> Evolve Me Not
>  by Brony Parasite
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Act.1 - CH1 Rat's And Questions
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Evolution. All races go through it, genetically and society wise. Some people think we Humans evolved from apes, but that’s stupid. If that were true, there’d be no apes, only man. And if you want to go with the idea that they were too slow, or we just went through different experiences, I’ll tell you that we’d have another race with us on earth. Like another race other than Humans.

But there is a form of evolution I do believe in. Two, in fact. Changing culture is one. Through war, technology, and morals. The other is evolving ourselves. To better our lives. I’m not sure I taught my son right on that… I’m not even sure if I prepared him at all, for that matter… I am Silvia Jiris, and no, don’t ask, it’s never made sense to me the surname.

Although I don’t go by that name anymore. Most things call me Aya Brea, and yes, I’ll get to that.

But first, let me tell you more about myself. I am- was, a very shy woman. If you asked me on a date, I’d pretty much faint, and don’t ask about the first time I tried to fix a broken nose.

My family all died in a car crash when I was five years old. Meaning my mother, father, and twin sister. Only family that was left was my older sister, Tiffany. I wish I was able to stay with her, but I was sent to my father's brother, uncle Uren… Let’s just say he wasn’t the nicest guardian. After an… Accident, I was sent to a special hospital for abused children. Spent the rest of my childhood in there… Being judged, pitied… The later wasn’t that bad, though...

When I entered my twenties, I worked at a Target as a janitor… I couldn’t do the cashiers job, I would get fired in under an hour. Anyways, I worked there for a few years, until I met the man of my dreams… Steve Jiris… He was another janitor and I was tasked with teaching him. He said his parents were rich, but wanted him to learn what good, honest work was.

Little left to say about that. We started getting to know each other, became close, and after a year or two, we started dating. It was like a movie… I was so under his spell… Wish I wasn’t…

We got married and he got me pregnant… Once our son was born, he just… Didn’t. Didn’t seem to care. To say hi, to spend time with me, to call me beautiful… To love me… He’d used me. His family wanted a grandson, and he gave them that… Specifically, Sean, a beautiful boy...

He stayed, and I guess gave Sean a good role model. I was never around them because he gave me dirty looks. I was too afraid… Too much of a pathetic coward to stand up to him… I guess that’s better than when I asked him what’s wrong…

I think he hated me. I don’t know. He started beating me. It was around the time when Sean was five. I was glad I’d taken acting lessons when I was younger, or I think he’d have caught up to my fibs. He thought I was clumsy, or an idiot. I never cared, as long as he was happy…

When Sean was six, Steve died. Apparently, one of his workers wasn’t mentally stable. I nearly jumped in joy, but held back because of Sean. Steve may have been a bad husband, but he was still Sean’s father… After Steve’s passing, I called Tiffany and spoken to her for the first time since I was five… It was emotional, but I was able to get support from her and her husband. She’d also changed her last name to Walker… Looks like the Hilton name’s been dropped since I’m Jiris, she’s Walker and my uncle passed away.

But I couldn’t give myself a break. I couldn’t let Sean know Steve was abusive. I started hurting myself. From bruises to cuts, I did them all. Tiff seemed to notice, and questioned me about it. I never told her, but I think she assumed it was depression. But Sean seemed to notice the difference between Steve’s and my attempts to hurt myself.

I think he figured out I was hurting myself… But I’m not one hundred percent sure… Always need to be sure.

Don’t know when, but I got a job as a waitress for a really dirty place. I’ve been trying to forget my time there, but it payed well. I think I was happy, but like I said with Sean figuring out, I’m not one hundred percent sure… Maybe equal bits happy and in self loathing. I’m glad I never became an addict, but I might as well have…

When Tiff died…

My last sibling… My… My only trust… The one I… She died during childbirth. I don’t… I don’t know what I did next. I heard her husband fell into depression, but I lost more than him. I lost the one person who knew, who knew, what I’d gone through. The one I hoped would take care of Sean if… If anything happened to me…

I tried, tried so hard to move on. But I guess I was just too weak. I never wanted to become that weak ever again. I’d lost my parents and twin, I lost my abusive husband, and now I lost the last connection to myself. I think that’s when I lost myself… I became cold, self centered. The only being I cared for was Sean, and I kept him to myself. I became strict, not letting him stay out after nine, keeping an eye on him, questioning him- no, interrogating him. After a while, he started hating me. Eleven, I think. Times were lost to me, I’d forgotten my own birthday by then… I stopped then. I bet he loved that. I had become obsessive, that I- I-... I became Steve in a way… I never told him I loved him, I just… Became demanding… It had to be that way for me, or I’d punish him.

Then, for the first time in my life, I… cracked. On his way to school, I told him I loved him. He couldn’t respond since the bus was almost leaving. When he was out… I think my cold front I’d put up changed. It didn’t go away, it just... Evolved into a personality trait, but not a strict monster, just… Distant.

I think Sean was happier this way, so I continued being that. I couldn’t just change back, but I could make him happy. I think he was the only reason I stayed alive… I can’t say it was a sacrifice, though. We did have fun at times, and I spoiled him from time to time. Did playdates with his cousin, Lance.

My first meeting with Lance was… Different than I thought it’d be. I thought I’d hate him for taking my sister away, but… I couldn’t. He looked a lot like her… Oh, who am I kidding, I adored him… I think… It’s already getting hard to remember… What was my name again? Something… With an S, I’m sure… It rhymed with silver, or sounded similar… S- Silvia, right…

Anyways, things were looking up… But… I guess that’s just a joke… Sean disappeared… I… I can’t even remember his f-face…

When it… Happened, I had two options. One: become a drunk/drug addict. Two: Search for him the rest of my life… I went with the later. I searched and searched until I came to a dead end. He disappeared at a limited time event, and nobody would help me.

Eventually, I came to an idea. Sean went to this thing as Sun whatever, so, I’d go as a character like him. I prepared myself a year in advance for the next one, and I’d dress as Aya Brea from the classic horror game Parasite Eve… Guess how that turned out?

All jokes aside, I ended up here in… Whatever this place is called as said character, and… Aw hell, I just forgot his name!

No… No, no… NonononononononononoNONONONONONONONONONO!!!!!!!! I couldn’t forget him! Please! He’s… I have nothing… I am nothing…

No… I’m one thing… A parasite. And I’ll find out what happened to… Sun! I… I’ll die before I give up on him!

Let’s see how these things handle my powers… Everyone knows you never mess with a mother looking for her child. I’ll kill them all if I have to.



Manehattan, New Yoke. 11:04pm

“New Yoke, New Yoke, such a horrible town~!” Sang a pink Pegasus with a blue mane and eyes. This was Firefly, and she trotted through the city with a sarcastic smile.

“C’mon, Fire, it isn’t that bad…” A white Pegasus with a yellow mane and purple eyes said. Though, as to prove her wrong, there was a scream, and a few curse words, followed by a gunshot, causing her to flinch.

Firefly looked back at her friend deadpanned, “Even the crooks hate this place, Surprise! Ugh, you know what? Let’s get back to the others…” As they were trotting though, something was still… off to them. They didn’t hear just one gunshot, but several. 

“Okay, now I’m getting a little concerned about that.” The Pink Pegasus told her friend, “You don’t normally hear five gunshots in a row like that.”

“M-maybe it’s a gang w-war?” Surprise said, trying to convince Firefly to ignore it. “It’s happened before, the NYPD hasn’t been able to clean this area out… P-Posey’s probably worried now, we should go.”

“Yeah, but if it were a gang war, you would hear more screams.” Firefly reminded her friend. Her senses were kicking in as demonstrated by her hearing. Again, another gunshot went off. This time a lot closer to the pair of them. “That was around the corner. Surprise, can you teleport us to the roof?”

Sighing, Surprise nodded. Placing her hoof on Firefly’s shoulder, the curly maned Pegasus teleported to where Firefly asked. “We’re so gonna get in trouble with Twilight…”

“Screw that. I rather not have somepony killed because you wanted to-.” Firefly stopped speaking the moment she looked down into the alley below. The Pegasus was shocked at what she was seeing. “Okay, what the actual hell is that?!”

A Human with blond hair, wearing torn jeans and a black vest while holding a .30 caliber handheld pistol was shooting a giant grotesque looking rat. It’s bones ripped out of it’s flesh, and it’s tail spreading into three separate barbs.

“Ew…” Surprise stuck her tongue in disgust. Firefly though focused less on the monster and more on the human. She didn’t know if she was hurt or in trouble, but felt like she needed help. The Pegasus saw this when the gun that the human was using soon clicked and didn’t fire anything.

“Shit!” she cursed, hiding behind a dumpster as she scrambled to throw out her old clip and switch to another one. She pulled another from her vest and shoved it in the empty pistol. She aimed and shot once, and the rat fell dead. But the human didn’t have anymore time to rest, as another two rats came out of nowhere behind her and shot three fireballs each. Every one of them hit their mark, causing her to scream in pain and fall.

“We got to do something!” Firefly told Surprise, itching to get down there and use her powers. Ignoring Surprise’s plea to stay back, the pegasus rushed in and grabbed the human, using her energy powers to blast the two rat freaks before they could try hitting her with any of the burning flames they can fire. “Surprise, get us out of here before more of those freaks show up!!!”

Said pegasus fumbled a bit before teleporting closer to them. Once close enough, Surprise hugged Firefly and the human and blinked away. Surprise kept up her vise grip for a bit before apologizing and letting go. Back at their base though, somepony was waiting for them.

“Girls!” Yelled Twilight Mist as she screeched herself to a halt in front of them and glared, “I saw your vitals! What were you doing!? We took an oath not to intervene in these events after the banishment! What were you thinking!?”

Surprise backed up fearfully, “I- Uh- We did nothing dangerous, just…” She trailed off, “Oh crap…”

“Look, Twilight. I know we took an oath. But this human…” She told her, gesturing to the blond girl behind her. “...was fighting something that we have never seen before. It was like zombie roadkill or something like that and it would’ve killed her if we didn’t do anything!”

“If we haven’t heard of her before, then she was supposed to die there. History says there were only five humans, and only one was female. As for the monsters, they were probably an anomaly from our error.” Twilight sighed, “We’ve ruined the past enough already, and Surprise and I have already paid for that…”

“Urgh…” The moaning noise caused all three of them to jump, looking behind them. The human that was behind them was beginning to wake up. “W-what-?”

Mist, a unicorn with a light pink coat, white and purple mane, with purple eyes groaned. “Take her to Posey, Surprise…” The white pegasus sighed, trotting over to the human as her vision was beginning to clear up. Her eyes widened in panic, and she began to try and move, but realized she couldn’t. Twilight’s horn glowed, and the woman passed out.

Surprise quickly teleported herself and the human away, leaving Twilight and Firefly alone. “Look, I get it. You still want to be a hero, and us time traveling here was the biggest mistake I’ve made as leader. But we can’t upset the timeline anymore.”

“What if we were in a different timeline that we didn’t know of in the first place?” Firefly retorted. “I get that there is only suppose to be one woman, but I found out that she is in Maretropolis hiding amongst a Vigilante group. Doesn’t that surprise you that there are two females?”

Twilight Mist gave a sigh, sounding almost defeated. “In order to go to a different timeline, we’d need to leave this universe, and I’d rather not endanger you all. As for there being two females, I’m not that surprised. There were several Displaced to arrive here, but only those five survived long enough. This woman must have been one of the deceased.”

“Well, how about we give her an analysis once she’s awake. We can set up a lie detector and also check if what she says fits the information we have in the database.”

“I think that’s the best I can come up with. As for these… Monsters, I think AJ and Radiance should deal with any you missed.” Twilight mumbled.

“I was going to ask our newfound guest that question during the analysis. She was fighting them and looked like she knew where to shoot them, so maybe she knows.”

“Once she wakes, we’ll question her. For now, it’s best to eliminate this threat as fast as possible.” Twilight trotted over to a large computer and pressed a button labeled ‘com’, “Rade, AJ, there’s been an incident. I need you two to exterminate them quickly and quietly, we don’t want this to spread or get out.”

“Understood, dearie, we’ll take care of it like a boot to an ant.” An elegant voice replied over the communications.

“Be careful, Rade. This might be a red ants nest fer all we know,” Another voice added with a southern accent.

“AJ is right, be careful.” Mist said before cutting communications. She turned to Firefly, “I hope this doesn’t break any more fixed points…”

“Quit being fixated on that, Mist. Let’s go check on Posey.” The Pegasus insisted. Twilight rolled her eyes, but lead the way nonetheless.

“You think the Power Ponies hate us...?” Asked the Unicorn.

“I… I don’t know, Mist. I rather not talk about it.” Firefly told her as they turned another corner. They soon arrived in the medical wing, where Surprise and Posey were waiting for them.

“How is she?” Asked Twilight.

“She’ll b-be fine after some r-rest. I h-have my plants w-working on healing h-her.” Posey stuttered, petting a long pink flower hovering over the sleeping human.

Twilight smiled softly, “That’s pretty good news. What’s different with her from the Adept, Ghoul, etc?”

“She’s p-pretty normal, o-other than a h-higher gene s-set. I believe th-the scientific term w-would be… Mutant?” Posey shrugged, “It’s some k-kind of parasite I-I’ve never seen.” Both Firefly and Twilight looked at each other upon hearing that. This… was not normal. 

“Is she awake? Twilight and I were thinking of running an Analysis on her.” Firefly soon asked Posey.

“I said s-she needs s-sleep,” Posey frowned, “Once she is, I’ll call you two, but she needs at least an hour before I’d-” The Earth Pony was scared stiff when the female human screamed. “Sh-she’s all y-yours…”

“What do we ask first!? I- I’m not ready, I haven’t-” Twilight was interrupted as the woman's fist came into contact with her face as a right hook. The Unicorn fell to the floor, holding her jaw in her hooves.

“WHERE THE FUCK AM I!?” She screamed. Surprise yelped, backing off from her with Posey.

“Ma’am, please calm down. We’re only trying to help you-.”

The woman pulled her gun and pointed it at Firefly, glaring, “I asked: Where am I, not if you’re trying to help me.”

Twilight seemed to finally regain her balance, still holding her jaw. “You’ in ah undahgwawn base in da citah ov Noo Woke…”

The woman narrowed her eyes, “What?” She turned her head towards Firefly, “Care to translate?”

“Underground base in the city of New Yoke.” Firefly explained. “We found you getting attacked by whatever were those monsters you were shooting you at and tried to get you out of there as soon as possible.”

“Should have taken her weapons…” Surprise mumbled.

The human lowered her gun, “Wh-why are you horses?”

“What? No, we’re ponies.” Firefly replied.

“Ah tink ya are confushed, mith. Ya were Dithplashed.” Twilight Mist tried to say.

“Dith- what?”

“Displaced. Short for Dimensionally Misplaced… Can somepony please help fix Twilight’s face?” Firefly deadpanned. “It would be easier if Brainiac could speak.”

“Oh, that should have been her hero name!” Surprise joked, helping the downed Unicorn away.

“Why… Why am I… Not me? I… I feel so… Weird…” The woman said shakily.

Now it was Posey’s turn to speak. “Miss?”

“Yeah?” The human acknowledged the Earth Pony.

“A-are you aware of the… p-parasite in you?”

“Wh-what? P-parasite? I don’t even know what’s going on, why am I-” She stopped, examining her body more, “Who am I? I… I can’t remember my name… All that’s there is… Aya…”

“Aya? W-would you like f-for us to c-call you that?” Posey asked. “As for… the p-parasite… well… you should see this.” As the earth pony finished, she showed a screengrab of an x-ray of Aya’s body, showing the parasite that she was telling her about.

Whatever this parasite was, it looked… Wrong. Like millions of them, in fact. “I’m… Oh… I get it now…” Looking at her hands, the human sighed, “I guess it’s okay if you call me Aya. Aya Brea.”

“I-I need to look a-at Twilight, but I’ll b-be back to check o-on you… As far as I’m a-aware, th-the parasite isn’t l-life threatening. I-it’s more o-of a symbiote.” Posey stated as she made her way out of the medical wing, “I th-think Ms. Brea w-would like one o-of the guest b-beds… Surprise?”

Sighing, Surprise nodded. “Why do I always get these kind of assignments…” She took hold of Aya’s arm and blinked away.

Posey waved her hoof for Firefly to follow. “We should give Aya a bit of time to familiarize herself with her surroundings before we conduct the analysis. You can get the room setup for it though.” Turning to Twilight Mist, she nodded her head as she left the room and went to go find the equipment they needed.







Surprise and Aya appeared in one of the guest rooms in Underground Hideout, the woman seeming scared.





“I’ll explain later, but right now you need some rest,” The white Pegasus stated, laying Aya down. The woman, still shocked, confused, and scared heeded the command, and tried to relax.





“Who exactly are you?” Aya asked the teleporting mare before she could leave. Surprise halted and turned around.





“Surprise Storm, I’m an experimental teleporting pony, descended from a great superhero you wouldn’t know.” 





“Wouldn’t know?” The woman retorted. “For the record, I don’t know anything at all. Not even who you ponies are. Could I at least know some things so that way I know at least a little bit in order to get by?” Aya asked, tilting her head.





Surprise shrugged, “Not much to know, there are, to start off, three kinds of ponies, including Unicorns, Pegasi, and Earth Ponies. Then there are other beings like Griffons, Yaks, Dragons, Centaurs, Minotaurs, Caribou and Deer, Breezies, Draconquus, and Kirin to name a few. Oh and also Alicorns, even though they are extremely rare. Many ponies here though, like myself, have special powers. I showed you my teleportation,” The Pegasus scratched her head, “There are six of us here, but more in other cities.”





Aya processed this for a moment, then, “So… You’re like Comicbook heroes?”





Surprise raised an eyebrow, “Really? Ugh, fine. But the six of us aren’t heroes, villains, or anything...”





“Why?” Aya asked again.





“We… We made a mistake and are disliked by many,”





Aya nodded. “So… You have a hero name?” A smirk appeared on the woman's face. The pale mare’s face turned red, and she glared her purple eyes at Brea.





“I was called Transport by my team, but that was when I took everypony to missions. Now I’m just Surprise,”





“Why is your name Surprise?” Aya questioned.





“Cause I used to be surprising… Now I’m not… It’s complicated…” The Pegasus rubbed her temples, “I gotta fly, I promised Firefly I’d teach her Monopoly. I hate it, but Fire’s curious. Night!”





Surprise flew out of the room and shut the light off, leaving Aya in the dark. Said woman curled up in a ball and let out her sobbing. It was going to be a long night.








Applejack the Third and Radiance made their way to the ally Firefly found the human girl in. The Radiance was slightly blue, with a darker blue and purple mane with blue eyes, while Applejack had an orange coat, blond mane tied up in a ponytail as well as her tail, green eyes and a black stetson.





The Unicorn froze when they arrived. The corpse of the first rat lay there with gore dripping down it. Radiance trotted away to puke.





“Well… This is gross…” AJ said, though not that affected. “Rade, it isn’t that bad.”





Radiance coughed, gagged, and even screamed. AJ face hoofed.





AJ trotted up to the dead creature, a look of uncertainty adorned her face. She was closely followed by Radiance, who jumped at any sudden sound. “Yeah, an ant and boot…” Mumbled AJ.





The Earth Pony was shaken out of her grumbling when she heard Radiance yelp. Though Applejack knew Radiance to be… Jumpy, she could tell when her friend was actually yelping for a good reason. And before the southern pony could turn around, she heard a loud scream of terror. When she’d finally turned all the way, Radiance was being pulled into the sewer through a manhole. Already half way inside, AJ couldn’t see the threat to her friends safety.





“Help!” She cried out, barely able to hold on. AJ jumped to quickly catch Radiance’s hoof, only for her to be dragged down. AJ lay on the ground, eyes wide and tears brimming.





She shook her head, “A-Ahm comin Radiance! D-don’t worry!”





AJ steeled herself and jumped in. She landed in the sewer water, but she didn’t care. Her eyes turned red, signaling her infared vision. She would find Radiance alive, if it was the last thing she did.


> Act.1 - CH2 Family And Charred Flesh
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

        I ruined everything… Why did I have to!? I… All I wanted to do was make things right...

        Ugh… Let me explain. My name is Twilight Mist, generation three of Power Ponies and leader of the New Power Ponies. I was raised by Humdrum, or Spike after my mother died in childbirth, and my father was murdered by a monster named Delirious, whose power encompassed even the founding Power Ponies.

        My fillyhood was pretty bad. The only enjoyment was my adopting father. He kept me from getting too sad, but even he couldn’t help my social life. I was a very held back pony who found logic to be my best quality. I couldn’t understand others emotions, and I found my only interest in studying. I think I get it from my grandmother. I was pretty good at magic, and could mess with the darker side of it, though Spike made me swear to never do it.

        When I was ten… My world fell apart. I may not have know my dad, but Spike… He was my family. All I thought I’d need. Him, I knew. And when… Delirious killed him… I was alone. I still, to this day feel a hole in my heart… Delirious was only held back because of Spike, so his full plans were brought to life when my guardian angel fell.

        After that, our entire world was raptured by death and destruction. It was then that Applejack Three, Firefly, Glory Radiance, Surprise, Posey and I formed our team and defeated the one who killed Spike and my father. Afterwards, Equis was in peace, and the six of us became the new heroes of our time. We were Mareador 3, NRG, Lightmare, Transport, Thorn and Black Mask.

        Then more and more ponies joined, and we became widespread. I was so proud of my team- my friends and myself, I couldn’t be more high on pride. We saved lives, and that was all there needed to be. It was perfect. But in my lust for knowledge, for something more, for… Revenge… I sent us back in time, to before our parents birth. To when crime was stronger than ever. To when Delirious was free, and I could destroy him before Spike’s, my father's, and anyone else’s death.

        Just the six of us, them not even knowing my true purpose. Unfortunately, I didn’t think about the repercussions of casting a one way time travel spell, and we were all stranded. When I finally got the chance to get what I believed I deserved, I hesitated. I didn’t kill him, instead, I helped in his capture.

        In that moment, our Timeline broke in two. A fake copy of our time, where Delirious wasn’t captured and my family died. Where everything became a continuous loop. And then the changed one, where we were stuck.

        What was worse, is that we… I messed up. In our rush to fix everything, I opened our Universes barrier to other worlds a Displacer had set up to protect everypony, letting in a maddened monster who… Killed Surprise’s grandfather. After that happened, my grandfather left my grandmother before they fell in love, and… My mother was never born, meaning I was never born.

        After that, we went into hiding. I still think AJ3 hates me, Posey’s to scared of me, Firefly’s become reckless(er), and Surprise is a nervous reck. And Glory has ignored me for the most part.

        The whole team, in their haste to fix everything, damaged the timeline even more. I’d rather not talk about those.

        If anything… I’m a villain… I ruined a timeline leading to absolute peace, all because I wanted to prevent the death of Spike… It’s not my friends fault… It’s mine, all mine… I’m an idiot… I’m Humdrum’s biggest mistake… Spike… He should have just left me… I wish my fr-... My team would leave me. They’re better off without me. I’m… A broken tool.




New Yoke, Hidden Headquarters






        Twilight Mist was working on the control panel. It was picking up a distress signal from Applejack Three.






        “Damn it!” Twilight cursed, “This is becoming really bothersome!”






        “Well,” Firefly said, trotting over. “Guess we’re going after ‘em?”






        Twilight growled, “We have no choice… Get the team together.”






        “And Aya?”






        Twilight massaged her temples with magic, “She knows more about these things than we do. Wake her up.”






        Firefly nodded and flew away quickly. Surprise blinked next to her Unicorn leader, a worried expression causing Mist to sigh.






        “I get it, I’m making a fuss over nothing.” Twilight said, though the Pegasus spoke not a word. “Get Posey…”






        “We should use our super-” Twilight’s growling stopped Surprise from continuing. “S-sorry…”






        The pink Unicorn turned around and stormed away.






New Yoke Alleyway


        



        Twilight, Firefly, Surprise, Posey, and Aya stood over the opened manhole, all looking in.






        “I thought your shit would smell like rainbows…” Aya smirked.






        Firefly and Surprise got the joke, while Posey was confused and Twilight fumed.






        “Whatever…” Mist growled, “I think it’s best to let you lead here, since you know so much about these things.”






        Aya bowed mockingly, “I would be honored to. I’ve always wanted to go into a tunnel of sewer.”






        “Please tell me you aren’t always like this…” The Unicorn asked.






        “Nah, I’m just doing this because I’m having a mental breakdown. My son did this.” Aya stated as she mounted the ladder. “I do have to say it is fun acting childish.”






        And so she went down into the stinky sewers. Firefly pulled out a flashlight, as well as Twilight, and the mares went down one at a time. When they were all down, Mist examined a watch she was wearing.






        “Okay, they’re about one hundred hooves east.” Twilight explained, “We placed a tracer in each member, and that’s how we track each other.”






        “Can I have one?” Aya questioned.






        “Sure, if we need to split up, we’ll need a way to contact you.” Mist gestured with her head for Surprise to give Aya a communicator watch. She examined it a bit, noting it’s sci-fi look, yet simplicity that it could pass by the radar of normality. Instead of wearing it, she placed it in her vest.






        “Let’s hurry up before your friends die.” Aya prepared her 30. caliber and started her way down the tunnel.






        Twilight nearly cringed and what she was stepping in. Blood. Thick, crimson mixed with sewer water. Pretty much shit and nosebleed.






        “AJ and Rade are probably dead…” Firefly said. Surprise’s eye started to tear up. “I mean, they’ve been down here all night, what kind of villain leaves their prey alive in captivity.” Surprise’s eyes started to trickle, and Posey took notice. “Once we get there, we’ll find their body’s and the mourning with-”






        Surprise openly sobbed, cutting out on what the pink Pegasus was trying to say. If it wasn’t for Posey, the white Pegasus would have fallen in sewage. The Earth Pony rubbed up and down Surprise’s back with a long flower protruding from her mane.






        “There th-there, they are alive, Firefly’s j-just being a j-jerk.” Posey stated. When Surpris wasn’t looking, Posey glared daggers at Firefly, who guiltily looked at the blond.






        “Would you all shut up? Both life signals are clear, so if they were dead we’d just tell the Power Ponies!” Twilight growled.






        “Who?” Aya asked, lowering her weapon and turning back around to see the Unicorn.






        “Nobody! Can we just get moving!?” Twilight’s voice echoed throughout the sewer. Her right eye twitched, “Did I just…?”






        Before she could continue, three frogs and a giant alligator monster popped out of nowhere.






        With Twilight and Surprise yelping, Aya took a few shots at the nearest frog, and Firefly shot energy out of her hoof which when combined killed the beast.






        The team didn’t have any time to react, as the other monsters started getting closer. One of the frogs were about to attack Surprise, but she blinked away.






        “Killitkillitkillitkillit!!!” The white mare screamed. Aya mentally smirked, as she remembered this boss from Parasite Eve(Obviously), and knew it was the easiest next to the first Eve fight.






        When all of a sudden, weird gunshot noises caused the Parasite(she needed a new way of describing herself) to flinch. Numerous bolts ricocheted off the walls and killed them… Like they were nothing! Little to say, it hurt Aya’s already small ego and self esteem.






        A blond human wearing a white hoodie landed in front of the team and said to Aya one of the scariest things she’d ever heard. “Are you guys okay?”






        Okay, it wasn’t that scary, but it nearly made Aya piss herself. So much so that she shot upwards in fear. The human, though, tried to calm her down in a slightly creepy way. “Easy there everyone. I’m not going to hurt you. We got your distress signal and tried to get here as fast as we could.”






        ‘Nice going moron, you nearly killed a nice person because you were too trigger happy!’ Aya thought.






        Twilight trotted forward, “Th-that wasn’t our distress signal. We sent two of our own in here last night to investigate the disturbance. Three and Rade probably got attacked, and we’re still too far away from them.” She seemed scared, and Aya would have cuddled her if she wasn’t knee high in sewer.






        Aya narrowed her eyes. She couldn’t just trust this guy. She watched movies, and it was always the pretty boys. Frozen… Well, Frozen was what came to mind, but it was a valid point. She stuck her hand out and uttered her name, “Aya Brea.” In return, he gave his own name as he took hers.






        “Lance Walker, at your service-.”






        Pain entered Aya’s head and she pulled away, holding her head. “ L-Lance… Walker… Why does that name sound familiar?”






        “A-are you okay-?” He was cut off again when she hugged him tightly. She knew him! He was her nephew, her little cookie, the one who played with her makeup… ‘Wait, that last one didn’t happen...’






        “L-Lance! It’s you, right? Really you? It’s me, Aunt Jiri-... Jir… Uh…” Aya groaned. She couldn’t remember her real name.






        A look of recognition appeared on his face, “Oh my god… Aunt Silvia!?” he embraced her closely. Aya would have hummed knowing someone she loved was with her, but she didn’t want to seem weird. “I-i can’t believe it’s you!! Oh, I’ve missed you so much!!”






        Nothing could ruin this. She hadn’t reunited with her son, but this was really close.






        “Not to ruin a family reunion, but we still have a bunch of parasitic monsters that have two of our own,” The team leader said, “I’m Twi- I mean Mist. These are my friends, Firefly, Surprise, and Posey.” She pointed to each one of her team. Aya wanted to strangle the mare, but knew her warmth would be lost.






	“Nice to meet all of you. Now… as for your friends… Aurora?” Lance looked to his own communicator. The screen held a little light blue filly with a Unicorn horn.






        “Yes, I detect two pony lifeforms up ahead.”






        Aya’s mind was blown. First her nephew was returned to her, and now a girl pony inside his TV watch… What next?






        “Guide me there. It’s time to kill some bugs.”






        Twilight Mist stepped forward, “Actually, this parasite doesn’t seem to be a-” Mist tried, but Firefly glared, shutting her up.






        “This obviously needs to be dealt with because it has seemed to be under everypony’s noses and has grown out of control.” Lance retorted, “And I don’t need an explanation on what they are because something tells me that they can take on multiple forms. I already found a bunch of dead rats aboveground.” Given the directions from Aurora, Lance followed her instructions as he pressed on, the ragtag team soon following him.






        “I actually know what these things are,” Aya said, “They’re Mitochondria took over them. It was a part of a PS1 game called Parasite Eve I used to play when… Uh… My son wasn’t around.” She grinned, blushing.






        “Heh… Looks like that’s one thing I need to tell Sun next time I see him.” Lance said to himself, unaware that Aya was listening to him. She was about to ask, when more mutated Rats jumped out of opened pipes. Aya started shooting the Rats on the left, while Mist helped by using her magic. For those that came towards Lance… Best not to ask. None of the others knew what he did, but he did.






        “So… You’re w-with the p-Power Ponies?” Asked Posey.






        “Yeah. I have been for a little while. Been trying to help manage things in the city while also managing my family life.” He replied. The last part though, specifically got Aya’s attention rather quickly.






        “Family?”





        “Yeah, I’m getting married to two Displaced and currently am helping raise four children. Well six if you count Shalltear in her world and also when our boy Lyall will be born.”






        Aya scratched her head, “Wow, I might need to ask you for pointers.” She mentally slapped herself.






        “Remind me about that when we’re done and I can introduce you to Max. She’ll be a great place to start.” Lance explained, handing the family photo that he had on him to her as she looked at it… with Firefly peeking over her shoulder, as well as Surprise.






        “Aww!” Surprise gushed, and nearly squealed.






        “Why the hell is Rainbow a filly?” Asked Firefly. Yes, in fact, there was a Rainbow filly, as well as a female human.






        “That’s the Rainbow from Max’s universe. She adopted her after finding her barely alive. In her world, I heard that Spike is the element of loyalty.” Lance explained. Neither of the three that looked at the photo knew what he was talking about.






        “Element of what?” Firefly asked, before Mist commented.






        “Alternate timeline,” She rubbed her horn, “Sheesh, that’s a really messed up world.”






        “You tell me,” Lance turned a corner as they continue. “When I first met her, she told me that her Celestia and Luna handed down their powers to her before they died. And don’t get me started on our… relationship.”






        Aya didn’t quite get who Celestia and Luna were. She absolutely adored Lance, but he could be dense when he wasn’t paying attention to how much others knew.






        “I still can’t believe you’re married… To two different woman, no less.” Aya said. Really, she was just trying to change the subject since she was getting bored.






        “Well, the wedding is in a couple of months…”





        Aya wanted to counter by saying ‘then why do you call her your wife’, but there was obviously an answer that she wouldn’t understand.






        “Hang on… What’s this thing about your… relationship?” Firefly asked, confused. Aya wanted to tell Firefly not to ask because she’d get boring exposition, or a really weird comment that explains everything he’s been avoiding.






        “Basically, we’re in an open relationship… Meaning that we’re allowed to basically-.”






        “Cheat on the other without fear.” Aurora, the computer/watch girl interrupted.






        “I know what an open relationship is, I had the same thing with L- Lance’s uncle.” Aya said, having a bit of trouble keeping her nephew's name in her head, “But I was too shy to really argue the point.” This was true, because it was all him cheating on her openly.






        “I didn’t know you had an open relationship… Then again, Uncle Steve, from what I heard, was a real asshole.”






        “How d-did you know?” Asked Aya in surprise.






        “I overheard my dad talking about it one time. I think he was calling you to see how you were doing,” Lance replied before looking at something, “I think we're getting close to your friends. You guys ready?”






        Aya reloads her gun, “Ready as I’ll ever be.”






        The other ponies nod, but Posey freezes. “I-isn’t this under… The cathedral?” As soon as she says that, screams are heard.






        “Ah crap! That must be civilians!” Firefly yelled as she flew up and through a hole in the ceiling.






        “Mist, go with Firefly and check above ground. Aya and I will proceed forward.” Lance told them as the pony chased after their teammate.






        “Firefly!” Mist yelled. It was a bit hard to climb for her, but she pushed through. When she was backstage, she looked around. The area looked pretty fine, but there was the smell of smoke and… Burnt flesh…






        Twilight quickly galloped to the outside where a giant monstrous lady floated, teasing her Pegasus friend… With a foals burnt corpse…






        Tears were streaming from Firefly’s eyes, running down her muzzle. The monster lady flew away.






        It was only then that Mist saw the extent of the death. One hundred ponies, charred to the bone. It made her sick to her stomach.






        The Unicorn trotted over to Firefly, using her magic to try and pull the mare away from the foals corpse. “Come on Fly… W-we gotta go…”






        Firefly stayed still, just staring and the child. “She killed a kid… A poor… Defenceless filly right in front of me… I couldn’t...”






        Firefly collapsed, sobbing her heart out, “I couldn’t save her! I- I just c- couldn’t!” Twilight gave her friend a sorrowful hug. There was nothing she could say.


> Act.1 - CH3 M.I.S.T.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

        Sometimes… I question my purpose. I know we all do, but I already know mine. I just wonder… Why?

        I was supposed to be Rainbow Dash’s legacy! I was supposed to carry on the electrifying awesomeness that was my mom, and my grandma! Ugh… My name is Firefly Dash… I wonder why, I don’t even share the same powers, looks, or skill. I was a disgrace, from the moment I was born. I was expected to be just like my mother, to be a great hero for my generation, striking fear into the hearts of baddies left and right, while giving hope to the weak! But, as isn’t expected, I got energy manipulation… Energy manipulation!

        I grew up in a family of… Five? Do I count my parents? Anyway. I had two sisters, Gusty who gained my granny’s wind manipulation even though she’s a Unicorn, and Medley who got the lightning I wanted… They were good sisters, me being the middle child, Gusty the oldest…

        I had a mom and dad, which is kind of funny because most superheroes backstories were their guardian dies and they want revenge. If anything, I wanted that to happen. My little sister got all the attention, even Gusty felt the balance in the house change. It was pretty tough, and I have to say I got lonely. That’s when Gusty had an idea.

        She wanted to get away from the neglectance, so she took me and left. We didn’t care where, we just wanted to be away from our family…

        We made it on our own, until Delirious attacked the Remnant of the Power Ponies, killing Humdrum and a few other old timers like Dinky and Rumble. Long story short, things went… Bad. I lost touch with my sister, and Delirious nearly killed me.

        I think I owe my life to Surprise. She saved it, so that’s why I hang out with her so much. Me and my friends saved the day, beat the bad guy, brought peace to the world, and formed a team to defeat enemies.

        After that… I found Gusty and we decided to try and go home. When we arrived, it was… Meh… What? You thought that we cried? You’d be dead wrong! We ain’t wimps!

        … Fine, we all bawled… Even Medley. Happy ending… Kind of…

        Well, I spent a few years with the team, when Mist wanted to try a time travel spell and… You know the rest!

        I guess what I’m trying to say is… I miss my family, I want to be home, I want… To help ponies who can’t help themselves… I’m with friends, but I’m all alone.

        I’m not a Dash anymore…





        Mist and Firefly crawled out of the cathedral, scratches and minor burns covering their coats.

        “Let’s… Get back home…” Mist groaned, activating her wrist watch, “Surprise, pick us up. The cathedral collapsed on us, but we made it out!”

        “Oh my gosh! Twilight! I’m so glad you called! AJ and Rade are okay, and Lance took Aya to meet his… Fiance, I think.” Surprise responded.

        Twilight’s face darkened, “This’ll come back to bite us…”

        Surprise appeared and pulled the two into a hug and blinked away, just as firefighter, police, and camera crews arrived.

        Once home, Surprise carried Firefly around a corner and into a refurbished shower room. Inside were at least a dozen showerheads lining both sides, a stool on either side, giving a seat to the injured Pegasus.

        Surprise did the same with Twilight, seating her in the opposite stool. She trotted over towards the control for the water, and turned it to each mares prefered temperature.

        “What exactly happened down there?” Mist asked, letting the water relax her tense muscles.

        “Oh, we found AJ and Rade in these weird cocoon-like things! We also fought this human-like she-demon who apparently knows Aya somehow and then she and Lance hit her until she left! Posey’s checking on the girls right now, she wanted you to see ‘em for yourself.” Surprise explained, “I’m gonna wait until Aya and Lance return.”

        Mist nodded and let Surprise vanish. Once gone, the pink Unicorn turned to Firefly. “You okay?”

        “Y-yeah… Just… All those ponies, and that… Filly…” The Pegasus looked down as her wing picked up a bottle of shampoo.

        “She would have been an old lady in our time…” Mist tried to help calm her, but nothing helped ease the pain.

        “I don’t care! No pony should have to go through tha-” Firefly choked, tears welling in her eyes. She turned her head away from Mist, “You wouldn’t understand…”

        Twilight was taken aback, “What?”

        The pink Pegasus glared, “You heard me. You wouldn’t understand. You’re too cold, only caring about yourself! Why couldn’t you be happy!?” She screamed the last part.

        Twilight’s face went almost blank, only showing slight understanding. “This isn’t just about the filly… Is it?”

        Firefly growled. “We were happy… You got a new family, but all you cared about was Spike!”

        Twilight’s ears splayed back, “I’ve seen the error of my wa-” But she was cut off.

        “You haven’t! Because of your fears, innocent ponies are dead!” Firefly quickly cleaned up and trotted away, “I need to shoot something…”

        When she was out of earshot, Twilight silently cried where she stood, face still blank. She whispered, “I’m sorry… I’m so, so sorry…”





        “Stop, Ah’m fine!” AJ said shying away from a needle.

        Posey rolled her eyes, “App-pplej-jack, it’s just a-a nanite sh-shot. It’s n-nothing.”

        Radiance giggled from her seat, “Darling, it’s not that bad. Why, I’d say it’s easier when you have control of your nervous system.”

        The southern mare turned her head, “It ain’t the pain… Ah just dislike havin’ something inside a’ve me.”

        Posey’s eyes narrowed, “Y-you haven’t b-been watching the M-Mare 67 a-again, h-have you?”

        Radiance laughed out loud, “What!? Those “deaths” were way too fake to scare you! She’s thinking of when the main character accidentally bent the syringe causing Loudy to bleed out, isn’t she?”

        Mist trotted into the room, having cleaned up, “AJ, mind looking after Fire? She’s… A bit shaken up…” She ordered.

        Applejack nodded, “Sure thing Twi, anythin’ but being in here!” The country mare galloped out at full speed.

        When she was gone, Posey raised her eyebrow, “W-what? I kn-know when you d-d-d-don’t want some-somepony hearing a-about something.”

        “First, tell me what you wanted to show me.” Mist said seriously.

        The Earth Pony nodded. “First, I w-want to t-tell you… Th-there was a mon-monster… H-human d-down there. A-Aya c-c-called her Eve. I-I don’t kn-know what that-t makes the-em. We’ll d-discuss more a-after she r-returns.” She pulled up a cat scan, “An-and this-s is what you-you needed t-to see.”

        “Holy shit!” Mist reared back. What she saw both baffled her and scared her. It was the same thing inside of Aya, but it looked worse. Much worse. “Where the hell did you get this!?”

        “Darling, that’s my insides, don’t act that disgusted.” Radiance deadpanned.

        Mist stared at the light blue Unicorn in confusion, “Wha…?”

        “I took th-this sample aft-after we f-freed Radiance an-and Applejack fr-from whatever st-stasis they were-were in. Once I-I got b-b-back here, I-I saw th-that, and work-worked to counter i-it as b-best I c-could… I was l-l-l-lucky, if th-they would h-have been i-in there lon-longer, they wou-would have mutated in-into monsters l-like the r-r-r-Rats, Frogs and a-Alligator… I-I didn’t e-even know th-they lived in-in the s-sewers.” Posey explained.

        Mist was still in shock, “How did you… Fix them?”

        “S-simple… I u-used their-r old DNA to re-reform their original c-cells.” Posey shrugged, “I’m r-really goo-good at this-s. And the tech-ch I have her-ere h-helps.”

        Mist nodded, “Okay…”

        The butter yellow Earth Pony tilted her head, “A-and you?”

        Shaking herself, Mist cleared her throat, “I wanted to hear your input on something.”

        Posey nodded and helped Radiance stand up, “Sure, why don’t we take a stroll.”

        The three mares trotted down the hallway, Twilight leading the others.

        “So, I was thinking we’d start packing up. You know, leave the country. I don’t think we can mess up much in Shanghay, Neighpon, Yakistan. Maybe some place like Prance. Even though they’re all across the ocean and it might be impossible to get a boat.” Mist said, sounding lighthearted. She felt happier, saying this aloud. She knew Radiance would go for Prance, it was hook, line and-.

        All of Twilight’s hopes drained when she turned a corner and saw… Twilight Sparkle…

        Her grandmother…

        ‘Shit… Damn it Lance…’





        “AJ, what are you doing here? Weren’t you getting a checkup from Posey?” Firefly asked, playing Haylo on a monitor that was hooked up to a game console. She was originally doing the campaign while eating a hayburger, but once AJ had trotted into the room, she placed the game on pause so she could talk to the Earth Pony.

        Applejack chuckled as she sat down in a chair next to Fly and disconnected her right foreleg, “Ah finished early. Decided to see what’s up.” She examined her leg a bit before looking back at Firefly.

        “Well… I’m just trying to blow off some steam. Figured I needed to do so after all the things I’ve seen on our last mission.” She told the Earth Pony, her wings eager to be shooting at some aliens on screen.

        “Ah heard what happened at the cathedral when ah got back… Wanna talk?” AJ asked, a bit nervously.

        Firefly, for a few moments, didn’t say anything. Until she decided to set down her controller and look back at Applejack. “Look, I’d rather not talk about it… You know me, I… Don’t lose well…”

        Applejack gave Firefly a sad look, “Fly, we all have problems, you know that. But ah get it.”

        “Get what?” She interjected. “Because apparently, Twilight doesn’t get anything I try to say to her! … I just thought that… when I saw those ponies die in front of me… I thought I was powerless… couldn’t do anything to help them. That’s not what I originally signed up for. I wanted to be a hero to help ponies like them, not watch them burn to ashes!!”

        AJ sighed, “Ah get it… I signed up fer pretty much the same thing. Same for Surprise’n Rade. Twi’s still in shock from what she did. None of us want ta stand by, but these ponies died out before we were born… I understand, and you have every right to be mad.”

        “I know… but it goes more than that… Sorry AJ, I just have a lot on my mind.” She told her. “I just want to not think about it as much. Rather not have nightmares about what happened for the next few weeks.” She looked at the monitor for a minute that AJ was watching and something caught her attention. “Hey, I think Aya is trying to contact the base. You’re up, partner.” Firefly said to her, picking up the controls again before taking her game off of pause.

        “Sure thing.” AJ said absent mindedly. “Oh, and try watchin a funny video, it helps with the nightmares a little. Also makes sure ya don’t get night terrors.”

        “What’s the difference between Nightmares and Night Terrors anyways?” She chuckled, focusing a little more as she played her game. “Aww yeah! These punks got nothing on me!!”

        “Nightmares are things you get when you’re asleep, while night terrors are when you wake up. They’re worse.” AJ said simply.

        “Right… I think Aya is trying to contact you AJ. How about you focus on what you’re doing and I can focus on mine.” Firefly was absorbed a little in playing her game to where she soon distracted Applejack every time she shouted out “BOOM!! HEADSHOT!”

        “Ah would if ya stopped screaming…” AJ whispered under her breath. Soon, she heard the voice that was trying to talk to her.

        “Aya here. Have Surprise pick me up, along with two others.”

        Around now, the Earth Pony thought it would be fun to try and play a little prank on Aya. “Password?”

        “Password!? There wasn’t a password before!” Came Aya’s over exaggerated response as Applejack soon burst into a fit of laughter.

        “Sorry sugar, I was just messin with ya.” AJ snickered, and Firefly did the same from her seat. “You heard her! Get over there Surprise!”

        “On it!” Came the white Pegasi’s response as she blinked away. Leaving Applejack and Firefly to relax a little in the room they were in. A short while later, they soon heard Aya and Surprise along with Lance. But something triggered a personal alarm inside the Earth Pony’s head when she heard another voice amongst the small group.

        “Hey Aya. You bring Lance back with ya?” Firefly asked, not even looking over her shoulder. Both of them though were not prepared for what happened next.

        “Was that Applejack?”

        Applejack turned quickly, her eyes landing on Masked Matterhorn, Twilight Mist’s grandmother. “Oh buck me…”

        Firefly looked over her shoulder, drinking a soda, until her eyes too landed on the leader of the Power Ponies. She spit her drink onto AJ’s face. “Aw hell no!”

        “I’m sorry!” Surprise cried, “I couldn’t just ignore them!”

        “Uh, what is going on?” Lance asked, turning his head to look at Surprise and Firefly, completely ignoring the drenched cyborg.

        Surprise looked away from him, guilt in her eyes. “I want to tell you, but… Mist wouldn’t like that…”

        Before anyone could move, Mist walked into the room with Posey and a light blue Radiance. They stopped upon seeing their guest’s, and Mist’s face fell.

        “Guys… I don’t see what’s wrong,” Lance told them. “We came to bring Aya back and also Twilight wanted to ask if you wanted to be part of the team. Filli-Second is here too, but she’s-.”

        “No!” Yelled Mist, “I’ve been trying my hardest to not intervene, but then we were pulled into that sewer, and now you’re trying to recruit me to a team I’ve been avoiding for four years! I already destroyed time, I won’t mess anything else up!”

        “Whoa, hang on a second… Time?” Lance stopped her. “What the actual hell are you talking about?”

        Aya yawned silently.

        Mist’s eyes widened, and there was silence. “I… I didn't…” Tears welled up in her eyes. “I just…”


        To Mist’s surprise, Masked Matterhorn herself soon trotted up to her, holding her close and using her wings to comfort her. “Don’t be afraid… I’m not here to harm you…”



        Mist began sobbing. Posey stepped forward. “We’re time travelers from the future…” Twilight Sparkle looked back at her, surprised a little. But still remained calm as she comforted Mist. Lance soon had a look at all of them, realizing what they meant.



        Mist began to calm down, and when she did, she pulled out of the hug. “My full name is Twilight Mist…”



        “Surprise Storm!” Surprise added.



        “Ugh… Firefly Dash…”



        “Ah’m Applejack Three.” Said mare was finishing up cleaning the soda off.



        “Glory Belle. And Posey is just Posey, though you could say Posey Shy.” Glory said.



        “Oh my…” Lance said, looking at all of them. The revelation of their names were quite a lot to take in. But, he soon was able to take everything in. Just as Mist was about to speak again.



	“My mother's name was Twilight Twinkle, your daughter… Until we came back in time…”



        “I WAS NEVER BORN!!!” Cried Surprise, “Granddaddy and Grandma never had daddy!”


        And just like that, Aya went to sleep on a couch.





        Aya groaned after she woke.


        “Oh hey, Aya.” Lance said, noticing his Aunt was awake. “How did you sleep?”



        Shrugging, Aya said “It was okay.”



        “Did we wake you up on accident?” Twilight Sparkle asked, thinking that Firefly crashing through the door was the reason why she was woken up.


        “Why are we so focused on my sleep, I’m not an old lady.” Aya sighed.


        “Yes, but we’ve only been talking for almost fifteen minutes.” Lance deadpanned. “Plus, Pinkie’s arrival caused Surprise to flee in panic.” Pinkie Pie herself giggled at hearing the name “Surprise” and soon began to take her time exploring the area. She saw the task of finding the mare like a game of hide and seek. And soon… she found her hiding in the kitchen.


        “Hi there! I’m Pinkie Pie!!”


        The white pegasus just stared for awhile until, “I know… I’m Surprise.”



        “Hi! Why are you so down in the dumps, Surprisey?”



        “Uhm… No reason.” Surprise said.



        “Come on now. There’s always a reason for anything.” She told her. “It can be our secret. Pinkie Promise?”



        “No… I just… Talk to Lanci- Lance. He already knows.”



        “Come on now… Don’t be a party pooper.” Pinkie said, nudging her nose.



        “It’s too confusing… But okay.”



        Surprise began to explain to Pinkie that she was a time traveler, and Pinkie’s possible granddaughter. Once she was done, she waited for her grandmother's reaction. Nevertheless, Pinkie was actually filled with joy, hugging Surprise tightly.



        “I now need to throw a party for my possible Grandfilly!!!”



        “You believe me?” Surprise asked, “What am I saying!? You’re my grandma! Of course you believe me!”



        “Come on, Surprise! Let’s gather your friends!! I need to throw you all a party!!!”



        Surprise nods and trots with the pink mare back to the others.



        Twilight Mist lets out a depressed breath. “Okay, let’s get serious. I think with all that’s going on in this time period, it’s best we help with Eve and any monsters in New Yoke. We’ll be happy to assist, but you can’t tell anyone about our origins.”



        “Sure thing,” Twilight Sparkle replied. “It’ll be our secret.” Lance nodded, but soon got a ringing on his communications device.



        “Excuse me for a minute, I need to take a phone call.”


        “Okay. Oh, Surprise, could to take me, Aya and Sparkle to the Commissioner's office? I think it’s best to get this out of the way. Everypony else guard the base.” Mist ordered. They all nodded their heads and soon left.

        Mist, Aya, Surprise and Twilight Sparkle went down a hallway as they made their way to the police station..

        “So, how are you holding up? Y’know, with the whole us being related?” Mist said, aiming her question towards Sparkle.

        “I’m… doing pretty good. I was a little curious about a few things, but I can save those questions for another time.” Twilight insisted. “Oddly enough, I feel really comfortable around my future granddaughter.”

        “No, it’s okay, ask away, most of our times gone.” She looked over her shoulder at Surprise, “I also think Surprise is a bit out of it.”

        “What makes you say that?”

        “Say what?”

        “About Surprise? Is it the whole thing involving Stopwatch?”

        “That, having her granny hug her like that, all of the teleporting she’s done today, I wanna give her a break.”

        “Can’t you just tell her that?” Twilight asked Mist.

        “I’m right here.” Surprise said from behind Mist. All Twilight could do was chuckle before realizing that they had gone off topic.

        “Hey, how far is the police station from here?”

        “We’ll teleport in a minute once Surprise is up to it.” Mist explained, “Are you up?”

        “Let’s just get this over with, I’m getting a cramp…” Surprise groaned as she outstretched her wings. The others took a hold of it, and they blinked away.

        They seemed to be in the Police Department. “This… Should be the… Police Department…” Surprise said in between gasps.

        “I used to work here.” Mist said, “Forensic scientist. Fired me after Storm’s ‘banishment’. Apparently I didn’t come in for work for about a month.”

        Shortly after they arrived, another pony who wore a leather wool jacket and had a light yellow mane burst through the door, drawing what looked to be a gun and a police badge. “You there! Identify yourselves!!”

        “Ice cream!!!” Screamed Surprise. All Aya could do was facepalm herself as she looked back at the mare who demanded them to identify themselves.

        “My name is Twilight Mist, I used to work here.” Mist said, “These are Aya Brea, Surprise Storm, and The Masked Matterhorn.” She gestured to each one.

        “Oh… My apologies, I honestly did not expect to have heroes in Manehattan now with the amount of craziness that has been happening lately.” The mare apologized. “I’m Commissioner Holly Dash. Nice to meet you.”

        “I know who you are,” Mist said, “We’re here to help out.”

        Holly raised an eyebrow, “Really now? Then how come I haven’t seen your face around here before?”

        “I worked in Forensics for about a year and a half, but I was fired after I… Forgot to tell the previous Commissioner about my leave.” Mist said, “But that’s not important right now. What is important is that Matterhorn wants to set up a team.” Using her aura, Mist pushed her grandmother forward.

        “Poppyseed knew you? Well, hate to tell you this young one, but she’s dead. She died as soon as this strange outbreak started. We’re trying our best for it to not get in the media, but it has been difficult. Especially when you don’t know at all what you are up against.”

        “Oh… That’s… Sad…” Mist said. “Uh, Matterhorn? Mind telling the commissioner about our proposal.”

        “Ugh, we will!” Aya interjected, stepping forward, “Look, we’ve got a new team we’re trying to set up. Unfortunately, we can’t just set up a team without authorization. We need something like… Uh…”

        “Powers Division?” Twilight once said… until she remembered something. “Hey Aya, you are familiar with what’s going on around Manehattan right? Maybe you can help organize a team with the Commissioner in exchange for telling them what they’re up against specifically.”

        “That would be useful.” Holly said, “But with what’s going on here, I need to know you guys aren’t just for show. No offence, Matterhorn, but whoever this new force is will need to be more useful than info… How about a test?”

        “What test?” Asked Mist.

        “The kind where you take down the arsonist who burned down the cathedral.” Holly explained.

        “Wasn’t that the epidemic?” Asked Surprise, confused.

        “No, it was an arson. Surveillance caught a human running from the scene.”

        “A human? What do you mean?” Asked Mist.

        “As in a human, like Aya here.” Holly gestured.

        “Do you have some sort of visual evidence?” The Masked Matterhorn asked. “Like a snapshot of this person’s face or something?”

        “Yeah…” Holly pulled a photo out of her jacket pocket, “Here.”

        “Ew…” Aya said, “His face is messed up…”

        “I’ll give you some evidence to help. As of now, you’re helping me solve the murder of at least a hundred innocent ponies.” Holly turned around and trotted away, but stopped. “What’s your forces name gonna be?”

        Aya spoke up before anypony else could, “M.I.S.T. It stands for Mitochondrial Investigation and Suppression Team. First word is what we’re up against.”

        Holly nodded before leaving.

        Once she was gone, Surprise asked, “Holly Dash? Like Rainbow Dash, or Firefly Dash?”

        “I don’t think she’s related to Rainbow or Firefly, Surprise.” Masked Matterhorn told her. Soon, a beeping noise came on her hoof. “What the?”

        “Better take that,” Said Aya.

        Twilight nodded. “It’s not a phone call Aya… It’s a code red.” She told her as she used a wing to press a button. Soon, all of them heard who was trying to talk to them.

        Humdrum.

        “Girls, we got a code red! I repeat, CODE RED!! Nova just disrupted a prison transport that was transferring prisoners from the Zero Zone. We don’t know exactly who else is out, but we do know that Blaster and her crew are causing mayhem in Detrot! You need to get there ASAP!!!”

        “Is that… Nevermind, the Zero Zone prisoners are out!?” Mist said, eyes bulging.

        “That could spill a huge problem. Most of the villains that were locked away by Stopwatch were in that facility. I’m just glad Humdrum told me about this as soon as he could.” The Masked Matterhorn told them. “I need to get Pinkie and hurry. I trust that I can leave Manehattan in your hooves?”

        “Yeah… It was nice meeting you… Grandma.” Mist said.

        “Okay! Back to full strength! Mostly… I’ll take you to wherever you want!” Surprise said. “Where do you want to go, miss Sparkle?”

        “Wherever Pinkie might be. From there, I can use my teleportation spell to bring us to Zapp and the others.”

        “Bye Twilight.” Mist said, then hugged her. “It’s been an honor.”

        “Same here, Misty. See you soon.” Twilight told her, hugging her back.

        “I hate goodbyes…” Surprise said, holding a tissue and blowing into it.

        “Don’t see it as a goodbye. See it as a chance to see you again soon.” Twilight Sparkle smiled. And with that, Surprise grabbed Masked Matterhorn’s hoof and blinked away.

        Aya and Mist stood in silence. Until Aya asked the most important question. “Won’t we have to walk home now?”

        Mist sighed. “It appears so…”

        Holly came back into the room, holding a box labeled evidence. “So I found the evidence, you’ll have to scan it, so use ours if you have to… Oh, can you do me a favor?”

        “What?” Aya asked, raising her eyebrow.

        “The fire left a bunch of families devastated, but this young mare doesn't have anywhere to go, and no orphanage is taking anypony else anymore.” Holly explained. A yellow teenage pony trotted in, purple mane and eyes, “This is Banana Fluff. I want you to take care of her.”

        The two looked at each other and said the same thing. “Aw crap…”

> A QUEST FOR MUFFINS!!!(Not Relevant)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

        Aya Brea walked through the streets of New Yoke, nopony giving a damn because of Lance and Stopwatch. To be truthful, Aya wasn’t really paying attention to where she was going as she was reading a book of pony culture.

        “Wow, and I thought Earth was fucked up…” Aya mumbled to herself, but her company didn’t like that. Posey elbowed the Human's leg, glaring.

        “Watch-ch your l-language B-Brea.”

        The two continued until turning into an alleyway. They walked their way to the other side, but say a grey Pegasus mare wearing a tight yellow suit, with red hoof shape gloves. Landed a few inches in front of Aya and Posey. “Ow, guess I should’ve watched where I was going huh?” the mare said as she pulled out a map from her saddlebag. “Now if I’m here and this is New Yoke city, then the free muffin store should be around here somewhere.”

        “Weirdest… Week… Ever…” Aya said darkly.

        Posey raised her eyebrow, “Uh, f-free muffin? D-do y-you need help?”

        Derpy turned her attention away from her map as she looked behind her to see a pony and another human just like Lance. “Oh yes can. I’m looking for a store that is having a sale on free muffins. You wouldn’t happen to know where it is do you?”

        The yellow Earth Pony smiled a bit, “Y-yeah I think s-so. L-let me just c-call my friend, sh-she’s into that k-kind of s-s-stuff.” She brought up her communicator and dialed up her friend.

        “So… What’s your name oddly dressed mare?” Aya asked.

        “My name is Derpy Hooves, and I’m pretty much a hero just for a hobby.”

        “Dang, a hobby?” Aya wasn’t fazed by Derpy’s claim to be a hero. She probably was, but this was such a regular thing she shrugged it off, “I’m Aya Brea. And that’s Posey. We’re… A special kind of Police Force.”

        “Like a secret police force?”

        “I guess… I can’t give you details because I’m only allowed to show real heroes, no offence, I just haven’t heard of you.” Aya said.

        “Aw! But I wanna know.” Derpy wined as she gave Aya an adorable pouty look.

        “Maybe if I see your powers I can tell ya,” Aya said, mentally cringing at her adorableness.

        “Alright I’ll-.” Derpy was about to show Aya one of her powers, that is until she felt herself about to sneeze. The moment she did, she turned around let it loose at an abandoned building. Causing it to be sent off flying into space. “Oops. Hope no ponies were living in there?”

        Aya and Posey watched it go flying, jaws hanging. Aya spoke without looking towards Derpy, “We’re a special task force formed to deal with mutated ponies and animals. We also arrest supervillains… Our squads name is M.I.S.T., which stands for Mitochondrial Investigation and Suppression Team…”

        “That’s kinda confusing...I’ll just go with super secret police force.”

        “Yeah… Okay. Try superhero police force.” Aya said, “Posey… Where’s the muffin store?”

        Posey sighed, “I-it’s about… three b-blocks that way,” She pointed left of the alley, “And th-then make a r-right.”

        “Want us to take you there? Like an armed escort?” Aya smirked.

        “But I’m not armed.” Posey tried, but was ignored.

        “Don’t worry, I’ll keep you two safe while we head over to the store.” Derpy said, as she trotted around them in excitement. Aya giggled at the mares excitement, but followed along. Her and Posey took the lead, but if Derpy wanted she could go first. “Finally a place that sells free muffins, if only it was in Maretropolis next to Lance’s place.”

        “Oh, you know my nephew!” Aya said, “I should have known…”

        “Wait, nephew? Lance never told me he had an aunt.”

        “I’d say I’m hurt, but… He’s got a lot on his plate. Too many family members to keep track of.” Aya opened the door to the muffin shop, “Ladies first.”

        “Yay! Free muffins here I come!” Derpy said as she entered into the store.

        “How does this place stay in business?” Posey asked.

        “Good question… Maybe they sell more than muffins they actually sell.” Aya suggested.

        “Who cares, I finally found a place where I don’t need to make muffins at home.”

        “I could send some to you if you want.” Aya implemented, “It wouldn’t be a hassle. I’ve got a fast delivery mare, she’ll get them to you in under five minutes.”

        “I don’t mind getting them myself, plus it won’t take me long to get here and back.” Derpy said as she trotted over to the lane where they had free muffins. Only for her eyes to widen when she saw a group of ponies destroying the aisle with the muffins in it. “M-Muffin?”

        Aya pulled dual pistols out and aimed at the ponies, “Freeze!”

        “Freeze yourself you hairless ape!” Yelled a male unicorn, as he fired at Aya only for one of the unicorn beam to shoot pass her head.

        “No one calls me an ape!” Aya took cover and began to open fire. Posey slammed her hoof into the ground, and vines with thorns crawled out of the ground and blocked their exit.

        “Crap, take cover boys!” The Earth pony yelled as he and his friends ran behind the nicely stacked cans to return fire upon Aya. 

        Derpy didn’t move at all from where Aya stood seconds ago. All she did was trot over to the destroyed muffins. “M-Muffins?” she whimpered, as she pulled up the remains of a pack of muffins. 

        “Crap! Hey assholes, here’s some real firepower!” Aya pulled a submachine gun out of her inventory, “I’ll give ya to the count of five! One...!” before Aya could say anything else, Derpy stood up on her hind hooves and began to walk towards the thugs.

        “Hope she’s bulletproof…” Aya whispered to herself, preparing to cover Derpy if she wasn’t. Posey had plants come out of the ground and circle her, thinking the same thing.

        “Hey, isn’t that the wife of the Maretropolis detective?” asked a pegasus. 

        “If it is, then capture her. We can get a lot of money if we take her in a ransom her for money.” The Earth pony said as he ordered two of his friends to capture her. Only for them to get slammed onto the ground. “W-What the?!”

        “Alright you jerkish ponies! You barged into this store, decided to wreck the place, and destroy all the muffins during this stores once a year free muffin sale!”

        “Oh, once a year, now it makes sense…” Aya mumbled to herself.

        “Now you’re going to pay for hurting the poor innocent muffins.” Derpy said as she appeared behind one of them, and bucked out of the store. 

        “S-Shoot that bitch you idiot.” Just as the pegasus was about to shoot Derpy, she immediately appeared in front of him. “Ho-.” before he could finish that statement, Derpy delivered a punch to his face. Sending flying pass Aya, and into the back of the store. Derpy then turned her attention at the two remaining thugs as she slowly walked towards them. 

        “The hell with this, I’m outta here!” The unicorn said as he tried to run away. Only for the mare to punch the air, and deliver a vacuum of air into the fleeing pony’s spine. Sending him flying to a wall. Derpy turned her attention at the last thug who was trying to run out the window. The mare simply stomped her hoof as a piece of earth appeared from below and hit him below the belt. Causing him to fall over in pain.

        Aya lowered her machine gun, “Dang girl! You got it on!” She laughed, “I feel like a child compared to you!”

        “*Sniff* But the muffins.” Derpy said as tear began to run down her face. “I couldn’t save the muffin!”

        Aya knelt down next to Derpy and placed a hand on her back, “Hey, I got a friend who knows how to bake, and she loves making ponies happy. I bet you’ll love her. She can make you a free batch of muffins in no time!”

        “*Sniff* R-Really?”
        
        “Hey, would I lie to a fellow superhero? I’ll have her pick us up, she’ll make you muffins, and we’ll all be happy.”

        “Yay!” cheered Derpy as she tackled Aya to the ground in excitement.

        Aya giggled as Posey called up Surprise. Once Derpy calmed down enough, she realized she was in an underground shelter of some sort.

        A white Pegasus appeared in Derpy’s face and gave her a hug, “Hi! I’m Surprise! I’ll be your chief today! What kinds of muffins would ya like!?”

        “Blueberry muffins please!”

        And with that, Surprise blinked away.

        Two pink ponies trotted in, one having a white mane and the other with a blue one.

        “Confound it! We were binge watching Jurassic Park!” The blue maned Pegasus growled. “What is it?”

        “Superhero crisis.” Aya stated simpley.

        “Hi!” Derpy said as she waved a hoof at the blue maned pegasus. “Who are you if you don’t mind me asking?”

        “Firefly Dash,” The blue maned Pegasus said, “And this is Twilight Mist.” She pointed to the white maned Unicorn.

        “It’s nice to meet you.” Mist said.

        “Huh, you guys kinda look like Twilight and her friends, but different.”

        “Funny considering we’re their descendants. Great grandchildren.” Twilight said. “Surprise is Pinkie’s, Posey is Fluttershy’s, Firefly is Rainbow’s, etc, etc.”

        “....Confusing, but I think I get what you’re saying.”

        “Grand kids. Not that hard.” Firefly said, “Anyways, it’s a secret, no telling.”

        “Don’t worry I won’t tell anypony you secret.” 

        “Now that you know about us, tell us about yourself.”

        “My name is Derpy Hooves, and I’m pretty much a hero just because it’s a hobby of mine.” Derpy said bluntly. 

        The two gave the mare a raised eyebrow, “A hobby…” Twilight repeated, “You… Just do it. Because it’s a hobby… We were almost forced to do it…”

        “How so?”

        “Long story short we messed up our parents births, meaning we were never born. We didn’t want to do another mess up, so we quite the hero gig. Aya walked into our lives, and Lance wanted to make us a Power Ponies team in New Yoke.” Twilight said, trying her hardest to make sense to Derpy. “I decided he wasn’t going to leave us alone, so… We got back in.”

        “So you quit being heroes, only later to become heroes again?”

        Twilight sighed, “Yes… Now, is there anything I can help you with for your visit?”

        “Well I was trying to get some free muffins that were on sale, but the muffins got destroyed.” Derpy said, pouting adorably as she tipped a small rock over. “*Sniff* Poor muffins, they didn’t deserved to get smashed on like that.”

        Twilight resisted the urge to roll her eyes, “Look, maybe Surprise can bake you some more if she hasn’t already.”

        “She is already.” Aya added.

        “There, everything’s going to be fine. If there anything else we can do?”

        “Well I am looking for my daughter Dinky, have you seen here?”

        The three mares and human tapped their chins, until Firefly said. “No, sorry, we’ve only been active for a couple days.”

        “If we do, we’ll tell you.” Aya said.

        “Okay thanks. So what happens now?”

        “Well, Surprise is baking you muffins… I don’t know. Explore the base, just don’t go into the lab, we’ve got special samples that are really fragile.” Twilight Mist stated. “Oh, where’s Banana Fluff?”

        “AJ took her to get some exercise.” Firefly responded.

        “This place has a training room?” Derpy asked. “You must be really rich if you have one.”

        Firefly laughed, “Na! We don’t have any bits other than for trivial stuff like food, medicine, entertainment, and other stuff. About the only cool stuff we do have is a computer, shower room, and medical bay… Maybe a small armory.”

        “Oh, well I’m sure you get enough bits to get more stuff for your secret base.”

        Mist chuckled, “We’ll see. We’re still in a trial faze.”

        “Wait, is it like a test that you’re being graded on?”

        “Yes, and if we pass, we’ll be paid. If we fail, everything that we own with be taken. We need to clean up the streets a bit to pass.” Mist stated. 

        “Isn’t that kinda harsh?”

        “That’s the deal. If we fail, we’re illegal superheroes and all of our stuff can help them. We’ve got three tests, and passing them is on our highest priority. That’s why I don’t want you going into the lab, our first test is the samples.”

        “Sh! She’s got e-enough to w-worry about!” Posey said.

        “Who told you that you have to do the test?” Derpy asked.

        “The commissioner. She… Has trust problems…” Firefly said, “This city is one of the hottest crime spots, so I’ll give her a slide for her rudeness.”

        “Who’s the commissioner?”

        “Chief of police Holly Dash. In charge of the NYPD-New Yoke Police Department-, so she’s pretty high.” Surprise replied, trotting out with a bushel of blueberry muffins.

        “Yay! Muffins!” Derpy yelled as she started to devour the plate with the muffins on it.

        Surprise giggled as she blinked herself onto a couch and sat. “You’ve got a big appetite, don’t you?” The other M.I.S.T. members stared at her. “What?”

        “Finally, my quest for muffins is complete. Now for my second quest.”

        Aya nodded her head, “Yeah, good luck with that. I wish you the best.”

        “Thanks.” Derpy said as she finished eat. “Now I must be off.” she said as she took a lift off position. “Don’t worry Dinky, Mama’s comin to find you!” Like a rocket taking off, Derpy bolted out of M.I.S.T’s secret base. Leaving a giant hole in the ceiling of it.

        Looking outside, Aya smiled. “So we’re in a hill next to New Yoke! Now I get it!”

        The others rolled their eyes, and Twilight Mist just stared at the hole, tearing up. “I just wanted peace…”

        Aya watched Derpy fade into the distance, a small smile on her lips, “Safe travels…”

> Act.1 - CH4 The Pyromaniac
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Pyromaniac

        Fire… So much fire. The smoke burned my lungs, it hurt my eyes. A pillar fell onto my mom. Tried to get her out. To save her. Dead. She’s dead. Sister? Where!? Save her, then save yourself.

        Pain. Can’t move. Can’t breathe. See sister. Save sister! Can’t. Helpless.

        Monster! Must save little sister! Get up! Can’t… Monster levitates little sister in front of her. Cackles.

        A pony came out of nowhere! Save little sister...! Too late… Little sister burning, crying out…

        Monster leaves… Heroes leave… Passing out…





        It had been three days since Aya first arrived. The day before they met a strange mare named the One Punch Mare, who wrecked a hole in their base. Today, the team would go after the one who burned down the cathedral. The Pyromaniac.

        “So…” Aya said, staring at her new team. They each wore a black uniform with a mask covering their faces.

        “These are our uniforms. Simple, but efficient.” Twilight stated. “Okay, team M.I.S.T., Rade and Aya will stay here and wait for the analysis to complete, and Brea, try to get some training done with that gun. Pose- I mean Thorn and I will check the alleyways around the cathedral while Firefly and Three- NRG and Mareodor are going to check the cathedral itself. Any questions?”

        Surprise raised her hoof, “What about me?”

        “Oh, uh, right… You’ll, um… You’ll stay here so you can, y’know, teleport Rade and Aya to our coordinates.” Mist said. Surprise’s ears flattened.

        “Oh… O-okay, I can do that.”

        “Let’s get going.” Mist ordered as she and the other ran off. Aya looked to Surprise with pity.

        “Cheer up, we’re just scrambling to become official.” The Human said.

        “Sure…” Surprise mumbled as she started to trot away.

        Aya placed her hand to her chin. “Why don’t you take care of Banana Fluff, she’s in her room. She lost her mother and sister, it’s gotta be tough.”

        Surprise looked back towards Aya, her ears perked. “Why?”

        “You seem like the sort that’s good with kids. She’s hurting, I can tell, and she needs someon- somepony to help her. You helped make One Punch Mare happy.”

        “Okay! I’ll be in her room until you girls need me!” Surprise said on the verge of squealing. She blinked away, leaving Radiance and Aya the only two people in the room.

        Aya shifted a little and Radiance humphed.

        “That was different and you know it.” Radiance said sternly.

        “I know but this is best for her. She seems a bit… Depressed compared to Fili-Second. I know something happened, so I’m pushing her to someon- pony that needs help.” Aya said, smirking.

        “That sounds like something Lance would say…” Radiance grumbles.

        “I saw how he talked and added my own ‘motherly instincts’ as Posey says. And from what I hear, he’s a bit too… involved. What my nephew doesn’t know is that problems, though we want to help in any way we can, don’t always need us.” Aya said as she started to make her way towards the labs. Radiance looked down in deep concentration. She made her way to follow, thinking about what she’d been doing for Twilight.

        “Those are… Wise words.”

        “Just something that comes naturally. Parts of my past pop up in my head, showing me what my past would do. So to tell you the truth, I don’t know where these thoughts come from.”

        Radiance nods to herself as she stares at Aya.





        Firefly hovered next to Applejack who was moving dibree.

        “She’s so infuriating! She lied to us and refused our help, then she becomes worse than she was when we met her!” Firefly fumed, face red. “So many ponies died here because she didn’t help!”

        Applejack rolled her eyes. “Yeah, she got these ponies killed because she chased after you… You’re as skilled an investigator as Batmare and Daring Do combined...” Sarcasm dripped from her voice as she continued to work on the building. She fused parts of it in place, making the Cathedral more stable.

        “Knew you’d see it my way Three! I think our first order of business is to kick her out of the team.” Firefly smirked, crossing her arms. Her prideful stance faltered when she heard spitting.

        Applejack had apparently been drinking water while listening to the hotheaded Pegasus, and realized what she said all too late. Her spit and water mix went straight ahead, covering the wall behind Firefly.

        Three tried to control her breathing while coughing up the water and spit that got caught in her throat. When she was breathing normally, she glared up at Firefly. “What in tarnation is wrong with ya!? Twi’s had a hard time! She’s been tryin ta keep our future as safe as possible! You wanna be unborn like her or Surprise!? Ya want ta be like Posey and not have the same family!? You, Radiance and I are the lucky ones!”

        Firefly was taken aback by AJ3’s shouting.

        “I’m… I’m sorry AJ… I got… I got a little… She cooped me up for so long, I thought I was never gonna save the day.” Firefly said, looking down sadly. She looked back up. “Hey, what’s with the stetson?”

        Applejack looked on top of her head to a stetson on her head. “Oh this thing? It’s mah granny’s that Ah upgraded after my accident. Pulled it out fer this. Ah’m seein’ if Ah can get this with mah costume. Havin it as mah signature, you know how Radiance likes that.”

        “Oh, okay. So you gonna use Mareodor again?” Firefly asked. “I don’t know if I’m gonna use NRG again.”

        “Ah’ll use Mareodor til somepony says otherwise.” Three said before smirking.

        Firefly flew higher, looking around the the ruble.

“Get yer ass movin Fly!”

“Okay, okay! I get it, I’m slow!” The pink Pegasus rolled her eyes as she flew down to the Earth Pony Cyborg.

“Stop dinkin ‘round and look!” AJ said.

“Well this is a surprise.” A tall black Alicorn-ish bug looking thing said as she got the two ponies attention. “Never thought I’d see members of M.I.S.T here.”

The two jumped at hearing somepony behind them and turned around. Three’s arm turned into a canon while Firefly’s body glowed.

“How’d you know our names!?” Firefly asked, glaring.

“Oh I have my ways. After all I am the leader of the League of Vigilante Justice.” Chrysalis answered as another mare simply rolled her eyes.

“But we just came up with that name two days ago!” The energy hero yelled, shocked.

The bug mare smiled devilishly. “True, but I have connection that keep me up to date on what’s going on in different parts of Equestria. Mainly the cities.”

AJ3’s eyes narrowed as she used her lie detector to scan the bug lady. “You’re lyin.” Her cannon changed back into her arm, “You ain’t heard’a us. Yer just snoopin.”

Twilight and Posey trotted in from the other side and blocked the duos escape.

“Tell us why yer here. This ain’t a safe area.” Applejack said sternly.

“Darn, and I was hoping to troll around with you just a little more.” The mare said as she simply took a seat. “As for what I’m doing here, I’m just here to see the sights around New Yoke city.” She said sarcastically on the last part.

“Great, sarcasm,” Firefly groaned. “Like I haven’t had enough of that…”

“Who are you?” Asked Twilight. “And quit joking, we’re looking for a killer. Don’t make us think you’re a threat if you’re not.”

“If I wanted to be a threat I would’ve attacked you by now. And like I said before, I’m Chrysalis, leader of the League of Vigilante Justice.” Chrysalis answered as she pulled out a cigar.

“She didn’t say her name though…” Firefly whispered to AJ. “Okay, Twi?” The pink Pegasus asked Mist, who typed it into her wrist communicator.

“Yep, she’s in the database… I guess they still formed…” Twilight stated.

“We’ve been formed longer than you lot have,” Twilight and the others almost burst out laughing at that statement. They had been around since before they were nine. “And judging by the low budget equipment you have. I take it you just started this M.I.S.T team of yours?”

“We’ve been a team for years, we just quite. Now we’re back, and the low tech isn’t really that low, it’s better than whatever you have.” Mist defended, “I’m Twilight Mist, leader of the Mitochondrial Investigation and Suppression Team, or M.I.S.T. for short. These are my teammates, Mareador, the one that looks like Mistress Marevelous, NRG, the Pegasus, and Thorn, the one who looks like Saddle Rager.”

“Well aren’t you all a colorful group.” Chrysalis said sarcastically, before she noticed something at the window and the room behind them. “So care to explain why you are all here?”

“We’ve been given this case by Commissioner Dash.” NRG said. “And what’s a vigilante?”

Mareador face hoofed, “They’re heroes outside the law, idiot.”

NRG rolled her eyes, “Never paid attention to that stuff.”

“You should if you don’t want to end up getting wrecked by one of my league member.” Chrysalis said.

“Is that a threat?” NRG growled.

“More like a warning and a threat really. If none of us actually seen nor heard of you, then you might end up getting killed or eaten.”

“That’s cute…” NRG rolled her eyes, “Eaten… Right…”

“Kurona, Nashiro!” Chrysalis yelled as two human girls appeared behind NRG. “Ever heard of the maretropolis ghoul? Well it’s just so happen I have five that do one hell of a job when cleaning up dead pony bodies.”

The four mares glared.

“Okay… That’s weird...” Mareador said, “Ya’ll ain’t really professional, if’n ya know what ah mean.”

“They don’t.” A new voice stated. Aya walked out of a dark corner of the room with Surprise. Nopony saw, but Banana Fluff was there as well.

“They may not, but they still do a better job than most ponies.” Chrysalis said as she turned her attention at the blonde female human. “Care to explain who you are?”

“Aya Brea… Lance’s Aunt…” She said, turning to Surprise, “This is Transport.”

“That would explain why you smelled like him, but different.” Chrysalis said as the ghoul sister summoned their kagune in defense. “Easy girls, we’re not here to fight them. They’re not on the revenge list.”

‘What the fuck is wrong with these… Things? Are they human? Why didn’t Lance tell me about them?’ Aya thought, holding her guns behind her back.

“The hell?” Aya asked, before shaking her head, “Nevermind. I’m new to this whole Displaced thing, and meeting you is the least crazy thing I’ve done…”

“You’ll get use to it, just don’t piss them off or else you’ll regret it.”

“Duly noted,” Aya said turning to Chrysalis, “What are you doing on a police crime scene? I’m not a cop, but neither are you… Right?”

“Oh hell no, those idiots can’t even catch a simple villain if their lives depended on it. We’re here to find the bastard that killed a friend of mine during the Cathedral incident.” Chrysalis answered as her eyes turned black and white. “When I find him, I’m going to kill him or her slowly and painfully.”

“Well, I guess you should leave then. We need to capture him if we want funding for our team.” Twilight said.

“Well too bad, because I’m gonna find him and kill. You can have the body when I’m done with him or her. That is if my ghoul friends aren’t hungry enough to eat him.”

“Well then, mind leaving? There isn’t anything here anyway.” Aya said, “We need him alive.”

“I don’t think you understand what I just said.” Chrysalis said as she stood up. “I’m going to find him and kill him. I don’t really care for your reasons why you want him alive, but I’m going to kill him and no one is going to stop me. Especially you all.”

“Oh this is going to be interesting, okay you got yourself a deal.” Chrysalis said as she turned her attention towards… Someone... “It’s about time you showed up, any leads on the killer.”

“...........”

“Interesting, what else.”

‘The fuck? Is she talking to him with her mind? Why can’t she just stay quiet and not make this awkward!?’

“..........”

“You don’t say, well I’ll have to look down that way later.”

“C’mon girls, Lightmare said the scan is done. Let’s go back to base.” Aya said and Transport took hold of her, Twilight, Mareodor and Thorn, leaving NRG behind. Said Pegasus sighed before flying away.





        “Do you realize what you’ve done!? I’m reading the news of what she’s done, and I don’t like the way the odds are.” Twilight said, scrolling through news reports on her bracer.

        “Look, if we can’t beat ‘em then we can at least tell the Commissioner that the League of Vigilante Justice surprised us.” Aya replied, arming herself with an AK-47 and extra ammunition.

        “We may not get another chance at this Brea. If we lose this, we may be branded useless and end up barely surviving encounters with those Mitochondria monsters. And I doubt Lance or the League are going to be able to handle Eve.” Mist said as she sat down next to the computer terminal.

        “Whatever, we’re not that needed. Power Ponies, One Punch, or the League could take care of that stuff…” Aya replied as she picked up a half empty water bottle.

        “You don’t get it. This parasite threat is bigger than anything in the history of… Equestria! This could wipe out all life, and these other groups can’t stop this because they’re too focussed on other stuff. The Power Ponies are dealing with Samuragi, League seems to be dead set on helping clear one of their team's name, and One Punch… She’s the worst pony to fight this.” Mist argued. Aya shrugged.

        “So? They could set time aside for this.”

        “You d-don’t get it-it Aya.” Posey stuttered as she walked next to the woman. “You’re th-the only-only one who ca-an’t get in-in-infected. Th-they’d turn into-to Mitochondria mo-monsters. Yo-you’re al-already in-infected-ed. We’re i-immune b-because we-we h-had a v-vaccine to-to prot-tect u-us f-from in-parasites l-like th-this i-in o-our t-t-time…”

        Aya grumbled. “Why can’t we just recreate this “vaccine” to make everyone immune?”

        “Because Surprise’s grandfather made it one year from now, but he’s in another dimension.” Applejack Three stated without looking at them. “He used a spell he made to change his blood into it when Delirious created parasitic things. Since both the creature and he won’t be here, the vaccine won’t be made.”

        “Then we’re screwed…” Aya said as the full weight of what was going on hit her.

        “Might wanna learn how to use your powers while we work, we’ll call you when we find him!” Firefly shouted.

        Aya sighed as she walked away. When she was out of sight, Firefly tapped Applejack’s shoulder.

        “Hey, I just thought of a name for the bad guy since calling him ‘The Arson’ isn’t cool.”

        “Are you joking?” Applejack asked, slightly annoyed.

        “No, no, I’m serious. Just hear this and tell me your thoughts. The Pyromaniac.”

        Three stared at Firefly, unamused. “You’re serious...? Ah think you’re being stupid.”

        “Oh come on! I-” Firefly stopped, seeing Banana Fluff, a purple maned, eyed, and yellow coated Unicorn trot by, looking depressed.

        “Ya okay sugarcube?” AJ3 asked.

        “I’m fine…” Banana said.

        “Is there anything I-” Applejack tried, but was cut off.

        “I said I’m fine. Look, I know you wanna help, but I don’t need anyone. My mom and sister were murdered, and I’m going after the one that did it.” Banana said angrily.

        “Honey… What are you going to do?” Applejack asked, trotting over to the teen.

        “I-I’ll kill the bitch!” Banana almost screamed.

        “How? She has powers, you don’t. Even me, a mare with cybernetic limb replacements and enhancers couldn’t beat her.” Applejack stated darkly. “What chance do you have?”

        Banana Fluff just glared, not able to think of a response.

        “That’s what I thought.” Applejack nodded.

        Aya then came out of nowhere, seeming exhausted. “We found the arsonist! Mist, Posey, Firefly, Surprise, with me!” Said mares dashed to Aya’s side and went out the door and teleported away.

        AJ3 looked at Radiance. “Looks like we’re relying on them…”





        Aya shot at the deformed human with her glock. But then suddenly the League appeared in front of her.

        “Oh, damn it you scared the living shit out of me!” Aya shouted, grabbing hold of her chest.

“Wouldn’t be the first time someone said that.” Chrysalis said as she made the bullets coming at her disappear. “So how are you doing this fine night? I’m doing well.”

“A bit tired, jumpy and hot, but I’m fine…” Aya panted, waving her gun. “Guess it’s a tie… We got here a bit ago just as he showed up.” Aya pointed at where the Pyromaniac was.

“Dammit, and I was so hoping to kill him slowly.” The Changeling reached for her communicator. “Question who are you shooting at?”

“The Pyromaniac. He ran this way. Ugly bastard got himself a gun!” Aya said as she reloaded, “Guess you’ll get to kill ‘em, but give us a shot at catching him and getting intell.”

“That won’t be needed. Eto take him down.” Just then as the man made a left turn. A hand about the length of an adult size human appeared from out of the wall, grabbed the burned faced human and slammed him onto the floor twice. Out of the wall came a kakuja form of a Ghoul, as she lifted the human up.

The Pyromaniac screamed and started shooting her but ran out of bullets soon after. He dropped the pistol and began to shake.

“Damn…” Aya said in awe. ‘Better not piss these guys off…’

“Behold the fifth strongest member on the team, Eto the Owl.” Chrysalis said with a smug grin on her face. ‘She doesn’t look like an owl…’

“I’m impressed. My… Ultra form is just a blue angel-like… thing.” Aya said, then turned her attention to Chrysalis, “You keep track of power scales?”

“Pretty much yeah. Fourth on the list are the twins, Third Trixie, Second Arima, and First is little old me.” She didn’t seem bright to Aya.

“Hmm… Kay.” The woman said. She turned around to see Twilight rushing up the stairs.

“Ho! What happened here!?” She panted.

“Oh, stuff. Mind reading him?” Aya asked, gesturing to the male. Twilight nodded and trotted towards him and her horn glowed. She suddenly backed up, holding her head.

“Ow!” She cried. An image of darkness clouded her head.

“Something happen!?” Aya questioned as she knelt by the mare who groaned.

“Yeah, just… Weird.” She lied as she stood up and shook her head.

“He’s all yours.” Aya said.

“Didn’t you say you need him alive for something?” Trixie asked looking at Aya suspiciously.

“Yeah, but we got here about the same time. Info is better than nothing. We can also blame you guys for stealing the body.” Aya joked as she smirked.

“Oh so you’re gonna pull that card on us then….ballsy move I’ll give you that, but you do realize that you’ll be on the leagues watch list if do that crap again.”

“It’s just payback for possibly taking away our stuff. Like, literally all our stuff is on the line here.” Aya stated as she put her gun away. ‘What the fuck am I doing?’ “And I was joking. I’m a part of Lance’s family, meaning I’m a dick when I wanna be and a girl scout if I’m in the mood.”

“Great two idiots I have to deal with, but at least one isn’t forgetful.” Aya glared at that, but Mist just laughed.

“That, he gets from his father. I’m on his mother's side.” Aya teased, “And who said I was an idiot, your highness.” She waved as she skipped out.

“I hope she isn’t always like this…” Mist sighed.

“20 bits says she is.” Trixie said.

“I’m not betting.” Twilight replied.

“It’s an expression.”

“Oh… Sorry, I’m not that well attuned to expressions in this timeline…” Twilight apologised.

“....Wait what?”

“Time travel, it’s messy. That’s why you’ve never heard of us, and Aya was Displaced a couple days ago. I’m the Masked Matterhorn’s granddaughter.” Twilight said absentmindedly.

“...Question: you do know you have another grandmother right?”

“Yeah, but she never came to visit me. It was just me and Humdrum.” Mist said, shrugging, “Although, I was never born here. I messed stuff up.”

“You messed up the timeline for yourself?” Trixie said as she tried not to laugh. “Don’t you know in the book ‘time traveling 101’ that you never screw around in the timeline.”

Mist glared, “Books on that subject were confiscated by Lance Walker, and I only got a copy of  it by sneaking into the vault it was in and nabbing the spell. Preventing my mother and father’s birth is funny to you?”

“No screwing around with the timeline is what I find funny. Even if Lance confiscated the books, somewhere in that head of yours must’ve told you this was a bad idea from the start.”

Mist’s eyes went down, “I didn’t read the spell properly. I was blinded by love…” She turned around and began trotting away, “Hope you have fun...”

Chrysalis sighed. “Yet another youth blinded by love.” Chrysalis said looking at Aya. “If you see Lance tell him that We’re still waiting on the meeting for our two groups. And I would recommend you tell him once we leave, because right now Eto is a few seconds away from actually going to Power Pony HQ and wrecking the place.”

“Didn’t you hear? Power Pony HQ was under attack and their computers are down. Two maniacs blew a hole in their ceiling.” Mist said, recalling a transmission she got from somepony.

“Be that as it may Lance gave Eto his word that he would do something about the incident with Kaoru. It’s been about a month and right now it’s kinda hard for the girl to actually go outside on missions or as a normal civilian. When a gentlecolt gives his word he is expected to do it, even if his base was attacked by two idiot villains.”

“Understood. I’ll give him a call when I can, and let me know if there is something I can do. I’m good at hacking and I could erase all traces of her existence or even make a new one without being detected.” Mist said. “I’ll help anyway I can.”

“Hm… I’ll let you know when I need for that to happen, till then.” Chrysalis turned her attention to Eto. “Drop the killer, but break his arms and legs.” She order as the ghoul did as she was told. “I suddenly have a headache... and right now I have more important things on my mind. Mainly Lance and how to punish him if he fails to help us.”

“We could always send Sonata after him?” Trixie suggested. “She does have a way to annoy ponies with her being herself.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Well, if you need our services, as long as we still have our equipment after this, we’ll help out.” Twilight said as she levitated the unconscious Pyromaniac next to her. “Will that be all? It was nice to meet you, and you again Mare-Do-Well.”

“If you do fail, you could always move in with us for the time being.” Trixie said as she handed Twilight their business card. “Wait what do you mean again?”

“I knew you in the original timeline, to me you were aunt Trixie. You and I used to play together before you left to join the council…” Mist explained.

“....Chrysalis can we go now? All this talk about time travel and timeline is starting to give me a headache.” Mist rolled her eyes at that and muttered to herself.

“Pussy…”

“Team we’re leaving! Get whatever shit you got and let’s go!” Chrysalis ordered as she, Trixie, and Eto teleported back to HQ.

        “Well… I actually hope we never meet those assholes again…” Aya stated.

        “Ditto.” Twilight groaned. “I want that extra equipment that the commissioner promised.”

        “New equipment?” Aya asked, surprised. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

        “I only just met you a couple days ago. I don’t trust you.” Twilight said as she walked away.

        “Yeah… They aren’t the only assholes.” Aya said to herself. Unknown to her though, there was a hidden figure watching her with a grin.

> Act.1 CH.1 Truly You Must Be Jesting
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


        Commissioner Holly Dash looked at her best detectives, Cloudchaser and Flitter. The two stood tall and proud in front of the unicorns desk, awaiting what their boss had to say.



        “You two know about the new… Funding choices, no?” The commissioner asked the duo. Flitter spoke first.

        “We know it’s apart of a new covert unit due to the rumors that Officer Stable has been spreading. Other than that, we have no clue, other than it had something to do with that fire.”

        Holly grumbled. “Thanks for the update, I’ll fire him tomorrow.” Cloudchaser winced, having met the officer and knowing he’d had a difficult time getting any job and that he had a family to provide for, a filly, colt, wife. She’d even met them last month. She’d need to visit him after this and give him anything she could. “Anyways, this new unit is going to be combatting the unknown, mostly creatures that’ve been appearing recently. I want you two to join.”


        Cloudchaser was shocked, and Flitter was a bit nervous. “Uhm, we’re homicide detectives, commissioner. Not monster hunters.” The elder sister, Flitter, said. Holly Dash laughed.



        “In my book, those are monsters. But I see your point detective. You’ll mostly be helping with solving extraordinary cases, like supers. You’ll basically be doing more for your city this way.” Commissioner Dash stated. “Your pay will increase, plus you may get to meet some heroes on the job.”



        Flitter mentally grimaced as she heard Cloudchaser squeal. ‘Damn it, I’ll never hear the end of this…’ Cloudchaser was a big fan for the super heroes. Mostly the League of Vigilante Justice. She was such a fan, her older sister had to ban Chaser from the TV, as she’d only flip through the channels until she saw something related to the heroes. In severely impeded her work too.



        Commissioner Holly Dash suppressed a smile. “Are you interested?”



        Flitter was about to say ‘no’, but Cloudchaser beat her to the punchline. “Yes!”



        Flitter had to resist the urge to buck Cloudchaser upside the head.



        “Alright, perfect. Here’s your first assignment. You start tomorrow.” Holly placed a file for a M.I.S.T. case on her desk. “You should meet your co-workers soon. Their address is in the file.”



        Flitter groaned, but Cloudchaser squealed and took it before speeding off. Flitter sighed before trotting off to catch her sister.



        Holly exhaled in relief. “I hope they’re up to this.”




[Cloudchaser & Flitter’s Apartment]



        Cloudchaser bounced on her bed excitedly as Flitter trotted into the apartment, closing the door, then sealing all of the locks on it.



        “Sis, stop.” Flitter grumbled. “Don’t you realize how dangerous this new position is gonna be? We’ll be fighting literal monster! Things heroes should do!” Flitter hated admitting it, since having heroes in the world made a lot of things harder. Almost impossible for her to protect her sister.



        The two’s apartment was small, but not cramped. There was a bathroom, a living room, a kitchen separated by a wall next to the door, and a balcony. Inside of the bedroom were two twin beds separated by a nightstand.



        “But Flitter, we can make a difference! Solving murders hasn’t changed anything! We solve one and another five take it’s place, and more and more cops become corrupted! We can help take back this city from crime!” Cloudchaser exclaimed with starry eyes. Flitter’s chest pulsated at how cute her sister was being.



        But this needed to stop. Flitter knew her sister too well, and knew thing’d get worse. When Cloudchaser followed one of her dreams, it ended in disaster.



        “But you’re just a pony! A Pegasus at that! You have no powers!” Flitter snapped, her volume louder than anticipated.



        Cloudchaser stiffened up, but didn’t back down. “You used to tell me my mind was the greatest power I had. That we had… that we have.” Flitter winced, but sighed. She realized there was no turning back.



        “Fine… We’ll start the case in the morning.” Flitter grumbled, before heading to turn the lights off in the apartment. Once she was done, she used the light from the lamp on the nightstand to find her way back, and slid into bed.



        Cloudchaser turned the light off and sighed. “Night Flit.”



        Flitter smiled regardless of their situation. “Night Chase.” The two settled in, and began to rest…



        Until Cloudchaser asked, “Hey Flitter, you seen that new movie, The Skyward Sword?”



        “Ugh, Chaser, I don’t care, ask me tomorrow.” Flitter groaned, then tried to settle in.



        Not a moment passed before Cloudchaser continued. “Good night Flitter-”



        “Oh my Celestia, shut the hell up!” Flitter bursted out. Cloudchaser grinned.



        “Okay, g’night-”



        Flitter grabbed a tissue box from the nightstand and threw it at Cloudchaser, who yelped in pain. “Gah! My eye!”



        Flitter didn’t care…








[Next Morning]



        Flitter was reading the files in on the little table in the kitchen, sat on an old metal chair, while Cloudchaser made breakfast using the two decade old appliances.



        “This case is insane. Five victims killed in ways… I didn’t think were even possible.” Flitter said, stirring her coffee without thinking.



        “They can’t be that bad.” Cloudchaser said, before finishing up Flitter and her cereal. She trotted over, carrying the bowls on her wings. Once she set the bowls down, Flitter showed Cloudchaser the image of a stallion with an Equestrian flagpole rammed through his rear and out his mouth. Unfortunately Cloudchaser was in the middle of taking her first bite.



        It was also her first ever spit take. Thankfully for Flitter she spat at the floor.



        “What the buck!?” Cloudchaser nearly screeched. Flitter rolled her eyes.



        “You act like you haven’t seen the internet before. But enacting insane feats like this are beyond even a master Unicorn… You skill sure you wanna do this?” Flitter asked, not minding the cereal and spit combination on the floor.



        “How are you not gagging!?” Cloudchaser inquired, shaking in disgust. “And so calm!?”



        “I haven’t eaten or had my coffee yet… I’m still processing.” Flitter stated calmly.



        Cloudchaser gulped, but kept a determined face. “If this makes a difference, I’ll do it.”



        Flitter sighed. She could at least say she tried.



        “Fine, but you make sense of this while I go get the mail.” Flitter said, then got up and trotted over to the balcony. She opened the screen door, before hearing Cloudchaser gasp loudly. Flitter held back the urge to groan, but soon found herself almost fully awake as her sister started shaking her from behind.



        “I’ve got an idea! I’ll be back later!” Cloudchaser gave Flitter a peck on the cheek before zooming out the door.



        The elder sister let out her suppressed groan.








[New Yoke: NYPD Homicide Division]



        “Three days, no leads, what now CC?” Flitter asked, before taking a sip from her coffee mug.



        “I have a lead!” Cloudchaser announced loudly in Flitter’s ear. The older Pegasus’ folded said ears back in discomfort. “You know how we sweeped his company, his work, and finally his hobbies and found nothing, right?”



        “Right...” Flitter mirrored her sister's words. “Where are you going with this?”



        “We were looking in the wrong place! None of them would help us because he didn’t exist before five years ago!” Cloudchaser slammed a file on the table, whacking Flitter’s mug and spilling some coffee on her chest fur.



        “Cloud, what the buck!?”



        “What buck? You have fun while I was gone last night?” Cloudchaser teased, winking.



        “No, I mean what the buck!? You knocked my coffee all over me!!” Flitter grumbled, annoyed.



        “I know, I’m just dodging an apology.”



        “Grrr… Fine, as you were saying…” Her sister replied back to her, trying to keep a tight grip on her sanity this morning.



        “See this birth certificate? It was made five years ago, but the dead guy’s at least over thirty.” Cloudchaser said, grinning from ear to ear. “He’s a spy! Maybe one of his contacts got what they wanted or the other way around and decided to string him up on a- well, more like around the pole...”



        “Cloud, you can’t be serious… Don’t you think this is a little far fetched?”



        “Why? We live in a world where the Power Ponies exist, and this city’s barely functioning.”



        “Is this like your angry genie theory on your last case but it turned out to just be the mother?” Flitter deadpanned.



        “Ugh, maybe not that ti-”



        “Or the time you thought it was an alien because a drug addict said him and the victim were abducted?” Flitter interrupted.



        “That was one time-” Cloudchaser began but was cut off again.



        “Or that time you thought there was a hoard of zombies that were killing ponies but it turned out that it was just zombie LARPers?”



        “Okay, I get it!” Cloudchaser grumbled. “But that last one got you too for a minute.”



        “No it didn’t… Especially when I could see somepony off to the side trying to make sure that their makeup was put on correctly,” Flitter sighed. “Cloud, anytime you go chasing after random theories, you always come really close to getting ourselves in trouble. Remember when were asked to be traffic cops for a week because you thought a serial killer was a potted plant?”



        “That time I was high on medication! But you have to admit, the person who owned it was insane.” Cloudchaser then breathed in quickly. “Flitter, it’s still a lead. My theories, while not always right, does come with evidence that leads us in the right direction.”



        “Yet, you ignore the main point that Holly was trying to tell us,” Flitter replied back. “We’re suppose to be meeting somepony that’s also working on the case. Which means we’re not doing it by ourselves. Besides, their address is open just as you open the folder.” Opening the folder, she showed her sister what she was talking about as she pointed it out to her. “Do you even know what M.I.S.T. is?”



        “Holly said they were a task force…” Cloudchaser stated plainly.



        “Yes, and what does the name stand for?” Flitter then asked.



        “Mitochondria Incorporated Surveillance… T-squad?” Cloudchaser chuckled nervously.



        “No…”



        “Mares in Striped Tee’s?”



        “No…” Flitter respond, even more annoyed.



        “Ooh! What about Mares in Sexy-”



        “NO!!!” Flitter snapped, throwing her mug at Cloudchaser as it smacked her in the head. “Can you take this seriously for five seconds? The name of MIST is in the same place as the address, Cloud. It’s Mitochondria Investigation and Surveillance Taskforce. We’re suppose to be meeting them to go over the case, yet you thought that the leader of the group was an over the phone salespony and hung up on them last night!”



        “I’m pretty sure it’s suppression.” Cloudchaser said in a monotone voice.



        “Whatever it is, it means that we can’t be fooling around with this big of a case. Which means… no theories until you see all the evidence and wait to hear what they have to say first. Because if we screw this up, the commissioner will do more than just look down on us.”



        Suddenly, a pink Pegasus with a blue mane trotted in with an annoyed looking orange and yellow Earth Pony, both wearing combat gear that said MIST. “I’m sure of it, this dude was a spy!” The Pegasus said. Cloudchaser looked at Flitter smugly.



        “Shut it, Firefly.” The AJ3 groaned, then turned to sisters. “We’re here lookin’ for Cloudchaser and Flitter.”



        “Oh boy… escorts.” Flitter grumbled. 



        “We’re not escorts, we’re supersizing this, honey.” Firefly said leaning against the table, while Applejack just face hoofed harder. “By the way, why are you covered in coffee? You’re already hot-” Applejack smacked her upside the head.



        “Blame my sister… She slammed the case file on me and spilled coffee all over me.” Flitter groaned. “So I can tell from your gear that you are from MIST… But I was lead to believe by the Commissioner that we would be talking to the one in charge.”



        “We’re having a trouble in management. Technically there are six bosses, we’re two. Although, the two who are mainly in charge are… Busy at the moment.” Applejack stated.



        “Define busy… Because my sister’s definition of busy would be trying to prove that a elderly stallion is a stalker.”



        “No, a covert spy working-” Flitter smacked Cloudchaser.



        “Their training. One has abilities she’s just learning.” Firefly said.



        “Makes sense.” Flitter replied. “So how should we get started?”



        “Well, what’cha got?” Firefly asked, sitting down.



	“Well, his family refused to talk to us… And none of his co-workers knew him well enough.” Cloudchaser said. “Spy.”



	“Cloud…” Flitter said in an irritated tone. “We’ve talked about this…”



	“Hmm… So no leads?” Applejack asked.



	“Not that we could uncover on our own… We don’t even know where to start. Are there even any witnesses?” Flitter then asked.



	“There were, but most were traumatized-” Cloudchaser started.



	“Did you look at the security footage?” Firefly asked.



	“There was security footage?” Flitter asked. “Why am I finding out about this just now?”



        “Maybe because you two weren’t thinking?” Firefly said. “It was right in the middle of a busy street.”



        “I apologize, but most of my time is spent making sure that my sister doesn’t do anything that’s… well, crazy.” A few seconds later, all three of them soon saw her using a ceramic plate as a shield and holding a spatula as a sword to protect herself against… a common household spider. “Case in point.”



        “Back vile demon!! Back I say!!”



        “…… So where were we?” Flitter then asked both of them.



        “I’ll look up who he was, while you two go and investigate in the underworld.” Applejack said calmly, smiling tamely.



        “Of course. Thank you for the help.” Flitter responded, however nervous she was.



        Firefly leaped onto the table, slamming a hoof to her chest. “Don’t worry! You’ve got the great NRG!”



        “Why do I feel like nothing good is going to come out of this…?” Flitter groaned.









        Aya Brea sat alone on a couch, reading a detailed children’s book. Twilight suddenly trotted in and sat down on a chair opposite of Aya. The two sat in silence for awhile, before the Unicorn spoke.



        “You’re… Reading a children’s book?”



        “I don’t know anything about this world. This is me researching.” Aya replied, before turning the page. “Who’s Celestia? She like a goddess or something?”



        Twilight’s eye twitched. “She’s the immortal Princess, guider of the sun and our protector. I’ll let that pass since you’re not from here.”



        “See? There you go, my sun moved on it’s own… Or, the world moved around it. So I wouldn’t get that.” Aya replied snidely. Mist stared blankly for a moment, mind reeling in absolute devastation as everything she knew was being challenged by an outsider.



        She shook her head, before clearing her throat. “Aya, I came to discuss the current status of our team. We… Need a leader…” Twilight’s ears folded.



        “Then be a leader.” Aya replied, not looking from her book.



        Twilight Mist wiped a tear from her eye, “I mean one that can be trusted.”



        Aya stared at Twilight, surprised. “Really? Your team doesn’t trust you that much?” Twilight only nodded. “So what? You want me to be a leader?”



        “You may be inexperienced, but if you’re anything like Lance, then you’re the right one for the job.” Twilight Mist stated simply. “I’ll train you, and groom you for the coming task. Until then, I’ll stay in command and you’ll say nothing to the others. Deal?”



        Aya pondered this. “We’ll see, but I’m willing.” That got a smile from the Unicorn.



        “Good. Some new cadets are going to be joining hopefully, so let’s start your leadership training.” Twilight smiled, and Aya returned it. “Now, give me that fucking book.”



        “No, get your own bitch.” Aya shot back, hugging the children's book to her chest.









        “Street Rat’s a nice stallion!” Cloudchaser whined as the two trotted through downtown New Yoke. Which, in turn, caused her sister to groan.



        “Yeah, a nice stallion that’s a convicted thief! He wanted to rip you off of your bits in exchange for a stupid rock pouch.” Flitter reminded her.



        “I didn’t know it was a rock pouch! I thought it was a purse, and I needed one!” Cloudchaser groaned. “But he’s still the best informant we have. If anything happens in this city, he knows.” Despite her sister’s comment, Flitter was still unsure about all of this as she looked ahead as they were waiting at a crosswalk.



        “Hello, ladies~” The sleazy, but familiar voice of Street Rat said from behind them. Cloudchaser and Flitter both turned towards the stallion. He was as thin as a stick, with a light yellow coat, greyish purple mane with matching scruff of a beard and neck, blue eyes, and a Cutie Mark of many bits. He wore a pink shirt, diomond shaped earing made of gold and a golden necklace. His smiling teeth were surprisingly healthy looking, with the exception of a golden tooth. “What brings you two dolls down here at such a late hour~?” He teased.



        “My sister here says that if anything happens in the city, you would know about it.” Flitter replied, getting straight to the point.



        “For the right price… I have a lot of friends in low places.” He said smoothly.



        “We’re trying to solve a rather bizarre murder and find the one responsible.” Flitter again got straight to the point. “Cloud, care to bring your… friend up to speed?”



        “There was a stallion that was impaled on a flagpole, and I mean he was thrown onto the flagpole.” Cloudchaser said.



        Street Rat’s eyes widened. “Whoa… Well, I heard rumors going around, but I thought it was hogwash…”



        “What rumors?” Flitter asked.



        “You know this city. Most ponies don’t trust the police- not that you two are corrupt, but there are others. So I’ve heard a few witnesses saying that they'd saw a donkey don’ it. Not many o’ those around these parts.” Street Rat said.



        “A…… donkey?”



        “Yeah, wearing some kinda jesta’s hat. Weird, right?” Street Rat said. Flitter thought of it for a moment before looking to her sister. Waiting to see what her thoughts were on this.



        “So an ass did this?” Cloudchaser asked, sounding disappointed. Causing Flitter to facehoof herself with her hoof before looking back at her sister. “What!?”



        “No, he means an actual donkey… However, the jester's hat may be a clue.”



        “Yeah, I know. Donkeys are also called asses.” Cloudchaser said.



        “He was s’posed to be brown.” Street Rat added.



        “Brown donkey… jester's hat…” Flitter made a mental note of that as she looked back at the stallion. “Is there anything else that would make him stand out. Appearance wise other than the hat?”



        “It might be a jester hat. It’s one of those olden day hat things that look ridiculous…” Street Rat added.



        “What about his face?”



        “I dunno… I only heard rumors.” Street Rat said. “Now, I was a good lil’ boy, aren’t you gonna give me a treat...?”



        “One last question… what were the colors to the hat?”



        “I think they said something about orange and red, and how it went down to his neck. They showed me a picture and I thought it was lookin’ like a jesta’s hat.” Street Rat added. However, the part of the picture caught Flitter’s attention the most.



        “Okay, here’s the deal… You’ll get your treat…” Flitter spoke, glaring at the stallion for a moment before continuing. “But only after we see that picture… if it can help us identify a suspect, then that is evidence.”



        “Ugh…” He pulled out his phone and searched it a bit. He finally came across what he was looking for, and handed his phone to Flitter. “That’s it. Had to search my history a bit.”



        The pegasus looked at the picture for a moment, before turning to her sister. “Cloud, what do you think of this?”



        Cloudchaser looked closer, squeezing her eyes. “It… Looks like it’s not a jester’s hat…”



        “Oh come on! How am I supposed to know what that silly thing is!?” Street Rat seethed.



        “It says ‘cowl’. Have you ever used Moo-gle Images before?” Cloudchaser asked, and Street Rat only shrank. “Well, at least you don’t use Yahoove or Sing.” Street Rat only shrank moreso.



        “Well, now that we have what we need, what kind of treat do you suggest we give our… friend…” Flitter then asked.



        “Thirty Bits.” Cloudchaser said. “It’s better than the other thing.” She gestured to Street Rat, who was licking his lips.



        “He’s a nice guy, but he’s a bit perverted…” Cloudchaser whispered. Flitter couldn’t agree more at that statement as she gave the stallion the bits they promised.



        “Have a lovely night ladies, stay away from alleyways!” He shouted, trotting off with a skip in his step. Flitter could only groan a bit while Cloudchaser happily trotted with her sister across the street, waving.



        “Well, we got some info… And a location to look.” Cloudchaser announced giddily.



        “Along with someone that I rather not meet again…” Flitter groaned. “I’m tired and have a headache. Can we go back to the apartment first?”



        “Sure thing. Look, how about the next time, I won’t bring you along?” Cloudchaser suggested.



        “Good… He still creeps me out, even after meeting him before.”



        Cloudchaser rolled her eyes. “Want some lunch?”



        “It’s three hours to midnight, sis.”









        Aya sat in the lounge, having completed a lecture with Mist. She was mentally tired, and was staring at her communicator.



        And just like that, it rang. Aya answered it immediately.



        “This is Holly Dash. There’s been a disturbance and we think that there are humans involved.”



        “Alright, where should I go?” Aya asked, smirking.


> Act.1 CH6 The Day My World Burned
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

        We were a family of five… Daddy was a Police Officer, Mommy was an interior decorator, and I think Tifa worked at a McDonald's in her teens. When Mommy couldn’t take care of us, Tifa did, or if she was busy, our father’s friend Morinity.

        It was Christmas Eve… That was the day… The day my world burned...





        “Silvia! What are you doing silly!?” Yelled Torry. Silvia shook herself from her daydream, and looked to her twin sister.

        “Oh? Oh! Sorry, I was just thinking about stuff.” Silvia replied in her monotone voice.

        “Sweety, you’re sitting on the decoration box.” Their mother said, giggling. Silvia’s eyes widened, when she realized she was sitting on the Christmas decoration box. She got off and stumbled, landing on her side.

        “You okay Silvia?” Torry asked, trying to help her twin up.

        Their mom put down what she was doing and walked over to the five year old and picked her up.

        Silvia looked blankly at her mom. “Yes, I’m okay.”

        “Are you sure?” Her mom questioned worriedly. Silvia answered with a single nod. “Okay then. Your older sister will be here soon, so watch the door for me while I take these to the back.” Their mom pointed to the Christmas boxes.

        “Okay Mommy!” Torry said, beaming.

        “Okay Momma…” Silvia murmured, looking away slightly. Their mother went to handle what she said she would, while Torry ran to the window next to the door, and Silvia sauntered towards the door where there was a slide bolt on the bottom.

        “D’ya think Tifa’s gonna be happy to see us?” Torry asked excitedly.

        “Why would she?” Silvia asked, sounding bored.

        “Silvia…” Torry groaned with a roll of her eyes. “Quit being so grumpy.”

        “You stop being so happy!” Silvia shot back.

        Minutes later, a ford focus sedan drove up to the driveway of the repurposed building. Torry squealed in excitement.

“Tifa’s here! Tifa’s here!”

Silvia unlocked the slide bolt and went to the nearest seat and sat down. Tifa soon walked in with a sigh of relief, looking at us with a smile as she hugged the overexcited Torry before hanging up her coat. “Hey girls… where’s Mom?”

“In the back working on the tree for the last family we’re donating to.” Silvia replied. “Dad had to leave a bit ago.”

“Oh? Where is he?”

“Job or something.”

“Ah, well, he’s missing out.” She said, looking at them. “So, how can I pitch in and help?”

“Ask Mommy! She knows more!” Torry said, “She’s in the back.”

“Okay, thanks Torry.” She replied,heading out back to where their mom was while Silvia and Torry were still up front where they were. 

When Tifa got to the back, she saw her mom placing a box labeled ‘Christmas Supplies’ on a table. When her mom noticed Tifa, she smiled. “Oh sweetie, thank you for coming on such short notice.”

“It’s alright. My shift finished up early because my boss was going to attend a christmas party later. Since he knew I was working really hard, he let me go early so I can be with you.”

“Still, thank you.” The two hugged for a few seconds. “Could you take this to the truck out back? There was one more family I wanted to help before calling it good. It’s a big family, so we needed three vehicles. I’ll take one, your father will take another and I’ll take the last one. Is that okay for you?”

“Sounds good, What about Silvia and Torry?” She asked, picking up the box and preparing to walk outside.

“They’ll be riding with me.”

“Okay, just be careful. With all the snow and everything, someone is bound to do something reckless or stupid on the road.” She said before putting the boxes out back like she was told.

“If you get separated and lost, there’s an address in all of the trucks.” Her mother said. She jumped when there was loud sirens at the front. “Your father is going to give me a heart attack one day…”

“Right…” Tifa rolled her eyes, placing the last of the crates in the back as she walked over. “All the boxes are inside and ready to go, Mom.”

“Okay, the keys are inside. I’ll get the others.” Tifa’s mom hugged her again. “I love you, sweetheart.”

“I love you too, mom.” She said, “Merry christmas.”

Tifa’s mother went back inside, where she saw Torry giggling as she sat next to the swipe lock, with banging at the door.

“Torry! Did you lock your father outside?”

“Yep!” Torry replied, smirking like an imp.

“That’s my girl.” The mother snickered, “But you’ll have to let him in eventually. We’re about to go.”

“Aww! I was just having fun!” Torry whined.

“You can sit next to Mommy.” The older woman said teasingly, bending over. Torry unlocked the door instantly.

“Gah! It’s cold outside!” Their father said, sliding in and shutting the door. “Everyone ready?”

“Yeah!” Torry cheered.

“Yeah…” Silvia grumbled.

“Ready when you are.” Tifa nodded.

“Okay! Let’s make someone else's Christmas special!” Their father said. Slowly, everyone got into their designated vehicles and began to pull out of the driveway. Silvia and Tifa were in the backseat, watching their father as he was following them. It was during this though that Tifa noticed that Silvia wasn’t exactly… Cheerful so to speak.

“Hey, what’s wrong? Don’t go all humbug on me just yet. Christmas is tomorrow.”

“I feel grouchy.” Silvia said simply. “I don’t like helping people.”

“Oh? So you don’t like helping your friends? You need to be more specific by people, Sis.” Tifa smiled a little, trying to get her to at least chuckle or roll her eyes. She did the later.

“Come on! After this, we can have cookies!” Their mother said. Torry hopped into the passenger seat while their mother got into the driver seat. Silvia growled as she got into the backseat behind her twin sister.

“Everyone follow me!” The father said, smiling as he got into his own truck. The positioning of the vehicles made it so that the dad was in the front, the mother and twins were in the middle, and Tifa was in the back. The vehicles each were turned on, and Tifa was surprised to see a walkie talkie.

“Should I guess that the walkie talkie is for if any of us get lost?” She asked, looking at her mother. All she got was a nod as they continued down the road. 

The trucks drove for the next hour, only a few cars out at this time. They came across a bridge with a large drop. As they were halfway across, the drivers saw a semi coming from the other side. It was heading towards them fast, and to the fathers horror, the driver was asleep. He reached for his walkie talkie, but it was too late.

The semi smashed into the first truck’s side, pushing it through the safety rails and down into the bottom.

The second truck had little more luck, as the semi rammed into it head on, crushing the driver and passenger. Inside, Silvia hit her head on the back of the passenger seat, before blood slapped her in the face… Her sister's blood… Silvia was in shock.

But she did not have time to stay for long. Tifa noticed a foul stench in the air. A stench that smelled like oil and gasoline. She hopped out of her truck and ran to the one in front of her. “Silvia, we need to get out of the call and call 911. The car’s going to catch on fire any minute!”

Silvia just whimpered, shaking.

“Hey… It’s okay… I’m here now Silvia…” Tifa ran to her, helping her out before reaching for her phone to dial the emergency number while Silvia began to cry into her chest, mournfully. 
“I’m here, sister…”




New Yoke City

        A blond woman walked through the crumbling Morrow District. She looked exactly like Aya, but her clothes were off. She looked angry, and anypony who saw her ran off.

        Eventually, a police officer came rushing towards her and held up his gun. “Freeze!”

        The woman tilted her head, still looking pissed off. “Burning…” She mumbled.

        “What?” The officer asked, confused.

        “Burn.”

        And just like that, the officer caught on fire. He screamed, trying to snuff the flames out as she left him. She arrived at an abandoned building and went inside.

        Inside, the woman saw Eve, the parasitic woman who Aya and Lance met in the sewers.

        “Mother, how are you?” Eve asked, concerned.

        “Fine.” The woman replied, “How’s my sister handling this world?”

        “Well enough.”

        “They’re getting on my nerves. They could ruin everything I’ve been working for… Keep distracting Aya.”

        It was then that the two women inside heard a third set of feet walking towards them. However, it sounded like this one was wearing heels. “Oh, what do we have here?” A voice ran out in a seductive tone. “You two don’t seem to be angels… Guess I have to hold off on stealing halos for now.”

        “Was that a threat!?” Eve asked angrily.

        “That depends on how you view it, missy.” The voice said again, walking out into a part of the room that was barely lit as the two of them saw the newfound figure. It was another woman, but this one was different than before.





        “Because you would be intimidating… well… if you were actually intimidating.”

        “You’re Bayonetta, an Umbra Witch.” The woman said monotonously. “Why are you here?”

        “Oh I was just in the neighborhood and I found that this one here,” She said, pointing at the blond woman. “Reminds me of one of my sisters. She went by Torry, but now I believe she goes by the name Maya since you gave that name to her.”

        “How would you know about Maya?” The blond woman asked.

        “I have my ways.” She said, not answering her question.

        “Eve, leave us.” The blond woman stated firmly. Eve nodded, and hovered away. Once she was out of sight, the woman walked closer to Bayonetta. “Your sister died in a car crash.”

        “My sister and parents. Only had one other sister to take care for when I was young.” The Witch replied. “You?”

        “I died in a car crash…” The woman said simpley. That was when Bayonetta’s eyes widened a brief bit. Before she said something else.

        “Torry? Is that you?”

        “It’s Maya now.” Maya said. “And Silvia is here too.”

        “She is?” The witch asked. “Oh this is going to be interesting… I got a bit of catching up to do… But first… I think we should wait… I feel Silvia coming here.”

        “She’s going to have a mental breakdown when she sees us…” Maya said.

        “Heh… you have no idea who else is here, sis… You have a nephew now.” She chuckled.

        “Two, Lance Walker and Sean Jiris. I’ve been watching Lance ever since he arrived.” Maya replied.

        “Kinky… You seem to watch over him. Either that means you’re a guardian or a stalker who watches… whatever… he does.” Bayonetta chuckled seductively, turning to the door, “And there she is.”

        There was a kick, and the door fell off it’s hinges. Aya aimed her gun inside, but at seeing the two women, she raised an eyebrow.

        “The door was unlocked.” Maya said as if she were speaking to a moron.

        “And now everyone’s here… Perrrrfect.” Bayonetta smiled, acting playful again.

        “Oh yay, just what I’ve always wanted…” Maya grumbled.

        “Why are there two Aya Displaced?” Aya asked, looking like her head was hurt.

        “I’m Maya you idiot.” Maya stated, glaring at Aya.

        “Come on now…” Bayonetta smirked while folding her arms. “Is that anyway to treat your sister Silvia? Torry?”

        “W-wait… What?” Aya started massaging her head. “Dear gosh this is a pain!”

        “Come on now… Don’t you recognize me?” She asked, taking off her glasses and letting her look at her again. “It’s me… Tifa.”

        Aya backed up. “N-no… Tifa died giving birth to Lance!”

        “I know… I was the one that named my child,” She said. “I’ve missed you sis.”

        Aya looked about ready to explode. “How are you here!?”

        “Well… I originally thought I had died. But then, I was given a second chance by Rodin. The one in charge of the gates of hell. He allowed me to live again here, but now, I’m an Umbra Witch.” She told her. “Besides, I’m mostly known here as Bayonetta or Cereza. I’m fine with you two calling me Tifa though…… However, there is one thing I want to ask you, Aya.” She said, trying to get closer and not startle her. “I have not seen my son… ever. How much has he grown?”

        “I… He’s fine. I think he had a nice life, and he’s got two wives…” Aya said

        “Oh my… Ain’t he one lucky man… I envy him…” Bayonetta smiled, holding Aya in for a tight hug. “But I’ve missed you more… both of you.”

        “Y-you too...” Aya said, still mentally reeling. “Wait, how’d Torry get here?”

        Maya glared. “Maya.”

        “Sorry.” Aya replied.

        “I don’t know. Seems a lot of people we knew are popping up everywhere as long as they were killed like us three.” Maya said.

        “Or somehow got placed here on other circumstances.” It was then that Bayonetta noticed a small clip that Aya kept on her that looked like a pair of unfolded wings as she reached over to look at it. “Oh? I never saw you as one to keep jewelry on you, sister.”

        “That’s Lance’s summoner… Oh, I mean Token. It summons him.” Aya said. “Wait, we all died? When did I?”

        “No idea,” She said, taking the token and channeling a bit of strength into it. “Sonny boy! Momma’s home!!”

        “Not yet!” Maya yelled. “I don’t think he’ll be ready to meet his dead mother and dead aunt.”

        “Oh come on, there’s no way to know without trying!” Bayonetta asked, only to fail in the process. “What in the-? Oh nevermind, I figure out this damn thing later. Reminds me not to try and buy anything on sale anytime soon.” It soon got quiet for a second, before one of the three began to speak up.

        “What do you want to talk about Bayonetta?” Maya asked coldly.

        “Well, I was wanting to know about who was the ugly woman you were talking to earlier before you came in here.” Bayonetta told her, looking back at her with a serious glare.

        “What woman?” Aya asked, confused.

        “She’s my spawn. Your niece, if you will. And she’s not ugly.” Maya responded simply. “Her name is Melissa.”

        “Melissa? Who’s the father?” Aya asked. Bayonetta being just as curious as well.

        “No father, just me.” Maya replied.

        “Well, I must say, whoever she is, she has quite a temper…” The Umbra witch teased. “Though, I would not prefer to have clothes made out of flesh to replace my own outfit if you ask me.”

        “Flesh? What the hell?” Aya asked, looking baffled.

        “I’m evolving her. She’ll be beautiful soon.” Maya said in a whisper.

        “Anyways… I would love to stick around and chat, but I have some angels halo’s to take for myself. Though, I don’t really think I should try the plan I did last time. That involved me dressing up as a nun and walking into a church to lure them out before killing them, one by one.” Bayonetta said to herself. “Moral of the story, don’t fuck with a witch.”

        “Uh… M-maybe we can meet up again?” Aya suggested, not wanting to lose her elder sister again.

        “I like that… If you want to find me, there’s a bar in Canterlot named “The Gates of Hell”. It’s not seen by much of the population here, but when you find it, tell the bartender named Rodin that you're my sister. He’ll take care of the rest.” Bayonetta said, before disappearing in what looked like a swarm of butterflies. However, as the swarm disappeared, there was a flyer left behind based on the location that Aya’s sister was referring to. And an image of the bar on the backside





        Aya picked it up, and was about to read it but a force to the back of her head made her blackout. Maya walked around her sister, and the flyer burned.

        Eve returned and bowed. “I assume we have another problem.”

        “It won’t be for long. Roach is Displacing more people to help us, and Mt. Massive Asylum has a plentiful a array of allies.” Maya dropped a different flyer, which was for said asylum. “If Aya survives the asylum, Roach will deal with her.”

        “And what of Bayonetta?” Eve asked worriedly. “I don’t think I could hurt her in the least.”

        Maya smirked. “I have a plan for that…” As she continued to speak, Maya did not notice one of the butterflies that her older sister had dispersed into hiding in the rafters. And when she was done, it proceeded to fly out a hole in the wall, where Bayonetta was not far from the site.

        “Well, little one, it seems like you have something to tell me…” She smiled, letting the butterfly land on her shoulder. “Now then… tell momma what you know…”




Aya groaned as she opened her eyes weakly. She saw a flyer as slid it towards herself.

After a few minutes, Aya finally got her bearing and read the flyer.

“Mt. Massive Asylum? What happened to the one Bay gave me?” Aya said to herself. “Maybe I should check it out, it’s not like I have anything better to do.”

She then realized she was outside of that same asylum.

The blond stood up and checked her weapons. They were all there, from her AK-47, to her dual 40. caliber. She seemed all ready to move on, however, there was a cold chill going down her spine as she saw a wooden sign with blood painted on it to form letters. “STAY AWAY!!!”

“I thought I was in that building my sisters were in…” Aya wondered to herself, but shrugged it off.

Aya walked up to the door and tried to open it, only to find it locked. Thinking she’s get yelled at for kicking in an expensive looking door on private property, Brea decided to find another way in. Walking backwards to get a better view, Aya saw what looked like an opened window with platforms leading up.

“It’s like they want me.” Aya said to herself humorously. She ran to the lowest one, and began to make her way up. “Parkour!”

When she was up at the top, she slipped inside. It was extremely dark, so Brea couldn’t see. It took her a bit, but she finally found her way into the light. She seemed to be in some sort of lobby.

“Doesn’t seem so bad…” Aya said to herself. She walked around for a bit, and found two shelves placed on either side of each other that blocked her way. She turned to her side, and started to shimmy through the crack.

“Little piggy...” A deep, scratchy voice said from behind Aya, and a large hand grabbed her by her left arm and yanked her out. He turned Aya to face him, and the woman wished he hadn’t…





“Holy shit! What happened to your nose!?” Aya screamed. The fat man didn’t seem amused. Aya giggled nervously. “You wouldn’t hurt a defenseless woman… Would you…?”

The monster growled, before slamming Aya’s head into a wall. He started walking as Brea’s head spun. He then tossed Aya out of an observation deck. Aya’s face hit the floor, and the world went black once more.