When Lightning Strikes- The Sufferer and the Witness
The following morning
It took a few minutes for Lance to become fully awake as he slowly rose from his lying position on the bed. Last night, he had a lot of trouble sleeping because of the dreams that he had. It took him four times to actually fully sleep because the dreams he had the first three times were all the same thing. It involved Rainbow running from something. What that something was, he didn’t know, but each one ended in a bloody scream like if that something was going to kill her. The Adept rather not think about it right now, mainly because he didn’t want someone to bring up Murphy’s law.
Where what can go wrong… will go wrong.
Back to Lance, he was making sure that his weapons were good to go, but this time, he only carried his two pistols. This was because he spent almost half of the day tweaking his weapons so that way he wouldn’t have to carry much equipment on him while on missions. Therefore, he took the components of the energy blade and, with some help from Humdrum, customized his guns to channel energy blades that curved like scythes around his hands. A lot like the weapons of Haseo in his Xth form from the game series called .Hack that he played during the first few months that he stayed with Aunt Aya after what happened with his father all those years ago. He could only remember bits and pieces of the story, but he really liked the combat and some of the enemies you could face. But as of right now, that was not his focus as he went to the kitchen to get something to eat.
Shortly after a quick bowl of cereal and an apple, he made his way over to the command center, surprised that instead of seeing Twilight, he ran into AJ. “Well Howdy partner,” She greeted him as he walked over and sat down in a chair, careful not to wake Humdrum. “How you doing this morning?”
“Good for the most part,” He replied, looking at the dragon on the floor. “What happened to Humdrum?”
“He was tired out from having to hear Derpy suggest to him the most weirdest thing she wanted installed in her room…” The mare sighed as she looked back at him. “She wanted a “muffin button” so she wouldn’t have to walk all the way to the kitchen to get one.”
That just made Lance chuckle a little, looking back at the Earth Pony for a bit before she said something else that caught his attention. “Hey Lance, I heard about what you were talking about yesterday with Chrysalis ?”
“Yes, what about it?” He asked, a bit curious about what she was going to say.
“Well, I’m a little concerned that the same situation that happened to her might’ve happened to some other ponies who were serving terms inside there. But there’s one pony specifically that I’m worried about since she was a friend during my fillyhood.” She said, turning to the monitor and after a few key presses, pulled up an old profile from the Zero Zone.
An image of a pale blue earth pony with a black mane and light blue stripe. Her eyes were bluish green, she had a muzzle over her mouth and a death glare aimed at the camera. She almost made Lance think of Hannibal Lecter judging from the appearance. But as it turns out, there was a different reason for the muzzle and it wasn’t what he thought it was.
“This is Coloratura, otherwise known as The Countess. She and I were friends since fillyhood and she had a gift for music. Wanted to become a famous pop singer when she grew up. But shortly after making it and obtaining her dream, things began to fall apart.” Applejack said, clearing her throat a little as Lance looked back at her.
“Why does she have a muzzle?”
“Ah’m gettin there, sugarcube. Hang on,” The Mare told him. “Coloratura found out that her tour manager was using her talents for personal gains and tried to kill him that night. She did, but not in the way she intended. It was then that she discovered her powers when she felt scared and thought she was going to get killed. She can emit high pitched sound waves from her mouth to the point that it could cause somepony to explode if they are exposed to it for too long.” With that, she turned back to the Adept and sighed a little.
“I’ve known her for as long as I could remember. She’s a nice mare, but is like anypony else when they make a mistake. Scared and possibly tormented by whatever happened afterwards. I just want to make sure that she’s-.” Before she could finish, Lance’s communicator lit up as a familiar voice spoke up.
“Guys! Hiro’s calling...! Who’s Hiro…?” Aurora shouted.
“He’s a displaced in charge of Mane Hero 6 in Sun Fransokyo. Remember when I told you how I met a BAYMAX?” Lance asked her.
“Kinda…” Aurora shrugged, then jumped into Lance’s bracer. “Get going! He’s calling!” Lance nodded, answering the call and pulling it up on the main screen as the two of them could now see the teenaged child.
“Oh good, somepony picked up-.” He replied, only to stop when seeing Lance. “Dude! I haven’t seen you in forever! How are you?”
“Good for the most part. Just been busy with stuff and life,” The Azure Striker replied. “Whatcha calling us for though?”
“Well, I was wanting to talk to Twilight to ask for her help. We’ve been getting some troubling reports of some ponies causing trouble all over the city. Even though we have a few people to help with the job, one of them seems to be able to cancel out Vinyl’s sound based powers. Can you guys help look into this and see what the heck is going on?”
Both Lance and Applejack looked at each other briefly, shortly before they looked back at Hiro and nodded their heads, confirming to him that they were going to lend their support. “Sure thing. We’ll be over there soon.”
“Soon? Dude, the chariot from Maretropolis to here takes four hours to get here.” Hiro told him. Only causing Lance to smirk a little as he looked back at her.
“We’ll see you soon Hiro.” He said, looking at Applejack as she adjusted her lasso and the mask on her face. “Ready to go?”
“Yeah, but how are we gonna get there?”
“Well, since I know where they are located and have been there before, I can teleport us there. Just relax and hang tight.” With that, he put both fingers over his head as the two of them disappeared… Just as Spike was waking up.
“Hello? Anypony home…” He asked, just as he saw a familiar mare wake up in her room. “Aw crapbaskets…”
Mane Hero 6 HQ
Hiro Hamada had no idea what to expect as Lance had finished up with the phone call. Vinyl herself was resting from her encounter yesterday with one of the vigilantes causing problems around the city and a few of the others were trying their best to get as much info on the assailants as possible. But as he turned around, he was greeted by the sight of Lance and Applejack standing right in front of him.
“What the-!?” He said, accidently hitting his head on the table as he fell backwards. “How did you-?”
“Dude, I learned teleportation a long time ago. Since I remember this place, I can get to here in a snap.” The Adept replied. “Sorry for startling you.”
“No problem…” He said as he got back up. “In fact, I’m actually glad you got here that fast. Some of the other teammates just returned and I was going to introduce them to you two.” He said, only to hear something from Lance’s bracer.
“How many teams are there?” Aurora asked.
“What was that?” Hiro asked. “You’re not calling somepony on Skype now are you?” Before Lance could say anything though, Aurora herself spoke up to introduce herself.
“Ugh, I’m inside of it… Just ignore it…” Aurora grumbled.
“Aurora’s my partner, so she helps me out from time to time.”
“I see…” Hiro smiled. “Well, Aurora, I think I can answer that question for you. Right now, there’s only four teams that I know of, including us. There’s the Power Ponies in Maretropolis, Mane Hero 6 here, the Cutie Mark Crusaders in Centrail City and lastly, the newly formed M.I.S.T. in New Yoke. There used to be a fifth team though in Mareling City, but rumors are that it disbanded a couple of years ago.”
“What kind of team?” Aurora asked.
“It was a hero team formed by the Amorous Archer, but they disbanded after they heard about what happened to the Power Ponies former leader, Stopwatch.”
“Really? Why?” Aurora asked.
“Well, that’s the thing… They were formed because Stopwatch gave Archer and her friends a purpose. Before him, they were seen as a vigilante group almost in the ways of Robin hood… or the pony version being Robin Hoof. With him gone, it kind of struck a mortal blow against them.” He said, looking at Lance. The Adept thought of this just like he was having to deal with Reaper when he encountered him at the museum. Somehow, Time was all connected.
“I didn’t know da- Stopwatch was so important… To others I mean...” Aurora said. “Anyway, how can we help?”
“Well, with that, you would need to meet two of the other team mates.” He said as he walked over to where two ponies were. One a unicorn stallion and the other one an earth pony mare. “Lance, Applejack, I would like to meet Noteworthy and Paintbrush. Also known as SoundByte and Cursed Canvas on the team,” He said as the boy turned to face them. “These guys are from Maretropolis and are going to be helping us out with getting to the bottom of these incidents.”
“Well, that’s good to hear,” Noteworthy sighed, gasping for air. “Because Canvas found something for us that could help. She was talking with a witness a while ago and we might have a simple description of one of the assailants.”
“Go on…” Aurora said.
The mare nodded as she spoke up and used her tail as an ink brush with an easel. “Well, from what I can gather, one of the assailants is an earth pony with light blue fur and a long white mane with a blue stripe. Eye color was assumed to be a sapphire blue and wore some sort of light piece of cloth over her face. They also said that the pony could release high pitch screeches from her mouth like a bird or canary.” When she finished speaking and turned the picture around, Lance and Aurora could see what she’s talking about… But Applejack’s eyes widened immensely.
“Oh no…”
“What?” Aurora asked.
“That’s her… The one I was talking about earlier with you two.” She said as she looked back at the drawing, “I’m sure of it.”
“How would you know?” Aurora asked again.
“Coloratura always changed her appearance whenever she would go on stage. She would wear a wig and some fancy clothes before beginning to perform her songs. I was there in the VIP section at her first concert before she got locked up in the zero zone a few months later.” Applejack told Aurora as she looked around. “Why she would be here though is still what bugs me…”
“What kind of places was she seen at?” Lance then asked. “Where did these incidents take place?”
Noteworthy picked up a clipboard with a levitation spell and began to flip through the papers that contained all the reports on recent incidents. “There were seven. Three of which were banks where certain items were stolen, but were never specified what, a Sapphire Shores concert, a charity fund and a classical music theater.”
“Something tells me that somehow, music ties into all of this… What are we up against? The Rogue Musicians Society?” The Adept asked, not to be funny, but to see if anypony had anything else to say on the matter. “Think about it, all of them must be tied in somehow…”
The first pony to speak was Applejack. “Coloratura got arrested for murdering her agent that was using her talents for personal gain. My guess is that she wanted revenge against all ponies that were in on it. As for the banks and the charity fund though, that sounds confusing.”
“Can we try to get surveillance?” Lance asked.
“Not possible,” Noteworthy spoke up, catching the Adept’s attention. “The criminals used an EMP device seconds after they busted into the place to knock out the camera’s and anypony’s personal electronics so they could not be able to record them. Trust me, Hiro tried and he, nor the police could get anything.”
“Damn…” The Adept cursed. “These guys are no ordinary criminals… Almost makes me think that they’re former military…… or somehow, they know Coloratura.” Remembering the Zero Zone records that Applejack showed them, the Azure Striker turned to Lance. “Aurora, were there any other prisoners released from the Zero Zone the same day as Coloratura?”
“Yeah, just about every bad guy in the prison…” Aurora said.
“So that means she got loose when Nova decided to set them free… Great… Now this may be a Sumeragi issue.”
“What’s Sumeragi?” Hiro them asked, looking back at him as the Adept cleared his throat and prepared to explain.
“Sumeragi’s a criminal organization that has been making some massive moves on prison facilities and crime within Maretropolis. It’s led by Nova, an Adept like myself who controls Spatial energy. We normally only get something major from them happen every so often. But there is a possibility that if Coloratura was released by him, then she may be working for Nova. It’s not likely, but I rather not take any chances after the last two major attacks by them almost released all the prisoners that Stopwatch had previously locked away.” Lance told them as he showed a holographic image of Nova along with explained the encounter he had with Blaster, Anti-Zapp, and a few other escapees. Including the Purple Mare.
“Coloratura’s cellmate was a ‘Cloud Kicker’, A.K.A. Marksmare. She’s apparently a retired marine.” Aurora said.
“Cloud Kicker?” Applejack retorted. “That might be a problem. Rainbow knew her and they used to be old friends. But after the accident that gave her her powers, Cloud Kicker tried to kill her because she blamed her for the accident that killed her coltfriend.”
“That’s the third time that I’ve heard about somepony that’s a pegasus that gained their powers from that plant.” The Adept replied. “It can’t just be a coincidence now because of Anti-Zapp and Lightning Dust also gaining powers from the same accident.”
“I heard of the incident,” Paintbrush spoke up. “A friend of mine was a supervisor and told me that most of the workers that were there were pegasi because they knew how to draw out lightning from storm clouds to power the generators there. However, he died in the same explosion.”
“So we got a musician and a few others staging robberies and interrupting concerts… That’s a bizarre list of crimes to commit… Hmm…” Lance said, thinking to himself. This time though was when somebody else spoke up in his place
“Well, given the fact that names such as Sapphire Shores and… whoever was hosting the charity fund, have a tendency to manipulate talented workers, maybe this here is a campaign of revenge? Coloratura was able to kill her boss successfully so…” The boy then paused before sighing in defeat. “Yeah, that’s all I got.”
“Says here the charity was hers before being locked away. Sapphire was her co-owner.” Aurora said. Now Lance saw something that could help figure things out.
“Aurora, what did Coloratura own before being locked away in the Zero Zone besides the charity fund?” He wanted to see if there was anything else that she had lost similarly and see if it could be tied into any of the recent incidents. Fortunately, Aurora did find quite a few things about her.
“A few things… Her old studio, her old house, and an orphanage called the Heartfelt Orphanage. The later isn’t owned by her while the other two are considered hers still.”
“And what happened to the properties since she’s been in prison?”
“The studio’s going to go over to a Miss Octavia Philharmonica Melody… Today… And so is the house.”
“Wait today? How is that possible?” Applejack then asked. “Wouldn’t the property be foreclosed by the bank or something?”
“Apparently no. It only went on the market a month ago because her manager owned it, and gave it to his brother who only recently gave it up, but nobody wanted it until today.”
Lance thought over these details while scratching his chin. “Something tells me that the new owner and the old owner might have some ties. If the same goes for the studio, then we need to do some recon on both of those locations and see what we can find before forming a plan of attack.”
“Like what? Attack miss Octavia?” Aurora asked.
“It’s a figure of speech. I mean a plan on how to proceed Aurora.” He clarified for her, sighing a little. “We’ll focus on the recon later. What do you think we can figure out about our attackers?”
“Well, other than the charity, they seem to be going for any huge concerts in the area. Sapphire Shores is a pop star and I believe this Octavia that you mentioned is a Cellist based on the name, right Aurora?” Hiro asked her briefly.
“Let me see… Huh, how’d you know that?”
“I had a feeling… Vinyl mentioned that she previously had a roommate with the last name of Melody and her being a Cellist before becoming part of Mane Hero 6, so I just put two and two together.” He shrugged, turning around for a moment. “Hang on, I gotta help BAYMAX real fast. Last I checked, he was on low battery again-.”
“Oh boy…” Lance smirked, looking at Aurora and AJ before chuckling to himself a bit. “This is either going to be downright funny or downright embarrassing depending on how this plays out.”
“So… Octavia is one of these guys’ old roommates… How odd…” Auro
“Well, an old saying I know is that opposites attract. Vinyl is a DJ when’s she not saving anypony and Octavia is a cellist. How can those two stand one another like that?”
“You should’ve seen me with Rainbow when I was first working with her. Ah the good old days…” Applejack sighed. Shortly before feeling something pick her up from behind and cuddle her.
Turns out, it was BAYMAX. “Fluffy… PONY!”
“... Funny…” Aurora stated.
“Unhand me right now, ya darn VARMINT!” Applejack’s cries were in vain as the huggable robot began to snuggle her more like a cat. Hiro soon ran into the room, facepalming himself.
“Not again! This always happens when he’s on low battery and he’s already done it twice to Vinyl.” He said, helping Applejack break free and setting the robot on his charging dock before he could try pulling anyone else in for a death hug. “I’m really sorry about this Applejack-.”
“Ah’m alright, Sugarcube… Just… surprised.”
“More like gotten the crap scared out of you,” Lance joked, only getting a hoof in the ribs as her response. “What, I thought we’re supposed to be honest?”
“... Not funny…” Aurora said. “So, are we going to tell Vinyl about her roommate being a suspect?”
“Not just yet, we don’t have any proof that she is,” He pointed out. “Once we do, we will address it to her then. Sound good?”
“She’s a suspect… Why not tell Vinyl instead of keeping her in the dark?” Aurora said.
“Because we don’t have proof. You can’t just tell somepony that you suspect their former roommate of helping a criminal and get her to believe you. She would want to see evidence to backup our claims. Hence, the reason for the recon mission later.” Lance replied back, explaining everything to Aurora as accurately and as briefly as possible.
“How’re we gonna do the recon?”
“Well-.”
“Okay, I’ve personally heard too much at this point.” A familiar voice said as Vinyl Scratch poked out from behind a nearby wall. She was using camouflage that used vibrations faster than the normal eye could see in order to listen in. “Now I want a piece of the action.”
“Oooohhhhh the sex jokes I could make…”
“Aurora… Please don’t…”
“What did ah just hear Aurora say?”
“Nothing!” Aurora said, then cut the connection between the speakers so she couldn’t hear anything.
“Real smooth…” Lance thought to himself before looking at Vinyl. “So, what idea do you have?”
“Well, Octavia knows me and I know her. I could visit her while you guys listen on the other end of a mic.”
That had Lance look back at her with a raised eyebrow. “So basically… you want to wear a wire?”
“Anything to help out the team. Hiro and the rest of you can listen out here while Lance can cover me if things go south. We’ll do it 6 o’clock tonight?”
It was then that the Adept smirked a little, looking back at the Unicorn with a grin on his face. “I’m liking this plan already. In fact, I got a long range rifle with a good scope that I modified for it to work with my bolts.”
“Then it’s settled… However though, just to be on the safe side. We should have one pony surveilling the home and studio for if Octavia wants to show me around. Who knows? You might capture some recon photos while you’re there.
“I can go look at the house if Applejack can take the studio.” Paintbrush spoke up. “Note can help Hiro with intercepting the communications from Vinyl.”
“That… sounds awesome.” Lance commented, taking a minute to summon up the new rifle he got from Twilight Mist. “Alright, Where should I take point tonight?”
“We should discuss that later. It’s only a little before noon and I think we got some major catching up to do.”
That was when Lance remember what exactly he meant. It had almost been three months or so since the two of them had last seen each other and in that timeframe, a lot of stuff had happened. Including the incidents with Equilis and the Purple Mare, The War of Shadows, meeting Max, Seph, Aurora… starting a family and so on. Hiro didn’t care much about the minor details, but one thing caught him by surprise.
“Oh yeah, and the one in charge of MIST in New Yoke is my aunt Aya.”
Hiro’s reaction to that was almost choking on the cola that he was drinking and spat it out, almost hitting the bracer that Aurora was in. “Your what?”
“Yeah, I said that right… My aunt.”
“How did your Aunt get here of all places?”
Lance sighed, wiping some sweat off of his face as he looked back. “It’s kind of complicated to explain. The same goes with my family history.”
“O… kay fair enough…” He replied back as Lance smiled. Now they waited for dawn to fall. So that the operation can be underway.
Later that night…
“Hey Geeves. Do you have the target?” Aurora asked, sounding slightly preoccupied by something other than the mission.
“…… Okay, Aurora, you and I have known each other for three months now so you know my name already,” He deadpanned, watching through the lense of the rifle he had out as he saw Vinyl making conversation with Octavia before the two of them began trotting to a taxi carriage. “And yes, I have the target in my sights.”
“Well, you better take the shot with the tracer, she’s getting away.”
“If you give me a second to concentrate, I-.”
“You’re going to miss it. YOU’RE GOING TO MISS IT!!” She taunted, still being preoccupied by something on her end.
“Aurora-.”
“Hey, HEY GEEVES!! HEY!!” It was around then that Lance actually pulled the trigger and the bolt made contact with the bottom of Octavia’s formal clothes that she was wearing tonight.
“Okay, I took the damn shot! She’s tagged and we’re tracking her now!” He snapped, only making Aurora chuckle happily.
“Oh you are just a treat…” She giggled a little bit before turning off the speakers on her own end. Lance himself watched as Octavia trotted down the streets in a depressed manner, her cello case looking heavy on her back. She passed a beggar pony and dropped twenty bits into the poor old stallions cup.
“Dinner’s on me Rusty.” She said, and the stallion smiled.
“Who’s Rusty?”
“A poor stallion in his late fifties, lost everything when he broke his hip. He’s been homeless for five years, no relatives.”
“How does he relate to her though?” The Adept wondered, using his sight to zoom in on the two of them.
“Maybe she’s just nice…” Aurora stated.
“Maybe… but that doesn’t explain how she knows him.” He said, refocusing his attention on Octavia as she crossed the street. “Theres the restaurant they’re meeting at. Vinyl’s wire is how and ready.”
“Roger that. Operation Melody is a go.” Lance heard Hiro on the other end of the communications line say to him as he saw the two of them sit down. That was when Vinyl began the talking.
“Well, long time no see. You look brilliant this evening, Tavi.”
“V-Vinyl?” Octavia was taken aback. “I-it’s been so long… I thought you forgot about me…”
“Why would I forget about my roommate who’s also a good friend of mine? Come on and sit… I was waiting on somepony, but they couldn’t make it due to a family emergency so I have an extra seat.” She said to her as the earth pony sat down across from her at the table. “So how’s being a professional Cellist coming along? You making a lot of bits?”
“Oh… Uh, not really…” Octavia said, sitting down. “I’ve been… In a bit of a pickle, so to speak.”
“Says the same mare who gave twenty bits to a homeless stallion. Something’s not right here.” Lance thought to himself as he continued to watch them.
“In a pickle? Well, maybe I can find a way to lend a helping hoof. Heck, maybe sometime we could do a song together like back in college.” The Unicorn offered, taking a drink for a brief second.
“Th-that would be amazing!” Octavia beamed.
“Yeah, I just gotta find a good recording studio that won’t burn a hole through my bits. Despite the huge crowds I get for some of my shows, some of the fee’s some clubs have me pay to perform just plain sucks.” The Unicorn told her. Lance, from his perspective, saw this as bait. Given that Octavia had gotten Coloratura’s old studio, if she actually said something about it, the mare might lead Vinyl all the way to there.
“Uh… I’m not supposed to say this, but I recently acquired a studio. W-we could work there!” Octavia said happily.
“Everypony, pay attention.” Lance muttered over coms. “Octavia took the bait on the studio. Applejack, be ready for anything.”
“Ah’ve been ready. Sugarcube.”
“You did? Wow, you're just full of surprises… When should we get together and record it? I know you might have a tight schedule, but I think we can work something out right?” Vinyl proposed to her friend, waiting for her reply.
“Oh, I spend my mornings from eight to ten practicing, but I’ve got the rest of the day of until seven pm.” Octavia said. “Oh I’m so happy we bumped into each other… My life has been going all over the place…”
“Heh… I’ve been there before.” Vinyl smiled. As the two of them were talking and enjoying each others company though, Lance heard something on coms.
“Canvas to Gunvolt, we got movement on the house.”
Now that was out of the ordinary, especially since no one was suppose to be at the house right now. “What kind of movement?”
“Looks like several ponies moving in crates from what appears to be mover’s delivery van. But I don’t think they would be putting furniture in wooden crates.” Canvas replied back. “Plus, I think the other ponies involved in the incidents with the Countess are here… and two of them look like that Octavia mare that Vinyl was talking about.”
At this point, Lance dismissed his gun and checked the map on his bracer and saw where Canvas’ tracker was. “Stay where you are, I’m coming your way.”
“So, do you have a place to stay?” Octavia asked Vinyl.
“Yeah I do. Thankfully, with all the work and stuff I’ve been doing, I’m making enough bits to support myself. Hopefully, I can turn my home into a studio, but right now, I’m just focusing on the essentials. Kind of something that I learned from you.” Vinyl chuckled, trying to play along with what she was hearing on the comline and with what her friend was saying. “Speaking of which, are you ready to order something?”
“Oh, yes… It’s just wonderful to see you again.” Octavia said, then looked at the menu. Wondering a little about what she was going to have for dinner this evening.
Elsewhere…
It took the Adept a while to move to Canvas’ location without trying to use Instant Transmission, but after about five minutes of running across the rooftops and going through the trees, he soon made it. “So hows our… movers coming along.”
“As of now, they’ve been moving almost twenty boxes or so inside with just a small group. Watch the two ponies on the left and you’ll see what I’m talking about.” She whispered. Taking the scope, he zoomed in on the two ponies that Canvas was referring to and began to notice what she was talking about. There with two mares with a light colored coat of fur that would almost remind anypony of a cup of vanilla pudding, but the mane and tails of both ponies were separate colors. Not to mention that the cutie marks were different too. With another quick squeeze, he landed another tracer bolt on the crate they were moving so they could listen in.
“I ain’t sayin she’ll double cross us, ah’m just sayin we shouldn’t trust ‘er, or that Nova fellow.” The blue maned one said in a southern accent.
“Aurora, can you record this?” Lance asked. “Something tells me that these two might slip up real soon. Especially since they just mentioned Sumeragi.”
“On it.” Aurora replied.
“I know, but he might be beneficial. Lord knows L.H. is interested.” The purple maned mare said. “And I think it might help give Octavia a better life.”
“She never will, Symph. It’s impossible.” The blue maned mare said. “Let’s hurry this up, I’m starvin!”
“Hmm… Symph… Short for Symphony… Aurora? Anypony in your database named that?” Lance asked her as the two ponies focused on carrying the last box in.
“Huh… Weird, there was a mare by that name and that look, but she apparently died five years ago…” Aurora said.
“Maybe she faked her death or something…” Lance thought to himself. “Okay, anypony with the initials L.H. in your database? They’re referring to her like she’s one of the heads of the operation.”
“Too many…” Aurora sighed.
“Any of them with criminal records or ties to Symphony?”
“... Nope…” Aurora said. “She was a reclusive mare, no criminal record.”
“Well, let’s keep listening and see what other names might pop up.” Lance said, switching the specifications on his scope so he can see through the walls of the house. “Okay, I see those two along with two to three other mares inside.”
“Why are we doing this again?” Symphony asked. “Shouldn’t the Countesses colts be doing this?”
“She didn’ want them to… Somethin about suspicion…” The other said. They seemed to have finished with the boxes and furniture.
“I hate this…” Symphony sighed. “Call Octavia, she’s taking too long.”
“Sure thing.” The other mare said, only to let out a frustrated grunt shortly afterwards, “Oh Celestia strike me down right now, it went to voicemail.”
Symphony breathed in sharply. “She never let’s it go to voicemail unless she’s working, and she doesn’t have a gig tonight! What if someone hurt her!?”
The other mare slapped Symphony out of her freak out. “Get it together, she must be havin dinner…”
“Y-you’re right Fiddly…” Symphony sighed in relief. “You’re right…”
“Oh… My… Celestia… These two are Octavia’s sisters…” Aurora said in astonishment.
“Sisters?” Lance asked, “Vinyl never said anything about sisters… what can you find on her?”
“Well, they’re her sisters, those two are twins… Vinyl might not have thought the sisters were important.” Aurora said. “Fiddly Faddle is a struggling violinist… That’s really all… No record of crime besides one drunk while driving arrest and two speeding tickets.”
“Anything about family life? Like parents or grandparents?” He asked. “Maybe we can find a clue into their family history.”
“Uh, their father was an activist, and their grandmother on their mother's side was an extremist… There was some claims that their uncle was a criminal. That’s about it. Why don’t you tell Vinyl just in case.”
“Claims are just accusations without proof. Let’s listen in on Fiddly and Symphony and see what else we can find out.”
“I’m going to go check on Octavia…” Symphony said, pulling out her phone.
“Uh… What’re ya doin?” Fiddly asked.
“I installed a GPS tracker on all of your phones so I can find you.” Symphony said, before galloping off. Fiddly looked at her own phone, her eye twitching.
“Where do you think you’re going, Symphony!?” Somepony else shouted. Somepony that Lance detected to have come down from the ceiling and turned out to be an spiderpony. “We had a deal. If your sister can’t make it, she’ll have to suffer the consequences for it.”
“Black Widow, if you touch-” Symphony started, but was cut off.
“The price for tardiness is clear...” A black mare with red eyes and a purple stripe in her mane said. Her voice was ice cold and calm, while also somehow being motherly and soothing.
“S-sorry Shadowmere…” Symphony apologised fearfully.
“These two aren’t in the database…” Aurora said.
“Besides, we have company.” Shadowmere said, looking directly at Lance.
“Sh*t. Fall back!” Lance hushed to Canvas as both of them moved out of sight before anypony else could see them. “Let’s just rely on the tracer for now and see what they say.”
“Tracer’s gone!” Aurora shouted. “They destroyed it!”
“Well crap… Hang on… They have cell phones in there now do they?” Lance asked, getting an idea. Using some of his energy, he closed his eyes and focused on hearing the sounds from around the phone that Fiddly was using earlier.
Shadowmere appeared in front of Lance, smiling calmly. “What are you doing…? This is private property, and you’re trespassing.”
“Who are you?” He asked, tempted to draw his weapons, but refused to do so.
“Shadowmere. What else?” Shadowmere said, not changing her expression. “Please leave before I call the police…”
Lance composed himself for a minute, thinking calmly before looking back at her. “We’re from Mane Hero 6. We got an anonymous tip about some activities here that could be related to the attacks by the criminal named the Countess. We originally thought this place was empty and abandoned, but I wasn’t told that this was private property though. We’ll be departing now since you address this to us.” He told Shadowmere.
“Great! Oh, you weren’t listening in on us, right? That’s illegal without the right papers…”
“We weren’t. Most of it was just looking around and seeing things visually.”
“Then what was this bug?” Shadowmere asked, showing the crushed bug.
“If I were you, I would be asking anyone else. I haven't seen anything like that before. Now, if you excuse me…” He said, just as he and Canvas were about to leave.
“Any evidence you get out of that recording is useless to the police…” Shadowmere said.
“You don’t seem to be the villain type if you’re telling us this stuff firsthand. So what’s your game? Mercenary for hire? Street dealer?”
“I’m not bad, I’m moving into this house here.” Shadowmere said.
“Uhh… Ma’am? I’m sorry to inform you otherwise, but I think your knowledge on the place is off.” The Adept informed her. “It’s said that an Octavia or somepony now owns this home.”
“Yes, I don’t exist in this country yet, so I gave the money to Octavia. Now, if you don’t mind, I have some unpacking to do. I better not see you here again.” Shadowmere said, trotting away. “Oh, and why would you suspect me of being a villain?”
“Oh I’m sorry about that… It kind of rubs off on you when you are dealing with a bunch of criminals who normally wear dark clothing. I apologize for assuming.” Lance scratched the back of his head, before placing his fingers on his forehead. “We’ll be going now. Bye!” With that, he and Canvas disappeared and left Shadowmere standing on her own outside.
Shadowmere rolled her eyes as she returned to the others. “Increase security. And get Octavia here now.”
Vinyl’s night so far had been going great. She had the chance to reunite with Octavia, chat a little and even provide a little bit of leeway for Lance and the others. However, all of that came to a screeching halt when she heard Lance say something over the mic.
“Everyone retreat to HQ, the operations been compromised. Vinyl, somepony’s coming for Octavia. Get out of there!”
In response, Vinyl tensed up, nervously looking around to see who this other pony could be. But couldn’t get any more info once the comline was disconnected.
“- So Beauty Brass told me I wasn’t welcomed anymore. And here’s why: She didn’t think I looked proper enough… Is something wrong Vinyl?” Octavia asked.
“Nah, I just felt a bit of a chill… Hey, were you waiting for somepony?” Vinyl asked, “I can take you home if you-.”
“Oh dear, I am late… My sisters are going to kill me…”
“Sisters?” The DJ retorted. “I thought you told me you didn’t have any siblings…”
“Oh… Yeah… I don’t like talking about them…” Octavia said, looking away. “What were you about to say?”
“I was asking if you wanted me to take you home.” She repeated herself.
“Why would you want to do that? I mean… It’s a long walk. And… You know, I can get really annoying…”
“Octavia, I haven’t seen you in almost three to six months. I have tried contacting you with no response. This is one of the rare opportunities I get to talk to you since we graduated. I’m just trying to savor the moment… Because who knows how long it might last.”
“Okay.” Octavia smiled. “I really did miss you Vinyl. Ever since graduation, I haven’t been able to stay close to anyone.” The cellist stood up. “But enough of my babbling, let's go.”
“Lead the way.” The mare encouraged her. Octavia nodded, and began to lead Vinyl to her house.
“And here we are, sorry if it was a bit of a hike.” Octavia apologized. Her friend chuckled as she looked out towards the house, only to hear some rustling around nearby.
“Hey, were you expecting any company? Because the front door is wide open.”
“Huh… That’s we-” Octavia was cut off as her sister Symphony soon tackled her in a hug that blindsided both her and the Unicorn she was with.
“What the-?” Her friend reacted, not expecting Octavia to be sent tumbling to the ground by her sister.
“I was so worried! What were you doing out so late!?” Symphony cried out, smothering her sister in a hug.
“J-just meeting with a f-friend!” Octavia said. “I’m sorry for not calling you…” Symphony looked at Vinyl suspiciously.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I was Octavia’s roommate while we were in college. I’m Vinyl Scratch. Nice to meet you miss…”
“Oh, where are my manners? I’m Symphony Melody, I’m Octavia’s older sister.” Symphony. “Second oldest, and most mature.”
“Well, somepony has too.” Vinyl said. “I used to have a older sibling, but he died when I was a filly. He was hit by an oncoming carriage that lost control and crashed into him… He died protecting me.”
“Oh… I’m sorry. You can be an honorary Melody if you want.” Symphony said, while Octavia looked embarrassed.
“I thank you for your hospitality, but I think all I need to do is just go to the little filly’s room first before I head back to my home.” The Unicorn told her.
“Of course, come inside.” Symphony said, trotting towards the house. “I’ll just go tell Fiddly and give Octavia her punishment for staying out late.” Octavia seemed terrified of that and Vinyl took personal note of it inside her head as she walked inside the home. After having to do her business and as she began to wash up though, she began to hear voices from a nearby air shaft that led into a private chamber overlooking the ocean.
“Ah’m tellin ya, she’s with that vermin that eavesdropped on us. It can’t be a coincidence.” An older voice, possibly this Fiddly said.
“But she seemed like such a nice mare… I thought she’d be good to help Octavia.” Symphony replied. “Ugh, let’s go downstairs and get this done already…”
“Downstairs?” Vinyl wondered to herself, “Well, whatever it is, I’ll be finding it out one way or another.” As she proceeded to walk out, she noticed Octavia nearby and tilted her head. “Hey, where are your sisters? I was going to go thank them for letting me use the bathroom before I left.”
“Oh… Th-they’re getting ready to punish me for staying out late.” Octavia said. “I’ll pass the message. It was good to see you.”
“You too, Tavi.” She said, adding to it by playfully kissing her on the cheek as she began to walk out.
Octavia blushed fiercely. “S-see you tomorrow!”
“Same.” Vinyl said to herself, the only response being her head nodding to the mare as she walked out. While this was going on though, there was another purpose to the unicorn’s slow walk out of these. Her powers allowed her to hear long distances, even underground. So while she may have been seen walking away and listening with her headphones… what she was really listening was what was going on in the basement of the building.
“Come on sis, you knew this was going to happen if you disobeyed an order.” She heard Fiddly say with sounds that made it appear that the basement had a creaky floor.
“P-please, I’ll do anything! I’ll scrub the entire house five times over, j-just please… I don’t want to go through this again…” Octavia begged weakly. Vinyl was in shock. Just what the hell were they doing to her?”
“There are no excuses. Lay down on the circle.” Symphony ordered. There were a few pitter patters here and there, but something didn’t make sense… Circles and transmutes were the street or abbreviated term for transmutation circles used by mages and magic users.
If they were earth ponies… why would they need such a thing?
There was an odd noise, like a hum. Then the sound of crying, and the unsheathing of a blade. “Oh no… Don’t tell me that-.”
Just as she thought that was when she heard the blade penetrate flesh and a loud scream wailed. A few second of screaming turned into coughing and crying fits, with Octavia wailing in agony.
“The Cult of Corrode doesn’t tolerate disobedience sister.” Symphony stated coldly while Vinyl listened to the last part that her sister said demonically. “How many more times are we going to have to stab you in the heart in order for you to keep that inside your head?”
By now, Vinyl’s heart was racing. Not only did she just find out about her friend being a victim, but also of a name that needed to be researched immediately. Using her horn, she teleported as fast as she could back to base.
“Well, this is a bust,” Lance muttered as they tried going through what they had before with Hiro and Applejack while Noteworthy and Paintbrush went to go get some sleep. “We only have bits and pieces of information, Vinyl has been out of contact for almost two hours and we have no leads on anything as of yet… Just our luck.”
“Well… I looked up Shadowmere… No records… Also, I ran her face through the database. Nothing…” Aurora said.
“What about that one figure… Black Widow, was it?” Applejack asked.
“Nothing either.”
Around then was when Vinyl arrived by teleporting herself in. Lance was going to properly greet her, but when he noticed the look on her face, he could tell that something was wrong. “G-guys…… we’re dealing with… a bigger problem here.”
“What problem?” Lance asked.
“You saw those two look a-likes of Octavia right? Symphony and Fiddly?” Lance nodded his head, wondering what she meant. “Well, I just found out something horrible…… They’re cultists… and they use Octavia in the process… Aurora, do you have anything in there about “The Cult of Corrode”? It was the name I heard before hurrying back here.”
Aurora was silent, then ‘gulped’. “Well… I got some things. Corrode was apparently a Draconequus who found a flaw with how our world works… Quote: “If evil always returns from the seeds of life, then why keep it around?”, he’s renowned for killing a large populace in the Ice Age.” Aurora said.
“So we’ve gone from searching for the Countess to dealing with a cult?” Lance asked, “That barely makes any sense.”
“Yeah, hang on just a second.” Vinyl said, placing a hoof on the screen on the computer as something like circuits glowed through her hoof into the screen. “There… I used my powers to transfer what I heard and convert it into mp3 files. I’ll let you guys look through them… I have something to get ready for.”
That had caught Hiro’s attention right away. “Hang on… You don’t have any shows for another week. What exactly do you need to get ready for?”
“Remember how you weren’t able to find anything at the studio tonight?” Everyone, including Aurora, nodded their heads. “Well Octavia gave me the address for it and she and I are going to be trying to record a song tomorrow. Maybe on a break I can peek around and see what kind of secrets I can uncover.”
“Holy crap, you rock Vinyl.” Lance chuckled, looking back at her.
“Just doing my job… The sooner we get to the bottom of this, the sooner that Octavia doesn’t have to suffer anymore.” The mare told her, trotting off to her room and putting her headphones away so she could try and sleep. However, throughout the night, she was tossing and turning because of the sound of her best friend’s screams fresh in her memory.
End Strike 38
