When lightning strikes...

by FrostTheWolf

Strike 9- My December

Author's Note:

Hello there! If you're new here and just started reading this story, welcome to the chapter.

For those who are just coming here and seeing that this story just updated, despite saying 'Completed', allow me to explain further. Last year, Grey Ghost said that since he rebooted his KH story Something from Nothing, he wanted to redo the crossover between his story and mine. I agreed to this and for a long time, this was what we were working on. This is the end result.

This chapter is dedicated to Voldine as well, a co-author of Grey's who was a good friend and passed away earlier this year. We wanted to finish what we started with her and now, here we are. Rest in Peace.

Thank you very much for your time. Have a wonderful day and happy holidays.
-Frost

P.S. I chose this chapter be uncensored because I think it would be better for portraying the characters in this chapter. I am considering going through a lot of the other chapters in this story and correct them to match this. Though, I am just thankful to have this done.

When Lightning Strikes- My December

---

It had been some time after Masked Matterhorn brought Lance back to Power Pony HQ and in that time, the adept had several thoughts bouncing off the walls of his mind. Many events from the last few hours were still fresh in his memory, but there was one particular one that he was still trying to wrap his head around. His friend Cody, who he thought that he was never going to see again, was alive and in his world. Yet, their first encounter wasn’t exactly the most ideal reunion that the adept wanted. For not long after they met face to face, Cody tried to kill him.

Fortunately, Lance was able to stop him before he could do so. Yet, all that did was just leave him with more questions than answers. An examination by a spell Masked Matterhorn cast on him revealed that his friend was under the influence of a particular spell. One that was used by a villain that was supposed to be locked away in Solace Asylum. Even though the residue of the spell was now gone, Cody was still heavily injured to the point that the adept had to help take the armor off of him so that his wounds could be treated properly.

As the morning sun rose, Masked Matterhorn got a call from Detective Whooves about an urgent matter that needed her attention. With her visiting the detective and the rest of the power ponies either out on patrol or attending to personal matters, it was up to Lance and Humdrum to watch over the base while they were gone. To many, that would be rather simple. Just clean up around headquarters, make sure the command center was organized and that all the technology was working properly.

Yet, as the day went on, Humdrum began to notice something. Every once in a while, he would see Lance come back around and look into the room where his friend was being kept. The first time around when he was emptying the trash was accidental, yet as the day went on, the dragon noticed him come back around numerous times. He wasn’t exactly a genius like that of Twilight, but he could tell that something was bugging him.

Around the time they broke for lunch in the kitchen, the sidekick decided to say something, “Hey Lance? I know this is going to sound weird, but are you doing okay?”

“Huh?” the adept asked as he was starting to make himself a sandwich on the kitchen counter, “What do you mean?”

“Well, I’ve been noticing you looking towards the infirmary as we were cleaning up around the base every so often,” Humdrum replied back, “I don’t want to get ahead of myself or anything, but does it have something to do with your friend?”

At that moment, Lance let out a deep breath as he put the peanut butter and grape jelly that he was using back in the fridge, “Yeah… a bit,” he admitted, “I’m just worried, you know?”

“Why? We made sure that his injuries were taken care of and everything.” the dragon said.

“Not in that sense,” the azure striker countered, “I’m worried about how he’ll react when he wakes up.”

“Oh,” Humdrum didn’t really even think about that. Though, that didn’t exactly explain Lance’s behavior at all. If anything, it left the sidekick with more questions than answers. Though, he wanted to know more about how Lance knew him before he jumped to conclusions, “Is he a good friend of yours?”

“One of my closest friends,” Lance responded, “Back where I’m from, he and I went to school together. Cody and I were friends with four other people and each one of us had our own traits that made us stand out. That made us unique and not like everybody else. One of my friends from back home even reminds me of Saddle Rager.”

Humdrum was a bit puzzled by that statement and quickly retorted, “In what regard?”

“Oh, uh… she’s rather shy and nervous around other people, but is rather comfortable when she’s around her friends.”

“Well, that makes a lot more sense,” the sidekick let out a sigh of relief, thankful for the clarification. For a moment, he thought that he was referring to how Saddle Rager was like when she was angry instead of just her normal self, “Your friends sound like a great bunch.”

“Heh… You got that right,” the azure striker replied, “And that’s exactly why I’m worried. Ever since I came here, I thought that I had been separated from them with no way of knowing what happened to my friends. Next thing I know, I found out that Cody was here and then he tried to kill me.”

“Technically, Puppeteer tried to kill you. You know, since his magic was controlling him?” the sidekick pointed out to him. Though, that just had Lance let out a small breath as he got up to get himself a drink.

“Yeah, but I highly doubt that Cody will actually remember that since he was under someone else’s control,” the azure striker explained, filling his glass with water and putting in some ice. Once he had his drink, Lance walked back over to the table and set his stuff down, “Besides, when he does wake up, I want to make sure I can at least help try to answer any questions that he might have. Because I’m betting you that he’s going to have a lot of them.”

“How many exactly?”

“How many questions would you have if you woke up in an unknown place and saw things that you didn’t think would be possible?”

At first, the sidekick raised a talon and was going to respond. Though, after thinking over a bit, Humdrum began to understand what the Adept was talking about. “Fair enough, I see your point.”

After seeing that the dragon understood what he meant, the adept decided to ask a new question, “So, what are we going to do after lunch? Do we have any more tasks we need to finish? Maybe training to get too?”

“For me, more than likely,” Humdrum said as he finished his meal and walked over to the sink and began to wash his dishes. “For you though? I honestly think you need a well deserved break.”

When the adept heard the sidekick say that, he honestly thought that he misheard what Humdrum was saying. “I’m sorry, I thought I heard you say that I needed a break.”

“I did,” the dragon told him, stopping with the dishes as he turned to face Lance, “I know that you’re wanting to prove yourself and show that you have the capabilities of being a hero, but part of that is making sure to take care of yourself too. Let me remind you that since you arrived in Maretropolis; you had a close call with the Mane-iac, had wrenches thrown directly at your face during your first training session with Solaria, we had that strange encounter with that Buu figure that Filli-Second is still trying to wrap her head around, Lumen’s still trying to recover after that one person who called on you traumatized her and last night, you purposely let a ghoul bite your arm.”

“Technically, I had a bit of a reason for that last one,” Lance pointed out.

Humdrum sighed at that as he turned back around to finish washing his dishes and pulled open the dishwasher, “My point still remains. Heck, this isn’t the first time somepony in the Power Ponies was overdoing it. When we were first starting out, Zapp would run herself ragged and tire herself out by constantly going on patrol. Though, one of the benefits of being on a team is having somepony cover for you if you need to rest,” Once the dragon put the dishes away, he looked back towards the Adept as he was finishing up his lunch and bringing his dishes over. “Take some time to catch a breather and rest your head a bit. I’ll be sure to let you know if anything comes up.”

“Wow… uh, thanks Humdrum. I appreciate it,” Lance replied, not entirely sure what to make of it as he began to walk out of the kitchen.

“Spike, actually.”

Lance stopped, mere feet from the door as he looked back towards the dragon. “What?”

“That’s my name,” the sidekick clarified, “Humdrum is just the name I use in the field. Like how you would use Gunvolt. Wouldn’t exactly make sense to call ourselves by our code names while inside now so I thought I’d tell you my name.”

“Uh, thanks,” Lance replied, scratching the back of his head as he looked back at the dragon with a rather awkward expression on his face. He wasn’t exactly sure what to make of it, but he still appreciated it nonetheless. “I… think I’ll go take that break now. I’ll try not to be too long.”

“Take as much time as you need,” the dragon insisted, watching the adept walk out the door and down the hallway as he began to finish up in the kitchen, “These kinds of temporary breaks are rather rare nowadays.”

---

“So wait, let me see if I heard you right,” Lumen asked as she was idly flying right around where Lance’s nose was. After the adept had returned to his quarters, the breezie had woken up on the impression that both of them were going to be needed out in the field. However, when he shared the news to her that they were instead taking a break from being out on patrol, she felt rather puzzled. “We’re taking a break today? Why?”

“Humdrum, or as I now know him as, Spike told me that he was worried that we would be pushing ourselves a bit too much after everything both you and I had been through for the last few days,” Lance explained, trying to be as clear as possible so that his partner could understand. “He recommended that we take some time to ourselves so that we don’t ‘overdo it’. From the way he explained it, it sounded like Spike was speaking from experience.”

“Well, if we’re not going on patrol, then isn’t there something that we can do here to-”

At that point, Lance shook his head, “It’s not just patrol, Lumen. He meant everything. He even shot me down when I asked if he needed help with doing basic chores. Not literally but… you get what I mean.”

At that, the breezie couldn’t help but giggle for a moment as Lance walked over and took a seat in the chair next to the desk that was in the back of the room and set his weapon down. Though, as the adept sat down, he looked over at his friend to see that her expression had changed a bit as some birds flew by the nearby window. It was brief, but there was a look of fear and panic on her face. Almost like when they were called forth by the spirit of madness and then they proceeded to trap the breezie in a birdcage just to taunt him.

“Lumen, is everything alright?”

When he spoke, that was when she snapped back to reality. As if an illusion had been broken and she was now seeing clearly for the first time. Though, it was as Lumen’s eyes were looking around the room that she looked back to Lance with a puzzled expression, “Huh? What do you mean?”

At that, Lance just let out a small breath, “Lumen, be honest with me. Are you doing okay? I’ve noticed that you’ve been acting weird sometimes and I’m just… concerned for you, that’s all.”

When he asked that, the expression on the breezie’s face began to change rather quickly. At first, she seemed rather timid and nervous to say anything. Though, after some time, that was when she chose to speak. “I-I’m fine. T-though there are times where… Even though we’re home and I feel like I’m free as a bird, I find myself back in that cage. H-helpless and unable t-to do anything as I could only-.”

At this, Lance couldn’t help but place his hand out and have the breezie rest on it to try and comfort his companion’s distress. “Easy there. I-if it’s too much to talk about, then don’t worry about it.”

“B-but what if it happens again?” She then asked, “W-what if we get pulled away and whoever brought us is just as bad? M-maybe even worse-?”

At that, the adept was quick to interrupt as he tried to give her a look of confidence, “While it may be true that we might be called again by someone else entirely, I promise you that I’m not going to let anyone else lay a finger on you. We’re partners, and partners look out for each other. No matter what happens, I won’t let you go through what happened that day ever again.”

“P-Promise?”

Lance nodded his head, but before he had the chance to respond back, he couldn’t help but feel a little light headed as he staggered a bit in place. Yet, this wasn’t him feeling tired or anything close to that. If anything, it was exactly the same as when Freddy summoned him before. “O-oh god.”

“W-what? Lance, what’s going on? Talk to me-” the breezie replied, before her eyes widened as she realized what was happening, “Oh no. L-lance, is it happening again?”

The adept could only nod his head as he tried to get a grip on what was happening. Yet, the more that he tried, the more that it fought back and became harder to resist. The only thing that he could do was open up a pocket in his coat, “L-lumen, g-get in. Quick-”

Immediately, Lumen flew in as lightning began to crackle around the Azure Striker. Just as soon as this phenomenon started, he was gone as he disappeared in a flash of lightning. However, at the same time this happened, that was when the door was opened and someone else walked in.

“Hey Lance, is everything alri-? What the HAY-!?!”

---

Elsewhere (A few moments earlier)

Rubbing his hands together, Alex warded off the evening chill. Hearth's Warming Eve was upon Ponyville, gracing the town with a light snowfall. The town’s massive gazebo had been selected as the meeting spot, somewhere not too far from either house. Shifting his head, he glanced around once more for Snails.

A small glowing circle appeared on the ground near Alex, gradually filling in with a set of complex runes before the glow went from white to orange. For a second there was an image in the center of the circle of a familiar cutie mark, and then there was a burst of light and heat right beside him as the young unicorn popped through the teleportation glyph. His horn appeared to be scorched and smoking, and there was a tiny flame on his tail, but other than gasping for breath like he’d just participated in the Running of the Leaves, he was okay.

Jumping from his seat, Alex knelt down by Snails’s side. “Holy shit! You teleported!” Bringing a hand up, he gave a quick cast of Cure. “You alright?”

“Ha! Heh...wow, so that’s what she meant about it taking more out of you to go longer distances. So many little dancing stars.” Snails leaned heavily against Alex for a few seconds before managing to put all of his weight on his own hooves. “Yeah, fine, I just wanted to surprise you. Teleported all the way from my bedroom. Twilight only let me go from one side of the room to the other while teaching me.”

Alex whistled, putting a hand on Snails’ head. “That’s pretty impressive. I still can’t do it at all!” Retaking his seat, he patted the bench next to him. “I saved ya a seat.”

Snails nodded and moved over to hop up onto the bench beside Alex. A few seconds of just relaxing and catching his breath a bit more were needed before his horn lit up to pull a small carved box out of the neck of his scarf to hand over to Alex. “I ah, I found this while I was doing some bug hunting the day before Rainbow Dash blew up the factory. Dad helped me make the box for it, but I thought it’d be helpful for you with your hair if you let it grow out?”

Taking the box, Alex gingerly lifted the lid. Laying on a small cushion, a metallic sheen greeted his eyes. Taking it in his hand, Alex identified it as a hair clip. Vaguely wing shaped, it had a certain minimalist charm.

“Why wait?” Alex asked with a smile. Grabbing hold of his hair, he clipped it into place. “I’ve never worn one of these, so, tell me if I look goofy.” Turning to Snails, he held his smile. “Don’t hold back now.”

“You only look goofy when you hear something that makes you confused… or that time Screwball accidentally kicked your elbow.” Snails responded evenly, but also while standing up on the bench for a moment to get a good look. ”Black and white is always a nice color contrast. It looks like you’ve got a tiny set of wings in your hair…”

Feeling the warmth in his face, Alex glanced away. “Thanks. I’ll try to wear it more often when my outfits aren’t just heavy padding.”

Reaching into his coat, Alex felt his mouth going dry. Holding out the rectangular present, he found a very interesting knot on the floor. “I made this for you. Discord helped a little.”

“Hmmm?” Snails’s telekinetic grip slowly wrapped around the gift and took it from Alex. He gave it a brief shake since the ‘I made this’ implied there wasn’t anything alive inside, but Discord was also involved. After listening for a few seconds to make sure that whatever was wrapped up hadn’t become angry, Snails began to undo the wrapping, without tearing it as much as possible.

A thick journal greeted him, bearing the title of ‘Snail’s Insect Compendium’. The lettering glimmered different colors, each letter shifting to another shade every few seconds.

“It’s enchanted.” Reaching over, Alex opened it to a random page. “If you um... put a bug to the blank page, it’ll make an illustration of it. Then you can fill out all your observations about it on the opposite page.”

“Oh wow, that’s really neat. Thanks a bunch Alex!” He leaned in to wrap one foreleg around Alex in a brief hug. “Do they have to be alive? I have a few husks I’ve found that I kept as much of as possible. I’m sure at least one is a giant cicada…”

Alex shook his head. “I don’t think so…” He returned the hug, pouting a bit. “… Maybe we should ask Discord. Just in case.” Pulling away, he brushed his hand against the braid. “Wish I could just summon him.”

As he said that, Alex couldn’t help but feel a small shock of static as his hand was close to the hair clip that Snails had given him. At first, it didn’t seem like much. Yet, a few moments afterwards, the two of them heard a loud crash echo from a nearby alleyway that wasn’t far from the gazebo.

Rushing to the railing, Alex summoned Aubade. “Did you see what fell?” he asked, peering out into the snow. “You stay here, I’ll go see what that was.” Leaping into the snow, he rushed to the source of the sound.

Yet, when he got closer, that was when he began to hear a voice come from the alley. A somewhat familiar one, “L-lance, this was not what I had in mind when I told you that you needed to take a break.”

“T-this wasn’t what I-” Another voice, this one different from the first, spoke now, “W-wait, Humdrum? H-how did you-?”

“I was coming to check on you and the moment I opened the door, I saw a bright light followed by landing face first in… wait, Snow?” The first voice spoke again, “It’s the middle of summer back in Maretropolis, why is it snowing here-?”

Alex paused, standing at the mouth of the alley. “Spike?” he called. “What are you doing here? I thought you went up to Canterlot with Twilight?”

There was a bit of silence, followed by the sounds of movement as Alex now had a better look at who was in the Alley. Immediately, he could recognize Spike. However, he was wearing what could only be described as a superhero costume with a mask over his face. As for who was next to him, it was a human that wore an azure coat and black plated gauntlets and boots. Their eyes were the same color as the rest of their clothes, but their hair was blonde and much of it was tied together with a long braid that reached down to their waist.

It was then though that the dragon that was in the alley spoke, “W-who are you…? I haven’t seen you before.”

Staring for a moment, Alex relaxed his stance. “If I hadn’t met other Displaced, I’d swear you were wearing a bad cosplay.”

That had the one next to Spike blink, before he tried to get back up on their feet. “Other…? Wait, are you-” They, his eyes shifted as he noticed Aubade in Alex’s hands as he backed up defensively. He moved his hand down to his waist, only for his eyes to widen, “Of all the times-”

Resting Aubade on his shoulder, Alex frowned. “You alright? I’m not going to hurt you.”

At that, Spike turned to him, “Lance, what’s-” before he could finish, the dragon noticed the empty holster on his waist, “Wait… you left your weapon behind!?”

“Not intentionally, Humdrum!” he shot back, before looking back at Alex as his eyes narrowed a bit. Though, as both of them were talking to each other, Alex noticed the pocket cover on Lance’s coat to open. A tiny yawn was heard as he watched a small fairy-like figure climb out and open her eyes.

“L-lance? What’s… going on-?”

Alex dismissed Aubade, walking closer. “Wow. That is pretty adorable.”

When she heard that, the fairy turned to Alex. However, she looked at him with eyes of fear as she shivered for a moment, before flying into Lance’s hair as he shifted back in a more defensive posture. “Aah!! P-please, d-don’t let them near me-”

“Okay, everybody stop,” Spike stepped in between Alex and Lance, “I think we should all take a moment to just calm down. Especially you, Lumen.”

The fairy, Lumen, then nervously poked her head out of the human’s hair as they glanced at Alex briefly before looking at Spike, “B-but what if they were like the last one and-?”

“Look, I don’t know who you met before but I’m friendly.” Alex stopped a few steps from Lance and held his hand out. “I’m Alexander Lionheart. Nice to meet you.”

At that, the human looked back at the fairy in his hair for a brief moment, before extending his hand to shake Alex’s, “I’m Lance, and these two are Lumen and Humdrum,” he replied back, trying to come off as calm despite the circumstances of their arrival, “Though, I’m pretty sure you know that already, all things considered.”

“That would be correct.” Pulling his hand back, Alex looked between the three. “And you guys are probably freezing your asses off.”

“To put it bluntly, yes,” Lance replied back, crossing his arms as he shivered in place. Even Lumen herself was trying to stay warm by holding onto as much hair from his head as she could. Yet, it wasn’t helping in the slightest, “I-is there a place where we can c-continue this conversation that’s… well, ideally not out in the cold?”

“Course.” Alex turned, bringing his hands to his mouth. “Hey! Snails! S’okay! Just some visitors!”

Snails peaked around the corner at the end of the alley, looking more than a little confused at the sight of Spike and the other visitor. “Uhhh, Nightmare Night was almost two months ago, Spike, but that’s a spot-on Humdrum costume. Who’s your new friend and how are they a human like Alex?”

“Um… I am Humdrum though,” the dragon retorted, confused by what the unicorn just said.

Blinking, Snails glanced at Alex. “Uh, no? Humdrum’s a green earth pony colt.”

At that point, Lance just looked back at the two of them as he tried to come up with something to say. Though, there was only one thing that came to mind, “You have your own version of the power ponies?”

“I read every issue, yeah. It’s only a bit apiece. Snips has his own copies that he keeps sealed up.”

“Issues?” he asked, before shaking his head, “No no, I mean the actual team.”

“I might be slow to think things through, but I can still tell reality from fiction, sir. The Power Ponies are just comic characters, like Daring Do’s just a character in a series of novels.”

“Hey, my friends aren’t fiction!” Humdrum retorted as he narrowed his eyes at Snails.

Putting his hands up, Alex cleared his throat. “Okay! Let’s not let this devolve into shouting. In this world, the Power Ponies are fiction. Deal with it. Now, are you going to bitch and moan about it or are we going to warm up inside?”

It looked as if Humdrum was going to say something back, but a look from Lance had him back off as he sighed. “Alright fine,” he said, before looking at Snails, “Sorry for letting my emotions get the better of me.”

Snails gave him a suspicious look, then sighed and shook his head. “I guess that’s okay…but if you really are Humdrum, maybe you could help me out with something? I’m gonna run home real quick before I come over to your place, Alex. Gotta tell mom I’m going to be out a bit longer.”

Patting Snails’ head, Alex smiled. “I’ll have some hot chocolate waiting for ya.” Turning to his guests, he motioned to follow. “Come on, my house isn’t too far. Hope you guys are okay with animals.”

“What kind of animals? Like dogs and cats?” Lance asked as he and Humdrum started to follow Alex.

The trek home only took a bit longer, inconvenienced by the snow. Stepping inside, Alex savored that rush of heat. “Hey! I’m back! I have guests! Sorry about that.” Ushering Lance and Humdrum in, he shut the cold out as his two guests entered his home.

Discord stuck his head down from the top of the doorway with a slight frown on his face, then sighed and lowered himself from the ceiling on the other side with a rope of tinsel tangled around one wrist. “We were expecting your meetup with Snails to last at least another ten minutes, but it seems you’ve brought a new friend and…” he paused to take a sniff at the air. “Ah, not our Twilight’s little lizard, but from some other world. What would you all prefer, hot chocolate, eggnog, hegg nogcolate?”

Humdrum and Lance couldn’t help but blink for a moment, glancing towards each other first before Lance looked over at the draconequus and gave him an answer. “Uh, just hot chocolate please.”

“How did he know that I-?” the dragon asked himself, before shaking his head in an attempt to refocus, “Nevermind. I’ll have hot chocolate as well.”

“I didn’t mean to summon a displaced,” Taking off his winter gear, Alex bent down to pick up a ferret. “On that note. You did put a message into your token, didn’t you Lance?” he asked

“I… think so?” he replied back with a shrug of his shoulders, trying his best to answer, “I’m still sort of new to this whole thing. It’s b-been a while since I made it.”

Shrugging, Alex flopped down on the couch. “I probably just wasn’t paying attention. Kick your shoes off and have a seat.” Leaning back, he let his little companion climb onto his shoulders while Lance sat down nearby and began to loosen the bracers on his gloves. “They might take a bit to get used to you, Lance, but they might be fine with you, er, Humdrum.”

“And what about your drink, Alex?” Discord asked while snapping his tangled lion paw. Two glimmering golden chalices appeared in front of Lance and Humdrum, giving off just a bit of steam as they filled with thick hot chocolate. Humdrum’s drink actually appeared to melt for a moment before the gold turned glassy and black instead. “Dragon temperature. Yours has some ruby flakes in it.”

Humdrum was a bit surprised at that, for he didn’t think that something like rubies could be used in such a way. Though, as he took a sip, Alex and Lance watched as he proceeded to drink as much as he could after the cautious first sip. “W-woah, that’s good. Thank you very much.”

“First time tasting gems mixed with food? I think maybe a glass of water before your next helping. Don’t want to get arrested for corrupting a minor.” Discord laughed softly before giving a wink and vanishing.

“I’ll take that last one. And some hot chocolate for Snails,” Alex called after him. “So. Do you two have any questions for me?”

“I do, though I’m not sure about Humdrum,” Lance replied back as he looked at the dragon for a moment, before looking back at Alex, “Just… who was that just now?”

Before Alex had a chance to answer a snap came from the other room and a large mug shaped like a huge egg with a silly straw stuck through it popped into existence along with a note to sip carefully. It looked like it could hold the same volume as the chalices Lance and Humdrum were given. Meanwhile a similar elegant goblet appeared on a small side table with a candle hovering over it.

Taking a long sip of his drink, Alex collected his thoughts. “That was Discord. He’s my adopted mo...parent’s boyfriend. I just call him dad. He’s the spirit of chaos.” His face fell for a moment, which he hid in his glass.

“Huh… that’s a first,” Lance replied back, “I mean, I haven’t seen or met anyone like them before. Is… well,” he would then motion a hand to the chalice that he was holding as well as the drinks by Humdrum, “All of that… normal?”

“I have a giant key, live with talking ponies and became a teenage girl. Living with a chaos entity is completely normal to me,” Alex responded curtly. “You live with superheroes. I’m not sure why it’s surprising.”

“Well, it’s a little more complicated than that, but yeah,” he replied back as he took another sip of his drink. For a moment, Alex saw Lumen slowly peek out of his hair to look around. Though, upon seeing him, she scurried back into his hair like a mouse, “I just haven’t met an entity like that in my world, so I’m rather unfamiliar on the subject.”

“What about you, Humdrum? You got anything?”

When Humdrum realized that the question was kind of turned around on him, the dragon almost spilled some of the water he was drinking on himself. “M-me?” he asked, before he tried to say the first thing that came to mind, “W-well, that’s… a tough one. Maybe w-what’s your Spike like? Like, is he me, but without…?” At the last part, he motioned to his costume and his mask as he took it off now and let Alex see his face.

Alex giggled. “Yes. He’s you without the cosplay. Twilight hatched him at a magic exam and he’s been part of her family ever since.”

Humdrum's eyes widened for a moment, before he looked away briefly, “I see. And what’s Twilight like in this world? I’m going to assume she’s much different from ours?”

“She’s the princess of friendship. Whatever that really means. Has a big castle in Ponyville.”

“Well, that’s definitely different,” the dragon said, just as he finished his beverage as he set his mug down, “Our Twilight’s not a princess at all, but has the appearance of one. Anytime that we’ve tried asking about it though, she would try to change the subject despite how insistent Zapp could be.”

“Well, perhaps Twilight saw it as a subject that she’s not really comfortable talking about,” Lance spoke up as he looked at the sidekick, “At least you’re not bothering her now about it, right?”

At that, the dragon shivered a small bit as he closed his eyes and let out a deep breath, “Yeah well… After Solaria found out what we were doing, she really got on our case about it. Since then, Zapp and I just stopped trying so that way we don’t make her angry. Which is probably for the best now that I think about it.”

Lance himself could only chuckle at what the dragon said, “Yeah, I can see why Sunset would do that,” Shortly afterwards, he looked back over towards where Alex sat at, “Out of curiosity though, was there anything that you wanted to ask us?”

“What’s your world like?” Alex questioned. “A superhero version of Equestria sounds exhausting.”

“Well, if I have to be honest, I’ve only been there for…” Lance then paused, before looking at Humdrum, “How long would you say I’ve been here?”

“Uh, a couple of weeks maybe?” Humdrum shrugged.

“Yeah, I haven’t been there too long,” the adept continued, “All I know is that I ended up in a city named Maretropolis, Humdrum and his friend are part of a hero team called the Power Ponies, supervillains are a thing and it’s… a lot to take in. That and I’m basically a walking energizer bunny.”

At that part, small bolts of lightning began to crackle around his fingers. “See what I mean?”

Nodding in appreciation, Alex sipped at his drink. “Powers sound neat. Pretty sure ‘Maretopolis’ doesn’t exist here.”

“Power’s still something I’m trying to get used to if I have to be honest. Rather not short circuit something by accident,” he nervously replied, before the look on his face began to change. From Alex’s perspective, it looked as if he was recalling something that was either bothering him or something that might’ve been disturbing, “That and… well, compared to last time, you’re different from the last person who brought me to their place. In a good way I mean.”

“What happened last time?”

Lance looked up at his hair, moving a few strands to confirm that the breezie that was in there was asleep as he looked back to Alex. “Well, we were called over by this… bear named Freddy. At first, Lumen and I thought that he had good intentions. However, when we found that version of ‘Ponyville’ in that world was almost razed to the ground and that the person responsible was the same bear we trusted. In reality, he was a ‘Spirit of Madness’ and mentally tormented Lumen by forcing her into a cage and haunting her against her will. She still has nightmares of what happened to this day.”

As he finished, he let out a deep and concerned sigh, “It might not be much, but Lumen and I are partners. I just don’t want anything bad to happen to her again.”

Tapping the side of his drink, Alex nodded. “Sounds rough. And that’s on top of running into that bear from that shitty jumpscare game.”

“Alex, language.” Fluttershy trotted in, placing a plate of cookies on the table. Pausing, she tilted her head. “Spike, why are you dressed up like Humdrum?”

“S-saddle Rager?” Humdrum said, wrapping an arm around Lance instinctually. The adept himself did not expect the sudden tug and almost spilled some of his hot chocolate onto him. “W-what-?”

Giggling a bit, Shy shook her head. “Oh my, this is the first time I’ve ever met a friend from another universe. While I was Saddle Rager when we got sucked into yo-Spike’s comic book, I’m just plain Fluttershy.”

“O-Oh…” Even though he was trying his best, Humdrum was at a loss for words as he looked to be trying to process what she said.

“Uh, h-hello,” the adept spoke up, trying his best to be polite as he glanced over at Alex for a moment, before looking over to the pegasus, “Are you a friend of Alex?”

Stepping closer to Alex, Fluttershy embraced him with her wings. “I’m actually his mother.”

Now he was just as confused as Humdrum was a few seconds ago, caught off guard as he blinked a couple of times and tried his best to form words, “W-wait, what?”

“Adopted,” Alex clarified. “It was a legal thing.”

“I… huh,” he said, trying to wrap his head around that before another thought came to mind, “Does that mean that the Discord guy we met earlier is… your dad?”

“Legally speaking, yeah,” Alex answered, rubbing his neck. “It wasn’t exactly what I would’ve chosen for myself, but we make things work.”

Alex found himself nestled in Discord’s arms, who took his seat. “While I’m flattered, Alex, your mother and I are still just dating.”

The adept blinked at the sudden appearance of the chaos spirit, this time actually spilling hot chocolate onto Humdrum’s head in the process. Though, it took him a bit in order to come up with a response, since it felt like his brain was still trying to piece things together, “Well, uh… that’s good to hear.”

As that was said, Humdrum took a napkin to clean himself up before he asked a new question, “If it’s okay to ask, how did you two first meet Alex?”

Fluttershy’s features downturned. “A few ponies found him in the snow while my friends and I were still in Our Town. I’m just glad he wasn’t found while Starlight Glimmer was still in charge.”

For a moment, it looked like Humdrum found something familiar with what was said. Though, when Fluttershy mentioned the name, the dragon just shook his head and dismissed the thought. As for the adept next to him, he was puzzled a bit, “Our Town? What’s that?”

“It was a town full of ponies Starlight had convinced to give up their cutie marks.” Flutterhy’s tail curled, obscuring her flank. “If Lee hadn’t helped us, we wouldn’t have gotten ours back.”

Lance looked back at Humdrum for a moment, before looking back at the pegasus, “Aren’t those the things that kind of determine what your special trait is? Why would someone want to just… give that up?”

“I have a feeling that they didn’t have a choice in the matter,” the dragon said, before he glanced over to Fluttershy, “But… who is this ‘Lee’ you mentioned? Are they a friend of Alex or something?”

“He’s another displaced,” Alex said, moving out of Discord’s grasp. “He got here around the time I did.”

“Well, he seems friendly enough,” the adept replied, before looking over to Alex, “Was he… something in particular? Or just… normal.”

“He’s Xemnas, which means he’s a nobody.” Alex pulled his phone from his pocket, showing them a picture. “Tall as hell too.”

At that, Lance couldn’t help but blink as he recognized what Alex was talking about as he looked at the picture that was shown to them, “Wait a minute, nobody? Like ‘Kingdom Hearts’ nobody?”

Alex stared at him. “Dude, I got turned into Xion. I’m also wearing the damn cloak. How are you only now realizing this?”

That just left him a little bit baffled, “I know this might sound weird to ask coming from me with the long braid… but wasn’t Xion a girl? I-”

“I mentioned that earlier, didn’t I?” Alex asked, crossing his arms.

That had him pause, before it looked like he tried to recall what was said… and then subsequently facepalming himself, “Right, you did… I think that bit must’ve flown over my head. Sorry if I came off as rude.”

“I’ll go check on dinner.” Fluttershy excused herself, taking Discord with her. “Don’t get full on cookies!”

As the two of them left, Humdrum chose to help himself to a couple of cookies before letting go of Lance’s arm as he sat back down. “So, you… landed in the snow, Fluttershy took you in and… things just went from there?” the dragon asked, trying his best to break the bit of awkward silence from Lance’s last exchange.

“Yeah, since my physical body is adolescent, I have to live like a kid,” Alex confirmed, snagging a cookie for himself. “That means school, making friends, the whole shebang.” Muttering into the cookie, he added “Enduring shark week...”

“Enduring what?” the dragon asked.

Lance couldn’t help but move his head over to where the dragon was. Saying the first thing that came to mind before taking a sip of his hot chocolate, “I think it’s probably better if we don’t ask.”

“I’ll just say it’s a puberty thing to preserve Humdrum’s innocence,” Alex commented, hiding behind his cookie.

The dragon just blinked, before shrugging his shoulders, “I’ll just… take your word for it. I mean, compared to Lance’s time over the last couple of weeks, this sounds pretty tame. I mean, if you rule out the first day of training and everything.”

“You mean the day when Solaria decided to recreate Dodgeball with wrenches to test my reflexes,” Lance deadpanned, “Matter of fact, how do you even know about that-?”

“Zapp told me.”

“Of course she did.” he groaned, taking a cookie and having a bite of it before he looked back at Alex, “So, outside of… being a nobody, have you noticed anything else with your world that seems to take reference from Kingdom Hearts? Or is it just mostly normal, day to day stuff?”

Alex scoffed. “I’m not a nobody. I’m completely human. But there are heartless and nobodies running around.” His fingers gripped his cookie hard enough to break it. “And that fuck Vanitas.”

Just from the tone, the adept had a feeling that this ‘Vanitas’ wasn’t exactly the nicest of people. Though, it was too early to think that this guy Alex was talking about was some crazy maniacal maniac like Freddy, “Let me guess, not a very nice guy?”

A soft knock saved Alex from responding. Getting up, he let Snails into the house.

“Sorry I took so long,” said Snails, levitating a small box towards Humdrum. “I haven’t given Snips his present yet so... I was hoping you could autograph it?”

Lifting the lid, he revealed a thick hardcover book. Emblazoned on the cover was the title “Power Ponies Classic Omnibus” proudly displaying the team.

From how it looked, Humdrum just stared at the cover for a couple of moments, a bit surprised seeing the team that he had been a part of for so long portrayed quite differently. Though, the request from Snails soon broke his concentration on that. “O-oh, sure. A-anything in particular or-?”

“Oh, just to Snips.” Snails nodded sagely. “Keep it simple.”

The dragon nodded, before something else came to mind, “Uh, do you have something to write with? I… don’t exactly have any quills on me.”

Alex patted down his cloak, checking for a writing implement. Reaching into his inner breast pocket, he produced a pen. “Lucked out on that one.”

“Thanks,” Humdrum replied, before he took the pen and signed the inside cover so it could easily be seen when opened, “That was… honestly the first time anypony asked me to sign something for them.”

That remark even had Lance surprised as he just raised an eyebrow, “Seriously?”

“Y-yeah, but the girls and I didn’t really choose to be heroes to be popular or anything, so it’s not really a big deal,” he remarked.

Snails smiled, resealing the present. “Thanks a lot!” he floated another object from his coat. “It’s not much but I thought you’d like to have this.”

“Huh?” the young dragon tilted his head as he looked at Snails, then at the object itself, “What is it?”

“Got it when I went to Powercon last summer.” Opening the small box he revealed a set of pins, portraying the power ponies in heroic poses. “I want you and your friends to have ‘em.”

The adept couldn’t help but watch as Humdrum’s face was met with not just excitement, but also a bit of uncertainty, “T-thank you, but… are you sure? I mean-”

“Spike, I think if he’s offering it to you as a gift,” Lance smiled, “He wants you to have it.”

Carefully, he stretched out his claws to take the set of pins and get a closer look at them, “T-thank you. T-these look wonderful.”

“Happy Hearth’s Warming.” Replacing Snips present on his back, he walked with Alex to the door. “I hope you have a good Hearth’s Warming, Alex. Hopefully, it’s just as good as Christmas.”

Anticipation raced from Alex’s heart. A shaky smile tugged at his lips as he opened the door. “Y-yeah. Same to you.” If he hadn’t been wearing gloves, he swore he wouldn’t be able to grip the knob. “O-oh hey! We’re under the mistletoe.”

Snails blinked slowly, features twisting. “Is that a Christmas thi-”

His sentence died when Alex pressed his lips against Snails. Sound and time died away as the moment hung between them. The daze came to an end when Alex retreated inside.

“Merry Christmas! Cya at school!” Alex slammed the door shut, leaning on it as his legs threatened to buckle. His heart replaced his brain, filling his ears with its incessant thumping. The heat radiating from his face could’ve lit a bonfire.

Humdrum was going to ask something when he noticed that Alex’s legs were starting to buckle. But before he could say anything, Lance just calmly looked at him and whispered, “Let’s just give him a moment first.”

Swooning, Alex barely retook his seat. Hiding his face behind his drink, he attempted to control his emotions. “S-so uh... You wanna fuse?”

Now the adept was just as confused as the sidekick that was next to him, “I-I’m sorry, what?”

“A drive form,” Alex clarified, his thoughts clear now.

“Oh, uh,” he soon got up from his seat to look back at Alex, “Sure, I guess? But how does something like that… Well, work?”

Joining him, Alex tentatively held a hand out. “Basically, you become clothes and give me some abilities.”

That alone was still leaving Lance with a number of different questions. Yet, he was also getting the impression that the only way that he was going to get some answers to those questions was to take Alex up on it. “I think this is something that’s easier to show rather than tell, but what the hell? Let’s try it.”

As soon as he was done speaking, the adept extended his own hand out to meet Alex’s. A sound of shattering glass filled the room, consuming Lance in light. It wrapped around Alex, warping his clothing.

When everything settled, Alex was left in stylized workout clothes. An electric yellow unitard covered his body. Draped over his shoulders was a thin, blue shoulder cape in the style of butterfly wings. Within the wings of the cape were white crackling lines made to look like lightning. On his legs were bright blue warmers with glittery electric designs running wild on the fabric. With the shifting of his legs, the electric designs almost seemed to move like a live charge.

“Well this is... something...” Alex traced his body, glancing over his shoulder. “Hey, Screwball! Can you come here?”

A propeller hat popped into existence before a pink earth pony poured out of it like a liquid. With one last drip sound, she floated over in front of Alex’s face. “You rang, Mister Sister?! Nice outfit by the way!”

“Thanks.” Alex offered his phone. “Could you get a few pictures of me? It’s for Rarity later.”

As the excited earth pony went to go get her camera, that was when Alex heard something, “Hello? Alex? A-am I doing this right?”

Alex examined his new cape, admiring the pattern. “You're doing fine, Lance. Everything’s in the green.”

“Oh, thank god. I thought I was going crazy,” the adept let out a sigh of relief, “So, how exactly does this… well, work? I mean, you said clothes and abilities. I’m now a pair of clothes, so what’s the other part?”

Stretching his limbs, Alex hummed. “I’ve only done this a handful of times. Sonata gave me boosted water magic and AJ made me stronger but took away my magic. I didn’t get to try out Vash’s form...”

Clicking his tongue, Alex tossed a small orb of water at Humdrum. “Alright so, it’s not Grace or Strength so this must be Agility. What the hell can Agility do...?”

“Do you think it might tie to the powers of the Displaced you do this with? Or is this your first time trying it with one?”

“Doubt it.” Alex muttered a few thoughts, pacing around the table. Agility meant movement... so... Giving a short hop, Alex found his feet hovering several inches above the floor. A manic grin conquered his face, heralding a shout of glee. Willing himself forward, he made it to the stairs and back in half the time as he would walking.

“Well, I guess that answers any other question I have right now.”

Conjuring Aubade brought a second surprise as Widow’s Fang appeared in his off-hand. “Oh hell yes! Dual wielding baby!”

“You… doing okay over there, Alex?” Humdrum called out from the other room, “You kind of just took off and… well, the rest of the cookies are on the floor now.”

Alex quickly returned to the room where Humdrum was waiting for them, fighting the urge to do a twirl and show off his outfit. “Oh, I’m absolutely golden. I feel electric. And yes, pun intended.”

“I can tell,” Humdrum chuckled, before motioning to Alex’s new clothes, “So, how long does this last for? Because… well, I think it would be difficult to explain to my Twilight how Lance got turned into clothing.”

Moving back and forth, Alex explored the full range of his newfound movement. “I can end it at will, if that’s what you’re worried about. I’m just having fun.” Snatching up Screwball on a drive-by, he flicked the mare’s propeller. “How’d the pics turn out?”

“They turned out super duper~” Screwball said, showing off the pictures. While some showed off random parts of him like an elbow or an earlobe, there were others that captured the outfit as a whole from interesting angles. “Is Mister Sister learning to like the Sister part in his clothing?”

His response in a non-committal sound of indeterminable meaning. His clothes illuminated themselves, spawning Lance from them. “I’ll let you know later.”

As for the adept himself, the unexpected spawn just ended with him landing directly on his face. “O-ow… P-please warn me before-” he said, before noticing Screwball, “Oh, h-hello there.”

Screwball floated down to him, booping his nose. “Pratfalls are still falls, electric eel.”

“Uh… what?” Lance flinched a little from the boop, before he looked over to Alex.

Alex giggled, pulling the mare away by her tail like how one might pull a balloon. “Don’t mind her. Screwball can sound incoherent, that’s just how she talks.”

“H-huh,” he said, glancing over at Screwball now that Alex helped clarify a few things, “I… see. Nice to meet you, Screwball.”

“You alright, Lance?” Humdrum asked.

“Y-yeah, just need a quick second,” the adept replied as he got himself off of the floor and back off his feet again as he brushed some dust and cookie crumbs off of his jacket. “Okay, I think I’m good now.”

After a moment or so, once things had gotten back to some sense of normal and the mess of cookies that were on the floor was cleaned up, that was when the dragon asked a question, “So, uh, how long do you think-?”

“In the tradition of convenience, dinner is ready.” Discord’s head retracted from the group, retreating into the kitchen. “Hurry up now! I’m absolutely famished!”

Humdrum couldn’t help but blink at that as he tried to make sense of what just happened, “Okay, never mind. He just answered my question for me.”

Lance himself honestly had a couple questions of his own to ask and he didn’t want to feel as if he had overstayed his welcome. But since Alex’s family were kind enough to not only invite them into their home but also let them stay for dinner, it would be rather rude to refuse such hospitality.

The table laid out before them presented a feast for the eyes and nose. Ruled by vegetarian options, the handful of plates bearing seafood stood out like beacons. A bowl of gems sat by itself, placed at one end of the table.

“This looks amazing!” Alex snatched an empty plate, piling it high with food. “You guys really outdid yourselves.”

Fluttershy managed a proud smile as she finished placing the silverware around the table. “It’s not very often that we get to have your friends over, so I thought I’d pull out all the stops.” Slipping into a seat at the head of the table, she addressed Lance and Spike. “Please, have as much as you like! I don’t know if you like fish or have the same taste in gems as our Spike, so I tried a little bit of everything.”

“W-wow, uh t-thank you,” Spike was the first to reply, before he grabbed a plate as well and began to follow Alex to get himself some food.

“I’m with Spike, Thank you very much, Ms. Fluttershy,” the adept complimented the pegasus.Though, he decided to wait until Spike was done getting some food before getting a plate for himself, before sitting down next to the sidekick at the table.

“I did have some help,” Fluttershy said, pointing at Discord with a wing. “For some of the ingredients and gems I had Discord use his magic. He also made it so the veggies chopped themselves up.”

At first, he was going to ask more about it. But considering some of the things that he had already seen Discord do before his very eyes today, Lance thought it would be better to not ask about it and save himself the headache.

Screwball grabbed a spoon, using it to spear her food. Humming in delight, she plucked a sapphire from the gem bowl. Crushing it, she sprinkled it into her salad like croutons. “So shiny and crunchy! Blueberry stone!”

Of course, it was when Screwball did that when Spike was about to chew into one. Only to stop, look at Screwball… then to his salad, back to the gem he had in his claws and try the same thing for himself. Though, unlike the earth pony, the dragon wasn’t quite as successful as she was as it kept slipping out of his claws like a bar of soap. “Uh… how did you do that? Because I’m having some difficulties.”

Discord tapped the gem, cracking it with a talon. “My daughter can surprise me sometimes. Try driving your claw into a central point. Once it's cracked, it’ll be easy to shatter.”

He didn’t say anything, but instead did what he was suggested to do as he stuck a claw in there and applied some pressure. It didn’t happen instantly, but after a couple of minutes, he was able to get the same results as Screwball did on the first try. “Huh. I’ll have to keep that in mind next time I’m making a salad at home. Thanks.”

“To make it easy, the central point is typically where the gem has the most clarity.” Discord picked up another gem, shifting it in his paw to show off its sides. Once Spike had a view of a particular side, Discord drove his talon through it. “Like so.”

Conversation flowed like water, the two displaced swapping stories of their exploits. Fluttershy shared a few anecdotes of her own adventures. Discord regalled them all with a brief snippet of custody battle he and Celestia waged over Screwball.

“That’s when I dropped the cake on her head!” Discord howled, his body contorting from how loud his cackles were. “The entire field was covered in frosting!”

Alex had to hold back snickers at that story. “And you still managed to get joint custody with Celestia after that?”

“No. She turned me to stone for a thousand years. You are learning in that school, aren’t you?”

Shrugging, Alex put his fork down. “Eh, right now, we’re talking about stuff from the founding of Equestria.”

There were times during the back and forth exchanges between Discord and Alex that Lance wanted to say something. But instead, he kept it to himself. He found it a lot more interesting to hear more about Alex and their Equestria the more that he continued to talk about it. So, he didn’t want to interrupt them.

Though, it was at one point later on that Spike asked a question that didn’t exactly settle right with him. “Sorry if I’m interrupting, but out of curiosity, what do you and your family usually do during Hearth's Warming? Do you have any traditions or anything?”

“This is our first Hearth’s Warming together,” Fluttershy explained. “Usually, I go to Cloudsdale to celebrate with my parents. Now that we have a family here, they’re coming to us.” Nostalgia washed over her, bringing forth memories of years past. “Growing up, my father would make cloud arrangements in the backyard.”

“Really? That sounds pretty cool!”

While this seemed nice and rather heartfelt, Lance began to notice that the longer the conversation went on, the more that Alex detached himself from the conversation. Instead of saying things to add on to the discussion, he would make token gestures of nods, lackluster smiles and half-hearted chuckles. Then at one point, he picked at his plate, stood up from the table and excused himself.

Something about this didn’t quite feel right to him, and some at the table started to notice, “Hm? Hey, where did Alex go?”

Fluttershy looked around the table, seeing Alex’s spot was empty. “Oh, maybe he just went to the bathroom? I’m sure he’ll be back in a minute.”

Personally, Lance did not buy it. If anything, from how Alex was acting, it seemed like it was a completely different issue that was bothering him. However, he decided to trust the pegasi’s judgment for a moment and wait to see if he would come back to join everyone else at the table.

After a few moments and no sight of him, the adept finished what he was eating and got up from his seat. “Excuse me for a moment. I’ll be right back.”

As he moved away from the table, Lance started to go down the hall that he saw Alex leave. Yet, it wasn’t clear initially as to where he went. For even though Fluttershy’s cottage was not that big, there were still a few rooms that he could possibly be in and searching through them could come off as suspicious to the pegasus and her family.

Fortunately, the azure striker had a particular trick up his sleeve that could be of some use to him here. “Okay, let’s give this a try.”

As he closed his eyes, the adept began to concentrate his septima into sensing the presences that were around him. Aside from him, there were the four that were still at the dining room table and one upstairs. “There we go.”

The moment he saw where Alex was, Lance proceeded to look for a way up and found a stairwell that brought him to the second floor. Carefully, he approached the door and stopped focusing his septima as he was about to knock. But before he could, he could hear something from the other side

A soft sobbing came from the other side. A hollow, wretched sound, cast deep in the abyss of sorrow.

“He’s… sad?” Lance wondered. Alex had a family that cared about him, close friends and was enjoying everything so far. So, why would he be upset? What was wrong?

After a moment, the adept stopped hesitating and gently knocked on the door first, before opening a small bit, “Hey, Alex? Is everything alright?”

Alex shot up as if he was struck by lightning, quickly wiping at his eyes and turning to face the adept. “Oh, hey Lance, didn’t hear you knock. Yeah, I’m totally fine,” he hastily answered, trying and failing to look nonchalant.

That… didn’t really convince the adept that he was fine. If anything, it made him more concerned. “Are… you sure?” he asked, “Is something bothering you? You seemed uncomfortable when Fluttershy was-”

“I said I was fine,” Alex snapped, getting up to push the door closed. “If anyone asks, tell them I’ll be down in a minute.”

Lance did not like where this was going. If anything, it seemed like Alex was just pushing it aside to deal with it later. “Alex, I don’t know about you, but I’m not the only one who noticed you leaving the table earlier.”

Silence reigned and Alex stepped to the side. “Fine. Come in already.”

Lance calmly and quietly stepped inside the room as he looked back at him. He waited until the door was closed once more, before he restated his first question to him with a sincere and worried look on his face, “Alex, please be honest with me. Is everything really alright? Or is there something else going on?”

Breaking away from Lance, Alex moved to his bed. A shaky hand removed his phone from its hiding place. “I was born on Christmas,” Alex said, the tremble spreading from his hands. “She used to call me the greatest gift my...” Gripping the device, Alex suppressed a sob. “M-my father ever gave her.”

Gently, Lance placed a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to try and have him calm down a little. He had a feeling of who he possibly might be talking about, but he didn’t want to assume just yet. “You mean your mom? Before Fluttershy?”

Alex leveled a stare at Lance that made it abundantly clear he wanted to say something snarky. After a moment, he let out a sigh. “Yeah, it was from before Fluttershy. Let’s just say that the pile of vaguely person-shaped garbage that called itself my dad wasn’t my favorite of people.”

“I hear you,” he said, giving a bit of a nod. For a moment, it looked like he was going to keep to himself. Though, after a moment, he then sighed and just went with it, “If it were me, my dad is probably not my favorite either.”

“My dad’s a drunk piece of shit who showed his disappointment with his fists,” Alex snapped. “That’s what they know.” His shoulders sagged, anger falling before his melancholy. “She was sick, really sick. When I left for med school, I managed to get her into a care home. Didn’t matter how hard it was snowing, how long it’d take or how sleep deprived I was. I spent every Christmas with her.”

Now things were beginning to fall into place as he realized what Alex was telling him. Yet, the story of him missing her reminded him of something else… a very familiar story with his family that he was seeing in Alex right now and one that he really did not want to see repeated.

His fortitude broke, sobs wracking Alex’s body. “And now she’s alone. She probably thinks I’m dead and I can’t be there to keep him away from her.”

As tears poured down his face, Lance didn’t know what to say exactly. But he still wanted to help somehow. There had to be something that he could do or say to make things better for him.

“And you know what’s the fucked up part?” Alex asked. “I can call Discord dad so easily. But Shy? She tries so hard to be a good parent and I just...” he clutched the phone tighter. “Everytime I try to call her mom, I just see my mom in that hospital bed smiling like she’s the happiest person in the world.”

As Alex finished with his story, Lance couldn’t help but try to think of ways to try and help him. It was clear that something bothered Alex, but the adept did not think that it was something this deep. And with how vividly he described it, he wasn’t sure if any words were going to be enough to help lessen the pain he was already feeling.

Yet, one possible idea lingered… for later. Right now, his focus was on Alex and making sure he was okay, “I’m very sorry to hear that, Alex. I… had no idea.”

“Not like I front load conversations with that,” Alex retorted, dabbing away some tears. “No one needs to hear all that shit as soon as they meet me. And if Fluttershy wasn’t sending me to a shrink, I’d rather no one ever hear it.”

“Do you feel a little bit better now?” Lance asked, before going into his pocket and offering a handkerchief to him. “I know that subjects like this aren’t really easy to talk about, but have you told anyone in your family about this? Or have you just kept it to yourself?”

“They worry enough about me as it is.” Taking the cloth, Alex wiped at his eyes. “Piling more onto them isn’t going to help.”

That didn’t settle right with him at all. If anything, it made things feel more concerning. Still, he had to try and ask one last thing, “Even if they want to help you?”

Passing the handkerchief back, Alex pat Lance’s shoulder. “That's what therapy is for. I’ll tell them when I’m able to. Not now.”

As he was given the handkerchief back, it looked like there was something else Lance wanted to say. But instead, he kept it to himself. “If you say so. But hey, if there’s any time that you just want to talk or get something off your chest, I’m all ears. Alright?”

“I’ll think about it,” Alex said, a noncommittal smile on his face. “But I think I’ve had my fill of being a blubbering mess for the time being. Maybe we should get back to the table before we become the butt of a joke seeing as we’ve both up and disappeared from the table.”

“Yeah, that’s probably a good idea,” Lance agreed, before going over to open the door for him, “Lead the way.”

---

After Alex and Lance returned to the table, the rest of the evening turned out to be rather enjoyable for everyone. Fluttershy had opted to make a carrot cake for dessert, with an extra slice for Angel Bunny that had chunks of carrot visible within and on top of his slice.

“It’s not much, but I hope you like it,” she said, cutting into the dessert. ‘I can also make some tea or coffee if you like hot drinks with dessert.”

“I think I’ll just stick with the cake,” Humdrum replied nervously, “T-Twilight told me that I’m not old enough yet for coffee.”

“I suppose she would know more about dragons wouldn’t she?”

“Well, that and there’s a reason why we have to put Filli-Second on decaf when she’s off duty,” Humdrum replied.

That was enough to surprise Lance. Because if he remembered correctly, Filli-Second was the most hyper of the Power Ponies. So it came as a surprise to him that her bouncing around all over the place was normal. “Wait, are you saying that Filli-Second’s like a hummingbird when she’s on caffeine?”

“More like the Flash.” Alex took a bite of his cake, gesticulating with his fork. “Pinkie zooms around a lot. I swear she leaves after images sometimes.”

“Oh, that’s her normally,” the dragon replied as he began to eat the slice of cake that Fluttershy gave him, “When caffeinated, it’s that multiplied by five.”

Lance couldn’t help but blink at that as he tried to process what he just heard. Though, after a couple of minutes, he thought it would be better for his sanity if he didn’t. “Yeah, that’s an image I would rather not think about.”

“I’m not as bothered by it. Not after living with Screwball.” Alex hummed, leaning over to Discord. Glancing at Lance, the two shared a quick conversation. The adept took notice of it, but thought it was something private between both of them and chose not to ask about it.

Cardboard cutouts sat in their places, a little sign proclaiming ‘Out to Lunch’ hanging between them. Something that Spike picked up on and decided to ask about, “Huh? Where did they go?”

“This happens,” Fluttershy said with a giggle. “Discord likes disappearing to get surprises prepared. And when said surprise needs a conspirator, it’s pretty common that he ropes somepony into it. Looks like it’s Alex’s turn.”

“So, Alex is basically acting as his sidekick?” the adept asked, which had Humdrum look back at him with a narrowed glance, “What?”

The dragon sidekick just ignored the remarks, but had a different question for Fluttershy now, “What kind of surprises does he normally do?”

“They're usually pretty fun. But they can be a little unnerving if you're not used to it.”

“Considering that this is the first time I’ve seen anyone like him, I can agree on unnerving,” Spike added, “Though, I do remember there being reports on a figure that almost matched his description. He was called ‘Captain Goodguy’ and… well, he kind of did his own thing. Wasn’t a hero, but wasn’t exactly a bad guy either.”

“Really?” Lance asked, “Is he still around?”

“Last time we heard anything, he was last seen in Starshine City. However, that was years ago. So, who knows really?”

Collecting dishes, Fluttershy cleared the table. “Are you two staying the night? You’re more than welcome to. Discord can whip up another room.”

That had both Lance and Humdrum look back to one another, before they both turned their attention to Fluttershy. “As much as I would like that, I think both of us should probably find a way to get back to our world.”

“Yeah, if my Twilight realized that we were gone and didn’t tell her why, she would immediately assume a villain kidnapped us again,” Humdrum sighed, “But, the only problem though is… Well, we have no idea how to get back.”

“No need to worry about that,” Fluttershy assured, tucking into her cake. “Alex will know how to get you home. So make yourself comfortable until the surprise is ready.”

While there was a little bit of uncertainty, both of them just took up her suggestion and sat back down to wait for Discord and Alex to come back. They took the time to finish their cake and make some light conversation to pass the time while they waited. Questions were asked, answers were shared and stories were told with each passing moment that went by.

Striding into the kitchen, Alex approached Lance. Giddily, he presented him with a large box. “Merry Christmas, Lance.”

The adept was caught off guard and very surprised by this. He had only been here for a short amount of time, but he did not expect to get a gift like this unexpectedly. Then again, it would be rude for him to deny it after all the hospitality that Alex’s family had shown him. “O-oh, uh… T-Thank you, Alex.”

After looking at the box a bit more, he had a follow up question. “A-are you okay with me opening it now or-?”

“No, I don’t want to see the look on your face,” Alex deadpanned. “Yes, open it, bolts for brains.” He tapped at the box, giving the adept a stern look.

“Alright, I just thought I would ask,” he replied as he started to open up the box and look inside. A tablet greeted him, complete with case and charger. Several small bags rested beside it, labeled red, blue, green, yellow and enigma respectively. “Huh. What’s all this?”

“What would you say if I told you that it was books, shows and various other properties from Earth?” Alex asked in return, a cheeky grin on his face.

That was something that surprised the adept, “Wow, I… I don’t know what to say. T-thank you, Alex. I-I… wished there was something I could give you in return, but-”

Alex shook his head. “Don’t worry about it. You already gave me a keyblade. Now, all of that isn’t on the tablet. There’s about twenty sim cards tucked away in the case. Everythings a copy of mine, which includes all the protection enchantments.”

“Your generosity knows no bonds,” the adept said, a little surprised about the mention of a keyblade, but grateful for Alex’s gift as he closed the box and picked it up, “Though, could we trouble you for one more thing?”

At that point, Humdrum added on to the conversation, “Lance and I were talking and we thought that it was time for us to return home. Fluttershy told us that you might know the method to send us back?”

“Oh that’s easy.” Alex grinned wider. “Lance, our contract is complete.”

“Wait, just like tha-”

In a bright flash of lightning, both the adept and the dragon sidekick that was with him were now gone. Surprisingly, no burn marks were left behind on the floor as Alex was left with Fluttershy. Together to spend the rest of the holidays among family and friends.

---

“-at?”

Before Humdrum could even finish his sentence, both he and Lance realized that they were back in his room. It was the same way that he had left it when they had been called over, and when looking at the clock on the wall, barely any time had passed. “Woah… W-we’re actually back?”

“From the looks of it, yes,” the adept nodded, before he walked over to his desk to find that the weapon he left on his desk was still there. As he holstered it, Lance just looked back at the dragon, “I think I’ll take your advice and use today as a day off.”

Humdrum smiled and was going to leave the room, before the azure striker spoke up again as he combed through his hair and gently pulled out the breezie that was taking refuge inside, “Oh, and one more thing. I think Lumen’s had her fair share of traveling to different worlds for the time being. Mind holding onto her on the off chance that I might get pulled in again?”

“We just got back and you’re concerned about getting summoned again? Isn’t there supposed to be like… I don’t know… a way you can just say no to that?”

That just had Lance let out a deep breath, “Honestly, I just say that it’s part of the job description for what I am. I mean, don’t heroes usually get called upon when villains are on the loose? It wouldn’t seem right to just ignore it. I mean, it might be someone in need of help.”

The sidekick was going to say something. But he had to admit that Lance made a valid point. Humdrum and the rest of the girls took it upon themselves to never ignore any cries for help when in the field. So, if Lance was going to take it upon himself to do something similar, then why stop him. If anything, it was showing how much he had grown over the course of his time here.

“Alright then. But please, don’t try to make this a habit. If it happens too many times, Matterhorn might see this as an excuse to avoid doing important parts of your training.”

“I’ll try my best,” he promised the dragon. As Spike walked out of the room and towards the kitchen, the adept felt a bit at peace with himself. Ever since he was first summoned by Freddy, he was imprinted with the impression that Displaced were just conniving schemers who wanted to use other displaced for their own personal gain or hurt them. However, meeting Alex and his family shattered that illusion. That there were some good people out there who wanted to use their gifts to do the right thing.

It was only after he was done sorting out what Alex had gifted him though did he feel the hairs on the back of his neck stand back up and he felt a little bit light headed. There wasn’t a pulling sensation this time, but Lance was not entirely happy about this. “Oh, come on! I was on a break-”

Once again, there was another flash of lightning and he was gone. Though, at the same time, a golden coin with a familiar bear on it was shimmering. Unheard by anyone else, three words echoed in the room.

Welcome back, Kiddo.

---

End Strike 9