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