When Lightning Strikes- Looking Back to Go Forward
QUILL HQ (Some time earlier)
Around the time that Aurora had left in order to go find Lance was the same time that Cody, one of Lance’s closest friends, stopped by in order to see if his friend was still actually home. To Katy, this was the perfect opportunity for her to not only strike up a conversation with one of his closest friends, but also to try and get to learn more about him and also understand him a little more about the Adept if they were going to get the chance to be both teammates and also friends.
However… for another pony on QUILL, their mindset was a lot different. That pony in particular was actually Saffron. Who had a package specifically sent to her… and somehow knew the address of QUILL’s HQ. Something that she had not told anypony. Not even her father knew. So what did they exactly have for her? There was a side of her that didn’t want to know the answer to that question, because the last time a strange package was sent, it lead to Ash turning one of her friends to cinders before she could do anything to help her.
But what was surprising was that this package for her… wasn’t any parcel or anything like that… But a Manila folder. One that had ‘TOP SECRET’ emblazoned in blood red ink and also contained a series of papers inside. Ones that… upon reading the top of the page… almost made her partially shiver.
Subject: Cupcake
At first… Saffron was unsure about what to do with something like this… but it was when she began to read that it was more that just paper reports that she found… there was also a CD. Something that could’ve been used to store something on a computer monitor. The unicorn first started reading the doctor’s reports and right away, what she looked at almost horrified her. The one who was writing this, who she presumed was that mare named Hailstorm, had labeled in the reports that the test subject, AKA Cupcake, was undergoing some form of treatment. But one passage in the documents really caught her attention the most.
‘Abilities have been upgraded from their original state, including the power to copy the attributes from all tribes, as well as races. Just the other day she killed a Pegasus guard and took his wings as her own. I think she can use a Unicorn horn and absorb Earth Pony muscles.’
“Is that… how she was able to absorb that one pony’s powers the other day?” Vixen asked herself, before continuing to examine the first page of the five page report. The next two pages talked about how she had been changing the more that she had been forced to undergo different treatments to the point that she had taken on what was to possibly be different personalities… and after absorbing the traits of a griffon, Cupcake had developed cravings for meat. It also discussed how she was sneaking out to seeing somepony… and it was something that could not happen. Page four showed that the writer of this report was said to have given more and more of a form of serum, which was blacked out and redacted. But by the tone of the writer, it was being forcefully injected into her with the dosage being increased each time.
It made Saffron feel sorry for what the pony that she saw as her friend… and personally still saw as her friend… was going through. But… Page 5 was the real kicker.
She was supposed to have a child… but she was robbed of the chance of being a mother by the ponies that lived with her. Something that was so horrific that Saffron could only gasp in horror after reading this. “Dear Celestia…” Now though… after reading something like this. There was still something that she wanted to find out. And that was what was on the disc that came with the file.
So, holding it in her levitation magic, she trotted over towards not where the main computer was, but where some of the other computers were that was the labratory used for coming up with new gadgets and gizmo’s for members of Quill. Humdrum named it ‘Spanner’s Studio’ after his idol, Silver Spanner, and inside, Saffron was able to find a computer to place the disc in and find out what was there.
To her surprise… they were video logs. All in a folder that read ‘Cupcake’s Diary’. There must have been hundreds of them that she had done… but in this folder, there were only a few of them. Some that were defined by numbers… others that were labeled as ‘Log [ERROR]’... but still, she used her magic to move the computer mouse to highlight the first one and open it up.
Log 00000001
An Earth Pony filly appeared.
“Hi… Doctor Hailstorm said he wanted me to record myself and say what my week was like… I’m not sure though… I’m used to it and…” Tears appeared at the edges of her eyes, “I… Killed somepony… A filly my own age… Her n-name was Soul Search… I’m so sorry… I wish I could have stopped it, but they kept pushing us and saying that if we didn’t, we’d both-…” She choked back a sob.
“I… I think I’m done today…” With that, the filly pressed a switch near the camera. Turning it off.
Log 30069999
The same pony appeared on screen, but she was much older. She had a smile on her face.
“I met my team today! They’re very nice. Nicer than the doctors and guards, that’s for sure. There’s Equilis, Violet Gemstone, Jokester, and Lash. That’s not the last two’s real names though.” She looked at her shoulder which had a needle poking out of it and blood dripping down, “Oh… Yeah… Practice was a bit harsher today… Hopefully it get’s better though! I mean, Gem- or Purple Mare’s pretty tough though… She’s the perfect leader! Not sure about Jokester, she creeps me out.”
She then scratched the back of her head. “I feel a bit bad for being the weakest… I never really went into many… Fights after Soul Searcher, but doctor Hailstorm seems to believe in my ability to ‘evolve’. I think I’ve gotten used to the punishments though, so they’re changing from shock to… Some other stuff… But I’m usually good, so… There’s that.” She pressed the switch again.
Log [ERROR]
She appeared once again, looking older and tired.
“Hey… I, uh… Sorry, I’m tired right now. This one is gonna be longer than usual…” She yawned, not trying to hide it. She took a sip of some kind of liquid before continuing. “Today’s mission… It was amazing! Well… Mostly… I saw that stallion again! He…” A blush formed on her face. “He was a lot more passionate on this d-date… I-I-I enjoyed everything though! And he said I could stop him! I don’t know what these feeling towards him are though… Maybe it’s love, or something ugly… We’ll see.”
“In any case, the mission today was to go out into the city. But, uh… W-well… We needed to assassinate a target and his name was-” The recording cut out, before returning. “-And when we killed him… I saw two f-foals… I-I-I t-tried to get th-the team out, b-but Hailstorm said no w-witnesses! … G-Gem e-ended up strangling one wh-while J-Jokester s-s-stabbed the other repeatedly-ly.” She sobbed.
After another bit of static, she was staring into the camera, her eyes puffy.
“We’re supposed to be tools… Right? Then why do I feel… So violated? My parents didn’t want me…” She breathed in deeply. “I feel like I… No, I need to be free… I don’t like being a slave… If anyone gets this message, and I’m still alive, please help me! I can’t keep doing this, I want to be free!”
The mare straightened herself slightly before clearing her throat. “Well… Later…”
Log [ERROR]
She appeared, looking more happy than before.
“Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh! I’m pregnant!” She quietly squealed. “I-I took the pregnancy test that Gem snuck in and got a positive! Oh, I wonder what kind of pony he or she’s gonna be~!” She rubbed her still flat stomach.
“If it’s a colt I’ll name him Clover Leaf, and if it’s a filly I’ll name her Willow Wisp! I’m so excited! I’ll have to use Gemmy’s exit to get out for a few months once I start showing. I don’t care what happens to me, I just want my widdle foal safe and sound~”
“Oh, and Gem left too. I think Lash and her hooked up on a mission. She’ll be doing the same thing I am with her foal. Well, she kinda did. Lash says it’s a filly! Aurora’s a lovely name… Wish they didn’t think of it… I mean, I might get a colt but- oh never mind.”
“I think I’ll run away if I can… Maybe Gearbox will come with? Oh, yeah, that’s the father…” Cupcake waved her hoof. “Anyways, see ya next log!
Log 97680406
Once again, the mare appeared on screen. But this time, she glared at the camera, her eyes red.
“I know you’re watching, Hailstorm! You bucking bastard! You said this was private! You killed my baby, so I’ll kill you and piss on your Celestia damn corpse! If you think what I did to the guards yesterday was bad, wait till I find you… You’re a dead stallion…” Her eyes started leaking tar and her voice sounded like multiple ponies, “I’ll have fun with you...”
Log Buh-Bye
The mare appeared again, covered in blood and gore. A blue Unicorn horn was sown onto her head, and two pairs of wings sewn onto her back. Most of the blood was on her mouth.
“Well, guess this is goodbye! Hah! We made it! Hailstorm, I’m coming after you, and whoever you work for. I’ll rip you all apart… I’m getting hungry again. Let me see if anymore guards are around.” She smirked darkly. “My Willow will forgive my failure at protecting her…”
By the time that Saffron snapped back to reality, she couldn’t believe what she had personally just witnessed… and yet, she felt even more bad for her friend upon knowing the things that were done to her, the turmoil that she was put through and all the suffering made her realize why Cupcake had enjoyed being her friend… and now, she felt awful for letting her suffer a fate such as the one she got at the hooves of Ash. She had felt several different emotions just now when witnessing those clips… and all of them still made her feel incredibly horrible.
“Cupcake… if you can hear me… I want to somehow make this right…” She said, before using her magic to put the disk away. She wanted to save this for when Lance came back later, to hopefully try to show him what she had just discovered.
However, it was only that she had just barely stepped into her room that she was beginning to hear the sound of hooves scrambling… and Katy calling out to her. “Saffron, what are you doing?”
“I-i was just putting something away in my room,” The unicorn replied, using her magic to set the file in a dresser drawer and close the door to her room. “Why? What’s going on-?”
“What’s going on? Lance is in trouble!” Hearing that had Vixen’s heart beating as she raced over to where Katy, Cody and Teal were in the command center. “Lumen just sent us an SOS message to all QUILL members. Lance is right now being cornered by three adepts, each one with different powers and one that makes it impossible for Lance to defend himself because it can go through his Flashfield.”
That even had Cody surprised for a moment. “How the hell is that possible? That’s suppose to be his strongest resort for defense.”
“Not entirely speaking,” Teal clarified to him. “His Flashfield can only protect him from bullets and objects flying at high speeds. Energy projectiles on the other hand aren’t as effective. And the main adept who’s attacking him can manipulate Plasma.”
“Isn’t Aurora with him?” Saffron asked, remembering that she had left to join up with him earlier.
“Aurora doesn’t have any kind of powers that would have her be suitable for combat,” Teal added on. “She went over to where Lance was in order to calm down the Adept he was looking for earlier. But this whole situation brings out a second problem.” That statement from the beetle soon had everyone’s attention.
“Another problem?” Cody then asked.
“These vandals are the ones responsible for forcefully kidnapping ponies that had recently gained adept abilities and then turning them over to the police force. If the police chief gets word of what’s going on, which is highly possible given the escalating situation, the officers that would be taking part of these trades might try to attack and kill the commissioner.” The beetle replied. “So we have two problems.”
“Lance with the… triple threat…” Katy summarized, before saying the other problem that her companion was describing. “And the police commissioner?” That had Teal nod to herself, which had Vixen look down the hall in order to see if Bumblesweet was okay, but only finding her shaking up in a corner.
“Okay, so what are we going to do?” Cody asked. Which, had somepony else take charge.
“I’ll tell you what we’re going to do,” Saffron glared at them. “We’re going out there and making sure nopony dies tonight… Cody?”
“Yes?”
“You’ve been working with the police yes?” Vixen’s question had him nod his head in response. “Then you go help the Commissioner. Katy and I can lend Lance a helping hoof. Both of you get ready, I’ll be with you in a moment.” That had the two of them nod as Saffron trotted back down the hallway, back over to where Bumblesweet was as she softly knocked on the door.
“C-come in…” Was the mare’s reply. To which, Saffron looked back at her as she opened the door to her room and began to trot inside.
“Hey… Are you doing okay, Bumble?” She asked, slowly approaching the mare.
“N-no…” The mare said, looking at where her right foreleg once was. It made Saffron swallow what was in her throat for a moment, before looking back at her.
“Do you… want to talk about it?” She asked, trying to comfort her as much as she could.
“N-not really… And Aurora told me to keep quiet…” Bumblesweet croaked. “Spike’s making me a short term replacement until I can make a better one…” That had Saffron look back at her before setting a hoof on her shoulder. Doing what she could to calm her, including using her magic to bring a box of tissues over to her.
“Did you… lose a friend?” That had Bumblesweet shiver for a small moment, only to hear something else Saffron said. “Don’t be scared… I lost one too… and I’m still having to come to terms with it. I-if you want, I can help you.”
Bumblesweet looked down. “Not to sound selfish, but I wish I had a friend to lose. Even before I was a bad guy, I had no friends…”
Saffron was surprised to hear that… but then sighed a bit as she looked back at her. “Then I want to be your first friend…” She told the mare, to which caught her off guard. “I want to help you however I can… and if you want friends, then you got a friend in me.”
“Th-thank you… Thank you so much!” Bumblesweet attempted to hug Saffron, but ended in more of her slinging a foreleg around Saffron’s neck. To which… the mare chuckled, using her powers to have what looked like a lizard appear on the shoulder of Bumblesweet’s missing foreleg as a see through one was now visible.
“Now try…” she insisted. The two embraced each other, the earth pony mare having shuddered in relief.
“Thank you…” Bumblesweet whispered. The sound of footsteps in the hallway soon lead to Cody signaling to Saffron that he and Katy were ready to go. Causing the unicorn to turn back around and look at Bumble.
“You’re welcome… I gotta go help Lance, but I will be back soon. I promise…” Saffron replied, letting Bumble release her from the hug as she had the lizard return to her. “And when I get back, we’ll make sure that Humdrum finishes that limb for you as soon as possible.” The earth pony nodded as the unicorn soon left her room. But not before having a smile on her face and waving goodbye.
“Alright… Now let’s go get Lance out of this mess.”
Whinnyapolis
Right now, the situation for the Azure Striker was not looking good at all. Being blindsided or caught off guard by an adept was one thing… but being caught off guard by three of them and one of them having powers that can almost hurt you? That was not a good situation he wanted to be in. And unfortunately for him, he found himself in that situation right now.
“Lance, just hang in there! I sent an SOS for backup and informed the chief!! Help is on the way!” Despite the reassuring statement from Lumen though, Lance couldn’t be able to actually reply back to her because of everything that was going on. Brute and Force, the two lackeys here… were not only trying to crush him flat as a pancake on the pavement, but also hit him with orbs of acid. And when he tried to tag them with his weapon, the acid coming off of Force’s body caused the tags to deteriorate.
“Just freaking fantastic… I wasn’t expecting a fight, yet when I get myself pulled into one, I’m at a disadvantage,” The Adept replied, switching bolt clips in his weapon. “If I’m going to be able to survive this, I really need to take out that acid annoyance-”
Just as he was about to fire from the air though… was when he felt himself get pulled down by Brute and smashed into a wall a mere block from the recreational center. Someplace that he was wanting to get them away from. What was worse was that as he was struggling to try and stop them, Aurora was witnessing all of this. She was trying to calm the children inside, but things weren’t getting any better the longer he was trying to draw this out as he waited for backup.
Even Poet… one of her newest friends… was beginning to worry. “I-is he going to be okay?” The unicorn asked her.
“When backup arrives… Yes.” Aurora replied.
“H-how long would that be?” He asked, his hooves shaking a little and looking back at her. “I-i feel… like we should do something.”
“I’m powerless…” Aurora replied. She looked at Lance, then at Poet. “But you’re not!”
“B-but how?” He said, nervously looking towards where Literary Rhyme is and then whispering to her. “I-i don’t know how I can help him… I only understand a small bit of how my p-powers work.”
“Stay at a distance and try to get angry… You’ll be okay!” Poet nervously looked back at her, before peaking through the window and looking towards the Azure Striker and the three that were trying to corner him… Closing his eyes for a minute, he soon thought of the first thing that he could think of. Something that reminded him of his mother everytime he would come home from visiting family.
Speeding Train
“Hey Brute, looks like this hero here has nowhere to-” Before the smaller adept could even finish speaking, everyone inside the room could hear a loud shrieking crash like a train being de-railed as an actual image of a train flying off the tracks formed from the two words Poet thought of… and slammed the big earth pony into a nearby brick wall. Knocking him unconscious. “Brother!!”
“Alright, what the hell is-” Hard Light snapped, before noticing Poet in the window. “Okay, that’s IT!! Force, melt that door off right now!! One of those kids is helping this guy!”
“Crap!!” Lance thought to himself. “Not good, not good!!” With his Dullahan clip activated, he tried to fire at the acid adept in order to prevent him from even getting anywhere close to it, but it was blocked by one of the plasma blasts Hard Light had just fired off.
Inside the recreation center, Poet was now even more nervous. “Oh no! Aurora, what do we do now!?”
“Some form of trap!” Aurora shouted. Which made Poet even more nervous… before he got a response from the most unlikely of ponies as a few of the kids inside came over to both of them.
“Hey, why don’t you try tricking that pony outside by having some trick doors?” One of them spoke up.
“Yeah! Like on those old game shows where contestants try to choose which door has the prize behind it. And when they choose the wrong one, they get pranked!” Another one of the kids spoke up, which honestly surprised Poet. He honestly didn’t think that some of the kids inside the recreational center would want to help him, let alone talk to him.
“But how are we going to disable this guy of his powers?” The Unicorn asked, seeing the acid adept get closer. This prompted Poet to quickly slap two sets of the words ‘Trick Door’ onto the wall underneath the windows as he prayed that it would do something good.
“What the hell!? Since when were there three of them?” That comment from Force outside had Poet breath a sigh of relief. Mostly because he wasn’t sure if he was able to actually confused the earth pony that was trying to break into the building. However, the hard part now was trying to figure out what they were going to do in order to stop this guy and his powers from melting the door down.
So he did the only thing that seemed knowledgeable… Ask for help. “What are we going to do now-?”
“Well, we gotta find a way to handle him!” One other pony with a light grey fur coat, and dark grey mane and tail spoke up as they adjusted their glasses. But to Poet’s surprise… there was more than one of the same pony that was talking at once. Which almost startled him at first. “The rest of me is already working on it… Oh sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. My name’s Replica.”
“P-poet.”
“Pleasure to meet you…” He said, before looking to Aurora. Before he could say anything though, that was when the two clones of Replica soon returned to him.
“We figured out a way to nullify that ponies abilities… and it’s with something that we have a ton of in the kitchen!” The first Duplicate spoke up.
“Since the small earth pony outside has powers that can eat away at metal, we believe that it’s possible that he can manipulate forms of acid that resonate off of his body,” The second one replied, before showing Replica, Aurora and Poet something in a book. “Fortunately, there’s a way to counteract it. Baking Soda is used in order to clean up any forms of acid based spills in scientific laboratories, so if we cover that pony outside entirely with baking soda, it could nullify his powers.”
“Thanks guys.” Replica replied, before both doppelgangers disappeared into smoke.
“H-how-?” Was the only thing that Poet got the chance to say before the earth pony replied back.
“I’ll tell you later. Right now, I think our main focus should be the intruder outside that’s trying to get in here.” Replica replied, turning around and facing the direction of everypony else in the room. That was, before turning to Aurora. “Miss? Would you mind if you helped me with something?”
“Uh, sure?” Aurora replied, though hesitant.
“Ms. Rhyme needs some assistance with trying to calm down some of the other kids. They’re getting very antsy and scared right now given the situation outside,” He explained as they both looked towards where Literary Rhyme was. She was trying her best in order to keep some of the children calm, but looked very worried herself. “I’m going to help Poet with keeping this guy out so your friend has one less problem to worry about outside.” Aurora nodded, before heading towards the kids. While this was going on, Replica had used his powers to replicate himself three times as he looked back at Poet.
“I’m having one of my replica’s stay with you so you would know when to pull the trap on him. Until then, just wait here.” He told Poet, who just nodded as the earth pony and two of his duplicates moved into the kitchen and supply closet while the third stayed near where the unicorn colt was. For a moment, it seemed like things were okay… Until the word ‘trick door’ on his left soon disappeared.
“Grr… Let’s try this again then!” They could all hear the frustrated Acid Adept outside speak up loudly, all while Poet was wondering what was this pony going to try and do next. They could hear him outside, trotting over to the second door and trying to open it with no success as that word soon fade away afterwards. Poet looked towards the duplicate of Replica, who was ushering him to stay calm as Poet tried to focus his powers for what he needed to do. He just had to wait for the right moment and get his chance.
And that happened much sooner than anticipated. At first, it sounded like a bunch of snow was being pushed off the roof. But that was followed by the adept at the door coughing and scrambling. “W-what the hell!? What’s this powder?!”
That was the cue for Poet that he needed. Using his powers, he slapped onto the door ‘Trick Door. Spring release Boxing Glove’ as the words glowed. Outside, the acid adept was not able to react in time as a red boxing glove went flying into his face at full force, knocking him out and throwing him into the snow on the opposite side of the sidewalk.
“You did it, kid. Well done.” The clone of Replica replied, before it faded off. But they weren’t done celebrating yet. Around the same time this happened was when Lance himself was trying his best in order to fight back against Hard Light. But the Unicorn himself was no longer holding back after what was done to his comrades. Even going as far as using his plasma blast to disarm the adept and injure his hand.
“Not so strong without your toy now, are ya!?” He taunted. But it was around then that he also heard the sound of what was an eagle as Lance looked back up. Smirking to himself.
Reinforcements had arrived. First, Katy has started to fire a pair of plasma blasts from her weapons as it had the unicorn backpedal just a moment. Shortly before realizing Vixen swooping in from behind and scarring part of his face with a set of tiger claws. “Grr… This isn’t over!” Soon, the unicorn took off, leaving Saffron to look at Katy as she was next to Lance.
“I’m going after him. Help out Lance and Aurora!” Saffron didn’t even get the chance to hear what either of them had to say seconds later as she took off after the plasma adept.
Saffron chased the adept until he rushed into an alley. The unicorn turned into the alley, but froze when she saw Hard Light on the ground, with a pony cloaked in shadows bit into the stallion's neck. She stared at what she was seeing… and in her mind, she thought that something like this was impossible. But after a moment… she decided to speak. “C-cupcake?”
The shadow stopped, and looked up at Saffron. “Yes…?” Her voice was similar, but something was off. So Saffron decided to walk closer in order to see what it was, but the closer she got, the less she was. The shadows stayed put, and there was no way to see through them. “It seems like it’s been forever, Saffron…”
“Yes… yes, it does.” She said, looking back with trying to hold back some tears. She wanted to hug her friend, but could not tell where she was. “And everyday, I keep thinking about what happened… I’ve lost sleep because of it.”
“You didn’t even try to save me… Where’s my body?” Cupcake asked.
“I-i’m sorry…” Saffron said, almost on the verge of crying. “E-everything just happened so fast that I couldn’t react in time to try and save you… W-what happened there has haunted me in my dreams and I want to do better… I’m so sorry, Cupcake… I’m sorry for not doing anything… and I’m sorry about all the pain you had to go through.” Tears were running down her face now as they soaked the snow. “I… I don’t want to lose you… You’re my friend… one of my first ones. You had faith in the store and when I thought we were going to lose everything… You were my light… I’m sorry for failing you…”
“Sorry doesn’t fix anything.” Cupcake said as a shadowy tendril shot out of her towards Saffron.
“W-what can I do to fix it?!” She said, getting struck in the shoulder. “Please, I want that Hailstorm bastard to pay for what he did to you and what hell he put you through and what he did to Willow-”
“How do you know!?” The tendril wrapped around Saffron’s throat tightly. Making it hard for her to breath… but something soon fell out of her suit as she was struggling to breath. It was what looked like a CD in a case… And what Vixen croaked afterwards told Cupcake what it was.
“S-s-somepony s-sent me y-your d-diary… I-i don’t know w-who… but I s-saw it… b-because I w-wanted to understand w-what y-you were going t-through and h-how I could’ve h-help you… P-p-please believe me…” The longer she tried to speak, the more that she was losing air and that her eyes were beginning to roll to the back of her head. Choking on the tendril that Cupcake was using to suffocate her.
Cupcake snarled, before a magic bolt pierced through her tendril, disconnecting it from the crazy mare. Cupcake hissed and trotted backwards, before another bolt hit her in her chest, cracking the shadowy shield around her.
“Back off!” Sparkler shouted, trotting into the alley while wearing a white mask and cape. Vixen was thankful for being free… but when looking at Sparkler, she narrowed her eyes a little. Cupcake growled before vanishing in a poof of magic.
“What was THAT for!?” Saffron croaked as she caught her breath. “I was trying to talk to her! I let myself get in that position on purpose so I could help her!”
“Didn’t look like you were doing a good job.” Sparkler rolled her eyes. “Who even was that?” For a moment… Saffron said nothing… but instead, she just picked herself back up and looked back at the unicorn who saved her while also picking up the disc she dropped.
“It’s personal… You wouldn’t understand,” She replied, before looking at Sparkler. “Lance and Katy are farther down the road and Cody’s with the Police force right now. I’ll catch up in a little bit.”
“What won’t I understand. You barely know me.” Sparkler narrowed her eyes.
“That mare is a personal friend of mine… and despite the things she’s done, I have hope that she could be able to do something good. I didn't want to lose her again… and now I just did.” Saffron replied, before looking Sparkler directly in her eyes. “And despite what some ponies think of her… I know inside that she is not a monster…”
“You think I haven’t gone through the same thing? I have two friends like that, but I’m convinced one would kill me if they had the chance.” Sparkler said venomously. “But I know for sure that if somepony is choking you, they don’t have any redeeming qualities unless they stop. And she wasn’t stopping.”
Saffron continued to glare at her as she sighed. “I thank you for saving me, but now I have to start all over with her again.” Vixen muttered to herself for a moment as she looked back at her. “Though… next time, I’ll make it count.”
“Yeah, you do that, ‘teammate’...” Esper replied, trudging off as both of them went back to where the rest of her team was. And when they got to where the rest of his teammates was, some of them were surprised to see Sparkler.
“There you are…” Lance sighed, looking back at both Vixen and Esper as he stretched out his damaged hand. “You guys okay?”
“Yeah, but somepony else got to that adept.” Esper replied, looking to Vixen. “Dunno who killed the guy though, but whoever it was it could manipulate shadows.”
“Did you get the chance to see what they looked like?” The azure striker asked, looking back at the two mares, but more specifically Vixen as she shook her head.
“The pony’s whole body was covered in shadows. I wasn’t able to see what they looked like at all.” Vixen told him and looked around for a moment, trying to see the other two figures that were with the one that Lance was fighting. “What about the other two here?”
“Both of them are out cold for the moment. Aurora’s inside with a few of the kids calming everypony down.” Katy answered their question as she took off the helmet she had on. “We’re just waiting to hear back on Cody and the Police Commissioner to see if everything's okay and also make sure that those two can be detained and arrested.”
“Wouldn’t be hard with Solace Asylum.” Sparkler added.
“That’s what we were thinking… but our top priority at the moment is making sure the kids here are alright.” Just as Lance said that, all of them turned to see Poet open up the door and when Aurora soon ran out to join them. A few other ponies also came outside as well, including the one that Lance had happened to meet earlier in the day, Ms. Rhyme.
But before of them could say anything else, Poet soon spoke up. “D-do you know these ponies, Aurora?”
“Oh, yeah! That’s Esper the psychic, Vixen, who has the powers of any animal, and Blue Beetle. They’re members of QUILL.” Aurora replied.
“Thank you, Aurora.” Lance smiled, glad to see that she was okay. Before he could say anything to Literary Rhyme though, he soon got a call from Cody as he picked it up. “Cody? You okay over there?”
“Yeah, Detective Whooves and I got here just in time before two of the officers that were in league with that adept that attacked you tried to kill the commissioner. They’re in custody now, but we’ll be over there to detain any suspects you have. Also, Warning Shot wanted to come over there and bring something over to the owner of that recreational center. When I asked him though, he said it’s something long overdue.” That was all that there was before Cody had ended the call as Lance breathed a sigh of relief for a moment. Only to notice Sparkler shaking a bit.
“So… Dad’s coming?” The psychic asked.
“From the sounds of it, yes.” Lance replied back to her, “Though, what confuses me is what else the commissioner is bringing aside from the officers that were going to lock them up…” It was something rather puzzling, but it was only a few minutes later that the police did arrive in order to make sure that they did take away both Brute and Force as Detective Whooves and Copen got out of one of the carriage that the commissioner used to come here.
The detective though, soon looked at Lance and the others… before directly looking at Esper. “Sparkler? Is that you?” He said, before going over to his daughter and messing with her mane a little. “You look too adorable in that costume… You’re not cold now, are you?”
“Daaaaaad… Secret identity?” Sparkler groaned, shrinking in her father’s grasp. “And not in front of my teammates.”
“Sorry honey… couldn’t help myself.” He chuckled.
“So, what are you doing here anyways? I thought you and mom were busy.” Sparkler asked.
“Well, we were. But after a while, Cod-I mean Copen asked for me to come help him out with something with the commissioner here,” He said, pointing a hoof at Warning Shot. “He and I were in the Police Academy together. I didn’t expect for you to be here though.” As both the father and daughter were talking to one another, that was when the police chief soon trotted up to where Literary Rhyme was and also took off his hat when he looked at her.
“Hello, Ms. Rhyme… It’s… been a while,” He said, not sounding overconfident or anything like how Lance saw him earlier that day. “I… really want to apologize… for everything.”
“Really? Well that’s good to know.” Rhyme’s sarcasm dripped like poison.
“No… I mean it… straight and through,” He said to her, just as what looked like a few more carriages soon pulled up. Lead by the two ponies that Lance said earlier. “And I want to make it up to you… Which is why I had Red Light and Blue Light bring all the kids that we have been taking care of and letting them be here… They should deserve a home, and I think you can provide that more than we can.” That was when everypony… all of the kids that Lance saw earlier got out to join him.
“I’d be a bit understaffed…” Rhyme said, glaring. “And after today, I think I lost every volunteer I had.”
“That is why I’m giving you all the donations that we received since we had these kids staying with us and some of my best officers would like to volunteer in order to assist you in raising them,” He told her. “In addition… I want to make a personal donation to you in order for you to use on being able to expand this center and take on more staff.” He said, handing her what looked like a paper slip. Rhyme took the slip… but what she saw caught her off guard immediately.
“Five hundred thousand bits!?”
“Out of my retirement…” The commissioner replied, the amount even shocking all the ponies on QUILL that were there and even Sparkler’s father. “I can’t help these kids… but I can surely be able to help those who can. I was brought up to serve and protect… it’s what I went to school for and what Detective Whooves and I went to the academy for… but I think that with the way the world is now… this isn’t something that no single pony can handle on their own. Which is why I wanted to help you.”
“How are you going to?” Aurora asked.
“Well…” He said, before looking towards the twins as he looked back at her. “I’m thinking of retiring from the force and letting the twins be in charge… I would feel better with myself if I’m doing more to help ponies through what you do instead of intimidate or hurt them. I want to learn from my mistakes… and looking back, things were a lot different back then as opposed to now.” As the stallion finished his sentence, he took his hat and decided to place it on Aurora’s head as he smiled back. “Go ahead and keep it. It’ll keep your head warm, plus I don’t think I’ll be needing it anymore.”
“Uh… Thanks.” Aurora responded, looking at the stallion.
“Aww, you look so cute with that on!” Katy cooed as she went behind Aurora and began to hug her. It was during this though that they all soon heard more hoofsteps as they turned around, but who they saw soon had Poet running towards them.
“Mom!!”
“Poet!! Oh, by Celestia! I was so worried!!” The mare replied, hugging her son as Lance came over to the both of them. The unicorn noticed him and soon, she looked back at the Azure Striker and smiled. “Thank you so much for finding him!! I was worried that he would get foalnapped or hurt.”
“Actually… I think I should be doing the thanking,” The adept said as he got down to their level, the mare noticing the injuries on his hand and some scratches on his face. “If it weren’t for your son and some of the kids inside the recreation center, I would’ve probably been in even worse shape than I already am. Today, it felt like he saved my life.”
For a moment, both Poet and Blank Page were overwhelmingly happy… but then, the tone seemed to shift a little as Blank Page looked back at him. “Is he… going with you? Are you having him come with you?”
Lance personally… did not expect such a sudden shift in the conversation. But that was when he actually asked a different question and checked his bracer. “Lumen? Do you remember that request I asked Humdrum?”
“You mean the thingy that you wanted to surprise the team with?” Lumen asked. “Humdrum just finished it five ago. It’s already back at base along with that Bumble’s new prosthetic leg.”
“Can you send one of them here?” The request seemed… odd at first because Blank and Poet didn’t quite understand it, but soon, a strange symbol began to digitally construct out of his bracer as he grabbed hold of it once it was done constructing. It was a small silver insignia that at first glance, looked like a collector’s pin that somepony would wear on a jacket or bag. But this one too was also glowing. “I had one of the power ponies, Humdrum, help create this. It’s a device that with a simple click, it transports you to our HQ. Another click and it takes you back to where you last were. I was wanting to give them to the other members of the team, but I thought it would be right to give you one first.”
“Poet won’t be safe with them… Haven’t you heard about their last mission, and how a mare lost her foreleg~?” Cupcake asked Blank Page.
“So… I don’t have to leave?” Poet asked, looking back at him with a surprised expression.
“Nope. You can stay here… Besides, I’m thinking that Ms. Rhyme might be a better teacher for you right now than I can.” He said, looking back at her. “But I will be making sure to come back and check up on everypony here okay? Heck, I can include Aurora as well if you like.” It was at that moment when they turned to look at her, they found Aurora not only with a megaphone in her hands, but also right next to the twin officers as she began to holler out a noise while wearing a newfound hat.
“WEE-WOO-WEE-WOO-WEE-WOO!!!!”
“How in the world was she able to acquire a megaphone?!” Katy shouted out in disbelief, trying to cover her ears in the process.
“So… Yeah. I’ll let you stay with your mom and everypony here… But I have a lot of faith in you guys that you will become the next generation of heroes. You like that?” All Poet could do was look at him with a very happy expression on his face, before having his mom lineup next to the Adept as he hugged them both.
“Thanks mom!! BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!!”
Back at Base…
“Okay… just a little adjustment there and aha! There we go,” Humdrum spoke cheerfully before looking to Bumblesweet as Lance and Saffron watched the drake put on the new prosthetic for her. “How does it feel so far?”
“Like I’m controlling a ghost hoof…” Bumblesweet said unenthusiastically as she moved her new foreleg, but couldn’t really bend it or the hoof.
“Alright, well, here’s comes the part that may be a bit painful… I’m going to have to connect it to your nerves. You’ll feel a bit of a tingle at first and then afterwards, it’ll feel like nothing’s there. You ready?” The sidekick asked her.
“Not really, my stub hurts… Just do it.” Bumblesweet said as she squeezed her eyes shut.
“Okay, here we go,” Spike told her, holding down both the limb and her shoulder. The mare felt a huge jolt through her system before the pain died down. Afterwards, the sidekick soon moved up and let Bumblesweet get up on her own. “There we are… With future modifications, we can sync that hoof of yours with your bees. But for right now, it’ll just be a new limb for you. Can you get up?”
“I think…” Bumblesweet said as she placed her new appendage on the ground and put her weight into it. She stood up on all fours, smiling. “It works!” That had Saffron go over and give her friend a hug as she was feeling just as happy for her as Bumble was right now.
“Cool. It may take a couple of days for everything to adjust, so I don’t recommend going into the field until after a couple days of rest,” The sidekick explained, before looking at them. “If you have any problem or need something fixed, feel free to call me and I can help.”
“Thank you, Humdrum!” Bumblesweet squealed and gave the little dragon a hug, however over powering.
“I’m sorry about interrupting your excitement, but we have more pressing concerns.” Sparkler said, glaring at Saffron. It was then that Lance and Humdrum also noticed her, while the dragon thanked Bumble for the hug and proceeded to leave.
“Sparkler, is this about what happened earlier on mission or about something else?” Lance then asked the unicorn as Saffron and Bumble faced her now.
“Why doesn’t Saffron tell you?” Sparkler said dryly. That had Saffron glare back at Sparkler before sighing for a moment.
“And I told you that it was personal. If I told you, you’d just-” That was when Saffron stopped herself… before looking down and trotting out of the room. Moving past Sparkler before going to her room and slamming the door.
Sparkler glared in the direction that Saffron went. “I’m going home. Don’t bother calling me.” With that, she too left.
That… to Lance, didn’t look good as he looked back at Bumblesweet. “What just happened?” Bumblesweet just shrugged while the Adept sighed and decided to close the door. “O… kay. So um… Bumblesweet? Can I ask you about something that happened earlier while Aurora was with you?”
“Um, sure…?”
“She told me that you… received a box with somepony’s head in it?” He asked, nervous about what he would say. “May I see it?”
Bumblesweet froze. “Uh… A-Aurora put it i-in the ‘Time Crawl’... Said it was an old place in the basement where Stopwatch put delicate evidence… She said that it was moved here a while ago.”
In Lance’s mind, he thought that was a good place to put it. So, he decided to change the question a little bit. “Alright, so… about the head… was it of somepony you knew… or just somepony random?”
“I don’t know many ponies… Aurora did a facial and DNA test, so she’d know more about them than me.” Bumblesweet replied. “It’s just… sick…”
“I know… and it’s not the first time it’s happened…” He admitted. “The first one was of a pony we knew as Weeping Angel. Somepony that was really close to that of Sparkler and also another pony named Ash… however, when Ash found out about her death she just… lost it.” That had Lance place a hand on Bumble’s shoulder. “We’ll be here to help you out and comfort you. I promise.”
“Thanks… I’m going to break this leg in, so… yeah.” Bumblesweet mumbled. “Aurora’s at the central terminal with Pinkie.”
The Adept was surprised by that as he looked back at her. “In person or on call? I didn’t hear any giggling or anything that she’s known for.”
“Pinkie’s focused on Aurora… Plus, she’s really showing her pregnancy now.” That… was something that Lance had almost forgot about given the craziness that was going on right now. But as he got up, the adept looked back at the earth pony and then spoke up.
“Would you like to come with me to the central terminal? You know, practice walking on the leg?” He offered.
“Nah, I’ll go outside. Besides, I’ve got a job now. I’ll just get that holoprojector from Humdrum so ponies don’t ask why I have a metal hoof all of a sudden.” Bumblesweet replied. The Adept nodded in acknowledgement as he left Bumblesweet be and began to walk over to the central terminal as he knocked on the door to get the attention of Aurora and Pinkie Pie.
“Hey there… I’m not interrupting anything now, am I? Bumble said I can find you two here.”
“Oh hi, Lancie!” Pinkie greeted him joyfully. Like Bumblesweet said, she was definitely showing.
“Hey, need something?” Aurora asked, leaning onto the console. “I was just looking for a potential HQ for QUILL… Window shopping, you know?”
“Right…” Lance said for a moment before looking back at Aurora. “Hey uh… Bumble told me that you placed something new in the… ‘Time Crawl’ I think you called it. Can you bring me up to speed on it?” By that point, Pinkie Pie had to excuse herself from the terminal to find the ‘little fillies room’ and then dashed out before anypony could say anything.
“Oh, yeah. The Time Crawl. It’s one of Gadget’s- or Silver Spanner’s greatest inventions.” Aurora said. “I put the ‘you-know-what’ in it.”
“That was what Bumble told me… She also said that you were trying to run facial and DNA scans. Did you get any results on that?” Lance asked out of curiosity as he looked back at her.
“Yeah, and I got a match, as well as a possible motive.” Aurora replied, catching Lance by surprise as she minimized the window she was on and opened another browser. On the screen was a picture of the deceased stallion, but what surprised him was who was next to him. “Geronimo, a professional rock climber, and older brother to one Tree Hugger.”
That name rang a bell in his head immediately. “Oh sh*t… I remember her. That was the pony that we were talking to when we had the incident with Sassy Saddle at Power Pony Pizzeria. She asked me if I was willing to take up a night guard shift at the place since the last one quit, but with what was going on with the Countess at the time, I had my hands full.”
“Yeah, well, this guy’s not even an adept. Thank his DNA for that.” Aurora stated. “It’s strange… Cupcake was an adept serial killer, so why kill a normal stallion?”
That had Lance thinking for a moment… before he thought of something. “This probably isn’t Cupcake… it could be someone or something else… remember how Sassy Saddle’s body was unrecognizable when we found her? What if it was something like that. Because from what we know right now, Ash burned Cupcake to cinders.”
“I know, but even a copycat wouldn’t mess that up… So there’s motive. Maybe Cupcake had a pupil?” Aurora scratched her chin in thought.
“Unlikely. Her only friend at the time I originally met her was Saffron…” Lance told her, before thinking of something. “Hang on a second, I have an idea.”
With that, he stepped out to the side for a moment and then used his bracer to search through his contacts and find the one pony that he remembered still having… before dialing the number. He waited for a few moments as the call began to connect, but afterwards, he got something on the other end of the line.
“Like, what’s cracking, Mr. Walker?”
“Hey there, Tree,” Lance first replied. “Sorry I haven’t gotten back to you in a while. Things have been crazy on my end since the incident at the museum in Sun Fransokyo. But I was calling about that job you offered a while back. Is it still available?”
“No… I’m sorry. Hmm… My employer does have another location though, if you’re interested.”
Lance raised an eyebrow for a moment. “You mean like a Sister Location? Where is it at?”
“It’s actually right there in Maretropolis. It’s state of the art, like the Pizzeria, but it’s starting to collapse under the lack of manpower.”
“Alright… Hey, is there someplace we could meet? I wanted to talk to you about something that came up while researching on a case.” He said, crossing his fingers and putting his hand behind his back.
“I’m kinda busy… But my employer could meet you. She’s visiting Maretropolis today. I can give you an address.”
“That would be much appreciated,” Lance replied back nervously, before swallowing for a moment and looking back at his communicator. “On that note that I was trying to say though, I was asking about meeting up because… well… something came up while researching a case on a murder and… the victim had ties to you.”
There was silence one the other end as Aurora gave Lance the biggest death glare of his life. “Um… It’s Geronimo, isn’t it?”
“I’m sorry, but it is… I’m sorry for having to break the bad news to you Tree,” Lance replied back, trying to show as much empathy as he could. “But I want to find the one responsible… Would you happen to know where he worked at? Who his boss was?”
“Um… I can’t disclose that. You’ll have you ask my employer. I’ll schedule an appointment for tomorrow, and there you can discuss anything you want.”
“Thank you Tree. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.” Lance replied, before taking a deep sigh and looking back at Aurora. “Well… looks like I’m taking a night shift.”
Aurora gave him a deadpanned look. “For all we know, she could be the killer and you alerting her that we’re onto her isn’t the smartest idea!”
“Aurora, calm down…… For all we know, this could be news to her,” Lance replied. “However… I’m a little surprised about this second location. Have you heard of it, Aurora?”
“I’m looking it up…” Aurora’s fingers had been working ever since he began the call. “It seems there are three locations. A shut down one in Maretropolis, the one we went to, and the location they must’ve meant, which is meant to ship animatronics out to parties.”
“Like a warehouse?” Lance then asked, folding his arms.
“I don’t actually know. There isn’t much information on it…” Aurora said, but narrowed her eyes. “Something’s strange about this name on the employee manifest. It seems familiar. ‘Violet Gemstone’...?”
It was when she said that they heard someone trip… and they turned around to find Vixen on the ground. Shocked and surprised. “Did you say… Gemstone?”
“Um… yeah, why-?” That was followed by Vixen going into the room, shushing Lance with a hoof and then looking back at them.
“I’ve heard that name before…” Vixen replied, before looking back at Aurora. “Aurora, could I talk to Lance for a moment? In private? It shouldn’t take long.”
“Fine, fine.” Aurora grumbled as she walked out.
“So… how have you heard the name?” Lance asked. Which… lead to Vixen sighing.
“Well… earlier today, around the same time that Bumble had received her package, I got one of my own. But it wasn’t a severed head… it was files. Files on Cupcake and even an audio diary.” When Lance heard that, he was reminded of when he snuck into where the Suicide Squad was and found the set of files on Equilis.
“Was that part of the reason why Sparkler was upset?”
“Maybe, but I didn’t want to talk about it with her. I trust you more… That’s why I wanted to tell you,” The Unicorn replied, using her magic to summon what looked like a CD as the Adept looked back at her in confusion. “Anyways, listen to this second entry.”
That was when Saffron played it, showing a much different Cupcake as the first part of the second diary entry played. “I met my team today! They’re very nice. Nicer than the doctors and guards, that’s for sure. There’s Equilis, Violet Gemstone, Jokester, and Lash. That’s not the last two’s real names though. Oh… Yeah… Practice was a bit harsher today… Hopefully it get’s better though! I mean, Gem- or Purple Mare’s pretty tough though… She’s the perfect leader! Not sure about Jokester, she creeps me out.”
Then… things began to click. “Oh hell no…”
“What? What’s the problem?”
“If this is true, then the pony we’re talking about is somepony whose name makes Aurora terrified,” He said as he took out the CD, closed the video player and gave it to her. “Saffron, never mention the Purple Mare to her. It causes her to freak out. Alright?”
“A-alright.” Vixen replied, shortly before opening the door and letting Aurora back inside.
“What were you two talking about…? Seriously, I might not have powers anymore, but I’m still apart of this team.” Aurora groaned.
That… had Lance look back at Vixen and then deeply sigh. “Do you really want to know? Because what we found out might not entirely be to your liking.”
“Pff, whatever, I can take a little bad news.” Aurora brushed his comment off.
“This… isn’t little to any degree…” The Adept replied. “Remember when Power Pony HQ got attacked after the power copies broke out? The one that left me recovering in a bed for a couple of days?”
“Th-the Purple Mare…? I thought you killed her-” Aurora’s eyes widened. “Oh… She used to work there.”
“Yeah. Her original name is Violet Gemstone. Same one on the employee manifest you mentioned…” He replied, before looking back at her. “Perhaps I’ll find out more when I’m there. I’m waiting on Tree Hugger to send me an address, time for the meeting and the name of her employer. Once that’s all good, I can probably find out more on the shift.”
“I hope you know what you’re doing, Lance...” Aurora meekly stated.
“Thanks for the words of encouragement, Aurora. I really appreciate it.” He said, before noticing something on his communicator as he found that Tree Hugger had just sent him the information that she was going to give him. “Alright. That seems like everything… I’ll be back in a moment. I need to go talk to Tree Hugger’s employer-”
It was as the doors opened though Lance realized that Katy was directly in front of him, which even surprised her for a moment as she noticed both him and Aurora. “Oh hey there you two. Doing a little bonding without me?”
“Not yet.” Aurora grabbed Lance by his collar. “But I think Lance is due for a tux, so we’re going to check Rarity’s designs!”
“Oh? Why’s that? Is he attending something formal?” Katy then asked curiously, “Would I need a dress for it?”
“No, it’s-” Lance tried to speak up while simultaneously trying to get Aurora to let go of his collar but to no avail. Leaving Aurora to finish his sentence for him.
“For a job interview…”
That had Katy look back at him for a moment, shortly before looking at Aurora. “Oh no, you’re definitely not going out like that,” She spoke up, before looking at the girl that was holding Lance by the collar. “Come with me. Let’s get some real clothes for him.” All Lance could do was swallow any nervousness that he had as he felt himself being dragged across the floor, only thinking of one thing at the time.
How was it possible for Aurora to pull someone almost twice her size? It was something that he was not entirely sure would be answered in the near future. Because right now, all he could do was just go along with it and prepare for the night shift.
End Strike 56