POP! Pop, went the balloon. Strands of plastic and rubber held tight its innards as they spilled out at high speeds forcing itself apart, splitting further and further until it could hold on no longer. A chilling breeze filled the air. A peppy white pony giggled softly as yet another of her precious balloons seemed to pop for no reason at all, cut short long before it was their time. Death was in the wind. Death was walking amongst the living like a friend would their best companion.

“Tee hee… Your friend sure is a party pooper.”

Another balloon left the bag, and like all the others before it popped shortly after lips met rubber and a hard blow. And like before, it made the pony beside her jump in shock. Apple Eden shakily reached up to correct her hat as it sat lopsided on her head. Her smile was unsteady, hooves trembling as she asked, “Can you please stop… Metty doesn’t even want a birthday party.”

Super Surprise visibly deflated at that request, but relented, stowing away the balloons, “Fine… I just thought it would be nice for Lady death to be celebrated.”

Eden gently patted the air and calmed them, “I don’t think she wants a pity party…”

The pegasus scoffed, “A pity party? I don’t feel any pity for her missing so many birthday parties. That’s in the past. But it would be a pity if I at least didn’t offer her a balloon to acknowledge her life. It is how I show respect.”

There was a pause as Eden looked past Super Surprise and then back towards her friend, “She says one balloon. Just one.”

Super Surprise smiled warmly and blew up another balloon and offered it to the invisible force that was Death. She let go and left it subject to the will of things far beyond her. For a moment, it lingered there, bobbing in the wind before it floated off just a little ways away. While Surprise was watching the balloon go, Eden seemed to be watching something else. The balloon went about ten feet away before Eden called out to it, “Bye Metty! I will see you tonight. Discord said he would be bringing finger sandwiches and his own special board.”

Surprise blinked at that, turning towards Eden, “Is it tuesday already? Don’t forget, we have engagements today too.”

She nodded, “Don’t worry, if the worst happens, we can just cancel.”

Her friend shrugged, “Right… Oh, and sorrry about the balloons. It was just something I felt like I had to do.”

Seeming to understand, Eden waved goodbye to her friend, “Thanks anyway for trying to cheer her up. She seemed to have been down a lot lately for some reason. But I can’t tell why.”

That made the pegasus shrug, “I guess there are some things not even mediums like you could understand.”

Eden nodded in agreement, “Right, anyway, I must be off. See you later.”

Left alone, Surprise sighed and started wandering aimlessly.

“Aimlessly, you and I both know I am not wandering aimlessly.”

Surprise, now is not the time to talk with me. There is still more to tell.

Surprise smirked and stated bluntly, “I need to go see what the others are doing, aren’t I? For the big party?”

Actually Surprise, there has been a rewrite to the script. The screenwriter changed their mind.

“Huh… Well, what am I supposed to do next?”

See for yourself~

Super Surprise reached beyond the ether to pull out what appears to be a screenplay of sorts. What she read there was so confidential, I am not even supposed to say anything about it here. This mere fact alone made the pegasus giggle like a little school filly.

“Oh, are we doing improv now?”

Nonono! I am just adding some detail to the story. Umm… Did you read it all?

“Yeppers. I must say these retcons are pretty drastic, but I won’t complain. These things happen in the medium all the time.”

Right. So can we get back to the story? A lot has happened already and we don’t want you to miss your queues.

“Right. Getting back into character now.”

Left alone, Surprise sighed and started wandering aimlessly. She had some time to kill before her next scheduled party prep and her brief discussion with Eden about her invisible friend’s strange vibes did little to scratch that itch to party. On slow days like this, she liked to keep her ears open and let fate blow her around like a balloon in the breeze.

“I bet you can't go a day without reading one of your romance novels."

Super Surprise gasped. That was Ace, no doubt about it, and she seemed to be arguing with Sparity about something. She didn’t even need to know what the context is, her interest was already piqued as she barely saw them out and about together.

She waved hello and slid into a seat beside them, “Hey you two! What are you two fighting over today?”

Their silence was priceless.

It didn’t take a super genius to know that something heated had just happened, and her sudden arrival made their brains short circuit. Its moments like these that make Surprise really happy she had friends like them. It is more fun appearing out of nowhere to mess with them than it was strangers.

To get their attention, she waved in their faces and stated firmly, speaking as if she had been there the whole time, “You know, you could always settle this like grown mares. Put your bits where your mouth is."

While her friends sat there dumbstruck, she pulled up a menu and started looking at the items listed therein.

In response to her statement, Ace asked, “What do you propose we do?”

Lowering the menu for a moment, she cherrily stated, "Pinkie promise this shit~ That way, your bets are binding and you know exactly who wins and loses."

Sparity raised an eyebrow at that, very much perplexed, "Isn't there rules against using those things so... Liberally?"

The pegasus shrugged softly and leaned back in her chair a bit further than what should have been allowed by most laws of nature and remained firmly in her seat, "I don't see any problem with it. I practically do a new one every week anyway, so..."

That said, Ace and Sparity locked eyes with eachother and nearly asked the same question, "What are the stakes?"

Ace was the first to speak, "No reading any romance novels. Fail and you go to my next stunt show. Don't worry though, I won't ask you to pay."

The hybrid seated across from Ace pondered that for a minute before nodding, "Fine, but you have to go without flirting with another mare. And if I win you have to go out on a date with Dawn."

It was almost comical how much they threw around Dawn’s name in these sort of conversations. Or any for that matter. If Surprise didn’t know any better, she might have assumed he was boneing both of them… But there is no way that could be the case, could it? Sparity kept her cards close in that regard, and Ace never really was all that interested in guys before, so… Why now?

Her thoughts were interrupted by their sudden declaration, “Deal!”

That was not all that caught her attention, however. A familiar dark figure silently waved at her from above, standing atop the rooftop of the cafe. A wicked grin overtook the usually peppy mare as she allowed herself to fall back in her seat all the way to the ground. But instead of simply colliding with the ground, she fell through a hole and landed inside a bright red tube. In her place was the chair she had been sitting on mere moments ago, leaving her friends dumbfounded as to where she had gone.

If there was one thing she liked more than popping in out of nowhere to surprise her friends, it was vanishing just as fast and seeing their silly faces as they try to figure out where she went. But this time, she did not do that.

With those mandated crossovers out of the way, the party mare was all set for the main event! For you see, this mare was not simply Super Surprise, she was also the illustrious superheroine PopCap!

Landing on a pillow at the base of the slide entrance of the headquarters of P.A.R.T.Y. with a spontaneous backflip, she high fived the narrator’s Intro box displaying her name for the first time. Black mask on, set of pop gun pistols strapped to her hips, and tight green spotted spandex suit on, she was all ready for another action filled day!

Sauntering over to the huge computer against the far wall, she cheerfully asked, “Hey Mare-do-well, you doing well?”

The previous figure from the story’s post intro cameo spun around in their chair, revealing the intimidating, faceless figure that was The Mysterious Mare-do-welltm!They shook their head briefly before gesturing to the screen. It seemed that there was some kind of disturbance in Manehatten!

And it was not the usual armed robbery either. Their arch nemesis F.R.E.A.K. was terrorizing some dockworkers and storming some non descript warehouse. To be frank, PopCap didn’t care too much about the specifics. It was another weekly edition of the same old song and dance. Nothing she couldn’t handle, right?

“MDW, I got your call and came as soon as I could.”

PopCap turned about alongside Mare-do-welltm to catch a glimpse of the Ghastly Visage as she phased through the ceiling. The white mare’s grey mane and matching suit was a welcome sight for sore eyes. Once she touched down, PopCap strutted over to her and chuckled softly, “Ghastly! I was wondering when you would put the suit on again. How was therapy?”

The mare looked away, a small twinge of bluish green covering her cheeks as she tried in vain to hide behind her ethereal mane, “My therapist says it is okay for me to work again. I just need to be sure to take my anxiety medication every day.”

Seeming to understand, the gun toting pegasus turned back to Mare-do-welltm and asked, “So… Must be serious if you are calling both of us. What is the plan?”

Normally the heroes of P.A.R.T.Y. operate independently using this place as their base of operation, so any form of joint operations as enough to warrant paying a little more attention.

Mare-do-welltm nodded before signing a response, keeping up with their mute shtick. PopCap had to admit, her colleague kept to it well despite not being the original Mare-do-welltm. That’s right, this Mare-do-welltm is a legacy hero, an ally of justice that passes on the cape and cowl on to the next generation. Now that the narrator brings this up PopCap recalls that The Ghastly Visage is also a legacy hero, just for the sake of exposition.

‘They are planning to lock down the port in Manehatten and to steal something known as the Headdress of Anubis. An artefact from Anugypt that is said to grant one power of the dead. With it, they plan on raising a pirate army to raid the whole coast of Equestria.’

Seeing that, Ghastly Visage’s mane whipped wildly, “The what!?”

Naturally, such an outburst made the two other mare’s jump, as she was not known for raising her voice in such a manner. She was normally calm and composed, very much soft spoken. But when someone messes with the dead… That was when the mare loses it, so to speak.

PopCap tried to grab her as she rushed off headfirst through the portal leading to manehattan, not even bothering to let Mare-do-welltm finish explaining her plan, but the ghostly mare just made herself intangible. To be frank, with her strength it’s not like she needed to do so just to get away. There was likely nopony in ponyville that could even come close to matching her in power.

With her gone, PopCap quickly returned her attention to Mare-do-welltm and asked, “Can you speed up the plot? I have a bad feeling about this…”

‘As you wish. I need you to take out their hench ponies from afar so Ghastly can get in close and neutralize the Headdress. With her unique powers, she should have no trouble rendering it inert.’

“And what do I do if F.R.E.A.K. catches on to us?”

Mare-do-welltm stands up from her seat at the Planner computer and cracks a hoof, ‘I will keep those three busy. Focus on your job and keep Ghastly out of trouble.’

With a mock salute, the pegasus rushes over to take a sniper rifle off the wall. It was non lethal of course, because in this world rarely does anyone actually want to kill eachother. Most of the time it's all about money or world domination! Besides, they were heroes, and heroes don’t kill. Injure and maim? Sometimes, but kill? Not if it can be avoided!

Armed and ready, PopCap leapt through the warp gate to the one hidden just outside of Manehatten. She had a lot of ground to cover if she wanted to catch up to The Ghastly Visage and Mare-do-welltm! Taking flight, she zeroed in on the port, tearing through the skies in a way that only she could. No gadgets, no tricks, just her own natural speed.

Her brow furrowed, rifle gliding from her back and into her hooves as she reached her target. Just out of sight, and out of range of any spells, she looked down her scope to see… Nothing. No ships in the harbor, no hench ponies running about. She didn’t even see Mare-do-welltm or Ghastly down there. Switching to thermal vision, the same thing met her eyes. Nothing…

They have yet to arrive it would seem. But at the same time the lack of any form of activity there was disturbing. Still, she remained at her post, watching and waiting for something to come up. Someone had to kickstart this little party sometime!

But, no matter how long she kept her eyes trained on that scope, nothing seemed to happen. It wasn’t until the sun had begun to set that something very wrong began to make itself known. One of the warehouses had flickering lights within and sparks of conflict! Was P.A.R.T.Y. late to the party? Or did F.R.E.A.K. play them all and get here before them? Either way, she had the feeling she needed to get down there as soon as possible.

Her planner had never been wrong before… And Mare-do-welltm was a marvel when it came to using technology. How could they have been so wrong?

Worry rising, the mare slung her sniper rifle back over her shoulder and rushed onto the scene. If there was one thing this party pony was good at it was making an entrance, and boy did she!

She knocked down the door with the blast of a party cannon, startling the hooligans inside and all of their henchponies. But instead of seeing them stealing the darn Headdress like expected from this warehouse, they had already set up an evil lair, and worse yet they had The Ghastly Visage and Mare-do-welltm trapped in some kind of contraption.

It was here that PopCap realized that they weren’t just here before them, they had been here for some time, and they all just walked into a trap! Using her acute senses she jumped back to avoid a set of wires that would have ensnared her had she stayed there for just a moment longer. As she drew one of her pistols, she used her special ability Bullet Time to assess the situation further.

She saw the Headdress hooked up to some sort of contraption, much like The Ghastly Vision and Mare-do-welltm. In fact, they were a part of the same device. The two of them looked to be in a great amount of pain as they were shocked within an inch of their life. No… Their convulsions didn’t line up with being shocked. It was more a weak trembling, which seemed incredibly odd as The Ghastly Visage can only be touched if she wants to be. And Mare-do-welltm was a robot. While she may be susceptible to shocks, that would never work in the long run.

She had to think, and she didn’t have enough Bullet Time to do that and line up a good shot on one of the henchponies. With the last second of her power she took aim and fired her pop gun at the nearest foe and took cover from the magic blasts that were thrown her way in retaliation.

Pop Gun reloaded her current weapon and proceeded to draw her other pistol. She needed a good thirty seconds for her power to recharge, and she was in hot water. It was at times like this she wished they had brought the other two members of P.A.R.T.Y., but she quickly deemed that a bad move, as bad as rushing in as she did. She was the only long range specialist on the team, and they would have just been caught like the others.

It was just her against… Six? Seven targets? If she had packed more heavily, she might have been able to land a good shot on all of them with one Bullet Time, but the three folks of F.R.E.A.K. wouldn’t go down so quickly.

The weakest of them is Hat Trick, a unicorn with a talent for illusionary magic. He was a dropout from Celestia’s School for gifted unicorns because he couldn't cast anything but illusionary magic... He looked rather smug in that tophat, enough to make PopCap want to shoot the thing right off his head, but alas he had back up. The next one up on the pecking order was a Pegasus by the name of Ravenloft. No one really knows where she came from, but she was definitely terror of the night, a freaky mare that nearly put the pale complexion of the Ghastly Visage to shame. And those fangs, they stand out like ivory keys on an ebony piano. She had all the makings of a vampire minus the blood drinking tendencies of myth… And the last of their organization, the one who unites the freaks is a gryphon by the name of The Talon. Mare-do-welltm explained that years ago he used to be known as a well distinguished businessmen, but after an accident involving some equestrian royal guards he lost one of his talons and it was replaced by cybernetics. Ever since he has been obsessed with bringing Equestria to its knees by any means.

PopCap was not entirely sure why they banded together in the first place, but she was glad that the narrator’s exposition was a free action, otherwise she would have been a goner for sure.

Jumping out of cover, she fired her popguns into the crowd of henchponies as their evil overlords looked on, completely preoccupied with managing the machine that was torturing the two captive heroes. It seemed they were not phased by her appearance at all, something she would be sure to make them regret.

Two more dropped, comically falling over as the corks smack them right between the eyes.

The next shot was a close range blind fire from that sniper rifle, trigger squeezed by a wing. Despite missing, the sheer intimidation of something so high powered being aimed your direction and firing was enough to make her foes flinch.

And right behind cover she went, just in time for another magic blast to whizz by her head, taking a few hairs with it… That henchpony was next. Then that stupid tophat!

Nopony messes with her mane and gets away with it… Nopony!! Without bothering to reload anything else, she loaded up another cork into her rifle and lined up her shot. Time seemed to slow down as she activated Bullet Time yet again. A quick scan of her two remaining targets before the big three were left gave her all the information she needed to make a hat trick of her own..

From one head to another, her shot bounced between them, knocking the two hench ponies out before sniping the hat off of Hat Trick. Flustered, the Unicorn turned away from the Headdress to shout, “Can you not PopCap? We are trying to have a moment.”

Smirking, the Pegasus planted the butt of her rifle on the ground and leaned upon it nonchalantly, knowing full well how smug she looked herself, “What’s the matter, afraid I will upstage you? What’s the trick this time?”

The Talon glanced back their way and silently gestured for Hat Trick to deal with her.

With a sigh, the unicorn levitated the hat back onto his head and walked up to PopCap and sighing, “Just between us, this is far from what I had in mind… I am just here for the show.”

The Pegasus nodded slowly, letting her rifle hit the floor, starting their personal tussle. Shooting him while he was alert was hardly a worthwhile endeavor, as his tricks would only make the shot harder, even for this expert marksmare. Moreover, he is more likely to catch it in his teeth… The showoff…

No she instead opted to rush in quickly and deal with him hoof to hoof. The less spells he can get off, the less he can mess with her head. He had fast hooves, but PopCap was no slouch either when it came to throwing down. A glancing blow to their cheeks, kicks blocked by kicks, a nice flip that wound up with them still landing on their hooves. These two were evenly matched in this regard, but PopCap had something that Hat Trick did not… A pop gun that she did not need her hooves to fire and was quick enough to reload while trading blows.

Once they were grappling, holding each other in place the mare got in one good cheap shot, firing the gun with her wings. As Hat Trick recoiled to dodge, seeing this attack coming, PopCap rushed forward and headbutted him, knocking him to the ground. Once there, the battle was over. She took aim and fired her other pistol at him while he was down, ensuring a knockout.

As she turned her attention back to the other two members of F.R.E.A.K., she noted Ravenloft was unconioucs, having seemingly be knocked out by The Talon who took the Headdress for himself. WIth wicked glee, he put on the silly hat and commanded The Ghastly Visage to attack, “Kill her for me.”

Being part undead, she was forced to obey, snapping her restrains and turning this into a battle between heroes.

“Ghastly?”

The spectral heroine’s eyes were like foggy glass, her mind clouded by her own thoughts and the will of The Talon. Her breathing was shaky, hooves trembling as she threw the first punch. She was fast and powerful, just as PopCap knew she would be. Had she not been the faster combatant, she knew very well a serious punch from her would have left her will a hole in her stomach.

PopCap pleaded with her friend as she continued a relentless assault, “Ghastly, wake up. It’s me, PopCap!”

But those words fell on deaf ears, leaving her with no other option but to fight as The Talon grinned wickedly, “She cannot heat you PopCap. The Ghastly Visage is MINE! As will the rest of the world soon enough. Good bye.”

The dastardly gryphon left the warehouse, leaving the two to fight, but not before Mare-do-welltm got up to give chase. She was a tough old hero, and was sure to keep fighting until the battle was over.

Mare-do-welltm can handle them, PopCap was sure of that. All she had to do was make sure that Ghastly stayed here and didn’t harm anyone.

PopCap just had to keep dodging, keep running until eventually Ghastly tired herself out. A punch here, a buck there, all was going well until the Pegasus ran out of room to run. The Ghastly Visage looked PopCap in the eyes as she drew back a hoof to end the lift of the pony held up in her monsterous grasp.

It was the end...

“I’m sorry.”

PopCap blasted The Ghastly Visage back with an up close surprise. And flashbang balloon specifically made to incapacitate hero’s just like her. She went stumbling backward, getting tangled up in the device meant to suck the life out of her before to power the headdress.

The spectral heroine screamed an unearthly wail, prompting PopCap to shout, “Ghastly? E-Eden!”

She ran over to try to pull her friend out of the mess of tangled wires and save her. Could she be saved? The tension rose as Ghastly went still, PopCap’s heart beating out of her chest as she dragged the lifeless body of her friend to safety and went to check for a pulse under her cowl.

There was… Nothing. Sure, The Ghastly Visage was technically dead in costume, but when she was tangible there should have been something! She should have felt something there.

In a panic, PopCap removed her friend’s cowl and started to perform CPR. As dire as the situation was, the demolitions and firearms expert of the P.A.R.T.Y. has nerves of steel. The ABCs, she had to remember the ABCs!

Airway, she propped up Eden a little to ensure her airway was clear and unobstructed.

Breathing, it was obvious at this point that she was not breathing.

And circulation, no pulse to be found.

Not good, very not good. Normally, she would have called the guard so she could get further medical help, but by nature of super heroing and secret identities, that was not an option. She had to do this herself… After a little time passed of chest compressions and rescue breathing, she felt a hoof on her shoulder, comforting her. It was Mare-do-welltm. With an inaudible sigh, the robot rubbed her hooves together and defibrillated the downed hero a few times.

It was hard to watch, but PopCap knew that Eden would be in good hooves with Mare-do-welltm here. She honestly doubted she could have saved her on her own. For this, she was eternally grateful.

The Pegasus pulled down her own mask and sighed, “Why does this keep happening to her?”

Meanwhile, somewhere else.

“Knight to D4.”

“Bishop takes rook.”

One by one the pieces fall.

“Pawn takes bishop.”

A small goat plays chess with a larger creature. Where death meets chaos, the games truly get interesting.

The goat speaks, “You know Discord, I have been… Worried, as of late.”

“Queen to F2,” The strange creature known as Discord raises an eyebrow at that, “Oh, what pray tell would make Lady death quiver in her fur?”

The goat ponders this for a moment before stating, “What else, but death? Pawn takes queen, check.”

The draconequus moves his king forward, out of the pawn’s range, “That narrows it down oh so well.”

The goat takes even longer to respond this time as they steal yet another glance at the door, “She’s late…”

Discord sighed and drew his opponents gaze back to the game board, “Its your move… And frankly my dear, she is always late.”

The game is put on hold for just a moment as the goat sighed, slightly exasperated, “To one of your game nights, in her own home no less?”

She moved a piece, as did Discord, their little exchange continuing as the war rages on, “She is a grown mare. She has responsibilities… Bleck.”

As much as it disgusted him to say that, he was quite proud of Apple Eden to really be going out there and working hard outside her own career. Oh yes, he knew, he very well knew she was The Ghastly Visage and that she was out there keeping Equestria safe. Just like her family always had. It made him proud, and sick…

“It’s not just her Discord that worries me. The others…”

Discord paused, halting himself from letting go of the piece he was about to place and moving it somewhere else, “Speak your mind Jr, I won’t judge. Scouts honor.”

Baphomet jr responded dryly, “What honor? … Anyway. I just, find it strange that a lot of ponies have their clocks broken today. I can’t get a read on anyone!”

Discord laughed jovially, “Oh? Does Lady death need a timekeeper again?”

The goat growls at him, moving him into check again, “I am serious! I haven’t seen an anomaly like this in decades. It all started this morning. It almost felt like…”

Discord pulled himself out of check yet again and said, “Someone gave the hand of fate a papercut and its moving to avoid the pain?”

She relented, “Yes… I… Think I am starting to believe again. As crazy as it sounds, maybe Twilight and her friends were right, either I am losing my touch, or someone pulled the wool over my eyes.”

Check yet again, “I used to be so certain of how things worked, but the more I look into this world, this future, the more I am convinced there is more going on behind the scenes. Like, maybe not everyone's fates were so clear cut."

Discord places his final piece down and declares, “Checkmate.”

The draconequus just won fair and square, and Baphomet jr was in disbelief. Jaw agape, she could only watch as Discord slithers to his feet and says, “Maybe what you need is to look at all the pieces, not just the ones left on the board before making any conclusions. You lost focus."

When she looked at the board again, she saw that while she had him in check yet again, his last move had her in checkmate in four places, his hand moved one piece and affected four others, a cross check that lead to multiple discoveries. If that was how this game ended, how many more endings like it could there have been?

Discord greeted Sin slither and Eden at the door and helped the latter inside. She honestly looked like she had some dreadful ordeal.

Author's Note

"Master Raiden, that was Excalibur wasn't it? You know you weren't supposed to use that. Not even to save me. The power to grasp victory from the jaws of defeat, to alter fate, who knows what just happened..." -Lady Turbulent, Lost future Paralogue 4: Victory at any cost

No matter how hard you try, you can't always save everyone. But don't let that stop you from trying. A hero is not always someone in capes and spandex, it could be anyone.

The unseen hand of fate is moving, but where does it lie? See the truth in The Lost Future Paralogues, coming soon...

And sorry for the wait everyone, finding a satisfying ending to the first arc of the story was difficult. The next arc will start with a bang, I assure you and is already plotted out and ready to be typed. However, I do need to ask, should I adapt Chaos Future first (assuming Loveless is finished with the Chaos arc and moving into the next one after hiatus is over), begin the Lost Future paralogues, or jump right into the next arc? I am curious to know what you guys think. Please leave a comment with your thoughts, otherwise I will just begin the next arc.