Static Sparks (Good Karma)

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.