//------------------------------//
// Strike 61- Caught off Guard 
// Story: When lightning strikes... 
// by FrostTheWolf 
//------------------------------//


When Lightning Strikes- Caught off guard




Maretropolis

As the sun rose over the bustling city of Maretropolis and rays of sunlight illuminated the city streets, many ponies that lived in the city were excited for what was going to happen today. For this day was not like any ordinary day in the country of Equestria, but a sacred royal holiday. One that was seen as a celebration of prosperity and life. That day was none other than the Summer Sun Celebration, a holiday that was dedicated to Princess Celestia bringing light back to the world after what some ponies would describe as ‘the eternal night’.

Now, when it came to celebrating this holiday, most cities would host small local events or just allow for ponies to spend time with their families. Though, when it came to Maretropolis, they didn’t hold any so called ‘small events’ for a holiday with such a significant impact on society. Instead, they held one huge extravaganza right in the center of the city that was famously known as the Summer Sun Carnival. The park that was across from the mayor's office and city hall became the host of one of the largest festivals in Maretropolis overnight. Complete with food, games and entertainment for ponies of all ages. Some would even consider it to be the biggest celebration of the year aside from New Years Eve.

Though, it did not mean that such a celebration could be left unprotected. Many officers from the Maretropolis Police Department were assigned to be event security for the day alongside that of the security personnel that was inside the carnival itself. Given that the carnival itself was such a huge event, there was the rather high possibility that it could attract the attention of villains who would potentially want to crash the party. Therefore, keeping all the attendants at the carnival safe was their top priority.

Of course, there was one member of the MPD that was there, but not as part of event security. “Detective Whooves,” One of the guards at the entrance addressed the stallion by his title. “I wasn’t aware that you would be here today.”

“I am, but not to supervise,” The stallion told him, before pulling out the card that was around his neck and motioned towards three other ponies that were behind him. Two mares and a filly. The card was a special pass that was used to keep track of attendance for the carnival and was also used as an admission ticket. “I’m here as an attendee of the carnival along with my wife and daughters. Can we come in?”

“W-why yes sir, right away,” The officer nodded, stepping aside to let Detective Whooves and his family come on inside. “Have a good day. Enjoy the carnival.”

As they stepped through the main entrance into the carnival, Detective Whooves and his family were greeted by the presence of several different vendors, booths for carnival games and other attractions. Some ponies were in line for the ferris wheel that was in place while some of the younger foals and fillies were playing games like ring toss, pop the balloon and ‘Saddle Rager’s Test Your Strength’ machine. Other ponies were buying special foods that were only served during the carnival as well as getting their pictures taken at the photo booth and obtaining souvenirs.

“Alright everypony, we’re here,” Detective Whooves calmly let out a small breath as he looked back at both of his daughters. “So what did you girls want to do first?”

Sparkler shrugged, unsure as to what to do. “I dunno, but Dinky should pick first.” She looked expectantly at her baby sister.

“Maybe we can try some of the games before checking out a few of the rides?” Derpy then suggested. “I always beat your father at the water gun target game.”

“They’re all rigged…” Sparkler grumbled pessimistically. She started scowling sideways and lowered her head in an attempt to hide her annoyance.

“Have you even tried one?” Dinky then asked.

“No, but I read the minds of the ponies running them…”

That had Dinky look back at her mother for a moment, before Derpy suggested something else. “How about throwing darts? Just requires a bit of luck-”

“There’s a magnet hidden off to the side…” The eldest daughter murmured, cutting her mother off. “Uh… I’m sorry if I’m ruining the mood.”

“No no, it’s fine. You’re not ruining anything dear,” Derpy insisted, shaking her hoof a bit before looking back at her daughters. At first, she tried to think of some kind of game that both of them could have fun playing. “What about Ring Toss? Bean Bag throw? Anything that I might be missing, Dinky?”

“Bobbing for Apples?” The filly now suggested. 

“Um Dinky…” Detective Whooves then spoke up as he looked at the filly. “Remember the last time we did that and your mom ended up swimming in the apple bucket?”

“I know! That’s why it’s so fun!!” Despite the filly’s enthusiastic response, it did little to help out the situation right now as Derpy just shrugged her shoulders. “I’m sure big sis Sparkly can get one if she tried it!”

“I… guess I could.” Sparkler smiled awkwardly at the nickname, as well and imagining all of the germs she’d expose herself to dunking her head into an attraction known for multiple use. Not a moment too soon did she find Dinky yanking her foreleg as the filly was guiding her to where the Bobbing for Apples station was at, where there were several steel water buckets with a variety of different colored apples floating in them.

“Well, Howdy there,” The two ponies looked up to see an elderly mare with a light amber fur coat with a white mane and tail. She was sitting in a chair nearby one of the buckets as both Sparkler and Dinky approached her. As the two got closer, Sparkler could see a name tag on the white collared shirt that she was wearing with the words ‘Goldie Delicious’ on the front. “Are ya here ta try yer luck at bobbing apples?”

“Yeah! Both of us are!” An excited Dinky nodded her head.

“Alright, but let me tell ya some rules. Ya both get three chances to try and get an apple from the bucket. If ya get one, ya get to keep the Apple and get a prize,” The elderly mare explained. “Additionally, since the both of ya are unicorns, ya not allowed to use magic ta cheat. Do ah make myself clear?”

“Y-yes ma’am.” Sparkler nodded, before turning to Dinky. “Right sis?” All Dinky could do was nod enthusiastically as both of them looked back to Goldie.

“Alright, which one of ya would like to go first?”

Dinky, on instinct, immediately stepped forward. Her first attempt at trying to get an apple from the bucket led to the apple slipping from underneath, leading her to swallow nothing but water. Her second attempt was mostly the same thing, but her grip on the apple slipped as she tried to bring it up. On her final attempt, she tried to have her front hooves on the edge of the bucket before putting her head back in. But it almost lead to the filly slipping forward if her sister had not caught her in time.

“Aw shucks, kiddo. Sorry, but ya didn’t get any,” Goldie’s words didn’t exactly go down well with Dinky. Sparkler noticed that she seemed upset at not getting any, and her face was rather distraught. Like if you took candy away from a foal. “Tell ya what, ah can give ya a consolation prize if ya-”

“I’ll do it.” Sparkler offered, stepping forward. ‘This better be worth it...’

“Oh? Well alright, step right up,” Goldie told her, waving a hoof to the bucket. “Remember. Three tries.”

“I only need one.” Sparkler replied calmly, before diving in head first. The first thing she noticed was that the water was lukewarm and felt thick against her fur as it displaced away from her skin. She was used to being submerged for long periods to muffle the world so she could focus on her powers, though. When Sparkler felt an apple touch her lips, she widened her mouth before biting into it to prevent it from escaping.

Once she was sure she had it good and secure, Sparkler emerged with the apple firmly held on maw. She shuddered when the water dripped down her back, and her ears popped clear. The unicorn teenager almost missed the serene silence while submerged. Almost being the word. Sparkler cringed the moment the flavor began pouring into her mouth. When she opened her eyes, she instantly understood what was wrong.

Green apple.

“Oh my gosh, you did it!” Dinky soon cheered, rushing over to hug her older sister.

“Well ah’ll be… Ya got one. Congratulations kiddo,” Goldie herself congratulated the unicorn. Before turning around for a moment and asking for the help of another mare, Apple Leaves, to bring out the prize Sparkler won. A stuffed bear that resembled that of an ursa minor. Goldie also gave the two of them a couple of wipeable tattoos for them to keep as well for participating. “There ya go. Happy Summer Sun Celebration!”

As both sisters began to trot away from the bobbing for apples station now, Dinky felt the need to ask her older sister something. “So, what did you think?”

Sparkler bit down on the apple, letting the bulk of it fall to the ground before speaking with her mouth full. “Bitter. You?”

Dinky herself, just looked back at her with a puzzled look. Using some of her magic to catch the apple before it hit the ground as she looked back at the sister. “I meant the game,” She said, turning the apple around before taking a bite herself. “Though, the apple’s not as sweet as I thought it would be.” After a couple of more bites, she threw what remained of the apple in a nearby trash can and wiped her mouth with her foreleg. 

Then, she decided to ask her older sister a new question. “Was that fun though?”

“I guess…” Sparkler let a devious smile crawl its way onto her face. “Thought not as fun as watching you pouting.”

All that did was have Dinky roll her eyes a bit before chuckling as she friendly nudged her sister. “So what do you want to do next?”

Sparkler looked around at the numerous games, rides and food stands. “Perhaps… bumper carts?” She had only heard it was fun from her conversations with Bumblesweet. She wasn’t even sure what they were.

“Really? Alright then, this is going to be fun!” Dinky beamed as she looked back at her sister. “Mom and dad always liked doing the bumper carts everytime they came here!”

“Really? What’s so appealing about it?” Sparkler tilted her head in curiosity.

“Well, you drive around in these carts that can hold two ponies and you basically try to bump into as many ponies as possible!” Dinky told her, taking a moment to lift her forelegs off the ground to imitate driving a bumper cart before setting them back down. “It’s like crashing that’s fun!”

Sparkler had been in a crash before. And repeating that experience did not sound like a good time. Despite the long period of time away from the Puppets, which didn’t give its members much in the way of off time, the young unicorn still hadn’t fully understood her sister- or for that matter, her team’s concept of the word ‘fun’. Still, she did find enjoyment in the little blonde’s company. “If you say so…”

Dinky’s smile could only get bigger as she had Sparkler follow her over to where the bumper carts were at. Letting her older sister see for herself what was in store. Unlike that of the crash that she had been in before, these carts weren’t exactly going so fast. And when the collided, they just bumped into one another. Padding along the sides of the carts prevented them from actually hitting the carts or the riders and everything was all contained within a specific space.

“Over here, sis!” She then heard Dinky speak to her as she stood behind a few other ponies that were in line for the attraction.

“Uh… maybe we should, uh, try something else…” Sparkler said, beginning to regret her choices in life.

“Aww… but I thought you wanted to try it,” Dinky told her, sounding a little bit disappointed by her sister’s sudden decision to back out. “But if you say so. Did you have any other ideas?”

“I’ve never been to a fair, so I’ll just follow you.” Sparkler admitted lamely.

“Hmm… well, mom and dad always enjoy the ferris wheel. You can see the whole city from up top.” She said, pointing a hoof to the attraction that she was thinking of. “Wanna try that instead?”

“Sure… what is a ferris wheel, by the way?”

“Well, you sit in a small cabin that’s on a huge wheel. Once it rotates, it lifts you up into the air and let you get an entire view of the city from the top,” Dinky replied back as the two of them were getting closer to it. The giant sized ferris wheel looming over them as a couple of ponies left their cabin while another pair went inside. 

“Why would anypony find this entertaining? Trapping in a box, suspended helplessly in the air with nothing to catch yo if it were to malfu-” She stopped herself upon noticing Dinky, who just turned around and looked back at Sparkler with distraught written on her features.

Though, after shaking her head, the filly now asked her something that Sparkler did not exactly anticipate. “Let me ask you something… What’s one thing that mom can do that dad can’t?”

“... Give birth?” Sparkler replied dully, not quite catching what the filly meant.

Dinky though, looked a bit squeamish for a moment. Almost like she was going to throw up the piece of apple that she had earlier. “N-no…” She weakly shook her head. “I m-meant her wings. W-why would you think that?”

Sparkler grinned sheepishly at her sister’s reaction. “Mom’s not exactly a good flier! It’s not exactly the first thought that came to mind!” She turned to avoid eye contact. She found that often made her sister ease up when she knew no one was looking at her.

It took a couple of moments in order for Dinky to try and straighten herself out before she could be able to respond to Sparkler. “M-my point was that there are some ponies who can’t fly, yet they want to feel like they c-can. P-ponies who don’t have magic or wings. P-ponies like dad.”

Sparkler drank her sisters words in, processing the information for a moment as she looked back at the attraction. “I still don’t get it, but I suppose seeing is believing.”

“Really!? Then let’s go!” Sparkler felt Dinky’s magic tug her along, the foal’s aura grip surprisingly tight around her fur as she was lead towards the line. She tried to put up the facade of struggling, which made Dinky’s face scrunch in concentration. It was easily the best part about coming to the carnival.



Some time later…

“Well, today was definitely fun,” Derpy Hooves spoke joyfully as she was sitting at a table with her husband outside one of the many food trucks. She had already finished the funnel cake that she had ordered earlier and was about to start on a blueberry muffin as she looked back at him. “Everytime we come here, I still remember when you took me to the carnival for our first date.”

“So do I,” he replied back, taking a napkin and using it to wipe some of the powdered sugar from the funnel cake that was still on her face. “That was one of the best nights of my life. Well, one of them.”

“Oh really?” His wife now giggled. “There were others?”

“Well, yeah. There was the night I proposed to you, the night that we got married,” He took some time to think about it some more before continuing. “There’s been so many that I’ve almost lost count. But there are some that hold a special place in my heart. Some that I’m grateful for and some that show how lucky I am. Not just in being with you, but lucky to be able to have our family be together.”

That had Derpy set down her muffin, before looking back at her husband. “Is one of them… when we were reunited with Sparkler?”

“That’s one of the most important ones,” Detective Whooves told her. “I still remember the day when we were told that she was taken. It felt like our world was being torn apart because somepony ripped our firstborn child away from us. But when Lance found her… and he brought her back to us,” He stopped for a moment, trying to catch his breath as he tried to think of the right words to say. “For a time, I thought that being reunited with Sparkler again after so long would be impossible… but he made the impossible happen. That is something I’m grateful for-”

“Over here, sis! I found them!” What the detective was trying to tell his wife was soon interrupted by the sound of their daughters trotting over to the table they were sitting at. Though, much to their surprise, they had a lot more prizes and goodies from the fair than either of them were anticipating. Not only were they carrying several different plushies, including one of an ursa minor and the sidekick of the Power Ponies named Humdrum, but it also looked like the two of them had face paint across their muzzles. Dinky herself had what looked like a starry night sky and a moon that looked like Princess Luna’s cutie mark on her left cheek, while Sparklers had that of a rising sun on her left cheek with Princess Celestia’s cutie mark on it.

“Well, you two surely got a lot of prizes, didn’t you,” Derpy cheerfully smiled as she looked at both of her daughters. “Did you have fun?”

“We sure did!” Dinky cheered, looking back at Sparkler.

“It was adequate…” Sparkler said, making sure to be as monotone as she could. And it was working, too.

“Did you get the chance to do everything you wanted to do? Was there anything else you wanted to go see before we head home?” Derpy then asked her daughters. Dinky looked back at Sparkler for a moment, before looking back to her mother as she let out a small breath.

“No, I think we’re good. What do you think, sis?”

“I went in not expecting it to be this enjoyable, so I can’t say I wanted to do anything specific in the first place,” When she saw the look of confusion on her mother’s face, she sighed. “I’m content…”

“Alright, I guess this means we’re done here. Let’s go home.” Detective Whooves smiled as he looked back to his wife as the four of them went back through the same gates that they originally came in through.

As they made it across the street though, the look on his face was much different. Something that Derpy soon noticed when she realized that he wasn’t following. “Honey, what’s-?”

“Derpy, run-!!”

As Sparkler turned around to see what was going on, a green hair-like tendril wrapped around her father's abdomen before yanking him into a back alley.

“Stay back!” Sparkler shouted, eyes hardening into a rage filled glare as she dashed into the alleyway, horn ablaze with her signature purple aura. Trash, old and new, littered the soggy ground as she followed the echoing sound of maniacal laughter through the dimly lit street.

She came to a stop at a dead end. Not seeing her father or his captor she turned around, and Sparkler found herself staring face to face with someone else. “Are you freaking serious?! Only mere seconds after we got what we needed, the one who tries to stop us is a mare whose trying to play hero!? Give me a break.”

Sparkler stared at him in shock, before hardening her gaze. “You must not read the news, otherwise you’d know I’m not ‘playing’ hero! Give me my father back, and surrender now!” She felt a swelling hatred inside her chest, like boiling water spreading through her chest. She wanted her father safe, but she also wanted this villain to refuse. And she didn’t have to read his mind to know his response before he even opened his mouth.

“So you have a fiery side to you! I like that!!” As the figure clenched his fists, the air in the alleyway began to feel warm and dry. At the corner of her eye, Sparkler could see scraps of newspaper clippings catching fire and burning up as the villains eyes glared right at her. “Hey, Mane-iac!! Let me go a couple rounds with this one! She can be the perfect warm up I need before I find that Gunvolt and set him ablaze!!”

The green mane tendrils slithered across either side of the figure as the form of the Mane-iac disgraced Sparkler with her presence. Her red and green eyes wide with excitement, and an ear splitting grin adorned her face. To her side dangled the earth pony stallion that was Sparkler’s incentive for getting herself cornered, tied up in one of her unnatural locks that coiled around him like a snake, reaching all the way till it covered his mouth.

“I suppose it couldn’t hurt… But don’t dilly-dally for too long, we have an important meeting this evening, and he’s one of the mane attractions~!” The long locked lunatic lamented lavishly.

“Ugh, fine! Now get out of here already! You probably don’t want your precious hair getting singed.” He grit his teeth, two dark red orbs taking form in his hands before throwing them directly at Sparkler. The unicorn hadn’t had a hard time dodging the attack, throwing her weight to the side to propel her away from the flame.

Yet, when both orbs hit the back wall, they set off an explosion. The blast wave hitting her from behind as her opponent propelled himself behind her, pushing off the back wall before attempting to attack from above as a Volcanic Axe took form in his hands. “Too slow!!”

Sparkler’s horn flared to life, and her magic reflexively reached out to the nearest thing- a dumpster -and sent it careening in the direction that she sensed her assailant. The attack smashed Viper into a wall, but the adept’s fury only grew as he cleaved the dumpster in two. “Is that all you can do!? I expected more-!!”

Before he could raise his axe up again, a golden horseshoe collided with the side of the blade as Viper was thrown off balance. As Sparkler turned around to where it came from, that was when she heard a new voice. “Hello Sugarcube. Looks like ya can use some help.”

“That’d be much appreciated...” Sparkler felt her legs buckle in relief at the sight of a familiar friendly face, before her eyes widened. “But Detective Whooves needs help! I can hold this guy off, just please save my dad!”

“Sugarcube, ah already got somepony helping with that,” Mistress Marevelous told her before landing right next to the unicorn. “We just gotta buy her a little bit of time,” Not long after she said that was Viper back on his feet as the earth pony looked towards their opponent. “Anything ah should know about this fella here?”

“He seems to know Lance, and he’s fast. Oh, and he’s hotheaded.” Sparkler stated matter-of-factly, her tone becoming more monotone now that she felt more in control. “Despite his powers, he’s not exactly the brightest, either.”

“I heard that, b*tch!!” They now heard him growl as flames began to form from his hands. “It doesn’t matter how many stand before me! The end result will be the same!! I’ll make all of you burn and make Gunvolt watch as I do it.”

“What’s ya problem with him anyways?” Mistress Marevelous asked, before quickly dodging a fire blast that was sent in his direction.

“My problem?! I had one foot in the grave because of that lightning freak and his friend!!!” Viper roared, before jumping up on the walls to attack from above. As he tried to come down for an attack, Mistress Marevelous threw out her lasso as it tightened around his torso. Pulling it down as he slammed into the ground. As he collided, the fire adept tried to grab hold of the rope, but was met with a hoof to his face as Marevelous kicked him away.

“Esper, where’s the Mane-iac right now?” Marevelous then asked Sparkler, turning around to face the unicorn.

“She’s-!” Sparkler barely had time to duck as a hair tendril collided into the ground below where her head was, shattering the concrete and sending the young mare sprawling onto her side.

“She’s what, foal? ‘Behind us’~?” The Mane-iac cackled as she dangled the Detective Whooves upside down. “Let my ill tempered and fiendish friend go, or a hairball is the good Detective’s least concern~!”

Mistress Marevelous turned to look back at the villain, as well as the detective that was held in her grasp. Shortly before letting out a breath. “Ah thought ya didn’t really play well with others now, Mane-iac? What’s so different that ya teaming up with this hothead for?”

“Times change, my little heroine. One must learn to adapt if one is to survive the constant demands of villainy!” The Mane-iac replied, her green and red eyes dilating in unadulterated madness.

“So that’s the reason why yer working with this walking curling iron?” Mistress Marevelous said. From Esper’s position, she began to see something that was going on just above the Mane-iac. What looked like a storm cloud taking form above her head as the heroine kept talking. “Ah can see one kind of problem with that, sugarcube.”

“Oh, what’s that? Are you going to rain on my parade~?” The Mane-iac smirked, narrowing her eyes.

“She knows!” Sparkler telepathically shouted to her cohorts.

“Oh horseapples-!” The earth pony cursed. But before either of them had the chance to warn their teammate, a bolt of lightning surged from the cloud towards the villain. The Mane-iac herself, who knew Zapp was there, effortlessly dodged the incoming attack while also grabbing hold of a nearby trash can with another hair tendril and threw it towards the cloud, hitting the pegasus that was hiding behind it and knocking them onto the rooftop that was behind the Mane-iac.

“O-oh come on! I a-almost had her,” The pegasus groaned before looking back at the villain. “H-how did you know I was hiding there?!”

The Mane-iac maneuvered herself to where she was looking in the flying hero’s direction upside down, “We’ve done battle for a long time, Power Phonies! You’re the easiest to detect, my dear! I  always feel my coat stand when you charge up an attack!” She laughed, using her mane to ascend the side of the building. “You forget that this mare has been at odds with you for longer than most. In my absence, you’ve all seemed to forget what I’m capable of! I find myself rather hurt...”

“So why kidnap the detective? I mean, I would get a whole ‘plan to exact my vengeace against the Power Ponies’ thing, but this doesn’t make any sense,” Zapp told her, even going as far as to impersonate the Mane-iac in front of said villain to emphasize her point. “Also, and this might just be me, but you seem to forget that years of fighting us did not prepare you for when you first encountered Gunvolt.”

The Mane-iac’s expression darkened. For the first time since the Power Ponies faced the long locked lunatic, Zapp and Mistress Marevelous found genuine hatred in her face as she glared at the rainbow maned mare. Sure, they’d seen her angry at foiled schemes, or mad at being captured, but never had they seen the villainess seeth at the mere mention of another hero.

“This is not good,” Mistress Marevelous said. Right after she said that, the Mane-iac leapt up several stories, until she was muzzle to muzzle with Zapp. Her locks wrapped around each of her limbs, and one large one in particular had made it’s home around her neck.

“That was mere beginners luck. He won by a hair’s margin, but that won’t ever happen again.” The Mane-iac had begun to squeeze her hair around Zapp’s limbs, giggling with excitement. “Why aren’t you quipping about that, Zappy~? I’m shocked you’re so quiet!”

Zapp herself tried to speak, but the grip around her neck made it impossible in order to get any words out. Mistress Marevelous herself tried to help her friend, but when she threw her horseshoe at the villain, it was deflected by an explosive projectile from Viper as he began to regain his footing. “You should be focusing more on who’s right here, hero!”

“Ah hay-!”

“I’ll help Zapp, you handle this creep.” Stated Sparkler as she leapt onto a fire escape. The earth pony nodded as she turned to focus her attention on the fire adept while the unicorn scrambled to get topside in order to be able to see where Zapp was and the villain that was holding her father hostage.

Yet, one particular hostage had a lot going through their head in that moment… and it was not the detective. “Horse apples! I need to find a way to get out of this!! Everypony’s counting on me!! I’m too awesome to die right now-!” 

“Stop projecting your thoughts in the channels, I’m trying to concentrate. Where did that bravado of yours go, Ms. Dash?” Sparkler rolled her eyes as she reached the top of the fire escape, and leapt onto the roof. Once there, she spotted the Mane-iac on the adjacent roof, clearly toying with the pegasus.

“That’s not my fault! I can’t do anything right now!!” She heard the pegasus think in her head frantically. “Can’t you do something to fight her already!?”

Looking around for anything to use as a projectile, Sparkler’s eye landed on a gargoyle. It was small, and barely connected to the roof. Using her magic, she tore it off its perch and, making a mental note to inform her father about the clear violation of building safety protocols, chucked it towards the Mane-iac.

“Bwuahahaha! You’re so cute, Zapp- blergh!” The Mane-iac’s taunting was caught off as a miniature gargoyle slammed into the back of her head, forcing the villainess to drop both of her hostages as she landed face first into the concrete roof, her tendrils spasming.

Detective Whooves himself just laid directly on the floor, not moving as Sparkler rushed over to check to see if he was okay, leaping onto the same building he was on. Fortunately, he only sustained a few scrapes and was just unconscious, which was a huge relief for her.

Unfortunately, her actions soon attracted the wrong kind of attention.

“You brat!” The Mane-iac snarled, using her mane to remove the gargoyle. Tossing the stone aside, the dark mare stumbled a bit as she regained her balance. “Luck-… lucky hit, foal.”

Before she could do anything though, a pillar of flame emerged from behind her as Viper looked back at the mare. “Mane-iac, it’s time to leave. Boss wants us to-”

“Quiet! I know the plan…” Mane-iac hissed venomously, before changing her tone to the exact opposite, lacing her voice with honey. “Don’t worry~ I’ll make sure to strangle you the next time we meet~! Now hothead, let’s split like my ends~!”

All Viper did was roll his eyes, before pressing a button on his shoulder. After a few seconds, a blue wormhole tore open behind them as Viper jumped in with the mare following behind him. Seconds after they stepped through the wormhole, it closed. Leaving just Zapp, Mistress Marevelous and Esper on the rooftop with an unconscious detective.

“Something ain’t right here,” Marevelous commented.

“Oh really? What gave you that impression?” Zapp asked sarcastically.

“Ya know what ah mean. Remember last time when she formed the ‘league of villainy’ with Shadowmane, High Heel and Long-Face?” Marevelous reminded her companion, “Ah wouldn’t think that she’d be so open minded to work with others after that. Yet, now we find her galloping throughout the city with a pyromaniac.”

“Definitely Summeragi’s doing. They’re making a big move.” Sparkler added, “I can contact the other members of QUILL after taking my father to the hospital.”

“Agreed.” Marevelous told her, before grabbing her lasso. “Zapp, call the hospital and see if they can get an ambulance out here pronto. Esper, wait down below. Ah’m gonna lower him down to ya.”

Sparkler nodded, before taking a leap onto the fire escape, making an audible grunt on contact. After she descended the rest of the way, Sparkler stood below the Mistress. “Ready!”

Mistress Marevelous nodded, making sure she had a firm grip on her rope and that it was tied tightly around the detective before carefully lowering him to the ground. Making sure that she didn’t go too fast while also working to maintain her grip on the rope as she lowered it down enough to where it was within Sparkler’s reach. Once it was, Sparkler reached out with her magic to grab ahold of the rope around her father and lower him the rest of the way. ‘By Celestia, why can’t villains leave their hostages on the first floor…?’

Once she had set her father down gently and pulled him out of the rope, Mistress Marevelous began to pull the rope back up and make her way down to join up with her while Sparkler waited for medics to arrive. After a minute or so, Zapp had come back, followed by the arrival of an ambulance as a pair of EMT workers began to tend to her father.

“Tell my mom and Dinky that dad and I are okay. I’m going with him.” Sparkler stated, looking Marevelous in the eye, daring her to refute.

“We’ll do that, sugarcube.” Marevelous nodded her head with Zapp doing the same thing shortly afterwards.

“Good… and make sure you take them somewhere safe, I’m calling QUILL and MIST.” Sparkler added, trotting towards the ambulance. “I hope this isn’t as bad as it feels…”

A few moments after Sparkler got inside the ambulance with her father, the EMT’s took off to go to the hospital as quickly as possible. Yet, before the heroes could go, Marevelous noticed something pop up on her communicator as she looked to Zapp. “Zapp, let me go inform Ms. Whooves and Dinky. You should go back to HQ.”

“What? Why me?”

“Because Matterhorn’s been trying to contact us for the last half hour and ah’ve gotten several voicemails from her,” the earth pony said, holding up the communicator for her friend to see, “And if something’s got her spooked… This might be much worse than we thought.”




End Strike 61