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// Strike 57- The Joy of Creation (Part 1) 
// Story: When lightning strikes... 
// by FrostTheWolf 
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When Lightning Strikes- The Joy of Creation




        It took a little while for him to be able to find something for him to wear that was approved by Aurora, Katy and Lumen herself when she woke up in the middle of a nap to see Aurora and Katy trying to pick out clothes for him, but by the time he was able to step out the door, Lance’s appearance was a lot more… professional than that of his normal set of work clothes. He wore a pair of black dress pants with a matching jacket and shoes to go with it, a light blue dress shirt and also a black tie. Which, of course, he had no idea how to tie it on his own and it took them several times on their own in order to try to do something before they finally got it right.

        Now though, Lance was walking along the sidewalk of Downtown Maretropolis. He had to put the ponytail on the back of his head under his clothes so he could at least look decent when he was meeting Tree Hugger’s employer. It took him a moment in order to find where he was going, but by the time he got to the facility and opened the door, he found himself inside that of a small lobby for what appeared to look like a family friendly restaurant. It was closed off to the public though and the only other pony who was there right now was the mare that was at the front desk. “Sir, I want to inform you that the facility is closed. Unless you have any other appointments-”

        “Hello uh… I was told to come here and meet miss,” Lance paused, taking a moment to read a piece of paper that he had in his pocket before looking back at the mare. “Coco Pommel? Is she here by any chance?” The unicorn at the desk paused for a moment as they looked back at him, before using her magic to pick up the phone and press a few numbers.

        “…… Hello, Ms. Pommel?” The mare said. “Hi, uh… there’s someone here at the Maretropolis location who said he’s here to meet you?” She heard a few things said to her in response, before the mare moved the phone from her ear and asked Lance a question. “My boss would like to know what exactly you’re here for and who referred you.”

        “Well, I was told by a pony named Tree Hugger that the company here was looking for someone who can serve the night shift?” That… had the receptionist shudder for a moment, just as she got back on the phone to relay what he just said. Shortly before finishing the call as he looked back at the adept.

        “Ms. Pommel will be with you shortly. Please take a seat.” Lance nodded his head, listening to what she said as he looked at some of the posters that were on the wall. They were slightly withered, with images of the real Power Ponies and words with various cheesey party phrases. A few had mechanical duplicates of the Power Ponies, such as Fili-Second, Zapp, and Masked Matterhorn. It almost looked like they were looking directly at him.

        Suddenly, Lance heard the door near the receptionist swung open at violent speeds, with a disheveled looking mare now looking in his direction.

        “Come in, come in, my four o’clock appointment was canceled...! As was my seven, nine and ten appointments…” Hearing that, two things occurred. One, Lance wondered if the closures of appointments that this mare was talking about was related to what he just found out a couple hours earlier… and two, he got up from his seat and began to walk over to the open door as he looked directly at the mare.

        “You must be Ms. Coco Pommel,” He said upon reaching the door. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

        “Yeah, likewise…” The mare said halfheartedly, while leading him past the door. “As you probably know, there’ve been two murders at our second location… Which means that the grand reopening has been canceled. The franchise that my predecessor built is crumbling around me… Eheh.” Lance could only feel bad when hearing that. From what he saw in the lobby and from what he did know, this place was more than just a pizzeria for the owners. It was more important than that.

        “I’m sorry to hear about that…” He said while the two of them continued to go down the hallway. 

        “But, I have one more plan! Which hopefully you can help kickstart.” Coco told him enthusiastically. Which, to Lance, meant that she might begin to describe what the job was like… possibly. “You’ll be the nightguard here, and unfortunately I can’t pay you… anything really, but if it works, then we can cut our losses and make the brand global… well, at least in Equestria. Global’s asking a bit much.”

        He agreed with that. When it comes to business, like with many things, you have to start small and work your way up. But with what had happened in their facilities, the deaths of Sassy Saddles and Geronimo had been two major setbacks for Coco and the company. And honestly, Lance didn’t care if he got paid or not. Because all he wanted to do was help her. “Alright. Ms. Pommel, is there anything about the facility that I should be informed about?”

        “Well, I spared no bit in securing the place. It’s an underground warehouse repurposed as a storage and maintenance facility. No cooks, no cashiers, and less manual labor. Only four people are allowed, meaning no pony can sneak in and well… you know, murder.” Coco cleared her throat, obviously nervous about the whole thing. Which, had Lance nod his head for a moment before asking her something.

        “So these four others… are they workers or…?”

        “Two maintenance, a janitor and the day shift.” Coco replied.

        “Do any of them come for the night shift or is it just the day shift only?” He then asked a follow up question in response, curious about if he was going to meet anypony else while he would be working.

        “You’re the night shift…” Coco replied, confused.

        “I understand that,” He replied, noticing her confusion and trying to come up with a way in order to address it while scratching the back of his head. “I was just lead to believe that some of the ponies you mentioned earlier also work the night shift. But again, I was just assuming, so I apologize for getting ahead of myself.”

        It was around then that he thought back on something that Tree Hugger had mentioned previously the first time he met her, which was something he wanted to ask about. “I did want to ask one thing… about the animatronics.”

        “Sure, anything.” Coco replied.

        “When I asked Tree Hugger about them at one of the other locations, she told me that they were allowed to move around after hours,” The Adept explained, recalling the details the earth pony told her. “Is that the same case with this facility here?”

        “Yes, but in controlled environments. Something about old programming bypasses to make things easier, which could harm staff. The bugs are being worked on before shipments start.” Coco responded. That part surprised the adept, but also explained something about what he heard the mare say earlier. Leading him to believe that the maintenance ponies were the ones who do maintenance on the animatronics.

        Which only left him with one possible question. “Would it be okay if I can have a look at the animatronics? So I’m familiar with what’s in the facility before the shift starts.”

        “Sure, it’s actually right this way.” Coco replied, trotting towards an elevator. “We have to take this one down, and then another one further down.” Lance nodded, letting the earth pony guide him over to the elevator as the two of them proceeded to the lower levels of the facility. After switching from one elevator to the next, Lance soon stepped out of the elevator and saw some of the animatronics that were in front of him.

        There were numerous ones all around him. Some in various colors and sizes that ranged from that of a filly to the size of Pinkie Pie herself. 

        “We have Funni-Second, Masked Matterhorn, Funtime Zapp, the new Radialora based on Radiance, who hasn’t had one built until now, and our future mascot, Circus Filly.” Coco Pommel listing them off. “She was designed by one of the founders, but was never put into use and was scrapped. I decided to rebuild her using a slightly modified version of the Toy Animatronics. I was in the middle of finishing them up when Sassy died, and after that our mechanic left.”

        “I’m… sorry to hear about that,” Lance told her in response, before attempting to compliment her when he heard of how Coco was rebuilding the animatronic called Circus Filly. “Your work here though is rather impressive. Are you the designer or do you build the animatronics too?”

        “I implement ideas. I’m creative, but lack the skills to build them myself. I assisted in the creation of the Toy Power Ponies and these Funtime Power Ponies, but other than that I focus on the business end of things. Charity Kindheart was the one who built the company with her partner.” That had Lance think a bit inside his head, remembering what Reaper said about Meadow Flower as he looked back at her. He wanted to ask for more information regarding this ‘Charity Kindheart’, but didn’t want to go off topic.

        So instead, he decided to ask a different question. “Did you know Ms. Saddles?”

        “I hired her… She and I worked on a few things, and were employees to a rich heiress until Charity picked me up. I offered her a job, and well… I regret it.” Coco sighed. “I was assured it’d be safe…”

        “I… happen to know a friend who also knew Sassy…” Lance told her in response, looking back at her. “Do you happen to know somepony by the name of Rarity Belle?”

        “I think I met her once while visiting Sassy and her… mane salon job, I think it was… I don’t remember the specifics. Why, is she alright!?”

        “Well, she is… despite the fact she was originally devastated when we told her. I just thought that maybe she could be able to help you out if you two had the chance to meet,” He replied back to her, “Do you have anything I can give her? Like a business card or something so she could come visit you?”

        “You can pick up my business card on your way out, along with your employee badge.” Coco replied. “I’m glad you’re helping, but can I ask you something?”

        “Sure, what is it?” The Azure Striker asked, curious to hear what Coco wanted to say.

        “Why apply for a job when you’re a superhero?”

        “Well, I want to be able to help ponies out however I can,” He replied, looking back at her as he continued to speak. “I want to do whatever I have to do in order to keep ponies safe… and after hearing what you and Tree Hugger told me, I want to help you be able to turn things around.”

        “Thanks, but there are plenty of ponies who’d need your help more. Either way, I’m glad you’re helping us, Mr. Walker.” Coco said as she re-entered the elevator, with Lance following right behind her.

        “Same here, Ms. Pommel,” He said as the elevator began to rise up. “What time does my shift tonight start at?”

        “Around nine PM.”

        “Alright, thanks,” He replied as they reached the top floor. Making his way over to the main desk so he could pick up the business card and his badge. “Enjoy the rest of your day, Miss Pommel.” With that, he slowly left the room, closing the door behind him as he walked out of the building and down the sidewalk. All while Coco was watching him as she breathed a sigh of relief.

        “You think it’s a good idea to let him take up the job?” The mare at the front desk asked Coco. “Like… after what happened with Geronimo?”

        “Geronimo worked at the first location. Our new facility would have to be invaded by a swat team in order to get in, and if someone bypassed our security somehow, Lance Walker’s a hero. He’ll be fine.”

        “If you insist, Ms. Pommel.” The Receptionist told her, going back to work as she began to organize some paperwork on her desk and let Coco return to her office.



Later…

        “Why hello there, Lance. I honestly didn’t think you would have the chance to stop by and come visit us today,” Twilight replied as she entered the command center for Power Pony HQ and took off her mask with her magic. “And what’s the occasion for being dressed like that? Are you trying to impress somepony special?”

        The adept chuckled a bit as he began to undo the tie that was around his neck. “More likely look professional… My normal work clothes wouldn’t be really appropriate for an interview.” That… had Twilight laugh in response as she looked back at the adept, just around the time that she noticed Reaper outside the door.

        “You? An interview?” She asked, looking at Lance and thinking that he was joking for a moment. “If that’s the case, who were you even talking to.”

        “I’m… actually glad you asked. A mare named Coco Pommel.” Lance replied back as he set down her business card. “She asked to give me that to Rarity after I talked to her about working a night shift at the Power Pony Pizzeria.”

        That though… had Twilight’s expression change almost immediately. Looking at him as she stuttered a moment. “L-lance, you’re not serious now… are you?” The alicorn asked, shivering a bit. “Lance, one pony died there! Why would you-?”

        “Two ponies died…” He corrected her in response. “One stallion was found dead with his head severed most recently at the Maretropolis location this morning. Two deaths, two different locations and both of those cases have not been solved… I made a promise that I will find out the reason for what happened and the only way I can do that is if I put myself in their position. So, after talking with Tree Hugger, who referred me to Coco, I agreed to take the night guard shift. It’s only temporary, but it will help me figure out what’s going on.”

        “Lance…” She sighed, before looking back at him. “I really do hope you know what you are doing… I just don’t… I don’t want to see what happened to Sassy Saddles, one of Rarity’s closest friends, happen to you.” The azure striker nodded his head, assuring her that he’ll be fine as he picked up the business card that Coco gave him and proceeded to head out of HQ.

        Only for him to run into Reaper on the way out. “Oh… Hey, I didn’t see you there.”

        “Be careful… or something.” Reaper said plainly. “I know you too well, even though this is one of the few times we’ve spoken.”

        “Um… thanks?” Lance told him in response, raising an eyebrow for a moment as he looked back at the undead unicorn. “It shouldn’t be too much of a problem I think. I’m just working as a late night security guard for the Power Pony Pizzeria in downtown Maretropolis. You know, with the animatronics?”

        “Yeah, you know that there was another murder that shut the first place down, right?”

        Lance nodded his head in response as he looked back at him. “Yes, I’m well aware… The whole reason why I decided to take the job was so that way I can get to the bottom of this. Rarity deserves to know an answer as to what killed her friend… Though, there was something that I wanted to ask you while on the subject.”

        He took a moment to take in a deep breath… before being able to ask him what was on his mind. “Have you heard of a mare named Charity Kindheart?”

        “Yeah, she approached us to ask permission to use the main team’s likenesses. Started out small before they scrapped the animatronics, built new ones, but there was a murder outside the restaurant. Charity shut it down after that.”

        That… had Lance puzzled. “Hold on… Outside? What happened with Sassy and Geronimo occurred inside the restaurant…” For a moment, he began to think of something else to say… and then asked a new question. “Did something else occur… like before I came here? When Stopwatch was still around?”

        “Oh, this was years ago. After the murder, Charity retired and appointed some mare in charge of the company. Coco I think. And only a few months ago did Sassy’s death happen, at the reopening of the ‘Party Palace’, as I hear it called. I don’t know a lot about it though, I only helped Raindrops with the case.” Reaper shrugged.

        For a moment, Lance was surprised to hear Raindrops being mentioned… but then he remembers that, like with Chrysalis, she was a former hero turned Anti-Hero after getting out of Zero Zone. But it did make him think of one thing to ask. “What did you two find?”

        “We found out who the killer was. The mechanic of the first location, not to be confused with the inventor. Lunatic said the animatronics told him to do it, which is what eventually killed the franchise.” Reaper replied. “Went missing from Solace Asylum a long time ago.”

        That had Lance scratch his chin for a minute, trying to recall something he remembered hearing earlier while talking to Coco. “Was there a specific type of animatronics you were investigating?”

        “We weren’t… We checked them and noticed they were tampered with. And if you were listening, there were only four when the murder happened.”

        “Was one of them on Sunset?” Lance then asked him.

        “I don’t know, you’d have to find Raindrops and ask her… Why? I don’t remember Sunset being on our team the entire time I was a member…” Reaper said.

        That… was when Lance took a deep breath and sighed. “One of my powers is that when I touch the forehead of a dead person, I see the last thing that they see… When I did it with Sassy, the last thing she saw were an armless Fluttershy and Sunset. I was asking because I wanted to know if these were the same animatronics you were looking at.”

        “Honestly, your best bet is to either find Raindrops and ask her, or ask Coco, who might be hiding something. Your call.” Reaper stated.

        “Well, Raindrops is with Chrysalis and Coco lives in Manehattan according to her business card,” Lance asked… before realizing something. “I think I know somepony I can call. Thanks for the help Reaper.”

        Before Lance decided to leave the building so he could go change, he made sure to leave the business card for Rarity as he proceeded to the stairwell that lead to the roof. Once there, he got out his communications device and then called up the same pony that he was talking to a little while ago. “Ms. Tree? Are you there?”

        However, unlike before, no one happened to answer. A few seconds later, Reaper spoke. “Maybe she’s busy? There is one other pony that was helping out, our mentor. At least Raindrops’ and mine.”

        That… was a bit unexpected. But for Lance, he decided to not go for it. “If I go see Time now, then I might end up getting late for my shift… I’ll be working at the warehouse for the animatronics, so-”

        “Time was just as skilled as Raindrops. He wasn’t a mentor to anyone until a year after that gig.” Reaper interrupted him, which was something that the adept did not know about previously. “The Power Ponies had a few mentors from previous teams help. Twilight got the Amorous Archer, Pinkie got the Ponyacci, AJ had her granny, while Raindrops and I got a mare named Amelia Airhoof, who was a pain in the flank… kept breaking my neck for the hay of it.”

        Hearing that… now had the adept say something else. “Wow uh… that’s… I don’t really know what to say about that…” scratching his head now, the azure striker added onto that by asking a question. “Would you happen to know where I can find her?”

        “Yeah, she lives in the cloud district. Been laying low after her retirement from being a Power Pony. She ain’t that old, just gave up her hero cowl.” Reaper added.

        “Like try to blend in with society?”

        “Yeah, after her three attempts at being a hero failed, she gave up. The Power Ponies are an old name, three generations there’ve been. I like to call them the Golden Age, Silver Age, and Bronze Age. The last one’s us. Silver age was her team, but that group disbanded with only three active members around the globe. You’ve actually met the leader of that era. Back at the museum.”

        “Wait… you mean Cheerilee?” He asked, recalling back to the Shabris incident in Sun Fransokyo.

        “Yeah, she was the leader. Started training foals about their abilities.” Reaper said. “She taught Fluttershy and Silver Spanner.” Comet smirked slyly. “As well as Daring Do.”

        “Hunh… Interesting,” Lance replied, before shaking his head for a moment. “Wait, what? I thought Daring Do was a character from a book series Rainbow reads.”

        “Yeah, it’s a long story, but she was brought into reality with a special magic along with a few others. She left after Stopwatch vanished and she started getting sick. I get letters every now and again.”

        That… had Lance blinking for a moment, processing what he heard and then saying something else. “Wow… That’s… interesting. Though, I think we went a bit off topic. You said that Amelia Airhoof is in the Cloud District? Can you show me where that is?”

        “It’s three miles north of the tower and a quarter mile east of there. There’s an apartment with a gargoyle painted red on top of it. Go in, third floor, second room to the right.”

        Lance had his communicator record and track the instructions that Comet told him as it gave him a route for him to travel. “Thanks Comet. I really appreciate the help… Is there anything you want to tell me before I go?”

        “Don’t tell the others about Daring. She’s in hiding for a reason.” 

        The adept wanted to ask why, but instead, he just nodded his head as he proceeded to leave Power Pony HQ. Lance took a couple of moments for him in order to go back to QUILL so he could change clothes before going out and following the directions that Comet told him. Searching through the cloud district as he kept an eye out for the red gargoyle that he was told about.

        Upon finding it, he noticed that the building looked rather worn. The paint on the gargoyle was actually rather faded and parts of it were chipping off as he walked inside. Not noticing many ponies inside as he began to look for an elevator, but ended up resorting to walking up a stairwell when he saw a group of delivery ponies trying to move some heavy boxes up the only elevator in the library. Walking up the stairs, he then counted the rooms, making sure that he counted two rooms to the right… and went to see if there was anypony home as he knocked on the door.

        A grey mare with a naturally white mane and light blue eyes answered the door. She was a pegasus mare who looked like she was tired. “Oh, you must be Lance… You are Lance. Sorry, head trauma from a few years ago… What can I do for you?”

        “You’re… Amelia right?” He asked, which lead to the mare nodding her head. “A friend of mine told me you can help me with something involving an old case… Something that happened at the Power Pony Pizzeria’s Party Palace?”

        “Uh, yeah. What do you need?” Amelia tilted her head.

        “Well… It’s a lot to explain. May I come in?” He asked politely. 

        Amelia groaned and widened the door, before seeing the most cluttered apartment he’d ever seen. “My place is always a mess. Can’t afford to throw it out until every two to three months.”

        “It’s alright… I just thought it would be better to not talk about this in the open,” Lance replied, looking back at her before holding out a manila folder. “Take a look at this.”

        Inside the folder was all the information that was currently on record regarding the Sassy Saddles incident, from seeing how her body looked to be crushed at multiple angles to the fact that the location that this took place at was the closed down Party Palace in Sun Fransokyo. “Does any of this seem… familiar to you?”

        “This is a lot worse than the first murder. You see, an employee found the body of a seventeen year old colt with half his face bitten off and his frontal lobe sucked out. I think, it was missing is what matters. The bite marks were big, so Raindrops investigated the new animatronics.”

        Lance raised an eyebrow at that. “New?”

        “Yeah, most ponies thought there was four, but Raindrops learned that there were two prototypes deemed unsafe before deciding of the finished product. A real detective that one. We called them the golden two, because their suits were gold.” Amelia ruffled her feathers before continuing. “The prototypes were bigger than the final product, and the suits were designed to be worn by ponies as well as… well… the robos.”

        “My god… that sounds horrifying.” Lance thought to himself as he continued to listen to Amelia.

        “We found that one of the mechanics was tampering with the other animatronics. Turned out he was a serial killer. Guess that’s why the newer ones had facial recognition. Anyways, he confessed and was arrested. Though, while we were heading to the asylum, he got loose…”

        “Were you able to find him?” He then asked her. “And what was that pony’s name?”

        “Don’t know his real name, but he was called Gearshift while working there. But he couldn’t be behind these killings.” Amelia said.

        That had Lance raise an eyebrow for a moment, before he asked a different question. “Did you… think someone else was involved? Like an accomplice?”

        “No. He said something about one, but their name never turned up in the database. No, it has to be a copycat. Because Gearshift’s dead. The day after he escaped, we found him crushed to death in one of the golden suits. Raindrops called that one Springtrap because that’s what killed Gear. The springtraps got moist and… I’ll spare you the details.”

        That… had Lance try to compose himself before then asking a question. “This… Springtrap… Did that one look like a particular pony?”

        “Yeah. The prototypes were supposed to be, at least originally from what Charity said, a hero and villain. The hero was Fili-Second, while the villain was Twilight’s current student of heroism… That sounded lame…”

        “Oh god… You don’t mean…” He said, his eyes widening. “Sunset…”

        “Who? I was talking about Solaria.” Amelia said before glaring at Lance. “You haven’t been spouting out the Power Ponies secret identities all willy nilly, have you? Saying one another's name in or outside of battle could cost them their lives, even to a former ally. Even my students never revealed their identities to me. Excluding Raindrops, but she was a rotten egg.”

        “No, I don’t say them out loud… all the time…” He said, looking back at her. “But she’s my teacher.”

        “Ah, well she used to be Matterhorn’s rival. Flare-mare or something, I can’t remember. She was redeemed, and no one’s doubting her.”

        Lance nodded his head, before taking a deep breath. “That… just makes things way more problematic…” He told her, before beginning to explain something. “When I was there at the scene, I used one of my powers to see the memories of the last thing Sassy saw…… It was Springtrap, along with a Saddle Rager animatronic with a missing arm…”

        “Well then, glad I was able to help.”

        “But this doesn’t explain what happened in Maretropolis…” Lance realized as he looked back at her. “Amelia… at the time you were investigating all this… were you ever told about a warehouse?”

        “Uh… It’s been almost four years. Things can change.”

        “I wanted to ask… because a recent case happened in Maretropolis,” He explained to her, telling her of the case with Tree Hugger’s brother. “When I went to talk to Coco Pommel, she said that they were trying to take the bugs out of the old animatronics in order to make the new ones… I know of this, because I was asked to work the night shift there. If these new animatronics… were made using parts from the old ones you were investigating…”

        “She said she was fixing those flaws, but most likely I think they’re made with the first ones after the prototypes. Have fun either way.”

        “Thanks…” He said in response, but as he left, he asked another question. “Do you know of the Purple Mare by any chance?”

        “Um…” Amelia froze for a moment. “That… no, no…”

        “I wanted to ask… because the Purple Mare was a villain Reaper and I had to face that used the souls of children,” He explained. “But before this, she worked at the same warehouse that I mentioned. I’m not wanting to jump to conclusions… but I don’t want to rule out any possibilities either…” A few moments passed, to which Amelia said nothing as he began to grow concerned. “Amelia, are you okay? Is something wrong?”

        “Hm?” Amelia shook her head, “Oh, you must be Lance… You are Lance. Sorry, head trauma from a few years ago… What can I do for you?”

        “You…” He said, blinking for a moment and trying to process what just happened. After a few seconds, he picked up the folder he had on the table before deciding to go to the door. “I’ll just… take my leave. Have a good day, Amelia. Thanks for your help.”

        “Uh, you too Gunvolt!” She said, just as Lance closed the door behind him. As he left, he then decided to call Reaper to tell him what he had just learned… and what happened.

        “Reaper? It’s Lance… I just finished my conversation with Amelia recently…”

        “How many times did she forget who you were?”

        “Once, actually… But it was during this conversation that we found out something bad…” He told Reaper. “What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear… Springtrap?”

        “Spring. Bear traps. A night in the woods where I stepped in a bear trap in spring.”

        “What about involving a stallion named Gearshift?” He asked as he reached the roof of the apartment complex.

        “He was the killer. Disappeared.”

        “Not from what she told me… Raindrops went further on the investigation back then, finding two original golden suits that were seen as defectives and could be worn by a pony… When Gearshift escaped, Raindrops and Amelia chased him and he tried to hide in one of the suits.” Lance replied back. “One was based on Filli-second. The other… Solaria.”

        “Uh… I’m on speaker...” Reaper began but trailed off and Lance could not hear what else he was trying to tell him. He thought that Comet was by himself in his own room or something, so instead of asking him to speak up and repeat what he said, the adept made the choice to continue explaining to him.

        “Gearshift’s dead, Comet. He tried to hide in the suit on Solaria, but the suit springlocked him in place and crushed him to death… That’s only the beginning though-.”

        “Lance… I’m on speaker… And Solaria is behind me.”

        That… had Lance realize what he said… and regret it almost immediately afterwards. “Oh sh*t… Sorry, Solaria.”

        “It’s okay… just… look, I want to know what the heck is going on, but I gotta help Zapp now. Tell me about this later.” He could hear his mentor say before trailing off. All that had Lance do was just sigh to himself in defeat, sounding like he really screwed up. Before thinking of something else to do as he hung up the call with Reaper… and then decided to try and reach Tree Hugger again. Just like before, nopony was able to respond… so, he put the phone away and decided to just watch as the sun was slowly beginning to set.

        “Hell of a day…” He grumbled to himself as he looked at the time on his communicator before turning away from the sunset in the distance.



Just before 9:00PM 

        “Lance, I’m getting really uncomfortable about this whole thing now after what you told me,” Lumen shuddered as Lance was just about to reach the side door of the facility he was assigned to work at as he used his badge to open the door. She had woken up sometime earlier from a nap while Lance was walking over to the warehouse where he was assigned to work. However, upon telling Lumen everything he found out so she could know what he was doing, she got rather concerned. “I mean… from what you learned from Coco, Reaper and Amelia… this just seems to be a major red flag.”

        “Lumen, I promised Rarity that I would get to the bottom of this and find out what happened to Sassy,” He reminded Lumen, who was on his shoulder as he closed the door behind him. “Not to mention that I owe it to Tree Hugger to find out what happened to her brother. Both of them deserve to know.”

        “Uh… Lance. I hate to break it to you… but you kind of have a habit for promising things and then getting so caught up on what you’re doing that you end up forgetting about it unintentionally,” That had the Adept glare at her for a minute, before Lumen looked back at him. “What? This isn’t an excuse for me to just get out of here! Think about Kaoru… I know that she may be a bit better now after all the crap with Gremmy, but early on it was difficult for you to be able to help her since you were a hero and she was seen as a criminal.”

        “Lumen… this isn’t the time to be pointing out mistakes. Especially ones that I regret the most,” The Adept explained to her as they looked around the room that he was in. “Even though that was me then… after everything we had been through and after what happened to you, I swore that I wouldn’t try to let anyone down like I let you down back then. So to this, I make sure that I do what I told them I would do. Which is why I’m here.”

        Lumen herself deeply sighed before looking back at her friend, waiting a bit before deciding to smile. “Well… I guess there’s no stopping you then. I’m going to stay inside your communicator until this is all over. No offense, but this place at night gives me the creeps.” When she faded into his bracer, that was when he decided to look around to be aware of his surroundings. Though, there was one thing that he remembered Coco mentioning to him during their meeting earlier today.

        That where he was going was down in the warehouse underground in the facility where the animatronics were stored. Meaning that he didn’t have to worry about anyone from outside coming in out of nowhere… yet, that wasn’t what was on his mind at the moment.

        Walking to the elevator, he held out his employee ID so the sensor on the elevator switch could read it. The doors opened and Lance stepped inside, pressing the button needed in order for him to go to the warehouse. Though, it was as he was traveling downwards, he noticed that the light for the elevator was flickering… which was odd since that did not happen earlier when he was with Coco.

        His attention finally returned to what was in front of him as he heard a ‘ding’ and both of the doors opened, leading him down to the warehouse and the office that Coco told him he would be working at as he used his employee ID again to open the locked doors. “So… this must be where I’m working at… Honestly, I thought it would be a bit bigger.” He thought to himself upon stepping inside, having the scanner read his ID once more as the door closed behind him.

        The room itself seemed like the standard kind of security room that you would find at an establishment like the one Lance was at. It had some posters on the wall for the ‘party palace’ and also pictures of some of the animatronics too, while it also contained security equipment that allowed for Lance to look at different locations throughout the warehouse to make sure that nothing out of the ordinary occurred. However, one thing that did stand out was a picture of the same character that Coco told him about. One that she called…

        “Circus Filly.”

        “What?” He heard Lumen say for a moment from the contraption on his wrist.

        “Oh nothing… I was just saying the name of the animatronic that Coco told me about earlier.” He told her, assuring that there was nothing to worry about as he sat down on the chair in the room and looking at a notepad that had a list of the animatronics in the warehouse. “Now… let’s see what we got here… according to this, there’s Funni Second… Masked Matterhorn… Funtime Zapp… and lastly Radialora-” At each one of the names though was when he switched to a different screen, showing each one of the animatronics. However… when he switched to the last one, that’s when he noticed a problem. “What the-?”

        “Lance, what’s wrong?”

        “For a moment, I remembered the last animatronic being where it was earlier… but now it’s missing…” The Adept heard. Originally, he thought that it was a glitch. Some error with the camera. He tried switching camera views and then refreshing the feed on it, but the results still were the same. Radialora, the animatronic based on Radiance, had gone missing. To him, this… did not seem right. He knew that the only one in the facility was him, so there was no way someone could’ve tried stealing it. So… what did happen to it?

        As he tried to understand what was happening and adjust accordingly… that’s when he heard something. Something that sounded like metal scraping and being dragged across the ground in a nature that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. But there was something else too… something that sounded like that of a music box. Which seemed strange at first… but not until he heard the voice that followed.

        “Why do you hide inside your walls when there is music in the halls…?” A melodic voice called out, almost sounding like Rarity except for a difference in pitch. “All I see is an empty room… no more joy, an empty tomb…”

        “Lance…… This is freaking me out…” Lumen shuddered, sounding like her teeth was chattering as the Adept slowly began to rise from his seat. It was then that he heard what came next as the sound of the voice was beginning to drift behind him.

        “All I do is dance alone…… but now I hear your flesh and bone,” That single statement alone made the adept’s heart begin to race, not sure of where it was coming from… or who for that matter. “I roam these halls, alone all day…… but now you’re here… friend and prey.” That did not make Lance feel comfortable at all with the situation.

        Nor did what Lumen said next. “Uh… Lance? Why is your left door open-?” Just as he turned to see it, that’s when something knocked him flat on the ground and caused his chair to fall over. When he tried to get up, what it was immediately went towards him and tried to get in his face. Going as far as to knocking Lance’s weapon out of his hand when he tried to draw it out as it slid under the desk. “LANCE!!”

        “It’s so good to sing all day…” The animatronic of Radiance spoke as she inched closer to Lance, going as far as holding down his legs and arms so he couldn’t try to escape. The faceplates on her face soon began to open… revealing the inner metal workings as she continued to speak. Proceeding to open her eyes. “To dance… to spin… to fly… away.”

        “Shh…” Another mechanical voice whispered, and the animatronic left. “You… You have mother’s scent on you…” That… had Lance try to get up while he was on the ground… only to see the last thing he thought would save him.

        “W-what-?” The adept said, bewildered that the animatronic known as Circus Filly… was standing right in front of him.