Static Sparks (Good Karma)

Chapters

Prologue
After the Blast
Introduction
First Glimpse
Escape
Mysterious Signals Medical Emergency
Blood Trail
High Ground Walk the Dogs Officer Down
Mind Games
The Good Stuff Photographer
The Rescue
Interlude: Conversing
Nemesis Revealed
No Protection Trish Reaches Out
Dinner With Sasha
Stranded
Interlude: On the Other Side
An Old Friend
Zeke's Request Tough Collar
Playing Hero
Interlude: Coping Alicorn

Prologue

Author's Note

This my first time ever writing a story, so I hope that it turns out to be a good one. I'm not that great with grammar so if you notice anything it would be very helpful if you told me.

Prologue

In the Castle of the Two Sisters, Twilight and Spike are in the library looking at the vast array of different books. Twilight was reading all of books that were not in her library and Spike was searching for a good story while giving Twilight any book he thought that she would find interesting (which meant pretty much all of them). She was reading a spell book that had a variety of different spells.

When Twilight noticed that Celestia's sun was setting and Luna's moon was rising, she called for her little brother and number one assistant. "Spike!" she yelled.

Poking his head around a book case he answered, "Yeah?"

"We stayed later than we meant to, it's getting late," Twilight said.

"We?" Spike asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Fine, 'I' stayed longer than we should have," Twilight corrected herself somewhat exasperatedly. "Anyway, we should head back before it gets completely dark outside."

Spike got very nervous, "Walk through the Everfree Forest at night? It's dangerous enough during the day can't we stay here tonight at least?" he asked hopefully.

"It's still somewhat light out Spike so we are going to head back before gets too dark." Twilight reassured him. Seeing that he was still a good deal nervous she thought of an alternative. "Well, I found a spell in one the books I was reading that I could test that should get us home, it's a more powerful teleportation spell that uses alicorn magic."

Spike asked, "Why can't you use a normal teleportation spell? Why use one you don't know very much about?"

Twilight sighed, "I don't trust the normal spell to get us through all the chaos magic in the forest. Hopefully, using a more powerful one will get us past it and home safely."

Spike mulled that over, "Yeah, I see your point and even though you've never used the spell I would rather take my chances with that then walk through the forest, especially at night."

Twilight giggled at his reluctance to walk through the forest. Even though she doesn't like to anymore than he does she would rather do that then fly or teleport through it, but seeing how reluctant Spike was to walk she decided to teleport. Plus she wanted to see the difference in the spells.

She levitated Spike onto her back and went outside. "Ready?" Twilight asked.

"Yeah! Let's go home, I'm exhausted," Spike yawned.

She prepared to cast the spell, "Alright, just a minute." As she was charging the spell, the magic in the forest started to surround her and got mixed into the spell. Twilight, so focused on preparing it, didn't notice what was happening until it was to late. "Spike, hold on tight!" she yelled. She braced herself for the unknown effects of the chaos magic as Spike tightened his hold on Twilight. They both vanished in a flash of violet light.

Meanwhile in Empire City...

Cole MacGrath was busy delivering a package to the Historic District. He swerved through the traffic in the streets to avoid the crowd of people on the sidewalks. After a half hour he saw his destination. Turning, he headed to 19th and Sloat where he was to deliver the package. As he neared to where it was to be delivered he saw a flash of violet and stopped, he got off his bike and put the kick stand down. He walked over to where the flash had occurred. When he got there he saw a woman a couple years younger than him, with violet hair and a pink highlight going down the length of it, on the ground. He ran over to her and gently shook her.

"Hey! Hey, lady this is no place to be laying on the ground," he said trying to wake her.

She started to stir and slowly opened her eyes, she sat up and reached a hand up to rub her head. She stopped when she realized something, she moved her hand in front of her face, stared at it for a minute or two, then sighed and grumbled, "Not again."

Cole, wondering what she meant by that, asked, "Are you ok? Who are you?"

Twilight looked at him and stared, his appearance confused her, he looked nothing like the humans on the other side of the mirror. 'He's very handsome, though,' she blinked, then chastised herself. 'This is no time to be thinking things like that. Where the hay did that even come from?' she wondered. She looked back at her hand and, examining it, noticed that she wasn't the same lavender as before, she was tan. She was wearing the same clothes as she did over there, except the boots only went up to her ankles. After a while of looking herself over she answered his questions, "I'm fine. My names Twilight Sparkle. What's yours?" She then looked around searching for someone. She started to panic and shout when she didn't see him, "Spike!? Spike! Where are you?"

He raised an eyebrow and thought, 'Twilight, Spike, what kind of names are those? She's rather beautiful, though,' he shook his head. 'Come on, Cole you're in a relationship. You shouldn't be thinking things like that.' He told her, "My names Cole MacGrath. Don't worry I'm sure if you two were together you will find each other." He held out a hand to help her up, she took it and he pulled her to her feet. Just then he got a call. The man on the other end told him to open the package. He was going to refuse when the man said that it was for him. He was very annoyed that he went on a wild goose chase just to deliver a package that was apparently for him. He walked over the package took it in his hands. Twilight walked up next to him. He looked at her and arched a brow. When she saw his questioning look, she fidgeted, her eyes watering a little.

"You don't mind do you?" she asked. "I'm not from here, don't know my way around, and I'm alone without Spike."

Cole thought, 'I can't just leave her here with all the crap that happens in this city and if she just walks around blindly she'll get lost or run into some of the pieces of shit that don't care about people. She could end up getting hurt or worse.' He said, "Sure, I'll show you around and help you find your friend, after I see what's in this package." She nodded at him and he opened the package and took out a glowing blue sphere. They glanced at each other and looked back at the orb. After a minute, the sphere's glow brightened and they closed their eyes. Then there was a blast and they were knocked out from the force.

After the Blast

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Introduction

Author's Note

If you're wondering about why the third chapter is called introduction, I'm going to be naming the rest of chapters after the missions from the game.

Introduction

Cole awoke with a start, his whole body was in pain. He slowly got up and groaned, "Ugh, what the hell happened?" He looked around and saw he was on a small pillar of rubble in a giant crater. "Holy shit. How did-" he stopped when he remembered there was someone with him earlier. He looked around and saw her a few feet from him. He moved over to her and checked to see if she was okay. He felt for a pulse, when he felt it he sighed with relief and took a closer look at her. There were a few tears in her clothes and under those were some rather big gashes, but thankfully they were cauterized so she wouldn't bleed to death. Her hair was burned a good amount, but she still had most of it and her skin was rather burned. 'If she's this bad I probably look just as bad if not worse,' he thought.

He started to gently shake her saying, "Twilight, wake up. Something terrible happened."

She started to get up and rubbed head then stopped and winced. "Ow. That really hurts." She looked at him and gasped, "Cole! What happend? You look terrible."

"Yeah, I hurt like hell all over. We both need to get out of here and get some help. We're both pretty banged up," Cole said.

She looked down at herself and winced again, "Yes, let's get out of-" Her words caught her throat and her eyes widened as she looked around and noticed the destruction around them. "I've never seen or even heard of this kind of destruction being possible. What in Tartarus could have caused all of this destruction?" she asked.

"I have no idea, but-" he paused and thought about what she said at the beginning of her question. "Tartarus?" he asked.

Twilight chuckled nervously, "Uh," but before she could come up with something they heard a noise that sounded like it was getting closer. Looking up they noticed a helicopter stopped high above them and shined a spotlight on them. Over a speaker, someone spoke to another person then addressed them.

"There is a couple of people alive down there. Hey, if you can hear me wave up here." They raised their hands and waved at the man. "If you can walk get out of there and head toward the bridge." There was an explosion behind them, the helcopter turned and they looked in the same direction. "Hey, you in the garage," he called over to someone. Cole and Twilight could only see the shadow of a man that did a weird gesture at the helicopter. Annoyed and after a car fell off of the building the the man in the helicopter yelled, "Get the hell out! The place is falling apart." It then took off in the direction the man seemed to go.

Cole looked at Twilight and asked, "Can you walk? If not I think I could carry you."

Twilight shook her head, "No, I'm okay enough to walk. Let's go."

He nodded and they started to make there way through the crater avoiding the fire and occasional small explosion. As they neared an convenient ramp of rubble and cars, a voice called out of Cole's phone.

"Cole. Hey, you there man? Come on pick up, Cole." It was Zeke.

"Zeke? I think there was a huge explosion. What the hell's going on?" Cole asked.

"Seriously, man? No, shit there was an explosion. People on the TV are saying there are terrorists bombing the place. Meet me at the Fremont Bridge. We'll find Trish and find somewhere to take over until it's over," Zeke explained what was happening and the plan he had. As they neared where they could get into the parking garage there was another voice coming through that Cole didn't recognize.

"What's a terrorist?" asked a rather young sounding voice. Cole was about to ask Zeke what he was doing with a kid when Twilight cut him off, with a slight hitch in her voice.

"Spike?" she asked hopefully.

The boy, Spike, yelled through radio, "Twilight! I'm so glad you are okay. I was worried when we got split up and Zeke said that there was an explosion."

"Yes, Spike. I -We- are rather banged up, but are okay for the most part," she told him. "We'll see you at the bridge, okay?"

"Yeah! See you then," Spike called back, then Zeke ended the call.

Cole looked at Twilight with a smile on his face, "Well, we found him easier than I thought we would, but too bad we couldn't have avoided whatever the hell happened to us."

"Yes, but we are still alive, somehow. So let's head the bridge," she gestured him to lead the way. "You know how get there better than I do." As the joy of knowing where Spike was and that he was safe started to set in, a thought hit her. 'Why was Spike talking to Zeke. He should know that dogs can't normally talk.' She was somewhat annoyed and worried that Spike, even if he was as happy as she was, did something that could get him into trouble. However, as she thought about it more she realized that maybe he wasn't a dog. They were in a different world than the one they went to before, so maybe he was changed into a human. That or the combination of alicorn and chaos magic might have done something.

Cole took the lead and stepped on to a car that was bridging the destroyed ramp to the building. Twilight followed behind him and as Cole passed an exposed generator, a bolt of electricity shot out and hit him directly. Twilight gasped and was about to head over to him when she felt a strange sensation and couldn't move. She couldn't describe what it was, but it was so sudden she froze in her tracks.

When the bolt of electricty died down, she regained herself then hurried to Cole's side and was surprised to see he was perfectly fine. She wasn't the only one.

Cole stared at himself in disbelief as the electricity seemed to crackle off of him and die away. "I should of died. What hell just happened?" he wondered.

Twilight walked up to him and tentatively placed a hand on his shoulder, "Let's get somewhere a little less dangerous and we'll figure it out together later."

He looked at her and nodded, "You're right. Let's get out of here first."

They continued walking through the parking garage avoiding the fires and anything that fell from the floor above. They saw a ramp and started to head towards it. Before they even got near it however, it collapsed and fell to the ground. They looked for another way across, but only saw a fallen pillar reaching halfway across the gap. On the other side there was another fallen pillar that reached little ways out.

Twilight figured she could get them across by flying except for two things. One, she wasn't really sure she could sprout her wings in this world (much less use magic). Two, if she could she couldn't be sure how Cole would react. Yes, she just met him, but he seemed like a nice guy and wanted to be friends with him, since for one thing she didn't have any friends here, except Spike, but he was more like brother to her. For another thing she didn't know anything about this city and would probably get lost. She was so lost in her thoughts she didn't notice that Cole was already starting to cross until he looked back and called to her.

"Hey, you okay?" he asked.

"Yes, just a little nervous walking across something like that," she told him. It wasn't a complete lie, she'd never walked across something like that even in her normal body, but in one she wasn't used to? She was very worried that she wouldn't be able to keep her balance.

Cole moved back across the pillar towards her. "Hey, it will be okay. Just follow me closely," he assured her. He held out his hand to help her onto the pillar. She took it and he helped her up, then he helped to keep her balance. "Alright, now let's cross it together." He moved across the beam slowly, while keeping an eye on Twilight. When he got to the gap, he jumped across and landed neatly on the other side. He turned back and called back to Twilight, "Alright you need to make a pretty big jump. I don't want to worry you, but I'm sure you noticed the metal jutting out of the bottom of the pillar."

Twilight did see the bottom of the pillar and became even more nervous at jumping across the gap. She backed up a little then, as fast as she could without slipping, she ran to the end and jumped. She landed on the pillar, but slipped. Luckily, she fell forward and she wrapped her hands and legs around the pillar to keep herself from falling. She winced as her burned and battered body hit the solid concrete. Cole walked over to her and helped her up. She looked up at him and smiled, "Thanks."

"No problem. Are you okay?" he asked, worried that the fall might have irritated the wounds on her.

She looked herself over. "Yes, I'm fine. A little more sore now, but nothing's reopened."

Cole started to sigh with relief, then stopped. He wondered why he was so worried. He felt it before, but thought that it was because he found out that she was still alive. Of course, he didn't want anything to happen to her, but he had just met her. He seemed to be having rather strong feelings toward the woman in front of him. It wasn't love, he still loved his girlfriend Trish. There seemed to be something about Twilight that made it to where he didn't want any harm to come to her. Maybe it was because she seemed so innocent. What with her not being from this city, she didn't know what kind of things could happen here. There's also the fact that she didn't seem to know that this kind of destruction, while terrible, isn't even near the amount of damage some of the weapons humanity has come up with can cause. He's never actually seen this kind of destruction before, but knew it was possible with the kind of things mankind can, has, and probably will come up with. He was pulled from his musings when Twilight asked him something.

"Cole, are you okay? You spaced out for a while there," she asked.

"Yeah, I was just was thinking," Cole answered.

"Well, I like to encourage people to think and not just act, however maybe not when we are balancing on a pillar more than 30 feet in the air?" Twilight asked worriedly. She was doing her best to keep her balance on the beam, but the longer she just stood the more she felt like she was losing it.

"Huh? Oh, yeah let's get off of here," he said, remembering where they were. He turned and they walked off of the fallen pillar. He jumped down, and he looked back to Twilight climbing down, and apologized, "Sorry about that. I knew you were nervous about being on there and I just stood there staring off into space."

"It's okay," she told him, but then started to wonder. "How were you able to stand there like that? Not only were able to walk across very easily, you also jumped across like you've done it before and then just stood there like you were just standing on the ground."

"Well, me and Zeke used to climb buildings and do parkour." Cole looked at her and saw that she was surprised he climbed buildings, but then looked confused at the other activity. He decided to elaborate. "Parkouring is the activity or sport of moving rapidly through an area. It's usually in an urban environment, navigating obstacles by running, climbing, and jumping."

"Oh. That sounds pretty interesting," she then said to herself, "Rainbow Dash would probably love that."

Cole overheard her, "What was that?"

"Nothing," she said. "It wasn't anything important."

"Well, if you want I can show you how to do it," he offered. "It can come in handy in a city, especially this kind of city."

"I'm not much of an athlete, but if it could help, I'll try," Twilight replied. "I think we've kept our friends waiting long enough. Are we almost there?"

Cole answered, "Yes, it's close by. We just need to get down from here, somehow."

They started walking through the wreckage towards the edge to try and find a way down. As they got near the side of the parking garage, Cole got near an exposed cable and electricity jumped to him. As the electricity coursed through Cole, Twilight felt the strange sensation again, but this time it was a bit stronger. As the cable stopped shooting it out, Cole then unconsciously sent it in lightning bolts outward toward the cars and and portable generators causing them to explode. The explosion caused a portion of the floor to fall and make a way down to the street. When the bolts dissipated, Cole turned to Twilight to make sure she was okay. When he looked at her he saw that some of the electricity was arcing off of her. He rushed to her to make sure there wasn't anything wrong.

"Twilight! Are you alright?" he asked, his earlier worry surfacing again. He still wondered about these unexpected feelings, but was more concerned about Twilight.

When the electricity died down she relaxed and looked at Cole, "Yes, I'm okay. It's weird, I felt a strange sensation just now and last time you were struck by electricity." She looked at herself, "I don't feel like I was just hit with electricity either. Even if it wasn't a lot, I should of felt something."

The things that was happening to the two of them was confusing, to say the least. However, they were near their destination and they decided to head there before anything else. As they neared the bridge they saw police standing around civilians who seemed to be in need of medical attention. They didn't seem to even be able to stand much less walk. The helicopter from before flew past them, saying to the people on the ground, "Medical personnel are en route. Remain calm, those that can walk evacuate across the Fremont Bridge into the Neon District."

Cole, leading the way, headed through the police cars and people. Before they got near it, they saw and heard Zeke and a boy, most likely Spike from the green hair, standing in the middle of the bridge. Zeke shouted to them, "Cole, Twilight, over here, you two. We gotta get out of here."

Cole started forward again, but as he crossed in between the bridge's gates, the biggest bolt of electricity hit him from both sides. Twilight froze and started to twitch slightly, the strange sensation hitting her stronger than ever. After the bolts disappeared, giant bolts of lightning started to crash down around them. The lightning hit everything and everyone around them. They raced across the bridge doing their best to avoid the bolts. As they ran Twilight, through the strange sensation that was coursing through her body, noticed that Cole's arms were enveloped in electricity and more seemed to be drawn to him as he passed lights. When they finally reached the other side of the bridge, the electricity around Cole disappeared and the lightning stopped. As they came to a stop they both collapsed to the ground. They faintly heard Spike and Trish shout their names as they fell into unconsciousness.

Two weeks later...

On the roof that the four friends turned into their home, Zeke was lying on the couch reading a comic, while Twilight and Spike were sitting in separate armchairs. Spike was also reading a comic, while Twilight was reading a book she had managed to find in the lock down. Cole was just standing off to the side. They were situated across from four TVs each one of differing quality. Next to the TVs was a fridge filled with a very limited amount of food and beverages. On the other side of the fridge were several speakers connected to the TVs. Spread out across the roof were several mannequins, lawn chairs, portable batteries, a table, and a bench. There were a few small and withered trees in pots.

Cole broke the silence, "Hey, Zeke, I thought you were going to watch TV."

He moved the comic to look at his friend, "The batteries are dead again. You mind puttin' on the freak show?"

"Zeke! That's no way to talk about that," Twilight reprimanded him.

Cole smiled, "It's fine, Twilight. We take jabs at each other from time to time. It's just a little ribbing between good friends. Did you or none of your friends do it?" He walked around the roof charging the batteries with the bolts of electricity he can shoot off.

Spike grinned, "Yeah, two of our friends are both athletes and sometimes they like to give each other a hard time."

"Well, that's different. They just poke fun at each other. The thing with Cole is-" she trailed off, not being able to think of a suitable phrase.

"Twilight it's fine. I know he was just joking. So, no harm done. Right, Zeke?" Cole reassured her looking at Zeke.

"Yeah, man. Just messin around. Sorry if you took the wrong way Twilight," Zeke apologized.

Twilight hung her head slightly, "No, I overreacted a little. I'm sorry."

Zeke waved the apology off, "Eh. It's no problem. You care a great deal about you friends, ain't nothing wrong with that." As he said that the TV turned on. "Alright boob tube's workin. Nice job, man."

Cole walked back to them, "Weird, it feels like I have more power than before."

"Really? Why don't you try frying the dummies back there. With all of the crazies out there, it would be nice to know how much power you have," Zeke advised.

Cole went around zapping all of the of the mannequins. Their arms, hands, and heads shot off of them.

"Whoo! Man you probably got enough power to take those nut jobs on the street out," Zeke cheered.

Cole chuckled, "Maybe, but I'm not going to go look for them."

"Didn't say you needed to. Just that you can take them if you need to," Zeke chuckling too.

Twilight suddenly stood up and looked at them, "Cole, Zeke, there's something we need to tell you," she motioned to Spike. He put the comic down and walked with her to an open part of the roof. "We've been meaning to tell you, but after you got out of the hospital the two of you spent most of your time getting control of Cole's powers. Which I can understand. You needed to get them under control so nothing like the first day happened again and it gave us some time to see if we really could do what we are about to show you. Ready, Spike?" she asked him.

He looked at her worriedly, "Are you sure? There's no telling how they're going to react."

"Yes, we need to tell them. I can't keep this from them. What if they are in trouble? They need to know so we don't have to hold back," she told him.

Cole and Zeke looked at them. Cole said, "Hey, whatever it is we'll stay friends. You became my friends even though you just met me and stayed friends after we figured out that I'm a human light socket."

"Yeah, well you seemed like a nice person and just because you had lightning coming out of you hands doesn't make you a different person," she said as if that was obvious. "Anyway, I'll show what it is about me first." She closed her eyes and focused.

Zeke and Cole looked at her wondering what she was doing. Suddenly, lavender wings sprouted from her back and she started to flap them. She hovered off of the roof's floor. She opened her eyes to look at them to see their mouths slightly ajar.

Zeke, still out of it from the shock, asked, "Are you an angel?"

Twilight, Spike, and even Cole, snapped out of it by the question, stared at him. After a minute, Twilight facepalmed, Spike burst out laughing, and Cole started chuckling.

Instead of answering right away she lifted her hand. It was enveloped by a magenta aura and they heard something move behind them. They turned to look and saw one of the lawn chairs floating, enveloped by the same aura that was around Twilight's hand. After holding it for a little while she set it down and looked at them.

Cole spoke up first, "I don't really get it. Isn't this the same as what happened to me. I mean, yeah I can't grow anything, but couldn't that be your power?"

"Yeah. You were with him when he got his powers. Aren't these the same thing?" Zeke agreed.

Twilight shook her head and said, "I knew you would say that. That's why I showed you myself first. Spike, would you?"

Spike nodded. He closed his eyes like Twilight did and concentrated. Cole and Zeke's eyes widened as Spike's skin changed purple and became reptilian. He also grew a tail with an arrowhead tip and his hands turned into claws. When he opened his eyes his pupils had become slits.

They stared at him for several minutes before Zeke finally managed to say, "Holy shit. So he's a lizard man?"

Spike fumed at him, "No! I'm not a lizard. I'm a dragon!" To make his point he blew a long stream of fire toward the sky.

While Cole and Zeke stared, Twilight started to explain, "You see, we actually aren't from this world. We are from a world called Equis. The country we are from is called Equestria and the population is pretty much all ponies." They started to open their mouths, but she cut them off, having an idea of what they were going to say. "Yes, after spending time here and somewhere else, I noticed that a lot of the names we give places, and sometimes ourselves, are puns," she continued where she left off. "There are four different types of ponies. The three most common are unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies. What I am is called an alicorn and there are only four of them in Equestria. We have the abilities of all of three races of ponies," she paused letting the information sink in and seeing what there reaction would be.

They sat there thinking over what they were just told. The more Cole thought about it the more it actually made a little sense. The first thing is that before he found her, he had seen flash of violet light where there hadn't been anything previously. The other thing was that she didn't seem to know much about things that most people know at least by high school. She and Spike had both freaked out when they heard gunshots in the street. Usually there would be nothing unusual about that, most of the time when a gun is fired it isn't good. They, however didn't even know what the sound was. Just that there was a loud bang.

As he thought about that a few things stood out to him. He decided to ask her, "You say you are from a different world, but you weren't very surprised by some of the things we came across. You also said that you went somewhere else besides here and your world."

"The answer to both of those questions is the same," Twilight answered. "In our world there is a magic mirror that opens up to another world. The world on the other side of the mirror opens up to a similar world to ours, except for a few things. They were humans and were more technologically advanced than us. What makes me think that is close to being the same as Equestria is because I found people exactly like my friends. They were identical: same name, same hair color, same personalities, even most of their skin color was the same color as ponies coats. I think the difference in what happened was that we didn't enter the mirror, I teleported us here by accident. That's the reason that we ended up here instead of there."

Zeke asked, "Okay, so you teleported here, but how did you teleport here? I mean if you can do that how did you mess it up?"

Twilight blushed slightly and explained, "Well, I used a new spell that I found. Spike didn't want to walk through the Everfree Forest at night," seeing their confused expressions she explained. "It's a forest near the town we live in called Ponyville. It's filled with chaos magic and a great deal of dangerous creatures. We were in it because there was a castle there that the Princesses used to live in. I was reading all of the books in the castle's library and I spent more time there than I meant to. I came across a book full of spells and one of them was a more powerful teleportation spell. It used alicorn magic instead of regular magic. I went outside to use the spell, so that I could get a better heading of where to go. When I started to cast it, the chaos magic that ran through the forest got infused in the spell and instead of teleporting home, we were teleported here."

Cole and Zeke sat on the couch processing everything they had been told and showed. Cole was the first to speak up. "Well, this doesn't really change much." Twilight and Spike turned to look at him looking slightly surprised, even Zeke looked a little taken aback. "What? As she said with me, this doesn't change who they are. Yes, they aren't technically the same species, but while they are here, Twilight and Spike are human. They are also two amazing people that care and trust us enough with their secret."

After contemplating it for a few more minutes Zeke nodded, "He's right. You are still the same people we spent weeks getting to know and became pretty good friends with."

Twilight and Spike stood there shocked by how easily they were willing to accept what they had told them. After a moment, grins broke across their faces. They were so happy and relieved that they accepted what they told them and still considered them friends. They then heard something. Turning toward where the noise was coming from, they saw a big plane flying rather low above them.

Zeke shouted, "Whoa! Holy crap. That thing was flyin' so low I thought it was going to crash into us!" Turning his attention back to the TV, he saw that it was starting to static. As it refocused there was a man that had become rather popular during the quarantine. "Hey, guys its the TV jacker. I love that guy."

The TV jacker started to rant over the air waves, "Just got word that the feds dropped some relief packages into Archer Square, the liars at the corporate media tells us that we're gonna get our fair share, that more is coming, heh, that's easy for them to say! They're not the ones living in this hellhole! And truth is that no one is coming to save us. We've been abandoned. So, before the Reapers decide to show up, head over to Archer Square to get the food before them. Voice of Survival out." The broadcast was cut and it went back the normal programming.

Cole looked at Zeke and said slightly smug, "Told you they'd drop food."

"Man, Cole, you think any of those pencil-necks gives a crap about us? You're outta your mind. This is just a PR stunt," Zeke replied.

"That isn't going to stop you from pigging out, though, is it?" Cole asked, even though he already knew the answer.

Zeke grinned, "Hell no it ain't. Zeke's gotta eat."

"I'm going to take the express elevator. You take the stairs," Cole said. He walked in front of one of the gaps in the fence.

"Man you get to have all the fun," Zeke mumbled.

Spike walked up to Cole and asked, "Can I go with you?"

Cole looked down at the little dragon-boy. "I don't know. Can you take the impact?" he asked.

"While I'm in this form I can take pretty much anything. Dragon scales are really thick and trust me we are pretty durable," Spike told him.

Cole shrugged, "Alright. If you say so." With that the two ran to the edge and jumped, ignoring Twilight's panicked protests.

First Glimpse

Cole and Spike landed on the street. The force from them falling from six stories cracked the ground beneath their feet. They looked at each other and grinned. Cole said, "So, you can take the force of the landing. Cool."

Spike was about to say something, but fell silent when he heard Twilight yell. "Spike! I know you are a dragon and can take a good deal of punishment, but I would rather you didn't jump off of buildings just to do it. And Cole I would rather you didn't encourage him to do that kind of stuff," she called to them, gliding down to them while holding Zeke in her magic.

Cole looked away as she got closer. When he heard her land he turned back. She looked somewhat confused at his behavior. Instead of explaining it he told her one reason why he had let Spike jump with him. "Sorry about that Twilight, but now we know he can get away from trouble, if he gets trapped on a roof."

She still didn't like it, but saw his reasoning. "Alright, I see what you mean. It's good to know that he won't be trapped on the roof of a building." She glanced at him and asked, "Cole, why did you look away as I got closer?"

Cole could feel the heat on his face. "Uh, it's not something that I can explain, since I'm not a woman," he murmured.

She still didn't really understand, but the look on his face and what he said made her feel rather embarrassed. She looked at her skirt and focused her magic on it and turned it into jeans. She looked at him and, feeling slightly flushed, asked, "Is that better?"

Cole nodded. "Yeah, with you being able to fly and so many people in the city, it's probably better this way. If you're still confused, you could ask Trish."

"Hey, guys if your done, before we head to Archer Square, I need to go get a new gun." Zeke called back to them. He had started walking forward.

Cole rolled his eyes as they started to follow him. "Here we go."

"Nah, that was amazing. The second you touched it, the electricity in your hands cooked off the gun powder and the whole thing just explodes! The look on your face was priceless," Zeke said.

"The damn thing nearly blew my hand off," Cole sighed.

Zeke grinned, "Which is why you won't be touching this one. I traded one of my home-made batteries to a guy for it."

Cole raised an eyebrow, "You mean the ones that blow up when you use 'em?"

"Hell, he doesn't know that. C'mon, he told me that he was going to leave it in a parking lot a few blocks from here," Zeke said.

They followed Zeke as he made his way to his destination. "So, while we head there, how about you two tell us more about your friends and world," Cole suggested.

"Yeah, even with the little that you told us, your world sounds pretty interesting," Zeke agreed.

Twilight nodded, "Okay. Well we have five close friends. Their names are Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy. Together we made up the Elements of Harmony."

"Okay, first off those are some... interesting names. Second, the Elements of Harmony and what do you mean 'made up'?" Cole asked.

"The elements are six ancient artifacts. Each of the artifacts represents a different aspect of harmony. They are honesty, loyalty, generosity, laughter, kindness, and magic," she explained. "We each represent one aspect of the elements. Applejack is honesty, Rainbow Dash is loyalty, Rarity is generosity, Pinkie Pie is laughter, Fluttershy is kindness, and I represent magic. One day the Tree of Harmony was in danger. The magic that was protecting it faded. We had to give up the elements to protect it and Ponyville from some plants called Plunder Vines."

"So, what did you do with the elements?" Zeke asked

"We used them to protect Equestria if we came across something that couldn't deal with ourselves. Luckily, we only had to use them a few times." Seeing them about to ask, she told them of the instances they used them. "We used them on Princess Luna. A thousand years ago, Luna grew jealous of Princess Celestia. The ponies of Equestria stayed awake and enjoyed day, but slept and ignored the night. Luna let the resentment grow until she was corrupted and turned into Nightmare Moon. Celestia had to banish her instead of removing the darkness from, because both she and Luna were needed to use the full extent of the elements."

Cole stopped her, "Wait, you have two princesses? And they are a thousand years old?"

"We actually have four princesses, as of late, but they are the rulers of Equestria. Yes, they are a thousand years old, if not older," Spike spoke up.

Zeke stopped, "Okay, first off we are here. Second, you have four princesses?"

"Yes, Princess Celestia who raises the sun, Princess Luna who raises the moon, Princess Cadance who rules the Crystal Empire, and the recently appointed Princess Twilight Sparkle," Spike listed them off.

"The other instance," she continued, hoping that they wouldn't dwell on her being a princess, "was when we confronted Discord. He is the spirit of chaos and disharmony. He made a whole bunch of strange things to happen. He made cotton candy clouds that rained chocolate milk, he partly dismantled Ponyville, he would mess with ponies just for the heck of it, and many other things. The worst was when he made my friends turned the opposite of themselves. He made Applejack a liar, Pinkie a grouch, Rarity greedy, Fluttershy into a jerk, and Rainbow into betraying her friends. It's one of the reasons that it's hard to trust him," she muttered.

Cole asked, "What do you mean? Why would you need to trust him, isn't he turned to stone?"

"He was, but Celestia had some ideas of things he could do to help Equestria with his magic. She asked us, more specifically Fluttershy, to try to get him reformed," Twilight explained. "She succeeded and Discord isn't causing chaos across Equestria."

As Twilight finished her explanation they walked over to four cars. Zeke groaned, "Aw, man. He said he was going to leave it under a car. Thought there was only going to be one of them. You mind Twilight?"

She was about to oblige when Cole walked forward. "Hold on. I have an idea I want to try. Stand back a little." They walked back a good distance from the cars.

Cole stood behind the first car in line. He held out his hand and concentrated the electricity into it. He then brought both hands up and pushed outward. A shockwave of electricity shot out and pushed the car away. He did this for each car, standing off to the side and aiming at the trunks so that hopefully he wouldn't hit the gun. When he moved the last car they saw the gun. Zeke walked up to it, picked it up, and put it in his pocket.

"Hellacious! Hell, I didn't know you could do that," Zeke said.

Cole swayed a little, "I didn't either. There was this... surge."

Zeke looked at him concerned, "You okay man? You don't look that great."

"I think I used to much power. Hang on," he closed his eyes and concentrated when he did he could feel every source of electricity around him. After a second he walked to a power box on the side of a building. He held out his hands and the electricity from the power box went into him. After he finished he stopped swaying and stood up straighter. Cole looked at Zeke, "Did you see that?"

"Man, your like a walking battery. I guess after shooting off a bunch of electricity you'll need to recharge," he said.

"I can feel the electricity surging through me, like it's healing me," Cole said, shocked.

They heard Spike talking and looked over to him and Twilight.

He looked at her worriedly, "Are you sure you're okay Twilight?"

She smiled at him warmly, "Yes Spike. I'll be fine. I also think I know why I felt that. I had my suspicions before, but after that I think it confirms it." She looked over at them. "Cole, I think that blast did do something to me. I think it connected me to you in some way. Whenever you feel a new sensation involving your powers, I feel it too. Not to the same extent obviously, but I feel it."

Cole thought to the instances after the blast. "I guess that makes sense. Every time I was hit with electricity the first day was different. Each one was more powerful than the last. So you felt a faint sensation of what I was feeling. It would also explain why I have powers and you don't have anything beyond your normal abilities," he said. "I think you are also at least somewhat resistant to electricity now. Remember the second bolt?"

"Yes, I didn't feel anything," she said. "Why don't we test it? Hit me with a bolt."

"Are you sure?" Cole asked concerned.

"Yes, it would be good to know whether or not you'll need to watch out for me if we get into trouble because you aren't leaving me behind," she answered.

"Even if you are immune I'm still going to watch where I'm blasting. I get what you mean though, so let's do it," he agreed. He walked a few feet back, turned and readied his attack. He hesitated, he really didn't want to risk hurting Twilight. Even if she wanted him to and he agreed that she had a point, it was hard to actually do. He took aim, shot, and quickly shut his eyes just before the bolt reached her. He heard her grunt from the impact, but nothing else. Slowly, Cole opened his eyes and looked at Twilight. She stood there and seemed rather surprised that nothing seemed to have happened. Just to make sure he asked, "Did you feel anything?"

She looked at him and grinned, "The impact took me by surprise, but I didn't feel any electricity."

Cole released the breathe he didn't know he was holding. "Well that's good."

"Alright, now that we got that sorted out and I have a new gun, let's head down to Archer Square 'fore someone takes all the brewskis," Zeke said.

They started walking toward their destination. Spike looked between Twilight and Cole and asked her, "So, how connected to each other do you think you are?"

She looked at him, "I think we are just connected by powers. If it was anything more we would have felt and/or noticed it by now," she looked at Cole. "You haven't felt anything else, have you?"

He shook his head, "I haven't really felt anything. I didn't even know we were connected until you said something. I mean, I did wonder about what was happening to you the day of the blast, but afterwards I kind of thought you were experiencing the effects yourself. I guess, you were in a way."

Zeke decided to bring up the previous discussion, "So, you are a princess, huh?" He grinned, "Should we be calling you 'Your Highness'?"

The guys all chuckled, while Twilight shook her head, "No. For one thing I just became a princess. For another I don't want my friends treating me any differently then they have. That includes you two."

"Alright, Twilight we understand. We won't treat you any differently then we have been. Right, Zeke?" Cole assured her.

Zeke smirked and said slightly sarcastically, "Sure, 'Your Majesty'."

Twilight rolled her eyes, but smiled, "Thanks, guys."

As they walked, Cole got a call from Trish, "Cole, you there?"

He smiled, "Hey, babe."

"You heard they dropped food?" Trish asked.

"Yeah, the four of us are heading over there now," he told her.

"How are the two of you feeling?" she asked.

"We are okay, I guess. My powers are all over the place. I could barely even power a light bulb before, now I'm jumping off of buildings and frying the stuff on Zeke's roof. Twilight can take bolts of my electricity without really feeling anything. She wanted to see if what happened the day of the blast was a permanent thing or not," he told her. He regretted he did, when she shouted at him.

"You jumped off a building and Twilight asked to be hit with a bolt of electricity? What were the two of you thinking?" she reprimanded them.

"Relax, we are both fine," he assured her.

Her voice cracked slightly, "Just be careful. After what happened to Amy, I couldn't...."

Cole became more serious, "Yeah."

"See you all at Archer Square. I love you," Trish said.

"You too," he told her.

Twilight felt a slight pang in her heart. She didn't understand what it was. She felt it whenever Cole talked to Trish in such a way. She dismissed it, thinking it was nothing too important.

They ended the call. Zeke looked back at Twilight, "You know, I've been wondering. Does that design on your jeans mean anything or is it just that, a design?"

She looked at what he was talking about and told him, "Here it isn't more than a design, but back in our world this is my cutie mark."

Cole looked at her, "Cutie mark?"

"Yes. Ponies aren't born with them, however. They appear on a ponies flank when they discover their special talent. Mine is a starburst which represents my talent for magic. Celestia and Luna's cutie marks are the sun and moon, respectively," Twilight explained.

"That's pretty interesting," Cole said.

When they finally reached Archer Square, they saw people standing around the statue there. A few people were throwing rocks up at something. When they looked up they saw what. The crates of food were stuck at the top of the statue.

Twilight looked around, "I'm going to fly up there and get it." She was about to bring out her wings when Cole stopped her.

"How about we test out your climbing ability?" he suggested. "The two of us race up the statue and see who gets there first."

She thought about it, "Yeah, okay. It will be a good chance to see how much I've improved."

Spike spoke up, "You're pretty good Twilight. You've certainly gotten a little buffer doing this."

"He's right. No offense, but you were pretty spindly when you got here. You've certainly gotten stronger in your time of climbing and parkouring," Cole told her.

Twilight blushed slightly at the compliments, "It's fine. As I told you after we got to know each other, I was somewhat of a shut-in even after making friends. Even though I have the abilities of an earth pony, I don't use them very often. So they're not very developed."

Twilight and Cole each stood next to a flag pole that was in front of the structure of Archer Square. They took off at the same time. Cole moved slightly faster than her, but she was keeping pace. She was right behind him as they jumped from the poles to the platform the structure was on. There was only one way to get up, a bent pole that connected to a small platform connected to the statue. They raced to it. Twilight managed to reach it first and started to climb as fast as she could. Cole was right behind her as they reached the platform, but when they jumped to the next one he managed to get ahead of her. He reached the thin metal bar first and rushed across it to the crates of provisions.

When he reached it he turned to Twilight, who was panting, and, slightly panting himself, said, "That was great! You were right behind me pretty much the whole time and you even got ahead of me."

She blushed at his praise, "Well I had a great teacher." She straightened, "Alright, time to get this down for everyone. You want to do it or should I?"

He smirked, "After you, your highness."

Twilight scoffed, "Ha ha. Fine, I'll shoot it down." She raised her hand, aimed at the rusted hook, and shot a magenta beam at it. The bound crates fell and crashed to the ground. As the fastens broke and the crates scattered, people surrounded them. Twilight was feeling good until Cole cursed.

"Damn, we were too slow," he swore.

As they saw the Reapers charging toward the crates and shooting anyone in the way, Cole was debating jumping down and using the Thunder Drop move he came up with. He decided against it because there were too many civilians running around. They could also see Spike and Zeke engaging them as best they could. He looked at Twilight and asked her, "You ready to show the pieces of shit that they can't do whatever they want anymore?"

She nodded, "Yeah. I'll protect as many civilians as I can while you take care of them. I'll help you out when I can."

"Alright, don't forget to look after yourself," Cole told her.

With that he jumped of the structure and Twilight unfurled her wings then glided down. She placed shields around any civilian in the area and levitated some of them off to safety. When Cole reached the ground he sprinted toward the Reaper dodging his bullets. When he was near him he charged lightning into his hands and turned them into blades. He hit the Reaper square in the chest. The gunner was sent flying and landed on the ground, where he laid unconscious.

They heard more gunshots and screams. They turned and saw two Reapers on each side of the square. Cole ran to take care of the two to the right of them. One went down after taking three bolts to the torso. The other one went down instantly when he was hit in the head.

Spike and Zeke turned to the back. Each of them took one of the Reapers. Zeke managed to incapacitate one by shooting him in the legs and arms. While Spike raced up to the other one. Bullets glanced off of his scales. He raised his hand up and when he got to the Reaper, he brought it down as hard as he could. His punch sent the gunner back several feet, where he laid, knocked out.

Twilight turned to the left and shot at them with beams to freeze them in place. She hit one and he encased in a block of ice. The other dodged the beam and shot at her. She managed to conjure a shield to block the bullets, but not before one managed to hit her in the side. She screamed in pain.

Cole and Spike whirled on the spot, and shouted in rage, "Twilight!!"

Spike, being closer, charged at the man and, when he was close enough, inhaled and blew a torrent of fire at him while still running. The Reaper jumped to the side, but that was exactly what Spike wanted. He jumped at the man and gave him a roundhouse kick. He was sent flying into a light post, which bent from the impact and fell over. After making sure he wouldn't get up, Spike ran back to Twilight.

Cole and Zeke were already there. Zeke standing by her and Cole kneeling next to her. Spike came up to her and knelt down as well. He looked at where she was shot. It was bleeding pretty badly.

Cole recovered from the shock and said, "We need to find you some help. We need get-" he stopped as Twilight held up a hand.

"Hold on. I have some healing magic," she told them. She focused her magic on the wound. After a few seconds the bullet came out and after a minute or two the wound started to heal. She inspected the area where the wound was. Then slowly stood up and felt to see if the pain was gone. When she was satisfied that it was gone, she looked at the guys and smiled.

They looked at her wide-eyed and slightly slack-jawed. Spike finally asked, "How did you do that? I mean, I know it was a healing spell, but they are usually for small injuries. Yeah, your special talent is magic and since becoming an alicorn you have more magic and it's more powerful, but I don't think even then it could heal that so quickly."

"I think it was a combination of my alicorn magic and the effects from the blast. I think it enhanced some of my spells, so a healing spell for a cut could heal a bullet wound. Plus it just went into my side, it didn't hit anything," she explained.

Cole smiled with relief. He looked around and noticed the people start to try and open the crate of food. He had a several thoughts. 'There's a lot of food here. Probably enough to feed the five of us for a few weeks, maybe more. If I attack a couple people in the crowd the others will probably scatter. We will have the food all to ourselves, but some them might starve,' he debated over it and decided against it. 'No, I won't be like the Reapers and take what little they have for myself. Even if it's to help my friends, they wouldn't appreciate what I did to others to do it. Especially the girls.'

They split into two groups, each going to one of the crates, and started to open them. While they worked, Twilight felt an odd sensation. It felt incredibly warm, not uncomfortably so, but it was so unexpected it took her by surprise. It felt similar to the other instances, except that it felt good, where as the others felt either bad or like jolts. She wondered what it could mean, but shrugged and continued opening the boxes.

Trish walked over to them and said, "Thank you two for getting that food down and taking those guys down." She looked at Twilight and saw the blood on her clothes. Her eyes widened, "Are you okay? You have blood all over you." She took a closer look at where it was, but saw no wound.

"Yes, I'm fine. I was able to heal myself," she told her.

"You can heal yourself?" she asked. "Is that what the blast did to you?"

"That's part of it," Twilight said. "I'll tell you later," she added noticing one of the big TVs being jacked by the Voice of Survival.

"Take a look at this Empire City," the image on the screen changed to Twilight and Cole standing next to each other. "This image was taken from a surveillance camera near ground zero. They ruined our city, our lives. So if someone from your family died now you know who to blame. If you know anything about these people let me know. We need to get word out on these terrorists. Whoever they are we are going to make them pay."

As Trish walked away Twilight was overcome with emotion. She felt sad, angry, shocked, and ...joy? Sad that Cole's relationship ended. Angry that Trish wouldn't trust or even hear him out. Shocked that she would just end it like that. Why was she feeling joy? Her friends heart was just broken, she shouldn't be feeling anything like that. She was so out of it she didn't noticed that Zeke had left until someone hit her with a rock.

She grunted, "Ow. What was that?"

Spike shouted, "Hey! You leave her alone." He was about to find who had hit her, but Twilight put a hand on his shoulder and shook her head. "But, Twilight they-"

Cole spoke up, "Don't, Spike. You'd just be giving them another reason to hate us."

She smiled, "I'll be fine, Spike. I can heal myself, remember? Besides it's not anything serious."

"Let's get out of here. Me and Zeke are going to try and leave. We are going to Stampton Bridge to try and leave the city. You want to come?" he asked.

Twilight and Spike looked around and answered simultaneously, "Yes."

As they headed to their destination they climbed on to the buildings to avoid the rocks being thrown at them. They jumped from building to building towards the bridge.

Escape

As they headed toward the bridge, Cole got a call from Zeke. "Listen man, I'm almost at the bridge. Since everyone hates you and Twilight's guts, we gotta get outta town, pronto-like," Zeke told them.

"We'll be there soon. And Zeke - thanks for having my back," Cole said.

Zeke chuckled nervously, "Sure man, I ain't about to do anything to piss you off. See ya." He ended the call.

Cole sighed. Twilight looked livid. "Look, Twilight I don't really blame him for being nervous. I had that package and now I have electric powers. Until I earn his trust back, he is going to be on edge, but at least he's willing to help me," he soothed.

She calmed down, but was still angry, "You shouldn't have to earn his trust back. You didn't do anything wrong. I don't remember everything that happened that day, but you didn't know what was in that package. Right, Spike?"

"I don't know Twilight. Him just having the package with the bomb that caused this is pretty suspicious. I trust you, however, Twilight, so if you believe Cole, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt," Spike said.

She sighed, "I guess, since you weren't there that's all I can really ask for."

Cole smiled at them, "That's more than enough. Thank you both."

When they got near the bridge they descended back to the street. Zeke ran up to them. "Stampton Bridge fastest way out of here. If you can get us past those baton-wielding goons, that is," Zeke said.

"We're getting out of here, one way or another. Follow my lead," Cole told them.

They walked up to the blockade and blended into the crowd. Cole had a decision to make. 'We are going to have to get past those riot cops if we are to get out of here. If I fry a couple of the guards from inside of the crowd, I could probably start a riot. Keep the heat off of us, but then a lot of people will get the hell kicked out of them.' Cole thought about it and dismissed the idea. 'I'm already on thin ice with the people in the city, Zeke, and Spike. If I do that then they'll have all the more reason to hate me. Plus, Twilight trusts me. I'm not going to betray that, just to make things easier on me.' Just the thought of betraying Twilight's trust disgusted Cole so much it left a bad taste in his mouth.

"Right," his mind made up Cole strode forward, Twilight and Spike close behind him, while Zeke hung back. As they got closer they charged at the guards. Cole charged his electric blades and used a blade to hit one guard each, they were rammed into the gate. Twilight shot beams to scatter them and knock them out, she hit two of them and they dropped like a ton of bricks. Spike ran at the nearest guard and punched him through the protective face plate he was wearing, he then swung his tail around to hit the guard standing next to him. The last two were taken down by a size-able rock that was dropped on one of their heads and a bolt to the other's head.

"Okay now that that's done. I'll charge the power source, so we can move on," Cole said. He aimed at the device next to the gate and shot several bolts at it. When all of the lights were green the gate rose. As they ran forward, they saw guards standing on the containers and jumped behind the barricades for cover. They saw Zeke trying to shoot them, but with all of the armor they had on it didn't do much.

They took the guards down with quick beams and bolts. Cole looked at her as they moved forward, "How come you keep using different ways to attack?"

"If I don't change it up they might learn how to deal with my attacks," Twilight answered.

"I highly doubt they could come up with a counter measure, but if it helps you then keep at it," Cole said.

As they got where the guards were, they started to pass the containers. They barely went a few inches before jumping back to avoid the turret fire.

"How the hell are we going to get past that?" Zeke asked.

"Like this," Twilight answered. She teleported behind the turret-man, charged her magic into her hand and brought it down onto the man's head. The man fell limp on the turret.

They walked from behind the shipping containers. Cole smiled at her, "Nice."

Twilight blushed at his smile. She could feel her heart hammering. She wondered why he made her feel so flustered.

They turned and headed to the exit. As they neared the stacked containers, they decided to climb them, in case there were more turrets. When they looked over the edge they saw that they were right to be cautious. There was a turret on each side of the boxes.

"I'll drop on top of one of them and you take the other," Cole said to Twilight.

She was about to nod when Spike asked, "Hey Twilight, can I do it?"

She hesitated for a moment, but then relented, "Alright. Just be careful, okay?"

"Yeah, I'll be careful," Spike nodded to Cole and they positioned themselves above each turret-man.

They jumped over the turrets. Cole gathered electricity into his fists. He slammed them into the ground and sent a shock wave across the area, which sent the guard flying into the fences. When Spike reached the peak of his jump he blew green fire around himself and, as he fell, spun himself bringing the emerald flames closer around him. He slammed into the ground and sent the guard across the yard, looking slightly charred. The gun was red hot and wouldn't be used against them again.

Cole and Zeke walked up to him, grinning, "That was cool, Spike," Cole said.

"Cool? That was downright awesome!" Zeke exclaimed.

Spike blushed a little at their praise, but puffed out his chest. "It was nothing."

Twilight rolled her eyes, smiling, "Nice job, Spike."

They turned toward the second gate. Cole charged the panel and raised it.

They walked through it and heard a great deal of gunfire. Zeke turned to Cole, "Hey man, you should try and hang from those containers and try shootin' 'em. It will make you a harder target."

He nodded and did as Zeke suggested. He took out the guards on top of the containers with well aimed bolts to the head. He pulled himself onto it and shot the last guard that was out in the open. The were more turrets just behind the containers. He headed to the one on the left. He saw Twilight climbing to get a vantage of the other turret. Cole ran around the corner and charged at the guard and punch his lights out. Twilight jumped from where she was, and concentrated her magic into her foot. She then brought it down on the guards head and was slammed to the ground.

As they continued forward, they saw another turret on top a container. Spike jumped onto it and charged toward the turret-man. He smashed through the barricade and hit him in the stomach. He noticed one last turret and jumped at it, blowing a stream of fire at the gun to melt it. Before it melted, the gunpowder was heated up and blew up. The explosion knocked the guard back, knocking him out.

They walked up to the gate as Cole opened it. "Hey man, head to the quarantine station! That's our ticket out of here!" Zeke called.

Before they could move, the people that were at the front gate rushed past them. As they got to the middle of the area, the four of them witnessed a horrifying scene unfold.

There was a wall of razor wire and machine guns blocking passage across the bridge. The guns opened fire on the people trying to get across. Zeke and Spike rushed forward and smashed in the gate leading to the Decontamination Unit. They both fell headlong into the harbor.

Cole quickly picked Twilight up, who was petrified, and moved faster than he knew he was able to. He jumped across the gap and into through the doorway on the other side. Once inside the two of them were greeted by name. Cole questioned how the hell she knew their names. He figured she knew his because she was part of the government, but Twilight was from another world.

The woman, an FBI agent named Moya, answered that they found the surveillance video from before the blast. She had waited for them there figuring they would want to escape and knew they had powers. She then explained that her husband John had been assigned to infiltrate the First Sons. A shadowy group that were working on a project called the "Ray Sphere." The device was designed to drain the neuro-electric energy from a group of people and focus it into an individual.

The night of the blast was when she lost contact with John and ,despite her connections, she was losing hope. However she found them, believing that she could trust them, ready to make them an offer. They return to the city, find the Ray Sphere and John, and she'll get them out of the quarantine and clear their names. The whole thing surrounding the Ray Sphere sounded crazy to Cole, but he was suddenly a human light socket and connected to the woman in his arms. Not to mention she was an alicorn with a dragon as a brother. So maybe he should give her the benefit of the doubt.

A hatch opened up behind them, leading to the bottom of the bridge. To keep her head from hitting the edges, Cole pulled Twilight's head forward and jumped down the hatch.

As Twilight and Cole fell through the opening, she noticed someone missing. Once Cole had set her down, she turned to him and asked, "Did you see what happened to Spike? After seeing so many people die-" the words caught in her throat as she thought back to that horrific moment. "I probably would have died too if you hadn't picked me up and charged through the gunfire."

He placed a hand on her shoulder, "He charged the gate that led to the Decontamination Unit with Zeke. They fell into the river. I'm sure they are fine." He paused and asked, "Was that the first time you've seen death?"

Twilight shook her head, "I've seen a funeral taking place and we have predators so death isn't a foreign concept, but that's nature. What happened back there was nothing more than slaughter," she said.

Cole could feel her shaking. He pulled her into a hug, "I'm sorry you had to see that, but unfortunately that's part of this world. However, you have my word that I will do my best to keep something like that from happening again."

As she stood there in his arms, Twilight realized something, 'I'm in love with Cole.' She felt warmth wash over her as she made that realization. At the same time she felt bad, he just came out of a good relationship. She decided that she wouldn't tell him how she felt, at least not yet. She reluctantly got out of his arms. She looked up at him and smiled, "I feel a bit better. Thank you, Cole."

He felt his heart ache as he looked at her tear stained smile. It broke his heart to see this girl, so full of love and friendship, crying. Even if she can take care of herself, if what he assumed (from what she told him about her world) was correct, she comes from a world from either little conflict or conflict that is nothing like what happens in his world. He vowed again, this time to himself, that he would do his best to protect the woman in front of him.

He smiled back at her, "Let's get back to land."

At that moment Moya called Cole, "Because of the riot topside, this is the only way back into the city. Given our new 'partnership', I've cloned your phone's frequency. I've got a lock on your GPS locator, and I can hear every word you say."

Twilight scowled. "Wonderful," she said sarcastically.

"Right let's get out of here," Cole said. He looked around for a way to get back. Seeing the poles that were only being held up by rusty hooks, he shot them. He shot all of the ones he could reach. "There, that should help get us across." He leapt to the poles, Twilight right behind him. They ran across the pipes under the bridge.

As they got closer Cole saw a couple of Reapers on the platform in front of, them busting the pipes that were under the bridge. 'I see some kerosene cans near them, if I shoot them I won't have to directly deal with the Reapers, but it could kill them and I just promised Twilight that I would try my best to not let people die. Even if they are bastards, I'm going to try and limit the amount of death she has to witness,' he thought. So, with that, he took aim at the Reapers and took them out from a distance without hitting the kerosene. When they got to the platform, he checked to see if they were alive. They were just unconscious.

Twilight looked at him, smiling, "I'm glad you didn't kill them, but if you have to choose between killing them and saving innocent people, please save the people, even if you have to kill the bad guys."

Cole nodded, "Of course. Come on." They turned away from the Reapers and walked to the side. "It looks like the only way to the other side is to sidle across this pipe." He looked around the corner and added, "Be careful there are some pipes spraying some kind of gas down."

They got on to the pipe and slowly sidled across the thin metal, carefully avoiding the gas. When they got to the end of the pipe, Cole saw a wire and spoke to Twilight, "Looks like we are going to have to jump to that and swing ourselves across." He jumped first and grabbed the wire, then moved forward a little so she could get on. He looked over just in time to see her barely miss the cable. Cole reached his hand out and grabbed her hand, "Are you okay, Twilight?"

"Yes Cole, I'm fine. Will you help me up?" she asked.

"Alright, I'm going to swing you forward. Be ready to grab the wire, okay?" Cole told her. At her nod he started to swing himself back and forth. When got a good momentum going he pulled Twilight up with all of his strength. She grabbed the wire as she got near it. They let go of each others hand and quickly grabbed the cable with their other hand. They swung to the platform and once they were above it dropped down.

Moya called, "Cole, Twilight, the water pressure is dropping from the main running under the bridge. What's happening down there?"

"Some Reapers were busting up some pipes," he answered.

"Interesting," she said, "I'll see what I can find. You two worry about getting to the city." As the call ended, they went about shooting the poles down.

They jumped to the pipe. When they landed on it one side busted. Twilight jumped to the nearest pole, while Cole jumped to the next one. He grabbed the bottom ring that went around the light at the end. He pulled himself up on to the pole.

"Cole, I see a platform with some Reapers on it. I'm going to teleport to it and take them out, while you head over there," Twilight told him.

"Okay Twilight, just be careful," he said.

"Of course," she disappeared in a flash.

As Cole made his way through the broken pipes, Moya contacted him again, "Don't forget whose holding your reins, you two. You find John and the Ray Sphere, and I get you out of there, no questions asked. But if you double-cross me, or do something stupid, I will throw you both into a hole so deep that you won't even know which way is up. Understand?"

Cole, rolling his eyes and smirking, thought, 'I highly doubt that would be a problem for Twilight.' He said to her, "Yes, I understand. Though I doubt Twilight would like me double-crossing you and I highly doubt she would let me do anything stupid. She's so smart and analytical that she would know a stupid idea from a smart one."

"Don't get smart with me, Cole." With that she ended the call.

When he got to the platform he saw Twilight standing over two unconscious Reapers. She looked over as he landed on the platform.

She smiled at him, "Hey. I took care of them."

"Nice job, Twilight," Cole complimented. "Well, there's the city. I think these pipes are going to fall as well, so you teleport or fly over and I'll meet you over there."

"Okay," she said. She spread her wings and flew across, with Cole following behind her.

When they got back on solid land Spike and Zeke ran up to them.

"Cole! Twilight!" they called.

"Man, I'm glad to see the two of you are okay," Zeke said.

Spike ran to Twilight and hugged her, "I'm so glad your not hurt."

Twilight smiled and hugged him back, "I'm fine, Spike. You can thank Cole that I'm alive. I was just standing there paralyzed, but Cole picked me up and ran through the opening you two made."

He looked at him, "Thank you, Cole."

Cole smiled at him, "It was no problem, Spike. Speaking of the opening, nice going on that you two."

"Hell, we lived through the fall, no problem. But gettin' back to shore, well, let's just say I'm no Michael Phelps," Zeke said.

"Yeah, that's an understatement," Cole joked.

"Hey, take it easy Lightning Rod. So how the hell'd you guys live through that? Bullets flyin' everywhere. I figured the two of you were goners. I mean, don't get me wrong I hoped the two of you were okay, but that was crazy," Zeke said.

"Let's all head home. We'll fill you guys in on the way," Cole said.

Mysterious Signals Medical Emergency

"The thing in the package was called a Ray Sphere. It drains the neuro-electric energy in the area and concentrates it into an individual," Twilight explained.

Cole stared at her, "I thought that you were out of it during her explanation."

"Oh, I heard her, it just didn't register yet because of the shock," she said.

Zeke gasped, "I knew it! Every word of what I've been saying is true. A secret organization is working for the government to work on the Ray Sphere. Now it all makes sense."

Cole said, "If you don't calm down you're going to hurt yourself."

"That Ray Sphere must dish out powers to whoever uses it. You need bring that thing back here," Zeke said.

"Yeah, I could use a side-kick," Cole said.

"No way in hell. Zeke Jedediah Dunbar is his own man," he declared.

"Your middle name is Jedediah?" Cole asked.

"Yes it is, after my grandfather. For a man his size he was strong. I don't really know where Zeke comes from, but I'm pretty sure-" Cole interrupted him.

"You need to take a bath, and get some rest. Me and Twilight have some things we need to take care of," he told Zeke.

"You stay and get some rest too Spike," seeing him about to protest she cut him off. "No, it's late. You should get some rest."

He was still about to protest, but they fell short when he yawned. "Fine," he relented begrudgingly.

She held out her hand, "Let's go Cole." She unfurled her wings and prepared to take off.

"Hang on. How come you didn't fly or teleport past the underside of the bridge?" Zeke asked.

"I didn't fly because of how dangerous it was, plus it was a confined space. Wings are very sensitive, even if I healed the wound, I might not be able to fly for a while. I didn't teleport because I didn't know what the lay out of the bridge was and I could of teleported us into something. I didn't teleport to the road because I didn't know if anyone was there. It also would have tired me out to teleport so far," she explained. "I'm going to fly now because we are in an open area."

After hearing her explanation Cole hesitated, but took her hand.

As she took off, Moya called them, "I've got some leads for you guys. I've uploaded the coordinates to your phone. When you're in position, call me." She hung up.

"Not that I'm ungrateful, but I could of gotten there fine myself. Is there a reason for this?" Cole asked.

"Not really. Just thought I'd show you the city from the air and what it's like to fly without a machine under you," she said.

After a moment, Twilight staggered. Cole looked up at her, "Are you OK?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. That was weird though. I had a sort of vision. I saw you using more powerful versions of your powers," she told him. She looked down and saw two Reapers on a roof. "Let's try something out. I want you to hit one with your shockwave. Then I'm going to try something."

"Sure, alright," he said, somewhat worried about her change of tone. They headed down to where the Reapers were and silently landed behind them. They snuck up on them and Cole fired a shockwave at one. The Reaper was sent flying and slammed into the ground, before he could get up Cole hit him with a bolt. "Now what?" he asked, looking back at Twilight.

As she put up a shield up to keep the other Reaper away from them, she held one hand to his chest and the other to his head. She focused her magic into her hands and siphoned it into Cole. As she did some electricity sparked from her hands and went to him.

He felt warmth course through him as her magic went in to his body. He saw a flash of him using the shockwave, but this time with a different effect.

She lowered the shield to let Cole try out the change she made.

He aimed at the other Reaper and shot a shockwave at him. When it hit the Reaper instead of just being sent flying he floated slowly through the air as if the gravity for him was turned off. After a minute or two the effects wore off and he fell. Before they could get up Twilight shot him with a beam.

Cole looked at her, "What did you do?"

"I'm not entirely sure. I think that's how I'm connected to you. I can enhance your powers, but I don't think I can do a bunch at once. I can do a few, but after that I'll have to wait a while. I'm not sure how long I'll have to wait. It will probably vary depending on the power and how strong the enhancement is," Twilight explained.

"Well, that will be helpful," he said. "What else can you do at the moment?"

"I can enhance your lightning bolt to where it will recharge you a little with every successful hit. Your electric drain, so you can absorb electricity faster. Increase the amount of electricity you can store in your fist to increase the damage you deal. Same with your blades. And last I can increase the blast radius of your thunder drop," she listed off. "I think I could enhance one more at the moment."

Cole thought about it, "How about the lightning bolt upgrade? It sounds like it would be helpful in a bind."

Twilight repeated the process she did before. After she was done, they headed toward one of the locations that Moya had indicated.

When they reached the location. Cole called Moya, "OK, we're here. What do you want us to do?"

"I'm getting some strange interference from the rooftop not far from you two. You need to find out what its purpose and origin is. I'm not entirely sure what you're looking for, but it's probably some kind of transmitter. Let me know when you find it," she instructed.

Twilight looked at him, "So, you want to fly, teleport, or just climb up there?"

"How about we save flying for long distance and teleporting for when you have a clear idea of where we are going or in case of an emergency. We'll climb this since it's right here," Cole told her.

Twilight nodded and they set off to climb the designated building. After jumping and climbing from airduct to airduct, they reached the roof. Once there, they saw satellite dish with some device attached to it.

Cole contacted Moya, "We found the source. There's a satellite dish with what looks like a portable audio device attached to it."

"See if you can use your phone to listen to it," she told him.

Cole walked up to the device and took the audio file from the it and put it into his phone. When he played it all they heard was some weird static. "Sounds like nothing, but garbage to me," he said.

"That's because it's an encrypted message, but I can't break it. See if you can't find another one near you," she instructed them.

"Hang on I have an idea," he said to them. He closed his eyes and focused. He felt every source of electricity around him, but he also felt something else. He could feel the electricity from it, but it felt different. He pointed in the direction it was coming from, "There's one that way. It feels kind of far though."

Twilight looked at him, "You can tell where they are?"

Cole said, "It's faint, but I can feel the direction it's in."

She unfurled her wings, "So, since it's far do you want to fly over there?"

He nodded and took her hand. She took off towards the direction Cole had indicated. Every once in a while he would check to see if they were headed in the right direction. When they got close, Twilight descended to a roof. When they landed they saw another satellite with the same device attached to it. Cole took the file and placed it into his phone. They heard the same strange static as before.

Cole contacted Moya again, "Did you hear it? It's the same thing as before."

"Look for more of those files. I'm running them through a decryption device. I've almost deciphered it, but I don't have enough data."

He concentrated again and felt another pulse. "That way," he told Twilight.

They took off toward the last dead drop. When they got near it, they noticed Reapers patrolling the rooftop.

He looked down at them. None of the Reapers were near the edge. He looked back up at her, "Hey Twilight, I want you to fly up to a good height and drop me on top of those Reapers."

She looked down at him nervously, "Are you sure?" She knew he could survive the fall and would even walk away from it without injury, but it still worried her to just drop him. Especially dropping him in between crazy people with guns ready to shoot anyone.

He smiled at her, "Yes, I'm sure. Don't worry I'll be fine."

She nodded hesitantly and flew high above the Reapers. When they were a good height above the them, she dropped Cole. As he fell he gathered as much electricity in his hands as he could. When he reached the ground he brought his fists down and sent the Reapers flying in several different directions. He took out three of the five Reapers. He dove behind the air vents as the remaining Reapers fired at him. When they stopped firing at him, he crawled to the edge of the vent and looked around the corner to see why. He saw them aiming there guns to the sky and shooting at something. He felt panic and anger course through himself as he realized that they were aiming at Twilight. He jumped out from behind the vents and charged at them. He gathered as much electricity as he could manage into his gigawatt blades and drove the blades into the Reapers backs. They flew off of the roof they were on and landed on the one below them.

He stood there breathing heavily as Twilight descended next to him, "Are you okay, Cole?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Are you? They didn't hit you?" he asked.

She shook her head, "I didn't give them an easy target. I weaved back and forth to throw off their aim. Come on let's get this last one."

As they walked to the dish, Cole wondered about what just happened. 'What the hell was that? I was so pissed that they tried to hurt Twilight and scared that they might succeed.' He put it to the back of his mind as they reached the satellite dish. He retrieved the last file and contacted Moya, "That's the last file."

"I'm uploading a decryption algorithm to your phone. You should be able to listen to the messages then," Moya told them.

A second later they heard a man's voice, "I couldn't keep Kessler from setting the Ray Sphere off. It took out five or six square blocks. The damn thing killed who knows how many. I found the Ray Sphere in the blast crater, next to some kids. I don't know if they were alive or dead, but I didn't have time to check. I'm going to find somewhere to lay low. If there is anyone listening to things, before Kessler finds me, I need extraction immediately."

"You get anything from that?" Cole asked.

"I can't believe it. That was John. He must have been using dead drops to communicate to his handlers. There are probably more of them scattered across Empire City. The two of you should look for them; they might tell us where he took the Ray Sphere," Moya instructed.

"We find John and the Ray Sphere, and we're out of here, right?" he asked.

"I know what the deal is, Cole," she said, somewhat annoyed.

"Just checking," he said.

"Should I fly us over to the next location?" Twilight asked.

Cole shook his head, "Let's head there on foot. No offense, but I don't want to get reliant on your different ways to get around. If I get used to them, it could make me -us- weak. You could lose that muscle you gained."

She nodded, "Right. Let's go."

When they reached their destination, Cole contacted Moya.

"An EMT in the area you're in just called me. His makeshift clinic has been overrun by Reapers and he needs your help," she relayed.

"I can't solve all of the problems in the world, Moya," Cole said. Twilight looked at him, surprised.

"Maybe not, but he might return the favor if you help him," Moya said, ending the call.

"You weren't going to leave him to those guys, were you?" Twilight asked.

Cole looked at her slightly shocked that she would ask. He shook his head, "Of course not. I'm not going to leave someone to them. He's just a bystander and I'm not going to break my promise to you. It's just that, like I said, we can't help everyone. There's a limit to how much we can do."

"Okay, I see what you mean. It just kind of sounded like you weren't going to help him." She hung her head and said, "I'm sorry for doubting you would help."

He smiled at her, "It's fine. I probably should have been more clear." They stood there for a minute and then headed to where the emergency worker was.

When they reached him, he was frantic and angry, "My clinic down the street keeps being attacked by Reapers. Would you please take care of them?"

"Of course we will," Twilight told him.

As she turned to head to the clinic, the man looked at her somewhat skeptically. Cole noticed this and assured him, "Don't worry she's stronger than she looks."

As they strode toward the clinic three Reapers charged at them. Twilight ran at them, magic glowing in her hands. The Reapers stopped and aimed their guns at her. Just before they were able to shoot, a bright light blinded them. As their eyes tried to adjust from the sudden flash, the left most Reaper was knocked back with a blast of magic. The right one was frozen where he stood. The last Reaper was hit a by magic filled kick to his back. The kick sent him flying and landed several feet away. As the Reaper tried to get up he felt electricity course through him as Cole brought his fist down on his head.

He walked up to her, "Nice one."

She grinned, "Thanks."

They split as the last two Reapers on the clinic opened fire on them. Twilight kept their attention on her as she fired bolts of magic randomly at them from behind a car. As she kept them busy Cole climbed onto the building as quietly as he could. When he was on the roof he snuck up behind the Reapers. He put his hands on the back of the Reapers heads and sent electricity through them electrocuting the gunners.

As they met up in front of the clinic the EMT ran to them. "Thank you. Both of you. I'll be able to continue helping people now," he said.

"There's more people out there who need help. Keep a look out for anyone," Moya said.

As the call ended, they started to walk. Twilight asked, "What should we do now?"

"Let's head back and get some rest. We've been running around all night and it's morning. We should also let Spike know that your okay," Cole said.

"Right. Let's head back and rest," she agreed.

They headed back to where they had started to call home. Looking forward to some time to relax.

Blood Trail

Day 16 after The Blast...

Cole awoke and got up from the lawn chair he was sleeping in. He stretched and walked over to where the others were sleeping. Zeke and Spike were sleeping on the armchairs, while Twilight slept soundly on the couch. They had all insisted that she should take it. The armchairs could recline so Spike and Zeke could still lay down and Cole could sleep fine sitting up. She had put up a slight resistance, but they managed to convince her to sleep there. He looked at her, smiling, 'She looks really cute when she's asleep.' He slowly frowned, 'Where are these thoughts coming from? Yes, I like Twilight, but I still have feelings for Trish... Right?' His thoughts were interrupted by a noise behind him. He turned and saw Spike getting up.

He looked at Cole, "Good morning."

"Good morning, Spike," he said.

"So any plans for today?" he asked.

"Moya has another place for us to head to," Cole answered.

"Do you think I could go with you this time?" Spike asked.

Cole thought about it, "I don't know, having three of us might attract even more attention than normal."

"Well, can I go with you instead of Twilight? I mean she's still asleep, so can I?" he pleaded

"I'm not sure she would like me taking you out there," Cole said. "It would be a good idea to switch things up to keep them from coming up with anything to counter us though. We should still try and convince Twilight of this."

As if hearing them Twilight started to stir. She got up and saw them. She smiled sleepily at them, "Good morning."

Cole could feel heat on his face. "Good morning, Twilight," they said simultaneously.

Spike nudged Cole. He looked down at the dragon-boy and saw a slight smirk on his face. Cole cleared his throat, "Um, Twilight there's something we wanted to talk to you about."

"Yeah, what is it?" she asked.

"We, well Spike brought it up but, we thought that it would be a good idea for him to come with me today," he said.

"Uh-huh," she said sleepily, laying back down. After a moment, what Cole asked sunk in and she shot up. "What!? You want to take him out there?!" she shouted.

Zeke woke with a jerk at her shouting. The recliner shot up nearly knocking him out of it. "What the hell? What's with all of the shouting?" he asked, annoyed he was woken up.

"Twilight's upset that I wanted to take Spike out on our missions for Moya," Cole explained. "I knew she was going to react like that."

She looked at him, fuming slightly, "Then why did you even ask?"

"Because I think that changing up who goes on them would throw the enemy off. They won't know which of you comes with me and they won't be able to prepare to combat one of you," Cole said.

Twilight's eyes narrowed, "You say that like your always going to go. Why?"

Cole raised an eyebrow, "Because neither of you know the city that well. Even if you've been here two weeks you haven't traveled to all of the city yet."

Twilight blinked, then sighed, "Okay, I see what you mean. But please watch out for him."

"Of course," he said. He looked at Spike, "Let's go."

At his nod they jumped off of the roof to the ground. They headed to the location of their next task.

Cole contacted Moya when they reached their destination, "Alright Moya, we're here. Now what?"

"Brandon Carey, an electrician, didn't check in last night. He was last seen in an alley. He's a rather important person, so you need to find him," she said.

"She always so bossy?" Spike asked.

As Cole snorted, Moya asked, very annoyed, "Cole who hell is that with you?"

Smiling slightly, he said, "This is Spike, brother and number one assistant of Twilight Sparkle."

"He sounds like a kid. Why is a kid with you?" she asked, starting to get angry.

"He's fourteen Moya and much stronger than you think," Cole told her. "Now we are going to do what you instructed us to do," he said ending the call.

"Should you have done that?" Spike asked, surprised and worried.

"She'll probably be pissed, but I don't think she'll do anything. We've done what we were told and we are going to do what she tells us, so she doesn't really have anything to complain about," Cole said.

When they reached the alley, they walked to the back of it. Once there they saw an awful sight. "There's just a dead woman here, Moya. There isn't a man." Spike looked at the body, he seemed like he might be ill. However, he managed keep his composure as Moya and Cole conversed.

"That can't be right. Why would a woman be there?" she asked, still sounding slightly annoyed.

"Hang on. There's something I want to try," he said. He placed a hand on the woman's head. He saw a vision of Reapers attacking her and taking a man from her. When the man was gone they shot her. He stood up, holding a hand to his head, "Holy shit."

"What? Are you okay?" Spike asked, still slightly green.

"Yeah I'm fine Spike. I just had a sort of vision. This is Brandon's wife, Lynnae. He was taken by some Reapers," he said to them. He looked off to the side and saw something. "I can see some kind of phantom of someone running away from here."

"You mean like a ghost?" Spike asked nervously.

"No not a ghost Spike. I can just see where someone was headed," he explained.

"See if it will show you the way to what happened," she said.

"Follow me, Spike," Cole said.

When he nodded they set off following the trail Brandon had left. They ran out of the alley and across the street into another alley way. As they followed the trail through the back end of the alley they ran into a new type of Reaper. He was taller than the others and had a white coat instead of the usual red. He gathered energy around himself and pushed it forward, sending a shockwave at them. They jumped to the side before it hit them. Even then they felt the wave as it passed and pushed them back. Cole rolled when he hit the ground and shot a bolt at the Reaper. Before it hit the Reaper disappeared and reappeared across from where he was standing before.

"He can teleport? That's going to be a pain," Spike groaned.

"It doesn't seem like he can go very far though and with two of us it should be easier. So let's just keep on him," Cole said.

They ran in two different directions to force the Reaper to focus its attention on only one of them. Deciding Cole is the most dangerous he focuses his attention on him. He starts to shoot and sending shockwaves at him. Cole dodged the attacks, not striking back to be sure the Reaper had no reason to teleport as Spike snuck up behind the Reaper. He blew fire at his fists enveloping them in flames. Once directly behind the Reaper, Spike let out a low growl. The Reaper turned and Spike drove both his fists into the Conduit's torso. When they connected the Reaper was shot back against the wall, smoldering slightly.

Cole looked from the Reaper to Spike, "Whoa."

"It didn't seem like just punches would take him down, so I added my fire to it," he said, with a slight shrug.

"Considering the amount strength you seemed to use, it might have been enough, but better to be safe than sorry," Cole said.

After making sure the Reaper wouldn't get up they continued on their trek. They ran across a street and entered another alley. As the two walked through it, Zeke called, "Dude, pick up the freakin' phone."

"Hey, Zeke. Something up?" Cole asked.

"The Feds are what's up. Their watching us, I even saw one checking out the roof. He was eating a fresh apple. Where the hell did he get that?" Zeke asked.

Twilight's voice came through the phone, "It does seem pretty strange, Cole."

"Even still, if we want to get out of here, this is what we have to do," he said.

"Man, don't be dense. They're going to ride you as long as your useful, but when your not, you vanish," Zeke said, ominously.

"I think your brains been rotted by conspiracy theories," Cole said.

"I'm just tellin' you what's going to happen," he said.

They walked on through the alley. As they went farther in, the echo entered a power plant.

"What the heck is this?" Spike asked.

Before Cole could answer, Reapers started firing at them. They jumped behind some transformers for cover. They looked at each other and nodded. They ran out from their cover and headed toward them. Cole took aim at the Reapers on the platforms above them and shot them off. They fell to the ground unable to get up. As he did this Spike ran at the ones on the ground. He punched one into the fence, jumped to another and kicked them into a transformer. The transformer exploded from the impact and killed the Reaper that was kicked and one that was near it. Spike, however, didn't notice as he was going after the last Reaper. He dropped to the ground and slid as they opened fire on him. He swiped the Reapers feet from under him and when he was on the ground Spike brought his tail down across his chest.

Cole walked up to him, "Good job, Spike."

He beamed, "Thanks."

They went back to following Brandon's echo. It entered a substation. As they walked to it they saw another Reaper that was different from the usual. He had a gray coat and what looked like some kind of case attached to him. He was holding two explosives in it's hand. When the Reaper saw them he lit the explosives and they exploded, blowing them backward and destroying the substation.

"Why the hay did he do that?!" Spike asked, getting up.

"I don't know why he blew himself up, but I guess he wanted to destroy the substation," Cole said. "Ugh, damn."

"What's wrong?" he asked.

As Cole was about to answer him, Moya called, "The whole Neon District just went dark. What happened down there?"

"One of those crazy ass Reapers just blew himself and an entire substation up." He put a hand to his head, "Shit, it feels like there's a vice on my brain."

"Your body has electricity flowing through it, so it might be because of the lack of electricity around you. You need to find Brandon, if the power isn't restored we won't be able to stop the Reapers," she said.

"Right, let's keep following his echo. Come on Spike," Cole said.

The two followed Brandon's echo, Cole staggering slightly, to a manhole. They entered into the sewer.

Once in it Cole contacted Moya, "Okay, we tracked the echo to the sewers."

"In order to shut down the linear transformer underground, they must have needed Brandon's help," she said. "Find the transformer and get it back up and running. You'll need to re-establish the circuit if they've killed it."

"Right. Let's go Spike," he said.

Cole let the electricity run through his arms, so they could see by it. They jumped on the platform in front of them and then to the rail around the other pipes. They landed on the little island with the transformer on it.

"Alright. This must be what we are looking for," Cole said.

"So how are you going to connect them?" Spike asked.

"I'm going to use myself as a bridge to connect the two transformers and re-establish the circuit," he said. He walked up to it, jumped and grabbed the transformers. The electricity surged through him from one transformer to the other. After he dropped down he saw a vision of him doing several new things with his powers. "Did that just?" he wondered.

"Did it wh-" Spike was interrupted by someone nearby calling for help. They looked around and saw a man laying on the ground on the other side in front of a gate. Cole jumped over to him and charged electricity in his hands, he then lowered his hands. "Cole what are you doing?" he asked slightly worried about what he was doing.

Cole continued what he was doing and brought his hands down on the man. He gave the man a small shock, after he did the man got up feeling better. "Thank you. Hey Janet, are you back there? This guy's good, open the gate for us," the man called out. "The Reaper's need to be stopped. They're running around killing anyone they see. There's an electrician with them."

They walked through the gate and Spike said, "You could of explained what you were doing you know."

"Sorry, if I worried you, but I thought that it would be better to show you than try to explain it." He called Moya, "Transformers back on. Now what do we do?"

"The distribution substation needs to be restarted. To do that you need to charge the voltage regulator on the front of it. The power should turn back on after that," she said.

They headed across the walkway toward a group of people. Spike asked, "People actually live down here?"

"Yeah. They probably thought it was safe from Reapers or they didn't or couldn't live on the surface," Cole said. As they passed people he stopped to help everyone that was hurt. They thanked him for healing them. There were a few Reapers knocked out or injured on the ground around the camp. He walked up to them and restrained them to the floor. "There that should keep them from causing trouble."

"Whoa, you can restrain them too?" he asked.

"Yep. I can do something else, but I think that it kills them," Cole said, solemnly.

"Right, so you'll just avoid using it," Spike said.

Cole nodded and they headed forward. The only way they could get across the water was a thin pipe going from the ceiling across the area. As they headed forward, Zeke called, "Hey Cole, are you there?"

"Yeah Zeke what is it?" he asked.

"First off, I really wish Twilight had gone with you rather than Spike," Zeke said, rather nervously.

"Really? Why?" Cole asked.

"Because Trish came by to get her stuff. Didn't really talk to me, ignored Twilight completely of course. She didn't really care though, but I brought you up and Trish pretty much exploded. As soon as she went off about you, Twilight started yelling at her. Saying she shouldn't be treating you the way she has been. She knows that Trish's sister died during the explosion, but that you had nothing to do with it," Zeke explained. "Scared the hell out of me. Trish was one thing, but I haven't seen Twilight angry like that. I swear her hair caught fire for a second."

Cole felt a bit happy that Twilight stood up for him, but wish she hadn't done it like that. "Where is Twilight?" he asked.

"She's resting. She felt bad about losing her temper the way she did and laid down to cool off," Zeke said.

"Well if she wakes up tell her she'll see us when we're done. I think we're almost finished here," Cole said.

"Right," Zeke ended the call.

Cole sighed. He looked at Spike, "Do you know why she did that?"

"Why? She's your friend Cole. She doesn't like it when her friends are treated badly," Spike said. "Though, except for one time, I've never heard or seen her that angry. That was different than this though so it doesn't really count."

"What was the other time about?" he asked.

"Well, our friend Pinkie Pie has something she calls Pinkie Sense. Random things would happen with her body that seemed to predict the future," he said. "Of course Twilight couldn't just believe something like that, so she tried everything in her power to prove that what had happened before was just coincidence. It nearly drove her crazy trying to prove it was dumb luck that the things happened when Pinkie predicted it. Like I said that was different than this."

"So what do you think it means?" Cole asked.

"Probably that she feels differently toward you than her other friends," Spike said as they walked on. "She sure looks at you differently than them." He had a slight smirk as he said this. Cole was about to say something, but Spike cut him off, "She looks at you differently than she does Zeke too."

Cole felt somewhat uncomfortable about the direction the conversation was going, but he also felt rather good. His thoughts were interrupted when some Reapers attacked. They ran toward them. Spike punched one that was close, knocking him into the water. He turned and uppercut the next Reaper and followed it with a kick to his stomach. Cole shot bolts at the water the Reapers were in electrocuting them. He turned to the last one and punched him several times. After he went down Cole went over to each Reaper and restrained them.

As they went on with their journey, Moya called, "Are you two having problems finding your way through the sewer at all?"

"Not in the slightest. About four years ago, I got into urban exploration. I know these sewers as well as I know the city," Cole said.

They came to five platforms. On the first one there was an injured person, when they jumped over, Cole walked to him and healed him. Spike grabbed the man and jumped back. After he took the man back they jumped to the next platform. Cole grabbed the edge railing and pulled himself up. Spike, however, barely missed it and slid down the side of the platform onto a rail. He sidled around until he found a ladder and started to climb it.

"You okay?" Cole asked.

"Yeah just didn't get the rail is all," Spike said.

The pair continued across the platforms until they reached ground. As they walked forward they noticed a man behind a locked gate.

The man shouted at them, "Who are you? Did the Reapers see you?"

Spike smirked, "Yeah they saw us alright."

Cole chuckled, looking at the man, "We took care of them. We need to restart the substation."

"No way in hell! They will kill my wife. No one's getting through here," Brandon said.

"We need to get in there," Spike said.

"I'm not letting anyone in or out until she is safe. This gate's jammed up tight. You aren't getting through," he said.

Cole was getting slightly impatient, but couldn't blame him. 'Damn Reapers. They have this guy thinking that he is protecting his wife when they killed her the first chance they got. I still need to get in there though. I could fry him and open the gate that way or tell him the truth about Lynnae and hope he opens it,' he thought. He shook his head, 'I'm not going to kill him just so I can get through. He's just trying to protect the woman he loves.' His thoughts wandered to Trish and for a moment Twilight. He shook his head, "Brandon your wife, Lynnae, is dead. They killed her."

"How do you know our names?" he asked.

"I know it's hard to hear, but we saw the body. Nobody could do anything," Cole said somberly.

"Lynnae, I can't believe I trusted them. I'm so sorry," he said, sadly. He opened the gate, "You need to promise me that you'll kill them, all of them. I know what you can do."

"I'll take care of them," Cole said.

They walked through the door and continued on their way. When they were a good distance away, Spike asked, "Are you really going to kill them?"

"I'm not going to try and kill them. If they die from my attacks, I can't help that, but I will try to just take them out and restrain them," he said.

They finally reached the substation. "Alright time to bring this thing back online." He shot the voltage regulator with several bolts of electricity. When all of the lights turned green it started up again.

As they reached the surface the lights started turning on again.

"Good job. The North Beach's power is back. There are three more substations that are down. I'll mark them on your GPS as I locate them," she said.

Spike looked at Cole, "So should we head back for now?"

"Yeah, let's go and tell Twilight your fine. She's probably pretty worried," he said.

They made their way back home. Spike grumbling a little about taking care of himself.

High Ground Walk the Dogs Officer Down

They climbed onto the roof and saw Twilight sitting on the couch looking rather glum. Zeke looked over the arm of the chair he was in. "Hey man, you actually made good time. She just got up a little while ago."

Spike sat in the other chair, while Cole walked over and sat next to her. They sat there for several awkward minutes no one knowing what to say.

Cole decided to speak, "Are you okay, Twilight?"

She shook her head, "No, I feel terrible for saying what I did to Trish. I won't take back what I said about you, I meant that. But when I think about the way I addressed how her sister died, I feel like I was insensitive to her. I don't know what to do." Her eyes started to water.

Cole hesitated, not really knowing how to help Twilight. After a while, he put an arm around her. As he did she tensed, but relaxed after a minute, "I'm not really sure what you should do. However, if you feel that bad about it you could apologize. I know she probably won't listen, but you should try. If you don't you will keep feeling this way."

Twilight looked at him, slowly nodding, "You're right. I should and I will the next time I see her."

Cole wiped the tears from her eyes. "Good. I know you'll be able to do it and feel better afterwards." He got up, "So, are you up for going with me Twilight or should Spike come again?"

"No, I-I'll be fine. I can go, if you don't mind," she said.

"Of course I don't mind. I just want to make sure you're okay," he said. "Alright, Spike, Zeke, we'll be heading out."

Twilight got up and followed Cole to the edge. She grabbed Cole's hand and took off in the direction of their destination.

As they neared the location, Cole contacted Moya, "We're there, Moya. What do we do?"

"I want you to find and recharge the cell tower that's near your location," she said.

Twilight changed course and headed to the cell tower. "Afraid we might decide to bail?" Cole asked.

"You'll drop off of the grid without that tower. That can't happen," she said.

As they entered the blacked out area Cole felt the effects. "Damn it, vision's blurring."

"Are you okay, Cole?" Twilight asked, concerned.

"Yeah, we just need to get the power back on," he said.

They landed next to the cell tower and Cole went up to charge it. When it was charged Moya called, "Good. Your GPS will show you where to go to get the electricity back up and running. There are a lot of Reapers scattered across the area, so be careful."

"I'll be slaughtered by those guys. That tower drained me dry and I can hardly see in front of me," Cole said.

"You've got someone to help you out don't you? Just avoid them by staying on the roofs. There are emergency generators scattered across the rooftops if you have to fight," she said. "Contact me when you get into the sewer."

"I can put a shield around us if we need it," Twilight said. "Let's head there."

"Right," Cole said.

They started heading to the sewer entrance, jumping from roof to roof. They managed to avoid any contact with Reapers, except for a few bullets fired at them, but they were far enough away that they didn't have to bother with them. Twilight kept her wings down to keep them from getting clipped. When they neared the manhole, however, they had to jump behind cover to avoid the turret fire from a nearby truck. The turret concentrated fire on Cole and, while it did, Twilight teleported behind the Reaper. Once behind him, she froze him to the turret.

She walked up to Cole, "That should keep any other Reapers from using it."

"That was good thinking," he said. "Let's get in there and do this."

They walked to the manhole and entered the sewer.

Once inside they started to head to the transformer. Cole explained to Twilight what it was they needed to do, "I have to re-establish the circuit for the transformer and then recharge the voltage regulator on the distribution substation."

"So that's what you did with Spike?" she asked.

"We did a little more, but that was the main thing, yes," he said.

They walked forward, occasionally having to jump onto and walk across pipes, heading to the transformer. After several minutes they found it. Cole walked up to it and re-established the circuit. As he did he saw another vision of a new power. He turned to tell Twilight, as he did he saw her holding her hand to her head.

He walked over to her, "Hey, what's wrong?"

"Nothing, just seeing the enhancements I can do to your new power," she said. Then to herself, "So that feeling before was a new power."

"Right, we are connected and you can upgrade my powers," he said. "Then you felt that I got powers before?"

"Kind of. It felt the same, but I didn't see anything, so I wasn't sure what it was," she said.

"I guess that makes sense. It wasn't the kind of power that would really need to be upgraded. It was just healing, restriction, and draining," Cole said. "Not really much you can do with those."

"Draining?" Twilight questioned. "I thought you could already do that."

"I can drain it from people," he clarified.

Her eyes widened, "You mean you can drain the bio-electric energy from people?"

"Yes?" he said, unassuredly.

"But that kills people Cole! A persons nervous system runs off of neuro-electric pulses," Twilight exclaimed.

He placed his hands on her shoulders and looked her directly in the eyes. "Twilight calm down. I'm never going to use that ability. I'm not going to take a person's life just for power," he assured.

She relaxed slightly, "O-okay. Sorry for overreacting."

Cole shook his head, "It's fine."

"No, it isn't. I should have known that you wouldn't use that ability," she said, dejectedly.

"It's fine, Twilight. You were just worried," he said.

As they continued forward there were pipes leading to a blocked entryway. They jumped on to the pipes and walked across. When Cole got close he tossed a shock grenade at the blockade. As the grenade blew the obstacle away Zeke called.

"Hey man, people keep going on about you delivering that bomb. Even George is runnin' mouth about it," he said.

"George? He's the person who called me and said that the package was burning up all over his desk, wanting me to beeline it. So I get it and head off," Cole said, somewhat angrily.

"Well, he said that you had to deliver it. That no one else could," Zeke said.

"The job was awful in the first place. Pay was horrible and when I get there someone calls to tell me to open the package. Then next thing I know, I'm waking up in a crater," he said, annoyed. He sighed and said with a slight smile, "Well, it didn't end too bad, I guess. Made two new friends from it."

Twilight felt a slight pang at being called friend. She was glad he consider her as such, but wish he felt more for her. She smiled, despite these feelings.

"Really, that's what you focus on? I mean, yeah they're great friends, but you have electric powers now. Anyway forget about George and those idiots. I'll cover for ya, man. They're just a bunch of gossip queens anyway," Zeke said.

They ran into some Reapers and Cole decided to test his new power some more. He threw several grenades at them. They started to run from them, but Twilight made shield around them and shrunk it, dragging the Reapers toward the grenades. When they detonated all that could be seen in the force field was electricity and dust. She lowered it and the Reapers fell to the ground. Cole walked up to them and checked to see if they were alive or not. When he noticed that they were he restrained them. They continued heading to the substation. As they passed a power box he recharged his energy. As they walked forward they had to duck behind cover to avoid the fire from three turrets.

"There are too many of them, you won't be able to get close to them without being torn apart. I'll teleport behind one and take it out. You could use your grenades you can take the other two out pretty easily," Twilight said.

"Good idea," Cole said. "I'll take the sides and you take the middle one."

Twilight disappeared in a flash of violet and Cole threw two grenades at the left turret. They exploded and the Reaper went down. Twilight reappeared behind the center Reaper. She placed a hand on him and sent an electric current through his body knocking him out. He threw another grenade at the right turret it exploded and sent the Reaper out from the turret, but it didn't take him out. Before he could get back behind the turret, Cole hit the Reaper with two bolts.

After the Reapers were dealt with, Cole joined Twilight in the middle and they resumed their trek through the sewer. After a few minutes of walking they heard a strange guttural shout coming from in front of them. As they neared the sound one of the bomber Reapers charged at them. Cole shot the Reaper before it got to close, as the bolt hit the Reaper he exploded. Twilight stared forward wide-eyed at what had just happened. Before she could react further another Reaper ran at them. Twilight reacted somewhat instinctively and shot him with a beam causing him to explode as well.

She stared at where the Reaper had been standing. "D-Did I ju-just-" her voice started to waver as what had happened started to sink in.

Cole stood in front of her and lightly put his hands on her shoulders, "Twilight, there was nothing we could have done. They had explosives strapped to themselves. I know it's hard to take, but we need to keep moving."

Twilight stood there silently shaking as she was registering what had just happened. After a moment she hugged Cole and cried into his chest. He stood there, slightly taken aback, but after a second he hugged her back. He just held her while she let everything out. When she started to calm down, he pulled back and looked at her. "I meant it Twilight. It wasn't your fault. You couldn't have done anything to prevent it," he told her.

She wasn't entirely convinced, but slowly nodded. Cole walked up to the substation and recharged it. When it restarted they left the sewer.

Once they reached the surface, Cole helped Twilight out of the sewer. As they returned, the lights were back on. Moya called as they got back, "Cole, I found out why the Reapers were busting the water pipes under the bridge. If they isolate the city's water system, they can pump their plague into everyone's home in the city. All the people who end up drinking that sludge will get sick or worse." She continued her report, "I've also got reports that Smith Fountain is polluted and a lot of people are already sick. Head over there and see if my intel is correct. If it is we'll figure out what we are going to do."

Cole looked at Twilight. She was still shaking from what happened. Deciding that it would be better to return home, Cole picked her up bridal style. Twilight let out a small *eep* and looked up at Cole in shock, but, after a minute, she laid her head against his chest. She still had tears running down her face, but had a slight blush on her cheeks. Blushing himself Cole started to head back home.

As he reached the building they live on Cole moved Twilight on to his back. She had fallen asleep on their way back. Holding on to Twilight with one arm, he slowly and carefully climbed up the structure. He climbed a pipe up to the edge of the roof. Once he reached it, Cole called out softly, "Spike!"

Spike walked over to him and asked, "What are you do-" His question died in his throat and eyes widened as he saw Twilight on his back. He rushed over to Cole, grabbed her and pulled her up.

Cole climbed on the roof and picked Twilight up again. He carried her over to the couch and laid her down.

Spike walked to him and asked, worriedly, "What happened to her?"

Cole straightened, "She took out one of those bombers."

Spike paled slightly, "So, she-"

"She didn't mean to, but yes she did," he said.

"I'm going to stay with her, she needs someone to be with her when she wakes up," Spike said. "Are you going to do one of the missions Moya assigned?"

"No, you two have really helped with those. So, I'm going to wait until you feel comfortable coming because I'm sure it's going to take Twilight a while to feel up to it," Cole said. "I'm going to go out and help some of the people in the city. Zeke you think you could try and help Twilight feel better when she gets up?"

"Sure man, not really sure what to say or do, but I'll try and help as best I can," he said.

Spike nodded and sat next to his sister.

Cole left to help whoever he could.

As Cole was looking for people that needed help he got a call from someone.

"This is Warden Harms. Cole, I know you must have your hands full, but I'm going to need your help sometimes," he said.

"What is it you need?" Cole asked.

"We've caught some Reapers. I want you to escort them to the station so we can interrogate them. I'll upload where they are to your GPS," Harms said.

He headed to the location of the captured Reapers. When he got there Harms contacted him again, "Sorry, but I have to pull my men back. We are spread too thin. Take the Reapers and head here. Don't be afraid be a little rough to keep them in line."

Cole walked to end of the line. He pushed one of the Reapers, "Get moving."

They started walking toward the station. They headed through the streets, while Cole kept his aim on the Reapers. As they continued forward two of the Reapers broke from the line and attacked Cole. He punched one of the Reapers in the gut then the chest. He turned to the other, jumped and kicked him in the head. The two Reapers returned to the line and they resumed their walk to the station. Cole lead them past the park and a couple of the Reapers made a break for it. Cole glared at the other two to make sure the stayed where they were and then sprinted after them. He zapped one of them until they stopped and knelt down and, when he got close, he tackled the other. He lead them back to the others and they went back to heading to the prison. They reached it after crossing the street. They lined across the wall as cops walked out to get them.

Harms called him, "Thank you for the help Cole. Hope you'll continue to help us when we need it."

"Sure. I'll help when I can. Just let me know," he said.

He started walking around the city again, looking for people to help. When he came across a dead cop he decided to check to see if he had any information that he could use.

He saw the echo of a Reaper kicking the dead cop. "Damn it. This can't be good."

He followed the echo into an alley way and found several Reapers with cops at gun point. He charged at them and caught one off guard with a gigawatt blade to the back of his head. He turned to the Reaper to his right and punched him in the stomach, then raised his leg and kicked him in the chest. Cole then jumped to the left to avoid the bullets of the remaining Reaper. He then turned and threw a grenade right behind the Reaper. It exploded and sent the Reaper flying forward. Before he could get up Cole rushed forward and restrained him. He walked over to the officers to make sure they were okay. They thanked him for saving their lives and went about getting the Reaper pried off of the ground so they could take them to prison.

As Cole left them to take care of business, he noticed it was getting dark and decided to head back for some rest. He would see how Twilight was doing after he had some sleep and his thoughts weren't so muddled.

Mind Games

Day 17...

Cole woke up and stood up from where he was sleeping. He walked over to Twilight on the couch. He looked at her and saw that she was tossing and turning in her sleep. He frowned and slowly placed a hand on her head. She calmed down slightly at his touch. He jumped when someone spoke to him.

"Hey Cole. You going to head out?" Spike asked. He had woken up from where he was sleeping on the ground next to Twilight. He had fallen off of the couch, it not being made for two people sleeping on it. He stood up and stretched, several joints popping. He looked at her and saw that she had calmed down somewhat. He also noticed Cole's hand on her head. He smiled slightly at Cole, "Thanks for helping her."

"I didn't really do anything, Spike," Cole said.

He shook his head, "You helped keep her calm when it happened and didn't let her collapse under what she did. You brought her back safely through this, no offense, awful city when she couldn't do anything. Just being here helps a great deal as well. So again, thank you Cole."

"I was just helping a friend," Cole said, shrugging slightly. As he said that he felt like that it didn't quite describe their relationship. He felt more strongly toward her, but was unsure just what he felt.

Spike continued smiling, "And I'm glad you consider us as such. If not, there's no telling what might have happened to Twilight."

"If it wasn't for me she wouldn't have had that happen to her in the first place," Cole argued. He felt that he had broken his promise to her in keeping her from seeing death. Not only did he fail that, but she had inadvertently killed someone herself.

"Are you kidding? Do you think we would sit back and do nothing?" he asked. "We would have gone out there and helped anyone we could. We would fight the Reapers and eventually would have run into those kamikaze Reapers. She would be in the same situation as now, only with less people to help her through it."

Cole was still unsure, but knew that he was right. They would have helped the people of the city. Which meant they would run into the Reapers and the bomber sooner or later.

Cole removed his hand from Twilight's head as she woke up after they finished their conversation. She looked at them still looking rather sad, "Hey Cole. Are you going to check what Moya asked you to?"

"I wasn't planning on it. I wanted to make sure you were okay," he said.

"I'm feeling better," she said. Seeing him look at her rather skeptically she reworded, "I still don't feel great, but I do feel better than yesterday. Thank you for your help then Cole." She looked at him with a strained smile.

It broke Cole's heart at seeing Twilight in such pain. "I'm not going anywhere. I'll stay here until you're back to your usual self," he said.

She slowly shook her head, "You need to go check on what Moya wanted you to look at. People could be getting sick or worse. I'd feel terrible if me keeping you here got more people getting ill."

He hesitated. He didn't want to leave Twilight, again. He was very worried about her, but knew that she would feel even worse if he didn't head to what Moya wanted him to check out. He slowly nodded, relenting, "Fine. You rest some more and I'll head over there." When she laid back down he walked over to Spike and led him over to the back of the roof. "You going to stay here?" he asked.

"Yes. Zeke's still out and I don't want her to be alone in the state she's in," Spike said.

Cole nodded and headed off the roof. He headed toward Smith Fountain.

He reached the roof of a building overlooking the fountain. He stared at the fountain, not believing what he was seeing. The fountain couldn't really have been called the cleanest, especially in this city, but it was no longer had clear water shooting out of it for birds to bathe in or people to make wishes. It was now leaking what looked like tar, staining the already dirty fountain black. There were people scattered around the fountain writhing in pain.

He called Moya, "It's not looking good Moya. People are all over the area sick and the fountain is black as a starless night."

"Okay, head over there. See if there's a way to stop this," she said.

Cole jumped down from the roof and headed to the fountain. When he reached it, he heard a familiar voice. It was Trish.

"Come on, breathe! Breathe!" she shouted. She looked up and saw Cole walking up to her. She scowled, her voice full of venom, "What are you doing here?"

"Moya wanted to check what's going on with the fountain," he said. He hesitated, then said, "Trish, Twilight feels really bad about how she reacted the other day. She wants to apologize to you."

"So why are you doing it instead of her? And who's Moya?" she asked.

"Who Moya is isn't important. Twilight isn't here because she isn't feeling great. She accidentally killed a Reaper yesterday. She's never killed someone before. Even if he was one of those psychopaths he was alive and it's hit her pretty hard," he explained. "Listen Trish I know what that guy said about us."

Sympathy flashed across Trish's face, but disappeared when he brought up what happened. "My sister is dead because of you two," she hissed.

"I swear, I didn't know what was in that package. And Twilight had nothing to do with it! She just happened to be there!" Cole shouted. He hadn't meant to yell. He didn't care about himself, but Twilight being accused of something she had nothing to do with made him angry.

Trish was slightly surprised that Cole had yelled at her, but quickly shook it off and narrowed her eyes, "You want to help? Then close that valve that's letting the black tar into the fountain. I can't turn it because it's jammed. I don't want to hear any of your excuses." She went back to trying to help the person in front of her.

Seething slightly, Cole walked to the valve and started to turn it using all his strength to dislodge it. When he finished turning it, the black tar shot out into his face. "Aahh!" he shouted.

Trish started to talk to him, sounding annoyed, "Ugh, follow me. It's all over your eyes. I have a solvent in my car. Let's go."

Cole started to follow her to get the tar off his face. As he did he started to here a woman's voice, 'I've been waiting for this moment, Cole. Watching, anticipating. She can't stand you. She can't handle that you have powers. She won't ever love you. Neither will the other girl, she's too fragile. She won't be able to take how deal with your enemies.'

Cole groaned, "What... the hell?"

'I can help you forget about them. Every single thing that you shared with them, gone like that,' the voice continued. 'No more heartache, nothing to cause you pain.'

"You... aren't real. You are... nothing," he said to himself. When he got near an ambulance he fell to the ground, unable to take the pain.

Trish grabbed a spray can and walked back to him, "Stay still." She started to spray his face with the solvent. He felt the pain going away.

Getting up he said, "Thank you."

She just started to walk off saying, "I'm not going to help you again if you get that stuff on your face, Cole. You'll just have to wait for it to wear off."

As she left he called Moya, "I had to shut off the feeder pipe, but the fountain is taken care of."

"There are still two more water mains in the area. They are in the park," she told him.

"Right. I'll go turn them off and see what will happen," he said.

He headed to the park. When he entered he headed to the valve. As he neared it, a couple Reapers started to shoot at him from a small archway. He aimed at one of them and hit him in the head. He ducked to avoid the rain of bullets from the remaining Reaper. In the lull of shots he threw a grenade at him. The grenade stuck to the Reaper. When the Reaper noticed the bomb he tried to remove it from him, but it exploded knocking the Reaper off of the archway. He landed on the grass with a soft thump and laid still.

He turned back to the valve and shut it off. As soon as he did, the tar shot in his face again. "Ah! Damn it," he yelled.

The voice returned, 'So much emotion that's bottled up with nowhere to go. Why do you care/love them? She's beneath you caring about her and the other, even with her power, doesn't deserve your love. You deserve far better.'

"Shut... the hell... up!" Cole shouted.

'You are all by yourself. You know that, right?' she continued, 'Not one person cares about you. Not the girls, not the fat man, not the child, nor the woman under the bridge. I'm the only one who loves you. I always have and always will. Forever.'

"Get the hell out of my head!" he shouted again.

As the sensation ended he heard gunshots behind him. Three normal Reapers and a Conduit Reaper. He charged toward the big Reaper to get rid of it right away. Gathering electricity in his hands, he made his gigawatt blades dodging the Reapers bullets and shockwave. When Cole was in front of him, he drove the blades into his face, sending him flying into a tree smashing through it. The others were standing near each other, so he threw a grenade between them. Before they could jump out of the way, it exploded sending them flying in different directions.

After taking care of them he restrained all of them before heading to the next valve. Before turning it he thought over his options, 'If I turn this I'm going to end up getting sent on another mind trip.' He noticed a man crouching next to the pipe. 'I could get this guy to do it for me.' He considered his choices. 'No. He's just an innocent bystander. I'll be fine after a moment. There's no telling how it will effect him.' After deciding that he turned the valve. He was blasted in the face again with the tar and started to hear the voice again.

'You can't keep me out forever. A crack will appear, then it will spread and the wall will crumble. The only question is when,' she said.

Moya contacted him, "Now you need to figure out how those maniacs are getting that tar into the system. Only one primary water line runs around that area and it's under Memorial Park. You need to head to the tunnel and look for it."

'You don't know what love is. Not true love. I can teach you,' the woman's voice returned. 'Then that bastard will realize what he lost.'

Ignoring the voice this time, Cole headed into the tunnel. As soon as he entered, he encountered two Reapers. He dispatched them both with bolts to their heads. He headed farther into the tunnel and came across a Reaper on a bus trying to snipe him. Cole fired several bolts at his torso and he went down. He resumed his trek. When he reached a lull in the tunnel, he felt similar effects to the tar and saw a great number of Reapers shooting at him. He came to a halt and was about to jump behind a car, when he noticed the bullets passing through him without piercing him. Knowing that it was an illusion he ran through it until the effects disappeared.

When he got pass the hallucinations he came across a semi-truck with a pipe coming out of it going into the pipes in the tunnel. There was a Conduit and several Reapers. Cole threw three grenades at the normal Reapers and then aimed his bolts at the Conduit. As the grenades exploded taking out the Reapers, he shot the Conduit twice in the head. After restraining them he called Moya, "A truck is attached to the pipes down here."

"It's most likely the source of the plague. Destroy it now," she said.

Cole drained the electricity in several cars before turning back to the truck and throwing five grenades at it. He ducked behind one of the cars and after a minute they went off and the truck exploded. The container held so none of the tar was sent anywhere. He contacted Moya again, "Exactly what the hell is that stuff?"

"A mind-control agent of some kind. It appears to be organic, but I can't tell how they are creating it," she said.

"Ugh, it sure as hell did a number on me. I'm heading back to Zeke's. My head is positively killing me," he said. He left the tunnel making his way back home.

As Cole climbed onto the roof he noticed Twilight was up looking slightly better. He walked towards her.

She looked up at him and her eyes widened. "Cole, what happened?" she asked, rushing over to him.

"Got some kind of tar blasted to my face. Except for a headache, I'm fine. You don't need to worry," he assured her. "You look a little better. Are you feeling better?"

"I'm getting better, but I think it will still be a day or two before I go back out," she said.

"You take as long as you need Twilight," Cole said.

"Thank you Cole, but I feel like I should get back out there soon," she told him, shaking her head.

"As long as you feel better and are up for it," he said. "Where's Spike?"

She pointed at the chair and he saw Spike laying on it passed out. In the other chair Zeke was sitting there waiting for them to finish their conversation.

When he was sure they were done, he began speaking, "You can't give the feds that Ray Sphere, Cole."

Twilight rolled her eyes and sat in one of the lawn chairs. Cole looked at Zeke, "Is there anything else I can do?"

"Come on man. Do you know what will happen if they get something like that? Especially if the Pentagon is involved in this? The thing is the ultimate weapon!" he yelled.

Twilight hushed him. Cole asked, "What do you suggest we do, Jedediah? That we hide it under the couch?"

"Only my mother calls me Jedediah, but that isn't the point. We should crack that thing open and given everybody powers. That way we can make sure we don't get screwed," Zeke said.

"I think it's a little late for that Zeke," Cole said. He started to walk to the chair he slept in, but Twilight stopped him.

"Take the couch Cole. I've been asleep all day and I'm not tired in the least," she said.

"Are you sure?" he asked, hesitating. He didn't mind sleeping in the lawn chairs and wanted to keep her from sleeping in them.

"Yes, I'm sure. I've slept enough today and you don't feel well. You should sleep laying down, not sitting up," she said, with finality.

"Alright," he said, laying on the couch. "I'll see you guys in the morning." With that he went to sleep, so he would be ready for the next days missions.

The Good Stuff Photographer

Day 18...

Cole awoke and got up from the couch. He looked around and saw Spike standing next to the edge. He also noticed that Twilight was resting in the armchair. He smiled a little and walked over to Spike. "Been up long?" he asked.

"A few hours ago. Twilight was rather sleepy so she started to rest on the chair," Spike told him.

As they were standing there, Moya contacted Cole, "I've marked your GPS with the location of the next substation."

Confused, Cole asked, "Uh, shouldn't we be looking for the Ray Sphere and John?"

She sighed, "You should look at the big picture here. Whenever you restore a part of the city's electricity, your power escalates. That's a valuable use of your time, wouldn't you say? I'll contact you once you get the substation back online."

Cole turned to Spike, "You want to come this time?"

He looked back at the chair Twilight was in, then returned his gaze to Cole, "Yeah, she's doing better. I think I can go with you this time."

"Alright. Let's head out, but before we do," he said. He walked over to Twilight, gently slid his arms under her legs and behind her back, then slowly picked her up. He walked of to the couch and as carefully as he could he laid her down on the couch. Cole turned back to Spike and saw he was smirking at him. Ignoring the dragon he walked to the edge of the roof and they started toward their destination.

They reached the edge of the powered area and stopped. They could see a turret truck ahead of them. Spike looked at Cole, "So, what do we do about it?"

"Nothing," he said. Upon seeing Spike's confused look he elaborated, "We don't have to do anything, we can avoid it by traveling across the roofs. Plus, I don't want to use too much power in those areas."

"Good idea," Spike agreed.

They climbed the nearest building and started to head toward the sewer they needed to enter. Along the way they ran into a few Reapers. The two took them out fairly easily. Cole blasted two with several bolts each and Spike shot fireballs at the other catching him on fire, it quickly extinguished when they went down. Cole went over to them to see if he were still alive. When he found they were he restrained them.

Cole turned to Spike, "How is he still alive after being caught on fire?"

"Well, after the bridge, I decided to try out different things with my fire. It turns out I can use it quite offensively. That's where I got the idea of covering my fists with fire. I'm able to use my magic fire, the green fire, for more complicated attacks. I never tried before because for the most part there isn't much I would need to use it against and I was too small to do anything against the things that I would need to use it on. I can also extinguish it when I want it to. That's why none of the Reapers I've taken out have don't have anything worse than some burns," he explained.

"I guess that means, except with your strength, you don't have to hold back much," Cole said.

"I'm not that strong Cole," Spike said, modestly.

"Spike, you punched a Conduit Reaper half a block into a wall," Cole deadpanned. "You're pretty damn strong."

Spike blushed slightly and continued walking to their destination. Cole followed him to the manhole and they entered into the sewer.

"Hey Moya, we're in the sewer. Should have the power back on soon," Cole told her.

"Right," she said.

They walked forward and saw the transformer right in front of them. Cole walked up to the it, jumped up, and connected it. He saw a flash of the new way he could use his powers.

He grinned, "Hell yeah. This should make traveling much easier."

Spike looked at him curiously, "What should?"

"Let me show you," Cole said. He walked over to the wire that lead to the door they needed to head through. He jumped onto the wire. As soon as his feet hit the wire electricity emitted from them and he started to grind across the wire. He jumped off of it when he reached the end. Looking back at Spike he saw him staring slightly slack-jawed. He walked across the wire to Cole.

"That was so cool!" Spike shouted.

As Cole chuckled at Spike's enthusiasm and they continued walking, Zeke called, "Hey man."

"Hey Zeke," Cole said.

"Have you been paying attention to the TV jacker? I thought the guy was pretty cool until he started to do nothing, but talk trash about you and Twilight. I was thinking you two should go find him," Zeke said, with a tone of mischief in his voice.

"And do what exactly?" Twilight's voice came through the phone.

"Hey Twilight," Spike called.

Cole smiled, "Hey Twilight. You get enough sleep?"

"Yeah, I'm feeling much better," she said. "Did you put me on the couch?"

"I'm glad to hear that and yes I did. I didn't know when you would wake up so I thought you should lay down instead of sitting up," Cole said.

"Thank you Cole," Twilight said.

"Your welcome," he said. "As for what, probably just to show him that we aren't what he thinks we are. We don't even know where he is though."

"We'd show him more than that," Zeke said. "He's probably barred himself in the old TV station in the Historic District. The guy really needs to learn to not run his mouth so much."

"Even if we did find him I doubt he would want to talk to us," Twilight said. "And that is all we would do Zeke, nothing else. If we did, it would just be proving him right."

"That's why I said you should do more because just talking wouldn't work," Zeke muttered. "But I see what you mean about it casting you in a bad light." He sighed and ended the call.

"What's with him?" Spike asked.

Cole smiled slightly, "It's kind of similar to Twilight. He doesn't like that I'm being treated the way I am, but unlike her, he likes to think of unorthodox solutions to problems."

As they continued, Spike thought, 'While I'm sure he cares for you, Twilight loves you. She thinks she's hiding it, but I saw the way she looked at Flash Sentry. It's much deeper this time, but it's similar.'

After a while they came across a wire that stretched across a small chasm. Cole turned to Spike and knelt down, "Climb on Spike. I'm going to grind us across."

He hesitated for a minute, but climbed onto his back. Cole stood and jumped on the wire, then started to grind across it. As he neared the end of the wire he jumped to a platform. When he landed on it he saw another wire attached to it. Before he let Spike down he jumped to it and headed to the other side. Once on the other side Spike jumped off of Cole. They saw that there were several Reapers ahead of them. They raced toward them, jumped and, almost simultaneously, kicked the Reapers in their chests. They were sent flying into the wall. When Spike reached the ground he pounced at the last Reaper and brought his claws down across the him. As the Reaper grabbed his chest Cole tackled him to the floor and restrained him.

They continued on their trek. The two had to cross some more wires. They soon reached the substation. As they reached it Cole recharged it and, when it restarted, they returned to the surface.

Reaching the outside, the power had returned to the part of the city they were in. Moya contacted them "Good work you two. I have somethings that I want you to look at. One of them may lead us to John. When you're ready let me know."

"So what should we do now?" Spike asked.

"Well she said when we are ready, so how about we help some people?" Cole suggested.

"Sure let's see if we can find anyone," he agreed.

As they walked around looking for someone to help, they noticed a man in a green jacket with a white hood that looked like it was covered in patches and jeans. They walked over to him to see what he wanted. "Hey Cole. Do you think you can show me some of your moves so that I can take some pictures?" the man asked.

Cole looked at the camera and he had an idea. He asked him, "Hey do you have more than that one camera?"

The photographer looked down at it and then looked back at Cole. "Yeah, I have more. I would need more in case something happened to the others especially now. Why?"

"I was wondering if we could have one. I would like to take some pictures with my friends for us," he explained.

The man grinned, "Sure. You can have one. I happen to have another one with me, but first could I take some pictures of you?"

"Alright. What do you want a picture of?" Cole asked.

"How about you healing someone," he said.

Cole looked around and noticed that there were a few people in pain. He felt kind of bad he hadn't noticed before. He walked over to the them and healed all four people. After they thanked him he walked back to the photographer and asked what else he wanted to see.

He thought about it and said, "Can I see some of just your melee attacks? There's probably a Reaper around here somewhere."

Cole looked around and thought for a minute. He turned to Spike and asked, "How about you and me spar for a minute?"

Spike and the man looked at him. Spike looked at him confused and the photographer looked at him incredulously. "Why?" Spike asked. The man looked at him, shocked that he wasn't just saying no. Spike had reverted to normal like he usually does when he travels around the city. He didn't care if the city knew, but figured he could surprise any Reapers they came across. The reason being he looked very different when he changed.

Cole smiled, "Well so we don't have to go around the city looking for a Reaper and he can get two different kinds of melee attacks for his pictures."

Spike thought about it for a minute and agreed, "Sure, let's show him what we can do." The man looked between them, not believing what they were saying.

They walked to an alley away from any people, so they wouldn't have to worry about hitting anyone. The two separated and went to opposite sides of a back parking lot. They lowered into a offensive poses. Spike was the first to move, changing into his dragon form as he raced toward Cole with his fist raised. He threw it forward only to be blocked by Cole bringing his arms up. Cole pushed Spike back and spun while raising his leg to kick Spike in the stomach. He jumped back and dodged Cole's kick. He responded by spinning himself, but instead swung his tail at Cole's chest. It struck home, knocking Cole slightly from the ground as he was pushed back. He managed to stay standing from the attack. Cole grinned and charged toward Spike bringing his fist up in an uppercut, hitting Spike in the jaw. He staggered back feeling the electricity course through his body from the attack, but managed to shrug it off. The two stood there staring at each other. Then, smiling, jumped back into the sparring with each other.

As they fought the photographer kept taking pictures. When he got enough he called out to them that they could stop. When they did the two fell to their knees panting slightly. They grinned at each other, feeling slightly closer. Cole walked over to Spike and held out his hand. Spike took it and let himself be pulled to his feet. The man ran up to them shouting, "That was amazing. I knew you were strong Cole, but the kid was amazing to." He looked down at the boy. "I think one more thing and then I'll be done then you can have a camera and let you guys go do what you do."

They nodded and Cole asked, "Ok. What do you want me to do?"

"I was hoping to see you both actually. I was wanting to see you destroy some cars," he said.

Cole and Spike looked at each other. "Sure, but why?" Spike asked.

"To see your attacks. Since there aren't any Reapers around and, even now that I know how strong you two are, I figured you shouldn't hit the other with them," the man said.

They saw several abandoned cars in the lot they were in. Cole and Spike walked to a different car. Cole threw several shock grenades at the car. As they went off and the car exploded the photographer took his picture of the power. He looked over to Spike and motioned that he was ready. Spike turned to the car and let out a stream of fire onto it. The metal and tires started to melt. After several minutes the fire must have hit the gasoline causing the car to blow up.

After taking the pictures that he wanted the photographer walked up to them. "Thank you for letting me take pictures of your powers. Here's the camera I promised," he said, offering it to Cole.

He raised an eyebrow at the man. "You realize I can't hold that because of my powers right?" Cole asked. "I'm pretty sure the electricity in me would jump through the metal and cause the film to melt."

The man chuckled nervously and hand the camera to Spike. They started walking through the city. After a minute Spike asked, "Why did you want this camera?"

"The same reason I told that photographer. Except that it's for you and Twilight," Cole said.

Spike asked, "What do you mean? Why is it for us?"

"As much as I like you guys I know that after we deal with this you two will try to find a way back home," Cole said, with a sad smile. He saw the shocked look on Spike's face. "Come on Spike. I doubt Twilight hasn't been looking for a way back to Equestria. I mean you two have friends and family back there, right?"

"Yeah, we do," Spike said.

"So either you two head back there when this is over or they come here and take you back before or after we finish what we are doing," Cole said.

"I'm sure they would help us if we asked," Spike said, indignantly.

Cole shook his head, "Nothing against your friends, but they would probably say that it wasn't their place to meddle with another worlds problems."

Spike knew they wouldn't say that, but figured he couldn't change his mind, so he didn't argue. Instead he asked, "So what are we going to do now?"

Cole looked at a nearby clock. "How about we go see how much better Twilight is?" he suggested.

Spike nodded, "Yeah, I'd like to see how she's doing."

With that the two headed back to the roof.

The Rescue

Cole and Spike started to climb the building. When they reached the top they saw Twilight reading one of the books she had found. She looked at them when they started to walk over to her and smiled. Cole sat next to her while Spike sat in an arm chair. Zeke was snoring as he slept in the other.

Cole turned to Twilight, "How are you feeling?"

"I'm feeling a lot better," she said. "It still bothers me, but it's started to sink in that you and Spike were right. That I couldn't do anything since he had those bombs strapped to him. Since I don't know where the explosives were I wouldn't even be able to teleport them off of him either. I still don't like what I did," she added quietly.

"Good," Cole said with a small smile. Twilight and Spike looked at him slightly confused. "It's good that you don't like that you killed him even if he was a complete psychopath. If you liked it then you wouldn't be any better than them," he explained. He saw that as he was talking that her demeanor seemed to become less tense than before. "I don't like killing anymore than you do Twilight, but I will do it to protect the people of this city, as well as you and our friends," he continued. 'Especially you,' he thought. He blinked and shook his head, 'Why did I think that? Why is it that I seem to be so protective of her?' He thought about all the times he felt anger when Twilight was being accused of being involved in the Ray Sphere incident. About the panic and worry he felt when it seemed she was about to get hurt. His eyes widened slightly, 'A-Am I...?' His thoughts were interrupted when Twilight hugged him.

"Thank you Cole. For everything that you did when this happened and for what you've done since we got here," she said.

Cole smiled and hugged her back, "It was no problem Twilight. I'm glad I could help." They sat there for several minutes until they heard snickering behind them. They looked over at Spike, who was watching them with a smirk. They looked at each other and blushed when they realized they were still hugging. They quickly released each other, but remained sitting next to each other.

Clearing his throat, Cole suggested, "So, Twilight are you feeling up for going on the next thing Moya has for us?"

She nodded quickly, "Yeah, I feel good enough to go with you." She frowned as she heard Spike snickering again. She looked at him, "What?"

Still snickering slightly he said, "You two want some alone time?"

Their faces lit up from his accusation. "Spike!!" they shouted. Spike burst out laughing at their reactions. Their faces still glowing from embarrassment, the two just walked past the guffawing dragon to the edge of the roof and climbed down the building.

They reached a building near the train station when Moya contacted them. "Do you two see the old train? The Reapers have people locked up in there as collateral to keep the people in the Neon in line. John might be in there as well."

"You want us to let them out of there?" Cole asked.

"Not yet. Where it's at is in the heart of the Reaper's territory. They will kill anyone that will try and escape. The two of you will need to move the train away from there and somewhere safe," she said.

"Are we supposed to just push that thing?" Cole asked, incredulously. "I doubt that Twilight has enough power to push that thing either."

Moya sighed, "Just stay on the lead train and it will move. You are a walking third rail after all."

"I see two Reapers patrolling around the train. There's also a bunch of destroyed cars piled on the tracks blocking the path," Twilight said. "How about I move the cars and you take care of the Reapers?"

"Good idea," Cole agreed. "But before we go down there, can you upgrade some of my powers?"

She focused on the abilities she could enhance, "Yes, I can upgrade two of you powers."

He nodded and thought about the powers he wanted to upgrade. "Will you enhance my shock grenade and increase how much electricity I can charge into my fists for melee attacks?" he asked.

She walked up to him repeated the process from before. Placing one hand on his head and the other on his chest. Then she began to siphon her magic into him. He felt the familiar warmth course through him and felt his powers expanding. In addition to that, he felt a strange, yet familiar, sensation in his chest. It felt infinitely warmer than the sensation of her magic. He couldn't quite place what it was before she finished enhancing his powers.

When she finished, Twilight picked Cole up and flew over to the tracks. After she set him down, she took off again and went to the front of the train. Cole headed toward the the Reapers. They were still facing away from him. As he neared them he slowed down to take one of them down without alerting the other. He charged his megawatt blades and drove them between the Reapers shoulder blades. He cried out from the attack, alerting the other Reaper. Before he had a chance to attack, Cole threw a shock grenade behind the Reaper. Seeing it he ran forward to avoid the blast. While he was distracted Cole ran forward and brought his knee up into the Reapers gut. He fell to his knees clutching his stomach. Cole brought his foot down on the Reapers back and restrained him. He walked to the front of the train to see the cars gone and Twilight standing on the lead car waiting for him.

As he reached the front of the train he heard the people inside yelling. They probably heard commotion from outside. "Stay calm everyone. We are going to get you all out of here."

He climbed onto the lead car and stood next to Twilight. As soon as he had stepped on top of it the electricity in his body arced from him into the the train. With a lurch the train started to move forward. Twilight staggered from the movement and almost fell backwards, but Cole wrapped his arm around her waist catching her and pulled her close. They stared at the other, lost in each other's eyes. They kept their gazes locked until the train slowed to a halt jerking them out of their trance. Blushing deeply they slowly separated and Cole contacted Moya.

"Moya the train just stopped. Any idea why?" he asked.

"The low-voltage feeder box under the tracks must have been disengaged. You need to find and recharge it. That should get the train moving," she said.

"Alright I'll find it," he said, jumping from the car. He looked back at Twilight, "It shouldn't take to long, so wait a minute and we can get moving again." As she nodded he jumped from the tracks and looked for the feeder box. He saw it attached to the bar that attached two pillars. Aiming for it he shot several bolts. When all of the lights were green, he climbed back up to the train and got on to the train. Once back on it continued down the track.

They only traveled several blocks when they came to a train station with several Reapers around it. Before they reached the station Twilight and Cole jumped from the train. Cole landed on the street to deal with the Reapers on the street and find the low-voltage feeder box, while Twilight stayed on the tracks to take care of the Reapers on the station.

Twilight rose one of her hands conjuring a shield to protect her from the three Reapers fire. Raising her other hand she fired three different beams at them. Two of the beams hit their targets. One of the Reapers was frozen in place and one of the other Reapers gun was melted from a beam of heat. He dropped the gun and and ran from the fight. The remaining Reaper dodged the last beam and ran at Twilight, he then started to hit her shield with his gun to try and smash it. She grunted with every blow, before the shield started to crack she teleported behind the Reaper and grabbed his head, casting a sleep spell on him. As she stood there, she heard footsteps above her. Unfurling her wings, she flew up to the stations roof and found another Reaper standing in the center of it. His back was to her as she landed on the roof. She ran toward the Reaper as he turned to the noise. Before the he could even bring his gun up to fire, Twilight jumped at him and kicked the Reaper in the head falling instantly.

As Twilight took care of the Reapers of above him, Cole took care of the ones on the street. He fired a bolt at one of the Reapers and hit him in the head, going down right away. As the other Reapers opened fire at him, he jumped behind a pillar for cover. Leaning out to see where the Reapers were, he threw a shock grenade at one of them. The grenade stuck to the Reaper. He began running around trying to get it off of him with no success. The grenade went off shortly after, smashing him into a car knocking him out. Cole then ran to the last Reaper dodging his fire. When he reached him Cole slid on the ground and swept the Reapers feet from under him. As he fell to the ground Cole flipped and brought his foot down onto the Reaper's chest. Getting up and making sure none of them were going to get up, he started to look for the volt box. When he found it he charged it and headed back to the train.

Reaching the platform he looked around, but didn't see Twilight anywhere. He saw two Reapers out cold on the ground. He absentmindedly wondered where the third Reaper had disappeared to. He was about to call out for her when he heard a thud above him. He climbed to the roof and found Twilight along with a unconscious Reaper. Sighing in relief he dropped from the roof and walked back to the train, while Twilight glided back down to it.

When they got back on the train, they continued down the track. As they were moving they heard what sounded like something firing. A second later, there was an explosion in front of Cole sending flying off of the tracks and landing on the street. The blast pushed Twilight back to the second car. Groaning from the impact, she slowly stood up. Noticing Cole was missing, she started frantically looking around for him. As she was looking she heard sound from before and quickly brought up shield, protecting her from the blast. Dropping it she looked for the source. Slightly ahead of them on a roof was a bigger Reaper wearing a red winter coat with a bazooka on his shoulder. She fired a beam of heat at the weapon. She hit it directly on the front. Seeing the beam hit the Reaper promptly dropped the weapon and started to move away from it. Before it could get very far the bazooka exploded sending him flying across the roof and hit the floor of the roof hard.

After dealing with the Reaper Twilight went back to looking for Cole. She didn't see him on the tracks, so she looked down to the streets. After a moment she saw him on the ground starting to get up. She immediately flew down to him.

"Cole!! Are you okay?" she asked, immediately feeling stupid for asking. 'He was thrown off of a train by an explosion right in front of him, of course he's not okay, Twilight,' she chided herself.

Slowly getting up, he looked at the concerned look on her face. With a small smile he said, "Yeah I'm okay. I'll be better if I can drain some electricity." He started to limp to a lamp post. Twilight walked next to him and put one of his arms around her shoulder. He smiled at her and continued to walk to the lamp. When they reached it, Cole started to drain the electricity and he could feel his wounds being healed. After completely draining the electricity, he stood up straight feeling completely revitalized.

Once better they climbed back to the train and continued on their journey. As they traveled down the tracks a great number of Reapers on roofs shot at them. They were quickly taken care of with bolts from Cole and freezing, heat, and knock-out beams from Twilight. There were several Reapers that were frozen in place, guns melted, and Reapers knocked out. After traveling some more Moya contacted them.

"I let everyone know that you guys were bringing the train to the station where they will be waiting. You're almost there, don't let them down," she said.

Ahead of them they saw more cars blocking the tracks, as well as a turret next to them. Twilight looked over to Cole, "Same as last time? I'll move the cars and you take care of the Reapers?"

"Sure," Cole agreed.

Cole jumped off of the train and ran toward the Reapers. As he ran a magenta bubble appeared around him before the turret started to shoot at him. He climbed over the cars when he reached them and quickly tackled the Reaper behind the turret. While on top of the Reaper, he charged a gigawatt blade and brought it down on the Reapers stomach. Cole got up and concentrated his electricity into the turret destroying it. As he turned to take care of the others he heard the cars being moved next to him. He fire a shockwave at a Reaper and as he was floating through the air he shot him in the head. The Reaper immediately fell to the tracks. Turning to the last two Reapers, Cole threw a shock grenade at them and it stuck to one of them. As the Reaper started to run around trying to get rid of the grenade Cole charged at the other and punched the Reaper in the head, then elbowed him in the chest. He then restrained the Reaper, as there was an explosion behind him signaling the grenades detonation.

"AAAHHH!!" The scream caused Cole's blood to run cold. He also heard a dull impact from behind him. Looking toward the train he saw a Conduit Reaper standing on the train and Twilight on the tracks unconscious. The Reaper teleported down and walked toward her. As he readied his gun, everything went red.

"NO!!" Cole roared. He jumped onto a rail and started grinding as fast as he could toward the Conduit. The Reaper was facing away from him concentrated on the knocked out woman in front of him. When he was near, Cole yelled, "You will not hurt her anymore!" He jumped onto the Reaper and knocked him down to the ground. He gripped the Reaper's head channeling his electricity into his skull. "You will pay for what you did to her," he growled.

Twilight groaned putting a hand to her head. The pounding in her head and the pain in her body was in was just bearable. She slowly sat up and as she did she heard the crackle of electricity. Looking over to the noise, she gasped and her eyes widened as she saw Cole grasping a Reaper's head, red electricity arcing from his hand to the Conduit's skull. Getting up, Twilight ran over to Cole and as she grabbed his shoulders she noticed his eyes were red. She shouted, "Cole! Cole, enough! The Reaper's out cold, if you keep going, you'll kill him!" He didn't seem to hear her as he continued to electrocuting the Conduit. She wrapped her arms around his head and hugged him. "Cole stop. Please!" she cried. Tears started to flow down her eyes.

Feeling something around him and his face getting wet, Cole slowly came to his senses. Looking over he saw Twilight holding on to him, crying. He felt his heart break at the sight of her tears. "Twilight?" he croaked.

Twilight gasped at the sound of his voice. Pulling back she looked in to his eyes. Seeing his eyes returned to his normal blue she reacted without thinking. She pushed her lips to his, pouring as much love as she could into the kiss.

Cole's eyes widened as his mind registered what was happening. Twilight was kissing him and he wasn't stopping it. In fact he was kissing her back. Returning her affection as best as he could.

Reluctantly pulling back, they looked into each other's eyes. Violet meeting blue, both lost in the sea of the other's gaze. After a while Twilight broke the silence. Lowering her gaze, she quietly said, "Cole, I didn't want to tell you yet because I wasn't sure how you would take it, especially after just coming out of a relationship, but I can't hold it in anymore." The corners of her eyes started to water with fresh unshed tears, afraid of what might happen. She summoned all of her courage, she looked back up at him, with determination in her eyes, she said, "I think ever since we met I've felt this way, but didn't know it. It wasn't until after we tried to escape that I realized what I felt. I decided to wait to see if you got over your feelings for Trish or not." Cole sat silently, letting her continue uninterrupted. "As the days continued my feelings kept growing and after seeing you get hit by that bazooka and then losing yourself just now," Cole looked away ashamed. "I can't keep going without telling you how I feel." She grabbed his chin and she turned his head to look at her, she said, "Cole I love you." She then fell silent, waiting for his reply.

Cole sat there thinking over what he heard and contemplating how he felt. He looked back at her, "Twilight, when we first met I can't say how I felt, you know why. I did however think that you were very beautiful." She blushed at his compliment. He continued, "After Trish broke up with me I still felt something for her. It was small, but it was there. As we continued to hang out and go on those missions together those feelings began to change. My thoughts seemed to be focused on her a lot. I wasn't sure how I felt about them until now." He looked at Twilight straight in the eyes. Her eyes filled with hope and apprehension. Smiling warmly, Cole said, "Twilight Sparkle," she tensed slightly at her full name. Cole reached a hand up and cupped her cheek, saying "I love you too." As soon as he confessed he felt an immensely warm feeling deep in his heart. The sensation felt the same as the one he felt when Twilight was enhancing his powers earlier. He smiled as he realized it was the love he felt for her. He could now feel the connection that he and Twilight shared. He also felt it becoming stronger.

As Twilight sat there she felt the connection between them strengthen even more. Her face then split into a wide smile and tears of happiness flowed down her cheeks. She wrapped her arms around Cole and brought his lips to meet hers. Both of them pouring as much passion into the kiss as they could. They hesitantly separated from each other, the two needing air. They slowly stood up, both panting slightly. Staring at each, a blush crept across their faces.

Looking back at the train, Cole remember something, "Right, I need to charge the low-voltage feeder box. I'll meet you back on the train okay?"

"Right," Twilight said.

As she climbed back on the train, Cole jumped down to the streets. He started to look for the box and found it slightly down the track. He recharged the box and climbed back to the train. When back on the train they continued down the tracks.

As they neared the station they tensed slightly, ready to be insulted and ridiculed. All of the people of the city were immensely surprised when the "terrorists" rode on the train with their loved ones. When the train came to a stop they jumped down. Twilight used her magic to pull off the boards blocking the door. Twilight and Cole stood back and he pulled her close to him, holding her in his arms. The people's attention soon shifted from their freed loved ones to the new couple. Cole prepared to pick Twilight up and run, only for them start cheering and running up to shake their hands or pat them on the back. They were very surprised by the sudden turn of attention. However, they were glad that they weren't being treated like murderers. Twilight was uncomfortable with the attention, but pushed through it with Cole next to her. As she stood there she felt a familiar warmth course through her, it was the same as when they knocked down the food crates. As the crowd began to disperse they looked for John. There was no sign of him anywhere.

"Well we didn't find John, but it wasn't a total waste of time," Cole said. "We took out a good number of Reapers, got the trains running again, and most importantly, we reunited friends and families." Twilight looked up smiling and nodded. Then with a sly smile, Cole quickly pecked her on the lips and said, "Not to mention we are going out now."

Twilight blushed from the sudden display of affection, but smiled at him. She pulled him into a proper kiss, staying lip-locked until they heard a few cheers and wolf whistles. Blushing deeply she pulled away and looked around. There were still quite a few people left on the platform even after most dispersed. Turning to Cole she suggested, "How about we head back and rest a bit before we head to the next mission Moya wants us to go to?"

Smiling, he said, "Yeah that sounds good." He chuckled, "It's been a rather exciting day, huh?" Twilight giggled and the two headed home arms intertwined, laying her head on his shoulder.

Author's Note

This turned out a whole lot different then what I had in mind. I had intended for the confession to actually happen later (didn't want it to seem rushed). However, with the events that I had play out I think that this is a good conclusion to the matter.

Interlude: Conversing

When the couple reached the roof, it was getting late. The sun was beginning to set. Deciding it was too late to go on the next mission Moya had, they walked over to the couch. They saw Spike and Zeke sleeping on the arm chairs. The two sat down, leaning back and relaxing. Cole put an arm around Twilight and pulled her close. She leaned into him, placing her head on his shoulder. The two sat there in comfortable silence just enjoying each other's company.

Eventually, Cole broke the silence, "So, since neither one of us seem to be tired at the moment, how about we talk for a while?"

"That sounds good," she said. "What do you want to talk about?"

"Well you talked about your friends. What about your family?" he asked.

"Well there's my mom, Twilight Velvet, my dad, Night Light, you know Spike, and my B.B.B.F.F, Shining Armor," she listed off. Twilight looked over at Cole and saw the bemused expression he was giving her. She was wondering what he was confused about. Then, realizing what she said, explained, "It's something I call my brother. It means Big Brother Best Friend Forever."

As she explained the strange abbreviation, Cole felt a small twinge of worry and a slight annoyance, 'Great. I'll probably have to face the over-protective older brother at some point.' As he was thinking Twilight continued.

"A while ago, he married my old foal-sitter Cadance," she said.

"You mean Princess Cadance?" Cole asked, raising an eyebrow, wondering why a princess was... foal-sitting.

She nodded. Then after seeing the incredulous look on Cole's face, she said, "Well she was young then. So she didn't have any princess responsibilities. Well that's my family. What about yours?"

Immediately Cole's expression sobered, "I'm not sure about my parents, especially after the blast. Even before it, I had dropped out of college and got a job as a bike courier."

"Why?" she asked.

He shrugged, "Mostly to piss them off really." Twilight looked at him with a slight look of disappointment. "Yeah I know. That's a horrible and stupid reason to do that, but I wasn't very mature at the time. So, I kind of lost touch with them after that. I have a younger brother too, but I haven't talked to him in a long time. Lost touch with him even before the blast."

Twilight placed a hand over his, "I'm sorry if I brought up anything uncomfortable."

He shook his head, "It's fine Twilight. You didn't know. Besides, they could be fine and I'm sure my brother is living an amazing life."

Twilight put a hand on Cole's cheek and pulled his head to look at her. "Are you sure you're okay?" she asked, concern written all over face.

Cole smiled warmly at her, "Yes, I'm fine Twilight. Though after all this is over I should see if they are okay and, if they are, I should talk with them." He pulled her into a quick kiss, then said, "Thanks."

"I didn't do anything," she said, blushing. "What else do you want to talk about?" deciding to change the subject.

Cole sat there for several moments, relaxing with the woman he's come to love, mulling over what to talk about. Then he remembered something he had been wondering since she mentioned it. He looked at her, a questioning look on his face, asked, "What happened in that other human world and why did you need to go there?"

Slightly surprised he asked about that, it took Twilight a moment to answer. She began to tell him about her journey to the other world of humans. Twilight talked about everything that had happened. From how a former student of Celestia, Sunset Shimmer, stole her crown which was the Element of Magic to how she went about getting it back. She also hesitantly told him about the crush she had on Flash Sentry. She told Cole how Sunset had turned into a flying demon when she managed to get the Element from Twilight. How the magic of friendship between Twilight and her friends protected them from Sunset's attack. Her connection to the Element let her channel the actual magic from it and purified the evil magic from Sunset. After she did Twilight confronted Sunset again telling her that now everyone in the school knew her for who she really was. Sunset had apologized for what she did. Twilight's friends agreed to look out for her and teach her what friendship is like and how to be a friend. Afterwards Twilight spent some more time with her new friends and danced with Flash Sentry. After the dance ended she said goodbye to the girls and went back to Equestria.

Twilight fell silent as she finished her story, waiting for Cole to say something. She was slightly worried what Cole would think about what she felt for Flash.

Cole sat there silently, contemplating everything she had told him. He had felt slightly concerned when Twilight said she had a crush on someone named Flash Sentry, but was quickly extinguished when he realized that that's all it was, a crush. Plus what right did he have to feel that way when he was in an actual relationship before this. He thought over how Twilight dealt with Sunset Shimmer. It probably wasn't how he would have handled it, but him and Twilight were very different. He probably would have reported her to someone... then again telling someone that a girl had turned into a demon and tried to enslave another world would have landed him in the funny farm.

As he was thinking, Twilight began to feel slightly uncomfortable in the silence. She decided to ask, "So, what do you think?"

Pulled from his thoughts Cole looked down at her, "What do I think about what?"

"I don't know. About my feelings for Flash, about how I handled Sunset, anything," she said, anxiously.

"Well, I did feel rather concerned when you mentioned Flash," he said. When Twilight hung her head, Cole put a hand under her chin and brought her gaze to meet his. "But that was just a crush right?" he asked. She nodded stiffly, his hand holding her head in place. Smiling, he said, "Then there's no reason for me to be worried. Besides I have no right to feel that way, when I was actually in love with someone before." Releasing her face Cole pecked Twilight on the cheek. "I don't care what you felt before, I care about what you feel now."

Twilight stared into the blue gaze of the man she's come to love. She felt immense warmth flow through her at his words. A smile slowly spread across her face and she hugged him.

Cole returned the hug. The two sat there in each other's embrace, relishing being in each other's presence. After a moment he said, "As for Sunset, well it wasn't what I would have done, but then we are two different people from two very different worlds. I think it was good that you gave her the chance to redeem herself. I hope she doesn't waste the opportunity. I'm sure that Princess Celestia was proud of your decision as well." As they sat there in each other's arms, a thought occurred to him as he remembered who her and Twilight's teacher is and what she was. Pulling back, he asked, trepidatiously, "Twilight, you said that Celestia and Luna lived for a thousand years, right?"

"Yes," she said slowly, dreading what he was going to ask.

"Then what about you? How long will you live?" he asked.

Looking away from Cole, Twilight sighed heavily, "I was afraid you would ask that. Yes, if nothing happens I will live as long as them, if not longer depending on what happens. I'm not immortal no, I could be killed or die from some outside means, but I won't die from age." She looked back at him, a pleading look in her eyes, "Please Cole, don't let this change how you feel. I still love you with all of my heart. I know I don't have the rig-"

She didn't have the chance to finish as Cole pulled her into a kiss, putting as much passion into it as he could. Doing his best to relay his feelings for her. Separating when the need for air was to much, Cole gazed into the violet of Twilight's eyes. He smiled warmly at her, "Twilight I love you. I'm not going to abandon you because you'll live longer than me. I'm worried about you though. That you'll outlive me, are you sure you won't regret it?"

Twilight stared at his ocean blue eyes, tears of happiness running down her face, "I'll never regret falling in love with you Cole." She gave him a quick kiss, "I'm glad you will stay with me."

"Of course I will," he said. Something else about alicorn's lifespans concerned him, "Does that mean Cadance will outlive your brother?"

She shook her head, "No, she won't." Seeing his confused and disbelieving expression she elaborated, "The reason that I am ageless is my immense reserve of magic. She still has a great deal of magic, but Cadance was a pegasus before, so she didn't have as much magic as I did when she became an alicorn."

Cole raised an eyebrow, "She was a pegasus?"

Twilight looked at him slightly surprised, "Didn't I tell you about that?" He shook his head. "Well I used to be a unicorn before. That changed one day when Celestia sent me Star Swirl the Bearded's spell book. She believed I would be able to understand and rewrite it. When I cast Star Swirl's unfinished spell, 'From one to another, another to one. A mark of one's destiny singled out alone, fulfilled', it switched my friends cutie marks with each other. They became stuck with a destiny that wasn't theirs. I tried to remind them of who they were, but it didn't work. They were determined to try and make their new destinies work no matter how bad things turned out. After singing about how awful I felt about what I had done," Cole wondered about why she would sing about that and at that moment, but decided to not say anything. He figured a world of magical talking ponies, dragons, and who know what else would have rather strange differences from his. Besides when he had been feeling about something very strongly, singing was a great way of expressing it. Though he hadn't done it since college. "Spike reassured me, saying that he was sure I would find a way to help my friends."

As she paused to catch her breath, Cole started to wonder how powerful a spell that must have been and how much magic Twilight had. The way she had explained cutie marks, they were shown what a ponies talent is. To switch that with another pony must take a great deal of magic and a strong spell.

After a moment Twilight continued her tale. "I then had an idea. If I couldn't remind them of who they were I would show them what they meant to each other. It worked and I reminded them who they were and what we meant to each other," she said. "It was then I realized what the spell should be. I changed it to 'From all of us together, together we are friends. With the marks of our destinies made one, there is magic without end.' As I finished writing it in the spell book I cast it. The spell, with the help of the Elements, sent me to a strange, ethereal space full of stars and nebulae. Once there I was met by Celestia, where she sung about how proud of me she was. When she was finished I had ascended into an alicorn. I had managed to create a new brand of magic." Smiling warmly, she said, "The magic that my friends helped teach me was more important than anything a book could teach. The magic that is worth fighting for. The magic of friendship."

Cole mulled over what she told him, "So Cadance did something similar?"

She nodded, "Yes she did. Her special talent was that she was able to spread love. When she managed to change a bitter, lonely mares heart to love even when she wasn't, Cadance was surrounded by a magical energy and was sent to the same place I was sent to. She ascended when she managed to create the magic of love."

"So what about Princess Celestia and Princess Luna?" he asked.

Twilight thought about it for a minute. "No one's really sure. They are the only ponies that would know. Although I think they have always been alicorns. For one thing, from an event I saw, they are more resilient than I am."

"What do you mean? Did you see one of them get hurt?"

"No. Zecora made a potion that, with the help of alicorn magic, would let one see past events," she started explaining. "I drank the potion and saw Luna's transformation into Nightmare Moon. Celestia tried her best to talk her out of it, but it was to late. She tried to not fight her, but Nightmare Moon destroyed their castle trying to get Celestia. She was eventually hit by one of the beams and fell to the throne room. Only shortly after getting hit by the beam she stood up and didn't look much worse for wear. If I was hit by that beam I wouldn't get up so easily. Even with my magic resistance."

"Magical resistance?" Cole inquired.

"Yes, being as close to magic as we are, unicorns and, of course, alicorns are a good deal resistant to magic. We aren't immune to it, but we are resistant to most spells, unless there's enough magic put into it. That also shows how powerful Nightmare Moon's attack was, that it knocked Celestia out of the sky," Twilight said. "Another thing that makes me think this is the amount of magic they have. To raise and lower the sun and moon is no easy thing, as you can imagine. It used to take all of the unicorns in the land to do that, but they can do it by themselves. They could do it even when they first showed up in Equestria, so their magic was always immense."

"Those are some interesting ideas about the princesses and knowledge about your world. Is there anything else about alicorns that you can tell me?" he asked.

"Well we are immune to illnesses," she said. "We can't catch things like colds or anything like that. We can still catch rather deadly diseases," seeing Cole's panic, she quickly added, "but our magic fights them off." Cole sighed in relief. "The symptoms we show are similar to a cold, but should be treated much more cautiously by other ponies. The same is true for dragons. Well they get sick from being in the cold too long, them being reptiles."

"Well it's nice to know you and Spike can't be taken away by things like that," Cole said.

She yawned widely, "Oh, I guess we should head to bed."

Stifling a yawn of his own, Cole agreed, "Yeah, it's pretty late." Cole made to get up from the couch, but Twilight stopped him. He looked at her questioningly.

Staring down at her hands to hide her blush, she asked, "Can't we sleep together tonight?"

Cole could feel his face heat up, panicking slightly, "Uh... Isn't it kind of early in the relationship to do that?"

Twilight looked up at him in confusion. As it slowly dawned on her what he meant her blush deepened and eyes widened. "That isn't what I meant!" she exclaimed, quietly. "I meant just sleeping on the couch together. Staying close to each other."

Calming down, he said, "I wouldn't mind, but the couch isn't meant for more than one person sleeping on it."

"Well, I actually know a spell to increase the size of an object," she said.

"So, why didn't you use it before?" he asked. "I mean me and Zeke wouldn't want to sleep next to each other," Cole shivered slightly at the thought, "and before you and me couldn't, same with you and Zeke. I also doubt Spike would want to sleep next to us either, but what about you and Spike?"

"Well I did ask him about it, but even in Equestria he slept in his own bed," she said. "He's actually a baby dragon, but here he's a teenager. So, he's even more adamant about it here."

"Hang on he's a baby?" Cole asked.

"He's a baby by dragon standards. Dragons can live as long as the princesses," Twilight explained. "He's fourteen years old."

"He really is fourteen? I mean I told Moya that, but I was kind of just guessing. He's really that old?" Cole asked. As Twilight nodded he looked back at Spike, "But he's still a baby?"

"For dragon's that's the age of a baby," she said. "Since they can live so long, even at an adult age to us would be very young for them."

"Well it's not that big of a deal, I was just slightly confused," he said. They both yawned loudly, "Well if you're sure, I think it would be wonderful to sleep together."

Nodding, Twilight stood up and started to cast the spell on the couch. As the spell took hold of the couch, the seats elongated to where two people could easily sleep on it. The back ascended two feet and it stretched out three feet to the sides.

After the spell was complete the couple climbed onto it and cuddled each other. They gazed into each other's eyes and gave each other one last kiss before the two started to drift off sleep.

Before slumber took them, Cole said, "I love you Twilight Sparkle."

Smiling sleepily, she replied, "I love you too Cole MacGrath."

They fell asleep in each other's warm embrace, both smiling happily.

Spike awoke to hear someone speaking. He heard Twilight and Cole talking to each other.

"I love you Twilight Sparkle," he said.

"I love you too Cole MacGrath," she said.

He waited to make sure they were asleep before he got up. When he heard their soft breathing, Spike stood up and tiptoed over to the couch. He absentmindedly noticed that the couch was bigger than before. He saw Cole and Twilight sleeping in each other's arms. Spike smiled, happy that she managed to tell Cole how she felt and, from the looks of it and what he heard earlier, he returned her feelings.

As he looked at them Spike remembered the camera they had gotten from the photographer, and a mischievous grin spread across his face. Walking over to the TVs, he grabbed the camera and walked back to the couch. He took a couple pictures of them sleeping. He snickered when he imagined the look on their faces when they and their friends found out. Taking the pictures from the camera, Spike put them inside of his jacket so that Twilight and Cole wouldn't find them.

After returning the camera back where it was, Spike went back to the chair and reclined it. He soon fell back to sleep a happy smile on his face, happy for his sister.

Nemesis Revealed

Day 19...

When morning came, Cole awoke to Twilight's sleeping face. He smiled as he remembered what happened the previous day. He had started a relationship with this kind, beautiful, intelligent, and compassionate woman. He leaned forward and kissed her on the forehead. Noticing that he wasn't in her arms anymore. He began to slowly get off of the couch. He nearly jumped out of his skin when someone spoke to him.

"Have a nice night, man?" Cole whirled around to see Zeke looking at him with a smirk. "The two of you looked very comfortable in each others arms," he teased. "So how was it?"

Blushing, Cole said, "Nothing happened Zeke. Twilight just wanted to be together as we slept. She also probably didn't want me to sleep in the lawn chair and doesn't want me to anymore. Now that we are together we don't have to worry about not having enough places to sleep. Her magic helped with that too if you hadn't noticed."

"I'm just messing with you man. I know you wouldn't do that so soon and Twilight doesn't strike me as that type either. And yeah I saw what she did to the couch, that's the biggest I've ever seen a couch," Zeke said. "So what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to go to head somewhere there seems to be some trouble," Cole said.

Zeke looked at the still sleeping forms of Twilight and Spike, "What about them? Your not going to take them with you?"

Looking at them, he shook his head, "No, it might not be much. It's not something Moya contacted me about it's just something I heard was going on."

He shrugged, "If you say so. I'll tell them it's nothing big if they wake up before you get back."

Cole headed off the roof onto the tracks and started to grind to his destination.

As he neared the location he jumped from the rails and walked the rest of the way. As he reached a building with some sick and/or injured people around it, Cole saw Trish helping people. When she noticed him, she ran to him.

As she came to a stop, she looked at him accusingly, "This almost as bad as the fountain, if not worse. Why aren't you doing anything about it?"

'Geez, was she always this... ill-tempered?' he thought. "I took out a whole damn truck of the crap that was under the park. I thought that would stop them," he said.

Her eyes narrowed, "Well, the people here aren't just getting themselves sick. That stuff has some source." She turned and walked away, back to the sick.

Staring after her, Cole couldn't help to feel glad he was with Twilight now. 'I know Trish isn't always like this, but damn it she's pretty much blaming me and Twilight for this. I don't care what she thinks of me, I can take it, but Twilight is a pretty sensitive woman. She doesn't deserve this,' he thought, angrily. Taking deep breaths to calm himself, he called Moya to see if she could figure out what's causing the problem. "Moya, that black tar from before has shown up again. There's a bunch of people sick everywhere over here," he told her.

"There are several water tower's on the rooftops in that area. They're the only remaining water sources," she said.

"Right, I'll go see what's going on," he said. He started to climb the nearest building with a water tower. When he reached the roof he saw several Reapers walking around on it. Hanging off of the edge of the building he aimed at the farthest Reaper. Once his aim was steady and had a clear shot, he shot the Reaper in the head. As he went down and the other's attention was on the fallen, Cole jumped onto the roof and sent a shockwave at the nearest Reaper. While that Reaper was sent floating through the air, he rushed toward the remaining Reaper and clothes-lined him. As he went down clutching his throat Cole restrained him. Turning his attention back to the previously airborne Reaper, he ran at him and, before he could aim, hit him with his gigawatt blades.

He walked over to the water tower and started to climb to the top. Once there he saw a strange keg, that had the black tar seeping out of it. Cole contacted Moya, "There are Reapers all over the roof here. They were guarding a keg that has the tar leaking out of it."

"That has to be how they are contaminating the water. Destroy that thing now," she said.

He leaned toward the device and took a closer look at it. He saw a chargeable device attached to it. "I wonder," he said to himself. Placing a hand on the device, Cole funneled his electricity into the device, pouring as much into it as he could. As the keg was being overcharged, it began to shake violently. The shaking soon became to much and it fell off of it's holder, falling to the roof.

"Shit," he swore. Contacting Moya, he told her how he had dealt with the keg. "I accidentally made things worse. I tried overcharging the pump. It sort of worked, but ended up pumping the tar faster into the tower," he said.

"That extra tar is going to get even more people sick and we don't want that, now do we? Blow the next one up. You'll get covered in the tar, but people's lives will be saved," she said.

Cole turned toward the next water tower and headed over. When he reached the roof he saw several people on the ground surrounded by the tar. He walked up to one of them and tried to heal them. At first it seemed to work, the man started to move and eventually get up. Cole turned to go heal the others when he was struck in the back of the head.

Turning he saw the man he healed attacking him. "What the hell!? What are you doing? I was just trying to help," he yelled. The man didn't seem to hear him as he continued to attack. Having had enough, he tackled the man to the ground and restrained him. Looking down at the struggling man, Cole thought, 'Shit, is this what that crap does to you?' Shaking his head, he turned back to the tower and climbed to the top.

Once at the top, he looked at the keg and thought about his choices. 'If I overload this thing I won't have to worry about getting covered in it, but if I do everyone on this water main will get infected.' He mulled over his choices for only a second before deciding, 'No, I won't let people get this stuff in there system. I've seen what this stuff can do. I'm not going to poison more people just so I won't be uncomfortable.' Taking a step back, Cole aimed at the keg and braced himself. He fired a shockwave, when it connected with the keg it exploded knocking him off of the tower and onto the roof. "AH!" he yelled. As soon as the tar covered him his electricity started arcing off him, trying to burn the tar off of him.

"I know that it must be painful Cole, but to keep too many people from getting sick. This has to be how it is," Moya said.

He leaned against a wall, waiting for the effects from the tar to subside. When it did, Cole set off for the next water tower. When he reached the building he started to climb to the roof. Staying on the edge, he saw a turret mounted there. The Reaper hadn't noticed him yet, so he stayed down. He noticed a kerosene can next to the turret. Taking aim at the can he shot a bolt at it causing to explode in a small ball of fire. The blast sent the gunner flying across the roof. Not leaving anything to chance Cole quickly climbed onto the roof and raced to the Reaper. Before he had the chance to stand, he was restrained. After dealing with the Reaper, he climbed the water tower. Reaching the top he shot the tar keg with a shockwave.

Landing back on the roof from the explosion, Cole heard a strange sound near him. Looking toward the noise he saw a man in white standing before him. He was wearing an overcoat with a hood covering part of his face, white pants, and a scarf wrapped around his neck and draped over his shoulders. He also had some strange devices on him. A strange metal vest was on his body and a gauntlet attached to his right arm.

The man looked from the tower back to Cole, "She's going to be really pissed about this."

Narrowing his eyes, Cole asked, "Who the hell are you?"

"Me? I'm just a concerned citizen. Now don't move," he said.

The next second he jumped toward Cole and grabbed his head. Digging his icy fingers into Cole's skull. At first nothing happened, but soon Cole started to be shown things. He was shown terrible things, things so horrible that they couldn't be described. In that split second, Cole understood what he was being shown. He was being shown the future. An immeasurable scale of death and destruction beyond imagination. The man released Cole from his grasp and, as he fell to the ground, in that instance he knew the man before him was responsible for it all. That Pandora's Box was opened by him, and that it wasn't ever going to be closed and that in some way the Ray Sphere they were chasing had something to do with it. When he looked up Cole saw that the man was gone.

As he struggled to get to his feet a Reaper Conduit appeared before him. 'Great, the tar was already messing with me and with that forced vision, my senses are out of whack,' he thought. He then heard a faint shout.

"Coooole!"

The Reaper seemed to hear as well. Turning toward the sound he aimed his gun and prepared to shoot. Before he even had the chance to attack, Twilight barreled at the Reaper faster then Cole had ever seen her go. Ramming her shoulder into the Conduit, she flung him straight ahead, flaring her wings to slow herself down. The Reaper managed to stay on his feet and let loose a shockwave at her. She teleported away and appeared behind him. She raised her fist and gathered a massive charge of magic into it. She threw her arm forward and it connected with the Conduit's back. The Reaper was rammed into a wall. He slumped down the wall and laid on the ground unconscious.

Cole stared slightly slack-jawed at what had just occurred. As Twilight stomped over to him, he closed his mouth and felt a small amount of fear from the woman in front of him. He subconsciously took a step back. When she reached him he could feel himself sweating.

Stopping right in front of him, she glared at Cole, "Why did you leave by yourself?"

"Uh... You were asleep?" he asked. She continued to glare at him. "You were sleeping and this wasn't even something that Moya had contacted us about. It was just something that I heard was happening and decided to check out," he explained. "Why?"

"Why? Why!? The last time you went by yourself you were covered in tar that gave you a splitting headache and, from what you said, it messed with your head," she said, her eyes starting to sting. "The same thing happened this time, except worse. You were nearly killed by a Reaper!" she yelled, tears running down her face. "It seems every time you go by yourself your mind gets screwed with!"

Cole's eyes widened slightly. She hadn't cursed, but for Twilight it was about as close to it she had gotten. He walked forward and pulled her into a hug. "I'm sorry for worrying you, but you know I can take care of myself, right?" he asked.

Wrapping her arms around him, she nodded, "Of course you can, but a Reaper nearly got you this time." She tightened her grip on Cole, as if afraid he would slip away from her.

"I know, and thank you for saving me, but this has been happening all the time since the blast," he said.

"Yes, but you were able to protect yourself those other times. You were constantly moving and dodging the bullets. This time you couldn't seem to move," she sniffed. "Please just promise me you won't go by yourself. Take me or Spike with you. Please."

Cole felt guilty for making Twilight feel this way. Pulling back, he gave her a tender kiss, putting as much love into it as he could. When they broke apart, he looked straight into her beautiful violet eyes and said, "I promise, Twilight. I hate making you worry. I won't go anywhere without you or Spike."

Twilight smiled and hugged him again. They stayed in each other's embrace until Zeke called them.

"Hey Cole, Twilight find you yet? Because if not, you should look out she seemed rather pissed when I told her about you," he warned.

Cole stayed silent, waiting for either Twilight to say something or Zeke to figure it out.

"I found him just fine, Zeke," she said, with a slight smirk. "Thank you for worrying."

There was silence on the other end. Well, except for the muffled laughter of what they figured was Spike busting a gut.

Clearing his throat, Zeke said, "Well, *ahem* you two should come on back. I have some drinks chillin' for ya."

Chuckling, Cole said, "Sure, we're on our way."

Wrapping her arms under Cole's, Twilight unfurled her wings and lifted him into the air, flying back home.

As they flew back, something occurred to Cole. "Twilight, how did you find me?"

"Oh, I concentrated on our bond and through our connection to each other I could tell where you were," she explained. "I'm sure you can do the same."

"I'll try next time we are away from each other. This will be very useful."

As Twilight landed on the roof, Zeke began talking to them.

"I've been looking into that new BFF of yours, Moya," Zeke said.

Spike groaned, "Not again. Since you two've been gone he's been talking about this nonstop."

Cole looked at Zeke, "You find that magic eight-ball of yours?"

"Cole, she's big time FBI. The kind of FBI that you only send when," he glanced at Spike, "the shiola hits the fan and sprays over everyone."

Everyone had the same thought, 'Gee, thanks for that imagery.'

Zeke continued his rant, "Just about six months ago, her trail goes completely cold when she's transferred to some new division called DEFENDER. According to one of my boys, they think that she's working for DARPA."

Cole raise an eyebrow. "You have boys?" he asked.

"Come on man, I'm being serious here. You gotta listen. DARPA is the at the top of black ops crap. It's a secret Pentagon group that doesn't have to answer to anyone. If she works with those guys, the two of you need to watch your backs," he said.

Rolling his eyes, Cole said, "Sure, Zeke. And Santa Claus shot JFK. Now where are those drinks you were talking about?"

Twilight looked at him curiously, "Who's Santa Claus and JFK?"

"I'll tell you while we relax with a nice cold drink," he said, walking to the fridge. Grabbing four drinks he walked over and handed one to Twilight, Spike, and Zeke. Then walked over to the couch and sat down. When she sat down next to him, he began to explain who they were.

No Protection Trish Reaches Out

"And that's who they are," Cole concluded, as he finished explaining to Twilight and Spike who Santa and JFK were. Spike had been interested when Cole was talking about Santa, but quickly lost interest when he moved onto John F. Kennedy. Twilight, on the other hand, listened with rapt attention, taking in everything he said. Zeke had left to do something when Cole started his explanation.

"Thank you for the explanation, Cole," Twilight said, smiling.

"It wasn't a problem Twilight," he said.

Moya contacted him, "The final substation in the Neon has been located. It's been uploaded to your GPS. As soon as your able you need to head over there."

"You mind if I go with you Cole?" Spike asked.

Cole glanced to Twilight, who nodded her approval. Looking back at Spike, he said, "Sure, Spike. Let's head there."

As they walked to the edge of the roof, Twilight called out to them, "Oh and Spike, from now on at least one of us is to go with Cole when he goes on the missions."

Spike raised an eyebrow at Cole, who was looking the other direction. "Okay!" he called back.

The two descended to the street and started toward their destination.

As they walked, Zeke called, "Hey guys, you know the thought of the Ray Sphere falling into the government's hands scares the hell out me."

"I thought we just talked about this," Cole said. Spike shook his head, slightly exasperated.

"Now, I know that you guys were caught off guard, but you should think about this for a minute. If it can give people super powers, what's to keep 'ole Uncle Sam from powering up the military? Or even the cops?" Zeke asked. "We wouldn't have anyway to protect ourselves from them."

"Why would you need protection from them?" Twilight asked.

"She's right, Zeke," Cole agreed

"Are you two serious? Have you not been paying attention? Do you see Red Cross or National Guard? I sure as hell don't. They lied about what happened on the bridge. They'll do anything to stay in power," Zeke said. "The two of you need to wake up before it's too late to do anything." Zeke ended the call.

The two continued toward the blacked out area. As they walked Cole tried out what Twilight had told him. He focused on their bond. As he concentrated he could tell where she was. He could even tell what her condition was. She was slightly tired from the exertion of getting to him earlier, but was otherwise healthy. When they reached the powered down area they were already near the sewer they needed to head to. Before any Reapers could find them, they ran to the man hole cover and entered.

When they reached the sewer Moya contacted them. "I managed to get some intel on the leader of the Reapers. It's a woman named Sasha. She was a high-ranking member of the First Sons that spearheaded a lot of the research. At least until a few months ago," she said.

"Do you think she has an idea where John is?" Cole asked.

"We have no way of knowing. Even if she doesn't, you need to take her out. Until she's taken care of the plague will continue to spread. Once I've found out where she's hold up, I'll let you guys know," she said, ending the call.

Cole and Spike started their trek through the sewer. They soon reached a dead end. The only thing there was a chargeable electric box. Walking up to it Cole started to charge the box. When it was charged the two jumped when there was a loud creaking noise. Turning toward it they saw a strange mechanism move back and forth. Under it there were nozzles spraying gas out of them. When it moved back toward them, Cole and Spike jumped to it when the gas stopped. They quickly climbed onto it before it started shooting out again. The mechanism started moving back to other side. As it did they jumped to the pipes over there. The two followed the pipes to the transformers.

When they reached them, Cole proceeded to connect the circuit. As he did he saw his new power. When the circuit was re-established he noticed another electric box behind a giant fan. He walked as close to it as he could. Once he did, he started to focus. The world seemed to slow as he did. He timed his shots and hit the box when the blades weren't in the way. When he charged it another mechanism started to move.

Cole turned to Spike, to see him looking at him slightly confused. "Is something wrong Spike?" he asked.

Blinking, Spike shook his head, "No, nothing's wrong. It's just that your lightning was blue, right?"

"Yeah it's blue, why?" Cole asked, wondering about the strange question.

"Because it's violet now," he said.

Cole blinked and then looked down at his hands noticed Spike was right. The electricity sparking off of his arms had turned from blue to violet. "Huh, I wonder how the hell I didn't notice that," he said.

"Well, you're probably too busy focusing on the enemy to notice the color of your lightning changing color," Spike reasoned.

As they turned to the mechanism and continued through the sewer, Zeke called them, "I've been hearing quite a few people talking about you guys. Saying how your all these big heroes, those kinds of things. I heard one gal saying you look different Cole, like you have an aura of goodness around you."

"Zeke you know I really don't care about stuff like that," Cole said.

"Me either," Twilight's voice came through the phone.

"I don't mind," Spike said.

As Cole chuckled, Zeke started speaking again, "Yeah I know you two don't care. But keep it up. The chicks dig it, and I'll probably be able to use that to my advantage. I'll talk to you two later."

"ZEKE!!" Twilight's shout was the last thing they heard as he ended the call.

Cole and Spike glanced at each other. They walked down the path until they heard the tell tale shouts of Reaper bombers. Several feet ahead of them two of them charged toward the two. Before the Reapers could get too close Cole fired a shockwave at them. The wave hit, sending them flying. As they floated through the air, Cole quickly hit them with bolts. As soon as they hit the Reapers went up in flame. Both Reapers landed in the water surrounding them, the flames instantly going out.

Spike was stunned slightly by the sudden appearance and quick dispatch of the Reapers. Shaking the suddenness of what occurred off they resumed their journey.

As they reached a small generator a turret opened fire on them. Cole quickly went behind cover. Spike started breathing green fire into his hand. Cole, while wondering what he was doing, started to use his precision. Focusing on the Reaper behind the turret, he fired a concentrated bolt at his head. The Reaper was flung back and went down. He was about to turn his focus to the other Reaper, when he noticed Spike readying the baseball sized flame in his grasp. Spike drew the arm with the flame back and aimed at the shield wielding Reaper. He threw his arm forward and released the ball. When it connected with the Reapers shield, instead of being blocked the flame melted through the bulletproof glass. The ball then connected with the Reaper and caused a small explosion that sent him flying, smashing into the wall behind him and falling unconscious to the ground.

Getting up, Cole said, "You keep surprising me, Spike."

Spike just smiled as they went back to finding their objective. They walked through the tunnels and soon reached the substation. Cole strode up to the power box attached to it and began to recharge it. Once he was done the two climbed to the surface.

After they reached the road, the electricity returned to the city. As they stood there taking a moments rest, Cole received an unexpected call.

"Are you there, Cole?" a woman's voice came from the phone.

"Trish?" Cole asked. Upon hearing her voice Spike let out a low growl.

"....Spike's with you isn't he?" Trish guessed.

"Yes he is," Cole said. "You can imagine why he isn't happy to hear you."

"Listen a crate with medical supplies in it was just dropped and someone needs to keep it away from the Reapers," Trish said ignoring Cole's comment.

"And you want the two of us to do it don't you," Cole guessed.

"I don't care if Spike joins you or not, but your one of the only people I know with super powers," Trish said. "You owe me... everyone in this city, for what you and Twilight did. I'll let you know where the crate will be." She ended the call before Cole or Spike could retort about her accusation towards Twilight.

The two just stood there fuming. They stalked into an alley to let out some frustration without hurting anyone. Once in the alley Spike shot out a huge pillar of fire and let out a small roar. The pillar went as high as the building, but after a minute the flame died down. Cole let out shout of rage and let his lightning arc off of him. The electricity jumped to the many vehicles around him causing them to explode. After the two of them had vented, they stood there taking calming breaths to settle themselves down. Once they had the two decided to head where the medicine crate was located.

Once they reached where Trish had indicated the crate would be, the two had calmed down considerably. They were still rather peeved.

"I'm tired of her blaming the two of you for this. If you were reason this happened you wouldn't be helping people the way you have been," Spike fumed.

"I know Spike. I honestly don't care what she or anyone else in the city thinks about me though. It's how Twilight had absolutely nothing to do with any of this, but gets blamed for it," Cole seethed. "She just showed up at the worst possible time."

Before the two could make themselves any angrier they headed to the crate. Soon after they reached it a group of Reapers showed up and started to shoot at the medicine.

They separated from each other. Spike charged toward the Reaper that wielded a shotgun. The Reaper shot at him, but all it managed to do was push him back from the force. Quickly recovering from the blast Spike ran at the Reaper and grabbed the shotgun. Tightening his grip, he easily crushed the barrel of the gun. Yanking the gun away he quickly turned and swung his tail around, swiping the Reaper off his feet. Facing back to the prone Reaper, Spike wrapped his hand in flame and struck the Reaper in the chest. The fire spread outward as his fist connects. Small flames appear on the nearby Reaper as he was trying to catch Spike off guard. As he tried to pat the fire out, Spike jumped up and brought his knee up, slamming it into the Reapers gut. As he doubles over, Spike brings his hands together and brings them down over the Reapers head, smashing him into ground knocking him out.

Cole ran toward one of the other Reapers, avoiding his bullets, and slid under him. As he slid between the Reapers legs he grabbed them and, as he got up, pulled him to the ground. Not letting go of the his legs, Cole swung the Reaper around and threw him at the other one that was aiming at him. They collided and were pushed back several feet. Cole rushed over to them and quickly restrained them. Behind him, he heard a familiar shout. Turning he saw Spike running down the front alley. Heading over there he saw three kamikaze Reapers charging toward them.

"Spike!!" Cole shouted, worried that he would get himself greatly injured.

Spike, however kept running. He punched one of the Reapers and sent them flying into another one. As the final Reaper reached the other two and Spike, the first two exploded, setting off the third.

Cole looked on in horror as Spike was engulfed in the flames of the huge explosion. As he continued to stare he heard a clanging coming from the roof. As he looked over he saw a large Reaper with a minigun take aim at him. Rage building in him from the apparent loss of Spike he rushed toward the gunner. Not even trying to dodge the bullets fired at him, many glancing him. Climbing the building, Cole jumped onto the roof. He rushed toward the Reaper and grabbed his head. He dropped the gun and grabbed Cole's arm, trying to pry it off of his face. Before he could even try, Cole then began electrocuting him. He kept channeling electricity into the Reaper even after his arms went limp, indicating his loss of consciousness. After several moments, he stopped the flow of electricity and released the Reaper. Cole straightened himself as he steadied his breathing.

Cole turned back towards the blast and froze at what he saw. Spike stood in the middle of where the blast had occurred, not even looking like he was inside of an explosion, except for a little soot. Spike was staring at Cole looking very surprised at the ferocity he had taken the Reaper out with.

Cole jumped from the roof and ran to Spike, pulling the boy into a tight hug. After a moment, he pulled back and looked into Spike's eyes. "How the hell did you survive that?" he asked, glad he was okay, but was upset he just did something like that.

Spike, sensing that he was upset, lowered his head, "I'm sorry I worried you Cole. Dragon's can survive a great deal of heat. Hay, I jumped into lava once and was completely fine."

He sighed, "It's fine Spike. You're okay that's all that matters, but before you do something like that again, tell me."

"I will," he promised, looking Cole in the eyes.

They soon heard a truck coming toward them. Looking toward the left alley they saw a turret truck pulling up. As it got near it started shooting at them. The two split up, Spike keeping the gunner's attention as Cole snuck around him. Cole climbed onto the truck and tiptoed to the Reaper. As he neared him, Cole charged his gigawatt blades. When he got the gunner, he drove the blades into his back. As the Reaper was launched foward, Cole grabbed the turret and sent an electric current through it, causing it to explode.

Cole started to walk back to the crate when they heard the horns of two more trucks. As soon as he heard them Spike started to breath fire into his claws. Cole aimed for the first truck and threw several grenades at it. Cole stepped back as the explosives stuck to the vehicle. The bombs started going off, each one moving the truck slightly. After the fourth blast the truck exploded sending the Reaper on the turret flying back.

Spike soon finished breathing fire into his claws. In his grasp was a flame the size of a soccer ball. Turning toward the remaining truck, Spike dropped the ball of flame. Before the sphere hit the ground he kicked it as hard as he could. The ball of emerald fire shot toward the vehicle. When it connected with the truck it melted straight through it. As soon as it did, the truck blew up from the flame hitting the gas inside of it.

They waited for several minutes to see if there were anymore Reapers. Once they were sure there wasn't anymore, the two walked back to the crate. As they did, Trish and a man came running toward them. The man went to medicine crate and Trish walked up to them. Spike walked back away from them, not wanting to hear Trish say anything about them.

"Do you need any help moving the medicine?" Cole offered.

"It's fine, we can get it," Trish replied. "And thanks for the help Cole. You too Spike!" she yelled back.

He just glanced back and nodded.

"He's still not happy is he?" she asked.

"I don't think he is, no," Cole said. "So we talking again?"

Trish hesitated a bit, then said, "We'll see Cole. I'm pretty busy." She walked off to help the man that had come with her to help with the medicine.

Spike walked back up to Cole. Looking at him skeptically and asked, "Why do you want to talk to her?"

"I just want to be friends with her nothing more. So, if that's what your worried about you don't need to," Cole said.

He shook his head, "No, I don't think you would do that to Twilight. I was just wondering why you wanted to talk to her after the way she's treated you and her."

Cole sighed, "Spike, you know what she's normally like. She lost her sister and saw the two of us holding the thing responsible for it. It's not a big surprise she would think that we had something to do with it, though I really wish she wouldn't blame Twilight for it. Do you know how you would react if your positions were switched? If it was Twilight that was lost?"

Spike stayed silent, not knowing how to respond.

Cole knelt down and placed his hands on Spike's shoulder's, "Hey Spike, I'm sorry I asked you such a difficult question. Let's not worry about that, let's ju-" he was cut off when Moya contacted them.

"I've managed to pin down Sasha's location. She's operating under the Jefferson Tunnel. You need to head to the location I've marked on your GPS. When you get there, I'll fill you in on the details," she said.

Spike looked at Cole, "So what should we do?"

"Let's go back and get some rest. We're going to need it if we are to go against the leader of the Reapers. Plus it's getting rather late," he said.

They headed back home to replenish their energy for what's sure to be a tough fight.

The two climbed to the roof to find Twilight laying on the couch reading one of her books.

Hearing them approach she looked up from her book and smiled. "I'm glad to see you both back safe," she said. Spike flopped onto one of the chairs, while Cole laid across the couch. Twilight sat up and moved to lay next to him. Seeing them seem so tired, she looked at them concerned, "Are you two ok? You were gone the rest of the day."

"Yeah we are fine Twilight," Spike said. "It's just that after we took care of the substation, Cole got a call from Trish."

Turning to Cole, Twilight narrowed her eyes "What did she want?"

"She just wanted some help in securing medicine and keep Reapers from destroying it," Cole said. "We are the only people who can really deal with them. Especially a big group of them."

Twilight relaxed slightly, "A lot of people could use that medicine, it's good that you protected it." She paused, then asked, "So she didn't accuse you of anything?"

Before Cole could answer, Spike spoke up. "Of course she did. Pretty much used it as the reason we should help her. Not because it would help people and it's the right thing to do, but because you two 'owed' her and the city for what you did," he said very upset with how Trish went about getting their help.

"However," Cole said, before Twilight could get too angry, "she is starting to move past it. She talked to me completely differently than she was before and when I wanted to talk to her, instead of just saying no and accusing me, she said that she'd have to see how things turn out."

"Why do you want to talk to her?" she asked, curiously.

"Because she's not a bad person, she just lost a loved one," he said, shifting to lay on his back and looked at the night sky. "I just hope we can get past this and become friends is all."

Rolling onto her side, Twilight moved closer to Cole and wrapped an arm around him. "She was a rather good friend to have," she said, smiling slightly.

They then heard snoring and looked over to see Spike was out like a light. Laughing quietly the two looked to each other. "We should probably go to sleep, but before we do there's something else I need to tell you," Cole said.

"Okay," Twilight said, slightly apprehensive.

"The other reason we come back to rest was because Moya managed to locate where the big boss of the Reapers is," he told her. Her eyes widened at this information. "We decided it would be best to be well rested and at full power before we take her on."

"That was good thinking. So let's get some rest, so that we can take care of her," she said.

The two kissed and bade each other good night. They fell asleep somewhat fitfully, not looking forward to tomorrows confrontation.

Dinner With Sasha

Day 20...

Twilight woke up to find herself being held close to Cole. He had pulled her close to him in his sleep. Their faces were inches away from each other. Blushing, she placed a hand on his face, as she did he started to smile. A mischievous smile spread across her face. She angled herself accordingly and adjusted her hand on his face as she did, glancing to the chairs she saw Zeke awake and looking at her with a curious expression. Then as tenderly as she could... she pinched his cheek and gave it several strong firm shakes.

Cole's eyes shot open and he bolted up, electricity arcing off of his arms. He looked around ready to face whatever had disturbed him. What he didn't expect was stifled laughter behind him. Turning he saw Twilight holding a hand over her mouth trying, and failing, to hold in her laughter. She soon gave up and broke out in a fit of giggles. Looking over to the chairs he saw Zeke laughing his ass off. Spike was jolted awake from the laughter, looking around confusedly.

As annoyed as he was that she would mess with him now of all times, he couldn't help but smile at the giggling woman. He was glad that she was able to be relaxed enough to have a good time, even in such troubling times. "Having fun?" he asked.

"Y-y-yes. S-s-sorry, for messing wi-with you," she apologized through her giggling.

Chuckling, Cole got up and started stretching. Turning back to Twilight, he asked, "So who's going to go with me, you or Spike?"

"I-I'll go with yo-you," Twilight said, trying to compose herself as she got up from the couch.

Cole smirked, "You sure you can pull yourself together?"

"O-of course I c-can," she stuttered, struggling to contain her laughter. She took several deep breathes to calm herself down. Once she composed herself she held out her hand. "Shall we?" she asked.

Taking her hand, he said, "Yeah, let's go."

Spreading her wings she took off, lifting him with her. They headed to where the leader of the Reapers was supposed to be.

Once they reached the tunnel they noticed that it looked like it had been turned into an impromptu fortress. "This is certainly looks like the place," Twilight said.

Cole nodded as he contacted Moya, "We're across the Jefferson Tunnel."

"With the entrance blocked, the two of you are going to need to find a way to get in. You should enter the compound and see if there's a way to open the doors," she instructed.

Twilight descended to the street and set Cole on the ground. They walked to the gate that led to the compound. Cole quickly charged the power box on the side and it raised up. As they entered a kamikaze Reaper charged at them. Before the Reaper could even light the fuses of his bombs a violet beam hit him in the chest. The explosives instantly going off. Cole looked over to Twilight with a surprised look on his face.

Seeing his look, she said, sullenly, "I know what you and Spike said about that Reaper and figured you were right. I can't do anything about the bombs on them. I would rather not do it, but we have to protect the people of this city. I won't just kill every enemy we come across, but I will take them out." She said this with a depressed look, tears in the corners of her eyes.

Cole pulled Twilight into a reassuring hug, one she quickly returned. "It's okay Twilight. You're right, we need to protect people from these psychos. No we don't have to kill all of them," he assured her "but we can't afford to hold back against them either. If we do, then they could take us and/or innocent people out."

They separated and continued through the compound. Once they climbed the ladder, the two moved behind the containers there to avoid the fire of the turrets. Peering around the side of the container, Cole saw two turrets and a reaper on each tower.

Turning back to Twilight he told her his plan. "You teleport behind the turrets and take out those two Reapers and I'll take care of the ones on the towers," he said.

She nodded and cast a barrier around herself. She then teleported to the turrets. She appeared directly behind one of the Reapers. Charging her magic into her hands, she brought one hand down on to the Reaper's back. The magic blasted him forward, smashing the turret. Above her she heard electricity hitting the Reapers on the towers. Turning to the other Reaper she charged toward him. He turned toward her and started firing at her. The bullets bounced off her barrier leaving her unharmed, but each hit drained her magic. When she reached the Reaper she threw her fist forward smashing it into his face. He was blasted back into the fence and fell to the ground knocked out.

Twilight then flew up to the towers to look for something that would let them in. As she looked, he heard the voice from before, he started to suspect that this was Sasha.

'Finally coming home, sweet, delicious Cole. I've been waiting for you to arrive, longing for you to be with me at last,' she said.

"Shut the hell up," he said.

"Cole, I think that I found how to open the gate!" Twilight called down to him.

As she pulled the lever to open the gate the woman continued. 'I can feel all of the love in you. I'm going to have so much fun coaxing it out of you,' the voice said.

He ignored the voice and walked to the front. Twilight glided down to him and the two entered the tunnel. They soon ran into two Conduit Reapers. Cole and Twilight each aimed at a Conduit. He threw two shock grenades at one of them. One stuck to the Reaper, but the other missed and flew passed the Conduit. When the grenade blew, Cole sprinted toward the downed Reaper. Before he could get up, he was restrained.

Twilight fired at the other Conduit, but before the beam could connect the Reaper teleported. He reappeared behind her and sent a shockwave forward. Using her wings for a boost, Twilight flipped over the Reaper completely dodging the attack. Landing behind him, she grabbed his arms and sent an electric surge through him. He went rigid as electricity coursed through his body. He soon fell the ground, out cold.

After taking care of the Conduits, they continued through the tunnel. The two soon noticed a short distance away was a fence with a locked gate. However standing between them and the gate was a Reaper they had never encountered before. The new Conduit Reaper wore a coat as black as night and looked slimy like their tar. Unlike the other Reapers he held no weapon. However, the very air seemed to be moving. He slowly started to raised his hand and held it to the side. Cole and Twilight took defensive stances, ready to face the Reaper. The new Conduit swung his arm forward sending a blast of wind at them. Caught off guard by the new use of powers, Cole and Twilight were blown backwards. Cole managed to stay on his feet, but Twilight was knocked on to her back.

Cole rushed over to make sure she wasn't hurt. "Are you okay?" he asked, keeping an eye on the Reaper.

"Yeah, I'm okay. We're going to need to watch ourselves. Those other Conduits were difficult enough with just the one attack. There's no telling how many this one has," she said, standing and taking an offensive position.

Nodding, Cole rushed toward the Reaper as Twilight fired beams at him. The Conduit dodged the beams with ease. As Cole got near the beams ceased. He charged his gigawatt blades and swung at the Reaper. Jumping to the side he dodged the blades and brought his arms across his chest. Spreading his arms he launched a blast of wind toward Cole. He noticed there was something different about this gust and ducked under it. The wind flew over him, he then heard metal being rent apart. Turning around his eyes widened when he saw a car with a clean cut in it.

'Gonna have to watch out for that,' Cole thought.

When he turned back he saw another blast coming at him. Cole instinctively brought his blades up to block the attack. Wind met lightning, Cole pushed against the scythe of air. He struggled against the gust, until he was finally able to repel the blade. The attacks dissipated and Cole charged at the Conduit again. He threw two grenades at each side of the him to limit his movement. The Reaper moved forward to avoid the explosives, forcing him face Cole. Gathering wind in his hand, he threw his arm forward. Cole jumped away from the punch and threw an electric filled kick at the Reapers stomach. The Conduit dodged the kick and shot a blast of air at Cole, sending him back several feet. When he landed he rushed back at the Reaper.

As Cole fought the Conduit, Twilight was trying to get a clear shot at the Reaper. However, they kept moving and she couldn't shoot without either missing or hitting Cole. She was getting rather frustrated that she couldn't help. She would just have to be patient and wait for an opportunity to attack.

As he fought, out of the corner of his eye Cole saw Twilight trying to get in a shot, but couldn't because they wouldn't stand still. He would need a way to trap the Reaper so he couldn't move. He got an idea that he wondered would work. The Reaper didn't use any of his bigger attacks as he moved. So if he stopped moving. Cole came to a stop with his back to the fence. The Conduit stopped in front of him and crossed his arms to fire his air scythe. As he was about to release his attack when there was a flash of magenta behind the Reaper. He stiffened from the hit, then fell to ground unconscious. Cole walked over to him and restrained him.

Letting out of sigh of relief, Cole looked over to Twilight as she walked over to him. They spared a moment to give each other a kiss.

As they did the voice yelled in his head, 'What are you doing?! That can't be possible. You lie!!'

Cole winced and held a hand to his head, "Ugh."

Twilight looked at him concerned, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, just a slight headache," he lied. "Let's keep going." He turned toward the fence at shot the lock that was keeping the gate closed. As he opened it, their eyes widened and Twilight gasped at what they saw.

Cole contacted Moya to report what they found. "We found out where they are making Reapers. There are machines down here spraying that black tar all over people they have in cages," he said.

"You need to get them out of there before they become Reapers. Then deal with Sasha," she said.

"Right," he said. He looked over to Twilight and said, "You take the right, I'll do the left."

She nodded and they went about letting the people out of the cages. After freeing everyone they resumed walking down the tunnel. As they walked the Sasha's voice came back.

'You think that I don't see the way your parading that brat around like some common Jezebel?' the voice said. 'I see all of it now Kessler. Everything.'

"Damn it. What the hell is your problem?" Cole muttered.

'And your bringing her here. Perfect. When the two of you get down here we can be rid of her,' she said eerily.

Twilight looked over at Cole worriedly. She could see something was wrong with Cole. He was grimacing and was muttering to himself. She decided to leave it alone for now. They had come to a giant hole in the floor, there wasn't anything past it so they headed down it. Cole leapt off the edge and Twilight glided down. When they reached the bottom the gate in front of them raised.

When the gate reached the top the two saw a woman sitting in a strange chair. She wasn't wearing anything except a small coat. Tar covered her legs and the lower half of her body. Instead of fingers she seemed to have claws. She had what looked like small pipes sticking out of her shoulder and above her chest. When she spoke Cole was slightly surprised at the voice.

"Honey! Where have you been? The bridge is always backed up at night. I told you that," she said getting up from the chair. "You need to get dressed for the dinner plans we have tonight. Yes, I told you, you silly man. Which means that your little friend will have to leave." As she stepped into the tar she submerged into it.

'So it was her I was hearing,' Cole thought.

Twilight picked Cole up and flew into the room. She landed on a slab of concrete that created an island in the pool of tar. Cole started to jump to a different platform when Sasha surfaced from the tar and opened her mouth, from which several tentacle-like things came from it. She started leaning toward his head. Cole was using all his strength to keep her away, but she slowly made her way closer. Before she even got halfway, however, a magenta aura surrounded one the small pipes on her shoulder. Both of them noticed this and looked over at Twilight. They were surprised at what they saw.

Twilight was glaring death at Sasha, snarling, "Get off of him, you bitch!" She tore the pipe off of the Reaper leader. Tar shot from the hole made by the pipes removal.

She screamed as the pipe was ripped off and plunged back into the tar.

Cole jumped onto a platform, "Thanks!" he shouted. "Looks like those pipes are some kind of weak point." He waited for a chance to attack. Sasha rose and sent a shockwave at Twilight. She quickly jumped to the side, dodging the blast. Quickly retaliating Twilight shot a beam at the enemy Conduit. The beam connected, hitting her in the gut. After taking the hit she descended back. Twilight unconsciously moved to the edge of the platform.

When she did, Sasha surfaced and jumped at Twilight. Before she could react, the Conduit grabbed her throat, pushing her to the ground and started choking her. As she was squeezing the life out of the alicorn, Sasha started to taunt her, "You aren't anything special. He deserves so much more from someone. He deserves a woman and he will belong to me."

Twilight narrowed her eyes and growled, "He isn't... *gasp* ...some thing... *gasp* you can own. *gasp* *gasp* He is a human being."

Sasha snarled and started to tighten her grip, her claws digging into Twilight's neck, when she felt a weight on her back. The jolt caused her to loosen her grip and Twilight seized the opportunity by teleporting away. Gasping for air she looked back and saw Cole on the other Conduits back pulling another of the pipes off of her. She quickly dove back after it was removed.

He rushed over to Twilight. "Are you alright?" he asked.

"I'll be okay," she gasped. She brought her hand up and started to heal the wounds on her throat.

Deciding to stay together, they stood next to each other. As they waited for her to surface again, some strange worm-like things started to rise from the tar. Slowly, but surely an orange energy seemed to move to the top. Having a feeling it wasn't anything good. They decided not to wait and find out what it would do. They quickly shot and destroyed the orange energy. They were to late in shooting one and it was launched at them. They were forced to separate by diving out of the way, Cole jumped to another platform and Twilight grabbed onto a light pole that was submerged in the tar. As the energy made contact with the ground it exploded, pushing Cole back slightly and breaking the wood pole Twilight was hanging onto. She quickly jumped to another platform.

As soon as she landed, a shockwave hit her knocking her to the edge of the island. Sasha rose from the tar and lunged at Twilight. Ready this time, she rolled out of the way. Pushing up she brought her legs toward herself and bucked the Conduit's side. Dazed from the blow, Twilight swiftly grabbed another pipe and ripped it off. Screaming, Sasha submerged back into the tar.

Twilight teleported back to Cole and stayed next to him. They waited for the leader of the Reapers to attack. More of the worms rose up and the two started shooting them down. As they did this Sasha reemerged and sent a shockwave at them. Twilight quickly teleported them away from the attack. They appeared behind the leader and Cole quickly tackled her. Once they hit the ground, he swiftly grabbed the last pipe and tore it off. He got off of her, but kept his aim on her in case she tried anything.

She didn't move however and looked up at Cole, "You won't be able to control your powers. Look at what they did to me. They control you."

Cole stood above the demented Reaper leader. 'Will this really happen to me?' he wondered. 'Will my powers really twist my mind into something this demented?' He felt something on his shoulder, looking over he saw Twilight giving him a comforting smile. He smiled back and returned his attention back to Sasha. 'I'll deal with that if it happens. Twilight, Spike, and Zeke will help me out too. Right now I need to find out what she knows about the First Sons and their Ray Sphere,' he thought. He started to reach down to start interrogating her, when there was an explosion. He grabbed Twilight and put himself between her and the blast.

After the dust settled Cole looked over to where the explosion had occurred. He saw some men with strange masks carrying Sasha out of the tunnel. They moved fast through the rubble, as if they were trained for this kind of thing.

The tunnel was starting to fill with water and was starting to cave in. Looking over to Twilight he cursed. When she fell to the ground from the force of the blast she had hit her head on the ground, knocking her out. Not having time to think, Cole quickly picked Twilight up and not being able to go back, headed into the slums of the Warren.

Cole soon reached the end of the tunnel. Instead of going out, he walked over to a wall separating the tunnel from the streets. Placing Twilight down, he checked where her head hit the ground. He sighed in relief when he didn't see anything. He sat next to her and waited for her to regain consciousness. As he waited he stayed alert to anything that might be threat to them.

Stranded

As Twilight started to regain consciousness, she heard a shout. "And stay away you bastards!" She instantly recognized it as Cole. Remembering what they had been doing, she shot up. Looking around she noticed that they weren't where they were before, but instead at the end of a tunnel. Looking over to the entrance she saw him walking in.

Noticing that Twilight was awake, he rushed over to her and threw his arms around her. "I'm glad you're okay. There isn't any damage, but you've been out for awhile," he said.

"What were you yelling about?" she asked, when he had let go. She stood up to follow him out.

Before he could answer Moya contacted him. "Cole, Twilight, what's happened? Did you kill Sasha or is she alive?" she asked.

"I don't know whether to be glad or disappointed, but she's alive and well. Some guys in masks brought the whole tunnel down while they were getting her," he told her.

"That was probably the First Sons. Hopefully they will deal with her so we don't have to," she said darkly.

Twilight's eyes widened at what she was implicating. Cole didn't care what happened to Sasha, but didn't want to upset Twilight, so he didn't agree. "Uh-huh, listen we're in a powered out borough and I don't have a whole lot of energy. We are going to find the nearest substation and power it up." He ended the call and decided to let Zeke and Spike know how everything went. "Hey Zeke, pick up."

"Hey brother. Where the hell are you and Twilight?" he asked.

"It's a hell of a story. Just wanted you and Spike to know that we are fine and in the Warren," he said.

"I wouldn't call being in the Warren as being fine. That place was nightmare-central even before the blast happened. Can't imagine what it's like now," Zeke said.

"It looks just as bad if not worse. We'll let you know when we find out a way to get back home," Cole told him.

"Watch out for yourselves," he told them, hanging up.

Looking back to Twilight he said, "Let's find that substation."

Twilight nodded and they set out to find the entrance to the sewer they needed to find the substation.

They had managed to avoid any confrontation by staying on the roofs and out of sight. One turret managed to spot them, but Cole quickly took the opponent out with a precision bolt to his head. They soon found the manhole and entered the sewer.

Once they entered and as they started heading through the tunnel, Moya contacted them again. "I pulled up some information on the Warren. Not long after the Ray Sphere, went off the homeless people living there joined together and took over the borough. They're calling themselves the Dust Men," she informed them.

"So that's why those nutcases are wearing trash bags," Cole said.

"Is that who you were yelling at?" Twilight asked. Cole nodded. "Then how come I didn't see anyone?"

"They were on the train tracks and the roofs," he said. "I was able to take them out without moving too far thankfully." He glanced over to her, "With you unconscious, I didn't want to move to far from the entrance."

She smiled and gave him a quick peck. "Thank you keeping me safe," she said.

"Of course," he said.

"Alright you two. Now, I'm fairly sure that they are being led by an immensely powerful conduit. So be sure that you guys don't underestimate them," Moya warned.

"We'll keep our guard up," Twilight assured.

They continued through the sewer as Moya ended the call. Soon coming across the transformer, Cole quickly re-established the circuit. He saw the usual vision of his new power. When it was over he said, "Well that will make getting across gaps easier."

"What will?" she asked.

Instead of answering he ran toward the platform that was just far enough to where he couldn't reach it just by jumping. At the height of his jump, Cole released electricity from the palms of his hands, propelling him toward the platform. He landed on it with plenty of room between him and the edge. He turned back to Twilight as she landed in front of him.

"You worried me a little there," she said, placing her head against his chest.

"Why?" he asked, slightly confused. He placed a hand on her head, stroking it.

"Because even though I'm not sure what would happen if you were submerged in water since it hasn't happened. There's a chance that because electricity courses through your entire body, that you being in water would drain it from you quick enough that it could cause a great deal of pain and, if you stayed in it long enough, it might kill you," she explained, her voice laced with worry.

Cole paled slightly, "You make a good point. I'll be more careful around water."

After staying together for several minutes, they continued through the sewer. They soon came across a blocked entryway. Twilight grabbed it in her magic and crushed it. After smashing it, they saw a great deal of Dust Men ahead of them. They noticed the blockade being destroyed, but hadn't seen them yet.

Cole noticed several enemies in the water. "Alright some of them are standing in the water. I'll take them out while you take care of the ones on the platforms, okay?" he said.

Twilight's answer was throwing the crushed blockade at the Dust Man on the platform. He had a shield, but the big ball of metal and wood knocked him out before he even hit the ground.

Cole quickly rushed into the room and shot bolts at the water. The electricity spread through the water, electrocuting the Dust Men standing near the impact point. After he took care of the ones in the immediate area, the two charged forward to take care of the rest. There were three more in the water which he quickly took out. Twilight teleported to the other side and froze one of them. The other shielded Dust Man turned toward her and started firing. She quickly brought up a shield of her own. With his back to Cole, he quickly threw at grenade at him. As soon as it touched, it stuck to the gunner. He reacted at once and started trying to take off the electric bomb. The explosive soon went off and sent him crashing to the ground.

Once they had taken care of the enemies, the two continued on. They soon came to a long drop. In the distance they could see a platform. They both glided down to the island. Once they reached it they jumped to the doorway and continued onward.

As they walked Cole spoke, "I'm glad that I don't have to bother you by having you glide me from roof to roof."

Twilight looked over to him, slightly shocked, and said, "It wasn't a bother at all Cole. You didn't make me, I did it of my own accord."

"Still, now you don't have to worry about it," he said. Seeing that she was going to protest, he told her why he felt as such. "Think about it Twilight. We've been lucky so far, but what if we were attacked while you were holding me? It would be hard for me to aim with you holding me and you couldn't do anything for that exact reason. Your wings could end up getting damaged and ground you because, as you said, wings are sensitive."

She closed her mouth. She still didn't think of him as a burden, but could see his reasoning.

Before the two could continue talking, a rancid aroma assaulted their noses. Twilight gagged, coming dangerously close to losing the little lunch she had. Cole felt queasy from the aroma himself, but having smelled it twice before he wasn't caught completely unaware. The smell was much more pungent than the other times. The unmistakable smell... of death.

Walking to the man made 'cliff', they looked down and saw a horrific sight. There were three Dust Men at the bottom. All of whom had been cut in half. Two of them at the waist and the other straight down the middle. Blood pooled around their deceased bodies, slowly expanding from the giant wounds. In the middle of the bodies was something, or rather someone, they weren't expecting to see again. Standing there was a Wind Reaper. He looked up, pointed at them and shouted with it's guttural voice. He then vanished in a gust of wind, his voice still reverberating off of the walls.

Twilight stumbled backwards and lost her balance. Cole quickly grabbed her around the waist and pulled her close, blocking her view of the mutilated corpses. She was shaking violently, tears threatening to emerge. Cole rubbed her back comfortingly, whispering reassurances to her. Looking back over the edge, he saw a path that Twilight could teleport them to and avoid the bodies.

He gently nudged her, "Twilight. There's a spot away from the bodies that you can teleport to. Are you able to do it?"

She nodded against his chest. "Will you show me?" she asked.

Keeping himself in front of Twilight's line of sight of the bodies, he showed her the platform. Once seeing it she teleported them over to it. With her back to the corpses, they continued their journey. They soon heard a screeching sound. Upon reaching the source of the sound, Cole saw the mechanism he had come across with Spike. Glancing over to Twilight, Cole saw that she was still shaking from earlier.

He knelt down in front of her and looked over, saying, "I'll get us across. You take a break to recollect yourself."

Twilight hesitated, but decided it would probably be for the best. "Okay," she said. She put her arms around his neck and wrapped her legs around his waist.

Once he was sure that she had a tight grip, Cole climbed onto the pipe above them. Once the mechanism moved near them he jumped to it. Once it moved to the the other side, he jumped and hovered over the ladder on a pillar. He climbed to the top. He then jumped to the doorway and continued forward.

They soon came to the substation. He quickly charged it back up and headed back to the surface once it was completely charged.

When they reached the top and saw the power back on, Twilight unwrapped her legs and lowered herself down to the ground, but kept her arms wrapped around Cole.

Noticing this, he removed her arms from his neck. She whimpered from being pushed away, but when Cole turned around and wrapped his arms around her, Twilight flung her arms back around him.

As they stood there, Zeke contacted them, "Hey Cole, do you remember Dwight? Well I just ran into his sister not that long ago and she's afraid that he's in some kind of trouble. She was hoping that you could go and look for him."

He kept his attention on Twilight as he talked to Zeke. "You want me to go look for Dwight? Isn't that the guy that stole your car and had it stripped for parts?" he asked, arching a brow.

Zeke chuckled humorlessly, "Yeah, the guy was nothing but a tool. I've liked his sister for a while now, you know. You'd be doing me a real favor by doing this."

"You think that me finding Dwight will result in you being rewarded?" Cole asked skeptically.

"I can't really do much here now can I? She said that last time they talked, Dwight was hangin' around the Chummy Chicken. He was probably workin' over there. It would probably be a good place to start looking," Zeke suggested.

Before they could continue talking a strange sound came from the background. There was a loud belch, a whoosh of what sounded like fire, and a rather loud pop.

Twilight's eyes snapped open and she pulled back slightly, staring at the phone. She waited to hear from Spike, wondering whether it was what she thought it was or not.

Sure enough Spike's voice came through the phone. "Twilight! We just got a message!" he shouted.

Cole looked at her confused, but before he could question her, they were teleported away from where they were standing.

Spike was standing next to the TVs with the scroll while Zeke was sitting on one of the recliners. The couple appeared on the roof of their make shift home, the flash startling the other two. Twilight's knees nearly buckled under her. Cole tightened his grip and walked her over to the couch. They sat next to each other.

Spike rushed over to her, "Twilight, are you okay?"

"Yeah, just used a little too much magic," she said. "What did the message say?"

"I was waiting for you," he said. "I'll read it now."

Dear Twilight and Spike,

I hope that this message reaches you two and that you're both okay. Your friends, family, as well as Luna and I are very worried about the two of you. You've been missing for several days now and we've exhausted where to look for you in Equestria. In hindsight, we probably should have tried this first, but in our panic and worry it slipped our minds.

It will probably surprise you, but it was Discord that let us know that you had disappeared. He had felt a magic imbalance and followed it to the Everfree. It wasn't until after we had searched all of Equestria, however that he found out that you weren't even on Equis. I don't know if it really took him that long or he just didn't tell us, but I digress.

Luna, Cadance, and I are all trying our best to bring the two of you back. It will probably take several hours, it could even take a day, but the two of you need to not move too much, so that we can get a lock on your location. Hopefully we will be able to find you and see you both soon.

With love,

Celestia

Twilight and Spike looked slightly panicked as he finished reading the letter. They'd be happy to be home, but they wanted to keep helping Cole and Zeke before they went back.

"Do either of you have a pen or pencil and some paper?" Spike asked.

"I have a pen, but no paper," Cole said. Taking off of his backpack, he took out a pen and handed it to Spike.

"Thanks, but without a piece of paper we can't write a letter," Spike said.

"Spike hand me the scroll," Twilight said. He handed it to her. She began to focus her magic into it. The ink slowly vanished from the scroll. Once it was gone she handed it back to him. "Alright, are you ready to write Spike?" she asked.

He raised the pen as she started to speak. "Dear Celestia, we are glad to have received a letter from you. Everypony will be glad to know that the two of us are fine. We met two very nice people here and have been helping them out. In fact, it is because of this that we can't return just yet. We both want to help them in any way we can. I hope that you all understand that we don't want to abandon the friends we have made here until we are sure that the threat is gone." As she was speaking something that Celestia had said in the letter hit her. "I also feel I should mention that there seems to be a big difference in time between our worlds. You said in your letter that we have been missing for several days, but we have been here for a few weeks now. With love Twilight Sparkle and Spike," she finished. "Okay you can send it Spike."

He blew his magic fire on the scroll and sent it away. As it soared into the sky, Cole and Zeke looked at them slightly slack-jawed.

Cole spoke first, "Are you two sure that you don't want to head back?"

Twilight looked over at him with conviction in her eyes. "Of course. We are going to help the two of you with what's happening. Right, Spike?"

Looking over to the dragon-boy they saw the same conviction as he nodded. Soon after he belched and another scroll appeared. Grabbing it he began to read it out.

Dear Twilight and Spike,

While it pains us not to see you, we are very glad that the two of you are safe. Some of your friends voiced concerns about you staying in another world and with ponies that you don't know. We explained that you considered them friends and even though they are still concerned they are less against it now. We need to inform your family, but we will convince them that you are okay, chose to stay, and have friends. I hope that the two of you stay safe. You need only let us know when you want to come back and we will bring you back. I'm slightly worried about the time difference between the worlds. That you have actually been gone a great deal longer than you have been here. I hope that if it turns out you stay there for a very long time that you will send us a letter to let us know.

With love,

Celestia

The two sighed in relief, glad that they could continue helping their friends.

Before anyone could speak, Cole got another call. "Hey Cole?" Trish called out.

Spike frowned slightly. "Hey Trish," Cole responded.

"It's getting really bad over here. People keep dying and there's nothing I can do. I need to get a bus over to Bayview and see if there's any supplies over there," she explained.

"We went through the tunnel and it's been completely trashed. The Stone Canal Drawbridge is the same," he told her.

"Do you remember the man named Roger Mills from Amy's graduation?" she asked. "Well he's a city engineer that used to work with my dad. If anyone can fix the bridge he can. He lives by Valentine Park."

"We'll see if we can find him. But with how late it is we are going to have to wait until tomorrow. Taking on the enemy in the dark wouldn't be easy," Cole said.

"Okay, but when it's morning, please hurry," Trish pleaded. She ended the call.

Cole looked over to Zeke, "Sorry man, but Dwight's going to have to wait."

Zeke sighed, "Alright, but after your done, look for him."

"Right." Cole laid down on the couch. Twilight laid next to him and the two snuggled together. They shared a quick kiss and started to go to sleep. Spike and Zeke headed over to the recliners to get some rest as well.

Interlude: On the Other Side

Celestia paced back and forth in the throne room. It had been several days since Twilight and Spike had disappeared without much of a trace. Surprisingly, Discord had alerted them to her disappearance when he had felt a magical imbalance occur in the Everfree Forest. Upon learning this, Celestia sent out guards across Equestria to look for her missing former student. Unfortunately, so far they hadn't found her. She had contacted the other former Elements to come to the castle, so that she could tell them the current situation.

Just then the doors suddenly swung open and five mares entered the room. They all had worry etched into their faces, except for Pinkie Pie who was bouncing with her usual pep and her ever present smile.

She heard Rainbow Dash say, "How in the hay can you be so happy Pinkie? Twilight and Spike are missing and we have no idea where they are."

"I am sad that they aren't here. I mean, I don't get to see their smiles, spend time with them, surprise Twilight with my silly, crazy antics and see her reaction, or throw them parties. I know they are OK though," she said, confidently.

"And how exactly do you know that darling?" Rarity questioned.

"I read the previous chapters of course," she said. "I also read the later chapters since this one's coming out after them. I don't get why they came out before this one."

They all stared at the pink mare, completely clueless as to what she was talking about. Shaking their heads, the rest of them continued walking to the Princess.

Upon reaching her, Rainbow Dash immediately asked, "Have you found them yet?"

The sad look on the Princess' face told them everything. "I'm sorry girls, but as of yet we have no idea of where they could be."

All of their heads lowered in sorrow. Rarity and Fluttershy began to cry, while Applejack and Rainbow Dash fought off their own tears. Pinkie stopped bouncing and her smile faltered slightly, but it quickly returned.

Celestia stepped forward and lowered herself to them. "Do not worry my little ponies, we will find them and bring them back. No matter what," she said determinedly.

They all looked up at the Princess, as small smiles spread across their muzzles.

Suddenly there was a flash of light and, floating above them, was Discord. The spirit of chaos and disharmony, but, as of late, good friend of Fluttershy. "Hello, everypony," he said.

Celestia sighed, "What is it Discord?"

"Well, if you're going to be like that, then I'm not going to tell you what I learned about Twilight and Spike," he said, crossing his arms and turning away from the mares.

They stared up at Discord in shock. "You what?!" they all shouted.

"That's right, I discovered something regarding them," he said.

Fluttershy flew up to the draconequus and quietly asked, "Will you please tell us Discord?"

Discord looked at the shy pegasus and, with a small smile, said, "Of course, Fluttershy. Well when I found the magical imbalance, I began to search for where it led. It took a very long time to find out where they were sent. The reason being that it's very far away."

"Where were they transported to?" Rarity asked.

Discord looked at the mares with a serious expression, making them pay close attention, and said, "She teleported herself and Spike to another world."

The sentence hung in the air as they all digested what he had just said.

A nervous smile spread across Fluttershy's face as she asked, "You mean she accidentally teleported to that world she visited before?"

"Unfortunately, no she didn't. She was sent to another world that we didn't even know existed," he said. With a frown he added, "However, there is a similarity between the two."

"And that would be?" Celestia asked.

"In both worlds humans are the dominant species."

"Those things that Twi told us were beyond that mirror she went through?" Applejack questioned. "Are ya certain she didn't send Spike and herself there?"

Discord rolled his eyes. They crashed into his other body parts like they were bowling balls, only his legs remained standing, "Drat, 7-10 split. Anyway, yes I'm sure," he said, pulling himself together.

"And how exactly are you so sure?" Rarity inquired.

"Because I checked both worlds and only one has the same magic signature as Twilight." Discord then snapped his claws and both Princess Luna and Cadance suddenly appeared in the room.

Glaring at him, Luna stomped the floor in irritation and shouted, "What is the meaning of this Discord?!"

Cadance looked around in confusion before turning her attention to the draconequus.

It was Celestia, however that answered, "Discord has discovered where Twilight transported herself. I just wish we knew how she was doing."

"Have you tried sending her a message? That little drake is with her isn't he?" he asked.

All of their heads shot up and they stared at Discord.

He looked back in shocked amusement, "You mean, *snrk* that n-none of you *phft* even th-thought about trying to s-send Twilight a message?" Discord tried his best to hold in his laughter, but when Celestia facehoofed, he couldn't hold it in anymore. He fell out of the air and started to roll around the floor laughing.

Ignoring the guffawing draconequus, Celestia began to write a message to them. As she wrote, she addressed her sister and niece, "Luna, Cadance, we are going to search for Twilight and Spike and bring them back."

They nodded and started using their magic to search for their friends. Before they could expand their magic out across the universe, a message suddenly appeared.

All of them just stared at the scroll for a moment before Celestia grabbed in her magic and practically ripped the ribbon off of it. She unfurled the scroll and began to read it. Her eyes widened as she read, even after finishing she continued to stare at the letter.

Unable to contain herself, Rainbow blurted out, "What's it say!?"

"They want to stay there," Celestia answered, still shocked.

"What!?" everypony shouted. Except for Pinkie who was just humming happily to herself.

"Why in the hay would they not wanna come back?" Applejack asked.

Shaking off the shock, Celestia corrected herself, "Sorry, it's not they don't want to come back, but they want to stay there for a while longer."

"That's makes more sense, but that still doesn't explain why they don't want to come back now. I mean they have no idea where they are!" Luna exclaimed.

"That's not exactly true sister," the Sun Princess said. They all gave her their attention. "It says in the letter that the two of them made a couple of friends there. It's because of this that they don't want abandon them. It seems that there is a crisis going on over there and they don't want to return until it is resolved."

Everypony smiled at that. "That's just like Twilight. Not wanting to ditch her friends when they're in trouble," Cadance said, shaking her head.

Celestia teleported another scroll to her and started writing a response. As she wrote, she addressed everyone in the room, "We are going to respect their wishes." The Elements looked at her in disbelief. Anticipating their question, she said, "If we bring them back against their wishes, Twilight might try to recreate the phenomenon that sent her to that world. However, there isn't any guarantee that she would be sent back to the same world and we might not be able to reach her again if she does get sent to a different world."

They all looked at each other uncertainly. Discord then spoke up, "She's right ladies. There are worlds out there that are beyond even my reach. If she accidentally sent herself to one of them, there wouldn't anything we could do."

Celestia sent the letter she had written. She then said, "There's another thing that I'm concerned about."

"What's that sister?" Luna asked.

"It seems that there is a difference in time between that world and ours," she told them.

"How much of a difference?" Cadance questioned.

"I don't know what it is exactly, but Twilight said that several weeks had passed there."

Everypony's eyes widened at this. "Your kidding! Several weeks have gone by and they haven't dealt with what's going on there?" Rainbow said, incredulously.

"Not everythin' can be done super fast RD," Applejack said, rolling her eyes.

"If I was there the threat would have already been dealt with," the chromatic pegasus boasted. Her eyes widened and she opened her mouth.

Knowing what she was going to ask, Celestia said, "I'm not going to readily send anypony to where she is. We know nothing about it and don't even know where it is yet. Cadance, Luna, and I will continue to search for them, so we can bring them back when they're ready, but that's it."

Rainbow Dash, and a few of the others, drooped at her declaration. They all left, returning to their daily lives. All of them hoping that their friends would return home safely.

An Old Friend

Day 21...

Twilight awoke to the sight of Cole's back. He had broken from their embrace and rolled over, but she had held onto him. She nuzzled up against him and sighed happily. She loved the man in her grasp dearly.

The movement seemed to have woken Cole, because he shifted and rolled over to look at Twilight. He smiled at her happy face and gave her a good morning kiss. After laying together for several moments, he sat up to stretch.

Twilight got up and stretched as well. She looked over to Cole and asked, "You ready to find that friend of Trish's?"

"Yeah, we should head over there, but how should we get over there?" he asked.

"I can teleport us back where we were," she suggested.

"Are you sure? Yesterday that nearly toppled you over," he said. He was hesitant to let her to put that kind of strain on herself.

"I had used quite a bit of magic before then, so my magic wasn't what it normally is. Not to mention that was an instant long distance teleportation which is why it took the toll it did. If I had spent time to charge my magic it wouldn't have left me so exhausted," Twilight explained. "I would still have been slightly tired of course, but I wouldn't have nearly collapsed like yesterday."

Cole hesitates, having a rather hard time believing that she would be okay, but he doesn't know how big her magical reserves were and knew nothing about spell-casting, so he couldn't really say whether or not she was just trying to come up with something so she could get them the fast way. Reluctantly, he agrees, "Fine, we can teleport, but I don't want you running out of magic while we are fighting, so if you look like you are too tired you're coming back here, okay?"

"Okay," she accepts. Grabbing Cole's hand, she started to charge the spell. Once she gathered the necessary magic she cast it. The two disappeared in a magenta flash.

The couple appeared a short distance from their objective. As soon as they got there, Cole checked to make sure Twilight was okay. She stood straight, taking deep breathes to recollect herself. Other than her breathing, she seemed fine.

When she was done, he said, "All right, you look okay. Let's find Roger." But before he could head out, Twilight kept a hold of his hand. Looking back at her, he asked, "Twilight? Are you okay?"

She shook her head, "Not really. What we saw in the sewer yesterday. That was the most brutal thing I've ever seen. It was just as bad, if not worse than what happened on the bridge." She started to slightly shake again. She looked up at Cole, "Do you think that was the same Conduit?"

He thought about it for a minute, then answered, "More than likely. I mean that was the only Wind Reaper that we have encountered. He probably got out of my restraints the same way he disappeared yesterday."

"So does that mean that those Dust Men died because we didn't do anything more permanent to him?" she asked, guiltily.

Cole was surprised to hear her ask such a thing. After shaking off the shock, he shook his head, "Of course not Twilight. We couldn't have known that he would have escaped. I promised that I would do my best to limit the amount of deaths you see and while you have seen some death it isn't as much as if I wasn't watching what I was doing."

A small smile appeared at the reminder of his promise. "Thank you for doing your best to keep that promise." Her smile quickly turned into a frown, "But like I asked you after you made that promise, to keep people safe from him the next time we face him it needs to be the last."

"You're right Twilight. We aren't going to able to contain him, so next time we take him on, I'll end him," Cole swore.

Twilight nodded solemnly. After coming to an agreement about the rampant Reaper, they continued to where Roger should be. When they reached the roof of the building near his location, they saw him on his knees with his hands behind his head and surrounded by four Dust Men.

"That's not good." Cole contacted Trish. "We found Roger, but he must have pissed the Dust Men off somehow. They are all over him."

"There's a rumor that the transients are kidnapping engineers and mechanics. They are using them as slave labor and the worst part is that they publicly execute anyone who refuses to work," Trish told them. "If they have Roger then you're going to have to take them out at the same time or else they will kill him."

"Don't worry Trish, we'll get him out of here," he promised, ending the call. He looked at Twilight, "We are going to have to each take two of them out, okay?"

She nodded and aimed at two of the Dust Men and readied her magic. Cole checked who she was aiming at and readied his precision to take the other two out. "Alright when I say now." He steadied his aim and, when he had it aligned, he used his precision and said, "Now!" He shot the Dust Man he was aiming at. The bolt hit him directly in the head and he went down. The others reacted instantly, but two of the others went down from magenta beams. Cole quickly aimed at the other Dust Man and shot a bolt at him, the bolt missed it's mark, but knocked him back. Reacting quickly Cole aimed at the Dust Man's head and fired. This time the bolt hit home and he went down.

The two climbed down the building and walked over to the man as he slowly got up. Looking over to them he asked, "You're those people with the powers, aren't you?"

"Yeah, we are... listen Trish Dailey sent us, she was hoping that you could fix the Stone Canal Drawbridge," Cole asked.

"Trish is stuck in the quarntine too?" Roger asked.

"Unfortunately," Cole replied. They started heading toward the bridge.

"Hell. I used go camping with her and her family, you know. Kind of fell out of touch with her old man when he got transferred up state. What about Amy? Did she make it out of here?" he asked.

Cole and Twilight glanced at each other. Cole said, "Uh... Yeah, she made it out."

"That's good. Hate for both of them to be stuck in here."

They soon reached the drawbridge. When they reached it Roger when to work on it. "Damn it. This thing is messed up nine ways from Sunday. Watch out for Dust Men, this is going to take some time to fix."

"Twilight before they come, will you enhance my shock grenade?"

"Alright," Twilight said and began enhancing Cole's power.

When she was finished, Cole and Twilight walked out to the street and went to different sides of the street. Soon several Dust Men came running from each side and the two quickly engaged them.

Cole ran down the left side of the street where several kamikaze Dust Men charged at him. Cole quickly took them out. Unfortunately there were several bystanders on the sidewalk. They were greatly injured from the blast, but they had been far enough to survive. Cole immediately ran to heal them. When he reached them however, more Dust Men rounded the corner. Not wanting the civilians to get hurt more or worse, he quickly moved away from them and confronted the Dust Men. He ran towards them and charged his gigawatt blades. He dodged there gun fire as he ran and when he reached them he drove his blades into one of them and sent them flying. Turning to the Dust Man next to him, Cole punched him in the face and quickly followed with a kick to his chest. He quickly restrained the fallen shooter and aimed at the last one. He pushed the last Dust Man back with a shockwave. As he flew through the air Cole quickly shot him with four bolts. When the Dust Man fell he was knocked out. After taking care of the Dust Men, Cole went back to the injured civilians and healed them. After thanking him they left, so they wouldn't be in his way, in case more enemies showed up.

As Cole was taking care of the Dust Men on one side, Twilight took care of the one's on the other side. The three of them started firing at her. She quickly teleported behind them and kicked one in the back of the head, sending him flying. She quickly dashed toward the next and, as he turned around, punched him in the chest with a magic charged punch. Facing the last Dust Man, Twilight shot him with a freezing spell. After he was frozen, she heard a strange whirring sound. Turning toward it she saw another Dust Man with a huge gun. Twilight quickly brought up a shield around herself. Just as the shield finished surrounding her, he opened fire on her. Twilight instantly felt the pressure from the nonstop onslaught of gunfire. As he fired, the Dust Man slowly moved closer to her. Suddenly, a bolt of electricity hit the gunner, stopping his barrage of bullets. Not wasting the opportunity, Twilight fired a heat spell at the gun, melting it. The heat caused the gun to explode, knocking the Dust Man back. After making sure he wouldn't get up and that there weren't any other Dust Men, she walked back over to Cole.

When she reached him, Twilight gave him a quick kiss and said, "Thanks."

"Anytime," he said. Walking back to the engineer, he asked, "Have you fixed it?"

"Just about... done," Roger announced. As he finished, the bridge started to lower. However, just before it lowered completely it stopped. "You cannot be serious! *sigh* The hydraulics aren't engaging on the other side."

"Can't you fix them?" Cole asked.

"Not from here. It has to be done from that side. But, I know someone that might be able to help," he said. Roger started to call someone. "Hey Lou, it's Roger. The #4 hydraulic on the south side of the Stone Canal isn't engaging. We need it back online, where are you?"

A voice, Lou, came from the radio, "I'm in Memorial Park. I'm not going anywhere, however unless you have a gun. Reapers are swarming all over the place."

"Yeah well, what I'm sending is better than a gun. I'll see you in a minute," Roger said.

"Alright, I'll head over there and get him out of there," Cole said. Looking over to Twilight, he said, "You guard Roger and make sure no other Dust Men try and take him out."

"Okay," she said. Stepping close to him, she gave him a quick peck on the cheek, "Be careful."

"I will," he promised.

Separating from her, Cole started climbing the rails on the edge of the bridge. Once he reached the top of the bridge, he jumped to the other side and slid down to the street. He immediately headed to Memorial Park. As he headed to the park Cole stopped several times to heal any injured people he came across.

Cole soon arrived at the park. He soon found Lou near the parks archway. There were a couple of Reapers guarding him. He walked on the archway until he was above one of the Reapers. Cole waited until the Reaper was underneath the archway and quickly threw a shock grenade at the other Reaper. The grenade stuck to him and he started to panic. It soon exploded taking him out. The other Reaper noticed and ran out from under the archway. As soon as he did, Cole pounced onto him. Landing on him, he quickly restrained the Reaper. Getting up, Cole walked over to the engineer.

"They do anything to you?" Cole asked.

"Damn, that was intense. No, I'm fine. Did Roger send you?"

"That's right. Let's get over there," Cole said. As they headed to the bridge, he asked, "What did the Reapers want you for?"

"They had heard that the transients are looking for engineers to work on their tower. They figured they would get a reward for trading me to them or something," Lou explained.

"That's a lot of pointless work for a monument to garbage."

"Working on that thing is a death sentence. They work you til you drop and then shoot you in the head," the engineer said.

They soon reached the Stone Canal bridge. As Lou went to work on it, he said, "I need you to keep an eye out for any Reapers. There are a lot roaming around."

Cole stood behind the engineer, watching for Reapers. He soon heard the clanging of steps on metal. Looking up he saw several Reapers on the railway. Noticing they were standing where the trains ran through, Cole rushed forward and started to climb one of the pillars holding the railway up. Once on the tracks, the Reapers backed up to put some distance between them and Cole. Taking advantage of them moving away from the engineer Cole quickly hit them with a shockwave, knocking them off of the tracks and onto the ground below. Just after being knocked off the tracks, a train went by. When the train passed, Cole walked over to see what happened to the Reapers. They were alive, but unable to move from the fall.

"There's more coming!" Lou shouted.

Cole quickly jumped back to the street. He saw the Reapers coming and started to engage them.

As Cole fought the Reapers on the other side of the bridge, Twilight was dealing with the Dust Men. She had placed a shield around Roger and the console he was working on. Four Dust Men were rushing towards them. Twilight shot beams at two of them, freezing one and knocking the other out. She quickly teleported next to the remaining two. Twilight punched one of them with a magic filled fist then pushed him back with a blast of magic. He was slammed into the wall of the prison that was across from the bridge. Turning around she saw that the last Dust Man had kept charging at Roger. Rushing toward the Dust Man, Twilight quickly kicked him in the back, knocking him to the ground. She then shot him with a beam to keep him from getting up.

Twilight walked back over to Roger to make sure no one got passed her. Looking over to the tunnel, she saw two Dust Men with RPGs and one with a minigun. Knowing the RPGs take time to reload and that the minigun can't start shooting right away, Twilight waited until they started to attack. When the RPGs were fired she immediately teleported behind them. Flying up slightly, she kicked both of the RPG wielding Dust Men and brought both of her hands down onto the minigunner. All three Dust Men were knocked out from the magic powered attacks.

Twilight teleported back to Roger and waited for Cole to finish up on his side.

Kicking the Reaper in front of him Cole quickly restrained the gunner. After taking care of the Reapers he walked back to Lou.

As he was heading back he heard the engineer curse. "Dammit, everything checks out, but the power grid is..." he paused, then, turning to Cole, asked, "Can you?"

Cole nodded and told him, "Yeah, I can. Stand back." Lou walked away from the console and placed his hand on the control panel. He started channeling his electricity into the panel until it was green across the board. When it was charged he looked back at Lou.

"I'd love to stay and chat, but I need to find somewhere safe, away from the Reapers and those transients. I'll see you around," the engineer left to find someplace safe.

As Cole started to climb the bridge to check on Twilight and Roger. When he reached the top, he sighed in relief to see Twilight wasn't injured and Roger was fine. After he slid down the bridge he walked up to the console and charged the control panel.

When it was charged, the bridge started to lower. Roger said, "And I would have missed this had I taken an early retirement. I think I need to have my head examined."

"Thank you for the help with the bridge Roger," Cole said.

"Yes, hopefully we will get people over there some help," Twilight added.

"Yeah, your welcome. Tell Trish I said hello," Roger said. He then went on his way.

As he left, Cole tried contacting Trish. Instead of getting her however, he got the voice mail. "Hi, you've reached Trish Dailey's voice mail. Please leave a message."

"Hey Trish, I just wanted to let you know we managed to get the drawbridge lowered. I'll call you later, to see how things are going," Cole said. He ended the call and looked over to Twilight. "Alright I'm going to go look for Dwight. Do you feel up to coming or should Spike come?" he asked.

"I'm feeling pretty tired. I think I'll take a rest and Spike can help you with Zeke's 'problem'," Twilight said, with air quotes, rolling her eyes.

Cole chuckled at her attitude toward Zeke's reason for trying to find Dwight. Cole called Zeke, "Hey Zeke. Me and Twilight are heading back so that she can take a break. Is Spike there?"

"Yeah I'm here," Spike called out.

"Will you go with Cole?" Twilight asked.

"Sure, I'll go with him."

"You're going to find Dwight now right?" Zeke inquired.

Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, Cole said, "Yeah we are going to go look for him. See you two in a minute." He ended the call and the couple started heading home.

Zeke's Request Tough Collar

Cole and Twilight soon returned back to the roof. When they reached it, Twilight walked over to the couch and sat down.

"Hey guys, so Twilight's going to take a break? Did you finish that thing Trish wanted you to do?" Zeke asked.

"Yeah, since she used quite a bit of magic getting us there and then to fight the Dust Men, Twilight's going to take a break. We managed to get the bridge lowered," Cole told him. "So Spike you ready help me with Zeke's request?"

"Yeah, I'm ready," Spike said, getting up from the armchair.

"Right, then let's go," Cole said. Spike nodded and walked to the roof's edge. Once they had descended, they headed to Chummy Chicken, where Dwight had last been seen.

They soon came to the pier where Dwight had last been seen hanging around. Walking down the pier, Cole saw a man being attacked by several strange metal things that were glowing yellow. Picking up their pace Cole and Spike ran toward the endangered man. Once they reached him the two quickly smashed all of the metallic attackers. They were very fragile, a punch or kick being more than enough to destroy them.

When they were destroyed Cole turned toward the victim and saw that it was Dwight. "You okay?"

"Cole? Yeah I'm fine," he said. "Thanks for saving me."

Before Cole to respond they heard a skittering noise. Whirling in the direction the noise came from they saw one of the metal things running away.

Cole and Spike glanced at each other and nodded. They quickly gave chase after it. "Your sister is worried about you! You should head back!" Spike shouted over his shoulder.

As they ran Cole contacted Zeke, "Hey Zeke, we just saved Dwight from some strange metal crab-like things. Me and Spike are chasing one of them down, hoping that it will lead us to whoever is controlling it."

"That's great. I'll let his sister know that he's fine and he'll probably be heading back," he said. "Thanks for doing this, brother."

"Sure thing Zeke, but this is a one-time thing. I'm not doing this to help you get girls, alright?"

"Hey I hear you, man. I owe you big time for this," Zeke said, ending the call.

"I really don't see how this helps him, when we are the one's doing it," Spike panted, as they continued the chase.

Cole shook his head, "I don't either, but he'll probably find some way to play it to help him."

The two chased the Scrap Crab into an alley. The crab jumped over some garbage that was in the middle of the alley. As they got closer, however the garbage quickly transformed into seven more crabs. Not slowing down, Spike blew a torrent of fire at four of them. They soon began to glow a bright orange and slowed down as they started to melt. Cole fired a shockwave at the remaining three crabs. They were launched into the air and broke apart.

As they continued to chase the first crab, they heard the sound of a turret. Spike pulled ahead of Cole and as he turned down the alley, he charged toward the turret. The Dust Man behind the gun began to fire at Spike. The bullets glancing off of his scales, he continued to rush at the turret. When he reached it, Spike brought up his fist and punched the gun, smashing it into pieces. Jumping over the sandbags, Spike kicked the Dust Man's head flinging him back, smashing into a car.

Turning quickly around Spike continued to follow the Scrap Crab with Cole pulling up behind him. The two soon came to a small bridge over a canal. On the bridge was a Dust Man with a strange metal container that was glowing the same yellow that the crabs did. The Dust Man was the biggest one they had come across, being about twice the size of a normal one. He had a rocket launcher strapped to his side and wore a great deal of armor.

Cole and Spike quickly separated from each other and headed toward the Conduit. Before they could start to attack, the Armored Conduit released five Scrap Crabs. The crabs rushed toward Cole while the Conduit turned his attention to Spike. The Dust Man then fired a rocket at him.

Spike brought his arms up and continued to rush toward the Conduit. The rocket impacted against his arms and exploded. The blast jarred Spike slightly, but he continued his charge forward. He began to breath fire around his claws. When he reached the Armored Conduit, Spike raked his flame enveloped claws across his chest. He stumbled back as his chest glowed green, from the melted metal of his armor. The Dust Man then leveled his rocket launcher on Spike again.

As Spike kept the Dust Man's attention Cole quickly dealt with the Scrap Crab's. He shot a shockwave hitting three of them, but missed the other two. Cole quickly shot the other two with bolts and then turned his attention back to the Conduit. He saw him aiming at Spike. Quickly charging his gigawatt blades, Cole rushed to the Conduit and drove the blades into his back. The impact launched him toward Spike, who quickly spun around, swinging his tail and slammed it into the Dust Man's chest. When he landed, Cole ran forward and restrained the Armored Conduit before he could try to get up.

Cole contacted Zeke, "Alright, we took out the guy that was controlling those weird ass metal monsters. Remember, this was a one-time deal. I'm not going to do this again."

"Alright that's great. I know brother and seriously thanks for helpin' me out with this," he said.

"Yeah, yeah. You still on the roof?"

"Yeah, I'm still there. I'm trying to hook up with Dwight's sister. You two coming back for the day?" Zeke asked.

"Yes, we are. See you in a little while," he said, hanging up. "Let's get some rest Spike."

"Sure, let's head back," he agreed.

The two soon reached the bridge. When they crossed the bridge a police officer ran up to them. "Cole! Warden Harms told us know that you would help us out if we needed it."

"That's right. What's the problem?"

"We are having a hell of a lot of trouble trying to bring down a Reaper conduit. Could you capture him for us?"

Cole glanced at Spike, who nodded, "Sure, where is he?"

"He's over there," the officer said, pointing in the Conduit's direction.

Heading in the direction the officer indicated, Cole and Spike soon heard the shouts of Reapers and peoples screams. Upon reaching where they were, the two saw four Reapers total. Two normal ones, one with an RPG, and the Conduit they were to capture.

Separating, Cole went after the Conduit, as Spike rushed toward the Reaper with the RPG.

Spike ran at the two Reapers in front of him. The heavy Reaper fired at him. Raising his arms in front of him, Spike let the bomb connect. The explosion pushed him back slightly, but he continued his charge. As he neared the RPG wielding Reaper, he breathed fire around one of his fists and brought his fist up, uppercutting the Reaper. The explosion of fire launched the Reaper high into the air. As the heavy Reaper crashed to the ground, Spike quickly turned toward the other Reaper and ran towards him. Spinning around, he slammed his tail into the Reapers chest, hurling the Reaper into the car behind him.

Cole jumped to the side as the Reaper sent a shockwave at him. He kept running as he charged his gigawatt blades. As he reached the Conduit however, he teleported away. His target disappearing, Cole instead rammed his blades into the other Reaper that was terrorizing the people on the streets. With one down, he turned around and saw the Conduit just in time to dive behind a car to avoid his bullets. When he stopped firing Cole got up from where he was crouching and aimed at the Conduit. Activating his precision, Cole aimed at the Reapers head and fired a bolt at him. The bolt scored a direct hit, causing him to stagger. Taking advantage of his stumbling Cole jumped out from behind the car and tackled the Conduit to the ground. He rammed his fist into the Reaper's face. He went limp as he fell into unconsciousness. Cole then restrained him.

The two walked back to the officer. "I restrained the Conduit and the other three should be ready to take in as well," Cole told him.

"Thanks. Thank you both. I'll contact the other officers and we'll take these guys in," the officer said.

"Glad we could help," Spike said. The two then left and started heading back home.

When they reached the roof, they saw Twilight asleep on the couch.

"She was out almost as soon as she laid down. It's been a few hours now. I guess she really used a lot of magic," Zeke said as he walked around the roof.

"Well the Warren is a long way from here and she teleported us there. Then she used her magic to fight off a bunch of Dust Men, so I'm not surprised she's exhausted," Cole said, walking up to the couch. "What are you doing Zeke?"

"Getting ready for my date with Dwight's sister. I'm glad you showed up when you did. I didn't want to leave her alone," he told him. "I tell you man this super hero thing is great. I could get used to livin' like this, helping solve crimes, getting some lovin' from the ladies."

"You aren't a super hero, Zeke," Spike pointed out.

"Hell, I know that. That doesn't change the fact that I've had a taste of the good life though."

"It's not exactly easy having these powers, you know," Cole said.

"Are you out of your mind? The people here worship you man," Zeke said.

"That hasn't really helped me in the slightest."

"Damn, I got to go. Dwight's sister is ready to go and I shouldn't keep her waiting," Zeke said, as he left.

Sitting down on the couch, Cole brushed a strand of hair out of her face. A soft smile spread across his face as he looked at the sleeping woman. "Let's get some rest for tomorrow," he suggested, laying down next to her and putting an arm around her. Twilight subconsciously nestled into Cole's chest, a smile appearing on her lips.

Spike nodded and walked over to the empty armchair and reclined it. Relaxing, sleep soon took the young boy.

Cole kissed Twilight on the forehead and soon started to drift off to sleep.

Author's Note

What's this? I actually deviated from the games storyline?

Yeah, I decided to do something different from what the game did, so here it is.

Playing Hero

Day 22...

Twilight awoke to find herself cuddled into Cole's chest. Their arms wrapped around one another. Smiling to herself, she gave Cole a quick peck on the cheek. She continued to lay in his grasp for several minutes before slowly extricating herself and getting up. When she was up she stretched, her back popping in several places. Looking over to the armchairs, she saw that Spike was awake and was watching the news. She walked over to him and sat on the chair's arm. "You been up long?" she asked.

"Not very long, maybe an hour," he answered. "Should I go with him when he gets up or did you get enough rest?"

"I feel fine, I'll go with him," she said.

They then heard the soft creak of the couch. Looking over they saw Cole getting up. He glanced around and soon saw them. As he walked over to them, he contacted Moya, "We are going to get the next substation online."

"I've marked it's location on your GPS. When the power is back on, I'll get in touch with you with a few developments I'm tracking," she said, then ended the call.

"So are you feeling good to go Twilight?" Cole asked.

"Yes, my magic is fully recovered," she said. "I can take us over when you are ready." She started to charge the spell to take them to the Warren.

"I'm ready to go," he said as she started to gather more magic into her hands, before he stopped her, "but how about this time you fly us over there. It might take longer, but I think that it will tire you out less than teleporting there."

The magic slowly dissipated from her hands. "Yeah it probably wouldn't tire me out as much, but like you said it will take longer."

"It will only be a few minutes though. Plus you'll be able to stay with me longer since your magic won't be drained," he reasoned.

"I suppose you have a point. Alright I'll fly us over there," she agreed. Unfurling her wings, she lifted off of the roof and grabbed Cole from under his arms.

She took off for the Warren. "See you later Spike," they called.

As they flew, Zeke called, "So, Dwight's sister just left. It was a disaster."

"Seriously?" Cole said in slight disbelief. "I thought it was a sure thing."

Zeke sighed, "I wanted to treat her right, show her a good time and let things simmer, you know? I mean, any old idgit can land a one-nighter. I wanted something more than that, like what you and Trish had. What you and Twilight have."

Cole felt a little uncomfortable at the sudden mention of his previous relationship. He glanced up at Twilight, though she didn't seem bothered by it.

"Well anyway," he continued, not noticing the silence, "she comes over and says she can only stay for a little while. She starts to talk about how she digs me, but only sees me as a friend. She said that she'd always be my friend. She actually said that to me."

"Sorry to hear that, man," Cole said.

"Women sure are something else. I'll never understand them."

"And I'm sure the feelings mutual regarding us Zeke."

"...Twilight's with you isn't she?"

"Yeah, why?" Cole asked.

"Cause I thought you'd agree with me," Zeke said.

"I didn't disagree with you. I just mean since when does one sex understand the other?"

"Sure, man. I'll talk to you later," Zeke said, ending the called.

Twilight looked down at Cole and asked, "Are we really that hard to understand?"

He looked up at the alicorn and arched an eyebrow, "Are you saying that you understand us?"

She opened her mouth to answer, but quickly close it. She let out a *hmph* and returned her gaze toward their destination.

Cole smirked and looked forward as they neared the blacked out area.

As Cole and Twilight entered the blacked out area, they saw several Dust Men around fires. She started to head toward the sewer's entrance. Staying a good distance away from them, they managed to avoid the Dust Men and the turret trucks.

When they neared the manhole, they were stopped by one of the trucks firing at them when they started to descend. Twilight quickly teleported them to the ground. Cole then used his precision and took aim at the gunner. He quickly fired a bolt at the Dust Man's head, knocking him out. The two descended into the sewer.

Once inside, the two started to look for the transformer. As they walked Zeke called them again. "So I was heading over to help Trish load up her bus, and I see Dwight's sister hanging on some guy's arm. She didn't even look at me," he said, dejectedly.

"That's awful, man," Cole said.

"Ah, I shoulda known - she's always been like that. It's not a big deal though. Let's me see what other kind of people are out there. Catch you two later," he said, ending the call.

"He's taking that rather well," Twilight said as they continued.

"Yeah, he's always been able to bounce back pretty easily. Plus, they hadn't actually started a relationship yet, so he wasn't that close to her. And like he said, Dwight's sister was always like this, so it didn't hit him that hard."

"I guess I see your point," she said.

They soon reached the transformer. Cole jumped up and re-established the circuit. Cole saw the now familiar flash of what he could do with his powers. "That's probably the strongest power I've gotten so far," he commented.

"It does seem pretty powerful," Twilight said, after her vision of the enhancements she could do.

Looking around they saw the way forward. Climbing up to the tunnel, they headed through it. On the other end they saw several Dust Men facing the opposite direction. There were two on the platform and three in the water. Cole aimed at the ones on the platform and fired a megawatt hammer at them. The explosion knocked them into the water. He then quickly fired a bolt from both of his hands at it. The electricity arced off of the water and traveled to the Dust Men. Coursing through the their bodies the energy started to electrocute them.

Once all of the Dust Men were taken care of, they continued on their way to the substation.

As they walked they got a call from Zeke. "Hey Twilight, you and Spike got some more mail from that strange way he receives it."

"I keep telling you it's a way that I can use my magic fire," Spike's voice came through the phone. "Anyway we got messages from two of our friends. Should I wait to read them to you or should I go ahead and do it now?"

"We don't have any bad guys attacking us and this sewer is rather normal, so I say go for it," Cole said.

"Yes, please read them Spike," Twilight requested. "Do you know who they are from?"

"Well they each have their own seals on them. One has a lightning bolt and the other has an apple. So, they're probably from Rainbow Dash and Applejack." A snort came through the phone and Spike asked, somewhat annoyed, "What?"

"I'm sorry, but those names are just too much. I was focusing on something else before, so they didn't really register, but they're just so odd," Zeke said.

"Zeke, you know to them our names probably sound pretty damn weird as well," Cole said.

"Yeah, but I mean come on, man. Is Rainbow Dash all rainbows and smiles? Is Applejack obsessed with apples or is she just red?"

"Rainbow Dash has a rainbow mane and Applejack's family runs an apple farm," Twilight said, getting upset that her friends names were being made fun of.

"Those seem rather on the nose," Zeke commented.

"Zeke!" Cole shouted.

"What?"

"Spike just read the letters," Cole sighed.

"Right." They heard the rustle of a scroll unfurling. "'Dear Egghead,' ...she actually wrote that instead of your name."

Twilight sighed as Spike continued reading.

Dear Egghead,

I knew that you and Spike would be fine. You two wouldn't let anything take you down. I tried talking the Princesses into sending me to that world you're in, but she wouldn't willingly send me to a world she knows nothing about. I tried asking Discord too, since he wouldn't care, but I think the Princess talked to Fluttershy because he wouldn't do it. You know how he doesn't really listen to anyone except her. Anyway I don't know who you these 'friends' of yours are, but you shouldn't trust them too much. Hopefully you haven't told them that you are a princess and that, if you look different, you didn't tell them what you really are. If they start treating you badly, let me know and I will make Discord send me over there.

Your friend,

Rainbow Dash

"Not exactly a trusting gal is she?" Zeke inquired.

"Well, her friends are in another world with people she doesn't know. Of course she's going to be skeptical," Cole reasoned.

"Good point."

"She's always like that. She once accused me of being a spy," Twilight said.

"Really? Why?" Cole asked.

"When we first met was when Nightmare Moon appeared. Nopony except for me knew about her and the Elements of Harmony. So she thought that since I knew what was going on, that I was a spy for Nightmare Moon," Twilight explained.

"That's a rather irrational accusation," Cole said. "You two would probably get along great Zeke."

Twilight giggled at his comment and Spike burst out laughing.

"Very funny, man," Zeke said, unamused.

Once she had calmed down, Twilight asked, "So what did Applejack write?"

Spike was about to begin to read the other letter, when Cole stopped him. "Hang on Spike, I think there some Dust Men ahead of us."

He walked forward slowly and saw several Dust Men on top of platforms. They were all standing behind tall fences that would block his bolts from reaching them and they were to far for a shock grenade to reach. So, he fired a megawatt hammer at both of the fences. The fences blocked the missile from connecting, but the explosion launched them back, knocking them over the edge of the platform.

The two jumped across the platforms and upon reaching the other side, they looked to make sure if there were anymore enemies. When they were sure that there wasn't any, Twilight asked Spike to read the other letter.

Dear Twi,

It's good knowin' that you and Spike are doin' okay. I hope that those ponies that y'all are helping are treating the two of you good. You never know what kind of varmints are out there, but I trust that you and Spike can take care of yourselves and would be able to tell a good pony from a no good varmint. We're all a might worried about the two of you, so I hope that y'all are stayin' safe. Even if RD won't admit it, we know she's just as worried as the rest of us. We hope to see you guys soon.

Your friend,

Applejack

P.S. If y'all are wonderin' about why we only sent two letters. It's because the Princess told us about the time difference and we figured that we should space out the letter so you aren't getting a bunch all at once.

"Are all of your friends so mistrustful?" Zeke asked.

"Zeke I already explained to you why they are acting like this," Cole said.

"I know what you said man, but I'm just wondering if they're all like that."

"No, not all of them are like that. And Applejack's more concerned than suspicious," Twilight told them.

"Yeah Rainbow's really the only one that's so distrustful. Applejack's more cautious," Spike said.

"Hey guys, we just reached the substation. We'll see you both later," Cole said.

"Sure man," Zeke said.

"Should I send them a response?" Spike asked.

"Not yet, Spike. I'd like to be there when you write it. Plus I have to take the ink off of the scrolls."

"Oh right. Okay, I'll put them in a safe place until you guys get back." Zeke then ended the call.

Walking up the the substation, Cole charged it. The two then ascended to the surface.

Upon reaching the surface, they saw that the power had returned.

Moya called them, "I've been getting reports that unauthorized drones are patrolling the Warren. Since they are not ours, you should look into them. It also sounds like the Dust Men are going to try and break out of quarantine."

"Alright, we'll check them out," Cole said.

"Another thing - tell your friend Zeke to stop contacting me. If he wants to play hero and follow 'leads', that's his business. I don't need to hear about it," she said, annoyed.

"Damn it, Zeke. Are you trying to get yourself in trouble?" Cole said, exasperatedly. "We need to stop those Dust Men from trying to leave the quarantine."

"Right," Twilight said. Grabbing onto Cole, she took off and headed to the location that Moya had instructed them to go to.

Interlude: Coping Alicorn

When Cole jumped from the roof, Spike returned his attention to Twilight. He reached out and held one of her hands. Her grip tightened around his hand and she pulled him onto the couch. Her arms went around him pulling him close to her. She started mumbling, "I didn't mean to do it. Please, it was an accident." She started crying as she whimpered in her sleep.

Spike wrapped his arms around her and hugged her back. He held her as she started to break down. As he laid there he heard the arm chair move and Zeke grunt. Looking over Spike saw him getting up.

Seeing him looking over, Zeke said, "I'm going to let you guys be alone. Have a heart-to-heart, brother to sister." He walked to the door of the roof and left the building.

Looking back at Twilight he noticed she was awake. Smiling slightly, he said, "Hey, Twilight."

As she looked at Spike, fresh tears started to flow. She lowered her head and buried her face into his chest. "Spike, I did something horrible. I can't take what happened. I-I..." she couldn't continue, afraid of what Spike might think if he found out she killed someone.

"Cole told me Twilight. He told me how you ran into one of those kamikaze Reapers," he told her. Feeling her tense, Spike said, "Twilight, even if you had just levitated him up or teleported him away he would have still blown up. Like I said he was a kamikaze and I know that you know what that means."

She nodded stiffly, still worried how Spike would feel about her ending someones life. She also worried what her friends would think should they find out. She felt Spike tighten the hug. Raising her gaze she saw Spike looking down, with a small smile.

"Twilight you didn't mean to kill him right?" he asked. She shook her head frantically. His smile grew a little wider, as he said, "Then stay calm, Twilight. I can't imagine what your feeling, but you need stay calm. You weren't trying to kill him, you were just trying to knock him out. You couldn't help it, he had explosives after all."

"But the explosives were in his hands," she said, tears still running down her face.

Spike slowly shook his head, "I highly doubt those were the only bombs he had. I mean what if he dropped them or they were knocked out of his hands? He probably had more explosives strapped to him somewhere." He looked at her and saw the worry on her face. "And if you're worried about how I'm going to take it then don't. I'll care about you no matter what. Your my sister and I love you."

Hearing Spike's words, Twilight felt the weight on her heart lighten. She started to relax and slowly drifted back to sleep. Still holding onto her, Spike started to nod off as well. Before he did, he leaned down and kissed Twilight on the forehead. A small smile spread across her face. Spike then let himself fall asleep.