When Lightning Strikes- The Turn of a Page
Manehattan (Earlier that day)
For the unicorn mare named Blank Page, she was just a pony who was at the wrong place at the wrong time. She was just a pony who worked two jobs, trying to support herself and her son and was coming home after meeting with her sister, Written Word. However, it was as she was crossing the street that things began to change. For one moment, she was just walking past an open alleyway. Wanting to get home to her son, Poet.
The next moment, she was violently thrown to the ground as the sound of a large explosion set off in the alleyway. She did not know what was going on or what lead to this… but all that rocked her mind was hearing one particular sentence being shouted at the top of somepony’s lungs in pure anger and rage. “YOU KILLED MY SISTER!!!”
Blank could not understand anything that was going on as her head began to hurt and her vision became a bit blurry. She wasn’t severely hurt… but the mare was rather shaken by what had just happened. Before long, she looked to see if her saddlebag was still okay. Her sister had give her a special birthday present to give to her son tonight. Thankfully, it was okay… but it was as she turned her head back around that she felt something… odd.
“You’re hungry like I was… Like I am. Feed yourself by taking the power of another adept.”
For a moment, she turned around, looking to see who was talking to her. But since she didn’t see anything, she then thought to herself. “Who… was that?”
“Call me Cupcake… Hehehe…”
“You… can hear me think?” Blank thought, partially scared, but a little startled by everything that was happening. “W-what do you want from me? I-i just want to get back to my son. Please… I’ll do anything if you could let me go back to him… He’s all I have.”
“Don’t worry… Just find another adept, and everything will become clear.” The voice told her, causing her to shiver a little as she looked around for a moment. Trying to understand what was going on. She was scared… but just wanted to get out of here and get to the train home.
A few moments later, she saw a bipedal figure for a few seconds talk to another pony. Only before they disappeared by some form of teleportation. She shivered a bit at the sight of the figure on two legs before they left… yet, it was the sound of somepony else that caught her off guard. “Excuse me, miss?” When she turned around, the unicorn found herself looking at a police officer that was standing right behind her as he soon asked a question. “Would you happen to know about what happened here?”
All she could do was shake her head as Blank looked back at the officer and shake her head in response. “N-no. I was just trotting to the train station and then… the blast happened. I heard some screaming, but that was it.”
“Are you hurt at all?” Blank thought it over for a moment. Trying to think if mentioning what she was hearing was a good idea at all. But then going against it, telling herself that if she just listened to this… Cupcake… she can be able to get home soon.
“No, just a bit shaken…” She said, before looking to her pocket watch and realizing something. “Ah! I’m almost late for my train!! Sorry officer, but I need to go!” Grabbing her saddlebag, the unicorn began to bolt her way over to the train. Hoping that she made it and arriving just a minute before the train left the station. On the way over, she tried to take a moment to think over what had happened in the last five minutes. Processing everything that happened.
By the time they reached Whinnyapolis, nopony was even left on board the train as she got off and began to trot home. But moments before she was able to approach her own apartment… she heard someone call out to her. “There you are… I’ve been looking all over for you.”
Fear began to set in as the strands of fur began to set in as she slowly turned around. That voice she knew… it was the sound of her ex-husband, Scrollstainer. But how he was here was impossible! When they got divorced, she specifically made sure that a restraining order was filed so he could not be within several hundred yards of her or her son. “S-scroll? W-what are you doing here? You can’t-”
Before she could speak, the shadow that was cast because of the overhead streetlight soon emerged from the ground as it grabbed her by the neck and threw her against the ground. Hurting her and making her cough up a bit of blood in the process. “W-what was that?”
“Sleep… Everything will be fine, Blank.”
“W-what are you going to do?” She fearfully thought to herself, “H-he’s dangerous!”
“Trust me, you’re getting home… I’d never lie to you.” Cupcake said in a chilling voice. “Just sleep...” Blank did not know if she was one to be trusted… but at this point, there were no other options.
“Okay…” She said, closing her eyes. Just as the stallion looked back at her with a grin on his face.
“Giving up already? Where’s the hopeful and positive smile that you always put on? Aren’t you glad to see me?” He asked, before attempting to attack her with another pair of shadow like claws. However, what was different this time… was that as her eyes were closed, the smile on her face was widening immensely as she dodged both incoming attacks without opening her eyes.
When she did though… they were much different than the eyes of the mare that Scroll had remembered before as he grit his teeth. “The hell?”
“That’s right, darling… Hell’s here to drag you back.” Cupcake said, grinning as the blood he drew began to form into a projectile, which she sent into his chest. Causing him to fall backwards as he looked back at her with a growl. Trying to use his newfound powers to create a series of shadow like spears to try and skewer her.
However, the mare was able to easily dodge each one of them that was thrown at her… and in the blink of an eye, she was directly in front of him.
“The devil’s come to collect her dues… Heehee~” He felt a hoof enter his chest at lightning speeds. Causing him to cough blood as his vision was going blurry. Only trying his best to somehow hurt this demon mare that he thought was his wife. But an attack at her head at close range, even though it hit her… did not kill her.
“W-what are you?” He said, a bit fearful of who this mare was. “What are you, you monster!?”
“I’m a masterpiece… I’m unkillable… I am… in need of your powers…” Cupcake said with a demonic grin, slowly inching towards the stallion. All that would come next was the sound of a stallion screaming throughout the night as the moon glowed over the city of Whinnyapolis.
When Blank Page began to open her eyes, her body no longer felt sore… but she felt something in her mouth that tasted awful. As she yawned, the unicorn questioned how she was in her home… and for that matter, what happened the other night. Making her way to the bathroom, she used a paper cup to fill up a cup of water as she began to swish the water inside her mouth for a few minutes.
However, as she spat it out… she was startled by the sight of what appeared to be blood in her sink. And when she looked up at her mirror, Blank Page saw a face in the mirror that was not her own. A deformed pink mare with yellow eyes stared back at her, scars covering her face and body.
“W-what the?” She said, thinking that something was behind her at first, only to see nothing. But when she turned back around, the mare was still there. “I-is this some kind of bad dream? Or…… a-are you…”
“I’m Cupcake.” The mare in the mirror replied. “No one else can see me but you. It’s nice to meet you face to face. See? I got you home safe and soundly. Oh, sorry, my image is revolting, isn’t it?” Blank herself just shook her head, trying to think of the right words to process everything as she looked back at the pony in the mirror.
“No I just… when you first came to me… I thought I was hearing things or going crazy…” The Unicorn replied, before looking back at her. “So are you… part of me now? What is going on?”
“All you need to know is that I’m here, and you have a guardian angel looking out for you. A hideous angel.” Cupcake said, smiling. “Now, don’t you have a kid to take care of?” That made her blink for a moment, before turning around and realizing what she meant. She almost forgot about her son, Poet. It was still a little bit before dawn, so she had the chance to get the gifts for him as she carried them with her out of her room and to where her son’s room would be. Only to not find him there.
Instead, she found him on the couch, resting his head against a cushion. He must’ve stayed up, waiting for when she was going to get home, only to fall asleep. But now that she was here… he could finally be able to tend to him. “Poet? Poet honey… It’s me.”
The colt himself squirmed a bit under the blankets, before finally getting the moment to open his eyes a few seconds later. “M-mama?”
“Yes dear, it’s me.” she told him, moving the blanket for a minute before hugging her son. “I’m sorry I wasn’t home in time… I didn’t want to miss out on celebrating your birthday, but something came up while I was coming home.”
“I-it’s okay, mama. I understand.” He replied, yawning for a moment as he looked back at her and kissed her on the nose. It was in this moment that Blank felt really bad for not being there when she needed to be. And part of her inside the unicorn compelled her to try and find a way to make it up to Poet somehow. But how she was going to do that… that was an entirely different question. And something that she needed to think about soon.
“Poet honey, I want to be able to find a way to make it up to you. Is there something you want to do after school? “ She asked, looking back at him as he was pouring himself some oats and milk for breakfast.”
“Nothing really…” Poet said for a moment, before looking back at her. “I just want to be home with you. Today’s a friday, so we get out of school early.”
“So… you want to celebrate today?”
“Yeah!” He said enthusiastically, finishing his breakfast rather quickly before using his magic to place his dishes in the sink. It wasn’t before long though that he noticed something that made things even better for him as he looked outside. Watching as snowy white flakes soon began to fall rather quickly. Getting him even more excited as he raced back to his room to get his clothes for the day.
As Blank Page watched her son race over to his room though, the phone in the house began to ring as she used her magic to pick it up. Turns out, before she could say hello, the automated message at the other end of the line began to speak up. “Hello there students and parents. This is the Whinnyapolis school district calling to remind all students that school for today has been cancelled due to today's unexpected weather conditions. I repeat, classes for today have been cancelled. Thank you and have a wonderful day.”
Hearing something like this though, did not settle in right with Blank Page. With the schools being closed, it meant that it would be much harder for her in order to try and watch over Poet. The only pony that she had as a foalsitter for him originally was out of town and out of the two bosses she worked for, only the one for her job at the local library was okay with letting their kids be there.
It was as she was thinking this though that she also got another phone call on the home phone. Without even looking at the caller ID, she picked it up and put it to her ear. “H-hello?”
“Ms. Page? Oh good, I finally got to somepony I could speak too…” The voice over the phone let out a disgruntled sigh. She knew who was on the other end of the line. It was the stallion in charge at her second job, Rainy Day. She had to try and calm herself for a moment as Blank soon responded to him, but was a little nervous of what he might say.
“Mr. Day? I-i didn’t expect for you to be calling me this early?” She nervously replied. “D-did you need me to come in early sir? If so, I can-”
“Woah woah, slow down there, pagey,” The stallion replied, calling the mare by his personal nickname for her so he could remember her full name. “Don’t jump to conclusions just yet… I’m giving you and the rest of the employees the day off.” The last two words made the unicorn blink in disbelief for a moment. There had never been a day within the time she had been working for him that he had said the words 'day off'. Of course, there were other policies like paid leave, maternity leave and so on, but she never heard him say those two exact words before.
“T-the day off, sir?” She asked, sounding confused for a moment before she heard him speak up.
“That’s right. The snow’s always causing trouble for ponies trying to come to the office to work and just a few moments ago, the heater blew a fuse. Meaning that if you or anypony else came to work today, you would be literally freezing your flanks off,” Her boss explained over the phone. “So until we have somepony come over to fix the heater, you and everypony else got the day off today.”
“T-thank you sir,” She kindly replied to him, “I had just gotten a call from Poet’s school district and they said that the schools were closed for today, so it’s just a big relief to hear that.”
“No problem… Tell the little squirt I wished him a happy birthday. Until then, I’ll keep you and the others posted.” With that, the phone call ended as Blank Page decided to take a deep sigh as she looked back towards Poet’s room. Noticing that he was trotting out and that the colt saw her put the phone down.
“Mom, who was that?” He asked out of curiosity.
“That was Rainy Day,” She replied back. “He told me to wish you a happy birthday and that I’m getting the day off from work. School also happened to call earlier and said that it’s snowed in so no class today.” That… had Poet’s eyes widen immensely in pure joy as he looked back at Blank Page and was trying to withhold his excitement.
“Y-you mean?”
“Yes,” She said with a smile as she nodded her head. “You can come with me to the library today-” before she could be able to finish her sentence, Poet tackled her to the ground in a deep hug as he looked back at her.
“Thanks mom! You’re the best!!”
“You’re welcome,” She said, closing her eyes for a bit before looking back at her son. “Anything for you, dear.”
Aurora sighed in content as she drank a cup of hot chocolate, sitting on the couch in the lounge room while hiding from the cold under a fluffy pink blanket. Not far off was Katy doing the same thing.
“I forgot how good marshmallows were…” Aurora said with a soft smile.
“Same here! The last time I had cocoa was before I was displaced and even then, it wasn’t as good as this.” Katy smiled before turning around to see the pony that was in the kitchen. “Thanks for the cocoa, Saffron.”
“You’re welcome,” The unicorn replied as she brought over a small tray with extra marshmallows, whipped cream and a few other items that they could use to top off their warm drinks. “I made enough for everypony here and then some if you wanted to have seconds later… It just makes me feel bad for Lance though while he’s out and about.”
That had Katy look back at Aurora for a moment before setting down her drink. “Really? Even after Aurora’s party last night he’s still working? I would think that he had to take some time to relax.” She replied, before deciding to sit next to Aurora so both of them could snuggle up and get warm under two sets of blankets.
“I would’ve thought so too and this morning, he thought the same thing. But Masked Matterhorn told him that the police in Whinnyapolis needed help this morning. Not to mention the fact that Lumen said that there was a surge of septimal power there, which could possibly be a potential new adept that might awaken their powers soon,” Saffron replied before looking back at Katy, noticing that she seemed a bit confused. “Is something the matter, Katy? You look a little bit confused.”
“No, it’s just that I haven’t heard of a city called Whinnyapolis before where I was from.” Katy asked, before looking at Aurora. “Have you ever heard of it before, Aurora?”
“Whinnyapolis isn’t a well known city by any means. While Maretropolis is famous for the bigshot heroes like Power Ponies, New Yoke with it’s festering crime, Las Pegasus for obvious reason and other cities, it’s been mostly normal. Hay, even the super powered ponies were fairly bland, only doing stuff every few months, and even then nothing serious. It’s a quiet city.” Aurora replied. “Excluding the events after the Lifewave. It was the city most affected.”
“Yeah, the only thing that most ponies know about Whinnyapolis is that it’s not that far from Detrot and both of them are along the border with the Crystal Empire and Caneighda. Something in which the only thing ponies know about it is that it’s home to hockey and maple syrup,” Saffron added on afterwards… before realizing the full extent of the last part that Aurora said. “Wait… most affected?”
Aurora nodded. “Yes, most towns that were affected were only one, two or three ponies. Cities usually had twenty, thirty, or forty ponies that were discovered. Whinnyapolis’ numbers almost double them, though it’s kept hush hush.” That had Katy look back at Aurora for a moment and also Saffron, shortly before asking something.
“Does Lance know about this? If what you said was true, then I’m a little unsure of what exactly he could be walking into.”
“He should. It was in the police report before I even got my body back, so either Twilight or PPD.” The young girl replied back to her. Easing Katy’s concerns for just a moment as she looked back at them. If Lance knew what he was exactly going to be walking into, then it would be best to have some faith in him. After all, he’s handled situations like this before and almost all the time he’s come back safe and sound.
“Well, if you say so…” She replied, before thinking of a question. “Now… the only other question that comes to my mind is something completely different though.”
That had Saffron raise an eyebrow for a moment as she looked at Aurora. “Oh? Do tell.”
Yet, the question… was one that Aurora wasn’t personally prepared for. “How do you think Aurora should make friends?”
“Friends? Psh, I’ve got you all.” Aurora waved her hand dismissively.
“Aww, that’s too sweet… ” Katy replied, before adding onto her sentence. “I mean outside of us, though.”
“I used to be friends with the CMC, but they’re off doing their own thing.” Aurora replied, shrinking under her covers.
“Hey, it’s nothing to be worried about. It’s just something to think about,” Katy replied, snuggling her a bit more and trying to see if she was ticklish. “Man, with all this snow, it’s making me think of christmas… or Hearts Warming.”
“But… it’s near the end of September.” Saffron pointed out.
“It’s Hearth’s Warming…” Aurora corrected.
“Who cares!? It’s christmas in september!!” She cheered happily while sitting next to Aurora. “I say we celebrate!”
“... You know, now that I think about it, why the buck is it snowing in september?” Aurora suddenly asked.
“Maybe there was some kind of mess up with the weather pegasi or something?” Saffron suggested. “I mean, it had been a bit humid over the last couple of days in Manehattan before I joined the team.”
“Let’s not question the logic on these things. It’ll be too taxing on the brain.” Teal suggested as the blue beetle landed on Katy’s shoulder. “I checked in with Lance a little while ago. Other than the weather, he’s doing fine and should be back within an hour or so.”
“Hmm…” Katy began thinking to herself shortly after hearing that. It gave her an idea for later when Lance was coming back. One that she thought would be fun to do with him and Aurora upon coming back. “Hey, I got an idea… How about we surprise Lance when he gets back with a snowball fight?”
“I’d rather stay inside…” Aurora replied. “I need to take it easy. Mist’s orders.”
“Okay… anything you want to do while you’re ‘taking it easy’?” Katy then asked her, wanting to know if there was anything she wanted to do while they were inside.
“Eat gingerbread men…”
“Have too many sugary treats and you may gain a few pounds, silly.” Saffron teased, using her powers to form a tiger claw before letting it ruffle up the girl’s mane a little bit and tickling her in the process.
“It’d be better to weigh a lot than nothing.” Aurora giggled back. All that did was get Katy to smile a bit more before hugging the young girl as both of them snuggled under the blankets. Suddenly, they heard a scream.
By the time that Lance had arrived in the City of Whinnyapolis, a few things began to circle in his mind. First, there was the fact that it just happened to be snowing today… which seemed almost impossible given how it was only the second to last week of september and that it should be getting closer to fall. Then again, this was Equestria and sometimes, things don’t always to make sense one hundred percent of the time. Secondly, there was the fact that he could sense multiple different septima’s in a short vicinity of one another. Now, he was notified by Twilight and Detective Whooves that Whinnyapolis was normally a city that didn’t get a lot of attention.
But, after the lifewave hit the place, it became the city that was most affected by the wave and Ponies all over town were beginning to discover that they had some kind of special ability every couple of days. Today, he was actually going to meet with one of Detective Whoove’s contacts in the city to see if he could be able to somehow help them. Yet, in this present moment, he was more likely focusing his Septima in order to keep his face from freezing.
Sure, most of his clothes protected a lot of his body from exposure to cold temperatures, but there were a few places that he needed to personally keep warm as well. That being his fingers and also his face as he continued to look for the Whinnyapolis Police Department. It was a bit difficult in order for the Adept to figure out where it is on his own, so he had to rely on Lumen and also his bracer in order to make sure he didn’t walk into the wrong place.
“You have arrived at your destination. Turn right.”
He took a deep breath as the Adept turned to his right and then spoke. “Thanks… But Lumen, did you really need to have to impersonate the GPS lady?”
“Come on, Lance. Since I’m basically just a spirit now and not an actual living being, my options are limited on how I can mess around with you!” She pouted as the Azure Striker began walking up the staircase.
“Try telling that to Aurora before you two swapped positions… No offense,” The adept replied as he looked back at her. “So, what was the name of the guy that we’re supposed to be meeting?”
“Well, his name is Warning Shout. According to the information that Detective Whooves gave to us, he’s been the Commisioner of the Whinnyapolis Police Department for almost twenty years. In fact, Detective Whooves and Warning Shout were friends at the same police academy, but Warning wanted to help those who lived in the same neighborhood they grew up in,” Lumen read off his profile. “Pegasus, silver fur with cobalt mane and tail and a Cutie Mark of a police badge-”
“Excuse me sir,” That had Lance turn around for a moment, looking down at the bottom of the steps to find the same exact pony that Lumen had just described that was wearing a leather coat alongside what looked like two fellow officers on either side of him. Both of them looking rather similar, with the only noticeable differences being the mane and tail color, with one being red while the other blue. “Would you happen to be the individual who goes by ‘Gunvolt’ back in Maretropolis?”
“That I am,” The adept replied as he looked at all three officers for a moment. “Would you happen to be the commissioner? Detective Whooves told me that you needed some help.” That had the stallion look back at him and chuckle for a bit as they began to walk up the stairs.
“So Timey still remembers me after all these years?” The Stallion asked, laughing a little to himself as the pegasus made it to the top of the staircase. “I knew that he and I would stay in touch, but I didn’t think that he would reach out when I needed help.”
Personally though, Lance was confused on one other factor that didn’t make a lot of sense at first. “Um… Timey?”
“The one who sent you here,” The commissioner explained as the two twins soon opened the doors for them. “The Detective’s name when we were still Rookies was Time Turner. However, when he got married, he changed his last name to ‘Whooves’ since his wife was really uncomfortable with changing her last name.” That made a little bit more sense now as they soon walked inside. However, what Lance saw… was not entirely what he originally expected. Instead of seeing a lot of officers at work processing cases and throwing criminals in jail, he instead saw those same officers helping out young mares and colts who looked almost the same age as Aurora.
“This… is what we’re having to deal with here,” The commissioner explained as he looked at them. “These children aren’t criminals, but they have nowhere else to turn to because they’re scared about doing harm to others or harm to themselves.”
“Wait… are you saying that… they’re all adepts?” Lance asked, personally in disbelief. “They all have Septima’s?”
“Is septima’s what you call them back in the city?” Warning asked, before coughing a bit as he went over to his desk and drank a bit of coffee. “Some of the officer’s on the force decided to call them ‘quirks’ since they didn’t really know what to call it at first. Many of them here are roughly over thirteen years old or more… but despite all of them having special skills, they’re not getting the same treatment as other kids their age. A few had even been thrown out of their own schools halfway through the year because everypony was afraid of them and some were disowned by their parents. Though a majority are runaways and foster foals.”
“My god, that’s just horrible.” Lance said as he looked at all the kids that were taking up refuge inside the building. He felt that somehow, this needed to change. They can’t just be staying here and be afraid of what they can do when the gifts they have could help everypony somehow. “I… I don’t know what to say…”
“Well, that’s not all of the problems here. The kids come here… however, the main problem is with some of the adults who gain these powers,” He said, looking back at Lance. “I have hope that these kids can do good things, especially with all the ponies in the city that could really do some harm. The problem is that we don’t have some kind of facility or school that would help them learn what they are capable of. So they don’t fear their powers and themselves.”
That… had a thought run through his mind as he began to think things over. Something like that… would really be important for everypony. Not just these kids… but for everypony who was affected by the lifewave. “That… is a rather good idea… I may need to talk it over with Twilight, but I’m really liking the idea for these guys to have a place where they can learn how to use their powers freely… But there’s one question I need to ask.”
“Go ahead.”
“Is the station the only place where some of these ponies reside?” The adept’s question soon lead to hearing the commissioner sigh for a moment as he thought it over… before finally thinking of an answer to say.
“Well… there is one possible place,” The pony began to speak. “Some of the younger children happen to like getting together at the Central Library.”
By the time that he and his mother had arrived at the city’s central library, Poet was already excited for what was in store. To him, anytime his mother would take him to the library was like if anypony else took their children to a theme park. There was always something new for him to see, some new attraction to check into and new stories to get himself lost in. He knew that his mother would tell him not to go overboard or get lost in the library, but being here was so much fun for him.
To the young unicorn, it was always really hard for him to try to make friends in any particular way… but to him, he felt like the characters in the stories he liked to read were the ones that he personally could relate too the most and saw some of them as his own friends. He even considered his favorite character from books, Daring Do, as his idol. Somepony he wished was real and wanted to be brave just like her.
“Hey, Poet. How’ve ya been?” Poet heard from behind him. The head librarian, Literary Rhyme, his mother’s boss, stood behind him with a grin. She was a lime green earth pony with a golden mane tied into a ponytail and matching eyes. “How’s school been treating ya?”
“O-okay…” The unicorn colt nervously replied, his feelings getting a hold of him before he asked the librarian a question. “How is everypony today?”
“Mostly good. By the way, I’m sure that a pony came in today with a new, extended version of ‘Daring Do and the Sacred Voyage’.” Rhyme said with a sheepish grin. “Been hiding it so you could check it out when you came back. It’s on the front desk.” Poet’s ears perked up at the sound of that. Excitement rushing through his veins as he jumped up to hug the librarian happily. Overjoyed by what he heard from her.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you SO MUCH!!!” He said, before hearing several ponies trying to shush him as he shuddered a bit and then spoke again in an excited whisper. “I mean… thank you so much!”
“It was nothing. Now, I gotta go to work now, but don’t be a stranger.” Rhyme said happily before prancing off. Poet himself, soon heading around to the front desk to look for the book that the librarian had mentioned. Once he found it, he soon used his magic in order to lift the book up off the table before trotting off with the novel while Literary Rhyme watched.
As she watched though… the colt’s mother was trying to get his attention. “Uh, Ms. Rhyme? Ms. Rhyme? You have a caller on line one who wishes to speak with you.” The mare spoke up, trying to catch her boss's attention.
“Oh? Who is it?” Rhyme asked.
“It’s the commissioner of the Police Department… He says that there’s somepony coming over that he would like for us to meet,” The mare replied, using her magic to hand the phone over to her boss.
“What do you want, leadhead?” Rhyme asked into the speaker, clearly annoyed.
“It’s good to hear from you too, Rhyme time,” The pony on the other end chuckled. “Look, I know that things are a little hectic from the storm and what’s been going on recently, but are those children that have been gaining powers there again today? I got a visitor they might like to meet.”
“Honestly? That’s what you're calling about?”
“Well, I wasn’t sure if now was the right time to bring in a member of the Power Ponies. Rather not make things hectic for you right now,” The chief replied. “Ever heard of the hero named the Azure Striker? Bipedal blond guy from Maretropolis? Has lightning based powers? Probably has been in the news…”
“Yeah, I know who he is. But I don’t care. I run a library and a youth center, and if I’ve learned anything about kids, it's that they’re intimidated by people of the law. And just for the record, I have three with me. So don’t go pulling out the ‘obey the law’ crap.” Rhyme grumbled. “I’m sure I know what Lance Walker wants. To make them his soldiers.”
“If that’s what you honestly think, then I’m afraid you’re mistaken. He wants to help. Can you give him a chance at least? You haven’t had the chance to meet him yet.” The officer over the phone replied.
“Look, I’m sure he’s a big shot in Maretropolis and all, but I’m not going to crack because you say he wants to ‘help’. Was he here helping before the kids got powers? No? Then I rest my case. Good day, officer.” And with that, Rhyme hung up the phone. She groaned and rubbed her eyes. “Don’t say it…”
“Are you okay, miss?” Blank Page soon asked after overhearing part of the conversation. “You seem troubled by something.”
“The commissioner want to barge in and swipe some of my kids over at the youth center… That’s the building where I give a better life to orphans and troubled teens.” Rhyme said.
“It… didn’t sound like that over the phone when he explained it to me... Yet, he didn’t tell me anything about the youth center…” Blank replied back. “All he said was that he wanted to have you meet somepony and that’s it-”
“I saw them snatching kids up off the street, from orphanages and foster centers. He’s been trying to get three of my kids for weeks now…” Rhyme groaned again. “This guy they’re sending better not actually think he’ll be welcomed here… I wouldn’t trust the Masked Matterhorn with my kids.”
That had Blank Page raise an eyebrow before looking back at her boss. “Wait… who?”
“Masked Matter- The leader of that super team from Maretropolis.”
“No, I mean… who’s the guy?” Blank corrected herself, before looking back at them.
“Lance Walker… Guy’s insane. I heard he killed someone who was unable to fight back.”
“Curse Walker...” Cupcake snarled.
That though… didn’t convince Blank of anything. “You don’t know a pony unless you’ve met them in person… How about this… how about you let me talk to him and I’ll leave my phone on so you can hear our conversation. If you would like, we could have it outside and away from the kids.”
“No… No point in it, I’ve made up my mind and I’m sticking to it. S’long as he doesn’t mess with any of the kids that the commish wants.” Rhyme pointed to a filly with a black coat and a white mane with a unique pink color to her eyes. “That’s Ebony. He goes near her and I’m kicking him out.”
That… had a few shivers run down her spine for a moment as the mare looked around. “Um… can I excuse myself for a moment?” After her boss nodded her head, the unicorn trotted over to where the private mares room was. But she wasn’t in there to use the facilities… but for another purpose.
“Okay… There’s something here I’m not getting,” Blank said as she looked at the mirror and the reflection of Cupcake was shown. “How do you know about this ‘Walker’ that I haven’t heard of until now? You make this guy sound like a bad person.”
“You met him… When we first met. After he let me DIE!!!”
“Wait…” The Unicorn replied, shortly before jogging her memory and realizing what she meant. “You mean…”
“He let his sidekick burn me to a lifeless shell. If you weren’t there, I would have died.” Cupcake said in a lifeless tone. “And he didn’t punish her for it.”
Yet… Blank had something else to say. “Listen… Cupcake… I know that you and I are different, but let me tell you something. I’ve experienced situations myself when things were way out of my control and I couldn’t stop it. The reason why I have Poet now is because he was given to me against my will, by the son of a b*tch that you had your fun with the other night. His expression when we met that one time… was exactly like mine… I know this may sound crazy… but I believe that when your attacker killed you… that was something that he couldn’t stop from happening. I know that you may think otherwise… but please… don’t judge a book by it’s cover just yet.”
“Letting my killer go without reprimand is okay now, hm?”
“No, it isn’t… and I bet that whoever did this to you… they’re regretting it and are haunted by the actions they decided to take.” Blank said, before calming herself down. “Now come on… let’s go back out there and meet him.”
“He himself murdered two of my family… He tore my friend, the last thing I had in the world, and made her his puppet. When I went into you, I saw no sorrow in my friends eyes because of what he did. I don’t need to meet him for a third time to know he’s not a good creature.” The reflection of Cupcake soon disappeared as Blank sighed. She knew better than to listen to that of Cupcake… but in the back of her mind, she was unsure if… well… if there was some truth to what she just heard.
“Aw yeah!! Great job, Daring!” Poet said to himself, before looking around to make sure that he didn’t disturb anypony in the room. He was close to finishing the book that he started almost half an hour ago as he closed the book and began to carry it with him.
However, as he was trotting away, something soon made a shiver rattle down his spine. “Hey look, it’s that bookworm pipsqueak from class!”
“Oh no… No, no, no, not now!” Poet panicked, looking around for a moment cautiously. He wanted to try to make it to the front desk to return the book. But just before he got there, an extended tan colored wing soon blocked him off as he turned to see one of the ponies at his school that was the biggest bully on campus.
Roughneck. “Hey, I thought it was frowned upon to be cutting in line.”
“B-but it wasn’t-”
“Shut up, I’m the one talking here!” The pegasus smacked the unicorn to the ground, causing the colt to drop the book that he was carrying as Poet tried to get up. Despite the fact that the pegasus towering over him was much stronger than he was as he now noticed the book on the floor. “Oh? What do we have here?”
“N-no… please don’t-” He said, before trying to reach out for the book with a hoof. Unfortunately, that just lead to Roughneck holding his foreleg down with a hoof as the unicorn looked up in horror. “H-hey! Give that back!!”
“Wow… Daring Do and the Sacred Voyage. Extended Edition, no less! Never thought they made those kind of book for wimps like you.” He grinned a little, before opening it up… and to Poet’s horror, looked like he was going to extend his wings in order to tear out a few of the pages.
And at that point… he had enough. Enough with being bullied by this guy for as long as he could remember. Enough with the name calling. Enough with the stuffing into lockers, the dumping into trash cans… all of it! Enough… with everything. “I said GIVE THAT BACK!!! I’ve had it!!” Unknowingly though, that was when part of the hoof that Roughneck was holding down began to glow, causing the pegasus to loosen his hoof for just a minute and out of nowhere… see three physical words come to life out of nothing.
GIVE THAT BACK!!!
“Oh cute, you think something like that is going to save you now-?” Unfortunately for Roughneck… the biggest mistake that he made was when his hoof touched the words in question.
KA-BOOM!!
Before Lance could even be able to cross the final street needed in order to reach the library, the sound of an explosion and also what felt like a small earthquake shook the ground as his instincts were on full alert. “Lance, what the hell was that?! These Septimal readings just skyrocketed a few moments ago!”
“I don’t know, but I got a bad feeling about this, Lumen!” He said. Just as he arrived at the entrance, many of the other guests inside were beginning to panic while one mare was trying to calm the situation down.
However, it was in this moment that the Adept noticed a gaping crack in the ceiling… that was getting way too close to a chandelier hanging above the mare at an alarming rate as he heard somepony scream. “Ms. Rhyme, Look out-!!”
Lance had no time to think before having to jump in, dashing in as fast as he can as the chandelier from the roof began to rapidly fall down towards the mare in the center. It was as he reached her that he emitted his flashfield, surrounding both him, the mare and anypony else that could be hit by falling debris. All before setting the ceiling ornament away from everypony else and looking back at everypony inside, taking a deep breath. “I-is everypony okay?”
“What in blazes is going on!?” Literary Rhyme yelled. Everypony at the time seemed panicked as they noticed one pony looking rather bruised up.
That was when Lance also noticed one other mare walk over to them. “Ms. Rhyme, are you okay?” She asked before looking at him. “Thank you… um…”
“Gunvolt… but everypony I know just calls me Lance,” He told her for a moment before looking at the pony that he believed was ‘Ms. Rhyme’ based on what he heard. “But enough about me. Are you guys okay? Is anypony hurt at all?”
“No, I’m sure everypony’s safe. Oh man, it’s going to cost a fortune to fix this place up!” Rhyme grunted as she trotted over to where Ebony was sitting. “Suppose a fundraiser's in order.”
“Maybe we should do a headcount to make sure that everypony’s here?” the other mare suggested. “Some ponies could’ve ran outside in the panic.”
“Yeah… Where’s Poet?” That… had the other mare’s eyes widen immensely as she turned around and started looking around frantically. After a few minutes of searching though, she came back with a frantic look. “Alright, I’ll go out and look for him.” Rhyme said, putting a hoof on Blank Page’s back.
“Hang on just a second… What does your son look like, Miss…?”
“Blank Page,” The mare answered his question. “Poet’s all I have…” This was all before going into a bit of an emotional breakdown as the librarian patted her on the back.
“Would you happen to know what he looks like, Ms. Rhyme?” The Adept then asked her kindly.
“Yeah… He’s a little colt about yay tall-” She gestured to her chest. “He’s a unicorn, with a grayish white fur coat and black mane and tail… He doesn’t have a cutie mark though.”
That made Lance think a little inside his head… before asking the librarian another question. “Ms. Rhyme, does this building have any form of security camera’s? Perhaps Ms. Page’s son was seen on the camera’s when the incident took place-”
“There’s several around the building, but there is some that have somepony that matches the description she just gave,” Lumen spoke up, which caught Blank Page’s attention. “What? Was it something I said?”
“W-who… was that?” She asked, causing the adept to sigh a little as she looked back.
“That’s my partner, Lumen… She’s someone who helps me out now with stuff I can’t do on my own,” He admitted, before looking to his bracer. “Lumen, what did you find?”
“Well, according to what I was able to uncover… the pony that she described was seen going towards the main desk to return a book, before being cut off by some Roughneck like pegasus that was bullying him. Yet, it was when the guy threatened to try and tear out pages in the book though that he snapped… and that’s when we felt the septimal surge,” That had Lance’s eyes widen immensely in response before looking at the child’s mother, who also had the same reaction. “Out of nothing, some words… yes, actual words, physically manifested out of nowhere and when the cocky bully tried to hit them, they went off like a bomb here and in the panic, bolted through the emergency exit doors. Went running into the storm before the outside camera’s lost sight of him.”
That… made Lance extremely worried. For multiple reasons. First, they were talking about an adept who had just acquired his powers and did not know how to use them. Secondly, the boy could be scared and try to flee off somewhere. Making the task of finding him much more difficult. “Oh man, this is bad…”
“W-what’s wrong?” Blank Page asked, before looking back at him as he began to explain to both of them. “I-is he okay?”
“Blank Page… are you and Miss Rhyme familiar with the ponies that are gaining powers in this city?” He asked them both.
“Yeah… Why?” Rhyme asked, narrowing her eyes.
“That’s the part I’m very concerned about…” Lance told them in response. “This colt… this colt just gained his own abilities and one of them caused the explosion that happened a minute ago. In the panic, he ran out the emergency exit door and into the snow. I’m very concerned that with him being scared right now and that he doesn’t know how to use his newfound powers that he may end up hurting somepony…”
That… just lead to Blank Page getting tears in her eyes, before using her magic to grab Lance by the collar and drag him towards her. “Please… find him! I don’t care about anything else now! He’s all I have!!” Lance found himself in a rather tricky position as he looked back at the mare in question. Something about her gaze just now felt rather… unsettling. But nevertheless, he took a deep breath and spoke up.
“I’ll not rest until I make sure to bring him back… Safe and sound. That’s a promise,” He assured her as the unicorn set her down. Before looking at Ms. Rhyme. “Would you two perhaps know anywhere that he might run off to? Anywhere at all?”
“He likes books, so maybe a book store? I’m not his mother, so I wouldn’t know where he goes.” Rhyme replied. “I’ll make sure everything’s okay here. You should hurry and find him.”
“Alright. If there is anything else that I can do,” The Adept replied, pulling out a card from his pocket as he handed it to them. “Please call me.” He had the cards with his contact number on them made recently just in case there was a situation where he needed to be in contact with someone and they needed to keep in touch with him on a frequent and daily basis. As of now though, his focus was making sure to find this child as he soon made his way out of the area.
Only to find the police chief not far outside. “Hey, what’s going on-?”
“Sorry chief, but I can’t talk now. I’m trying to find somepony that ran off into the storm,” He quickly replied. “The librarian in charge has things all covered here.”
“But would we need to investigate? This could be an act of terror-”
“Look, Commissioner… I respect you, but I don’t have the time to explain everything that is going on right now when lives are at stake.” The Adept told him firmly for a moment, before running off. Shortly after he took off was when he put in a call to Quill’s HQ. “Guys, are you there? I’m going to need some help with something-”
“Breath, Bumblesweet, breath!” He heard Aurora yell, and Bumblesweet hyperventilating. “Oh, Lance! Thank goodness I was about to call you!”
“It’s good to hear you guys too, but I got a situation on my hands and need some help,” Lance replied, before then asking his teammate for something. “Aurora, do you have a map on the city of Whinnyapolis? I’m now in a situation where I’m trying to find a scared colt in the middle of a snowstorm.”
Aurora cleared her throat. “I’m dealing with a lot here, Lance… Somepony… Shipped another head in the mail, like with Cupcake… And it’s from the same address. Only Bumblesweet and I know right now...”
That had Lance stop for a moment. That… sounded impossible, especially with when Ash lost control of herself after finding Cupcake. Was somepony trying to impersonate the same killings? It was something that he can’t think of right now. Especially with the ongoing situation. “Sorry for calling at a bad time, Aurora… Is Bumblesweet okay right now?”
“Well, since Cupcake’s the one who cut her foreleg off, not really.” The sound of typing greeted Lance’s ears. “Alright, I have the map and am sending it to your phone. Anything specific?”
“Yeah, but first, for the packages you recieved, hide them under my bed in my room for the time being,” The Adept explained as he checked his bracer and used his powers to warp to a nearby rooftop as he continued to survey the area. “I’ll help you guys with that situation once I’m immediately back at HQ… Also, in regards to specifics, I want you to pinpoint any possible parks, bookstores or recreational centers in the area. The Adept I’m trying to find right now is not like other ones we’ve come across before.”
“Alright… There’s twenty bookstores across the city, but only a couple nearby. As for parks, there’s one half a mile east of your location and as for the latter, there are a few scattered around. I’ll mark them on the map. Brown for book, green for park and red for recreation.” Aurora explained specifically as the icons began to appear on the adept’s bracer. He only looked at it for a few minutes before hearing another voice.
“I’m sorry for interrupting, Ms. Aurora, but I have a question on the current subject,” He heard Teal speak up as the sound of him softly landing next to the keyboard was heard over the call. “What do you mean exactly when you say that this adept is not one you’ve come across before?”
“Well for one thing, he’s just as young as Aurora,” Lance replied on the matter, and heard someone doing a spit take. He heard Aurora coughing and hacking, saying something about how it was up her nose. “Second, his powers aren’t like anything I’ve come across before and may be extra dangerous. Third, when Lumen and I saw camera footage of the colt in question, he looked scared out of his mind and took off without a second thought. I want to find him and find a way to comfort him so he isn’t afraid of his abilities.”
“And those abilities are?” Teal then asked.
“Well first… let me send the footage from the camera’s so you can see who we are talking about,” As the Adept said that, he raced over to a nearby rooftop and pressed a few buttons on a holographic screen in order to send them to HQ. “Second… from what Lumen and I know so far, his powers revolve around words, and this colt loves books.”
“Words?” The beetle asked in response, questioning it for a moment. “How in the world can words be a power?”
“If I may chime in,” The Adept now heard Lumen speak up as she softly sat down on Lance’s shoulder. “It seems like Poet, the colt we’re talking about, has a Septima that allows him to generate letter constructs and then use the words he makes to create attacks. Whether it’s by sheer will is not likely, since this instance seems to be based on emotions right now. When he unlocked his powers, it was when he was being bullied by another pony.”
“Lumen, you can’t rule out will power just because emotions were involved. They can make abilities unstable.” Aurora added simply, continuously clearing her throat. “Lance, I think you should let me try to reason with Poet.”
“That was my original plan… though, my concern is trying to find him. The commissioner told me that not everypony who has a septima here uses it for good purposes… And I want to find him before anypony else does.” The Adept replied.
“... Lance, you don’t need the commissioner to state the obvious, and then repeat that stupidity to me.” Aurora said, unamused. “You said he’s scared, right? Try not to assume the worst. Innocent until proven guilty, right? Let me come over, it’ll be less than a minute, Spike’s been working on Spanner’s old teleporter, so… Just fine him and wait for me.”
“Got it. Dress warmly though, the snow’s picking up here.” He replied back, before finishing the call. By the time he began looking around at any of the bookstores that were close to his location, several of them were either already closed because of the snow or had not seen anypony like Poet when he talked with the manager. The park was too far away for him since it was in the complete opposite direction and he could not turn all the way back now.
It was just as he was in the vicinity of one of the first recreational centers though that he got a call back from Aurora again. “Here… Call me when you find the kid.”
“That’s what I’m trying to do, but the bookstores are a bust,” He replied back. “Most parks are in the opposite direction and I’m heading to the closest rec center right-” He stopped for a moment once he heard the sound of what sounded like crying at he turned towards an alleyway that he had almost overlooked. “Hold on… I think I found something… I’m at 10th Avenue and Woolshire St.” After that, he finished up the call and slowly approached the alleyway as the sound of tears became a bit louder. However, as he got closer to the source of the sound, he also heard what sounded like shivering… which made him rather concerned because he was worried that this colt would freeze if he was out too long.
He slowly peeked around the corner… only to find the colt that they were looking for was on his own. Cold and lonely as the adept gasped for a moment. “Aurora… I think I found him.”
“I’ll be there in a bit. Try to calm him down!” And Aurora hung up. Leaving him with not many options as he tried to slowly approach the colt. Yet, the sound of snow breaking down beneath his feet caused the colt’s head to move upward as now stared directly at him. Eyes wide open as he tried scooting away from him.
“W-who are you?” He weakly spoke, while Lance tried to get down on his level. “A-are you with the p-police?”
“No, but I did meet your mother,” The Adept told him as he sat down closer to the colt. “She’s worried about you… and I promised to make sure you were okay…” He was trying to do his best in order to comfort and calm Poet. However, what the colt said next threw him off guard.
“... Are you afraid of me?” That… caught Lance by surprise. He did not know how to respond at all to that… or when the colt kept on speaking. “Everypony at the library… they screamed and ran away… But I didn’t do anything wrong. I…… I’m afraid of me. Are you afraid of me?”
Around that moment was when Aurora finally caught up with Lance… and when Poet saw her, he shivered in fright. “W-who is she?”
“I’m Aurora.” Aurora said as she walked over and knelt down. “You can go, Lance.” Lance himself was unsure at first, but then nodded as he decided to step out to the entrance of the alleyway. Far enough so he could still hear them, but also give them some personal space. Leaving Aurora with the nervous and scared colt. “I know what you’re going through. When I learned about my own powers, I was terrified. Of what others would think, and what could I do to them to scare them.”
“Y-you’re not… afraid of me?” He asked, sounding confused and scared.
“No. Should I be? Do you intend to harm me?” Aurora asked.
“N-no… I don’t-” He said at first, sounding even more frustrated and upset. “I don’t even know why this is happening! What is wrong with me?!” When he said that, the words ‘Sadness’ could be seen hanging over him, raining down ‘tears’. Yes… Aurora was seeing the actual word pouring out over him before evaporating like water.
“Trust me. This is the worst of it. Find what makes your ability activate and control it. Or calm it down.” Aurora said gently. “I could jump out of my body and take over an object, and I controlled it. You can too.”
“I… think of something in my head and sometimes say something and… this happens…” Poet then softly spoke, slowly calming himself down as the cloud and the words from before fade away. Upon realizing it though, was when a look of shock appeared on his face. “I-it worked?”
“I suppose it is controlled by emotion. Don’t let your emotions control you, but don’t suppress them. You’re going to be fine, Poet.” Aurora said. “Now, your mother’s worried about you. We better get you back to her.”
“W-wait…” he said, looking nervous for a moment before asking something. “Can… can you…” For a moment, there was a brief blush on his face, before then asking a question that she didn’t expect. “Can you be my friend?”
“Of course. As long as you be mine.” Aurora replied with a smile. That… made Poet feel so happy to the point that he almost jumped onto Aurora. Hugging her to the point that it felt like her arms were in a vice grip.
“Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!!!” He cheerfully replied. “I’ve never had any friends before, so I’m happy that you are my first!”
Aurora laughed at that. “You’re mine too! Excluding family friends, of course.” Lance could not be happier for them. Yet, even he did not expect for the little colt to have a few words pop out of nowhere, which had the question ‘Can Spikey be my friend too?’
“We’ll see…” Aurora added. “He’s calmed down now, Lance!”
Lance felt good that the situation was under control and that Poet was okay. He was a little worried about not getting to him in time before something bad happened.
Unfortunately though… just a few blocks away… something bad was already starting to unfold. “Hey, OPEN UP!! Whinnyapolis Police! We have a warrant so get out here!”
“Lance, I’m having a bad feeling about these guys…” Lumen muttered before Lance looked at both Aurora and Poet. “I don’t think they are who they say they are. They give me the creeps.” At that though, the Azure Striker looked back at Aurora and Poet as they heard what was going on.
“Aurora, we need to find a place to lay low. We’re in a really bad spot right now,” The Adept replied, before looking at his bracer and seeing a red icon only several feet away. Unfortunately, it was the same one that those ponies were at around the front of the building.
“Lance, there’s a back entrance to the building that’s being held by an electronic lock,” they heard Lumen speak up. “If you can sneak over there without being seen, I can let you inside.”
“Lumen, that’s breaking and entering. Are you sure that’s the only choice we have right now?” Lance asked, before looking at his bracer.
“Not entirely… Oh hang on a second, I just found something… The owner of the rec center is… Miss Literary Rhyme-”
“M-ms. Rhyme?” Poet then said, upon hearing the name. “You mean the Library Mare? And who said that?”
“She’s a friend. Wait, Lumen. What are you-?” Lance replied, before shortly realizing that Lumen had taken the initiative to actually call the same mare as they heard a soft ringing sound for a few seconds before the phone line connected. “Okay, I guess we’re doing this now… Ms. Rhyme, are you there? It’s Lance, we found Poet.”
“Would you call off these officers? They’re banging on the door and demanding I give them three of my foals!”
The Adept looked at all three of them before coming up with a response. “I’ll try to call them off right now. My companion Aurora and Poet will be at the back entry of the building. Use this chance to get them inside while I distract them.” He said, before turning to Aurora. “You ready?”
“What-? No! I don’t have my powers anymore! Remember!?” Aurora shot back, glaring at Lance.
“No, it isn’t that…” Lance replied. “Ms. Rhyme should have the door open while I’m distracting the guys out front. I need you and Poet to go inside and lay low while I take care of things okay? I’m sure this is some kind of misunderstanding.”
“Alright…” Aurora nodded, before looking for Poet. The colt was standing right next to her, ready to move as the Adept soon walked around the corner, looking at the three officers as he approached them.
“Hey, you three,” The Azure Striker caught the attention of all three ponies as they now looked at him. “I thought the police around here weren’t supposed to be harassing civilians?”
“And just who the buck are you supposed to be, blondie?” The response came from what appeared to be the one that seemed… Normal to a degree. One was an earth pony that was abnormally tall in size and muscle, another one was a rather short earth pony that seemed a few inches smaller than the one in charge. The normal sized pony was a grayish white unicorn with silver like eyes.
“Hey, isn’t that guy from Maretropolis or something?” The smaller one spoke up. “Some sort of bipedal lighting freak?”
“He looks the part, but I’m not seeing any sparks or anything.” The big one them commented.
“Both of you knock it off…” The unicorn then spoke up as he looked at him. “Whoever you are, what is your business here? Can’t you see that we’re doing something important?”
“Oh really?” Lance replied as he folded his arms. “For something so important, you have a hell of a way of showing it… Because I met with the commissioner of the police and he told me that they were offering their place as a shelter for kids with powers, I did not expect for this to be your way of finding them?”
“So you met the boss hunh?” He said, looking at the other two before trotting out a bit into the light. “Look, I’m just trying to do my job. If you can let me do that, I’ll pretend like this never happened, capiche?” That… didn’t settle right with Lance. So… instead, he began to think of something internally.
“Lumen, do me a favor and run diagnostics for a moment.”
“What are you planning on doing?”
“Try to get a facial recognition on him and see if his name comes up in the Whinnyapolis PD’s system.” He replied mentally, before speaking out loud. “Well, if you’re doing your job that’s one thing. But just to make sure of it, would it be alright if I call your boss then? I met him earlier this afternoon.”
“By all means,” The Unicorn grinned. “I’m Officer Hard Light. These two are my partners, Brute and Force.”
Everything seemed fine for a moment… before Lumen then spoke up. “Uh oh… Lance, this isn’t good.”
“What’s wrong-” Before he could be able to contact anyone, what seemed like a laser blast flew right past his ear as he looked back at them. And all he could see was a menacing grin on his face.
“Former Officer Hard Light…” The Unicorn grinned as the other two soon followed suit. Brute’s outfit tearing to shreds, while Force’s clothes dissolved away like it was burned off by acid. “We run these streets now… and we need those kids to keep the PD off our backs. And if we need to take them off of your cold dead corpse, that would do just fine.”
“Lumen, tell me what’s going on NOW!!”
“T-this guy was part of the police force, but was convicted of excessive use of force against an unarmed pedestrian, was fired for his job and thrown in prison!” Lumen fired off at rapid speed while Lance tried to get out of the way of the incoming attackers. “When the lifewave hit the city, he and a few other prisoners in the Whinnyapolis detention facility broke out!!”
“And I got three against one… fan f*cking tastic-” Just as he heard that, he saw that another blast was coming his direction as he tried to use his flashfield to protect himself. Unfortunately though, it did not help at all as the blast clipped his shoulder and left him in pain.
Which… made the unicorn grin as he looked back at the hero and began to charge more of his power. “If your only talent is running around… then you don’t stand a chance.”
End Strike 55