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// Strike 54- When Angels Fall 
// Story: When lightning strikes... 
// by FrostTheWolf 
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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