Static Sparks (Good Karma)

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.