaming throughout the night as the moon glowed over the city of Whinnyapolis.

When Blank Page began to open her eyes, her body no longer felt sore… but she felt something in her mouth that tasted awful. As she yawned, the unicorn questioned how she was in her home… and for that matter, what happened the other night. Making her way to the bathroom, she used a paper cup to fill up a cup of water as she began to swish the water inside her mouth for a few minutes.

However, as she spat it out… she was startled by the sight of what appeared to be blood in her sink. And when she looked up at her mirror, Blank Page saw a face in the mirror that was not her own. A deformed pink mare with yellow eyes stared back at her, scars covering her face and body.

“W-what the?” She said, thinking that something was behind her at first, only to see nothing. But when she turned back around, the mare was still there. “I-is this some kind of bad dream? Or…… a-are you…”

“I’m Cupcake.” The mare in the mirror replied. “No one else can see me but you. It’s nice to meet you face to face. See? I got you home safe and soundly. Oh, sorry, my image is revolting, isn’t it?” Blank herself just shook her head, trying to think of the right words to process everything as she looked back at the pony in the mirror.

“No I just… when you first came to me… I thought I was hearing things or going crazy…” The Unicorn replied, before looking back at her. “So are you… part of me now? What is going on?”

“All you need to know is that I’m here, and you have a guardian angel looking out for you. A hideous angel.” Cupcake said, smiling. “Now, don’t you have a kid to take care of?” That made her blink for a moment, before turning around and realizing what she meant. She almost forgot about her son, Poet. It was still a little bit before dawn, so she had the chance to get the gifts for him as she carried them with her out of her room and to where her son’s room would be. Only to not find him there.

Instead, she found him on the couch, resting his head against a cushion. He must’ve stayed up, waiting for when she was going to get home, only to fall asleep. But now that she was here… he could finally be able to tend to him. “Poet? Poet honey… It’s me.”

The colt himself squirmed a bit under the blankets, before finally getting the moment to open his eyes a few seconds later. “M-mama?”

“Yes dear, it’s me.” she told him, moving the blanket for a minute before hugging her son. “I’m sorry I wasn’t home in time… I didn’t want to miss out on celebrating your birthday, but something came up while I was coming home.”

“I-it’s okay, mama. I understand.” He replied, yawning for a moment as he looked back at her and kissed her on the nose. It was in this moment that Blank felt really bad for not being there when she needed to be. And part of her inside the unicorn compelled her to try and find a way to make it up to Poet somehow. But how she was going to do that… that was an entirely different question. And something that she needed to think about soon.

“Poet honey, I want to be able to find a way to make it up to you. Is there something you want to do after school? “ She asked, looking back at him as he was pouring himself some oats and milk for breakfast.”

“Nothing really…” Poet said for a moment, before looking back at her. “I just want to be home with you. Today’s a friday, so we get out of school early.”

“So… you want to celebrate today?”

“Yeah!” He said enthusiastically, finishing his breakfast rather quickly before using his magic to place his dishes in the sink. It wasn’t before long though that he noticed something that made things even better for him as he looked outside. Watching as snowy white flakes soon began to fall rather quickly. Getting him even more excited as he raced back to his room to get his clothes for the day.

As Blank Page watched her son race over to his room though, the phone in the house began to ring as she used her magic to pick it up. Turns out, before she could say hello, the automated message at the other end of the line began to speak up. “Hello there students and parents. This is the Whinnyapolis school district calling to remind all students that school for today has been cancelled due to today's unexpected weather conditions. I repeat, classes for today have been cancelled. Thank you and have a wonderful day.”

Hearing something like this though, did not settle in right with Blank Page. With the schools being closed, it meant that it would be much harder for her in order to try and watch over Poet. The only pony that she had as a foalsitter for him originally was out of town and out of the two bosses she worked for, only the one for her job at the local library was okay with letting their kids be there.

It was as she was thinking this though that she also got another phone call on the home phone. Without even looking at the caller ID, she picked it up and put it to her ear. “H-hello?”

“Ms. Page? Oh good, I finally got to somepony I could speak too…” The voice over the phone let out a disgruntled sigh. She knew who was on the other end of the line. It was the stallion in charge at her second job, Rainy Day. She had to try and calm herself for a moment as Blank soon responded to him, but was a little nervous of what he might say.

“Mr. Day? I-i didn’t expect for you to be calling me this early?” She nervously replied. “D-did you need me to come in early sir? If so, I can-”

“Woah woah, slow down there, pagey,” The stallion replied, calling the mare by his personal nickname for her so he could remember her full name. “Don’t jump to conclusions just yet… I’m giving you and the rest of the employees the day off.” The last two words made the unicorn blink in disbelief for a moment. There had never been a day within the time she had been working for him that he had said the words 'day off'. Of course, there were other policies like paid leave, maternity leave and so on, but she never heard him say those two exact words before.

“T-the day off, sir?” She asked, sounding confused for a moment before she heard him speak up.

“That’s right. The snow’s always causing trouble for ponies trying to come to the office to work and just a few moments ago, the heater blew a fuse. Meaning that if you or anypony else came to work today, you would be literally freezing your flanks off,” Her boss explained over the phone. “So until we have somepony come over to fix the heater, you and everypony else got the day off today.”

“T-thank you sir,” She kindly replied to him, “I had just gotten a call from Poet’s school district and they said that the schools were closed for today, so it’s just a big relief to hear that.”

“No problem… Tell the little squirt I wished him a happy birthday. Until then, I’ll keep you and the others posted.” With that, the phone call ended as Blank Page decided to take a deep sigh as she looked back towards Poet’s room. Noticing that he was trotting out and that the colt saw her put the phone down.

“Mom, who was that?” He asked out of curiosity.

“That was Rainy Day,” She replied back. “He told me to wish you a happy birthday and that I’m getting the day off from work. School also happened to call earlier and said that it’s snowed in so no class today.” That… had Poet’s eyes widen immensely in pure joy as he looked back at Blank Page and was trying to withhold his excitement.

“Y-you mean?”

“Yes,” She said with a smile as she nodded her head. “You can come with me to the library today-” before she could be able to finish her sentence, Poet tackled her to the ground in a deep hug as he looked back at her.

“Thanks mom! You’re the best!!”

“You’re welcome,” She said, closing her eyes for a bit before looking back at her son. “Anything for you, dear.”

Aurora sighed in content as she drank a cup of hot chocolate, sitting on the couch in the lounge room while hiding from the cold under a fluffy pink blanket. Not far off was Katy doing the same thing.

“I forgot how good marshmallows were…” Aurora said with a soft smile.

“Same here! The last time I had cocoa was before I was displaced and even then, it wasn’t as good as this.” Katy smiled before turning around to see the pony that was in the kitchen. “Thanks for the cocoa, Saffron.”

“You’re welcome,” The unicorn replied as she brought over a small tray with extra marshmallows, whipped cream and a few other items that they could use to top off their warm drinks. “I made enough for everypony here and then some if you wanted to have seconds later… It just makes me feel bad for Lance though while he’s out and about.”

That had Katy look back at Aurora for a moment before setting down her drink. “Really? Even after Aurora’s party last night he’s still working? I would think that he had to take some time to relax.” She replied, before deciding to sit next to Aurora so both of them could snuggle up and get warm under two sets of blankets.

“I would’ve thought so too and this morning, he thought the same thing. But Masked Matterhorn told him that the police in Whinnyapolis needed help this morning. Not to mention the fact that Lumen said that there was a surge of septimal power there, which could possibly be a potential new adept that might awaken their powers soon,” Saffron replied before looking back at Katy, noticing that she seemed a bit confused. “Is something the matter, Katy? You look a little bit confused.”

“No, it’s just that I haven’t heard of a city called Whinnyapolis before where I was from.” Katy asked, before looking at Aurora. “Have you ever heard of it before, Aurora?”

“Whinnyapolis isn’t a well known city by any means. While Maretropolis is famous for the bigshot heroes like Power Ponies, New Yoke with it’s festering crime, Las Pegasus for obvious reason and other cities, it’s been mostly normal. Hay, even the super powered ponies were fairly bland, only doing stuff every few months, and even then nothing serious. It’s a quiet city.” Aurora replied. “Excluding the events after the Lifewave. It was the city most affected.”

“Yeah, the only thing that most ponies know about Whinnyapolis is that it’s not that far from Detrot and both of them are along the border with the Crystal Empire and Caneighda. Something in which the only thing ponies know about it is that it’s home to hockey and maple syrup,” Saffron added on afterwards… before realizing the full extent of the last part that Aurora said. “Wait… most affected?”

Aurora nodded. “Yes, most towns that were affected were only one, two or three ponies. Cities usually had twenty, thirty, or forty ponies that were discovered. Whinnyapolis’ numbers almost double them, though it’s kept hush hush.” That had Katy look back at Aurora for a moment and also Saffron, shortly before asking something.

“Does Lance know about this? If what you said was true, then I’m a little unsure of what exactly he could be walking into.”

“He should. It was in the police report before I even got my body back, so either Twilight or PPD.” The young girl replied back to her. Easing Katy’s concerns for just a moment as she looked back at them. If Lance knew what he was exactly going to be walking into, then it would be best to have some faith in him. After all, he’s handled situations like this before and almost all the time he’s come back safe and sound.

“Well, if you say so…” She replied, before thinking of a question. “Now… the only other question that comes to my mind is something completely different though.”

That had Saffron raise an eyebrow for a moment as she looked at Aurora. “Oh? Do tell.”

Yet, the question… was one that Aurora wasn’t personally prepared for. “How do you think Aurora should make friends?”

“Friends? Psh, I’ve got you all.” Aurora waved her hand dismissively.

“Aww, that’s too sweet… ” Katy replied, before adding onto her sentence. “I mean outside of us, though.”

“I used to be friends with the CMC, but they’re off doing their own thing.” Aurora replied, shrinking under her covers.

“Hey, it’s nothing to be worried about. It’s just something to think about,” Katy replied, snuggling her a bit more and trying to see if she was ticklish. “Man, with all this snow, it’s making me think of christmas… or Hearts Warming.”

“But… it’s near the end of September.” Saffron pointed out.

“It’s Hearth’s Warming…” Aurora corrected.

“Who cares!? It’s christmas in september!!” She cheered happily while sitting next to Aurora. “I say we celebrate!”

“... You know, now that I think about it, why the buck is it snowing in september?” Aurora suddenly asked.

“Maybe there was some kind of mess up with the weather pegasi or something?” Saffron suggested. “I mean, it had been a bit humid over the last couple of days in Manehattan before I joined the team.”

“Let’s not question the logic on these things. It’ll be too taxing on the brain.” Teal suggested as the blue beetle landed on Katy’s shoulder. “I checked in with Lance a little while ago. Other than the weather, he’s doing fine and should be back within an hour or so.”

“Hmm…” Katy began thinking to herself shortly after hearing that. It gave her an idea for later when Lance was coming back. One that she thought would be fun to do with him and Aurora upon coming back. “Hey, I got an idea… How about we surprise Lance when he gets back with a snowball fight?”

“I’d rather stay inside…” Aurora replied. “I need to take it easy. Mist’s orders.”

“Okay… anything you want to do while you’re ‘taking it easy’?” Katy then asked her, wanting to know if there was anything she wanted to do while they were inside.

“Eat gingerbread men…”

“Have too many sugary treats and you may gain a few pounds, silly.” Saffron teased, using her powers to form a tiger claw before letting it ruffle up the girl’s mane a little bit and tickling her in the process.

“It’d be better to weigh a lot than nothing.” Aurora giggled back. All that did was get Katy to smile a bit more before hugging the young girl as both of them snuggled under the blankets. Suddenly, they heard a scream.

By the time that Lance had arrived in the City of Whinnyapolis, a few things began to circle in his mind. First, there was the fact that it just happened to be snowing today… which seemed almost impossible given how it was only the second to last week of september and that it should be getting closer to fall. Then again, this was Equestria and sometimes, things don’t always to make sense one hundred percent of the time. Secondly, there was the fact that he could sense multiple different septima’s in a short vicinity of one another. Now, he was notified by Twilight and Detective Whooves that Whinnyapolis was normally a city that didn’t get a lot of attention.

But, after the lifewave hit the place, it became the city that was most affected by the wave and Ponies all over town were beginning to discover that they had some kind of special ability every couple of days. Today, he was actually going to meet with one of Detective Whoove’s contacts in the city to see if he could be able to somehow help them. Yet, in this present moment, he was more likely focusing his Septima in order to keep his face from freezing.

Sure, most of his clothes protected a lot of his body from exposure to cold temperatures, but there were a few places that he needed to personally keep warm as well. That being his fingers and also his face as he continued to look for the Whinnyapolis Police Department. It was a bit difficult in order for the Adept to figure out where it is on his own, so he had to rely on Lumen and also his bracer in order to make sure he didn’t walk into the wrong place.

“You have arrived at your destination. Turn right.”

He took a deep breath as the Adept turned to his right and then spoke. “Thanks… But Lumen, did you really need to have to impersonate the GPS lady?”

“Come on, Lance. Since I’m basically just a spirit now and not an actual living being, my options are limited on how I can mess around with you!” She pouted as the Azure Striker began walking up the staircase.

“Try telling that to Aurora before you two swapped positions… No offense,” The adept replied as he looked back at her. “So, what was the name of the guy that we’re supposed to be meeting?”

“Well, his name is Warning Shout. According to the information that Detective Whooves gave to us, he’s been the Commisioner of the Whinnyapolis Police Department for almost twenty years. In fact, Detective Whooves and Warning Shout were friends at the same police academy, but Warning wanted to help those who lived in the same neighborhood they grew up in,” Lumen read off his profile. “Pegasus, silver fur with cobalt mane and tail and a Cutie Mark of a police badge-”

“Excuse me sir,” That had Lance turn around for a moment, looking down at the bottom of the steps to find the same exact pony that Lumen had just described that was wearing a leather coat alongside what looked like two fellow officers on either side of him. Both of them looking rather similar, with the only noticeable differences being the mane and tail color, with one being red while the other blue. “Would you happen to be the individual who goes by ‘Gunvolt’ back in Maretropolis?”

“That I am,” The adept replied as he looked at all three officers for a moment. “Would you happen to be the commissioner? Detective Whooves told me that you needed some help.” That had the stallion look back at him and chuckle for a bit as they began to walk up the stairs.

“So Timey still remembers me after all these years?” The Stallion asked, laughing a little to himself as the pegasus made it to the top of the staircase. “I knew that he and I would stay in touch, but I didn’t think that he would reach out when I needed help.”

Personally though, Lance was confused on one other factor that didn’t make a lot of sense at first. “Um… Timey?”

“The one who sent you here,” The commissioner explained as the two twins soon opened the doors for them. “The Detective’s name when we were still Rookies was Time Turner. However, when he got married, he changed his last name to ‘Whooves’ since his wife was really uncomfortable with changing her last name.” That made a little bit more sense now as they soon walked inside. However, what Lance saw… was not entirely what he originally expected. Instead of seeing a lot of officers at work processing cases and throwing criminals in jail, he instead saw those same officers helping out young mares and colts who looked almost the same age as Aurora.

“This… is what we’re having to deal with here,” The commissioner explained as he looked at them. “These children aren’t criminals, but they have nowhere else to turn to because they’re scared about doing harm to others or harm to themselves.”

“Wait… are you saying that… they’re all adepts?” Lance asked, personally in disbelief. “They all have Septima’s?”

“Is septima’s what you call them back in the city?” Warning asked, before coughing a bit as he went over to his desk and drank a bit of coffee. “Some of the officer’s on the force decided to call them ‘quirks’ since they didn’t really know what to call it at first. Many of them here are roughly over thirteen years old or more… but despite all of them having special skills, they’re not getting the same treatment as other kids their age. A few had even been thrown out of their own schools halfway through the year because everypony was afraid of them and some were disowned by their parents. Though a majority are runaways and foster foals.”

“My god, that’s just horrible.” Lance said as he looked at all the kids that were taking up refuge inside the building. He felt that somehow, this needed to change. They can’t just be staying here and be afraid of what they can do when the gifts they have could help everypony somehow. “I… I don’t know what to say…”

“Well, that’s not all of the problems here. The kids come here… however, the main problem is with some of the adults who gain these powers,” He said, looking back at Lance. “I have hope that these kids can do good things, especially with all the ponies in the city that could really do some harm. The problem is that we don’t have some kind of facility or school that would help them learn what they are capable of. So they don’t fear their powers and themselves.”

That… had a thought run through his mind as he began to think things over. Something like that… would really be important for everypony. Not just these kids… but for everypony who was affected by the lifewave. “That… is a rather good idea… I may need to talk it over with Twilight, but I’m really liking the idea for these guys to have a place where they can learn how to use their powers freely… But there’s one question I need to ask.”

“Go ahead.”

“Is the station the only place where some of these ponies reside?” The adept’s question soon lead to hearing the commissioner sigh for a moment as he thought it over… before finally thinking of an answer to say.

“Well… there is one possible place,” The pony began to speak. “Some of the younger children happen to like getting together at the Central Library.”

By the time that he and his mother had arrived at the city’s central library, Poet was already excited for what was in store. To him, anytime his mother would take him to the library was like if anypony else took their children to a theme park. There was always something new for him to see, some new attraction to check into and new stories to get himself lost in. He knew that his mother would tell him not to go overboard or get lost in the library, but being here was so much fun for him.

To the young unicorn, it was always really hard for him to try to make friends in any particular way… but to him, he felt like the characters in the stories he liked to read were the ones that he personally could relate too the most and saw some of them as his own friends. He even considered his favorite character from books, Daring Do, as his idol. Somepony he wished was real and wanted to be brave just like her.

“Hey, Poet. How’ve ya been?” Poet heard from behind him. The head librarian, Literary Rhyme, his mother’s boss, stood behind him with a grin. She was a lime green earth pony with a golden mane tied into a ponytail and matching eyes. “How’s school been treating ya?”

“O-okay…” The unicorn colt nervously replied, his feelings getting a hold of him before he asked the librarian a question. “How is everypony today?”

“Mostly good. By the way, I’m sure that a pony came in today with a new, extended version of ‘Daring Do and the Sacred Voyage’.” Rhyme said with a sheepish grin. “Been hiding it so you could check it out when you came back. It’s on the front desk.” Poet’s ears perked up at the sound of that. Excitement rushing through his veins as he jumped up to hug the librarian happily. Overjoyed by what he heard from her.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you SO MUCH!!!” He said, before hearing several ponies trying to shush him as he shuddered a bit and then spoke again in an excited whisper. “I mean… thank you so much!”

“It was nothing. Now, I gotta go to work now, but don’t be a stranger.” Rhyme said happily before prancing off. Poet himself, soon heading around to the front desk to look for the book that the librarian had mentioned. Once he found it, he soon used his magic in order to lift the book up off the table before trotting off with the novel while Literary Rhyme watched.

As she watched though… the colt’s mother was trying to get his attention. “Uh, Ms. Rhyme? Ms. Rhyme? You have a caller on line one who wishes to speak with you.” The mare spoke up, trying to catch her boss's attention.

“Oh? Who is it?” Rhyme asked.

“It’s the commissioner of the Police Department… He says that there’s somepony coming over that he would like for us to meet,” The mare replied, using her magic to hand the phone over to her boss.

“What do you want, leadhead?” Rhyme asked into the speaker, clearly annoyed.

“It’s good to hear from you too, Rhyme time,” The pony on the other end chuckled. “Look, I know that things are a little hectic from the storm and what’s been going on recently, but are those children that have been gaining powers there again today? I got a visitor they might like to meet.”

“Honestly? That’s what you're calling about?”

“Well, I wasn’t sure if now was the right time to bring in a member of the Power Ponies. Rather not make things hectic for you right now,” The chief replied. “Ever heard of the hero named the Azure Striker? Bipedal blond guy from Maretropolis? Has lightning based powers? Probably has been in the news…”

“Yeah, I know who he is. But I don’t care. I run a library and a youth center, and if I’ve learned anything about kids, it's that they’re intimidated by people of the law. And just for the record, I have three with me. So don’t go pulling out the ‘obey the law’ crap.” Rhyme grumbled. “I’m sure I know what Lance Walker wants. To make them his soldiers.”

“If that’s what you honestly think, then I’m afraid you’re mistaken. He wants to help. Can you give him a chance at least? You haven’t had the chance to meet him yet.” The officer over the phone replied.

“Look, I’m sure he’s a big shot in Maretropolis and all, but I’m not going to crack because you say he wants to ‘help’. Was he here helping before the kids got powers? No? Then I rest my case. Good day, officer.” And with that, Rhyme hung up the phone. She groaned and rubbed her eyes. “Don’t say it…”

“Are you okay, miss?” Blank Page soon asked after overhearing part of the conversation. “You seem troubled by something.”

“The commissioner want to barge in and swipe some of my kids over at the youth center… That’s the building where I give a better life to orphans and troubled teens.” Rhyme said.

“It… didn’t sound like that over the phone when he explained it to me... Yet, he didn’t tell me anything about the youth center…” Blank replied back. “All he said was that he wanted to have you meet somepony and that’s it-”

“I saw them snatching kids up off the street, from orphanages and foster centers. He’s been trying to get three of my kids for weeks now…” Rhyme groaned again. “This guy they’re sending better not actually think he’ll be welcomed here… I wouldn’t trust the Masked Matterhorn with my kids.”

That had Blank Page raise an eyebrow before looking back at her boss. “Wait… who?”

“Masked Matter- The leader of that super team from Maretropolis.”

“No, I mean… who’s the guy?” Blank corrected herself, before looking back at them.

“Lance Walker… Guy’s insane. I heard he killed someone who was unable to fight back.”

“Curse Walker...” Cupcake snarled.

That though… didn’t convince Blank of anything. “You don’t know a pony unless you’ve met them in person… How about this… how about you let me talk to him and I’ll leave my phone on so you can hear our conversation. If you would like, we could have it outside and away from the kids.”

“No… No point in it, I’ve made up my mind and I’m sticking to it. S’long as he doesn’t mess with any of the kids that the commish wants.” Rhyme pointed to a filly with a black coat and a white mane with a unique pink color to her eyes. “That’s Ebony. He goes near her and I’m kicking him out.”

That… had a few shivers run down her spine for a moment as the mare looked around. “Um… can I excuse myself for a moment?” After her boss nodded her head, the unicorn trotted over to where the private mares room was. But she wasn’t in there to use the facilities… but for another purpose.

“Okay… There’s something here I’m not getting,” Blank said as she looked at the mirror and the reflection of Cupcake was shown. “How do you know about this ‘Walker’ that I haven’t heard of until now? You make this guy sound like a bad person.”

“You met him… When we first met. After he let me DIE!!!”

“Wait…” The Unicorn replied, shortly before jogging her memory and realizing what she meant. “You mean…”

“He let his sidekick burn me to a lifeless shell. If you weren’t there, I would have died.” Cupcake said in a lifeless tone. “And he didn’t punish her for it.”

Yet… Blank had something else to say. “Listen… Cupcake… I know that you and I are different, but let me tell you something. I’ve experienced situations myself when things were way out of my control and I couldn’t stop it. The reason why I have Poet now is because he was given to me against my will, by the son of a b*tch that you had your fun with the other night. His expression when we met that one time… was exactly like mine… I know this may sound crazy… but I believe that when your attacker killed you… that was something that he couldn’t stop from happening. I know that you may think otherwise… but please… don’t judge a book by it’s cover just yet.”

“Letting my killer go without reprimand is okay now, hm?”

“No, it isn’t… and I bet that whoever did this to you… they’re regretting it and are haunted by the actions they decided to take.” Blank said, before calming herself down. “Now come on… let’s go back out there and meet him.”

“He himself murdered two of my family… He tore my friend, the last thing I had in the world, and made her his puppet. When I went into you, I saw no sorrow in my friends eyes because of what he did. I don’t need to meet him for a third time to know he’s not a good creature.” The reflection of Cupcake soon disappeared as Blank sighed. She knew better than to listen to that of Cupcake… but in the back of her mind, she was unsure if… well… if there was some truth to what she just heard.

“Aw yeah!! Great job, Daring!” Poet said to himself, before looking around to make sure that he didn’t disturb anypony in the room. He was close to finishing the book that he started almost half an hour ago as he closed the book and began to carry it with him.

However, as he was trotting away, something soon made a shiver rattle down his spine. “Hey look, it’s that bookworm pipsqueak from class!”

“Oh no… No, no, no, not now!” Poet panicked, looking around for a moment cautiously. He wanted to try to make it to the front desk to return the book. But just before he got there, an extended tan colored wing soon blocked him off as he turned to see one of the ponies at his school that was the biggest bully on campus.

Roughneck. “Hey, I thought it was frowned upon to be cutting in line.”

“B-but it wasn’t-”

“Shut up, I’m the one talking here!” The pegasus smacked the unicorn to the ground, causing the colt to drop the book that he was carrying as Poet tried to get up. Despite the fact that the pegasus towering over him was much stronger than he was as he now noticed the book on the floor. “Oh? What do we have here?”

“N-no… please don’t-” He said, before trying to reach out for the book with a hoof. Unfortunately, that just lead to Roughneck holding his foreleg down with a hoof as the unicorn looked up in horror. “H-hey! Give that back!!”

“Wow… Daring Do and the Sacred Voyage. Extended Edition, no less! Never thought they made those kind of book for wimps like you.” He grinned a little, before opening it up… and to Poet’s horror, looked like he was going to extend his wings in order to tear out a few of the pages.

And at that point… he had enough. Enough with being bullied by this guy for as long as he could remember. Enough with the name calling. Enough with the stuffing into lockers, the dumping into trash cans… all of it! Enough… with everything. “I said GIVE THAT BACK!!! I’ve had it!!” Unknowingly though, that was when part of the hoof that Roughneck was holding down began to glow, causing the pegasus to loosen his hoof for just a minute and out of nowhere… see three physical words come to life out of nothing.

GIVE THAT BACK!!!

“Oh cute, you think something like that is going to save you now-?” Unfortunately for Roughneck… the biggest mistake that he made was when his hoof touched the words in question.

KA-BOOM!!

Before Lance could even be able to cross the final street needed in order to reach the library, the sound of an explosion and also what felt like a small earthquake shook the ground as his instincts were on full alert. “Lance, what the hell was that?! These Septimal readings just skyrocketed a few moments ago!”

“I don’t know, but I got a bad feeling about this, Lumen!” He said. Just as he arrived at the entrance, many of the other guests inside were beginning to panic while one mare was trying to calm the situation down.

However, it was in this moment that the Adept noticed a gaping crack in the ceiling… that was getting way too close to a chandelier hanging above the mare at an alarming rate as he heard somepony scream. “Ms. Rhyme, Look out-!!”

Lance had no time to think before having to jump in, dashing in as fast as he can as the chandelier from the roof began to rapidly fall down towards the mare in the center. It was as he reached her that he emitted his flashfield, surrounding both him, the mare and anypony else that could be hit by falling debris. All before setting the ceiling ornament away from everypony else and looking back at everypony inside, taking a deep breath. “I-is everypony okay?”

“What in blazes is going on!?” Literary Rhyme yelled. Everypony at the time seemed panicked as they noticed one pony looking rather bruised up.

That was when Lance also noticed one other mare walk over to them. “Ms. Rhyme, are you okay?” She asked before looking at him. “Thank you… um…”

“Gunvolt… but everypony I know just calls me Lance,” He told her for a moment before looking at the pony that he believed was ‘Ms. Rhyme’ based on what he heard. “But enough about me. Are you guys okay? Is anypony hurt at all?”

“No, I’m sure everypony’s safe. Oh man, it’s going to cost a fortune to fix this place up!” Rhyme grunted as she trotted over to where Ebony was sitting. “Suppose a fundraiser's in order.”

“Maybe we should do a headcount to make sure that everypony’s here?” the other mare suggested. “Some ponies could’ve ran outside in the panic.”

“Yeah… Where’s Poet?” That… had the other mare’s eyes widen immensely as she turned around and started looking around frantically. After a few minutes of searching though, she came back with a frantic look. “Alright, I’ll go out and look for him.” Rhyme said, putting a hoof on Blank Page’s back.

“Hang on just a second… What does your son look like, Miss…?”

“Blank Page,” The mare answered his question. “Poet’s all I have…” This was all before going into a bit of an emotional breakdown as the librarian patted her on the back.

“Would you happen to know what he looks like, Ms. Rhyme?” The Adept then asked her kindly.

“Yeah… He’s a little colt about yay tall-” She gestured to her chest. “He’s a unicorn, with a grayish white fur coat and black mane and tail… He doesn’t have a cutie mark though.”

That made Lance think a little inside his head… before asking the librarian another question. “Ms. Rhyme, does this building have any form of security camera’s? Perhaps Ms. Page’s son was seen on the camera’s when the incident took place-”

“There’s several around the building, but there is some that have somepony that matches the description she just gave,” Lumen spoke up, which caught Blank Page’s attention. “What? Was it something I said?”

“W-who… was that?” She asked, causing the adept to sigh a little as she looked back.

“That’s my partner, Lumen… She’s someone who helps me out now with stuff I can’t do on my own,” He admitted, before looking to his bracer. “Lumen, what did you find?”

“Well, according to what I was able to uncover… the pony that she described was seen going towards the main desk to return a book, before being cut off by some Roughneck like pegasus that was bullying him. Yet, it was when the guy threatened to try and tear out pages in the book though that he snapped… and that’s when we felt the septimal surge,” That had Lance’s eyes widen immensely in response before looking at the child’s mother, who also had the same reaction. “Out of nothing, some words… yes, actual words, physically manifested out of nowhere and when the cocky bully tried to hit them, they went off like a bomb here and in the panic, bolted through the emergency exit doors. Went running into the storm before the outside camera’s lost sight of him.”

That… made Lance extremely worried. For multiple reasons. First, they were talking about an adept who had just acquired his powers and did not know how to use them. Secondly, the boy could be scared and try to flee off somewhere. Making the task of finding him much more difficult. “Oh man, this is bad…”

“W-what’s wrong?” Blank Page asked, before looking back at him as he began to explain to both of them. “I-is he okay?”

“Blank Page… are you and Miss Rhyme familiar with the ponies that are gaining powers in this city?” He asked them both.

“Yeah… Why?” Rhyme asked, narrowing her eyes.

“That’s the part I’m very concerned about…” Lance told them in response. “This colt… this colt just gained his own abilities and one of them caused the explosion that happened a minute ago. In the panic, he ran out the emergency exit door and into the snow. I’m very concerned that with him being scared right now and that he doesn’t know how to use his newfound powers that he may end up hurting somepony…”

That… just lead to Blank Page getting tears in her eyes, before using her magic to grab Lance by the collar and drag him towards her. “Please… find him! I don’t care about anything else now! He’s all I have!!” Lance found himself in a rather tricky position as he looked back at the mare in question. Something about her gaze just now felt rather… unsettling. But nevertheless, he took a deep breath and spoke up.

“I’ll not rest until I make sure to bring him back… Safe and sound. That’s a promise,” He assured her as the unicorn set her down. Before looking at Ms. Rhyme. “Would you two perhaps know anywhere that he might run off to? Anywhere at all?”

“He likes books, so maybe a book store? I’m not his mother, so I wouldn’t know where he goes.” Rhyme replied. “I’ll make sure everything’s okay here. You should hurry and find him.”

“Alright. If there is anything else that I can do,” The Adept replied, pulling out a card from his pocket as he handed it to them. “Please call me.” He had the cards with his contact number on them made recently just in case there was a situation where he needed to be in contact with someone and they needed to keep in touch with him on a frequent and daily basis. As of now though, his focus was making sure to find this child as he soon made his way out of the area.

Only to find the police chief not far outside. “Hey, what’s going on-?”

“Sorry chief, but I can’t talk now. I’m trying to find somepony that ran off into the storm,” He quickly replied. “The librarian in charge has things all covered here.”

“But would we need to investigate? This could be an act of terror-”

“Look, Commissioner… I respect you, but I don’t have the time to explain everything that is going on right now when lives are at stake.” The Adept told him firmly for a moment, before running off. Shortly after he took off was when he put in a call to Quill’s HQ. “Guys, are you there? I’m going to need some help with something-”

“Breath, Bumblesweet, breath!” He heard Aurora yell, and Bumblesweet hyperventilating. “Oh, Lance! Thank goodness I was about to call you!”

“It’s good to hear you guys too, but I got a situation on my hands and need some help,” Lance replied, before then asking his teammate for something. “Aurora, do you have a map on the city of Whinnyapolis? I’m now in a situation where I’m trying to find a scared colt in the middle of a snowstorm.”

Aurora cleared her throat. “I’m dealing with a lot here, Lance… Somepony… Shipped another head in the mail, like with Cupcake… And it’s from the same address. Only Bumblesweet and I know right now...”

That had Lance stop for a moment. That… sounded impossible, especially with when Ash lost control of herself after finding Cupcake. Was somepony trying to impersonate the same killings? It was something that he can’t think of right now. Especially with the ongoing situation. “Sorry for calling at a bad time, Aurora… Is Bumblesweet okay right now?”

“Well, since Cupcake’s the one who cut her foreleg off, not really.” The sound of typing greeted Lance’s ears. “Alright, I have the map and am sending it to your phone. Anything specific?”

“Yeah, but first, for the packages you recieved, hide them under my bed in my room for the time being,” The Adept explained as he checked his bracer and used his powers to warp to a nearby rooftop as he continued to survey the area. “I’ll help you guys with that situation once I’m immediately back at HQ… Also, in regards to specifics, I want you to pinpoint any possible parks, bookstores or recreational centers in the area. The Adept I’m trying to find right now is not like other ones we’ve come across before.”

“Alright… There’s twenty bookstores across the city, but only a couple nearby. As for parks, there’s one half a mile east of your location and as for the latter, there are a few scattered around. I’ll mark them on the map. Brown for book, green for park and red for recreation.” Aurora explained specifically as the icons began to appear on the adept’s bracer. He only looked at it for a few minutes before hearing another voice.

“I’m sorry for interrupting, Ms. Aurora, but I have a question on the current subject,” He heard Teal speak up as the sound of him softly landing next to the keyboard was heard over the call. “What do you mean exactly when you say that this adept is not one you’ve come across before?”

“Well for one thing, he’s just as young as Aurora,” Lance replied on the matter, and heard someone doing a spit take. He heard Aurora coughing and hacking, saying something about how it was up her nose. “Second, his powers aren’t like anything I’ve come across before and may be extra dangerous. Third, when Lumen and I saw camera footage of the colt in question, he looked scared out of his mind and took off without a second thought. I want to find him and find a way to comfort him so he isn’t afraid of his abilities.”

“And those abilities are?” Teal then asked.

“Well first… let me send the footage from the camera’s so you can see who we are talking about,” As the Adept said that, he raced over to a nearby rooftop and pressed a few buttons on a holographic screen in order to send them to HQ. “Second… from what Lumen and I know so far, his powers revolve around words, and this colt loves books.”

“Words?” The beetle asked in response, questioning it for a moment. “How in the world can words be a power?”

“If I may chime in,” The Adept now heard Lumen speak up as she softly sat down on Lance’s shoulder. “It seems like Poet, the colt we’re talking about, has a Septima that allows him to generate letter constructs and then use the words he makes to create attacks. Whether it’s by sheer will is not likely, since this instance seems to be based on emotions right now. When he unlocked his powers, it was when he was being bullied by another pony.”

“Lumen, you can’t rule out will power just because emotions were involved. They can make abilities unstable.” Aurora added simply, continuously clearing her throat. “Lance, I think you should let me try to reason with Poet.”

“That was my original plan… though, my concern is trying to find him. The commissioner told me that not everypony who has a septima here uses it for good purposes… And I want to find him before anypony else does.” The Adept replied.

“... Lance, you don’t need the commissioner to state the obvious, and then repeat that stupidity to me.” Aurora said, unamused. “You said he’s scared, right? Try not to assume the worst. Innocent until proven guilty, right? Let me come over, it’ll be less than a minute, Spike’s been working on Spanner’s old teleporter, so… Just fine him and wait for me.”

“Got it. Dress warmly though, the snow’s picking up here.” He replied back, before finishing the call. By the time he began looking around at any of the bookstores that were close to his location, several of them were either already closed because of the snow or had not seen anypony like Poet when he talked with the manager. The park was too far away for him since it was in the complete opposite direction and he could not turn all the way back now.

It was just as he was in the vicinity of one of the first recreational centers though that he got a call back from Aurora again. “Here… Call me when you find the kid.”

“That’s what I’m trying to do, but the bookstores are a bust,” He replied back. “Most parks are in the opposite direction and I’m heading to the closest rec center right-” He stopped for a moment once he heard the sound of what sounded like crying at he turned towards an alleyway that he had almost overlooked. “Hold on… I think I found something… I’m at 10th Avenue and Woolshire St.” After that, he finished up the call and slowly approached the alleyway as the sound of tears became a bit louder. However, as he got closer to the source of the sound, he also heard what sounded like shivering… which made him rather concerned because he was worried that this colt would freeze if he was out too long.

He slowly peeked around the corner… only to find the colt that they were looking for was on his own. Cold and lonely as the adept gasped for a moment. “Aurora… I think I found him.”

“I’ll be there in a bit. Try to calm him down!” And Aurora hung up. Leaving him with not many options as he tried to slowly approach the colt. Yet, the sound of snow breaking down beneath his feet caused the colt’s head to move upward as now stared directly at him. Eyes wide open as he tried scooting away from him.

“W-who are you?” He weakly spoke, while Lance tried to get down on his level. “A-are you with the p-police?”

“No, but I did meet your mother,” The Adept told him as he sat down closer to the colt. “She’s worried about you… and I promised to make sure you were okay…” He was trying to do his best in order to comfort and calm Poet. However, what the colt said next threw him off guard.

“... Are you afraid of me?” That… caught Lance by surprise. He did not know how to respond at all to that… or when the colt kept on speaking. “Everypony at the library… they screamed and ran away… But I didn’t do anything wrong. I…… I’m afraid of me. Are you afraid of me?”

Around that moment was when Aurora finally caught up with Lance… and when Poet saw her, he shivered in fright. “W-who is she?”

“I’m Aurora.” Aurora said as she walked over and knelt down. “You can go, Lance.” Lance himself was unsure at first, but then nodded as he decided to step out to the entrance of the alleyway. Far enough so he could still hear them, but also give them some personal space. Leaving Aurora with the nervous and scared colt. “I know what you’re going through. When I learned about my own powers, I was terrified. Of what others would think, and what could I do to them to scare them.”

“Y-you’re not… afraid of me?” He asked, sounding confused and scared.

“No. Should I be? Do you intend to harm me?” Aurora asked.

“N-no… I don’t-” He said at first, sounding even more frustrated and upset. “I don’t even know why this is happening! What is wrong with me?!” When he said that, the words ‘Sadness’ could be seen hanging over him, raining down ‘tears’. Yes… Aurora was seeing the actual word pouring out over him before evaporating like water.

“Trust me. This is the worst of it. Find what makes your ability activate and control it. Or calm it down.” Aurora said gently. “I could jump out of my body and take over an object, and I controlled it. You can too.”

“I… think of something in my head and sometimes say something and… this happens…” Poet then softly spoke, slowly calming himself down as the cloud and the words from before fade away. Upon realizing it though, was when a look of shock appeared on his face. “I-it worked?”

“I suppose it is controlled by emotion. Don’t let your emotions control you, but don’t suppress them. You’re going to be fine, Poet.” Aurora said. “Now, your mother’s worried about you. We better get you back to her.”

“W-wait…” he said, looking nervous for a moment before asking something. “Can… can you…” For a moment, there was a brief blush on his face, before then asking a question that she didn’t expect. “Can you be my friend?”

“Of course. As long as you be mine.” Aurora replied with a smile. That… made Poet feel so happy to the point that he almost jumped onto Aurora. Hugging her to the point that it felt like her arms were in a vice grip.

“Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!!!” He cheerfully replied. “I’ve never had any friends before, so I’m happy that you are my first!”

Aurora laughed at that. “You’re mine too! Excluding family friends, of course.” Lance could not be happier for them. Yet, even he did not expect for the little colt to have a few words pop out of nowhere, which had the question ‘Can Spikey be my friend too?’

“We’ll see…” Aurora added. “He’s calmed down now, Lance!”

Lance felt good that the situation was under control and that Poet was okay. He was a little worried about not getting to him in time before something bad happened.

Unfortunately though… just a few blocks away… something bad was already starting to unfold. “Hey, OPEN UP!! Whinnyapolis Police! We have a warrant so get out here!”

“Lance, I’m having a bad feeling about these guys…” Lumen muttered before Lance looked at both Aurora and Poet. “I don’t think they are who they say they are. They give me the creeps.” At that though, the Azure Striker looked back at Aurora and Poet as they heard what was going on.

“Aurora, we need to find a place to lay low. We’re in a really bad spot right now,” The Adept replied, before looking at his bracer and seeing a red icon only several feet away. Unfortunately, it was the same one that those ponies were at around the front of the building.

“Lance, there’s a back entrance to the building that’s being held by an electronic lock,” they heard Lumen speak up. “If you can sneak over there without being seen, I can let you inside.”

“Lumen, that’s breaking and entering. Are you sure that’s the only choice we have right now?” Lance asked, before looking at his bracer.

“Not entirely… Oh hang on a second, I just found something… The owner of the rec center is… Miss Literary Rhyme-”

“M-ms. Rhyme?” Poet then said, upon hearing the name. “You mean the Library Mare? And who said that?”

“She’s a friend. Wait, Lumen. What are you-?” Lance replied, before shortly realizing that Lumen had taken the initiative to actually call the same mare as they heard a soft ringing sound for a few seconds before the phone line connected. “Okay, I guess we’re doing this now… Ms. Rhyme, are you there? It’s Lance, we found Poet.”

“Would you call off these officers? They’re banging on the door and demanding I give them three of my foals!”

The Adept looked at all three of them before coming up with a response. “I’ll try to call them off right now. My companion Aurora and Poet will be at the back entry of the building. Use this chance to get them inside while I distract them.” He said, before turning to Aurora. “You ready?”

“What-? No! I don’t have my powers anymore! Remember!?” Aurora shot back, glaring at Lance.

“No, it isn’t that…” Lance replied. “Ms. Rhyme should have the door open while I’m distracting the guys out front. I need you and Poet to go inside and lay low while I take care of things okay? I’m sure this is some kind of misunderstanding.”

“Alright…” Aurora nodded, before looking for Poet. The colt was standing right next to her, ready to move as the Adept soon walked around the corner, looking at the three officers as he approached them.

“Hey, you three,” The Azure Striker caught the attention of all three ponies as they now looked at him. “I thought the police around here weren’t supposed to be harassing civilians?”

“And just who the buck are you supposed to be, blondie?” The response came from what appeared to be the one that seemed… Normal to a degree. One was an earth pony that was abnormally tall in size and muscle, another one was a rather short earth pony that seemed a few inches smaller than the one in charge. The normal sized pony was a grayish white unicorn with silver like eyes.

“Hey, isn’t that guy from Maretropolis or something?” The smaller one spoke up. “Some sort of bipedal lighting freak?”

“He looks the part, but I’m not seeing any sparks or anything.” The big one them commented.

“Both of you knock it off…” The unicorn then spoke up as he looked at him. “Whoever you are, what is your business here? Can’t you see that we’re doing something important?”

“Oh really?” Lance replied as he folded his arms. “For something so important, you have a hell of a way of showing it… Because I met with the commissioner of the police and he told me that they were offering their place as a shelter for kids with powers, I did not expect for this to be your way of finding them?”

“So you met the boss hunh?” He said, looking at the other two before trotting out a bit into the light. “Look, I’m just trying to do my job. If you can let me do that, I’ll pretend like this never happened, capiche?” That… didn’t settle right with Lance. So… instead, he began to think of something internally.

“Lumen, do me a favor and run diagnostics for a moment.”

“What are you planning on doing?”

“Try to get a facial recognition on him and see if his name comes up in the Whinnyapolis PD’s system.” He replied mentally, before speaking out loud. “Well, if you’re doing your job that’s one thing. But just to make sure of it, would it be alright if I call your boss then? I met him earlier this afternoon.”

“By all means,” The Unicorn grinned. “I’m Officer Hard Light. These two are my partners, Brute and Force.”

Everything seemed fine for a moment… before Lumen then spoke up. “Uh oh… Lance, this isn’t good.”

“What’s wrong-” Before he could be able to contact anyone, what seemed like a laser blast flew right past his ear as he looked back at them. And all he could see was a menacing grin on his face.

“Former Officer Hard Light…” The Unicorn grinned as the other two soon followed suit. Brute’s outfit tearing to shreds, while Force’s clothes dissolved away like it was burned off by acid. “We run these streets now… and we need those kids to keep the PD off our backs. And if we need to take them off of your cold dead corpse, that would do just fine.”

“Lumen, tell me what’s going on NOW!!”

“T-this guy was part of the police force, but was convicted of excessive use of force against an unarmed pedestrian, was fired for his job and thrown in prison!” Lumen fired off at rapid speed while Lance tried to get out of the way of the incoming attackers. “When the lifewave hit the city, he and a few other prisoners in the Whinnyapolis detention facility broke out!!”

“And I got three against one… fan f*cking tastic-” Just as he heard that, he saw that another blast was coming his direction as he tried to use his flashfield to protect himself. Unfortunately though, it did not help at all as the blast clipped his shoulder and left him in pain.

Which… made the unicorn grin as he looked back at the hero and began to charge more of his power. “If your only talent is running around… then you don’t stand a chance.”

End Strike 55

Author's Note

Alright... so where do we start off here?

Well first, one of the characters I decided to come up here with is one that I wanted to do for a while now and his powers are pretty interesting. The other is something that BP wanted to do that ties into the whole thing. First, there's Poet... who I thought of based on a character in a old Manga series I liked as a kid called Bobobo-bobo-bobo. One of the characters in the english manga goes by the same name, but is known as Shibito in the original manga... and his powers, as with Poet's, are that he can have words form from nothing and create attacks based on what those words say. I just decided to add more to that, which will also be demonstrated in the next chapter.

As for Blank Page... well, I think you can already tell what's going on with her.

I hope you like what I got here right now and stay in tune for what's coming on the next chapter.
-Frost

Strike 56- Looking back to go forward

Author's Note

Another chapter in the books and this concludes what we have going on for Whinnyapolis. Before I continue further though, given the amount of things that I have planned for this story and for Lance, I see it as really impossible to keep it all in one book. So I'm only going for about a few more chapters with this before starting up a follow up story to continue from there. Trust me though, there's a lot that's going to happen with these chapters so keep an eye out for it. Also, I really want to thank Brony Parasite again for helping me write this and assisting me with making Lance's team rather unique. You're the best!
-Frost

Strike 56- Looking back to go forward

When Lightning Strikes- Looking Back to Go Forward

QUILL HQ (Some time earlier)

Around the time that Aurora had left in order to go find Lance was the same time that Cody, one of Lance’s closest friends, stopped by in order to see if his friend was still actually home. To Katy, this was the perfect opportunity for her to not only strike up a conversation with one of his closest friends, but also to try and get to learn more about him and also understand him a little more about the Adept if they were going to get the chance to be both teammates and also friends.

However… for another pony on QUILL, their mindset was a lot different. That pony in particular was actually Saffron. Who had a package specifically sent to her… and somehow knew the address of QUILL’s HQ. Something that she had not told anypony. Not even her father knew. So what did they exactly have for her? There was a side of her that didn’t want to know the answer to that question, because the last time a strange package was sent, it lead to Ash turning one of her friends to cinders before she could do anything to help her.

But what was surprising was that this package for her… wasn’t any parcel or anything like that… But a Manila folder. One that had ‘TOP SECRET’ emblazoned in blood red ink and also contained a series of papers inside. Ones that… upon reading the top of the page… almost made her partially shiver.

Subject: Cupcake

At first… Saffron was unsure about what to do with something like this… but it was when she began to read that it was more that just paper reports that she found… there was also a CD. Something that could’ve been used to store something on a computer monitor. The unicorn first started reading the doctor’s reports and right away, what she looked at almost horrified her. The one who was writing this, who she presumed was that mare named Hailstorm, had labeled in the reports that the test subject, AKA Cupcake, was undergoing some form of treatment. But one passage in the documents really caught her attention the most.

‘Abilities have been upgraded from their original state, including the power to copy the attributes from all tribes, as well as races. Just the other day she killed a Pegasus guard and took his wings as her own. I think she can use a Unicorn horn and absorb Earth Pony muscles.’

“Is that… how she was able to absorb that one pony’s powers the other day?” Vixen asked herself, before continuing to examine the first page of the five page report. The next two pages talked about how she had been changing the more that she had been forced to undergo different treatments to the point that she had taken on what was to possibly be different personalities… and after absorbing the traits of a griffon, Cupcake had developed cravings for meat. It also discussed how she was sneaking out to seeing somepony… and it was something that could not happen. Page four showed that the writer of this report was said to have given more and more of a form of serum, which was blacked out and redacted. But by the tone of the writer, it was being forcefully injected into her with the dosage being increased each time.

It made Saffron feel sorry for what the pony that she saw as her friend… and personally still saw as her friend… was going through. But… Page 5 was the real kicker.

She was supposed to have a child… but she was robbed of the chance of being a mother by the ponies that lived with her. Something that was so horrific that Saffron could only gasp in horror after reading this. “Dear Celestia…” Now though… after reading something like this. There was still something that she wanted to find out. And that was what was on the disc that came with the file.

So, holding it in her levitation magic, she trotted over towards not where the main computer was, but where some of the other computers were that was the labratory used for coming up with new gadgets and gizmo’s for members of Quill. Humdrum named it ‘Spanner’s Studio’ after his idol, Silver Spanner, and inside, Saffron was able to find a computer to place the disc in and find out what was there.

To her surprise… they were video logs. All in a folder that read ‘Cupcake’s Diary’. There must have been hundreds of them that she had done… but in this folder, there were only a few of them. Some that were defined by numbers… others that were labeled as ‘Log [ERROR]’... but still, she used her magic to move the computer mouse to highlight the first one and open it up.

Log 00000001

An Earth Pony filly appeared.

“Hi… Doctor Hailstorm said he wanted me to record myself and say what my week was like… I’m not sure though… I’m used to it and…” Tears appeared at the edges of her eyes, “I… Killed somepony… A filly my own age… Her n-name was Soul Search… I’m so sorry… I wish I could have stopped it, but they kept pushing us and saying that if we didn’t, we’d both-…” She choked back a sob.

“I… I think I’m done today…” With that, the filly pressed a switch near the camera. Turning it off.

Log 30069999

The same pony appeared on screen, but she was much older. She had a smile on her face.

“I met my team today! They’re very nice. Nicer than the doctors and guards, that’s for sure. There’s Equilis, Violet Gemstone, Jokester, and Lash. That’s not the last two’s real names though.” She looked at her shoulder which had a needle poking out of it and blood dripping down, “Oh… Yeah… Practice was a bit harsher today… Hopefully it get’s better though! I mean, Gem- or Purple Mare’s pretty tough though… She’s the perfect leader! Not sure about Jokester, she creeps me out.”

She then scratched the back of her head. “I feel a bit bad for being the weakest… I never really went into many… Fights after Soul Searcher, but doctor Hailstorm seems to believe in my ability to ‘evolve’. I think I’ve gotten used to the punishments though, so they’re changing from shock to… Some other stuff… But I’m usually good, so… There’s that.” She pressed the switch again.

Log [ERROR]

She appeared once again, looking older and tired.

“Hey… I, uh… Sorry, I’m tired right now. This one is gonna be longer than usual…” She yawned, not trying to hide it. She took a sip of some kind of liquid before continuing. “Today’s mission… It was amazing! Well… Mostly… I saw that stallion again! He…” A blush formed on her face. “He was a lot more passionate on this d-date… I-I-I enjoyed everything though! And he said I could stop him! I don’t know what these feeling towards him are though… Maybe it’s love, or something ugly… We’ll see.”

“In any case, the mission today was to go out into the city. But, uh… W-well… We needed to assassinate a target and his name was-” The recording cut out, before returning. “-And when we killed him… I saw two f-foals… I-I-I t-tried to get th-the team out, b-but Hailstorm said no w-witnesses! … G-Gem e-ended up strangling one wh-while J-Jokester s-s-stabbed the other repeatedly-ly.” She sobbed.

After another bit of static, she was staring into the camera, her eyes puffy.

“We’re supposed to be tools… Right? Then why do I feel… So violated? My parents didn’t want me…” She breathed in deeply. “I feel like I… No, I need to be free… I don’t like being a slave… If anyone gets this message, and I’m still alive, please help me! I can’t keep doing this, I want to be free!”

The mare straightened herself slightly before clearing her throat. “Well… Later…”

Log [ERROR]

She appeared, looking more happy than before.

“Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh! I’m pregnant!” She quietly squealed. “I-I took the pregnancy test that Gem snuck in and got a positive! Oh, I wonder what kind of pony he or she’s gonna be~!” She rubbed her still flat stomach.

“If it’s a colt I’ll name him Clover Leaf, and if it’s a filly I’ll name her Willow Wisp! I’m so excited! I’ll have to use Gemmy’s exit to get out for a few months once I start showing. I don’t care what happens to me, I just want my widdle foal safe and sound~”

“Oh, and Gem left too. I think Lash and her hooked up on a mission. She’ll be doing the same thing I am with her foal. Well, she kinda did. Lash says it’s a filly! Aurora’s a lovely name… Wish they didn’t think of it… I mean, I might get a colt but- oh never mind.”

“I think I’ll run away if I can… Maybe Gearbox will come with? Oh, yeah, that’s the father…” Cupcake waved her hoof. “Anyways, see ya next log!

Log 97680406

Once again, the mare appeared on screen. But this time, she glared at the camera, her eyes red.

“I know you’re watching, Hailstorm! You bucking bastard! You said this was private! You killed my baby, so I’ll kill you and piss on your Celestia damn corpse! If you think what I did to the guards yesterday was bad, wait till I find you… You’re a dead stallion…” Her eyes started leaking tar and her voice sounded like multiple ponies, “I’ll have fun with you...”

Log Buh-Bye

The mare appeared again, covered in blood and gore. A blue Unicorn horn was sown onto her head, and two pairs of wings sewn onto her back. Most of the blood was on her mouth.

“Well, guess this is goodbye! Hah! We made it! Hailstorm, I’m coming after you, and whoever you work for. I’ll rip you all apart… I’m getting hungry again. Let me see if anymore guards are around.” She smirked darkly. “My Willow will forgive my failure at protecting her…”

By the time that Saffron snapped back to reality, she couldn’t believe what she had personally just witnessed… and yet, she felt even more bad for her friend upon knowing the things that were done to her, the turmoil that she was put through and all the suffering made her realize why Cupcake had enjoyed being her friend… and now, she felt awful for letting her suffer a fate such as the one she got at the hooves of Ash. She had felt several different emotions just now when witnessing those clips… and all of them still made her feel incredibly horrible.

“Cupcake… if you can hear me… I want to somehow make this right…” She said, before using her magic to put the disk away. She wanted to save this for when Lance came back later, to hopefully try to show him what she had just discovered.

However, it was only that she had just barely stepped into her room that she was beginning to hear the sound of hooves scrambling… and Katy calling out to her. “Saffron, what are you doing?”

“I-i was just putting something away in my room,” The unicorn replied, using her magic to set the file in a dresser drawer and close the door to her room. “Why? What’s going on-?”

“What’s going on? Lance is in trouble!” Hearing that had Vixen’s heart beating as she raced over to where Katy, Cody and Teal were in the command center. “Lumen just sent us an SOS message to all QUILL members. Lance is right now being cornered by three adepts, each one with different powers and one that makes it impossible for Lance to defend himself because it can go through his Flashfield.”

That even had Cody surprised for a moment. “How the hell is that possible? That’s suppose to be his strongest resort for defense.”

“Not entirely speaking,” Teal clarified to him. “His Flashfield can only protect him from bullets and objects flying at high speeds. Energy projectiles on the other hand aren’t as effective. And the main adept who’s attacking him can manipulate Plasma.”

“Isn’t Aurora with him?” Saffron asked, remembering that she had left to join up with him earlier.

“Aurora doesn’t have any kind of powers that would have her be suitable for combat,” Teal added on. “She went over to where Lance was in order to calm down the Adept he was looking for earlier. But this whole situation brings out a second problem.” That statement from the beetle soon had everyone’s attention.

“Another problem?” Cody then asked.

“These vandals are the ones responsible for forcefully kidnapping ponies that had recently gained adept abilities and then turning them over to the police force. If the police chief gets word of what’s going on, which is highly possible given the escalating situation, the officers that would be taking part of these trades might try to attack and kill the commissioner.” The beetle replied. “So we have two problems.”

“Lance with the… triple threat…” Katy summarized, before saying the other problem that her companion was describing. “And the police commissioner?” That had Teal nod to herself, which had Vixen look down the hall in order to see if Bumblesweet was okay, but only finding her shaking up in a corner.

“Okay, so what are we going to do?” Cody asked. Which, had somepony else take charge.

“I’ll tell you what we’re going to do,” Saffron glared at them. “We’re going out there and making sure nopony dies tonight… Cody?”

“Yes?”

“You’ve been working with the police yes?” Vixen’s question had him nod his head in response. “Then you go help the Commissioner. Katy and I can lend Lance a helping hoof. Both of you get ready, I’ll be with you in a moment.” That had the two of them nod as Saffron trotted back down the hallway, back over to where Bumblesweet was as she softly knocked on the door.

“C-come in…” Was the mare’s reply. To which, Saffron looked back at her as she opened the door to her room and began to trot inside.

“Hey… Are you doing okay, Bumble?” She asked, slowly approaching the mare.

“N-no…” The mare said, looking at where her right foreleg once was. It made Saffron swallow what was in her throat for a moment, before looking back at her.

“Do you… want to talk about it?” She asked, trying to comfort her as much as she could.

“N-not really… And Aurora told me to keep quiet…” Bumblesweet croaked. “Spike’s making me a short term replacement until I can make a better one…” That had Saffron look back at her before setting a hoof on her shoulder. Doing what she could to calm her, including using her magic to bring a box of tissues over to her.

“Did you… lose a friend?” That had Bumblesweet shiver for a small moment, only to hear something else Saffron said. “Don’t be scared… I lost one too… and I’m still having to come to terms with it. I-if you want, I can help you.”

Bumblesweet looked down. “Not to sound selfish, but I wish I had a friend to lose. Even before I was a bad guy, I had no friends…”

Saffron was surprised to hear that… but then sighed a bit as she looked back at her. “Then I want to be your first friend…” She told the mare, to which caught her off guard. “I want to help you however I can… and if you want friends, then you got a friend in me.”

“Th-thank you… Thank you so much!” Bumblesweet attempted to hug Saffron, but ended in more of her slinging a foreleg around Saffron’s neck. To which… the mare chuckled, using her powers to have what looked like a lizard appear on the shoulder of Bumblesweet’s missing foreleg as a see through one was now visible.

“Now try…” she insisted. The two embraced each other, the earth pony mare having shuddered in relief.

“Thank you…” Bumblesweet whispered. The sound of footsteps in the hallway soon lead to Cody signaling to Saffron that he and Katy were ready to go. Causing the unicorn to turn back around and look at Bumble.

“You’re welcome… I gotta go help Lance, but I will be back soon. I promise…” Saffron replied, letting Bumble release her from the hug as she had the lizard return to her. “And when I get back, we’ll make sure that Humdrum finishes that limb for you as soon as possible.” The earth pony nodded as the unicorn soon left her room. But not before having a smile on her face and waving goodbye.

“Alright… Now let’s go get Lance out of this mess.”

Whinnyapolis

Right now, the situation for the Azure Striker was not looking good at all. Being blindsided or caught off guard by an adept was one thing… but being caught off guard by three of them and one of them having powers that can almost hurt you? That was not a good situation he wanted to be in. And unfortunately for him, he found himself in that situation right now.

“Lance, just hang in there! I sent an SOS for backup and informed the chief!! Help is on the way!” Despite the reassuring statement from Lumen though, Lance couldn’t be able to actually reply back to her because of everything that was going on. Brute and Force, the two lackeys here… were not only trying to crush him flat as a pancake on the pavement, but also hit him with orbs of acid. And when he tried to tag them with his weapon, the acid coming off of Force’s body caused the tags to deteriorate.

“Just freaking fantastic… I wasn’t expecting a fight, yet when I get myself pulled into one, I’m at a disadvantage,” The Adept replied, switching bolt clips in his weapon. “If I’m going to be able to survive this, I really need to take out that acid annoyance-”

Just as he was about to fire from the air though… was when he felt himself get pulled down by Brute and smashed into a wall a mere block from the recreational center. Someplace that he was wanting to get them away from. What was worse was that as he was struggling to try and stop them, Aurora was witnessing all of this. She was trying to calm the children inside, but things weren’t getting any better the longer he was trying to draw this out as he waited for backup.

Even Poet… one of her newest friends… was beginning to worry. “I-is he going to be okay?” The unicorn asked her.

“When backup arrives… Yes.” Aurora replied.

“H-how long would that be?” He asked, his hooves shaking a little and looking back at her. “I-i feel… like we should do something.”

“I’m powerless…” Aurora replied. She looked at Lance, then at Poet. “But you’re not!”

“B-but how?” He said, nervously looking towards where Literary Rhyme is and then whispering to her. “I-i don’t know how I can help him… I only understand a small bit of how my p-powers work.”

“Stay at a distance and try to get angry… You’ll be okay!” Poet nervously looked back at her, before peaking through the window and looking towards the Azure Striker and the three that were trying to corner him… Closing his eyes for a minute, he soon thought of the first thing that he could think of. Something that reminded him of his mother everytime he would come home from visiting family.

Speeding Train

“Hey Brute, looks like this hero here has nowhere to-” Before the smaller adept could even finish speaking, everyone inside the room could hear a loud shrieking crash like a train being de-railed as an actual image of a train flying off the tracks formed from the two words Poet thought of… and slammed the big earth pony into a nearby brick wall. Knocking him unconscious. “Brother!!”

“Alright, what the hell is-” Hard Light snapped, before noticing Poet in the window. “Okay, that’s IT!! Force, melt that door off right now!! One of those kids is helping this guy!”

“Crap!!” Lance thought to himself. “Not good, not good!!” With his Dullahan clip activated, he tried to fire at the acid adept in order to prevent him from even getting anywhere close to it, but it was blocked by one of the plasma blasts Hard Light had just fired off.

Inside the recreation center, Poet was now even more nervous. “Oh no! Aurora, what do we do now!?”

“Some form of trap!” Aurora shouted. Which made Poet even more nervous… before he got a response from the most unlikely of ponies as a few of the kids inside came over to both of them.

“Hey, why don’t you try tricking that pony outside by having some trick doors?” One of them spoke up.

“Yeah! Like on those old game shows where contestants try to choose which door has the prize behind it. And when they choose the wrong one, they get pranked!” Another one of the kids spoke up, which honestly surprised Poet. He honestly didn’t think that some of the kids inside the recreational center would want to help him, let alone talk to him.

“But how are we going to disable this guy of his powers?” The Unicorn asked, seeing the acid adept get closer. This prompted Poet to quickly slap two sets of the words ‘Trick Door’ onto the wall underneath the windows as he prayed that it would do something good.

“What the hell!? Since when were there three of them?” That comment from Force outside had Poet breath a sigh of relief. Mostly because he wasn’t sure if he was able to actually confused the earth pony that was trying to break into the building. However, the hard part now was trying to figure out what they were going to do in order to stop this guy and his powers from melting the door down.

So he did the only thing that seemed knowledgeable… Ask for help. “What are we going to do now-?”

“Well, we gotta find a way to handle him!” One other pony with a light grey fur coat, and dark grey mane and tail spoke up as they adjusted their glasses. But to Poet’s surprise… there was more than one of the same pony that was talking at once. Which almost startled him at first. “The rest of me is already working on it… Oh sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. My name’s Replica.”

“P-poet.”

“Pleasure to meet you…” He said, before looking to Aurora. Before he could say anything though, that was when the two clones of Replica soon returned to him.

“We figured out a way to nullify that ponies abilities… and it’s with something that we have a ton of in the kitchen!” The first Duplicate spoke up.

“Since the small earth pony outside has powers that can eat away at metal, we believe that it’s possible that he can manipulate forms of acid that resonate off of his body,” The second one replied, before showing Replica, Aurora and Poet something in a book. “Fortunately, there’s a way to counteract it. Baking Soda is used in order to clean up any forms of acid based spills in scientific laboratories, so if we cover that pony outside entirely with baking soda, it could nullify his powers.”

“Thanks guys.” Replica replied, before both doppelgangers disappeared into smoke.

“H-how-?” Was the only thing that Poet got the chance to say before the earth pony replied back.

“I’ll tell you later. Right now, I think our main focus should be the intruder outside that’s trying to get in here.” Replica replied, turning around and facing the direction of everypony else in the room. That was, before turning to Aurora. “Miss? Would you mind if you helped me with something?”

“Uh, sure?” Aurora replied, though hesitant.

“Ms. Rhyme needs some assistance with trying to calm down some of the other kids. They’re getting very antsy and scared right now given the situation outside,” He explained as they both looked towards where Literary Rhyme was. She was trying her best in order to keep some of the children calm, but looked very worried herself. “I’m going to help Poet with keeping this guy out so your friend has one less problem to worry about outside.” Aurora nodded, before heading towards the kids. While this was going on, Replica had used his powers to replicate himself three times as he looked back at Poet.

“I’m having one of my replica’s stay with you so you would know when to pull the trap on him. Until then, just wait here.” He told Poet, who just nodded as the earth pony and two of his duplicates moved into the kitchen and supply closet while the third stayed near where the unicorn colt was. For a moment, it seemed like things were okay… Until the word ‘trick door’ on his left soon disappeared.

“Grr… Let’s try this again then!” They could all hear the frustrated Acid Adept outside speak up loudly, all while Poet was wondering what was this pony going to try and do next. They could hear him outside, trotting over to the second door and trying to open it with no success as that word soon fade away afterwards. Poet looked towards the duplicate of Replica, who was ushering him to stay calm as Poet tried to focus his powers for what he needed to do. He just had to wait for the right moment and get his chance.

And that happened much sooner than anticipated. At first, it sounded like a bunch of snow was being pushed off the roof. But that was followed by the adept at the door coughing and scrambling. “W-what the hell!? What’s this powder?!”

That was the cue for Poet that he needed. Using his powers, he slapped onto the door ‘Trick Door. Spring release Boxing Glove’ as the words glowed. Outside, the acid adept was not able to react in time as a red boxing glove went flying into his face at full force, knocking him out and throwing him into the snow on the opposite side of the sidewalk.

“You did it, kid. Well done.” The clone of Replica replied, before it faded off. But they weren’t done celebrating yet. Around the same time this happened was when Lance himself was trying his best in order to fight back against Hard Light. But the Unicorn himself was no longer holding back after what was done to his comrades. Even going as far as using his plasma blast to disarm the adept and injure his hand.

“Not so strong without your toy now, are ya!?” He taunted. But it was around then that he also heard the sound of what was an eagle as Lance looked back up. Smirking to himself.

Reinforcements had arrived. First, Katy has started to fire a pair of plasma blasts from her weapons as it had the unicorn backpedal just a moment. Shortly before realizing Vixen swooping in from behind and scarring part of his face with a set of tiger claws. “Grr… This isn’t over!” Soon, the unicorn took off, leaving Saffron to look at Katy as she was next to Lance.

“I’m going after him. Help out Lance and Aurora!” Saffron didn’t even get the chance to hear what either of them had to say seconds later as she took off after the plasma adept.

Saffron chased the adept until he rushed into an alley. The unicorn turned into the alley, but froze when she saw Hard Light on the ground, with a pony cloaked in shadows bit into the stallion's neck. She stared at what she was seeing… and in her mind, she thought that something like this was impossible. But after a moment… she decided to speak. “C-cupcake?”

The shadow stopped, and looked up at Saffron. “Yes…?” Her voice was similar, but something was off. So Saffron decided to walk closer in order to see what it was, but the closer she got, the less she was. The shadows stayed put, and there was no way to see through them. “It seems like it’s been forever, Saffron…”

“Yes… yes, it does.” She said, looking back with trying to hold back some tears. She wanted to hug her friend, but could not tell where she was. “And everyday, I keep thinking about what happened… I’ve lost sleep because of it.”

“You didn’t even try to save me… Where’s my body?” Cupcake asked.

“I-i’m sorry…” Saffron said, almost on the verge of crying. “E-everything just happened so fast that I couldn’t react in time to try and save you… W-what happened there has haunted me in my dreams and I want to do better… I’m so sorry, Cupcake… I’m sorry for not doing anything… and I’m sorry about all the pain you had to go through.” Tears were running down her face now as they soaked the snow. “I… I don’t want to lose you… You’re my friend… one of my first ones. You had faith in the store and when I thought we were going to lose everything… You were my light… I’m sorry for failing you…”

“Sorry doesn’t fix anything.” Cupcake said as a shadowy tendril shot out of her towards Saffron.

“W-what can I do to fix it?!” She said, getting struck in the shoulder. “Please, I want that Hailstorm bastard to pay for what he did to you and what hell he put you through and what he did to Willow-”

“How do you know!?” The tendril wrapped around Saffron’s throat tightly. Making it hard for her to breath… but something soon fell out of her suit as she was struggling to breath. It was what looked like a CD in a case… And what Vixen croaked afterwards told Cupcake what it was.

“S-s-somepony s-sent me y-your d-diary… I-i don’t know w-who… but I s-saw it… b-because I w-wanted to understand w-what y-you were going t-through and h-how I could’ve h-help you… P-p-please believe me…” The longer she tried to speak, the more that she was losing air and that her eyes were beginning to roll to the back of her head. Choking on the tendril that Cupcake was using to suffocate her.

Cupcake snarled, before a magic bolt pierced through her tendril, disconnecting it from the crazy mare. Cupcake hissed and trotted backwards, before another bolt hit her in her chest, cracking the shadowy shield around her.

“Back off!” Sparkler shouted, trotting into the alley while wearing a white mask and cape. Vixen was thankful for being free… but when looking at Sparkler, she narrowed her eyes a little. Cupcake growled before vanishing in a poof of magic.

“What was THAT for!?” Saffron croaked as she caught her breath. “I was trying to talk to her! I let myself get in that position on purpose so I could help her!”

“Didn’t look like you were doing a good job.” Sparkler rolled her eyes. “Who even was that?” For a moment… Saffron said nothing… but instead, she just picked herself back up and looked back at the unicorn who saved her while also picking up the disc she dropped.

“It’s personal… You wouldn’t understand,” She replied, before looking at Sparkler. “Lance and Katy are farther down the road and Cody’s with the Police force right now. I’ll catch up in a little bit.”

“What won’t I understand. You barely know me.” Sparkler narrowed her eyes.

“That mare is a personal friend of mine… and despite the things she’s done, I have hope that she could be able to do something good. I didn't want to lose her again… and now I just did.” Saffron replied, before looking Sparkler directly in her eyes. “And despite what some ponies think of her… I know inside that she is not a monster…”

“You think I haven’t gone through the same thing? I have two friends like that, but I’m convinced one would kill me if they had the chance.” Sparkler said venomously. “But I know for sure that if somepony is choking you, they don’t have any redeeming qualities unless they stop. And she wasn’t stopping.”

Saffron continued to glare at her as she sighed. “I thank you for saving me, but now I have to start all over with her again.” Vixen muttered to herself for a moment as she looked back at her. “Though… next time, I’ll make it count.”

“Yeah, you do that, ‘teammate’...” Esper replied, trudging off as both of them went back to where the rest of her team was. And when they got to where the rest of his teammates was, some of them were surprised to see Sparkler.

“There you are…” Lance sighed, looking back at both Vixen and Esper as he stretched out his damaged hand. “You guys okay?”

“Yeah, but somepony else got to that adept.” Esper replied, looking to Vixen. “Dunno who killed the guy though, but whoever it was it could manipulate shadows.”

“Did you get the chance to see what they looked like?” The azure striker asked, looking back at the two mares, but more specifically Vixen as she shook her head.

“The pony’s whole body was covered in shadows. I wasn’t able to see what they looked like at all.” Vixen told him and looked around for a moment, trying to see the other two figures that were with the one that Lance was fighting. “What about the other two here?”

“Both of them are out cold for the moment. Aurora’s inside with a few of the kids calming everypony down.” Katy answered their question as she took off the helmet she had on. “We’re just waiting to hear back on Cody and the Police Commissioner to see if everything's okay and also make sure that those two can be detained and arrested.”

“Wouldn’t be hard with Solace Asylum.” Sparkler added.

“That’s what we were thinking… but our top priority at the moment is making sure the kids here are alright.” Just as Lance said that, all of them turned to see Poet open up the door and when Aurora soon ran out to join them. A few other ponies also came outside as well, including the one that Lance had happened to meet earlier in the day, Ms. Rhyme.

But before of them could say anything else, Poet soon spoke up. “D-do you know these ponies, Aurora?”

“Oh, yeah! That’s Esper the psychic, Vixen, who has the powers of any animal, and Blue Beetle. They’re members of QUILL.” Aurora replied.

“Thank you, Aurora.” Lance smiled, glad to see that she was okay. Before he could say anything to Literary Rhyme though, he soon got a call from Cody as he picked it up. “Cody? You okay over there?”

“Yeah, Detective Whooves and I got here just in time before two of the officers that were in league with that adept that attacked you tried to kill the commissioner. They’re in custody now, but we’ll be over there to detain any suspects you have. Also, Warning Shot wanted to come over there and bring something over to the owner of that recreational center. When I asked him though, he said it’s something long overdue.” That was all that there was before Cody had ended the call as Lance breathed a sigh of relief for a moment. Only to notice Sparkler shaking a bit.

“So… Dad’s coming?” The psychic asked.

“From the sounds of it, yes.” Lance replied back to her, “Though, what confuses me is what else the commissioner is bringing aside from the officers that were going to lock them up…” It was something rather puzzling, but it was only a few minutes later that the police did arrive in order to make sure that they did take away both Brute and Force as Detective Whooves and Copen got out of one of the carriage that the commissioner used to come here.

The detective though, soon looked at Lance and the others… before directly looking at Esper. “Sparkler? Is that you?” He said, before going over to his daughter and messing with her mane a little. “You look too adorable in that costume… You’re not cold now, are you?”

“Daaaaaad… Secret identity?” Sparkler groaned, shrinking in her father’s grasp. “And not in front of my teammates.”

“Sorry honey… couldn’t help myself.” He chuckled.

“So, what are you doing here anyways? I thought you and mom were busy.” Sparkler asked.

“Well, we were. But after a while, Cod-I mean Copen asked for me to come help him out with something with the commissioner here,” He said, pointing a hoof at Warning Shot. “He and I were in the Police Academy together. I didn’t expect for you to be here though.” As both the father and daughter were talking to one another, that was when the police chief soon trotted up to where Literary Rhyme was and also took off his hat when he looked at her.

“Hello, Ms. Rhyme… It’s… been a while,” He said, not sounding overconfident or anything like how Lance saw him earlier that day. “I… really want to apologize… for everything.”

“Really? Well that’s good to know.” Rhyme’s sarcasm dripped like poison.

“No… I mean it… straight and through,” He said to her, just as what looked like a few more carriages soon pulled up. Lead by the two ponies that Lance said earlier. “And I want to make it up to you… Which is why I had Red Light and Blue Light bring all the kids that we have been taking care of and letting them be here… They should deserve a home, and I think you can provide that more than we can.” That was when everypony… all of the kids that Lance saw earlier got out to join him.

“I’d be a bit understaffed…” Rhyme said, glaring. “And after today, I think I lost every volunteer I had.”

“That is why I’m giving you all the donations that we received since we had these kids staying with us and some of my best officers would like to volunteer in order to assist you in raising them,” He told her. “In addition… I want to make a personal donation to you in order for you to use on being able to expand this center and take on more staff.” He said, handing her what looked like a paper slip. Rhyme took the slip… but what she saw caught her off guard immediately.

“Five hundred thousand bits!?”

“Out of my retirement…” The commissioner replied, the amount even shocking all the ponies on QUILL that were there and even Sparkler’s father. “I can’t help these kids… but I can surely be able to help those who can. I was brought up to serve and protect… it’s what I went to school for and what Detective Whooves and I went to the academy for… but I think that with the way the world is now… this isn’t something that no single pony can handle on their own. Which is why I wanted to help you.”

“How are you going to?” Aurora asked.

“Well…” He said, before looking towards the twins as he looked back at her. “I’m thinking of retiring from the force and letting the twins be in charge… I would feel better with myself if I’m doing more to help ponies through what you do instead of intimidate or hurt them. I want to learn from my mistakes… and looking back, things were a lot different back then as opposed to now.” As the stallion finished his sentence, he took his hat and decided to place it on Aurora’s head as he smiled back. “Go ahead and keep it. It’ll keep your head warm, plus I don’t think I’ll be needing it anymore.”

“Uh… Thanks.” Aurora responded, looking at the stallion.

“Aww, you look so cute with that on!” Katy cooed as she went behind Aurora and began to hug her. It was during this though that they all soon heard more hoofsteps as they turned around, but who they saw soon had Poet running towards them.

“Mom!!”

“Poet!! Oh, by Celestia! I was so worried!!” The mare replied, hugging her son as Lance came over to the both of them. The unicorn noticed him and soon, she looked back at the Azure Striker and smiled. “Thank you so much for finding him!! I was worried that he would get foalnapped or hurt.”

“Actually… I think I should be doing the thanking,” The adept said as he got down to their level, the mare noticing the injuries on his hand and some scratches on his face. “If it weren’t for your son and some of the kids inside the recreation center, I would’ve probably been in even worse shape than I already am. Today, it felt like he saved my life.”

For a moment, both Poet and Blank Page were overwhelmingly happy… but then, the tone seemed to shift a little as Blank Page looked back at him. “Is he… going with you? Are you having him come with you?”

Lance personally… did not expect such a sudden shift in the conversation. But that was when he actually asked a different question and checked his bracer. “Lumen? Do you remember that request I asked Humdrum?”

“You mean the thingy that you wanted to surprise the team with?” Lumen asked. “Humdrum just finished it five ago. It’s already back at base along with that Bumble’s new prosthetic leg.”

“Can you send one of them here?” The request seemed… odd at first because Blank and Poet didn’t quite understand it, but soon, a strange symbol began to digitally construct out of his bracer as he grabbed hold of it once it was done constructing. It was a small silver insignia that at first glance, looked like a collector’s pin that somepony would wear on a jacket or bag. But this one too was also glowing. “I had one of the power ponies, Humdrum, help create this. It’s a device that with a simple click, it transports you to our HQ. Another click and it takes you back to where you last were. I was wanting to give them to the other members of the team, but I thought it would be right to give you one first.”

“Poet won’t be safe with them… Haven’t you heard about their last mission, and how a mare lost her foreleg~?” Cupcake asked Blank Page.

“So… I don’t have to leave?” Poet asked, looking back at him with a surprised expression.

“Nope. You can stay here… Besides, I’m thinking that Ms. Rhyme might be a better teacher for you right now than I can.” He said, looking back at her. “But I will be making sure to come back and check up on everypony here okay? Heck, I can include Aurora as well if you like.” It was at that moment when they turned to look at her, they found Aurora not only with a megaphone in her hands, but also right next to the twin officers as she began to holler out a noise while wearing a newfound hat.

“WEE-WOO-WEE-WOO-WEE-WOO!!!!”

“How in the world was she able to acquire a megaphone?!” Katy shouted out in disbelief, trying to cover her ears in the process.

“So… Yeah. I’ll let you stay with your mom and everypony here… But I have a lot of faith in you guys that you will become the next generation of heroes. You like that?” All Poet could do was look at him with a very happy expression on his face, before having his mom lineup next to the Adept as he hugged them both.

“Thanks mom!! BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!!”

Back at Base…

“Okay… just a little adjustment there and aha! There we go,” Humdrum spoke cheerfully before looking to Bumblesweet as Lance and Saffron watched the drake put on the new prosthetic for her. “How does it feel so far?”

“Like I’m controlling a ghost hoof…” Bumblesweet said unenthusiastically as she moved her new foreleg, but couldn’t really bend it or the hoof.

“Alright, well, here’s comes the part that may be a bit painful… I’m going to have to connect it to your nerves. You’ll feel a bit of a tingle at first and then afterwards, it’ll feel like nothing’s there. You ready?” The sidekick asked her.

“Not really, my stub hurts… Just do it.” Bumblesweet said as she squeezed her eyes shut.

“Okay, here we go,” Spike told her, holding down both the limb and her shoulder. The mare felt a huge jolt through her system before the pain died down. Afterwards, the sidekick soon moved up and let Bumblesweet get up on her own. “There we are… With future modifications, we can sync that hoof of yours with your bees. But for right now, it’ll just be a new limb for you. Can you get up?”

“I think…” Bumblesweet said as she placed her new appendage on the ground and put her weight into it. She stood up on all fours, smiling. “It works!” That had Saffron go over and give her friend a hug as she was feeling just as happy for her as Bumble was right now.

“Cool. It may take a couple of days for everything to adjust, so I don’t recommend going into the field until after a couple days of rest,” The sidekick explained, before looking at them. “If you have any problem or need something fixed, feel free to call me and I can help.”

“Thank you, Humdrum!” Bumblesweet squealed and gave the little dragon a hug, however over powering.

“I’m sorry about interrupting your excitement, but we have more pressing concerns.” Sparkler said, glaring at Saffron. It was then that Lance and Humdrum also noticed her, while the dragon thanked Bumble for the hug and proceeded to leave.

“Sparkler, is this about what happened earlier on mission or about something else?” Lance then asked the unicorn as Saffron and Bumble faced her now.

“Why doesn’t Saffron tell you?” Sparkler said dryly. That had Saffron glare back at Sparkler before sighing for a moment.

“And I told you that it was personal. If I told you, you’d just-” That was when Saffron stopped herself… before looking down and trotting out of the room. Moving past Sparkler before going to her room and slamming the door.

Sparkler glared in the direction that Saffron went. “I’m going home. Don’t bother calling me.” With that, she too left.

That… to Lance, didn’t look good as he looked back at Bumblesweet. “What just happened?” Bumblesweet just shrugged while the Adept sighed and decided to close the door. “O… kay. So um… Bumblesweet? Can I ask you about something that happened earlier while Aurora was with you?”

“Um, sure…?”

“She told me that you… received a box with somepony’s head in it?” He asked, nervous about what he would say. “May I see it?”

Bumblesweet froze. “Uh… A-Aurora put it i-in the ‘Time Crawl’... Said it was an old place in the basement where Stopwatch put delicate evidence… She said that it was moved here a while ago.”

In Lance’s mind, he thought that was a good place to put it. So, he decided to change the question a little bit. “Alright, so… about the head… was it of somepony you knew… or just somepony random?”

“I don’t know many ponies… Aurora did a facial and DNA test, so she’d know more about them than me.” Bumblesweet replied. “It’s just… sick…”

“I know… and it’s not the first time it’s happened…” He admitted. “The first one was of a pony we knew as Weeping Angel. Somepony that was really close to that of Sparkler and also another pony named Ash… however, when Ash found out about her death she just… lost it.” That had Lance place a hand on Bumble’s shoulder. “We’ll be here to help you out and comfort you. I promise.”

“Thanks… I’m going to break this leg in, so… yeah.” Bumblesweet mumbled. “Aurora’s at the central terminal with Pinkie.”

The Adept was surprised by that as he looked back at her. “In person or on call? I didn’t hear any giggling or anything that she’s known for.”

“Pinkie’s focused on Aurora… Plus, she’s really showing her pregnancy now.” That… was something that Lance had almost forgot about given the craziness that was going on right now. But as he got up, the adept looked back at the earth pony and then spoke up.

“Would you like to come with me to the central terminal? You know, practice walking on the leg?” He offered.

“Nah, I’ll go outside. Besides, I’ve got a job now. I’ll just get that holoprojector from Humdrum so ponies don’t ask why I have a metal hoof all of a sudden.” Bumblesweet replied. The Adept nodded in acknowledgement as he left Bumblesweet be and began to walk over to the central terminal as he knocked on the door to get the attention of Aurora and Pinkie Pie.

“Hey there… I’m not interrupting anything now, am I? Bumble said I can find you two here.”

“Oh hi, Lancie!” Pinkie greeted him joyfully. Like Bumblesweet said, she was definitely showing.

“Hey, need something?” Aurora asked, leaning onto the console. “I was just looking for a potential HQ for QUILL… Window shopping, you know?”

“Right…” Lance said for a moment before looking back at Aurora. “Hey uh… Bumble told me that you placed something new in the… ‘Time Crawl’ I think you called it. Can you bring me up to speed on it?” By that point, Pinkie Pie had to excuse herself from the terminal to find the ‘little fillies room’ and then dashed out before anypony could say anything.

“Oh, yeah. The Time Crawl. It’s one of Gadget’s- or Silver Spanner’s greatest inventions.” Aurora said. “I put the ‘you-know-what’ in it.”

“That was what Bumble told me… She also said that you were trying to run facial and DNA scans. Did you get any results on that?” Lance asked out of curiosity as he looked back at her.

“Yeah, and I got a match, as well as a possible motive.” Aurora replied, catching Lance by surprise as she minimized the window she was on and opened another browser. On the screen was a picture of the deceased stallion, but what surprised him was who was next to him. “Geronimo, a professional rock climber, and older brother to one Tree Hugger.”

That name rang a bell in his head immediately. “Oh sh*t… I remember her. That was the pony that we were talking to when we had the incident with Sassy Saddle at Power Pony Pizzeria. She asked me if I was willing to take up a night guard shift at the place since the last one quit, but with what was going on with the Countess at the time, I had my hands full.”

“Yeah, well, this guy’s not even an adept. Thank his DNA for that.” Aurora stated. “It’s strange… Cupcake was an adept serial killer, so why kill a normal stallion?”

That had Lance thinking for a moment… before he thought of something. “This probably isn’t Cupcake… it could be someone or something else… remember how Sassy Saddle’s body was unrecognizable when we found her? What if it was something like that. Because from what we know right now, Ash burned Cupcake to cinders.”

“I know, but even a copycat wouldn’t mess that up… So there’s motive. Maybe Cupcake had a pupil?” Aurora scratched her chin in thought.

“Unlikely. Her only friend at the time I originally met her was Saffron…” Lance told her, before thinking of something. “Hang on a second, I have an idea.”

With that, he stepped out to the side for a moment and then used his bracer to search through his contacts and find the one pony that he remembered still having… before dialing the number. He waited for a few moments as the call began to connect, but afterwards, he got something on the other end of the line.

“Like, what’s cracking, Mr. Walker?”

“Hey there, Tree,” Lance first replied. “Sorry I haven’t gotten back to you in a while. Things have been crazy on my end since the incident at the museum in Sun Fransokyo. But I was calling about that job you offered a while back. Is it still available?”

“No… I’m sorry. Hmm… My employer does have another location though, if you’re interested.”

Lance raised an eyebrow for a moment. “You mean like a Sister Location? Where is it at?”

“It’s actually right there in Maretropolis. It’s state of the art, like the Pizzeria, but it’s starting to collapse under the lack of manpower.”

“Alright… Hey, is there someplace we could meet? I wanted to talk to you about something that came up while researching on a case.” He said, crossing his fingers and putting his hand behind his back.

“I’m kinda busy… But my employer could meet you. She’s visiting Maretropolis today. I can give you an address.”

“That would be much appreciated,” Lance replied back nervously, before swallowing for a moment and looking back at his communicator. “On that note that I was trying to say though, I was asking about meeting up because… well… something came up while researching a case on a murder and… the victim had ties to you.”

There was silence one the other end as Aurora gave Lance the biggest death glare of his life. “Um… It’s Geronimo, isn’t it?”

“I’m sorry, but it is… I’m sorry for having to break the bad news to you Tree,” Lance replied back, trying to show as much empathy as he could. “But I want to find the one responsible… Would you happen to know where he worked at? Who his boss was?”

“Um… I can’t disclose that. You’ll have you ask my employer. I’ll schedule an appointment for tomorrow, and there you can discuss anything you want.”

“Thank you Tree. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.” Lance replied, before taking a deep sigh and looking back at Aurora. “Well… looks like I’m taking a night shift.”

Aurora gave him a deadpanned look. “For all we know, she could be the killer and you alerting her that we’re onto her isn’t the smartest idea!”

“Aurora, calm down…… For all we know, this could be news to her,” Lance replied. “However… I’m a little surprised about this second location. Have you heard of it, Aurora?”

“I’m looking it up…” Aurora’s fingers had been working ever since he began the call. “It seems there are three locations. A shut down one in Maretropolis, the one we went to, and the location they must’ve meant, which is meant to ship animatronics out to parties.”

“Like a warehouse?” Lance then asked, folding his arms.

“I don’t actually know. There isn’t much information on it…” Aurora said, but narrowed her eyes. “Something’s strange about this name on the employee manifest. It seems familiar. ‘Violet Gemstone’...?”

It was when she said that they heard someone trip… and they turned around to find Vixen on the ground. Shocked and surprised. “Did you say… Gemstone?”

“Um… yeah, why-?” That was followed by Vixen going into the room, shushing Lance with a hoof and then looking back at them.

“I’ve heard that name before…” Vixen replied, before looking back at Aurora. “Aurora, could I talk to Lance for a moment? In private? It shouldn’t take long.”

“Fine, fine.” Aurora grumbled as she walked out.

“So… how have you heard the name?” Lance asked. Which… lead to Vixen sighing.

“Well… earlier today, around the same time that Bumble had received her package, I got one of my own. But it wasn’t a severed head… it was files. Files on Cupcake and even an audio diary.” When Lance heard that, he was reminded of when he snuck into where the Suicide Squad was and found the set of files on Equilis.

“Was that part of the reason why Sparkler was upset?”

“Maybe, but I didn’t want to talk about it with her. I trust you more… That’s why I wanted to tell you,” The Unicorn replied, using her magic to summon what looked like a CD as the Adept looked back at her in confusion. “Anyways, listen to this second entry.”

That was when Saffron played it, showing a much different Cupcake as the first part of the second diary entry played. “I met my team today! They’re very nice. Nicer than the doctors and guards, that’s for sure. There’s Equilis, Violet Gemstone, Jokester, and Lash. That’s not the last two’s real names though. Oh… Yeah… Practice was a bit harsher today… Hopefully it get’s better though! I mean, Gem- or Purple Mare’s pretty tough though… She’s the perfect leader! Not sure about Jokester, she creeps me out.”

Then… things began to click. “Oh hell no…”

“What? What’s the problem?”

“If this is true, then the pony we’re talking about is somepony whose name makes Aurora terrified,” He said as he took out the CD, closed the video player and gave it to her. “Saffron, never mention the Purple Mare to her. It causes her to freak out. Alright?”

“A-alright.” Vixen replied, shortly before opening the door and letting Aurora back inside.

“What were you two talking about…? Seriously, I might not have powers anymore, but I’m still apart of this team.” Aurora groaned.

That… had Lance look back at Vixen and then deeply sigh. “Do you really want to know? Because what we found out might not entirely be to your liking.”

“Pff, whatever, I can take a little bad news.” Aurora brushed his comment off.

“This… isn’t little to any degree…” The Adept replied. “Remember when Power Pony HQ got attacked after the power copies broke out? The one that left me recovering in a bed for a couple of days?”

“Th-the Purple Mare…? I thought you killed her-” Aurora’s eyes widened. “Oh… She used to work there.”

“Yeah. Her original name is Violet Gemstone. Same one on the employee manifest you mentioned…” He replied, before looking back at her. “Perhaps I’ll find out more when I’m there. I’m waiting on Tree Hugger to send me an address, time for the meeting and the name of her employer. Once that’s all good, I can probably find out more on the shift.”

“I hope you know what you’re doing, Lance...” Aurora meekly stated.

“Thanks for the words of encouragement, Aurora. I really appreciate it.” He said, before noticing something on his communicator as he found that Tree Hugger had just sent him the information that she was going to give him. “Alright. That seems like everything… I’ll be back in a moment. I need to go talk to Tree Hugger’s employer-”

It was as the doors opened though Lance realized that Katy was directly in front of him, which even surprised her for a moment as she noticed both him and Aurora. “Oh hey there you two. Doing a little bonding without me?”

“Not yet.” Aurora grabbed Lance by his collar. “But I think Lance is due for a tux, so we’re going to check Rarity’s designs!”

“Oh? Why’s that? Is he attending something formal?” Katy then asked curiously, “Would I need a dress for it?”

“No, it’s-” Lance tried to speak up while simultaneously trying to get Aurora to let go of his collar but to no avail. Leaving Aurora to finish his sentence for him.

“For a job interview…”

That had Katy look back at him for a moment, shortly before looking at Aurora. “Oh no, you’re definitely not going out like that,” She spoke up, before looking at the girl that was holding Lance by the collar. “Come with me. Let’s get some real clothes for him.” All Lance could do was swallow any nervousness that he had as he felt himself being dragged across the floor, only thinking of one thing at the time.

How was it possible for Aurora to pull someone almost twice her size? It was something that he was not entirely sure would be answered in the near future. Because right now, all he could do was just go along with it and prepare for the night shift.

End Strike 56

Strike 57- The Joy of Creation (Part 1)

When Lightning Strikes- The Joy of Creation

It took a little while for him to be able to find something for him to wear that was approved by Aurora, Katy and Lumen herself when she woke up in the middle of a nap to see Aurora and Katy trying to pick out clothes for him, but by the time he was able to step out the door, Lance’s appearance was a lot more… professional than that of his normal set of work clothes. He wore a pair of black dress pants with a matching jacket and shoes to go with it, a light blue dress shirt and also a black tie. Which, of course, he had no idea how to tie it on his own and it took them several times on their own in order to try to do something before they finally got it right.

Now though, Lance was walking along the sidewalk of Downtown Maretropolis. He had to put the ponytail on the back of his head under his clothes so he could at least look decent when he was meeting Tree Hugger’s employer. It took him a moment in order to find where he was going, but by the time he got to the facility and opened the door, he found himself inside that of a small lobby for what appeared to look like a family friendly restaurant. It was closed off to the public though and the only other pony who was there right now was the mare that was at the front desk. “Sir, I want to inform you that the facility is closed. Unless you have any other appointments-”

“Hello uh… I was told to come here and meet miss,” Lance paused, taking a moment to read a piece of paper that he had in his pocket before looking back at the mare. “Coco Pommel? Is she here by any chance?” The unicorn at the desk paused for a moment as they looked back at him, before using her magic to pick up the phone and press a few numbers.

“…… Hello, Ms. Pommel?” The mare said. “Hi, uh… there’s someone here at the Maretropolis location who said he’s here to meet you?” She heard a few things said to her in response, before the mare moved the phone from her ear and asked Lance a question. “My boss would like to know what exactly you’re here for and who referred you.”

“Well, I was told by a pony named Tree Hugger that the company here was looking for someone who can serve the night shift?” That… had the receptionist shudder for a moment, just as she got back on the phone to relay what he just said. Shortly before finishing the call as he looked back at the adept.

“Ms. Pommel will be with you shortly. Please take a seat.” Lance nodded his head, listening to what she said as he looked at some of the posters that were on the wall. They were slightly withered, with images of the real Power Ponies and words with various cheesey party phrases. A few had mechanical duplicates of the Power Ponies, such as Fili-Second, Zapp, and Masked Matterhorn. It almost looked like they were looking directly at him.

Suddenly, Lance heard the door near the receptionist swung open at violent speeds, with a disheveled looking mare now looking in his direction.

“Come in, come in, my four o’clock appointment was canceled...! As was my seven, nine and ten appointments…” Hearing that, two things occurred. One, Lance wondered if the closures of appointments that this mare was talking about was related to what he just found out a couple hours earlier… and two, he got up from his seat and began to walk over to the open door as he looked directly at the mare.

“You must be Ms. Coco Pommel,” He said upon reaching the door. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Yeah, likewise…” The mare said halfheartedly, while leading him past the door. “As you probably know, there’ve been two murders at our second location… Which means that the grand reopening has been canceled. The franchise that my predecessor built is crumbling around me… Eheh.” Lance could only feel bad when hearing that. From what he saw in the lobby and from what he did know, this place was more than just a pizzeria for the owners. It was more important than that.

“I’m sorry to hear about that…” He said while the two of them continued to go down the hallway.

“But, I have one more plan! Which hopefully you can help kickstart.” Coco told him enthusiastically. Which, to Lance, meant that she might begin to describe what the job was like… possibly. “You’ll be the nightguard here, and unfortunately I can’t pay you… anything really, but if it works, then we can cut our losses and make the brand global… well, at least in Equestria. Global’s asking a bit much.”

He agreed with that. When it comes to business, like with many things, you have to start small and work your way up. But with what had happened in their facilities, the deaths of Sassy Saddles and Geronimo had been two major setbacks for Coco and the company. And honestly, Lance didn’t care if he got paid or not. Because all he wanted to do was help her. “Alright. Ms. Pommel, is there anything about the facility that I should be informed about?”

“Well, I spared no bit in securing the place. It’s an underground warehouse repurposed as a storage and maintenance facility. No cooks, no cashiers, and less manual labor. Only four people are allowed, meaning no pony can sneak in and well… you know, murder.” Coco cleared her throat, obviously nervous about the whole thing. Which, had Lance nod his head for a moment before asking her something.

“So these four others… are they workers or…?”

“Two maintenance, a janitor and the day shift.” Coco replied.

“Do any of them come for the night shift or is it just the day shift only?” He then asked a follow up question in response, curious about if he was going to meet anypony else while he would be working.

“You’re the night shift…” Coco replied, confused.

“I understand that,” He replied, noticing her confusion and trying to come up with a way in order to address it while scratching the back of his head. “I was just lead to believe that some of the ponies you mentioned earlier also work the night shift. But again, I was just assuming, so I apologize for getting ahead of myself.”

It was around then that he thought back on something that Tree Hugger had mentioned previously the first time he met her, which was something he wanted to ask about. “I did want to ask one thing… about the animatronics.”

“Sure, anything.” Coco replied.

“When I asked Tree Hugger about them at one of the other locations, she told me that they were allowed to move around after hours,” The Adept explained, recalling the details the earth pony told her. “Is that the same case with this facility here?”

“Yes, but in controlled environments. Something about old programming bypasses to make things easier, which could harm staff. The bugs are being worked on before shipments start.” Coco responded. That part surprised the adept, but also explained something about what he heard the mare say earlier. Leading him to believe that the maintenance ponies were the ones who do maintenance on the animatronics.

Which only left him with one possible question. “Would it be okay if I can have a look at the animatronics? So I’m familiar with what’s in the facility before the shift starts.”

“Sure, it’s actually right this way.” Coco replied, trotting towards an elevator. “We have to take this one down, and then another one further down.” Lance nodded, letting the earth pony guide him over to the elevator as the two of them proceeded to the lower levels of the facility. After switching from one elevator to the next, Lance soon stepped out of the elevator and saw some of the animatronics that were in front of him.

There were numerous ones all around him. Some in various colors and sizes that ranged from that of a filly to the size of Pinkie Pie herself.

“We have Funni-Second, Masked Matterhorn, Funtime Zapp, the new Radialora based on Radiance, who hasn’t had one built until now, and our future mascot, Circus Filly.” Coco Pommel listing them off. “She was designed by one of the founders, but was never put into use and was scrapped. I decided to rebuild her using a slightly modified version of the Toy Animatronics. I was in the middle of finishing them up when Sassy died, and after that our mechanic left.”

“I’m… sorry to hear about that,” Lance told her in response, before attempting to compliment her when he heard of how Coco was rebuilding the animatronic called Circus Filly. “Your work here though is rather impressive. Are you the designer or do you build the animatronics too?”

“I implement ideas. I’m creative, but lack the skills to build them myself. I assisted in the creation of the Toy Power Ponies and these Funtime Power Ponies, but other than that I focus on the business end of things. Charity Kindheart was the one who built the company with her partner.” That had Lance think a bit inside his head, remembering what Reaper said about Meadow Flower as he looked back at her. He wanted to ask for more information regarding this ‘Charity Kindheart’, but didn’t want to go off topic.

So instead, he decided to ask a different question. “Did you know Ms. Saddles?”

“I hired her… She and I worked on a few things, and were employees to a rich heiress until Charity picked me up. I offered her a job, and well… I regret it.” Coco sighed. “I was assured it’d be safe…”

“I… happen to know a friend who also knew Sassy…” Lance told her in response, looking back at her. “Do you happen to know somepony by the name of Rarity Belle?”

“I think I met her once while visiting Sassy and her… mane salon job, I think it was… I don’t remember the specifics. Why, is she alright!?”

“Well, she is… despite the fact she was originally devastated when we told her. I just thought that maybe she could be able to help you out if you two had the chance to meet,” He replied back to her, “Do you have anything I can give her? Like a business card or something so she could come visit you?”

“You can pick up my business card on your way out, along with your employee badge.” Coco replied. “I’m glad you’re helping, but can I ask you something?”

“Sure, what is it?” The Azure Striker asked, curious to hear what Coco wanted to say.

“Why apply for a job when you’re a superhero?”

“Well, I want to be able to help ponies out however I can,” He replied, looking back at her as he continued to speak. “I want to do whatever I have to do in order to keep ponies safe… and after hearing what you and Tree Hugger told me, I want to help you be able to turn things around.”

“Thanks, but there are plenty of ponies who’d need your help more. Either way, I’m glad you’re helping us, Mr. Walker.” Coco said as she re-entered the elevator, with Lance following right behind her.

“Same here, Ms. Pommel,” He said as the elevator began to rise up. “What time does my shift tonight start at?”

“Around nine PM.”

“Alright, thanks,” He replied as they reached the top floor. Making his way over to the main desk so he could pick up the business card and his badge. “Enjoy the rest of your day, Miss Pommel.” With that, he slowly left the room, closing the door behind him as he walked out of the building and down the sidewalk. All while Coco was watching him as she breathed a sigh of relief.

“You think it’s a good idea to let him take up the job?” The mare at the front desk asked Coco. “Like… after what happened with Geronimo?”

“Geronimo worked at the first location. Our new facility would have to be invaded by a swat team in order to get in, and if someone bypassed our security somehow, Lance Walker’s a hero. He’ll be fine.”

“If you insist, Ms. Pommel.” The Receptionist told her, going back to work as she began to organize some paperwork on her desk and let Coco return to her office.

Later…

“Why hello there, Lance. I honestly didn’t think you would have the chance to stop by and come visit us today,” Twilight replied as she entered the command center for Power Pony HQ and took off her mask with her magic. “And what’s the occasion for being dressed like that? Are you trying to impress somepony special?”

The adept chuckled a bit as he began to undo the tie that was around his neck. “More likely look professional… My normal work clothes wouldn’t be really appropriate for an interview.” That… had Twilight laugh in response as she looked back at the adept, just around the time that she noticed Reaper outside the door.

“You? An interview?” She asked, looking at Lance and thinking that he was joking for a moment. “If that’s the case, who were you even talking to.”

“I’m… actually glad you asked. A mare named Coco Pommel.” Lance replied back as he set down her business card. “She asked to give me that to Rarity after I talked to her about working a night shift at the Power Pony Pizzeria.”

That though… had Twilight’s expression change almost immediately. Looking at him as she stuttered a moment. “L-lance, you’re not serious now… are you?” The alicorn asked, shivering a bit. “Lance, one pony died there! Why would you-?”

“Two ponies died…” He corrected her in response. “One stallion was found dead with his head severed most recently at the Maretropolis location this morning. Two deaths, two different locations and both of those cases have not been solved… I made a promise that I will find out the reason for what happened and the only way I can do that is if I put myself in their position. So, after talking with Tree Hugger, who referred me to Coco, I agreed to take the night guard shift. It’s only temporary, but it will help me figure out what’s going on.”

“Lance…” She sighed, before looking back at him. “I really do hope you know what you are doing… I just don’t… I don’t want to see what happened to Sassy Saddles, one of Rarity’s closest friends, happen to you.” The azure striker nodded his head, assuring her that he’ll be fine as he picked up the business card that Coco gave him and proceeded to head out of HQ.

Only for him to run into Reaper on the way out. “Oh… Hey, I didn’t see you there.”

“Be careful… or something.” Reaper said plainly. “I know you too well, even though this is one of the few times we’ve spoken.”

“Um… thanks?” Lance told him in response, raising an eyebrow for a moment as he looked back at the undead unicorn. “It shouldn’t be too much of a problem I think. I’m just working as a late night security guard for the Power Pony Pizzeria in downtown Maretropolis. You know, with the animatronics?”

“Yeah, you know that there was another murder that shut the first place down, right?”

Lance nodded his head in response as he looked back at him. “Yes, I’m well aware… The whole reason why I decided to take the job was so that way I can get to the bottom of this. Rarity deserves to know an answer as to what killed her friend… Though, there was something that I wanted to ask you while on the subject.”

He took a moment to take in a deep breath… before being able to ask him what was on his mind. “Have you heard of a mare named Charity Kindheart?”

“Yeah, she approached us to ask permission to use the main team’s likenesses. Started out small before they scrapped the animatronics, built new ones, but there was a murder outside the restaurant. Charity shut it down after that.”

That… had Lance puzzled. “Hold on… Outside? What happened with Sassy and Geronimo occurred inside the restaurant…” For a moment, he began to think of something else to say… and then asked a new question. “Did something else occur… like before I came here? When Stopwatch was still around?”

“Oh, this was years ago. After the murder, Charity retired and appointed some mare in charge of the company. Coco I think. And only a few months ago did Sassy’s death happen, at the reopening of the ‘Party Palace’, as I hear it called. I don’t know a lot about it though, I only helped Raindrops with the case.” Reaper shrugged.

For a moment, Lance was surprised to hear Raindrops being mentioned… but then he remembers that, like with Chrysalis, she was a former hero turned Anti-Hero after getting out of Zero Zone. But it did make him think of one thing to ask. “What did you two find?”

“We found out who the killer was. The mechanic of the first location, not to be confused with the inventor. Lunatic said the animatronics told him to do it, which is what eventually killed the franchise.” Reaper replied. “Went missing from Solace Asylum a long time ago.”

That had Lance scratch his chin for a minute, trying to recall something he remembered hearing earlier while talking to Coco. “Was there a specific type of animatronics you were investigating?”

“We weren’t… We checked them and noticed they were tampered with. And if you were listening, there were only four when the murder happened.”

“Was one of them on Sunset?” Lance then asked him.

“I don’t know, you’d have to find Raindrops and ask her… Why? I don’t remember Sunset being on our team the entire time I was a member…” Reaper said.

That… was when Lance took a deep breath and sighed. “One of my powers is that when I touch the forehead of a dead person, I see the last thing that they see… When I did it with Sassy, the last thing she saw were an armless Fluttershy and Sunset. I was asking because I wanted to know if these were the same animatronics you were looking at.”

“Honestly, your best bet is to either find Raindrops and ask her, or ask Coco, who might be hiding something. Your call.” Reaper stated.

“Well, Raindrops is with Chrysalis and Coco lives in Manehattan according to her business card,” Lance asked… before realizing something. “I think I know somepony I can call. Thanks for the help Reaper.”

Before Lance decided to leave the building so he could go change, he made sure to leave the business card for Rarity as he proceeded to the stairwell that lead to the roof. Once there, he got out his communications device and then called up the same pony that he was talking to a little while ago. “Ms. Tree? Are you there?”

However, unlike before, no one happened to answer. A few seconds later, Reaper spoke. “Maybe she’s busy? There is one other pony that was helping out, our mentor. At least Raindrops’ and mine.”

That… was a bit unexpected. But for Lance, he decided to not go for it. “If I go see Time now, then I might end up getting late for my shift… I’ll be working at the warehouse for the animatronics, so-”

“Time was just as skilled as Raindrops. He wasn’t a mentor to anyone until a year after that gig.” Reaper interrupted him, which was something that the adept did not know about previously. “The Power Ponies had a few mentors from previous teams help. Twilight got the Amorous Archer, Pinkie got the Ponyacci, AJ had her granny, while Raindrops and I got a mare named Amelia Airhoof, who was a pain in the flank… kept breaking my neck for the hay of it.”

Hearing that… now had the adept say something else. “Wow uh… that’s… I don’t really know what to say about that…” scratching his head now, the azure striker added onto that by asking a question. “Would you happen to know where I can find her?”

“Yeah, she lives in the cloud district. Been laying low after her retirement from being a Power Pony. She ain’t that old, just gave up her hero cowl.” Reaper added.

“Like try to blend in with society?”

“Yeah, after her three attempts at being a hero failed, she gave up. The Power Ponies are an old name, three generations there’ve been. I like to call them the Golden Age, Silver Age, and Bronze Age. The last one’s us. Silver age was her team, but that group disbanded with only three active members around the globe. You’ve actually met the leader of that era. Back at the museum.”

“Wait… you mean Cheerilee?” He asked, recalling back to the Shabris incident in Sun Fransokyo.

“Yeah, she was the leader. Started training foals about their abilities.” Reaper said. “She taught Fluttershy and Silver Spanner.” Comet smirked slyly. “As well as Daring Do.”

“Hunh… Interesting,” Lance replied, before shaking his head for a moment. “Wait, what? I thought Daring Do was a character from a book series Rainbow reads.”

“Yeah, it’s a long story, but she was brought into reality with a special magic along with a few others. She left after Stopwatch vanished and she started getting sick. I get letters every now and again.”

That… had Lance blinking for a moment, processing what he heard and then saying something else. “Wow… That’s… interesting. Though, I think we went a bit off topic. You said that Amelia Airhoof is in the Cloud District? Can you show me where that is?”

“It’s three miles north of the tower and a quarter mile east of there. There’s an apartment with a gargoyle painted red on top of it. Go in, third floor, second room to the right.”

Lance had his communicator record and track the instructions that Comet told him as it gave him a route for him to travel. “Thanks Comet. I really appreciate the help… Is there anything you want to tell me before I go?”

“Don’t tell the others about Daring. She’s in hiding for a reason.”

The adept wanted to ask why, but instead, he just nodded his head as he proceeded to leave Power Pony HQ. Lance took a couple of moments for him in order to go back to QUILL so he could change clothes before going out and following the directions that Comet told him. Searching through the cloud district as he kept an eye out for the red gargoyle that he was told about.

Upon finding it, he noticed that the building looked rather worn. The paint on the gargoyle was actually rather faded and parts of it were chipping off as he walked inside. Not noticing many ponies inside as he began to look for an elevator, but ended up resorting to walking up a stairwell when he saw a group of delivery ponies trying to move some heavy boxes up the only elevator in the library. Walking up the stairs, he then counted the rooms, making sure that he counted two rooms to the right… and went to see if there was anypony home as he knocked on the door.

A grey mare with a naturally white mane and light blue eyes answered the door. She was a pegasus mare who looked like she was tired. “Oh, you must be Lance… You are Lance. Sorry, head trauma from a few years ago… What can I do for you?”

“You’re… Amelia right?” He asked, which lead to the mare nodding her head. “A friend of mine told me you can help me with something involving an old case… Something that happened at the Power Pony Pizzeria’s Party Palace?”

“Uh, yeah. What do you need?” Amelia tilted her head.

“Well… It’s a lot to explain. May I come in?” He asked politely.

Amelia groaned and widened the door, before seeing the most cluttered apartment he’d ever seen. “My place is always a mess. Can’t afford to throw it out until every two to three months.”

“It’s alright… I just thought it would be better to not talk about this in the open,” Lance replied, looking back at her before holding out a manila folder. “Take a look at this.”

Inside the folder was all the information that was currently on record regarding the Sassy Saddles incident, from seeing how her body looked to be crushed at multiple angles to the fact that the location that this took place at was the closed down Party Palace in Sun Fransokyo. “Does any of this seem… familiar to you?”

“This is a lot worse than the first murder. You see, an employee found the body of a seventeen year old colt with half his face bitten off and his frontal lobe sucked out. I think, it was missing is what matters. The bite marks were big, so Raindrops investigated the new animatronics.”

Lance raised an eyebrow at that. “New?”

“Yeah, most ponies thought there was four, but Raindrops learned that there were two prototypes deemed unsafe before deciding of the finished product. A real detective that one. We called them the golden two, because their suits were gold.” Amelia ruffled her feathers before continuing. “The prototypes were bigger than the final product, and the suits were designed to be worn by ponies as well as… well… the robos.”

“My god… that sounds horrifying.” Lance thought to himself as he continued to listen to Amelia.

“We found that one of the mechanics was tampering with the other animatronics. Turned out he was a serial killer. Guess that’s why the newer ones had facial recognition. Anyways, he confessed and was arrested. Though, while we were heading to the asylum, he got loose…”

“Were you able to find him?” He then asked her. “And what was that pony’s name?”

“Don’t know his real name, but he was called Gearshift while working there. But he couldn’t be behind these killings.” Amelia said.

That had Lance raise an eyebrow for a moment, before he asked a different question. “Did you… think someone else was involved? Like an accomplice?”

“No. He said something about one, but their name never turned up in the database. No, it has to be a copycat. Because Gearshift’s dead. The day after he escaped, we found him crushed to death in one of the golden suits. Raindrops called that one Springtrap because that’s what killed Gear. The springtraps got moist and… I’ll spare you the details.”

That… had Lance try to compose himself before then asking a question. “This… Springtrap… Did that one look like a particular pony?”

“Yeah. The prototypes were supposed to be, at least originally from what Charity said, a hero and villain. The hero was Fili-Second, while the villain was Twilight’s current student of heroism… That sounded lame…”

“Oh god… You don’t mean…” He said, his eyes widening. “Sunset…”

“Who? I was talking about Solaria.” Amelia said before glaring at Lance. “You haven’t been spouting out the Power Ponies secret identities all willy nilly, have you? Saying one another's name in or outside of battle could cost them their lives, even to a former ally. Even my students never revealed their identities to me. Excluding Raindrops, but she was a rotten egg.”

“No, I don’t say them out loud… all the time…” He said, looking back at her. “But she’s my teacher.”

“Ah, well she used to be Matterhorn’s rival. Flare-mare or something, I can’t remember. She was redeemed, and no one’s doubting her.”

Lance nodded his head, before taking a deep breath. “That… just makes things way more problematic…” He told her, before beginning to explain something. “When I was there at the scene, I used one of my powers to see the memories of the last thing Sassy saw…… It was Springtrap, along with a Saddle Rager animatronic with a missing arm…”

“Well then, glad I was able to help.”

“But this doesn’t explain what happened in Maretropolis…” Lance realized as he looked back at her. “Amelia… at the time you were investigating all this… were you ever told about a warehouse?”

“Uh… It’s been almost four years. Things can change.”

“I wanted to ask… because a recent case happened in Maretropolis,” He explained to her, telling her of the case with Tree Hugger’s brother. “When I went to talk to Coco Pommel, she said that they were trying to take the bugs out of the old animatronics in order to make the new ones… I know of this, because I was asked to work the night shift there. If these new animatronics… were made using parts from the old ones you were investigating…”

“She said she was fixing those flaws, but most likely I think they’re made with the first ones after the prototypes. Have fun either way.”

“Thanks…” He said in response, but as he left, he asked another question. “Do you know of the Purple Mare by any chance?”

“Um…” Amelia froze for a moment. “That… no, no…”

“I wanted to ask… because the Purple Mare was a villain Reaper and I had to face that used the souls of children,” He explained. “But before this, she worked at the same warehouse that I mentioned. I’m not wanting to jump to conclusions… but I don’t want to rule out any possibilities either…” A few moments passed, to which Amelia said nothing as he began to grow concerned. “Amelia, are you okay? Is something wrong?”

“Hm?” Amelia shook her head, “Oh, you must be Lance… You are Lance. Sorry, head trauma from a few years ago… What can I do for you?”

“You…” He said, blinking for a moment and trying to process what just happened. After a few seconds, he picked up the folder he had on the table before deciding to go to the door. “I’ll just… take my leave. Have a good day, Amelia. Thanks for your help.”

“Uh, you too Gunvolt!” She said, just as Lance closed the door behind him. As he left, he then decided to call Reaper to tell him what he had just learned… and what happened.

“Reaper? It’s Lance… I just finished my conversation with Amelia recently…”

“How many times did she forget who you were?”

“Once, actually… But it was during this conversation that we found out something bad…” He told Reaper. “What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear… Springtrap?”

“Spring. Bear traps. A night in the woods where I stepped in a bear trap in spring.”

“What about involving a stallion named Gearshift?” He asked as he reached the roof of the apartment complex.

“He was the killer. Disappeared.”

“Not from what she told me… Raindrops went further on the investigation back then, finding two original golden suits that were seen as defectives and could be worn by a pony… When Gearshift escaped, Raindrops and Amelia chased him and he tried to hide in one of the suits.” Lance replied back. “One was based on Filli-second. The other… Solaria.”

“Uh… I’m on speaker...” Reaper began but trailed off and Lance could not hear what else he was trying to tell him. He thought that Comet was by himself in his own room or something, so instead of asking him to speak up and repeat what he said, the adept made the choice to continue explaining to him.

“Gearshift’s dead, Comet. He tried to hide in the suit on Solaria, but the suit springlocked him in place and crushed him to death… That’s only the beginning though-.”

“Lance… I’m on speaker… And Solaria is behind me.”

That… had Lance realize what he said… and regret it almost immediately afterwards. “Oh sh*t… Sorry, Solaria.”

“It’s okay… just… look, I want to know what the heck is going on, but I gotta help Zapp now. Tell me about this later.” He could hear his mentor say before trailing off. All that had Lance do was just sigh to himself in defeat, sounding like he really screwed up. Before thinking of something else to do as he hung up the call with Reaper… and then decided to try and reach Tree Hugger again. Just like before, nopony was able to respond… so, he put the phone away and decided to just watch as the sun was slowly beginning to set.

“Hell of a day…” He grumbled to himself as he looked at the time on his communicator before turning away from the sunset in the distance.

Just before 9:00PM

“Lance, I’m getting really uncomfortable about this whole thing now after what you told me,” Lumen shuddered as Lance was just about to reach the side door of the facility he was assigned to work at as he used his badge to open the door. She had woken up sometime earlier from a nap while Lance was walking over to the warehouse where he was assigned to work. However, upon telling Lumen everything he found out so she could know what he was doing, she got rather concerned. “I mean… from what you learned from Coco, Reaper and Amelia… this just seems to be a major red flag.”

“Lumen, I promised Rarity that I would get to the bottom of this and find out what happened to Sassy,” He reminded Lumen, who was on his shoulder as he closed the door behind him. “Not to mention that I owe it to Tree Hugger to find out what happened to her brother. Both of them deserve to know.”

“Uh… Lance. I hate to break it to you… but you kind of have a habit for promising things and then getting so caught up on what you’re doing that you end up forgetting about it unintentionally,” That had the Adept glare at her for a minute, before Lumen looked back at him. “What? This isn’t an excuse for me to just get out of here! Think about Kaoru… I know that she may be a bit better now after all the crap with Gremmy, but early on it was difficult for you to be able to help her since you were a hero and she was seen as a criminal.”

“Lumen… this isn’t the time to be pointing out mistakes. Especially ones that I regret the most,” The Adept explained to her as they looked around the room that he was in. “Even though that was me then… after everything we had been through and after what happened to you, I swore that I wouldn’t try to let anyone down like I let you down back then. So to this, I make sure that I do what I told them I would do. Which is why I’m here.”

Lumen herself deeply sighed before looking back at her friend, waiting a bit before deciding to smile. “Well… I guess there’s no stopping you then. I’m going to stay inside your communicator until this is all over. No offense, but this place at night gives me the creeps.” When she faded into his bracer, that was when he decided to look around to be aware of his surroundings. Though, there was one thing that he remembered Coco mentioning to him during their meeting earlier today.

That where he was going was down in the warehouse underground in the facility where the animatronics were stored. Meaning that he didn’t have to worry about anyone from outside coming in out of nowhere… yet, that wasn’t what was on his mind at the moment.

Walking to the elevator, he held out his employee ID so the sensor on the elevator switch could read it. The doors opened and Lance stepped inside, pressing the button needed in order for him to go to the warehouse. Though, it was as he was traveling downwards, he noticed that the light for the elevator was flickering… which was odd since that did not happen earlier when he was with Coco.

His attention finally returned to what was in front of him as he heard a ‘ding’ and both of the doors opened, leading him down to the warehouse and the office that Coco told him he would be working at as he used his employee ID again to open the locked doors. “So… this must be where I’m working at… Honestly, I thought it would be a bit bigger.” He thought to himself upon stepping inside, having the scanner read his ID once more as the door closed behind him.

The room itself seemed like the standard kind of security room that you would find at an establishment like the one Lance was at. It had some posters on the wall for the ‘party palace’ and also pictures of some of the animatronics too, while it also contained security equipment that allowed for Lance to look at different locations throughout the warehouse to make sure that nothing out of the ordinary occurred. However, one thing that did stand out was a picture of the same character that Coco told him about. One that she called…

“Circus Filly.”

“What?” He heard Lumen say for a moment from the contraption on his wrist.

“Oh nothing… I was just saying the name of the animatronic that Coco told me about earlier.” He told her, assuring that there was nothing to worry about as he sat down on the chair in the room and looking at a notepad that had a list of the animatronics in the warehouse. “Now… let’s see what we got here… according to this, there’s Funni Second… Masked Matterhorn… Funtime Zapp… and lastly Radialora-” At each one of the names though was when he switched to a different screen, showing each one of the animatronics. However… when he switched to the last one, that’s when he noticed a problem. “What the-?”

“Lance, what’s wrong?”

“For a moment, I remembered the last animatronic being where it was earlier… but now it’s missing…” The Adept heard. Originally, he thought that it was a glitch. Some error with the camera. He tried switching camera views and then refreshing the feed on it, but the results still were the same. Radialora, the animatronic based on Radiance, had gone missing. To him, this… did not seem right. He knew that the only one in the facility was him, so there was no way someone could’ve tried stealing it. So… what did happen to it?

As he tried to understand what was happening and adjust accordingly… that’s when he heard something. Something that sounded like metal scraping and being dragged across the ground in a nature that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. But there was something else too… something that sounded like that of a music box. Which seemed strange at first… but not until he heard the voice that followed.

“Why do you hide inside your walls when there is music in the halls…?” A melodic voice called out, almost sounding like Rarity except for a difference in pitch. “All I see is an empty room… no more joy, an empty tomb…”

“Lance…… This is freaking me out…” Lumen shuddered, sounding like her teeth was chattering as the Adept slowly began to rise from his seat. It was then that he heard what came next as the sound of the voice was beginning to drift behind him.

“All I do is dance alone…… but now I hear your flesh and bone,” That single statement alone made the adept’s heart begin to race, not sure of where it was coming from… or who for that matter. “I roam these halls, alone all day…… but now you’re here… friend and prey.” That did not make Lance feel comfortable at all with the situation.

Nor did what Lumen said next. “Uh… Lance? Why is your left door open-?” Just as he turned to see it, that’s when something knocked him flat on the ground and caused his chair to fall over. When he tried to get up, what it was immediately went towards him and tried to get in his face. Going as far as to knocking Lance’s weapon out of his hand when he tried to draw it out as it slid under the desk. “LANCE!!”

“It’s so good to sing all day…” The animatronic of Radiance spoke as she inched closer to Lance, going as far as holding down his legs and arms so he couldn’t try to escape. The faceplates on her face soon began to open… revealing the inner metal workings as she continued to speak. Proceeding to open her eyes. “To dance… to spin… to fly… away.”

“Shh…” Another mechanical voice whispered, and the animatronic left. “You… You have mother’s scent on you…” That… had Lance try to get up while he was on the ground… only to see the last thing he thought would save him.

“W-what-?” The adept said, bewildered that the animatronic known as Circus Filly… was standing right in front of him.

Author's Note

So, for this chapter, the goal of it was to go more in depth as to one of the points that was introduced when Lance was in Sun Fransokyo back in... what Strike was it... Ah right, Strike 39. Back then, the 'Power Ponies Pizzeria' was introduced and also lead to the question as to why it was abandoned and also lead to him meeting Tree Hugger. Back then, she offered him a job to fit the role of a Night Guard for a night, to which he said he would do it.

Fast forwarding now to most recently in Strike 56, when he contacted Tree Hugger again, she said that it would be possible for him to contact her boss about the Night Guard job. Her boss being a mare by the name of Coco Pommel. Now though, not only does this chapter go more in depth on Coco trying to be the manager of the business, but also a bit of background as to what had happened before which slowly lead to the original closure of the location in Sun Fransokyo. All leading up to the opening hours of the Night Shift.

However, what awaits for him at this 'Sister Location' is unlike anything he originally expected. And if he wants to survive the night... he's going to need to handle this from an entirely different approach.

This is broken down into two parts for convenience sake. The rest of the chapter can be found in part 2. Also, the layout of the facility that Lance is keeping an eye on is based on the same facility from Five Night's at Freddy's- Sister Location.
-Frost

Strike 57- The Joy of Creation (Part 2)

When Lance had found out that the one who had just helped him a few moments ago... was one of the same animatronics that he was asked to watch over, he had a lot of questions bounce around in his head. But could not entirely form the words in order to say it due to how shocked he was. “W-what? H-how-?”

The voice coming from the animatronic though... had a much different question for him. “I haven’t seen momma in a long time… where is she...?”

“Y-your… momma?” He asked, trying to understand what the animatronic filly was saying. “W-what do you m-mean? W-who a-are you?”

“Momma calls me Willow, but the others call me Circus Filly.” That… made some things clear, but still didn’t answer other questions formulating inside his head. But… there was one question he could ask that might clear some things up.

“Do you know… your momma’s name?” The Adept asked, trying his best to remain calm after everything that just happened.

“Momma is momma, I don’t need to know a name. You seem to be in trouble.” The voice said.

“T-trouble?” The adept asked, raising an eyebrow as he looked back at Circus Filly. “W-why would you think that?”

“The others are saying spiteful things about you…” That… made the Azure Striker a bit puzzled. Did this somehow involve what had happened before with Equilis and the Purple Mare? What exactly did this ‘Willow’ know about him? And the biggest question he had on his mind… what was she going to do to him?

“What spiteful things, Circus Filly?” He asked, still trying to remain calm despite what was going on. “And who said them?”

“Mostly Key and Fixture.”

“I… never heard of them before.” He replied back, thinking carefully of what to say next before speaking. “Do they go by other names? Like how your momma calls you Willow?”

“Those are their other names, but the workers call them Funtime Fili-Second and Funtime Zappy.” That had a bell ring in Lance’s head, realizing that the two names she just said were two of the other animatronics that he was asked to watch over. Now, there was only one thing that he wanted to ask the filly regarding this subject before asking anything else.

“What… do they say about me? Is it anything bad?”

“Many things.” The filly told him.

“W-what kind of things?” He said, now beginning to get worried.

“Momma said to not speak of them.” That… seemed to have his senses die down a bit, but he was still concerned about some things. First off, it seemed that trying to understand what some of the other animatronics were saying about him was completely off the table and if that were the case on other ponies too, then it would make finding out what happened to Geronimo much harder.

So… he then asked something else. “Does… anyone come to visit you and your friends? Key and Fixture?”

“Only momma, but I haven’t seen her in weeks. She was nervous about work.” Well, that did not go as well as he had hoped for. But… there was one detail that Lance heard that could potentially lead to something important as he began to sit up on the floor.

“Work? Do you know where she works at, Willow?” He then asked her, thinking that if she said a particular location, then he might get an idea as to who she was talking about… in theory, of course.

“Um… a restaurant.” That… made a chill run down his spine. He had only been to one particular restaurant most recently… and other than Saffron, there was only one other pony who was working there, which was Cupcake. But, he did not want to rule out the possibility that she was talking about the Pizzeria either.

“Willow… I’m not entirely sure who your momma may be… did she happen to have any friends?” He asked, thinking that if she said somepony else, it could clear things up.

“What are friends-? They’re listening now… I can’t hear them anymore.” That… confused Lance for a moment, before looking back at her.

“Uh, Willow… What do you mean by ‘they’?” He didn’t get a response to the question, so he then decided to answer her question. Going on the assumption that when she meant ‘they’, she was referring to the other Animatronics. “Friends are those who help each other out and care for each other, no matter who they are…”

“They want you gone… You shouldn’t return here again.”

“Willow… I promise you that after tonight, I won’t need to come back again…” He told her in response. “But… have there been others that have come here before?”

“Only mother and the ones who tear us apart and put us back together.” That last part… confused Lance a bit, until he thought about how Coco mentioned that she had some maintenance ponies work on the animatronics during the day. “Though mother looked different last time. I knew it was her though!”

“How often did she come here?” He then asked, thinking that the more he found about this ‘mother’ figure, the more it could possibly help him get to the bottom of things.

“Really often, but the last time she did she said that she had to take care of some things. She even took care of one of the meanies that tore us apart before she left! But she’s started to smell…” That, had Lance look back at Circus Filly with a raised eyebrow for a moment, before looking up at one of the monitors in the security room. More specifically, at the map.

There were numerous different rooms in this facility after you left the elevator, including the breaker room, the galleries for Radiolora and Circus Filly, the ‘Funtime’ Auditorium and a few other rooms. However, with what Willow had just said previously… there was a chance that he might find what he was looking for at one particular location.

Parts and Services, directly next to the Funtime Auditorium. “Willow… Would you happen to know where the auditorium would be?”

“Your right.” Hearing this, the azure striker turned his head in that direction and seeing the door that was labeled ‘Auditorium’ on the front. Getting up off the floor, he picked up his weapon and instead of holding onto it, he holstered it and grabbed what looked to be a flashlight off of the security desk. Using his electricity, he was able to provide power to the device as it shined brightly.

“Thanks Willow… Before I go though… Did your mother ever visit the auditorium?” He asked her kindly. The thought that came to his mind was that if the ones that Willow referred to as the ‘meanies’ were from Maintenance and her mother took care of one of them… then it was possible that there were clues somewhere in parts and services.

“She visited everywhere. Why are you interested?”

“Well… If you said that she took care of that… meanie, then I would think that there’s some kind of clues hidden over in the room next to it… like a scavenger hunt,” He explained to her in the best terms that he could think about. “I just thought that if I visited, I could find some clue as to who your momma is and help find her. I’ll be back in a moment.”

With that, he left the control module that was at the center of the entire floor and proceeded to go to the door that lead directly to the auditorium. “Lumen, how are we on camera’s right now?”

“Uh… From the looks of it, Radiolora is b-back at her stage and e-everything else is n-normal…” Lumen spoke to him mentally, stuttering a little as she was speaking. “Sorry… that whole thing earlier just really frightened me.”

“It’s okay, Lumen… The sooner we get through tonight, the sooner that we don’t need to worry about this place again.” The Adept assured her, slowly pulling down the handle to the Auditorium and slowly opening the door. At first glance, it did not look like Fun Time Zapp had moved from her original position… but he still didn’t want to be taking any chances. His goal was to reach the parts and services room on the opposite end, but Zapp was directly in the center of the auditorium. Meaning that one false move could alert the animatronic to where he was.

So… he slowly crept around the backside of where Zapp’s personal stage would be, inching his way over to where the other side of the auditorium. But just as he reached the door… “Lance, wait!”

“Lumen, what is it?”

“It’s that Zapp thingy… she’s just twitched-” That had Lance look back towards the stage, and notice how she looked to be jerking all over the place. Before suddenly glaring directly at him and beginning to move.

Acting on impulse, Lance shined the flashlight directly at Zapp, hoping that it would do something. Turns out, it did and caused Zapp to stop advancing forward, backing away as it tried to shield it’s eyes. The Adept… used this to hold back the animatronic a little bit longer as his hand felt a metal handle. Looking up, he found a door directly behind him. One that had the words ‘parts and services’ directly on top of it. “Okay… Here goes nothing.”

With a quick impulse, he opened the door and bolted inside. In doing so though, his light moved away from Zapp for a split second and caused the Animatronic to come racing at him. With seconds between him and the animatronic, Lance shined the flashlight one more time at Fun Time Zapp, just to buy him enough time in order to close the door before the animatronic could even touch him. “Okay… that was too close.”

“You’re lucky that you used that light. Otherwise, you would’ve been toast.” Lumen commented.

“Yeah-” Before Lance could comment though, that was when something else hit him. “Ugh… God, what is that smell?”

“Is something off in there?” He heard Lumen speak up mentally.

“Yeah, it smells like rotten meat in here… You would think that for a place like this, things could be a bit more…” It was as he was speaking to Lumen though that he noticed something… bad. A discoloration on the floor. Most of the entire building would have colors such as white and pink, but what he had come across was a big dried up stain of red all over the floor… and some of it leading to a nearby closet. “… Sanitary… I got a very bad feeling about this.”

Placing his hand on the floor, he could tell that something like this wasn’t red paint. Nothing… was anything like that from what he had seen before. Slowly, he moved to the closet… but as he opened the door, what he found almost made him sick to his stomach. There was a dead mare in the closet, one with blood all over her head and a large brutal gash that looked as if something was torn off of her head. No doubt… this was who Willow referred to as the ‘meanie’.

But this kind of handiwork… was not like anything he had seen once before. And there was no way that he could be able to use his bracer to run facial recognition on somepony whose face was mutilated like this. It only left him with one option… which was to do the same thing that he did before when finding out about what happened to Sassy Saddles.

So… Taking a deep breath, he slowly placed his two fingers directly on the mare’s forehead and closed his eyes. Letting the memories come to light.

“Geez, when in the world did fixing some of these animatronics get so complicated?” The mare that was the maintenance pony said to herself as she looked to be fixing the foreleg of an animatronic that had come loose. “Just a small tweak here… and there we go. All done. Now I can be able to finish my shift and get back home.”

The mare was just finishing the final touches on her work though… when she heard the door open to her workstation and somepony walk inside. When the mare turned around though, she saw what looked to be a white unicorn mare… with a black mane and a cutie mark of what looked like parchment. However, the maintenance pony could not see the mare’s face at all. “Ma’am? I’m sorry, but civilians aren’t allowed to be down here. Please go back upstairs or-”

Before the mare could finish her sentence though, the mare stepped forward as she saw a deep smile appear on the mare’s face. But instead of teeth, she saw metallic fangs and a red glow in the mare’s eyes. The maintenance pony tried protecting herself with the wrench that she had been using in order to perform maintenance, but it was knocked away from her as the pony was forced to the ground.

Then… she saw the face of her killer… and had witnessed her own horn being ripped off of her head in her final moments. All while her killer was enjoying every moment of it.

When Lance came back to reality and fell back on the ground… he could not believe what he had just witnessed. He had seen a mare tear off the horn and face of another mare… but not just any mare. It was somepony that he had met before.

“Lance, are you okay?!” Lumen asked him, sounding incredibly concerned for him the moment that he removed his hand from “W-what happened?! Did you see anything?”

Personally though… Lance himself was questioning what the hell he had just witnessed. He knew that he saw Blank Page… but the way she had attacked the maintenance pony was almost like that of Cupcake. It was… well, if he were really honest with himself, he had both answers as well as several questions that were attached with it. But… some parts of it were things that he could worry about later. “I saw more than enough… I’ll tell you later, but right now I need to get back to the control room. I think I finally have an answer for Willow now.”

Lumen honestly did not know what he meant by that… but decided to leave him be as the Adept got back on his feet… while also picking up what looked like the employee badge of the maintenance pony. Turning his flashlight on as he began to walk back through the auditorium, being careful not to alert Fun Time Zapp as he traversed the room and reached the other side as he closed the door behind him.

Looking both ways and making sure that there was no animatronics lurking in the hallway and waiting to ambush him, he carefully moved back to the control hub, where he happened to find Willow waiting for him inside.

“Did you find what you were looking for?” Willow suddenly spoke.

All Lance could do was nod his head. “It was… odd. There were parts I did get… and some that I didn’t,” He sighed, before looking back at the animatronic. “But I think I know a bit more about your mother now…”

“Oh? She’s amazing, I hope you two can meet!”

All Lance could do was smile at that stray comment from the animatronic filly, just as he noticed the clock on the desk reached 6:00 AM as a small alarm went off. “I hope so too, Willow. I really want to get the chance to talk to her… It was a real pleasure having the chance to meet you.”

After Lance had took a moment to clean up his workstation that he was at, he used his employee badge to scan the entrance to the elevator, which had the doors part open as the adept stepped inside the elevator. Once he made it to the top floor and the doors opened though, he was greeted by somepony… he didn’t think he would find at the building this early in the morning. “Oh… Good morning, Ms. Pommel. How are you today?”

“Great now that I know you’re okay.” He heard the mare sigh in relief upon seeing him.

“I’m glad to hear that…” The Adept told her, before clearing his throat for a moment. “But… there’s something I found last night while keeping watch. You might not like it though.”

“What…?” Coco asked, shrinking in her seat.

“Well…… I found this while checking something in Parts and Services… but I found… one of the ponies that I think you hired for maintenance,” He told her back in response. “I looked at her memories using one of my powers and… I think somepony found a way to get inside before they… well…” He took a deep breath, looking back at Coco. By now, the adept was unsure if she understood what she meant or needed more explaining… so he instead got out the employee badge that he found down there. With a small bit of blood that was already stuck on the plastic sleeve. “I’m sorry Coco… I wish there was something I could do to help, but…”

“I-it’s okay… it’s not your fault…” Coco looked down, despair clear on her face. All Lance could do was try his best to comfort her and calm her in the present moment.

“Coco… I really wish there was something I could do to help not just your business, but you as well…” He told her as the mare looked back at him. “If you need help with anything… anything at all… Let me know and I can do my best to help.” The Adept then attempted to offer a shoulder for Coco to cry on and try to comfort her in that moment. “I’ll always be able to help a friend in need.”

End Strike 57

Author's Note

And with that, part 2 is done. Now... once Lance gets some much needed sleep, the real fun begins.
-Frost

Strike 58- From the Shadows

When Lightning Strikes- From the Shadows

Maretropolis, Midnight

“So Humdrum… Can I ask you something?” The power pony that went by the hero name of Zapp asked her teammate over their communication line as she looked down on the city from the top of Power Pony HQ. Humdrum was inside the control room for the Power Ponies base of operations, watching over Zapp as she began to drift down from rooftop to rooftop. “Why are we here?”

“Uh… that’s kind of a difficult question to answer Zapp… I mean, why are we here in this world to begin with-”

“No, I mean… why are we here in Maretropolis having to run midnight patrols?” Zapp clarified for him. “I mean, couldn’t any of the other girls be able to do this instead?” That had Humdrum pause for a moment, a little bit caught off guard by what his teammate just told him as he began to clear his throat.

“Are you telling me that you didn’t get the memo?” The dragon asked her, before continuing to speak as Zapp reached a rooftop for an apartment complex a few blocks over. “Radiance is visiting her sister and her team in Centrail City, AJ’s checking on Coloratura at Solace Asylum to see how her recovery is doing, Pinkie’s still inactive and Fluttershy’s keeping an eye on her.”

“You forgot about the egghead.” Zapp reminded the sidekick as she landed on another rooftop. However, as she landed, what Humdrum told her next almost made the pegasus trip and fall on her face.

“Oh yeah… Twilight’s on a date tonight-”

“Woah woah woah!” The hero replied back, startled by the sudden bit of news. “Hold up… She has… a coltfriend? Since when!?”

“Since you and Lance rescued him and also when Blaster got blindsided by Anti-Zapp,” Now things were beginning to make a little bit of sense. Humdrum must have been referring to Reaper given how he was phrasing everything. However, Rainbow didn’t honestly think that a relationship with Reaper… especially on that kind of level, was somehow possible. The undead stallion blamed himself for what happened to Stopwatch and thought that it would be better for him to be in personal isolation than to be with his teammates. “Trust me… according to Tenderheart, Twilight’s helping Reaper be himself again.”

“I’ll take your word for it,” Rainbow sighed, before recalling something that she had wanted to ask Humdrum. “Though… now that you mentioned it, why isn’t Lance out here? Couldn’t we have asked him for some assistance? I mean… he was part of the team before he formed his group.”

“Already tried,” The dragon sidekick told her in response, shooting down Rainbow’s thought of asking the Azure Striker for help. “One of his teammates, that girl named Katy, told me he was doing a favor for a friend of the power ponies tonight so he wouldn’t be available. Not to mention that some of the other members on the team still need some proper training before they can be out here on their own.”

Upon hearing that, Rainbow stopped for a moment. Even though part of her wanted to keep on looking for opportunities to perform heroic deeds, the pegasus decided to slow down and instead ask Humdrum a question. “Uh… which friend? I mean, the power ponies have so many that I’m surprised Twilight can keep track of them all of these years.”

“It was one of Radiance’s friends, Coco Pommel,” Humdrum told her over the comline. “She’s the current owner of the Power Pony Pizzeria chain and given the string of incidents involving some ponies ending up… well, dead… business is taking a bit of a nose dive. Especially since one of the victims was a close friend of Radiance and Coco. So, Lance decided to help by doing one of the night guard shifts for a night to try and find out some kind of clue to what has been going on.”

“Well… best of luck to him… I guess,” Zapp shivered at the thought of that, stretching out her wings because her feathers were a bit ruffled. “The thought of having to do what he’s doing now just gives me the creeps. Almost like somepony’s watching me.”

That… didn’t really set so well with Humdrum as he cleared his throat and began to talk to her. “Uh… Zapp… not to throw you off guard or anything… but there is somepony directly behind you. I thought it was just a system glitch… but the radar is picking up somepony on the other end of that roof.” Immediately, Zapp turned around and found herself looking at… somepony she had not seen before.

It was a mare wearing a full body suit that covered everything but her light blue mouth and darker blue spiky mane. Over her eyes were a pair of yellow goggles that almost glowed in the darkness.

“Uh… Who are you and why are you stalking me?” Zapp asked the mare, unsure if she was a threat of some kind… or somepony new to the hero scene that she had not met before.

The mare just grinned before vanishing in a puff of smoke. Which… left the pegasus rather puzzled. “Uh Humdrum? That pony that was behind me just disappeared.”

“Yeah, I know. They’re not picking up on the radar now… just who was that?” Humdrum asked the pegasus, sounding awfully concerned.

“I don’t know… I tried asking her about who she was, but all they did was grin and then disappeared,” Zapp replied back before deciding to change course. “I’m coming back. Something about this isn’t right… Are there any teams open for communication right now?”

“The only one open right now is MIST in Manehattan. Why?”

“It could be possible that they’ve seen the same pony I’ve encountered. Hang on, I’m coming inside to join you.” Zapp replied as she soared back over to the top of Power Pony HQ. By the time that she had gotten in the elevator and made her way down to the command center, she found Humdrum connecting the communication line with that of MIST and was currently waiting for a response.

The screen lit up with the familiar face of a tired looking Firefly. “What...?”

“Uh… Firefly, right?” Humdrum asked for a moment before clearing his throat. “This is Humdrum from the Power Ponies. I’m currently with Zapp right now and… well…”

“Let me explain,” Zapp replied back, her turn with looking at the screen. “We wanted to ask if you happened to see a strange looking pony recently while out on patrol. A pegasus pony with a dark full body suit, yellow goggles and can be able to disappear into smoke.”

Firefly looked a bit shocked. “That was… that was my uniform back in the academy. And the powers sound like a member of the Shadow Guard, but… ugh, this makes no sense…” The exhausted mare rubbed her eyes. “But it’s impossible, the Shadow Guard were a group of heroes who lived in Prance around the golden age, but were killed in mysterious circumstances.”

Suddenly, Firefly was pushed out of the way by a mare that looked identical to Fluttershy but without wings. “I-in our t-t-timeline, th-there was an a-academy that u-used the Shadow G-Guard’s uniforms to pay-ay omage to them-them.” She stuttered.

“The hay do you mean by timelines-?” Rainbow asked, before hearing another set of hooves come to the door.

“Rainbow, what are you doing?” Turns out, both Humdrum and Zapp didn’t notice that at the time that they were calling MIST, Twilight and Reaper had just come back to HQ. Much to the shock of Rainbow.

“T-twi? I thought you two had that… date tonight?”

“We did. It was rather wonderful actually,” Twilight replied back as she and Comet stepped into the control room. “Though, when we came back, we noticed that you two were talking to MIST and wanted to know what was going on.”

“Zapp encountered a pegasus mare in a dark colored flight suit and goggles that was able to disappear into a puff of smoke. So, seeing that MIST was the only team that was up right now, we thought that we would ask them if they saw anypony like that while over in Manehattan,” Humdrum caught both of them up to speed. “However, when we told Firefly, she said something about… some shadow… guard thing…?”

Twilight looked at Comet for a moment, before turning to Rainbow. “Zapp, we’ll take care of this from here,” She said, having the pegasus return to her quarters for the time being before looking to the screen as Posie was still there. “Posie, is Mist there at the moment?”

Posie looked nervous. “Well, uh… She’s kind o-of s-s-s-sick. Ever since she finished Aurora’s body-ody. I c-can assist.”

“Well, first… you mentioned this ‘Shadow Guard’ right?” Twilight first asked her, hoping to try and simplify things and not confuse Comet. “Was there any record of what came before it?”

“I know this! I actually excelled in this course!” Firefly cut in and shoved Posie to the side. “The Shadow Guard were originally known as Luna’s guard, founded in nineteen thirty five, and were entirely made up of pegasi with shapeshifting abilities that were practically limitless, as they could turn into anything. In nineteen forty two, Luna ordered them to change their name and safeguard an artifact until two thousand and three, where the entire faction, families and all, were found skewered in their sanctum in Prance.” The mare looked proud, and Posie looked genuinely surprised.

“Okay, but if all of them were skewered, then how does that relate to right now?” Twilight asked. “Because hearing that makes me think that there were no survivors to such a horrific incident like that.”

“Th-there wer-weren’t. The wives and hus-husbands, the ch-children and n-newborns. It wa-was-...” Posie stopped mid sentence.

“It was one of the most vile things to have ever happened. The Shadow Guard were tasked with guarding an artifact that they lost, but took up roots in Prance to help. The Shadow Guard were some of my heroes which is why I wore their suit with pride!” Firefly stated.

Twilight herself scratched the bottom of her muzzle with one of her wings as she looked back at both of them. “But if that’s the case, then this mare is more like an imposter than an actual member… for right now, we should call them by a different name so they don’t get confused and keep each other informed if something does happen. Any ideas?”

“How about the Night Mare? We’ve only seen the sightings of one, so…” Firefly trailed off.

“That… works,” Twilight replied back. “Though, it’s possible that there’s more than one… I’m going to cut the communication line now. But make sure Mist and Aya know about this, alright?”

“Alrighty ma’am.” Firefly responded, while Posie nodded. That lead to Twilight cutting the com line as she looked towards Comet, all while Humdrum had already left the room.

“Well… I’m definitely tired after tonight and need some sleep. Care to join me?” She asked, looking back at the unicorn with a bit of a smile as both of them began to walk to her own quarters.

Location: Unknown

Ever since she began her search for answers, she did not think that it would lead to anything like this. But even though she had some of the answers she was looking for… there was more that she wanted to learn. A lot more.

First, it was the locals. Police, governments, corporations… it started by just analyzing towns, but then it moved to cities and spread quickly. All to where she had information on every country in the world and everypony who lived in those countries… right in the grasp of her fingers. It was an information network on a global scale.

But more importantly, it was her information network. And in making it, Sombra had not tipped anyone off as to what she had taken or stole. And it her, all of this was… child's play to say the least.

Over the time that she had been here in Equestria, Sombra had taken the old warehouse that Time had her appear in and set it up as her small base of operations. Something to which she could be able to project with a snap of her finger… and also disappear. She had access to the security features of the old facility as well as the camera’s to alert her if anypony happened to come too close to her hiding place.

But… there was one thing that she didn’t quite prepare herself for... Visitors.

“Wow this place is a dump!” A young feminine voice shouted, her words echoing throughout the mostly empty building. Sombra herself, from her position in the back of the building, thought the voice was from outside. But the sound of footsteps told her otherwise as she activated her cloak and began to move closer to where the footsteps were coming from.

However, she was not expecting who had entered the building. Mostly because… they weren’t Equine at all. In fact, the girl that wandered in here… almost looked like that of a human. But Sombra still didn’t want to take any chances… and had her Machine Pistol ready as she aimed it at her and approached the subject from behind.

“Who the hell are you? And why are you here in my hideout?” She asked, weapon drawn at the girl’s head. Even though the girl herself couldn’t see her.

The girl, who was a brunette with matching eyes looked towards Sombra. “Name’s Roach. Misaka “Roach” Mikoto. That center part was my father’s name.” At that point, Sombra decided to holster her weapon as well as dismiss her cloak so this… Misaka can be able to see her fully.

“You can tell where I am, even when I’m cloaked, Niña?” She said, smirking a bit at the last part. “Impressive…”

“Your voice gives away your position. It isn’t that hard.” Misaka Mikoto stated, smirking before looking around casually. “Wow, this is a nice place. It’s even off the radar!”

“And just when she called this place a dump a minute ago,” She thought to herself for a moment. Before realizing what she had said earlier… and remembering what Time had told her as she looked back at her. “Yes… however, I’m not sure if I’m really… well, comfortable with you being here…”

“Why?”

“Well… To put it simply Niña, the one who had me come here… was also the same person who told me to kill the one you call your papa,” Sombra replied back. “So-”

“Oh, I have no love for my Padre… He left my mother, sister and I before I was born.” Misaka said with a shrug. “Quit calling me a girl, I’m about as old as you are…”

“Okay, Amiga,” Sombra sighed, before looking back at Misaka. “So let me see if I understand this correctly… You have no love for your Padre… and you would want to help me in killing him?” To Sombra, this sounded like the most weirdly twisted form of wanting revenge on your parents that anyone can think of.

“I honestly don’t care about him or what you do with him. I’m here to help you specifically, through and through.” Misaka said, grinning. “Killing my father would be easy for you if I helped, though. You wouldn’t even have to leave the safety of this trash bin.”

“Hmm…” That had Sombra scratch her chin as she thought it over for a moment. “Well… before you think about doing anything… let me show you something.” With a snap of her finger, all the information that she had collected over the course of the few weeks that she had been here appeared all around the hideout. Taking the form of what looked like a geographical map of Equestria. Each one with particular points that Sombra used to condense large amounts of information. “Now… where did I put it… ah yes, here we are.”

From one particular point on the map of Equestria, she yanked out what looked like a small cube to Misaka. But with a snap of a finger, multiple pictures and documents were portrayed. Some that showed a highly secure compound that took the form of a huge black structure.

“That’s so cool…! What is it...?”

“This whole thing… is what you would call my information network…” Sombra replied to her. “Over the past several weeks, I compiled information from all across the world here in a single database that I can hold right at my fingertips. It’s part of the tech that I have…” She then focused more specifically on the images in front of her. “This specifically though… is a Black Box site called the Zero Zone. It’s said to be the most highly secure prison compound in the world… however, it’s computers… not so much.”

Then, Sombra shifted through a few images of the interior of the complex, until she got to one specific one of a certain inmate inside the Zero Zone. “And this right here… is the bastardo we’re looking for…”

Misaka stared at it for a second before she spoke up. “No, something’s off.”

“I’ve looked through the prison’s files and from what I know, over the course of the years he’s been there, he’s been weakening in his abilities… and doesn’t look the same as he once was,” Sombra told her, holding up a picture that she found in the original case for her weapon. What looked like a photo Time placed of Roach when he last saw him. “However…”

“No, I mean the schematics in general look off. I’ve been in the Zero Zone for bad behavior, and these aren’t all of the cells.” Misaka pointed to a far off elevator in the back of the prison. “That should be labeled the ‘Prisoner Zero’ lift, cuz’ it leads to their first ever prisoner.”

“Hunh… Well, that starts to answer one thing…” Sombra added, having a second screen pop up. This time of a local news broadcast.

“Good evening and we have breaking news tonight. Several Prisoners that were originally locked up in the Zero Zone have escaped while officials were transferring prisoners to a second facility. Among those that have escaped were a group of six ponies known as the Power Copies,” The reporter replied as the mugshots of six ponies have appeared on screen. “However, what has baffled investigators tonight is that one of the most dangerous criminals, who goes simply by Roach, did not flee with the other escapees and instead stayed with the downed transport. Even allowing authorities to transfer him to another vehicle so he could arrive at the second facility.”

“Perhaps your memories of the Zero Zone were of the first facility, Amiga?” Sombra questioned.

“Yeah, well the two facilities are still functioning. This is the first one. The other’s a joke to be honest.” Misaka said. “They keep Zero off the books, and alter things in coded ways. For instance, unless they finally after two years moved Roach to a new cell, he should be here.” She pointed at the other side of the map, as if the entire thing was inverted.

“Well, no wonder the security was a joke then,” Sombra chuckled. “You happen to know a lot about the facility… I believe that we should form a partnership. We both want the same person dead, so it would be better overall if we worked together.”

“But afterwards?” Misaka asked, crossing her arms.

“Who said it was a one and done thing? You can still stick around with me afterwards.” Sombra smiled back. “There’s a lot more things that we can be able to do other than that… did you know that I happen to know a friend that’s a hero? He could be our chance to get close to him.”

“Hmm… I think I’ve formulated a plan. Care to hear it out?”

“Sure thing… but whatever plan you have… we should keep in mind that we’re going to need more than just the two of us.” The hacker replied back, having Misaka follow her over to what looked like an old desk as she began to organize everything that she was showing her. “We’ll need a team… and I believe that I got a name for it.”

“It’d be a problem finding others of like minded… ness…?” Misaka seemed confused about her wording, but shook it off. “I might have one pony that’d be willing.”

“The more the merrier,” Sombra replied back to her after hearing Misaka’s statement. “Now… for the name… Los Muertos… That sounds perfect given what we’re going for… and what Roach will become once the team is all prepared.”

“I suggest we hurry though. Your hero friend could find a way to cure Roach.” Misaka said, resting her chin in her hand.

“Oh, he’s not interested in that…” Sombra replied back. “Knowing him… Time told him to do the same thing he told me… I’m just quickening the process… Tell me, have you heard the name ‘Gunvolt’ before?”

Misaka grinned. “How could I not?” The brunette sat on a nearby empty crate. “Now… For my plan to work, you need to infiltrate the facility. Either use your friend or go in by yourself, your choice.”

“Oi… Slow down, Amiga…” Sombra replied back. “Rome wasn’t built in a day… and the best laid plans take time…”

“Unless you’re the daughter of a schemer.” Misaka replied. “But whatever. Just tell me if you need something obliterated.” Though… it was as she said that, Sombra happened to notice something new pop up on her small bubble around where Maretropolis was located. Separating her fingers, she began to read through what looked like a transcript before dismissing it and looking back at her and nodding her head. To Sombra though, what she found… could turn into something that she could use as a bargaining chip.

All she needed to do was give it time to develop first.

“Ugh, Saffron and Sparkler still haven’t made up...?” Aurora groaned as she lounged on QUILL’s new couch. “It won’t look good that the team leader’s always running off and the right and left hooves of the team are trying to kill each other...”

It was as she was talking to herself that Aurora turned her head and happened to notice Katy coming into the room. Wearing what looked like a set of pajamas and a fluffy bathrobe as she turned to notice her. “Oh. Good morning, Aurora. Did you sleep well?”

“Was I up all night…?” Aurora looked at her hand with a confused look. “I… didn’t sleep.”

“Really? Well, I didn’t hear you moving around or anything, so I thought you were.” Katy replied back, taking a moment to hop on the couch next to her.

“Lance finally back so he can straighten out his new right hoof and his telepath?”

“Oh he is… but he was… well, he told me that last night he was working a shift as a night guard for… Coco Pommel I think it was…?” Katy replied back, scratching her chin at the last part.

“I know, I watched the recordings all night. I don’t get why he wouldn’t tell me face to face though… I can’t see what you see in him.” Aurora huffed.

“Well, he really cares for others and… wait, there were recordings?” Katy asked, raising an eyebrow. “Teal told me that she couldn’t reach Lance or Lumen because they were deep underground. How did you get recordings of them?”

“I watched the recording of them leaving and followed their digital trail until they arrived at the company.” Aurora said casually.

“Oh, I see…” Katy replied back, now understanding what she meant. “Well… For Lance, he always sees something through to the end and… sometimes, he goes to great lengths to make sure and achieve the goal at the end. Heck, he did everything he could in his power to help me when I lost control of myself once and I was forced to fight him… and he went to great lengths in order to get you your new body.” The last part had Katy booped Aurora on the nose with index finger as she looked back at the girl. “Sure, there are times where he can overdo it… but he wants to be able to help those no matter what… Does that explain it?”

“Yeah, but I wish he wouldn’t leave the team… The tensity here is so thick that a sharp knife couldn’t cut it.” Aurora replied in a sulking manner.

“Hey… it’s a learning experience…” Katy sighed, before looking back at Aurora. “Humdrum told me that at one point, Mistress Marevelous and Zapp couldn’t stand each other and now look at both of them. They’re able to work together, side by side.”

“But dad was always there, helping them as best he could. Lance is just never around. The only thing this team’s done is get attacked and Bumblesweet lost her forearm… I’m just worried the team’s going to fall apart.”

“It’s not going to fall apart…” They both heard a voice and turned to see Lance standing there. Not in his normal clothes, but in something a little more casual this time. “Not while I’m still here.”

“Lance, I thought you were going to get some rest…”

“I was… then I heard Aurora talking to you and thought that something needed to be done about it,” He replied back to Katie, before looking directly at Aurora. “I’m sorry that I didn’t get to it sooner… But now that I’ve freed up a few things, we should focus on what’s going on here first… at home.”

“How are you going to start?” Aurora asked, genuinely interested and hopeful.

“First, we need to determine what is causing this in the first place and work from there,” The Adept replied. “We can’t just have them both put in a room and forced to settle their differences. We need to hear both sides of the story on this…”

“I talked with Saffron shortly after our mission in Whinnyapolis,” Katy then spoke up. “She said that she was trying to talk to the pony that killed that Hard Light pony and was trying to be peaceful, even when they were trying to choke her. But when Sparkler saw what was happening, she saw it as someone trying to kill a teammate and attacked her.”

“But that can be anypony. Why would she want to try and talk to her specifically?” Lance asked. Only for Katy to tell her something specific.

“Because it was somepony that she knew… and she feared that if she told Sparkler the truth, she would set off like Ash back in New Yoke.” After saying that, Katy looked down a bit and then looked to Lance. “Of course… Saffron didn’t say that… but with Sparkler being a telepath, it’s more than likely that she read her mind.”

“I heard that Saffron suggested that Sparkler would go back to her villainous ways.” Aurora added. However, it was around that time where one of the mares they were talking about… just happened to wake up and walk into the room.

“I suggested what now?” They all turned to see Vixen standing not to far from them. “Because there was no way I said anything like that.”

“Well, maybe you can clarify on what you were trying to tell Katy then?” Lance suggested to the unicorn as he took a seat.

“When I mean ‘set off’, I mean it in a different matter… For you see, the one responsible for what happened that night was somepony I knew and I thought I lost because of what Ash did…” Vixen clarified to her. “I did not want Esper to go on a destructive rampage like what Ash did back at New Yoke and get anypony killed. That’s what I meant when I said ‘set off’.” The Unicorn clarified, looking at Aurora to see if she understood what she meant.

“Ash and Esper couldn’t be more different. Ash is a hot head while Esper’s more reserved, but easily irritated. Like when she struggled to open that peanut butter jar because she was turning it the wrong way.” Aurora said, “She’s also condemned Ash’s actions- wait, are you saying Cupcake’s alive!?”

Vixen closed her eyes and took a deep sigh, before looking back at all three of them. “Yes she is… I thought she was gone, but… You know how we found out that she can absorb the powers of other adepts she kills?”

“Uh… yes?” Katy replied. “I think so…”

“Well… I think one of her abilities as some kind of soul transfer… something like with Lumen’s soul being merged with Lance’s…” Vixen began to clarify, recalling what she remembered from her brief encounter. “The difference is that unlike Lumen, I think her host can let Cupcake take control for a brief amount of time. I’m thinking it’s this because her body wasn’t the same as before and the only way I could tell it was her was because of her voice.”

“She’s a psychopathic killer who took off Bumblesweet’s foreleg! And she killed my-” Aurora began tearing up. Causing Katy to hold her closer in order to calm her down. Trying to keep her composed.

But for Lance… that just confirmed something else to him. “Geez… that just makes me remember my shift from the other night… for a completely different reason.”

“What makes you say that?” Katy asked.

“Well… Vixen, in those video logs that you had… did she ever mention a pony named Willow?” That… immediately had Saffron’s eyes widen in response as she looked back at him. The unicorn had no idea about this… because she only showed him just one of the small entries out of all of the ones she got.

“H-how do you-?”

“That’s the thing…” Lance replied back, before looking back at them as he rubbed his eyes for a moment before telling them. “I met her last night during my shift for Coco.”

“What the heck is going on!?” Aurora shouted.

“I don’t know either… there may be one person who knows, but I’ll worry about that later,” Lance replied before looking at them. “However, what is important is that when I was on my shift last night, I found what looked like a victim of another attack at one of the Power Pony Pizzeria facilities. However, this time when I looked at her memories… I was able to see who was the attacker. And despite the fact that they looked like a completely different pony, the way the attack happened was like that of Cupcake…”

“Okay, so we know the reason why Vixen was worried about before… and Vixen, during that moment in Whinnyapolis…” That was when Vixen sighed in response, looking back at Katy and nodding her head.

“In Whinnyapolis was when I encountered her again. And then, I tried talking to her… however, when I mentioned Willow, the daughter that was taken away from her… she snapped. I don’t know how in the world I’m going to explain something this crazy to Sparkler in a way that she would understand though. I mean… Cupcake may be my friend, but she’s done so much damage to you guys already that…” The unicorn herself, frustrated herself because of how personal this was, just had her head hanging. “It’s almost as if I’m asking for you to forget what she did to Bumble… or to Ash… or to Aurora. I just don’t think it’s possible at all.”

The door opened once again, and in came Sparkler with a softer expression than usual. “You don’t have to. We’ll take her down and make her pay for her crimes within the law. We’ll never forgive her for what she’s done to us and countless innocents, but we won’t become the judge, jury and executioners.”

That was when Saffron looked up, seeing Sparkler’s expression this time as she was immediately caught off guard by her tone and what she was saying. “Y-you… mean it?”

“I’ve done terrible things and was given a second chance. QUILL is my sentence, which I happily carry. I do whatever I can to make my parents proud and won’t ever abuse my powers or kill another.” Sparkler said, smiling slightly. “Murder and harming somepony like Bumble is a terrible crime, but taking action like Ash will only prove that I’m still the monster Lance met it the Metro.”

“That…” Lance was at a loss for words after hearing Sparkler say that. “Sparkler, I… I’m really glad to hear you say that. I’m proud of you.”

“Living with my parents taught me a bit about humility. The rest I learned on my own.” Sparkler looked away awkwardly. “Why do you think I never read any of your minds, even when I was fighting you Saffron?” That… had Saffron blink for a minute as she looked back at her, realizing what she meant.

“I… never thought of it like that…” Saffron said, before getting up and trotting over to Sparkler. Pulling her in for a brief hug. “Thank you… this means a lot to me.”

“Trust your team next time, okay?” Sparkler said in a humorous tone. Causing Saffron to nod.

“In any case…” Lance spoke up, before deciding something. “We should keep together any information we have here regarding any future encounters with Cupcake and set up a profile. That way we can be better prepared for her. Does that sound good?” Saffron nodded in response as well as Katie.

“I’ll write down what we know- oh! Can my codename be Archive!?” Aurora squealed.

“I… think that can work for now,” Lance nodded his head in agreement as he looked at the rest of his team. Shortly before he heard a small beeping sound as Lumen appeared on his shoulder. “Hmm? What is it Lumen?”

“Lance, Humdrum left you a message on your communicator…” She mentioned to him, while also looking at everyone else. “I know that most messages from the power ponies are… not really that severe, but this one seems urgent. I can put it up on the main screen for you guys.”

“Alright,” The Adept replied, before looking back at his team. “Let’s archive everything on Cupcake in a minute. Humdrum sent us a message while we were talking, so Lumen’s going to put it up on the main screen for us.” It took a couple of moments in order to get it all set up, but after a moment, everypony could see Humdrum on the screen as the message began to play.

“Hey guys, it’s Humdrum… Last night when Zapp was on patrol, she encountered a strange pony that was able to disappear into shadows or something mere seconds after we detected her,” Humdrum was then seen holding a rough sketch of what looked to be a pegasus with a dark suit and yellow goggles on her. “For now, we’re calling this pony the ‘Night Mare’ and we want you to keep a lookout for her. We don’t know if this is one pony or it’s part of some kind of team… but we would like for you to keep your eyes open and contact us if you do happen to find anything. Twilight or Firefly from MIST can fill you in on the details. Humdrum, out.”

Esper looked a little worried, almost panicky. To which, Katy noticed and then asked her a question. “Sparkler, are you alright?”

“I know that ability… Back when I was a puppet, there were these outsiders who could do that.” That had gotten Lance’s attention almost immediately as he looked back at her.

“Outsiders? Like you mean not from Equestria?” He asked her, curious about how much did she happen to know… and if there were some details that may be important.

“But Humdrum said that this was one pony. Are you sure there’s more than one?” Saffron now asked, picking up on something that Sparkler had said a few moments ago.

“Outsider meaning not from the Puppets… And I know it was a different pony because it was a stallion…” Sparkler replied. That, caught all of them by surprise. Especially Lance when he heard that. Causing him to get himself off of the couch as he looked back at his team. Hearing all of this just now made Lance rather concerned. Especially since what Sparkler said basically confirmed that the mare that Rainbow encountered wasn’t alone… and that she may be part of an organized group. Just like Sparkler and Ash were when they were still with the Puppets.

“Hey… If you said that you remembered them from within the Puppets… Could it be possible that Ash might remember them too?” Lumen then asked, looking towards Sparkler as she waited for the Unicorn to reply back.

“She was practically the second head. She and our old boss used to have meetings with them and the Sumeragi Group, but I never understood what was actually going on. Ash said they were mostly ‘peace treaties’, and never actually learned anything about what the groups were planning, so we never brought it up.” Sparkler stated.

Hearing that made Lance rather… curious about everything. Mostly because he wanted to think about how to proceed from this point… and who could possibly know about it. He had one potential thought, but didn’t want to resort to it unless it was absolutely necessary. So the only other possible options were to either find Ash, try to piece together the details on his own… or ask his informant.

Out of all three choices, the last one seemed more efficient. “Alright… I think I know someone that I can talk too that might have some answers… Sparkler, Saffron. Can you two hold down the fort while I’m gone?”

“Probably.” Sparkler replied, looking towards Saffron. Who nodded her head as well in response to what Sparkler had said.

“Alright. I’m going to get changed and then head out. I’ll fill you guys in on what I learned once I get back.”

Roach yawned in his cell. “I know of them…”

For Lance, it had been only a few moments since he had arrived at the Zero Zone and even less time since he had begun talking to Roach. But the adept was rather surprised that he actually had an answer for him so quickly. “You do? What do you know about them?”

Roach stared at the back of his hand. “You haven’t repaid me for my help with the Cupcake incident.”

Lance sighed, looking back at him for a moment. “I had already taken off the band that Max forced on you. What else would you like for me to do?”

“I said I didn’t care about the band. I wanted something else instead but you ran away.” Roach replied.

“I had a bit of an emergency at the time. Would you care to give me a refresher?” The adept asked him in response. “I’m already doing what I can to make sure I meet my weekly quota with you.”

“Don’t be a smartass, Walker. Besides, you won’t have to worry about me much longer.” Roach suddenly sounded as if he were an old man trapped in a younger body. Rubbing his hands together, he continued. “I want you to look after my daughter.”

That… made Lance blink for a moment as he looked back at him. “Hold up… You… have a daughter?”

“Long before I arrived in this universe I meddled in the affairs of the human world. Most of the Displaced here besides you, your friends and family were my doing. But I got distracted and had a child.” Roach sounded casual, like he didn’t seem to care. “Family has a way of finding you, whether you want them to or not.”

“You… make it sound like family is the least of your concern…” Lance sighed, before looking back at him. “So, why do you want me to look after her? Out of all the people you could ask, why me?”

“I have my reasoning.” Roach smirked. “Besides, you’re the one whose family is their undoing.”

Lance raised an eyebrow at that and folded his arms. “Okay, look… if I’m going to look out for her, I need to know who she is first. Do you have some kind of picture or a name? Because I’m willing to do it… I just need to make sure that I’m not going off to find a needle in a haystack.”

“All I’ll say is she’s quite the Railgun.” Roach smiled. “Now, onto your problem. I can’t help you. Someone else will come along and lead you to what you seek.”

That had Lance grit his teeth a little. Thinking that he was out of luck… but, he thought of something based on what Roach had told him and then asked him a question. “Would you know who that someone is or will I know when I see it?”

“They’ll come to you… but I do see a lot of purple.” Roach said in a joking manner. Lance raised an eyebrow for a moment, before he unfolded his arms and deeply sighing.

But, before he was to turn around and leave, he had one more question to ask. “Was there anything else you would like me to do? Just to be certain…”

“Maybe a burger?” Roach jested with a weak but hearty chuckle. Lance sighed, before taking a moment to teleport out of the room. Only to arrive back with what looked like a bag from a fast food restaurant and a drink.

“I didn’t know what you exactly wanted, so I just got a regular burger, fries and a drink. Hope you’re hungry,” The adept told him, before walking towards the exits. “See you around, Roach.” He continued to make his way throughout the building, trying to piece together the results of Roach’s personal riddle as he was coming up upon the entrance to the facility. Walking past both of the sliding doors and heading outside.

“Hmm… they’ll come to me… purple… I highly doubt that he’s referring to Twilight. She couldn’t possibly know about it given what Humdrum said…” Lance thought to himself as he continued to make his way back over to QUILL’s base. But, the closer he made it back, the more likely that another possibility began to form in his head. “Wait… is he… referring to Sombra somehow? How would he even know about her?”

“Uh Lance, you do realize that by ‘a lot of purple’ he could be talking about someplace instead of somepony specific? Like a place to meet the person that would have that kind of information?”

The Adept stopped for a moment, before looking back at Lumen as her spiritual form was resting on his shoulder. “Lumen, did you forget the part that Roach said that they would come to me?”

“Yeah, but there are times where I wonder if he’s actually telling you what you want to hear… Besides, this is the same roach responsible for what happened to Time,” Lumen reminded him as they approached the sliding door to the back side of the facility. “I’m just trying to look out for you. That’s all.”

When they got to the door though, that was when Lance noticed that it didn’t slide open like it normally would if you were returning from outside. And the door controls were inside the compound. Which lead to him thinking that if someone were to tamper it, it would be from outside. His mind raced for a moment, just as a reflection in the door began to flicker. Causing him to turn around and find out who exactly was watching him.

“Hola amigo… It’s been a while.”

End Strike 58

Author's Note

And now we start the beginning of one of the last three arcs here. I might need to extend the story to where it'll end at Strike 65 instead of 63, but I say that this is worth it. Besides, this is a start to an arc that BronyParasite and I have been planning for quite some time and I think you guys will enjoy what we have in store for you.
-Frost

Strike 59- Can't Escape...

Author's Note

This is the first part of a HUGE chapter that was big enough to the point that I had to split it into two parts... and also having to place one of the arcs that I wanted to do with BP and set it aside. Instead, this is more of a chapter that focuses less on Lance himself and more on some other notable characters. Specifically speaking... Sombra, Katy and one umbra witch.

Other then that, it looks like I have no need to change how things are going to play out as we wind the clock down on the final chapters. So without further ado, enjoy.
-Frost

Strike 59- Can't Escape...

When Lightning Strikes- Can’t Escape...

QUILL Base

“Hola Amigo, it’s been a while.” Sombra greeted the Azure Striker outside his base, dropping her cloak that was hiding herself. “I was wanting to get the chance to speak to you when you had the time.” Of course, she took some extra precautions while she was waiting. Going as far as to disable any form of outdoor security in order to not trip any potential alarms. Plus… she happened to know a few things that he didn’t know at the time.

“Yes it has… but it seems a bit reckless of you to be meeting me out in the open where my team is inside.” The Adept recalled, thinking that someone from inside would notice what’s going on from there and come out of there immediately.

“Are they though?” Sombra questioned. “Because according to the communication feed inside your own base, Vixen went to see her father, the one you called Sparkler decided to go check on her parents after a particular… incident in Manehattan and right now, the only person inside is your friend, who’s busy having a nap.” That was followed by Sombra projecting three screens to him. Each one verifying everything that she said just now. “I believe with that in mind, the reckless one would be you since you have no backup.”

“So much for probably being able to hold down the fort while I’m gone…” He thought to himself, letting out a deep sigh before folding his arms and then asking Sombra a question.“And what makes you suggest that I would try anything?”

“Come on amigo… I believe there’s a way for us to work together. Especially since this is about a little problem your team is coming across,” She snickered in response. “But if that’s not going to convince you… then I can always let my new amiga have fun with you~. She is quite a Railgun, from what I heard.”

That last statement though… triggered a memory inside of his head. “Wait… you have Roach’s daughter?”

“Yeah…” Misaka walked out of… well, nowhere. Lance felt her electromagnetic field, and it was strong. Almost as strong as his septima… if not stronger. Which startled him at first before he had to calm himself down.

But… it left Sombra a bit surprised at one thing as she looked back at both of them. “I gotta say, Amigo… How do you know about my new friend here being the daughter of Roach?”

“That’s… a lot to explain,” Lance replied, before he began to go a little bit in depth about his meeting with Roach. Even explaining as far as to why he was meeting him in the first place. But there was one detail near the end of his explanation that didn’t set in well for Sombra’s new friend. “When I met him… and before he could try and tell me about something I’m looking into… He told me that he wanted me to look after his daughter, but never told me her name. All he said was… and I quote… ‘She’s quite the Railgun’. Then I was coming back here and then was greeted by you two.”

“Ya veo…” Sombra muttered to herself for a moment, before looking to Misaka for a moment. “What do you think about that, Misaka?”

“Dad was always the cryptic type. And yeah, Railgun is my ‘Gunvolt’.” Misaka stated. “Now, business. I don’t need protection.”

“And I think you demonstrated that clearly…” Lance told her in response. “Besides, I think Sombra made the right choice with having her be with you.”

“Gracias, amigo…” Sombra smirked, before thinking about something for a moment. “So… You mentioned that you are having some kind of problem with some ponies that just disappear? Like ‘poof’ before disappearing into smoke?” Lance could only nod at that for a moment, before wondering what she meant. “I may have something… but I would like to talk this over with Misaka first before we make any offers.”

“Feel free to take as much time as you need.” He insisted, which lead to Sombra walking a few feet away and having Misaka follow her before Lance decided to rest against a wall.

“So… Here’s what I was thinking…” Sombra began to talk to Misaka. “I have the information they need and also know where to find out more… but in exchange, they need to do something for us. Did I mention to you that Suicide Squad run by the pony named Lauren Order?”

“Yeah,” Misaka said, expressing only boredom. “Twice.”

“Well, she has one of my friends in there with a bomb strapped to her neck,” Sombra recalled, remembering her encounter with Astra before. “If we are to even offer this to Lance, then he needs to provide us with two things… first, a contraption to disable that bomb… and second, security access to where your father is being held at. That way, we can find him and come up with a plan for you to kill that Hijo de Puta.”

“And one other thing… But that’s for me to know, and you two to find out.” Misaka said smirking. Leaving Sombra to raise an eyebrow at first, before ultimately sighing and nod her head in affirmation. Shortly before the two of them decided to walk back over.

“So, here’s the offer… We’ll be able to provide the information that you want and also provide the best course of action for it, but in exchange, you need to do two things for us,” Sombra cleared her throat as she began to explain. “For one of these things, it relates to what we have to tell you… but the other thing is that you need to get us access to the security network of the Zero Zone. Just drop down a transmitter the size of a bit and you would be set.” Personally, Lance was a little surprised to hear about something like this from the both of them. Then again though, he did not have a lot of options when it came to this kind of thing, so he shouldn’t be able to complain about it.

However… before he could be able to say anything, that was when he heard a loud ringing from his communicator. An emergency distress signal.

“Lance… We need you back inside now!” Katy yelled over the speaker, just as Lance looked back at Sombra.

“Don’t worry, amigo… Think it over,” Sombra told him before turning around and beginning to walk away with Misaka right next to her. “We’ll be back when things are… less chaotic.”

“Ironically, it’s never less chaotic… ever…” The Adept thought to himself before making his way back inside. Slamming the door behind him and looking around for a moment as he tried to find where his team… or more importantly… where Katy was. But before he could even begin looking, that’s when he felt something off.

It was familiar… but not in a good way. And when he went into the combat training room in order to look for Katy, the presence was getting much stronger, heavier even. Like it was right… behind him. “I’d figure you come eventually… Hit.” But before he could turn around to face the assassin, he found nothing there.

“That’s strange… I feel him, but I can’t see him… Unless-” Before he could even finish he thought, the adept felt tremendous pain in his chest and was sent crashing into one of the training dummies. “Of course… How could I forget… Time Skip.”

“I should have figured you’d be here of all places… But at the moment, I’m not after you adept. Where is the girl?” Hit demanded as he approached him.

“Why would I tell you?” Lance asked through grit teeth as he looked back at him. Analyzing the room as he was speaking. “And also… wasn’t it me that you had the hit on? So why go after her?”

“I honestly don’t care about you… As for the girl, I was hired to bring her in, dead or alive. She has something that my client is interested in and has hired me to get it. If you wish to stay alive, I suggest you tell me what I need to know, otherwise… You’ll be experiencing pain unimaginable.” Hit said as he pulled his hand out of his pocket and formed a fist. “Last chance.”

However… all Lance did was grin for a moment as he looked directly at him. “What gave you the implication that I was alone?” Before Hit even realized what was going on, he felt a crushing weight from behind him as Vixen struck him in the back with the force of an elephant and sent him flying through a wall.

“Geez, I come home from checking on Papa and then I find a bald guy trying to kill you…” Saffron Masala replied back. “What’s his deal?”

“Assassin… Can skip time… Thought he was after me, but he’s after Katy now…” He said, before applying Galvanic Patch. “Send an SOS to all hero teams. Code Red… and make sure that Katy is somewhere safe.”

“You got it,” Vixen nodded as she rushed to the computer room. Locking herself inside as she began to make the transmission. As for Lance, he placed one of his hands on the floor and began to concentrate. Channeling the electricity in the floor to prepare himself for what was to come next.

“I am surprised… I didn’t expect a surprise attack from that female… Who is she?” Hit said as got up from the rubble and walked up to the adept.

“None of your business… You pick a fight with one member of QUILL, you pick a fight with everyone.” The Adept boldly stated. For a moment, Hit disappeared and reappeared in front of him with his hands in his pockets.

“I prefer to not fight with you, especially if it prevents me from killing you, my previous attack missed your heart on purpose, which would have killed you. I will only ask you one last time… Where is the girl?” Hit asked, glaring at the adept.

“I don’t know… I just got back here and when I left, she was taking a nap. I don’t know where she it right now,” The adept told him in response, still holding his ground as he looked back at him. “But you don’t care what my response is… do you?”

“No I do not.” He replied as he struck him in the throat, before jabbing him twice in the stomach before kicking him to the ground. “Stay down if you value your life… Katy is my only Objective.” He replied before vanishing from Lance’s view only to find the locked door to be torn off with ease as the assassin left.

“How… the hell does he know about Katy?” He thought to himself, coughing before trying to get up as he heard more of the base getting torn up to shreds. As Lance tried to get up, he soon heard Katy scream. Forcing him to try and get up as he stumbled out of the training room. Only to see Hit holding onto her.

“Farewell… Let us hope our paths do not cross again.” Hit said as he pulled out a ring and placed on his right index finger, before opening a portal and proceeding to enter inside of it, taking Katy with him. Or so he thought.

Because just as Hit thought that he was in the clear… the portal he had brought someone else through. “Oh my… who said that belonged to you, naughty boy?” In an instant, Hit was thrown into a nearby cliffside as Katy flew up into the air. Before being caught singlehandedly by the one who intervened.

“Huh… who are you?” Katy asked.

“Oh… Why I think he can answer that…” The woman said, before looking to Lance as she let him down. “In the meantime… allow for me to deal with the one who decided to beat my son to a ravage pulp.”

“M-mom?” Lance soon realized upon hearing the all too familiar voice. “What are you doing here?”

“M-Mom?!” Katy shouted before passing out from the shock of this news. Allowing Lance to catch her moments afterwards as the umbra witch looked back at the adept.

“You make sure she’s safe… I’ll deal with him.” And with that, she was off. Lance, upon hearing that, looked to Vixen, who was still able to stand as he told her two simple commands.

“Cancel the SOS… but lock down the base. I’m not taking any chances if Hit finds a way to come back.”

Surprised by this sudden attack, Hit pulled himself off the wall and began to dust himself off before seeing the female warrior approach him, but he merely stepped to the side as she landed on her hands and tried to strike him, but what he didn’t know was that there was a gun attached to her foot and it fired off a few rounds, cutting his left cheek before evading the others.

“You have a lot of nerve interfering with my work… If you value your life, then I suggest you stand down and return the girl to me immediately.” He ordered as he glared at the woman as he pulled his hands out of his pockets..

“How brutishly rude… and I thought that some assassins like you would be more of a gentleman… And you have a lot of nerve for threatening those I hold dear…” The woman glared defiantly.

“An assassin isn’t supposed to be a gentleman, he’s supposed to be a killer… But I suppose I’ll play along and at least give a proper greeting. I’m the assassin Hit… Now it is your turn to introduce yourself.” He replied.

“Well, since you so kindly asked, my name is Ceraza… or Bayonetta, whichever you prefer…” She said, before moving her legs in a particular stride. “Take it in… because it will be the last name you’ll hear.”

“Is that so?” He asked, before vanishing from her sight and striking her forehead, sending her stumbling backwards. “I believe it is the reverse.”

“Oh really now?” The woman grinned. And in the blink of an eye, she was right in his face. Hit attempted to strike her, but the woman gracefully dodged to the left and when she landed back on her feet, Hit felt a rapid series of blows and attacks around his chest as the sheer force of it caused him to lose his breath briefly as he was thrown backwards. “Clearly, you don’t know who you are fighting… Neither an Angel, nor a demon… and yet, you make the stupidest choice ever…”

“If that truly was the best you could do, then this fight is already over.” Hit replied as he vanished from her view once again using his time skip, and struck her multiple times in the chest and quickly tripped her up from her legs before kicking her into the wall of the canyon. “Surrender now… before I kill you.”

“Really now?” The woman then asked. “You think your silly time trick will win? Boy… you have no idea who you’re f*cking with.”

“I’m no boy… I have lived for over a thousand years and I have more experience then any mortal man. I don’t think you comprehend what your truly dealing with. It takes a lot more then using simple tricks and gadgets to win a fight.” Hit replied before grabbing her from her shirt and headbutted her and punching her chest twice as hard.

“You’re not the only one who’s that old… and it’s rather rude of you to be grabbing the chest of a lady...” The woman smirked. That… was when Hit began to notice something. The threads of her clothes began to wrap around him fiercely, making it impossible for him to let go as he could not hold on. “You’ve never fought an Umbra Witch before… have you?”

“No… But consider this my first time now.” He said as his body was surrounded by a dark purple aura as he shouted to the top of his lungs and managed to free himself from Bayonetta’s clothing and leaped away from her. Before he could do anything, heard a voice call out to him. “But I-” He muttered to himself, confusing Bayonetta.

“He’s distracted… Good. Now’s my chance-” She thought to herself. Before hearing the assassin say something else.

“It seems that we’ll have to continue this battle another day… For I am needed elsewhere now. Take care Lady Bayonetta, until we meet again.” He said, winking at her before opening a portal and walking in. Then, the hairs began to subside as she looked back as the mess around her.

“And just when I thought things were not going to get interesting anytime soon,” Bayonetta sighed to herself, before beginning to make her way back to where her son was at right now. “But at least it gives us time to prepare.”

Back at QUILL

“So… mind explaining to me who that was?” Vixen asked Lance as he set Katy down on the bed in his room. “Or for that matter why he’s going after Katy?”

The Adept let out a small sigh, before looking back towards her. “He was someone that Katy and I had met before QUILL was formed and before I met you. His name is Hit and he’s an assassin. Someone who once was an ally of Katy and I… but now he’s an enemy. However, why he’s going after Katy is something that even confuses me. Because originally, I thought that he would be going after me.”

“How would you know that?” The unicorn then asked him.

“Because he told me in person. It was the last thing he said to me before we parted ways…” The Adept assured her. “Which is why it’s puzzling that he’s going for Katy instead of me… He’s not one to say much, so he didn’t really give off any clues to go on.”

“That may be true, but there’s one thing that you said earlier that concerns me…” Vixen replied back to him. “You said he can ‘skip time’. How the hay does something like that work?”

“He manipulates time to accelerate himself forward and sometimes makes it look like he’s not moving at all,” Lance recalled, before rubbing his forehead and looking back at Katy. “Ugh… The whole thing is just making my brain hurt… I’m not even sure if there’s a way to counter such a technique. Meaning that he’ll just keep on going after us like this.”

“Great…” The unicorn sighed as she used her magic to try and clean up some of the debris. “So what exactly is the plan now?”

“Ugh… What happened?” Katy asked as she rubbed her head.

“Hit attacked, almost got away with you… then my mother saved you and when you found out about her, you fainted…” Lance summed it up for her, shortly before noticing a familiar face enter the room. “Speak of the devil…”

“Well, that was rather… short lived.” The voice of the woman who saved Katy before came on in to join the three of them as she looked at Katy.

“Y-You’re Lance’s mother?” Katy stuttered when she asked.

The lady turned to her, before nodding her head as she adjusted her glasses. “Why yes… but mostly I am called either Ceraza or Bayonetta. Whichever you prefer…” The umbra witch introduced herself before brushing some dust off her clothes. “I’m sorry… am I interrupting something?”

“No, I was just filling Katy in on what happened before you arrived,” the adept added, shortly before thinking of something. “What happened? Did you fight Hit?”

“Why yes, but our bout was very short lived,” Bayonetta replied back. “I was expecting for our bout to be rather long and drawn out~. Unfortunately though, he ran off like a coward. Saying he had ‘other business to attend too’.”

“Hit is anything but a coward… I’ve known Hit when I was a medic back in the other realm. He wouldn’t run away. He’d always finish a fight, meaning that whoever hired him… called him back.” Katy explained as she tried to sit up, but fell back down screaming.

“Easy, easy,” Lance told her, catching her and trying to help her out. “You’ve been through a lot. Take some time to rest a little first.”

“No… I can’t… Hit’s after me… And I need to know who hired him?!” She said, struggling to get up as she grabbed onto Lance’s shoulder, but her arm began to crack as she fell back down on the bed screaming.

“What the hell?” Lance said upon noticing the condition of Katy’s arm. “Vixen, get the medkit. Now!” Vixen immediately nodded, taking off to get the medical kit and bring it back so Lance can be able to bandage her up. “Jesus christ, what did Hit do to you?”

“I-It wasn’t just Hit… That’s what I’m trying to tell you… His client… He was here for a moment before he attacked me… Then Hit went off saying ‘I had something important and I was being recruited…’ But I don’t know who it was. Everything hurts…”

“Katy please… just rest… Moving around is just going to make things worse right now…” Lance told her, almost in a way where he was pleading for her to listen. But… that was when a question emerged from one of the others in the room.

That being Vixen herself. “Hey Lance… you met Katy on some weird Displaced trip thing or something right?”

“Yeah… It’s-”

“-A long story, I get that,” She replied back before getting to her main point. “Can you possibly think of anypony from back then who was originally an enemy of yours that still might be alive somehow? Like anyone?”

“That… is hard…” The adept said aloud, before he began thinking. He knew for certain that particular creatures that he had faced before, including the Beast King and Cobalion were already dead for certain. Zamasu was not the kind of person to be relying on allies and all the other enemies were dead-.

Then… something hit him. “Katy… can I ask you something?”

“W-What is it?” She asked.

“Remember when you first got your body… and after the Beast King was destroyed?” He asked, getting a small nod from her before asking one more question. “Wasn’t there someone else that was also there too?”

“Yes… It was him… but there’s no way he could be able to move that fast or do anything this clever, but maybe it is… I don’t know, my head is just spinning and my arm hurts so much.” She cried as she tried to fight through the pain, it hurt everyone that she was in this state.

That last part… was the final piece he needed to solve the puzzle. Shortly before he decided to do something big as he placed his hands on her shoulders. Activating ‘Galvanic Renewal’, he began to try and calm her down while healing her as he finally said the name of who he thought was the one responsible. “Yellow Radio… This is definitely his doing.”

“Yellow what now?” Vixen asked.

“Yellow Radio… He was another displaced that resembled that of a yellow carnival jester,” The Adept explained to the unicorn and the witch while continuing to heal Katy. “His powers are mostly focused on disorientating his foes with illusions, with one attack making his victims think that they’re spinning in circles… If he’s involved, then he’s really wanting to make me pay for what I did the last two times I encountered him.”

“And pray tell, what did you do to piss off such a clown?” Bayonetta then asked.

“The first time around, I trashed his research facility, after stealing his files. Trying to find an exploit in a series of monstrous machines that were specifically used in killing displaced,” Lance soon told her. “The second time was when he kidnapped Katy and had her in this form now… however, at the time, we were unsure of where exactly he wandered off too… and part of me thought that he died when his ship crashed.”

“Excellent work… you were almost correct.” A deep voice spoke before Bayonetta, Vixen and Lance were sent flying back towards the wall by a flash of blue lightning. “But you forgot about one thing… A Speedster who worked with him.” A man in a black suit with a lighting bolt on his chest with devil like horns, held Katy by her throat.

“And just when I thought I was beginning to feel like a f*cking celebrity in this world.” Bayonetta cursed.

“Didn’t think to check the entire facility? As for you Lance Walker… Yellow Radio sends his regards.” Zoom said as he dropped an orb like object on the ground and disappeared, taking Katy with him.

“Son of a-!” Lance snapped, wanting to take off before finding himself in an empty corridor. “Dammit… Damn it all…” In his mind, he could only remember the one thing that Suicune told him to do before his passing… and that was to keep Katy safe. And with what just happened, he felt like he screwed up the only job that he had been given.

“Well… what do we have here?” Bayonetta asked, walking over to the orb that was lying on the ground.

“Let me look at it… It looks magical in nature,” The unicorn insisted, before picking it up with her magic. “Now… what would happen if…” Before she could process anything, a small turn of the orb caused it to activate unintentionally, revealing a small hologram of the jester himself.

“Well, Well, Well, if it isn’t my dear old friend Lance Walker! How have you been, having a fun time with the Beast Kings wife?~ Eh~ Hahahaha!” Yellow Radio laughed.

“She’s not his and you know it, asshole.” An angered Lance snapped.

“Oh, wait and before you say anything this is a pre-recorded message, so if your monologuing to me right now then… I have to say your a real moron. Now where was I? Oh, right… Now it’s true that she was meant to be wedded to that mindless beast at the time, but you must understand that her mind was so unique that I had add a little something there in case the Beast King backed out… another suitor at the time asked me to make him wife if it meant I could continue living, gotta make a living somehow.”

“Wow… I have to agree, this guy is an asshole.” Vixen added.

“So here’s the deal kid… I’ll give Exuberant Witness back, BUT you have to offer one of your female friends over to me in exchange. This orb also acts as a communicator but you can only call me once and it better be a yes if you don’t want your pretty girlfriend to be torn to pieces again and made to be a new bride now do you? You have two hours to respond… don’t keep me waiting.” He explained before laughing as the message ended.

“Brilliant… So now what am I going to do?” Lance thought to himself, looking back at Bayonetta and Vixen. “If we don’t do something, Katy’s a goner…”

“But what are we going to do? We don’t have much of a team here… I mean, we have Cody, myself and you… but what else?” Saffron now nervously asked.

“Who’s Cody?” Bayonetta asked.

“Friend of mine, member of the team…” That… had Lance thinking for a moment before stepping outside to catch his breath. It was then though that, while he was outside… he soon thought of something and began to use his communicator.

“... Sombra, I need some assistance… I’ll take your offer, if you can help me with something first…”

“Pfft… All you had to do was ask, amigo.”

End Strike 59

Strike 60- From Crossing Fate

Author's Note

Welcome to the second half of the Strike, where we pick up immediately after we left off the first time... Not much to say here though, because I already covered most of it in the author's notes. As always, shout out to BP and some other help for making sure that I fine tune the chapter before publishing it.
-Frost

Strike 60- From Crossing Fate

When Lightning Strikes- From Crossing Fate

Elsewhere

Katy had begun to awaken again, but began to feel the same pain as before on her left arm, but she couldn’t move as she was now strapped to a metal table and as she searched the room, there stood Hit leaning his back against the wall with Zoom walking up to her with a familiar Jester right next to him.

“Hello my dear Exuberant… I take it that weak adept took care of you while I was gone?” Yellow Radio asked politely as Katy scowled at him.

“That isn’t my name anymore! It’s Katy, and when I get of here I’ll make your regret ever turning me into a killing machine!” She threatened, but Yellow simply scuffed as he slapped her.

“You should be thanking me! I made you almost human, otherwise that boy wouldn’t have even looked at you that way. Your machine that was made to serve it’s master and deep down you know it… Tell me have you even once had your own idea that didn’t involve helping Lance or his team. Or that didn’t involved Lance?” Yellow Radio explained as he placed his hand on top of her head and as much as she wanted to tell him he was wrong, he was right.

“Y-your wrong… I can think for myself!”

“You know I’m right, which is why I am giving you a choice right now… you see I never actually intended to give you to the Beast King… Your mind is just too precious and with the body I created for you it would have been a complete waste. However you have something in you that I added that makes you almost human, but I can make you human.” He said.

“I’m not as dumb as you think Radio, there’s always a catch with you. What is it?” She asked, gritting her teeth as Yellow Radio began to walk around the table she was strapped to.

“It’s quite simple really, we want you to marry a certain client of mine and Hit’s, so we can expand our little group. Hit, and Zoom are the first to be recruited by him and let’s say that I’m not exactly on his good side at the moment, but if you marry him, I’ll be apart of this and together all of us can have anything we ever desired. Doesn’t that sound nice?” He explained with excitement in his voice, but it only irritated Katy as she wanted nothing to do with Yellow Radio.

“Hit! Why the hell would you help a creep like him?! Shouldn’t your assassin code be against this!” Katy shouted towards the assassin as she struggled to free herself.

“I don’t work for him… I’m simply here to make sure he doesn’t go against his promise. I was ordered to kill him if he refused, but I would assist him so long as he doesn’t back out of my client’s deal.” He explained as Zoom simply scuffed at him.

“You didn’t do sh*t! I was able to get in and out of there with ease, while your ass was handed to you by a woman.” Zoom argued, but Hit simply ignored him as he focused on Katy.

“We’re here for the same reason, to have a better life and that’s what siding with us will grant you. If you chose to join us, then none of your friends will have to die, but refuse and there will be consequences, especially if they refuse to offer one of their own female team members to save you.” Hit explained before Yellow Radio walked up to the two.

“Now, now, why don’t you two go rest up, I’ll keep the young lady company for the time being, after all. She still hasn’t decided.”

“Fine, but be aware that if they all refuse to cooperate, we’ll kill them.” Hit explained he and Zoom left the room.

“So… Let me see if I get this straight, Amigo… In the short time that we left, an assassin that’s able to manipulate time at will, attacked you, tried to take off with your team mate and failed… only for some speedster freak to then kidnap her and she’s being held hostage by a perverted jester…” It was only a few moments after Lance had called Sombra and right now, she was trying to discuss a plan with both him and Bayonetta. Vixen, even though she wanted to help, found that it would be easier if she just maintained the base while the three of them were to come up with a plan. “And just when I thought I’ve had strange days…”

“So you’ll help?” Lance then asked, a little bit nervous by her response to it.

“Of course… but for it… let me kill that Radio pinchazo,” Sombra grit her teeth. “He reminds me of one of my uncles who would always set up arranged marriages for my cousins even though it was entirely inhumane… So I want to be the one to kill him.”

“Pray tell… and how exactly do you plan to do that now?” Bayonetta asked.

“Simple… anything can be hacked… and anyone,” Sombra smirked, before looking towards the sphere that was used as a communications device. “You said that he reached you using this, correcto?”

All Lance did was just nod as Sombra began to tinker with it. Datapads at her fingertips as she looked at it and soon began to experiment with a few things. Then… she asked a question. “Amigo… you said that you’ve encountered this freak before, right?”

“Yes, I wiped his data center and stole all the information he had the first time around, why?” He asked.

“Well, I’m going to need it.” At first, Lance looked at Bayonetta, a little puzzled by the response early on. But soon, he held out his datapad and allowed for her to get the files she needed while she had them spread out across multiple holographic screens. When she was surfing through them though… that when she noticed something. “Huh… Well, this is going to be much easier than I originally thought it would be.”

“How so?”

“Who says I’m telling?” Sombra asked. “Besides… from this, I already have an idea of what to do…” She then tossed him the sphere as the Adept caught it in his hands. “First things first though, contact him.”

Nodding, Lance held the sphere out and pressed the center of it as it began to glow again. Projecting the holographic jester once more as he began to speak. “Radio… I’m ready to bargain. On the condition that Katy remains unharmed.”

“Excellent… I’m sending you the coordinates to my location. And before I do go, I don’t really appreciate my own tech being hacked… So whoever it is… Tell them that I’ll deal with them personally. Ta, Ta!” He replied before ending the transmission. The coordinates soon appeared on his gauntlet as he looked back at her.

“Heh… just wait til yellow payaso cabron gets a kick of what I have in store for him,” Sombra smirked as Lance handed back the sphere. “If you don’t mind, I’ll be in your workshop…”

With that, Sombra left in order to plan something out as she left the two of them in the hallway… shortly before Bayonetta said something to her son, which ended up leaving him facepalming himself. “I like your friend. Her rebellious nature really stands out.”

As the transmission ended on Yellow Radio’s end, he couldn’t help but chuckle to himself as he looked back towards Katy who was now hooked to a bunch of wires and cables, hanging over a tube of a strange blue liquid. “Having fun up there, my dear?”

“You sick prick! If you do anything to me, I swear I’ll make you regret it!” Katy shouted at the top of her lungs.

“Now who said anything about harming you?~” He replied as Katy looked at him confused. “Oh no… I plan to do what I should have done in the beginning, I’m making you human… and all that memory of the displaced, the wars, your relationships will be mostly gone… All except for your will to live and a few hints of that ignorant adept will linger in your poor mind, but you’ll still be you. And that’s what really matters.” He explained as he released the lever holding her up and she fell in the tube, as she tried to struggle to free herself. Not wanting to forget her past, but at the same time, the human side of her wanted to forget everything, the pain, loss, suffering she had to endure in her long life.

“I do hope you’ll enjoy your stay, it’ll take them quite a while to reach here.” He said as he left Katy alone, but as Yellow Radio walked down the halls, there stood Hit and Zoom at the doorway with unpleasant expressions that sent chills down the jester’s spine. “And what do you two want now?”

“The chip, do you have it?” Hit asked.

“Oh for pete’s sake have some patience.” He said, pulling out a bloody microchip from his pocket and handed over to the assassin. “And you can tell the King that he’ll get his bride, I take it this makes us even now?”

“For now… However I shall still remain here to see the deal go through, you better hope that you get his highness’s bride by the end of this, otherwise… your head is mine.” Hit replied as he put the Microchip into his pocket and left Yellow Radio alone with Zoom.

“Are you sure I can’t just kill those pests when they come? I’m certain that they won’t cooperate with you and you already have the girl being wiped clean of her memories for his highness. Why give them any sort of hope?” Zoom asked as he cracked his knuckles. Yellow simply laughed as he patted the speedster’s shoulder.

“Zoom, Zoom, the point of giving them hope is so we can take it away… And I now know they have a hacker, soooo… I am working on something that will make her and that adept useless and you and Hit can just kill all of them.” Yellow explained as the two laughed together.

Two hours had passed since the original time that Yellow Radio has proposed and at the meeting location, Lance and Bayonetta stood by themselves. Waiting for the arrival of the ones who originally had kidnapped Katy to come on out. “And they’re late…”

“Dear, if anything… it’s possible that they’re preparing to make a grand entrance.” The witch replied to her son as she placed a hand on his shoulder. “Show some patience…”

“My patience is running thin with this jackass as is.” Lance grumbled, but after waiting another five minutes, the ground beneath them began to move and a large plate form began to rise high into the air and there stood Hit, Zoom and Yellow Radio, holding Katy in chains and even though they were high up, Lance could tell that the Jester had done something to her as she was now wearing nothing but ragged clothes and her hair was now pure white.

“Hello! So glad you could come! Sorry, but as you can tell, this worlds generation on tech really isn’t the best and we had to get the backup generators working so we could make OUR GRAND ENTRANCE!!!” Yellow Radio said as fireworks shot up into the air.

“I thought I told you that one of the conditions I had for this deal was that Katy was unharmed,” Lance sternly shot back at him. “You seem to not be someone to listen to the rules of an agreement.”

“Hmm… Well if I recall, those agreements were made after I had harmed her. I needed to pull out something that my friend here needed, but other then that I had caused her no such harm… I simply made her… a real woman.” He explained to the adept as he placed his hands on Katy’s shoulders, but she didn’t react. “Ohh… right, she’s still a bit fresh from the tank, but I can promise you she’ll be perfectly fine once she meet with Hit’s client.”

“I told you, I’ve come to bargain… so, will you come down here to negotiate or back out like the spineless swine that you’re known for?” Lance asked, folding his arms and waiting for a response. “Because I already have someone to trade…”

“Hmm… as tempting as that is, I feel more comfortable up here, but I have a little something for that hacker you brought with you.” He said, pulling out another orb, similar to that of the one Lance had, but he threw it up into the air. And as it opened up, a massive field of energy exploded from it, forming a barrier around the entire warehouse with everyone in it, and most of the tech in the surrounding area began to fail. “I know that this hacker had been sabotaging my tech for awhile now, many of my buyers told me how she hacks it, so I created this barrier to… keep her out in the open, ruining any tech she has equip, including yours!”

All Lance could do was facepalm himself… before laughing at him. “You… really are an idiot now, are you?”

“Why’s that?” He asked.

“Your plan was to keep her out…” Lance replied, but as Yellow Radio continued to listen, the cloak Sombra had was beginning to dissipate. And She was right behind him with her weapon at the ready. “But instead… all it did was lead to you being brought down to earth.”

Without warning, Sombra opened fire as she sprayed a barrage of bullets in Yellow Radio’s chest and neck, while also using the orb she had to throw it at the one in the sky. Both of them detonating as Yellow Radio was now back on the ground. Shortly before Sombra tore off the chains and used her translocator to arrive next to Bayonetta and give her Katy.

“Childs play…” Sombra smirked, walking over to where Yellow Radio’s body was and stepped on one of his hands. “Okay… Cody, you’re up.”

“They really are fools…” Zoom said as he ran down there and stuck Sombra in the back, sending her crashing into a bunch of crates and grabbing Bayonetta by the throat. However, the hairs on Bayonetta’s clothes began to attach itself to Zoom “Nice try… But even that wench’s tricks won’t kill Radio so easily.”

“Who said that was meant to kill him~?” She replied, before looking back at him. “With your attention on us… Where do you think she is?”

“We don’t need her… We can take either of you females.” He said, taking Bayonetta with him as he rammed her body into the wall. “He should have left you at home.”

“And I’ll be sure to have Labolas eat your soul after this…” Bayonetta replied, shooting one of the rounds of her guns to have Zoom let go. But, as Zoom regrouped with Hit soon entered the arena… they all noticed something.

Katy was gone. “Heh… Figures he would copy the Lightspeed septima from that adept in Seaddle,” Lance grinned as he looked back at them. “Sorry, but you need to handle us before you get anywhere close to her…”

“Is that so?” Hit asked, before vanishing and striking Lance in the chest again and throwing him into the same crates as Sombra. “You can’t defeat me, no matter how strong you get boy… Besides, that woman laying next to, Bayonetta, or even that other female you called Vixen would make great brides to my client… and even so, Exuberant Witness isn’t a threat to anyone anymore, she’s vulnerable and she would be in better hands of my client then with a worthless punk like you!” He shouted as he fired off invisible ki blasts that sent both Lance and Sombra flying in the air and landing next to Yellow Radio’s body.

Seconds later though… Lance’s body began to pulse. Letting out his hands, all the electricity from every device in the warehouse and Yellow’s generator was charging him up with power. That… was followed by two words.

“Lumen… Anthem.” He said. Soon, a bright neon colored aura began to pulse as the energy began to have some of the room around them crumble. Glaring at Hit now in his overcharged state.

“Guess you’ve gotten stronger since the last time we met, but what you don’t know is… my strength surpasses that of your mentor… Lord Suicune’s.” Hit said.

Meanwhile as Sombra struggled to get up, two large yellow hands grabbed her and lifted her off the ground. “Hate to break it to you sweet lips, but bullets don’t work on me anymore!” Yellow Radio said throwing her into the now broken control panels, slamming her head against it repeatedly. “Ruin my plans! And you’ll DIE!”

At one point though, Sombra used her translocator device to disappear as Yellow Radio slammed his hand into the control board. Shortly before using her hand to grab the jester’s cane and smash it across his face. “That… is where you are wrong. I’m a shadow… a Sombra… and Shadow’s never die… As for you.” She said as blood trickled down her forehead.

At this point, Sombra began to use the jester’s cane like a crowbar as she placed it where the jesters mask met his face. “I think I want to make sure to see your face before killing you, payaso cobran.”

But as she removed his broken mask what she was met with was a what looked like a bunch of circuits and clay mushed together as Yellow Radio’s hand pulled his cane out of his head. “Ohhhhh… Now I remember… The real me died two years back… How could I forget such a silly protocol?”

All that did though… was make Sombra grin devilishly. “So you do bleed…”

“Well… the real me made me completely out of clay, it’s his last attempt of remaining as his living memory… I just hope I can cause as much chaos as him!” He shouted pulling the cane away from Sombra and striking her in the head with it. He was able to do this a few times… but not before she grabbed his wrist with one hand and the loose circuits with another.

“Well… How about we do a grand finale?” Yanking on the circuits, Sombra slammed Radio’s head into the computer he was slamming her in earlier. Shortly before using her tech to fuse the inner workings of the computer with the lose circuits. While also adding a few more steps. “Let me ask you something…” She grinned, before getting closer to him as the wires were fused all the way. “Have you seen Scanners?”

“I see what your doing… But before I go, beware of Frostmou-!” That was when Sombra threw Yellow Radio backwards and used her Translocator to get far away from the blast as the computer that was fused to Yellow Radio’s head blew up. Causing the jester’s body to fall lifeless on the ground.

All while the hacker looked at the body with a satisfied grin. “Adios…”

Meanwhile, Hit held Lance in his hands before seeing Yellow Radio go up in flames. He couldn’t help but sigh as he dropped Lance’s beaten body to the ground and began to walk off. “It seems that our business is done for now, but be aware that if I don’t come back, it means he’ll be coming. However, thanks for the warm up, that wasn’t half bad.”

“What’s with the attitude shift?” He then heard the Adept get up slowly as he turned around and looked back at him. His wounds slowly healing on their own. “You worked for him, but now you just walk off?”

“I never really worked for him, I was merely here to make sure he didn’t back out of his deal with my client… He’ll be very disappointed that he died again.” Hit said before vanishing once again from Lance’s view, not knowing where he had gone, the adept struggled to stand on his feet again with his eye now bruised and many sore muscles, but he soon saw Bayonetta struggling against the speedster as he kept throwing her around.

Yet, Bayonetta still looked like she had a lot of damage to her. “I’ve had enough with playing around…” Soon, red lightning began to churn around the room as Zoom found himself stuck in what looked like a circle as shadows began to flourish around the room. The hairs on her body beginning to weave in and out as she performed a small dance… and then shouted one thing.

“ARGEDCO!!”

“What is this?!” Zoom demanded to know, but immediately, he got his answer once a pitch black infernal hellhound emerged and sunk it’s fangs into the speedster. Ripping it’s muscles apart and dragging him down under the darkness that lead straight to hell. “This won’t… be our last meeting… you can’t lock up the darkness.”

“And you can’t change your fate… now that Labolas has you it it’s jaws.” With that, Zoom was dragged down to the depths of the infernal abyss as the settings began to die down and her clothes soon returned to her. “Well, I must say, that was a lot of fun…”

Shortly after that though was when the umbra witch went over to help her son stand up and gave him a lollipop. Before he could say anything though, Bayonetta interjected. “Eat it… It’ll restore your body and heal your wounds.”

“Can’t argue with that… even though the whole philosophy of candy being good for the body is a little bit crazy,” Lance thought, before beginning to eat the treat as he felt his body being restored. And when the Adept was able to stand again, he noticed that Sombra herself had already taken off. Leaving just him and his mother.

Shortly before his mother suggested something. “Now… let’s go see if your friend is okay.”

By the time that Lance had finally returned to HQ, his mother was already gone and Cody was already focusing on trying to repair some of the other things that were in the headquarters. But he and Vixen did allow for Lance to be able to watch over Katy… especially since they left her in his room for him.

As he shut the door, he immediately could see a few things… one, the rags she had before were gone and replaced with actual clothes. And two, the chains that were originally around her were now gone. But, her hair was still white as he closed the door behind her. “Hey Katy…”

“W-What… Where am I?” The girl asked, rubbing her head as she looked around the room.

“Katy, it’s okay…” He assured her, taking off his coat now as she finally noticed him. “You’re safe now…”

“You’re… Lance? Right?” She asked as she groaned. “Ow… My head hurts.”

Lance slowly approached her, sitting next to her on the bed and trying to help her. “Yes… it’s me. Are you okay?”

“I was kidnapped… Dumped into a tank… And chained up with splitting headache… What do you think genius?” She said, playfully punching his shoulder.

“Yeah, I’m sorry…” He apologized while taking the hit from her. “Well, you don’t have a lot to worry about… my mother had a hellhound drag Zoom down to hell, Hit left and Yellow Radio’s dead.”

“Well… who were those guys again?” She asked sheepishly. “I barely remember who they were, but Hit does ring a bell.”

That had Lance raise an eyebrow before looking back at her and sighing. “Just don’t worry about it…” He said, wrapping an arm around her shoulder. “I’m here for you… and if you’re okay with it, I would like to spend some time with you.”

“Not right now… I just need a bit of time to myself for a bit… I’m trying to remember something.” She said, trying to think really hard as she scrunched up her nose.

At first, the adept left her be so she could think… but after watching her for a few minutes and seeing her face scrunch up more than once, he then decided to speak up. “Any luck?”

“Would you give a girl some time to herself… You really should learn something called patience.” She said, rolling her eyes at him, but she smiled at him. “I think I should probably sleep on it.”

“Would you like some company?” He then asked her, smiling a small bit as Katy looked back at him.

“No… Like I said, I need time to myself, but I’ll see you tomorrow morning.” She smiled, waving to him. Taking the cue, Lance took his coat and began to walk to the door. Allowing for Katy to have the space that she really wanted.

“Looks like I’ll find out tomorrow then.” The Adept told himself as he proceeded to the couch in the living room and began to lay down. Drifting off to sleep as well.

The following morning…

“So, how is she?” Vixen asked the Adept as he began to take a drink from a cup of coffee. After he woke up, it turned out that Saffron had decided to stay on watch and was there to assist him that morning.

“Well, she told me that she wanted to have some time to think to herself, so I just decided to leave her be,” He replied back after finishing his sip of coffee. “Then told me that she wanted to sleep on it.”

“Dear, just give the girl some time to think…” Oh yeah, Bayonetta was here too this morning. “You can’t just rush her.”

“I know, but I wanted to be there to help in case-” But before he could even finish his sentence, Katy came rushing into the room, almost jumping on the adept and kisses him hard on the lips, surprising everyone in the room that was awake at the time, even Lance himself. “W-wha-?”

“I remembered we didn’t have our first kiss~” She said, smiling at him. “Oh, and I also remembered we needed to have sex-.” She said aloud, forgetting that Lance’s mother was in the room, embarrassing the adept as his face turned bright red.

“Hey… how about you kids go somewhere more private~” Bayonetta suggested, all while Vixen facehoofed herself.

“Oh, right… sorry… I sorta forgot you were there.” Katy replied, before she and Lance left the living room. Leaving Vixen to look back at Bayonetta.

“And why did you have to say that?”

“What can I say? I’m a fan of young love~” Bayonetta teased as she left for the door. Leaving Vixen wanting to get herself some tea to clear her up her head now.

End Strike 60

Strike 62- Emergency

Author's Note

So... where exactly do I begin with this?

This took a bit longer than expected, but I'm glad that this is done. This arc is meant to have a massive impact on Lance's character going forward and I think I did everything I could to make sure I didn't leave any stones unturned.

I really hope that this chapter leaves enough of an impact going forward and I am really excited for what I have planned in store.

Thanks again to Pen Dragon and Brony Parasite for looking these over and assisting me as I did this. Both of them have been a major help.

Until next time
-Frost

Strike 62- Emergency

When Lightning Strikes- Emergency

Maretropolis

The ride to the hospital inside of the EMT was bumpy as Sparkler sat next to her father. Filled with unexpected turns and sudden stops as the ponies who were driving the carriage tried to get to the clinic as soon as possible. The EMT workers that were with her were doing everything that they could to treat the injuries that her father suffered at the hooves of the Mane-iac, but it was only enough to keep him stable for the time being. Thankfully, despite severe bruises on his body, they didn’t notice anything that could be seen as dangerous or life threatening. Which Sparkler saw as a relief.

However, Sparkler couldn’t rest just yet. Not while her father’s attackers were still out there. She needed to tell the rest of QUILL. Levitating her phone to her ear, she used her memory to speed dial one of her teammates. “Hello?”

“Saffron, we have a problem,” Sparkler began, “I was attacked at the fair.”

“You got attacked? Me too,” her teammate stated as the ambulance made a right turn.

Sparkler tensed at that. “‘Me too’? What happened?”

“I was leaving the Tasty Treat after saying hello to my father and then one of those Sumeragi Adepts attacked the restaurant. Nopony was hurt and I tried to pursue them, but they got away,” her friend told her, “Are you okay? You said that you got attacked too, right?”

“Yeah. Same as you said, except the Mane-iac was working with the Adept and they attacked my family and I. I’m taking my dad to the hospital as we speak.”

“W-wait, did you say the Mane-iac?” her teammate asked next, “Why would she be with Sumeragi? I thought she was the kind of villain that despised working with others.”

“Don’t ask me, I barely understood anything that was happening. Have you heard from Lance?”

“I was going to try and reach him, but then I got your call-” Saffron replied back, just as Sparkler felt the ambulance begin to slow down to a complete stop.

“Alright everypony, we’re here. I need all hooves on deck so we can get the patient into the infirmary,” the driver spoke up, before turning to Sparkler, “Can you lend us a hoof, ma’am? We could use your help in getting him off of the ambulance.”

“Of course,” Sparkler replied. ‘I need to call Lance as soon as we get dad inside.’

Once Sparkler was outside of the ambulance, the unicorn began to channel her power so that her father’s stretcher was set on the ground gently. As it touched the concrete surface, she and the hospital workers quickly brought him inside towards the first available room that the hospital had available while the doctors were sorting out all the information that they had on his condition as well as her father’s medical records. They needed to run a few tests in order to diagnose any injuries that he might’ve sustained first, just to make sure.

After what felt like ten to fifteen minutes of waiting, one of the nurses approached Sparkler, “Excuse me, but are you the mare that came in with Detective Whooves?”

“Yes. How is he?”

“Well, aside from some bruises and a few scrapes, there doesn’t seem to be any major injuries. No signs of broken bones or anything serious that would require immediate attention,” the nurse explained as she held a clipboard in her hoof, “However, Doctor Stable wants to keep him overnight to see if his condition changes at all, just as a precaution. If everything goes well, he should be released tomorrow once he’s gotten enough rest.”

She then turned the clipboard and provided a pen for Sparkler. The form on the clipboard was asking for some information, such as a name and a phone number, “Can you fill this out for us, please?” she asked, “It’s so we can get ahold of you if there happens to be any changes to his condition.”

“Of course.” Sparkler nodded, taking the clipboard in her magic. She quickly wrote down her information, and offered it back, “I need to make a few calls. Is there a place I can go for that?”

“Many of the public areas of the hospital can be used for phone calls. Though, personally, I suggest you take the call in the outside courtyard down the hall,” the mare said as she pointed down the left hallway at a door that another pony was walking in from, “The reception is better there and you don’t have to worry about your calls getting disconnected.”

“Thank you,” With that, Sparkler followed the mare’s directions and began to dial. When the person on the other end picked up, she gave them no chance to speak. “Lance, we have a problem. Sumeragi just attacked my family at a fair, alongside the Mane-iac.”

“Hold on, Sumeragi attacked you too-?” she heard the adept ask before stopping himself and asking a different question, “Nevermind that, is your family okay? Was anypony hurt?”

“Just my dad. I’m waiting to see if he’s alright, but if you need me-”

“Sparkler, I think it would be best to remain on standby. You should be there for your family and make sure that they’re safe first,” Lance told her, “I’m going to try and get a hold of Matterhorn so we can get to the bottom of this. Before I go though, is there anything else that I should know? Anything at all?”

“Saffron said that she was attacked as well,” the unicorn answered back, “I think someone’s targeting us.”

There was a bit of silence over the phone first, before Sparkler heard the Azure Striker reply back, “That… is definitely concerning. I’ll try to see if I can get a hold of anyone else in QUILL that we know. Right now though, just stay safe and look after your family. I’ll call you if the situation’s changed.”

With that, the call ended as Sparkler let out a sigh as she placed her phone back in her bag, before trotting back to the hospital lobby.

Elsewhere…

As Lance stood on the rooftop of a restaurant in Canterlot Castle, he was trying to process everything that had occured in the last few minutes. It first started when Katy decided that the two of them would have a lunch date in Canterlot. Yet, as they were finishing up and paying the check to the waitress that was tending to them, they two of them were blindsided by a pair of Sumeragi adepts that attacked the restaurant.

Thankfully, they were able to protect the ponies at the cafe and no one was hurt. Yet, something about this felt… off to the Azure Striker. Their attackers came out of nowhere and left just as quickly, almost as if they were bored or uninterested. Furthermore, when he tried to contact one of his teammates, the adept learned that similar attacks had happened in Maretropolis and Manehattan against other members of QUILL. Which made him even more concerned because of the possibility that they were being targeted by Sumeragi.

However, his train of thought soon came to a halt when he heard his partner, Katy, speak up, “Not exactly how I thought our date would go… Lance, what is our next move?”

“Well, that is going to be difficult,” he said, before turning towards her, “I just got word from Esper. Seems like we’re not the only ones who have had close encounters with Sumeragi.”

“Okay, you need to tell everything that’s been going on… Who's behind all this?”

That had Lance come to a small realization. Despite Katy being here for almost a couple of months, he never really got the chance to explain to her about Sumeragi. “Well, the people that attacked us were part of the organization here named Sumeragi. Their boss, Nova, wants to basically have all of the world be under his rule. However, they have been inactive for almost a year… though, why they’re showing themselves now is beyond me,” he summarized for her to try and help her understand it, “However, Esper called and told me that she and Vixen were also attacked by two different Sumeragi Adepts.”

“And you chose now to tell me all this?! Would have been useful information months earlier!” She shouted, turning away from the adept.

“Katy, I’m sorry. I really am,” the adept told her sympathetically, trying to stay calm and help her, “I wasn’t trying to hide any of this from you. Yet… I screwed up and I’m sorry for that.” It was hard for him to admit it, but Lance felt that it would be better for him to accept his mistake rather than just try to deny it entirely.

“Let’s just get this over with… And by the way… You’re sleeping on the couch tonight.”

Lance sighed upon hearing that, before he heard another buzz from his com-link and turned his wrist, “What the heck?” he said, “Masked Matterhorn is trying to get a hold of me.” With a flick of his fingers, he activated the com-link as a pop up screen emerged from his device. Both of them could now see Masked Matterhorn on the other end, yet she looked like something had thrown her off guard.

“Thank Celestia you picked up,” the alicorn spoke now, “We got a problem, GV! Sumeragi’s back-”

“You’re… a bit late on that one, Matterhorn,” the adept said, turning the com-link so that the alicorn could see Katy as well, “Katy and I had a Sumeragi asshole crash our lunch date in Canterlot. Esper had an encounter in Maretropolis and Vixen-”

“I know about those already,” Matterhorn snapped, “Gunvolt, this isn’t just one occurance. We’re getting reports of attacks happening all across Equestria. Sun Fransokyo, Centrail City, New Yoke City. Even M.I.S.T. and-”

“Woah, slow down a minute,” Lance ushered, before cautiously looking around for a moment, “When Esper was talking to me, she brought up the concern that they might be targeting us. How about we try to come to you? That way no one is trying to intercept our communications.”

“That… might be better. Just come here quickly. I’m having trouble trying to make sense of this on my own.” With that, the call was over as the adept straightened himself up and looked back to his partner.

“We better hurry and get over there. This appears to be much bigger than I thought,” he told her as she slowly turned back around, “Before we go though, Lumen, are you there?”

The muse, who had been listening for the last couple of moments, appeared on his shoulder when he called her, “Right here! What’s up?”

“I need you to contact Aurora and tell her what happened. If what Sparkler told me was true, I want to make sure that she’s safe. If she’s not picking up, then go back to HQ and tell her that way.”

“Got it!” Lumen declared, before disappearing a couple of seconds later into his bracer and leaving the two of them be. The Azure Striker then turned towards Katy, offering her a hand so that he could transmit them to where Masked Matterhorn was located. At first, she didn’t do anything. Though, after a little bit, she begrudgingly took the Adept’s hand as Lance transmitted them away from Canterlot.

When they arrived, both of them found themselves within the command center at Power Pony HQ. Masked Matterhorn looked as if she was frantically trying to make sure everything was under control while Humdrum and Zapp were trying to help her stay calm. Whatever was going on had Masked Matterhorn look as if she was in a panicked frenzy and when the alicorn turned to them, she was relieved to see both of them. “Thank Celestia you made it. Are you alright?”

It took a bit for Lance to answer that simple question as he had to think it through first. Though, after looking at Katy, he decided to go for a simple answer. “For the most part,” he replied, “Though, we might be a bit late to the game here. Could you bring us up to speed on what’s been happening?”

Masked Matterhorn nodded, before bringing up a screen on the holotable in the center of the room. It showed a map of Equestria and there were several red dots scattered across the map at key cities, with some cities like Manehattan having more than one. There were also dots in Maretropolis and Canterlot too. “Within the last twenty minutes, we’ve been receiving reports of attacks from Sumeragi all across Equestria. This isn’t like how some villains would act, where they attack one place, try to run and then attack another. All of these attacks happened within minutes of each other.”

“Is there anything else that we know? Like their motives?” Katy herself now asked, her tone sounding like before they arrived.

“That part is unclear… all the eyewitness reports so far have been that out of nowhere Sumeragi shows up and attacks someone or someplace, a hero or law enforcement shows up and then after a while, the villain just retreats,” Humdrum asked, “We’ve been trying to get in contact with all the hero teams that have encountered them to see if there was anything different, but they all said the same thing. No matter if it was Mane Hero 6, the Cutie Mark Crusaders or MIST, all the stories were similar.”

Katy herself looked puzzled at the mention of the hero teams, but didn’t dwell on it as the dragon looked towards the adept, “What about you? Is everypony at QUILL okay? Zapp told us that Esper’s father was attacked.”

“I know,” he replied, “Esper also told me that Vixen was attacked at the Tasty Treat and told me that she thinks that Sumeragi is targeting us.”

Both Masked Matterhorn and Humdrum looked back to each other for a moment, before they looked to have been talking among themselves. Lance looked towards Zapp and Katie, a bit puzzled by what was going on. Though, it was when the alicorn looked back at them that she said something that the adept didn’t expect. “That would explain only a couple of incidents though.”

“What do you mean?” Zapp asked, folding her forelegs as she looked at her teammates with a puzzled expression.

“What I mean is that Lance’s team, compared to others, is relatively small,” she explained, “Sure, Esper and Vixen were targets, but there were no reports of similar incidents from Whinnyapolis, where Poet lives. Not to mention that Bumblesweet wasn’t at any of the particular locations where these incidents happened.”

“They could end up being targets and just haven’t been attacked yet,” Katy retorted.

“That may be true. Yet, it still feels as if there’s something missing. Like it’s a puzzle that’s missing pieces,” Humdrum added, “We’ve been trying to crack it ever since we got word of this, but with no success.”

The rest of them continued to discuss among themselves, while the adept just looked at the map that was on display. While it looked like an ordinary map, there was something that felt that was missing. Something that seemed vital, but wasn’t on display. Even though the map showed where the incidents take place, it didn’t show two things that he thought were necessary.

“Hey Humdrum?” he said, catching the attention of the sidekick, “Could you do something real quick?”

“What is it?”

“Can you list all of the incidents by when they took place and who Sumeragi was targeting?” the adept then asked her, “I want to take a look at this from a different angle.”

Humdrum nodded as he interacted with the holo-table and minimized the map. With a few swipes of his claws, the list that the adept requested was brought up as Lance began to take a look at it. The first one was in Maretropolis and Sumeragi went after Detective Whooves, which lined up with what Sparkler was telling him on the phone. Yet, he was looking more at what came afterwards.

After a few moments though, his eyes widened in disbelief as he just started at the list, “Oh my god…”

“Lance, what’s the matter?” Zapp then asked.

The Azure Striker wasn’t quick to respond, but after looking over the list again, he looked back at everyone and let out a small breath, “I think I found something.”

“Really?” Masked Matterhorn replied, her ears standing up, “What is it?”

“Esper mentioned that members of QUILL might be targeted. Yet, this goes further than that,” Lance explained as he began to name off some of the incidents that were on the list, “Detective Whooves, Maretropolis. Mane Hero 6, Sun Fransokyo. Chief Spitfire and the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Centrail City. Each one of the places that’s on here is somewhere that I’ve been before and each one of Sumeragi’s target’s was someone I’ve met or worked with. Hell, even Aya and MIST are on this list.”

As Masked Matterhorn and the other power ponies looked at the room, they began to realize exactly what he meant. Every location had been a place where Lance visited before and everyone that was a target or had engaged Sumeragi was someone he knew. Yet, there was still one question that remained unanswered. One that Zapp asked right away, “Okay, uh… What exactly does this mean, though?”

That had Lance look back at the pegasus, before explaining further, “It means that whoever’s doing this knows everyone that I’ve met and everything I’ve done for the last two years,” He then looked back at Katy for a brief moment, before looking towards Masked Matterhorn. “Yet, it feels as if there’s something… off about this.”

“What do you mean?” Humdrum asked.

The adept then pointed towards one detail that was on the side after the place where the incident took place and who was the target, “What bugs me is that each one of these encounters with Sumeragi is relatively short,” Lance mentioned, “It’s almost as if they were only doing this just… No, that can’t be right.”

“Lance… what are you talking about?” he now heard Katy ask him, her tone being firm as if she wanted immediate answers.

The adept took a moment in order to refocus, but soon, he had an answer for them, “This feels like some kind of diversion tactic. Something along the lines of causing enough chaos to distract heroes and law enforcement from what they’re really doing. The only problem with that is I can’t seem to think of what exactly they would be after.”

“Well, do you know someone that might have some kind of idea as to what they would be after?” she then asked before folding her arms, “Hell, why don’t you ask Lumen? She might have a better idea of what’s going on.”

In Lance’s mind, that was actually a good idea. Lumen was back at HQ, so she might’ve found something on their computer that was the missing piece of the puzzle they were trying to solve. Yet, as the Azure Striker tried to call her, something did not seem right. Normally, she was quick to respond without any delays. However, the first couple attempts he made when trying to call her were quickly disconnected.

“Is… something wrong?” Masked Matterhorn asked, noticing the difficulty the adept was having

“Yeah, I’m trying to get a hold of her, but something’s not working. It’s not like her to not answer my calls,” he replied, before looking back towards the alicorn, “Something doesn’t feel right… can you wait here for a moment?”

A nod from Masked Matterhorn was all that Lance needed to see before he immediately transmitted himself out of there and at the back door to QUILL’s headquarters. However, the moment that he arrived, he can immediately tell that something was wrong. The sliding doors were shattered and glass was all over the floor. The kitchen and living room were trashed and in complete disarray while the command center was hidden from view, but the amount of damage he was seeing already had his heart racing. Something was clearly wrong.

Immediately, he rushed to Aurora’s room and opened the door. Her room was in complete shambles and the young girl wasn’t there. The adept’s mind was already beginning to think of the worst possible scenario as he grabbed his weapon and began to hold it as he made a sweep around their base. He looked in all possible places and checked every corner, but there was no sign of either Aurora or Lumen anywhere.

When the Azure Striker began to make his way back into the living room, that was when he heard a familiar voice, “This is quite the nice you happen to have here… Gunvolt.”

Immediately, the adept turned around and found himself staring directly at none other than Nova… or at least, that’s what he thought. When he fired a shot from his weapon, the dart just phased through the leader of Sumeragi and struck the nearby wall, all as Nova looked back at him with a smirk at his face. “Really? Is that really how you treat all the guests that come into your home now?”

“What the hell are you doing here?” the azure striker grit his teeth, hands firmly on his weapon, “Where’s Aurora?”

“If you mean Project Nyx, the property which you stole from me, then it’s safely back in Sumeragi hands,” the hologram of Nova told me, “Whoever was in control of the vessel was rather uncooperative, so we had to apply some… countermeasures to make sure that it wasn’t damaged. Fortunately, my associates were causing enough trouble and keeping you and the rest of the heroes that you work with occupied, so we had no trouble reacquiring it.”

The way that Nova talked about Aurora and how he saw her as nothing more than just a thing sickened the Azure Striker. “You bastard,” he snapped, “What about Lumen? Where is she?”

“If you mean the annoying pixie that tried to help her, then I believe one of my associates took her into our custody,” Nova told him, “We warned her of the consequences that she would face if she tried to get in our way, but refused to listen. She didn’t happen to be rather important now… did she?”

This was definitely bad. Not only was Nova holding Aurora hostage, but he also kidnapped Lumen as well. Without her, he couldn’t have her use the power of the muse to help him when he needed it the most. However, in Lance’s mind, that did not explain one crucial detail.

That was Nova’s motives. He was not the kind of villain that would do something because he just felt like it. He wouldn’t do anything unless there was a specific reason or purpose that benefited him or Sumeragi. “Why are you doing this?” the azure striker asked, “Why come back now and go out of your way to kidnap Aurora and have your adepts orchestrate all across Equestria?”

“It’s because she’s more than that,” Nova replied, “Project Nyx was going to be the future of Sumeragi. After numerous setbacks, I had our organization build up in the shadows and began to work on a project that would allow for Sumeragi to come back stronger than ever and erase all of those who oppose us. Yet, on the day that you stole it from us, that was the last straw. No one that you’ve worked with or met will be safe from us now… Though, I’m not just simply taking back our future…”

With a snap of Nova’s finger, the TV in the little room immediately turned on. It was on a news channel, with a breaking headline and coverage of something that the Azure Striker could not believe he was seeing. On the far shore of Baltimare, a giant tower rose from the ocean. One that loomed over Equestria and had Sumeragi’s signal emblazoned on the side. Lance remembered what that structure was, but before he could say anything, Nova beat him to it.

“Babel Tower. Sumeragi’s Crown Jewel,” Nova spoke triumphantly, “It took years, but finally we can show how powerful Sumeragi really is. That we are the ones who know what is best for this world and we have the power to root out and erase any who defy us.”

“You’ve gone too far this time, Noah,” Lance glared back at the hologram.

“That’s Nova to you,” the hologram corrected, “Now, as I was saying before, I’m not just simply taking back our future. I’m going to be taking away your future… and unlike mine, it’ll be something you’ll never find again.”

As the projection disappeared, Lance turned towards the news broadcast as his eyes widened. Babel Tower was charging a giant orb of energy. Something that wasn’t supposed to be possible. In the original games, Babel was just an orbital station that looked over the planet. Yet, here, Nova took it much further and turned the tower into a weapon.

Instinct kicked in as Lance immediately ran for the door, getting his communicator on. “Lance, what’s going on? This giant tower just-”

“Guys, Nova set us up!! He’s taken Aurora!!” He told them as he ran through the shattered door frame of the back of their base, “You gotta get out of there, now!”

“Lance, slow down! What are you talking about-?”

“Katy, that’s no tower!! It’s a weapon!!! You gotta leave now-!”

Before he could even move an inch, a giant blast of light filled his vision as he was knocked to the ground. The Adept could only watch in horror as Power Pony HQ was turned to nothing but ash in a matter of seconds. Everything that was there before was gone, wiped off of the face of the earth.

In a fleet of panic, he transmitted over to what was left of the headquarters as there was nothing but debris and rubble. The azure striker’s heart was racing, praying that Katy and the others were able to make it out. Yet, the more that he searched through the ruins, the more that he was met with despair.

The worst part about it was when he found the mirror. The doorway that linked Max’s world with his. It was shattered and broken, with all of its power gone and faded away. It was nothing more than broken pieces of a reflection as he stared at it and dropped to his hands and knees. It was as tears began to form around his eyes that the gravity of Nova’s words began to sink in.

“I’m going to be taking away your future… and unlike mine, it’ll be something you’ll never find again.”

As his tears fell to the ground, Lance couldn’t help but think of all the faces of the family that was taken away from him. Sephiroth, Asura, Sol and Mun, Golden Spark, Light Sweet, Lucky Clover… Rainbow Dash. But most importantly… Max. Nova had taken everyone away from him, including their unborn son. With the mirror shattered, there was no way he could be able to find them on his own. Even with his power and everything he was capable of… he could not save them.

It was while he was grieving for his loss that a single thought emerged in his mind. It wasn’t about Katy or if she and the others made it out of the building before the attack. No, the only thought that was on his mind was to get Aurora back. He made a promise to keep her safe from anything that might harm her… and if the adept had to go into the heart of Sumeragi itself to do it, then that was a risk he was willing to take.

Power Pony HQ (Five minutes earlier)

“Something doesn’t feel right… can you wait here for a moment?”

After Masked Matterhorn nodded her head, Lance disappeared in a quick flash of lightning. Leaving Katy with Zapp, Humdrum and the alicorn by themselves in the command room. At first, everything was quiet. Though, it did not last long as Zapp had a question to ask.

“So… what do you think he’s doing?”

Katy raised an eyebrow at that, before looking back towards the pegasus. She thought that the question was specifically directed towards her, even though Zapp was asking everybody in the room. “Honestly, I don’t know,” Humdrum replied, “I mean, he didn’t exactly say where he was going, so he could either be back at QUILL’s base of operations or on the other side of Equestria.”

“He was trying to get a hold of Lumen before he left,” Masked Matterhorn added, “Maybe he decided to go speak to her face to face since he seemed to be having some technical issues?”

“We barely have technical issues though,” Katy then spoke up as she folded her arms and looked at the other heroes in the room, “He was talking to Esper, Lumen and you just fine earlier before we even arrived here.”

“Well, what exactly was Lumen doing before you guys came here?” Humdrum then asked her.

In response, Katy unfolded her arms and let out a sigh, “Earlier, Lance asked for her to contact Aurora and make sure she knew what happened. Even told her that if she isn’t picking up to go back to base and tell her in person,” she explained, “My guess is that if she’s not picking up, Lance is going to check on both of them at base.”

That had both ponies and the dragon look back at each other, before Humdrum just shrugged his shoulders and grabbed what looked to be a television remote, “Alright, I guess… I’m going to turn on the news and see if there’s anything else going on right now-”

However, when the sidekick turned on the TV, there was a much different breaking news story instead of the Sumeragi attacks that occurred earlier. Instead, the main headline was about a rapidly developing story that was happening off Baltimare’s coastline. Shortly after Sumeragi’s attack, a giant tower that reached towards the atmosphere emerged out in the Celestial Sea with a giant bridge extending outward. It’s emblem was on the side of the tower and it was beginning to glow rapidly as well.

“What… the hay is that?” Zapp asked, shocked by the recent developments.

“I… have no idea,” Humdrum said, “I’m just as shocked as you are, Zapp.”

As they said that, the footage on screen now showed that the tower was beginning to conjure a giant yellow orb of energy that was building up rapidly. These developments had Katy concerned as she reached for her phone and dialed the first number she found and placed it on speaker, “Lance, what’s going on? This giant tower just-”

“Guys, Nova set us up!! He’s taken Aurora!!” was the first thing they heard before looking at everyone around the room, “You gotta get out of there, now!”

“Lance, slow down! What are you talking about-?” Katy asked, noticing that Masked Matterhorn was looking out the window and seeing a massive orb of energy in the distance. Humdrum was closing down the TV and the holo-table.

“Katy, that’s no tower!! It’s a weapon!!! You gotta leave now-!”

Mere seconds after hearing those words, Masked Matterhorn took action. “Humdrum, activate Blink Protocol!”

The sidekick nodded, before swiping his claw on the holo-table to the right and ejecting a data drive. Blink Protocol was a countermeasure that Masked Matterhorn came up with to make sure the power ponies had a plan in place whenever a villain would attack their headquarters or if they were blindsided by a surprise attack. Humdrum would save all their data on a portable backup drive that would hold Iris and all of their information, while Masked Matterhorn would cast her teleportation spell to make sure that everypony inside their headquarters was out of the building.

It was a good thing too. For seconds after Masked Matterhorn teleported the four of them out of there and onto the rooftop of another building, the entire headquarters was consumed in a powerful energy blast and turned into nothing but rubble and ash. What was once a symbol of the heroes that protected Maretropolis was no more as they stared at the ruins from a distance in disbelief.

“Oh, dear Celestia…” Twilight cursed to herself, eyes widening at the damage. The alicorn was shocked by the devastation she was seeing. Everything that they had built over several years was gone in the blink of an eye. Even though they still had the data they exported and took with them, it was going to be very hard to rebuild.

“Hey guys,” Zapp then spoke nervously, “There’s… somepony down there.”

Katy herself was the first one to look down and try to see who it was. Much to her own surprise, the one who was down there was none other than Lance himself. Yet… something seemed different. Moments after arriving, she saw him on his hands and knees in front of what looked to be a broken mirror. It wasn’t like him to get emotional, especially like this. Something was clearly wrong and Katy could not tell what it was.

Before Katy or Masked Matterhorn even had the chance to get down and ask, the adept was gone as he disappeared in another flash of lightning. Yet, it was as the four of them looked at the ruins that Masked Matterhorn saw something that had all the color from her face be drained. “Oh no.”

When Katy turned to look towards the alicorn, she just saw him staring at what looked to be a broken mirror. “What’s the matter? Is that mirror important?”

That had Masked Matterhorn look back at Katy with a look of shock. “You mean you don’t… know?” She just tilted her head, puzzled by what the alicorn said, “He didn’t tell you about Max?”

When she heard that name, something began to ring in her head. Old memories possibly. Someone he wanted her to meet. Someone who was important to him. Yet, many of the details were just… foggy. “I remember something, but it’s… faint. Why?”

“Katy… that name is more important than you might realize. Very important,” before the alicorn could continue, both of them heard Humdrum and Zapp approach as the alicorn looked at the sidekick, “Humdrum, I need you to send a message for me.”

“To who though?” he asked.

“... To everyone,” the response from her caught the dragon off guard, before she continued, “Tell them that we are in a Code Red, that Power Pony HQ has been destroyed by Sumeragi and that all available heroes need to head to the Baltimare coast immediately.”

Once she finished instructing Humdrum, Masked Matterhorn turned back towards Katy, “I’m going to have to keep this brief, but trust me when I say this… Lance will undoubtedly need our help more than ever.”

End Strike 62

Strike 63- Not Alone

When Lightning Strikes- Not Alone

When you are a hacker, there are many tools that one could use at their disposal to get what they are searching for. Some use complicated algorithms, malware or viruses to be able to get into places that no one else is supposed to be allowed inside and take what they want. Though, for one particular person, the most dangerous tool that any hacker can use is often the most simplest. Something that one may not exactly see as deadly until it is too late and their well guarded secrets were exposed for the public to see.

To the vigilante hacker named Sombra, that dangerous tool was information. Specifically, information that someone would not want for anyone else to know. Whether that be corrupt politicians who would used forbidden spellcraft to stay in power, CEO’s that cut corners at the expense of their workers, crime lords that exploited minors to make ends meet or famous celebrities that profit from the success of others, Sombra used the information they would try to hide to her advantage and then release it to the public. All while staying in the shadows and hidden from society. It was her way of being able to deliver justice to the victims that were affected by the actions of her targets, without having to reveal who she was to the world.

Yet, despite all her triumphs against each of her targets, the latest task that she put her mind to was tougher to try and solve. About a week ago, she found out that the criminal organization named Sumeragi were using radio and cell phone towers to send out and receive messages. At the time she found out about this, Sombra was tempted to pass along the information to a particular contact that she knew. Though, since there wasn’t anything that seemed to be of use at the time, she decided to leave behind what would be considered as the code equivalent of a spider web. If anything were to pass through it, it would catch it and Sombra would know.

Earlier today, just before noon, something got caught in the web. When the hacker had the chance to take a look at her catch, she was surprised about the extent that Sumeragi went too in order to try and hide it from prying eyes. Not only was it protected with state of the art encryption, but the message itself was coded. Something of this nature made Sombra think that whatever it was, it must have been rather important if they were going this far to keep it a secret.

They might have been good… but she was better. Despite the lengths that Sumeragi took in order to try and keep this message secure, Sombra had no trouble breaking the encryption. As for the message, running it through her database led to her discovering that the coded message bore similarities to that of Morse Code from back on Earth. Once she took the message and ran it through a translation program, the hacker was finally able to uncover what exactly Sumeragi was trying to send out in such a hurry.

However, the only problem left now was trying to make sense of it. Originally, Sombra thought that what she had intercepted was some secret orders of some kind or a message that was directly from their leader, Nova. Yet, what the message contained was neither of those things. Instead, it was a list, one that contained several different locations and cities that were all across Equestria. Some of the locations on that list included Power Pony HQ, Solace Asylum, and the Zero Zone.

Though, there was one location that caught her attention immediately, “Belle Red Correctional Facility?” she asked herself, before beginning to do some research as Sombra opened up another holoscreen and pressed a few keys. Once she had satellite footage of the facility in question, the hacker began to inspect it from all possible angles and see if there was anything she could find. Yet, the more that Sombra continued to investigate, the more that the vigilante began to feel that she had seen this somewhere before.

Then, it hit her. This place was not just an ordinary facility, but it was the same place where her friend Aster was being held at along with the rest of the ‘Suicide Squad’ that she was forcefully apart of. Though, what was it doing on a Sumeragi document of all places? Was this a list of places where they had possible agents? What sort of interest did Nova have in a place that was run by that mare Lauren Order? There was a piece of this puzzle that was missing and without it, nothing here would make sense.

Unfortunately for Sombra, as she was trying to make sense of the document she was looking at, tragedy struck. From her refuge, she heard a loud boom and the ground began to quake under her feet. When the vigilante activated the feed from the security camera outside her hideout, her eyes widened in shock as she stared at the burning crater where Power Pony HQ used to be.

“Que carajo?” she cursed. At this point, the hacker needed answers. There was no way that something that was almost as tall of one of the office buildings in Maretropolis could’ve been taken down so fast. As she pushed the two open tabs that she had off to the side, Sombra pulled up a third holo-screen and connected it to the television news networks.

What she found though was horrifying to watch. Hours after Sumeragi had attacked the Summer Sun Carnival in Maretropolis as well as other locations around Equestria, the existence of a large Sumeragi structure called Babel Tower emerged off the coast of Baltimare and fired a large blast that was able to destroy Power Pony HQ in a matter of minutes. Local and national leaders have called for a state of emergency and mass panic was beginning to set in. Many creatures feared that their families and communities would get erased in the blink of an eye. Even the Royal Guard was called in to try and take down the tower, only for its defenses to block anything that they threw at it.

It was in seeing this chaos that Sombra realized what she had intercepted. The message that she happened to obtain had Power Pony HQ on top of the list. Only one possible conclusion came to her mind as the vigilante looked over it again. This wasn’t just any ordinary list, but a list of targets. Places that Nova wanted to wipe off the face of Equestria, and with Babel Tower, he had the firepower to do so. “Ese bastardo!”

Upon realizing this, her first instinct was to try and contact the adept hero that was known as Gunvolt. Yet, for some reason, her call wasn’t able to get through and was dropped mere moments after Sombra tried to contact him. Which, to the vigilante, seemed ridiculous. Why would a hero of all things make it to where it was almost impossible in order to contact them in a time of crisis like this? Her attempts at reaching out to the base of operations of Gunvolt’s team yield similar results, for no one was there to pick up.

“Oh, for the love of-” she grit her teeth in frustration, “Who in their right mind would let their calls go to voicemail now of all times?”

At this point, Sombra was running low on both options and time. There was no telling when Nova would possibly strike again and the military that were trying to attack his base on the news weren’t going to keep him distracted for long. She needed to reach out to at least someone and warn them of what was happening and that Nova was planning to eradicate all who opposed him. The only question now though was who?

It was as she was pondering this that the hacker decided to try something. Power Pony HQ might’ve been destroyed, but it was entirely possible that they were still able to use their communications. If she could acquire some kind of signal, then she can zero in on it and get a hold of whoever was on the line at that time. This might have not been the most ideal choice, but it was the only one that Sombra had at the moment.

Without a moment to lose, the vigilante closed all of the open holo-screens that she had except for the translated list and opened a new one to conduct her search. Using a map of Maretropolis as a reference point, Sombra activated a program that would scan the city for any sign of communications. Not just things like day-to-day phone calls or police radio chatter, but specifically the types of communications used by the com devices that superheroes such as the Power Ponies would have as part of their equipment.

Moments after activating the search algorithm, Sombra got a hit. Two signals on top of a building that was not far from what was now the ruins of Power Pony HQ. The first one that she listened in on seemed like a superheroes version of a call to arms. That the current threat that Nova posed was being treated as a Code Red emergency and that all heroes must head to Baltimare immediately.

The second signal though was much different. As the vigilante listened in, she could make out two voices. The first one that Sombra heard was the Masked Matterhorn, leader of the Power Ponies, while the second voice seemed a bit familiar. Her current guess was that it belonged to the Displaced that was on Gunvolt’s team. The same one that was able to find out where she was located for the original meeting between her and the Azure Striker. However, it did not seem that their conversation was on the pressing matter at hand. Rather, it was about something entirely different.

“No way. So, y-you’re telling me that-?”

“That’s right,” the voice of the Masked Matterhorn echoed now, “Everything that Lance fought for. Everything that he swore to protect as a hero was in Power Pony HQ. Including the only way to reach the family that he had and the people that he wanted for you to meet, including Max. The people that he was going to start a family with and more than likely wanted you to be a part of. All of it gone in a matter of seconds. He probably doesn’t even know that we managed to escape before Nova destroyed everything.”

That was enough to make Sombra’s heart skip a beat. She remembered the hero saying that he had family that were displaced, but nothing along the lines of someone that he was planning to start a family with. The thought of losing the only way to reach someone that he cared for that much must have been painful for him to bear. It reminded her of when Sombra thought that she had lost them back on earth. Only this time, there was no way in order for him to see them again.

“So that’s why he took off straight towards that Sumeragi Tower? He’s got nothing left to lose?” the other one asked.

“Not exactly,” Masked Matterhorn corrected her, “Don’t you remember what he said before we got attacked? That Nova kidnapped Aurora? Lance made a promise to her that she would not have to be in danger anymore. In a sense, she’s like a daughter to him. One that he would try to rescue by any means necessary.”

“B-but he doesn’t have Lumen with him! Without her help, charging in at that tower alone would be suicide!”

“I know… that’s why I had Humdrum issue out the Code Red everywhere. The Power Ponies and QUILL aren’t going to be enough in order to handle a threat like this,” the power pony continued, “I mean… we don’t even know the full extent of the threat that Nova is. I mean, who knows if our HQ was not his only target?”

That was the ideal moment that Sombra needed in order to introduce herself into the conversation, “Perhaps I can help with that.”

The reaction from both of the people on the other end of the line was almost instantaneous. “W-what the hay? Who said that?!”

“Wait a minute… I know that voice,” the other one with the Masked Matterhorn was quick to speak, “You’re the person that nabbed Lumen and Lola that one time-!”

“Now before you start trying to get on my case for that,” Sombra interjected, moving the list over to the window she had open for the com line and prepared to drop it in, “I’m not here to try to pour salt into the wound that was just inflicted on you. If anything, I’m here to help.”

“Help? You’re a vigilante that hides from the shadows and doesn’t even show their face,” Masked Matterhorn told her, “Why would we want to accept your help?”

“Because I’m the only one who knows what Sumeragi’s targets are.”

Moments after she said those words, any particular objections fell silent on the other end of the line. Sombra had a feeling that this would happen, especially given the current situation. Though, Masked Matterhorn was not one to immediately be convinced just from that line alone. “How can we be so sure that you’re telling us the truth? Unless you have something that proves your claim-”

“Let me show you something I found then,” That was the cue for her to place the list in the conversation, having it show up as another window on Masked Matterhorn’s communication device. The only difference being that it would show up as an untranslated list of dots and lines, “I have been keeping tabs on Sumeragi’s use of radio and cell phone towers for communications and was able to catch this coming through a short while ago. Now, watch this.”

With a swipe of her hand, the list that she placed was being translated right in front of the heroes. She could hear the shocked gasp from Masked Matterhorn, but the downside was that Sombra was not able to see the look on the hero’s face while this was happening. “When I first got this, I thought that it was a list of operatives that they had hidden. Then, I witnessed that bastardo destroying the place you would call your home and the devastation that was left in your wake. Which leads me to this,” Sombra then pulled the list out of the comline and stored it away, making it disappear on Masked Matterhorns end as the vigilante continued to speak, “Unless Sumeragi is stopped, nothing will prevent Nova from wiping every single one of those places off of the map like they never existed at all. Nothing would be left behind to oppose an Equestria built under his image.”

It took a bit for the heroes on the other end to process what the vigilante said. Though, when one of them did speak, they had both optimism and doubt in their voice, “W-well, if we stop this Nova guy, that’ll mean he won’t be able to destroy everything… right?”

“In hindsight, yes,” Sombra said, getting up from her seat as she went over to the toolbench where she kept her weapons and gear, “Though, in reality, it’s not exactly simple. Given how Nova seems to pride himself in being a genius and the brains of his organization, he would have likely seen this coming. That tower's weapon systems could be triggered remotely or even worse, Nova might have a dead man’s trigger placed on him. So in the event that he ends up being defeated, it will continue to fire on targets as planned.”

“So, what you’re saying is not only do we need to stop Sumeragi, but shut down the tower too?”

“Exactly,” Sombra smirked as she picked up her SMG as well as her translocator device and began to make sure that everything was functioning properly, “Now, if I were you, I would bring on someone who has the equipment and the skills to not only infiltrate such a place, but also properly dispose of that tower before it does some real harm… what do you say, amiga?”

The only thing that she heard was the heroes talking among themselves as she began to step outside of her hideout and breathed in the fresh open air. Followed by the sound of Masked Matterhorn clearing her throat as the leader of the Power Ponies began to speak, “Well, it’s not like we have any other options at this rate. If you want to help us stop Nova, then feel free to do so. Though, if you try anything at all, we will not hesitate to capture you and turn you over to law enforcement. Do I make myself clear?”

“Ooh, a friend who knows how to get fierce. I definitely like that,” she teased and activated her cloak as she disappeared from view, “I’ll be in touch then… Masked Matterhorn.”

Baltimare

What started off as a few officers of the Baltimare Police Department investigating a disturbance at the city’s seaport along the coastline rapidly began to spiral out of control when an unknown structure that bore the Sumeragi logo emerged from the sea. The sighting of the Tower, and its subsequent attack against Power Pony HQ caused a mass panic among its citizens. Many of them tried to flee as quickly as possible while others tried to hunker down inside their homes and local businesses. Everything was escalating out of control to the point that the commissioner of the Baltimare Police Department had to call in the Royal Guard to take control of the situation, while most of the police were trying to help the civilians anyway they could.

The Royal Guard was quick to establish a blockade all around the port of Baltimare, going as far as having several soldiers on standby actively watching the structure. Moments ago, ordnance crews were brought in to fire artillery at the tower to see if it could possibly be destroyed. However, any attempts to damage the tower led to their shots being blocked by a protective forcefield that surrounded it, shortly before they were redirected back towards the blockade.

Luckily, they had one pony on the scene that was able to stop them in their tracks before they could do any real harm. The Captain of the Royal Guard, Shining Armor, was the one in charge of the deployment that was called in and his magic was able to create a protective ward around the blockade that protected his troops from harm. Yet, the unicorn himself did not know how long it would hold. The threat that was out there was unlike anything Shining had ever seen and the unicorn was unsure if they were even capable of holding them at bay.

“Captain Armor, come in,” He heard the voice of the commissioner, Due Process, over the radio that was on a table, “What was that noise just now? Some of my officers are reporting a loud explosion as they were trying to help some civilians held up in the local library.”

The unicorn picked up the radio with his levitation spell and brought it over, pressing the push-to-talk button on the side of the device before he spoke, “I had some of my ordnance crews fire a warning shot at the tower to see if it could be damaged, only to discover that it’s protected by a forcefield that sent it back towards us.”

“Dear Celestia, are you alright-?”

“We’re fine, commissioner,” the captain insisted, “I placed a barrier around the port to protect us. Though, as a precaution, have your officers make sure that no civilians are anywhere near the coastline. I rather not take any chances since we don’t know the full extent of what this… thing is capable of.”

“My officers are working on that right now and trying to safely move them further inland. From there, we’ll-”

Before the captain could hear the commissioner finish speaking, the ground underneath their hooves began to quake violently. Sea water began to splash along the magical ward that Shining placed and some of the guard ponies that were there slipped and were knocked off their hooves. “Captain, that tower is doing something! Please respond-”

“Heads up, we got incoming!!” One of the guards yelled, before pointing towards the tower in the distance. At first, Shining Armor thought that it was going to unleash a counter attack against them for their earlier attacks. However, what actually happened was quite different. In a matter of seconds, several pillars rose from the sea in a straight line, along with a heavy metallic slab that stretched out over them. They watched as they heard the sound of machines begin to weld everything together, constructing what was now a giant bridge that connected the port the Guard was occupying to the tower in the distance.

That was not the only thing that caught them off guard though. In the middle of the bridge, there was what looked to be a bipedal blue haired figure. They were standing in the center of the bridge, looking towards where the Royal Guard was stationed at. They didn’t exactly look to be a danger at first glance, but Shining Armor was not taking any chances, “Somepony, channel a listening spell. If they’re talking to somepony, I want to hear it.”

Two unicorns that were part of the deployment nodded, before they combined their magic together and cast the spell that the captain asked for. In a matter of moments, they began to hear a new voice echo around the encampment, “… do we really have to handle these creatures here? Can’t they just, I don’t know… go home and just forget about all this?”

“Merak, you know just as well as I do that the moment Master Nova decided to have Babel Tower rise, we were going to be attracting attention,” Another voice was heard, presumably over a communication device.

“Yeah, but the only ones that are here are just some soldier ponies that fight with sticks and stones,” Merak yawned,“Do we have to waste our time on them, Jota? My guild in Filly Fantasy XIV has a raid in an hour and I’m their only other tank-”

“May I remind you the extent to which Master Nova went for you to even be here right now,” the other voice snapped at him, “After your previous failings, he could’ve just left you to perish. Yet, instead, you were brought back from death’s door and given a second chance. Is this how you choose to repay his generosity? With cowardice-”

“Fine, fine, fine… I guess I do owe him for that,” Without warning, a blue wormhole tore open behind the figure as what looked to be a hovering chair with a giant set of mechanical arms attached to both sides. One of the arms picked Merak up off of the ground and seated him in the chair as a few more wormholes began to form behind him as squads of mechanized Sumeragi Soldiers and a crimson mechanical behemoth emerged from the other side. “Let’s make this quick. I got things to do. Just… wipe them all out or… whatever, I don’t really care.”

The moment Shining Armor heard that, he quickly looked at everypony around him, many of whom were already getting prepared for what was coming. “Everypony, get to your stations now!! We’re under attack!!”

Immediately, the soldiers and machines that were summoned onto the bridge began to open fire on the barrier that was held together by the captain’s magic while the infantry of the royal guard tried to return fire. Yet, despite using both the weapons they had on hoof as well as magic, their attacks did little to slow down the encroaching threat. To make matters worse, the barrier that the captain put in place was beginning to break down under constant pressure and gunfire from their attackers.

The captain himself focused his magic on maintaining the barrier to try and keep his comrades safe. However, the longer that this firefight went on, the more magic he had to expend in order to keep it up. To make matters worse, the weapons that the Sumeragi forces had were breaking down his spell faster than he was able to maintain it. Several shots even went through the barrier and ricocheted off of the nearby structures, some of them injuring his comrades as they ducked for cover.

“Captain, what’s happening-!?”

Shining Armor didn’t even have the chance to respond as one of the incoming shots that got past his barrier spell flew past his head and struck the radio, destroying it immediately. Now, their only line of communication was gone and they were cut off from anypony that could potentially help them. In the captain’s mind, this was the worst case scenario. They were out armed, their defenses were coming apart at the seams and they could not call for help. If this were to continue any longer, they were going to be overrun.

It was as they were struggling to hold their ground that the machine behind the Sumeragi soldiers began to cease their gunfire. The Royal Guard were not entirely sure why they stopped, but it was then that they immediately realized that the ‘head’ of the machines opened and something was glowing. Before they could act, the mechanical contraption fired off a laser beam that struck the barrier with overwhelming power and caused the port to shake under their hooves. The captain himself tried to keep it stable, but the sheer force of the attack was enough to break through and destroy the barrier completely as he was thrown to the ground like a ragdoll.

“Captain!” One of the members of the guard cried out, hurrying to check on the unicorn, “C-Captain, are you alright!?”

Shining groaned as his comrade extended him a hoof to help get him back up. He felt pain coarse throughout his body as he tried to channel his magic. Yet, trying to keep his comrades safe left himself almost out of mana. Any spell that he would try to cast won’t work properly unless he recovered somehow. Yet, given their current situation, that was rather unlikely.

“C-captain, we need to get you out of here and quickly,” the soldier that helped him up, a earth pony stallion named Spearhead told him, “We can’t hold our position here for much longer-”

“INCOMING!!!”

Both stallions immediately turned to the bridge and saw that the Sumeragi mech was now firing off artillery into the air that was coming straight for them. With no shield to protect them and barely any magic left in order to help his comrades retreat, Shining thought that this was going to be the end. That they were going to die here and not be able to make it back home to their loved ones. That nopony was coming to save them.

However, at one point, the artillery that was fired changed their flight path. Instead of coming straight for them, they immediately moved upward and converged on something above them. The sound of electricity could be heard in the air as the artillery exploded, knocking back a few of the guards as smoke scattered everywhere. “W-what the hay just happened-?”

He couldn’t see through the smoke, but Shining could still hear something going on. Crackling electricity, the sounds of gunfire and something cutting through metal. As his vision began to clear, the captain saw a new figure on the bridge. A bipedal figure with a blond mane and long ponytail that was dressed in a dark blue cloak with electricity circulating around them as the broken forms of the Sumeragi soldiers were scattered around him. They had a weapon in hand, one looked like a smaller version of the weapons that Sumeragi was using. As it turned, the captain and the rest of the royal guard saw his azure colored eyes as it spoke.

“Get out of here while you can. Leave this to me.”

Before any of the Royal Guard could say something, the figure turned back around and immediately began to race down the bridge, attracting the attention of the Sumeragi mech. Though, it was as they were fighting it that Spearhead asked a simple question. “Who… was that?”

“I… think that was the Azure Striker, Gunvolt,” Another soldier, Broadsword, replied, just as Spearhead was able to get a place for Shining to sit down.

“Wait, that was the Azure Striker?” Another pony, a pegasus named Guardian Angel, asked, “What’s a hero all the way from Maretropolis doing all the way out here?”

“I don’t know. Maybe he’s here to stop those Sumeragi guys? They do seem to be more focused on him than us,” Broadsword told them, before looking back towards Spearhead and Shining Armor, “We should use this chance to regroup. Is somepony from the medical corps here? We should get the captain patched up and have a few others stand on watch just in case.”

It may not have been the most ideal plan, but it was one that Shining Armor could get behind, given their current situation. As soon as he nodded his head, two ponies came over with medical saddlebags raced over to tend to Shining Armor’s injuries while Broadsword and a few others returned back to their posts to get themselves ready in case something happened.

Spearhead though, stayed with the captain as he looked back at his friend, “Captain, are you sure that this is a good idea?”

The unicorn slowly looked towards his friend, before raising an eyebrow, “What do you mean?”

“Forgive me if I sound blunt, but Broadsword’s plan is essentially having us put the fate of all of us on a single hero that just showed up out of nowhere,” the earth pony said, “Wouldn’t you think of that as a bit risky? I mean, it’s only one guy.”

“Spearhead, given our situation, I don’t think we have any alternatives,” the captain told him, “We should take this chance. A lot of lives are counting on us. Besides, I highly doubt that he’ll be the only hero showing up here.”

After Lance had arrived at the bridge to Babel Tower and saved the ponies that Sumeragi were attacking, the adept began to put all of his strength and focus into taking down the forces that were swarming on the bridge. Whether they were soldiers that were armed with various weapons and armor, the azure striker had to push forward. In his mind, he wasn’t going to get anywhere if he just continued fighting on the bridge. If the adept wanted to save both Aurora and Lumen, then he couldn’t afford to waste anymore time.

Yet, there was also another matter at hand. The sight of Merak, one of Sumeragi’s Adepts, meant that Nova was not exactly keen on letting him just walk on inside. Especially since he was the one who was bringing all of Sumeragi’s troops to the bridge to try and slow down his progress. But the sight of the adept didn’t make sense at all, especially since he was presumed to be dead.

Though, that did not matter right now. If he or the rest of Sumeragi’s adepts intended to stand in his way, then he was going to fight through each one of them. After all, Aurora and Lumen were counting on him.

Once he had finished with the soldiers, Lance was quick to engage the Mantis Legion mech that blocked the way forward. A mechanized weapon of war that can move rather quickly, had mounted guns for arms, and heavy compartments on the shoulders to fire homing rockets. To make matters worse, it was able to fire concentrated blasts of energy when it opened its mouth, something that the azure striker couldn’t defend himself from with his septima. It forced the adept into a position where he needed to stay on his toes and wait for an opening to exploit.

Yet, such an opening was not exactly easy to come by. When Lance tried to tag the Mantis Legion, his shots would bounce off its armor and drop to the ground. Not to mention that it was hard for him to determine what exactly he could defend himself from given the vast arsenal that the mech had at its disposal. Though, the azure striker did not let that stop him as he continued to fire at the mech, hoping that one of his shots would connect and give him some kind of weak point to focus his efforts on.

As he switched to his Orochi bolt and sent out the aerial drone that was with it, the adept found what he was looking for. The drone itself was programmed to fire out shots similar to his in several different directions, and one of those shots happened to attach itself to the Mantis Legion’s head. “Got you,” he grinned, before aiming his weapon and quickly firing off two more shots that hit their target as he activated his septima. Lightning crackled around him as it surged into the mech’s head and began to overload its systems.

The Mantis Legion tried to attack the azure striker as it unleashed a barrage of rockets from its shoulders. Yet, the flashfield had enough power to stop them before they could get anywhere close to the Adept. After a few more seconds of concentrated electricity, the Mantis broke down and slumped forward.

Of course, it wasn’t exactly done just yet. As the mech was on the ground, a glowing orange canister emerged from the back of the machine “SYSTEM INTEGRITY: CRITICAL. INITIALIZING CORE REPAIR PROCEDURES. PLEASE WAIT-”

“Yeah, no,” Lance retorted, before jumping up and activating his Luxcaliber skill and shattering the canister with a giant electrical blade. Once he hit the ground, the adept backed away from the Mantis Legion as it exploded and turned into nothing more than scrap metal. Yet, despite the fact that he won that fight, the azure striker began to realize a problem. The septima that he expended from his attacks wasn’t recovering as quickly as before. Lumen’s absence must’ve been the reason why.

“Really now? You’re still not dead yet?” he heard the other adept on the bridge, the slothful conjurer named Merak, speak up as he moved closer to him and looked down on Lance from his chair, “Don’t you heroes have… like, better things to do than just fighting or whatever? Like rescuing cats out of trees?”

“You know exactly why I’m here,” he shot back, “Your boss has gone too far and he took something valuable from me. Now move out of the way or I will make you move.”

“Look, I-” For a moment, Merak paused. From Lance’s perspective, it looked as if someone was speaking into his ear as the sumeragi adept had two fingers over his left ear like he was speaking into an earpiece, “Seriously now? The boss said that-?” Whatever he was hearing, Merak didn’t entirely seem amused by it. “Okay, okay, I get it.” He then dismissed the call, shortly before letting out a deep groan. “Well, congratulations. You’re becoming even more of a pain in the neck now.”

“What the hell do you mean by that?” the azure striker asked.

“New orders from up top. Wants you to make sure you don’t get in by any means necessary,” Merak groaned, before snapping his fingers as a few portals opened up from behind him, “This isn’t exactly the kind of ‘party’ I had in mind, but Nova did bring me back from the brink and what not so… I kind of owe it to him.”

Back from the brink? Merak wasn’t referring to what he thought was referring to now… was he?

“Oh my~. Is that who I think it is trying to crash through our front door?” An all too familiar voice was heard as Elise was the first one to step out through the portal and onto the bridge. She had already transformed and both the dominant and submissive counterparts there, the latter standing behind the first and shaking in place while the dominant one stood proudly, “Oh hoh hoh, it is! I’ve been waiting forever for this reunion~.”

“How the hell are you still alive?” Lance retorted, “After the Stratacombs-”

“Oh poor boy… did you really think that we would be defeated so easily~?” The adept that was known by Sumeragi as ‘the eternal envy’ teased, “Defeating us once doesn’t mean that we are dead. The glaives that we wield have an emergency recall feature that sends us back here if the wielder is critically injured. As long as they’re intact, all I had to do is use my septima and I can bring them back from the brink of death.”

That… was definitely a problem. If what Elise said was true, then no matter how many times that he would fight them, all she had to do was use her Septima and they would be back from the dead. Like nothing even happened to them. Though, Elise just saw this as amusing as she narrowed her eyes, “Now… how am I going to toy with you-?”

“Don’t even think about it, you undead wretch!!” A third voice erupted as the next adept emerged from the portal. One of the first adepts that Lance had ever encountered when Lee was here a long time ago. Viper, the burning wrath. Like with Elise, he already transformed as well as he exhaled smoke from his mouth, “We had a deal! You bring me back from the grave and I get the chance to pulverize this jackass into the ground where he belongs!! You trying to go back on that now?!”

“Oh, come on now, Viper~” Elise chuckled, “That kind of pleasure doesn’t have to be mutually exclusive. We all got a score to settle with him, don’t we?”

“For once, Elise is right,” A fourth voice was heard as the next adept emerged from the portal, shortly before it closed. This one though was one that Lance had heard about, but had not seen before in person. Jota, the prideful silhouette. An adept with the septima to manipulate particles of light and use it to move at Lightspeed, Jota was an adept that Cody and Zapp had encountered in Seaddle when the adept was attempting to hijack the iconic Space Arrow building and turn it into a radio transmitter for Sumeragi propaganda. After being defeated, he was said to have disappeared. Now he was standing before the azure striker, in his transformed state no less, “If we are to follow Nova’s orders and make sure he carries out his plan, then it would be wise for us to work alongside each other instead of going at each other's throats.”

“Yeah yeah,” Viper snapped, flames circling around his hands, “This isn’t the place for flowery speeches. So, how about you shut up with your ideological rhetoric already and help us kill this guy already?!”

Jota did not say anything, but instead fired off two blasts of light towards the azure striker. It forced him to duck out of the way, though when he looked behind him, Lance realized that the pre-emptive strike was intended to cut off any chance for him to fall back for a giant section of the bridge was now missing. The only way he could go now was forward, straight towards the four adepts that were waiting for him to make a move. Which was difficult, since only a small portion of his stamina had returned after fighting the Mantis Legion.

“What’s the matter? You got cold feet or something? Why don’t we fix that?!” Viper mocked. In the blink of an eye, the sumeragi adept launched himself towards the azure striker, not even providing him the time to react as he struck Lance in the chest with a burning aerial kick. The force of the blow knocked Lance backwards as he fell off of the bridge… only to find himself back on it again and one of Merak’s portals above his head.

“Well, crap,” he thought, just as he heard Viper’s battlecry from behind him. The adept tried to turn himself around and ready himself, only to feel a surge of pain as something bit into his left leg. A quick glance down showed that Elise had thrown one of her kunai while his back was turned, transforming into a cobra as it dug its fangs into him. His leg was now starting to turn into stone from where the bite was applied.

“You’re not going anywhere, hero~” Elise teased as both her counterparts prepared a few more kunai to throw at him. Lance was beginning to lose the feeling in his leg as he looked back to see that Viper was about to slam a volcanic axe down on top of him. With nowhere to move, Lance could only think of one thing to do to get himself out of this predicament.

“Crashbolt!!”

Immediately, a powerful bolt of electricity crashed down at where he was. The attack was enough in order to destroy the cobra that cling to his leg, reversing the petrification and allowing him to roll out of the way of Viper’s attack.

However, he did not get very far. As he was getting up, several blasts of light from Jota’s spearheads forced Lance to backpedal directly into Viper’s path as the burning wrath grabbed him by the collar and slammed him into the bridge. The impact was enough for him to cough up blood as the Sumeragi adept loomed over him and placed his foot next to the azure strikers head.

“What’s the matter? I thought you would put up more of a fight, but this is just too damn pathetic,” Viper mocked him, “Is this really who you are? A weak ass piece of trash?! I expected a lot more considering how much of a threat our boss sees you as!”

“To be fair,” Jota interjected, “Nova saw him and his team as a threat. Not him specifically.”

“Oh, so that’s how it is? You can’t put up a goddamn fight unless you have someone helping you?!” Viper snapped, “That’s even worse! How the hell can you even consider a hero when you can’t even fight your own battles, huh?! That’s just pathetic!!”

“You don’t need to worry about that anymore,” Elise snickered, “There’s no way he can fight back in his condition right now. Not only that, but he’s too far away to call for help. As far as we’re concerned, we’ve broken him… and no one is coming to save him.”

In Lance’s mind, he felt that this was the end. He failed to save those that were counting on him and there was nothing the adept could do to fight back. He had very little strength in him to do so and even if he tried to fight, it would be four against one. Matter of fact, five against one if you count both of Elise’s counterparts. It was an stupid decision to think that he could storm this place on his own and he was only realizing it now. He watched as Viper conjured another volcanic axe and approached his weakened state, eagerly wanting to finish him for good.

In that single moment, only one thought went through his mind, “Aurora… Lumen… I’m sorry.”

Though, despite Lance’s predicament, fate had other plans in store for him. As the burning wrath was about to bring down his axe on him, a loud shot could be heard as it went through Viper’s hand, forcing him to drop the weapon and back away as he roared in pain. Before the other Sumeragi adepts had a chance to react, a cloud of smoke began to quickly spread across the bridge.

At first, the Azure Striker had no idea what was happening. Though, that was until he heard a voice that was all too familiar to him.

“I’m only going to ask this once! Drop your weapons, put your hands in the air and get on the ground!!” Aya Brea, Lance’s aunt shouted, while holding a hunting rifle and wearing riot gear. “And get the hell away from my nephew! Now!”

“A-aya?” Lance croaked, before hearing a second set of footsteps land nearby.

“Lola, activate medical procedures,” he heard the voice of his friend, Cody, tell the drone that flew by his head. In a matter of seconds, the adept felt his injuries beginning to heal as he was helped up to his feet.

When he was standing again, the azure striker found himself surrounded by his friends and comrades. Cody, Aya, Masked Matterhorn, Katy. Even Vixen and Zapp were here too with Hiro and BAYMAX. It was a sight that made him stare in disbelief. “Y-you’re all here.”

“Well, obviously,” he heard Katy say as she landed right next to him, “We’re not going to just sit here and let these guys just trample everything now, are we?”

“I tried rounding up as many heroes as I can to help us out,” Masked Matterhorn added as she was flying idly in the air, “Many of them are helping the civilians in town as well as the guard, but we got a good team covering us here.”

“T-thank you,” he told them, looking at the rest of the heroes that were able to make it. At first, he felt like apologizing, but now wasn’t the right time for that as the smoke began to clear. All of the Sumeragi adepts were equally caught off guard by the surprise rescue, but none more so than Viper. Smoke was burning from him as he glared at every one of the heroes that had made it, especially at Aya.

“To hell with your demands, lady!! You were the one that screwed up my chance at making this jackass pay!!! If I have to kill you to get to him, then no amount of armor will prevent me from turning your body to ash!!”

“Uh… Gunvolt?” Vixen now took the chance to speak as she stood nearby Aya, “Care to give us some insight on who these people are?”

“They’re adepts like you and I,” the adept told her. A response that seemed to have surprised her at first, before Lance began to “Though, they’re Sumeragi Adepts and have used tech to enhance their abilities. To make things quick; the lazy one uses portals, the one with the halo can manipulate and move at the speed of light, the angry one is a pyromaniac while the last one can resurrect the others and has multiple personalities.”

Even though Lance tried to keep the explanation as simple as possible, some of the things that he told the others that were with him still caught him by surprise. Though, the only one that actually spoke was Katy as she let out a deep breath and readied her suit, “Wonderful… So, what are we going to do? Does anyone have a plan?”

“We do!” Lola then spoke up as she sat on Cody’s shoulder and looked back at him. “Right, daddy?”

Cody nodded his head, before looking past the adepts that stood before them and towards the door to the elevator that would lead up to the center of the tower. “Yeah and it’s simple,” he explained, keeping his voice down so that the others wouldn’t hear him, “If everyone else can try to keep these guys occupied, then GV and I can make a break for the door and have Lola override the controls so she could get us inside.”

He then looked to the others, before taking out an ammo clip and emptying it, before giving three bullets to both Aya and Katy. In addition, he handed Katy a pistol to hold onto. “Make sure to hold onto this and use it sparingly. I made these based off the ammunition that my weapon uses. So, if you are able to hit an adept with this, it can cancel out their powers. I was only able to make this many, so if you have to use it, make your shots count.”

“I appreciate it, but would it be necessary?” Katy then asked, before motioning to the suit that she was wearing.

“Keep it just in case,” the azure striker said, “Given who we’re up against, there’s no telling what might happen.”

“We’ll buy you the time you need,” Aya added. “Now get your tush in gear, and don’t you dare die out there.”

That just had Lance smirk, before giving his aunt a reassuring nod. “Wasn’t planning on it.”

“Are you people done yet?” They heard Merak complain, letting out a yawn as he tapped his chair, “You’re really beginning to irritate me. The longer this goes on, the longer I have to wait before I can finally get some rest. So, could you just hurry up and-”

Before Merak could even finish speaking, Lance and Cody started to push forward. A move that caught him and the other Sumeragi Adepts by surprise. Only fools would charge directly towards an opponent, especially those that were ready for them. Though, as they were about to find out, stopping them was not exactly going to be easy now that they were up against a team rather than just a single person.

“You dare think you can set foot inside!?” Jota proclaimed, arming his spearheads and aiming towards them. “I’ll stop you right where you-”

Yet, the one thing that the prideful silhouette was not paying attention too was the flying pegasus that was behind him, “Zapp to Storm Alpha, I got a target. They’re airborne and attempting to stop Gunvolt and Copen. Go for the spearheads around the target’s head.”

Before Jota could even realize what was happening, his spearheads were getting shot at by distant gunfire. It prevented the Sumeragi Adept from being able to hit his targets as he swiftly turned around and saw the hero flying in the sky. “Why you! You will pay for your insolence!!”

“I will like to see you try.”

Back on the bridge, both Lance and Cody used this opportunity to push forward and continue to their objective. Viper was the next one to try and stop the two as he conjured an explosive orb and threw it towards them, hoping to destroy the ground underneath their feet and disrupt them. However, before he had the chance to throw it, Aya quickly shot it with her hunting rifle as it exploded in Viper’s hand.

“AGH!!” The sumeragi adept cried out in pain, before swiftly turning towards Aya as he glared at her, “What the hell is wrong with you, b*tch!?!”

“My problem is you, tantrum boy. You’re forgetting which hero you’re fighting!”

Viper grit his teeth, before turning around to face Aya as he began to form a volcanic axe in one of his hands with flames forming in the other, “Oh now you’ve done it! You pissed off the wrong adept, lady. There will be a special corner for you in Hell when I’m done with you!!”

“I’d read you your rights, but I have a feeling you wouldn’t care either way.” Aya let her rifle fall to her side as her offhand began to glow cyan. “I’ll be sure to teach you some manners before I haul your ass away.”

As the burning wrath charged towards his opponent, Elise couldn’t help but roll her eyes as she looked towards where Gunvolt and Copen were, “Such a shame,” she said, before forcing her counterpart to bare a set of kunai as she looked towards the two heroes, “This is why you don’t send a man to do a woman’s job… let’s see how much I can make my prey struggle~”

However, just as she threw her kunai towards them, they were shot down in flight as the sumeragi adept turned around, “Hey! Tall, dark and crazy!! If you two want to get to them, you’re going to have to go through me first!” Katy proudly declared, her weapons at the ready as she aimed them towards Elise.

“Oh my, how bold of you,” the eternal envy snickered, “You think that those fancy toys of yours will be enough to defeat all of us? How childish.”

For a second, Katy hesitated. What in the world did her opponent mean by that? There were only two of them right in front of her. Surely, there couldn’t have been any others, right-?

“PEEK A BOO! I SEE YOU!! KYAHAHAHA!!”

Immediately, Katy looked up and quickly backed away from what she was seeing. On the street pole next to her, there was a third Elise. Yet, this one was much different. Her eyes looked like that of a venomous snake and her tongue was stretched out like that of a predator. If it weren’t for her appearance, Katy would’ve thought that she was more of an animal than an adept.

“Now, since we’re all here,” the dominant Elise grinned as she grabbed onto another pair of Kunai, “Let’s see how long we can toy with you until you break~”

With Elise now engaged against her own opponent, it meant that preventing Gunvolt and Copen from entering the tower was left to one final person. Someone who not only was a bit distracted, but really didn’t like having responsibilities thrown onto his shoulders randomly. When the fighting first broke out, Merak originally wanted to just support from a distance and not really do much in order to prevent the intruders from accessing Babel Tower. Yet, that did not exactly go the way that he wanted.

Several factors contributed to this, though there were two that would stand out. The first was a unicorn adept with an animal mimicry septima attacking him to try and destroy his chair. The second was that when he tried to create a wormhole trap for both Gunvolt and Copen to fall through, gunfire erupted the coastline and forced him into a defensive posture. Both of these things were beginning to become an annoyance for the slothful conjurer, especially since the longer he had to deal with this, the longer it’ll be until he could finally get some much deserved relaxation.

Fortunately, the sumeragi adept had a trick up his non-existent sleeve. A trap he had hidden in place on the off chance that anyone did get close to the tower. While Merak looked as if he was fighting against the unicorn hero named Vixen, he had an open holoscreen and was beginning to type something. From Vixen’s perspective, she thought that he was trying to activate some kind of command or function with his chain. Yet, to him, it was anything but that.

‘BAD MANE DAY PROTOCOL INITIALIZED. OPENING DOORWAY’

Immediately, another wormhole opened. Only this time, it was by the elevator doors to Babel Tower while Gunvolt and Copen’s backs were turned. They were too busy trying to get the elevator working and did not notice the green mane-like tendrils that slithered out of the wormhole as another villain stepped forth. Their sights were set on the azure striker as the strands of her mane went forth and grabbed onto Gunvolt’s legs, preventing him from moving as the doors to the elevator flew open.

“Crap-!”

“Hahahaha!! Did you truly forget about me, hero!?” Mane-iac howled in laughter as she gazed at the adept, “You might’ve won by a hair’s margin the last time we met, but beginner’s luck will not save you now!”

“Hold it right there!!” the villainess heard the voice of the Masked Matterhorn as she landed across from the Mane-iac with her magic at the ready, “Let Gunvolt go, now!”

“Oh, of course! Whatever you say!” Came the Mane-iac’s sickeningly sweet reply.

“Mane-iac, we have no time for your games,” the alicorn glared. The magic around her horn began to glow brighter as her eyes narrowed, “Let. Him. Go-”

“Or what~? You’ll throw me back in the slammer? You’ll give me split ends!?” The Mane-iac cackled, her eyes spinning around in their sockets as she did.

Masked Matterhorn didn’t respond this time, but instead fired off her magic as it began to freeze the strands of Mane-iac’s mane that held Gunvolt in place. Immediately afterwards, the azure striker channeled his energy blade through the hilt and swung downward, shattering it and freeing it. As he got up, the adept turned around to see that the alicorn had teleported herself in between the adept and the villainess. Magic circulating around her horn again as the leader of the power ponies briefly looked over her shoulder at him.

“Get going!! I’ll hold her off!!” the alicorn told him, prompting the Azure Striker to run as he raced over to where Copen was waiting for him and entered the elevator. Leaving the Masked Matterhorn with the Mane-iac as the doors closed behind Masked Matterhorn.

“Aarrgh! You’ll regret tangling with me, Matterhorn!” The green maned lunatic snarled, retracting her hair behind her head. The hero readied herself, anticipating the Mane-iac to retaliate at any moment. She had already helped make sure that Gunvolt and Copen were able to make it inside Babel Tower. Now the hero had to stop the infuriated villain that was right in front of her while her companions fought against Sumeragi. Yet, Masked Matterhorn had a feeling that somehow, doing so was not going to be easy.

The earth pony used her mane to launch herself at Masked Matterhorn with surprising speed. An action that forced the hero to propel herself backwards with her wings in order to avoid them. Once she was back on all four of her hooves, the alicorn fired off another bolt of magic towards the villain, which she effortlessly ducked. It was a dance of theirs, both too familiar with the other to fall for basic attacks, predicting each others’ moves down to instinct. Masked Matterhorn was surprised with how naturally she picked up on her arch nemesis’ patterns even after all this time.

“You’ve gotten out of shape, Masky! Relying on the ol’ monkey a little too much, are we? Thought he was the second coming of Starswirl just because he caught me with my guard down!?” Masked Matterhorn felt the air pummeled out of her lungs with a swift uppercut with the Mane-iac’s hair, “Quite frankly, I feel like you’ve yanked my mane out. I thought we had something, Masky!”

The Masked Matterhorn fired off an ice beam towards her adversary, to which the Mane-iac just maneuvered her mane to take the hit, hardening it until it became a bludgeoning weapon. Masked Matterhorn had to relearn the hard way how intelligent the Mane-iac actually was, despite her psychotic tendencies, she was far smarter then anypony gave her credit for. Yet, something about this encounter felt different from previous battles with the villain. Something that Mane-iac didn’t have on hoof before.

As she struggled to get back on her hooves, the hero watched as the Mane-iac’s mane was placing something at the base of her tail. From a distance, it looked like an ordinary hair clip that you would find at a retail store. Though, as the villain attached it to her tail, Matterhorn was thrown off guard as the tail began to turn into metal and solidify right in front of her eyes. “W-what the hay?”

“A little product that my little friends at Sumeragi whipped up tailor made for me! Isn’t it fetching~?” The metal tail slinked around her side, morphing into a giant wrench and applying pressure to her ice covered mane, “Reminds me of when I stole your powers! Having the elements on my side again. Oh, wait, this is your gimmick, isn’t it? And I stole it! Heheheheh~”

Masked Matterhorn grit her teeth as she looked back at the villain and had her magic channel around her horn again and launched another blast, hoping to prevent the villain from freeing herself, but Mane-iac used her tail to catapult herself in an arch over the beam and towards the alicorn. The hero did not have enough time in order to get away from the earth pony as the Mane-iac crashed down next to her and struck her with the tail. The alicorn could feel a few of her ribs break as she was sent flying into the elevator doors.

“Hah! You’re already at my mercy, and I’m only using one!” The rest of the Mane-iac’s mane tangled around Masked Matterhorn, constricting her movements. “Oh, oh! I was inspired by one of your teammates when I requested this next one!” Another hairclip was produced from a non-descript part of her outfit, and attached the new, yellow clip to the base of her mane. It took a mere five seconds for the leader of the Power Ponies to understand what she meant when an intense electrical current reached her, coursing through her muscles and tenderizing them as she screamed in agony.

Though, it was just as Mane-iac had Matterhorn cornered that something landed in between the two of them and exploded. The force of the explosion was enough to separate the hero from the earth pony’s grip as the villain turned around back towards the bridge, “You two timing fool! Watch where you’re throwing those!”

Matterhorn wasted no time in taking advantage of the villains setback as she teleported under the bridge and created a platform of ice on one of the concrete pillars supporting it. “Alright Twilight. There’s no telling what else Mane-iac has in store, but you have to focus,” she told herself as she tried to think, “There has to be a way to beat her. Those clips don’t make her invincible. They have to have a weakness!”

The Mane-iac, by herself, was already a fearsome villain to face. Even though she was crazy, had the tendency to underestimate her enemies and had a silly gimmick that limited her, the earth pony was able to work around those limitations. Heck, before Lance even arrived in this world, she was the most dangerous villain that the power ponies had to face. Quirky sure, but crafty and beyond unpredictable.

The clips that Sumeragi made for her added to that unpredictable nature of here. There was still a lot that she did not know about the villains newfound tools, but there were two things that Masked Matterhorn could determine after thinking it over. The first was that the clips could only alter the properties of the earth pony’s mane and tail separately. The second was that Mane-iac possibly kept these clips on her in case the earth pony wanted to change them.

It was not a lot to go on, but it was enough to get Masked Matterhorn thinking of what to do next. Yet, only two options on how to turn things around began to form in her mind. Either she had to find where the Mane-iac kept them and take it away from her… or figure out a way to turn her newfound gadgets against her. The hero had to make her decision quickly, before the villain realized where she was hiding.

The more that she continued to think on this, the more that Masked Matterhorn began to realize a flaw with the first option. Even if she were able to take away the Mane-iac’s clips, there was no telling whether or not she could keep them away because of how far the villains mane could reach. It was too much of a risk, especially since she didn’t know how many clips the Mane-iac had or how it would affect her mane and tail. The smarter option would be to analyze what kind of clips the Mane-iac had at her disposal, before finding a way to use her gadgets against her and exploit it.

However, just as the hero finally thought of a plan, she looked up and found herself staring directly at the Mane-iac. The grin on her face widening like a predator on the hunt. “Boo!” She whispered harshly, headbutting the heroine and causing her to see white suns in her vision. The shelf of ice that Masked Matterhorn made began to crack under pressure and give way as Matterhorn began to fall towards the water below.

Luckily, it was just as she was mere feet from the ocean’s surface that the hero's horn began to glow as she froze the water underneath to break her fall. Though, it was shortly after Matterhorn rose back up on her hooves that the Mane-iac gave chase, landing on the opposite end of the ice block as the hero looked back at her. Mere moments after the villain landed, the alicorn’s horn lit up as the edges of the frozen plain began to expand outward and Matterhorn sent out three frozen spikes from the ground towards Mane-iac.

In response, the villain let out a maniacal laugh, before spreading out her mane to catch the icicles in midair, holding herself aloft between them. “Mmm, I can smell your fear~ I think I have the perfect shampoo for that!”

Immediately, her metallic tail lashed out towards the hero, cutting her across her cheek and her legs as Matterhorn tried to fight through the pain. Blood began to drip from her injuries and stain the frozen ground underneath her as the Mane-iac continued to lash out at the alicorn. To the villain, she thought that she had Matterhorn on the ropes. If the earth pony kept this up, then the hero would surely fall to their knees and she would become victorious!

Though, it was as she launched her tail towards the hero to finish her off that something else happened instead. In a matter of seconds, Matterhorn’s eyes changed to an icy blue and her horn lit up again, before a giant claw of ice caught Mane-iac’s tail. When the villain tried to pull her tail back, the frozen claw didn’t budge and continued to hold on. All the while, the hero was doing her best to stand firmly on her hooves as she looked back at the earth pony with a cold, defiant gaze.

As the hero’s horn lit up again, Mane-iac felt herself getting pulled off her hooves as Matterhorn’s creation yanked the villain towards the alicorn with enough force to pull her off of the icicles that kept the earth pony aloft. As the Mane-iac fell forward, she attempted to expand her mane in order to soften the impact of her hitting the ground. Though, just as the villain was about to hit the ground, Matterhorn had the frozen claw move her tail and place it right in front of the falling earth pony. Her electrified mane being the first thing that made contact with it.

The end result was almost instant. As the Mane-iac’s metal tail and electrified mane made contact, a powerful electrical current surged throughout the villain’s body. The earth pony immediately began to violently twitch and scream in pain, before collapsing face first onto the ground. Smoke was coming off her body and her entire costume was singed. As for her clips, both of them had suffered minor damage, yet mostly remained intact.

As for Matterhorn, her eyes slowly went back to normal as she dismissed the claw of ice she conjured. That battle had her use up a lot more magic than she would’ve wanted. Though, there was something the hero had to check first before she can rest easy. Carefully, she walked over to the villain and placed a hoof to Mane-iac’s neck. After a few seconds, the alicorn closed her eyes and let out a sigh of relief.

“Oh thank Celestia, she’s unconscious,” Matterhorn said to herself, relieved that the villain was just knocked out before using her magic to carefully remove the clips in the Mane-iac’s mane and tail. Afterwards, she placed another spell to freeze over the Mane-iac’s mane, tail and her legs to properly restrain the villain, before putting a hoof to her ear, “Surp- Jumper, can you hear me?”

“Yeah, I can!” Replied the overly hyperactive MIST heroine. The agents of Lance’s aunt had been given codenames by the city to protect their identities, which meant that the leader of the Power Ponies needed to remember that Surprise, one of the ponies from the future, had to be called by her ‘hero name’.

In a matter of seconds, the alicorn was face to face with the remarkable likeness of her teammate Fili-second, but with a pale coat, blonde mane, purple eyes and the addition of wings that marked her as a pegasi. The grin was still as expansive as the ocean, though. For a hero though, she wore a remarkably bland attire similar to that of a riot policemare, helmets and all, with her office’s initials M.I.S.T. emblazoned on her foreleg.

“I’m glad you’re here,” the alicorn replied to her, before motioning her head to Mane-iac’s unconscious form, “Mane-iac’s out for the count, but I don’t have enough magic to bring us back to the docks. Can you teleport us so we can make sure she’s restrained and taken into custody?”

Jumper gave a quick salute, “Say no more! She’ll be back in an asylum lickitysplit!” She then used her mouth to grab ahold of the Mane-iac and blinked away, supervillain in tow. Which had Matterhorn let out a sigh of relief. Though, she needed a moment to rest and regain her stamina first before going to help her teammates.

“Hang on, everyone! I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

Back on the bridge, most of the heroes that were there had little trouble fighting against the adepts that served Sumeragi. Many of them had already figured out a way in order to gain the upper hand against their own opponent or were trying to eliminate a particular variable in order to make their fight more manageable. One such case was that of Vixen, who was working on a plan to disable Merak’s battle chair and disarm the weapon capabilities of the wormhole adept. Every one of the heroes was doing what they could to persevere and overcome the challenge against their foes.

However, there was one hero that was having a lot more difficulty than the others. When Katy, otherwise referred to as the Blue Beetle, originally prevented the Sumeragi adept named Elise from stopping Gunvolt, she thought that their battle was going to be rather simple. Just defeat the adept and their counterpart and she can help everyone else. Unfortunately, things were not as simple as they originally appeared to be.

For starters, Katy quickly began to realize that she wasn’t facing two opponents, but three. Both the submissive and crazed counterparts of Elise were going after Katy by attacking her from angles that she did not anticipate. Even with Teal’s help, she was finding it extremely difficult to know where each one of Elise’s counterparts were at any given time or when they were going to attack. Which was difficult considering she had very little space to move and had to watch out for any crossfire from another fight.

There was also one other problem that made this battle rather problematic. That being Elise’s septima. Taking down one of her counterparts, or Elise for that matter, didn’t mean that they would stay down. Like what Gunvolt told her, the adept was able to resurrect her counterparts, bringing them back from the dead without so much as a scratch on them. Katy tried to figure out ways to prevent this from happening, but they kept on coming back. With each revival making them even more dangerous.

“How much longer do we have to toy with you until we break you~?” Elise grinned, before calling upon two handfuls of kunai and throwing them towards Katy as she tried to move out of the way. A few of them passed by her arms and legs, while one of them struck her right shoulder blade and damaged her wings, making her stagger in the air briefly. By that point though, the effects of the kunai were already beginning to kick in as she found it much harder to maintain flight in the air.

“K-katy, we can’t stay up here,” she heard Teal tell her, “I-if we take any more damage, we’ll be forced to-”

However, despite her sister’s plea, Katy ignored her warning and tried to continue fighting. With her left hand, she did not hesitate to pull out the kunai before her suit created an arm cannon on her right arm as she fired towards Elise. The adept just grinned, taking it upon herself to carefully move out of the way and avoid her attacks altogether. As if the attacks did not phase her.

“You’ll have to try harder than that if you want to get rough with me~” she taunted, before giving off a devilish grin and tilting her head. Almost as if she knew what was coming, Katy immediately moved to the left and avoided a kunai that was thrown at her other shoulder. In a flash, she quickly turned around and aimed her arm cannon at Elise’s submissive counterpart.

However, she made one fatal mistake, “Katy, look out-!!”

Before she realized what happened, the crazed counterpart of Elise threw her kunai and struck her twice. The first one hit her other shoulder, while the other kunai struck Teal. With her body damaged, she wasn’t able to keep Katy in the air or maintain her suit. The hero was forced to crash onto the ground as the pain from the kunai and her landing surged throughout her body.

“KYAHAHA!! I CLIPPED HER WINGS!!” the crazed one howled as she approached Katy from behind. With Teal damaged, her suit had faded and she was now seen in her regular body. The only thing that could protect her at that point was the clothes that she was wearing and the Blue Beetle on her back. “OH MY… WHAT’S THIS SHINY BUG DOING HERE?”

Immediately, a frigid chill went down Katy’s spine. There was nothing that she could do to fight back and now this psychotic freak was focusing on her sister!? She tried to get up, but immediately felt the crazed counterpart forced both of her feet onto her injured shoulders to keep her pinned to the ground. Before she even knew what was happening, Katy felt a sharp surge of pain throughout her entire back as Teal was ripped off of her without a care in the world.

“Hey, HEY!! Put me down!! K-katy, help!!” She heard Teal cry out, watching as the crazed counterpart throws her like an object towards the original Elise. Who could only smirk as she loomed over Katy, with Teal in hand. The grounded human tried to reach for what Copen gave her, but it was knocked away and tossed it aside. “K-katy, please!! Do something-!!”

“So, this is how you were able to fight? Through relying on someone else instead of yourself?” the adept asked, her grip around Teal tightening, “How pathetic… No wonder you couldn’t stand against us. You were just using this thing as a tool.”

However, Katy herself was not going to just let this Elise treat her like some kind of object, “P-put her down!! L-leave her out of this!!”

“S-sis…”

All Elise did was just give Katy a grin, before dropping the Beetle onto the ground, “If you insist~”

CRUNCH!!

Immediately as Teal touched the ground, her body was crushed underneath Elise’s heel right in front of Katy’s eyes. “KYAHAHA!! METAL BUG GO SPLAT!!!” the crazed counterpart yelled, before jumping off of the girl’s shoulders as all three of them stood by each other.

“W-why!?!” Katy screamed, tears flowing through her eyes as she looked at the Sumeragi Adept and her counterparts, “Y-you said y-you would-!!”

“Let her live?” she asked, before shaking her head and giving off a sinister smile, “Oh no… I only agreed to put her down on the ground. Like you asked. I never said I was going to spare her~”

The submissive counterpart only shivered in place while the crazed one howled in victorious triumph. “I WANNA PLAY WITH THIS ONE MORE!!”

“Save your energy,” the adept snapped at the crazed counterpart like a misbehaving dog, “This one isn’t even worth the trouble anymore.” Though, as she looked towards the tower not far from her, a predatory grin emerged, “But nothing can stop us from making him all mine~”

In that moment, a spark was lit. Through the grief of losing her sister and the pain that she was feeling in that moment, something ignited inside Katy. As she slowly moved her arms and forced herself to stand up, her rage towards the one who murdered her sister in cold blood fueled the feeling inside her and caused it to grow. Her silver hair was slowly beginning to change color to a golden yellow as she grit her teeth, her gaze focused on the trio.

It was then that the submissive one noticed what was happening, “M-ma’am…?”

“Ugh, what is it now-?” As Elise turned to look towards Katy, she looked at the woman in a state of disbelief. At this point, small bolts of blue lightning could be seen coursing throughout her body. Yet… only one person she had faced had something like this before, “What the hell-?! That’s impossible!! When did she-!?!”

In an instant, Katy let out an ear piercing roar as Lightning cracked throughout the sky and crashed around her. The electricity in the air coursed through her body and out of her hands. “I’M GOING TO MAKE YOU PAY FOR WHAT YOU’VE DONE!!!”

Before any of the trio could properly react, Katy charged forth in a blind rage. The lightning in her hands began to take form like a sword as she put all of her rage into this. With a blinding strike, she cleaved through her foes. Tearing both the submissive and crazed counterparts in half and striking the main Elise and sent her tumbling across the ground. Yet, Katy felt as if this wasn’t enough. She wanted to do more to make her suffer. Force her to go through the same pain that she was feeling.

Unfortunately, as quickly as that spark was lit, it was soon put out. Katy had used up too much of her newfound power too fast and now she was exhausted. As she collapsed to the ground though, her opponent was only merely shaken.

“You think that is going to save you?! You might have awakened as an adept, girl, but you don’t have the power to finish it!!!” Elise snapped, “You’re a fool to think I can be defeated. Now, return to me my sisters!! Resurre-!!!”

At this moment, a shot rang out as the Sumeragi Adept’s eyes went wide. Slowly turning behind her, she found herself staring face to face with Vixen. Who was armed with the pistol that Copen had given to Katy as smoke was coming from the end of the barrel. Elise thought that she was fighting against Merak, only to notice that several of her animal spirits were keeping him occupied. “Stay the buck away from my teammate, you monster!!”

Elise was going to react, but it was then that she felt something that she never felt before in a long time. Pain. The bullet that Vixen had fired was nullifying her septima and without it, she could no longer fight. Her septima that kept her alive this long after so many years. Yet, in that moment, death had finally caught up with her.

She fell to her knees, her body faintly glowing purple as it began to dissipate. With her final moments approaching, Elise took in one last breath and said her final words. “I feel… cold.”

As the Sumeragi Adept faded to ash, Vixen dropped the weapon, before hastily rushing over to Katy’s side. She didn’t know what exactly happened back there, but something was different. For a moment, it felt like Katy was using the same power that Gunvolt had. Yet, that was not important right now.

What was important was the injuries her friend had sustained. In the unicorn’s mind, if she wasn’t treated immediately, who knows what would happen, “Hero down!! I repeat, we have a hero down!!” the QUILL adept called out, “Jumper, I need a medic, quickly!!”

As the earth pony from M.I.S.T. warped in to take her friend off of the battlefield, Vixen could only tell Katy one thing as her friend began to lose consciousness, “Stay with me, Katy. Everything’s going to be okay.”

End Strike 63

Author's Note

This... took me forever to try and get it right. Not just with writing the characters and everything from different perspectives, but making sure that everything ties into on another and that nothing felt out of place.

One such element that my co-author and I wanted to really work on was the Mane-iac. With her inclusion in this chapter, I didn't want for her as a villain to be overshadowed compared to Sumeragi's adepts. This was the end results after several brainstorming sessions and I really do hope you like it.

We have two more chapters to go and perhaps an epilogue once all is said and done, but for the moment, I'm going to have to take a step back. Not in the sense of stepping away, but in the sense of tidying things up. I mentioned before in my last blog that there were several stories I wanted to look back on and make corrections with. So, one of the first ones for this will be redoing a particular crossover chapter that happened rather early in the story.

For now though, I really hope you appreciate this extra long chapter and look forward to everything else I have in store. Thanks again to Brony Parasite for helping me with some of the characters in this chapter and to Pen Dragon for looking everything over to make sure everything was good. Stay safe out there!

Until next time!
-Frost

Strike 64- Phosphorescent Dance

Author's Note

Another massive chapter. This being the climax of the final arc.

With the next chapter, the dust will be settled... but the scars of what happened here wil remain

Strike 64- Phosphorescent Dance

When Lightning Strikes- Phosphorescent Dance

By the time that the heroes Gunvolt and Copen had entered the elevator at the base of the tower, the entire bridge behind them looked like a battlefield. Heroes from across Equestria were clashing with villains that tried to prevent the two of them from infiltrating the tower. Now, they were inside as the floor under their feet began to move upward. Their view of the chaos on the ground was beginning to shrink the higher they went into the air. With each passing floor, they were getting closer and closer to the beating heart of Sumeragi as well as the one who runs it.

“Okay, Cody,” the adept was the first to speak as he looked back towards his friend as Lola was resting on his shoulder, “Now that we’re in here, do you and Lola happen to know what we need to do now? We just left several of our friends and teammates to fight against members of my personal Rogue’s Gallery, so I really hope you have some kind of plan.”

“Lance, don’t try to overthink it,” Cody cautioned him as Lola whispered something in his ear. With a nod of his head, the adept’s friend looked back towards him and began where he left off, “Besides, we already have a plan since Nova is not the only priority here. The tower itself is still a weapon pointed directly at Equestria and as long as that’s still functional, Nova can basically use the planet as a giant bargaining chip.”

The Azure Striker paused a bit when hearing that. Lance was so focused on saving Lumen and Aurora that he didn’t even take that possibility into consideration until after Cody just told him. “Damn, you’re right,” he cursed, “Now I feel like we’re stuck between a rock and a hard place.”

“Now now, it’s not like a hero to be all doom and gloom,” A familiar voice spoke up as the space in between Lance and Cody began to shimmer. After a few seconds, the shimmer began to dissipate as Sombra stood between them, “Besides, your friend did say we already have a plan, didn’t he amigo?”

“S-sonya? W-What are you doing here-?”

“She was the one who contacted Masked Matterhorn about the tower and told us that Nova had a series of targets that he wanted to wipe off the map with it,” Cody explained further, hoping that doing so would clear up some confusion, “She was actually hidden the whole time and used the fighting on the bridge as cover to help make it easier for Lola to override the elevator controls.”

Sombra herself nodded in response, before looking back at the Adept, “Now, I know that we all have different… methods for what we do, but we can both agree that the bastardo Nova is a threat to everyone,” the vigilante explained, before conjuring a screen with a free hand as she smirked, “Fortunately, I happen to have a plan where we can not only stop him, but also disable this tower. Yet, it can only work if we all work together on this one and we have little margin for error here. With that in mind… would you like to hear what I had in mind, Amigo?”

“Well, it’s not like we have any other options and it’s too late to turn back now,” the Azure Striker replied, before looking towards the vigilante, “Let’s hear it.”

As soon as he said that, the small screen that Sombra created began to morph and transform into the layout of the tower itself, with a second screen focusing on the top of the tower. “Now, we already know that once we step out of here, we’ll be in el vientre de la bestia,” Sombra explained, “Nova is not messing around with security up there to the point that not even a cucaracha would get past the defenses he has put in place. Literally.”

A short security clip of what looked to be heavy duty turrets emerging from the walls by the door to Nova’s chamber and opening fire on a bug that somehow got in proved her point. “Damn,” Cody cursed, “This tower’s no joke. How the hell are we going to deal with that?”

“Simple,” Sombra smirked, “The plan works in three steps and each one of us is assigned a different role,” The vigilante had most of the diagram on the tower collapse, before focusing on the top as three other screens came up. “First things first, security. If I get access to the security station, I can take control of the tower and shut down it’s weapon systems and defenses with an EMP. However, in order for that to work, I need access to the Sumeragi network.”

“Woah, slow down there,” the azure striker interjected, “How were you able to get all of this, yet you don’t have access to their network?”

“I intercepted Sumeragi’s communications earlier and tried to get access to their network when I was getting the doors open. However, it’s being protected by a firewall that I cannot crack with just brute force. Which is where your compadre comes in,” After saying that, she turned to Cody and handed what appeared to be a SD card, “His target is the server room on the same floor. If he can place this into the central terminal, it can create a backdoor that I can access. With it, I can gain control and activate the EMP.”

“Okay, that… sounds simple,” Cody replied, before looking back to Lance, “Though, you said all of us would have a roll. What will Lance be doing?”

“I was getting there amigo. Se paciente,” the vigilante sighed, “When the EMP goes off, it’ll disable all the defenses leading up to Nova. Allowing for the hero here to storm his office and confront him face to face. Mándenlos al infierno, amigo.”

That definitely seemed like a good plan. Yet, Lance had one question left on his mind, “Your plan is good… though, are you sure that you really want for me to do that. Nova’s-”

“-No longer the friend that we once knew,” Sombra quickly interjected, “In my mind, Noah is dead… and the person that he is now is a threat to all of us. He even plans on erasing the facility that Aster is in… No way in hell am I going to just stand by and let him.”

Now approaching- Firmament

“Well, it’s showtime, chicos,” Sombra smiled as the elevator began to slow down, waving a hand as she began to cloak herself and disappear from view, “Let’s go. Everyone’s counting on us.”

The moment the doors to the elevator opened, Sombra was quick on her feet to bypass the two guards that stood at the door, leaving them for her companions to destroy. Each one of them had a job that they needed to do and very little time in order to accomplish their tasks. Time was of the essence and given everything that was at stake, failure was not an option. Even the slightest of errors could result in major consequences and if one of them screwed up, it would make the tasks of everyone else much harder.

Though, as the vigilante carefully navigated her way throughout the compound, she found it relatively simple to bypass some of the security measures put in place. Mainly because her camouflage hid her presence from the security cameras that were scattered out everywhere. In her mind, she had two ideas as to how the defenses system worked. It was either orchestrated by a machine or someone would have to be watching the feeds and activate the defenses from the room itself.

Once she got closer, Sombra soon realized that it was the latter of the two. When she found the door to the security room, two shadows were on the other side of some painted glass that she couldn’t see through. The sliding doors were etched with the Sumeragi logo and there was a keypad on the door. At first, she was tempted to just access the keypad and quickly get inside. Though, she then spotted a ceiling camera just inside the door as an idea began to form in her mind. Perhaps spying on them for a bit could provide some information for how Babel Tower’s weapon systems work.

“Hm, let’s see who’s waiting for me on the other side of the door,” the vigilante smirked, swiftly hacking the camera to take control as she got a look at who was inside. Right by the door, there were two earth pony stallions that were dressed in Sumeragi armor. Yet, these two did not wear any helmets and she could easily see their cutie marks. The first one had a mane and tail that was both violet and a moderate cyan with magenta eyes, grey fur and a scissors cutie mark; while the other stallion in the room had a violet mane and facial hair to go with their gold eyes, medium gray fur and the comb cutie mark on their flank.

Though, as Sombra listened in on the two of them, the first stallion wasn’t exactly thrilled with their current predicament, “Dear Celestia, we’re so high up! H-how high do you think we are right now? We have to be above Equestria’s atmosphere right now, right?”

“Well, everypony down on the ground looks like ants up here, so yeah… we’re very high up,” the second stallion answered, “Why, do you have acrophobia or something?”

“Agro what?”

“Not agro. Acro,” the violet bearded stallion retorted, before letting out a sigh, “You know, fear of heights?”

“What? Of course not!” the first stallion quickly replied back, “If I had a fear of heights, I wouldn’t even consider doing security duty, Comb.”

Sombra personally grinned at that. That stallion’s slip up gave her a clue as to the identity of their companion. A simple search algorithm using the list of names that the Maretropolis PD had on file along with the image of their cutie mark could piece together who they were. For now though, she kept on listening.

“Trim, why exactly are you bringing this up? I don’t recall you complaining like this the last few times we had to do security duty,” Comb told the other stallion.

“I get that,” ‘Trim’ replied, “Though, I hate just sitting around. I mean, before the boss chose to be with Sumeragi, we would directly work for her and actually got the chance to contribute to whatever plans the Mane-iac was doing. Now, we’re just stuck here doing late security duty shifts. I know that she said that things were going to be better, but this,” the stallion then gestured to the rest of the room, “Is not exactly what I had in mind.”

“Hey, at least it beats getting our flanks kicked and then getting thrown in jail,” Comb tried to reason with him, “Besides, everypony else has to do their fair share too.”

By this point, Sombra had a positive on the two stallions. According to police records, their names were Quick Trim and Comb Over. Both of them had been arrested before by the police department as hench-ponies that worked for Mane-iac. They would perform burglaries and steal valuable items that the villain needed for whatever diabolical plan she was working on next and they were rather good at it too. That was, until they were caught and arrested when the Power Ponies foiled the Mane-iac’s plan to unleash a ‘Hairspray Ray of Doom’ on the city. Though, she couldn’t find any information on what happened after they were locked up.

Quick Trim just looked back at the earth pony, before letting out a grin, “Funny you say that… You know who I never happen to see get assigned to last minute shifts like these?”

“I’m sure you’re going to tell me.”

“Unconditioner,” the stallion replied, “Never seen his flank actually be in here and doing something for once. I bet you twenty bits that he’s in his quarters right now trying to figure out how to make his mane the way it is without actually washing it.”

“Mhm.”

“You know, I was put on monitor duty for six weeks? Six weeks?! Then, I make one bucking remark to Unconditioner about that Nova guy and how he looks two young to be in charge of a criminal organization and the next thing I know. Bam! Last minute security duty. All while Unconditioner takes my monitor duty and I get to sit here bored out of my mind because there’s no way in bucking tartarus that anypony would be foolish enough to sneak in here without setting off any alarms.”

That just had Comb let out a deep breath, before looking back at Quick Trim, “You can’t be too sure. Blow Dry said the same thing about the Power Ponies stopping Mane-iac last time and then we all got thrown in the slammer for it,” the stallion told him, “Why don’t you go take a break and blow off some steam? It’s still going to be a while before the shift’s over and it’ll give you the chance to get some coffee.”

Quick Trim rolled his eyes, before looking back at the stallion, “Yeah, coffee would be good,” he replied, trotting towards the door. Though, he soon turned back around as he looked back to Comb, “Hey, what’s the code for the door? I know that each facility has one that changes every hour, but I don’t want to end up locking myself out.”

“Should be 52483,” Comb told him, before looking at one screen at a terminal that the stallion was operating to verify, “Yeah, the next code change happens in half an hour. You have time before the next code comes in.”

Now that was something Sombra found useful. Not only that, but the information about the security pads would be something she would have to keep in mind when Copen reached the server room. For if he messed up, the whole entire building could go into lockdown. Now all she needed to do was wait for the doors to open and slip in without either of them noticing. Once both stallions were dealt with, the vigilante could take control of the console without having to worry about anyone disrupting her work.

As soon as the doors opened, she stepped through at the same time Quick Trim stepped out of the room. When the doors closed, Comb sighed as he returned his attention back to the console. Sombra was glad that her cloak was still effective right now as she carefully walked past the door and looked around. Though, her attention was focused on what looked to be a storage closet on the other end of the room. One that was held tight by an electronic lock.

“Hmm. What if…?” She thought to herself, before quickly moving her fingers and executing an override hack. In a matter of seconds, the door opened up. Which was enough to catch the attention of Comb as the stallion stepped away from the desk.

“What the hay?” he asked, trotting over to take a closer look as he looked to see if there was anything by the closet, “I thought we got this issue fixed last week. Do I really have to call maintenance again-?”

Just as he was about to turn around, Sombra chose to act. Grabbing the stallion’s mane, she slammed his head against the door with enough force to knock him out cold. Moments after, the vigilante stuffed him back in the closet and locked the closet before walking over to the main console. Once she was in, the vigilante could reach out to Copen and see his progress.

Unfortunately, just as she was about to override the console, she heard the doors unlock and open up again, “Hey, Comb? I’m back-”

“Mierda!” Sombra cursed under her breath. The vigilante knew that Quick Trim would eventually come back, but she did not anticipate him arriving so soon. With his friend gone, the stallion would think that something’s wrong.

“Comb? Hey man, where are you?” The stallion said as he looked around the room, “Comb? Comb, stop messing around! At least say something, dammit.”

Despite her situation though, what Quick said just now gave Sombra an idea for how to get out of this mess. Quickly, she activated a new program and placed in several different snippets of audio from what the vigilante overheard Comb say earlier. What she had in mind was a bit of a gamble… but if it paid off, it would allow her the chance to prevent the earth pony from alerting anyone that something was wrong.

Just as the program was finishing up though, Quick grit his teeth, “Comb, I swear to Celestia, if you’re sleeping on the job, I won’t hesitate to-”

“Well, here goes nothing,” Sombra sighed, before she began to speak, “Hey, Quick, a little help here?”

When the vigilante spoke those words, two things happened. The first was that there was a change in tone and pitch, making her voice match that of the stallion that she had already knocked out. Secondly, she redirected the output of the voice to have it come from the other end of the room. Originally, she had her doubts about whether or not this will work.

Luckily for Sombra, the earth pony seemed to have fallen for it, “Comb? What the hay are you doing over there?”

The vigilante smirked. Now she was getting somewhere. Though, she had to continue playing pretend if she wanted for this to work, “I thought I heard something and went to go look-”

“Really? What did you hear? A ghost?” Quick snickered as he trotted towards the closet door.

“J-just shut up and help me get out of here now, will you? This is uncomfortably tight.”

“Fine fine,” the other stallion grumbled, before approaching the closet door as he began to fiddle with the lock that kept it together, “But you better have an reason why you would be-”

The moment the doors opened, Quick was taken aback by the sight of his friend in the closet. Yet, instead of being awake, he was knocked unconscious. He was trying to calm himself down, but nothing made sense. “W-what the buck?! Comb, snap out of it! What happened-”

In that moment, Sombra took it as an opportunity to strike, “I think your friend,” she spoke, disabling both her cloak and the speech program at the same time before the stallion could act, “should be the least of your concerns.” With a quick twist of her wrist, she struck the back of Quick’s head with the stock end of her SMG. The force was enough to knock him forward and have him hit his head on the door, before his unconscious body fell to the ground.

“Well, I’m glad that’s over,” the vigilante replied, before closing the door to the closet that had Comb inside and opening a new one up to put the second stallion in. It was difficult at first, considering that Quick had some heavier armor on compared to his colleague, but eventually, the vigilante got him inside and locked him in.

“Now then… let’s not keep los chicos waiting,” Sombra thought, before she approached the terminal and got to work. Once she was in, she softly tapped the com piece in her left ear and began to speak, “Sombra to Avenger. What’s your status?”

The moment the doors to the elevator opened, Cody and Lola hastily made their way towards their destination. By using some clues in the environment around them as well as a map that was on the SD card that Sombra provided him, the two of them were quick to hurry over to where they had to go and reached the entrance to where they needed to go. The server room that contained the Sumeragi Network that they needed to help Sombra gain access too. Only then would they have a chance to actually disable the tower and stop whatever Nova and Sumeragi were planning.

Yet, when they found the entrance, both of them began to realize that getting inside wasn’t exactly going to be easy by any means. The door was locked from the other side and protected by a keycode pad to prevent someone from just barging in. When Lola tried to access it, she couldn’t get a read on what the actual entry code would be. Such a thing gave Cody the impression that either one of two things was happening. Either different members of the organization had a different code or the code to get in was changing every so often.

The only way to know for sure was to hear back from Sombra. Fortunately though, he didn’t have to wait long. “Sombra to Avenger. What’s your status?”

Cody almost chuckled at that. Before all of this began, Lola told him that he should try to use a different kind of hero name. After all, being called an ‘Adept Slayer’ might be too intimidating now that Lance had recruited a few onto his team. At the time, Lola told him that it should sound heroic. Make people feel calm and safe around him if he were to arrive on the scene.

Since then, he went by the name Luminous Avenger. Similar to how Lance was referred to as the Azure Striker, but enough to make him stand out. Sombra must’ve caught on if she were calling him that now. “Avenger here,” he replied, “I’m outside the door to the server room. Lola tried to see if there was a way to open the door, but no luck.”

“Aye yae yae, is she in a hurry or something?” they heard the vigilante speak, “I’m already settled in and from what I’m looking at, the codes on the door rotate frequently. If you give me just… one second…”

The screen on the control panel nearby Cody soon changed colors to violet as her skull emblem was now visible. The keys on the pad were now moving by themselves as a five number combination was being inputted without him even touching it. As quickly as this was happening, the colors on the screen reverted back to what they were before, now glowing green as the words ‘code accepted’ was now on the screen and the door to the room was unlocked. “Okay, you’re in.”

The moment that the door was open, the luminous avenger was quick to get inside. Though, he also cautioned himself. There was no telling if there was anyone inside the room or not and Cody did not want to run the risk of getting caught. If he slipped up now, their plan would be in jeopardy and Sombra’s position might be compromised.

As he looked around the room though, he found what looked to be several different workstations spread out in a wide area. Yet, there didn’t seem to be anything that closely resembled what he was looking for. “Sombra, are you sure this is the place? I’m looking around here and there doesn’t seem to be anything that we can possibly use.”

“Really? How’s that-... Hang on a second,” the vigilante said. The sounds of keys clicking and papers being shuffled around, before Sombra got back to him, “Hmm… now this is interesting.”

“What? What’s interesting?” Lola herself now spoke up as she appeared on Cody’s shoulder.

“I’m looking at a blueprint for the room that you’re in and it appears to be much bigger than what you’re seeing,” Sombra explained, “There’s more than likely a cuarto escondido somewhere?”

“A… what?”

“She means a hidden room,” Cody answered this time, before looking around the area, “Which would also mean that there should be some kind of switch around here to open it.”

“Exactamente mi amigo,” he heard the vigilante say in agreement on the other end of the line, “Look around and see if there’s anything you can find-”

Attention- Babylon Tower locked on to new target. Engaging weapon systems

Before Cody could say anything, the whole room began to violently shake as anything that was not nailed down began to get tossed up all around the room, “What the hell?! Sombra, did you do something?!”

“No, I didn’t!!” Sombra immediately interjected, before letting out a curse, “Dammit, there must be some kind of algorithm that’s controlling the weapon systems automatically! I can’t even-!!”

The vigilante did not even have the time to finish her sentence as the tower fired off another blast. The recoil from it was enough to knock Cody off of his feet and have his face hit the floor. Yet, as quickly as it started, the violent shaking soon ceased as the avenger just laid there on the floor

“Avenger, are you okay? Avenger, respond-”

“I hear you, I hear you-” he grit his teeth, before propping himself up off the floor using a nearby desk as Cody took in a deep breath. Though, as Cody was getting up, he noticed something on the ground that felt out of place. One of the tiles on the floor was colored differently from the rest and a Sumeragi decal could barely be seen over it. He had a feeling that there was more to this than meets the eye, but wanted to be sure about it first, “Lola, can you come take a look at something?”

“What is it, daddy?”

The avenger got up, leading her over to the tile that’s on the floor and pointing at it. “Can you check and see if this leads to anything? I’m thinking that this might be the switch that we are looking for.”

At first, Lola hesitated as she looked at Cody. Though, after a few moments, she moved herself closer to the floor to take a better look, “Daddy, there’s something under here. It looks like… a metal plate and some wiring? But… why would this be here?”

Cody had one possible answer for her question, but before he could say anything, he needed to test a possibility that emerged in his mind. Without answering Lola’s question, he went over and stepped on the tile. Near the back of the room, the wall began to split apart, revealing a chamber that had an air-sealed door and numerous working machines on the other side. For a moment, he felt relieved that he found what he was looking for.

Yet, when he stepped off the tile, something different happened. The walls that were split open immediately began to close, concealing the chamber that they recently found. “Huh, so that’s how that works.”

“How what works, daddy?” Lola asked.

“It looks like this switch and the chamber its hiding is something that’s operated by two people,” the luminous avenger explained, “One person would stand on this tile, which possibly has a weight sensor underneath, to open the chamber while someone else goes inside.” As he said that, he looked to his right to find a filing cabinet that was up against the wall. Thinking ahead, Cody walked over and began to push it over to where he just was.

The weight from the cabinet was exactly what he needed, for shortly after he placed it over the tile, the wall began to split again as the avenger walked on over. “Sombra, I figured out how to get into that room. We’re about to enter the server room.”

“Copy that. You got no movement going on outside the doors. You’re in the clear.”

As he opened the door, the first thing that he could feel was a frigid chill all around him. The air all around them was cold to the point that it felt like they were in a giant freezer. Something that Lola herself didn’t quite appreciate. “Brr!! W-why is it so cold in here?!”

For a moment, Cody looked back at Lola with just a raised eyebrow. He thought that the answer to that question was plainly obvious. Then he remembered that Lola had not been in something like this before and just let out a small sigh. “Sombra, did you want to explain this to her or should I?”

“I think she’s waiting for an answer from her papa, amigo.”

“Of course,” he said, before looking back at Lola as they kept looking around for the central terminal, “Keeping a lot of machines in a room like this is normally dangerous because all of these machines produce a lot of heat. So, server rooms like these are kept at low temperatures on purpose so that way they can provide connections across an entire building without having anything overheat.”

After looking around for a bit more, both Cody and Lola found what they were looking for. A terminal in the back of the room that just so happened to still be operational. “Lola, watch my back,” Cody instructed her as he took the SD card and inserted it into the proper ports, “Sombra, I found the terminal and inserted the chip.”

“Perfect. I see it now,” she told her, “Give me a minute or so and I’ll have access to the network. Stand by.”

The luminous avenger nodded as he just waited for Sombra to do what she needed to do. A percentage bar was now on screen, showing the vigilante’s progress as she began to connect herself to the network. However, about thirty seconds after they started, Cody couldn’t shake off the feeling that something was wrong. There was movement outside the doors to the facility and a shadow along the windows as he looked around the room. Which was enough evidence to prove one thing.

He was most certainly not alone. “Sombra, you said that there was nothing outside, right?”

“Yeah, just before I started patching myself in-”

“Will you still have access even after I take this chip out?” the avenger quickly followed up.

“Obviously,” she replied, before she slowly began to piece together why he was asking this, “Avenger, what’s going on?”

The moment that he saw the terminal screen reach 100%, he immediately ejected the chip and put it away, “We got a party crasher. I’ll be right back-”

“Avenger, WAIT-!”

Before he stepped out of the server room, Cody had disconnected his comline and had his weapon drawn. Immediately, the wall hiding the room closed off behind him and everything that was scattered on the floor was pushed away. He had a feeling that someone was watching them… and was really hoping that it was just a security guard or a drone. However, what was waiting for him were neither of those things.

“So, thou are the trespasser?”

Immediately, Cody had his gun pointed at the origin of the voice. A tall bipedal figure with combed back yellow hair, darkened skin dressed in what looked to be Sumeragi armor. A face mask covered his mouth and it stretched out across the sides of his face. What really gave it away though was the pitch black eyes with it being golden in the center.

They were not just an adept, but a Sumeragi Adept like the ones their allies were fighting on the bridge. “For a second, I expected the azure striker to be hither. Not thou.”

“Sorry to disappoint you, but I’m not him” Cody shot back, “Though, who would you be?”

“I am Carerra,” the figure spoke, unfolding his arms as loose pieces of metal began to float off the floor, “I was ordered to protect here from intruders. Yet, I hast no interest in following orders. I only seek to face a formidable foe.”

“That’s weird,” Lola now commented, “If this guy was supposed to be protecting this place, then why only show up now?”

“I can think of one possibility,” Cody narrowed his eyes, his gaze still focused on Carerra, “You used this place as a trap. Let us come in on the thought that no one was around to stop us. Though, if we were to leave, you would ambush us. Doesn’t exactly sound rather honorable of you-”

“Like thou are one to talk about honor,” the sumeragi adept retorted, violet energy forming around his arms as their eyes began to glow, “Yet, the time for talk is over! If thy strength is just as firm-set as thy words, then thou shall be the perfect opponent to fight!!”

At this point, Cody knew that he wasn’t going to be able to walk out of there without a fight. “Lola, prepare yourself,” the avenger told her, “The only way we’re going to get out of here is through him.”

The moment the doors to the elevator opened, Lance quickly took off in the opposite direction of both Cody and Sombra. He was careful to not just run and attack anyone that he encountered on site, but instead focused on being out of sight for the time being. If the security on the way to Nova’s chambers was as heavy as Sombra described, then he needed to make sure that they didn’t catch him. If they did, it was more than likely that the entire building would go into lockdown and that his position would be compromised.

As the adept hid from sight, he would listen to the chatter going on between his comrades, keeping his ears open in case he was needed. Though, as he waited, something unexpected came up, “Avenger, wait-! Grr, Mierda!”

He didn’t need a translation to know what exactly Sombra just said. And something told him that something wasn’t right. “Sombra, what’s going on? Is something wrong?”

“Well, Gunvolt, I got good news and bad news,” the vigilante told him as she let out a sigh. Yet, something with her tone told the azure striker that he was not going to like this, “The good news is that Copen got me the back door into the network. However, the bad news is, it sounds like someone caught on to what he was doing. He disconnected his com line before giving me any further details.”

“Crap,” he cursed. This was not good, especially considering the current situation right now. “Does that mean we need a change of plans?”

“No, it won’t,” that statement caught the adept off guard. Especially considering that it was Sombra who was saying it, “I know this is going to sound heartless, amigo, but he already completed the task I told him to do. I bet he can handle himself against whatever found him. Now it’s our turn. I just need to make sure we don’t have any surprises involving the BFG that Nova has aimed at the planet right now.”

That was a valid point. Even with Sombra taking control of the security room earlier, she didn’t have the backdoor to the network until after Sumeragi fired another blast. Even then, there was a lot that they were still unaware of regarding the nature of Babel Tower and did not want to take any risks. If they made a mistake, the whole planet would have to pay the price.

“Well, damn,” he heard Sombra curse, “That is going to complicate things.”

“What’s going to complicate things?”

“Even if I used my EMP to disable the tower, it won’t be able to disable the weapon systems because they’re running on a secondary power source in Nova’s chambers,” the vigilante told him, “To make matters worse, he already has the base of the League of Vigilante Justice as his next target.”

That was definitely a problem. In his mind, he wasn’t sure if Chrysalis and the League knew about what was happening or just didn’t care. Nova was a serious threat and if he and Sombra didn’t do something, he was going to wipe them off of the map just like with Power Pony HQ. Yet, just merely contacting them was not going to work.

Though, that’s when a thought came into mind. Something that he had to ask the vigilante, “Sombra, quick question. Can you tell what kind of systems or programs that Nova is using for that weapon? If we can’t shut it down directly, then we should find a way to mess with the systems he’s using to control it.”

“That’s… hmm,” For a brief moment, Lance thought that he lost contact with Sombra. Her sudden silence was a bit off-putting at first. Yet, just as he was about to say something, the adept finally heard her voice come back on the other end of the line. “Yeah, that might actually work out perfectly.”

“Did you find something?”

“Yeah, actually. Listen to this,” the vigilante explained, “Even though Nova is using a completely different power source for his weapon, the program that’s being used to operate it still runs on the network. Even better, it’s using a GPS system to find its targets.”

At first, the adept felt lost at the flood of information. Though, the more that he thought about it, the more that some things began to click into place, “So you’re saying that you can mess with the program from where you’re at?”

“I can do far more than just mess with it, amigo. I can modify practically everything to the point where I can seize complete control from him. I can even put a virus into the program to make it to where anything he tries to do backfires. It’ll be fun to see how he reacts when he realizes that his newest toy is taken from him.”

Sombra’s words were encouraging to say the least. Though, there was one thought that the adept still had on his mind, “This definitely sounds good… but wouldn’t Nova notice something is wrong the moment you try to seize control?”

“Not if something else has his attention,” Sombra grinned, “I’m going to do it after I set off the EMP. Ready to make a break for it, GV?”

“Ready when you are,” Lance told her as he readied his weapon and prepared for what happened next.

“Alright then, rambler,” the vigilante told him, a short five second countdown appearing on his com-bracer as it began its countdown, “Let’s get rambling.”

Once the countdown had reached zero, what felt like a massive shockwave went off throughout the entire station as the window shutters slammed shut and everything went dark. The security gates that guarded the way forward and the mechanical robots that were patrolling with the guards that were on duty had now powered down. Something that blindsided the guards as they were trying to make sense of what was happening. A few of them were even trying to contact their colleagues to see what was going on, only to realize that their means of communication were not working either.

As for the azure striker, he did not waste this opportunity. The moment the lights went off, he took off from his hiding space and bolted past anything that was in front of him. The adept didn’t have to use his powers in order to see where he was going, for emergency floor lights were illuminated across the ground. Something that looked to be a safety measure put in place in case of an emergency. To him though, it just showed him the way forward and led him directly towards his intended destination. Though, he would need to hurry and make his way there before power was restored and the security systems with it.

“Sombra, how long until the power comes back?”

“Roughly thirty seconds,” the vigilante replied back, “This is supposed to look like a temporary setback, not a permanent problem. Just keep on going and you’ll be back before those tontas realize who got past them.”

That was all he needed as he kept on running down the hall. When he saw the entrance to Nova’s chambers at the far end of the hallway, he placed two fingers on his forehead and transmitted himself inside before the door could close shut. Lance was relieved to have made it before his only chance at doing so was yanked away from him.

“Alright, I’m in.”

“Excellente, amigo. Now, according to the files I’m seeing here, there looks to be some kind of device inside that room. Try and see if you can find anything that could give us an idea as to what it is.”

Originally, Lance thought that such a task would be easier said than done since he could barely see anything. Though, as he looked around, there was only one source of light in the room that the adept could see. It looked like a small blue block from a distance… but as the azure striker approached it, that small block turned out to be a screen to a terminal. He couldn’t tell if this was a computer or something else. Yet, there was something that was on the screen.

01010011 01101111 01101101 01100101 01100010 01101111 01100100 01111001 00101100 00100000 01110000 01101100 01100101 01100001 01110011 01100101 00101110 00101110 00101110 00100000 01101000 01100101 01101100 01110000 00100000 01101101 01100101 00101110 00101110 00101110

“Okay, Sombra?” he said, looking around the room for a moment, “I think I found that terminal you were mentioning. Though, there’s something on the screen. Looks like some kind of code in binary since it’s only in ones and zeroes.”

“Hmm, that’s odd. Unless… Hold your com-bracer to the screen, I’m going to try something,” Lance was going to say something, but instead chose to just follow through as he did what Sombra asked. For a moment, there was a purple glow on both the terminal and his bracer, before the vigilante spoke, “Huh… that’s a new one.”

The adept was a bit surprised when he heard that. Nothing usually catches Sombra off guard, so hearing her say that was not exactly encouraging, “What’s a new one?”

“This isn’t just an ordinary message in binary… from what I’m seeing, it’s an audio message. Something that you don’t normally see in this format since it most involves converting sound files instead of just standard text,” Sombra clarified, “Here, listen.”

Somebody, please… help me…

The moment he heard that, Lance felt as if his blood was beginning to freeze. That was Aurora’s voice that he heard just now, and she was begging for someone to save her. “T-that’s Aurora,” he said, before looking back at his bracer, “Sombra, is there anything that we can do? Anything we can tell her-?”

Before he could finish what he was saying, the lights immediately came back on and the shutters retracted from the windows. The terminal that the adept found was only one piece of a much bigger machine. One that had Aurora and Lumen trapped inside, both of them in a state of comatose. The adept wanted to break them out and free them from their captive states.

However, there were some more pressing matters. “Well, this is a surprise,” he heard the all too familiar voice of Nova from the opposite end of the room. The leader of Sumeragi slowly clapped his hands as the azure striker turned around and aimed his weapon directly towards them, “I know that heroes always tend to make an entrance when they arrive on the scene. If I knew you were coming, I would’ve had a surprise waiting for you.”

“What the hell have you done to her!?” the azure striker demanded. Not averting his gaze from the leader of Sumeragi and as he kept his weapon drawn.

Nova though, just let out a sigh as he looked back at the lightning adept, “What is it that makes Sumeragi’s crown jewel a threat, hmm? Why yes, the weapon is a piece of the tower itself and I do control it,” the leader of Sumeragi smirked, turning his wrist as he lifted his hand towards the machine in the room and a purple glow began to form from his hands, “Yet, all of this would not be possible if it weren’t for that girl inside Project Nyx.”

“That doesn’t answer my question,” the lightning adept grit his teeth.

“For a hero, you’re rather impatient,” Nova retorted, “This contraption allows for me to gain control of the abilities to those that are linked inside and add them to my own. Both her and that breezie that just so happened to be with her at the time. Here, let me give you a demonstration.”

Without warning, Nova turned his other hand around and pointed two fingers towards the ceiling as the floor underneath Lance began to shift. Without warning, the tiles on the ground began to move in an attempt to crush him against the ceiling, forcing the azure striker to back away. Shortly afterwards, he had a clear shot and fired a dart towards Nova. However, the attack didn’t connect, resulting in it being deflected back at him by a barrier that surrounded the other adept.

That was also when he saw it. Hovering over Nova’s left shoulder, there looked to be a reflection of Lumen. However, the color of her body was pale in comparison and now looked nothing like the cheerful self that she was. It was a copy of her, and Lance felt disgusted when seeing it. “Using the powers of others and treating them like your own? That is beyond sickening.”

“You may see it as such, but I see it as essential,” the leader of Sumeragi continued, “My Septima, Psychokinesis, was already powerful to begin with. Yet, when you add the girl’s ability to possess and control machines, it allows me to take full control of this station. All I have to do is just snap my fingers and cities crumble. Plus, with the Muse from your fairy friend, it enhances my power to levels in which rival the rulers of this world. I’m a god amongst mortals and when all of this is over, I’ll be the one leading the people of this world.”

Though, the azure striker was not intimidated by that statement, “Last chance. Let Aurora and Lumen go, or I’ll show you that even a self proclaimed god-king can bleed, Noah-.”

“I’ve come this far and will not be deterred by the likes of one such as yourself,” Nova snapped, the violet energy that was once around his hand began to expand around his entire body, The adept was now floating off the floor, his septima radiating off of him as he glared at the hero, “Whoever you thought I was before is dead! I am Nova Tsukiyomi, and I will make my vision for Sumeragi a reality… starting with you!!”

The azure striker had seconds to move out of the way as Nova accelerated himself towards him. His opponent was inches away from grabbing his throat by the time that he moved, but the lightning adept knew he couldn’t stay in one place. With Nova attacks and the power to manipulate the entire chamber that they were in to his will, Gunvolt had to keep moving if he wanted to stay alive. Of course, the harder part was trying to figure out how exactly to beat his opponent.

Because of the powers that he stole from Lumen, any attempts to attack Nova from a distance was too risky. The barrier from Lumen’s powers would take any shots that he would fire and send them directly back at him. Something that wasn’t ideal, since he couldn’t actually harm Nova with his powers until he tagged him first. If he were to have any shot at beating him, he needed to remove the psychokinetic adept’s protections.

Unfortunately, that meant that the only way for him to figure out how to do so was to get up close and personal. A risky move since that would mean he needed to find a way to find a way to do so and the azure striker did not know the full extent of what his opponent was capable of or what he could do with his septima. It was also dangerous to think that this fight was going to play out like the original boss fight against Nova in Azure Striker Gunvolt. More than likely, the adept he was facing would have a different set of tricks that would make beating him rather difficult.

Still, given everything that was at stake, the azure striker had to take that risk. If doing so could help him find a way to disable Nova’s shield, then it was a risk he was willing to take. “Okay, here goes nothing,” he thought to himself, channeling his septimal energy throughout his body as he began to run towards his opponent.

Nova though, did not seem impressed. “Really? A frontal assault? What makes you think that something like that is going to work?” The psychokinetic adept taunted as he raised up his arm. From his hand, several rings of septimal energy took form as they were fired off towards the azure striker in pairs of three. “Try to jump through this!!”

At that moment, Gunvolt did not say anything. He didn’t move out of the way or make any attempt to avoid Nova’s attack. Instead, he pushed forward as he jumped up and air dashed through the first trio of rings. Two more ring sets followed suit as the lightning adept tried to keep moving forward to get in close proximity to his opponent. Once he leaped through the second set and landed on the ground, Gunvolt began to channel his septima around him and prepare himself for what he was going to do next.

As the third trio of rings came towards him, Lance set off his ‘Crashbolt’ in front of him before placing two fingers to his forehead. In the blink of an eye, he was directly behind Nova. Something that the Sumeragi leader did not realize until it was too late. “Why you-!”

“ASTRASPHERE!!”

In a matter of seconds, a thunderous ring of lightning went off around the azure striker. The spheres of electricity that orbited around him was enough to break through Nova’s defenses as he pressed the advantage. Quickly, he tagged Nova a couple of times before activating his flashfield to try and weaken the psychokinetic adept as much as he could. It would not take long for Nova to reactivate his barrier, so Lance had to take this opportunity now and make it count.

Yet, as quickly as the opportunity came, an outward blast of septimal energy from Nova forced the azure striker to backpedal away. The repulsion of septimal energy was enough to destroy any tags that the lightning adept had placed on him as his shield began to reform. “So that’s how you want to do this, huh?” he grit his teeth, before looking back at Lance as several psychokinetic orbs began to take form around him.

At first, Gunvolt thought that Nova was going to launch the orbs at him. Yet, what actually happened was completely different as the orbs began to pulsate with power. “Well, two can play at that game!”

“Oh sh-!!” The lightning adept did not have much time to react as several bullets of pure septimal energy were fired towards him. Several grazed his left shoulder as Lance tried to avoid what was coming at him. Whatever Nova just did, it was a variation of his powers. He knew that the Sumeragi leader can fire off orbs of septimal energy and have it explode from the original game, but what the adept just witnessed was something completely new.

To make matters worse, since the bullets that were fired were of septimal energy, the azure striker couldn’t block them with his Flashfield. The only choice he had left was to try and avoid them the best he could, while trying to take as little damage as possible and keep moving. If he stopped for even a second, he would be a dead adept lying on the floor. Though, he could not keep running forever.

Though, it was he was repositioning himself that an idea began to form in his head. If Nova’s attacks can bypass his flashfield… and the shield around him was created by septimal energy, if he could find a way to send the psychokinetic adepts' attacks back towards him, then it can theoretically bypass his own shield. Use his own powers against him to create an opening and capitalize.

“Do you think that staying on the run like that is going to help you?” Nova snapped, having another pair of orbs form shortly after the first two faded away, “All you’re doing is just delaying the inevitable-!!”

As the orbs of energy began to pulse again, the azure striker took his chance. Switching his active bolt clip to Dullahan, he held down the trigger and charged his weapon before taking aim. Before his opponent could prepare to attack, he released his grip on the trigger and fired as the projectile collided with it’s target. On contact, the orb that Nova conjured exploded and the backlash from that blast was strong enough to break through his protections and knock the leader of Sumeragi down onto the ground.

“And you don’t seem to know when to keep your damn mouth shut,” the lightning adept retorted.

With not a moment to lose, he raced back towards his downed opponent and switched his clips back to Orochi. Yet, instead of firing his gun, the azure striker took another approach and instead armed himself with a different weapon. Some time back, Lance made some modifications to some of the gadgets that Spike had given him originally a long time ago. Mainly, the contraption that Humdrum gave him that allowed for him to channel his septima into the form of a blade. Even though it was useful at the time he gave it to him, the adept felt that it needed to be changed into something that can harm a villain, but not kill them.

Back to the present, as Gunvolt channeled his power through the same contraption, it now began to expand at both ends and took on the form of a bo-staff that had lightning coursing through it. If attacking from range was not going to work, then getting up close and personal would more than likely catch his opponent off guard. With Nova getting back to his feet, the azure striker swung the weapon forward as it struck his opponents face and caused him to stagger. This created another opening for him to exploit as he continued to hit Nova several times.

However, the leader of Sumeragi was not going to just stand there and let this thrashing continue, “Come, Ame no Murakumo!”

In the blink of an eye, Lance felt something collide with his weapon. An unsheathed glaive that was silver in color and took the form of a katana, one that was controlled by Nova’s septima. “I-if you think that I will stand here and let you undo everything I have created… then you are truly mistaken.”

“Never really thought you were just going to let me do as I pleased anyways,” the azure striker shot back, before snapping his fingers. Instantly, a crashbolt landed between both adepts and separated them, before Gunvolt dashed back in to continue his attacks. This time around though, his opponent was quick to defend himself using his weapon of choice as he blocked or countered any particular attack that the lightning adept tried to make.

Not only that, but Nova didn’t exactly just stick to using his glaive. In fact, his glaive not only strengthened his septima, but also how far his powers can reach. He wasn’t just firing off shots of psychokinetic energy towards the azure striker in the hope that they would hit him. Instead, the leader of Sumeragi was using his glaive’s power to create variations of his earlier attacks to ensure that they would hit him instead. Even going as far as to cut through sections of the floor under Gunvolt’s feet to keep the hero moving so he could eventually make a mistake.

For the azure striker though, his goal was to keep up the pressure on his opponent and make sure that his opponent did not gain the upper hand under any circumstances. Even though Nova had a new weapon and a newfound set of skills, if he kept up the pressure, the adept could force the leader of sumeragi to end up making a critical mistake. In doing that, he would secure himself a chance to try and take him down.

“You are starting to become a nuisance,” Nova glared at him, his septima beginning to glow around him and expand as he repositioned himself on the opposite side of the room, “If you’re doing all of this just so you can die more painfully, then allow me to speed up the process!”

“If this is what I think it is…” the azure striker thought to himself, before looking down to see that his skill cards from earlier had finished recharging. He had a feeling that Nova was going to do something big and if that were the case, then he needed to counter his attack with something stronger. Something that could knock the psychokinetic adept down on the ground and would not be easy for him to recover from.

“Ruler from above / Hunt your sworn nemeses down / Leave them no quarter.”

“I knew it!” Gunvolt grinned. He had a feeling that Nova would use an attack like this once he was pushed back into a corner. The leader of Sumeragi was merely saving his strength during their last few clashes and now saw this as the opportune time to use it. Of course, this did not mean that the lightning adept should let his guard down. If anything, it was more than likely possible that there was something different with this attack now that Nova had one of his glaives unsheathed.

With a flick of his wrist, the psychokinetic adept began to summon a series of four septimal orbs that moved inward around the azure striker. If Lance remembered this correctly from before his displacement, each of these particular sets would have them move in a particular direction. They would either all move diagonally in the form of an X shape or two would move horizontally and two would move vertically towards the ceiling and floor in the shape of a plus sign. This would repeat five times, with the fifth set forming an orb that would immediately chase after him on the ground.

Despite this, there were a few common factors to this attack. The first was that each set would try to converge on him from all potential angles and in a particular pattern, with no two directions being repeated back to back. Another was that like with many of Nova’s other attacks, he could not use his Flashfield to defend himself. His only real option for being able to survive this attack was to stay on his feet and continue to move since you can outmaneuver them as they converged.

Of course, that was in theory. Trying to take the same strategy from the game and put it into practice though? That was going to be much harder. Yet, he still had to try, for there was no way that he was just going to let Nova stop him. Not after everything that he and his comrades did to get him to this point.

Before he had the chance to think, the septimal orbs began to manifest around him. The first set moving in the diagonal X shape around him. As they closed in, he dashed forward, luckily able to avoid them potentially hitting him as they collided and disappeared. Next set was the plus sign that took form from both horizontal and vertical directions as he was forced to jump in the air to avoid the attack. The next two combinations followed the same pattern, with the X being first and the plus formation swiftly coming in afterwards.

The final combination was exactly like the first and third, diagonal in an X shape pattern. Though, as the four septimal orbs converged in the center, a massive sphere took form and began to pursue the azure striker. The adept anticipated this and waited for it to close in on him, before leaping into the air and dashing behind it as the sphere was going towards his opponent. Yet, something did not feel right.

“Did you really think that’s all there is to it?” he heard Nova ask as the leader of Sumeragi prepared his glaive and channeled his power into it, “If this attack were that simple, then there would be no point in me using it!!”

Before Gunvolt could react, the psychokinetic adept swung his glaive forward and struck the sphere that was chasing the azure striker just mere seconds ago. Not only did this send the attack back towards the adept, but it caused the orb to become rather unstable. If it were to get too close, it could blow up in his face and severely injure him.

Though, instead of backing away, the azure striker pushed forward. A move that caught Nova off guard as the lightning adept unleashed the counterattack he was planning. It wasn’t exactly the most ‘ideal’ circumstance, but if this were to get him one step closer to freeing Aurora, then it was a risk he was willing to take.

“Sacred sword agleam / Barbarous and bathed in blue / Cleaving right from wrong.”

In a matter of seconds, Nova was struck by a giant claymore of electricity that sent the leader of Sumeragi crashing into the window overlooking the world. The amount of shear force from Gunvolt’s attack was enough to knock him down to the ground from where he was floating in the air. As the lightning adept regained his footing, he took a moment in order to catch a breath first. The battle just now almost tired him out, but he didn’t want to assume that it was over just yet.

“Sombra, can you hear me?” He looked to his com-bracer and asked.

“Amigo, are you alright-?”

“There’s something I need you to do,” the adept quickly interjected, looking towards where Nova was, “Try and get a hold of Aurora, no matter what. Let her know that I’m here.”

“I… can try, though, I’m going to need some time.”

“Take as much as you need.” He said, before dismissing the bracer and turning back to Nova, who was slowly beginning to rise back up to his feet.

“You insolent pest! Do you really think some trick like that is going to lead to you beating me?” Nova taunted as he held his glaive. Though, as he placed his hand on the handle, two more glaives took form on his left and right. “Kurohyō! Yatagarasu!! To me!”

“Nova, what are you-!?” As the words left his lips, the lightning adept realized what his foe was going to do as his eyes widened. If Nova was going as far as to bring out all three of his glaives, then he was no longer going to suppress his septima. His septimal power was now skyrocketing as the leader of Sumeragi glared at him.

“Your power is nothing against what I can control! So allow me to give you a proper demonstration!!!”

Before he could react, a vibrant burst of light filled the room and blinded the azure striker’s vision. The lightning adept could feel the floor under him disappear and hear the sound of shattered glass, but it was hard for him to make out what exactly was happening in that moment.

When he felt himself land back on solid ground, Gunvolt slowly opened up his eyes. As his vision was returning to him, the azure striker began to realize that something was wrong. He was no longer inside of Babel tower in the room where Aurora was being kept, but standing on a platform that was almost elevating above the entire planet. If it were any higher, the azure striker would find himself in the vacuum of space. Yet, despite the fact that Gunvolt did not know where he was… the adept was more concerned as to where Nova was.

“I’ve told you that I’ve come too far to be deterred by the likes of you.”

Those words sent a chill down the azure striker’s spine as he turned around. Standing before him was a giant monstrosity. A bipedal figure towered over him, the right half of his body was white while the other half was the color black. Two additional arms extended behind them on both sides, with a shielded core around the chest as the figure had their arms folded. Immediately after seeing it, Lance knew what it was.

This was Nova’s true form. When his septima was not bound by three glaives that kept it in check.

“This godlike form is the physical representation of Sumeragi’s conviction! My ideals given form as the heavenly emperor. My power will purge everything that is impure from this world and destroy aberrations like you!!”

Immediately, Nova’s two additional appeared on the sides of the platform that Gunvolt was standing on, before they both transformed into mechanical drones. The one that he called Kurohyō turned into a black colored drone with crimson claws as it resembled a panther, while the one that was named Yatagarasu was now a white drone that hovered in the air.

“Just my luck,” the adept grit his teeth, his pistol at the ready. With him cut off from any form of backup and outnumbered, fighting Nova’s new form was going to be a major pain.

Back at the security station, Sombra watched as things began to escalate much faster than she anticipated. Not only was Lance locked in his battle against Nova, but she had not heard back from Cody after he patched her into the tower’s network. She had no idea what was going on or even if the luminous avenger was still alive. Something that irritated her extremely, for she hated being in a position where there wasn’t anything that she could do to help.

Yet, just as she was thinking that, she could hear a voice patch in on comms, “Sombra, are you still there-?”

Once she immediately heard Cody’s voice, Sombra immediately interjected, “Avenger, what the hell?! One moment I’m talking to you and the next thing you know, you go silent for god knows how long!”

The vigilante heard her friend groan on the other end. More than likely because his ears were ringing after her abrupt outburst. “Look, I’m sorry. Lola and I had some Sumeragi weirdo show up just as we got you connected. If we didn’t do anything, they would have destroyed the only way for you to connect to the network,” she heard the avenger say, before they asked a question, “Do you want us to group up with you or-?”

“No, not yet,” she immediately interjected, “We got something else that we need to take care of. Something that could potentially help Striker.”

“… I’m listening.”

“He told me that he found a giant machine where Nova’s keeping that girl, the one that Striker calls Aurora, hostage,” the vigilante explained, before looking at one of the camera’s that was stationed outside of the tower, “We’re going to see if we can get her to help us and help Striker fight him on an even playing field. Because right now, he’s going to need all the help he can get.”

“Weren’t you telling him earlier to ‘send him to hell’?” As the luminous avenger was speaking, Sombra noticed something on the exterior cameras of the tower. Something that really did not look good at all, “Because I was getting the impression that you thought he could handle Nova by himself-”

“Amigo, have you looked out the window recently? Because I think what’s going on outside tells a much different story.”

There was a brief pause for a moment or so, though the vigilante had the feeling that her friend would soon notice what she was talking about. “What the-!? Is that… Nova?”

“Given how I can faintly pick up Striker’s signal from up where that thing is, I’m going to say yes,” Sombra told him, “Though, this gives us a window of opportunity to work with.”

“How so?”

“Well, there’s a few steps we need to take,” The vigilante smirked as she pulled up two holo-screens and began to start working, “First and foremost, with Striker occupying Nova, there’s nothing that could block me from stealing Nova’s admin credentials. Most of the tech in that room, including the machine that holds the girl, require admin clearance in order to access it.”

Just from that alone, the avenger soon began to piece things together, “So with him being occupied by Gunvolt now, he wouldn’t notice if you jailbreak your way in?”

“Exactamente,” Sombra nodded her head, “Though, that is only the first step. For step two, we need to find a way to access that machine in there and talk to the girl inside. I have an idea for how we can do that. You still have your little friend with you?”

“Did somebody call me, daddy?” the voice of Lola could be heard from the other end of the com line.

“Yeah, she’s with me,” the avenger answered, “Though, why did you ask?”

“Because she’s critical to step two,” she explained, “For this to work, we need to have someone talk to Aurora and tell her that we are here to help her. So, it needs to be someone that she trusts. It can’t be me since… well, I believe we didn’t exactly start off on the right foot when we first met.”

“Why not daddy though? He’s friendly with mommy,” Lola now asked.

Sombra anticipated something like this. So, she tried to answer her question to the best of her ability, “Well, the way that we’re going to try to reach out to her is rather specific. Earlier, when I was last in touch with Striker, we found out that Aurora was hooked up to the machine. The only way that she could really communicate was through one of the computers that was hooked up to it.”

“And we can’t just force it open?” Copen asked.

“Doing so could either hurt Aurora or alert Nova of what we’re trying to do,” the vigilante quickly retorted, “However, what I can do is change the security protocols for the machine and the other tech in the room. Doing so would effectively create a ‘window’ for Lola to go in and try to talk to her.”

“W-what’ll happen afterwards?” Lola asked, worry and concern were present in her voice.

“That… even I don’t know,” Sombra replied honestly, “It’s uncertain how hard wired your ‘mother’ is to that machine, but we have little room for error. We need to show her that she’s in safer hands now and no longer will be in Nova’s clutches. If we can do that, then we can move onto the last step.”

“That step being?”

The vigilante smirked at that, “What do you think about finding a way to handicap Nova’s overall power considerably?”

“… Count me in,” the avenger replied back, “What do we need to do?”

“First and foremost… gimme one second,” she told him, before swiping a few more keys and getting a notification on one of her holo-screens. Something that made her grin, “Perfecta. Like taking candy from a baby! Nova’s probably too busy to notice that he now has the same clearance level as the cannon fodder grunts that make up his army.”

“Heh, that’ll show him,” he replied back, “What’s next?”

“Are you still near that server room?”

“Yeah, we haven’t left yet. Why?”

“Well, for this to work, I’m going to need to have use the terminal inside,” the vigilante explained, “In order for researchers and other members of Sumeragi to gain access to what they consider ‘classified’ information, they need to submit their requests to be approved by the administrator. One such set of requests involve something listed as ‘Special Projects’ in the directory. If you send me the specific requests regarding that, I can approve them and grant you access.”

It took some time for the luminous avenger to find what he was looking for, though eventually, Copen was able to follow through, “Alright. I think I found it.”

Shortly after he said that, a new pop up screen emerged on Sombra’s end as she began to read through it. Though, there was something that confused her. “Project Nyx? I thought the girl’s name was Aurora.”

“It is,” the avenger answered, “Though, that’s the name of the vessel that she resides in. Striker and Aya Brea from M.I.S.T. found it during a mission on a Sumeragi Facility and took it back with them. The whole project was designed to be one where Sumeragi could create their own synthetic adept for them to control, but things… didn’t turn out the way they wanted it.”

“Ya veo,” the vigilante commented, before pressing another button and dismissing the screen as she approved the request with the newfound admin clearance she was ‘borrowing’, “Alright, access has been granted. Time for your little friend to do her thing.”

“You heard her, ” Copen told his companion, “Your time to shine, Lola. Make me proud.”

When Lola took her first steps inside the domain where her mom was, she found herself in nothing but a deep void. An enduring abyss of ones and zeroes that passed by her as the AI ventured further into the unknown. It may have looked scary, though, nothing was going to stop her from finding the one that she seeked. She, her dad and every hero that came here had come too far to stop now and Lola was not going to let them down.

It took her some time, but as she floated through this digital sea, the AI found something that caught her attention. A white oval that was in the shape of an egg that drifted among the void. Was this what she was looking for? Was that where her mom was being kept? There wasn’t any sign of anything out here in this empty abyss, so maybe it was what she was seeking.

Carefully, she drifted towards the shape and touched it gently with an outstretched hand. As she moved her hand back, a warm glow was felt as it began to expand outward. As it did, the sea of ones and zeroes began to evaporate around her. Everything was now the same color as the shape she found, yet there was now something different in the place of the shape. Something… or someone that Lola recognized.

“Mommy?”

To Lola, the person who she was looking at was no doubtedly the one that she called her mother. It had to be. Her appearance was the same as she remembered and there were no changes to her appearance at all. Though, she didn’t respond to her original comment. If anything, Aurora was quiet. Almost as if she was unaware of the AI’s presence.

“Mommy? Mommy, please... say something,” Lola said, before tapping the girl’s shoulder in an effort to get her attention, “Mommy? Mommy!!”

“Ugh, what happened…?” Aurora groaned, nursing her head as if it were splitting in half. “Lola, what’s going on? I can’t remember anything past what I had for breakfast.”

“Mommy, don’t you remember? You were taken by the bad guys,” she told her, trying to get her to realize what was going on. Though, she quickly thought of an idea as she turned around and spoke up, “Hey daddy!! Can you hear me?”

“I can hear you Lola,” Copen’s voice now echoed throughout the datascape they were in, “Did you find her?”

Aurora decided to respond, noticing she was a pony again. “Yeah… oh wow, it’s so weird feeling disconnected from my body again.”

“Well, that’s the thing,” the luminous avenger said, “Sumeragi went on the offense this morning and Nova kidnapped you while everyone else was fighting his minions. From what we can tell, he hooked you and Lumen up to a machine in order to hijack your powers and add it to his own.”

“I… is there some way I can get out? I can’t feel my body.” Aurora grew nervous.

“There is. Lance is fighting Nova right now in order to try and get you out of there, but the deck is stacked against him right now,” Copen admitted, “We were hoping that you could help us find a way to even the playing field for him, because we don’t know how long he can keep this up for.”

Aurora took a moment to think it over. “What does this machine I’m in do?”

“Well, it… how should I put this,” the hero on the other end asked himself, before finding a way to continue, “This machine allows him to use your powers to have full control of the facility we’re in. This includes the weapon systems, for he’s used them to destroy various different locations. He used you to wipe Power Pony HQ off the map in the blink of an eye and hurt many others.”

“What… would happen if the body in the machine didn’t have… a soul?”

That had Lola shiver a bit, looking back towards Aurora with a face of concern, “Mommy…?”

“Aurora, what are you even suggesting?” the avenger now asked, unsure about what Aurora’s idea was.

“I can disconnect from my body permanently! It might weaken Nova!” Aurora explained, which had shocked Lola. To her, she thought that by doing this, her mother would disappear. Something that she didn’t want to happen since they were here to save her. Though, after hearing this, Copen had a much different response

“That… could actually work,” the luminous avenger thought to himself, “If we do that, we can sever his control from the tower. That would definitely handicap him.”

“D-daddy? Wouldn’t that make Mommy… go away-?” Lola then asked. A question that the avenger did not anticipate, but did his best to answer

“Not exactly, Lola. She’ll be like you in a sense. Only instead of being with me, she’ll be with Lance instead. She’s not going away, Lola. I promise,” shortly after he finished, the avenger began speaking again. Only this time, it was directed to her mother, “Aurora, do what you got to do. Once it’s done, come find Lola. You can stay in my gear until he gets back.”

“Okay…” Aurora cleared her mind of doubt. She felt out for her body, and began to shut down her internal organs. “Gah! Ow, ow, ow! That’s my spleen- gah! Buckets of buck this hurts!” She shuddered at the spike of pain before trying again. “No- aaah! Aaarrggghh! Got the right org- gahnn! Oh dear Celestia I’m going into shock! N-now or never!”

She waited for a minute as she felt her body weaken enough for her soul to disconnect from it entirely, leaving her a free spirit once again.

Once Aurora was free from her body, she found herself in what looked to be an empty room. Yet, the damage to the floor and ceiling gave it the look that a battle had taken place. As she turned around, Aurora found herself staring at the machine that she was once strapped to as it began to short circuit and break down. All while her former body looked to be in a deep sleep.

As she continued to look around, that was when the spirit noticed something along the glass. A holo-screen, with several blaring messages on it. “EMERGENCY!! PROJECT NYX NO LONGER OPERATIONAL! ORBITAL PLATFORM COMPROMISED! SEPTIMAL LEVELS OF MASTER NOVA DROPPING CONSIDERABLY! SUSTAINED DAMAGE WILL RESULT IN CRITICAL FAILURE OF ALL SYSTEMS!”

“I guess that’s good…” Aurora voiced quietly, looking longingly at her dying body.

“ORBITAL PLATFORM INTEGRITY AT 72%,” another notification popped up on screen, “CONTINUED DEGRADATION WILL RESULT IN ORBITAL DESCENT. PREDICTED LANDING ZONE, BALTIMARE.”

“Less optimal.” Aurora was glad she no longer had a heart, because it’d be racing right about now. “Lola!? Where’s Lance, I need to get to him so we can get out of here!”

It took some time, but eventually, Lola faded through the giant door on the other side of the room as she caught her breath, “I’m here,” she said, before noticing the look on Aurora’s face, “Daddy told me that his friend is fighting the big bad guy outside right now. Follow me!”

“Wait, outside?” Aurora tilted her spectral head.

The longer that the Azure Striker had to stand his ground and fight against Nova’s newfound form, the more that it felt like he was in a losing battle. Not only was he outnumbered three to one because of the two drones that Nova had on both sides of the platform that he was on, but there were very few changes for him to actually harm his opponent.

The core at the center of his chest was his target, but it had a protective shield that could only be lowered while he was attacking both of the drones with his septima. Only problem was, both of the drones were actively trying to kill him by either pushing him off the platform with powerful gusts of wind or injure him with outstretched claws.

“Is this really all that the ‘Azure Striker’ can do? For someone who was able to effortlessly beat several of Sumeragi’s greatest Adepts, I expected more of a challenge!”

The adept could only grit his teeth, before dodging another attack as Nova tried to flatten him with an outstretched hand. “Dammit, this is getting nowhere! If I don’t find a way to turn this fight around-”

However, just as he anticipated another pair of attacks from the drones, something… different happened. Both of the drones began to stagger and malfunction, before their metal husks dropped onto the edge of the platform.

“What-?! How is this happening!?!” He heard Nova demand as Gunvolt looked back at him, “They’re not supposed to malfunction like this!! Kurohyō! Yatagarasu!!”

Despite calling the names of his glaives, nothing happened. Instead, Nova’s anger was beginning to rise as he looked back towards Gunvolt, “You bastard!! You sabotaged my grand design!! You RUINED EVERYTHING!!!”

“What the hell?! What are you even talking about-?!” the hero asked, barely dodging another attack as he now noticed that the core was unprotected.

“Project Nyx just flatlined!! It’s nothing more than a lifeless corpse and you were the only one in my chambers!! You were just stalling so that way you could destroy my life’s work without it going UNNOTICED!!”

“W-what?” the adept thought to himself in disbelief, “N-no. No, that can’t be right. Aurora wouldn’t do something like that.” He remembered how overjoyed Aurora was when he told her that they had a body for her and in his mind, he would never think Aurora would want to give it up.

“I am through with toying with you!”

In a matter of seconds, the titanic being unfolded its arms as the two arms behind him began to charge whatever septimal energy that they had left. As it took form, Gunvolt could not believe what he was seeing. It was a burning sphere of septima that was as big as Equestria’s moon.

“Nova, are you insane!? If you unleash that, you’ll destroy Equestria!!” Yet, his words fell on deaf ears. The Azure Striker needed to do something now, for if he didn’t, the entire world that was his home could be destroyed.

In that moment, he placed his weapon away and began to focus all of his septimal energy as lightning began to crackle in his hands. He knew that whatever he did, he would expend whatever septima he had left, so the lightning adept had to make this one count. It wasn’t just Aurora and Lumen that depended on him, but everyone that he knew. Cody, Lola, Aurora, Sombra, Aya, Katy. Everybody was counting on him. If he were to fail now, then he would let everyone down.

As he was channeling his strength though, something was happening. Something that the Azure Striker did not seem to notice. The septimal energy around him was not cyan blue like before. Instead, it was a mixture of various colors as it began to rapidly expand.

“What is this!? Where are you getting all of this septimal energy from?!” Nova demanded as the solar sphere he was conjuring began to grow.

Then, he heard the words, “Let praise be unleashed-”

“Don’t you DARE finish that-!!”

“-As blades of lightning cleave sky-” The energy that circulated around the lightning adept now slowly began to take shape around his right hand.

“Do you think I’m just going to let you-!!”

“-yielding great glory!”

“Alright, THAT’S IT!!!” Nova proclaimed as he readied his attack, “Clamator-!!”

Unfortunately for the leader of Sumeragi, he was not able to finish that sentence. For the azure striker beat him to it.

As the adept threw his right arm forward, a glorious blade of septimal energy came forth, tearing through the construct that Nova created and striking the core on his chest, shattering it upon impact. Seconds after the core was broken, Nova’s form began to crack and tear apart at the seams. It began to brightly glow as this septimal power grew unstable and the platform that he was on was beginning to crumble.

Yet, before he had the chance to think about how exactly he was going to get back to Babel tower, the glowing light from Nova consumed his vision and he felt the surface under him give way.

Only for him to hit solid ground underneath him moments later. “Ow, what the-?!”

As the adept opened his eyes, he found himself back inside Nova’s chambers again. Only this time, the entire room was in disarray. He barely had the energy to stand as the azure striker had trouble getting to his feet.

While he was getting up though, he heard something from his com-bracer, “Avenger to Striker, are you okay?”

The voice of Cody had him let out a sigh of relief as he looked back at it, “Y-yeah… Though, I think I u-used up all my septima. My everything hurts right now.”

“I hear you,” his friend replied, “Try to come back to the elevator with Sombra and I so we can get out of here-”

“Uh, Cody… a-are you forgetting why I c-came here in the first place?”

“Not at all. In fact, someone wants to say hello,” the avenger told him, before the call got disconnected. For a moment, the adept thought that his friend might’ve messed up somehow as Lance was trying not to lose his balance.

Then, he heard a voice. “Hey, listen! Is this thing on!?” Aurora yelled, and the Azure Striker almost forgot what her voice sounded like, what with the new body having different vocal cords.

The sudden statement almost had Lance fall to the floor as he looked back at his bracer. Right on the home screen, he saw the face of Aurora as a filly again, “A-Aurora, i-is that you?” he asked in disbelief.

“The one and only! Sorry I gave you a heart attack.” She nervously apologized. “But we better hurry! This place is unstable! And in space!”

“I-I can’t go yet,” he shook his head, before looking back at the machine, “L-Lumen’s still inside there,” The adept tried to conjure some of his septima, but all he got was tiny little sparks, “D-damn it… A-Aurora, I’m going to need some h-help.”

“On it like- oh who am I foaling, that isn’t funny…” Aurora phased out of his bracer and into the control panel seamlessly. There was silence for a period, then the metallic doorway began to open. The spirit quickly returned to her shelter within Lance’s bracer. As the doorway opened up, Lance first saw the broken down form that used to be Aurora’s body. Though, as he inspected the insides of the machine, he found a structure to the right that took the form of a bird cage.

As he opened the cage, the adept let out a sigh of relief as he found Lumen inside. Fast asleep as he carefully placed her in his hands and put her inside a pocket inside his coat. “O-okay,” the adept let out a sigh of relief, before he began to make his way for the exit, “Now we can go-”

However, as he said that, the adept heard another set of footsteps that were dragged across the floor. Followed by an all too familiar voice, “A-and what makes y-you think… I-i’m going t-to let you leave here alive!?”

As he turned around and tried to pull out his weapon, a hot surge of energy struck his hand as his gun was knocked away. The Adept was forced to the floor as Nova stood over him. Covered in scars from their battle and blood coming down his face. With a twist of his hands, he forced Lance to the ground as Nova’s knees pushed into his chest and his hands grabbed hold of the azure striker’s throat.

“L-Look at you,” he taunted, the grip on Lance’s throat tightened as the lightning Adept’s vision was getting blurred, “A p-powerful hero, now lying here… helpless… hopeless.” Nova grinned as it became harder for the adept to see. His eyes rolling to the back of his head as it was impossible for him to get air into his lungs.

“W-when I’m done with you… I-I’m going to e-enjoy watching everything and everyone y-you love burn to the ground-”

The loud bang of a gun going off reverberated throughout the entire room, and Nova flinched backwards as blood fell onto Lance’s face from his forehead. As his body fell backwards onto the floor, his hands and septimal energy was released from him as he scrambled back up. Only to see the body of his former friend lifeless on the floor.

“N-Noah?”

Aurora shifted out of the Azure Striker’s gun, see through eyes widening in shock. “I… I didn’t mean to kill him! I thought I’d hit his leg, but he moved a-and th-the bullet h-h-hit something and then j-just…!”

Lance wanted to say something to Aurora at the time. To ensure to her that it wasn’t her fault. However, it was just as he was going to speak that the whole tower began to violently shake.

“Lance, I don’t know what the hell you’re doing, but we got to move! This tower’s coming down NOW!!” Cody’s voice blared through the comline on his bracer, just as Lance was getting back up, “I’ll come back over and drag you out of there if I have too!”

As he slowly began to rise to his feet and get his equipment, the azure striker tried to do his best to make his way for the exit with Aurora trailing behind him as the empire of Sumeragi began to crumble and fall.

End Strike 64

Strike 65- The End of the Long Night

Author's Note

When the dust has settled, its hard to try and pick up the pieces after everything that had happened. Though, it's not something you have to do alone.

(One thing that I should mention first is that this chapter has yet to be edited, so instead of making you guys wait, I thought I post the unedited version for everyone here. This will be updated once the edits are complete)

When I first started this story back in March of 2015, I never thought that I would find myself at this point. But nearly six years and over 500,000 words later, we've made it to the end.

Though, just because it is 'The End' does not mean that there's nothing left to do. In reality, there's a couple more loose ends to tie up first, but that's what epilogues are for. Though, for the most part, this story is complete.

I want to take a moment and say thank you to everyone that had gotten me to this point over the years, especially my Co-Author BP, my friend ElementBrigade as well as Pen. With the numerous people that I had the privilege to work with, some of whom either have stopped writing long ago or have vanished from FimFic completely, I was able to learn and grow over the years to where I am now. BP, EB and Pen also played essential roles in making Lance's world the way it is now and I could not have done it without them

I also wanted to thank those who still read, even as things got... weird. I will admit, there were times when it felt that this story got sidetracked, but I was still able to pull it back around and have it get back on track. I've been working to make sure that I put as much effort as possible into the story, while also trying to make sure that it stayed somewhat consistent.

A bit of a side note/fun fact, some of the things in this chapter reference some of my favorite movies. For example, parts of the Heart's Warming scene were based on the movie National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation while the final scene with the wedding involving Lance and Katy is based on a similar scene at the beginning of The Incredibles.

Once more, thank you everyone for all of your support over the years and helping me have this story reach it's conclusion. As for what the future may hold... well... let me leave you with this little tidbit.

"This isn't my story. Not anymore."

Until Next time
-Frost

Strike 65- The End of the Long Night

When Lightning Strikes- The End of the Long Night

It had been a few days after what was now known as the ‘Babel Tower incident’ and since then, Equestria as a whole was slowly beginning to heal. The towns and cities that were hit hardest by Nova’s attacks were given aid and resources in order to rebuild the damage from what happened. Many heroes from all across Equestria such as Solaria and Neon Bass of Mane Hero 6 came to help, providing food, medicine and clothing to those who had lost their homes across the country. Yet, that was only the start of what was going to be a rather long recovery.

While the heroes were tending to those who were affected by the senseless actions taken by the departed leader of Sumeragi, the police and royal guard were focused on another task. To quickly seize anything belonging to Sumeragi and get it off the streets. Their weapons were already dangerous enough, but if they were to fall into the hands of ordinary criminals, they could have enough firepower to turn neighborhoods into warzones. So by acting quickly, they could be able to secure their armaments and dispose of them before any creature got hurt.

Yet, despite the entire country trying to mend the wounds that were afflicted on them, some wounds took much longer to heal. Such was the case with some of the heroes that were a part of QUILL. On the day of Babel Tower, two of them had suffered great losses and one underwent a change that they weren’t even aware of. For the last couple of days, Katy had been in a coma while Lance had kept to himself. Only coming out of his room for meals and other necessities.

This made the rest of their team concerned for them, but the hard part was that they did not know how they could help. They did not know much about what happened during the mission or the aftermath of such, so how was it that they could help them when they did not know how too?

Though, fortunately for them, they did not have to wait much longer.

As her eyes slowly began to open, Katy did not find herself on the streets of Baltimare, but instead on a comfy bed inside that of QUILL HQ. She was not aware of how much time had passed, but Katy could tell that something was different. She did not feel weak or tired, but… rejuvenated instead. Like there was a part of her that wasn’t there before. Still, it was all rather difficult for her to understand.

“W-Where am I?” She asked aloud, looking at her surroundings. As she said that, a sliding door to her right opened up, with a surprised Saffron walking in from the other side.

“K-katy! Y-you’re awake,” the unicorn gasped.

“Saffron? W-what happened? Is everyone okay? Where’s Lance?”

“Easy there. You’ve been through a lot,” Saffron ushered her, getting closer to the bed to prevent Katy from doing anything irrational, “You’re back in HQ, and… well, you’ve been out for a while-”

“What’s going out there? The others are going to need help-”

“Katy,” Saffron quickly placed a hoof to her chest, preventing her from moving, “You’ve been out for the last couple of days. After your battle with that one Sumeragi girl, you’ve been in a coma and only woke up just now. Everyone was worried that something happened to you, especially Lance.”

“A coma?” She muttered aloud, shocked that her fight had left in such a state, but she knew something was a bit off with her. Katy figured that after the battle, she’d be in casts and bandages, but she seemed perfectly fine.

“Yeah, though, that’s not the only thing,” the unicorn explained, “While you were in your coma, I noticed something. Something that I think Lance isn’t even aware of yet,” what she told Katy next definitely threw her off guard, “I can feel a septima from you. The same kind that Lance has. Even your hair’s different now and sort of similar to his.”

As Katy looked at her right shoulder, she could see that her previously short black hair was now blonde and had grown significantly. Just as Saffron finished speaking, “I think you’re an adept now, like Lance and I.”

“I’m sorry… what did you say?” She asked.

Saffron let out a sigh, “I’m being serious, Katy. You have powers now, and the same kind as Lance. Which, admittedly, is weird because I thought that every adept had their own separate abilities.” The unicorn then looked away for a moment, her expression changing a bit as it did not go unnoticed by the girl on the bed.

This was all news to Katy, as throughout her entire life she had gone through many changes, both good and bad. She recalled her time as Exuberant Witness, then becoming a synthetic android that had tried to kill Lance, created by Yellow Radio and once again mutated into a human by the same psychopath. And now… because of another incident with an evil being, she was now an Adept. Even though the circumstances were different this time around, the end result was still the same.

Though, it was only now that she noticed the look of distraught on Saffron’s face, “Saff… what’s wrong?”

Saffron then let out a small breath as she looked back at her friend, “Katy… what do you remember from that day?”

“Well… I remember fighting… and… Teal-” She stopped, the memories of what happened becoming painful for her to bare as Katy tried her best to overcome them.

“Katy, I’m… sorry if it’s painful for you to remember,” Saffron told her, “But there’s a reason why I was asking. Ever since that day when he went to go rescue Aurora, Lance is… not the same as he used to be.”

“Saff, what happened to Lance?” She asked, reaching over and grabbing her by her shoulders firmly.

The unicorn was a bit startled by Katy’s sudden actions, but still tried to do her best to explain everything to her, “From what Cody told me, not only was Lance forced to fight one of his best friends from before he was displaced, but he also saw them die right in front of him… and he couldn’t do anything to prevent it from happening. There are times where he acts like he’s fine, but it looks like he’s trying to hide it from us.”

Katy hummed to herself while she tried to process everything she heard and despite going through another change, she knew that wasn’t important and that Lance was her top priority. She needed to see him, to help him. “Where is Lance right now?”

“In his room,” Saffron told her, “Well… your room, since the two of you share it. Why-?”

“Thanks Saff, I’ll talk to you later.” She quickly said, hugging her friend tightly before jumping out of bed and rushed out the door. Not even giving Saffron the chance to stop her as she ended up running into Cody on the way out.

“W-was that Katy I just saw?” he asked.

“Yup.”

“With barely any clothes on?”

Saffron could only blush in embarrassment as she just realized that, but it was too late for her to do anything.

Ever since Babel Tower, the hero who was known as Gunvolt was in a state of disarray. When he became a hero, his goal was not just to save those in need, but to protect those that he cared for the most. However, when that day happened, two severe blows made him question if he could still uphold those goals. The first was the destruction of Power Pony HQ, which led to the loss of his only way to see Max again and the family that they were going to have. The second was his friend Noah, who he could not be able to save and ended up dying that day. He knew that it was not Aurora’s fault for what happened, but the loss of his friend was like salt being poured into an already open wound.

If he was not able to protect those he cared for or save those he called his friends, then what kind of hero was he?

His train of thought was soon interrupted when he heard a loud banging at the door to his room. Which was strange with how sudden it popped out of the blue. “What the-?”

The moment that he twisted the door handle, he felt the force of the door knock him to the floor. As the adept looked up, he found himself staring directly at Katy. Something that he didn’t think was possible because the last time he checked on her, she was still in a coma. “K-katy? What are you-?”

“We need to talk,” she told him up front, closing the door behind her as Lance was slowly getting up off the floor.

“T-talk?” the puzzled adept then asked, “A-about wha-?”

“Don’t go there,” Katy quickly interjected, “Saffron brought me up to speed on a few things and told me that you haven’t been yourself,” she then took a coat that was hanging on the back of the door and put it on before she sat on the bed, “What’s the matter?”

“It’s…” Lance sighed as he looked back at Katy and sat next to her, “It’s a lot to explain.”

“I got time. Let’s hear it.”

Not missing a beat, the azure striker let out a sigh as he looked back at Lance, “Ever since what happened, I’ve been feeling rather… uncertain of myself. I mean, I’m supposed to be a hero and save those who are in danger, yet I was unable to protect those who were close to me and save Noah from himself,” he paused for a moment, trying to regain his composure and think of the right words to say, “I’m… unsure if I have what it takes to still be a hero. And I…”

For a little while, he didn’t say anything. Which made Katy think that he was trying to hide something from her, “And what? Lance, I can’t read minds. I can only help you if you tell me what’s wrong.”

Just as soon as she said that, Katy got her answer, “I don’t want to have people that I see as family get hurt,” he told her, shortly before looking directly at her, “Especially those that I love and care for the most. I’m afraid of what might happen if I lost you and I don’t think I’ll ever be the same if I did.”

In Katy’s mind, she wasn’t sure what to say. Not only did the adept tell her that he was unsure about his capabilities as a hero, but that he was afraid of what might happen if he lost her. The scars of what had happened when Power Pony HQ was destroyed still lingered with him and affected his own judgement. Something that was definitely not good.

Yet, despite all of the negativity that he was sharing, Katy wanted to turn this around. And she thought of one way to do just that. “You know what I think?”

“Wha-”

Before Lance could possibly react, Katy reached over and kissed him on the lips. Which was enough to shut him up for a brief moment as she continued to speak. “I think you’re putting too much pressure on yourself. Yes, you are a hero, but you’re not a one man army. No one is asking for you to put so much weight on your shoulders. You have a team who are willing to fight by your side. Not because you told them too, but because they believe they’re doing what’s right.”

Katy then shifted on the bed to face him, before continuing where she left off, “Though, I think you need more than just a team. I think you need someone to back you up. To be there for you. You know, like a partner.”

“Is… that a proposal?” he then asked, raising an eyebrow.

“More like a necessary suggestion,” Katy giggled, as she placed a hand on his shoulder, “No matter what we’re up against, we’ll face it together, alright?”

“Together,” Lance repeated to himself. It looked as if the sad demeanor that he had earlier was beginning to lift now as he looked back at her, “I… like the sound of that. Thanks for that, Katy… I really needed that.”

“You’re welcome,” she replied, “I mean, we’ve been a couple for who knows how long. Even after that jackass changed my body and… well, this, nothing’s torn us apart yet. Whatever we face, we’ll do it together.”

This time now, the azure striker closed his eyes and let out a chuckled. “Funny you mention that. There was something I really wanted to ask you, now that you brought that up.”

“Oh?” the blonde girl asked, “What is it?”

“About us being a couple,” Lance then clarified for her, “Did you… want to be more than that?”

“Lance, you’ve been down in the dumps for some time. It doesn’t sound like you to be trying to play pranks on me now.”

“Actually, this isn’t a prank,” he shook his head, before pointing to one of the outer pockets of the jacket that she was wearing, “There’s something in there for you. Something I think you wanted to see for a long time.”

At first, Katy wasn’t sure what to make of this. Though, as she placed her hand on the pocket, she felt it grab hold of something. A small navy colored box that he slowly pulled out. “No… T-this has to be a joke,” she said to herself, before carefully lifting the lid. Inside was a golden ring with a dazzling azure colored gemstone in the center. Shock and disbelief came first, before joy and happiness took over.

Just as her partner was about to speak, “Katy… will you-?”

“YEESSSSSSS!!!!!” She shouted, before immediately leaping onto Lance and pulling him in for a hug. The force of the jump almost knocked him flat on the floor as tears of joy began to shed down her face, “I-I can’t believe it. A-After being together for so long, you finally proposed.”

“Well,” he smiled, before kissing his future wife on the lips, “You did say that I needed a partner,” As he said that, the adept then thought of something else as he looked back towards Katy. An idea had formed in his mind, yet, he wanted to run it by Katy to see what she thought of it first, “Though, since we are doing this, there is something I wanted to ask you.”

“What is it?” Katy now asked as she tilted her head in curiosity.

“Well, just thought of something that could make this truly special… and not just for us,” he reassured her, “Though, we’re probably going to need some help. If you’re up for it.”

In the time after Nova had destroyed their home, the Power Ponies were finding it difficult to readjust after the destruction of their old headquarters. Even though the public and officials from the Mayor’s office approved a plan to build a new HQ for them, that was going to take a lot of time. Luckily, Humdrum’s quick thinking to extract Iris and their entire database out of the mainframe before it was destroyed didn’t mean that the group had to start completely from scratch. Though, the only part that remained was trying to find a temporary base of operations to call home.

At first, some of the Power Ponies thought that they could just easily ‘move in’ with another team. However, that itself had some setbacks. The main one being that it was too far away from Maretropolis and that it would take longer for them to respond during a crucial emergency. That and Radiance pointed out to the rest of her team that just randomly showing up on the doorstep of another hero team and asking to stay out of the blue would just be unprofessional. They had also considered staying at a motel room or some other empty place in the city, but those options would only end up drawing more attention to themselves.

Fortunately for them, they did happen to find something that not only worked out for them, but also wasn’t too far away from the city. The idea was originally suggested by Mistress Marevelous, who said that they should set up shop inside her family’s barn at Sweet Apple Acres. Since most of her family was away and Granny Smith was already on her annual trip in Las Pegasus when Babel Tower happened, they mostly had the barn to themselves.

At first glance, most of her team was a bit unsure if the farmstead that she was raised on was the most ideal place for them to temporarily reside in. Yet, they soon began to realize that there was more to the barn than meets the eye. On the surface, and to visitors of Sweet Apple Acres, the barn was nothing more than a place where the apples were sorted after getting them off the trees and where everything was prepared before going to market. Though, behind closed doors, the barn was a personal workshop and hideout for one of Equestria’s oldest heroes. The first Mistress Marevelous.

For you see, Mistress Marevelous was more than just the name of a hero. It was a title that was passed down to different bearers. Her grandmother, Granny Smith, was the first one to bare the mantle during the golden age of heroes back in her youth. Though, despite her best efforts to try and hide this from her granddaughter, Applejack eventually discovered it when her grandmother was visiting her friends. After learning of her grandmother’s heroics during the golden age, as well as what led to the downfall of heroes during the silver age several years ago, Applejack took it upon herself to bare the responsibilities that came with the title of Mistress Marevelous. After all, when her friends formed their team, she was the one that suggested that they would be called the Power Ponies.

Back in the present, she and her friends were finding a way to utilize what was in the barn to help the team get back on their hooves. Humdrum was able to get their database back up and running with some assistance from Copen, while most of the team would rotate who would go out on patrol and who would stay at the barn. This was to make sure that, if the possibility of a villain finding them did occur, then they would be able to push them back and not let those villains kick them while they were down.

At the moment, the only ones that stood by at their makeshift headquarters were Humdrum and Masked Matterhorn. With the rest of the team out on patrol and helping the police, it was up to the alicorn and the sidekick to make sure that everything that they happened to have was in working order. “Hey, Twilight? I’m going to go get something from the kitchen. I’ll be back in a minute.”

The alicorn nodded as the sidekick went back inside. Though, moments after he shut the door, she began to hear his communicator go off. Quickly, she levitated the device over to her and answered it. In her mind, she thought that one of their teammates was making an emergency call and needed backup. “Hello? This is Masked Matterhorn, speaking-”

“Twilight?”

The voice had her train of thought stop for but a brief moment. It only had been two days or so, but it felt like longer since she last heard the voice of the adept that was in charge of QUILL. After Babel Tower, some of QUILL’s members chose to pitch in more to help out. However, there were no sightings of Gunvolt anywhere.

“Lance? Is… everything okay?” she asked, “Don’t get me wrong, but last I heard from Vixen and the others, you weren’t exactly… doing so well.”

“Yeah, I know. Though, I’m slowly coming back around. Katy’s awake and… well, she’s helping me out with processing everything that had happened and it might be awhile before I’m back in the field,” the adept told her, “Though, that’s actually not the reason why I called.”

“Oh?” Masked Matterhorn replied back, “What exactly would that be then?”

“It’s about Aurora, actually,” he explained, “I wanted to do something special for her. To really show that I care for her, even after everything that’s happened. I had an idea, but I wanted to run it by you to see if it was… well, possible.”

As the hero was speaking, Twilight couldn’t help but find herself puzzled by his words as Humdrum was coming back from the kitchen. At that, the alicorn placed the call on speaker and set it down on the bench, “Hold on. What exactly do you mean by ‘if it was possible’? You’re confusing me here.”

The adept only let out a small breath as he composed his thoughts. After a minute or two, Gunvolt had a response for her, “Well, let me tell you what I was thinking about first. I think you might like what I had in mind.”

Few Months Later

As the cold winds blew and the soft snow began to sprinkle from the clouds above, Maretropolis and its citizens were filled with holiday cheer. Many creatures were able to spend time with their families and loved ones this time of year. Whether it was throwing snowballs at one another or gathering around a warm fireplace and sharing tales about the first Hearth's Warming, the holiday spirit was everywhere you looked. Whether it was a young child who still believed in Santa Hooves or a family celebrating their first holiday together, there was joy everywhere you looked as Hearth’s Warming got closer with each passing day.

The same could be said for the heroes that were a part of QUILL. Though, when it came to having their headquarters decorated, the adept that was their leader was at a loss for words, “Uh, Bumblesweet?”

Lance and Katy had only been gone for a short while to finish up their holiday shopping and make sure they got presents for everyone on their list. Before they left, the azure striker agreed to let Bumblesweet be in charge of decorations. Mainly because, as they were informed, this was her first Hearth’s Warming. So, Lance thought that by letting her decorate the base, it would be her way of making this holiday season memorable.

Though, as the two of them came back, both of them quickly began to realize that letting Bumblesweet be in charge of something was not exactly the best idea. For one thing, almost every few inches of the base's exterior was covered in christmas lights. Even with the snow that covered the building, they were clearly visible. If somepony had turned the lights on, it would more than likely drain the electricity from the city.

Inside their HQ was no different. There wasn’t a place where you could look that had nothing hanging on the walls or laid out across the floor. Floor rugs that were in the shape of reindeer, tinsel over almost everything and mistletoe over the door to his room was just scratching the surface. The biggest thing that caught their attention was a giant tree that was way too big for their command center to even accommodate for.

“I know the saying is ‘go big or go home’,” Katy commented as she looked back at Lance, “But this seems a bit ridiculous.”

“That would be an understatement.” the two of them now heard a voice speak up from the couch as Lance was about to go put away their holiday shopping. Much to the surprise of both of them, they found Saffron underneath a hearth’s warming blanket that was covered in numerous decorations, including garland, stockings and even a holiday wreath.

“Saffron? Are you… doing alright?” the azure striker asked. Normally, Saffron was a pony that was full of energy. There never was a time that he could recall her being this exhausted at all for any reason.

“I’m… managing,” the unicorn replied back, “Though, letting Bumblesweet be in charge of this? Not exactly the best idea.”

“Uhm… if I may ask,” Katy now asked as she got some of the decorations that were on top of their teammate and set them on the coffee table, “What happened that led to… all of this, exactly?”

The unicorn let out a small sigh as she looked back at the two of them, “Well, for starters, Bumblesweet had Sparkler and Aurora do almost all of the decorations inside while she had her swarm do the lights. Sparkler brought back a couple boxes of decorations that her parents weren’t using and we were going to use a couple things, but Bumblesweet was insistent that we use everything in the box.”

“That doesn’t sound too bad,” Lance replied, a bit puzzled by what she said as he looked back at the giant tree, “But how did we get from that to-?”

“When it came time to do the tree, Bumblesweet insisted that we don’t get our tree from a store or tree lot,” Saffron continued, “So, she had me trek out with her into the forest that’s north of the city to find the right tree, while it was still snowing. Also, since she forgot to bring a saw or anything to help cut it down, Bumblesweet had me use my powers to uproot the tree from the ground and carry it all the way back here. Even had the nerve to ask me to help get it cleaned up after I collapsed on the couch.”

“Yeah, there it is.”

“Um, isn’t that forest you mentioned supposed to be a national park?” Katy now asked.

The question just had the unicorn groan in her place, “Honestly, I’m too sore to even think about that right now-”

“Oh, come on now! Where’s that holiday cheer!?” The three of them now heard from the other side of the room, which had Saffron groan as she covered herself with the blanket. Bumblesweet was prancing around the tree now, wearing a holiday sweater with an elf hat and a necklace that looked to have been made of spare light bulbs that were not outside. It also looked like she tried to have her bees wear festive attire as well, though their garments were too big for them and ended up lying on the floor.

“Uh, Bumble?” Lance now took a turn to speak as he looked back at the cheerful earth pony, “I know that you’re really excited for Hearth’s Warming. Though, are you sure that you’re not… well, overdoing anything?”

“My parents didn’t celebrate Hearth’s Warming when I was a filly, so I’m determined to make this the best. One. Ever!” Bumblesweet gleefully surmised with Hearth’s Warming cheer, smiling at both of the adepts as her christmas light necklace was blinking and changing colors.

“Well, she’s determined. I’ll give her that,” Katy remarked as she looked back at Lance, “You think it would be better if we just left her alone?”

“I don’t really think that would be a good idea,” The Azure Striker told her, “I mean, I know she wants to celebrate. Yet, I have a bad feeling that this may draw unwanted attention.”

“Come on, Lance. It doesn't seem like too big of a deal to worry about,” Katy replied, “I think Bumblesweet has everything under control. I mean, nothing seems to be broken or anything.”

“Except for me…” Saffron grumbled.

The fellow adept just looked back at the unicorn, a smile still present on her face as she tried to reassure her teammates, “If she wants to make this holiday memorable, then the least that we could do is help out right?”

She did make a valid point, Lance had to admit. Yet, when he thought about celebrating for the holidays, he didn’t think about anything over the top like this. Especially with a tree that was too tall and made him think that it was something out of ‘How the Grinch stole Christmas’. Though, if his team wanted to make this a celebration to remember, then who was he to say no?

Of course, it was as he turned back around towards Bumblesweet that he saw something shift in the tree. Before the adept could say anything, a squirrel leaped out of the tree and clung to the earth pony’s back. Something that made Bumblesweet lose all sense of composure instantly, “GAH!! Get it off!! Get it off!! BURN THIS CRITTER IN FIRE!!!”

“… You were saying?” Saffron now asked Katy, as she rested her head on the couch.

“Wait! Don’t, it’s still on me!! Get it off, then BURN IT!!”

Lance could only watch as Bumblesweet and Katy desperately tried to get rid of the critter that tagged along for the ride inside the tree. Hopefully, Hearth’s Warming was not going to be as hectic as the days leading up to it.

Twas the night before Hearth's Warming as the snow fell down from the sky. Not a creature was buzzing around, not even a fly. The decorations in the home of QUILL were prepped with care, in hope that Santa Hooves would soon be there. It’s heroes were either with family or asleep in bed… all except for one that was waiting instead.

For it was their first Hearth’s Warming and they anticipated in glee, for Santa Hooves to approach their special tree. Young Bumblesweet was waiting by the tree with her hearth’s warming cap, ignoring the temptation to take a long winter's nap. For any second the jolly saint will be here, with a sack of gifts full of Hearth’s Warming cheer. She quietly listened as she looked towards the roof, anticipating the sounds of a sleigh and a hoof.

Unfortunately for Young Bumblesweet, rest was not so easy to ignore. For she eventually closed her eyes and rested her head against the floor. As the earth pony began to sleep and curl up into a ball, a faint noise could be heard from down the hall. It started off quietly as the opening of a door, before a figure closed it and walked towards the holiday decor. They were careful to make sure they didn’t cause any noise with their steps, so they would not disturb anyone inside that slept.

At first, it looked as if they were headed towards the kitchen, only to stop and notice young Bumblesweet’s slumbering position. They couldn’t help but chuckle at the sight, for the earth pony’s dedication was definitely present on this night. Though, the cold floor wasn’t an ideal place for her to rest. The nearby couch would be more ideal, they guessed. So, taking it upon themselves to comfort Bumblesweet, the figure placed her on the nearby sofa and wrapped a warm blanket for heat.

Yet, that was not all that the kind figure did for her. For they took it upon themselves to go a bit further. Quietly, they fashioned what looked to be a scroll, rolled up and held together with crimson ribbon that had trimmings of gold. Carefully, they slipped the scroll next to Young Bumblesweet’s head, being cautiously quiet to not rouse her from the makeshift bed. No soon after did they quietly flee, but not without a drink of milk and taking some cookies.

As the figure slipped away and out of sight, one would say ‘Happy Hearth’s Warming to all, and to all a good night!’

When the sun shined through the clouds and morning finally came, QUILL’s HQ was lively with holiday cheer. Everyone was up bright and early thanks to Bumblesweet, who was beyond excited after waking up to find that there was what she described as a letter from Santa Hooves waiting for her as she woke up. This letter had kickstarted Hearth’s Warming for her, and she was more than eager to make sure that everyone else on the team was awake as well so that they could get breakfast and open up the gifts they had received. Even though Saffron and Sparkler were with their families, there were still enough gifts for everypony that was present.

Of course, there was also a holiday surprise that even Bumblesweet wasn’t aware of. That being that Lance had invited a surprise guest to join them today. Since Hearth’s Warming was a time of celebration among friends and family, the azure striker had invited Aya and her team to join them. He and Katy had gone all out in making sure that they got the best gifts for not just her, but also her teammates too.

Unfortunately though, out of everyone in MIST, only Aya was able to make it. The rest of her team had various reasons as to why they weren’t able to come. Yet, Bumblesweet was not going to simply take no for an answer. Especially when they went through the trouble of preparing gifts for everyone on their team. So, the earth pony took it upon herself to make sure that Aya would be able to bring home some of the gifts they had gotten.

Of course, there were a few others that didn’t quite fall into that category. When it came to gifts for MIST, Lance and Katy wanted to do more than just give them a gift and leave it at that. They wanted to offer their base as like a ‘second home’ for them to stay in. To that effort, they went through the trouble of setting up a game room for Firefly, preparing several flight courses for both her and Surprise, specialty china dishes for Glory, a spare stetson had for AJ 3 (Courtesy of Mistress Marevelous) and even got all the necessary supplies needed to set up a special greenhouse for Posey. Further renovations that they planned even included a library for Mist and also set up a firing range in the training hall in case Lance or Aya wanted to brush up on their marksmanship.

Though, for standalone gifts, the azure striker had prepared something special for his aunt. A necklace that was forged from spent bullet casings that Mist had provided for him. At first glance, it looked like an ordinary necklace. Though, when it was turned over, there was an engraving on the back of it. The engraving itself being something that Lance had learned in the weeks after Babel Tower as he was trying to adjust to everything that had happened.

When we have each other, we have everything.

Of course, even after he had given Aya the gifts for both her and her team, there was still one more present that he needed to give. This time though, it was for somepony very special. “Hey Aurora, can you come here?”

“One moment!” Aurora’s voice boomed through the speakers, before the little wandering soul emerged intangibly from the floor not a minute later. “Need something? Humdrum keeps sending me heaven’s angel jokes that are getting real old, so I’d like to get back to my revenge filled scheming.”

“Actually,” the adept said as he placed a manila envelope on the table, “Katy and I have a gift that’s somewhat special for you this year.”

“Really? What is it!? What is it!?” Aurora squealed excitedly, her spectral eyes literally sparkling from anticipation.

“Well,” he said, noticing that Katy had entered the room as she joined the two of them, “Katy and I had been planning this for a while and, after some help from Twilight, we can finally show you.” Afterwards, Lance placed a small box on the table for her and let the filly open it up for herself. It took a couple of moments to get through the packaging, but once it was opened, the filly was surprised with what she had received.

“Uh, Lance, I don’t know how to tell you this, but I lack a body to use that...”

At first, the Azure Striker just chuckled. The contents inside of the box resembled that of a SmartWatch that many would find at certain tech stores. However, this one in particular was actually rather special. “Actually, this one’s a bit different. It’s not something for you to wear, but as something for you to inhabit. Humdrum called it ‘The Borealis’ and it was something that he and Matterhorn specifically built for you.”

“Is it better than the last one?”

“Why don’t you give it a try and see?” he encouraged the filly, taking the watch out of the box and leaving it on the table for her to take control and interact with it. If he remembered what Humdrum had told him, then the Borealis was supposed to have a lot of similar features to the com bracer he used before. Yet, there were several different features that had it stand out from its counterpart. Though, he wanted to have Aurora find out for herself and not spoil the surprise for her.

As the girl was fiddling around with it, Katy soon approached Lance as she nudged him a bit. “When you told me that you wanted to do something special for Aurora, this was… not entirely what I was expecting.”

“Well, ever since I first met her, she’s always wanted to help me help others in need. Having her help me do so shouldn’t depend on whether or not she has a body,” the Azure Striker scratched the back of his head as he turned to face her and provide some context, “Before I met you, we used to ‘team up’ to where she was in my bracer while I was on missions. It worked, though, there were some… problems. It’s why I brought it up with Matterhorn and Humdrum when I first told them the idea.”

“To see if there was a way to fix it?”

“If anypony could do it, it would be them. Besides, they’ve been with Aurora before I found her. So they would know what would be best for her,” he assured her with a smile, before turning back towards Aurora at the table to go check on the filly, “So, what do you think Aurora?”

A series of thin, metallic cables with animated wires sticking out of each one extended half a foot in front on the new bracer, electricity crackling off of the ends. Something that startled the adept when he first saw it as he heard the joyful filly inside

“It’s so cool- oh my goodness, the speakers are leagues better than the last one!” Aurora squealed excitedly.

“I-I’m glad to hear that,” he replied back, caught off by the sight of the wires as his brain thought that Aurora ended up breaking it, “A-are those wires… a feature as well?”

“The tutorial I watched from Humdrum said they’re interface cables! If I know how to plug in, I can connect to anything with or even without a port!”

At that, Katy sounded intrigued as she came over to join Lance and Aurora, “Anything you say?” the girl asked, who looked around the room and spotted the television that was mounted on the wall, “So you can jack into the TV if you felt like it?”

The cables extended to the entertainment device, and inserted themselves into an HDMI slot. The TV booted up, and Aurora’s face took up the entire monitor.

“Hay yeah!” She exclaimed, grinning from ear to floppy ear.

“That’s so badass.” Katy smirked, giving Aurora a visible thumbs up as she looked back at Lance.

“That is definitely cool,” the azure striker told the filly with a smile, “I think Humdrum knew what exactly he was doing to get your seal of approval.”

“Yeah, and think of all the cool things that she could do out in the field,” his companion commented, “Like, if some villains had a secret base, Aurora can jack in and bypass all the security stuff without them noticing.”

That did sound promising, Lance had to admit. Though, he was unsure whether or not it would be wise to go out and do that now of all times considering what day it was. “Perhaps we can try that out tomorrow or another day?” he suggested, before looking back to Aurora, “It’ll give you time in order to test the ins and outs of the Borealis, while I can stretch my legs and get out in the field. What do you think, Aurora? Does that sound like a good idea?”

“That sounds great!” The little spirit practically squealed at the prospect of helping Lance fight crime once again.

“Glad to hear you’re on board with it,” the adept smiled back at Aurora, “It’ll be just like old times.”

After several months of planning and preparation, the fateful day had arrived. The venue had been chosen, the guests had been invited, and all the groundwork had been laid at the Maretropolis Celestial Chapel. Though, unlike most weddings that were held inside the cathedral, this one was a rather different experience for those who were in attendance. A private ceremony to celebrate two people coming together to show their love through marriage.

Though, most of those who were in attendance were not in the usual clothes that one would expect. Many of them were heroes that had recently arrived after a day of patrolling Maretropolis and did not have the time to change into proper attire. Though, some of the other people that happened to be there were all dressed and ready for the occasion. Or at least, most of them. “Hey, Lance, are you alright?”

The question from his best man had Lance break from his train of thought as he looked back at Cody, “Y-yeah, I’m just… nervous. That’s all.”

“There’s no need to be,” he heard his other best man, Hiro Hamada from Mane Hero 6, tell him, “You just have to relax. Be calm. Be yourself out there. Just like we practiced, remember? That’s not a hard thing to do.”

“Yeah, but this is a very big moment. The last thing I want to do is screw up somehow and make a mistake,” the adept told the both of them.

“Hiro’s right, Lance. You have nothing to worry about. Heck, you have Aya as the officiant of your wedding and everyone in the chapel are friends that you know. You got this,” Cody reassured him with a smile. Though, as his friend looked down at his left arm, he spotted a rather familiar smart watch on his wrist as he proceeded to remove it for him, “Though, let me hold onto this for you, just in case.”

“By Celestia, why are your hands so sweaty!? It feels so sticky!”

“Not… really sure how to answer that one, Aurora,” the best man told the filly in the watch, before patting Lance on the shoulder. “Just stay relaxed. You got this.”

With that, both Hiro and Cody made their way over towards the first row of seats as they joined some of the other heroes that were in attendance. This included the Power Ponies, Solaria, some of the members of Mane Hero 6 and a few close friends too. Lance could even recognize Vinyl’s marefriend Octavia in the small crowd as well. Some of MIST was also spread around too, with his aunt Aya waiting at the altar with him as the officiant.

Just as he thought that he was ready though, music began to play all around the chapel as the doors at the back of the cathedral swung open. At first, he saw both Saffron and Sparkler trot through the doors and move down the aisle for a small bit. Though, as they looked back to the doors, they were soon joined by Bumblesweet and the one that everyone had been waiting for.

When Lance saw the bride to be in her dress, it felt as if his heart had skipped a few beats. Katy was a sight to behold in her wedding dress as she walked down the aisle towards him. The dress was an elegant white in the front, but also light azure blue on the sides that blended in perfectly. She looked beyond beautiful, with her bouquet in hand and a smile of joy on her face. If Katy was trying to blow him off his feet, then she did just that.

As she arrived at the altar, both of them looked to one another briefly, before turning to face the officiant as the music began to silence itself and everyone was now seated.

Aya Brea, who was wearing a fine tailored suit, broke the short silence. “Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to celebrate the union of Lance Ryan Walker and Kaitlyn… uh…” Aya looked to the woman pleadingly, having most likely realized that she didn’t have a full name.

When the bride realized this, she looked toward Aya and whispered, “Kaitlyn L. Lehnsherr.”

“And Kaitlyn L. Lehnsherr in holy matrimony!” Aya continued, “Marriage is the promise between two people who love each other, and who trust in that love. Who honor each other as individuals, and who choose to spend the rest of their lives together.”

As Aya spoke those words, Lance and Katy turned to face each other while she continued to speak.

“This ceremony will not create a relationship that does not already exist between you. It is a symbol of how far you have come these past few years. It is a symbol of the promises you will make each other to continue growing stronger as individuals and as partners. No matter what challenges you now face, you face them together, and no matter how much you succeed, you now succeed together. The love between you joins you now as one.”

Yet, in an unexpected move, the officiant drew out the pistol that she kept in the holster that was around their waist and aimed it at the ceiling, “Now, if there's by some chance one of you bastards believe that these two should not be together, speak now or live to see tomorrow.”

The whole entire chapel was dead silent immediately afterwards. Yet, that was enough of an answer for Aya as she holstered her weapon and gave her nephew a fond smile. “Now, the Bride and Groom have a few words to share with you all.”

With that in mind, Katy took it upon herself to speak first, “I’m going to be honest… I never thought I’d be here. That I’d meet someone like you who would save me,” she paused to catch her breath for a brief moment, before she continued, “Yet, here we are. And no matter what may happen in our future to come, I will always be here for you. To protect, love and cherish you. With our crazy lives, I promise that I’ll never leave your side.”

Once she had finished, it was now Lance’s turn to speak, “And I promise to be there to love and cherish, through good times and bad. To be a positive example for not just family and friends, but others who would strive to become heroes like us. I promise to not let ourselves be divided, for as partners, we are stronger together. No matter what the future may hold, we will face it together.”

“Rings?” Brea asked, looking to the crowd. From behind where Cody was sitting, another figure got up. This figure, who Lance and Aya knew as Baynetta, was dressed in a white dress with a matching hat and carried the rings for both the bride and the groom as she arrived at the altar. Once they had been brought up, Lance took the ring that was meant for Katy and placed it on her left hand, next to her engagement ring. Shortly afterwards, Katy did the same thing and slipped the ring for the groom onto his left ring finger as Bayonetta returned to her seat.

Once the rings had been placed, the officiant began the final process. “Do you, Lance, take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife? Will you love her, comfort her, honor her, protect and provide for her? To have and to hold, from this day forth, in sickness and health, in prosperity and adversity. Forsaking all others, keep yourself only unto her, so long as you both shall live?”

“I do.” Lance nodded his head.

“And do you, Katy, take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband? Will you-?”

“I do!” Katy interjected before Aya could finish, happy that this was finally happening and not wanting to wait any longer.

“W-well then, by the power invested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife,” Aya smiled as she looked back at the happy couple, “What are you waiting for? Kiss the bride already!”

Both the bride and groom looked towards each before they moved in and kissed each other directly on the lips, solidifying their union as everyone in the chapel congratulated them. As they cheered, Lance heard his newfound wife ask him a question, “You think we’re ready for what lies ahead?”

“Come on, we’re partners,” the adept said as both of them began to walk back towards the doors of the chapel, “What’s the worst that could happen?”

The End

Strike 1- Bad Hair Day

When Lightning Strikes- Bad Hair Day

Location: Abandoned Factory (Outside Maretropolis), 12:15 am

As the peaceful moon shined over the city of Maretropolis, a cool breeze calmed the ponies walking in the cities streets. It was awfully quiet this evening besides the sounds of civilians talking, carriages rolling the streets and the sounds of music from the local theater. Nothing out of the ordinary was going on since the city was under the watchful eye of it’s guardian protectors.

Well, not yet anyways.

Outside the city, the light of the moon was the only thing that lit the darkened terrain that lead to an Abandoned Factory outside the City. It was originally a factory that provided power to Maretropolis, but after a freak accident a few years ago, it was closed off to the public due to the building being unsafe and on the risk of collapse. Still though, it didn’t prevent some individuals from exploring the empty facility.

Tonight though, something different was about to happen. Out of nowhere, the clear evening skies started to form storm clouds over the building. A high powered bolt of lightning struck through the top of the factory, making a hole appear in the roof and letting in the light of the glowing moon. Moments later, the smoke that was coughed up from the lightning strike began to die down. But what was inside the crater created by the lightning strike wasn’t exactly what you would normally find in an abandoned factory.

“Ugh…… My head…”

It was a figure that nopony had ever seen before in the flesh. A tall tale that was only a legend in ponykind history. Some have believed in it’s existence while historians believed that traits of this species were passed down to other creatures like dragons, centaurs, minotaurs, and diamond dogs. The creature had tan pale skin, cyan eyes and a yellow like mane with a long braid in the back. It wore a Azure cloak that stretched down to its feet and matched the rest of it’s outfit along with a strange weapon not familiar to those that were in Law Enforcement.

It was a human. A young human. He was only 16 years old in age and was close to five and a half feet tall. Based on his physical appearance, the creature was a young teenaged boy, and right now, he had exactly no idea what just happened.

His name was Lance. Lance Walker. A young high school student who wanted to grow up and become a graphic artist so he could help with making comic books. The teen was also one to dress us as the characters that he liked to play as in video games or draw in his spare time. Right now though, he was one of those characters.

Lance himself was still trying to understand what was going on. All he remembered was attending an Anime Convention in Los Angeles, meeting up with a group of friends who were also attending the event, spend some time with them and then going home. Though, one other thing occurred during the time he spent there.

Convention Sales Pavillion, Los Angeles (A few hours earlier)

“Come on, Lance. Hurry up!!”

The sound of his friend Cody nagging him was irritating the Blond Teen as he was browsing the numerous shops that were there. There was a weapons vendor that had real life replicas of the Masters Sword from The Legend of Zelda and Sasuke’s blade from Naruto, multiple manga and comic vendors and others who were trying to sell their wares by the end of the day. All of these did not attract Lance’s attention because of two things. One was his friends telling him to hurry up. The second was that he didn’t find anything that would be of his interest.

“Cody, just go on without me. I can meet back up with you guys for lunch.”

“You’ve been looking at all this stuff for too long. Plus, we still got a bunch of other things to see!”

“We’ve only been here for ten minutes.”

“Who cares!? We’re burning daylight!!” The teen dressed up as Renji from Bleach told him as he ran off. Lance sighed, facepalming himself as he continued to look around. Soon, he came across a vendor that he didn’t notice on the way in. The guy running it was dressed up like the Exotic Vendor Xur from Destiny. Hood, eyes, and everything. In fact, the teen was quite impressed by how accurate the costume was.

“Welcome to my emporium.” The hooded individual greeted Lance, his eyes glowing just like the character in the game.

“You have an impressive costume.” Lance complimented the vendor.

“So do you.” He replied. “Gunvolt from Azure Striker Gunvolt, am I right?”

“Guilty as charged.” Lance chuckled, impressed that the merchant recognized the costume of one of the characters that the teen liked. Mostly because the same studio that created the game was the studio behind the Megaman Zero games. Something he spent hours playing when he was a child. “So, can I see your wares?”

“Certainly. In fact, I have something that might interest you.” The hooded man said as he turned around. This merchant had a variety of items in store. Weapons from animes and Games, necklaces and charms, even a couple of books that resembled Tomes from Fire Emblem: Awakening and a Silver Pocket Watch that was the same watch seen in Fullmetal Alchemist. Not a moment too soon, the vendor returned with something in one of his hands. “Did you happen to make the weapon that your character uses?”

“Of course.” Lance replied with a edge of confidence, showing the piece he made based off of Gunvolts in game weapon. “He isn’t exactly Gunvolt without his gun, am I right?”

“Heh… Good point. Well, I might have something for it.”

The vendor soon laid out a few cards that looked like normal sized SD cards. However, these cards were not exactly ordinary. Each one had a symbol on it that represent one of seven weapon clips that the player could use in the game. Cerberus, Naga, Mizuchi, Technos, Orochi, Vasuki, and the secret clip; Dullahan. Something that Lance never expected.

“Not only can I sell these to you, but I can modify your prop so it could resemble the actual weapon.”

“Would that cost extra? Matter of fact, how much are each of the cards?”

“Four bucks. Also, the Upgrade is free if you purchase all seven of them.”

Free? Now that caught his attention. Without even thinking twice, the teen took out his wallet. He had around eighty bucks on him and enough money for lunch later, so he paid the merchant the required amount of money he asked for and handed him the prop he had. Two minutes later, he got his weapon back.

“The cards are inside the blaster. Pressing the knob will allow you to switch clips. Have fun with it.”

“Thank you very much.” Lance said as he rushed out of the Sales Pavilion. Unfortunately, he didn’t have the chance to look for his friends because the moment Lance stepped out of the room, the teen felt like he got the wind knocked out of him as the boy’s face hit the floor.

Back to the Present…

Lance’s eyes were beginning to readjust as he now saw himself in an unknown environment that looked like an abandoned testing facility. It was really hard to see since the only light that was in the room was the light coming from the hole in the roof. When he tried stretching his arms though, he noticed the gloves of his outfit were beginning to glow like neon lights.

“That’s… new.” The teen spoke lightly as he looked at himself. He didn’t remember making the outfit to where he had his gloves and boots light up. Not to mention, his weapon was also partially glowing as well.

“Okay… Let me rethink this. First, I was in Los Angeles for a convention, inside the sales pavillion… Then, I saw that Merchant…”

The thought of that soon made him remember the last words he heard from the vendor as he looked at his weapon again. Pressing the round circle button on the side of the blaster, the color of the light changed. The original color of Cyan blue, the color of the Cerberus bolt, now turned into a Sapphire blue, the color bolt that represented the Naga bolt. Pressing it again, the color changed to Red, then green, orange, and so on to represent the other bolt clips.

This now had Lance be a little more curious on what was going on. Switching back to the Cerberus bolt, the adept aimed his weapon at a nearby metal box. Thinking that the weapon was still a prop, Lance pretended to fire the blaster like it was an actual gun. However, to his surprise, a metallic bolt was launched out of the other end of the gun and created a dent in the steel box.

“Holy-!”

Now that was surprising. Whatever that merchant creep did made his weapon prop become real. It may come quite in handy when he needed it, but then again, it was when he needed it. Now came the real test. The clothes he wore had come alive, his gun was now a real weapon, but one other thing had to be tested. With his right hand, he stretched out his fingers and soon gave a quick snap. A spark of lightning flew from his hands and died out once it reached the floor. That was the first try though. On the second try, Lance tried to act like he was holding lightning inside his hands as he held his hand close to his heart. The lightning that was once a single spark now formed a barrier around him called a Flashfield.

Flashfield was the primary septima trait or power of the protagonist in Azure Striker Gunvolt. It was where Gunvolt was able to form an electrical shield to protect himself from harm. Also, any bolts that he tagged enemies with get a huge dose of lightning. Multiple tags deal more damage. Also, Flashfield allowed the adept to slowly hover while in the air. It could even block most projectiles.

Again, most projectiles. Energy attacks like Fireballs and Lasers had no effect on the shield like bullets, bombs and missiles did. Additionally, the bullets of the Adept Slayer named Copen couldn't be blocked by the shield. Also, if he performed the ability too close to explosives, he might feel the backlash of the device hurt him.

Still though, Lance had a lot to take in right around now. First off, he was a freaking Adept now. A human with psychic powers. Second, he had powers that he would only dream about. Third, he had no idea where he was right now. It all looked like a dream, but also too real to be a dream.

He thought that the best course of action right now would be to look around and find out exactly where he was. Turning to his left, the Azure Striker found a door that led him out of the enclosed room that he was in and into a darkened hallway. Lance was thankful that the glow of his boots and gloves provided a little bit of light as he noticed a sign on the door he recently closed.

‘Mare… Tropolis Power Plant? Okay, I’m either stuck in a little girls fantasy land or someone messed up when making this.’ The teen thought to himself as he turned away from the faded sign. He spotted another one that said “Security Room” at the end of the hall and began to follow the arrows. Weapon at his side just in case if someone… or something… tried to get the jump on him.

The door to the security room had an electronic lock on it that needed a ID card in order for someone to gain entry. Something that Lance did not have. Using his newfound electrical powers, the Adept override the security requirements on the doorlock and was given the green light of approval for him to go in. Personally, he wished that these powers could help him back home when it came to using his credit card back home so he didn’t have to rack up any credit card debt.

Inside though was a lot of computers, but nothing like the ones that the teen had seen multiple times before. These ones were a lot different. The keyboards were a lot different and so was the mouse for the computers. In fact, they were a lot bigger than the boys hands.

“Well great. Who exactly was monitoring these things?”

Using a trick that he thought of when watching JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders with some of the friends he had, the Adept put his hands on the sides of the widescreen monitor and channeled some electricity inside the computer. This brought the machine to life, playing back some of the footage the cameras last had.

It showed a bunch of stallions and Mares dressed in lab coats and work clothes running for the doors. Some shouted that the reactor was overheating and that it was going to blow. Security guards were directing the workers away from the premises as the generator that was in the center of the room went off like an atomic bomb. An electrical wave of energy pulsed outward, consuming all that was there.

It looked like those that were unfortunately caught in the blast were turned to ashes. But to Lance’s surprise, one pony actually survived. A Cyan pegasus. She had electricity pulsing around her as the mare passed out in the remains of the destruction.

What Lance did not know was that he witnessed the birth of the Power Pony named Zapp. The pegasus that could control the weather and the lightning that formed from clouds. This accident happened only a few years ago, but it was because of this incident that the Pegasus was able to obtain her special powers. Her powers weren’t like Lance’s, but what she had that the human didn’t have was experience.

As the video clip ended, Lance stepped backwards. He was in another world. One completely different from his own. One with a different set of rules unlike back on earth.

One of them being always watch your back.

A creek from the partially opened door caught Lance’s attention as he spun around, gun drawn towards the door. What he heard though was not like anything he ever expected.

“W-wait!! Don’t hurt me, please!!”

It was a small wisp like creature. Almost like a fairy. This one though had wings that reminded the human of a sapphire butterfly. Ponykind knew these creatures as breezies, the spirits of the forest. Normally, they would be friendly to other ponies. But in this situation, the young female breezie was feeling the same emotions that Lance was.

Shock and Confusion mixed with Caution.

“What the?” The Adept said to himself as he set his weapon aside for a moment in his waist holster. “What in the world are you?”

“What am I?” The young fairy asked. “I’m a breezie. Just what the hay are you?”

Hay? That’s the weirdest insult if he ever heard of one.

“A human… I guess?”

“You guess?” The small creature questioned as she floated around Lance’s body.

“It’s kind of a lot to explain. I’m Lance. What’s your name?”

“Luminous. But my friends call me Lumen.”

‘Well, wasn’t that ironic.’ The Adept thought to himself. Lumen in Azure Striker Gunvolt was an avatar created by the Muse ability that was the Septima of a young girl named Joule. Her powers were with music and in some cases, could bring Gunvolt back from the brink of defeat and power up his abilities with her Anthem. However, when this happened in game was totally random.

“So Lumen, do you happen to know where I am?”

“Hold on? You don’t know where you are?” The breezie said in a puzzled voice. The teen shook his head, explaining that he had only just woken up recently. Lance also mentioned what happened beforehand and how he mysteriously woke up with the powers he now had.

“I see… So you must’ve been in that lightning strike!”

“Wait… Lightning strike?”

“A lightning strike occurred only a few minutes ago here, which was weird since the forecast never called for a chance of thunderstorms. You said that you woke up with lightning powers, so I’m guessing the lightning strike was you crash landing in here.”

“Whoa Whoa Whoa… Back up for a minute. You think I crashed in here?”

“Well duh, you did say that you woke up here.”

“Riiiiigggghhhhttttt……” Lance said sarcastically. He wasn’t buying the small pixie’s claims, but it was the only possible conclusion that he was able to make right now. “So, shall we get out of here-?”

At the moment the boy posed the question though, a sinister cackle could be heard through the hallways of the facility. Whatever it was, had Lumen rush to Lance’s side. She was a little tense and scared when Lance turned to notice her. The teen himself was trying to stay calm and figure out what was going on.

However, he didn’t have much time to do so. From the door that was left ajar, something grabbed hold of his legs and began to rapidly drag him across the tile floor of the room and into the hallway. Lance was trying to find something to grab a hold of, but whatever this was, it was dragging him too fast for him to grab hold of anything. But then of course, he had a trick up his sleeve that might help him get out of this situation.

On his left arm looked like a series of three holographic cards that glowed with his clothes. These were known as Skill points or SP for short and allowed for him to use different types of skills in battle. Right now, he only had three. One that would heal him for any damage he had taken, one that would be able to attack any opponents nearby in a spiral of lightning, and one ultimate attack that would be used in emergency situations or as a finishing move. Given his current situation, one of them would be able to free him from his captive state.

Concentrating his powers and picturing the skill in his mind, he soon called out the skills name inside his mind.

ASTRASPHERE!!

A torrent of electricity surged around the Adept as the three balls of electricity formed around Lance, burning whatever took hold of him. A cry of pain echoed through the halls as the Azure striker stumbled into the room that he was being dragged into. At first, he thought that a pair of tentacles were dragging him. Until he realized what actually took hold of him when he saw who attacked him.

It was a tall female pony with wavy hair that resembled something like seaweed. Her eyes were filled with rage and anger as they stared at him. But then that’s when Lance realized that her hair was what grabbed him a few moments ago.

“Wow… Someone’s had a bad hair day.”

“You little BRAT!!! Do you even know who you’re talking to? DO YOU!!?!”

“Uhh… No, I don’t think we’ve actually met. Just who are you?” The human asked. Turning to his breezie friend though and seeing her expression of fear led to her telling her the assailants name.

“T-that’s… the Mane-iac.”

‘Wow… Ponies have manes, manes is basically a haircut, and this one has a case of a bad hair day. That’s the most corniest thing I’ve ever heard.’

The Evildoer made Lance think of her as a ripoff of the 2099 version of Doctor Octopus in Spider Man: Shattered Dimensions. Just as a pony with an anger management problem. While thinking this though, he was barely able to dodge a few more of the tentacles as they came at him with newfound speed. Out of the ones he saw all around the Mane-iac, the Adept saw eight huge strands of hair that lunged for him. No wonder he was thinking of an octopus.

Lance had an idea for how to deal with the situation besides all the dodging and diving expending his stamina. Using his weapon, he switched bolt clips again. This time to the orange clip that represented the Orochi bolt. The Adept chose this clip for a specific reason. Orochi allowed him to tag up to eight separate targets and also deployed a satellite that could be used to provide covering fire since it fired in seven directions.

With speed in his trigger finger, the Azure striker dodged more incoming attacks and fired his shots at the incoming hair strands. Once he tagged all eight of them, he unleashed his Flashfield and lightning immediately went towards the bolts he fired and began to electrocute the crazed villain. However, this only lasted for thirty seconds until he used up all his current energy.

“Could you wait a second? I need like five minutes to recharge-?”

Mane-iac didn't allow him to finish his sentence as she used her overgrown mane to chuck a delivery truck towards Lance. It hit him hard. But soon, lightning began to surge again as the object that was tossed at him exploded and he emerged with only a few cuts and some simple scrapes. Electricity surged around the human as his face showed a simple, yet excited grin across his face. His weapon clenched around his right hand.

“Never mind… WE’RE BACK IN BUSINESS!!”

The satellite that was deployed from Lance’s gun was beginning to give suppressing fire as he rushed in and used his flashfield to defend himself from the other wild strands of hair. Each attack that was blocked stunned the Mane-iac with a brief shock of electricity and just made her even more angrier as the mare angrily continued to try and ravage the human.

For Lance though, despite him only finding out about his unlocked gifts recently, was having the time of his life. This felt like an action scene in a movie, but now he was the hero and this overgrown freak was the villain that must’ve been here for her own purposes.

The Mane-iac, on the other hoof, was stunned beyond belief. She had come here to claim this abandoned factory as her new secret lair after escaping the maximum security prison of Solace Asylum. But this… whatever the hoof he was… was pushing her into a corner. Not even throwing oversized sets of cargo stopped this creature from catching her by surprise and getting hit by lightning.

“This ends now!!!” He declared as he began to charge the highest amount of electricity in the air. The struggle between both sides had gone on long enough and Lance was losing too much stamina. For someone who had just woken up a few minutes ago, he felt like he was running a marathon in this fight.

If he were to survive, he needed to finish this now!

“VOLTAIC CHAINS!!!”

Around the entire room, metallic chains of lightning sprang to life from the boy’s electricity

“Oh… my… mane.”

“Don’t you mean god?” The Azure Striker asked moments before letting his attack run freely.

“You worship your thing, I worship mine!!” The Mane-iac shrieked before being overloaded with watts of electricity. Her frail body was coursing all over with pain seconds after receiving the shocking blow as she fell down to the floor. Lance himself was relieved that the fight was over. Beyond exhausted, he closed his eyes and hit the floor again. face first.

Lumen herself was shocked by everything that just happened. But she now had a new problem to deal with. A friend she had made moments ago was now unconscious in an abandoned facility along with a knocked out psychopath. The breezie had no idea what her little self could do.

But it wasn’t her that had to do anything. For another pony had seen the entire battle unfold and had decided to help them in the aftermath of their fierce clash with the Mane-iac. She was a Unicorn who had her mane flow like fire and the Red suit, mask and Cape that covered her yellow body and face.

Elsewhere…

Lance felt like a total wreck. His body was completely sore all over from his first fight with the “Mane-iac” and his face was hurting even more given the fact that he fell on it… again. But right now though, he felt something strange. Like he wasn’t in the factory that he passed out in a few minutes ago.

“Welcome, young one.”

The booming voice that echoed around him caused the teen to turn around and reach for his weapon because of instinct. Only to be surprised by two things. One was that his gun wasn’t in his holster. Second was the being that was talking to him.

“Do not be alarmed, young Displaced. We are in your subconscious. Your body is resting from your struggles with the Monster you just faced and your weapon is with your physical body.”

“Okay, just who are you though?” The Adept asked the Spectral Figure.

“I am called the Observer. I watch over the many dimensions in the Multiverse.”

“And what did you call me? A Misplaced?”

“Displaced.” The Observer spoke with a bit of edge on the first part of the word to prove his point. “Short for Dimensionally Misplaced. You were brought into a world that wasn’t your own like many other individuals. Of course, each one has their own intentions. But despite that, all I do is watch over these infinite number of universes idly and observe the events that take place.”

The Observer carried on with his explanation, presenting a few different individuals who had ended up in the same situation as Lance. This included a Tactician with white hair and a black robe with a unicorn as an apprentice, a girl that could control gravity, a blond alchemist, a pair of twins that fought with Swords and Sorcery, A Majin of Harmony, a Mage with a wooden staff and so on. Soon though, the astral deity told him that he would only help with one thing. Making sure that Lance prepare himself a summoning token. That way, other Displaced could call upon him when they needed him and he could do the same. Taking a small badge that resembled the Hairclip on the end of his long braid, the Azure Striker held what resembled a pair of unfolded wings in the form of a badge.

Next, the Observer told him to recite an oath or phrase that others will hear when they call upon him. Sighing, Lance began to speak.

“I am Gunvolt; the Azure Striker. Adept of Lightning. Call my name and when Lightning Strikes, I will awaken and fight for you.”

With that, a small tear in the void was created and Lance tossed his summoning token into the wormhole. He watched the singular token multiply into multiple items as the void closed. Before the dream ended, the Observer told him that this would be the only time that Lance would see him and that his decisions from here on out will affect how other would see him. Whether they would see him as a hero or not.

End Strike 1

Author's Note

Hello Readers. This is a second Displaced story that isn't related to my first one Sword, Sorcery and Shenanigans. I got the idea for this one after watching gameplay for Azure Striker Gunvolt and decided to try a different way to tell this kind of story besides the usual method of being encase in stone and what not. Also, a Little shoutout to Architect of Realities for giving me the idea after seeing "Power Ponies and Doom"

Oh and here's a reference to Lance's weapon of choice.

Oh and the clip on the end of the hairpiece in the image is Lance's summoning token. I hope you guys enjoy this new side project. Also, cookies go to whoever could figure out the cameo's I placed for when the Observer mentioned other displaced (besides the twins). Don't mind the cover image, I can't find one without the watermark.

Strike 14- Meeting Jason (Not Vorhees)

Author's Note

Alternative Title: Bring the Madness

Judging from the Title alone, you can probably tell who Lance meets this time. Thanks again to Grey Ghost for the wonderful opportunity with working with you again and for him to learn a few things from this experience.

A fitting song:

Strike 14- Meeting Jason (Not Vorhees)

Power Pony HQ

“LANCE, we need you ASAP!!”

The shout from Masked Matterhorn got the Adept to jump up onto his feet and hurry as quick as he could to the Command Center. Inside, he found both her and Solaria, waiting for him with no other ponies in the vicinity. Something about this… didn’t feel right.

“Okay, why does it feel like I’m stepping into the Principal’s office?”

“The two of us need to talk to you about something. It won’t take long.” Solaria promised him as Lance walked in. “We need to let you know about the next step of your training.”

“Next step?”

“Yes. Over the past few days, many team members have see you demonstrate the first four steps of TESLA. The final step is action, but it also has a second meaning.” The Masked Matterhorn explained. “That meaning is Adaptation. Being able to perform at your best in more than one environment. So for the next couple of days, we’re having you complete your training in somewhere else besides Maretropolis.”

The Adept was quite surprised. This was indeed a interesting turn of events. But he needed details. “Where am I going?”

“We’re having you and Lumen go to Sun Fransokyo to meet up with Mane Hero 6. Both Solaria and I think that to would be a good choice for you given the circumstances.” The name of the city rang a bell inside Lance’s head. It was one of two locations that Arima had told him that had Sumeragi activity spotted there recently.

“But what about all of the Chaos that had been going on here recently?” He asked.

“Don’t worry about it. We have everything here under control. Plus, we have your friend here if things go sideways.”

‘Ah yes… Cody.’ Lance thought to himself. ‘Figures that he would somehow get involved in this.’

“When you get there though, there’s something we need to let you know… You will be surprised by who exactly the leader is of the group. In addition, when you get to the city, look for a Unicorn Mare that goes by the hero name “Neon Bass”. She’s one of the senior members of the team and we told her to be expecting your arrival.” When Lance heard the name, he honestly thought that he was asked to find a DJ. But instead of protesting, he just rolled with it.

“Does Lumen know of this?”

“We were going to tell her after telling you about this. Now, you need to hurry. Your transport is waiting on the roof and will be leaving shortly.” The Masked Matterhorn said. Lance nodded, walking up the stairs to the carriage that was waiting for him. Soon, Lumen caught up to the Adept and the two of them took off.

However, it felt like something else was waiting for them in Sun Fransokyo. Not just a pony, but somebody else. An ascendant from a higher plane. Lance could feel it like the air that blew past his coat. Soon, Lumen joined him and the two of them were off. On the way there, Lumen explained to him the basic breakdown of the city. It was a joint city that contained cultural references from both Equestria and Neighpon that had many tourists and visitors from across the country.

But, this conversation was short lived. As soon as Lance felt something strange in the air, a missile like projectile hit the flying transport, causing the Adept to fall to the ground and separating the Azure Striker from his Breezie partner. When he returned to his feet and the dust began to clear up, all he could see was the eyes of a reptilian figure staring straight at him.

Jason let out a weak gasp as Eclipses scythe buried itself in his stomach, cleaving through his spin. She just smirked at him, hefting him up into the sky, the burning village painting the darkening sky a deep red.

“I have been waiting for this moment for months,” she spat at him, a laugh escaping her lips, “I’m going to enjoy crushing the live out of those pretty wives of yours.” She brought him in close for one last taunt before he reached out and gripped her Omnitrix.

“A little gift from me to you,” he glared back, surging magic into the device. “Choke on it.” He smirked at her before her Omnitrix overloaded in a spectacular explosion of purple energy, blasting the two of them out of Vanaheim.

As Jason entered another universe, the Omnitrix activated, shifting him into Ormagoden. The reptile let out a roar, slamming into something on the way down. He hit the ground hard, a mall creature forming under him. He rolled onto his back, grabbing the scythe and with a roar of agony, ripped it out, tossing it away. Jason took a few shaky breaths as his wounds healed, not even leaving a scar. Sniffing the air, he turned around, seeing what looked like a young human lying on the ground nearby. He soon got up, back turned towards Jason as he looked around.

“L-lumen… Are you there? Damn it. Not again-.”

The human stopped talking as he turned around, making eye contact with Jason. He seemed tense, as shown by reaching for the pistol that he had in his holster on his hip. Jason kept his eyes on him, taking a step forward. “Move,” he commanded, looking into the boys eyes. “I’m busy.”

“You can talk?!” He said, not budging an inch with a bit of lightning surging from his fingertips. “What are you anyways? A Displaced?”

“I said move,” Jason snarled, leaping over the boy and bounding off, sniffing at the air, trying to find Eclipse’s scent. However, he was caught off guard when the boy reappeared in front of him once again.

“I’m the one asking the question here, sir. After all, you did crash land here and destroyed my ride back to Maretropolis.”

Jason ignored him, still sniffling the air. “Where are you!?” he roared, acid dripping from his muzzle. He snarled, his tail gouging large portion of the ground, giving the world a good indication of his anger.

“Okay, what the hell is your problem?” He heard the boy speak again. “I’m trying to help you out and you're going all Gojira on me. Can you just calm down for god’s sake!?!”

“You think this is angry!?” he snarled, whipping around at the boy, narrowing his eyes, “You don’t want to see angry.”

“Trust me… I’ve seen anger. And you’re not in the best position to be giving orders. Especially with my Breezie partner gone missing after you crashed into us.”

“You haven’t seen anger until it tears your world apart in a rage of blood,” Jason snorted, turning away and trudging down the street. “Now leave me be!”

What the reptilian did not expect though was to be held down by a series of Voltic Chains that sprang from all around him. The Surge of Electricity held him down to the ground, looking back at the young boy.

“I didn’t want to do that, but you forced my hand.” He said as he walked closer. He pressed a finger on Jason’s forehead for a minute, then stepped back. “Jason Hughes? Am I right?”

“No,” he said snarling at him, his eyes darkening, “I’m Ormagoden,” he roared, knocking the boy out of the way, bounding off, his claws cutting into the ground.

“Well crap.” He cursed, holding his ground as he added more volts into his chains. That’s when he noticed a circular symbol around the beast’s chest. ‘Hunh? Is that… an Omnitrix?’ The boy didn’t know much about the series in which the object originated from, but the one thing he did know was that he couldn’t stay transformed forever. It times out after an extended period of time. All he had to do was wait it out and make sure this Ormagoden didn’t cause any casualties.

Ormagoden snarled, his body shifting, his hide thickening, no longer seeming to be affected by the electricity. The Boy in front of him was caught off guard by this, backing up to keep his distance between himself and the beast.

“You are testing my patience!” the beast snarled, giving the boy a death glare, “Remove yourself from my way before I tear you apart!”

“Well geez… And I thought dealing with Ansem was the most crazy thing I had to deal with besides Freddy.” The blue cloaked teen told himself, thinking that the beast could not hear him. He drew out his weapon, switching clips on the fly to his Vasuki clip. Despite it not being as advanced as some of the other tools in his arsenal, the bolts in this clip could ricochet and tag multiple targets at once. But he was only going to attack if Ormagoden made the first move. Soon though, someone else arrived.

“There you are Lance-. HOLY CRABAPPLES!!! What is THAT!?!”

It was Lumen. Always the one late to the party.

Ormagoden glanced at Lumen, glaring, “I will end you, you annoying pest!” he roared, lunging at Lance, his claws out, muzzle dripping acid. Lance ducked his head, putting his hands in front of his face to try something to not stop the beast, but stall him.

“Kame… hame… HA!!”

The short, but powerful blast struck Ormagoden in the chest, pushing it backwards a few inches. Ormagoden shrieked in pain, the blast going through him, vaporizing at least half of his chest, including his head.

“Uh… Lance? That was kind of Overkill-.”

“Wait for it…… Something tells me he’s not dead.”

“How can you tell-?

“One word… Cell.”

The Breezie was confused for a moment, but soon began to see what the Adept meant.

The body thrashed around, its missing body parts instantly regenerating. He let out a blood curdling roar of pure rage, thick armor growing all over his body. “I WILL END YOU!” he shrieked, looking like something straight out of a nightmare.

“Well, I guess that can be considered as a warm up.” Lance said as he prepared himself.

“You can’t be serious…” Lumen said. “You’re going to fight him!?”

“Not fight… stall… See that circle on his chest? That thing is on a timer… So the longer we delay him, the sooner he’ll come back to normal.” The Adept told his partner. “There’s no Civilians here right?”

“None at all.”

“Well, try to contact Mane Hero 6 and don’t have them come here. I’m handling this.”

Now Lance pulled out his second weapon. His energy blade. “Lumen, go!” The Breezie nodded as the Adept charged, using the nearby wall to get over the beast and tag it using his gun and following up with his Flashfied electrocuting it. However, he didn’t realize that Ormagoden was able to adapt to his lightning because of his Voltaic Chains from earlier.

Ormagoden just laughed, stepping toward him, his gaze dripping with malevolence. He moved to leap at Lance when the Omnitrix flashed red, emitting a beeping noise. The Adept took the chance to put his blade away and step back as a flash from the device soon blinded his vision. Almost like a solar flare…… Dang it, he really needed to test that ability and see if he could pull it off.

“F*ck that hurt,” Jason groaned, rubbing his head, which throbbed as Ormagoden screamed in his head, demanding to be let out again so he could murder Lance.

“You okay there? Sure you don’t want to try and kill me?” He asked, cautious.

“You pissed off the one creature that could and would murder every living thing on this planet, and I don’t mean me,” Jason said giving his head a shake, blocking out Ormagoden’s screams.

“Well, I did have the stones to go up against a Displaced Spirit of Madness and blast someone acting as The Holy Grail so yeah, comes with the job description.” Lance replied, helping Jason up to his feet. “You must be Jason then, right?”

“Yeah, thats me,” Jason said, groaning a little, “And no kid, Ormagoden is worse than any of those things.”

“Including a Heartless mastermind?” Lance asked, referring to his encounter with Ansem. “That’s a stretch. Oh, names Lance by the way. Lance Walker… but my comrades call me Gunvolt when I’m in the field.”

“Ansem was here?” Jason asked with a sigh, rubbing the bridge of his nose, “I was really, really, really hoping that guy was dead.”

“Yeah, but with Xemnas and Alex, we were able to teach him not to mess with us.”

“But yeah kid, Ormagoden is worse than Ansem. Seriously, pray he never gets out of this watch,” Jason said with a shudder.

“Right… He looked like he was searching for someone earlier. Thrashing out a bit and saying ‘Where are you!?’ and that kind of monologuing if you know what I mean.”

“Eclipse,” Jason said, narrowing his eyes, “That b*tch needs to die.”

“Let me guess… Psychopath?”

“She just tried to commit genocide on the Breezies, what do you think?” Jason asked, crossing his arms. All that did though was make Lance worried. Scratch that… REALLY worried.

“Oh crap… Lumen!! Damn it, I shouldn’t have let her go on her own!” The Adept cursed. His Breezie partner probably did not get far, so he needed to hurry and find her before Eclipse did.

“We have to find Eclipse,” Jason said, already starting to move, “And while we’re looking, you should know, she has an Omnitrix too-.”

“That’s not my major concern. My partner is a Breezie and if you just said that Eclipse tried to commit genocide on them, then that means she’s now a target.” Lance informed Jason. “I can feel Lumen’s presence though and it seems like she’s in Downtown Sun Fransokyo. We’ll need to move now if we are to catch up with her in time.”

“I don’t think Eclipse cares about Breezies like that,” Jason said, shaking his head, “She only attacked them because they were an obstacle in her conquest of Vanaheim.”

“Vanaheim? The hell is that suppose to be? A city?”

“Vanaheim is a realm,” Jason said, turning to him, “What do you know Norse mythology?”

“I thought it was a pun based on the city of Anaheim.”

“Really?” Jason asked, giving him a flat look.

“Coming from the fact that I was in a city called Maretropolis and that there’s a city to the north named Mareling City, someone else might think differently. Oh and word of warning, a lot of ponies I know here are heroes.”

“Ok, lets keep the mythology lesson short. Norse mythology is based around the world tree Yggdrasil-.”

“I didn’t say that I didn’t know it. I just said that I didn’t know Vanaheim.” Lance sighed. “Anyways, continue.”

“There are nine realms: Asgard, which is now home to Equestria, Midgard, which is modern Earth, Vanaheim, home of the Breezies, Alfheim, home of the light elves, Jotunheim, where my people are from, Muspelheim, home of the fire jotun, Niflheim, home of the dead where my grandmother rules-.”

“Wait, so your grandmother is like the reaper?” Lance said as the two of them began walking.

“No, she’s Hel, goddess of death,” Jason explained, looking at him, “She’s uh... eccentric as hell.”

“And isn’t Hel Loki’s daughter?” Lance asked, remembering what little he could remember of Hel from her Biography on SMITE.

“Yup, and I have a giant snake, a giant wolf and an eight legged horse as my uncles,” Jason said with a laugh.

“Let me guess, the Wolf is named Fenrir?”

“Yeah,” Jason said rubbing the back of his head, “Some Displaced jackass and Amino resurrected his corpse, destroyed half of Canterlot mountain.”

“Well… This just wants me to see what your life is like when you have a family reunion.” The Adept said as they crossed a street. The two of them were getting closer to downtown now and they could tell that through the steady flow of civilians moving in and out of the walkways, bridges and carriages that scattered the city.

“We don’t meet up all that often, seeing as how they're all dead and all,” Jason shrugged, “They did show up for the wedding though.”

“Wedding… Wait, you’re married? To whom?” He asked, turning another street corner.

“Rarity and Chrysalis,” Jason said, looking around, “Heh, Chrissy and I just had our first brood, changeling larva are adorable.”

“O...kay, finding out you're married to Radiance is one thing, but I never heard of Chrysalis and Changelings before… I’ll just go along with it…” The Adept said. “We should be getting close. I feel Lumen is only a few feet away.”

“Lets just find her, Eclipse is the bigger worry here.”

Lance nodded in response as the two of them turned another street corner. Oddly enough, they came across what appeared to be a college campus and soon enough, Lumen found the two of them a lot quicker than expected. “Hey Lance. Glad you’re back in-. Wait… Who’s this guy?”

“Oh yeah… Lumen, this is Jason. Jason, this is my partner Lumen.” The Azure Striker told him as he looked around. “Say, where the heck are we?”

“This is where Mane Hero 6 is located. They’re students by day, heros by night. Oh and they have a huggable robot too.”

“Wait what-?”

Before Lance could even respond, he turned around to see the “Huggable Robot” that Lumen was referring to. It was just as tall as they were, but also resembled a white balloon like pony.

“Hello, I am BAYMAX. Your personal healthcare companion…”

Lumen flew besides Lance as she began to speak. “BAYMAX, this is my partner Lance and his friend, Jason-.”

“Hey Lumen, can we talk to you for a moment… in private?” Lance then asked, backing up a bit from BAYMAX. During this moment, Jason and Lance took the time to explain to Lumen about what was going on and also the problem with Eclipse. In addition, it was suggested that Lumen can go back with BAYMAX and Lance can return once he and Jason dealt with Eclipse. The Breezie was skeptical at first, but she soon saw the point in his reasoning once something dark and sinister crash landed nearby.

Before getting the chance to find her, Eclipse found them first.

“Okay… next time, I’m vacationing in Germane!! Nothing bad ever happens there!!”

“Lumen, not now…”

Eclipse rose out of the small crater her impact had made, cracking her neck. “I see you still live Jason.” she commented, holding her hand out, conjuring her scythe up from shadows. “I’ll have to fix that won't I?”

“Not on my watch.” Lance cutted in, arming himself with his gun and blade at the ready. Lumen and BAYMAX had already left the area, leaving him and Jason to fight this monstrosity.

“You think you can harm me welp?” she asked with a laugh, seeming amused by Lance’s statement, “You have no idea who I am.”

“No idea? Lady, I don’t care who or what the hell you are. All I know is that you have tried to hurt others and I’m not allowing that to happen while you are in my world.” The Adept was now channeling Lightning around his hands as he stood alongside Jason, waiting for Eclipse to make the first move.

Eclipse vanished in a haze of darkness before reappearing behind Lance, her Scythe high in the air. Jason pushed him out of the way, quickly knocking her back with a blast of Flare.

“Pay attention!” Jason hissed, drawing his sword. Eclipse got to her feet, rather unfazed, shifting into Four Arms.

‘Seriously? And just when I thought that I didn’t want to deal with a Shokan.’ Lance thought to himself. He kept the Vasuki clip on for his weapon since the bolts could bounce off of hard surfaces and tag his opponents multiple times. Thinking that Jason himself was going to shift, the Azure striker kept his distance and open fired.

Eclipse ripped a large chunk of the ground out and hurled it at them, her armor deflecting most of the shots. Jason shifted into Chromastone, destroying the chunk with a blast of energy. Eclipse charged out of the dust cloud, slamming her fists into Jason, sending him flying several yards back.

Lance’s shots were not to actually inflict damage to her. Instead, they were to “tag” her, and electrocute her as the Adept executed his Flashfield, an electrical barrier that triggered off bolts of lightning.

“You are a pest,” Eclipse growled, shifting again, this time into Diamond head. She held her arms out, firing off a barrage of diamonds.

“Whoa, wait a second!? Jason, aren’t you suppose to wait for a little bit before shifting again?” Lance hollered, dodging the diamonds using his enhanced speed and sending some back by using his Ki to repulse the crystalline shards back.

“Not these Omnitrixies.” Jason got to his feet, giving his head a shake. He tapped the Omnitrix, shifting into Up Chuck. He grabbed a bench up his tongues, swallowing it before hurling it back up as a green energy blast, knocking Eclipse off her feet.

“There’s too many things I still need to learn about the Displaced.” Lance talked to himself, using his Ki with his energy blade to fire a series of Slices at Eclipse while she was down.

“Begone!” she sneered, stabbing her arms into the ground, causing a massive wave a diamond to surge out of the ground and toward Lance. The Adept used his energy blade to cut through the diamonds, but missed one as it clipped him underneath his right eye along the cheek.

“Ngh… You just got lucky.” he retorted. “I’m not letting that happen again.”

“Your out of your league,” she retorted, shifting into Gravattack, starting to increase gravity around him by several Gs. Despite this though, Lance still held his ground and was able to focus his strength to use Instant Transmission to where he was right in front of her. Next though, lightning from all around him surged forth in a forward stab as he used two of his Skill points that related to his Septima.

The attack formed a massive two handed blade that struck Eclipse. However, there was something that he didn’t expect that his partner was about to tell him about.

“You idiot!” Jason snorted, kicking Eclipse away, having shifted into Crashhopper, ‘You damage her core in that form and she goes Supernova!”

“I didn’t hit the core. Just her face. That way, she could shut herself up for once.” Of course, that was the intention. But the actual result came out a bit differently. Her core did take a small bit of damage despite most of the attack striking her upper face and chest.

“You’ll suffer for that,” Eclipse said, sneering as her Omnitrix timed out. She cast Quake, the entire area shaking, with large sections of it collapsing and others rising up.

“Hang on.” Lance told Jason, who was still in his crashhopper form as he jumped upward, using his flashfield to float in the air and avoid the quake. “Okay, got any plans for having her tire out. Cause something tells me you don’t want to kill her here despite what Ormagoden was saying earlier.”

“No,” Jason said with a snort, his eyes narrowing, “She dies,” he shifted back to normal, slamming back toward the ground. He fired off another Flare, which Eclipse countered with one of her own, the two engaging in CQC. Lance though, felt like he should help. He didn’t want the thought of killing somepony to be on his conscience. So he thought of another plan. Snipe her from afar with Mizuchi to knock her out so Jason could do the deed himself when he’s back in his own world. Eclipse wasn’t even paying attention to him and he was on top of a rooftop. The perfect place for cover. Switching clips, he used his vision to zoom in on the two of them engaging each other in combat. Now… there had to be a way to talk to Jason so Eclipse couldn’t hear him.

The two jotun didn’t really pay much attention to him, their blades clashing in a brilliant display of swordsmanship. Eclipse hissed as Jason caught an open spot in her armor, stabbing into her flesh. He smirked, kicking her away, seeming to take pleasure from the fight. Lance saw this as his chance, shooting the blade and letting the electric shock kick in, causing her to drop to the ground.

Jason moved over her prone body, angling his sword downwards, placing his boot on her back to keep her down. He raised his arms up, ready to plunge the blade into her heart.

“Jason, stop.” Lance hollered. “If your going to do the deed, do it back in your world and not here. Please…” Lance motioned his head in the direction of a few of the citizens that were watching him right now. “If you do that here, they will see you as a killer. A murderer. I don’t want that for a friend I just met.”

“That is the price of battle,” Jason said, gazing down at Eclipse, “You walk onto the battlefield and you must be prepared to do what you have to, even if it means taking a life.”

Lance now sighed, doing something drastic. Pointing his weapon at Jason now. “Jason, you’re acting just like Ormagoden. I know you’re better than that so please, think this through.”

“You act as if I’ve never taken a life,” Jason turned to him, “I have and it was before Ormagoden formed in my mind. I am a warrior, I live and die by the blade.”

“But this isn’t your world. It’s mine and here, we play by a different set of rules. Kill her if you must. But not here. Here, I’m suppose to be a hero and set an example. How can I do that if I feel like I helped kill somepony?”

“Heroes don’t do good thing Lance,” Jason said, looking into his eyes, “They do what must be done, the things others can’t do. That's the sacrifice we all make.” He turned back to Eclipse, only for his eyes to widen as she cast a point blank Ultima.

The entire area shock as the blast went off, breaking most windows in the city. Several building collapsed from the force, with multiple skyscrapers becoming unstable. At the epicenter was crater, taking up most of the campus.

“You are an idiot,” Eclipse snorted, her scythe at Lance’s throat, “An idealistic fool who has no understanding of how the world really works.”

“No… You are for thinking I was to be fooled.”

Turning around, Eclipse soon realized that the boy in front of her was nothing more than a mere hologram as Lance stabbed Eclipse through the heart from behind. “I played that act for you to think that I could be tricked. That way, when your guard was down, I would strike. Now… You will pay for the people you’ve killed… Jason… Finish it.”

“I will not die here...” she coughed, elbowing Lance in the face, pulling herself off his blade. She shifted again, this time into a female version of Discord. “You should pray I never return boy... for if I do, your world will burn.” With that, she tore open a portal, diving through it before they could follow.

“When you do come, I’ll be ready.” Lance said as he looked at Jason. “Going for her heart was a mistake… Next time… It’ll be her head.”

“There won’t be a next time,” Jason groaned as he got to his feet, looking around at all the destruction, “This is my fault..” he turned to Lance, sighing, “Give me a moment to fix it.”

“Sure thing, Demigod.” Lance chuckled, patting Jason on the back. “I think I’ve learned a bit from you. Sometimes, there are times where you will have to be brave, but also bold as well. Go to extremes to protect the people.”

“Omnitrix, Alien X.” Jason commanded, shifting once more. He stood still for several moments, not making a sound. Lance was going to speak, but he thought not to since the thought that came into his mind was that whatever Jason was doing required a LOT of concentration. After all, he was trying to fix an entire city. “Motion carried!” Jason suddenly exclaimed, thrusting his arms out. The world seemed to ripple and before Lance could even blink, the city was normal again, and everyone had been restored, almost as if the whole thing had never happened.

“Holy sh*t, that was impressive!”

The Omnitrix flashed, returning the jotun to normal, “Well, everythings.... mostly back to normal...”

“Mostly?” Lance asked, a little afraid to know what he meant.

“Well, I had to make a few... concessions to Hodgepodge before he’d agree to fix everything...”

“Who’s he?”

“Its not important,” Jason said, shaking his head, “Anyway uh...a good portion of the cities unicorns are now bicorns and most of the earth ponies are now uh...tazlponies? Whatever the hell that is...”

“Is that what you mean by Mostly being back to normal?” Lance asked.

“Yup... Hodgepodge only agreed to fix the city if he got to create two new races of ponies.”

“So should I expect to see Ponies with two horns and serpent ponies?”

“Yeah, they’re probably not going to be happy about the sudden race change...”

Lance chuckled a little, pulling something out of his back pocket. “Here, I believe you're going back so let me give you my token.” The Adept gave him his Hairpin token, but Jason was personally surprised to see that he handed him three of them. “For you and your two wives. Best of luck to you man with parenthood.”

“Never read my mind again,” Jason said with a snort, putting them in his cube. “Anyway, I need to get back, the Breezies still need help.”

“Okay. I got to get some rest anyways. I’m here on hero business anyways.” Lance smiled. “Oh and do you have a token by any chance?”

“Of course I have a token,” Jason said with a roll of his eyes, tossing him a unitrix core. Lance caught it, adding it to the ones that were already in his possession.

“Thanks man. I wish you a safe trip home.”

Jason nodded, shifting into Hodgepodge. “Oh hi Lance!” he said with a wave. “Just so you know...” he leaned in close, “You were only supposed to get like two moves from Buu, not his whole move list… miscommunication between authors I'm afraid.”

“Wait What-?… Are you… Hodgepodge?” The Adept asked.

“Yup! Now we must be off!” He drew his arm back and punched reality itself, which shattered like glass, “Cya!” he shouted, diving through the hole, which fixed itself a moment later.

All that Lance could think of as he walked back was one thing… He seriously needed a bath… Something to get his mind off of what just happened. Meeting Jason was fun. But Ormagoden and Hodgepodge… They were something else.

End Strike 14

Strike 30- Lost Metropolis

Author's Note

Quick Note: The Next few chapters for Lance, except for one of them, will be primarily focused on the story and not on crossovers. Also, we get to see one of Lance's other relatives.

Crossover with Evolve Me Not by BronyParasite.

Strike 30- Lost Metropolis

When Lightning Strikes- Lost Metropolis

Lance’s room (Power Pony HQ)

It was only a couple of hours after the sun began to rise and right now, Lance was taking his time in trying to understand his newfound powers and abilities. Pinkie was helping watch the kids, so it provided the Adept more time to figure out what exactly he was capable of. He knew that it involved having Aurora possess the jacket. But everything after that was just… a blur. It seemed to rely on both Aurora and himself in order to fully be able to use the new powers.

One thing that he did know was that Lumen had a Septima now. Anthem. Twilight ran some scans on her because she thought it was somehow related to a group of Sirens they locked up, but couldn’t find any results relating the two. That was when the Adept had to explain to Lumen how her new powers worked. It could only happen when Lance was near the brink of defeat and if the song is pulled off successfully, not only would it restore his will to fight, but his power would get a substantial boost. In other words, it was a revival song with added benefits.

Now though, the Azure Striker was checking his inventory. With Filli-second handling the kids, he thought that he would try to pitch in on dealing with Sumeragi. But his attention was diverted elsewhere when Aurora caught his attention.

“Aurora? What is it?” He asked her, noticing the filly’s scared expression on her face.

“S-something's wrong… There’s a flashing red in your bracer, an alert… A distress call from an unknown source.” Aurora replied inside Lance’s communicator. Hearing that it was a distress call alerted the Adept. Somepony could’ve been in trouble.

“Where’s it coming from?” He asked, holstering both of his guns and putting on the jacket time gave him. As he was getting his combat gloves and bracer on, the filly inside his communicator answered his question.

“New Yoke City… But there aren’t any Power Ponies there, who could have our… Thing, whatever it’s called.”

“You mean our frequency for radio communication?” He asked, walking towards the elevator and pressing the button for the rooftop.

“Yeah, that. Shouldn’t we… Y’know, tell at least one of the others?”

“It could be a false alarm for all we know. Plus, Pinkie is helping the kids, Solaria is with Masked Matterhorn and Radiance up in Sea-addle and Applejack went to go see her family. Plus, Zapp said that she and Saddle Rager were going to run some recon on something that’s going on in Baltimare that could be related to Sumeragi.” Lance told Aurora. “Before we go, we’ll shoot a message to Humdrum, but tell him to PLEASE not tell anypony else. I rather not have them freaking out over this if we find out it’s a bluff.” He remembered to say goodbye to the kids a few moments ago on the way to the elevator, so they wouldn’t be worried about that. Now, he was just hoping that Humdrum doesn’t crack under pressure.

“Where’s Lumen, though? Tell me she isn’t busy as well.” At the moment that Aurora mentioned that, the breezie popped up from a chest pocket in Lance’s jacket.

“I’m right here, Aurora.”

“Heh, sorry. You’re just really quiet,” The filly’s digital face blushed. Lumen was going to comment, but was interrupted when she felt Lance shift a little.

“What’s the best way for us to get there as quick as possible?” He asked. “I can’t teleport us there since I haven’t seen or been in the location before, so we need some kind of transport that can get us there quickly.”

Aurora thought about that for a moment, “Well… There is the Thingamajig, which daddy used to teleport to far away cities. It was decommissioned since only three ponies knew how it worked, dad, Gadget, and me. It’s under Centrail park.”

“Okay, and where exactly is that?” After Lance asked that, a purple line appeared in his vision. “Alright, let’s go.” With his speed and flashfield, Lance followed the lines through the air as they led him into the public park. “Okay, how am I supposed to go under the park?”

The purple line pointed to a lamp post, “Push that, and a doorway will open under you. It’s like a slide. It’ll bring you to the Thingamajig.”

“Thingamajig?” Lumen questioned. “Is that for the lack of a better name or because the real name was too complicated?”

“Later. Gadget had a knack for making bad or weird names, so Pinkie renamed it.” Aurora giggled, “And you should have been around when Zapp renamed a swamp boat the Whamper!”

“ …… Should I be concerned about this?”

“No, I don’t think they do it anymore since Humdrum. Gadget was a genius, but she tended to be a little… Overboard.” Lance heard that part specifically once he found the post and pushed it. The slide was grey, and felt painful when his skin touched it. It had dozens of twists and turns, all leading to him bonking his head or him trying to stop it with his hands. After a bit, he was flung out onto a mattress that hadn’t seen the light of day for three years. “I think somepony forgot to clean the Tube of Doom, it looked less painful.”

“And I was just about to ask how overboard was this Gadget… God, what the hell is that smell? Did something die down here?”

“Funny you say that…” Aurora giggled nervously, “I think I brought a squirrel in her before I died… Oh, and the fridge looks like it’s fully stocked…”

There was a giant computer, along with what Lance assumed was the teleporter or Thingamajig. The screen turned on.

“W-w-w-welc-c-c-c------come- Welcome Lance-ce W-Walker-er.”

Lance stepped back, a bit shocked. “Uh Aurora… How does it know my name?”

“Oh! That’s Sandy! The AI before Iris! It looks up whoever enters in the Police Database to determine threats. Gadget and daddy coded her.”

“Well, that explains things.” He muttered, trying to ignore the smell of dead squirrel and whatever bomb went off in the fridge. “Sandy?”

“Ye-yes?” The computer acknowledged.

“I need to get to New Yoke City to answer a Distress call. Can you help us, please?” The Adept asked, watching the AI’s screen as it flickered in and out.

“I-I can try-ry, bu-u-u-u-u-u-but my-my-my syst------tems are…… Faulty… Not advised. Coo-Coordina-na-nants set-et… 95% ch-chance-ce-ce of su-sucessssssss.”

Lance looked at both Lumen and Aurora, seeing them look back at him before he glanced back at the AI. “Thank you Sandy. I really appreciate you doing this to help us.”

“This-this unit-t-t-t-t-t is designed-ed to ai-aid any po-power p-p-p-p-p-pon-n-ny at al-l--ll costs to th-this unit…. You ar-are we-welcome, Mr. Wa-Walker..” Sandy replied.

“Please… You can just call me Lance. Or my codename; Gunvolt…” He told her. “You may commence the sequence.”

“Countdown in-n-n-n-n-n te-en ni-ni-ni-nine, eigh-ght, seve-s-s-s-s-... Threeeeeeeee… One-one-one-” Before Sandy could finish, a bright light engulfed Lance, Aurora and Lumen. When it faded, they were standing just outside the city of New Yoke.

“Okay… Where to from here?” Lance asked Aurora.

“Scanning… First of all, we’re all here in one piece. I recommend not doing that again though, at least until Humdrum can fix it. As for location… The signal is an alleyway somewhere near the middle of the city, east side.” Aurora stated.

“Ugh, is it just me or does something smell like… rotting meat?” Lumen asked as Lance leaped to the next rooftop.

“Yeah, I smell it too,” The Adept replied. “Aurora, do you have motion sensors?”

“Nah, that app cost too much. One bit? Nope! I take only free apps… But I can sense life.” Aurora hummed, then gasped. “Holy buck!”

“Aurora? What’s the matter?” Lance asked, a little surprised by Aurora’s choice of words.

“I sense way too many lifeforms! Or none lifeforms! I can’t tell, it’s like dying lifeforms, but there are so many. Heck, I even sense big lifeforms! This isn’t a bluff…”

Lance himself was shocked by that. Many lifeforms, but dying? What the hell was going on? This whole thing made him think of the book known as The Strain by Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan. But worse… A lot worse. It was like worse than if this was a Zombie Apocalypse. However, he didn’t have time to think as something began to pick up on his radar.

It was about half the size of the city, and seemed to reside in the sewers. It barely picked up on the radar, and kept disappearing. “Well, I guess we need to go underground. Where’s the nearest sewer entrance?”

“Every city has a manhole every fifty hooves or so, it’s not hard to find.” Aurora shrugged. Soon, Lance found one nearby, but not until he noticed something else first. A dead rat that had it’s flesh decaying on the outside.

“Okay, that is sick.” He muttered before turning his attention to the manhole, it’s cover thrown to the side. That… was not normal. Going through the open hole, he landed on the pavement portion of the sewer below and used his powers to provide some light.

“Aurora…… where’s that signal?”

“D-down the left tunnel…” Aurora replied shakily. Lance made sure his guns were armed with Dullahan rounds before carefully proceeding forward. However, he soon began to notice that the water below was murky… and not because of it being a sewer. It was because of the crimson blood that flowed through it.

“What the he-?” Before Lance could finish, he heard an inhuman/pony screeching, followed by two yelps and a gunshot. He tried to follow the sound of where it was coming from, using his and Aurora’s senses as guides. But what he actually found when he turned the corner was beyond his understanding.

Four ponies and a human female fighting a giant, bipedal alligator and two giant frogs, all covered in gore.

“Killitkillitkillitkillit!!!” Screamed a white Pegasus with a yellow curly mane. Lance didn’t know who these ponies or the woman was, but he did know that if he did not help them, they would end up getting killed. On the fly, he switched clips to Vasuki as he fired several shots around the room that deflected off of the walls and struck the abominations. Once he tagged them completely, the Adept unleashed as many volts as he could into them, trying to fry them with his powers and making sure those monsters stayed dead.

When he was done, he landed just in front of the five of them. “Are you guys okay?”

The human, surprised, pointed her pistol up and shot once from surprise. The ponies, on the other hand, looked fearful at the Adept. Lance though, tried to calm them all down. “Easy there everyone. I’m not going to hurt you. We got your distress signal and tried to get here as fast as we could.”

“Th-that wasn’t our distress signal. We sent two of our own in here last night to investigate the disturbance. Three and Rade probably got attacked, and we’re still too far away from them.” A Unicorn with the same mane cut as Masked Matterhorn said.

The woman narrowed her eyes at Lance and held out her hand, “Aya Brea.” In return, Lance shook her hand and then replied by saying his own name.

“Lance Walker, at your service-.”

Aya pulled her hand back and held her head in pain, “L-Lance… Walker… Why does that name sound familiar?”

“A-are you okay-?” He was cut off again when she hugged him tightly.

“L-Lance! It’s you, right? Really you? It’s me, Aunt Jiri-... Jir… Uh…” She groaned.

“Oh my god… Aunt Silvia!?” He asked, blown away by what he heard. He soon hugged her back, holding her close. “I-i can’t believe it’s you!! Oh, I’ve missed you so much!!”

“Not to ruin a family reunion, but we still have a bunch of parasitic monsters that have two of our own,” Said the Unicorn, “I’m Twi- I mean Mist. These are my friends, Firefly, Surprise, and Posey.” She pointed to a pink Pegasus when she said Firefly, the white Pegasus when she said Surprise, and a yellow Earth Pony for Posey.

“Nice to meet all of you. Now… as for your friends… Aurora?”

“Yes, I detect two pony lifeforms up ahead.”

“Guide me there. It’s time to kill some bugs.”

“Actually, this parasite doesn’t seem to be a-” Mist tried, but Firefly glared, shutting her up.

“This obviously needs to be dealt with because it has seemed to be under everypony’s noses and has grown out of control.” Lance retorted, “And I don’t need an explanation on what they are because something tells me that they can take on multiple forms. I already found a bunch of dead rats aboveground.” Given the directions from Aurora, Lance followed her instructions as he pressed on, the others soon following him.

“I actually know what these things are,” Said Aya, “They’re Mitochondria took over them. It was a part of a PS1 game called Parasite Eve I used to play when… Uh… My son wasn’t around.”

“Heh… Looks like that’s one thing I need to tell Sun next time I see him.” Lance said to himself, unaware that Aya was listening to him. She was about to ask, when more mutated Rats jumped out of opened pipes. Aya started shooting the Rats on the left, while Mist helped by using her magic. For those that came towards Lance, he activated one of his skills at the cost of one skill point.

Three massive orbs of lightning violently surged around the adept, frying all the Rats that tried going for him and the ponies behind him. After a few more minutes, they were clear to advance.

“So… You’re w-with the p-Power Ponies?” Asked Posey.

“Yeah. I have been for a little while. Been trying to help manage things in the city while also managing my family life.” He replied. The last part though, specifically got Aya’s attention rather quickly.

“Family?”

“Yeah, I’m getting married to two Displaced and currently am helping raise four children. Well six if you count Shalltear in her world and also when our boy Lyall will be born.”

Aya scratched her head, “Wow, I might need to ask you for pointers.”

“Remind me about that when we’re done and I can introduce you to Max. She’ll be a great place to start.” Lance explained, handing the family photo that he kept on him to her as she looked at it… with Firefly peeking over her shoulder, as well as Surprise.

“Aww!” Surprise gushed.

“Why the hell is Rainbow a filly?” Asked Firefly.

“That’s the Rainbow from Max’s universe. She adopted her after finding her barely alive. In her world, I heard that Spike is the element of loyalty.”

“Element of what?” Firefly asked, before Mist commented.

“Alternate timeline,” She rubbed her horn, “Sheesh, that’s a really messed up world.”

“You tell me,” Lance turned a corner as they continue. “When I first met her, she told me that her Celestia and Luna handed down their powers to her before they died. And don’t get me started on our… relationship.”

“I still can’t believe you’re married… To two different woman, no less.” Aya said.

“Well, the wedding is in a couple of months…”

“Hang on… What’s this thing about your… relationship?” Firefly asked, confused.

“Basically, we’re in an open relationship… Meaning that we’re allowed to basically-.”

“Cheat on the other without fear.” Aurora interrupted.

“I know what an open relationship is, I had the same thing with L- Lance’s uncle.” Aya said, “But I was too shy to really argue the point.”

“I didn’t know you had an open relationship… Then again, Uncle Steve, from what I heard, was a real asshole.”

“How d-did you know?” Asked Aya in confusion.

“I overheard my dad talking about it one time. I think he was calling you to see how you were doing,” The Adept replied, before looking back at his tracker as they approached a chain link fence gate that was partially broken. On the sides of the fence were brief bits of fur and a pony’s mane. “I think we're getting close to your friends. You guys ready?”

Aya reloads her gun, “Ready as I’ll ever be.”

The other ponies nod, but Posey freezes. “I-isn’t this under… The cathedral?” As soon as she says that, screams are heard.

“Ah crap! That must be civilians!” Firefly yelled as she flew up and through a hole in the ceiling.

“Mist, go with Firefly and check above ground. Aya and I will proceed forward.” Lance told them as the pony chased after their teammate. Using his energy blade, Lance cut the lock on the gate cleanly in half as the two of them ran inside. Aya held her gun out in front of her.

“They’re up ahead.” Said Aurora, “One right, then a left.”

“Who’s taking point?” Aya asked, “Whoa, did I just say that?”

“Aurora, I need a description on the monsters in the room. We need to clear them all out before we rescue anypony.” Lance asked, moving right while Aya moved left through the dimly lit room.

“There’s only one monster, but… Another lifeform… This one seems different somehow… Stronger than we’ve seen so far.” Aurora said.

“Something more powerful!?” Surprise asked fearfully.

“Okay everypony, spread out,” The Adept told them. “Surprise with me, Posey with Aya. Aurora, what does this monster look like?”

“Almost… Human… Female, but… scarier…” The screen Aurora was on started becoming staticy, and her image turned black.

“Aurora? Aurora!? Damnit, I lost contact with her.” Lance cursed. “Aya, can you make any sense of what she was saying?”

Aya looked fearful, “I think… I know…” She gulped, “But you aren’t gonna like it.”

They rounded the last corner, and saw two ponies stuck in reddish cocoon. Posey started to make her way to them, but Aya held her back, shushing her. Lance did the same thing with Surprise, but soon, he saw exactly what Aurora was trying to warn him about.

Standing between the two pods was a woman with crimson flesh like clothes that barely covered the top half of her clothes and had massive, mutated hands. Her hair was stretched in four separate directions and looked like spikes. But the creepiest thing about her was that he could not see her legs. Lance wasn’t even sure if this woman had any.

“Ah, you’ve finally arrived. I was waiting for you two~” She cooed in a demonic voice. Aya backed away.

“Eve…” She whispered.

“Oh, so you know me? Then you know what I want,” Eve said, smirking.

Aya aimed her pistol at Eve and readied it, “I think. The game's plot never got past giving birth to the Ultimate Being and Evolution. I really don’t get it.” Eve glared. Lance didn’t back down either. But something didn't seem right… Why would she want them here?

“Aya… I got a bad feeling about this…” He told her, taking out his second pistol. “I think we just walked right into a trap.”

Eve sent a green beam of energy towards them that steadily grew. Aya went in between both and turned sideways, meaning it went flying by her, while Lance rolled to the right. “You alright?” He called out.

When he did, Eve started turning the beam, and Aya followed it as it neared Lance. It died before it could hurt him, and Aya shot a couple bullets at Eve, who took them without a care. Meanwhile, Posey as Surprise were getting their friends out.

“You can’t fight change! It’s coming, whether you like it or not!” Eve shouted as she rammed into Aya and backed away, leaving Lance’s aunt stunned on the floor. The Adept himself growled a little, using instant transmission to get close to her before using his energy blade to stab her in the shoulder.

“Don’t you DARE hurt my aunt, you B*tch!!” He roared, pulling the blade out as it cut cleanly through her upper left shoulder. He soon landed near Aya, trying to help her back up on her feet. “Are you okay?”

Aya nodded, “Thank you,” She said as she shot Eve in the same place Lance wounded her. Eve screamed in pain.

“Ahahahahahahahahahahaha! We will meet again, Aya Brea!” She then disappeared after flying straight up.

“Got ‘em!” Yelled Surprise, “Looks like you got her too!”

“Wounded, but not dead,” Lance sighed as he turned to the white pegasus. “We’ll get her next time though… Hey Surprise?”

“Yeah?” The white Pegasus asked, “What is it Gunvolt?”

“Do you girls have everything under control here? I want to talk to my aunt for a little while. It’s been a few years since I’ve last seen her.”

“Sure thing! I’ll go see if Mist and Fire need my help! Posey’s got Three and Rade.” Surprise said before, surprisingly, she disappeared.

“Heh… Energetic one.” He sighed before turning back to Aya. “Hang on for a second. I’m going to take us someplace that doesn’t smell like flesh and sewage.” Placing a hand on his aunt’s shoulder, he teleported the two of them out of the Manehattan sewers and into his room back at Power Pony HQ. “There we are. Home Sweet Home.”

“I’m… Feeling dizzy. Is that computer girl alright?” Aya held her head in her hands as she leaned against a wall.

“Yeah-.” He was soon interrupted when he heard his door open and an excited filly rushed in to leap into his arms. “Hey, Dashie.”

“Papa!!”

“Oh, so that’s your daughter… This is the weirdest day of my life…” Aya sighed, but smiled fondly at the filly. “Really cute, though…”

“Thanks, Auntie. Wait til you meet Golden, Light and my son Lucky,” Lance told her, noticing Rainbow stretch her hooves out in the direction of Aya. “I think she likes you.”

Aya leaned closer to Dashie. “It’s nice to meet you. I’m your great aunt Si-... Uh, Aya.” Though she seemed honest, uncertainty was written all over her face. The little pegasus didn’t care though as she soon jumped up on top of her and began hugging her.

“Aunt Aya!!”

“Now she really likes you.” Lance chuckled.

Aya hugged back, “My you’re a hyper one, aren’t you?”

Lance chuckled, “What can I say? She’s a hugger. Wait til you meet the rest of the little rascals. Rainbow here tried a couple of times already to break into the cookie jar.”

“Hmm… I’ll have to remember that next time I visit.” Aya looked down at Dashie, “I think I should spoil her the same way I spoiled you!”

“Well, guess she will like getting the special treatment,” Lance smiled, bumping his shoulder into a shelf as Sun’s token slipped from it’s normal place. The coin itself was almost about to fall, until Rainbow grabbed it with her mouth out of curiosity. Playing with it like it was a toy until Lance noticed it and had her hand it to him.

“Now now, Rainbow. Let’s not play with Daddy’s tokens, ok? It’s time to introduce Aunt Aya to your siblings.”

“Yay!!”

Aya smirked, “This is the craziest day of my life…” She shook her head as she lined up next to Lance to follow.

“Trust me, this is just as normal as it gets around here.” Lance smiled. They soon came across to the dining room, where Pinkie was having the rest of the kids have chocolate chip cookies and milk. Once she turned to notice the three of them, she was jumping for joy.

“LANCIE!!! YOU’RE OKAY!! …… Who’s your friend?” She asked.

“I’m Lance’s Aunt, Aye Brea. I just woke up in New Yoke,” Aya stated, “You look a lot like somepony I know…”

“AUNTIE!? You must be FAMILY!! Oh my gosh, this is so exciting!! I’m Pinkie Pie. Also known as a Super Duper Party Planner and Filli-second of the Power Ponies!!”

“Pinkie… Pie… What’s up with this places naming system?” Aya questioned, then facepalmed, “Nevermind. It’s nice to meet you Pinkie Pie.”

“Same to you Aya!” Pinkie trotted. “These are Lance’s kids. Golden Spark, Light Sweet, Lucky Clover and you have already met Rainbow Dash.”

Aya crouched, “Hello, I’m your great aunt, Aya. It’s nice to meet you all.” All of them were confused at first, but soon bombarded her with a bunch of hugs and love from them to her. After a little while and a long time showering off the smell of sewage, Lance had Aya follow him as he brought the kids back to Max’s home world. Aya was hesitant about this whole thing, but soon, she followed Lance through the doorway and arrived in the grand halls of the castle.

“Max, I’m home!!” Lance called out.

“I was wondering when you’d get lonely, Lancie,” Max said from behind them, sitting on her throne.

“Hey honey, I got someone for you to meet.” Lance told her, walking a little closer with Aya by her side. “Max, I would like you to meet my Aunt Silvia. Or as she is known as now… Aya Brea.” The Blond woman soon waved her hand, catching Max’s attention as she stood idly by Lance… with Rainbow holding her leg.

Max stood and walked over, sticking her hand out for Aya to shake. “Welcome to our crazy family, then. You’re lucky you didn’t visit two weeks earlier.”

Aya raised an eyebrow, confused as she shook hands with Max. “What happened then?”

Max smirked. “Well, I’d be making... inappropriate comments and asking if you’d like to bed me.” Aya blushed a little, causing Lance to facepalm himself.

“Uh… That’s… N-new…” Aya said nervously.

“Yeah… even though we're in an open relationship, Max swings both ways.” Lance sighed.

The pregnant woman giggled, walking around the small group and heading for the doors. “I was a guy back on earth, so yeah, I’m a little more into girls.”

“... This is normal?” Aya turned to Lance, “I’ll be dead within the week. It was nice knowing you.”

“Oh, don’t worry. I’ve set up a little rule that we can’t sleep with others outside of our herd unless everyone does.”

“I’ve been a… Displaced all but one day. I need some time to think before you say something like that.” Aya rubbed her forehead, “I am so going crazy…”

“Most Displaced are once they see the Void, or get imprisoned in stone for a thousand years. The latter helped me accept my new gender mostly.” Max held the door open and waved for them to go through. “It’s not yet lunchtime, but we can get something to eat anyways.”

“And what’s this about a Herd?” Lance asked.

“Well, there’s you, me, Seph, and Asura’s giving us a shot, so I thought calling us a herd would be proper.”

“I… Uh… This is…” Aya tried.

“What gave you that idea in the first place?” Lance asked “Did you… You met Zinnia again didn’t you, Max?”

“Well yeah, she called Seph while we were in Asura’s universe, so me and Asura had to go make sure Seph didn’t lose herself to her magic. Besides, humans are considered herd animals.”

“I smell an old rap reference with that last statement.” Lance sighed.

“I don’t smell anything…” Aya teased, “Anyway, whatever you two say will get lost on me, so I’m out. If you need me I’ll be exploring.” Aya started down the hallway.

“Hang on, Aya. I was going to give you this.” Lance told her, getting out a gold coin from his pocket and tossing it to her. “Catch.”

Aya caught it with extreme precision. Examining it, she questioned, “And this is…?”

“It’s a summoning token of a Displaced that I see as an important member of our family. If you need help at all or just want to talk to someone, just shoot it and he’ll come.” Lance told her.

Aya placed it in her vest, “Okay, if you say so. That it?”

“That’s it. You can go ahead and walk around a bit. Hell, even try out the coin later. I’ll make sure to take you back to New Yoke once I’m done talking to Max.”

“Okay. Wanna come with me Dashie? Show me around?” Aya asked. Rainbow Dash nodded her head, racing down the halls as Aya followed her.

When Max and Lance were alone, Max had a new question for the Adept. “I basically hit on Sun’s mom, didn’t I?”

“Yeah, you did… Thing is though… I don’t think she knows that Sun is alive. Anytime she tried mentioning him, she falls into a small depressive state.”

“She’s in for one heck of a shock, then. And another if he tells her how we met.” Max opened the door to the dining room and entered. Lance followed her inside, sighing at Max’s comment.

“Yeah, I don’t think Aya is one to want to remember her old life. My uncle was a real jerk to her in how he treated her and when he died, Sun was only six. I also heard that she lost it when my mother died in order for me to be born too.” He sighed, looking back at her. “So, please, let’s not tell her that you and Sun did it until she’s more… comfortable.”

Max sat at the table and the two fillies ran over to sit in her lap. “I was just saying that Sun might before we get to talk with him about it.”

“It’s his mother. I highly doubt that he would want to openly talk about sex with his mom for pete’s sake.” The Adept sat down next to her, soon remembering something on the topic of family. “Oh and we still need to introduce both Sun and Aya to Seph and Asura.”

“Well, Seph’s out training with Barbaroi. We can introduce them at dinner.”

“And Asura is with her?” Lance then asked Max.

“Dunno, I think Seph took him back to his universe.”

“Either that or he is learning something from Barbaroi,” He added on. “The character that Asura is suppose to be is mostly a brawler, but he can control energy called Mantra. My guess is that he might be learning how to control his Mantra.” Lance sighed a little in his chair. “Still, it remains to be seen… Hey, should we tell Sol and Mun about Aya?”

“Nah, they’ll figure out pretty quick that she’s part of the family by the way Rainbow’ll act. Besides, they’ll ask me before they do anything rash.”

“Good point.” Lance chuckled. “So, how was your day?”

“Same old same old. For some reason, after you’ve been a ruler for half a year you’ve heard all the common complaints.”

Lance laughed a little, smiling at what she said. “I’d figured. Today… was not quite same old same old. Where I found Aya was not the best of places to find a family member… You familiar with Parasite Eve?” He asked.

“Nope, never heard of it.”

“Think Resident Evil on Steroids.” The Azure Striker deadpanned. “New Yoke back home has had a wave of infestation to where many organisms now look like walking corpses. I found her in the sewers with a superhero team that were trying to find two of their own.”

“Huh, must be one of those games that wasn’t made in my universe.”

“It was an old PS1 game that Aya played when Sun wasn’t watching,” The Adept explained as he told her about some of the creatures like corpse Rats and the Alligator as well. “And trust me, there was some very messed up stuff down there. Like WAY messed up to the point that it might give the kids nightmares.”

“Yeah... I don’t think I need lunch right now.”

“Same. I think all I need's a glass of water. Would you agree?”

Max nodded and looked over at Silver who was standing by the door to the kitchens. He disappeared through the door and came out a few seconds later with two glasses of water on a tray.

“Thank you, Silver.” Lance told him. “Max, would Golden or Light like anything?”

The fillies giggled and pulled two cookies each from under their wings, obviously stolen from the Power Ponies’ cookie jar.

“I don’t think they need anything else.”

“What about milk to go with the cookies?”

Max shook her head. “They took those without asking, so they have to go without milk for them.”

“So, I’m guessing no milk because they were being mischievous?”

“That and because they stole cookies as big as their head. In fact.” Max lit her hand and two of the cookies floated out of the fillies’ hooves and over to Lance. “Could you return these two?”

“Sure thing.” Lance replied, taking a minute to walk out of the room and return them before coming back in. “There we go. Done.” However, the one thing that Max could easily notice was a few crumbs on his shoulder.

Max gave Lance an unamused look before shrugging and standing up, holding the fillies in her arms as they nibbled on their cookies. “I guess that’s as effective as any other way.”

“Who said I had it?” He smirked. Max soon noticed the little tiny breezie on his shoulder that was eating the cookie. “Lumen has been working up quite an appetite recently. In fact, she now has powers.”

The woman smiled and turned towards the door. “Either way, they’re getting dealt with.”

“Okay, do you need help with that?”

Max sighed and slowed her walk. “I guess...” Lance soon caught up as he joined his wife, walking with her and getting the door for her. That’s when Lance soon wondered something. “How do you think Lucky is doing?”

“He probably went to start on his homework.”

“He’s in school now?” Lance asked. “I didn’t know that they had schools here. What’s he learning?”

“He isn’t really in a school, he’s being taught by Mun. Lucky’s learning what everypony else is, but with more detail and politics since he won’t be able to escape them.”

“Teaching politics at a young age? Are you sure that’s a good idea?” The Adept asked, raising an eyebrow. “I know he’s young, but I highly doubt that he’ll be needed for jury duty anytime soon. I thought he would be taught things like reading and writing comprehension.”

“He isn’t going to be needed for anything, really. But if he goes with me when I visit another country, he’ll need to know his way around nobles.” Max turned a corner, almost running right into Aya.

“So like proper etiquette and manners? I thought that was the one thing you despised when I first met you, Maxie.”

“I still do, but I don’t want to come off as rude to the other nations. Sorry about that, Aya.” She just nodded her head as she turned around the corner with Rainbow Dash strolling right next to her.

“It’s okay, I wasn’t paying much attention.” Aya scratched the back of her head, “Guess I’m still… Processing everything.”

“Alright,” Lance sighed. “Hey, Max. I’m going back to my world so I can talk with my Twilight and Pinkie Pie on something. I’ll catch up with you later.” After seeing her nod her head, the Adept walked back into the mirror to his home, waving goodbye to Aya as he did so.

As soon as he came back, he found the two mares that he needed to be about to talk too as he entered the Command Center. Twilight and Pinkie were both in their power pony outfits and checking some background information on some of the files that were recently given to them from the Powers Division with Doctor Whooves. He soon knocked on the nearby table, catching their attention and having them look his way.

“Hey Lance. What brings you here?”

“I was wanting to see if I can talk to you two for a minute… something’s been on my mind and I think I need to talk to you guys about it.” The Adept told them, causing Twilight and Pinkie to look at one another before they shut off the monitors and had a look at him.

“What is it?” They asked.

“Well… I’ve been beginning to think that because of me being a Displaced and also because of my life with Max, I haven’t been able to be fully… committed to being part of the team like I was suppose to be.” Lance sighed, taking a seat on a nearby chair. “Sure I have helped with big cases in other cities, but I joined because I wanted to be able to assist you guys in the field. My aunt, Aya, help me realize that today and that got me thinking that I needed to be able to contribute more to the team.” Both ponies were quite surprised to hear this as they looked back at him, but soon began to realize what he was talking about. And they actually agreed with him. Twilight herself saw it as the Adept being able to recognize his flaws and try his best in order to fix them. Pinkie herself was… excited by this because she saw it as the chance to throw more celebrations. At one point, the Alicorn asked about Aya, but Pinkie was able to fill her in on the details.

“Where should we start?” Twilight then asked.

“Well first off, there’s one subject that I have been meaning to bring up for a while that I haven’t gotten to do and that is about Kaoru.” The Adept told them. “I already know that Detective Whooves and you are on good terms with her Twilight, but I need to find a way to prove her innocence. Any suggestions?”

“I would say that she wasn’t in control of herself. I can easily be able to convince the girls about her because of all the pockets of criminals she has helped taken care of and Detective Whooves can explain her case to his superiors.” Twilight told her, looking at Pinkie as she nodded her head. “But things like this take time. They aren’t instantaneous.”

“Like all things…” The Azure Striker thought to himself. “Okay. Now that moves onto the second and third thing that’s a higher priority. The second is the situation involving Manehattan. The third is Sumeragi. And I think that we can be able to kill two birds with one stone on this one.”

Both mares looked at each other, confused, before looking back at him. “How?”

“Manehattan recently has been hit by something out of the ordinary. A parasite that has been causing other creatures to attack other ponies and the worst part is that they look undead. But, because of this, it also leads me to believe that one member of Sumeragi might be setting up shop there. We need to go to the police headquarters in Manehattan and set up a team of heroes there to help with the problem.”

“I’m all for it, but what I'm concerned about is that if Sumeragi is trying to do something while our back is turned and it comes back to bite us later.” Lance told her before thinking of something. "Other than that, I'm all for them making their own team."

“That… I agree with,” Twilight replied. “Let’s wait til Aya is back though before we go to Manehattan so we can take her back. Oh and Lance…”

“Yes…”

“Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We’ll do everything we can to include you in more operations in the future.” The Alicorn told her. With that, Lance smiled. He and the others were making progress. Better do this now than never…

Seaddle

Cody was on his feet, having to keep moving and shooting. Zapp was on her hooves as well. The two of them had received a distress call about someone trying to take hold of the Space Needle in the middle of the city to activate a powerful machine, but what they found was not like anything they expected. The machine itself was intended to brainwash civilians by having them believe propaganda that Sumeragi had prepared.

“Tired already? You two are just too boring… Try impressing me a little.”

“Oh yeah!? Wait til I put my hoof right in the middle of your face!!”

“Cute…” Their opponent chuckled, before taking a newfound stance. “But words like that will not help you. You may be as fast as lightning, but I am light itself. I will not let you destroy the Amaterasu. I will not let you cease Sumeragi’s glorious message.”

“Prepare yourselves.”

End Strike 30

Strike 49- Retribution (Part 1)

Author's Note

Because of how MASSIVE this chapter is, this will be broken down into parts. Full explanation on the last part of the chapter. Also, get tissues. This chapters filled with emotions

The ending of the crossover arc with "A New Destiny"

Strike 49- Retribution (Part 1)

When Lightning Strikes- Retribution (Part 1)

Maretropolis

It had only been a few hours since Lance had originally left and now, Humdrum was hard at work with trying to come up with some gadgets that Aurora happened to tell him about. According to a conversation that she had earlier that day with Lance, the two of them were considering some possible gadgets for the Azure Striker to have on him that Aurora would be allowed to have direct control over using her powers. This was a different undertaking from that of Lola, the AI that Aurora and Cody created based off of Lumen and was also different from the other gadgets that he made for the Adept in the past.

Unlike the energy blade and the two spell seekers that Lance had already used in the field two months ago, what Humdrum was trying to craft was not powered by Lance’s septima or reactive to magic like with the spell seekers. Instead, they were to be powered by Aurora and her powers. It was a precaution that was something that he had to consider given that it was possible that there could be villains out there that could drain electricity or magic, like with the Tirek Incident before Lance’s original arrival, but it also meant that it was possible that he was going to be up all night again in order to make sure that these pieces of equipment would work properly upon Aurora gaining control of it.

He would’ve asked her or some of the other team members for help, but as of right now, Aurora was occupied with some kind of team that Lance and her were trying to build and the girls were finally finishing up a case after they caught somepony that firebombed an apartment complex and forced many families out of their homes. Which only left him and-.

“Hey Spike, you in here-?”

That single comment lead to the startled dragon falling off of the stool he was standing on and crashing onto the floor. The schematics for his inventions and gadgets covering the top of him like blankets as he tried to look up and see who was talking to him as they spoke again. “Oh… uh, did I come at a bad time?” He heard the mare speak as Humdrum rolled his eyes.

“Solaria, I thought I told you and the girls that I would be startled if I’m working hard on something and you just… well…” The dragon was having trouble trying to come up with the right words to say in that moment so the unicorn would understand his position. Yet… she beat him to it once again.

“Walk in and try to say hi?” Solaria replied back before Humdrum could finish what he was trying to tell her.

“Well… yes… yes, that!” He then got off the floor and cleaned up some of the mess that was on the floor before looking back at the unicorn that happened to be in his workshop right now. “Honestly, I thought you would be with either the rest of the girls out on patrol or helping out Cody and Detective Whooves with the police department right now.”

“I would be… but given how hard I have been working with tasks around here while Lance was having to handle that fiasco up in Sun Fransokyo with Mane Hero 6 and AJ that Twilight forced me to…” Now it was her turn to try and come up with the right words to say in that moment… and for the dragon she was having a chat with to finish her sentence. “Take the day off… I know, it sounds silly, but she asked for me to do so.”

“She probably just wants you to get some rest, Sunset.” Spike then told her as he got back on top of his stool. “After all, you are working just as hard as anyone of us.”

“Yeah but I would want to use my time in helping somepony with something instead of just sitting around and doing nothing.” The unicorn sighed for a moment as she looked around the workshop for a moment before looking back at the dragon. “I was going to ask if you were busy with anything but… I think my own question was answered the moment I trotted in here.” She was referring to some of the objects that were on the table, including some of Humdrum’s own tools. Which happened to peak her curiosity a bit. “What are you working on?”

“Well, Aurora told me that she and Lance had a conversation where he possibly might have more gadgets and tools that he could have in the field that she could use. That way she didn’t have to stick to using just computer systems or his gauntlet.” Humdrum told her as he picked up one of the objects and set it down along with several printed schematics. “She printed out some sketches and schematics for some ideas and I’ve been busy with trying to piece everything together.”

Now that seemed interesting. Before she had been offered the chance to be with the Power Ponies, Sunset herself mostly had to design her own gadgets, suit and outfit before Radiance came up with one that was not as… revoking as the last one she had. Not to mention that it didn’t have the enchanted fabric that could withstand high temperatures and fire. “Would you like some help with that? It’ll probably be easier if you had somepony else helping you.”

She… made a valid point, Humdrum had to admit. Two heads were better than one in most scenarios. But this was something on a project he already began to work on… and also was worried that her involvement may mess things up for Aurora somehow… Yet, those concerns were only for a few short moments as he looked back at her. “Sure, but let me explain how everything is suppose to work alright? I don’t want to mess this up because Aurora would be a bit upset if she finds out that something with these gadgets don’t work like they should.”

“Alright,” She nodded, now with a second question popping inside her head as he looked back at him. “Hey, do you happen to know where Lance went? He might give us a hand with this kind of thing.”

“Well, from what little information Aurora gave me on the matter, he was called by another displaced again,” Humdrum told her as he looked at a clock that was on the wall for a brief moment. “Speaking of which, he’s been gone a bit longer than he normally would be absent for. Normally he would be gone for about an half hour to an hour at least and yet, it’s now been much longer than that.”

That… caught Sunset’s attention rather quickly. She knew that the Adept could be able to handle things on his own… but she was his mentor, and at times, she does worry for his safety given how reckless he and Cody could be at times. “How long?”

“Who knows. It’s just a lot longer than normal or when he goes to visit Max and his family.” The dragon replied, looking back at Sunset. “Don’t worry. He has Lumen with him. What’s the worst thing that could happen?”

Even though Humdrum’s comment was suppose to be supportive… it did little to ease Solaria’s nervousness right now. After what she had seen when the unicorn was with her when the War of Shadows began, there was one thing that was stuck inside her head since then.

What can go wrong…… will go wrong.

Meanwhile…

Some time had passed since Lance had returned back to where Suicune and his Celestia were after not only making sure to have Nathan Phoenix join their cause and make sure that his family was safe, but also rescue Exuberant after she was captured and originally brainwashed to be their enemy. Now though, the legendary pokemon and the alicorn had both planned an opportunity for the adept and his companions in order to relax.

That of course was a private beach resort off of the coast of Pie-ami. Celestia had listed him, Lumen, Exuberant, Quicksilver, his Pinkie and all of the Phoenix family as ‘honorary’ guests and had accommodated them with luxury suites, 24 hour room service and all you can eat restaurant downstairs for hotel guests. Along with many other goods and services. Something that some ponies would immediately jump at, given the chance to do so.

However… Lance wasn’t exactly so eager to unwind at all. If anything, the Adept was more focused on… other things than just resting. To him, many things were going through his head like whizzing bullets and he felt like he needed to have himself be at ease first before he could be able to enjoy himself. Yet, that was easier said than done.

With everything that had been going on recently, from all the battles he had fought and everything he had seen, it was hard for him to try to come to terms with what he was thinking. In some cases like when he got Quicksilver and Pinkie out of their world, he felt as if he could do more to save everyone else's… and getting his ass kicked by Cobalion then did not help him with his confidence on the matter. Not to mention that with the impending threat that the Elder Siblings posed along with the one ‘friend’ who insisted for him to kill Suicune for power, he was worried about what would happen if he could not stop them… if they were able to reach his world and the world where his loved ones were. It was a lot for him to think over and a lot to process in his head.

Yet, he had to stop for a moment once he heard someone speak to him. “Hey, you okay Lance?” Looking up, he happened to see Lumen floating above him. Head tilted and a little confused… along with concerned for the Adept she was talking to.

“Lumen?” He asked, a little puzzled as to the way that she was looking at him. “Is something wrong?”

“Yeah… It’s you,” Her original response surprised the Adept. He wasn’t sure if that was suppose to be an insult or if he meant something else. “I don’t mean to be rude Lance, but you’ve been acting strange for a while. Not to mention that your suppose to be enjoying this brief little vacation, not confining yourself to your room.” She was right about that, that was for sure. But the response that she got from him was not quite what she was wanting to hear.

“It’s… a lot to explain-.”

“So tell me then…” The Breezie interjected. “Come on, Lance. You and I are suppose to be partners… teammates even. If one of us is down in the dumps, it’s their partner's job in order to try and help them… So with that, what exactly is on your mind?” That was where the Adept felt like Lumen had called him out on being silent… and with it, it was the best time for him to tell her what was bothering him.

“Well… to be honest… I’m worried,” He started off, surprising Lumen for a moment. Normally, the adept wouldn’t exactly tell her directly if he was worried or concerned. “Think of it… each time Suicune has us go somewhere, it somehow ends up in disaster. First, it was Zenyatta and them. True, we were able to momentarily disable the sentinels, but Quicksilver and Pinkie were the only survivors. Second, there was Zamasu… I was able to hold my ground, but that was only briefly. Afterwards, I felt powerless. And to top things off, there was Exuberant and what happened when we were trying to help Nathan and the others… Each time I felt like I could be able to do something more. Do something to be able to help them… or save more people. But the more I think on it, the more that I think that something’s holding me back.”

Lumen thought over what the Adept had to say, then looked back at him and asked something off the top of her head. “And you are concerned that if this keeps up, you won’t be able to stop the Elder Siblings, protect our home and also prevent them from reaching Max and everyone else?”

Now it was the Adept’s turn to act surprised as he looked back at the breezie. “…… Okay, how-?”

“Honestly… that time I just took a guess.” She told him before taking a deep sigh and looking back at him. “But I think I know one thing that may exactly be the reason for your problems… It may be that you are just trying to focus on learning new skills and being stronger that you are forgetting to use what you already have. Think of it… back home, you were able to just as easily solve problems with your septima, your bolt pistol and your observation skills. Now, you are seeing every particular ability you learn or weapon you acquire as something that you have to keep on you at all times and it’s not like that at all.”

Hearing this had the Azure Striker think on what she was saying… and realize that, in a way, she was actually right. “So what are you suggesting?”

“Well, for example… you know those ki based abilities you gained from Majin Buu?” Lumen said, surprising Lance that she actually had known about that. “They’re not separate from your septima because your energy is your septima. It’s all the same thing… It’s the reason why after you use up a lot of energy that you find yourself low on septima and needing to recharge.” That… made sense. He had noticed that sometimes when he did use his ki abilities that there was some lightning around some of his attacks. Especially with the fight against Zamasu. What Lumen told him must have been the reason why.

Which now only left one other thing now. “What about my gear?”

“Well, for starters, you don’t need two pistols… Your standard weapon is more effective than the crossfire one you salvaged a long time ago. Stick with the bolts and clips you do have and only use the tracer clip as the extra one. No need to modify it off of other weapons you got like the bonus ones you got from Church.”

“Okay, but what do I do with all the stuff he gave me and also the Carbine clip?” He then questioned, which just gave Lumen a confident smile.

“Duh… Give it to Cody. He can find ways to improvise and modify it to go with his new setup and with Lola helping him. Just keep the energy sword though since that is Church’s token. Wouldn’t want you calling him over on accident.” The breezie made a valid point. Leading to the Adept thinking that the only gear he needed was just his energy blade for when he needed to fight in close combat… and also his pistol. The second one he can fix up, modify and give to Exuberant if necessary.

“Thanks Lumen… I needed that.” He said as the breezie smiled.

“No problem. We’re a team. You got my back and I got yours. Hell, I would even throw myself in harms way to make sure you’re safe.” She said, chuckling a little as the Adept looked back at her with a raised eyebrow.

“Don’t get ahead of yourself. I wouldn’t want you to actually get yourself hurt or worse just because you want to play hero, alright?” The Adept told her, causing Lumen to nod her head as he went over to a nearby table and took out the spare backup pistol he had. “Now… what kind of improvements could we make to this for Exuberant?”

“Why don’t you ask her?” The Breezie said, catching him by surprise as she tilted her head in the direction of the balcony as she saw Exuberant standing outside. “I asked for her to wait outside for a moment while I was talking to you so that way I can knock some sense into you… and so she didn’t need to do that literally.”

Before Lance could say anything about that, they began to hear furious knocking against his door. “LUMEN, WHAT’S TAKING SO LONG?!”

“Don’t worry! We just finished!!” She shouted back. Lance was going to open the door, but the moment that he turned the handle, the door swung open and knocked him on the floor.

“And just when I thought I wasn’t trying to get myself beaten up…” Lance sighed, getting up off the floor as he looked back at Exuberant.

“Lance, you shouldn’t be cooped up in this… depressing bedroom… you should be out there with all of us! Everyone wants to go swimming and we’re not taking no for an answer!” Lance honestly saw a problem with that and one that it seemed like Exuberant was overlooking as he looked back at her.

“You do realize that my powers may short circuit if I even tried to go for a swim, right?” He asked her, looking back as he now was only wearing a sleeveless shirt and his pants. “Rather not have everyone get electrocuted on accident… I’m sure there are other things we can do though. What did you have in mind?”

“It’s a beach resort, Lance, a private one and you’re seriously going to complain about it… I even picked out a good swimsuit for you~”

“Honestly… I’ve never been to one of these before-.” He said, before realizing the second half of her statement. “Wait, what?”

“Lumen and I picked out a swimsuits for me and you to try… Now that I’m not some android anymore.” Lance, when looking at Lumen, noticed her whistling and acting like she had no part in this whatsoever as the Adept sighed and looked back at her.

“Alright, I’m curious now… what did you get for me?” He then asked her, going along with it as he looked back at Exuberant now.

With a small giggle, the two pulled out a small red speedo before hollering with laughter as Lance gave them a deadpan looked. “Okay, very funny…… I honestly think I would just stick with a pair of shorts instead of some spandex underwear.”

“We were just messing with you Lance.” Lumen said, but Exuberant’s goofy grin said otherwise as she began to blush.

“Y-yeah just a joke…” That in turn had Lance a little bit curious… but he decided to not let it affect him as he went into the bathroom to go change and use a extra pair of shorts he happened to have before looking at both Exuberant and Lumen.

“So are you two ready to have some fun?” He asked. Yet, the response he got from Lumen was one that surprised both him and Exuberant.

“I believe Exuberant is… Yet, I’m going to check on everyone else and make sure they don’t… disturb you two. See you later.” With that, Lumen winked at both of them before departing and leaving both Exuberant and Lance by themselves.

“So Lance, would you like to see what I’m going to wear~” She asked him. All he could do was nod his head. That way, he didn’t say anything that would kill the mood or make Exuberant feel upset in any sort of way. “Alright close your eyes~”

Lance only nodded as he closed his eyes and turned around, waiting to hear from Exuberant when to open his eyes again and being really patient too. “Alright you can look now~”

Lance slowly turned around to see that Exuberant was wearing a single piece white swimsuit, which in turn surprised him a lot as his eyes widened for a moment. “Holy crap, you look amazing in that Exuberant.”

“Thanks… I almost forgot what it’s like to wear stuff like this.” She said, which made Lance feel happy for her as he looked back at her.

“How does it feel to be human again?” He then asked her, curious to find out what her answer would be in response to his question.

“It feels good… Even though I was created to destroy you.” She chuckled, scratching her head, still feeling a little guilty for what happened in the other world.

“Hehe… yeah. I believe we can put that behind us now,” He ensured her, smiling as he gently placed a hand on her shoulder to make her feel comfortable and for her to know that she was safe with him. “So… how about you show me where you want to go swimming at then?”

“Well before we can even think about swimming, we’ll have to catch up with the others. They have been waiting patiently. After that we can go fool around a bit in the pool if you want~” She said winking at him as she began to make her way out, only to hit the door on the way out. “Ow!”

“You okay?” He asked, rushing to see if she happened to hurt herself on accident.

“Y-yeah I’m fine… hehehe!” She said sheepishly. “I probably should have looked where I was going eh?” All Lance could do was chuckle as the two of them walked on out together. Sure, it was unknown as to when they were needed to fight once again… but for right now, they were together and they were safe. And right now… the adept thought it would be best to spend as much time with her as she can while he was here.

Because he did not know how much longer he would be here for.

Elsewhere…

Suicune and Celestia had barely begun to pack their things, so they too could meet up with Lance and the other fighters. He never thought that others would fight with him besides his beloved Celestia and her sister, still if it even the playing field that the Elder’s had set up then it was the right call to make Lance his apprentice. There was only one more person that needed to be present.

“Suicune, are you sure he’s going to help them? Something about this displaced… scares me…” She told him, expressing her concerns to the former elder sibling as he looked back at her. Yet, despite that, Suicune himself still believed that this person could help them… and there was a reason why.

“I know… even I’m terrified of him, but he’s agreed to help us.” That surprised the alicorn herself. She honestly did not expect Suicune to say that at all.

“He… agreed?” She asked, looking back at him in confusion. Celestia would’ve thought that like with Lance, the individual that they were talking about needed to go through some kind of trial or prove himself to Suicune. However, it sounded like the exact opposite in this case. “So you… asked him for his help or-?”

“Not exactly like that…” Suicune sighed, getting the last of his things packed away as he looked back at Celestia. “I hired him… He’s effective at what he does, but for a price.”

“So he’s a Displaced that’s a mercenary?” Celestia asked as she finished getting the last of what she needed into her travel case. “That just makes me even more concerned… I’ve seen ponies that betray others because of their greed if someone happens to pay them more to stab their former… employer… in the back-.”

“You insult me, princess.” She heard from the opposite end of the room, turning around to see the exact person she and Suicune were talking about. “Once I agree to an assignment, I see to it. That it's completed.”

“My apologies, I’m just still trying to wrap my head around this,” Celestia told the figure as he walked into the room. “Your name is… Hit, correct?”

“That is correct…” He said briefly, turning his head in the direction of the one who was standing next to her in the room before asking something. “Lord Suicune I believe you have what I asked for?”

“Yes… I have the key of dimensions like I promised. You'll be able to travel to other universes for more job requirements.” Suicune said, bringing out a purple key and handing it to Hit. “You’ll get the key once you complete your job.”

“I wouldn't have it any other way. Just so you know… I’m only doing this because your fellow Elders couldn't offer me anything better.” He said glaring at the two.

Suicune himself nodded, even if the cold stare made Celestia shiver a little bit. “We shall depart to Celestia’s resort to meet up with the team my apprentice assembled.” Suicune said as Celestia opened a gateway with her magic. As the three of them stepped through, they soon happened to find the people they were looking for. Including the Adept that was leading the group. Unlike his normal coat and outfit though, he was wearing something more casual that consisted of a sleeveless shirt and jeans… and he was also the first to notice their arrival.

“Oh hey, you’re here sooner than expected.” He replied, noticing the new… addition to the group. “Who’s your friend?”

“Lance, this is the deadliest assassin in the Displaced, Hit-Sama… I expect you to treat him with respect as you would with me. He'll be taking care of Ozai so you'll have less to worry about.” Suicune explained. Lance looked at Hit who simply walked passed to greet the others instead.

“Alright… I’m guessing that if you two are here… then either you are wanting to rest with us… or discuss something a little more serious.” He hypothesized.

“Yes and no… We did come here to get away from the castle, but there’s something you need to know about Hit… Try not to speak with him too much… He is dangerous to all. If he asks you a question just give him a simple reply and you’ll be fine.” Suicune whispered into his ear as he followed after their newest recruit. “Also, keep Exuberant away from him… Those two don’t have a pleasant history with each other.”

With that, Lance was now left with Celestia as he sighed a little. “Okay…” He said, unsure if what Suicune said was serious or not before looking at Celestia. “Anyways… good to see you again, Princess.”

“Same here, Lance Walker… Exuberant has told me what happened in the other realm. It must have been difficult for you two? How do you feel about this sudden change she has gone through?” She asked the adept, giving off a gentle smile to him.

“She seems… alright. It took her a bit for her to come around to the new changes and I also had to tell her in person that I forgive her for her trying to kill me when she was under someone else’s control before she was at peace with it,” Lance replied, looking back before raising a eyebrow for a moment. “Was that… what you were asking about?”

“Yes, what did you think I was asking?” she rebutted, raising her eyebrow as well.

“Well… How should I put this…” The Adept replied, scratching the back of his head. “Exuberant told me you gave her advice…”

“Yes I have… She asked me how to approach you with her feelings and I told her to express herself in whatever way she could. Love is something that just happens… Why do you ask me this? Did she… make any advances on you?” Celestia asked, chuckling as the adept looked at her for a moment before stretching his neck a little bit.

“That’s one way of putting it.” Lance replied, shortly before he looked back at Celestia, who was chucking for a small bit… until she realized he wasn’t joking.

“By the gods… you’re serious aren’t you?”

All the Adept did was nod his head in response before looking back at her. “Yeah… can we keep this between you and I though? Suicune would flip if he found out about… well… how your advice worked a bit too well, so to speak.”

“We can keep this a secret… Anyways did Exuberant give you that gift I told her and Lumen about? How did you react?”

“Well… For one thing… it was two sizes too small.” Lance sighed, laughing a bit. “But I appreciate both of them thinking about me though.”

“Good, Suicune and I suggested it~” She laughed as she began to make her way towards the others. “Enjoy your stay here… I’m sure it’ll be a pleasant experience for everyone.” With that, Lance smiled in response as he walked back to the room. Even with what Celestia and Suicune told him though, he was concerned about the newest… addition to the group. Either he was going to be very helpful… or the whole thing is going to end up as trouble in Paradise by the end of the day.

“Attention, everyone and everypony!” Suicune announced as everyone turned to his direction, even Lance as he was in the back of the room. “As you know already… I have sent Lance Walker to go find you so you could not only protect my home, but the multiverse itself, but this is no time to celebrate for the real battle shall begin in three days and the Elder’s shall bring forth an army that’ll destroy the very soil you stand on. So in order for us to have an upper hand in this battle… I have hired someone that some of you may remember… the assassin Hit-sama.”

Soon, Hit stood next to Suicune, bowing his head towards the audience. “I has been awhile since I’ve seen some of you… For the time being I am your ally for the duration of this war.”

“I-It’s… G-good to see you… Hit.” Nathan shuttered as he took a few steps back to hide behind his wife. Soon everyone including Pinkie Pie began to step away in fear.

“While it is good to see some familiar faces, there are some that I haven’t seen before, but I must ask where that sorry excuse for a nurse is? The two of us have some catching up to do?” He asked darkly as everyone remained quiet. Lance himself was unsure of who he was referring to, but he soon turned to Celestia and said that he needed to excuse himself for a moment so he could go back to his room.

However, just as he was about to open the door… he heard a voice that… did not belong to Exuberant or to Lumen either. “Still I can’t you believe you actually did it Sis!”

Hearing that soon had Lance open the door as he looked around upon opening it. “Exuberant, are you-.” Just as he said that, something came floating around his eye level, causing him to tumble backwards in response as he was startled by the sudden appearance of what was a blue scarab. “-WOAH!”

“Hey, don’t scream in my face! It’s weird, Lance… Anyways HI!” A blue Scarab said, as a very tiny blue screen with a digital face appeared, smiling at him.

Exuberant simply looked at Lance and gave him a sheepish smile. “Hey Lance… I can explain everything.”

“Uhh… please do…” The Adept said, trying to process what was going on.

“You remember what happened in Nathan’s world right?” The Adept simply nodded as the scarab continued to stare at him with a creepy grin. “Well, when Yellow Radio made me this amazing body that you like so much… He made the blue scarab as well… My partner and new little sister!”

“Wow… uh… That’s… new.” He said, looking at the Scarab now. “So is there a particular name you would like for me to call you or you just want me to call you Scarab?”

“You can call me… uh… Teal… because I’m teal!” She grinned at him. “Anyways… How was my sister?!” The Adept looked back at Exuberant, wide eyed for a moment before realizing the context of what she was saying.

“She… saw us?”

“Yeah… she kinda did… this is our room you know. Even though I thought I turned her off… Sorry.” She said as Teal waited for his response, still grinning.

“Well, as long as she’s not sharing it with everyone else, I think we’re good,” He replied, before sighing for a second. “Speaking of which… I got some good news and some news that you might see as bad news when I tell you.”

“What is it?” Exuberant asked as Teal flew over and latched onto her back, creating the power suit once again. “Hold on I need to grab my helmet…”

“We’re not fighting anything yet… Besides, Suicune and Celestia are here to join up with everyone else… which is the good news. Bad news? … Someone else is here and I was told by Lord Suicune not to tell you about him because from what he told me… you and the person he hired to take out Ozai have a history…” The Adept finalized. “I’m not sure if I should be glad that Suicune is taking initiative… or be worried about who Suicune hired to help us-.”

“Well I already know that someone was coming… I’m the one who told you, remember! Besides, whoever it is I’m sure he isn’t that bad-”

“Hey Lance,” Both of them heard from the windowsill as Lumen swooped in and instantly went for his hair. “Can I stay with you? That Hit guy or… whatever his name is scares me…”

“AHHHHH!!! HITS HERE!!!” Exuberant shouted as she immedietely went under the bed to never be seen again is what she hoped. “TELL HIM I’M DEAD!!!”

“Lumen!!” Lance snapped, “Suicune told me not to tell her that! Why did you do that?”

“Well, I didn’t know that! My septima is my muse, not telepathy!!” Lumen grumbled, causing Lance to sigh for a moment before turning to Exuberant.

“Exuberant, he’s just elsewhere in the resort and not here…” Lance assured her, before asking a question. “Why are you scared of him though?”

“I was his personal Nurse a while back! He used me for target practice!” She cried. “Just tell him I’m not here… I don’t want to be the target anymore!” Now was when Lance was remembering what Hit had said in the lobby just as he left to go meet back up with Exuberant. “Compared to my other patients… he’s the scariest… especially when he comes by with those scars!”

“Hey, it’s alright… If he tries anything, I wouldn’t let him lay a finger on you.” The Adept promised. “What makes me worried though is why Suicune is bringing him now…”

“Maybe he senses that the Elder Siblings are almost here?” Lumen then brought up as both Exuberant and Lance looked back at the Breezie. “What? It’s just a possibility.”

Soon, Exuberant’s suit came off of her and Teal appeared in front of Lumen. “Hi, names Teal! Nice to meetcha!” she said, surprising the breezie, before smiling back.

“Hey Lance who’s the new girl?” She asked, hopping off of Lance's head, poking Teal with her tiny hoof.

“Hey that tickles! Can I keep her, Sis?!”

Both Lance and Exuberant had the same answer for that as they looked back at the Scarab and the breezie. “No.”

“OH BOO YOU!!!” Teal huffed in response.

“Uh… What was this I heard about sis?” Lumen then asked before the Adept in the room gave a deep sigh.

“That… is a bit of a complicated story.”

“Come on now, Lance,” Lumen rolled her eyes in response as she looked back at the Adept. “We both know that you and I have been through our fair share of incidents. Including the fact that your mother was brought to your world as a Umbra Witch. How is this any more complicated?” The Azure Striker, along with Exuberant soon began to explain the same thing that Exuberant had to tell him. Even going as far as giving her a demonstration as to how the whole power suit mechanic worked for her as Scarab landed on her and had her turn into Blue Beetle to show off her abilities.

“Woah… That… is completely the most BADASS thing I have ever seen!” The breezie declared, trying to hug Exuberant around her head but didn’t get anywhere. “I mean, Lance and I have seen our fair share of crazy stuff happen, but this is by far is the one I like the most!!”

“Thanks, Lumen… Never thought I’d be a badass… Hehehe.” The Adept wasn’t sure if that was Exuberant talking or if it was both her and Scarab, but he decided to not question it.

“Hey sis can Lumen and me go play? That way you two can have some… Privacy~” Teal asked, winking at the two with her tiny digital face.

“I think that’ll be alright… of course, it also depends on if Suicune is actually going to have us all meet up or not to discuss what’s the next part of the plan or not.” Lumen replied, looking back at her. “After all, the gang's all here… and something tells me that with everyone being here, it’s possible that either the elder siblings are not that far behind… or that he has some kind of plan to prepare for when they do come.”

“As much as I would like to have some more fun with Lance… We do have a job to do after all and hey who knows, we might actually win!” Exuberant said, extending her hand out to Lance. He couldn’t help but smile as he took her hand and the two of them got up.

“You’re, right… Let’s go meet up with them.” He said as all of them left the hotel room as he donned his old azure coat while they went into the lobby. He thought that it would be better for him, since he was trying to get back to how he used to use his powers and abilities.

However before they could meet up with them, Hit was waiting outside with the same melancholy stare. Something that caught Lance by surprise. “I had a feeling she was hiding somewhere on the resort… Although, I wasn’t expecting her to be hiding out with this retarded scumbag, but it’d make sense I guess… Where else would a tramp hide?”

“Good to see you again, Hit.” Lance told him, unfazed by his comments on Exuberant or himself. “Do you happen to know where Lord Suicune is by any chance?”

“And who are you?” He asked, turning towards his direction. “I’m not here for you… I’m only here for Exuberant. I have a promise to keep after all.” Exuberant shivered a little, standing behind Lance as he still stood his ground. But before either side could say or do anything, they heard a series of hoofsteps from the nearby hall as they soon turned to see Princess Celestia.

“What is going on here?” She asked, looking at the situation and noticing how Exuberant was scared and hiding behind the Adept.

“Nothing at all… Your highness, I was just leaving… I’ll be back for finish our discussion Exuberant… I can promise you that.” Hit assured them, darkly as he walked passed them and was glaring at her from the corner of his eyes before disappearing a flash.

Exuberant couldn’t help but fall to her knees, gasping for air as everyone looked at her, worrying a bit if she was okay. “I don’t think my heart can take it if I have to see him again… I almost had a heart attack!”

“Could you care to explain what happened back there? I’ve never seen you so scared before in the short time that you have been here.” Celestia commented as the Adept standing in front of her took a deep breath.

“Exuberant is afraid of Hit because when she was his nurse, he used her for target practice and also ignored serious wounds while trying to kill her,” He said, remembering what Exuberant told her. “Back to the subject at hand though, we were going to go see Lord Suicune. If the last fight against the Elder Siblings draws near, then we are prepared and ready to face them.”

“Yes… That is true… Two more days until the final battle begins… Suicune has told me some… disturbing things that he was able to learn that he has kept to himself. I came by to tell you personally, while he tells the others.” Celestia said, exhaling as everyone looked to her, worried by what she had to say.

“W-what is it?” Exuberant asked as Lance helped her unto her feet.

“Don’t leave us in the dark, princess… We can handle it.” Lance assured the alicorn as he looked back at her. But what came next from Celestia was something that wasn’t like anything they would expect to hear.

“As you know… there are many realities filled with different outcomes and different ponies or displaced. But there is one that connects them all… the one true reality. On the world where you all come from… The world called… Earth.” She said, surprising them all. “Suicune had received a final vision in his dreams… The final battle will take place on this world and their are only two outcomes to this-”

“And those outcomes are-?” The Adept asked, before apologizing because he spoke out of turn and interrupted the princess… along with getting knocked in the head by Lumen as well. “My apologies, I didn’t mean to interrupt. Do continue, please.”

“None of these outcomes will come in our favor… for you see, if the Elder’s win this war… than Earth and every reality shall cease to exist.” Everyone gasped by her words, but they waited patiently for what she had to say. “But, Suicune had told me the second outcome shall be our victory, but-” She paused, hesitant to finish her sentence before Lance stepped in.

“But what, princess?” He asked, looking at her with a puzzled glance on his face. “Does something… bad happen?”

She was silent for a few moments… before finally getting her breath and composure to speak. “Some of you… may not make it in the end.” Hearing this had Lance’s ears twitch. The princess just told them that… from Suicune’s vision… some of them were going to die. He did not want anyone else to perish, especially with the very few survivors he rescued from other worlds. But there was still a part of him that felt like this… prophecy can be overcome. That anything can change.

That fate itself can change… because hope will never die.

“I-I don’t… I don’t want to lose anyone!” Exuberant had begun to cry. After everything she had went through with her friends, she had come to care for them, especially Lance and Lumen. “I don’t want to lose you Lance!” She shouted, hugging the adept tightly. The Adept looked back at her, only to hold her close as he looked at everyone.

“I won’t let myself get killed. I got family to go home too… and I will do everything in my power to protect as many people as I can.”

“Are you sure you want to do this Lance? We could always run away, hideout until it’s over?” Exuberant asked.

“If they aren’t stopped now, there will be no place to be when this is all over,” The Adept assured her, looking back and holding her closely. “I’m not going to run away from what’s coming… but we still have two days before the final battle approaches.”

“Okay… just… just promise me that’ll we’ll make it. Please promise me that?!” She was crying while looking up to the adepts eyes. He nodded, assuring her that no matter what was going to happen, they were going to make it and survive. “I need your word, Lance!”

“I promise that we will get through this, Exuberant. We will make it.” He told her, trying to calm her down.

“Good… if you need me, I’ll… I’ll be in the bath.” She said, releasing Lance as she wiped away the tears stained on her cheeks. “Y-you can join me… if you want Lance?”

“My, how forward!” Celestia gasped, before clearing her throat. Causing Lance to sigh for a moment before looking back at the Alicorn and whispering to her.

“Please do not mention that to Suicune or else he’ll have my head.” Lance told her, before following Exuberant back to their room. Causing Celestia to giggle a little bit before turning around and walking back down the hall. She wouldn’t dream of spilling his secrets… after all, her and Suicune had a few secrets of their own to keep.

“I won’t say a word… Anyways, it seems that you two have some… plans for the evening, so I’ll tell Suicune to excuse the four of you for tonight. Do be sure to wake up bright and early, tomorrow you’ll be spending it relaxing and having fun, before your final training begins. Until then, try not to get the sheets too dirty, you lovebirds.” Celestia winked at them, causing them to blush before disappearing in a flash of light.

“You know Lance, I’m beginning to think that Celestia’s the perverted one of the royal family.” Lumen said. “But you did get Max pregnant and had fun with Exuberant so…”

“Need I remind you that it’s Cadence who’s the Princess of Love?” Lance then mentioned, causing the breezie to think for a moment. “If love is in the air around Heart’s and Hooves day… she’s probably not far behind… well, that’s what I was told at least by Twilight back home.”

“This is what I love about you two… you are always funny when you two argue. Anyways before we go take a bath… maybe we could play a board game to pass the time?” Exuberant asked, which caught Lance by surprise for a moment before looking back at her.

“I’m down for that.”

“YAY! Let’s play poker!” Teal shouted from the back of Exuberant’s suit.

“Uhh… That’s not a board game.” Lumen deadpanned as she looked back at Teal.

“It’s a game and I want to get my poker on!” She declared. Causing Lance to roll his eyes as he looked back at them. This was definitely going to be a long night. That was for sure. But at least it will allow him to be able to rest and relax tonight before they were to make the preparations that were needed for the Elder Sibling's arrival.

Elsewhere in the Void

Cobalion continued to pace back and forth in his quarters. Yellow Radio had failed to control his new weapon and had been scolded by the Elder’s. It was frustrating to say the least, but everything was proceeding as planned, for the Elder Siblings had discovered the world that connects to the Displaced and any other universe. ‘Soon everyone will bow before his greatness.’

But before he could finish his thought, Yellow Radio had enter his private chambers.

“Yellow Radio, have you gathered our candidates?” He asked.

“Of course old friend! Who do you think I am?” He asked, laughing as Cobalion gave him a deadpan stare.

“Good, be sure that they receive our master's power? The enemy is strong, therefore we must be stronger than them.” Cobalion ordered.

“That won't be an issue, they have all been wanting to have a his gift. But the question is are you going to finally take his gift?” he asked, earning a hum from the pokemon, he was one of the strongest in their military and never had to rely on others for their strength, until he came into the picture. The one who called himself Gunvolt.

“I shall ponder it Yellow… the five of us shall be enough to kill Suicune and his rebels once the Elder’s weaken them in battle. Their will be no need for us fight yet.” He explained moving past the jester.

“Alright, I shall let the others know, but the master's power shall be enough for all.” Yellow Radio boasted. However, that wasn’t exactly on Cobalion’s mind as he walked down the hallway of the ship. Instead, he was more focused on something else… what he was going to do the moment that they touched down on the world that the traitor was in.

And who he was going to go after first. ‘I am coming for you, Lance Walker and I promise to show you a nightmare beyond the horrors of hell!’

The Next Day

Everyone had gathered out on the beach, seeing that Hit, Suicune and Celestia had waited patiently for them near the shore. “Alright… Today, all of you shall learn to work together as a team, but there shall be a slight alteration in leadership.” Hearing this had Lance and everyone else look at each other a bit puzzled before Exuberant raised a hand.

“What do you mean by… alteration?” She then asked the Pokemon.

“Hit shall be leading the team from now on, besides me and Celestia of course.” he answered earning a gasp from everyone as they turned to Hit’s direction, seeing him glare at them sent a shiver down their spines. This too, also caught Lance off guard as he looked back to the Pokemon and then spoke up.

“I thought you said that Hit was here so he could deal with Lord Ozai,” The Adept told him as he then posed a question. “Why are you having him lead the team?”

“He has been around for almost as long as me and has experience on the battlefield. Yes he’ll deal with Ozai, but he’s agreed to help put an end to this war… It was our agreement and he honors it. There will be no arguments about this, he shall lead the team and all of you shall follow his orders. That is all I have to say about this.” He said, clearing his throat as both he and Celestia teleported away, leaving everyone alone with Hit.

“Now that those two aren’t here… I want each and every last one of you to run 50 laps around this island to warm up. No powers, no tricks, nothing. After that we can begin with our warm ups.” Hit said, turning away from them as they all groaned. Lance in particular was a bit suspicious of all of this. Why was it that only now that they find out about this and had Hit lead them? It didn’t make sense and the Adept felt that there was more to this then Hit or Suicune was letting on. But before Lance could finish his thoughts Hit placed his hand on his shoulder and threw him to the ground. “Don’t make me repeat myself… I don’t have time to deal with a nobody who disobeys orders. Now run 50 laps Now!”

He listened to him as everyone then began to do what he ordered. Running moments afterwards with everyone else either right behind him or right next to him. Exuberant and Lumen did their best to keep up the pace.

“I… really… hate this guy!” Lumen said, flapping her tiny wings as best she could.

“It hasn’t… been a week since I had a human… body and already I hate it.” She groaned, almost tripping on her feet before Lance helped her up and they continued running. It took them a few hours to finally complete all fifty of the laps that they had to do and before they could even have the chance to catch their breath at all… that was when Hit really began to try and push them to their limits.

“You should have finished those laps over an hour ago… this proves that you’re all out of shape… For that you all will going into Celestia’s time chamber and begin with doing 1000 push ups, after that a 1000 sit ups. Once your warm ups are done we can begin with sparing and that’ll be it for now. The time chamber shall help you all improve for an entire year before the day is up. NOW GO!!!” he yelled, causing everyone to run for their lives.

“Why did it have to be him?!” Nathan complained as he tried to run with everyone else. Even with Lance being at the peak of condition for an adept, he thought that what Hit was doing was rather unnecessary. Even when they were in the chamber and practicing combat training against a set of dummies, he pictured the dummy as Hit in order to provide extra motivation to beat it to a pulp.

Hours had passed in the time chamber and they managed to have completed the 1000 push ups and sit ups. Everyone’s muscles began to ache a lot as they all collapsed to the ground, even Nathan fell down and he was a giant robot. Pinkie Pie tried to crawl for the door, but ended up being pulled back by her tail by Hit. “No one leaves until the year in here is up… this is only the beginning for all of you. Now that your warm up is finished, it’s time to begin your sparring.” Lance was caught off guard by that. If what they did was just merely a warm up, then he was a little bit worried to find out what else was in store for everyone.

“Suggest you pick someone you aren’t familiar with and proceed to spar. I shall watch from the distance for now.” He said, still glaring as he leaped into the air and landed far away, putting some distance between them. Exuberant herself wanted to pair up with Lance, but given the parameters that Hit placed on the training, the two of them were forced to pair up with someone else. Strangely enough, Pinkie herself personally decided for Exuberant to be her partner while Nathan needed a moment to make sure to do some personal self repairs. Leaving Lance with only one other choice.

Quicksilver. Just freaking brilliant...

“Well it looks like it’s you and me Lance… I do hope you can keep up.” He said, putting on his goggles. Lance himself had worked with individuals whose powers revolved around superspeed before. Heck, Pinkie Pie in his world was known as Filli-second because her powers revolved around speed. However, if there was a difference between her and Quicksilver, Filli-second was more like The Flash. Primarily because she was able to redirect her speed as a method of force.

However, Quicksilver himself… still had some similarities. Yet, one thing that Lance happened to noticed when he was sparring against him was that he always had some kind of routine when going on the offensive… and lacked anything to protect him defensively. First time he noticed this was when the speedster started his attack by throwing a right hook at his face, prompting for Lance to dodge in the same direction. So when he did it again though, that was when the Adept caught him off guard.

By dodging in the opposite direction… and countering it with a blow of equal force as the palm of his right hand smacked his face and sent him flying as he accidentally toppled into Nathan. “Hey watch it… I just finished oiling my arms dude!”

“S-sorry…” Quicksilver groaned, trying to get up from that as he rubbed his face a bit after feeling the extent of Lance’s strike. “Alright… that caught me by surprise, but I’m ready for you this time Lance.”

In a blink of an Eye Quicksilver appeared next to the adept and landed a punch across his face, sending him fly before Quick appeared behind him, jabbing him in the back while in mid air. Punching and kicking repeatedly before Lance fell to the ground. Yet, as he was about to hit him once more, that was when the Adept dispersed into electricity and partially paralyzed one of Quicksilver’s arms as he used instant transmission to get behind him, knock him down on the ground and point his weapon at him.

Which, in turn… caused the Adept to smirk as he let him up. “You’re good… but there’s still a few things you can improve on.”

“Yeah… well I guess I could use the help.” he said as Lance helped him up for a moment. It was then that the Adept began to explain what he meant.

“You might have speed, but when you were going at me, you were attacking me the same way each time. An experienced fighter can tell whether or not you make a routine of someone or repeat something multiple times and then proceed to do something else to throw you off your game,” He explained, restoring Quicksilver’s arm. “Even though you might have the upper hand, don’t let your guard down.”

“Yeah good advice… but all of this sparring has definitely worked up an appetite.” He chuckled.

“We can worry about your metabolism later.” Lance sighed, looking to see where Hit was as he looked back at the speedster. “Hit would get on our case if were just sitting around and talking.”

“Yeah… we should keep going, but once this is all over… I’m going to find me a cheeseburger.” He said, causing the Adept to chuckle as Lance got himself in a proper combat stance and readied himself for another round of sparring.

Everyone continued to spar with one another for an hour at the very least. Sore, exhausted, hungry… they were pushed to the very limit and this was only the first day in the time chamber. Eventually Hit had finally moved from his spot and approached them, but Lance could tell from his expression that he wasn’t happy at all.

“Sloppy, pathetic, and disappointing! Are you all really Suicune’s best recruits? Everyone of you have many flaws in your attacks and strategies that the Elder’s could see coming from a mile away. You’ll never win like that!” Hit shouted, insulting every last one of them to the point where even Teal and Lumen began to cry for being useless and having no backbone. Yet, Lance remained unfazed by what he said. “Tomorrow, all of you shall repeat the same warm up and after that… each of you will spar against me.”

That had Lance puzzled. He wasn’t sure if he meant tomorrow in the chamber or the actual tomorrow. But as it turned, he did mean tomorrow in the chamber… and all the more reason he felt that Hit was going to kill them first before the Elder Siblings would even get here.

Outside the Chamber

“Are you sure that this was a good idea? I mean… you’re leaving them with Hit… for a year…” Celestia asked Suicune as she turned to face him. “I don’t question your choices, but I’m just worried that he’ll tear them apart in there before the Elder Siblings even get here.”

“This is exactly what they need my dear… Hit’s the perfect one to train them for the upcoming battle with the Elder’s armies… If they truly all want to make it out in one piece than they’ll need to train… Train harder than they ever did so they can stand a chance.” He said, closing his eyes, remembering his final vision, seeing a shadowy figure strangling someone he knew, but it was all a blur to him… he could still hear the sounds of their neck snapping and an evil laughter coming from the figure as his own power exploded.

“I know… yet, it’s almost been one full day and I’m… concerned to see if actually being in there… changed them somehow.” Celestia told him as she finished using her spell to raise the sun and bring morning to Equestria.

“They have each other… but they still have a few hours before their time is up.” Suicune said looking back at her.

“I suppose so… but I’m still concerned to say the least.”

“Don’t worry Celestia… They shall be ready. We should probably get ready to meet with them.” He said, about to leave the room until he felt a light tug on his two tails, turning to see Celestia blushing for an odd reason.

“You know, you did say we have a few hours before they come out… Maybe we could use this time to have a little… fun~” She asked as Suicune smirked at the sun princess.

“Hehehe… Celestia my love… I thought you’d never ask.”

Back Inside the Chamber

It has been almost a year now. When they had started this training, Lance thought that he was going to drive himself insane being stuck for a year with someone like Hit. But in the end, it actually happened to pay off… and the Adept could definitely feel the difference in terms of his strength and his reflexes, but their was still one final test before he was allowed to leave the chamber. One that Hit was personally going to give to them.

“You have all improved surprisingly, but before any of you leave… we still have one final test. Which one of you believes to be strong enough… to face me.” Everyone was hesitant to be able to come forward… everyone except the Adept that separated himself from the rest of the pack behind him and stepped forward.

“Since no one else is doing it… I’ll take a crack at it then.” He spoke up, cracking his knuckles and stretching out his neck.

“Ah, I figured a nobody like you would step up… I’ve been waiting to fight you ever since you been getting in the way of Exuberant’s and my conversation. I was surprised you kept her away from me for so long, but I have business with that tennis ball, hiding behind a female's body now.” He glared at the Adept as he put his hands in his pockets.

“Up yours too, jerk.” The Adept shot back. “She’s human now… and I’m not letting you treat her like trash.”

“It doesn’t matter what she is now,” Hit remarked as he looked back at the adept as he was also preparing himself for combat. “Because no matter how hard you try… you won’t be able to beat me.”

“I won’t know for sure unless I try now, won’t I?” The Azure Striker commented. Which personally amused his opponent… to an extent. Even though Lance felt that his training in here had paid off, all Hit personally saw was a blond haired teen that was just brimming with overconfidence. Yet, there were a few things that the adept personally paid attention too throughout the course of the year they were in here anytime he ordered for them to take him on in combat.

Primarily, there was his speed… something that the adept had a theory on, but just a theory at best. Especially since he was even faster than Quicksilver. Following that was his attacks. One time, even though Hit looked to be storing a strong amount of energy in his palms when Quicksilver was his opponent, the strike that followed didn’t seem to show any form of this attack visually. With those in mind, it meant that Lance needed to proceed with caution… and plan in advance.

However… not enough planning in the world would prepare him for when Hit began his assault. Before he could even react, Lance was struck in on the side of his forehead before receiving another blow in the chest by the assassin. Even though he had his prevasion ready for when Hit did go after him, the moment he was back to normal was when Hit struck him. It did not make sense because it only would take him a second to reform back to normal from it.

The only way that such a thing would be possible is that if he were faster… or somehow made him slower. There was only one particular way for him to find out… and that was to test some of the new techniques he was developing with his septima while he was in the chamber.

To do so though, he needed to time it right when Hit would least expect it. Which was tricky at the given moment, but not exactly impossible.

Hit soon stood only a few feet away from the adept, placing his hands in his pocket, turning his back on him as Lance got back on his feet. At this point Hit was waiting for him to make a move, which made things even more difficult for him to predict his next move. Lance could only wipe away the sweat from his forehead as he grinned a little. Looking back at him before speaking up. “Well, what are you waiting for? An invitation?”

“I was about to ask you the same thing.” he replied, still having his back turned from the adept.

“Well, either you think that I don’t amuse you… or you think that I haven’t caught onto how you fight.” The Azure Striker boldly claimed, smirking a little as he used one of his skills, galvanic patch, to heal the damage he received from Hit. “Pure strength doesn’t win battles alone. Sometimes… out thinking your opponent can be just as deadly.”

“True… but seeing you in this current state… I won’t have to put much effort to figure your moves out… Gunvolt.” Shortly after saying that was when Hit went after the Adept again. This time though, the Adept was prepared. The second that his opponent attacked him, Lance used his prevasion to avoid the first attack from him… and just as he reformed was when he snapped his finger and pulled off a new trick up his sleeve.

“Crashbolt!” The second he said that, a huge electrical torrent began to surge around him in a column as it caught Hit’s right arm in the middle of the attack. Catching him off guard before the Adept pulled off a swift jab kick to push his opponent backwards to gain some distance.

Hit could only glare at Lance as he wiped away the blood from his left cheek. Noticing this only made the assassin grin before he looked at the Adept, unaware of what was happening at this moment. “I see that you are able to block and evade my attacks… but in the end you’ll never measure up to my power.”

“True… but I still was able to figure it out…” The Azure Striker grinned as he looked back at the assassin. “The reason for your speed is not because you’re faster… but because you made everything around you slower… A Time Skip, so to speak… Only thing is, you can only use it for a rather short amount of time, so you do it the moment you strike to stay one step ahead of your opponent. It explains why you were able to hit Quicksilver despite his blinding speed.”

“So you say… that shall conclude our sparring much for now.” Hit said, walking up to the Adept, placing his hand on his shoulder before leaning close to his ear with a serious glare as he spoke. “... Once this is all over… I will kill you… I was hired to kill you.” That caught Lance off guard as he turned to see Hit walk behind him without a care in the world… before someone else almost tried to tackle him.

In which that someone… happened to be Exuberant. “YOU’RE ALIVE!!” She yelled, kissing him on his cheek before slapping him hard on the back of his head. “YOU IDIOT!!! You could have died!”

‘You mean other than by getting smacked upside the head?’ He thought sarcastically before looking back at her and sighing. “Well, I didn’t… at least now we can step outside and see Suicune and Celestia again. I know it’s only been a day for them, but it’s been one long year from hell in here.”

“Yeah… I guess, still after going through that… I think I’d prefer hell now!” Quicksilver stated, appearing next to the couple.

“Did you guys at least learn something on the process?” The Adept then asked off the top of his head as he looked back at Exuberant and the others.

“Of course we did… Anyways, all we can do is right now is hope that our training is going to finally pay off.” Nathan said, helping Exuberant and Lance up on their feet. The Adept couldn’t agree more with what his ally said. Especially with the threat that the Elder Siblings posed and also with what Hit told him… yet, in displaced terms, a threat like this and people trying to kill you was just a typical tuesday in Lance’s line of work.

“I’ll get the door,” He then offered as he opened the door to the time chamber for everyone else to step out. Mostly everyone in the room was quick in order to leave the place, though Exuberant actually waited for everyone else to be gone first before stepping out with Lance right next to her. “So, did you and Teal find this training to be beneficial?”

“More like a prison… But it did help me get stronger and because of it… We were able to figure out a couple tricks that teal and I could do, but that can wait after our meeting with Suicune and Celestia.” Exuberant explained, removing her helmet and looking back at him.

“Yeah… Hit though really bugs me… there’s something about him that makes me think there’s more to him being involved in this than we know.” The Adept replied as they walked out. “But perhaps I’m just overthinking things. Let’s go find them.”

“Okay…” She replied, wrapping her arm around him as she leaned her head against his shoulder. Causing Lance to chuckle in response as they went to go find the Princess and the Legendary Pokemon.

Back at the Resort

Everyone had gathered at the food court. Scarfing down real food for the first time in a year due to the time chamber. Lumen looked especially happy when she dived into a bowl of strawberries. “I never thought I'd miss strawberries!”

Everyone could only watch as tears of joy dripped from her cheeks as she stuffed a strawberry into her mouth. Even though it was twice the size of her own head. Which only lead to Lance having to try to break the strawberry down to smaller pieces so she could eat it properly. Which only made the breezie pout since she had to wait a little longer before consuming what she called ‘fruit heaven’. All while spitting the seeds at Quicksilver, who was too busy with a special cake that his Pinkie made specifically for him because of his metabolism.

“Hey Lance… Would you like some grapes?” Exuberant asked.

“I’ll pass… are there any banana’s though?” He then asked her.

“Hmm… I don’t know… Didn’t think you liked bananas?” That was something the Adept chuckled at as he looked back at her and smiled in response.

“I do, but my cousin probably likes them more… he was displaced as Sun Wukong, the monkey faunus from RWBY.” He told her, even going as far as giving her a picture for her to have as a visual reference.

“Huh… He sounds like a nice guy… but you know, right now I think I’m starting to crave a particular banana right now~” she winked at him

“He has a marefriend…” Lance deadpanned, looking back at her and sighing for a moment before adding one other part to his statement. “Not to mention that they’re engaged.”

“And who says I was talking about him?” she gave him a sly grin. Which only lead to his sighing a little in response, tempted to roll his eyes but refraining himself from doing so. “Anyways… Are you sure you don’t want grapes? I’ll even feed them to you if you want~”

“That won’t be necessary.” He insisted to her as he motioned his head to the other end of the table. “I believe the man and mare of the hour have arrived.”

Both Celestia and Suicune had entered the room, seeing that everyone was all here aside from Hit as the Princess was first to speak. “Hello everyone… I’m glad that all of you are here, safe and sound. With the battle of the elder siblings approaching us, I wanted to give you all one last opportunity to be able to unwind and relax before tomorrow. Suicune and I are ever grateful that all of you are here… and we all hope that your hard work and training will pay off. Do you agree, Lord Suicune?”

“Indeed… In the past I have seen Displaced as a problem in the world, but I was proven wrong. So I want to thank you all for your help and to show my appreciation… You have all earned my respect and a feast in your honor.” And with a twist of his paw, chiefs and servants came in with a platters of all kinds of fine delicacies as they were set across the entire table.

“Best… day… EVER!!!” Lumen immediately declared, diving head first into the first thing she saw while also causing Lance to chuckle at how happy he was for her.

“Now enjoy yourselves… You have all earned it, but there’s someone here I’d like to thank for bringing you all here today.” Suicune soon turned his gaze to Lance, giving a smile, surprising the adept. “Lance Walker.”

Lance, for a moment, looked at Exuberant before turning to look back at the legendary pokemon. “Yes, Lord Suicune?” He asked, thinking that Suicune was going to say something to him.

“Come up here… give them a speech.” Suicune said, stepping aside. That… surprised him. The Adept was not exactly one for giving speeches. In fact, most of the time, he’s usually the one listening to other people giving a speech. But nevertheless, he still had to try. So, getting up from his spot at the table, he walked over to where Suicune and Celestia were and began to think about what he wanted to say to everyone.

Clearing his throat for a moment, he then spoke up… god, this felt like he won an Oscar for an academy award winning movie… when it came to the pressure of trying to speak of course. “Well… I’m not quite so sure how I should start exactly…” The Adept said to himself before looking at everyone… and then seeing Lumen, Exuberant and Teal encourage him non-verbally. “When this just started out for me… there was only me… my friend Lumen… and Exuberant. I did not think though, that through everything that we’ve been through together… through every hardship that we faced… and through every obstacle that we had to overcome, we would be at this moment… right now. This all started… with just a promise. One that I kept to a friend who put himself in harm's way in order to give us a chance to be here now. I myself… have seen this whole adventure as a learning experience… being able to learn not just from Suicune… but from each and every one of you. I learned that together… we can overcome whatever is thrown at us… that anytime we’re knocked down to get back up… to keep fighting… because we are fighting for our future… and for the future of all displaced that may come after us. So they be given the chance to choose what to do with their gifts… rather than having it be chosen for them… for we represent freedom… and we represent hope…”

Taking a glass that was filled with non-alcoholic sparkling cider (and yes, he did check the label), he raised a glass. “I think this calls for a toast… to freedom… to hope… and to what lies beyond-.”

“And to kicking some ELDER SIBLING ASS!!!” Lumen abruptly shouted… which ironically got everyone else to raising their glasses too.

“... and to that as well.” The Adept added on, smirking as he took a drink as well while everyone else began to celebrate. But Hit glared at Lance from the distance. Prompting him to step down from the patio as he looked back at Suicune for a moment. “Suicune, may I talk to you for a moment… in private?”

“Of course.” Suicune nodded. “Lead the way my apprentice.” The Adept nodded, before looking behind him to make sure they weren’t followed as the two of them went out into an empty hallway before he then spoke up to him.

“Suicune… I’m grateful for everything that you have done for all of us… but as we were going out of the chamber… something occurred that now makes me feel a bit concerned.” The adept told him as he looked back at the pokemon.

“What could be bothering you?”

“Hit,” He told him bluntly, “On the last day in the chamber, he tested us by having him face him. When I beat his test though… he told me that once this was all over… he’ll go for me… because someone hired him to eliminate me.” It was a concern that he wanted to bring to Suicune’s attention. To see whether he would know of something like this… or if there truly was another person that Hit was working for.

“Yes… he has mentioned this to me in the past… but there is nothing I can do about it. I don’t know who his client is, but he knows you… and he’s from your world.” Suicune explained, surprising the Adept.

“How… how is he from my world? That makes no sense,” Lance asked, looking back at him. “Before I was a displaced in my world, the only other displaced in my world at the time was Time Spinner… and he helped found the Power Ponies… Whatever the case, I want him to stay the hell away from me and also stay the hell away from Katy-.”

“Lance Walker… Calm yourself… I only know that someone from your world hired him and wants you dead. I can’t change his mind unless we drop our previous contract, but at this point I don’t think he’ll agree.” Suicune brought up a valid point there. Hit was not the kind of person to be convinced of something without good reason… which only lead to Lance sighing a little bit as he looked back at Suicune.

“You’re right… I just thought that since you know more about him than I do that you might know something that can help… I already figured out his Time Skip ability, but I highly doubt that’s the only thing he’s capable of.” He said back. Suicune nodded his head in response, but before he was able to go back to the table, he heard the Pokemon ask him one other thing.

“But before you go back… who is this Katy you speak of?”

“Oh right… that’s Exuberant. She wanted to use her name from before she was displaced so she could feel more human.” Lance clarified for him, “Why do you ask?”

“Just curious is all… you two are awfully close aren’t you?”

“Well… to put it simply… she and I are close like you and Celestia are… In fact, Celestia told me that she gave her some advice that Exuberant happened to… follow up on.” He said, scratching the back of his head as he felt a bit embarrassed by that last statement.

“I see… Just try not to make a mess… I could smell your foul stench from the other side of the island.

“Like how Lumen was able to smell you two?” He asked, before realizing his statement. “I-i’m sorry, that was too soon… Celestia is extremely lucky to have someone like you just as much as Katy is lucky to be with me. I shouldn’t be making remarks on your relationship like that.”

“I’ll excuse your previous comment this time… but bring that up again and I’ll have your head on a stick if you dare bring that up again.” Suicune threatened, as his cold gaze pierced at his very soul, sending a cold chill down the adepts spine as he nodded his head. “Now… I don’t have much advice for you to deal with Hit… only that you need to find this client in your world and take him out! If his client is gone than Hit’s contract will be null and voided. I hope that you find out soon though… because once the Elder’s are defeated… he’ll be coming for you.”

“Just my luck…” The Adept thought, acknowledging Suicune and thanking him for the advice as he went to go back over to where Exuberant and Lumen were waiting for him.

Strike 61- Caught off Guard

Author's Note

So... this took much longer than I originally wanted it to be, but finally... here it is.

Upon deciding to restart this final arc, I decided that the best way in order to make this more compelling is to start it with a chapter that does not centrally focus on Lance and instead focus on one of the members of his team. Of course, as the chapter goes along, you begin to realize that not everything is as it seems. Because if you mess with someone for so long and they're fed up with what you're doing, there's only one course of action in their mind.

Retaliation.

As always, thank you guys for being so patient with me and thank you for showing your support for the story. Without further ado, here we go. As always, let me know what you guys think.

Until next time.
-Frost

Strike 61- Caught off Guard

When Lightning Strikes- Caught off guard

Maretropolis

As the sun rose over the bustling city of Maretropolis and rays of sunlight illuminated the city streets, many ponies that lived in the city were excited for what was going to happen today. For this day was not like any ordinary day in the country of Equestria, but a sacred royal holiday. One that was seen as a celebration of prosperity and life. That day was none other than the Summer Sun Celebration, a holiday that was dedicated to Princess Celestia bringing light back to the world after what some ponies would describe as ‘the eternal night’.

Now, when it came to celebrating this holiday, most cities would host small local events or just allow for ponies to spend time with their families. Though, when it came to Maretropolis, they didn’t hold any so called ‘small events’ for a holiday with such a significant impact on society. Instead, they held one huge extravaganza right in the center of the city that was famously known as the Summer Sun Carnival. The park that was across from the mayor's office and city hall became the host of one of the largest festivals in Maretropolis overnight. Complete with food, games and entertainment for ponies of all ages. Some would even consider it to be the biggest celebration of the year aside from New Years Eve.

Though, it did not mean that such a celebration could be left unprotected. Many officers from the Maretropolis Police Department were assigned to be event security for the day alongside that of the security personnel that was inside the carnival itself. Given that the carnival itself was such a huge event, there was the rather high possibility that it could attract the attention of villains who would potentially want to crash the party. Therefore, keeping all the attendants at the carnival safe was their top priority.

Of course, there was one member of the MPD that was there, but not as part of event security. “Detective Whooves,” One of the guards at the entrance addressed the stallion by his title. “I wasn’t aware that you would be here today.”

“I am, but not to supervise,” The stallion told him, before pulling out the card that was around his neck and motioned towards three other ponies that were behind him. Two mares and a filly. The card was a special pass that was used to keep track of attendance for the carnival and was also used as an admission ticket. “I’m here as an attendee of the carnival along with my wife and daughters. Can we come in?”

“W-why yes sir, right away,” The officer nodded, stepping aside to let Detective Whooves and his family come on inside. “Have a good day. Enjoy the carnival.”

As they stepped through the main entrance into the carnival, Detective Whooves and his family were greeted by the presence of several different vendors, booths for carnival games and other attractions. Some ponies were in line for the ferris wheel that was in place while some of the younger foals and fillies were playing games like ring toss, pop the balloon and ‘Saddle Rager’s Test Your Strength’ machine. Other ponies were buying special foods that were only served during the carnival as well as getting their pictures taken at the photo booth and obtaining souvenirs.

“Alright everypony, we’re here,” Detective Whooves calmly let out a small breath as he looked back at both of his daughters. “So what did you girls want to do first?”

Sparkler shrugged, unsure as to what to do. “I dunno, but Dinky should pick first.” She looked expectantly at her baby sister.

“Maybe we can try some of the games before checking out a few of the rides?” Derpy then suggested. “I always beat your father at the water gun target game.”

“They’re all rigged…” Sparkler grumbled pessimistically. She started scowling sideways and lowered her head in an attempt to hide her annoyance.

“Have you even tried one?” Dinky then asked.

“No, but I read the minds of the ponies running them…”

That had Dinky look back at her mother for a moment, before Derpy suggested something else. “How about throwing darts? Just requires a bit of luck-”

“There’s a magnet hidden off to the side…” The eldest daughter murmured, cutting her mother off. “Uh… I’m sorry if I’m ruining the mood.”

“No no, it’s fine. You’re not ruining anything dear,” Derpy insisted, shaking her hoof a bit before looking back at her daughters. At first, she tried to think of some kind of game that both of them could have fun playing. “What about Ring Toss? Bean Bag throw? Anything that I might be missing, Dinky?”

“Bobbing for Apples?” The filly now suggested.

“Um Dinky…” Detective Whooves then spoke up as he looked at the filly. “Remember the last time we did that and your mom ended up swimming in the apple bucket?”

“I know! That’s why it’s so fun!!” Despite the filly’s enthusiastic response, it did little to help out the situation right now as Derpy just shrugged her shoulders. “I’m sure big sis Sparkly can get one if she tried it!”

“I… guess I could.” Sparkler smiled awkwardly at the nickname, as well and imagining all of the germs she’d expose herself to dunking her head into an attraction known for multiple use. Not a moment too soon did she find Dinky yanking her foreleg as the filly was guiding her to where the Bobbing for Apples station was at, where there were several steel water buckets with a variety of different colored apples floating in them.

“Well, Howdy there,” The two ponies looked up to see an elderly mare with a light amber fur coat with a white mane and tail. She was sitting in a chair nearby one of the buckets as both Sparkler and Dinky approached her. As the two got closer, Sparkler could see a name tag on the white collared shirt that she was wearing with the words ‘Goldie Delicious’ on the front. “Are ya here ta try yer luck at bobbing apples?”

“Yeah! Both of us are!” An excited Dinky nodded her head.

“Alright, but let me tell ya some rules. Ya both get three chances to try and get an apple from the bucket. If ya get one, ya get to keep the Apple and get a prize,” The elderly mare explained. “Additionally, since the both of ya are unicorns, ya not allowed to use magic ta cheat. Do ah make myself clear?”

“Y-yes ma’am.” Sparkler nodded, before turning to Dinky. “Right sis?” All Dinky could do was nod enthusiastically as both of them looked back to Goldie.

“Alright, which one of ya would like to go first?”

Dinky, on instinct, immediately stepped forward. Her first attempt at trying to get an apple from the bucket led to the apple slipping from underneath, leading her to swallow nothing but water. Her second attempt was mostly the same thing, but her grip on the apple slipped as she tried to bring it up. On her final attempt, she tried to have her front hooves on the edge of the bucket before putting her head back in. But it almost lead to the filly slipping forward if her sister had not caught her in time.

“Aw shucks, kiddo. Sorry, but ya didn’t get any,” Goldie’s words didn’t exactly go down well with Dinky. Sparkler noticed that she seemed upset at not getting any, and her face was rather distraught. Like if you took candy away from a foal. “Tell ya what, ah can give ya a consolation prize if ya-”

“I’ll do it.” Sparkler offered, stepping forward. ‘This better be worth it...’

“Oh? Well alright, step right up,” Goldie told her, waving a hoof to the bucket. “Remember. Three tries.”

“I only need one.” Sparkler replied calmly, before diving in head first. The first thing she noticed was that the water was lukewarm and felt thick against her fur as it displaced away from her skin. She was used to being submerged for long periods to muffle the world so she could focus on her powers, though. When Sparkler felt an apple touch her lips, she widened her mouth before biting into it to prevent it from escaping.

Once she was sure she had it good and secure, Sparkler emerged with the apple firmly held on maw. She shuddered when the water dripped down her back, and her ears popped clear. The unicorn teenager almost missed the serene silence while submerged. Almost being the word. Sparkler cringed the moment the flavor began pouring into her mouth. When she opened her eyes, she instantly understood what was wrong.

Green apple.

“Oh my gosh, you did it!” Dinky soon cheered, rushing over to hug her older sister.

“Well ah’ll be… Ya got one. Congratulations kiddo,” Goldie herself congratulated the unicorn. Before turning around for a moment and asking for the help of another mare, Apple Leaves, to bring out the prize Sparkler won. A stuffed bear that resembled that of an ursa minor. Goldie also gave the two of them a couple of wipeable tattoos for them to keep as well for participating. “There ya go. Happy Summer Sun Celebration!”

As both sisters began to trot away from the bobbing for apples station now, Dinky felt the need to ask her older sister something. “So, what did you think?”

Sparkler bit down on the apple, letting the bulk of it fall to the ground before speaking with her mouth full. “Bitter. You?”

Dinky herself, just looked back at her with a puzzled look. Using some of her magic to catch the apple before it hit the ground as she looked back at the sister. “I meant the game,” She said, turning the apple around before taking a bite herself. “Though, the apple’s not as sweet as I thought it would be.” After a couple of more bites, she threw what remained of the apple in a nearby trash can and wiped her mouth with her foreleg.

Then, she decided to ask her older sister a new question. “Was that fun though?”

“I guess…” Sparkler let a devious smile crawl its way onto her face. “Thought not as fun as watching you pouting.”

All that did was have Dinky roll her eyes a bit before chuckling as she friendly nudged her sister. “So what do you want to do next?”

Sparkler looked around at the numerous games, rides and food stands. “Perhaps… bumper carts?” She had only heard it was fun from her conversations with Bumblesweet. She wasn’t even sure what they were.

“Really? Alright then, this is going to be fun!” Dinky beamed as she looked back at her sister. “Mom and dad always liked doing the bumper carts everytime they came here!”

“Really? What’s so appealing about it?” Sparkler tilted her head in curiosity.

“Well, you drive around in these carts that can hold two ponies and you basically try to bump into as many ponies as possible!” Dinky told her, taking a moment to lift her forelegs off the ground to imitate driving a bumper cart before setting them back down. “It’s like crashing that’s fun!”

Sparkler had been in a crash before. And repeating that experience did not sound like a good time. Despite the long period of time away from the Puppets, which didn’t give its members much in the way of off time, the young unicorn still hadn’t fully understood her sister- or for that matter, her team’s concept of the word ‘fun’. Still, she did find enjoyment in the little blonde’s company. “If you say so…”

Dinky’s smile could only get bigger as she had Sparkler follow her over to where the bumper carts were at. Letting her older sister see for herself what was in store. Unlike that of the crash that she had been in before, these carts weren’t exactly going so fast. And when the collided, they just bumped into one another. Padding along the sides of the carts prevented them from actually hitting the carts or the riders and everything was all contained within a specific space.

“Over here, sis!” She then heard Dinky speak to her as she stood behind a few other ponies that were in line for the attraction.

“Uh… maybe we should, uh, try something else…” Sparkler said, beginning to regret her choices in life.

“Aww… but I thought you wanted to try it,” Dinky told her, sounding a little bit disappointed by her sister’s sudden decision to back out. “But if you say so. Did you have any other ideas?”

“I’ve never been to a fair, so I’ll just follow you.” Sparkler admitted lamely.

“Hmm… well, mom and dad always enjoy the ferris wheel. You can see the whole city from up top.” She said, pointing a hoof to the attraction that she was thinking of. “Wanna try that instead?”

“Sure… what is a ferris wheel, by the way?”

“Well, you sit in a small cabin that’s on a huge wheel. Once it rotates, it lifts you up into the air and let you get an entire view of the city from the top,” Dinky replied back as the two of them were getting closer to it. The giant sized ferris wheel looming over them as a couple of ponies left their cabin while another pair went inside.

“Why would anypony find this entertaining? Trapping in a box, suspended helplessly in the air with nothing to catch yo if it were to malfu-” She stopped herself upon noticing Dinky, who just turned around and looked back at Sparkler with distraught written on her features.

Though, after shaking her head, the filly now asked her something that Sparkler did not exactly anticipate. “Let me ask you something… What’s one thing that mom can do that dad can’t?”

“... Give birth?” Sparkler replied dully, not quite catching what the filly meant.

Dinky though, looked a bit squeamish for a moment. Almost like she was going to throw up the piece of apple that she had earlier. “N-no…” She weakly shook her head. “I m-meant her wings. W-why would you think that?”

Sparkler grinned sheepishly at her sister’s reaction. “Mom’s not exactly a good flier! It’s not exactly the first thought that came to mind!” She turned to avoid eye contact. She found that often made her sister ease up when she knew no one was looking at her.

It took a couple of moments in order for Dinky to try and straighten herself out before she could be able to respond to Sparkler. “M-my point was that there are some ponies who can’t fly, yet they want to feel like they c-can. P-ponies who don’t have magic or wings. P-ponies like dad.”

Sparkler drank her sisters words in, processing the information for a moment as she looked back at the attraction. “I still don’t get it, but I suppose seeing is believing.”

“Really!? Then let’s go!” Sparkler felt Dinky’s magic tug her along, the foal’s aura grip surprisingly tight around her fur as she was lead towards the line. She tried to put up the facade of struggling, which made Dinky’s face scrunch in concentration. It was easily the best part about coming to the carnival.

Some time later…

“Well, today was definitely fun,” Derpy Hooves spoke joyfully as she was sitting at a table with her husband outside one of the many food trucks. She had already finished the funnel cake that she had ordered earlier and was about to start on a blueberry muffin as she looked back at him. “Everytime we come here, I still remember when you took me to the carnival for our first date.”

“So do I,” he replied back, taking a napkin and using it to wipe some of the powdered sugar from the funnel cake that was still on her face. “That was one of the best nights of my life. Well, one of them.”

“Oh really?” His wife now giggled. “There were others?”

“Well, yeah. There was the night I proposed to you, the night that we got married,” He took some time to think about it some more before continuing. “There’s been so many that I’ve almost lost count. But there are some that hold a special place in my heart. Some that I’m grateful for and some that show how lucky I am. Not just in being with you, but lucky to be able to have our family be together.”

That had Derpy set down her muffin, before looking back at her husband. “Is one of them… when we were reunited with Sparkler?”

“That’s one of the most important ones,” Detective Whooves told her. “I still remember the day when we were told that she was taken. It felt like our world was being torn apart because somepony ripped our firstborn child away from us. But when Lance found her… and he brought her back to us,” He stopped for a moment, trying to catch his breath as he tried to think of the right words to say. “For a time, I thought that being reunited with Sparkler again after so long would be impossible… but he made the impossible happen. That is something I’m grateful for-”

“Over here, sis! I found them!” What the detective was trying to tell his wife was soon interrupted by the sound of their daughters trotting over to the table they were sitting at. Though, much to their surprise, they had a lot more prizes and goodies from the fair than either of them were anticipating. Not only were they carrying several different plushies, including one of an ursa minor and the sidekick of the Power Ponies named Humdrum, but it also looked like the two of them had face paint across their muzzles. Dinky herself had what looked like a starry night sky and a moon that looked like Princess Luna’s cutie mark on her left cheek, while Sparklers had that of a rising sun on her left cheek with Princess Celestia’s cutie mark on it.

“Well, you two surely got a lot of prizes, didn’t you,” Derpy cheerfully smiled as she looked at both of her daughters. “Did you have fun?”

“We sure did!” Dinky cheered, looking back at Sparkler.

“It was adequate…” Sparkler said, making sure to be as monotone as she could. And it was working, too.

“Did you get the chance to do everything you wanted to do? Was there anything else you wanted to go see before we head home?” Derpy then asked her daughters. Dinky looked back at Sparkler for a moment, before looking back to her mother as she let out a small breath.

“No, I think we’re good. What do you think, sis?”

“I went in not expecting it to be this enjoyable, so I can’t say I wanted to do anything specific in the first place,” When she saw the look of confusion on her mother’s face, she sighed. “I’m content…”

“Alright, I guess this means we’re done here. Let’s go home.” Detective Whooves smiled as he looked back to his wife as the four of them went back through the same gates that they originally came in through.

As they made it across the street though, the look on his face was much different. Something that Derpy soon noticed when she realized that he wasn’t following. “Honey, what’s-?”

“Derpy, run-!!”

As Sparkler turned around to see what was going on, a green hair-like tendril wrapped around her father's abdomen before yanking him into a back alley.

“Stay back!” Sparkler shouted, eyes hardening into a rage filled glare as she dashed into the alleyway, horn ablaze with her signature purple aura. Trash, old and new, littered the soggy ground as she followed the echoing sound of maniacal laughter through the dimly lit street.

She came to a stop at a dead end. Not seeing her father or his captor she turned around, and Sparkler found herself staring face to face with someone else. “Are you freaking serious?! Only mere seconds after we got what we needed, the one who tries to stop us is a mare whose trying to play hero!? Give me a break.”

Sparkler stared at him in shock, before hardening her gaze. “You must not read the news, otherwise you’d know I’m not ‘playing’ hero! Give me my father back, and surrender now!” She felt a swelling hatred inside her chest, like boiling water spreading through her chest. She wanted her father safe, but she also wanted this villain to refuse. And she didn’t have to read his mind to know his response before he even opened his mouth.

“So you have a fiery side to you! I like that!!” As the figure clenched his fists, the air in the alleyway began to feel warm and dry. At the corner of her eye, Sparkler could see scraps of newspaper clippings catching fire and burning up as the villains eyes glared right at her. “Hey, Mane-iac!! Let me go a couple rounds with this one! She can be the perfect warm up I need before I find that Gunvolt and set him ablaze!!”

The green mane tendrils slithered across either side of the figure as the form of the Mane-iac disgraced Sparkler with her presence. Her red and green eyes wide with excitement, and an ear splitting grin adorned her face. To her side dangled the earth pony stallion that was Sparkler’s incentive for getting herself cornered, tied up in one of her unnatural locks that coiled around him like a snake, reaching all the way till it covered his mouth.

“I suppose it couldn’t hurt… But don’t dilly-dally for too long, we have an important meeting this evening, and he’s one of the mane attractions~!” The long locked lunatic lamented lavishly.

“Ugh, fine! Now get out of here already! You probably don’t want your precious hair getting singed.” He grit his teeth, two dark red orbs taking form in his hands before throwing them directly at Sparkler. The unicorn hadn’t had a hard time dodging the attack, throwing her weight to the side to propel her away from the flame.

Yet, when both orbs hit the back wall, they set off an explosion. The blast wave hitting her from behind as her opponent propelled himself behind her, pushing off the back wall before attempting to attack from above as a Volcanic Axe took form in his hands. “Too slow!!”

Sparkler’s horn flared to life, and her magic reflexively reached out to the nearest thing- a dumpster -and sent it careening in the direction that she sensed her assailant. The attack smashed Viper into a wall, but the adept’s fury only grew as he cleaved the dumpster in two. “Is that all you can do!? I expected more-!!”

Before he could raise his axe up again, a golden horseshoe collided with the side of the blade as Viper was thrown off balance. As Sparkler turned around to where it came from, that was when she heard a new voice. “Hello Sugarcube. Looks like ya can use some help.”

“That’d be much appreciated...” Sparkler felt her legs buckle in relief at the sight of a familiar friendly face, before her eyes widened. “But Detective Whooves needs help! I can hold this guy off, just please save my dad!”

“Sugarcube, ah already got somepony helping with that,” Mistress Marevelous told her before landing right next to the unicorn. “We just gotta buy her a little bit of time,” Not long after she said that was Viper back on his feet as the earth pony looked towards their opponent. “Anything ah should know about this fella here?”

“He seems to know Lance, and he’s fast. Oh, and he’s hotheaded.” Sparkler stated matter-of-factly, her tone becoming more monotone now that she felt more in control. “Despite his powers, he’s not exactly the brightest, either.”

“I heard that, b*tch!!” They now heard him growl as flames began to form from his hands. “It doesn’t matter how many stand before me! The end result will be the same!! I’ll make all of you burn and make Gunvolt watch as I do it.”

“What’s ya problem with him anyways?” Mistress Marevelous asked, before quickly dodging a fire blast that was sent in his direction.

“My problem?! I had one foot in the grave because of that lightning freak and his friend!!!” Viper roared, before jumping up on the walls to attack from above. As he tried to come down for an attack, Mistress Marevelous threw out her lasso as it tightened around his torso. Pulling it down as he slammed into the ground. As he collided, the fire adept tried to grab hold of the rope, but was met with a hoof to his face as Marevelous kicked him away.

“Esper, where’s the Mane-iac right now?” Marevelous then asked Sparkler, turning around to face the unicorn.

“She’s-!” Sparkler barely had time to duck as a hair tendril collided into the ground below where her head was, shattering the concrete and sending the young mare sprawling onto her side.

“She’s what, foal? ‘Behind us’~?” The Mane-iac cackled as she dangled the Detective Whooves upside down. “Let my ill tempered and fiendish friend go, or a hairball is the good Detective’s least concern~!”

Mistress Marevelous turned to look back at the villain, as well as the detective that was held in her grasp. Shortly before letting out a breath. “Ah thought ya didn’t really play well with others now, Mane-iac? What’s so different that ya teaming up with this hothead for?”

“Times change, my little heroine. One must learn to adapt if one is to survive the constant demands of villainy!” The Mane-iac replied, her green and red eyes dilating in unadulterated madness.

“So that’s the reason why yer working with this walking curling iron?” Mistress Marevelous said. From Esper’s position, she began to see something that was going on just above the Mane-iac. What looked like a storm cloud taking form above her head as the heroine kept talking. “Ah can see one kind of problem with that, sugarcube.”

“Oh, what’s that? Are you going to rain on my parade~?” The Mane-iac smirked, narrowing her eyes.

“She knows!” Sparkler telepathically shouted to her cohorts.

“Oh horseapples-!” The earth pony cursed. But before either of them had the chance to warn their teammate, a bolt of lightning surged from the cloud towards the villain. The Mane-iac herself, who knew Zapp was there, effortlessly dodged the incoming attack while also grabbing hold of a nearby trash can with another hair tendril and threw it towards the cloud, hitting the pegasus that was hiding behind it and knocking them onto the rooftop that was behind the Mane-iac.

“O-oh come on! I a-almost had her,” The pegasus groaned before looking back at the villain. “H-how did you know I was hiding there?!”

The Mane-iac maneuvered herself to where she was looking in the flying hero’s direction upside down, “We’ve done battle for a long time, Power Phonies! You’re the easiest to detect, my dear! I always feel my coat stand when you charge up an attack!” She laughed, using her mane to ascend the side of the building. “You forget that this mare has been at odds with you for longer than most. In my absence, you’ve all seemed to forget what I’m capable of! I find myself rather hurt...”

“So why kidnap the detective? I mean, I would get a whole ‘plan to exact my vengeace against the Power Ponies’ thing, but this doesn’t make any sense,” Zapp told her, even going as far as to impersonate the Mane-iac in front of said villain to emphasize her point. “Also, and this might just be me, but you seem to forget that years of fighting us did not prepare you for when you first encountered Gunvolt.”

The Mane-iac’s expression darkened. For the first time since the Power Ponies faced the long locked lunatic, Zapp and Mistress Marevelous found genuine hatred in her face as she glared at the rainbow maned mare. Sure, they’d seen her angry at foiled schemes, or mad at being captured, but never had they seen the villainess seeth at the mere mention of another hero.

“This is not good,” Mistress Marevelous said. Right after she said that, the Mane-iac leapt up several stories, until she was muzzle to muzzle with Zapp. Her locks wrapped around each of her limbs, and one large one in particular had made it’s home around her neck.

“That was mere beginners luck. He won by a hair’s margin, but that won’t ever happen again.” The Mane-iac had begun to squeeze her hair around Zapp’s limbs, giggling with excitement. “Why aren’t you quipping about that, Zappy~? I’m shocked you’re so quiet!”

Zapp herself tried to speak, but the grip around her neck made it impossible in order to get any words out. Mistress Marevelous herself tried to help her friend, but when she threw her horseshoe at the villain, it was deflected by an explosive projectile from Viper as he began to regain his footing. “You should be focusing more on who’s right here, hero!”

“Ah hay-!”

“I’ll help Zapp, you handle this creep.” Stated Sparkler as she leapt onto a fire escape. The earth pony nodded as she turned to focus her attention on the fire adept while the unicorn scrambled to get topside in order to be able to see where Zapp was and the villain that was holding her father hostage.

Yet, one particular hostage had a lot going through their head in that moment… and it was not the detective. “Horse apples! I need to find a way to get out of this!! Everypony’s counting on me!! I’m too awesome to die right now-!”

“Stop projecting your thoughts in the channels, I’m trying to concentrate. Where did that bravado of yours go, Ms. Dash?” Sparkler rolled her eyes as she reached the top of the fire escape, and leapt onto the roof. Once there, she spotted the Mane-iac on the adjacent roof, clearly toying with the pegasus.

“That’s not my fault! I can’t do anything right now!!” She heard the pegasus think in her head frantically. “Can’t you do something to fight her already!?”

Looking around for anything to use as a projectile, Sparkler’s eye landed on a gargoyle. It was small, and barely connected to the roof. Using her magic, she tore it off its perch and, making a mental note to inform her father about the clear violation of building safety protocols, chucked it towards the Mane-iac.

“Bwuahahaha! You’re so cute, Zapp- blergh!” The Mane-iac’s taunting was caught off as a miniature gargoyle slammed into the back of her head, forcing the villainess to drop both of her hostages as she landed face first into the concrete roof, her tendrils spasming.

Detective Whooves himself just laid directly on the floor, not moving as Sparkler rushed over to check to see if he was okay, leaping onto the same building he was on. Fortunately, he only sustained a few scrapes and was just unconscious, which was a huge relief for her.

Unfortunately, her actions soon attracted the wrong kind of attention.

“You brat!” The Mane-iac snarled, using her mane to remove the gargoyle. Tossing the stone aside, the dark mare stumbled a bit as she regained her balance. “Luck-… lucky hit, foal.”

Before she could do anything though, a pillar of flame emerged from behind her as Viper looked back at the mare. “Mane-iac, it’s time to leave. Boss wants us to-”

“Quiet! I know the plan…” Mane-iac hissed venomously, before changing her tone to the exact opposite, lacing her voice with honey. “Don’t worry~ I’ll make sure to strangle you the next time we meet~! Now hothead, let’s split like my ends~!”

All Viper did was roll his eyes, before pressing a button on his shoulder. After a few seconds, a blue wormhole tore open behind them as Viper jumped in with the mare following behind him. Seconds after they stepped through the wormhole, it closed. Leaving just Zapp, Mistress Marevelous and Esper on the rooftop with an unconscious detective.

“Something ain’t right here,” Marevelous commented.

“Oh really? What gave you that impression?” Zapp asked sarcastically.

“Ya know what ah mean. Remember last time when she formed the ‘league of villainy’ with Shadowmane, High Heel and Long-Face?” Marevelous reminded her companion, “Ah wouldn’t think that she’d be so open minded to work with others after that. Yet, now we find her galloping throughout the city with a pyromaniac.”

“Definitely Summeragi’s doing. They’re making a big move.” Sparkler added, “I can contact the other members of QUILL after taking my father to the hospital.”

“Agreed.” Marevelous told her, before grabbing her lasso. “Zapp, call the hospital and see if they can get an ambulance out here pronto. Esper, wait down below. Ah’m gonna lower him down to ya.”

Sparkler nodded, before taking a leap onto the fire escape, making an audible grunt on contact. After she descended the rest of the way, Sparkler stood below the Mistress. “Ready!”

Mistress Marevelous nodded, making sure she had a firm grip on her rope and that it was tied tightly around the detective before carefully lowering him to the ground. Making sure that she didn’t go too fast while also working to maintain her grip on the rope as she lowered it down enough to where it was within Sparkler’s reach. Once it was, Sparkler reached out with her magic to grab ahold of the rope around her father and lower him the rest of the way. ‘By Celestia, why can’t villains leave their hostages on the first floor…?’

Once she had set her father down gently and pulled him out of the rope, Mistress Marevelous began to pull the rope back up and make her way down to join up with her while Sparkler waited for medics to arrive. After a minute or so, Zapp had come back, followed by the arrival of an ambulance as a pair of EMT workers began to tend to her father.

“Tell my mom and Dinky that dad and I are okay. I’m going with him.” Sparkler stated, looking Marevelous in the eye, daring her to refute.

“We’ll do that, sugarcube.” Marevelous nodded her head with Zapp doing the same thing shortly afterwards.

“Good… and make sure you take them somewhere safe, I’m calling QUILL and MIST.” Sparkler added, trotting towards the ambulance. “I hope this isn’t as bad as it feels…”

A few moments after Sparkler got inside the ambulance with her father, the EMT’s took off to go to the hospital as quickly as possible. Yet, before the heroes could go, Marevelous noticed something pop up on her communicator as she looked to Zapp. “Zapp, let me go inform Ms. Whooves and Dinky. You should go back to HQ.”

“What? Why me?”

“Because Matterhorn’s been trying to contact us for the last half hour and ah’ve gotten several voicemails from her,” the earth pony said, holding up the communicator for her friend to see, “And if something’s got her spooked… This might be much worse than we thought.”

End Strike 61