Static Sparks (Good Karma)

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.