Static Sparks (Good Karma)

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.