Strike 23- Welcome Back
When Lightning Strikes- Welcome Back
Power Pony HQ
For Twilight Sparkle, these past few days have been… troublesome to say the least. The whole charade started one morning when Lance, Lumen and Solaria didn’t show up when they were called to report for duty. Some ponies like Pinkie had assumed that they were just sleeping in. Instead though, when they went to go inside their room, they found nothing. Nothing at all. Of course, it could’ve meant many different things and they decided to wait things out.
Today was day five and almost everypony in the building was concerned, even though they mostly didn’t show it. Everypony went on with their tasks and daily lives like nothing had happened. Even though in reality, something did. Humdrum had suggested a search party, but the idea was shot down because Twilight believed that the unit needed to stick together as a whole. Even Cody volunteered to help Detective Whooves with the Powers Division at the police department.
Now, she had those same thoughts, especially after what had occurred with the founder of the Power Ponies, Stopwatch. Just as she was going to assign today’s objectives though, the Alicorn noticed that Pinkie wasn’t… well acting normal.
“Filly sense!! Filly Sense!!”
“Pinkie? What are you talking about?”
“My tail twitched three times. It means that Lance and the others are coming back!!”
Every mare in the room and even Humdrum looked at her with a confused expression. They thought that she was just joking around, trying to cheer up the group as a whole. But with the past few times that her filly sense had predicted certain events, who knows what could’ve been right or wrong. But seconds after she said that, a small tear from the void opened and spat out a few individuals, causing them to crash and smoke to rise up. The tear itself closed while everypony in the room was coughing from the dust and dander that came out of the room.
“Oh COME ON!! I just got this suit cleaned!!” Radiance complained. “And my mane is a total mess!!”
“Calm down will ya! Some rascal just landed on top of me!!” Mistress Marevelous shouted back.
“Who are you calling a Rascal!?”
Everypony in the room stopped yelling the moment they heard that voice and waited for the dust to clear up. Emerging from the dust cloud was the three individuals they had thought had gone missing. “L-lance!!? S-solaria!? Lumen!?”
“It’s good to see you too again, girls,” The Adept replied, getting up from his cramped position on the floor. However, the Adept was then tackled by an overjoyed Pinkie Pie, who was both very happy… and very emotional. She had not see him in a long time, but to her, the human almost reminded her of another pony she knew and cared for sometime ago.
“OH MY GOSH!!! You’re back!!! Where were you!? What happened to your clothes!?! You had me and the others worried sick about you!!”
“E-easy there Pinkie. A friend of mine needed help and it was kind of late notice. It took a lot longer than expected,” The Azure Striker told the earth pony, slowly getting back up. “Sorry if I made you all worried about me.”
“I-it’s okay.” Pinkie said, hugging Lance’s waist. “It’s only been four days and we’ve been really busy with kicking villain’s flanks and everything-.”
“Hold up a second… Four days?” Lance asked. He was honestly surprised that he was gone for so long. “What happened?”
“We’ve been slowly making progress on trying to recapture the villains that broke out of the Asylum some time ago, but any lead that we got on Sumeragi, they’ve been one step ahead of us,” Humdrum answered. “Even Cody volunteered to pitch in at the Police Department to give them more support and help them with the amount of cases they’ve been getting recently.” Around now was when something clicked inside Lance’s head.
He looked around the room, noticing if there was anything different or out of place. “How many criminals did you lock up this week?”
“Twenty three. But none of them varmints have any information of them.” Applejack answered.
“Hmm… I think we have ourselves a problem. You say that they’ve been one step ahead of us and that there’s no information coming from the criminals you did detain?” Lance asked thoroughly. They all nodded their heads, making Lance fear the worst. “And the only people that you have been in contact with are each other and the powers division correct?”
“Yes, but what’s the point in what you are trying to say?” Zapp rushed him, impatiently.
“What I’m trying to say is that somehow, Sumeragi is knowing about our activities and whereabouts so they stay one step ahead. Do you know what that might possibly mean?” Nopony in the room, except for Twilight, understood him. The Alicorn’s eyes widened upon realizing what he meant. “Wait… you mean that?”
“It means that there’s someone working for the enemy. A wolf in sheep's clothing… A mole.”
“Wait, are you saying that somepony we know has gone rogue!? That’s impossible!”
Lance shook his head. “I’m not saying that someone in this building is a traitor. I believe our problem might be over in the police department. Humdrum, your our technician. How good is building security?”
“Last it checked, state of the art.” Humdrum said, checking the buildings camera’s using a handheld tablet.
“Alright. My guess is that someone working in the police department is intercepting communication between us,” The Adept explained. “Which is why today seems like the day to shake things up. We normally tell Detective Whooves about our whereabouts when we’re in the field, correct?” All the ponies in the room nodded their heads. “Well, if our little mole is getting those messages, then we need to surprise them with something that they don’t expect, making them unreliable. Therefore, exposing them.”
“That could work out well. Cody is helping Detective Whooves keep things working at the station, so he could find them once they try to leave the building and escape.” Twilight mentioned to everypony. “But how are we going to find out where they are hiding?”
“Simple…” Lance replied, getting out a foldable map of the city from a nearby table. “Where have the last few incidents occurred?” Each of the girls explained a few of the incidents that had taken place and afterwards, Lance made a shape with all the points like it was connect the dots. putting a line through each of them, all the lines intersected at one exact point.
“Hey, that’s the Quills and Sofas furniture outlet.”
“That’s not the furniture outlet. That’s the old storage facility to the outlet.” Twilight corrected Rainbow’s assumptions. “It closed down a few years back. Seems like the perfect place to be hiding a bunch of villains and all the space.”
“Then it’s settled. You girls will hit that location with everything you got. Cody, on the other hand, will pay attention to the ponies in the workplace and see if one of them will crack under pressure. Humdrum and I should stay behind though. He can talk to you through comms and I need to rest after the endeavours I had gone through. Plus, I need to check on a couple of things.”
“Okay girls, you know the drill! Power Ponies GO!!” With that, the seven ponies that were once there ran out of the room and prepared to hit the streets. For Lance, he then decided to move not to the break room or his room unlike Lumen. Not to even the mirror to Max’s world. His first priority was to go to the records room. Or as Masked Matterhorn called it “The Archives”. He wanted to know a little more about the Power Ponies before he joined the team. Maybe, he would be able to learn a thing or two from them.
When he got there, he was greeted by a very powerful computer that was constructed by Humdrum and stored its records on previous and current members. It even was able to speak to him like an AI. “Hello there. My name is Iris. How can I help you?”
Lance thought for a minute before responding. “I want to see the records that you have on Stopwatch, please.”
“Processing request…” The machine whirred, streaming through thousands of records in mere milliseconds before pulling up a video source that had streams of pictures and snippets of recorded footage in a news report like montage. Soon, Iris began to narrate the sequence as it began to play.
“Stopwatch was one of the founders of the Power Ponies along with Masked Matterhorn, Saddle Rager, Radiance, Mistress Marevelous, Fili-Second and Zapp. Real name: Surging Storm. He lead the Power Ponies against at least one hundred and one villians. He was father to three children. Entropy Storm-Deceased, Aurora Spirit-Deceased, and Scootaloo-Alive. Engaged to Pinkamena Diane Pie. Unfortunately, his end came at the hands of Roach, another human that killed three other members- Gadget, Entropy, and Jubilee at Memory End Lane, which was turned into a memorial to those who died. After his death, some of the team left, and only the original members remained.”
“Wow…… Iris, can you list the team members who left after the passing of Stopwatch?” He asked specifically. Even though he knew that Time was alive, he needed to play along for the system to work with him. The system agreed, showing the portraits of three to four ponies.
“Reaper, an undead pegasus that had the ability to turn into shadows. After the death of Stopwatch, he left the group to go solo. He later disappeared. Matterhood, a clone of Masked Matterhorn with similar powers. After the death of Stopwatch, she left. She is currently missing. Daring Do, a story book character come to life. She was assumed to have a virus and is assumed dead because of it.”
Lance was surprised to hear about these. But hearing about Matterhood and Daring Do made him curious as to where their whereabouts were. He also thought that the assumption on Daring Do being dead was fake because there wasn’t much evidence on the subject matter. Before he could ask though, he heard another voice. One that sounded like a little filly. A scared little filly.
“D-daddy? I-is that you? I’m scared…”
Lance slowly turned around, looking over his left shoulder to see who was talking. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. In front of him was an almost see-through unicorn filly with a blue tint. Her mane was messy and stuck up in weird places, and seemed to be white with the blue tint. But her eyes… So lifeless… She almost looked blind… From his angle, Lance could see a skull cutie mark. A scar across her throat sent chills through him.
“You’re not daddy! Who are you!?” She yelled, her voice sounding like an echo.
“I-i’m Lance…… Wait… you said I look like your dad? Who is he?” The Adept tried to remain calm despite the scared filly looking like something from The Grudge. “I promise… I’m not going to hurt you.”
The filly shifted a bit, “I don’t know what’s happening… My d-daddy was coming to save me… Where is he!? Where am I!? I don’t understand…” She was on the verge of tears.
“There’s no need to cry. You’re safe here.” Lance tried to comfort her. “You are at the headquarters of the Power Ponies. Now… miss? Can you please tell me your name? I want to help you, but I can only do so if you help me ok?” To provide further support, he offered a hand and even took off his jacket since he thought that the youngling was cold.
“A-Aurora Spirit… Power Ponies? What do you mean? I thought we lived in White Asylum…” The filly murmured. Lance almost dropped the jacket upon hearing the name. There was no way that this could be happening right now, he thought.
“Y-you’re Surge’s daughter?” He asked, the thought of it sending a shiver down his spine.
She seemed confused, but realization hit her. “Yeah! But I just call him daddy… Does that mean he saved me!? I knew he could!” Aurora started hopping up and down in happiness.
“Easy there, Aurora-” Lance stopped once he watched the filly jump up and down, almost passing through his hands. Another shiver went down his spine upon seeing that and it caused him to drop his jacket, which also fell through Aurora.
The filly look down and giggled, “I must not be in my body… Do you know where I am?”
“Power Pony headquarters in Maretropolis.” The Adept restated.
She giggled again, “I mean my physical form. I can leave my body, and I guess I did it in my sleep… This would be a first though…”
“Umm… Aurora right?” Lance said, thinking something through. He honestly had no idea how to break to a young filly that she was dead, but soon thought of a possible method. “When was the last date that you remember?”
“Umm… A mean group foalnapped me for money… Then… Nothing… I remember pain, but…” She rubbed her throat where the scar was, “That’s it…”
“What was the year this took place?” He asked, before changing the question. “When was your last birthday?”
The filly scratched her head, “Uh… Last week? I just turned seven!” She smiled. Lance then thought back a bit. But, he still had a few details missing.
“What was the date of your seventh birthday?” He then asked, trying to keep the conversation focused on her.
“Hearts and Hooves day! We had lots of fun! Pinkie made me the biggest cake! Both my sisters and my daddy and all my aunts were there!” If it weren’t for the dead look in her eyes, Lance would have believed her eyes would have been sparkling. Taking the information he knew, he turned back towards Iris and spoke again.
“Iris, when was Aurora Spirit’s last birthday?”
“Processing……” The machine replied. It took a while to load, but in that time, Lance placed the jacket that Time gave him back on and turned towards the machine. Aurora herself tried floating up to his side, wanting to see what would happen next. “According to the system, Aurora’s Spirits last birthday was February 14, 2014. It has been over one year since that date.”
Now Lance was starting to hate Iris for saying the last part. Especially when he looked back at Aurora again.
Her eyes were wide, surprise, fear, and disbelief written on her face. Tears brimmed at the edges of her eyes, and she began to whimper.
“W-what? Th-that c-c-can’t b-be! Dadd-ddy said he would save me!” Aurora started backing up, but stopped and broke down sobbing. “Why’s it been a year!?”
“I don’t know Aurora… Bear with me here…” Lance told her, trying to assure her comfort before asking his next question to the supercomputer. “Iris, what happened to Aurora Spirit?”
“Aurora Spirit, age seven, born with the power to send her soul out of her body, was foalnapped by a terrorist organization known as Iron Hoof. They threatened to kill the filly if the city didn’t give them three million bits in two hours. Needless to say, the city denied it. When the two hours were up, the terrorists slit her throat on national television. She was buried in Butterfly Hill, one mile away from the city.”
Both Lance and Aurora looked shocked at the news. But the filly seemed to be even more scared than before. Lance, thinking quickly, told Iris to log off. That way, Aurora didn’t need to hear more gruesome details about her own demise. “So that explains it…”
“I’m… Dead? How…? Why!?” Aurora asked.
“I don’t know. But I can still see you…… Wait, you said that you can send your soul out of your body, right?”
The filly tried to compose herself, “Y-yes, I can… I can interact with things if I want to…”
“Have you ever accidentally used your powers in times of fear or panic?” Lance asked the filly. “I’m thinking that when this happened, you used your powers at the last moment to escape, but your appearance reflects the appearance of your body.” It made sense to him. Especially with the look of her mane and her… throat.
Aurora nodded, then asked, “So… I’m alive? I’m not dead but I can’t go into my body?”
“That’s my guess at least.” Lance sighed. “Hey, you said you could interact with things right? What kind of things?”
“Um…” She scratched her head, then bit Lance’s jacket, and pulled at it, “Ah cn toth thtuff ith ah thocuth.” She spit it out, “I can touch stuff if I focus. But I need to really think about it… I can also mess with things like a Unicorn can... But… I need a physical attachment in order to continue my form. I can’t stay out of my body too long or I fade away…”
“What about machines? Can that work?” Lance then remembered the communicator on his wrist and then took it off, it was the size of a bracer and fit to serve for multiple purposes. “I don’t want you to fade away on me… after all, I know your dad and I know what happened to him.”
She nodded, “Yeah, it should work… Possessing objects can keep me going… Something happened to daddy?”
“Many ponies think he died, but in truth, he was banished from this world by a bad person named Roach. He was the one that gave me this jacket actually.” Lance said, tugging at it a little to show her what he meant. “He told me that if we take care of him and a few others that are in league with him, he can come home. You want to help me bring him home?”
“Oh course!” The filly exulted. She then jumped into the bracer, “Call me Spirit. It’s my ‘codename’.”
“Okay Spirit. You comfortable in there?” Lance asked. Despite being an actual spirit, he wanted to make sure that Aurora was okay despite her current situation.
“Yep! It’s all colorful!” He heard a more normal voice from the bracer, “It feels kind of ticklish though~” She giggled.
“Is that a good thing?” Lance asked. “I want to make sure you feel good in there, okay? It may take some time, but if we work together, we’ll bring Surge home okay?”
Spirit seemed a bit too joyous after what the two heard, “Yeah! I’m fine! It tickles, and that’s good! It means I’m feeling stuff!”
“That’s good to hear-.”
“Hey Lance, are you down here?” Another voice echoed. The Adept soon realized that it was Humdrum that was speaking as he walked on down. “I could’ve sworn I was hearing you talk to somepony.”
That… made Lance nervous. “I was…… talking to Iris… Yeah, I needed to find some things that have been on my mind recently. What’s up?”
“Well, I wanted to get the chance to give you some new equipment I built for you while you were away. I thought it might be helpful for future missions.”
“Who’re you?” Spirit asked.
“Did I hear something?” The dragon then asked as he and Lance walked back up the stairs.
“Hear what exactly?”
“Somepony ask me “Who’re you?”. Sounded like a ghost if you ask me.”
“Hey! I’m… Oh, should I be quiet?” Aurora questioned. Lance’s only answer was a nod as he turned back towards Humdrum.
“Let’s not worry about that now Spike. You said you had some new equipment for me?”
“That I do. Nice jacket by the way.”
“Thanks.” Lance replied as the two of them walked back towards his workshop. In it, he seemed to be working on quite a few projects. “Wow, you must have a lot of free time on your hands if you can be working on all of this.”
“That is only just the tip of the iceberg. Most of those are incomplete, but what I have for you is finished.” The dragon replied. “First up. I came with a new attachment to your Mizuchi clip, which works as a tracking device. I call it the “Tracer”.”
“Now he’s just making up words.” Spirit whispered. Lance giggled a little to himself before accepting the attachment and placing it on his clip. He wasn’t immediately thinking that Humdrum was done. Because it seemed like he had something else in store for him. Judging from the amount of things on his desk.
“What else did you make there, Spike?” Lance asked.
“Well, most of it has been trying to repurpose a lot of the robotics that we obtained from that one Sumeragi factory. I had something in mind for you, but I’m going to need some time to build it first.”
“So I can’t get a sneak peek?”
“Sorry dude, it’s a surpri-.” Before he could finish, a ringing sound went off as both of the heroes had to hurry back to HQ. A call was coming in from Cody.
“Hey guys.”
“Hey Cody, It’s good to hear from you.”
“Same, after your disappearance act. Hey, about that mole you want me to look into… I got some good news and bad news.”
Both Lance and Humdrum looked at one another before looking back at Cody. “What’s the bad news?”
“I found the mole, but when I tried to catch him, he was assassinated the moment he walked out the door. One shot to the head did the trick and the assailant got away.”
Now Lance was a little concerned. “What about the good news?”
“The good news is that I uncovered a flash drive which I believe might contain all the information that this guy has been stealing. I’m going to send it to Humdrum so he can try to crack the code behind this thing because the best technicians down here can’t open it. Said about something having to do with a Snapdragon Firewall that’s impossible to crack.”
“Thanks Cody, see you later.” Lance replied as he ended the call. “Okay, that’s one thing taken care of. What about the girls?”
“Let me pull up their locations on screen… Wait a second… Something’s not right. Pinkie is running around the entire city. What the heck is going on?” Humdrum tried typing the keys of the keyboard with his claws to try to pick up communications. But, for Aurora, hearing the name “Pinkie” brought something up.
“Pinkie? Is she in trouble?”
“I don’t know,” Lance whispered. “I hope she is okay though-”
“Girl’s. What the hay is going on out there!?”
“Humdrum!! Thank Celestia you picked up!! We finished up dealing with the crooks here. But an unknown assailant that had ties to the police mole was killed and Pinkie’s in pursuit. What’s worse is that in the fight, her communicator broke. We lost contact with her.” The voice of Twilight Sparkle responded. “I’m worried for her. Where’s Lance?”
“Right here. What is it?”
“Please help Pinkie! I know you just got back, but we need the extra hooves on the ground and you’re the only one to fit the bill.”
The Adept smirked, looking at his bracer before running to the roof. “I’m already on it. I just need to get topside and get coordinates on her position.” Then, he looked to where Aurora was. “You ready to go help somepony?”
She nodded, looking as serious as a seven year old could. “Alright. You might want to hang on.” The Adept soon began to run from rooftop to rooftop and trying to use his lightning to enhance his speed. He could’ve used his instant transmission, but with Fili-second being all over the place, he couldn’t focus on her location to teleport himself over there. He still continued to run, using his powers to accelerate himself and Humdrum’s coordinates.
But at one point though, something happened. He heard a crashing sound nearby, loud enough like it was a car crash. “Humdrum, what the hell was that!?”
“Pinkie… crashed,” Humdrum responded. “Lance, you need to go NOW. The assailant that she was chasing just attacked her with something like a knife and her heart beat’s accelerating at an alarming rate. RUN!!!”
Spirit faded out of the gauntlet and started flying in that direction, “No!”
“Aurora, wait!!” Lance rushed towards her. But then realized something. Pinkie was now in one simple location. Meaning it was now easier for him to teleport himself there. “Get back in here, I’m teleporting myself to her!!”
She quickly turned and went into the bracer once more. Once inside, Lance put two fingers on his head and focused. Soon, he transmitted himself to where he was above Pinkie. Her attacker was a male gryphon. An eye patch over his eye, tactical combat gear, weaponry, and his talons covered in blood. Pinkie’s blood. On instinct, Lance dropped down. Placing himself between Pinkie and the gryphon.
“Squawking Hell!?” He chirped, trying to pull a gun on Lance, but he disarmed the bird and electrocuted him using his powers. The Gryphon back off, looking back at him. “Pfft… Great. Now there’s two of you.”
“Keep your filthy claws OFF OF MY FRIENDS!!” Lance roared, grabbing his weapon and aiming. He fired two bolts at the gryphon. But the bird dodged them at the last second.
“You must be the Azure Striker then. Who knew that the son of McCree has this kind of talent?” The Gryphon cringed, smirking evilly. “Come to think of it, you look exactly like Stopwatch.”
“Aaahhh!” Aurora yelled as she fazed out of Lance’s gauntlet, her form tinted red instead of blue, “You’ll pay for hurting Pinkie Pie!” Around that moment though, the gryphon dropped a smoke bomb. The alley filled with smoke briefly before it faded and the Gryphon was on what looked like a cart used for transporting goods. But the strangest thing though was that there a human on there and when Lance looked at him, it gave him serious flashbacks.
But his attention wasn’t focused on that now. He needed to focus on Pinkie. He got down on one knee and tried to hold her up properly. “Hey Pinks… You okay?”
Pinkie looked at Lance, and almost thought she saw somepony she knew and cared for. “I- it hurts…”
Thinking quickly, Lance used a skill point to apply Galvanic Patch to the exposed wounds before looking back at her again. It mostly healed up her wounds and washed away anything that could be infecting it. “How’s that?”
“B-better…” Pinkie said, avoiding Lance’s eyes. “But he got away…”
“Not quite. One of the bolts that I fired at him was a tracker and it hit his wing. We’ll know where they’re hiding soon enough.” Lance replied, helping her up. “Aurora, can you come back here please?”
The filly took her blue tint again, “Fine…” She said before going into Lance’s bracer again. The Adept brought up the screen on his communicator, seeing Aurora’s face. It was then though that the Pink Mare next to him saw what she thought was impossible.
“Aurora!? How...!? That’s not possible! I thought you…”
“Oh yeah…” Lance sighed, knowing that he was forgetting something, “I almost forgot-.”
“Hey mommy…” Spirit said, a little distressed.
Pinkie looked about ready to burst into tears, “I thought…”
“Should I give you two a moment?” Lance asked. He was able to take off the communicator and keep up the screen that had Aurora, holding it in front of Pinkie for her to see her again. It had been over a year since the filly and mare had last seen each other and The Adept knew that something like this was going to get emotional. “Go ahead, Aurora.”
“Uh… I’m not sure I know how to-” She was interrupted as Pinkie started squeezing the bracer in a hug.
“I’m sorry! I wasn’t fast enough!” Pinkie cried.
“It’s okay, it’s not your fault… It was the meanies who did the act, not the ones who couldn’t stop it.”
“But- but-”
“Hush! You told me you’re sorry, and I forgive you!” Aurora gave Pinkie a serious stare.
It took a minute, but Pinkie finally calmed down.
“Not that I’m not happy, but how are you here?”
Now it was the Adept’s turn to speak. “I found her in the archives room. She mistook me for Stopwatch and after some research, I think I found out how she’s still here. Do you remember her powers, Pinkie?”
“Yeah, soul self… Wait, you’re stuck in soul form!?”
“Well, the only likely assumption is that she used her powers to leave her body at the moment those thugs were going to kill her. Which meant that her physical form was gone and she’s stuck as a wandering soul. For added measure, when I found her, I had her be in my wrist communicator so she wouldn’t fade away in her soul form.” The Adept tried to explain, stopping for a second. “Am I confusing you?”
“Nope! That makes perfect sense!” Pinkie said. “We should tell the others I’m okay. I’m sure they’re worried.”
“I agree. We should talk about this with the girls so they could understand.” Lance replied before putting his wrap back on his arm. “Stay close to me, Pinks. I’m gonna teleport us to HQ hospital so you can get looked at.”
“Okie dokie, Lancie!” The Pink pony said, moments before the two transmitted over there. Seconds later, they arrived in the hospital wing, where Fluttershy was waiting for them. She took her time looking over Pinkie Pie, but soon, she was given a clean bill of health and allowed to leave the infirmary. Shortly after though, when the girls were in the break room with Lance and Lumen decided to join them, Pinkie almost spilled the beans on Aurora.
“Hey girls!! Guess what!? Lance has something to show you!!”
Rarity and Twilight looked at each other in confusion while Rainbow, Sunset and Spike thought it was some kind of prank. That was when Lance had the screen of his communicator face them. It was blank… for a moment. But then, the filly that all of them knew as Aurora Spirit showed herself.
“Hey aunt Twily, Dashie, Shy, Rare, and AJ… It’s… It’s me!”
“Oh my stars!!! AURORA!?!” The shock from everypony in the room was loud enough to almost shatter the windows. But after everypony calmed down, Twilight herself was almost on the verge of shedding some tears. But she still had a question that was the same one that was on everypony’s mind. “Lance… How did you-? This is actually her right?”
“Yeah… I found her in the archives. She told me that she had Soul Self powers and after some analyzing, it seemed like she’s stuck in her soul form because she used her powers to escape from her body before those crooks killed her. Right now, she’s in here so she could stay safe.”
“Wow Lance… For a minute, I thought having to handle kids would be tricky for you. Especially with you marrying Max soon.” Dash replied, complimenting him.
Lance smiled… at first. Upon realizing that, something in his head began to click. “Oh sh*t… MAX!! I’m sorry Aurora, but I need to hurry. I forgot to take care of something really important.”
With that, he slipped his bracer back on and ran towards the mirror like portal to Max’s world and without thinking straight, he leaped forward.
Equestria (Home of the prophet)
The moment that Lance hopped out of the portal, the Adept began to look around, trying to see where exactly he ended up. This was hard because the room was completely dark and not to mention, empty. He was in the Hall of Elements in Max’s world, yet Max wasn’t there. In fact, nopony was at all. He could hear commotion going on outside though as a voice came from outside the door.
“Due to a recent incident that occurred with Princess Twilight and requires the Grandmothers full undivided attention, Court for today is hereby cancelled.”
A thunderous uproar could be heard from outside, but now, Lance had some idea what was going on. Something had caught hers and Twilight’s attent-. Wait a second? Did he hear that right? Princess Twilight!? Max actually found out how to turn her into an Alicorn? That was indeed something. The Adept was de-railed out of that train of thought when a pair of hooves was heard entering the room. He turned around to see who it was and his eyes widened at first sight of the pony that entered the room.
“L-lucky?”
The Pegasus colt that trotted into the room was shocked at what he was seeing. He didn’t even think that this was real. But soon, he realized that it was. "Uh, hey there... dad. Mom and Twilight went through a mirror in her bathroom to find Twilight's crown. Apparently a pony that looks like Twilight stole it last day."
“Lucky, I haven’t seen you in a long time. How long was I gone for?” The Adept then asked as he walked over to his son. The Colt was hesitant at first in order to answer, but he was able to find the right words in order for him to say.
“A month.”
Now that caught him by surprise. “Oh god, I’ve been gone longer than I thought… Lucky, can you get Sol and Mun. I think it might be best if you fill me on what happened while I was gone.” The pegasus nodded, rushing off down a long hall to only come back with both of Max’s assistants a few minutes later. Just like Lucky, they too were surprised by his arrival and were quick to inform him of the current situation. From what happened while he was gone, Time Spinner’s message, Sun’s visit and of course, the theft of Twilight’s crown. Lance was quick to process everything, but was also wondering about a few other things regarding the incident involving the crown being stolen.
“I don’t get what’s going on…” Mumbled Spirit in confusion.
“Excuse me for a minute…” Lance told Sol and Mun as he walked to the side, soon, he brought up the screen so Aurora was looking at him. “We are currently in the world of my fiance’ Max. I had not seen her in some time, but when I got here, my son Lucky told me that she wasn’t here.”
“Oh! Sorry… What kind of name is Max?”
“It’s short for Maxine.” Lance told her. “Anyways, I was going to give her a couple of hours and if she doesn’t come back by then, we’re going in after her.”
“Okay.” Aurora nodded.
“Also, another thing… you might want to be careful while here. I got four kids to keep an eye on and a few of them are just fillies. I rather not try to scare them, okay?”
The screen turned red for a moment, “Hey! That’s not nice!” She pouted.
“I’m not trying to hurt your feelings. I just don’t want you-.” Lance turned for a moment, realizing that one of his daughters was actually within the vicinity of them. “Oh hey there, Rainbow…”
“Papa!!” The Filly cried, leaping into Lance’s arms and almost knocking the screen that held Aurora inside. She was hugging so much that it was only after a couple of seconds did she see Aurora. “Who’s dis?”
The filly in the screens eyes were spinning until she shook her head, “I’m Aurora Spirit! You can call me Spirit if you want!” She waved. On the screen, she wasn’t that bad. The scar was less noticeable, and her fur was a normalish light blue. Her eyes were purple, and a silly smile adorned her face.
“Au...rora?” Rainbow asked, tilting her head in confusion. “Cheese-it?”
“Spi-rit.” Aurora said slowly, “Whatever. Nice ta meet ya!”
“Spit-wit!!!” Rainbow cheered, almost making herself fall when she tried to hug her.
“I’ll try not to take offence…” Aurora said in annoyance.
“Take it easy there, she’s only a filly.” Lance reminded her.
“Exactly why I’ll try not to take offence… She is cute. Why does she look like aunt Zapp?”
“That’s because she is Aunt Zapp. In this world though of course.” The Adept told her.
“Like when daddy accidentally brought a genderbent version of himself to the Power Ponies base?”
Lance raise an eyebrow at hearing that… “Maybe, but more of a difference in age than gender.”
“Oh! Okay!” Aurora smiled, “I’m glad, it was weird seeing a colt me…”
“A colt you? I thought this only applied to him.”
“No, it was the whole team… It only got worse when we had to fight four twins from multiple worlds.” She giggled, “It was crazy…”
“Right… Remind me not to ask him about that next time.” Lance sighed. Soon, he guided the young filly back into her room with the others and then made her way to the room where this other mirror was. The one that Max had supposedly entered.
“You ready to go?” He asked Aurora, making sure she was okay.
“Of course!” She said excitedly, “I barely got to do anything when I was alive! Being undead is awesome! Though I could do with a body.”
“Not sure if we can find a body, but hey? Who says we can’t try.” With that, Lance went full speed ahead, leaping through the doorway between worlds once again.
Elsewhere…
Sunset was just about to wrap the base of the statue with plastic when a boy dressed in a white sleeveless jacket and dark blue cargo pants came through. He had a pair of dark colored gloves on with a wrist like sleeve on his left hand and a weird bracelet on the other, yellow colored hair, long braid and a silver charm at the end of it. "Well that's a weird getup for a pony," she said, unrolling some of the plastic wrap so she could tape it to a corner.
“Excuse me, but did you say pony?” The boy asked, sharply turning towards the girl who spoke briefly. “You must be a pony yourself if you actually know about Equestrians.”
"I was. I belong to this side of the Mirror now."
“Was? Why the past tense?” The boy asked. This girl, in his book, was hiding something.
"I left because I was too blinded by the promise of power that the Elements presented and made a life for myself here by accident. Could you back up three steps?" The boy complied, but noticed something in her speech that was offsetting. Ignoring it, he pressed a new question.
“You know… I’m looking for someone. Did anyone named Max come by here recently?”
Sunset ignored him for a moment, running around the statue a few times before saying, "Yeah. She told me what happened to my previous mentor. You might be able to find her making Pinkie's cake with Celestia."
“Alright, and where’s that at?”
She sighed and finally looked at him again. "Look, I'm usually up for talking but right now I just want to be alone for a little."
“Alright. Guess I need to start looking for my Fiance on my own then. Thanks!” With that, the boy went off.
“Well that was… Interesting…” Aurora mumbled.
"She did just learn that her adoptive mother died a few months back," a quiet voice said. Lance looked towards where it came from and came face-to-breast with a yellow-skinned person. "Oh! Oh my, I'm so sorry!"
“It’s okay, miss. I was… distracted by something.” Lance replied, looking at Aurora before whispering to her. “Please wait til we’re out in the clear before distracting me. Just for next time.”
There was a groan, and a sigh, but the filly stayed quiet. “Thank you.” He replied with a small smile.
The girl Lance ran into backed away a step, placing her hands on top of her breasts. "Oh I know! They're so distracting and huge."
“I wasn’t talking about that… I was in the middle of a facetime phone call when I bumped into you.” Lance lied, hopefully to make the conversation less awkward. Aurora made a sound like the ending of a call. “Can I ask you something though Miss……?”
"Oh, you must be a transfer student. I'm Fluttershy.”
“Okay, Fluttershy,” The Adept made the mental note in his head. “I was looking for someone I know and last I heard, they were making some kind of cake. Is there any nearby bakeries around?”
"Yes. You're looking for the other new transfer student, Maxine?"
“Wait a second, you know her?” The teen asked, a bit surprised by the revelation.
Fluttershy nodded and motioned for him to follow and whispered, "She told my friends and I that she's from a different universe and to watch for someone coming through the statue. Might be something very important for her."
“I see. Do you believe this at all?” He asked, trying to hear her personal opinion as he followed her.
"Oh yes, Vice-principal Celestia said she went through the Mirror with her."
“I see… Would you believe that I’m here under similar circumstances?” Lance how asked.
"You did come from the statue, right?"
“Yes I did, but that was after I had to come to Max’s world on my own. I was a bit worried for her after I found out that she and I had lost contact with one another for a month.” Lance replied. “Yeah… our relationship is complicated.”
"I would think so, what with you two living in separate universes."
“Well, we’re Displaced. But after some time, we formed a gateway between our worlds like the one you said at the statue. However, mine is different from hers. And the fact that we’re raising four kids…”
She stopped next to a red convertible that looked suspiciously like a Ferrari. "Oh my! You already have kids?”
“They’re adopted. Well, two of them are. The other two were from her relationship with Celestia before she… passed away.” Lance sighed. “Right now though, I would like to find her first before I get into details. I could make it easy on myself, but it would cause a scene if I did try to do it.”
Lance’s wrist started vibrating a bit.
“Hang on a second… Something wrong, Aurora?”
“I’m bored…” Aurora whispered, “And could you stop talking about how babies are made? My daddy already gave me the talk...”
“I never even-. For the love of-. I honestly didn’t think talking about raising children would lead to this. Hang on a second…” Lance pressed a few keys, hoping that would do something. To Aurora, two folders popped up. One for Music and one for games. “You think this could keep you occupied for a while?”
“Yep!” The filly beamed.
Fluttershy giggled and said, "Trying to keep an AI occupied?"
“Less of an AI and more of a pony stuck in her soul form. Maybe Aurora can explain it better.” Lance then turned the screen around to where Aurora was facing Fluttershy. She smiled, and waved. Her digital self was human with pale blue skin.
“I had an ability to send my soul out of my body to protect my physical form from harm. When that failed, I believe my powers tried to compensate for that and ended up disconnecting from my body. I’m pretty much a ghost…”
“She can also possess inanimate objects, but for right now, I think I’ll have her stay in here.” Lance said. “Now, we were on our way to Max?”
"Right" Fluttershy pulled out her keys and unlocked the car they were standing next to. "I'll drive us to Sugarcube Corner."
“Thanks. It’s been awhile since I got in a car-.” The moment the car turned on, Lance didn’t notice a mischievous grin on Aurora’s face.
The soul jumped out of his bracer and flew into the radio, “This is awesome!” She said.
A song came on the radio with the fillies giggling, “Mommy would LOVE this!”
“DANGIT Aurora!” The Adept facepalmed himself. He honestly didn’t think that the filly would try to sabotage the first piece of technology she sees. But now, it just made the current situation really…… awkward.
“What’s this?” The filly changed the radio, and a worse song came on.
“What is happening?” Fluttershy asked.
“Aurora is messing with the radio.”
The music changed again, “I like this one!” Aurora said giggling madly.
The Adept sighed. He was thankful that the drive wasn’t that long. He wasn’t thankful that Aurora was also messing with the volume controls.
“Oh, this one’s from one of my favorite movies!” Aurora changed it again. The filly started singing along, getting every lyric right.
By the time they finally reached Sugarcube corner, Lance was thankful that the car ride from hell was over. The only catch was that Aurora was continuing to sing to herself even after the car had shut off.
Once she finished, she jumped back into the bracer, sighing happily. “Daddy used to watch Willy Wonka with Entropy, Scootaloo and me… He used to watch a lot with us…”
“I see. I’m guessing you miss those times?”
“Yeah…” Aurora sighed. “But it isn’t going to happen. I’ve been gone for too long and daddy’s gone…”
“We’ll bring him back… I promise.” Lance told the filly before turning around. He was surprised by the sheer size of the bakery and also how it stood out. “So, this must be Sugarcube Corner?”
"Yes, but Pinkie isn't here since she went to visit her family yesterday. They're going to be here in two hours," Fluttershy said as she walked over to the door.
“Two hours? Something makes me think that if you’re waiting for them to show up here in two hours, I would think it’s to surprise her. Is there some sort of special occasion I don’t know about?”
"Today is her birthday. Every year she visits her family the day before and they all come here for the party. Usually Mr. and Mrs. Cake plan the party, but with Mrs. Cake about to give birth they asked us girls to help."
Hearing about Mrs. Cake made Lance think of Max and their child that was on the way, but he saved that thought for later. “How old is Pinkie turning?”
"Twenty-one. She said they would be two hours late so we're using the time to make an extra large cake."
“Hope nobody puts alcohol in any of the food. Something tells me that Max might try something like that.” Lance thought to himself. He walked towards the door, waiting for Fluttershy to open it. Being respectful as the custom was “ladies first”.
Fluttershy knocked on the door once then paused and knocked four more times. Two knocks were heard from the other side of the door and it opened, revealing a woman that reminded Lance of Rarity.
"Fluttershy, darling.... Who is this?" She said, looking at Lance.
“Madam, I’m Lance. Lance Walker. I was told by Fluttershy that a friend of mine was here. Her name is Maxine I believe?” The Adept said his words carefully, to show respect to the individual he was talking too.
"Ah yes, she's in the kitchen helping with the cake, though I suspect she's only helping by putting some sort of homemade concoction in the frosting."
“Coco- what?” Spirit whispered in confusion.
“She means mixture.” Lance whispered back. He personally made a mental note that he needed to download a thesaurus so Aurora could understand certain words and phrases. He also had a personal theory of what exactly she put in that mix given a certain drink that Lucky was asking about last time he saw her. Before the War of Shadows of course. “Should we come in?”
Rarity moved out of the way saying, "Yes, of course. Even though her... drink will make the cake look divine, I think you should stop her from sneaking it into the batter."
“Can’t make any promises, but I’ll try my best. She is quite the mischievous one.” Lance said, looking around and seeing an area labeled “Authorized Personnel Only” that was being held up by a broom. The Adept thought that this would lead to where they were baking the cake, so carefully, he knocked on the door. Out of courtesy.
“Should I go?” Aurora asked quickly.
“I can put my communicator on sleep mode and you should be okay. Feel free to have fun in there for a while. I’ll get back to you in a while, okay?”
“Okay, but if you need me, just press a couple buttons with the communicator on. Even though there’s nothing I could do…”
“Just chill out and have fun.” Lance told her, redirecting his attention towards the sound of movement by the door.
"Yeah, Rares?" A guy's voice said right before the door opened to reveal a guy that looked like Max. "What's...."
“Um… I’m looking for Max-?” Lance nervously tried to ask. However, what happened next though threw him completely off guard.
The guy lunged forward and kissed him, almost knocking them to the floor. Lance personally struggled to back up a minute, not knowing who or what the hell this guy was thinking. “Okay, what the hell? I ask a question and then I get that? Who are you even?”
The guy chuckled and cleared his throat before using Max's voice to say, "I told you I was a guy originally, but you didn't believe me."
“Holy sh*t… Oh god, I’ve missed you.” Lance said back. “I’m sorry I’ve been gone for so long. It was only a couple of days back where I’m from, until Lucky told me that it was a month.” He walked into the room, closing the door behind him. “We have got a LOT of catching up to do.”
"Not much to say on my end. Sat on my throne for a few hours every night, walked around, spent time with the foals, had sex with your cousin, beat the sh*t out of the messenger, oh! I even started work on trying to make fighter jets."
“Wait, you did it with Sun? Okay, I honestly didn’t expect that the open relationship we have was THAT open.” Lance replied, thinking to himself. “And the messenger… Would that be Time Spinner? He told me about his experience with you when you two met.”
"Yeah... I kinda went off on him for hitting you over the head with a frying pan.”
“Right… did he happen to tell you that where I’m from, he was the founder of the power ponies? Before getting himself banished?”
Max pulled a flask from his bag and poured part of it into a bowl of batter. "Nope, don't remember him saying something like that."
“Well, he is and-. Wait… Is that what I think it is? Moonshine? You really need to not try to get anyone drunk today.” Lance said, before finding a way to switch the topic. “So… about Sun… How was he?”
"Not as hopelessly naive as you were, but still a virgin.”
“I didn’t mean that… Plus, it might not be best to talk about that right now. Especially with Aurora.”
Max looked at him for a moment before shrugging. "Well, if I can adopt a foal without you knowing, so can you. Besides, this isn't Moonshine. It's a version that is super concentrated and can get anyone drunk."
“Yeah… about that… Aurora isn’t really a foal… I’ll let you see for yourself.” Unlocking his communicator, he pressed a few buttons. “Aurora, can you come out for a minute? I would like you to talk to Max.”
The humanized girl faded out of Lance’s bracer making herself known. She landed her feet on the floor, and looked shily at Max. “H-hi…”
A soft smile made its way onto Max's face as he knelt down. "Hello there, Aurora, I'm Max." He leaned in a little and stage whispered, "Don't worry, I'm the fun parent."
Aurora giggled, “N-nice to meet you… I… I just don’t do well meeting new people. I’m used to daddy and my sisters, but they’re gone for now. Lance is being nice enough to take care of me until they return…”
"Well, until they do you may consider us your family. Ah, Lance and I were going to talk about adding your daddy to our family, but he already knows what I would say, so think of us as your aunt and uncle."
Aurora smiled brightly, “Thanks! It means a lot to me! I’d hug you, but…” She fazed her hand through Lance, who shivered.
"Hmmm.... I think we could find a way around that. I'll have to ask Sol and Mun if it's possible, but if it is...." He held his hand over the ghost's head and placed it in her hair, not shivering at the contact. "You might have a body again."
Spirit squealed and ran in place, passing through the floor with a smile that rivaled Pinkie’s. “Really!? You’d do that!?”
"It'll be the least we could do for missing our niece's birthdays. Not even thinking of the Hearths Warmings we missed," Max said, smiling almost as much as the filly.
“Thanks!” She started trying to calm down, “I’ve missed a lot myself! Like my eighth birthday and Hearths Warming, and… Well, everything!” She started rubbing the scar on her throat, “This is also annoying…”
"Like I said, we have to ask Sol and Mun if it's even possible. If it is, who knows how long it'll take to make a complete body and if you'll be able to use magic? I'm not saying you shouldn't hope that everything goes smoothly, but you should be aware that there's a big chance that it might not work."
“Hey, if it doesn’t work, I’ve got an eternity to find other ways, and a multiverse I can use to my advantage. But this is more than I could have hoped for!” Aurora's smile grew, “I guess I’ll go to the car and play some music. Something tells me this is one of those adult party’s aunt Zapp used to have.”
"You don't have to try to use the multiverse. If they say it isn't possible, we can just give you a mechanical body," Max said as he stood up. "Personally I'd rather not, but it would be preferable to let you move on your own."
“Well… Thanks again! I’ll be back in two hours so you guys can ‘party hard’ as dad used to say.” She turned and faded through the wall.
"She is so cute!" Max turned to Lance, grabbing his hands. "I don't care what you say, she's not staying in your equipment. She's to get something that lets her move on her own."
“Hopefully, we will have something for her. But for right now, it’s the best we got.” Lance told him. “Plus, her powers allow her to have control over inanimate objects. I would try to find a body for her, but I wanted to make sure you were okay first. Not to mention that I had a odd theory on what could be possible… you heard of Robocop?”
Max scoffed, "Who hasn't heard of that nutjob and his 'army' of a single working 'ED-209'?"
“Well, I don’t want anything like that. A mechanical body may have numerous glitches and problems… I think I may know someone that could help in that regard though. Her name is Blood Cleaver. She specializes in talking to spirits and I believe she could also raise the dead. If I find Aurora’s old body, then maybe she could find a way for her body and soul to be reconnected again. I just need to find her token back in my room.” Lance said, recalling when she helped summon Milano Mash’s spirit to help him with the case of the ghoul that killed her unintentionally.
"Yeah, I'd rather not go digging up graveyards. And you aren't going to do it without me."
“We won’t need to. All she needs is the place where Aurora died and she’ll take care of the rest. But enough about that. Now that we don’t need to worry about Aurora…… Let’s return to the original topic.” Lance spoke, reminding Max of the topic involving Sun. “Why did he come to visit anyways? It wasn’t just for fun now, was it?”
Max held up his hands and said, "He tried to summon me for something, but I pulled back and he landed on me. I don't know what he was going to do but… Well, I-"
“Well, I did ask for him to be the best man. Maybe he was wanting to get to know you a little more and what not?” Lance suggested. “Now he probably got to know you a LOT more since you slept with him.”
Max's eyes narrowed and he smirked. "Is that a bit of jealousy I hear?"
“Nah. I’m just saying that he’s a lucky man… He didn’t give you any trouble now did he? Given the fact that he’s a monkey, I thought he might’ve pulled a few tricks on you.”
"No, but Sol had fun teasing him with bananas. All he did was give me his.”
“Right… Your tone says otherwise. Did he tease you?” Lance wondered, asking Max.
"Only with his tail."
Lance twitched a little, erasing the thought of that from his mind. “What about you though? He sounded like he enjoyed your company. Did you enjoy his? I mean, I was gone and I didn’t want to think that I was making you wait so long for me to come back.”
"He visited the same night I heard that you wouldn't be able to come back for a few days and went back the next night. I'm thinking about limiting how often I sleep with others and wearing more modest clothes because of our fillies."
“That’s… new. What made you start thinking that?” The Adept asked.
"Well, for one I called your name instead of Sun's. And for another... I found out how much of my closet was full of role play clothes." That caught Lance off guard. A lot. But he was alright with it. They were being honest with one another and that was something.
“Maybe we’ll talk to Rarity when we get back and help prepare some “Work clothes” for you for during the day-.”
“Someone called my name?” A certain purple haired girl asked as she was looking at the two of them. “How’s everything going back here, darlings?”
“Pretty well,” Lance replied before turning to Max. “Would you agree?”
"Yep, just need to get the batter in the oven," Max said, stirring the bowl in front of him. "You heard your name because Lance is a bit behind."
“Behind? I’m sorry darling, but I’m confused.”
Lance sighed, before looking back at Rarity. “Back in Equestria, Max is a girl and is also my Fiance. We’re getting married in a couple of months. I’ve been gone for a while so she was catching me up to speed on current events.”
"Yes, she explained this when we met."
"Anyways," Max interrupted. "I didn't have a lot of modest outfits so Lance thought I could ask the you from my universe to make more for me, but I already asked Coco to instead." Lance himself kept himself occupied for a short while, looking over all of the treats that were made while Max and Rarity were conversating. "Celestia!" Max groaned. "Now we have to make the base again."
Lance looked over where Max was and chuckled, covering his mouth and trying not to laugh at the sight of Celestia laying on an already frosted cake the size of a bed, snoring away. He chuckled. “Couldn’t resist now, could she?”
"And I put most of the super moonshine in that. I guess we won't be seeing Rainbow kissing Pinkie tonight. I know Fluttershy's gonna get lucky with Big Mac no matter what," Max sighed. "Well, maybe I can put a whole shot in a cupcake and give it to Rainbow. Assuming I even have that much."
“Yeah, they’ll be lucky. That’s for sure. I honestly don’t think I can get buzzed even if I tried.” Lance replied.
"You're- you want to get everyone drunk?" Rarity asked, before getting a thoughtful look. "Well, we are all older than twenty-one and we haven't had a good party yet."
“That’s not the point. I’m an Adept. To put it in simple terms, because of my rapid healing, alcohol can’t affect me.” What Lance said reminded Max of the first Captain America film, when he tried drinking his sorrows away, only for it to not work.
"Well... I do have some Dragon's Blood over in my secret stash leftover from when Kat visited last time. It can get anything drunk guaranteed."
“Right…” To try it out, Max took an eyedropper and filled it halfway, pouring it into a thimble. He tried it briefly and drank the whole shot in one intake. “Okay, I’m buzzed…… and now it’s gone.”
"That's because I didn't want you too buzzed. I helped you get rid of it from your system but let you feel it some. Plus, you're under age."
“Only seventeen-. Hey, is it just me or is Celestia taking her shirt off?” Lance pointed towards where she was, as her shirt dropped to the floor. “Maybe we should close the door?”
"... Well, at least we have a great view since she doesn't have a bra," Max said as he closed the door.
“And that’s another image to remove from my mind.” The Adept muttered, looking towards the front of the store. “Oh hey, we got some new arrivals. But I think they might be a little too young for this party.”
"Why do you say that?" Max turned to look at the door and the three girls. "Oh."
“Two words. Sweetie Belle.”
"No, they aren't going to come to the party if there's going to be alcohol," Rarity said, heading for them. Lance happened to notice something though. One thing that was surprising to him. “Hey Max, you and Twilight were looking for the crown right?”
"Yeah we found it but it ended up going down a storm drain when she accidentally dropped it," Max said. "Why are they covered in leaves and trash?"
“Look in Sweetie Belles hands.” Lance pointed out. “Something tells me that she wanted to make it up to you, so they went chasing after it. Because she’s holding the crown right now.”
"They weren't any where near us when it was lost though." Max walked over to the three and knelt down. "You found this for us?"
"Well, I recognized it from Rarity talking about it and seeing it in the case in the school. We tried returning it to Principal Luna, but she said to bring it here," Sweetie Belle said, holding out the crown. “We also wanted to drop off out present for Pinkie Pie… Where is she?”
"She'll be here in an hour and a half and I need to get back to making the cake."
"We'll help!" The three girls said at the same time.
Max jumped and shouted, "Run for your lives!" He tried running away, but ran into the wall next to the front door.
All Lance did was stop them before they come into the back. “It’s alright girls. We got it… plus… It’s kind of an… adult cake. We’ll tell you when you're older.”
“Aww…”
"Er... yes, it isn't something for girls your age to see," Rarity said as she covered the window on the door to the back.
Max peeled himself off the wall, looking at Lance. "I just had a wonderful idea. We build the cake around Celestia! It'll save time, and give Pinkie a big surprise when she pops out."
“That… might work. But you might want to make sure that she’s… well… you know… ready beforehand.” Lance implied.
"She's already ready, all we need to do is build the cake around her. And make sure she doesn't eat it all."
“Or that anything else happens. Should I help some of the other girls get the decorations ready?” Lance asked, pointing out Fluttershy having some trouble with some streamers by the door and Rainbow getting herself tangled up in wires for the lighting. Max then chuckled, asking for him to do him a favor and to check on Celestia so that they can prepare the cake.
Something told him though that this party might get a bit out of control thanks to Max’s secret ingredient.
A few hours later…
Aurora was bored to simply put it. Out of her mind bored. She was waiting around for the last few hours, waiting on somepony to come out and for the party that was going on inside to end. However, she was really surprised to see Lance walk on out and join her in the car.
“Miss me?”
The soul nodded, “I quit the radio half an hour ago… Music can only do so much.”
She faded out of the stereo and into Lance’s bracer, “It is good to listen to new music though. How’d the party go?”
“Ehh, It’s not my kind of thing. I had some fun, but now, it’s just getting a little too crazy for me.” The Adept replied, nudging the screen with his finger. “So I came out here and thought I could spend some time with you while I wait on Max. Wanna watch a movie?”
“Sure! What movie? I’ve been downloading everything that looked interesting…” Said Aurora, “Did you know that Disney bought Star Wars and are making a new movie?”
“I actually heard about that before getting Displaced. I remember hearing that J.J. Abrams, the Director of Star Trek Into Darkness was working on it. Doesn’t that seem odd that the Star Trek director is working on Star Wars?”
Aurora was quiet a moment, then, “Weird… I always thought Star Wars and Star Trek were rivals, trying to outwit each other. I guess that’s just the fan bases…”
“Maybe… Speaking of Disney, are you interested in seeing Big Hero 6?” Lance asked.
“Um, maybe. I saw it and did a search on wiki and saw it was a Marvel comic.”
“Disney owns Marvel. It’s a collaboration. Speaking of which, back home in Sun Fransokyo, we actually have a real BAYMAX.”
“BAYMAX? That marshmallow guy?”
“Yup. Someone got Displaced as Hiro Hamada and with it, we have BAYMAX. He hugged my breezie partner like it was no tomorrow.” Lance smirked. “Still though, if you want too, we can watch it. Unless you wanted to watch the original Star Wars Trilogy like you said you were going to do.”
“Never said I was going to watch those, I just said I looked Star Wars up. I’d love to watch Big Hero 6 with you!” She smiled. “Give me a second to set it up. Once that’s done, you and me will watch it on the ‘big screen’... You’ll see…”
After she said that, it took half a minute of silence until Aurora was done. “Okay, just sit back and get comfy.”
Lance’s vision went black, and he woke up in a large movie theater. Sitting next to him was the human form of Aurora Spirit, smiling at him with a bag of popcorn in one hand, a large soda in the other, and another soda levitating in a light blue aura.
“Popcorn?” She asked.
“Sure.” He replied, smiling. “I’m quite surprised. How did you get me here?”
“I didn’t ‘get’ you here. You’re still in the car. Well, sort of. Daddy used to mess with my powers and adapt them with upgrades. He gave me one upgrade he called ‘Soul Void’ which let’s me mold another realm he called the Northern Lights. It’s like a world for souls to hang out, and I can manipulate it and whoever I want as long as long as both of us are in here. It’s like a dreamland. And anything you eat and drink fills your soul. You can’t die, or get hurt.” Aurora explained, “I pulled your soul in here. Me and daddy used to hang out here before he got really busy.”
“So my soul is here, but my body is… back in the car? Okay then…” The Adept took in the scenery as he looked back at Aurora. “Well, let’s pay attention to when Max gets back. I’m sure he’ll think I’ve been sleeping the whole time.”
“Don’t worry, daddy made it so I can sense what happens outside those who I bring here. Aunt Twilight always got annoyed when he didn’t wake up after hours of yelling at him.” She giggled, “And when I was called in school. I got in so much trouble…”
“Heh… I can tell.” He replied. he realized something though the moment he reached over to grab some popcorn. And that was… he could actually feel Aurora. She wasn’t transparent or a ghost at all this time, but an actual person. It happened when he accidently bumped her arm when reaching over. “Whoa… That… was new.”
“What?” Aurora asked. “What’s new?”
“Remember when in the real world I couldn’t touch you?” The Adept asked.
“Oh… Oh, I get it. We’re both souls, so of course you can touch me. You didn’t expect me to just pass through your soul, did you?” Aurora giggled. “I’ll go set up the movie. Find a seat you like. And don’t pick the front, I hate having to look up all the time.”
“So do I. Hey, would you be okay if I sit with you?”
“Of course! Just gimme a sec while I get everything else setup. I forgot to put the movie in the player like I was supposed to do.” She disappeared, and Lance guessed she went to the projector room.
Lance took his seat in the middle, and commercials started playing. Aurora reappeared next to him, the popcorn back in her hands.
“I like watching these before I watch a newer movie I’ve never seen. It makes me feel like it just came out.” She blushed in embarrassment. “There’ll be two more after this one. We can talk until it starts, and no phones during it. I like to make it as authentic as possible.”
When the movie started, Aurora’s attentions were only on it. She seemed enraptured in it, thrilled even. It was clear that she missed doing this, even if she’d probably done it before her… death. Lance saw this as she sat down next to him, but the next thing she did had him quite… surprised to say the least.
The armrests that separated them disappeared, and she leaned into his chest to get comfortable. He looked down to see her holding onto him, hugging him no less. But he didn’t mind. In fact, he allowed for her to come in closer if she wanted too. She did, and they both enjoy’d the movie together. All the way to the ending credits.
End Strike 23
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Yay new chapter :D
6401042 Yay!!!
I guess?
Oooh me like ..
Oh! And tell BP I said hi !(haven't heard from him in awhile)
Did someone call my name?
Blood Cleaver, not now.
But I want to help!
You still have a crossover or two before that! You know it gets harder for me the more crossovers we do!
Didn't stop you from letting me meet Silver again.
... I'll think about it...
6402081 that will be later. Lance has some more important things to catch up on. Oh and Blood, expect an invitation soon.
6404118 I will, thanks!
Crossovers... I barley have space for the original story... Well, that is a bout to change.
This is going to be great!
Lance and Max's relationship is REALLY complicated. At this point, I've thought of Max as bi because of the weird gender change between universes.
Dawwwwww!