inFAMOUS: Second Storm

Chapters

Chapter 2- The Call
Chapter 3- Sun and Moon
Chapter 4- Chasing Rainbows
Chapter 5- Conduit of Storms
Chapter 6- A Place for my head
Chapter 7- Retro City
Chapter 8- Watercolour
Chapter 10- Boundless
Chapter 11- Guardian
Chapter 12- Broken Glass
Chapter 13- Snow Vs. Sound
Chapter 14- One Step Forward, Two steps back
Chapter 15- Maelstrom
Chapter 16- My Demons
Chapter 17- Mirror Mirror
Chapter 18- Those Who Fight
Chapter 19- Those who fight further
Chapter 20- Once and for all
Chapter 1- Angel
Chapter 9- My heartstrings come undone

Chapter 2- The Call

Lantern District, Seattle (Saturday Morning)

In the blissful morning rays of the rising sun, a small town delinquent known his heroism and for defeating the Mighty “Concrete Queen” of the DUP was waking up after a long night of sleep.

It had only been a few months since Delsin Rowe had defeated Brook Augustine and now, there had been some major changes that have taken place. For one thing, thanks to him, Fetch and Eugene, the conduits locked up in Curdan Cay were now free men and women who were able to live their own lives and make their own choices. Humans and Conduits could now live together without being afraid of each other anymore. As for him, he had kept his promise to Betty… and the rest of the Akomish.

Now though, he had already eaten breakfast and was on the way to Eugene’s hideout in the Lantern District. Eugene is a conduit that has control of Video Manipulation and could create angels and demons like his character in the online game, Heaven’s Hellfire. He could even turn himself into his in-game avatar (which was a freaking huge angel that Delsin had to fight on one occasion).

Right now though, he was doing something far more important than fighting online. As Delsin would find out, Eugene looked like he pulled an all nighter trying to work on whatever he was doing.

The conduit entered the small room as calmly as possible, trying not to scare the gamer. The entire hideout was filled with screens of all different things everywhere. Some more startling than others.

“Hey Eugene! You in here?”...... No response yet. At least right now that is.

Curious, the Native American began to look around. He remembered the small labyrinth from when he first met Eugene after chasing a few of his angels that have been taking suspected conduits away from the DUP. That was only a few months ago. The place itself was improved a bit, but looked more like a college lan party than a place to live.

Sooner than expected, he heard the movement of a whiteboard marker being used on a whiteboard and the shifting of someone’s feet. The figure at the board was none other than Eugene himself. Turning around, he was surprised when he saw his friend and greeted him.

“Oh, hey Delsin. I-i’m surprised to see you.”

“Hey Eugene.” Delsin replied, noticing that his friend looked a little tired as well as a little shaky. “Are you okay? You look like you haven’t gotten any sleep.”

“That… you’re actually right about.” The gamer admitted. “I was working on decrypting the DUP Hard Drive we found back at Curdan Cay.”

“Oh?” The Conduit replied. About two month ago, Eugene had found a laptop that hadn’t been disposed by the DUP when they were freeing the inmates at Augustine's Mega Prison. “Did you find anything?”

“A few things actually. Most seem helpful, but one thing just… bugs me.”

“Bugs you? Why?”

The gamer sighed and showed a list of documents that he printed. It seemed like a series of reports that were being sent from Augustine to another member of the DUP. Looking at the reports, Eugene had highlighted areas in the text that sounded very disturbing given the context.

“These were letters that, after a bit of research, I found out that she was sending to her main second in command of the DUP.”

“What?” Delsin stared blankly at Eugene, surprised by what they were. “Wait… What do you mean by “main” second in command?”

“It seems as if she had four second in commands that would be in charge of different regions of the United States when she either had to take leave or was gone.” Eugene explained, pointing out the illustrations on the board. “Her main second in command was the only one who she trusted and goes by the name of Roman. However, I haven’t really found out his full name.”

“Any idea who else is part of ‘The Queen’s court’?” The Akomish asked, trying to imply a joke. The only answer he got was his friends head shaking from side to side, answering with a no. “Okay, so what did you find?”

“Something that might take your fancy… A DUP list of Conduits and their powers.” Eugene told him, handing a paper list “It might not be everything they had on file, but at least it’s a start.”

Oh, Delsin liked where this was going. Looking at the list, he saw the names of these men and women and their powers.

Electrokinesis/Electromagnetism (Cole MacGrath: Status-Deceased)
Cryokinesis (Lucy Kuo: Status-Deceased)
Pyrokinesis (Nix (Real name unknown): Status-Deceased)
Mutation (Joseph Bertrand III: Status-Deceased)
Power Absorption (Delsin Rowe: Status-Alive)
Smoke Manipulation (Henry Daughtry: Status-Missing)
Neon Manipulation (Abigail “Fetch” Walker: Status-Alive)
Video Manipulation (Eugene Sims: Status-Alive)
Concrete Manipulation (Brook Augustine: Status-On trial)
Paper Manipulation (Celia Penderghast: Status-Unknown)
Gunpowder Manipulation (Pablo “Powderkeg” Alvarez: Status-Captured 7/18/18)

List will be updated once more Conduits are discovered or found.

-Brook Augustine

“Uh… Eugene? This guy at the bottom… Pablo?”

“Yeah, what about him?” Eugene asked.

“It says here that he got captured yesterday.”

Now this was surprising. The DUP’s weren’t as active as they were before since their entire operation had slowly began to crumble with Augustine on trial. But how were they able to capture him yesterday?

“I’m going to call Fetch and have her drop by. Can you find out more about our gunpowder friend?” Delsin asked, heading for the exit of the hideout.

“No problem Delsin. I’ll see what I can find.”

Kingstons home, San Diego (Saturday Morning)

As morning began to drift, the rays of the sun penetrated through the curtains of Shawn’s room. The light was bright enough to wake the teen from his slumber, causing him to rise to where the top half of his body was not lying down on the bed. As he opened his eyes and adjusted his vision, the first thing he could see was the time on his alarm clock.

9:13am

Shawn sighed. He creaked out of the bed and opened the closet to grab some clothes. This time, he chose a light blue shirt and a new pair of jeans. The only difference was that this one wasn’t a V-neck like the day before and the jeans were lighter in color than the navy jeans he wore the day before. After making his selection, the Teen went to the bathroom to take a shower, wash his face, and clean himself up

He had to look presentable even though today was a Saturday.

After changing his clothes, Shawn went back into his room and opened the curtains. The room lit up with the sunlight coming from the window, showing all the posters and collectibles of different movies, videogames and TV shows that were on his shelf and walls. This even included artwork prints from when he was in Equestria LA back in Anaheim on mothers day last year and some Pony figurines from Hot Topic. Nearby those was his bookcase. It stored a bunch of books that Shawn liked to read in his own time. This included The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien, The Legend of Drizzt by R.A. Salvatore, all nine of the vizbig edition Volumes of Dragon Ball Z by Akira Toriyama, The My Little Pony comic books made by IDW publishing's inside the hardcover volumes, The Maze Runner series by James Dashner and a lot of other books that took his interest.

Many other items were scattered across his room, but the teen had to focus less on that and more on his empty stomach. Off to the kitchen!

Shawn left the room and closed the door behind him, passed through the main hall on the first floor of the two floor house and walked his way to the near the back of the floor and by the living room. To his surprise, he didn’t see his father. In fact, he couldn’t find him anywhere or any sign of him being here just now. That’s when the Conduit noticed the note on the Dining Room table next to where he normally sat.

It was from his father. Shawn could tell by his handwriting and the blue ink used by his dad’s ballpoint pen.

Hey Buddy,

Sorry that I can’t hang out with you today like I promised. Got a call this morning about some Conduit sightings near downtown. Not to mention the DUP’s being surprised about what happened yesterday.

‘That’s a first,’ Shawn thought. ‘Dad never call the DUP “The DUP’s” like… ever.’

Anyways, if you want to meet up later, we can grab something to eat or just do what you want to do. It is your special day after all.

Happy 16th birthday,

Dad

P.S. I talked to mom yesterday. She’s very proud of you for your heroics yesterday at Target and for protecting that little girl. She wishes the best for you.

The Teen smiled when he read the last line. He was glad to hear from her. His mother had been working full time overseas as a nurse and health worker. She was currently in Hawaii because over a couple of weeks before, Hurricane Iselle went through the Tropical resort as well as Hurricane Julio. The storm might’ve ended a few days ago, but the effects still remained on the people of Hawaii. He knew that it might be some time before she could come back home. Still though, Shawn was Glad to know he had her blessing.

Folding the paper and putting it in his pocket, The Snow Conduit began to get himself some breakfast. A bowl of Rice Chex with Fat Free milk would do nicely while he waited for a bagel that was already pre-cut in half to heat in the toaster. While waiting, he continued to work on his cereal as he turned on the TV in the living room. Like what his dad told him, the subject of Bio-Terrorists was on the top headlines this morning… again.

“Officials of the Police Department have Downtown San Diego on high alert after possible sightings of a few Bio-Terrorists inside America’s Finest city. We are short on details at the moment on how many Bio-Terrorists have been spotted, but we can confirm that there are two females, possibly sisters. This just occurring almost a week before officials in Sacramento get together to discuss whether a new law should be passed that will make these men and women, who call themselves “Conduits” legal citizens.”

The male anchor on the news continued for another few minutes, doing interviews with so called “Experts” on Conduits and that’s when Shawn had enough and just shut off the TV. His bagel was just about done and he got it out of the toaster and applied some Cream Cheese from the fridge before putting it away again. Before eating though, Shawn left the kitchen for a minute to grab some “Essentials.”

Moving around the bottom floor, he turned on his phone after shutting it off the night before. Then, he went to the desk in his room to grab his keys, headphones, IPod and his Wonderbolt's Jacket from the hook on his door. Lastly, he grabbed his bagel and went out the front door, locking it before leaving the house.

Shawn had no need to demonstrate his powers right now. He was just going to walk through his neighborhood to the SDMTS Trolley station by the Mission Valley Center, hop on board the Green route, and get off once in Downtown. Sounds simple right? Well, not quite

One thing to note was that where he lived was a bit of a walk from Mission Valley. Second, the Area of Mission Valley itself might be crowded for a Saturday. The third and final note was that the DUP might be in the area after the Mall Incident yesterday. Shawn didn’t really stick around for when those guys showed up because he rather not be thrown in a Cell for his actions.

Despite these though, The Snow Conduit didn’t really mind the walking distance or the risk factors. He needed the exercise anyway and he knew how to deal with risks.

Forty minutes. That’s how long it took for a ten minute walk and a thirty minute trolley right to the Downtown Gaslamp of the city. Either that or it took longer, but he didn’t seem to care about how long it took. Shawn was here in the City, and was lucky that there weren’t any DUP’s in sight right now to notice him. However, the ride over was only the easy part.

Getting out of the small station was harder.

Exiting from the Convention center stop, Shawn walked out of the train only to find a whole ton of Construction and Assembly Crews.

‘Of Course…’ He thought to himself as he looked around him. He had almost forgot that it was the week before Comic-Con. The annual four day event was where the best in entertainment, comics, games, and Media turn Downtown San Diego into a Living comic fantasy. It usually occurs near the end of July, but the preparation began almost a week before. Same with the attendee’s.

Crossing the street, Shawn could now notice that something big was being planned at the Parking lot for Petco Park, the stadium and home of the San Diego Padres. As he noticed though, he began to hear something. At first, he thought it was a DJ at one of the nearby Hotels. But that's when he notice that it was too close by to be a DJ.

It was his cell phone.

Grabbing the phone from under his shirt and on his waist, Shawn was surprised to see that an Unknown number was trying to reach him. At first, he thought it was a telemarketer. Then he thought it was a misdialed number. Lastly, he thought of the possibility that dad was calling from his work phone. Thinking the third possibility, Shawn answered the call as he walked across the left hand side of the convention center.

“Hello?”

“Is this… Shawn Kingston?”

That definitely did not sound like the chief of police. In Fact, the voice was more… Feminine.

“Who is this?” Came Shawn’s next question. He stopped by the side of the convention center that he was walking along in order to ask.

“I’m sorry for surprising you, but we need to talk. In person… You did rescue me yesterday after all.”

That’s when it hit him. He couldn’t believe it at first. But then remembered her handing him his phone the other day after he dropped it. Still though, Shawn had to ask.

“Are you… the girl from yesterday?”

“That I am.” The voice replied.

“And I’m guessing you got my number from when I dropped my phone?” He asked

“You are pretty perceptive, conduit of snow.” She replied over the phone. Shawn noticed that her voice was different this time, and not like the little girl from before. “You can also consider me a conduit as well if you want to… Or is that not the right term?”

That’s when the teen froze. ‘How can this girl not know about this? Had she seen the news this morning or anytime recently?’ The word Bio-Terrorist was used as a common word daily, but some people see it as a negative insult to called people who are ‘Different.’

“Yes, the proper term is Conduit.”

“Oh, thank goodness I didn’t mess up.” The teen heard her reply.

“Anyways…” Shawn redirected the conversation. “You said that we needed to talk?”

“That’s right?”

“What do we need to talk about though?” Shawn proceeded to ask.

“Well, we need your help with something. Something really important.”

“Wait a minute,” The teen interjected. “Who’s we?”

“My older sister and I,” The girl clarified. “We both need your help, Mr. Kingston.”

Shawn thought about it to himself a bit. This whole call, the girl, and not one, but two people needing his help? It didn’t make any sense. Still though, he couldn’t just turn down anyone without a good reason. He should help them.

“Where do you want to meet? Currently right now, the city and the DUP are on a manhunt after the news reported about a few suspected conduits being inside the city. Two of them are said to be sisters…” Then he stopped. The caller saying she was a conduit and also had an older sister… “Wait a minute… Are you-?”

“I promise we’ll explain everything later. For now though, can you meet us on the top of the structure next to the tall building with the word “Hilton” on it?”

Turning to his left, Shawn noticed what the girl was talking about. “You mean the Parking structure next to the hotel?”

“Would that work for you, Mr. Kingston?”

“It sounds good to me. Oh and what’s your name? It would be impolite for me not to ask.” The conduit followed up with his question.

“Very well,” He heard the reply. “For now, you may just call me Lulu. I’ll see you soon, conduit of snow.”

With that, the phone call had ended and now Shawn wondered. ‘What exactly did I get myself into?’

End Chapter 2

Author's Note

And now to get the ball rolling...

Chapter 3- Sun and Moon

San Diego Convention Center, San Diego (Saturday morning)

‘Lulu huh?’

Shawn was thinking to himself. Thinking about the call he had received. Thinking about certain factors of it. His mystery caller named Lulu mentioned a place, who would be there, why they needed to talk, her name, but forgot one important detail. Time. Lulu had never told Shawn when to be there by. It could have been by noon, earlier than that, or even later. Assuming that lunch started around noon, his best guess was around 1:30pm. That way, he had time to eat lunch and check in on dad.

Speaking of Dad, he had not gotten the chance to call him. ‘Damn it!’ Shawn cursed mentally for his memory not being as helpful as he would’ve wanted. Walking back the way he came, he pulled out his phone again and dialed his fathers number. It took about 20 seconds or so to connect, but it was soon able to go through clearly.

“Hello? This is Nicholas Kingston speaking.”

“Hey dad, it’s me.”

“Oh hey son!” His father replied, changing his tone from formal to friendly upon hearing Shawn’s Voice. “How are you doing on your 16th birthday?”

“Alright so far,” the Conduit answered his father’s question. “I’m heading into downtown and I was thinking we can meet for lunch. Would that be alright for you?” Shawn hurried across the street, avoiding the sight of an incoming DUP convoy going across a four way intersection. He breathed a sigh of relief that none of them spotted him as he was moving. Rather be still alive than getting shot at into a million pieces and cause a panic.

“I’m on board with that, Shawn. Just what place did you have in mind?”

“I was thinking about Panera bread. I know that they have a location not far from the Plaza Bonita mall if that works-.”

“Not a good idea.” He heard the chief speak to him seriously. Before being able to protest, Shawn heard his father say the reason why. “Heard a call on the radio that the DUP have been investigating in that area since it’s nearby the Mayor’s office.”

“Well great…” Shawn muttered. Then, an idea popped into his head. One that he thought could work. “Wait… Do you think that it’s a possibility that the DUP’s won’t be there later?”

That caused Nicholas to worry. He did not want Shawn to do anything mischievous. Especially around the DUP. “Dude, I know what you’re thinking and no! Don’t you even think about it!”

“I’m not fighting them!” The conduit protested. “It’s just… reconnaissance.” He assured to him once he passed a neighboring park.

“Recon, huh?” His dad juggled the idea inside his head. The DUP never explains why they investigate everything and despite their agreement with the police, they’re never really honest. It would be good to find out what they’re looking at and what for. “Okay, just don’t do anything stupid.”

“I’ll send you any pictures of what I can find.”

With that, the snow conduit began to run, exercising his legs as he got closer to his destination. Sooner than expected, he arrived. Through out the five floors of the Plaza Bonita mall were multiple stores that had air conditioning systems that allowed cool air to be blown in during the hot summer. This also served as a key chance for Shawn to get up top. And he didn’t mean top floor.

Moving to the fourth floor parking garage, Shawn found a huge cooler system that server as a vent and not a soul in sight. Quickly, he dashed towards it, his powers turning him into snow. Going through the fans, the conduit ended up on top of the building. Moving along the rooftop, he was now could clearly see the area the DUP were investigating.

Getting out his phone, he turned on the camera feature and zoomed in on it’s location. Turns out, that location was a construction zone that was suppose to be an outdoor amphitheater that the mall was added on, but currently needed crucial repairs. Now the place was being investigated by the DUP and who knows when the builders will get back to fixing everything.

Click! Photo taken. Now to send it to dad.

“Hey Dad,” Shawn contacted his father over the phone again. “I found them. Here’s a shot of where their investigating. What can you make of it?”

Putting his father on hold, he sent the photo to the Chief. Nicholas’s response though was one of confusion.

“The construction area by the mall? How could a problem involving Bio-, I mean conduits, occur over there?”

“Beats me.” Shawn replied, looking back at the site and observing it. “It looks like a lot of dust was kicked up and a lot of things were knocked over. Maybe some mad dash in order to escape the scene.”

“Can you explain a little more about some of those “Things”, Shawn?” His father asked him.

“Hang on, let me get them for you.” Putting his phone call on hold, he went back to his camera app and zoomed in back at the site. Out of all the chaos there, it seemed like the two biggest displacements were a excavator on it’s side and a tree that had fallen out of place. The tree though had burn marks along the base where the roots would be.

Click! Click! Sent.

The chief was definitely surprised. “Whoa! That’s definitely not normal. Never thought someone's power could knock over an construction vehicle!”

“Yeah, besides that, the only thing that is not normal is the amount of men there.” Over the phone, Nicholas thought he didn’t hear that right.

“The amount of men? Why?”

“Well, there’s far… less troops than normal.” Shawn told him. “Normally with a DUP investigation squad, they have like ten to fifteen troops investigating the area and talking to witnesses. This time, theres only four. Three troops and some guy in black looking like Neo except that he has Elvis like hair. Doesn’t he know the matrix went out of style fourteen years ago?”

That worried the Chief a little. “Get a photo of the man in black real quick and then meet me at Panera. I wanted to see something.”

“O...kay then.” The teen said as the call ended.

Aim, Click!, done.

‘Now to get some lunch!’ Shawn thought to himself as he made his way down by jumping off the roof onto the 5th floor of the mall. On his way down, he almost crashed into some people as he landed, including a few tourists.

“My apologies…” Shawn commented as he took an escalator the rest of the way down and walked the rest of the way. With the DUP out here right now, he rather not try to draw any attention to himself.

Lunch at Panera for both father and son was great for two different reasons. Shawn’s reason was because he was able to have a bread bowl tomato soup and his father’s reason was so that way he can find a way to relieve some stress from work. It was kind of family time for the two of them because they never had much of it that didn’t involve one of them getting in harms way.

“Enjoying your food?” Nicholas asked his son.

“Definitely! Thanks!!”

“You’re welcome, son.” Shawn’s only response to that was a smile and another bite out of the bread bowl. He was enjoying his time here. But two things distracted him just as much as they confused him. The first was Lulu and her call earlier. But that was not what was bugging him. What was bugging him was the second thing on his mind because that seemed more important.

“Dad… earlier when getting those pictures, why did you have me take a picture of this guy?” Shawn supported his question with bringing up the photo of a bald man with light skin, had shades, a tribal tattoo on his neck and black clothes. This man was with the DUP’s and was the “Neo” lookalike that he personally saw this guy as.

His father sighed. Setting down his Coke that he had brought with him, he began to talk. “Do you remember Brook Augustine’s appearance before she went on trial?”

“Who wouldn’t?” Shawn answered honestly. “It’s like she would carve a statue of herself out of her powers like she was a egotistical Roman empress.”

“I don’t think their were Roman Empresses, but I get your point.” The chief said. “Anyways, the reason why I mention that is because when I’m seeing the photo and thinking about who he could possibly be, I somehow see her.”

‘He’s right,’ Shawn thought, looking at the photo again. ‘Only difference is that his clothes don’t appear to be as heavy.’ Still though, he still looked threatening by appearance. Plus, the conduit had a strange feeling that he’ll be seeing him again in the near future.

“Could you be able to inquire more about him for me, Dad?”

The chief himself saw this as a bit of an odd request. “Sure, but why exactly do you want to know more about him?”

“I got a bad feeling that this won’t be the last time we’ll see him.”

Nicholas thought about it, but then nodded his head. “I’ll see what I can do, son.”

“Thank you, dad.” The teenager complied.

“Now, to change the subject a little bit…” Nicholas said as he took a drink from his Coca Cola bottle. “What do you think they’re looking for? Just out of curiosity.” He wanted to hear his son’s opinion on the matter. From a conduit perspective.

“Honestly… I think it’s two conduits.”

“Two?” The chief of police was surprised by the hypothesis. “Why do you think two?”

“Well, things got blown around like a ragdoll, like that excavator. But when I look at the tree, I see black burn marks that usually result from if something was struck by lightning. So I think a conduit that controls wind and another that controls electricity or can manipulate the weather.”

“I see your point, but if a conduit has control over weather, then can’t they control both wind and electricity?” Nicholas asked his son as he finished his drink.

“I say two because on the eastern wall by the streets, there were two holes that showed that way as an escape route. One looked above six foot in height and the other was close to it. Judging by the size of that, I think one is a male and another is a female.”

That was another special talent that Shawn had besides his powers. He had a keen eye for spotting things others can’t see or tell at first glance. It was demonstrated before when the robbery at Target occurred yesterday. But his skills in this were at it’s peak when looking at details by observation.

“Thanks for the meal.” He complimented. “I’ll see you home later tonight.”

With that, the chief’s son left and disappeared amongst the people coming in and out of the mall. All he could do was chuckle…

Kids these days.

Moments after though, the man in the dark attire soon entered the restaurant and took up the empty seat in front of him. “Hello. You’re Nicholas Kingston, the chief of police for the county, right?”

“Yeah, who are you though?”

“We haven’t had the pleasure to meet yet, but I’m the director of the Western chapter of the DUP. My name is Roman. Roman Redinov.”

It took another hour by walking in order to be able to make it back to where the convention center was and another ten minutes to rest his tired legs. Upon arriving though, it was sometime after 1:30pm and Shawn was walking across the street to the parking garage that was the designated meeting place arranged with Lulu. It had two elevators, a set of stairs and a bridge from the second floor that stretched out across the road and provided access for those that were going to Petco Park, the ballpark of the San Diego Padres. Since other people could use the elevator, Shawn decided that it would be best for him to use the stairs to get to the top floor.

Upon arriving, the Conduit was greeted by a very empty lot that felt like the place was abandoned. There wasn’t a car or soul in sight. The teen felt like he was tricked or got there too early. So, using his phone, he called Lulu.

“Hey Lulu, I’m on top of the garage.”

“Now?” She said, surprised. “You’re kind of early. I was thinking about meeting near sundown.”

“Well, a time of when to meet wasn’t stated, so I thought sooner than later.” Shawn exaggerated.

“My apologies. We were currently occupied with something so I thought I told you earlier. Guess I forgot.”

“It’s alright. Mistakes happen.”

“My sister and I will be right over. Just wait there.” She instructed the snow conduit, leaving him confused. How would they possibly be able to get there? Matter of fact… Shawn now had something to ask.

“Wait, where exactly are you? You don’t need to hurry-.”

“By some little tourist spot called Seaport Village. It’s not too far from where you are actually.”

Shawn had an expression of confusion on his face again. As he looked at his phone again, he answered. “That’s quite a long walk from there to over here. Are you sure that-.”

“There won’t be a need.” She assured him. Before long, a bright flash occur from behind him. Turning around, Shawn looked at the center of the lot to see one woman and Lulu. However, with one of her supposed powers, she dismissed her appearance and not long after arriving, turned into a woman who was just as old as her sister. Lulu now wore a colored shirt with a patch of a crescent moon on her sleeves along with slacks and dress shoes. Her sister, on the other hand, was more casual in her appearance. She wore a teal colored hoodless jacket and tan pants with a pair of Sandals, probably to prepare for beach weather.

Dumbstruck by what just occurred, Shawn stared at the pair for a few second before shaking his head a little. “Okay, what just happened?”

“One of our powers is Teleportation,” The now older Lulu explained. “Another one I have is Illusions. To make myself look like anyone, including my younger self.”

Her voice just now… it felt familiar to the snow conduit. But how exactly?

“I’m sorry for deceiving you the other day. I thank you for saving me, but I’m sorry for not being truthful of who I was. I understand if you’re mad-.”

“I’m not mad.” Shawn interjected.

“Wait… even after yesterday?” She asked. “Because of me, I had put you in harms-.”

“It’s alright really. My father is the chief of police. He taught me to defend others, even if it means using myself as a shield to keep people from harm. I keep others out of harms way by putting myself in it instead.”

“Those… are strong words.” This time, Lulu’s sister added to the conversation. Again, like with Lulu’s voice, her voice rang through Shawn’s head. The tone, melody and softness… He had definitely heard this somewhere before.

All Shawn did though was nod his head before saying anything else. “Yes they are. Can I ask the two of you something?”

“Sure.”

“What’s on your mind young conduit?”

“You two sound very familiar,” The snow conduit began to speak. “Is there some sort of power you have that can affect my hearing?”

Lulu raised an eyebrow as she looked at her sister before facing Shawn again. “No, we don’t have any powers related to that.”

“Then it’s either me or you two sound just like Princess Celestia and Luna.” Shawn said, adjusting his neck and shoulders.

Lulu and her sister both stared at the snow conduit. It took a few moments, but both of them were as equally surprised… as they were impressed. This conduit was just full of surprises. He really did have Talent along with Valor and Knowledge.

“Well done, young Conduit. You figured it out.” The Older sister said.

Shawn though, just looked at the pair in disbelief. “Wait… what?”

Before he could get any clarification, both sisters nodded and a flash of bright light followed suite. Shawn really did not see this coming as this blinded him. Within a heartbeat, they disappeared, leaving the parking lot empty and without a trace of anyone being there.

??? (Saturday, Afternoon)

His head began to feel like the San Andreas Fault line when Shawn began to open his eyes again. When he did, he found himself in what looked like a night sky. Twinkling with stars and galaxies, the scene looked beautiful. Like it was from one of Galileo’s paintings or a picture from NASA. Beneath his feet was a bright glowing energy that seemed to resemble a scene that was familiar to him. Shawn felt like he saw it before, but where?

“You seem lost, young conduit.”

Hearing the voice once again, he began to look around. Nothing to his right, nothing to his left. Nothing up top or below his feet. Nothing in front of him… But what about behind?

That’s when he turned around and his jaw dropped ajar. He was facing two beings that he thought were fictional or just fantasy. 'This can’t be happening right now,' he thought to himself. At first, he thought it was an illusion. Something that Lulu conjured like how she was able to do one of her younger self the day before. But when he saw them move their eyes to face him as well as unfold their wings, he knew that this was real.

Shawn was looking at both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. Alicorns, Royal sisters and rulers of Day and Night in Equestria. They were sitting right in front of him!

“Oh… my… god.” This was definitely something that he did not expect.

“You seem to have some questions,” Celestia said to the shocked conduit, pointing at a spot with her left hoof to offer him a place to sit. “Go ahead. Take your time and ask.”

Shawn obliged and sat down right in front of him. Many questions bounced through his Cranium like a tennis ball during a match. He couldn’t narrow down what he wanted to say. Matter of fact, he didn’t want to say anything to where he would screw up the conversation. Sooner than expected though, he got it.

“H-how is this happening right now?” The conduit asked. “Don’t get me wrong, it’s an honor to meet both of you. But I’m surprised by a lot of things.”

Luna sighed, taking initiative to answer his question. “You see Shawn, we know that there are other worlds besides our own and there are ways in which travel to those worlds are possible. The two of us personally have done research about your world and it’s inhabitants. However, we are here now because we need your help.”

“M-my help?” Shawn asked, still partially speechless.

“Yes,” Celestia said. “Only the two of us have known about this secret for years. It was to make sure not to endanger the safety of millions of inhabitants in Equestria. This includes my Student and Fellow Princess, Twilight Sparkle, and her friends too. However, it wasn’t until recently that something horrible happened.”

Shawn cringed a little upon hearing this. Something did not feel right.

“A few days ago, we had received reports about some civilians disappearing. We were trying our best to resolve the issue since the Grand Galloping Gala was only a few weeks away and preparations had to be made. But it wasn’t until we saw firsthoof how they disappeared that really shocked the both of us.”

Luna continued from where her sister left off. “In all cases, somepony saw something in the reflection of a mirror, only to be pulled inside that mirror moments later and disappear. At first, we thought it was a spell to replicate the Magic Mirror of the Crystal Empire. But the moment we saw it unfold before us, when a few of the event coordinators were taken, that’s when we saw who it was. It was for a moment, but we saw a image of what appeared to be a female from your world with a hood covering her face and with clear transparent energy around what you would call her “hands.” It was a Conduit.”

“Holy crap…” Shawn cursed, “I’ve never heard of anyone with a power like that before.”

“Indeed.”

“Do you know… who was taken?” The Snow conduit knew that the most important piece of information when trying to find someone, or in this case somepony, was who they were.

“Many ponies were said to be taken, but before coming here, the captain of the guard was still trying to figure out how many have went missing.” Celestia answered. “We do know that some ponies like Applejack and Fluttershy had been busy this week and weren’t able to come to Canterlot this week to help plan because of their occupations. Due to the time of the season, they required their full attention.”

“Well okay, but are their any names you do remember?” Shawn followed up with another question.

“Since I meet a lot of ponies regularly, I can’t remember everypony by name. I do remember though, for a fact, that Twilight was taken when she and Spike were at the Carousel Boutique with Rarity. Her younger sister witnessed the disappearance right in front of her.”

“Aye,” Luna replied. “I also remember one incident being where they took Rainbow Dash and Soarin right from Spitfire’s office in the Wonderbolt Academy using a Mirror that was on the wall. Normally, Spitfire’s not scared, but when she told us what happened, I can tell the incident frightened her. Besides that, those are the only ones I can remember.”

“I see. Well, sorry for mentioning this abruptly, but since it sounds like you two came to Earth on your own, can’t you just as easily go back?”

Celestia shook her head. “No, it’s not as simple as that. The spell we used requires a massive amount of magic and we can’t use it again for about ten days afterwards. We had only arrived yesterday morning.”

“Hmm…” Shawn thought. He began to process what he already knew with what the two sisters told him. Something began to synch. It had to do with the photo’s he took earlier. Relieved that he still had his phone, he continued to speak.

“It might not be much, but I believe every bit helps.” Shawn stated, going into his photos.

He noticed both Princesses looking at each other, confused. They were not sure by what the conduit meant. “How does this exactly help, Shawn?” All the conduit did was grin a little and showed a few of the photo’s he had.

“Earlier, the Department of Unified Protection or DUP for short was investing a construction site because of a suspected pair of Conduits possibly being in that area.” Shawn paused for a minute, then went on. “You know what the DUP is, right?”

“For the most part, however, we don’t know the purpose or origins of the group.” Celestia replied. “All we know is that they capture Conduits.”

“Well, there’s a lot more to that then you might think.” He told them. “They’re suppose to be a military based organization in order to protect the U.S. from another “Empire Event” by locking up Conduits and labeling them “Bio-Terrorists” as a way of propaganda. They’re suppose to control the panic, but were really causing panic than controlling it. They’re the prime authority when it came to all conduit based matters.”

Shawn continued to explain for another ten minutes about the DUP from their tactics and funding, to their leader Augustine. Celestia and Luna were both shocked to hear that she was a Conduit and the “Choices” she made as well as her defeat.

“My word… there was a lot more to them than we actually thought.” Celestia was still amazed by everything that was just explained by the snow conduit. But she was still confused by two things. “How would they still be active though?”

“After Seattle, the DUP’s funding took a big cut, but made some major changes to how they operated. Also, with Augustine on Trial for her actions, the Government appointed a new leader. I don’t know though who it is, but I heard that it was a male.”

“And how does this relate to the original topic?” Luna interjected, apologizing for interrupting.

“Well earlier, when watching them from a rooftop, I could tell that two Conduits were there. They both left a hole in the nearby wooden wall and did a bit of accidental property damage.”

Shawn then showed them the pictures of the toppled excavator and the burnt tree. The Night Alicorn was beyond confused at this point. She tried to understand and follow along, but couldn’t do so.

“From what you told me Luna, Soarin and Rainbow Dash we’re taken from the Wonderbolt Academy, right?”

“Yes. that is correct.”

“And what are Pegasi known for?” Shawn asked.

“Speed, flying and weather-.” Then, both sisters realized it. The shock of it all felt like getting hit in the back of the head with a brick. Upon knowing though, they got some idea of what the Snow Conduit meant.

“Wait… are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

Shawn nodded his head, confirming Celestia’s thought. The Snow conduit had a strong feeling that somehow, he might be right.

“I think Rainbow and Soarin are inside the city.”

End Chapter 3

Author's Note

Just to clarify, the Empire Event is the name they gave to the event in the beginning of the First inFAMOUS that lead to Cole getting his powers

Chapter 4- Chasing Rainbows

Hilton Parking Lot, San Diego (Saturday, Late Afternoon)

Moments later, Celestia and Luna had finished the current conversation with Shawn. He told them that Rainbow Dash and Soarin might be anywhere at this point and that because of their powers, it’s a high possibility that they could fly. They needed to act and plan accordingly before they did anything or went anywhere.

As quickly as they brought Shawn into the starry vision, Celestia and Luna used the same ability to bring the three of them back. Shawn was back in one piece while the two sisters returned to their human forms.

“Talk about crash landings.” Shawn thought as he got up from his position on the concrete floor. He now looked back at the two sisters, who were patiently waiting for him.

“So… if you believe that Rainbow Dash and Soarin are in the City, where do you think they could be?” Celestia asked him.

Shawn took some time to think, but then answered. “Well, we got to allow for the possibility that they were in the city, but probably moved due to the DUP scare. I would think somewhere with a lot of space and room to move around.”

“Like a park?” Luna asked curiously.

“That’s a first place to try.” came his reply. He pulled out a map on his phone and pointed far out into the distance. Getting a map of the city, he zoomed in on a specific point. One that he guessed might be a possibility.

“If you follow on 6th street to Balboa park, then that might be a first place to check out. Lots of kids and tourist attractions are over in that direction as well as the San Diego Zoo. But if you look for the open fields, then that could give us a lead.”

“That sounds like a possibility.” Celestia commented. She and Luna liked their hopes in this one.

“I can help guide you if-.”

“I don’t think that would be necessary.” Luna interrupted Shawn while he was speaking. “A considerable amount of time has passed and your father might be worried. Wouldn’t you agree?”

Shawn looked at the night princess, puzzled. He had no idea what she meant. That’s when he looked at his Timex Expedition time on his left wrist to check the time. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

The time was 4:30pm. He had only been talking with Celestia and Luna for only twenty minutes! But his watch said that three hours had passed. ‘Three hours!?’

“What the hell?”

Celestia sighed, putting the palm of her hand on her face. “There is a time difference between where we just were and your home. There isn’t a difference between Equestria and this world. But over there, one minute there is nine minutes here.”

Shawn now looked dumbstruck. He never thought this power set that the two princess had involved an ability on that kind of level. Still though, that wasn’t his current concern. If the time was correct, then it had been some time since he left his home and his father normally came home around 5pm.

“So, what do we do now?” Luna asked the snow conduit. Wondering if he had a plan of sorts. There were a number of options to try and figure out before the teenager had to leave. So, why not solve a problem by grabbing it by the horns?

“Not sure, but I probably should get back home. My father worries if I’m out too late.” Shawn told the two sisters. “Luna, if anything changes, make sure to call me.”

“Sure thing. Speaking of your father, will there be a time where we’ll be able to meet him? He’s going to have to know about what’s going on at some point.”

Celestia had a point. But there was one problem. Trying to find a viable explanation. His father could tell when anyone was lying. It was like a gift of his.

“Let’s keep it a secret for now. We’ll explain it to him when the time is right.” Looking at the Trolley, Shawn waved the sisters goodbye and ran towards the station. He was off to the races in order to catch the trolley ride home.

Space Needle, Seattle (Saturday, Late Afternoon)

The view looking from atop Seattle’s Space Needle was amazing. As amazing as it ever would be on a saturday afternoon. One that didn’t involve getting shot at by the DUP.

Delsin was overlooking all of Seattle as he watched the cars roll by and the Civilians of the beautiful city walk the streets. It felt peaceful. But of course, that peace somehow was always cut short. This was from his phone as he checked to see who was calling him.

It was Eugene. He hoped that he had some kind of lead. He answered the call.

“Hey Delsin, I did some checking for you on this gunpowder conduit and you might be surprised at what I tell you.”

The Akomish sighed. “Eugene, I’m surprised by a lot of things. When I first saw your angels, I honestly thought I was going up against god. What is it about this one that would make me so “surprised”? Was this case different from the others somehow?”

“That’s the thing, Pablo here was actually caught by the cops and turned into the DUP. A lot of the witnesses believe that another Conduit beat this guy before he was turned into-.”

“Wait a second…” Delsin intervened. “Are you saying that there is a conduit working with the Police? Like besides us in a different state?” What the Multi-power Conduit meant was that over the course of the past few months, members of the Seattle PD have requested their assistance with cleaning up the Drug Traffic on the street and other cases. He considered it as helping honor Reggie after everything he did to help him.

“That’s right.” He heard Eugene reply. “In fact, rumors are that the conduit is actually related to the Chief of Police, Nicholas Kingston-.”

“Whoa, back up. Kingston?”

“That’s right. Why do you-?”

“Reggie knew someone in the SDPD named Kingston. He became friends with him when his family came to Seattle. Of course, that was when I was a sophomore in high school and thank god that I don’t need to relive those days.” Delsin really did hate his time in high school. When he found out about the power of Invisibility he got from Eugene’s Video powers, Delsin wished that he had them so the conduit could hide for… personal reasons. “Anything else about this “Unknown” Conduit?”

“Well,” Eugene replied. The video conduit could be heard typing on a keyboard and also clicking with his mouse on the computer he mainly used at his hideout. “I’ve been tracking Social Media, but I’ve been only finding witness accounts. One photo though did show him using some kind of white like energy similar to when you use Smoke, but it can form Ice. Plus, this individual's face was covered with a hood that was part of his jacket.”

“Ice? isn’t that kind of impossible in the middle of-?”

BOOM!!

“Bio-Terrorist in Seattle Center! Bio- Oh S***! Take Cover!!!”

A loud crash and static ensued as Delsin heard the chatter from the com-line that Eugene had on the DUP. Delsin could hear the explosion from his position and the Chatter from Eugene’s end of the phone call. “Uh Eugene, did you hear that?”

“Who couldn’t have? Matter of Fact, what was that!?”

“I don’t know, but some DUP just said about a conduit in Seattle Center. I’m near Queen Anne, so I know that was not me.”

“Oh boy, that could be an issue…” The Gamer said, concerned.

“What’s Wrong?”

“From when I last heard, that’s where Fetch is.”

For the dark pink haired neon girl called “Fetch” by her friends, she was ultimately glad right now for her fast healing powers. The conduit was finishing up from her daily drug busts when an explosion went off and a busted DUP Convoy almost flattened her like a pancake. In the dust of it all, she could see a girl in her teenaged years looking like she had some vibrating wind circling around her hands as she fled the scene.

‘Who the hell was that? And What kind of Power did she use?’

“Fetch! Are you okay?” It was Delsin, reaching her through a call on her cell phone, like usual.

“Yeah, I was doing fine until a DUP convoy got flipped over and almost crashed on top of me.”

“Wait, an entire convoy!?” The Akomish sounded shocked over the phone. “What happened that would cause that? A land mine going off?”

“No, something tells me it’s a conduit. Someone with a new power we haven’t seen before. I got a glimpse of her before-.”

“Wait, this new conduit is a she?”

“Yes Delsin. I saw what this girl looked like for a brief second before she dashed off in a blur. Have Pixels look for a young teenaged girl that’s looks a bit younger than him. Has black sneakers, same color cargo pants, fingerless black gloves, a white t-shirt and grey bandana around her neck. Also has a pair of turquoise headphones and some weird purple shades around her neck. Her hair is a mix of blue and Sky blue.”

Pixels was Fetch’s other nickname for Eugene. Mostly because the blue aura that his power gave off had little boxes that resembled an old Nintendo NES game. It fit well and the title stuck with him. Eugene liked it since Delsin had his Nicknames and he didn’t have one yet besides “Teen Angel” and his alias in Heaven’s Hellfire.

“I’ll see what he can do. If you are going after that girl, call me if you have any idea on what her powers might be. Fighting what’s left of the DUP is one thing, but causing a convoy to flip over attracts attention.”

“Specifically yours?” Fetch asked sarcastically.

“Depends on how impressive it is.”

“No problem, D.” As the call ended, the Neon conduit began to speed through the side streets of seattle like it was a Sonic the Hedgehog game. Zipping through each side street with precision and accuracy, whisking around corners at high speeds. She began to remember an old trick that she used a few years back that could help her detect the girl. But to do so required one thing. Something from atop the rooftops of multiple buildings in seattle.

A Relay dish.

Fetch had used this trick before to trash a series of delivery trucks that were carrying drug shipments to different places in Seattle Center and the Market District before being caught by the DUP. She used it as a chance to get revenge on her “boss” named Shane, who had held her brother Brent hostage and used Fetch for his personal gain. As for the relay dish, the neon energy she emitted would be released in a widespread wave and if anything Metallic was hit, a signal would bounce back. This would allow Fetch to know where it was and could tell where it’s going if it’s on the move. The signal would be boosted if the person Fetch was hunting used a Cell phone or Radio to communicate with anyone.

Earlier, when she saw the girl briefly, the conduit noticed her having an Android smartphone that was plugged into her headphones and her glasses having a metallic frame. This just might make this job simpler than she thought. That was, until she heard a voice echo inside her hear. A haunting voice she wanted to forget when she thought the word “Job.”

Just a few more jobs…

Trying to forget about the past and refocus her attention, Fetch began to run up the wall and onto the top of the building. Luck was on her side today. The nearest Relay dish was just a few feet in front of her. ‘Alright, let's see where this girl could be.’

Channeling energy from her hands, the neon wave began to pulse outward, scanning for possible locations. After some time, she got a hit, but was surprised of where she picked it up from. It was near where she met Delsin… well, more of the first encounter with him.

“Smokes, I think I got a possible location of our Mystery girl. Mind putting Teen Angel on for me?”

“You know I can hear you right?” An irritated Eugene groaned as he entered the conversation. Fetch just sighed and responded. “Honestly, I did not expect this. But I got a place of where this girl is at right now.”

“Really? Where?”

“Work your powers on the security camera’s and check near the seafood place called “Olaf”. Long story short, it’s how I accidently ran into Delsin after the crash three months back.”

“Already on it…” The video conduit replied. Fetch could hear the sounds of a keyboard and his powers working in the background. “and got- What the?!”

“Eugene, What happened?” Fetch asked “That type of response never sounds good.”

“It Isn’t.” He told her. “I saw her for a minute, but then she was gone. Blasted off like a sonic boom! Be careful, Fetch. This one could be a handful. Working on finding her now. Just keep moving.” Fetch though, was already on the move. She dashed off the top of the building and ran at lightspeed, moving with grace and serious intent towards the rooftop at Olaf. Noticing a string of silver light fading away, Fetch dashed forth.

“Can’t run from me.”

“Did you say something Fetch?” Eugene asked her.

“Nah, just speaking to myself. Got a trail though about our friend. Following it now. Find out where it leads if you can. I want to find a shortcut to get to her.”

“Actually, you’re in luck. She just stopped.”

That caught her by surprise. Why would she stop? Wasn’t this girl on the run or something? “Stopped? Where?”

“An Alleyway by a old bar. I think it’s by Third and… Stone?”

Oh great. More bad memories. “Already moving there. Leave this to me.” Finally, she hung up the call and made her way over. Fetch did not like her odds with this. She did not know who or what will be waiting for her. But why did she feel like something was going to go horribly wrong?

Breath in, breath out. In… Out… In……... Out……...

In an alleyway near the edge of town, the teenaged girl that had just been beating the crap out of the DUP pawns and rooks was trying to enjoy a little peace. Or what little peace she had. It was only yesterday that she ended up in this place after being pulled out of her home through a mirror in her living room and she had mixed emotions. Worried, concerned, happy, hopeful, regretful. They bounced through her mind like a child was playing with a ball on a playground.

Redirecting her attention, the Conduit took the phone that she had out of her pocket and tried to remember how it worked. Slide to unlock, phone, contacts… call. On her was a white plastic grocery bag, filled with apples, some cupcakes, a pie and about a half gallon of Arrowhead water. That wasn’t her attention though as the phone she used picked up.

“Hello?” came the person she was calling. The voice was another girl around her age. Just wiser. Like one of those Honor Students in college

“Hey, it’s me. Where the hay are you?”

“Trying to find a place to hide. Any suggestions? I haven’t done anything like this before.”

The conduit sighed. “You’re killing me Twilight. You know that right?”

“Literally or Physically?” came the reply. All the conduit did was sigh again as she twirled the cable of her headphones. “I’ll presume you mean literally. So, suggestions?”

“Someplace abandoned I guess, I haven’t done this before either-.”

“Oh come on, Vinyl.” The voice on the other end said her name. “You use about anyplace to throw a “show” last time I heard about you.”

“That was for a music concert. I was on tour. Getting stuck in a new world unfamiliar to us with new bodies and new ways that we previously controlled magic really changes the boundaries of how we play this out.” Vinyl retorted. “I’m sorry if it sounds too direct princess, but-.”

“Ms. Scratch, there isn’t a need to address me formally here.” Twilight told her. “I just thought you had a… wait a second. I think I found someplace. Looks like an abandoned studio of sorts and bigger than Applejack’s barn back in Equestria.”

“Alright, try to get in there and don’t be seen. Afterwards, head back to the “Crocodile”. Oh and no “powers” yet.” Vinyl said specifically to ensure her. “It’s what the locals call our special traits along with calling us something called a Conduit. Better than the soldier guys that called us “Bio-terrorists.” Bunch of creeps.”

“Powers you say…” The Element of Magic replied. Then though, Vinyl could hear her stop walking. “Wait... Don’t tell me… you tried using your magic, didn’t you? I heard an explosion earlier. Was that you by any chance?”

“Had no other choice. After getting food, one of them recognized me from yesterday and tried to fire whatever weapons they had at me. Running would just get others hurt and what they fired was a pain in the flank. Turns out though, this change in magic actually helps deal with them. More combat focused and now I can run very fast. Plus, it’s actually based off of sounds I’m familiar with as a musician.” After Vinyl stopped talking, she could hear silence. The DJ prayed that she didn’t lose Twilight over the phone. The Element of Magic was the only pony Vinyl found that was stuck in the same situation as she was. Her thoughts right now was to not get her mad.

“You did well, Vinyl.” She heard her say. “But I want to see this for myself, if you were able to handle it that quickly, then maybe you could show me. Seems like what I can do is similar to a lot of the stuff I can do at home.”

That’s when Vinyl heard something nearby. Something that’s like… Hoofsteps. Oh no! Someone was nearby and walking this way. “Crap, I’m going to have to call you back. Something’s come up-.”

“Vinyl, wai-.” The DJ disconnected the call and locked the phone, putting it in her pocket again. Turning behind her, she thought that no one was here. But that couldn’t be right. Her hearing told her otherwise. Getting onto one knee and plugging her headphones into her phone, she slip them over her ears and laid what the inhabitants called a “hand” on the ground and channeled her energy. Very high pitched sound waves that can’t be heard by humans and used multiple times with medical purposes allowed Vinyl to “Ping” those who were hiding behind walls or buildings. It was a method she planned to use to find Twilight Later.

“Who’s there?” She asked with a bit of seriousness in her voice. Her pulse just now picked up someone who tried to hide behind a four foot trash bin. Turns out, this someone was a woman with a dark pink hair style with a white tee with a pink skull on it looking like it’s whispering, worn green jacket, dark red shorts with ripped tight black leggings and Dark lavender boots. Also had several accessories like wristbands, an earring and a piercing. But it didn’t really matter. It gave Vinyl a feeling of what a rebellious person was like. But also reminded her of something bad.

“Well, that’s a first. Normally, it’s me who gets that feeling.”

“Who are you exactly?” Vinyl asked. Her voice and the attitude in this situation did not fit well for her.

“Call me Fetch. Everyone else does.” She told her, but The DJ could tell something was off.

“You’re lying.”

“Excuse you-?”

“You stuttered on the second half of your last statement. Something didn’t feel right. Like you were trying to hide something.”

“We all have something to hide.” Fetch snapped back. She was beginning to get irritated with whoever this kid is.

“Okay, new question.” The DJ asked. “Why exactly are you here? I know there is a reason that you followed me.” Fetch sighed. Maybe it would be better just to show her than tell her by the way, she thought to herself. Sticking her hand out towards a Neon sign, she drained the light that pulsed from the metal case and now had it float as particles around her hands. Vinyl’s eyes widened. This Fetch… Had powers too!?

“You seem like you’re lost kid. And out here in this city and with the DUP being back in business, a lost Conduit is a Dead Conduit.” Fetch’s words and attitude registered as signs of aggression in Vinyl’s mind. In response, she put away the shades she had on her shirt and her right hand began to pulse with her silver wavy energy that was her power. “Look, I’m not asking for trouble-.”

“Trouble? I’m not here to cause trouble.” The Neon Girl insisted. “I came just to talk.”

“Well, your version of “talk” sounds more like intimidate.” Vinyl shot back. “Besides, my friend and I are still new around here and are trying to get use to a lot of things.”

“Your friend, huh? Well, if the both of you are up for it, I can introduce you to a couple of friends of mine. They’re also conduits and I believe we can help you out a bit.” Fetch walked a little closer trying to not be so far apart from the DJ. But for Vinyl, this girl’s actions were bringing back bad memories of an event from her childhood. She had a bad feeling that what happened back then would happen again. Based on this and the present situation; Vinyl made a choice, cleared her throat and said two words.

“No Thanks.”

Both her hands became alive with power and the result was a shockwave that blew Fetch back twenty feet into a chain link fence. With no time to lose, Vinyl grabbed the grocery bag that was with her and prepared to run. Before she took off though, Fetch tried to hit her with a bolt of Neon, only to instead hit a brick building behind her. The DJ’s moves have angered the ex-junkie and now she ran after the girl at full force. The Chase had begun.

Vinyl moved around a corner onto a rooftop, trying to lose her pursuer in a burst of sound. Unfortunately, she now had one other problem. Trying to find her friend. Hundreds of people lived in the city and now she had problems running away from one and trying to find another. Plus, she didn’t want to do anything that would have Fetch catch her. Again, using the same technique as before, she channeled high frequency sounds to locate Twilight. Soon, she found her at the roof of some old building called “The Crocodile” that looked like a theater hall.

However, that’s not the only thing she felt. The other thing was Fetch and the Neon conduit was now going topside! She had to move quickly. Launching Forward, The Sound Conduit sling-shot herself in a Ear-Shattering Sonic Boom and soon was going from rooftop to rooftop, leaving Fetch covering her ears because of how close she was. In a matter of seconds, Vinyl reached the roof of the Crocodile and landed right in front of her friend. The Element of Magic had a hairstyle that reflected her mane back in Equestria and also wore a dark purple top that would resemble a private academy outfit and had trims of Lavender. Her right chest pocket had a patch sewn on that resembled Twilight’s Cutie mark and also wore a skirt that stretched to her knees to accompany her light socks and adidas sneakers.

“There you are! I was wondering when you were going to-.” Twilight was interrupted by Vinyl’s hand on her shoulder and being on alert. Something did not feel right. Better yet, nothing ever felt right since coming here. That’s when the DJ turned towards her and asked her a question. “Are you getting used to your powers?”

“Uh yes?”

“Can you teleport because we need to go. Right-” PYOO!! Vinyl’s shoulder was clipped by a bright purple laser. Turning back around, She could see Fetch running across towards them. “-Now!”

Without even asking, Twilight nodded and her Lavender Energy formed around the two of them, whisking them away from sight.

Fetch was closing in. Now she could get them to talk without having to blow her away into a fence. Using her light speed, she began to jump to the roof of the Crocodile and was in the air. But on the way down, she heard the Wavy haired girl say one word.

“-Now!”

What came next was a bright purple light and the two girls that were once there a second ago completely vanishing. Fetch was completely shocked as well a frustrated. So close, but yet so far. “Damn it!” She cursed. Unaware that Delsin had just called to check in on her.

“Fetch, What happened?”

“Delsin, our DJ girl might be trickier than we thought. And I mean, really tricky. She has a friend of her and it seems both of them are conduits. Her friend had what looked like a Japanese schoolgirl outfit that almost matched her dark purple hair with two pink stripes to the left hand side. Had a weird patch on it too, something that showed like a spark or six pointed star.”

The Native American could be heard walking in place and speaking to himself. He was trying to formulate a question. Soon, he got one. “Any idea what their powers are?” he asked over the phone.

Fetch was quick to reply on that one. “Well Delsin, our blue haired rave performer has sound powers. Launched me back about twenty feet using a loud shockwave that sounded like the bass dropping on an Electronic Music song. Second, she could move very fast like if I was running, but at takeoff speed. As for her friend, what I saw looked like she could Teleport or something-.”

“Teleportation!?” Delsin replied, surprised. “Man, that would be sweet!! Being able to go anywhere in the city without having to even walk!”

“Right… Just go back to Georgetown and bring Teen Angel. Once we meet, I’ll fill you in on what happened.”

After a quick retreat to a faraway rooftop back by the waterfront, both Twilight and Vinyl took a chance to get a rest. While they looked out onto the Marina, the Element of Magic began to look at the shoulder of her DJ companion. It wasn’t pretty, especially when there was a black bruise along her shoulder blade. When Twilight touched it, Vinyl gave a grimace of pain. “Oww! Hey, that hurts.”

“Sorry Vinyl.” Twilight tried to comfort her. “I’m not a doctor so I can’t help you with dealing with the injury. Just be lucky though. With that kind of aiming that girl-.”

“She called herself Fetch.” Vinyl told Twilight. “Something tells me though that it isn’t her actual name. Got very defensive when I told her I thought she was lying.”

“Vinyl, you can’t just say what immediately comes to mind. It’s called courtesy.” Twilight told her. All Vinyl did was just sigh. She already had a rough day yesterday and rather not be instructed over little things. “Anyways,” The Element of Magic continued. “She could’ve hit you in the head. I rather not have you get hurt.”

“You sound like my roommate when you say something like that.” Came Vinyl’s comment. However, Twilight wasn’t paying attention to that at all. She was paying more attention to the bruise on Vinyl’s shoulder, and how it was healing itself. She didn’t even have any kind of healing powers and it was now almost completely healed. “Hey, Did you fix my arm Twilight? I feel a lot better now.”

“Uhh… Vinyl. I didn’t do anything.” Twilight told her. “It healed itself.”

“It did what?” The DJ now tried to see the injury she obtained across her shoulder, only to find it healed and her sound energy patching it up. The two stared at each other in disbelief and shock about what just happened. “Something tells me we’ve gotten ourselves into something far bigger than we originally thought.”

Kingston Residence, San Diego (Early Sunday morning)

As the rest of the evening played out, Shawn really enjoyed his time home. Of course, the part that felt hard for him was a lot of things actually. Mainly though, it was Celestia and Luna. With the statement he mentioned earlier, the two sisters agreed that keep their friendship and partnership with each other a secret until they felt that it was a good time to tell him. So it was hard to think of a liable cover up to support his story. His father could always tell when someone is lying.

However, as the night went on, things… didn’t really crop up. In a way, it was a little… surprising. Shawn had dinner, watched some TV, and then went to bed. He slept for quite a while actually. Additionally, he wasn’t asked about his “Downtown Adventures” and where he was. Nothing really disturbed him.

That was, until early next morning.

He was sleeping normally until about 3:30am. A loud crack startled him and made the conduit feel on alert. The loud crack though sounded a lot like Lightning. Looking outside, he could see the streets of his neighborhood and how they were NOT the same as they were hours ago. Primarily for two reasons.

A lightning strike on the pavement and things being blown over across the whole damn street. Two dead giveaways of the events from yesterday. Shawn now had come to an obvious conclusion of who had been through these streets. On instinct, he bolted off of his bed, grabbed some clothes from his closet to change, his phone and headphones, and his jacket from his door and ran out the back door. Since no one was up or awake from the looks of it, the conduit began to use his aerial powers after launching himself into the air by using a vent at his neighbors house.

While continuing to follow the trail, he dialed Luna once again. She picked up the moment that Shawn went past Fenton Parkway and continued to travel by foot to avoid the DUP stationed over by the shopping center. “Ugh… Does thou know how late it is at this hour?”

“Uhh… Thou?”

“Oh, my Apologies,” Luna replied, her voice changing once she heard Shawn speak. “I only speak like that when I’m either extremely tired or in the presence of my night guard. Speaking of which, why are you calling right now.”

Shawn stopped as he dashed through a chain link fence. “Well, I think I might have gotten myself a lead on Rainbow and Soarin.” For a moment, he heard Luna over the phone rustle out of wherever she was sleeping before she asked any other questions.

“Care to explain what you mean, Shawn?”

“I woke up just about ten minutes ago to the crack of a lightning bolt striking my driveway. The rest of my entire neighborhood has trash can’s and leaves blown all over the neighborhood. If my guess is right, those two passed through there not long ago.”

“Where do you think they will be?” Luna asked.

“Well, following their trail so far has lead me to an old practice field that’s by Qualcomm Stadium.” Shawn told her, but the Lunar Princess’s reaction was mixed. Even though she was at the Equestria Games, Luna must have not been familiar with what she called “Arena’s”. The Snow conduit sighed and told her that he’ll call her when he got to his destination before disconnecting. He was getting close to his destination anyways and even resisted the temptation to go “Trolley Surfing” since there was an MTS tram line by the Stadium of the San Diego Chargers. What’s the fun about riding a trolley if it’s only going to last for five minutes? It was also a risk because of the possibility of DUP aerial drones and them taking the skies.

Upon arriving at the field, the conduit couldn’t see anyone at this point. Maybe he should try his sense? That way he knew if anyone was actually here or this lead was really a hoax. But before he could even focus and do that, lightning came at him in four different directions in front of him. It prompted him to dodge, but after he did so…

BAM!!

Shawn felt a jab kick right to his chest and was thrown back a few feet. The attack in itself felt like a shotgun blast based on the amount of force the attack delivered on impact. Looking back, he saw that the person who kicked him turned out to be a girl with Rainbow colored hair and red eyes. She wore a light blue soccer jersey and teal cargo pants with a pair of open toed sandals. The jersey itself had a mark of rainbow lightning bolt and a cloud on the top right of the jersey. As the snow conduit saw her, he also saw lightning dance around her fingertips, eagerly twitching like the electric current wanted to be unleashed.

What Shawn didn’t notice yet though was that her partner… was a lot closer than he thought. He showed up behind his partner and by appearance, looked a lot like Shawn. He had a Wonderbolt like Jacket but without the ears on the hood, wore jeans and a t-shirt with some Nike sneakers in Dark blue and yellow instead of Shawn’s black. His hair was a navy color, spiky and backwards like a Super Saiyan 3 hairstyle from Dragon Ball Z, just not as long or glowing yellow.

“Was a kick in the chest really necessary?” The one in the jacket asked his partner. She snapped at him, looking a little provoked.

“Obviously, Soarin. We don’t know if this guy is a spy for the Soldiers that tried to capture us back in the city!” The teenaged girl turned to see Shawn getting back up on his feet and his snow powers healing the pain that he felt around his midsection. Trying to shake off getting hurt, he rubbed his eyes to clear his vision and also see straight.

“Look, if you’re talking about the DUP, I’m not with those guys! I just want to talk to you.” He told them, knowing now that he found the two he was looking for. However, Rainbow wasn’t exactly buying his story. Her taunting didn’t help anyone out either in this situation. “It is very hard to convince me after what you just did to fix yourself up, Snowflake.”

“I’m a conduit like you two-.”

“No, we’re not anything!” Rainbow snarled at him. It was now that she noticed Shawn’s jacket and how it looked too similar to a Wonderbolt Uniform. Suspicious, she questioned the teenaged boy she was facing once again. It was too similar to Soarins. “But how did you get that jacket?”

“This?” Shawn asked, pinching a corner of his wonderbolt jacket and seeing the girl’s head nod. “I bought this a few months ago-.”

“I call bull on that-!” The conduit retorted as lightning danced around her fingers even more. “Soarin, what do you think?”

Soarin right now was trying to think everything through with his mind. Clearly, this was a dilemma. First, those armed men. Then, having to run from them. Now this kid? What could possibly happen next? Though, given all of this, there was no proof connecting him to those “DUP” or whatever they were called.

“It’s hard to say this Rainbow, but there’s a possibility that this kid is actually telling the truth.”

“Soarin-!”

“However,” The Wonderbolt cut off his companion. “He should prove himself first.”

Looking at Soarin, Shawn was confused on what he meant. “Okay, how am I suppose to do that?”

“Easy… Beat Rainbow Dash in a fight.”

Oh this was going to hurt.

End Chapter 4

Author's Note

(Posting one more as a way to say thank you for all the support and faves so far. You guys are the best!)

So with this chapter, I now added a few new characters to the roster as well as added some more scenes with Delsin and the gang. For further clarification, Vinyl is a Sound Conduit, Twilight is a Magic Conduit, Rainbow is a Storm Conduit and Soarin is a Wind Conduit. I also added some references from inFAMOUS First Light so that way I can be able to describe Fetch a little more accurately. Hope you guys like it.

And just like Sheldon Cooper, Twilight can't understand Sarcasm :rainbowlaugh:

-Frost

Chapter 5- Conduit of Storms

Unknown Location, San Diego

BOOM!! CRACK!! BZZT!!! The Sounds of Lightning and Thunder disturbed Princess Celestia and woke her almost immediately from her slumber. She and Luna were taking refuge in an old hotel that was closed for future remodeling. The sounds of a possible storm though caused the princess to toss and turn in the bed she was sleeping in. That and Luna trying to wake her up with everything else going on. The constant noise was not helping her get some much needed rest.

“Celestia? Sister, please wake up.” She heard her little sister beg like a young filly by her bedside. After a little while, Celestia opened her tired eyes. Seeing her sister and rising up from her laid position on the bed she was resting on, the solar princess tried to speak despite being really tired.

“L-luna? I-it’s way t-too early to wake me up.”

“Celestia, that’s not why I needed you up.” The Moon Princess was going to tell her about Shawn’s phone call, but this did not happen. Instead, Luna’s phone rang a melodic tune of a violin. When she saw the caller ID, everything she was going to say before was soon forgotten. Luna answered the call immediately and (after a few seconds of trial and error) put it on speaker for both her and Celestia to hear.

It was Shawn and he was in trouble.

“Luna!!”

“I need your help like, like right now-WOAH!!”

The Snow Conduit on the other end of the line was in a fight for his life as he tried to contact the princess of the night while being bombarded with attacks from Rainbow Dash. Shawn was constantly having to dodge and roll out of the way of her lightning strikes and sometimes counter attack with shots of hail in order to protect himself. But there was one detail that was too his advantage. The cool early morning temperatures had soaked the synthetic field, allowing the Conduit to create frozen barriers of ice to serve as shields to protect himself. Doing so helped him communicate easier with the sisters the moment he caught his breath.

“W-what’s going on, Shawn!?” He heard Luna stutter over the phone as she tried to contact him.

“It’s Rainbow Dash and Soarin. I found them-.” The moment he finished his sentence, another bolt of lightning melted the shield that he made. Trying to counter-attack, Shawn now tossed a winter grenade to try and blind the Rainbow-haired girl. However, this only led to her running at full speed and becoming a multi colored blur so she could get up close and personal with hand-to-hand combat. The snow conduit had no choice but to dash backwards so his opponent couldn’t break his phone and disrupt his call with the sisters.

“That’s great news!” Luna answered to Shawn’s question.

“Not really,” Shawn countered her statement “They don’t trust me and Rainbow thinks I’m with the DUP. She is trying to electrocute me with lightning bolts right now!!”

The two sisters were startled by the news. They both knew that Rainbow at times was stubborn and couldn’t trust anypony. But they never thought that it would get to this point. By now, Celestia was fully awake and on alert. They needed to get to him and fast.

“Shawn, where are you?”

The Snow conduit now recognized Celestia’s voice as he used his powers to create a frozen strip of jagged icicles along the ground, catching Rainbow off guard. “At a practice field nearby Qualcomm Stadium. Look’s like a huge arena or a coliseum.”

“I don’t know the area in which you speak of. You need to help us in order for us to find you.” He heard her say over the speaker on his phone. Shawn sighed and then asked a follow us question.

“Do you know what a GPS is?”

"A GP… what?” came the response. Now wasn’t the time though to be giving Celestia and Luna tech support. Especially with Rainbow Dash trying to cook Shawn with her Electrical Powers.

“Never mind that! Celestia, do you see an icon on your phone that looks like a compass? If so, thats a map application. I’m leaving my phone on so you can see my signal and follow it to my location.”

“And how exactly does that work-?” BZZT! Another lightning bolt, barely missing Shawn’s left cheek. He needed to focus.

“Just trust me. I’m using myself as a tracking device for both of you.” The Conduit immediately hung up and now plugged in his headphones. Music helped the teenager focus and move in synch while fighting. The song that began to play now was one that he wanted to hear.

Savant- Black Magic

The song’s tense and rhythmic feeling coursed through Shawn and felt like it was flowing like blood in his veins. The introduction of the song help him prepare for what came next. His hands were loose, muscles were stretched, no pain so far. “Alright. It’s time that I kick it up a notch!”

Then the bass dropped. “IT’S BLACK MAGIC!”

That was Shawn’s cue to accelerate forward for an offensive counter attack. It took both his opponent (and her companion) by surprise. They thought that whoever he was talking to just now must’ve been important if he is fighting back like this. Dodging Rainbow’s lightning and using his hands and feet to fight back against the Storm Conduit, Combining fast paced attacks with heavier strikes, moving gracefully like a Wonderbolt in flight? It seems as if the boy they say before was now starting to get serious.

Rainbow, on the other hand, liked it when her opponent began to fight back against her powers. It was a sign for her not to be playing around either. She now focused her powers so she can match her attackers blows with some of her own, emitting small electrical shocks in most of her strikes and a typhoon of wind around her right leg in a strong kick to Shawn’s chest to push him back a few feet.

The response of the blow from him was… not what Rainbow was expecting. After getting kicked back like you felt a direct blow from Pinkie’s party cannon (Or in a humans case, a shotgun), she would think that this boy would be knocked out cold. Possibly moaning in pain. However, what happened was the opposite. What he did was get up, use his powers to heal himself, and then proceeded to brush the dirt off his shoulders and unzip his jacket.

“You are not giving that easy now, are you?” Rainbow taunted, entertained by this boy’s persistence.

“Always fight for what’s right, fight to the end, and never back down from a challenge.” Shawn answered his opponent’s question as he stretched his neck muscles. “That’s my motto.”

“Well, I guess that’s something you and I have in common. I’m not backing down from this fight either!!”

Shawn grinned. He hadn’t had this much fun with his powers in a LONG time (excluding the fight with Pablo because that was more of a rescue a hostage situation that a “Duke it out” style brawl). As the current song came to an end, the next one began to play. Again, another one of his personal favorites.

Varien- The Scarlet Dawn

A mixture of Electronic beats, guitar, and symphonic chords merged together to create this track. The bass was beginning to rise when Shawn clashed with Rainbow once again. There was one trick that he thought of just now and couldn’t wait to try. His chance came at the 0:58 second mark of the song where the mood of the melody began to shift.

Using his powers, Shawn conjured and shot out a straightforward beam of snow that was going towards Rainbow Dash. “This again,” the disappointed conduit said. Seeing the attack as a high speed piece of hail and feeling confident in her abilities, she stuck out her hand like she was going to catch it. However, it wasn’t until it was inches away from her hand that her companion saw something off.

“Rainbow, DON’T-!!”

By the time Soarin’s plea came across, the line dispersed into multiple threads and wrapped itself around Rainbow’s left arm like rope. She was shocked by the tactic as well as caught off guard. Her overconfidence had now lead her to being tricked!!

“Gotcha!!” Shawn commented, glad that his plan was a success. “You must have overlooked the fact that my snow abilities could do more than just make hail and freeze the ground. I can also replicate objects by using a bit more power than I normally would.”

By now, Rainbow was extremely angry. Matter of fact, downright ticked! “That was a dirty trick!! You cheater!!!”

“Not quite. You never placed any rules on this fight. So right now, this is a free for all. No rules, no limits, nothing to hold you back.”

Rainbow growled a little at the boy’s statement. He was right on that point. But, out of all this, there was one mistake that he made. Not to get the other hand. With a blast of wind from her right arm, Rainbow broke free of Shawn’s grip by making him lose focus on the restraint and more on protecting himself. With breaking free, she flew forward in a counter attack. Her attack combination started with two kicks, then a right hook across Shawn’s jawline, too damn close to breaking it.

The Snow conduit was thankful for his rapid healing. That and his headphones and phone weren’t smashed to bits. Now though, would be a good time for him to pause what he was listening to. His senses kicked in, feeling both Celestia and Luna not far from where he was currently at. Best guess would be that they needed five minutes to be able to reach him, give or take. So, now Shawn tried a new approach.

Reason.

“So… How was that?” He asked his question, looking at Soarin. The Navy haired conduit was surprised to have this question be for him. Nevertheless, hear the question. After all, he had been fighting Rainbow Dash for the past ten minutes and he was even able to keep up with her. Never mind the fact that the kid also caught Rainbow off guard too.

“I’m impressed by your skills, kid. But I am not entirely convinced.”

“Oh? Did I do something wrong?” Shawn asked the Wonderbolt.

“You didn’t do anything wrong,” Soarin replied “But you didn’t do what I asked you to do. You were suppose to beat Rainbow in a fight. Right now, she looks like she can be able to go another few rounds and tire you out.”

“Well, I didn’t beat her because their wasn’t a need.” came Shawn’s quick remark. “In addition, I’m not the kind of guy to be going around and punching girls right in the face. Shows a little respect.”

"Well, tell me then. Why isn’t there a need to finish what you started?” Soarin asked. He made a good point. Not many things are good if left unfinished. But Shawn had a valid reason. Now… if he can only say the words right.

“There isn’t a need because I know two friends that can explain everything to help settle things down. They should be arriving-.”

“Wait, so your call earlier was to call for backup!!?” Rainbow interjected, thinking the first thought that came inside her head.

“No no no!! It’s not like that!! They’re coming to help you-!”

“I think the only help I need is shutting you up!!” With that, Rainbow Dash used her blinding speed to charge at Shawn. She was about to give him a good solid smack to the face… Until something landed in between them.

“What the hay-!?”

“Rainbow Dash, STAND DOWN!! ”

The booming voice startled both Rainbow and Soarin, almost having them fall on the ground at the fifty yard line due to how loud the voice was. They saw another conduit touch down nearby Shawn’s current position at the forty yard line heading west. As the dust cleared, both of them (after about 10 seconds) were completely shocked by who it was. It was no other than Princess Celestia and her sister, Princess Luna.

“P-princess!!?” The two of them stuttered. Speechless by what just happened.

“Easy now, young ones.” Luna assured them as both she and Shawn walked over to help them off of the ground. “Shawn here is an important ally, a friend, and also, on our side-.” Unexpectedly, Luna was hugged tightly by an overjoyed Rainbow Dash.

“Oh, it feels good to see you again!!” she told the Night Princess. Despite being caught off guard, Luna returned the kind gesture with one of her own hugs. One that did not involve shaking the living daylights out of Fluttershy or the typical Pinkie Pie hug of feeling like you're getting squeezed to death. Celestia herself also did the same gesture with the storm conduit. Right now, it felt like a small family reunion for them. “Oh I have so many things to ask both of you-!”

“Uh, excuse me for interrupting, but we got to go!” Shawn interjected, draining the ice creations that he conjured so nothing remained. “DUP convoys are just passing the parking checkpoints. We need to run before they get here!!”

“I told you not to use the Royal Canterlot voice, Sister.” Celestia commented. “This is the reason why.”

“DUP? Do you mean the Soldiers that were in the city?” Soarin asked frantically.

Shawn’s only response was a nod as the five of them made it to the chain link fence in the back of the lot, in which Rainbow and Soarin flew over using their flight abilities and the princesses performed a short range teleport. Shawn on the other hand, dispersed into Snow and reformed himself on the other side. Now, over fifty or so troops were swarming the area and searching everywhere for signs. As they continued to run (and thankfully not get noticed), Shawn looked over his shoulder at both Soarin and Rainbow Dash.

“We’ll give you a proper explanation once we’re somewhere safe.” He assured them. “Follow me, I know where to go.”

“Where to?” Came the question. This time from Rainbow Dash. She wasn’t really a fan of the fact that the guy she tried to beat up was suppose to help them. Nevertheless, if the princesses trust him, she should too.

“My house.” Shawn answered. Pausing for a minute, he saw a look on Celestia that read Why? in the language of facial expressions. “It’s got a lot of space and it should be a good place for you guys to be. Additionally, I think it’s around the time my father knew about the situation at hand here.”

“Your Father?” Rainbow asked as the five of them began to walk on a sidewalk, following the Snow conduit.

“Yeah, he’s the chief of police for the county of San Diego.”

“He he… I’m sorry, did you say chef?” Soarin asked, a little bit confused.

“No, not chef. Chief.” Shawn explained, correcting Soarin’s blunder. “Like head of security or the captain of the guard.”

“Oh I see! Sorry for the Confusion.”

“No problem.” The Snow Conduit replied. They went down a few more blocks, moved down a street and across one and again moved down a few more blocks until Shawn stopped. He was standing in front of a two story home that had a front porch and a wooden light. Or as he would like to say it. “Home Sweet home.”

“Wait a second, you live here!?” Rainbow blurted before Shawn had to shush her. He pointed towards a slightly open window nearby the roof.

“Okay, I need you guys to be quiet. See that window? It’s near my dad’s room and your outburst could have woken him up.”

Rainbow quietly apologized and nodded. “So how exactly are we getting in?”

“Follow me.” The snow conduit told them. “We’re using the side gate to enter through the backyard and to the back patio.” Doing so, the group followed him to the back of the property where they were greeted by a backyard patio, enough space that made it look like two backyards combined into one and a well grown apple tree with fresh apples.

“Heh, Applejack would love to see that.” Rainbow said silently as they made their way onto the back patio where a outdoor table and a few chairs with cushions were. Shawn opened the door on the backside of the house using one of his keys, but told the others to take a seat and wait first. He wanted to check that the house was clear first before everyone started coming in.

Once the snow conduit entered the darkened house, he closed the door behind him slowly. Looking around, the Conduit didn’t see any movement in the shadows. But due to it being so dark, he had to get the mini light from his keys and click it on. Once that was done, it was easier for him to see anything that was off. But Shawn didn’t need to see anything to know that something was wrong.

All he needed to do was hear it. Hear the noises and footsteps from upstairs. Surely Rainbow’s outburst probably disturbed him. But with Shawn walking in the house, that could get the police chief to think that a burglar was in his home. The Conduits suspicions were right when he heard the familiar CLICK! of a handgun as his half-awake father was coming down the stairs.

“Alright, whoever you are, put your hands-.”

“Seriously dad? It’s just me.”

“Shawn?” The chief spoke, dumbfounded. “What the hell are you doing?” The human was surprised to see his son awake and fully dressed. He himself was wearing just a pair of Star Wars sleep pants and a “Route 66” t-shirt.

“Couldn’t sleep.”

“Don’t you know what time it is?”

Checking his watch on his left wrist, his son answered Nicholas’s question. “4:20.”

“And how long have you been up? Something is telling me that you didn’t fall asleep in those clothes.”

Sighing now, Shawn nodded. “I’ve been up since 3:30.”

“Heh… Son, I find that really hard to believe.”

“You don’t need to take my word for it.” Shawn told him. He was now looking out the door to the backyard and to his companions outside. “There is a few people that I would like you to meet as well as something we need to explain to you.” His father’s response was just a raised eyebrow.

It could’ve been early morning fatigue, but Nicholas had no idea what his son was talking about. At first, he didn’t see anything unusual with Shawn or his appearance. However, that was until he noticed the moist stains on his pants. Big enough to show that he didn’t spill a drink or anything. Like he had been rolling around in the backyard or-.

“You weren’t inside the house for the past fifty minutes, were you?”

‘Well that was quicker than expected.’ Shawn thought. ‘And he wouldn’t believe me if I said I was going for a walk.’

“It’s a lot to explain…” For a moment, the conduit tilted his head towards the door outside. Seeing as if his son was trying to tell him something, Nicholas looked out the sliding door that lead outside. From his current position, the chief of police could see four individuals. Two older women who looked like they were in their thirties given their appearance, a teenaged girl who looked a few years older than Shawn, and a teenaged boy that looked just as old as the girl. Also, their appearances looked… similar to something he had seen before. Especially since the girl’s hair had the colors of a Rainbow.

“What’s going on?” The chief asked his son. “Is this the Comic Con cosplay brigade?”

“No, not even close.” Shawn sighed.

“Then why do they look like a few of the characters on My Little Pony?” Nicholas then asked. Shawn was personally relieved by the fact that the door to the backyard was closed. That way, no one outside heard what his father said, including the princesses. Sighing, he responded to the question like this.

“Let’s just say this whole thing started when I rescued that girl two days ago from that Pablo Maniac in Mission Valley.”

Before the chief could respond, Shawn stepped outside and asked if both Celestia and Luna could come inside for a moment. Nodding their heads, they agreed to do so and when inside, Shawn whispered a request to Luna. The night princess nodded, using her powers to turn herself into the younger version that the Snow Conduit had saved.

“W-what the hell-!? What just happened?”

“One of the powers I have is illusion, Mr. Kingston.” Luna explained as she returned to normal a few seconds later. “I can make myself look like anyone. Including my younger self.”

“So my son saved you while you were in that form?” The officer said, recalling the day that the whole Mission Valley Incident occurred. “Hold on. If you could change forms, then why didn’t you-?”

“Uh dad… I think you forgot about the handcuffs that were on her wrists.” Shawn reminded him. Upon realizing this, the chief responded with a change in tone based on his lack of focus, putting his gun away in a nearby safe.

“Oh yeah… I forgot about that. My apologies.”

“It’s alright sir. Mistakes happen.”

“With those powers of yours, I’m guessing you're a conduit like my son?”

Both Celestia and Luna looked at Shawn before all three of them looked at his father. All three of them almost sighed in Unison given that this was a lot harder than it looks. “It’s quite a lot to explain.”

“Well I am up and today is my day off so I’m all ears.” The statement from Nicholas had Celestia and Luna looking at Shawn with an expression on their face. An expression in the dictionary of emotions that was saying “May we…?” and Shawn had an idea of where they are probably going to go with this.

“I think my friends here can help you out with that. They might be better explaining the situation to you better than I can.”

“Alright. Fine by-.”

“Quick word of warning though… you might want to close your eyes. This can get very-.”

Before Shawn could even finish, both Celestia and Luna nodded and casted the same ability they did on Shawn yesterday. A bright flash of light occurred in the living room and they were gone. The flash also caught Rainbow and Soarin’s attention outside as he let them inside and offered them a seat by the kitchen bar near the door. They were just as surprised as Shawn was the first time this happened.

“Where did Celestia and Luna go?” Rainbow asked the teenager as they sat down. His response was a shrug and a reply, looking for something in the nearby refrigerator unit.

“Personally, Celestia never told me a name for where she took me there last time. I just call it the Astral Horizon since it looks like the night sky or a galaxy in space.”

“O......kay, how long would they be there for?” came the follow-up question.

“That could be a while.” Shawn explained carefully. “There is a difference in how time flows. Every nine minutes that passes here is only one minute where they are.”

“How long were you there for when they brought you there?”

“Twenty minutes. Turns out, two and a hours passed when I came back.” As he found some cold drinks in the fridge, it dawned on him that Rainbow and Soarin have probably not eaten either in a while… or at all. “Would you guys like anything to eat? Maybe Drink? My assumption is that they might be a while.”

“You think?” Rainbow sarcastically smirked.

Soarin himself shrugged, trying to peak over from where he sat so he could look in the fridge. “Alright, what do you have?”

“Well I got some apples, carrots, lettuce, salad, bread, some apple pie-.”

“Shut up… Are you serious!?” The Wonderbolt remarked, his instincts kicking in once he heard the words “Apple Pie.”

“Yeah, I have two slices left if you want to have a piece each.” The Snow conduit offered. Both Rainbow and Soarin looked at each other, smiling to each other as they responded.

“Sure.”

“Yes please!”

End Chapter 5

Author's Note

Special thanks to Dante Sparda for proof reading this chapter. Taking some advice from previous chapters, the next few chapter are only going to be focused on one to two sets of characters at a time. In addition, I did some drawings, but I need to fix the links for the images.

I hope you enjoy this chapter and stay tuned for the other chapters I have in store. In addition, I'm looking for Proof readers to help me out with finding grammar mistakes and things that Google Drive can't catch. If you're interested, send me a PM.

Next chapter: A place for my head.

Chapter 6- A Place for my head

Chapter 6- A place for my head

Seattle, Washington

The situation for both the Princess of Friendship and her companion Vinyl Scratch was rather quite strange when she tried to recall everything that had happened over the past two days. First, there was the change in appearance. She had only had to handle being in a form like her’s only a couple of times and she was still not adjusted to her new body. Especially since this one had several differences, with her powers being the main one. Second was where the two of them were. After some looking around on the first day, Vinyl found out that they were in a place called “Seattle”. It sounded almost similar to Seaddle back home, but wasn’t quite like home either.

Lastly though, there was their powers and the fact they weren’t the only ones who had these abilities. This was shown through the close encounter with the Conduit called “Fetch” and when her light based powers clipped Vinyl on the shoulder. Luckily, the two of them had regenerative healing and major wounds like the shoulder wound would take seconds to heal. Still though, Twilight only had mastered some abilities like teleportation, simple magic bolts, and levitation while Vinyl was able to figure out everything she was capable of in two days. It felt like being back at Princess Celestia’s Academy for Gifted unicorns all over again.

After being attacked by Fetch, both the DJ and the Element of Magic agreed that they should find a place to lay low and hide. Which of course, in the busy city of Seattle, is like finding a needle in a huge haystack. Many buildings had either families living inside, individuals living on their own or with a loved one, or it was off limits. Barely any were considered “Abandoned” and found as a good place to hide for two conduits. Barely any except one.

Despite the condition of where they needed to stay, both Twilight Sparkle and Vinyl Scratch saw some advantages to the place the two conduits found an hour after midnight. After a long time searching, they found a location in an empty record studio. It was an old site that was supposedly sold into foreclosure, but since the DUP have re-established operations in the city, no one set foot inside the building and it was now considered deserted by the previous owner. Now… it was the best place for these two conduits to be.

Since the building was sold recently, mostly everything was still intact. Electricity and Water still ran through the building like blood in one’s veins, which was good for the fact that the refrigerator and bathroom were still functional and not a completely trashed mess. While looking around, Twilight came across an office on the building's second floor that had a personal collection of books inside a wooden like tub that resembled a crate and along the shelves on the walls. “Maybe these could possibly help us somehow?” The Magic Conduit told herself as she levitated the crate to make some space for her to walk. Moving closer, she used her levitation power again to pull out a few huge reference books that could come in handy later on.

“Hey.” Twilight looked to her right quickly to find Vinyl leaning against the open door of the small office. She was trying to be cheerful despite everything that has already occurred earlier today. “Did you happen to find anything? All I could find was the kitchen and where to place our food for the time being.”

“I found some books inside this office. It seemed whoever owned this place had a personal library in here.” She told the musician, setting the books on the desk.

Vinyl chuckled a little. It was ironic to hear that coming from the former caretaker of the Ponyville library before Lord Tirek reduced it to ash and cinders. “Seems like that’s not the only thing.”

“Hmm? What do you mean?”

Vinyl pointed at the desk and some of the objects on there, but the one she picked up and showed to her fellow Conduit was a picture frame. It showed a man in his forties with a wife and two daughters in a boat along the Marina. She sighed as she set it down. “Do you think our families would know of what happened?”

The thought never came across her mind. Twilight never thought about how her parents would react to this, how her brother would react or even how the Princesses would either. They would probably be devastated! “I’m… not sure. I just hope that we can find a way to return home safely so we can see them again.”

Vinyl looked down at the frame again, sighing a little. “I hope so too.” Now, Twilight wasn’t the best at reading emotions. But something told her that Vinyl was acting strangely. With the way she was acting when cornered by “Fetch” earlier today and the way she was acting right now… Something was affecting her.

“Come on,” Twilight said. “We still got the back half of the building to look at-.”

“Wait, there's a back half?” Twilight’s reply to her friends question was a nod and pointing to a sign on the wall, It was a In case of an emergency floor plan for if a fire broke out of the building and where the exits were. It showed both the first and second floor, but the first floor was much bigger. That was because the other half of the property seemed to be a storage facility for if they were selling goods or performing rehearsals.

“Well, looks like you do learn something new every day.” The sound conduit commented, surprised by how she missed that. “Should I let you lead the way or-?”

“Go on ahead, Ms. Scra-. Err sorry, I mean-.”

“There’s no need to apologize Twilight. Mistakes happen.” On the first day they met, the two of them agreed that they did not need to address each other formally. But given Twilights position of being a Princess, old habits are sometimes hard to let go. The two of them made their way downstairs with Twilight using her Levitation powers again to carry all the books down from the second floor office. Coming across the door and opening it, they were greeted by a room filled with shadows and darkness. Only little light from the streets outside lingered in here.

Using her right hand, Vinyl’s energy pulsed around her fingers dimly enough to notice a light switch on the walls. The left hand was used to turn the switch on and fill the room with a partially dim, but mostly bright light. Both Conduits were amazed by their findings.

“Oh now this… is awesome!! Who would leave something like this behind!?” The was Vinyl referring to the huge amount of space that was as big as a warehouse. It also had a performance stage equipped with all the goods a musician would need to practice their skills or throw a concert inside here.

This included four huge Bose surround sound speakers, a high quality DJ turntable with a Sony Vaio Laptop that was plugged into the wall. When inspecting it further, the Sound conduit was surprised to see that the device was relatively new and that it didn’t even have a password. Finally, there were three huge stacks of CD’s from many musical artists that Vinyl didn’t recognize, but sounded awesome by the names of the artists. This included Linkin Park, Deadmau5, Skrillex, Korn, Metallica, Kill the Noise and a record label with a variety of electronic artists called “Monstercat.” Besides the stage, there were also some other living arrangements in here including furniture, a widescreen TV, a coffee table and other arrangements that were scattered across the room.

Coming in a few seconds later, Twilight herself was surprised to see everything that was inside and decided to set her books down on the floor space by one of the small couches. Looking around the place had her pose a question for her friend. “I wonder what they could’ve used this place for…”

“Looks like a former warehouse turned party place!” came the DJ’s reply. “It’s as big as a Coltco in Baltimare!!” Vinyl tried looking through the massive collection of cd’s that were in stacks while Twilight tried to look at the collection of books. But there was something on the Princesses mind that distracted her from such a task. Something that was on her mind that she needed to ask.

“Hey Vinyl… Can I ask you something?”

The DJ now looked at Twilight with a confused expression on her face. Waking on over to another couch that was on the Princesses right, she sat down. “Yes Twilight? What is it?”

“I wanted to ask you something… Forgive me if it sounds a bit… personal, but it’s been on mind for a while today. Earlier… when you were being chased by Fetch…”

“Yeah… What about it?”

“You were acting a bit… different. Not in a bad way, but in a way where I didn’t expect it. You were a lot different from the other times where I saw you as either happy or calm. Why were you so…”

“Harsh?” Vinyl filled in the words for her.

“Yeah, that’s one way of putting it. I also noticed you act a little differently when looking at the photo frame in the office upstairs….” Twilight paused for a minute, trying to form the words inside her head. Then, she spoke once more. “Is something bothering you?”

Silence then drifted around the room. It was heavy like fog. Twilight felt like she hit a nerve. She personally even felt sorry for bringing it up. After a few minutes, the magic conduit was even going to apologize for bringing the topic up, but was interrupted when Vinyl interrupted her.

“I have a bad memory from when I was a filly. I use to have a teacher named Rhythm Wave. He was a stallion who helped me learn the basics of making music and also was the one who thought I would do best with a Turntable and Rock instruments then anything that was classical. He was a good teacher, but at the same time he had his own problems. He was an alcoholic and every time I saw him, I could smell Apple Cider or Appleloosa Whiskey on his breath. But his drinking wasn’t the only problem.”

“Only problem?” Twilight dared to ask.

“His anger was another problem. Rhythm had problems with violent outbursts and had been the cause of several fights in different towns and cities because somepony offended him or had the guts to push him over the edge by mentioning his wife or his two daughters.”

“Oh…” Just like in the frame.

“It only gets worse.” Vinyl told her like it was a warning. “On the night of my final session before I moved to Seaddle, Rhythm was beyond sober and saw me leaving him as the tipping point. When I thought that my dad was going to take me home, instead, my own teacher saw him as a filly-napper. My dad was rushing me since we only had ten minutes before we missed the train. Rhythm’s first motion? He trotted up to us in an alleyway and brutally attacked my father. He beat him to within an inch of his life in a drunken rage and I couldn’t do anything to stop him. Even when I put myself in harm’s way, my teacher pushed me aside to continue his Brutal beating. I saw it happen before my very eyes, almost lost my dad and he didn’t go to jail until he was arrested for starting a brawl half an hour later when a guard found me pleading for somepony to help us.”

“I-i’m sorry to hear that,” Twilight stuttered. “I never thought something that horrible would happen to anypony.”

“That’s okay. The reason why I was acting the way I was earlier though was because Fetch cornered me in an alleyway like Rhythm did with me and my father. Also, their attitude during the situation was similar. She was intimidating, telling me that a lost conduit is a dead conduit if I’m not careful.”

“Well not everypony is the same, Vinyl. Maybe Fetch is different.”

“Maybe, but I don’t know. I think I’m just tired.” Vinyl yawned as she looked at the clock. It was about ten minutes after two o’clock in the morning. “I think we should just hit the hay and call it a night.”

Twilight agreed with her on that point. When the lights were turned off, the magic conduit looked up through the glass dome on the roof and watched as the stars twinkled. As a shooting star passed through, the young princess wished a single thought on that star

“Spike, please be safe.”

St. Louis, Missouri

Along the streets of St. Louis, a battalion of DUP soldiers we’re being mobilized. They received a call on their Bio-terrorist hotline around 6:30am about reports of two conduits somewhere in the city. Currently, eyewitnesses saw two individuals in an alley nearby downtown. One was a boy with green shaggy hair and a dark purple jacket and jeans shorts while the other was a young adult with a set of clothes you would find in a JCPenney or Macys. However, it was unknown as to what their abilities were.

Meanwhile, as the DUP were moving in one direction, those two suspected individuals were moving in the opposite direction, hiding from capture. They were trying to keep their heads down and only move when the back of the soldiers were turned away from them. When taking a small rest break, the first to speak was the girl. She looked to be almost twenty years of age give or take and had her ten year old companion hold two small backpack that carried both of their belongings.

“Spike, how much further do we need to run? This entire city is making me feel sick.”

“Just as long as those guys don’t find us.” The child told his friend. “I saw them take people off the street because they had powers.”

“Y-you mean… Like your fire?” The girl asked as Spike had a small green flame curl around his fingers before it faded away.

“Yeah. But my fire somehow feels different this time. Unlike at home, it feels like I can control it. Maybe do more things with it than I thought was previously possible.” The boy sighed a little when he thought of the word home. “If only Twilight were here. Maybe she would know a thing or two about this. She always knows a thing or two when it came to magic.”

“I’m just worried about Sweetie Belle.”

“Rarity… We’ll make sure to find a way home and find everypony else that got pulled into this place. I was pulled in with you and Twilight, but now she could be anywhere. I promise though, we won’t give up until-.”

“There they are!!! Seize Them!!”

“Oh feathers! Run!!!” Spike hollered as the he and Rarity tried to sprint, but they were being chased by six Soldiers through a series of alleyways. Each soldier had standard issued equipment and tactical weapons. The young boy soon could feel the strain in his legs. He knew that he could not run anymore. Spike had no choice now but to fight.

“Rarity, Get behind me!” He told her, grabbing her wrist and having fire come out of one of his hands.

“W-what!? What are you going to do!?” She asked, surprised.

“Try to defend ourselves!” Like he was replicating a comic book character, Spike had the palm of his hand facing towards the DUP Soldiers that were preparing to open fire. Surprisingly, he launched a green fireball that created a distraction for the militia and coughed up a thick cloud of smoke. Yelling could be heard as a way for Spike to know that his attack worked.

“H-how did you do that?” A shocked Rarity asked.

“I don't’ know, I just thought a “What if?” and BAM! It happened.” Spike told her as the Fashionista was looking to see if there were any possible escape routes. “I tried to concentrate like Twilight does sometimes with certain spells.”

“Well, we can worry about that later-.”

THUD! Rarity turned around to find the young dragon she knew passed out and tired on the concrete pavement that they were walking on. “Spike? Come on, this isn’t a place to fall asleep. Wake up!!” She tried to shake the boy, but it wasn’t of any use. With Spike out for the count, only she could be able to defend herself.

She was now on her knees, picking up and holding the youngling using her left arm. Rarity thought that Spikes powers or whatever he called it taught those mongrels a lesson. Those thoughts had faded away when the sounds of her breathing were overrun by the sound of boots on the pavement and weapons clicking free.

“Over there!! I see the girl! She has the kid that took out half the squad!!”

“Objective remains the same! Capture them at all costs!!”

“Those Animals!” Rarity thought to herself. “I have an injured child and they still insist on following their orders!? Those monsters better think differently if they think I would just turn myself in!” Without noticing it, Rarity’s right hand began to glow and create a small tears from the concrete she was standing on. From the tear, Crystals of different colors began to circle around that hand and then all around her. When the soldiers tried to fire their guns, the gemstones acted as a shield, blocking all incoming bullets. This now caused some of the troops to panic.

“Alright then…” Rarity looked at the arm men the same way Spike did and copying the movements he made earlier. “My turn.”

Almost instantly, the crystals flew forth as rapid fire shards that shattered on contact. One at a time, her shards sent the DUp troops flying and pinned them against a wall and knocking them unconscious.

“Hmmph… Serves you right for being the mongrels that you represent yourself as.” The purple haired girl taunted. But, to her sudden surprise, Rarity didn’t notice the one soldier that she missed. The one that avoided the conflict like the rest of his squad to try and attack her from behind without his helmet or body armor. Only when the element of generosity tried to turn and run did she see him try and go after her.

“What the-!?”

BONK!!! Instead of the officer knocking out her, a man behind the officer knocked him out by smashing a Hennesseys Whiskey bottle across the backside of the soldiers exposed head. As the bottle broke, the slick haired man tossed the neck of the broken bottle at a dumpster and washed it shatter into pieces.

“Well, there goes a bottle of good alcohol.” Now this man could be seen clearly. His hair was styled backwards in an Elvis Presley look and wore black sunglasses. His white shirt had a pair of flaming dice on it and his green shirt jacket matched his cargo shorts and sneakers.

“Are you okay, miss?” He asked, putting what looked like a revolver back in his side holster. Offering a hand, the crystal conduit used it to help pick herself off of the cold pavement and back on her feet.

“Y-yeah. Just startled… and tired.” Rarity tilted herself towards an asleep Spike, who was now on her shoulders like he asked for a piggyback ride. “Those men had been chasing us for quite some time, thinking we’re some kind of foul terrorist.”

“You mean Conduits?” the man asked.

“I beg your pardon?” The seamstress was right now confused by this new term. She had heard of it once or twice from local civilians, but never knew what it meant.

“Conduits… you know, the ones with powers?”

“You mean this?” The purple haired girl asked, showing the crystals she channeled before.

“Yeah, exactly!” The man was now looking left and right, seeing if anyone was possibly coming for them. “Come on, ma’am. It’s not safe here-.”

“Excuse you?” Rarity shot back. "Do you even know how to properly talk to a lady, sir!?”

“Yeah, but now isn’t the time for that, miss…”

“Rarity.”

“Excuse me?” The man asked.

“That’s my name. I’m Rarity and this little guy on my back is Spike.”

“O…… kay, that's a first.” He thought to himself, having Rarity follow him. The two of them continued to move through the streets of the city until they arrived at an intact RV that had the back windows blocked out.

“Hop in and hang on. I’m going to get you out of the city to someplace safe that might work for us.”

“Thank you so much, sir.” Rarity complimented, taking a spot to lay Spike down and for herself to sit near the back of the vehicle.

“No worries. Oh and call me Zeke. That’s my name.”

End Chapter 6

Author's Note

I focused this chapter on explaining Vinyl's emotions, thee reason for her actions, and to introduce a new perspective from the eyes of Spike and Rarity. Spike being a Dragon fire Conduit and Rarity being a crystal conduit. Also, you got Zeke... Enough said.

-Frost

P.S. For those of you who are reading some of my other stories like Swords, Sorcery and Shenanigans; Tales of the Wanderers, and Follow the Wind; Updates for those stories might take a while due to certain circumstances. I also had an idea for a second Displaced story that takes place in the Power Ponies Universe. Please leave a comment on whether you think it sounds like a good idea and how well did you think I did with this chapter

Music: Linkin Park- A place for my head

Chapter 7- Retro City

San Diego, California (4:25am)

“Sure.”

“Yes, Please”

“Alright, two pieces coming up.”

Taking what remained of the apple pie in the fridge, Shawn cut it into two pieces and set the slices onto two different Navy Ceramic plates. Afterwards, he heated them up in the microwave each for around thirty seconds and handed them to Soarin and Rainbow Dash after putting a fork next to their food. The warm feeling of the plates and the strong smell already convinced them that this was going to be good.

“Here you go. Would you like anything else with that?” The Snow Conduit asked his two guests.

“Oh, no thank you.” Soarin replied while Rainbow Dash and just shook her head. Both of them took their first bite moments afterwards. Then, they set their gaze back on Shawn again. This time, a bit surprised.

“Dear sweet Celestia!!”

“You like it?”

“Absolutely!! This tastes great!”

This was a first for Shawn. It was technically the first time that someone from another world praised him for something other than his powers or combat skills. (Not to mention the moment the princesses praised him for figuring out who they were.)

“Did you make this?” Soarin asked. The pie reminded him of the one he purchased when Applejack set up her pie shop at the Galloping Gala. The Snow Conduit’s response was a nod of the head, which was followed by even more phrase. Both guests were so impressed by how delicious the pie was. Not to mention how talented of a cook he was.

“Wow, did anypony you know teach you how to make this?”

“Why yes actually. My mom always taught me a couple of recipes and let me use the recipe book for if I had the time to make something.” The teenager told him as he pointed to a blue 2-inch three ring binder labeled “Recipes” on the side.

“I was beginning to wonder about that.” Rainbow mentioned as she got halfway through her pie slice. “We’ve seen your dad, but I haven’t seen your mom… Is she here?”

That’s where things felt a bit… uncomfortable at first. “Actually, she isn’t here. My mom is a doctor and spends a lot of time on travel helping people in other countries. Taking care of the wounded… The ill… The sick… The Homeless… She wants to do everything she can to help others who can’t help themselves.”

“Oh… Uh, sorry if I-.”

“No, it’s alright.” Shawn told his guests. “Even though she’s far away, I still talk to her. She taught me to stay strong and keep moving forward. It’s helped me to get to where I’m at right now.”

He now noticed that the guests had already finished their food by the time he was done talking, which was a bit of a surprise for him at first to him. Being the gracious host of a few guests, he took their empty dishes, washed them in the sink, and put them in the dishwasher.

“So, to change the subject a bit…” Rainbow Dash started to speak as she got up from the stool she was sitting on. “What’s the rest of your house like?”

The Snow conduit, following her lead, walked on over to her. “Well, let me give you the grand tour.” The three of them soon began to walk down a medium sized hallway, passing the first photo inside a frame on the wall. The frame had a picture of two women. Both of them were of Asian descent and one of them wore a suit and tie like a government agent while the other one wore a doctor’s coat and was holding her doctorate. At the bottom of the phrase was a phrase that was engraved in Japanese. If translated, the meaning of the phrase would be seen as very emotional and heartwarming.

私は、妹をあなたを愛しています。

I love you, sister.

Seattle, Washington

It was around 7:50am when Twilight Sparkle abruptly woke up from her short lived slumber. The beams of Sunlight that poked through the windows and the sounds of cars outside were the two main reasons why the Conduit of Magic only got around six and a half hours of sleep last night. Upon waking up though, she found a folded sheet of paper on top of the stack of books that she was planning to read today after breakfast. She didn’t see Vinyl anywhere right now. But upon opening up the note, it’s message was simple, brief, and from her companion.

“Going to get some more food for breakfast. I’ll be back as soon as possible.” -Vinyl

Twilight groaned a little as she got up from her laid down position on the couch she used as a bed and felt her stomach growl in hunger. The old studio that She and her friend were hiding in wasn’t exactly like home, but it still had it’s advantages. First off, Plumbing and electricity still worked so they could use the sink, bathroom and put food in the fridge (That was one thing Vinyl knew that Twilight didn’t at the time). Second, there was a lot of space to move around and left over stuff that the two of them could find useful for their current situation. Third and finally, there were books. Lots of books. The one thing that would peak Twilights interests wherever she would happen to be.

The Princess had spent some time after waking up by using a speed reading spell so she can read through a huge economics book, the world atlas she found last night and a variety of other books that might give her a clue on what exactly were these “Conduits” that she kept on hearing about around town. The end result of an hours worth of reading had most of what the Magic Conduit was looking for… But not everything.

She was amazed to find out how this world was way different from Equestria but also had it’s similarities. For one thing, some cities like Seattle and Philadelphia reminded her of Seaddle and Fillydelphia back home. Another was the economy. It was almost three times as advanced as Equestria’s current market and each country had their own currency.

The only thing she hadn’t found out about yet was about how this “conduit” problem started. Well, it wasn’t actually a problem, but more like a dilemma to Twilight. The Conduit, despite hours of reading multiple books and sources, had not found anything on the subject at all. It was beginning to frustrate her… Severely frustrate her.

Around now though was when things started to get weird. Mostly because the door at the far back end of the room began to creek open and the noise startled the Element of Magic. Twilight’s first thoughts were that Vinyl had finished her errand and had come back. However, that theory was demolished when she heard this person’s voice.

“Hello? Is anyone here?”

The voice was nothing like Vinyl’s. It sounded more like a teenaged colt around her age. Without being seen, Twilight stopped reading and teleported herself to the studio’s second floor. She used an old recording booth as a place to hide as she took a moment to try and evaluate the situation. An unknown intruder was in the back of the warehouse and the only thing she had on her was a device called a “Cell phone” that she barely knew how to use. Yep, she was in as good of a position as any right now.

“I just want to talk… I think one of my friends did not introduce herself properly yesterday.”

Great, this kid had back up… But who was this friend? That’s when she decided to make up her mind. Twilight needed to talk to this kid. Maybe he wasn’t like the others she had seen before. But the only way she would know for real was if she gave it a try.

Using the same power she had used previously, she teleported herself back into the middle of the warehouse. Turns out, her teleport put the magic conduits position right behind the boy. He turned around and almost tripped, startled by Twilight’s sudden appearance. This kid had a grey hoodie jacket that was unzipped, wore jeans, glasses, sneakers, and a red t shirt with two h’s and one of those h’s having a sword in the middle. The teen also had a moderate sized backpack on his shoulder.

“Hello. I’m sorry if I startled you.” Twilight introduced herself, offering a hand to the hooded teen.

“Oh uh… It’s not your fault.” The teen muttered, shaking the dust off his pants and taking Twilights hand to help himself up. “I get surprised real easily.”

“So do I sometimes.”

“I wouldn’t happen to think you used Teleportation just now, did you?” His words almost had Twilight act defensively. She didn’t think he would figure that out so fast. Before she could say anything else, he noticed that some blue energy with some electronic 1’s and 0’s and some small boxes appeared in his left hand. “It’s okay… I’m a conduit as well.”

“So you can tell who is a conduit and who isn’t?” Twilight asked.

“Not quite. A friend yesterday told me of a girl she ran into that had teleportation powers.”

“Wait… Does that friend happen to be named ‘Fetch’.”

“I guess you two met then?”

“Unfortunately, yes.” The Conduit of Magic said. “The way she approached my friend triggered some bad memories for her from when she was little.”

“I’ll stop there then.” The other Conduit replied. “Oh uh… I forgot to ask you this… But what’s your name?”

“My name? It’s Twilight.”

“Twilight? That’s a new one.” The hooded teen retorted as he raised an eyebrow.

“And what’s your name, mister?” Twilight followed up with a question of her own, folding her arms across her chest.

“Eugene.”

“Well Eugene… My friend Vinyl and I aren’t exactly ‘From here’ and are unfamiliar with a lot of things.”

“What do you mean? Like a Immigrant from another country?” The teen asked. Hearing that her friends name was Vinyl made him think ‘No wonder her friend could control sound.’

“No no no… it’s not like that-.”

Twilight tried to explain what she meant, only to be cut off by the kicking of the door and the sound of two bodies hitting the pavement and a third one walking in. Eugene and Twilight turned towards the direction where the sounds came from, only for the video conduit to be surprised that he knew the two conduits on the floor.

“Fetch!! Delsin!!!”

“What’s going on-?” Twilight looked up to see that her companion Vinyl was by the door with a half melted door lock in her hands that was still hot.

“I would want to know the same thing,” The DJ told them. “I was coming back from getting food when I saw these two trying to break in by melting the lock on the door.” Twilight’s response to all of this was a face palm slap to her face and a deep sigh as she looked at her DJ friend.

“Vinyl… There wasn’t a need to do that. My friend Eugene here knows these two and I think they want to help us.’

That drew a blank stare on Vinyl’s face. “Wait… So all of this just now… was a misunderstanding?”

Twilight nodding her head was what made the Sound Conduit realize her mistake. Without thinking, Vinyl stretched out her hands towards both Conduits that were on the floor. Reciting something in her head, silver energy flowed from her hands and began to restore both Fetch and Delsin to proper health. Both Twilight and Eugene were personally surprised by this power that the DJ was demonstrating.

“What was that?” Eugene asked.

“I call it Symphony. It’s a power that allows me to use Song melodies and sound waves to heal and tend to the wounds of anyone that’s hurt.”

“Well, that’s one way of introducing ourselves.” The conduit with the beanie cap interjected as he got off the floor and stood back up on his feet. “I’m Delsin. I believe you’ve already met both Fetch and Eugene.”

“Indeed, we have.” The magic conduit replied. “Well, my name is Twilight and I think you two have already met my friend, Vinyl.” The DJ herself just rolled her eyes at the comment as Fetch got back on her feet. After introductions were made, Eugene took a moment to talk to the two conduits and catch them up to speed on what Twilight had already told him. After a little bit, the Akomish conduit nodded, taking a deep breath.

“Well Twilight… Eugene tells me you two are not exactly from here and that you're not immigrants from another country either. So, would you care to explain what you mean please?”

Twilight and Vinyl looked at each other for a minute, both of them with a different reaction. Not long after though, Twilight looked back at Delsin and deeply sighed. “It’s a lot to explain. We’re really unfamiliar with a lot of things that work here. You might even think were crazy if we told you our story.”

“Come on now,” Delsin chuckled. “We live in a world of Conduits where crazy stuff happens everyday. What’s the worst thing that could happen?”

Delsin definitely had no idea what exactly he was getting himself into.

San Diego, California (8:00pm)

Inside the home of the Kingstons, Shawn was introducing both Rainbow and Soarin to how the TV works in the family room (or as Shawn and his father liked to call it, “The Den.”) The past few hours was used by Shawn to introduce every nook and cranny inside the house, establish a bit of rules, and answer a bunch of questions after Rainbow stumbled into his room. This included why did his room have figurines of herself and some of her friends, Comic books of their adventures, and most importantly; Why did his laptop have her Cutie Mark on it?!

Talk about a reality check.

Now though, (after an hour long explanation on the Brony fandom and how their adventures so far had become a popular TV series on earth) The three of them were trying to figure out what to watch on TV. Mostly everything on a sunday morning was either cartoons, talk shows, or the early morning local news. All of them being quite boring (especially with no new my little pony episodes besides reruns.)

With a click of the NetCast button on the TV remote, Shawn brought up the home menu on his LG LCD TV and then clicked Netflix.

“Shawn? What did you do?” Soarin asked, confused on what the human was doing.

“Well, this TV model allows me to access additional services through the houses internet connection. One of these services is Netflix, which allows you to see hundreds of movies and TV shows at the click of a button.”

“Sounds a lot better than the channel surfing we were doing.” Rainbow commented from the beanbag chair on the floor she was sitting on. The main menu loaded up on the TV a few moments later; showing previously watched shows, recommendations, most popular and other choices according to different genres. Being a little curious, Shawn decided to ask his guests a question. “So, what kind of movies do you like?”

“Well, I like my fair share of Action and Adventure films.” The storm conduit answered Shawn’s question. “Would you happen to have anything that involves Treasure hunters and/or archeologists?”

Shawn grinned a little when he heard her ask that. He sort of expected that question to pop up since Rainbow was a big fan of the Daring Do books. “Well, there’s Indiana Jones. The first three films were great, but the fourth was… Meh, not as great. Okay at best if you ask me.”

“Oh? How come?”

“Well; the time gap between both films was a big factor. First off, there was a nearly twenty year release gap between parts three and four and with that, there was also higher expectations on the movie industry.” The Snow Conduit told his guests. “The Third part was released in 1989 and part four was released in 2008. With that, new filming techniques are released and shown through through cinematography.”

“Wow… You know quite a lot on movies.” Rainbow replied with her return comment.

“Actually, I’ve had the opportunity to meet some well known actors over the years.” The thought of this now gave Shawn a good idea for a film to show his two guests. “Do you two like Sci-fi?”

“Sci-fi?”

“He means Science fiction.” Soarin clarified. “You know, like Space and Aliens.”

“Oh that? Yeah, I like it. However, I haven’t really found anything that would peak my interests if you know what I mean.”

Shawn grinned a little as he went into Favorites and had the cursor highlight the title called “Pacific Rim.”

“I think you two will be in for a treat.”

“We lost power!! Get to the Hatch!”

“No no no!! Don’t!!!” Rainbow screamed as she watched the events unfold between the jaegers and the kaiju on screen. As they watched, Shawn’s guests laughed, gasped and reacted while he just relaxed and enjoyed his favorite film by Guillermo del Toro. Honestly, he didn’t think that Rainbow would react the way she did when the Storm Conduit was watching the film. She even cried when Raleigh Beckett’s brother gets killed ten minutes into the film (Spoiler Alert!)

Just as the three of them were watching the fight between Monster and Machine unfold in Hong Kong and the Gypsy Danger check a kaiju’s “pulse”, A bright flash occurred in the living room. Judging from the sounds of it, the princesses and Shawn’s father had just returned from the Astral Horizon.

“Alright, break time!”

“Oh come on!!” Rainbow complained. “We were just getting to the good part!!!”

“It’s on pause, Rainbow.” Her colleague Soarin, reminded her. “It’s not going anyway.”

As the three of them walked into the living room, a now surprised Nicholas was looking at his son with a nod, coughing a little as he got up off the floor.

“Okay, I believe you. I guess they're going to need your help?”

“I’m more than willing to help. Besides, the three of us had some fun while we were waiting for you guys to come back.”

“Waiting? But we were only talking for a little over half an hour.”

The Snow conduit looked at Celestia, who then looked at Luna. She sighed a little at the point where she forgot to mention the most important aspect of where they were. “Yeah, we forgot to mention that time flows differently in the dimension we were in than right now.”

“How differently?” asked the Chief of Police.

“Well…” Shawn began to explain to his father. “You left at 4:20 and since every minute there is nine minutes here… To put it bluntly, you’ve been gone for five hours.”

Seconds after being told that, Nicholas ran upstairs in a hurry. He was beyond shocked on how much time had passed and still had to do a lot of things to catch up with the normal morning routine that the chief was use too. Luna asked Shawn about if his father was okay and he explained everything, followed by asking if they were hungry enough for breakfast. Both sisters nodded their heads as Soarin and Rainbow Dash shook theirs as Shawn looked in the fridge and the freezer to find Tortillas, Organic red potatoes, and fresh cut up peppers along with getting out the skillet he needed for making breakfast. As he went for the cheese though, he noticed the pre cooked chicken and stumbled a little of his train of thought as a new question appeared in his head.

“Sorry for bringing this up so suddenly, but are you guys vegetarians?”

The four equestrians looked at Shawn like it wasn’t a bit obvious. Even Rainbow herself chuckled a little. “Not exactly. We eat eggs and some of the Wonderbolts eat fish for the nutritional benefits.”

“Eggs?”

“What else would Pinkie Pie use to bake her treats at Sugarcube Corner?”

Noticing this, the snow conduit soon understood the pegasus by what she meant. “Good point.”

“What about yourself?” Luna then asked, wondering. “Are humans… Similar?”

“We’re omnivores. Don’t worry though, we don’t eat ponies.” The teenager assured them as he added a little olive oil into the skillet as he heated the stove to medium temperature and started to add the potatoes and peppers in; letting it cook as he added some spices. He got out a second skillet, which he began to use to heat the tortillas. Four of them out a ten-pack since Soarin and Rainbow Dash didn’t want any for the time being, but the teen still cooked two extra nonetheless. After some time cooking, both the tortillas and what Shawn was cooking were done.

“Can someone please give me a hand?” He asked politely.

The first individual to come up to him was Luna. “Sure, what do you need?”

“Four plates from that cupboard.” Shawn told the Lunar princess, pointing out the cabinet that had the dishes he needed. Luna opened the cabinet, looking around a little and finding them after some time. Since she was still a little unfamiliar with her hands, she set the plates down on the empty countertop using a bit of levitation. Shawn himself used the chance after she set them down to put the tortillas and the potatoes on each of the plates once Luna was out of the way.

“Alright, that should do it.” The teen now sprinkled a little bit of cheese with each one, letting it melt with the warm dish. “All of that within ten minutes.”

“What did you make?” Luna asked out of curiosity; helping him set the plates on the dining room table.

“Breakfast burritos.” Shawn replied as everyone was called over to sit down. Despite Soarin and Rainbow not wanting any since they weren’t hungry, Shawn insisted that they should try some anyway. As everyone sat down, all of them were equally impressed as they were curious on how exactly were they suppose to be folded. It took some teaching, but the equestrian conduits got the hang of it by the time their plates were empty.

Soon though, Shawn was stuck with another task to do… Dishes. Washing, cleaning, scrubbing. You name it, he had to do it. Of course, his snow element can be quite useful here since he could use it to get to the stains that were deep in the skillets that he used for cooking.

As he was finishing the last of the dishes, the phone rang and Shawn checked to see who it was. His eyes lit up a bit as he saw the caller.

“Dad!! Mom’s calling!”

The chief was originally focused on opening the morning paper. But the call from his wife right now was more important than the front page headlines. He got up and answered the home phone while his son walked back into the den where Soarin and Rainbow were. The Conduit didn’t notice that the front cover of the paper had the portrait of a very famous individual that was currently on trial.

Brook Augustine. Former head of the DUP

Along a very empty stretch of road, an RV the size of a Luxury sports bus traveled along a very empty highway. The vehicle's windows were closed and the blinds were partially open to prevent sunlight from entering. Inside though was a different story as a young boy was beginning to wake up. Earlier in the day, he collapsed in the city of St. Louis while running away from DUP officers with his friend. The boy’s vision was foggy, but his hearing was still spot on.

He could hear two voices talking. Talking about him.

“Zeke, it’s Spike. He’s waking up!”

“Right now? Jesus, that kid can sleep. Do you need me to pull over or-?”

“That won’t be necessary, darling. I’ll go check on him.”

Around now, Spike was fully awake and found himself on a small couch. He was covered in a wool blanket and his jacket was on the back of a nearby chair. He straightened himself up; his head still aching a little as Rarity soon appeared by his side.

“Spike! I’m glad you’re okay.”

“R-rarity?” The young dragon groaned as his body started to rumble a little. “W-where are we?”

“On some kind of transport called an “RV” or something like that.” The Crystal conduit told him as she handed Spike a glass of water. “A man named Zeke found us shortly after you passed out. I told him what happened and Zeke believes that he could help us out.”

“Help us?” How?” Spike asked. That was when Rarity insisted that he follow her to the front of the RV and meet the driver. Zeke and Spike greeted each other shortly after meeting one another and then Zeke began to speak to them.

“Well, to answer your question kiddo, I did hear your friends story and given the fact that anything these days is possible in a world filled with conduits, I believe you. In fact, I met a boy that gave me almost the exact same story whose right now at the hideout we’re going to.”

“So, you’re not afraid that we have… you know… this?” The young child asked him as he showed some green flames from his palms.

“Kiddo, let me tell you something.” Zeke told him as they passed a road sign that said that the closest city was in eight miles. “I’ve been there since the beginning.”

End Chapter 7

Author's Note

No pulse :rainbowlaugh:

Anyways, I apologize about this chapter being from three different perspectives, but I promise that for the next few ones that the chapters will be only from certain points of view. As for the next chapter, it will mostly consist of Flashbacks and a LOT of storytelling. Plus, we got some new powers coming soon... What they are? Well, that's for you to find out.

-Frost

Music: Adventure Club- Retro City

Chapter 8- Watercolour

It all started back in Empire City.

In was one of the Major cities in the United States and a thriving metropolis in the state of New York. Many people, including families called this place home.

Then… there was the blast.

A huge explosion that went off in the middle of the city. Many people believed that it was a terrorist attack or that a bomb exploded. It was the only reason they thought could explain this “Atrocity.” Turns out, it wasn’t like that.

Then there was my friend, Cole.

He survived that blast. In fact, he woke up in the dead center of the crater that was formed from it. However, he wasn’t exactly the same anymore.

Over the time his girlfriend Trish and I took care of him, anything that ran on electricity reacted to him. Power generators, T.V.’s, lights. Hell, even him sitting in the front seat of a car caused the electric system in the car to overheat and explode.

He was what you would call the first conduit… And boy, he and I had been through a lot.

Days after the blast, a quarantine was established as a bullsh*t attempt to contain the “biological contamination” that was making many people in the city sick. But when the city was in quarantine, groups of people took up arms and made life inside there a living hell. The Reapers in the Neon District, The Dust men in the Warden, and eventually; the First Sons in the Historic District. Plus, there were others who made Cole’s life harder every step of the way. Sasha, Alden, that two-faced Moya…

And then, there was the man behind the Chaos. The leader of the first sons.

Kessler. The man who tricked me into thinking I could acquire powers and also the man that killed Trish.

He was a real son of a b*tch. He had all the same powers that Cole had at the time and some other powers as well. But in a very epic struggle, Cole defeated Kessler. But with him dead, our troubles were only beginning.

Moments before he died, Kessler showed Cole “The Beast”. A monster with powers that could bring the end of the world.

He was coming. Coming for Cole.

A month after Cole defeated Kessler, we met Lucy Kuo.

She was a government agent that wanted us to come down south to the city of New Marais and meet a man named Dr. Wolfe. He was a scientist with believed he could help Cole acquire new powers and get stronger to help him fight the Beast.

We were lucky to make it out alive because by the time we left, the Beast had came to Empire City. By the time we were out of there. Our home… the home of thousands of people… was no more.

But once we made it to New Marais, a lot of crazy sh*t happened. There was the Militia, Mayor Bertrand, The Ice Gang, the Corrupted. The whole town had been pulled apart by event after event and put into a state of fear and panic.

Not to mention the fact that Cole wasn’t the only Conduit.

We met a hothead Napalm Conduit named Nix and boy, she was crazy. Any plan she had ended up with someone in a body bag. But that wasn’t the only surprise in store for us.

As it turns out, Kuo was a Conduit as well and had her powers awakened during our adventures in New Marais. She became a real snow queen as she could create anything with Ice.

But the real kicker came in when we all discovered that Mayor Bertrand of all people, the guy in charge of the Militia and the city, was a conduit that mutated civilians and turned them into the monsters we called “The Corrupted.”

Anyways, over time, Cole got the powers he needed and also obtained Cryokinesis from Kuo. But by the time the Beast was here; only Cole, Nix and I were left because Kuo wanted to play double agent or some crap like that.

Not before long though, the Beast was here and Cole himself was the only one that was in his way.

Now, how Conduits originally obtained powers was through an object called the Ray Sphere, which combined the energy of multiple people into one. Like a power jackpot. When Cole met Dr. Wolfe, he gave him the RFI, which was a anti Ray Sphere. It took powers away instead of giving them away. When the beast arrived, it was fully charged. But the device could only be activated manually. There was only one thing to do at this if you were Cole right now. Nix and Kuo knew it too.

My friend voluntarily sacrificed himself to stop the Beast from destroying the world. Hard to believe that with one choice, the demon of Empire City had become the Angel Saint of New Marais.

However, that was seven years ago. Ever since then, a tidal wave of events have happened. There was the rebuilding of the east coast, the riots, more conduits beginning to show up… it was complete mayhem.

That was until one conduit who was part of the military captured another.

That conduit’s named was Brook Augustine and her actions helped establish the organization known as the DUP.

The whole damn country was now in a state of fear. Hell, some states had to declare martial law and let the DUP’s set up shop in certain cities because of it. There tactics were against our god given human rights, but they were allowed to because the public was was scared. Scared of people with powers.

Then there was Seattle.

Three Conduits; a gamer, an ex-junkie, and a small town delinquent named Delsin Rowe stood up against Augustine and the DUP and fought back against them. They exposed her for everything she lied and tried to cover up about; ultimately defeating the tectonic tyrant.

Now, things are getting better. For one thing, Conduits and Humans can live side by side one another and not be afraid of each other. All the imprisoned conduits inside the sprawling metal jungle of Curdan Cay were now free to choose to live their own lives in the ways they see fit. It felt good for many of them to see their families again.

However, the DUP wasn’t fully dismantled. Mostly put on Inactive, but parts of them still operate in different cities across the country. In addition to that, a new groups of advisors and a new leader are making changes to how they function while Augustine is on trial for her actions. That’s why I’m part of a group that’s trying to expose more of the DUP’s wrongdoings and make sure that what’s left of the organization comes crashing down like a house of cards

Because if you take away one card, the rest of the house crumbles.

“And that’s basically what happened so far.”

Both Rarity and Spike were speechless by the time Zeke had finished his story. The never realized what had happened in this new world they were in and how much this man had been through. He had even lost his best friend, who was kind of like a brother to him. Despite that though, he continued to move forward so life could be better for others.

The first person to talk after this was Spike. “I’m sorry to hear about Cole and Kuo.”

“You don’t have to be sorry, kiddo.” Zeke told him. He now had a small smile on his face as he adjusted his sunglasses. “In fact, with doing a bit of research, I got to meet Kuo’s sister. We became good friends and she has a family out west in Southern California.”

“Wow! That sounds really great!!” came Rarity’s response.

“It is. I haven’t gotten the chance to see them recently, but last time I saw her, I found out that she has a son.” The human now stretched his left hand upward and grabbed a small photograph that was up in the Visor above his head, handing it to Spike. “In fact, he looks a lot like you, Kiddo.”

Spike looked at the photograph and saw a boy around his age (Human wise) with black hair, blue eyes, a t-shirt, and shorts. He was in a public park on the grass with what looked like his father, tumbling around in the greenery nearby a basketball court. He was smiling happily.

“For the record though, this photo was from when he was eight and last time Stacey told me about him around three years ago, he was thirteen. So, who knows what he really looks like now.” The Driver mentioned as he tried to straighten the grip on the steering wheel.

“What’s her name?” Rarity asked.

“Stacey.” Zeke replied. “Can’t remember the last name though. It’s King…… something.”

With that, the RV passes another sign as Zeke came to a stop. He parked in front of a hangar door in a private airfield with the number at the top labeled “42.” The sight though was not quite up to Rarity’s expectations on the outside. The tarmat, the surrounding buildings and everything else to her just looked filthy.

“Uhh, where exactly are we?”

“At a private airfield outside of Kansas City,” Zeke told them. “Not the ideal place to lay low, but it works for right now.”

“So you live…… Inside this shed?”

“Well, I’ve been all over the U.S. and can’t exactly be in one place. it’s a lot cleaner on the inside then on the outside. Trust me, back in Seattle, I live in an Electronics Store.”

Both Rarity and Spike looked at each other as Zeke opened the Hangar bay door. As they stepped foot inside, it turned out that the Human was right. It was a lot cleaner on the inside then it was outside. There was no dirt on the floor, the furniture, or the shelves. ‘It might look bleak in color, but it’ll do for now.’

“Alright, I’ll catch up with you later then. I got to take care of something.” Zeke mentioned as he began to walk back to the RV.

“Take care of what?” Spike asked.

“Yeah, Zeke.” came the sounds of a new voice from the indoor balcony that served as a second floor. From their, Rarity and Spike could see a young teenaged boy with a red hoodie and torn blue jeans. He had Blond hair that almost looked like gold and green eyes, but only wore sandals to cover his feet. “What’s so important in which you need to rush off seconds after opening the hangar bay.”

“Well, look who’s up.” Zeke smiled as he saw the boy. “I honestly thought you would be taking some time to look around the area, Doughy.”

“I did, but then I got bored. So I tried to do some drawing, but then you opened the door and that distracted me. You know how my concentration works when it comes to art and noises.”

“Indeed. Doughy, I would like you to meet Spike and Rarity. Help make them comfortable for a minute while I find a place to go ditch the RV. I’ll be back in ten.”

“Wait-!” But before the teen could say anything, Zeke was already out the door and put the keys in the ignition. Speeding down the long strip of asphalt, the boy sighed as he facepalmed himself.

“Oh, what the flipping hay-.”

Spikes listening skills went off like alarms in his head the moment he heard the words of the other person in the room. “Hold on a minute… Did you just say “What the hay?” just now?”

“Of course, aren’t you two from Equestria?”

Those words had both Spike and Rarity looking at the boy they were with in alarm. Before they could do anything though, the Zeke called “Doughy” began to speak. “Whoa whoa whoa! It’s okay. No need to freak out! I’m from there too. Name’s Doughy Pastel.”

By now, Spike began to realize what Zeke meant earlier as he was driving them here.

‘Well, to answer your question kiddo, I did hear your friends story and given the fact that anything these days is possible in a world filled with conduits, I believe you. In fact, I met a boy that gave me almost the exact same story whose right now at the hideout we’re going to.’

“You must be the boy that Zeke mentioned on the way here.”

“Indeed, and I must say... For a simple artist like myself who lives in Fillydelphia, it’s an honor to meet both of you, Sir Spike and Ms. Rarity.”

Again, both the fashionista and the baby dragon were confused. “I’m intrigued by your formality darling, but how do you know about us?”

“Who hasn’t heard of the Element of Generosity and the Savior of the Crystal Empire?”

Spike himself personally groaned at the last statement. It reminded him of what happened at the Equestria games all over again. Changing the topic, the young child had a new question for Doughy. “I’m guessing Zeke told you about being some… Conduit thing?”

“Yeah he did. My best guess is that you two are Conduits as well.” Doughy asked him. Rarity nodded as she moved her fingers and had crystal shards form around her hands. The Blond boy was indeed impressed by the skills. “Wow! That’s amazing!! I’m guessing it’s some kind of Crystal Manipulation?”

“I believe so. Most of my magic back home revolved around finding diamonds and gemstones which I would use later for different dresses that I tailored together.” Rarity personally left out the fact that it also had got herself in trouble involving a pack of Diamond Dogs because she believed that the whole experience was downright unprofessional and embarrassing.

“I got to say, that is really impressive.”

“Why thank you.” Rarity complimented. “Now darling, I believe that you have powers as well?”

“Yes I do.” Doughy nodded, answering the Crystal Conduit’s question.

“What kind of powers are they?” Spike asked, eager to find out what this boy’s talents were. However, what Doughy told them was not exactly what either Spike or Rarity expected at all.

“Ink.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“My power is Ink.” Doughy said. He grabbed a stack of colored fliers and some old pens that the boy had acquired through looking around the airfield earlier in the day and had set them on the floor. “Maybe I should provide you with a demonstration.”

Putting both of his hands in front of him, Doughy began to concentrate on the objects in front of him. Before their very eyes, Spike and Rarity saw the ink that was printed onto the paper be extracted from the posters; leaving them as clean sheets of paper. In addition, the ink inside the pens that Doughy had set down began to float out of it’s container and be absorbed with his skin. The artist had drained the sheets of paper and the pens of the ink it contained.

“That’s cool!!” Spike cheerfully squealed. He had never seen anything like that before in his life and to him, it was beyond awesome.

“That’s not the only thing I can do with Ink.” Doughy assured them as he took out a small paintbrush that he kept in his pocket. Using the colors he had just drained, he used his tool to draw a four pointed star like a Ninja Shuriken in midair. Seconds later, a realistic version of the object was formed as Doughy threw it and it landed dead center on a dartboard that was on the wall.

“I drain ink and color from things such as Posters, Pens, Paints and other things like the paint jobs on what Zeke calls “Cars” and then can use it to create whatever I draw with my brush.” This even sounded cooler inside the mind of the young dragon. It wasn’t everyday that you could just draw something and it can come to life. Maybe this guy was or could be an artist for the Power Ponies comics back home.

Sooner than expected, Zeke returned to the hangar bay. “Hey, I’m back. Are you guys doing alright?”

“Yeah, I was just giving Spike and Rarity a demonstration of my powers.” Doughy told the human, pointing at the Dartboard and the Shuriken in the middle of it.”

“Hehe… Nice Throw.”

“Thanks. Hey Zeke, would you still happen to have the Wooden Training Dummies from a couple of days ago?”

Zeke nodded his head as he straightened his hair. “Yeah I do. Why did you ask?”

“I was thinking of helping Spike and Rarity get use to their powers.” The Conduit suggested. “The more they know about how to use their abilities the better.”

“Suit yourself…” Zeke smiled a little. “After all, a trained Conduit is a prepared Conduit if I do say so myself.”

Seattle, Washington

It took a little while of explaining before Twilight and Vinyl were fully able to tell what was going on to Delsin and his friends. Fetch at first was skeptical and found their story a bit hard to believe while Eugene himself was pretty surprised. But Delsin though kept an open mind. He even offered to help the two girls learn how to use their powers for if they had to go against the DUP.

Both Vinyl and Twilight gave Delsin a simple explanation on what their powers were to start based on experience. Vinyl was able to control sound while Twilight was able to conjure and control magic like she would normally do back home. Using this as a starting point, the Akomish began to think of how to expand upon what they already know. That way, the two of them would be prepared for anything that could possibly harm or hurt them.

“So, how should we start?” Vinyl asked. The DJ herself was itching to get started. Fetch, on the other side of the room, liked Vinyl’s eagerness.

To start off, Delsin had a simple question for them. “Well, to start, what are your mobility powers?”

“Mobility?” The Magic Conduit asked as she looked back at the Akomish with a look of confusion on her face.

“Like powers based on how you move. For example, Neon allows Fetch and I to run really fast with superspeed and Smoke allows me to dash forward in a puff of Smoke.” Delsin explain, demonstrating what he meant by dashing to a nearby wall by executing a Smoke Dash.

“Oh I see.” Twilight responded. “Well, I’m capable of doing this.” To demonstrate what she meant, the Magic Conduit teleported herself to the bannister above everyone’s heads and then came straight back down next to Vinyl. “Teleportation.”

Eugene himself was personally amazed by it. He had only seen Teleportation be performed in Heaven’s Hellfire, so seeing it happen right in front of him was very much to his liking.

“Very awesome! Alright Vinyl, your turn.”

“Okay. Well, I call this ability Acceleration.” The musician told them. “I can use sound to move extremely fast, but that’s not the only thing. I can launch myself onto different surfaces and either push off them for a boost of speed, or hold onto the wall for a short amount of time. Ten seconds at most.”

“Well, that sounds interesting. Lets see you move at the “speed of sound” them.” Delsin joked around a bit as he made the pun.

“Alright, but you asked for it.” Vinyl told him, positioning herself like an Olympic sprinter. The DJ then shot forth onto the back wall in a burst of silver light. She then shot forward two more times. The first being by Delsin and the second one onto the right wall by the ceiling.

“One… Two… Three… Four…”

The DJ was counting the time limit while twirling a red piece of clothing with her left index finger. It wasn’t until delsin realized what it was that Vinyl landed back on the ground.

“I believe this is yours.” The sound conduit smirked, tossing back the Akomish’s beanie cap.

Fetch laughed a little upon Delsin getting his beanie back and so did Eugene. The Multi-powered conduit just rolled his eyes, sighing as he put his hat back on to cover his messy black haircut.

“Well, that teaches me not to make stupid puns.”

“Told you that you asked for it.”

“Anyways, now we move onto the next step. Combat.” Delsin continued. “This is split up into two parts. Getting up close and personal with melee combat and blasting targets with your powers. We’ll focus on part one for right now before we move on to part two.”

“Okay, what does that consist of?” Twilight asked, her habits of being Celestia’s student tempting her to take notes.

“Well, why don’t we show you a visual demonstration. Eugene, can you pull up a few holograms of myself with the different powers I can do?”

“Sure thing.” The Gamer responded as he got to work. He began to channel his video powers as blue pixels began to form around his hands. With his skills, the teen soon created three separate projections of Delsin. One of him using Smoke, another using Neon and the last one using his own set of powers, Video.

“Whoa! That was awesome!!” An excited Vinyl gasped in awe of what just happened. “What kind of power is that?”

“Video. It allows Delsin and I to create holographic images using the energy from TV’s, computers and anything that has an electronic screen. Delsin, you’re up.”

“Alright,” The conduit nodded as he began to explain. “Each of these projections have a similar weapon or combat style, but use different powers. I use the chain around my wrist in order to combat the DUP’s.”

With a snap of Eugene’s finger, each one of the clones began to demonstrate their respected power. Smoke showed Delsin’s chain as a heated whip that would remind someone of Ghost rider. Neon treated the chain like a sword and Video made the metal links resemble a Sledgehammer.

“See the difference?”

“Yes, but I have a question.” Twilight asked her teacher. “How come you have more than one power while Fetch and Eugene only just have one?”

It was a valid question… and something Delsin completely forgot to mention.

“Well, thats the thing. My main power is actually power absorption. Grabbing another conduit’s hand not only has their power become one of mine, but I also see into their past and understand them. I have four powers in total so far. You’ve already seen the first three, but not the fourth. Concrete.”

“Concrete?”

“Like Stone.” He replied. “However, there are some limitations due to the weight of the concrete shards I control. For one thing, I can only slam my fist into the ground. Another thing is that my abilities are limited. Let’s focus less on me though and more on you.”

The clones now dispersed into little clouds of pixels as Eugene absorbed them to regain the strength he expended.

“Twilight, would you like to go first again?”

“Sure… I guess.” Twilight said, understanding a little bit about what she had to do next. “Am I going up against a Dummy?”

Delsin though, shook his head as Fetch walked into the center of the room.

“Fetch knows a lot about hand-to-hand combat. So, if she’s up for it, I’m letting her help you two know how to fight.”

“I’m always up for it, D. Gives me a chance to loosen up a bit.”

Fetch was stretching out her arms and legs as Twilight walked to the center of the room where she was. A few feet away from the neon conduit. The Element of Magic was unsure about how to do this. The only fights she had ever been in was against the changelings during the Canterlot wedding and against Lord Tirek when he broke out of Tartarus. Still though, she had to try.

After all, she was a fast learner.

With Speed in her step, Fetch raced towards The Magic Conduit; who was lucky enough to dodge the first Neon enhanced punch. But her lack in footing led to herself becoming vulnerable for the attacks that followed. She continued to dodge though despite getting hit a few times in the upper and lower chest; until Twilight decided that it was time to fight back. Leaning back, a dodge of Fetch’s incoming arm was followed by a swift kick to the Neon girl’s chest and another that caused her to stumble a bit.

“I think I still need to work on this.” Twilight said, looking personally disappointed in herself.

“Well, this is a learning process.” Fetch told her as she hopped back onto feet. “You got a lot of reflexes, but you should try to use her arms to go along with your legs. Punches are just as effective as kicks.”

“You mean similar to how you do it?” The Element of Magic asked.

“More or less… How I throw punches is from an angle. If you throw it straight, it’s just as effective.” The Neon girl continued to help Twilight learn the basics and instruct her on how to fight as time slowly passed. Soon, Twilight was able to do a few punch and kick combinations thanks to Fetch’s help. Vinyl herself was eagerly awaiting her turn as the DJ was listening to some tunes through her headphones.

“Alright, that should do it.” Fetch congratulated her first student upon her success. “Hey Phones, are you ready?”

Cracking her knuckles, Vinyl chuckled and smiled at her new nickname.

“Bring it on!”

The DJ was up for a challenge. Bending her knees, she shifted her arms in front of her. The left arm was at her waist and the right arm was out in front of Vinyl. The position would remind anyone who had played Street Fighter of Cammy.

“Well, looks like you have some experience.”

“Heh… My roommate Octavia and I took some self defense classes back home… And I had to fight a few DUP’s when they started to open fire on me.”

“Good point.” Fetch Remarked. “This should be fun.”

Without warning, Fetch took a step forward and bursted forth in a head on blitz of colored light. Expecting this kind of assault though, Vinyl used Acceleration in a sliding motion, to get behind Fetch and got the first hand strike with the back side of her fist.

The conduit of Neon was surprised by the DJ’s back attacked and stumbled a bit, trying to use the back of her foot to hit her opponent. It worked and the attack was followed by a low sweeping kick to cause Vinyl to trip. Instead though, she got on her hands and knees to block the blow.

Vinyl did not stop there though. Using her powers, the sound conduit pushed herself off the ground using Acceleration, moving onto the ceiling. She then accelerated downward, behind Fetch and then forward in a crescent kick that took the neon girl by surprise.

Delsin, Eugene, and Twilight were all speechless because of Vinyl’s graceful display of power. Normally, it would take a few weeks to get their powers to this point. For Vinyl, it had only been nearly three days, Both her and Twilight were learning very fast.

“Nicely done.” Fetch complimented as Vinyl helped her off the floor.

“Thanks.”

Fetch not turned towards Delsin as she walked over to what looked like a tall stack of plates made from hard plastic. “Alright Smokes. I think it’s time for Part 2.”

“Alright, now we work on step 2. Or as I would like to personally call it, shooting stuff.” The Conduit demonstrated what he meant as his neon partner threw a plate into the air and he shot it down with a blast of smoke. “It may seem simple, but projectiles like these come out differently for different powers. Fetch’s Neon comes out as a laser.”

“Okay, that sounds awesome. I always like light shows when I perform!”

“Yeah, but it’s not a show, Vinyl.” Twilight reminded her.

“Aaaannnnyyyways……” Delsin interrupted them. “I want you to hit the plates using your powers for this first exercise.”

“Sounds simple enough.”

“Yeah, but it is the first exercise. Just to see how your powers work. Eugene? You up for tossing a few plates as well?”

“Heh… Why not?” He shrugged as the Video Conduit grabbed a plate and got himself ready. As Twilight and Vinyl prepared themselves, Delsin gave Fetch and Eugene the signal to start tossing. Fetch was the first to make a move and tossed two plates into the air while Eugene wanted to be one step ahead and tossed three.

Using her right hand, Twilight fired two bolts that went off very quickly. The bolts dispersed on contact, hitting the plates and melting a hole through them. While for Vinyl, she fired three bolts from her left arm that came out as silver energy that thoroughly pulsed with life. Vinyl’s sound shots came out much faster. Like if they were shots from a SMG, spraying out in a single direction.

“Well now, that’s impressive. What if you charged your energy though?”

“Like hold it in longer?”

“Yes.”

“Well,” Vinyl said. “When I hold my energy in, it comes out like a shockwave.”

“You mean like the one that you hit me with the other day?” Fetch asked.

“Yeah… Sorry about that.”

“Well, I would still like to see it though.” Eugene told the DJ. She nodded, stating for him to conjure up a target so she could let it rip. The Gamer personally chuckled at the statement, but then created a holographic projection of a DUP officer in the center of the room. The sound conduit gathered her energy as it formed into a sphere of noise around her hands and launched her palm forward, resulting in a shotgun like soundwave that threw the dummy into the wall and turned it into a cloud of pixels.

“Wow, that’s pretty kick ass!”

“I can’t wait to find out what else I can do!”

“In due time,” Delsin ensured the DJ. “Let’s see what Twily can do-.”

“For the record, only my brother calls me that. Unless you want to end up like Vinyl’s dummy, pick a different nickname.” Twilight stated directly, surprising the Akomish.

“Can Twi work?”

The element of magic nodded, giving Delsin her answer non-verbally.

“Alright then, show us what you got!”

The magic conduit focused her energy as Eugene conjured a few more holograms. This time of a few Akuran drug dealers. When Twilight thought she had the right amount of power that she needed, she threw her palm forward and let loose three shots of magic that all converged on the first target. Trying again on the last three that were in the room, Twilight repeated the process and fired once again. This time, all three bolts went towards separate targets. Each one being just as powerful as all three of them were combined.

“Well now, that finishes exercise #2.” Delsin now was getting excited for what was to come. But first, what could they do to restore their powers? “Okay, there’s two more things that I would like to go over for now.”

“Alright, what are those?”

“First is the drain-.”

“Drain?” Twilight questioned. “Like in draining the sink?”

“No, not quite.” Delsin told her. “Draining is how we restore our powers. Like an energy drink for Conduits.” In saying that, he noticed a light switch to a Neon sign that said “Restrooms” and flipped it on, having the sign flicker to life.

“Fetch, you need a snack?”

“You’re too kind, Smokes.” Fetch snickered, stretching out both of her arms and pulling the light out of the sign using her powers. The light restored her strength and healed a few of her bruises she had received from sparring with Vinyl.

“See what I mean?”

“Oh yeah!” Vinyl nodded. “I actually figure out what I could drain the past few times I’ve been outside.”

Everyone’s gaze was now on Vinyl as they looked at her. The DJ now felt dumb for forgetting to mention it earlier.

“Really? What can you absorb?”

“Noise and sound. I can drain it from speakers, megaphones, radios and CD players. DUP’s have a few megaphones spread out around town to use as a warning system to call for backup. Trust me, I’ve learned that the hard way.”

“You got a reputation with them, now?”

“They don’t call me the Sound Siren for show.”

“Heh… Catchy.” Delsin said. “What about you Twilight?”

The Magic conduit was unsure and told them that she honestly thought it was light, which personally surprised Fetch. Upon further explanation, Twilight told them that there was both Light and Dark magic back in Equestria and that most of the spells she used were light based. But then again, she was thinking out loud.

Which lead Delsin to the last thing that he was going to teach them. It would be the ability that they would consider their Grand Finale in their performance as a conduit.

The Karma Bomb.

End Chapter 8

Author's Note

This chapter was focused on only two sides of our three sided journey since the next few bits are only focused on Shawn. Here, I introduce Doughy, an OC from my friend Destro-The-Dragon on DeviantArt. Plus, I always thought that Ink would be a interesting power given how Delsin always likes doing graffiti. Additionally, just thinking about the power gives me an Okami vibe. What do you guys think?
-Frost

P.S. I've kicking things up a notch for the next few chapters and including more plot and story elements so expect that to thicken soon.

Chapter 10- Boundless

Kingston Residence (1:00pm)

The ride back to his house lasted about half an hour due to some accidents on the freeway that blocked up the fast lane on the Interstate 5 freeway; but as soon as he came back, Shawn called for an emergency meeting with all the equestrian conduits and the chief. The events that occurred in Kimball park was something that couldn’t be ignored. Especially after the close encounter with their Mirror Mistress kidnapper.

The first moments in the door, Soarin and Lyra had a small friendly reunion before Luna spoke to the Snow Conduit. “I didn’t think you would be back so soon.”

“Me neither. But for a good reason. Can everypony come into the living room? There’s something that we need to talk about.”

Rainbow, Soarin and the two sisters looked at each other with puzzled looks before looking back at Shawn’s father. “Hey, don’t look at me. I don’t know what’s going on either.”

“What’s going on is that Lyra and I encountered another conduit while in Kimball Park earlier.” Shawn replied to his father. He then sighed for a moment. “That Conduit was the same one that Kidnapped Soarin, Rainbow and Lyra.”

Shock was the next thing to set in. “Y-you mean you got attacked by the hooded lady!?!”

“Not attacked. I don’t even think she was even trying to attack us. More like test us and intimidate us if you ask me.” Shawn told them as he took out the small mirror shard that he found. “I saw this on the ground and upon further inspection, the edges of this piece are dull and blunt. Even if it was launched at me, it wouldn’t cut or slice anything.”

The shard was passed around for everypony to look at. Low and behold, the Snow conduit was right. Despite it looking like a sharp broken piece, nothing about it had an edge that could cut anypony. Then, Celestia asked another question. “Why do you think she went after you?”

“My best guess is that she’s been watching the moves I’ve been making. In two days alone; I found you, your sister, Soarin, Rainbow Dash, and Lyra. Something like that so quickly would be bound to attract her attention.”

“And you said she was there to…… test you?” Nicholas now asked his son.

“Yes. Not on combat, but more on problem solving. She was dropping hints through her choice of words in order to see if I could pick up on them and figure out how to get her to talk. She referred to herself as ‘The Mirror that knows all’, which is a reference based off of a fairy tale called Snow White; where one of the characters is an all knowing mirror that would only answer your questions if you speak in a rhyme.”

“Sounds like something Zecora would be interested in hearing about.” Rainbow snickered a little before paying attention again. “So what did you find out about Ms. Mirror Maniac?”

“Well, first off, she called herself Janus and did not say her actual name.”

“Jan-what?”

Shawn sighed for a minute, excusing himself from the room so he could grab his laptop and access google through the home's internet connection. He soon brought up a picture of what he was talking about after accessing the site of the online game; SMITE.

“According to History, Janus is the Roman God of Portals and Transitions and is also known as the God of beginnings. They say that he governs change, physically and emotionally, and that one that goes through a portal transitions into a new life. He is in touch with both the past and present, but controls neither and is said to only be seen with the interchanging of the seasons. The first month of the year, January, is named based off of him and is named so because it is the end of one year and the birth of the next.”

“Well, given what was said with her doorways, it makes sense.” The boy’s father said. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m not agreeing with this psycho. I just understand the logic behind the alias she decided to choose.”

“Is there anything else that you were able to acquire from her?” Luna asked this time. In response, Lyra was the one who spoke, forming images to go along with the words that she said.

“We tried asking her who did she bring, where were they, if she would bring anypony else from Equestria and how did her powers work.” Her powers formed a face with a question mark, a map, a collection of numbers, and a miniature model of the human conduit before all dismissing them with the swipe of a hand.

“Wow!! Those are some amazing powers!! What are they?” Rainbow asked, personally excited by what she had seen from the fellow conduit.

“I was told that these powers were based off of my Materialization magic back home. I think it was called… “ESP”?”

“Janus referred to it as Energy Creation. Anything she thinks of inside her head, she can create a form of it with her powers.” Shawn explained in order to help out Lyra. His father, just from thinking this, thought of Green Lantern.

“Back to the subject at hand, what did you find out from her?” Nicholas asked, the police Chief taking mental notes inside his mind to refer to.

“Well, the good news is that she told us that she won’t be bringing anypony else here.” Lyra replied to the question. “However, the bad news was that she didn’t say who exactly she brought here. Leaving us in order to find out for ourselves. But one thing that we did find out was a number.”

“A number? Number of what?”

“Number of Equestrians brought here.” Shawn added on. “And that is also where she slipped up.”

Taking out his phone, the chief of police realized what exactly he meant by that. “Did you… record her?”

“Briefly, but the part I did get was important. Listen.”

PLAY

“Lets see… You three there… another three there… another two over there… The grand total is twelve. This however, does not include the royal sisters since they came on their own; but it does include the three you found and the two that Delsin Rowe boy found.”

END

Expressions of shock, surprise and confusion were throughout the room as everypony looked at each other. The one who was the first to speak was Rainbow. “and just HOW THE HAY IS THAT SUPPOSE TO HELP?!!”

“Remember when she mentioned the grand total? That, is the number that we mean. When she says “You three there…”, Janus means Soarin, you, and Lyra. Additionally, the name she mentioned also gives us a clue.”

“Yeah, but just who is this “Delsin Rowe” that she speaks of?” Luna then asked. Shawn turned towards his father and then sighed.

“Should I explain or-.”

“No, you go on ahead. You probably know more than I do.”

The teen nodded. Another quick search on the internet and the teen was able to get another picture off of Google Images. This time from a news article of an interview with a certain small town delinquent.

“This, Ladies and Gentlemen, is Delsin Rowe. He’s the conduit that took down the head of the DUP three months ago in the city of Seattle.”

“Wow… He looks awesome…… Well, not as awesome as me of course, but on a similar level probably. It’s not like he can drop down from thousands of feet in the air on top of bad guys.”

“Actually…… He can.”

Before Rainbow could protest, Shawn showed her a youtube link of a cell phone video that caught the conduit performing a “Orbital Drop” on a platoon of DUP thugs in the Lantern District. All it did, was make her jealous. “OH COME ON!!! REALLY!!?!”

“Well, looks like Rainbow is jealous.”

“AM NOT!!!”

“I’m curious on one thing though…” Celestia said, ignoring Rainbow’s outburst. “How was he able to take down the head of the DUP? What would make him so special to where this “Janus” would have to keep an eye on him?”

“When it comes to powers, Delsin is a very special case. His main power is actually power absorption, where by grabbing a conduits hand, he obtains the same powers as the conduit he encountered. Through this, he has acquired Smoke Manipulation, Neon Manipulation, Video Manipulation and lastly, Concrete Manipulation.”

“Hmm… I wonder what he could do with Video…”

“Primarily, that’s not the focus. Right now, we know that he has two equestrian conduits with him and he’s in Seattle. A city far north of here.” With a few more clicks, Shawn pulled up a few pictures of Downtown Seattle and also pulled up a map of the United States to show a visual reference of how far apart the two cities were. It was indeed helpful, to a certain extent.

“Well, what are we waiting for!?! Let’s go-!”

“Not so fast, Rainbow.” Soarin told his friend. “We can’t just show up and expect to find him. Plus, we still have the DUP issue locally to deal with.”

“Soarin’s right,” Lyra added on. “We have a number of how many, a location, and a name. But we still don’t know who. We need to play our cards right if we don’t want to get ourselves caught or locked up in a cell.”

“Then how do you suppose we do that!?”

That… was a good question. Out of all of them in the room, there were only six conduits. Bringing everyone to Seattle would certainly cause a lot of unnecessary attention. But bringing no one would not help anypony that was there. What could they do?

Everyone was still in deep thought for about a few minutes, but soon, Nicholas thought of something and decided to speak up and say it. “Two of you should go while four of you should stay behind.”

All eyes were upon the chief the moment he said the idea. By observation, Nicholas could tell the confusion reeking their faces and saw that he needed to explain. “The two people who should go needs to be one person who is familiar with the country you’re in and another person who knows the people that you are looking for, but can also be recognized by the other person. Plus, two people can cover more ground.”

“What about three?”

“Seattle’s split up into two main districts. Plus, there is a possibility that the DUP is still there. Rather not risk one of you getting captured.”

“Nice idea, dad. But who do you think should go?”

“Well first, I think you should go, Shawn.”

The response honestly caught him by surprise. He had no idea that he would be his father’s first choice in this plan. “You’re smart, son. You’re like a walking Sherlock holmes who can figure things out in a snap. You are vitally important to helping Luna, Tia, and everyone else. You’re what's holding everything together and for that, I am very proud of you, son.”

A surge of positivity was felt through the snow conduit. Hearing this gave him a moral boost of confidence and made him feel like he could take on anything.

“As for the second individual, I believe either Luna or Celestia would be qualified for a few reasons.”

“Okay, what are they?” Luna asked

“Well, with you two being the rulers of Equestria that you are, everyone that is from your home are bound to recognize you one way or another. As for another reason, Shawn told me that you two were both capable of Teleportation. That will be how you will get to Seattle since the DUP will have security checkpoints at the airports and along the state and city borders.”

“Okay, the only thing that leaves us to figure out now is when to leave. Any ideas?”

“I would think tomorrow at the latest.” Shawn interjected. “That way, we would be able to use the rest of the day to prepare ourselves and head out first thing in the morning.”

“I agree. Plus, it’ll allow time for my sister and I to think on the matter.” Luna agreed with Shawn’s comment.

“I guess it’s settled for now. We’ll revisit the topic tomorrow.”

“I’ll be in the basement.” The snow conduit told his father before putting away his laptop and walking through a door that Luna and others thought was a pantry closet.

“I didn’t know you had a basement.” Soarin said, looking at Nicholas.

“Well, that’s the thing. When Shawn decided that he wanted to control his powers, he needed a place to practice.” Nicholas told everypony in the room as he readjusted the location of where he was. “So, I configured the basement to have blastproof and soundproof walls so that anytime he wants to take things a step further, he could go down and practice.”

“Well, that tempts me to go get some practice myself-.”

“Hold on Rainbow. There is something I want to talk to you about. All of you about.”

Next morning (5:30am)

By the time it was a little after five in the morning, Shawn couldn’t sleep anymore. He was awake, but he was also careful not to wake anypony else. From what he knew, Luna and the others were sleeping in the basement on the training rooms floor mats and using blankets that his mother bought during a family vacation in Seattle (Which was a better alternative than sleeping on the couch). It was where he also got a totem from the tribal leader of the… Akomish, he thought. Shawn couldn’t think straight right now, but decided to just focus on getting dressed and prepared.

The thought of waking anypony up though was interrupted by the sounds of a few voices talking in the living room. He could distinguish four of them. One was his dad, two of them were Celestia and Luna, but who was the last one? That’s when he saw who the fourth one was out of the corner of his eye, which caught him off guard.

His mother.

They were catching her up to speed on the present situation since she had returned from Hawaii early. Shawn heard them continue to conversate for another ten to twenty minutes on a numerous series of topics from the events of Shawn’s heroics at Target to finding Soarin, Rainbow Dash and Lyra and lastly; the encounter with Janus. Even though it seemed like a lot to take in, she seemed to manage. One moment though, when the conversation changed to Seattle and about some of the people that his father knew, a phone call just lead to some shock. Shawn couldn’t tell what was going on, but rather not have that affect him right now.

At one point though, Shawn decided that he had spent too much time waiting and decided to come out of his room. Gathering all of things, he went into the living room.

“Shawn? I didn’t expect you to be up right now.”

“Couldn’t sleep so I decided to come out for breakfast, only to find you guys.” Turning towards his mom, the Conduit gave her a warm hug. “Welcome home, mom.”

“Thank you honey. Oh, that reminds me, I have something for you.” His mother told him, going into her small suitcase to take out a silverish grey box that was square shaped and like 3-4 inches apart. She set it on the table and pushed it towards Shawn. When he opened it, he was surprised to see a necklace that was a charm that the cutie mark of Twilight Sparkle.

“T-thank you so much! I love it!!”

“You’re welcome, honey. I’m sorry for missing your birthday, so I wanted to make it up to you. I’m very proud of you. You’re using your gifts to help others…… Just like your aunt.”

“Wait… my Aunt?”

“Your Aunt Lucy. You probably don’t remember her much, but she died when you were only nine.” She sighed a little, looking at her son. “Do you remember the Empire Event? and The New Marais Catastrophe?”

Shawn nodded. Both of those events were practically the reasons why the DUP was set up in the first place. That way, an incident like that wouldn’t happen again. That’s when his mom told him that his Aunt was in New Marais during the time that the New Marais Catastrophe was going on. She was on an operation with assisting Cole McGrath, Empire City’s Electric man along with a friend named Zeke. But it was also where Shawn was told how Lucy Kuo had sacrificed herself along with Cole to make sure that the world could not be destroyed by a creature named The Beast.

“I tell you this because everytime I look at you, Shawn. I see her. Not just because of your powers. But also because of how you want to help people and I see that through helping Luna and Celestia and I am very proud of you for that.”

“Thank you… Thank you for telling me. I miss her, but she did the right thing. The same thing I’m going to make sure to do.”

With that, the Teen had a small light breakfast before going outside his home with Celestia, who was going to accompany him on his trip to Seattle. After saying their final goodbyes, Celestia and Shawn disappeared in a bright flash. But for Stacey; Shawn’s mother, she sighed deeply.

“Honey, are you sure it was a good idea not to tell him.”

“It’s too soon, dear. You can’t tell him that a good friend of yours died shortly after explaining Lucy’s passing.”

“I hope you're right… But something tells me he’ll find out about Reggie one way or another.”

End Chapter 10

Author's Note

End of one story arc. Onto another!! This felt a bit rushed, but meh, what can you do. At least trap music keeps me motivated.

Next arc: Seattle!

Chapter 11- Guardian

Unknown Location- 1:20am

Darkness. Darkness lingered throughout the room of a light prison cell that had no windows. No light. No light to allow the prisoner inside to see. Her hands were enclosed by a special restraint issued and used by the DUP. One that prevented a conduit from using their powers.

The Prisoner locked away was a conduit. But no one could see who it was from the outside. The DUP always used a compact prisoner cell that resembled a mobile storage unit so the captives would not know where they were taken or have any means to possible escape. The prisoner herself only had a 20ft x 20ft x 10ft block of space as light flooded the room and interrupted her sleep.

The woman in the cell wore an orange pair of DUP detainee jump pants and a grey t-shirt that had the DUP logo on the front of it in a bright yellow. She looked like she was in her mid forties judging by her appearance and also had dark greyish eyes. But her most unforgettable feature was her tied up and flat orange hair. The Conduit began to look around, unfamiliar with where she was. Until a new voice…… startled her.

“Evening, Brook.”

The wall in front of the prisoner began to disappear into a transparent glass barrier as it showed a man with brown eyes, slick back hair and black clothes with a coat that stretched down to his feet in all black. Two DUP bishops were by the man until he dismissed them with a wave of his hand. The female prisoner looked disgusted, but also partially relieved. Maybe for the fact that he’ll explain why she’s here.

“Roman, just what are you doing here? Don’t you remember that I’m a suspect of a case.”

“I understand that. But… Let’s just say that I pulled some strings.”

“Is that why I’m in this god forsaken holding cell? Matter of fact, where are we?”

“DUP Airliner. Going to San Diego.”

The captive was stunned. “Okay, tell me what you did.”

“Simple. You’ve never had a criminal record until now, so I had a plea deal arranged. The DUP not only paid for your bail, but you are under our protection now. The Queen might’ve fallen, but the king still remains.”

The prisoner grinned slightly. “So I take it that you’re in charge now…”

“Yes I am…… And I’ve been making some major changes-.”

“Sir!!” The intercom went off across the room and the small cabin. “We are approaching Carlsbad Private Airfields.”

“Excellent. Land the plane and we can prepare to move out. Afterwards, you’re clear to take Joker to Seattle to get Curdan Cay operational again.”

“Roger!!”

With a quick few key presses on a nearby keypad, Roman unlocked the door for the captive that was inside as she stepped on out. He offered to help take off the restraints and with a quick CRACK!!, a whiplash from his hands smashed the bindings on the prisoners hands.

“So, it seems like you’re wire powers have improved over the time I’ve been gone.”

“Very much,” The Wire Conduit told her as he handed to her a small pouch of stones for her to drain and absorb. The Two continued to walk down the hallway towards what appeared to be a cargo bay door. “Now, let me explain the ground rules. I kept most of the Rankings for the DUP as is, but I changed it to where not one person had total control. There’s the head, called the king. In which, that’s me. But I also have four other representatives who I split control of the DUP across the country.”

“Like the branches of government?”

“Exactly. There’s Jack, Ace, Joker and you, who is the queen. All five of us have powers and all five of us are also Prime Conduits.”

She was intrigued by the new setup, but wondered something. “Who are these conduits and what are their powers?”

“You’ll see soon enough.”

Roman opened the door to the cargo bay, letting his accompanying companion enter first out of courtesy. She was surprised by what she saw.

There were three people. All who were, in one way or another, expressing signs of powers. The first was a young woman around 25 years of age, who wore torn jeans shorts that went to the knee caps, a white shirt and a jeans jacket that had the symbols of playing cards on them and had the sleeves torn at the elbows along with red eyes and a pig tail hairdo that reminded some people of Harley Quinn. The second was a man around his early twenties and looked like a kid who decided to join the military instead of going to college. He wore camo pants, a dark green t-shirt, black shoes and had a silver watch on his right wrist and a wounded warrior wristband on his left. Brown hair, green eyes, calm face with glasses. The final person was of samoan descent with dreads that were tied up in the back. Grey eyes, dark skin, and a serious expression. Wore a sleeveless Nike Shirt and black cargo pants along with a pair of slip on shoes that replicated feet. Seemed to be about 38 years old.

“Giselle Eaton, Robert Breaker, James Murray. Joker, Ace, Jack.” Roman explained, pointing each one of them out. “Joker can manipulate a deck of cards to her will. Ace can bend, control, and become metal and Jack can shift the polarity of objects and control them with Magnetism.”

All three of them noticed Roman as he came on down the stairwell of the plane. “Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like you to meet the Queen of the West Sector. The Concrete Conjurer, Brook Augustine.”

Seattle, Lantern District (5:40am)

One moment, he was waving goodbye to his parents in his front yard. The next moment, Shawn found himself on top of a oriental shaped building that resembled a chinese temple. Teleportation never really came with a warning on it, but if it did, he would really appreciate it.

“You okay, Shawn?” Celestia asked, noticing that the Snow Conduit was in a small daze before he was back to normal.

“Y-yeah. Just warn me next time before we do that again, okay?”

“Point taken.” Celestia replied. She knew that for long distance Teleportation, it only worked if the caster had met two qualifications. First, you need to see the location in which you’re going to. Second, you need to take into account if you’re going by yourself or if you’re taking more than one individual at a time since it takes more energy to transport more people. For the first step, the Princess had some help by looking over a few photographs of the city that Shawn’s father had taken when he was with family on vacation here. The second step was easier since she had done it before with her sister, Luna.

“Hey… I remember this place.”

“You do?” Celestia asked, surprised a little.

“Yeah, this is the Lantern District in Seattle. Really chinese themed marketplace and building structure. If that’s the case, then the police station should be close by.”

Nicholas Kingston had a lot of Law Enforcement contacts over the years. But one of his best friends was Sheriff Ethan Douglas of Seattle PD. A kind man who was always up for lending a helping hand. Shawn hadn’t seen him since he was eight, so right now, he saw it as the best time as any in order to have a little reunion. His father even gave him a note with his cell phone number so the Snow Conduit could call him the moment he arrived in Seattle. Taking his phone out, he dialed the number that was on the sticky note given to him and waited for the phone to sync.

“Hello? Sheriff Douglas speaking?”

“Mr. Douglas, this is Shawn Kingston. I believe my father called you earlier in the day to let you know I was coming by.”

“Well, I’ll be damned. I haven’t heard from you in a long time.” The Officer replied, a bit shocked to hear the teens voice. “It’s great to hear from you. So, what brings you to Seattle?”

“A friend and I want to get the chance to meet Delsin. Maybe we can help you out and then you can help us out.”

“Sounds like a fair trade to me. Come to the parking lot by the police station and I can fill the two of you in on how you can help. Oh and Shawn…”

“Yes?”

“Welcome to Seattle.”

The call ended with a soft click as Shawn put the phone back in his pocket. Turning to Celestia, he asked her something. “You ready?”

“After you.”

Shawn could only reply with a chuckle as the two of them went from rooftop to rooftop using their flight based abilities that their powers specialized in. For Shawn, he had his hands at his sides as they were used like thrusters while Celestia had used her powers to forms wings out of Solar energy. They continued to travel across the rooftops for another few moments until the structure that the head officer was referring too was visible. From there, Shawn dropped downward, landing on one knee as he calmly got up.

“Are you alright?” Celestia asked, worried that he might’ve hurt himself.

“I’m alright. Plus side with being a Conduit is that I can’t exactly fall to death.”

Celestia chuckled at the stray comment. She admired his enthusiasm. Especially during these times. Soon, the chief came out to greet the two of them. Along with one other individual. He looked like a young genius. Almost same age as Shawn, but wore glasses, a collared shirt and a tie to go with a pair of slacks that he had too.

“Well now, you have most certainly grown my friend.”

“So have you. I almost half expected Reggie to be behind you too.”

That’s when Celestia noticed the Sheriff’s expression change. Change to an expression of sadness and despair. But the chief didn’t say anything. He just refocused his attention towards the topic at hand. “Right… Which reminds me, who’s your friend?”

Celestia herself sighed. She didn’t really think that far ahead on if somepony… or someone asked what her name was. The first thing that came to her mind though was a nickname given to her by Discord. It would have to do for now. “I’m Tia, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Same here, miss. Now, before we get down to business, there is someone I would like you to meet.” The Sheriff replied as he directed his attention towards his companion. “This is Ethan Morley. He’s part of our Tech Division and has something that can assist the both of you.”

“Indeed I do.” He replied, greeting both conduits with a small bow and a right hand over his chest. “Shawn, right?”

“Yes?”

“May I borrow your phone for a minute?”

“Sure, but why?”

“The Department has been receiving some help from the friends of Delsin Rowe over the past couple of months. One of these things includes a program that can allow you to decrypt DUP radio frequencies.” Nathan explained, transferring the program onto Shawn’s phone. “When you’re at high elevation or on top of a building, you can listen on what they’re saying.”

“Well hey, every bit helps.” Shawn said, smiling. For a moment, Celestia thought that the teen was being Greedy. But it wasn’t until the Conduit had to explain to her that it was a figure of speech that she thought otherwise. Nathan then applied the program to Celestia’s phone as well and then mentioned that he included a bonus for them as well, adding a software program similar to something that emergency response crews have been working on to where they can use nearby tech to their advantage. This, of course, reminded Shawn a lot of when Watch_Dogs came out and he was playing it alongside his father. Ah, the memories.

“Alright, that should do it.” The technician replied. “You two be careful now. Wouldn’t want you two to get ambushed by a bio-.”

“Nathan…” The Sheriff cut him off.

“What? I’m just concerned sir.”

“I know, but no one uses that term on the force.” Ethan scolded him. “Besides, you don’t know who is a Conduit and who isn’t.”

That’s when Shawn himself sighed. He knew that this topic would come up sooner or later, he just honestly didn’t expect it to come up right now.”Actually, there’s something I need to tell you, Ethan.”

“What is it?”

“I don’t know if dad told you this but… You know what, it’ll be easier if I showed you instead.” Putting his left hand in front of him, he aimed it as a rain puddle that was on the ground by the Sheriff’s feet and drained the source. Both members of the Police were stunned. They had no idea that he was an actual conduit.

“It started four years ago. Never been caught by the DUP.”

“Wow… That I did not expect. But, in all honesty, that just makes the task I have for you a lot easier.”

“Would you care to explain what this task is?”

“Certainly.” The Sheriff nodded. “We have cases of possible criminal activity being thwarted down by Seattle Center, Queen Anne and near the Ramiera. We just need a photo of what occurred so we can tell if Fetch caught them or not.”

Celestia and Shawn at this point were confused. “Pardon me, but who is this Fetch that you are talking about?”

“Her real name is Abigail Walker, but she goes by Fetch since it was a nickname her late brother gave her.”

“Hmm… My conduit senses are tingling. Is Fetch what I think she is?”

The Sheriff nodded. “Yeah, she’s a conduit that can control the energy and gas in Neon Lights. Use it to run real fast, fire lasers, and restrain thugs. Her handiwork is sometimes purple glowing restraints around their body, preventing them from moving.”

“Alright, thanks.” Shawn complimented the officer as he and Celestia left the scene. Soon, the two of them part ways. The Ramiera was closer, so Celestia was going to investigate there while the Snow Conduit would cross the newly repaired bridge to the other side and investigate Queen Anne and Seattle Center. Along the way though, a blitz of light rushed past him and it was followed by a strange voice that distracted him before he could even call Celestia.

“Excuse me, sir.”

Shawn turned around to see a lavender haired girl in a schoolgirl outfit running towards him. “Would you have happened to see a moving flash of light just now?”

“Yeah, it went into the Lantern District. Why do you ask?”

“It’s for… a project.” She replied before rushing off. Strange girl… almost reminded the snow conduit of… wait a second… could it be?

With a new thought on his mind, Shawn dialed Celestia as he was beginning to reach the halfway point of the bridge. “Hey, heads up. You got two conduits heading your way. One of them appears to be Ms. Light Show like what Ethan was talking about. But the other might be one that you would recognize.”

“What do you mean by that?” Celestia asked in response.

“Well, the other conduit is a girl with Lavender hair and is wearing a schoolgirl academy outfit. But the thing is, she sounds a lot like your student.”

A brief pause was followed up by a new question. “She sounded like Twilight?”

“More than just sounded. She also acted like her. I’m going to continue moving. Just keep me posted if you find anything new.” With that, Shawn ended the call and continued to move on. He was mostly in the clear, but had to use the sidewalk since cars were going across the bridge to and from each end and he rather not get himself ran over. However, there was one slight problem once he reached the end of the bridge.

A DUP checkpoint.

“Well crap. This is going to be a pain to deal with.”

One thing first though. He had to get in the Sheriff’s face for this.

“Shawn?”

“Sheriff……”

“Shawn? What’s the matter?”

“What’s the matter!? There’s a FREAKING DUP CHECKPOINT at the end of the bridge!! It’s like a military camp in the middle east!!!”

“There is? I didn’t hear anything about that from recent patrols. Isn’t Tia with you?”

“We split up in order to cover more ground. She was going to the Ramiera while I was going to go to Queen Anne and Seattle Center to kill two birds with one stone.” Shawn could hear the officer sigh deeply over the phone and slam down on his desk in anger. This was an unexpected development that delayed the current task. Other sounds include the tapping of a pen and flipping through a note pad. Soon though, he got back to him.

“Okay, only way I’m seeing you go in is for you to tear that hunk of junk down. Do you happen to see a cage labeled “Suspects” at the top of it?”

Shawn turned around, seeing it and a huge satellite dish that was twice as big as the one you would normally get if you signed up for DIRECTV. “Found it along with an ugly satellite dish and a bunch of cables. Can’t they find a way to be able to work wirelessly?”

“That must mean they’re by a communications tower. Taking that down will be a big help to you. If you do so, those bastards can’t call reinforcements.”

“Well that’s an added bonus. Time to go to work.” Hanging up the phone, Shawn casually played the part of a civilian as he put up his hood and walked over to a water cooler that was by the communications tower. He was watching the on duty DUP pawns check in with a few school buses that were taking a group of kids to the Space Needle as he drank a few cups of water. Next, he stealthily hid a few pieces of ice inside the Satellites control panel. The amount of heat it was creating would cause the water to melt and from there, cause it to short circuit.

Just as he was walking back towards the cage, one of the pawns caught sight of Shawn and started to walk over. “Hey you!! This area is off limits to civilians!”

‘Play it cool, Shawn. You got this.’ Shawn told himself before speaking. “Oh I’m sorry sir. I’m a bit new here and not use to how things are set up unlike how they are back in California.”

“It’s okay sir, these things happen-.”

A few seconds later, a loud buzzing crack could be heard on all the handheld radios that the DUP had on hand.

“What the hell? Hey Michaels!! Communication’s down!”

“Really? Now? Dammit. Okay, go check it out. I’ll deal with the kid.”

‘Crap, think fast!’ The Snow Conduit thought to himself. “Hey sir, there’s something on your face.”

“My face? What is it-?”

SMACK!!!

“My FIST!!!”

The attack knocked the DUP pawn to the ground as his colleague aimed his rifle. “Alright, that’s it. Let me see your hands!!!”

“Oh, you want to see my hands now?” The Conduit taunted. It was a mistake that the DUP will soon regret. From around the whole entire area, a cold draft can be felt in air as it caught the attention of all the troops in the area. Mostly because that feeling was snow and ice freezing around their feet. From Shawn’s outstretched hands, he now had prepared one of his strongest abilities.

Absolute Zero.

“Code red!! Weapon’s free!!! We had a bio-!”

Before the DUP officer could even finish that sentence, Shawn’s hands reached the ground, blasting all of the troops with a forceful shockwave of Snow and Ice. The DUP officers were also restrained to the ground in frozen restraints that held them down to the ground.

“Okay, first off. The proper term is conduit…”

Before he could finish his sentence, he realized that there was a DUP knight that he had not noticed earlier that was preparing to fire it’s Railgun. When the bullets started to fly, Shawn formed a Frozen barricade to block the shots.

“ …… Second, do you idiots know that bullets ricochet?”

When Shawn’s powered up palm met the shield, the bullets that were residing inside the ice shot back at the knight with much more force than before and covered in ice, freezing him in place. Before Shawn could leave though, he needed to take care of the convoy a few feet away from him-.

Until a loud piercing blast sent the vehicle sky high and falling towards him.

“Holy sh-!!”

The Conduit was lucky enough to dash out of the way and avoid the falling transport as it crashed down. As he looked at one of the DUP soldiers on the pavement, Shawn sighed.

“For the record, that was not me.”

After freeing the people in the suspects cage, Shawn dashed away from the scene in a cloud of snow as he went up topside. Well, that was one thing down. Now he needed to go take care of the errand that the Sheriff asked for.

Meanwhile,

At first, Delsin was trying to enjoy his calm monday morning. However, as he was going to the Market District through Georgetown, he found something… unusual. Matter of fact, downright bizarre. Instinct told him to reach for his phone and call up a fellow conduit he knew.

“Eugene?”

“What’s up, Delsin? Trying to find out where Vinyl is?”

“No, it’s not that. I just arrived at a DUP checkpoint and it looks like hell has frozen over. There’s Ice everywhere.”

“Ice? That’s strange. It’s the middle of Summer. How can that happen?” Eugene asked… “Unless… Hang on a second, let me checked something.”

While he waited for the Teen Angel to get back to him, Delsin began to investigate the area. Hard Ice held down a LOT of DUP’s. Which meant that whoever this Conduit was, they really picked a fight. He also saw a small crowd standing over by a couple of school buses. Taking into account that they could be possible witnesses, Delsin approached one of the teachers and walked towards them.

“Excuse me. I just got here and what exactly happened?”

“You didn’t see it?” One of the students on board called out. Possible a middle schooler based on what they sounded like.

“See what exactly?”

“This kid came in here and had the stones to pick a fight with all the Pawns in the area. He used Ice to catch them by surprise and when he was done, he left in a cloud of Snow.”

“Right… Snow… got it.” Delsin said, taking a few mental notes inside his head. “Oh, and do you remember what he looked like?”

“Had a blue jacket, jeans, black shoes, cyan V-neck and some sort of necklace that had a spark. Also had white headphones too. Couldn’t see his face because of his hood.”

“Okay, thanks kid. You’ve been a major help.” The Akomish thanked as he gave the kids a real sight by turning into smoke. Going through a few vents, Delsin got topside on the Seafood restaurant named Olaf’s and got his phone out again.

“Eugene, you find out anything because I got some details on something that might be surprising to you.”

“Okay, lay it on me, Delsin. Twilight just got back by the way. She told me to tell you hi.”

“Right… Anyways, remember when you mentioned the Snow Conduit that captured that Pablo… What’s his name? Aw, Screw it. Anyways, I think we’re dealing with the same guy. Can you find anything on a conduit with a Blue jacket, jeans, cyan shirt, and black shoes. He also seems to have a pair of white headphones and a Spark like necklace.”

Eugene took a few moments to search what his friend asked for, but to his surprise, he found a lot more than what he expected. “Dude, we have seemed to bite off more than we can chew with this one. There’s a video on YouTube showing what this guy did and people are now calling him a Guardian Angel.”

“More like Snow angel if you get what I mean.”

“Del, we already have one angel. We don’t need two.”

“Right… Let me come back to the hideout so you can show me the video-.”

“No need. I sent it to your phone so you can see it for yourself.”

Delsin chuckled a little as he looked at the clip that Eugene forwarded to him as he watched the Teen defeat the DUP pawns and outsmart a knight. At one moment though, he saw him hold a cell phone. This could be a key to try and track him.

As he returned to the hideout, the Akomish could see him computing strings of numbers and numerous computer codes to try and find the phone of the Snow Angel that was reported to be seen earlier. Local news had already caught attention of the incident and it had a mixture of opinions. Mostly positive but still a fifty-fifty majority. Fetch and Vinyl soon returned to see what was going on, only to find Eugene hard at work with no one wanting to interrupt him.

“Uh… What’s up with Pixels?”

“You heard about what’s on the news?” Delsin asked them, showing the two conduits what was on the nearby TV. It took a few moments, but soon, they were caught up to speed.

“Well, great… First Sound and Magic, now snow? Is there like some sort of Conduit convention that we don’t know about that’s drawing all of them here?”

“Not quite sure, but Eugene is trying to-.”

“Got it!!” Eugene interjected in pure joy. “I found his phone. He’s calling someone now.”

“Isn’t that considered spying?”

“Not if they can’t hear us.” Eugene told them, using his video powers to pull out what was on a nearby computer and putting it up on the flat screen TV in the room like he was throwing darts. Soon, the conversation of the Conduit and the person he was calling echoed throughout the room.

“Hey Ethan. I checked the spots in Queen Anne and Seattle Center for you. The First one was definitely Fetch’s handiwork since I found the guy held down by Neon on the side of a Wall. The Second though was a lot…… different.”

“Different? How?” Came the familiar voice of Seattle PD’s Sheriff.

“The criminals I found restrained in Seattle Center looked like they were held by soundwaves. Speaking of which, some kind of Noise Missile blew up a convoy after I tore down the DUP checkpoint?”

“Sounds like you ran into the Sound Siren. DUP’s been talking about a conduit with Sound based powers going around and defending herself against the DUP. Last I heard was that she was in a DJ get up and had two shades of blue in her hair and was very wavy.”

“Got it. Thanks man.”

“Anytime, Shawn.”

The call did not provide a lot of information that they could work with. But, out of all this, Delsin saw some kind of connection… and realized something. Something big. “Hey Eugene…”

“Yeah?”

“Remember when you told me the rumor that this guy was related to Nicholas Kingston? The head of the San Diego police?”

“Yeah? You said that you and Reggie knew him when he and his family came to Seattle during a cookout eight years ago, right?” Eugene told the Akomish and he nodded his head. “How does this relate to this though?”

“That’s because it is related. He has a son that I met during that day. His name was Shawn.”

“Just like the name mentioned in the phonecall.” Twilight said. “Eugene, is there a way that you can identify somepony using your powers?”

“My computer had an identification program, but I need a clear visual of his face in order to see it. He had his hood on the whole time he was fighting the DUP.”

“Damn…” Delsin said to himself… “Wait… what about the cameras?”

“Cameras?”

“Yeah, the security cameras in the area could’ve seen him when he didn’t have his hood on. Can’t you try that?”

“I can,” Eugene sighed. “But it’ll take time.”

“How much?”

“Given the amount of districts seattle has and that a scan on each one would take an hour… If I start now, it’ll be done by tomorrow morning.”

Vinyl sighed, plopping herself on the nearby couch. “Well, at least that allows us the chance to sleep on it. We can find out what he looks like in the morning.”

“Did you see anything, Vinyl? You did see him there?”

“Only his Black hair and blue eyes. That’s about it.”

“Well, every bit helps I guess.” Twilight said. It won’t be till tomorrow that they would find out about anything else about this kid. But for some strange reason, the Element of Magic thought that he wanted to find them.

Wanted to help them.

End Chapter 11

Author's Note

Alright. Now to work on the next arc. I came up with this one as a quickie given the amount of free time on my hands. Additionally, The Chapter is named "Guardian" based off the Animation by Kanashiipanda and that I've been listening to the soundtrack for it non-stop.

Now, Shawn and the gang are going to have more problems. Problems involving Cards, Concrete, Metal, Magnetism, and Wire. Better stay on your toes, Kiddos.

Fun Fact: Roman's wire powers are based off of an unused power in Infamous- Second Son that was scrapped nearing the end of production. Have a look for yourself.

Chapter 12- Broken Glass

Location: Seattle (Sundown)

On top of the Space Needle, Shawn leaned back on the top of the towering colossus of architecture, taking a much needed rest from his earlier endeavours. He had fun tearing down a DUP checkpoint and helping out the Sheriff. But with the amount of energy he had already expended, the teen felt like he ran a 5k marathon. A much needed rest was well worth his time as the sun was slowly beginning to set.

As the big ball of fire slowly went down over the horizon, the Conduit pulled out something that was given to him the last time that he was here. An Akomish totem. It was a gift from a dear friend of both Shawn and his father. But to Shawn, this friend felt more important to him that they might’ve realized.

When he was only eight, he and his family went to Salmon Bay for a friendly cookout. Sheriff Douglas had invited the Kingstons to come and travel since he thought it was a good chance to have their families get together. During this time was when they met Reggie Rowe, who at the time, was considered as a Blueblood. His brother at the time, was a sophomore in high school and just absolutely was thankful for getting out of there. Despite a few other kids around his age playing games by the shore, the young Kingston at the time was very nervous and stayed as far away as possible. But then, those kids began to mess around with him, pushing him around and calling him names. Teasing him.

Then, one last push had Shawn falling into the bay. None of the children then realized two things. One, that Reggie and Delsin Rowe had seen the events play out. Two, Shawn at the time couldn’t swim. If it weren’t for the Blueblood jumping after him at the time, Shawn could have drowned. It was an act of kindness that he was ever so grateful till this day.

Shawn still remembered when Reggie gave him the token as a way to help him in the toughest of times. He even remembered when Delsin was complaining about the freezing cold evening weather and Shawn let him keep a hat he originally had at the time.

A red beanie cap.

Opening his eyes again after the brief look on the past, Shawn leaped back onto his feet. Taking a brief second, he sent a text to Celestia, saying that he was going to check on something for a moment and that he would be back in an hour. To not cause any commotion, he took what was left of his powers and landed softly onto a rooftop with a puddle of water. The Conduit drained the source and continued to move to street level, walking towards a bus stop and looking at the map. He couldn’t tell much about it since it looked like it was vandalized because of their being red spray paint across a few points that would be bridges. But Shawn remembered that the bridge from South Island to North Island was still functional. The Conduit wondered if this meant something as a bus came up and soon opened it’s doors to allow him inside.

“Hello, does this bus go to Salmon bay?”

“Yeah, in two weeks…” The driver remarked with a snarky tone. “Ever since that Augustine B*tch was here, she tried to break apart the bridges to prevent anyone from getting in and out. The North and South Island bridge is fixed, but the bridge to where you want to go is only halfway done. Even with the help of that Delsin Rowe kid.”

Wow… Apparently, he’s become the talk of the town. “How close can you get me before I go on my own?”

“Kid, do you have a death wish or something?”

“No. I have a friend I want to visit.” Shawn replied back. The Driver sighed. He told the teen to get in and make sure to pay. Shawn took out a ten dollar bill and placed it in it’s respected place. He noticed a couple of other individuals on the bus with him as it began to move. But one of them was reading a magazine and the other had a hood on, so the conduit wasn’t able to see their faces. Soon though, after ten minutes, the bus stopped.

“This is as far as I can take you kid.” The driver grunted, proceeding to turn around immediately.

“Thank you sir.” The Conduit started as he began to make his way across. What he didn’t know though was his actions caught the attention of the two individuals on the bus. Now, the individual holding the paper had it fold rapidly and form a new shape in her hands.

“Should I follow him or you?”

“You should keep an eye on him. I’ll look around the city and see if he is working with anyone you might know or recognize.”

‘Man, the driver wasn’t kidding when he said that Augustine trashed the bridge.’ Shawn thought to himself. Different segments were half submerged in water while other pieces had strands and puddles of water that formed from High Tide. Around a third of the way there, Shawn took a moment to fully drain one of these pools of water to restore his powers fully and not only a portion like back in the city. It felt good to be rejuvenated again. Like he was going at full throttle now!! And that felt amazing!!!

The only problem though sometimes was the gaps of space in between certain segments of the bridge and also the fact that one small misstep could kill him. If it weren’t for him dashing across gaps, then going across would’ve been three times harder to accomplish. He loved it when jumping across though as he enjoyed the thrill of being able to move freely. Something way different from his eight year old self all that time ago.

Once he made it across though, he found a lot of empty and abandoned cars. Possibly ditched when there was a mad dash to get across the bridge before it collapsed. He didn’t find anything valuable inside them besides a few spare bucks and some dollar bills. He took a few, but not all of them because he rather not have pickpocketing become a habit. He was on the lookout for a Road sign, not a few twenties on the ground.

He didn’t exactly find one immediately, being greeted by old DUP equipment that was trashed and blast shards that had already been drained. He also found broken concrete barriers and some other bits of junk until he found something that he came across that caught his attention. A light blue pick up truck, vintage. He noticed though that the door was unlocked and found a keyring on the ground. On it though, had something stand out.

A small police dog tag that said Reggie Rowe across the top.

‘If this was Reggie’s, then why the hell would he leave his truck out in the middle of nowhere?’ Shawn wondered. Looking at the road, the only thing that he thought was that the road would lead him to where Reggie would’ve been coming from. Setting the key on the drivers seat, he closed the door to the car and ran. The road was filled with Twists and turns as he dashed off. But as he came closer to his destination, he saw something that… in truth… startled him. The Teen was hoping to see the one who saved his life. But instead, the illusion of what he wanted to see was replaced by what was really there.

It was a Memorial… A Memorial of Reggie.

Shawn, in disbelief, went closer. His expression was different now as he noticed Bouquets of Roses and some blown out candles near the base of the the Billboard. He was in disbelief… In denial. This couldn’t be real… Was Reggie, the same man that risked his life to save his so long ago…… really gone? He dropped to his knees, tears gushing out a little as he tried to get a grip on his feelings.

“No… This can’t be…” The Teen tried to tell himself. But soon, reality caught up to him upon noticing a letter on the ground. Encased in a frame.

To a loving and caring Brother,

I’ve never really appreciated how much you’ve done to help me until it was too late. I’m sorry that I didn’t listen to you when I should have, but thank you for having my back every step of the way. I will continue to do the right thing and make Seattle a safer place for not just the people, but for conduits like Fetch, Eugene and I.

I love you, Brother.

Delsin.

The last part had Shawn dry up the tears from his face and remain as he got up. But something else caught his attention. Turning around he heard the sound of someone talking.

“I don’t know who you are, but I’m giving you one last chance to leave before I call the police-!!”

Shawn raised an eyebrow at the sound of the voice as he turned towards the Lodge and made his way up the hill. That’s when he saw two people. Both of them women. But the thing was. Shawn had seen both of them before. One of the women was the hooded individual on the bus. While the other was a old friend.

“Betty?”

The elderly woman was holding a stapler and reaching for a cell phone, but the hooded lady responded with shattering a glass car window and having the shards swarm around her hands.

‘Oh no!’

The glass formed small arrowheads as it broke the nearby phone to pieces and caused the elderly adult to fall backwards. But as the conduit was launching a few more projectiles at her, Shawn reacted on instinct and put himself between her and the projectiles. Quickly, Hardened Snow similar to an igloo formed around him, blocking the glass shards. Once the shield came down, Shawn stood firmly in front of the hooded conduit. It wasn’t Janus, that was for sure. The Hood was from a green cloth jacket, not a leather one.

“Leave her alone.”

“Well, aren’t you brave. Little boy.”

The voice sounded like a hissing snake, but it also seemed… familiar. When the woman took off her hood though, the look on her face made Shawn recognize immediately who it was.

“Miss, get inside.”

The elderly adult behind him nodded as she closed the door behind her. In a split second, Shawn dispersed into snow as he tried to get behind the woman. But, her hands reached the ground and a glass cocoon formed around her, causing Shawn to his broken glass and make his hands bleed. What he didn’t notice though was the blast of shards that followed and sent him flying back a few feet.

“Damn it.” Shawn cursed as he spat a bit of blood that was in his mouth. “I expected tricks coming from you, but nothing like that.”

“Oh? So you know me?”

“Quite. You don’t know that here, you have quite a reputation… Chrysalis.”

“That’s Queen chrysalis to you.”

“A queen that failed.” The Snow Conduit snickered.

“SHUT UP!!!” The Queen yelled, forming two spinning buzzsaws around her and chucking them at him. Shawn realized though, that the attack was a lot like Frieza’s Death Slicer attack since the sawblades chased him after he originally dodged it. The Two saw struck him around the chest, but didn’t cause him to lose focus as he charged some energy inside his hands.

“Try all you like, Snow boy!! That isn’t going to work on me.”

“Heh… You seem to forget one thing…” Shawn said, grabbing a stone on the ground and channeling his energy around it.

“That at one point…”

WHOOSH!!

“...Glass can always break.”

The teen was quite right. Especially since the stone he shot at her had enough force to break through her defensive cocoon. But the teen himself was in a bad situation. Almost half of his energy was expended and he was getting torn apart here by a Glass Conjuring Chrysalis.

“Why you little-!!! Do you WANT to die!?!”

Before the queen could do anything though, scraps of paper began to form around her. Shawn thought for a minute that the evening breeze was kicking up and blowing in any trash and paper from the harbor. But he soon shut himself up on that thought when a new figure stood in between the two of them.

A girl with a paper mask. A mask of a Rabbit.

“Hunh?”

The girl said nothing at first. But as she turned towards Shawn, he could only hear the girl say one word.

Yukianesa

Before the Snow Conduit could even react, a swarm of paper formed around both herself and Chrysalis. In the Vortex, Shawn saw moving origami of butterflies and doves flow with the wind. The only thing that was left behind was a piece of Origami on the street.

“A Paper dove? Really?”

Taking the dove, Shawn pocketed it inside his pocket as he walked back towards the lodge of the Akomish that was nearby. The door slowly opened and Betty stepped out.

“O-oh my… Are you okay?”

“Yeah. Are you okay, Betty?”

The voice along with the fact that the teen knew her name soon gave Betty the surprise of her life. “S-shawn? Dear, is that you?”

The Conduit nodded, hugging her. “Yes, it’s me…”

The two of them took some time to talk. From there, Shawn began to explain everything from how he obtained his powers to what had occurred since they had last seen each other. Betty herself had told Shawn about how Delsin got his powers originally from a two faced redneck named Hank, but also what happened back with Augustine. From there, she explained every piece of Delsin’s adventure three months ago in order to save the tribe. Not only that, but soon afterward, he made sure to keep a promise to his brother and constructed the self made memorial for Reggie.

Hearing how Reggie died made Shawn feel hurt at first, but soon, he was able to come to grasp with everything. He had received Christmas cards from them for the past few years and letters saying about their times in this city. In a way, Shawn felt like he lost a family member more than a friend.

Through this though, he also learned something important and in a way, could relate to his encounter earlier. Emotions were like Glass. They could break under pressure if not kept in check. Chrysalis was a prime example of that. Her anger, jealousy and rage fueled her fury when she fought him, but also caused her to become overconfident. In a way, too overconfident. Just like the way he remembered it in the season 2 finale.

Before he left to return to the city though, he left one final thing behind at the memorial. The totem that Reggie had given him originally, but now, it had a ribbon that had a simple message.

Thank you for motivating me to become the person that I am.
-Shawn Kingston, Your Friend

Location: San Diego

Ever since Augustine got back into the DUP, the conduit realized that she had a LOT to catch up on. Almost three months worth. But to her surprise, she was caught off guard by the changes that were made in Seattle. Her old stomping grounds. What she feared would happen to the conduits she couldn’t protect was non existent. Instead, Conduits and Humans co existed with one another. It was only a month ago that the DUP had returned to Seattle, but Augustine saw the changes that were made in the city that made the place seem… better.

But as she turned on the TV in her office to hear the World News, one of the headlines from the News Report caught her attention.

“Earlier today, Seattle and members of the DUP got a big surprise today as a new Conduit appeared today in the north island of Seattle’s market district. A cell phone video caught the individual in action as he protected a few individuals from some Soldiers of the DUP and defeated them with powers of Ice and Snow. Many people are calling this individual “The Snow Angel” after the display he put on today, but only time will tell whether or not he is here to help the people here or hurt them.”

Shortly after though, Augustine shut off the TV. A new conduit? With snow based powers? This to her, was very intriguing. But her train of thought was interrupted when Breaker knocked on the door to her office.

“Ms. Augustine? Can I come in?”

“Please. None of the formalities… Just call me Brook or Augustine, Mr. Breaker.”

The Metal conduit nodded as he stepped in. “There’s an assignment for you that I picked up that you might be possibly interested in. There was a Bioterrorist found in Portland; Oregon that some of our forces believe that she’s either insane, mentally ill or flat out crazy. Roman thinks that since you have a way with these individuals that you can be able to calm her down and be able to talk to her.”

Augustine sighed. It had been only hours after being on bail and now she was being put to work? God, can she never catch a break. “Where are they holding her?”

“Cell thirty two in the Containment wing.”

“I’ll go now. But can you do me a favor while I’m gone?”

“Of course,” Robert replied. “What can I do to help?”

“There’s been some reports in the media about a conduit called “The Snow Angel” up in Seattle. Can you collect any information that you find on them and put it on my desk for when I get back?”

“Certainly.”

With that, Augustine left the office and made her way towards the containment cell that Breaker had told her. Upon arrival, something told her that this might be a long conversation. especially with the amount of yelling she heard. The conduit she found was a girl, looked to be about nineteen years old, Silver hair, blue hoodie and jeans, all covered by a DUP jumpsuit. She had a patch on her clothes that either looked like a moon and a wand or something else. But most importantly, this girl seemed angry. Almost reminded Augustine of Fetch when she brought in her brother’s “boss” and allowed her to get revenge for her brother.

The Concrete Conjurer stepped inside. Sitting across from this girl as she began to speak. “Thank you for being patient. I am not here to harm you. I just want to talk.”

The comment was met with silence, but with an expression of mixed feelings.

Augustine sighed. “Tell me, what is your name?”

This time, she got an answer. “Trixie. Trixie Lulamoon.”

“Ms. Lulamoon, I’m going to ask you a series of questions and I want you to be able to answer them to the best of your abilities. These questions are related to your whereabouts of why you were in Oregon.”

“Trixie does not know how she got here and if Trixie tells you anything, you might not believe me.”

“Ms. Lulamoon,” Brook continued. “I can assure to you that I won't judge what you say or tell me. I’ve worked with many individuals such as yourself who were frustrated, scared and were in the same position as you. Now tell me, how did you find yourself in Oregon?”

The girl in the middle of the room now sighed. “Fine. Trixie will tell you.”

End Chapter 12

Author's Note

And now, the second power that was cancelled in Second Son is revealed. I thought this power would work with Chrysalis for two reasons. One, Her emotions affect her abilities and her hopes and dreams at the Canterlot wedding were shattered like Glass (Excuse the pun). Two, one of the powers for glass that was demonstrated was this Cocoon ability that reminds me of the Changelings

Song:

Additional Note: Celia's nickname for Shawn means "Ice Sword" and is based off of the Weapon wielded by Jin Kisaragi from BlazBlue

Chapter 13- Snow Vs. Sound

Chapter 13- Snow vs. Sound

Location: Private Airfield (Outside of Kansas City)

“Come on, one more time.”

“Are you sure, Spike? I know that you want this, but you’ve been at this for almost three hours. Are you sure this is a good idea?”

“Rarity, this is the only possible way for me to get a hold of my powers and Doughy knows what he’s doing. Plus, I want to be ready for anything.” The Young dragon replied. Thanks to Doughy Pastel, Spike and Rarity had been learning how to control their newfound powers for the past couple of days. It was the morning of Day Three at the Airfield and with Zeke currently being “occupied”, Spike was the one who insisted that they get some extra practice.

“Okay, but maybe we should focus on something new.” The Ink conduit suggested. “Your powers aren’t just for fighting after all.”

“They aren’t?” Rarity now asked.

“They can be used for multiple purposes, including Movement, restoring your energy so you can fight longer and in some cases for certain powers, Flight.”

This reply from Doughy had mixed reactions. Especially from Rarity. Spike though, was very eager to find out what he could possibly do.

“However, it might take some time for you to discover what you can do. You two did just gain your powers recently and haven’t used them much besides training with the dummies back here.” Doughy then said, relieving Rarity and disappointing Spike. All three of them soon heard Zeke calling them over as they saw him by an airplane that he was putting the finishing touches on. Giving it a lightning bolt paint job.

“There we go, all done! She’s ready for flying now.”

“What do you got there, Zeke?” Spike asked.

“This, Spike, is the Ionic Vortex. My personal work of art if you ask me. And it’s going to help us out with traveling. We’re leaving today.”

The three conduits looked at each other in confusion. “Leaving? To where?”

“Seattle. A few of my contacts told me that there's been some conduit activity going on there and with a little bit of luck, we might find your friends. Now hop on in. It’s going to be a bit of a long flight before we reach our destination.” Rarity herself just gulped at hearing “Flight”. She has had bad experiences involving aerial travel from the Junior Flyers competition to the storm at Wonderbolt academy. The Crystal Conduit just hoped that this trip would not end up being a repeat incident. Because this time, there would be a flying pegasus around to save her from falling.

Seattle, Washington

As the sun rose, Shawn woke up to the sound of his phone going off and the sight of a new text message for him. It was one from his mother, wishing him the best of luck while he was up in Seattle. For him, it felt like an odd way for him to wake up in the morning, but at least he was up. After yesterday’s encounter at Salmon Bay, The Snow conduit needed to ask his Sheriff contact about one of the Conduits that he encountered yesterday. The Girl with the white paper mask of a rabbit.

Stretching out his arms, he drained an open source of Water that was nearby as he prepared to make the call. Phone, Previous calls, Sheriff Douglas… Now to wait for the phone on the other end to pick up and connect.

“Sheriff Douglas speaking, how can I help you?”

“Good morning to you too, sheriff.” Shawn replied in a sarcastic tone.

“Well, I didn’t expect my first call of the day to be from you, Shawn, Is everything going alright for you and your friend so far?”

Shawn shrugged a little. “Yeah, you can say that. Hey, can I ask you something real quick? I ran into another conduit yesterday and I was hoping you can help me out with finding out who she is. Do you have any files on any conduits that can control Paper?”

The phone line on the other end soon went silent for a few seconds. Then, the Sheriff spoke again. “Was she a girl with a Japanese schoolgirl uniform?”

“Yeah and she had a white paper mask that reminded me of when my photography teacher decided to dress up as Donnie Darko.” Shawn replied. He remembered that day because a lot of his fellow classmates were scared Sh*tless when his teacher kicked through the door that day. Shawn didn’t get scared though because he was the one who helped him out with the plan. Oh how he had missed those memories.

“Kid, what the hell did you get yourself into?”

Shawn looked back at his phone, confused. “What’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong? What’s wrong is that you crossed paths with the last conduit you wanted to run into. Have you ever heard of Celia Penderghast?”

Shawn shook his head. “No, first time I’ve heard that name. Why? Is she dangerous?”

“I don’t even know where to begin…” Ethan sighed. “She’s a Conduit with a bloody past. Founded by Augustine shortly after the events that happened in New Marais. Do you remember the story of how she captured an eight year old girl in order for her to form the DUP seven years back?”

“Yeah, Who hasn't?”

“That’s the thing. Celia was that girl.”

“Dear god……”

“It gets worse.” The Sheriff told him. “Her whole history with the DUP and some events that occurred three months earlier were all composed in a huge case file here named “The Paper Trail”. It was given that name after she lead Delsin Rowe on a wild goose chase all over the city, leaving behind clues of her past in the form of Paper doves… Maybe this could help you though.”

“Help me? How?”

“It might give you a starting point to investigate. In the file, she tried to execute murders to resemble those of three conduits that broke out of Curdan Cay during that time frame. One of them occurred at a concert hall and club called the Crocodile Lounge. Since you’ve been searching for the Sound Siren and most of her sound abilities relate to music, maybe it’s a possible location in which she may be hiding out.” The Sheriff brought up a very good point. It was the only other place that Shawn knew of in the city that a conduit like that could be hiding. Other than a music store of course, but who cares right now. He had a lead and one that he wasn’t going to pass up on.

“I’ll look into it right now. Where is it?”

“Should be around where Queen Anne is I believe.” The Sheriff told Shawn. He thanked him and ended the call, soon getting down to street level as he kept his eyes peeled for the club he was looking for. It took him quite some time to find just one building, but after twenty minutes of searching both high and low for it, the conduit finally found what he was looking for. He was lucky that there wasn’t any bouncers or anything in front of the club. In fact, it seemed to be closed to the public given the looked of it. Probably going under a remodel. Due to this, he saw it as the perfect cover for him to just go inside and look around.

‘Let’s take a peek.’ He thought as the conduit opened the door. He was greeted by piles of rubble and concrete that fell from the roof above as well as shards of glass. Debris was littered almost all around him as he looked around the empty club. There wasn’t any signs of anyone possibly being inside, but……

Creek!

There was always the back alley. Ah yes, the back alley that was dimly lit, even with the morning sun and mist. Good times.

As Shawn made his way around back, he could hear something. He could hear a catchy tune and some music followed by the tapping of a foot. As he turned a corner, the Conduit came in contact with the blue haired girl that the police have called the Sound Siren. Or… As Celestia referred to her… Vinyl Scratch.

However, their first encounter wasn’t exactly a friendly one. Vinyl’s first reaction to seeing Shawn was rushing at the teenager and pinning him against a wall, creating a Sonic Blade around her arm and holding it up to his throat. “Who are you!? What the hell do you want from me!?”

“I just want to talk-.”

“Bullsh*t-!”

“You know, talks like this are a little easier when there ISN’T a blade at my throat.” The response from Vinyl was to throw Shawn to the ground. But she was surprised to see him drain a puddle of water as he got back up. “Oww, what gives?”

“Y-you’re a Conduit!?”

“Duh? Why else would I try to be finding a fellow Conduit?” Shawn told her. “Name’s Shawn. What’s yours?”

Vinyl was hesitant. She was unsure if she could trust the teen. But, she had a different idea in mind for that. “Vinyl Scratch.”

“Well, Miss Scratch, I am trying to find other conduits like you and figure out a way to help you guys the best I can. You rather not stick around and get hunted by the DUP forever now, do you? I can provide proof if you need it.”

“ …… Proof is useful. However, I’ll need a different kind of proof than what you might be thinking.” The Sound Conduit told her. “Outside of the city is this place… I don’t exactly know what it is, but I know that it goes by the name of Coldridge. It’ll be a wide open space and the best place for us to demonstrate your capabilities. How about it?”

“Whatever works for you.”

“Good… Because opportunities like this don’t last long.”

With that, the DJ ran off in a vibrant burst, leaving behind a silver streak for Shawn to follow that was quickly fading away. “Man, she wasn’t kidding either.” The Snow Conduit soon gave chase, going after the Sound Siren and moving through the side streets of Seattle as a cold breeze. The citizens in the street just thought that cold air was coming in from up north near the Canadian border, but in reality, Shawn was racing against the clock to chase after Vinyl. He was neck and neck with her as the roads soon lead to outside of the city and to a long chain link fence that Shawn found. The sign on the front read “Coldridge Private Airfield”.

“Well, here we are.” He sighed, going through the chain linked fence and entering the field. He personally wondered why Vinyl would want to lead him to a location like this, but there were a few clues that had hinted to him what it possibly might be. Wide open space. No one else around. Hell, not even anything to disturb them. The perfect place for two conduits to square off in a battle of wits.

“Well, I’m glad you were able to keep up with me.” The DJ smirked as she cracked her knuckles, stretching her neck out from side to side. “You pretty impressive if you didn’t fall behind from me moving at full speed. Now, you need to keep up in one other department.” Shawn was going to ask for clarification, but the response he was given instead was Vinyl charging at him. His fist met hers in the center as the power from both Conduits caused a violent shock wave to surge forth. Unknowingly though, they weren’t the only ones who felt it flow past them.

“Hey guys, did you feel that just now?”

“Feel what Delsin?”

“I don’t know… it was like a cold surge of air blew past me.”

“I felt that too… Strangely though, I heard static while it happened…… Wait a minute… Where’s Vinyl?”

“Oh Dear me… Is it just me or did anypony just feel that chill in the air?”

“I don’t think it was you Rarity, I felt that too and I think Doughy did as well. What do you think it is?”

“Well, Spike. I have a weird feeling that it might be Two Conduits fighting each other. When something goes off like that, it's mostly because of that.”

“You think so, Doughy?”

“Only one way to find out.”

The pulse of energy that went off from the clash between Vinyl and Shawn was just the start of an intense battle between the two conduits. When they first clashed, the fight was very even. Shawn’s attacks were timed perfectly with Vinyl’s strikes and neither of them were getting the upper hand. Soon though, the DJ used one of her shockwaves to try and have the snow conduit lose balance. It worked; but when she tried to execute a follow up attack, Shawn dashed into a burst of snow, catching her off guard as he struck her with a roundhouse kick.

“You c-can turn into Snow!?!”

“Well duh, I AM a snow conduit after all.”

“Touche,” She retorted. “Guess it’s my turn to take things up a notch.” Vinyl's hands now began to fire bolts of sound energy towards Shawn. The teen’s response was to fire bolts of hail to counter the incoming attacks and it mostly worked. Again, mostly.

If it weren’t for the distortion grenade that Vinyl had also thrown into the mix.

“Sh-!”

He only had seconds to react as he dashed to his right to avoid a direct hit, but the blast also caused a second effect to take place. The Sound Bomb was a technique that Vinyl used by creating high pitched waves of Sonic energy that hurt Shawn’s eardrums and affected his hearing and concentration. It only lasted a minute, but during this time, the conduit was forced to hustle so he wouldn’t get himself smacked around like a freaking ragdoll. The Noise rockets that were fired from the DJ did not help him either as it caused him to rely more on his vision than his hearing.

By the time the effects had worn off, the DJ tried to do something Fancy and attack the Snow conduit head on. She was met with a charged up Blizzard Blast that sent her flying back almost twenty feet and colliding with a shipping crate.

“You okay?” Shawn asked.

“Heh… Never better.” Vinyl replied, raising her hands towards a radio communication tower and beginning to drain it to let the energy restore her body and soul. “You’re not too tired now, are you rookie?”

“Nope,” he replied, taking up another combat stance. “I’m only just getting started.”

“Well, seems like you’re not going to back down from a fight now, are you?”

“Not planning on it.”

“I like your attitude, snowglobe.” Vinyl teased as she prepared herself for combat. “Time to kick it up a few notches.” Shawn knew that at this point, Vinyl was beginning to fight a little more seriously. For one thing, she used her speed based abilities more often. Another was that she tried to use the environment around her so she could catch him off guard and blindside the Snow Conduit while his back was turned. It was like squaring off against the Flash from the Justice League…… He liked it. But as the fight dragged on, he was wondering something.

What if something was trying to fly in and land here?

Ionic Vortex (En Route to Seattle)

“Vortex to command tower, come in…… Command tower, this is the Ionic Vortex looking to land at Coldridge Airfield over? ……… Dammit!”

“Something wrong?” Doughy asked, hearing Zeke’s outburst from the conduit’s position in the cabin by the cockpit.

“Yeah, for some reason, I can’t contact the Radio tower that my guy is suppose to be at.”

“Could it be maintenance?” The Conduit followed up with a new question, proceeding with the little amount of details he actually new.

“No, it’s like the entire tower is offline.” Zeke replied, flipping a few of the switches on the dashboard. “Normally I would hear static, but right now, it’s nothing but silence… You okay?”

“Yeah. Why do you asked?” The confused Equestrian wondered.

“Well, it seemed like the three of you earlier were acting a bit odd. Like you felt something that gave you a chill down your spine.”

Doughy chuckled to himself. “You can say that again. We all felt something that was kind of like if Two conduits clashed in a fight like when I had Spike spar against me yesterday. But, something about this one seemed a lot… different.”

“How so?”

“Well, for one thing…… We’re going straight towards it.”

The Conduits of Snow and Sound were continuing to go toe to toe with each other at full throttle, using anything and everything that was on the runway as a way to gain an advantage against their opponent and also to beat the living crap out of them.

Fortunately, the two conduits had enough energy to go at each other all day.

“Time for round three!”

“Round what-?”

SLAM!!!!

Shawn’s face was properly greeted by a powerful forward punch that felt like a getting a brick to his face. To Vinyl, this was what she called her “Sound Shotgun”. A fist of boiled up power that when released at full power, caused the Snow Conduit to skid back a little while he attempted to hold his ground. Shawn was honestly surprised at how strong the attack was. Spitting out some of the blood in his throat, he grinned.

“Cheap shot.”

“But still a good one.” The DJ retorted. Around now though, with his hearing being back to normal, the Snow conduit began to hear something coming towards them in the distance.

“Hold on, do you hear that-?” The Conduit’s worried of what he thought would happen were beginning to peak. This “possibility” of his was now beginning to come true. A small private jet could be seen heading towards the track and going straight at the two of them.

“GET OFF THE TRACK!!!”

Vinyl immediately listened to the Snow Conduits demanding plea as both of them dived off of the runway. For extra measure, Shawn absorbed all the cold creations that were conjured during their fight so that way the plane had no obstacles in the way when it touched down. Moments afterwards, Vinyl got up and walked to Shawn, tempted to smack him across the face for not warning her ahead of time, but she resisted the urge to do so.

“I thought you said this place was EMPTY!” Shawn retorted.

“Apparently not… anymore. Be careful, I can feel a few conduits inside that…… thing.”

“Airplane.”

“Yeah, whatever-.” The two of them were soon interrupted by the sound of Smoke sizzling from Shawn’s left hand side and then a bright flash of light that happened afterwards. Whatever happened after that was a blur to him as something kicked him into one of the runway’s shipping crates.

“Vinyl, where were you-?”

“WHO the hell kicked him!?” The DJ retorted, turning around to see Fetch, Twilight and Delsin.

“I did. Who the hell was he? We felt you clash with another conduit a few moments ago.”

At this point, Vinyl pointed towards the direction of the snow conduit as he dispersed into snow in order to get back on his feet and out of the dented crate. Delsin was slowly beginning to have flashbacks. Especially when he heard the boy talk to himself.

“God Shawn. If it’s not getting launched back by a DJ or finding out that the man who saved your life that hurt the most, it’s getting blindsided.”

The Snow conduit now looked at the plane as the side door popped open and a few people inside were beginning to step out. Four of them in total. One was a green haired child. Another looked like a fashion designer. The third was a kid that resembled the same hairstyle of Jace from The Mortal Instruments and the last guy looked like an Elvis Presley impersonator. However, it was the last guy who looked shocked the moment he laid eyes on him.

“Holy sh*t, I think I’m seeing things.”

“What is it Zeke?” Came the question from the Blondy. The name though rang through Shawn's head like a bell. He remembered his mom mentioning someone he knew with the exact same name. He was wondering if it was possible that the individual right in front of him could possibly be him. But something else distracted him.

A floating trail… of Paper?

Paper… paper… PAPER!!!

“DAMMIT!!” Shawn cursed. He had a hunch of what exactly this meant and ignored Vinyl calling his name and for him to come back; rushing into an air vent and appearing up top. His hunch was right.

Because right in front of him was Celia, the White Rabbit herself. She didn’t remain there for long though as she faded away once more, leaving behind another dove. Another clue for the conduit to solve. But right now, that wasn’t the highest of priorities.

Because everyone’s eyes were now staring directly at him. Most of them wanting answers.

“Ah crap… Why the hell does this keep happening to me?”

End Chapter 13

Author's Note

Dear god, this took WAY longer than expected. With the work I've been trying to do for my Displaced stories, playing as Ekko in League of Legends, and trying to conquer the House of Wolves DLC on Destiny, I had a lot of my time consumed. Additionally, I've been working on a project that I can't explain any details about yet, but I know is going to be awesome once it's released. Again, sorry for the MASSIVE wait on this one.
-Frost

P.S. Now with the Gang here (Mostly), what do you think is going to happen next? Comments on this chapter may be taken into account for future chapters. But for now, enjoy!

Chapter 14- One Step Forward, Two steps back

Author's Note

My most sincere of apologies for making all of you guys wait. Summer classes were really beating me to a pulp and I had to spend more time writing papers than chapters. Fortunately, I was able to complete this one. I wanted to make it to where not everything would go well for Shawn and what happened when his own world came crashing down. Forcing him to make tough decisions such as the one he had to make in this chapter. I already had an idea of how to proceed with things and thanks to the help of another named Nova Cosmic, I was able to acquire some new-found motivation in working on this. Anyways, with the current plans for my other stories and this, I might need to curve my priorities a bit. But it won't mean that I'm going to stop writing. It just means that it might be longer before the next chapter arrives.

Thanks guys. You are awesome (Especially for 100 likes) :yay:
-Frost

Chapter 14- One Step Forward, Two steps back

Chapter 14- One step forward, two steps back

DUP Facility- San Diego,

Inside the walls of a facility that Augustine was using, the concrete conduit began to work with one of the newfound conduits the DUP picked up a couple of days ago that went by the name of Trixie. Most of the doctors on the force thought that she had been suffering from hallucinations or heat stroke due to the warm summer weather that had been beating over the west coast these past few days, but Brook believed that it would be a key in order to have the stubborn conduit open up to her. The young teenaged girl seemed to have energy based powers that she could manipulate to her will and also, if her assumption was correct, that these hallucinations of hers were actually visions of other people… or other conduits she could see. She had assumed this based on one of them being of that Delsin Rowe kid that lived in Seattle.

“Okay, Trixie. Are you ready to try this again?” She asked in a calm voice. Augustine knew from experience that if you try to speak to a conduit like you were their friend, they were more willing to open up. Augustine used the same strategy with Abigail “Fetch” Walker when she became a resident of the illustrious Curdan Cay facility Trixie reminded her of the Neon Girl in a way. Almost similar powers, but Trixie was able to do different things based on the reflections of her different emotions.

Her joy and self pride allowed for her to easily counter incoming attacks like it was nothing. Anger allowed for her to strengthen her standard abilities. Fear had her focus on tactical skills to get herself back in the fight. Disgust had her try to keep certain opponents as far away from her as possible by using anything that gives distance between the conduit and their opponent. Augustine didn’t want Sadness to affect a conduit because that to her would be akin to showing weakness or even letting your guard down. Giving your opponent an easy opportunity to turn the tide in their favor.

Augustine’s next move in this exercise was to use her concrete abilities as a defensive strategy to see how Trixie’s problem solving skills worked. She believed that the energy conduit could be useful in the field. But the only way that she could tell how if she gave her a test to see if her assumptions were right. Two shots flew from Trixie's hands, creating holes in the bottom of her defense. But what surprised the concrete queen the most was when she moved her hands to pull the stones straight up from the ground like if you were pulling weeds.

Telekinesis.

Using her powers, Trixie broke the boulder down into multiple pieces and sent them flying like bullets; causing Augustine to use a floating barrier of Concrete as a protective and mobile shield to deflect the incoming projectiles. After this though, Trixie stopped and fell to one knee, putting a hand on her forehead. Over the past few sessions, the Energy Conduit has had a sequence of visions occur every time she learned a new power. In this case, her Telekinesis. Other recorded observations from her past few sessions included people that she had seen before, and what Augustine thought could be other conduits in the general area. Some included a Rainbow Haired girl with storm powers and a man that could control currents of wind. Each one of these were recorded in a series of journal logs that she kept in her personal notebook.

“I-it happened again,” Trixie spoke, “Trixie had… another vision.”

“Oh?” Augustine replied, sounding surprised despite the fact that she really wasn’t. “You did? What did you see?”

“I-it was different from before. Trixie saw the same pon-er people that she had seen before. But this time, Trixie could see a house underneath a tall bridge. One with tile like roofing and a cyan clay like exterior.” The girl told her. At the time, Augustine couldn’t piece everything together. So, she pressed on.

“Where was it?”

“A-at a stadium nearby some marketplace.”

Now Augustine had a few more clues. The stadium Trixie was referring to was Qualcomm Stadium. Former home of the once know San Diego Chargers that decided to pack up their bags and head to Los Angeles in 2017. She must be talking about one of the homes in the housing complex over there.

“Brooke,” came the familiar voice of Robert Breaker as he came in with a tablet in hand. “I think you need to see this. A few of our security cameras picked up an individual that resembled one of the conduits Trixie mentioned the other day.”

This caught their attention. “Which one?”

“The blue haired boy. However, with Comic Con being so close and everyone going to San Diego to dress up this year, who knows which one could possibly be the real deal at this rate.” Robert made an excellent point. Many individuals can look like a suspect at first glance. However, technology could be messed around with and hacked to where someone could be seeing one thing while something else was happening.

“How many possible sightings do we have?”

“Three. I had to narrow it down from the original number since a lot of people wore the jacket the same conduit wore, but didn’t match the description. How should we proceed?”

Augustine sighed, having it to where each one of them would check out a single location and report back within the hour. However, one other person who was watching the three of them, had already pieced together the puzzle that was Trixie’s vision. From above, the head of the DUP soon picked up his radio and sent a message on all open channels for every member that was out in the field. “I need a team of Pawns, a few bishops, and some knights at the Costco shopping complex in Mission Valley. I got ourselves a lead to where a group of fugitive Bioterrorists are hiding.”

“Roger that, Ma’am. We’re moving now.”

Seattle, Washington (Some time later)

Spike and everyone else in Zeke’s plane had just touched down roughly. Contact with the Plane and the pavement was all but smooth as the rocky landing had almost everypony on board tumbling around like tumbleweeds in a desert. Especially with Spike landing flat on his face.

“Oww…… Did somepony get the license plate number on that carriage-?”

“You still all in one piece?” Zeke asked as he shut off the controls on the plane and got out of his seat, helping up both Spike and Rarity.

“F-for the most part yeah.” Doughy stuttered. But something told him that they would be having company really soon. “Hey guys, I’m getting that weird feeling again.”

“Wait… You mean the feeling from earlier?”

“Yeah, the feeling of conduits.”

Zeke straightened himself and his clothes as he cast a glance out the window. “There are a few people outside, something here attracted an audience. Let’s err on the side of caution for right now until we find out exactly what we’re dealing with.” The three Equestrian conduits agreed as they slowly opened the door. Each one of them discreetly vacated the plane one at a time as they looked at the people that stood there. After three minutes, one of the individuals disappeared into snow only to reform a minute later; Spike was the first to notice something. One of the girls that was there… Looked exactly like…

“Twilight?”

The girl turned around, her eyes widening at the sound of his voice. “S-spike? Spike, is that you?”

“Oh dear goddess!! Twilight!!”

The two of them soon embraced one another in an emotional reunion, happy to be able to see each other again. Rarity soon joined in as well, relieved to see that one of her friends was okay as well. Doughy, even though saddened by his own predicament, felt happy for them and so did Zeke. But as the teen turned around, the Snow conduit that was on the roof now landed right next to them. Doughy’s first reaction was to channel his ink powers and point his outstretched hand at him.

“Whoa! Easy there, man. I didn’t mean to startle you like that.”

“Who are you, kid?” Zeke asked, gesturing for Doughy to calm down and ease his trigger fingers. The other conduit did the same as he placed his hands in his pockets.

“Names Shawn. Shawn Kingston. You must be Zeke, am I right?”

Now, Zeke’s eyes widened. “Holy cow, your Stacey’s son.” The statement was overheard by Rarity and Spike, who were just as surprised to see the boy that Zeke was talking about standing there in the flesh. Shortly after though, the brief reunion was interrupted by some of the conduits looking at them.

“Um…… I’m sorry if I sound abrupt, but we gotta move. DUP is en route to this place right now.” Eugene told them. “Radio channels picked up the noise frequency that was shot out from Shawn and Vinyl’s clash.”

“Great. The paparazzi are coming… and not the good kind.”

“Is there ever one?” Shawn responded to Vinyl’s question, which in return, got a smirk from her. Delsin though, turned to notice him.

“Well damn… it’s been a long time since I’ve last seen you here, man. If only Reggie were here right now.”

“I actually stopped by Betty’s the day before and that’s when she broke the news,” Shawn told Delsin. “But we can chat later. Does anyone have an idea on how we're going to get out of here?”

“Twilight can teleport.”

“Well, that answered my question.” Shawn said. “Damn it, brain. Why weren’t you able to remember that? She does it through the entire FREAKING series.” In a few seconds, everyone was covered in a bright Violet light and warped into the hideout location that the Magic conduit and her friends called home. Despite the looks of the place being “abandoned”, it still had the luxuries that made this place look quite… comfortable. Couch. TV. Computers. Fridge… Yeah, he could definitely get used to a place like this. All that, but the passed out Zeke Dunbar that was on the floor.

“Welcome back guys-.” came the reply of a hooded teen that was shocked by the amount of people in the room. “Umm… I wasn’t expecting guests.”

“Oh, hello.” Shawn greeted politely as some of the other conduits that got pulled in by Twilight’s teleportation act were still trying to come to their senses. “Who are you?”

“Eugene?” Shawn heard Twilight as she got up from the floor. “Oh good, you’re here.”

“Twilight, what just happened and why are there a bunch of people here? I mean, I know that Vinyl, Delsin and Fetch would be with you, but-?”

“Easy there Eugene,” Delsin sighed, hopping back up on his feet. “Twilight just teleported all of us from where we felt Vinyl earlier. Apparently, she was fighting Shawn here for…… Okay, why exactly were you two fighting?”

The DJ soon was up on her feet, walking over to the couch that was next to Shawn and plopped herself on top of it. “Well, Shawn found me earlier by that one lounge place called the Crocodile and told me that he could help us, so I decided to see if he could prove himself by trying to catch up with me and best me in a fight. Just when we were about to do the tie breaking match though, some… aircraft or whatever it’s called here lands on the runway, forcing us to call off the match.”

“Well, you did want to do the fight there in the first place.”

“It was to stay out of sight from the freaking DUP!! Where else can we let loose without soldiers on our flanks?”

“You… make an excellent point.” Shawn complimented.

“Thank you. Thank you very much!” Vinyl joked around, impersonating a musician she heard earlier in the week called Elvis Presley. “Now, is there anything else we need to get to as of right now before we do the rest of the introductions for everypony?”

“Yeah, just what did Shawn exactly mean by ‘help’?” Fetch asked.

“Could it be the strange voice we heard him talking to over the phone?” Twilight asked

“Wait, you guys tapped into my phone!?”

“You were suspicious! We were just trying to see if you were one of those shady characters that go around the streets.” Eugene tried to explain to him.

“For your information, I only have two other phone numbers in here besides my parents-.”

“Was one of them Celestia?”

The question had all of the Equestrian conduits look immediately at Twilight. “I heard you talking to a woman over the phone and you called her Celestia… Is it really her?” The Snow Conduit elected to pull out his phone and excuse himself for a minute to another room. Everyone waited with bated breath for their newest acquaintance to return. But soon, when he came back, Twilight’s eyes widened and so did the woman next to him, who was worried about her students safety for a long time.

“P-princess!!”

“My dearest student… I was so worried about you…” Celestia told her. It wasn’t long though before the emotional reunion was broken up by Delsin.

“Um…… Can someone please explain to me who she is and what exactly is going on?”

Shawn nodded. “Did Twilight and Vinyl tell you where they were from and all that?”

“Yeah, when we first found them.”

“Well, this here is Princess Celestia. Twilight’s teacher and Diarch of the Sun back in her own world. Here though, she is a Solar conduit and can drain the energy from Solar Panels and use it as heat based attacks. Not only that, but she can teleport as well.” Shawn explained before taking a moment to catch his breath. “So in other words, treat her with respect.”

“Noted.”

It took a few moments for everyone to introduce themselves and for them to wait for Zeke to wake up from passing out on the floor. A lot of people were surprised to find out that Eugene actually worked for Zeke at a tech store called Cole McG’s Electronics in Georgetown during the first few weeks that he was free. Once all of this was covered though, Shawn had to interject before Celestia could mention the others that were back in San Diego. There was something he needed to mention.

“Sorry if I have to be the bearer of bad news, but we got a problem that’s worse than the DUP as of right now.” He explained, taking out the two paper doves that he found already. Delsin’s eyes widened a little at the sight of that. “Matter of fact, two problems. I believe Delsin is already aware of this situation, but we got a paper conduit on the loose named Celia. AKA, “The White Rabbit”. But it’s not her that concerns me. It’s the other conduit whose with her.”

That last statement caught Delsin by surprise. He did not expect anyone to actually have the guts to team up with the Paper girl. “Who?”

“On the first clue, she mentions a conduit who she called “The Glass Queen”. One that I believe Celestia and the other Equestrians are quite familiar with.” Twilight and the others looked at Shawn in confusion, puzzled by what he meant. But what he said next caused all of them to look at him in shock and horror.

“Chrysalis.”

“Oh no…” Celestia gasped. “Not her.”

“Yep. Had a personal encounter with her as well. She still can change her appearance, but can conjure objects from glass and also use molten glass as well. She’s a real problem and she can be anywhere right now.”

“Hold on a second,” Delsin interjected. “Who or what is this ‘Chrysalis’ that you’re talking about?”

“Back home, she’s the queen of the changelings. A species of Bug-ponies that can disguise themselves as anypony else they want and unless you know a spell to detect them, they can be anyone and anywhere.” Twilight explained. “If Chrysalis can still transform and has new powers as well, then she is definitely going to be a real problem.”

“Not to mention that she’s with Celia,” Shawn added on. “Seems like her newest obsession is me. Referring to me as Yukianesa.”

“Seriously? She refers to you as Snow Woman?” Eugene said, looking at a Laptop.

“I thought it meant Ice Sword?”

“That’s Hyokenaccording to Google Translate. My best guess is that she tried to refer to you as Fubuki or Snowstorm”

“Well, either it's one or the other and I don’t know a damn thing about Japanese, so let's skip that and redirect our focus.” The Snow conduit sighed. “What we do know is that we got the DUP to deal with both here and back home, two other Conduits and also Augustine. Not to mention the fact that were still a few people short.”

“Wait… Darling, what do you mean by a ‘few people short’?” Rarity asked.

“I found out that twelve of you were brought here against your will and that does not include Celestia or her sister Luna, who is back at my house. Five of you are with me. Those being Twilight, Rarity, Spike, Doughy and Vinyl. One of them, Chrysalis, is trying to kill us. Three others; Rainbow Dash, Soarin, and Lyra are back at my place in San Diego… Adding those up, That’s nine people and we still don’t know about the other three.”

“You… bring up a good point.”

“Maybe we should find a safe place for everypony to stay low?” Doughy suggested. “It probably might not be long until the DUP figure out where we're hiding out. Especially if one of the three conduits that remain is somehow working with the enemy unintentionally.”

“How does someone work for them unintentionally?” Spike asked.

“Depending on what you’re told, ones words can trick you to think you’re doing the right thing when you actually aren’t.” Celestia told the youngling. “Remember the incident with the Alicorn Amulet and the pony you knew as Trixie?”

Twilight remembered that for sure. Especially with all the trouble she caused and the fact that the mare had no control over herself. She had to give an explanation to Delsin and the others to catch up with them on what was going on and what they were talking about. But during this conversation, Shawn got an unexpected phone call.

One that seemed to be from his father.

“Excuse me for a second. I need to take this.” the teen told the others as he answered the call. “Hello?”

“Oh good, someone picked up… I’m delighted.”

That voice… was not his father. Definitely not from the sounds of his tone. “Who the hell is this?”

“My name is Roman. I’m pleased to make your acquaintance.”The one on the other end of the line continued to speak.“Is this the son of Chief Nicholas Kingston?”

“What do you want? Where is my father?” Shawn demanded as he stepped outside the room, slamming the door behind him.

“You son, are in no position to be asking for such demands. Especially since we arrested both your parents for hiding wanted fugitives and are right now sitting in the back of a DUP cruiser. Now, I wonder what should I do to them……”

“DON’T hurt them!!”

“Oh you are in no position to be making demands, kid. The ball is in my court now and I’m going to be having a good time trying to extract the information I want out of them… Unless, of course… You want to take their place instead.” The sound of electricity crackling and groans of pain can be heard on the other end of the phone. “Which of course, brings me to this. If you’re willing to turn yourself in, I’ll let them go. You got two days to make a decision kid, and you better not cross me.”

The phone call ended and Shawn just stood there. Shocked. Everything he did was falling apart at the seams. He couldn’t believe it. He just couldn’t. It got to the point that when Celestia tried to ask him what was wrong, he ran off in a dash of snow.

“Something’s wrong…” Celestia said as she got back. “Shawn’s not thinking straight. He just ran off on his own.”

“What? Why?”

“I’m not sure… Maybe it had to do with the call that he just received?” Celestia said.

San Diego, California

When Augustine, Trixie and Breaker had heard of the what Roman had done and the arrests that he made, all three of them were shocked for their own reasons. One, they were arrested without a warrant or approval from a judge to enter the location. And Two, from what Trixie saw, most of the ones captured were actually individuals she knew and did not want to see them in this state.

During this though, Breaker did uncover something for Augustine. Research on the “Snow Angel” in Seattle had uncovered an Identity. Shawn Kingston, the son of two of the adults that were arrested, who turned out to be his parents. Researching the family history also showed that he was the Nephew of Lucy Kuo, the Ice Conduit during the days of the New Marais catastrophe seven years ago.

“Breaker…… Get me a number. I have a call to make.”

As he looked from upon the Space Needle, Shawn’s mind was clouded with many emotions. Anger, hate, shame, guilt. The feeling of helplessness that came with not being able to protect his family or friends back home. The Snow conduit felt like he failed at the only task that he had given himself to do.

That was… until his phone ringed again. Not even bothering to look at the caller ID, since it said unknown, he answered. “Hello?”

“You are Shawn Kingston, am I right?” The caller on the other end asked. This time though, the voice sounded… Feminine.

“Yes. Who is this?”

“My name is Brooke Augustine… And I can help you.”

Shawn stopped for a minute. The former head of the DUP? She’s out!? Oh god, Janus was right. “Why should I trust you? Wouldn’t the DUP be tracking this call?”

“They can’t track calls made from a phone booth.” she said, sighing a little. “Listen, I don’t have a lot of time, but I want to help you. If it wasn’t for me, the conduits that your parents were protecting would be going through pain that even I can’t describe. I have a plan to get them to someplace safe, but I need your help.”

“Give me one good reason to consider even listening to you. It was because of you that the DUP exist and because of you that every conduit’s life is one way or another a living hell and you killed the man who saved my life-.”

“I wanted to protect conduits from getting hurt by other people. People will go to extreme lengths to destroy anything they don’t understand and I did not want our kind to be one of those things. Roman is using his authority as the new head of the DUP to do whatever he wants and he doesn’t care who he hurts and I will gladly give up everything I’ve accomplished with the DUP in order to be able to help some conduits stay safe. I see too much of my old self inside him. Now, are you going to listen to me or not?”

Shawn thought it through for a moment. Three months in federal prison could really change someone. Then again, this someone was Augustine. Could he really trust her? After everything she was known for over the last seven years. “Tell me your plan. I want to hear it first before I make a choice.”

“First, we follow by what Roman said to you earlier. You turn yourself in so your parents can go free. During this though, two of the conduits I have been working with will be able to take your friends to someplace safe while the other DUP officers are distracted.”

“Can I trust them?”

“Of course. She actually knows the individual's Roman seized and feels sorry for them. Her name is Trixie and she’s an energy conduit.”

Shawn paused for a minute before speaking again. “So you’re aware of the Equestrian Conduits that were sent here?”

“I don’t know the full story, but when we had her go through a lie detector test, the polygraph said that she was telling the truth and something tells me that you might know more.”

“What about the other one? You said you were working with two conduits.” The Snow Angel stated, being very focused on the details given.

“You mean Breaker? He’s a metal conduit that can bend it to his will. I trust him and knowing me, I don’t trust many people.” She had a point. Augustine was known to be very precise when it came to the people she employed under her wing. But that was when she was in power. Now though, things were different.

“You remember Trixie right? And her saying that there were more like her? Brought here against their will?”

“Yeah, what does that have to do with this-?”

“I know a number of how many there are. I’m convinced, but let me tell you something Ms. Augustine,” Shawn spoke, an edge in his tone as he looked towards the direction of the airport. “If we are going to do this, then we do it my way. My parents are now caught in the crossfire and I want to make sure that them and my friends get out of there alive. If you are wanting to do this, come to the Tacoma International Airport in Seattle. I will be waiting, but only for Three hours. If you’re late, then I’ll be rescuing them on my own.”

He hung up the call. With a sigh, he dashed off of the tower, turning into a wisp of snow. However, he was unaware of the other conduit that was following him. The one who wanted to end Augustine for showing herself as weak to her.

The White Rabbit.

End Chapter 14

Chapter 15- Maelstrom

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

Chapter 16- My Demons

Seattle, Washington

Celestia bolted up from her bed. After what she had seen, the situation involving the snow conduit that she swore to keep safe could not be ignored. It was too early in the morning to be disturbing anyone, but she couldn’t just simply leave. All these thoughts were going in her head just as she noticed a teal light begin to flicker from the corner of her eye. Turning to see it being illuminated from another hallway, she slowly walked over. To her surprise, it was Eugene who was still up.

The youngster seemed to have been working so hard at trying to crack some security codes the DUP incorporated that he didn’t even notice the Solar Conduit by the door until she opened it and caught him by surprise.

Before the Video Conduit could explain, Celestia cut him off with a simple wave of her hand. “Am I interrupting something?”

“Uh no, not really. I was just trying to see what security files I can snatch from the DUP… Try some new codes… Some programming using Javascript… Normal geek stuff.” Around now though was when the Video Conduit noticed the expression on her face. “Are you okay? Is something wrong?”

“I think Shawn’s in trouble. I briefly used my powers to try and see him for a moment, but what I found was almost like a nightmare,” She shuddered, recalling what she briefly saw. “Delsin said that you tracked his cell phone once right?”

“Yes, why do you ask?” Eugene asked. “Tracking phones can be tricky depending on the location of where he is.It works by triangulating the position of his cell phone by two other points, like other phone signals, or even some cell towers. Do you know where he could possibly be?”

“No… but I do have one guess.” Celestia told him. “His home is in San Diego. Can you check within the general vicinity of that location?”

“That I can do.” Eugene confidently told Celestia. Setting to work, the Video Conduit’s fingers flew across the keyboard and sooner than expected, was able to pick up on the signal of Shawn’s cell phone and get a set of coordinates. “Okay, it says his location is at… San Diego International Airport? Why would he be there?”

“I think, I may know the reason why. We need to hurry though. I fear that he might get himself killed.”

San Diego

Shawn’s senses were lost to the rage. All he could think of is making Roman pay and smashing his smug-face into the concrete runway that the two of them were standing on. The DUP leader had just murdered his parents. Two people that he cared for and would do anything to protect, killed in cold blood right in front of him. This could be seen through his powers as a small, yet furious blizzard began to take form across where the two were standing. Normally, emotions of hatred and anger for humans were expressed through their actions. For Conduits though, it was different.

Their emotions are expressed through their powers. And for the Snow Conduit, his was beginning to take form. As the icy winds gained force, Shawn dashed into the mix towards Roman with fury. The Wire conduit tried to strike the teen, using his wires like spears as they tried to shank and stab him. Shawn though, disappeared every time Roman thought he got a clean hit. The snow conduit used his Ice to create a bed of spikes to try and tear his hamstring, but the Head of the DUP was one step ahead and used his powers to slingshot himself out of the way.

Roman still saw that dealing with this teen was going to be a massive problem. Especially if this was going to be dragged out for an extended period of time. The authorities would be on their way, asking questions and not everything had the luxury of being covered up. Right now, Roman could only see two outcomes; He’d either defeat the Snow Angel and lock him up in Curdan Cay… or kill him. He chose the latter of the two. Too much trouble trying to catch one conduit. After all, to him, facing another conduit depended on having the right tools for the job. Or in this case, powers. Wires can flow through anywhere and fit through anything. A great use of subtly if he thought so himself.

The battle raged on; Snow versus Wire. Though the fight had to settle soon, and for Shawn, it was more apparent. One moment where Shawn was trying to catch his breath, his foot was soon snared by a hidden trap that Roman had left behind. As the wires tried to hang him up like a fish out to dry, Shawn conjured a knife and cut the wires that had hooked him by the feet. HE roared in pain after having to pull the spear like wire out of his foot.

Once more, Shawn gritted his teeth as he released an Arctic Missile towards Roman. “YOU MURDERER!!!” The missile went off with a loud ‘BOOM’ as it broke apart on contact. However, Roman had instead weaved a makeshift barrier from the strands of numerous wires that were under his control. With a twist of his wrist, the shield soon became strands again as they lunged towards Shawn like snakes.

It was fitting for someone like Roman to be seen as a snake. Especially with how deceitful he is. And just like snakes, the wires that were coming at Shawn also had fangs. Long black fangs that were stretched out and trying to get a hold of the young snow conduit first. As they tried to close in around him, Shawn conjured a small ball of snow and pushed his hands outward. He let the ball expand and freeze, trapping himself inside a snow globe like dome that held it’s own against the rampaging wires. But he knew that it won’t hold for long.

He needed to blindside Roman. In someplace where he could be exposed. He heard a small metallic clang from underneath him and saw a manhole cover that lead to the sewers underneath. Getting an idea, he dashed into it, just as if he was going into an air conditioning unit. He heard the globe gave way above him just as he found the cover that was behind the head of the DUP. He listened to Roman's curse at having lost his target and prepared his next attack. Rising up, he formed another blade in his hands using his snow as he lunged forward. Roman, shocked at the tactic of deception and tried to react, only for him to get slashed near the upper chest and along the shoulder. A weak point that Shawn saw as a possible place to hurt him. But, to his surprise, it was the opposite.

When he was in the light again, he was shocked to see no blood was on the temporary weapon he forged. “I was sure that I got him! Why the hell did it not work!?”

“Surprised, aren’t you?” Roman asked him, smirking. “You almost had me… But again, I’m always prepared.” He soon lifted up one of his hands, taking off one of the gloves he had on and pulled back the sleeve. The entire arm and hand were covered in wire. They pulsed and moved around his arm like they were living veins.

“You see, these wires are made of ray field kevlar, the same type of material found in a set of DUP body armor. Allowing the user to be protected from powerful attacks. However, mine goes a step further.”

Roman soon lashed out at Shawn, his wires forming fists that tried to strike and hurt him. “I can use my wires to create any tool I can think of. I have an entire arsenal at my disposal! And you, my friend… are going to soon drop dead!!”

Each of Roman's sneers were punctuated by another attack. The Snow Conduit gritted his teeth. This was going to be even more difficult. He now had less opportunities and chances to hit him than before. To Roman though, this was no surprise. No one has ever landed a blow against him in a fight because of how thick and durable his defenses were. Not only that, but his offensive power was just as strong as well. Many types of wires proved to have different effects for his abilities. And what he had for Shawn was only the tip of the iceberg.

Lifting up his right arm, Roman began to focus as he aimed his hand at the powerlines above his head. Sparks began to fly as the wires broke apart and flew down to where he was as electricity was now being charged throughout his hands. shocking him a little but, but resisting the pain so he could focus on storing the electrical currents.

Kevlar wires are primarily used by electricians when they work with power lines or power boxes because they store the electricity that they are channeling. Now, that electricity was being used to harm the Snow Conduit that Roman was fighting. Having the wires he was using form claws that tried to grab hold of him and shock him to a crisp and at the same time forming electrified whips that lashed out in all directions. Shawn was now running, doing his best to stay on his feet as he began to attack ferociously. Whips of wire were deflecting bolts of snow in all directions. He felt like he was fighting not just a snake, but a Hydra at this rate.

Because if you cut off one head, two more grow back. The same case could be made for Roman’s snakeheads. Shawn himself learned the hard way when he cut off one of the heads that tried to snare his leg, only to have two more miss his feet by bare inches. The Snow Conduit then retraced his steps, heading towards Roman instead of away from him. He thought that if these snake would be chasing him everywhere, he could redirect them to where they hit Roman instead. Other then that, he would be able to strike the DUP official right in his face. The Wire Conduit had other ideas, as the snakes ensnared Shawn by his legs and hoisted him into the air.

“Shit!” He cursed, cutting himself free as he fell towards Roman. Of course though, this was, in a way… What he wanted. Shawn dove towards him, deflecting incoming wires as he fell down. Roman expected for him to try and attack him with a weapon in his frozen arsenal. But instead, he was greeted with the conduit’s foot in his face with a furious downward kick. Roman backpedaled for the first time in the fight, having unexpectedly been caught off-guard.

“That’s only a taste of what you deserve!!” He roared, landing back on the ground again. However, when he landed, a sharp pain raced through his body as he looked down at his feet. There was a set of wires that had sewn him to the ground. Preventing him from moving. It caused his heart to race. But not as much as when another strong surge of pain went through him. This time, through his upper chest. Very close to his heart and inches away from his lungs.

“You have been a very bothersome pest…” Roman spat, releasing the electricity from the wires he had pulled earlier and letting the electricity shock and torment Shawn. The Snow Conduit screamed, his emotions being mixed between the pain he was feeling and the rage he had towards Roman. “But you are an interesting one. You have dealt with all the attacks that I’ve lashed out at you and was the only conduit I’ve ever encountered who actually was able to harm me.” Around then, he held him in the air using the tendril like wires as he lit a cigarette. Looking at the helpless conduit, he blew the smoke he inhaled into Shawn’s face. Moments before hurling him into a concrete wall at full force.

“It’ll be a shame for me to have to kill you. But then again… you deserve to die. Just like the two you came to save-.”

SMACK!!!

Roman was interrupted by a blow to his face with the force of a shotgun blast. Shawn staggered to his feet, with more snow all around him. The flakes of soft ice were tending to his wounds, healing him. However, not the same could be said for his stamina. The Snow Conduit was running low on energy and there wasn’t any source at all for him to refuel on his element. He could’ve made a dash for the ocean harbor, but he had found out personally that Salt Water affects him to where he needed to absorb more and reduce the amount of energy he had because he was expelling more energy than restoring it.

“Don’t you DARE talk about my parents like that! I CARED FOR THEM!! THEY DID NOTHING WRONG!! AND YOU TREATED THEM LIKE EVERYONE ELSE WHO YOU CAPTURE!! THEY... WEREN’T... CRIMINALS!! I… WILL NEVER FORGIVE YOU!!!”

Pain raced through every muscle in his body as Shawn tried to usher out one last attack. He felt himself tire out and on the verge of blacking out, but nevertheless, he tried to persevere as he placed both of his hands together and ushered forth all of his power into one last blast. Though fate had seemed to conspire against him. A pole that had fallen earlier in the battle tripped up the Snow Conduit. Falling forward, his hands touched the ground, trying to balance himself. Roman thought that the kid had just simply given up… That was… until huge ice crystals began to violently take form faster than he can move out of the way.

As Celestia teleported herself on the San Diego Harbor, a loud thunderous boom caused her to turn toward the harrowing noise. The first thing that she saw was the rupturing of titanic glacier like crystals roaring from the ground. Seeing this, her instincts began to work in overdrive as she began to move closer to what was going on. Civilians scattered from the epicenter, not wanting to get caught up in whatever was taking place. Once atop a nearby building that was used as a recruitment center for the U.S. Marines, a loud explosion went off. Smoke plumed into the air and the faint sounds of police sirens could be heard from across town. Crystals of ice were standing tall and sharp like spear heads. But the first thing that the Sun Conduit saw was not Shawn.

Instead, she saw the head of the DUP. But now, numerous vicious serpent heads made from wire emerged from his back with an intent to kill. Roman had enough with playing games. This kid needed to be dealt with… Now!!

“This game ends HERE!!” Roman roared, his wire serpents lunging forth with a thrust of his hand. As they went towards the cloud of smoke though, sharp projectiles emerged from them, hitting between the eyes of Roman’s snakes. The Wire Conduit looked back, wondering who would dare try to harm him. But both he and Celestia were surprised to see the unexpected help had come from an unlikely culprit.

The projectiles that attacked Roman's wire serpents, now floated and glinted in the street lamps below. Shards of a mirror.

As the smoke cleared, the figure that the Sun Conduit knew as “Janus” was revealed. She was holding the conduit over her right shoulder and using her left hand to forge a mirror gateway behind her. Her hood was still down as she began to walk towards the door.

“Where the HELL do you think you're going?! You aren’t getting away!!” The Wire Conduit roared, launching forth a snake like whip to try and pull the unconscious Snow Conduit away from Janus. Instead though, the fangs of the whip caught and tore off Janus’ hood. Seconds before she stepped into the doorway and disappeared.

Celestia’s eyes widened immensely. In shock over not just what she saw, but also the identity of the Mirror Conduit. It had to be a mistake, or even a trick of the light. There was no way that it could have been her. Thinking quickly, she got out her phone and called Eugene. It didn’t take him long to pick up as he had been tracking her cell phone for a while now.

“Eugene, I'm afraid we have another problem.”

“You’re telling me. I lost track of Shawn. He’s off the grid.”

“I am aware, and I believe I know the reason why,” She stated, starting to walk away on the harbor sidewalk from the area to not attract attention to herself. “Put Twilight on the phone, now. She needs to hear about this.”

Unknown Location

A substantial amount of time had passed since when the Snow Conduit named Shawn Kingston had passed out. When he woke up though, the teen arose to the realization of the events that had just happened. His parents are dead. He himself was going to die… Wait… if he was here… then was he dead? As he tried to get up, he realized some things.

First, there was his location. He was on a boat nearby a set of docks, but not like the ones he had seen along the San Diego Shoreline and by Seaport Village. These docks looked a lot different. Almost like the docks of a fishing district. Nevertheless, there were some other things that caught his attention.

Second, he still had most of his things, but his phone was gone. He had a new cell phone in his pocket. A Windows Phone this time around. After tinkering with it and getting it to unlock, he found that all of his contacts from his old phone were gone, but everything from Apps to music was still there. That and it had one message on it. It was simple, yet… odd, so to speak.

Meet me in Ascension Parish in the Community Center. We have a lot to talk about.

The message was simple, yet confusing at the same time. 'Ascension Parish'? What kind of a place could that be? Nevertheless, Shawn decided that standing around wasn’t exactly going to help him and got up and onto the docks. His progress began slow, memories of the recent past still fresh in his mind. He steeled himself though, he had to figure out what exactly happened after he passed out. Upon walking up to the sidewalk nearby, he found a tourist booth and handouts. Walking up to it, Shawn rung the small bell on the desk and watched as a woman in her forties walked up to the counter of the small shack like booth. “Hello there, how can I help you?”

“Yeah, I’m kind of a bit lost. Do you know where I am?” He asked.

“Where you are?” The old woman chortled, “What are you, new around here?”

“You can say that…” Shawn sighed. “I need to meet someone at ‘Ascension Parish’. Do you know how to get there?”

“It’s not that far away. A quick ride on the trolley can get you over there. Unless you’re one of those Conduits that can fly.”

Shawn raised an eyebrow. “Hold on… ‘Conduits’? I thought all Conduits were being chased by the DUP.”

“They ain’t a problem down here, young’un. New Marais is a sanctuary city for Conduits. They’re welcomed here with open arms and both human and conduit get along just fine.” Shawn’s ears twitched and a cold shiver ran down his spine. He turned around, looking at the city right behind him. Remembering something that popped into his head. Remembering the conversation with his mother about his Aunt Lucy.

He was in New Marais. The city where she died.

“O…… kay… Thank you Ma’am.”

“Your wel-.” Before the woman got to say anything, Shawn ran in a dash through an alleyway, turning into Snow. The Conduit got up topside, having a look at the entire city below him. Looking further back, he noticed a location that stood out in the distance and assumed that it was the community center.

“Alright. Now then… Let’s find out who’s been watching me.” With that, Shawn continued to dash forth in a cloud of snow through the alleyways and rooftops of New Marais. It took him about twenty minutes to get to the designated location and talking to the locals in order to find the right place. But when he did, the Snow Conduit was greeted by something inside.

On a table was an odd rock. Pulsing with energy. It almost resembled a blast shard, but it felt… stronger. For one thing, Shawn first thought that it was a trap. Until he realized that the object was reacting to him. Holding onto it, the sapphire energy burst forth from the stone and into Shawn’s body, making him flinch and almost fall to the ground.

He began to see images. Images of a woman. But the strange thing was… she had powers like his. In the brief moment, he saw her blast what looked like a soldier for a Militia of some sort use some kind of Ice Beam. Like a Freeze Ray. When he snapped back to reality, he felt… stronger than before. Almost like he could control something new. But what it did to him was not his highest priority.

Especially when he could hear someone else walking in.

“Well, looks like you came.”

Shawn turned around to see the silhouette of a girl in the corner of the small room. A shadow hanging over her face. She wore a shirt that almost looked dancing fire light and had a torn black coat on to match her jeans and sneakers.

“I know you are going to have a lot of questions.”

“I do. But maybe you should introduce yourself first.” The Snow conduit suggested. “I want to see the face of the Conduit who saved my life.”

There was thin veil of tension in the air as the two conduits sized each other up. However, she calmly sighed. Stepping out into the light of the sunset that was behind her as Shawn saw her face clearly. His eyes widened as she told him her name.

“My name is Sunset Shimmer.”

End Chapter 16

Author's Note

And now, we find out who Janus really is. How is she involved? Find out next time!

Also, HUGE thanks to Wind Scribe for helping me edit and tweak it. You're awesome!

Chapter 17- Mirror Mirror

Author's Note

With this chapter, I wanted to point out two things. First, for the story, we finally find out a bit about Sunset and why she did the things that she had previously had done before. Second, I've been told that Shawn doesn't reflect a lot of emotion despite the turmoil that he had been through. Mostly it's because he is personally grieving internally and not trying to show his emotions.

The title of this chapter is named off of the song of the RWBY soundtrack for season 1 that goes by the same name. Thanks again to Nova Anarchy and Wind Scribe for helping me edit.

Next Chapter: Those who Fight

Chapter 17- Mirror Mirror

Ascension Parish, New Marais

Sunset Shimmer. That was her name. To Shawn, he was honestly surprised that she was the one who brought Twilight and the other Equestrians here. Following the phrase of “Don’t judge a book by it’s cover” though, he waited for the Mirror conduit to explain how she got here and why did she do all of this. The girl drew a deep breath and sighed. She knew that she had to explain a LOT of things.

“In order to understand why I did certain things, you need to know how this whole mess began.” She spoke. “It happened a few weeks after the fall formal. I would ask if you know what that is, but I assume that you already know. Within those weeks, I’ve changed. A LOT. The friends Twilight made in the mirror world were helping me learn from my mistakes and at one point, I thought I should return home. That way, I could ask if Twilight and Princess Celestia could forgive me of all the wrongdoings I’ve done.”

Sunset stopped for a second, trying to gather her thoughts. “However, it didn’t go the way I had hoped. What I did not realize is that through all the times that I had used the mirror and all the times I had been jumping to and from both of those worlds, an invisible crack was forming across the mirror. And that crack finally gave way the moment I stepped through.”

“How did you end up here?” Shawn asked. “I thought the mirror bridged with Canterlot High.”

“I felt myself keep falling and falling. My body felt like it was thrown because of what I believe was the fracture's energy releasing all the mirror's latent magic. When I woke up, I found myself in an abandoned home. Broken shards of glass and mirror all around me. I was hurt, in pain, suffering. But when I picked one of the shards up, the others reacted to my movements. Forming a mirror out from my will.” She then paused, stopping for a moment to gather her thoughts before she spoke again. “That was almost a year ago. In that timeframe, I’ve learned more about my powers while trying to stay out of the sight of the DUP after I encountered them while trying to acquire necessities like food and clothes. Eventually though, I encountered other conduits, who were eventually locked away in Curdan Cay. But because of my powers, I could see them as they tortured each one and pushed them to their limits.”

Sunset stopped again, trying not to break down emotionally even though this was hard for her to take in. “Then two months ago, I discovered that I can create a doorway to Equestria. One that could only last for a limited amount of time. I wanted to go. To get out of this place. But I thought about the other Conduits that I had seen. I thought about their cries for help going unanswered. I knew internally that I needed to do something, but not as myself. As someone else.”

“And that’s how Janus was born.” Shawn asked.

A quick nod was Sunset’s answer, “Originally, I didn’t have a name for my alias, but after reading a torn up book on Roman history, I stuck with Janus. It wasn’t my best choice, but it had to do. When I first saw you though, when you found Lyra, I only spoke in riddles to see how good you were at solving problems. You were quick to figure it out and I knew you’d be one of those to help me.”

“So that’s why you rescued me from Roman?” He asked. Sunset nodded, saying that the longer he would be alive, the better chance they had of helping him.

“Well, that answers most of my questions. However, I only have one more thing left to ask.”

She raised an eyebrow, puzzled by what he had to say. “And what’s that?”

“Why am I here now? In New Marais?”

The Mirror Conduit sighed, folding her arms. “There are two reasons. First off, involving the blast core I left for you, I wanted you to get stronger and acquire new powers that could be helpful in the fight against Roman. The other reason… is to fix a mistake I made.”

“A mistake?”

“You have seen that not every Equestrian sent here was eager to let you help them. Chrysalis was only one example,” She said, forming a reflection in her hands. “There was one other mistake. One that I couldn’t tell who they were until it was too late. And now, he’s a threat to not only us, but the rest of humankind.”

Now Shawn was beginning to tense up, looking back at Sunset with a worried expression. “Who?”

“What’s the first thing that comes into mind when I say “Tartarus Prison”?” The Snow Conduit’s eyes widened. If what she said was true, then they needed to act fast.

“Wait… You don’t mean what I think you mean… do you?”

“Yes… I do. His rage and anger are demonstrated through his powers and he can leech the living energy from those around him… And he’s coming for you.” Shawn could only stare into the circular mirror in Sunset's hands. The visage of a pale face shrouded in a grey hood stared back at him. The only noticeable features he could see behind the hood was the wiry-grey goatee the man sported along with bright, piercing yellow eyes. Those eyes burning with hate, but also a singular purpose.

In New Marais, business in the different parts of the city were blooming. But for some customers and shopkeepers, one consistent problem had many consider the possibility of closing their doors. That was involving the homeless. Many were displaced from everything they knew after a massive flood that occurred seven years ago, but over time, things have changed significantly. Now, some police officers have been getting reports of an elderly homeless man in the Flood Town section of the city. Where most of the casualties of the flood occur.

Two officers were on patrol when they found the elderly man that was in the reports that the NMPD (New Marais Police Department). One of them decided to speak with the man while the other one stayed back for support. The man’s back was faced towards the officer, who in retrospect, tapped him on the shoulder to catch his attention.

“Excuse me, sir-?”

Before that officer could say anything else, a hand grabbed him in the face as he felt himself being drained of all life from within. Within seconds, the officer that was right there was nothing more than a sack of empty clothes. The second officer, who pulled out his gun, was startled by what happened and tried to run, only to soon meet the same fate. The once elderly man grew in size, now the size of a normal person. But, he wasn’t normal. Not at all. With the energy he stole to restore a portion of himself, his anger and rage burned brighter. He felt unstoppable. But something to him felt off. He could feel other presences. Just as strong as he was. The last time there was someone just as strong as him…

No. He wasn’t going to let that happen to him. Not this time. This time… he will hunt those who are just as strong as him and defeat them.

Claim their power for his own… one by one…

“So let me get this straight… He’ll be coming after us? How?!”

“He can feel large sources of energy and see them with his eyes,” Sunset told Shawn as the two of them made their way across the rooftop of St. Ignatius church. “And because of that, I got a bad feeling that Tirek can feel us as well as any other conduit in the entire city. Not to mention Blast Cores. Don’t worry though, I know someone who can help us.”

Shawn looked at Sunset, puzzled as the two of them landed back on solid ground. “Who?”

“The Mayor of the city. She used to be just a college student during the New Marais incident, but after everything that happened here some time ago, she believed that through her experience and knowledge of politics, she could help make the city a haven for humans and conduits.” Sunset told him just as they approached the building that Shawn assumed was the Mayor’s office. Both of them walked in, noticing that things seemed to be a bit hectic for it being a government office. However, a woman in a dark lavender suit soon noticed the two of them and walked on over.

“Sunset! I didn’t expect you to be back in New Marais again so soon.” The woman then looked to Shawn, who was taking his jacket off and tying it around his waist. “I’m going to take a guess that he’s a friend of yours?”

“Yes, actually,” The Mirror conduit replied, turning towards Shawn and smiling a little. “Shawn, I would like you to meet the mayor of New Marais, Sara LaRoche. Sara, I would like you to meet the Snow Angel, Shawn Kingston.” Both human and conduit shook hands for a brief moment before the Mayor broke the brief silence.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you. You know… you kind of remind me of someone… Ah yes, that’s right. The Electric Man, Cole McGrath.”

Shawn was kind of surprised once he heard that. “You met him?”

“Of course. Back when my uncle was still around, he saved my life.” She replied before clearing her throat for a minute. “I’m sorry, I think I was distracted for a minute. What brings you to New Marais, Shawn?”

“That… is a bit of a LONG story. But to summarize it briefly, I need to be able to get stronger and learn some new powers.”

“Just out of curiosity, what powers can you control?” Sara asked, intrigued a little by what the conduit had just said. All Shawn did was demonstrate by creating a rose of ice and snow in the palms of his hand. “Wow… That’s amazing. I remember one woman who also had powers like that. I think my Uncle referred to her as… Kuo?”

The Snow Conduit almost lost concentration when hearing that. “You know my aunt?”

“Aunt?”

“Shawn’s Aunt is the same woman. Lucy Kuo. Lucy’s sister is Shawn’s mother.” Sunset clarified while Shawn himself was a little taken back by that statement, despite trying to stay calm. “That’s how come Shawn has his powers. His powers though… are quite different.”

“I’ll say… Tell you what, I might have something that can help you. My Uncle before he died kept everything that he had relating to conduits, including a couple of Blast Cores and other contraptions in a special storage unit by the docks.” Sara said, handing Shawn a key that was in her pocket. “Anything that you find in there that can be useful to you is yours.”

“Thank you. But before we go though, there is something we need to tell you though.” Shawn said, giving the cue for Sunset to pull Sara off to the side and explain everything having to do with a possible Conduit threat. For the Snow Conduit though, as he stepped outside, he was curious about two things. One, if anyone knew that Tirek was gone and two… where he could be right now.

Remembering the trick within the walls of the DUP and the strange “Visitor” that was inside his head at one point, the Snow Conduit tried to see if he could still reach the Equestrians by thinking in his head. “Hello? Discord, are you there?”

He could hear a loud POOF! go off in the background and two sets of what sounded like moving hooves as he soon got a response. “Hey, what do you know? Our little Conduit is okay!! You owe me 5 bits, Shining.” In what he thought was the background, he could hear grumbling and the sound of some coins jingling.

“Hang on a second… Shining? Discord, who are you talking to?”

“Well Shining Armor and Princess Cadence of course, who else?” The Spirit replied back. “Celestia and Luna left them in charge while they went to your world. Something that I was just informed of recently.”

“Hey. All we were told was that they were going on an international expedition. I didn’t think she meant interdimensional!!”

Shawn sighed, dashing up to the rooftop of the mayor’s office. As he landed and began to look around, he heard a voice that reminded him of Cadence asking for the two of them to knock it off as she then posed the next question. “Shawn, are you okay? The last time we saw you, we thought that the man with all the wires was going to kill you.”

“Yeah… About that… Let’s just say that an unlikely ally saved me at the last moment. It’s a lot to explain really, but to start, I’m going to assume that you’re aware of the mirror that used to be in the crystal empire?”

“Oh that one with that Sunset… What’s her name? Anyways, what about it?”

“Well, to start off this story, the mirror’s broken.” Shawn told them as he continued to use his powers to dash between rooftops. “It cracked and shattered when Sunset Shimmer tried to come through to ask for forgiveness and with it, that’s how she became a conduit. You see, she was Janus, but only because she thought that Twilight and the others could help her find a way to end the DUP once and for all. However, during this, she made a major mistake.”

Shawn heard more murmurs inside his head as he kept on moving. God, how he wanted to put on his headphones. But if he did and tried to play music, he would still hear them in the background and that is still bothersome. Then, as he arrived inside a new district, he heard another question being asked to him. “What kind of mistake?”

“One that she didn’t realize until after she brought them here. What major villain did Twilight and her friends have to face that sounds like trainwreck?”

“Trainwreck? What could-? … Oh no.” He heard Discord realize what Shawn meant, the voices in his head ceasing completely before reappear a few moments later. “You can’t be serious?”

“Dead serious.”

“Discord, what is the boy talking about?” He heard Shining ask.

“Shining, we have a major problem-.” Discord was about to continue, until Shawn heard an explosion go off and what looked like a massive tour bus being chucked at his head. He was able to disperse into snow and soon, moved towards the sounds of chaos where the civilians were running away from. As Shawn got closer, he soon began to notice piles of clothes everywhere and people turning into nothing. Almost like if they encountered Cell from Dragon Ball Z, but this was no Android. It was a Conduit and the same one that Sunset was worried about.

In front of him was a full grown man, holding flames in his hands as he looked back at Shawn with the eyes of a demon. The eyeballs weren’t white, but black and the pupils of the conduit were a fiery red and yellow. When he saw Shawn though, the conduit wasn’t paying attention to him and more focused on what was dangling around his neck.

The pendant of Twilight Sparkle’s cutie mark that was given to Shawn by his mother. Tirek was upon him in an instant, preparing to drain his energy like everyone else. But realized that it wasn’t working. Shawn, noticing this, used the chance to use his powers to freeze his opponent’s face before getting behind him and running off.

“Shawn, What happened!?”

“Remember what I was telling you earlier? Well, he’s seen me and now, Tirek is trying to kill me. He’s absorbing the life energy out of ordinary people and trying to power himself up. However, it seems to not work for Conduits. Now, I’m trying to get the fight AWAY from any civilians.” He said, dodging and weaving out of the way of a rage filled missile that was trying to blast him.

“You can’t take him on alone. We could try to-.”

“No. I’m not getting anypony else involved with this. Who knows if he could absorb an Equestrian’s energy or even the Princesses.” He said as he reached an open clearing. “If there’s a fight that needs to happen, then he’s fighting me and me only.”

Shawn ignored the incoming responses from Cadence and the others as he turned around to face the monster that was following him. He could hear him laughing a little as the two of them stared down each other.

“You… are the first one to ever land a blow to me… Who are you?” Tirek asked in a demanding tone.

Shawn himself just grinned. “My name is Shawn… and I’m going to be the conduit that’s going to kick your ass!!” Soon, he dashed forth and when the two conduit’s attacks collided, a powerful shockwave could be felt clear across the country.

Seattle,

Twilight Sparkle herself was startled awake by what she had just felt. It was a powerful shockwave that felt like when Vinyl and Shawn had clashed only a few days ago. But this one was a lot more powerful. Almost as strong as Celestia. She soon looked towards the wall in the direction where she felt the reaction and said only one thing.

“Shawn?”

Shortly after the first blow was exchanged, Shawn was trying to pay attention to Tirek’s motions and see if there was a pattern with his attacks that he could expose. However, this was just as tiring as it was difficult. When Shawn thought that he had a chance and then took it, the Destruction Conduit remembered the action and always made sure to prevent his opponent from using the tactic a second time. Every trick in Shawn’s arsenal that he tried to unleash was either deflected, blocked or followed up by an unexpected counterattack. His options for how to fight back were beginning to shrink.

Then, he remembered something. His powers allowed him to create with Ice and his brain and imagination were mission control. All he needed to do was use his powers in different ways. With that in mind, he conjured a sphere of Cryo energy and blasted it at Tirek.

“This again?” He sighed. “Pathetic.” Tirek himself, being the person that he was, tried to smash the small ball to pieces. But before his fist even made contact with it, the sphere split into five other spheres that surprised him as he took the blast dead on in his face.

“And I thought that the first rule of combat was to expect the unexpected.” Shawn teased as he dodged the attack that was followed by his opponent. However, when he tried to attack again, the Snow Conduit soon realized that he was in big trouble. Using all of his powers caused him to run out of energy that he needed for further attacks. “Um… could you give me a sec? I need like five minutes to recharge-.”

This was only followed up by a powerful punch by his opponent that sent him flying into a building on the edge of town. A warehouse to be specific. But in the struggle to realize where the hell he was exactly because of the darkened lighting, Shawn came across something that he thought was a sign that someone was looking out for him.

Blast Cores. Not just one, but three. Two of them were on the ground while a third was hooked up to some sort of strange contraption. Ignoring the third one, he soon grabbed the first two and calmly began to focus on harnessing the energy in them. He felt the same effects from before course through his body and brain as he saw a few new images be displayed in his head. The first of a bald man being able to form a Frost like shield to deflect bullets, bolts and enemy blasts and after that, something else that got him excited.

“Oh… HELL yes!!”

“W-what’s going on?” He heard Cadence ask.

“Let’s just say… I got a few more rounds in the chamber.” Shawn thought as he placed his hands together, absorbing the water that had leaked onto the floor and set off a powerful shockwave that blew off the roof of the building as he stepped out.

“Never mind, WE’RE BACK IN BUSINESS!!!” He shouted, charging towards Tirek. The Destruction Conduit honestly thought that this was some sort of joke, but when he tried to attack him with another blast, a pair of ice like wings came into view as Shawn launched himself into the air and then accelerated downward, slamming his foot into Tirek’s face and sending him flying backwards. When he got back up, he could see Shawn being a lot stronger than he was before. But also, he saw something else.

A silhouette of a certain pony princess that was the only other being ever to hurt him.

“Grr… You should’ve expended all of your energy… Yet you are still standing. How can you be this strong?” He asked, coughing up a little bit of blood. “ANSWER ME!!!”

Shawn just smirked. He was back up on his feet, shaking off the dust and dirt off of his legs as he stood amid the ruins of the destroyed courtyard that was their battleground. “That is a stupid thing to ask. You judge others by strength, yet you miss the most important value.”

“Don’t you DARE try and lecture me!!” Tirek yelled, blasting another wave of energy. Yet. when it came close to Shawn, he stook out his right hand and formed a fine barrier of frost that blocked the blast in it’s entirety. The Destruction Conduit was stunned. That attack was one of his most strongest, yet this kid just blocked it with a single hand? How!? That was impossible!!!

“What you should be asking is the reason for why I fight. You fight, yet you don’t have a reason. Anger gives motivation without purpose.” He said, holding his ground. “Unlike you, I have a reason for why I fight and it is more important to me then any damned reason that you might come up with inside your head.”

“Oh?” His opponent said, raising an eyebrow. “And what would that be?”

Shawn, at first, couldn’t think of the words to say. But after remembering all the people that he had met and all the lives that he had touched, he grinned and said the best thing that came to his mind.

“I fight for my friends.” He told him, channeling his powers through his hands. “And there isn’t a damn thing that you can do that’ll stop me from defeating you right where you stand.”

“Is that so?” Tirek snickered. “In that case, let’s put that theory to the test!” The Destruction Conduit followed up his statement with a blast of heat that aimed straight at Shawn. However, the Snow conduit used one of his new tricks to block the blast as he rolled to the right. Noticing a small baton like pipe by his feet, Shawn picked it up and soon realized that this may become useful. Again, Shawn had to barrel out of the way of another attack as he blasted two arctic missiles towards his opponent. During this, he saw the baton react a little to his hands and grinned. He was going to enjoy whatever he can pull off with this.

In that moment, Tirek tried a new approached and charged forth at the Snow Conduit head on. Shawn though, was ready as he grabbed the baton and channeled his powers into it. When Tirek was about to slam his fist into him, he instead felt the sheer pain of his chest getting slashed at by the Snow Angel’s newfound weapon. He roared in pain as he slowly turned around to see what Shawn was holding. The baton served as the weapons handle, but the rest of the blade was sheer ice as he held it in reverse and looked down at his opponent.

“Is that all you got?” He asked, causing Tirek to get even angrier. Shawn himself picked up another baton that he found on the ground, forming another sword as he used it to strike near the Destruction Conduit’s exposed legs. Tirek soon tripped, feeling the pain in his calves and thighs as he tried to get up. Only to be met by the Snow Conduit as he pointed one of his weapons at him, causing him to fire another blast to try and gain some distance.

“You ANNOYING LITTLE PEST!!! I will tear you apart once I’m-!!” Before Tirek could say anything, he soon realized that his legs were going numb. He couldn’t move them at all and he was feeling the same sensation run through the rest of his body as it locked down his shoulders.

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that.” Shawn snickered as both of his blades melted away. “Your body is beginning to shut down due to extreme exposure of cold. You thought that your rage was all you needed in order to fight me, but then again, your arrogance and overconfidence now leads to your downfall.” Now, The Snow Conduit placed both of his batons together as ice began to take form all across it. It formed a powerful recurve bow as he pulled back his arm and took aim at his opponent, the ice from his hands forming a powerful arrow.

“Checkmate.”

Before his opponent could even get a final say in, Shawn let the arrow fly. Upon impact, it encase Tirek in a sturdy block of ice and because of the Destruction Conduit’s defeat, all the energy and souls of the lives he stole burst back into the sky in a dazzling display of light before fading away.

Shawn himself was relieved. He dismissed the bow he conjured before falling back down on his behind. He could see Sunset rushing towards him as he slowly tried to stay upright. However, that couldn’t help him right now. All he needed right now… was to rest his weary bones.

Upon waking up, Shawn found himself in the strangest of situations. He felt like he was in New Marais. But it didn’t really feel like the actual city. This place felt more like a dream than it actually being real. Puddles of water were carelessly floating in midair like they were in suspended animation. The flames from nearby lanterns were instead taking forms of people rather than flames and the entire town seemed… dreamy.

Then, he began to hear a voice… Briefly, but still a voice nonetheless. It sounded like a man that was a LOT older than he was judging from how it came out. But that wasn’t his main focus as Shawn soon began to notice multiple pillars of Ice down by where a group of homes in a flooded out suburban area would be. As he got closer, he felt that his conduit senses were playing tricks on him and when he actually touched the pillar and later on, absorbed it with his powers. All that did though was set off some sort of unknown alarm as he had to dodge an incoming bolt of lightning that was aimed at his head before dispersing into Snow and getting on the sidewalk.

His attacker was a male. Wore a t-shirt, had a messenger bag, long pants and sneakers along with sets of tape around his finger. He also had a clean shave and a bald head as the Electric Conduit stared him down. “Who the hell are you?”

“Me? I was minding my own damn business until you attacked me, jackass!” Shawn yelled back.

“And for good reason. How do you have those kinds of powers. Are you with Vermaak 88?!” The other conduit snapped back, channeling more electricity into his arms.

“What the hell is a Vermaak 88? That sounds like an old luxury car.”

“Now you are starting to piss me off.” He snarled. But before the other conduit could attack Shawn, he heard another voice and turned around.

“Cole, what the hell are you doing!?”

The man, now known as Cole, turned around. “I found this kid here and he seems to have your powers. I thought he was part of Vermaak 88.”

“What in the world are you-?” When the woman came out, Shawn’s eyes widened and his mouth partially dropped. He couldn’t believe a thing he was seeing and only a few words came out in response to what was going on.

“A-aunt L-lucy!?”

End Chapter 17

Chapter 18- Those Who Fight

“A-aunt Lucy!?” Upon those words leaving his mouth, the woman that Shawn knew as his Aunt gasped in shock when she realized who was talking to her. The man, who she called Cole, was really confused by what was happening, looking at her with a puzzled look on his face, but not stopping the electricity channeling through his arms.

“Kuo, you know this kid?” He asked her. The only response she had was a nod of the head and a few words to follow up to his question.

“Yes Cole, he’s my nephew.” The ice conduit told him and in response, he stopped channeling his powers. “Shawn? My god, what are you doing here?”

“I… I don’t know.” He replied, honestly. “A lot of things have been happening since you died seven years ago and things have been hard for me too…”

“How-?” Kuo’s question was interrupted when she saw Shawn’s powers radiate from his hands. Her eyes widened. “Oh my god… You’re a conduit? B-but I thought the RFI killed all the conduits when we stopped the beast.”

“A lot can change in seven years,” Cole mumbled. “So you’re Kuo’s nephew? I’m sorry for how I acted earlier. Name’s-.”

“Cole,” Shawn interjected. “As in Cole McGrath?”

“Well, I’m surprised that some people still remembered me after I died.” The Electric man sighed, taking a seat on a nearby brick wall. Shawn himself was stoked. He could not believe that he was actually talking to the Patron Saint of New Marais. He had heard a lot about him in the media and did a research report on him back in Middle School. Now, he was actually talking to him. It felt like he was meeting a hero and for that, he was honored.

“Hey Shawn, can I ask you something?” Kuo soon asked, catching his attention. He nodded his head, but what she asked was something that he was not prepared for. “How are your parents doing?”

He fell silent. Standing there for a couple of minutes. He couldn’t think of what to say to not make the moral blow that he was going to say any less painful. “T-t-they’re……… gone.” He tried to hold back a couple of tears that streamed down his face, trying his best to not break down and remain brave. “I… couldn’t save them.” Kuo and Cole were both shocked to hear this from him. But the ice conduit wanted to know more. She wanted to know who killed her beloved sister and she wants to know now. She walked closer, trying to comfort her nephew.

“How did something like this happen?” She asked him. Calm, but with a sense of seriousness. She wanted to know what happened. She wanted to know who would do this to her beloved sister. Her sister's husband. But most importantly, to Shawn. The Snow conduit was hesitant. He did not know how to tell them something like this. But then, he realized something. This was almost like having to explain the DUP to Celestia and Luna. But he now had to do more than just explain about the DUP this time.

He had to explain everything.

Shawn began with explaining the chaos that occurred days after the ‘New Marais Incident’ and how most of the nation was left in fear of conduits as a few of them showed up in different locations across the US. He told them about Augustine and how she formed the DUP, her intentions for what she wanted to use it for and what occurred seven years later that lead to her fall. After letting both of them soak that in, Shawn then explained the present events. How he had been helping Celestia and Luna, meeting Zeke, and going to Seattle. But the most horrid part involved Roman.

“W-when I saw mom and dad for the last time, it was only briefly until that Wire bastard killed them in cold blood. I saw then as he used his powers to snap their necks and throw them aside like garbage… And there wasn’t anything I could do to save them. I tried to fight him, but it was a losing fight… What makes it worse…… He said they deserved to die.” Shawn stopped to regain his composure, “After that fight though, I woke up to find myself not dead and in New Marais with a new ally and new ways to demonstrate my powers… But I don’t know if that will be enough to stop him for what he did. Make him pay for all the lives he stole.”

Kuo herself was at a lost for words. Cole was too. Even though he knew what it felt like to lose a loved one, this pain went deeper then that. A lot deeper. What Shawn lost was two people he truly cared for as much as they cared for him. Cole himself was the first to try and speak.

“Shawn, I’m sorry to hear about that… I’ve felt your pain before,” He sighed. “There was a woman I loved back in Empire City. Her name was Trish. She helped take care of people like your mother did. Like me, I was saddened and angry at the person who killed her. But remember something… Don’t let your feelings affect your decisions. They can cause you to do things that will come back haunt you later.”

Shawn nodded, thanking him for the advice. Kuo too had some advice for him too. That even though there weren’t here in the real world, his parents and she still loved him. For everything he is and everything he can accomplish. And that he should not forget it no matter what. The snow conduit saw value to those words. Because he was unsure if he would ever be able to hear them again. This seemed like an experience that only came around once. And like an old Eminem verse, ‘You only have one shot’.

“Make me proud, Shawn.” She told him, shortly before the boy disappeared into the mist that surrounded the town and back into reality. “Make us all proud.”

New Marais

As Shawn was waking up, he began to notice a couple of things as his vision was beginning to return to him. First and foremost, he wasn’t in a rocking boat or some kind of hospital. Instead, he was in the storage unit he found earlier during his fight with Tirek. How he got here was a mystery, but it wasn’t as important right now as it was to find Sunset. Which, of course lead to the second thing he noticed. A woman with fire like hair inspecting the contraption that was in front of him. It was powered by a blast core and also looked to have shackles to hang people up like scarecrows… Creepy.

The lady soon turned around, noticing him moving around and proceeded to stop what she was doing and rush over to him. “Shawn! You’re awake!! Are you alright?” The snow conduit nodded his head for a brief moment, trying to focus his strength on getting up before answering her question.

“N-never… better.” He chuckled, gaining a better grip on his balance. “How long was I out?”

“About three hours or so…” Sunset told him. He was about to rush out, but she stopped him. “Don’t worry, I already took care of Tirek. He’s back in Tartarus and is dried up of all the energy he stole.”

Shawn coughed a little as a smile was seen on his face. “T-that’s good… I’m guessing though that we’re not quite done here though.”

“What makes you say that?” The mirror conduit asked him.

“Well, if we were done, I would be laying down on something more… comfortable than a concrete floor,” he deadpanned. Sunset giggled a little at his observations as he placed his jacket back on from it’s resting place on a nearby shelf. “So, what exactly do we need to do? Because something tells me it involves that thingamajig with the blast core in it.”

“You’re…… right actually,” she told him. “Look, we only got one shot at this and you need something that will give you the ability to catch Roman by surprise.” She soon pointed at the contraption, walking towards it. “And this is going to help you with that.”

“Okay… and what the hell is this exactly?”

“Well… according to these old notes by a Dr. Sebastian Wolfe,” Sunset told him, tossing a packet of scientific notes. “This is a power transfer device.”

“Whoa whoa whoa… Power… Transfer?”

“Yes. It allows one conduits powers to be transferred into another. According to Sara, some people found leftover parts of the original one and rebuilt it for in case there’s another national emergency like what happened with Empire City,” She explained. “The transfer only works one way. So, someone is going to play the role of the giver and the other needs to play the role of the receiver.”

“Good god, that just sounds wrong in so many ways…” Shawn snickered. “But wait… Did Sara actually allow us to use this?” Sunset herself nodding her head as she placed the restraints on herself and he did the same. “And how the hell are you planning to do this?”

“Simple… You need this more than me, so, I’m giving you mine.”

“What wha-? ARGH!!” Before Shawn can say anything, his heart began to race as he felt like he was being stabbed with a million knives. But these things weren’t knives. They were instead shard of mirror fragments from Sunset that were melting into his skin. Ever inch of him was in pain and for a moment, he felt like he was on fire. Shawn couldn’t tell what was happening as his hearing was cut off like someone had set off a flash bomb by his feet. The conduit felt himself collapse to the floor. Weak and drained from exhaustion. His vision was slowly returning to him as he saw Sunset slowly stagger to her feet, soon offering a hand for Shawn to grab so she could help him to his feet. All he could ask was just a few simple words as it took him a while for him to be back to normal.

“D-did it work?”

Sunset’s reply… was just a simple nod of the head. Indeed it did work, but that wasn’t what made her eyes widen when she turned her head to the left. When Shawn turned, all he say a purple blur of light and someone hitting Sunset. His vision was slowly coming back to him as he tried to put himself in between their attacker and the Mirror conduit was what surprised him.

“T-twilight!?”

“S-shawn!?!” She stammered. “S-sunset!?!! What the hay is going on here?!”

“Why the hay were you attacking us!?” Sunset shot back.

“I thought you kidnapped Shawn!! Celestia saw you take him after he passed out against Roman-.”

“Back up, Twilight.” Shawn interjected, rising to his feet and with powers in hand. “To clarify, Sunset saved my life and if it weren’t for her, I would have been dead!” The two of them had to take the next hour in order to explain everything to Twilight from Sunset’s actions, the mirror to Canterlot High breaking apart and the confrontation with Tirek. Catching her all the way up to just a few minutes ago where they used the power transfer device.

“So… did the power transfer actually work?” Twilight then asked, now all caught up to speed and folding her arms.

“That… we still need to test. I made sure to follow all the steps accurately in order to pull it off, but the only way we know for sure is that if we provide Shawn a test.” Sunset told her friend, taking a hand mirror from a nearby shelf and smashing it. Soon, the broken shards on the floor began to dance upward towards the snow conduit’s outstretched hand.

“It worked.” Sunset cheered. Shawn himself began to flex his fingers as the pieces of mirror moved in between his fingers. He grinned as he looked at Sunset.

“Alright, this is pretty damn awesome, I have to admit.” He told her, “Now, what do we do next?”

“First… We need to gather everypony and explain everything.” Sunset said, turning to Shawn. “This includes the small group of escapees that were snuck out of that DUP encampment you were held in by Augustine.”

“Wait… Augustine? I thought she was the one who locked you up.”

“Roman did.” Shawn clarified for the confused conduit. “Augustine has had enough of the DUP and now wants to have it be gone for good. With Roman in power, she believes that his injustices have gone too far and that he abused his power while in charge.”

“I think we can all agree on that,” The Mirror conduit replied. “Next, we get you guys home. Despite being Conduits, we can’t get ourselves involved in a fight that wasn’t our fight to begin with. That’s where Delsin and the others can work with you.”

“Sunset, it’s their choice whether to stay and fight or not,” Twilight told her. “We should let the others decide for themselves.”

“Fair enough. Lastly, we need to make sure Roman is taken down and the rest of his empire falls with it.”

“I’m all up for that,” The Snow Conduit grinned, cracking his knuckles. “Time to make that bastard pay for everything he’s done.”

“Right. But before we get there, we need to assemble everyone.” Twilight told both conduits. “Just like the Avengers.”

That… got Shawn to look at her with a raised eyebrow. “Okay, how exactly do you know about that?”

“I found a few comic books in the old hiding place in Seattle. When I was bored with reading a few other books, I looked at them just to pass the time.”

“Or to cure you of your boredom-.” Sunset chuckled a little, causing Twilight to over react. It made Shawn laugh a little though, before having them redirect her attention to the task at hand. The Snow Conduit remembered where the hideout was from what Augustine told him before they hatched their plan a few nights ago and had Twilight focus on trying to contact them. One of the new powers that she had acquired recently while Shawn was in New Marais was Telepathy, and she was using it to talk to both Celestia and Luna.

“Well, she’s quite talented.”

“Who’s quite talented?” Shawn heard the voice ask in the back of his head, his eyes widening upon realizing who was talking to him.

“Shining? I’m quite surprised to hear from you. I honestly thought that Discord or Cadence would be the one talking to me right now.” He told him,

“They’re right now back in Canterlot, trying to run Day Court with Celestia being absent.” He told Shawn, sighing a little. “Back to my question…”

“Oh right… I was referring to Twilight-.”

“Wait, is she with you!?” He asked. The conduit can tell that he was immediately shocked by hearing about his lost little sister.

“Hang on just a minute,” Shawn told Shining. “Sunset, can I talk to Twilight for a minute before we regroup with everyone else?” She nodded, waiting until Twilight was done with arranging the plans with Celestia and Luna before the two of them stepped outside to where it was just themselves… Well, almost.

“Shawn? Is there something you need to ask me?”

“Actually, it’s the opposite… There’s something I need to tell you… Ever had the time where you feel like there are voices inside your head?”

“Quite a lot, yes.” She replied. “Why do you ask?”

“Well… on the night that I fought Roman… something happened in Equestria. Something that has allowed me to talk to a few of the Equestrians back in your world… and I think one of them wants to say hello.” Taking a deep breath, Shawn relaxed himself. “Your turn, Shining.”

“T-twilight? Can you hear me?”

The Magic conduit’s eyes soon lit up upon hearing the voice of her older brother. “S-shining? Shining, is that you?”

“It is, Twily. I’m talking to you mentally right now.”

“B-but… how is this possible?” She soon asked, looking back at Shawn like she was expecting for him to have the answers she was looking for. Only to give her a small shrug. Soon, both questions that the two conduits had were being answered by the captain of the guard.

“Discord was able to see what was going on and made a projection of it by using his chaos magic and a high level scrying spell. However, it was Pinkie who found out that we could to anyone that we see through the projection. Cadance, Discord and I have been trying to keep things organized while Celestia and Luna have been gone and we’ve been trying to help out Shawn with his travels. I-i’m just glad you are okay.” He told both of them. With the last line being for his sister. “Shawn?”

“Yes, Shining?”

“Make sure Twily comes back in one piece, okay. Make sure she’s safe.”

Shawn nodded a little when he looked back at Twilight. “I swear I will.”

“Thank you, Shawn. You have my eternal gratitude.”

With that, it served as a cue for the two of them to meet back up with Sunset Shimmer as they left behind the town of New Marais.

Seattle

Back in the hideout where Celestia was, a few of the conduits there were… antsy to say the least. For the past two days, after what happened with Luna and the others, Celestia had advised for any of the Equestrians that were with her to stay in the hideout to keep a low profile. But now that Twilight had left and had found Shawn, things have changed. She was walking back into the main room where everyone else was after having to excuse herself for a few moments.

The first one to ask a question was Delsin, since he was the first person to notice her return. “Hey there. Are you okay? You looked like you were having some kind of headache a few moments ago.”

“Not quite, my friend.” Celestia insisted as all the others in the room gathered around her. Except for Fetch since she was out trying to get food for the hideout. “That was Twilight. She had discovered that one of her new powers was Telepathy. She told me that she found Shawn in a town called New Marais-.”

The mentioning of the town almost caused Zeke to choke on his drink as he harshly swallowed the contents inside what was left of an old beer can. “New Marais? How did he get all the way out there? I’ve been there before during the incident when my buddy Cole was alive, but since then I’ve been traveling all across the country.”

“Could it be with this Sunset Shimmer that you mentioned before, Celestia?” Rarity asked her, receiving a slight nod from the Solar Conduit, unaware of Fetch just walking in the door a few minutes ago. “What else do we know besides that? For all we know, those wretched mongrels could still be holding Luna and the others hostage.”

“That… is not the case. I was talking with Luna as well when we were speaking to Twilight. My sister said that a woman and another conduit went turncoat against Roman and brought them to a hiding place not far from there.” She told them. “Oddly though, these same people were the ones that were seen with Shawn when he left Seattle.” All of them remembered that. A few hours after they left, Delsin, Fetch, and Twilight went around town asking civilians about whether they had any information on when Shawn left. All they got was that he left with two other people aboard a DUP Cargo plane just as Celia attacked the group. Fortunately, because of Shawn’s ice on her hands, Celia was apprehended sometime later by Sheriff Douglas. Chrysalis’ though, remained at large and the information that they tried to get from Celia was minimal at best. But she did tell them about who was the woman. And this confirmed it.

“So let me get this straight… Based on what we know, are you saying that it’s possible that Augustine, the one who founded the DUP, was actually helping Shawn? Why would she go against the organization that she helped build?” Delsin asked. “I get that the original mission behind the DUP was to keep the conduits safe by keeping them inside Curdan Cay, but why turn against it?”

“Maybe she saw that Roman has gone too far?” Eugene interjected. “If you think about the dictators from World War II, absolute power can corrupt someone and make them think that they can get away with almost anything. Even spying on others and murder.”

“What about the one other one that’s with her?” Fetch interjected. “Last time I remember her, she wasn’t as quick to try to make friends with anyone she meets.”

“Maybe it’s someone who agrees with her?” Spike proposed.

“Maybe, but right now, there’s a lot of things we don’t know about.” Delsin reminded him before turning to Celestia. “Speaking of which, why were you talking to Twilight?”

“Because we’re having everyone group up here.” Celestia explained. “That way, all questions can be answered and we can make a plan of how to move forward.”

That got Fetch thinking for a minute before suggesting something. “Hey, with all the conduits that might be showing up, wouldn’t we be like a small army? If we can find where Roman is, then we can go knock on the front door and introduce ourselves-.” Soon, a bright light went off in the room as three people stepped forth. Those three being Shawn, Twilight and Sunset. And Shawn had heard Fetch’s recent comment.

“Sorry for dropping by unannounced, but that is not the best idea.” He told her. “It’s their choice whether or not to fight and we should let them choose if they want to get involved or not.” Everyone soon looked towards him as he just smiled a little while looking back at them. All with mixed expressions. Before he could say anything though, Zeke took the empty can he had and used it to hit him on the forehead.

“OWW! What was that for?!”

“That was for making me worried sick about you!” He told him. “What would your parents think if you got yourself killed doing something reckless-.” His tone changed upon seeing the change in Shawn’s expression. From cheerful to cold.

“Shawn? What’s wrong?”

“My parents… are gone… Roman killed them. In front of me.” He told him, looking back at him. “But I’m not letting my feelings cloud my actions. I’m going to make him pay for all the things he’s done… A friend of yours taught me that.”

That, got Zeke curious. “Who?”

“I think you already know the answer to that one.” Shawn told him, turning his attention elsewhere as he got to start talking with everyone else. For a moment though, when Shawn was resting on the couch, Zeke thought that he was looking at Cole for a minute before redirecting his attention again.

Soon though, Luna and the others had arrived safely, along with the unexpected arrivals of some Conduits such as Augustine, Trixie, and Breaker. After some explaining and trying to prevent Fetch from attacking Augustine, they were able to communicate with one another peacefully without having anyone attack each other. Though, now came the hard part of planning what to do. The plan involved catching everyone up to speed on current events, trying to have Celestia and Luna bring some ponies home. Not to mention trying to break into Curdan Cay, since that was Roman’s central base of operations, but a head on attack could be useless because of the facilities defenses. It wasn’t until Shawn pointed out that it depended on who would stay before they could form a plan.

“Someone who has capabilities of bringing them home should stay behind to bring everypony back when we’ve stopped Roman.” Twilight told them, remembering Celestia and Luna’s spell along with Sunset’s powers. “Other than that, how else should we do it.”

“Well, if I may,” Augustine interjected. “We should have two teams. One here and one going to Curdan Cay. I have an idea on how to expose Roman’s wrongdoings, but it requires someone with a lot of technical skills. And the soldiers of the DUP might be onto us once we begin the process.” The Concrete conjurer took a deep breath before speaking again, pulling out something that was in her pocket.

“Roman keeps audio logs of everything that he does, almost like a personal journal. Not just that, but in the same place where he keeps those logs is any recordings of operations such as the one where he captured Luna and the others from Shawn’s home and what happened at the airport. If we make that information go public…”

“Then we can have evidence against him… How though?”

“I thought the same thing. But I believe the firewall that protects all this information can be easily conjured by Eugene.” Augustine insisted, looking at him for a brief moment. “However, it means that we need a few conduits to pay attention and hold off any of Roman’s men that come this way. While they are distracted with them, Shawn can easily slip through Curdan Cay during that timeframe. Weather conditions call for a high chance of snow with it’s location in the mountains.”

“Which means I can sneak in.” Shawn smiled, but then noticed something. “However, going in alone will be suicide. Plus, I don’t know my way around the place.”

“We got your back man,” Delsin told him. “I’ve been in there a couple of times already, but Fetch remember the place like the back of her hand. Maybe she can help… That is, if she wants to though.”

“I rather not be going back to that hellhole of a prison. Kicking some ass here would be my forte.” She retorted, gritting her teeth.

“I can go with you,” Breaker offered. “I’ve been there a few times before. Plus, my DUP clearance can help you bypass security measures.”

“Okay, besides Breaker and I, who else is going? Because my guess is that Fetch and Delsin are having to provide ground support for Eugene.”

“I can stay behind and lend a hand,” Vinyl offered. “I’m sure that my sound abilities can be helpful in a pinch.” The snow conduit was surprised by the DJ offering her assistance, but nevertheless, he accepted it. Every bit helps after all.

Some time later, the amount of Equestrians who wanted to stay and who wanted to fight was almost 50/50. Sunset stayed so she could help create a gateway back to Equestria when the fighting was over. Doughy too decided to help with Vinyl on the front lines and fight along with Trixie and Lyra. The royal sisters, Twilight, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Spike and Soarin though all decided that their highest priority was to get back home. While everyone was deciding though, Shawn decided to step outside for a breath of fresh air. Only to turn around and see a familiar face.

“Hello again, Snow Angel.”

Shawn at first almost got into a defensive stance. Until he looked at who he was seeing. A woman in torn clothes, was tired to the bone and looked to be almost drained of everything she had. But he remembered the voice.

“Chrysalis… Dear god, what happened to you?”

“N-none of your *cough* business.” She spat, almost tripping.

“None of my business? You look horrible! No offense intended…”

“Pfft… none taken,” She groaned. “I may have powers, but because of being here, I’m cut off from a primary food source for changelings. And it gets worse every time I transform.” Around then was what Shawn realized immediately what she was talking about as he stared at her.

“Love.”

“Exactly, child.” She grinned, surprised to see that the snow conduit understood what she was talking about. “I just wish… I was back home… there’s no love here. Just other emotions. Jealousy, hate, pride… Nothing that could help me.” Shawn just listened as she continued to ramble. But, then he began to think of something. He wasn’t going to stand around and be helpless. Not anymore.

“What can I do?”

“W-what?”

“What can I do to help you?” He clarified. “You dying on me is not an option, and neither is leaving you helpless. I want to help you…”

“Y-you do? Why?”

The snow conduit looked back at her. “I believe everyone deserves in second chances. Even you. Now, I want you to tell me how I can help. If I know what to do, it’ll be easier for me to help you the best I can.” The conduit looked at him a little as she was leaning against a wall. She turned away for a minute, looking around. If Shawn was paying attention a little closely, he would notice the apparent blush on her face. Calming herself down, she then looked back at the snow conduit. Her green eyes focused on his blue ones.

“ …… L-love can take form in maybe things… Including objects… D-do you have a picture or something?” It was then that Shawn realized that and took out his wallet. Fiddling through a few things, he soon pulled out a family photograph of him and his parents, handing it to her.

“Can this work?”

Chrysalis herself was surprised that the boy was actually willing to give up one of his own possessions to help someone like her. From her brief experience, she saw that these humans or whatever they were called were consumed by greed or had no emotions whatsoever. Shawn was different though. Willing to help her without a second though. No strings attached or anything. She took hold of the photograph, draining the love that was encased inside the image as it crumpled away. She had enough strength to stand now. But the queen had a question for him.

“Why?”

The Snow Conduit looked back at her, puzzled. “I thought I already answered that-.”

“No. I mean, why the photograph? Didn’t it have a lot of value to you?”

He nodded, but then did something that surprised the queen. He smiled. “I don’t need a picture to know that my parents will always be with me in spirit. Plus, right now is when I need to tell you that you need to make a really tough choice.”

She raised an eyebrow, looking back in confusion. “I beg your pardon? What choice?”

“Well… all of the other Equestrian conduits are just inside the door in which I came out of. You’re outnumbered thirteen to one. So, you have three choices. One, stand here and don’t do anything. Two, try talking to them and convincing them to send you back home without giving them a reason two. Or option three.”

“What’s option three?”

“I’m glad you asked. You see, some Equestrians are staying behind to fight an onslaught of DUP troops that will be arriving within the hour.” He told her, noticing her reaction when he mentioned DUP. “Option number three is simple. Join the fight and give Celestia a reason for bringing you back to your hive. Show to her that you can be seen not as an enemy, but as a comrade. I’m going to leave you to make that decision.”

As he began to walk away, Chrysalis rasped out one last question. “What are you going to be doing?!”

“I’m going to Curdan Cay. It’s time begin breaking down the walls and finish this fight.”

End Chapter 18

Chapter 19- Those who fight further

Seattle, Washington

In the city of Seattle, everything was quiet amongst the town. But for the Conduits that called this town their home, they were making preparations. Preparations for War. They finally had a plan to take down the DUP once and for all, but for it to work, they needed fighters on the front lines to hold the line while the people inside worked on making secret information about the organization go public. Zeke had made a few calls in order to rally up supporters and to make sure that either everyone evacuated out of the city or locked themselves inside their homes. No innocent lives needed to be caught in the crossfire today.

“Is everyone ready?” He asked, looking around at the conduits who were still with him. Delsin and the others who were stepping outside nodded. Although Zeke did not know where Shawn went, he had a feeling that the teen went ahead to Curdan Cay and was waiting for an opening. Breaker himself had left a few moments ago in order to join him, but not before he reinforced the back entrance of the facility. Inside, Augustine, Eugene, and a few others prepared to help protect Eugene inside the complex if it were somehow to be breached. Outside, the plan was simple. Delsin would lead a force on the ground in order to occupy the DUP while Fetch would use lamp posts on the rooftops to provide covering fire. Vinyl would be with the Neon girl just in case someone tried to blindside her while the troops below would be fighting Delsin. It was expected that Roman’s two other conduit lackeys were likely to show up and Augustine was wanting to make sure that everyone was ready for if things were to get out of hand.

“Okay, Vinyl is with Fetch. Doughy is with Delsin along with Lyra and Trixie is in here with us,” Sunset clarified, looking at everyone. “Besides Shawn and Robert, am I missing anyone in particular besides the ones who left already?”

“Not anything that comes off the top of my head.” Eugene replied back, breaking out his Laptop and preparing the connection. “What about you guys?”

Almost everyone shook their heads. They felt that they were ready for this. Eugene nodded his head, grabbing his phone to talk to Delsin. “Okay, Delsin. We’re all good to go in here. How is everything looking out there.”

“It’s all quiet on the western front right now,” The Akomish replied. “Fetch? How is everything looking with our bird’s eye view?”

“For the most part. But we better get ready.” Fetch cut them off, channeling power and getting herself ready while Vinyl did the same thing by draining the sound and noise from an abandoned, but functional radio. “If what Augustine said was right, the DUP’s will be onto us the second that Eugene cracks into that hard drive. That means everyone needs to be ready for when they roll up and start trying to shoot at us.”

“I couldn’t agree more.” Vinyl added on. “This is going to be the most amount of fun that I’ve had in weeks!”

“Don’t get your hopes up. Because with the amount of troops that we will be having to face, it’s unknown whether or not how long we can last until one of us needs to refuel on energy.”

“Fetch is right, Vinyl.” Delsin added on. “Just be prepared for anything that these guys might be throwing at us. The more of them we can handle, the easier we make it for Shawn to be able to infiltrate Curdan Cay.”

“Speaking of which… has anyone actually heard from him?”

Elsewhere

The sound of feet running through snow and the cold winds blowing against Shawn’s face was the only thing he could feel and hear for miles. The light snowstorm was not a problem for him. But it did affect his vision however and there were a couple of times where the conduit almost drifted into the road. He managed to pull himself out of the road a couple of times, but on the trip up, as he felt himself getting closer to Curdan Cay, the trucks in the road turned out to be DUP Land vehicles. Looking at his watch, he realized that something wasn’t right.

Eugene was suppose to start in five minutes, yet the DUP are rolling out right now like they were preparing for war. Quickly, he took a snapshot of the carriers with his phone and sent it over to Zeke, the tagline being “Incoming. Something tipped these guys off and they’re rolling in full force.” Before he sent it though, he realized something. Robert was suppose to be backing him up on this operation, but the conduit was way too far away for that. If here were spotted now, then he would jeopardize everything.

“Have Breaker fall back!! If he gets caught by them, it’s game over!” He added onto the original message before pressing SEND and making his way to the edge of a nearby Basin that was overlooking his target. Curdan Cay. The Conduit definition of hell on earth. Despite a massive platoon of soldiers on the way to Seattle right now. A few of them still lingered around the base. All Shawn needed to do now… was find an opening.

It took him a few minutes, but once Shawn got closer, he found what he was looking for. There was a tear in the chain link fence that looked to be in need of repairs. However, because of the windy conditions, it seemed like the DUP had to hold it off until the winds died down. However, there was only one problem that he found the second he got closer.

His cell phone lost connection. Which meant that he was cut off from all communications with Delsin, Zeke, and everyone else. Shawn was on his own. Before he went through, the Snow Conduit was thinking about one thing that was on his mind.

If everyone else was going to be alright.

“The DUP’s are coming! The DUP’s are coming!!!” That was the only cue for Delsin and the others to get themselves ready by the time Zeke had received his message. They had already gotten Breaker to retreat back to Seattle, but the problem was that they lost all communication with Shawn. If Twilight was here now, she would use telepathy. But the Magic Conduit had went back home along with the Princesses and a few of her friends because she was worried about being separated from her family for so long.

“We got convoys! West side!!”

“Fetch, let’s light ‘em up!!”

“Seriously? That’s the worst time for a pun right now.” The Neon girl sighed, looking back at Vinyl.

“I wasn’t making a pun.” The DJ commented, putting her headphones on. Fetch could hear the faint sounds of a Fall Out Boy song being played on the other end and chuckled. It seemed like every conduit needed the right tunes to tangle with the DUP. Because these troops were packing a lot of firepower with them.

“Contact!! Five conduits, twelve o’clock!”

“Weapons free!!!” came the order as the troops all looked back at them, aiming their weapons directly at the small group of conduits. Doughy himself was absorbing the ink from a nearby DUP propaganda flier and had his powers at the ready.

“Here they come!!!”

“Oh, this is going to be SO much fun!” Delsin chuckled, lighting his hands ablaze with Smoke. Charging at the first one in an ash filled blur while the soldiers were trying to get a glimpse of where exactly he was. Vinyl herself followed suit, using her shockwaves to throw a few troops backward that tried to get the jump on Delsin while Fetch provided cover. Lyra herself, used her powers to form a fist out of ESP and have it emerge from the ground while Doughy used ink to blind their visors and camera equipment.

However, this was only the first platoon of dozens more that were coming their way. And who knows how long they could last without having to refuel their powers.

The moment Shawn set foot in Curdan Cay, he felt like he was forced to go in stealth mode. There were not that many troops, but the troops that were there were doing regular sweeps across the compound. He couldn’t blame them. With most of the DUP going to battle in Seattle, they had to have a small number of men stand guard at the base. But he was surprised at where exactly he entered when the Snow Conduit first stepped foot into the compound.

He was at the helipad. Where all the Helicopters used in certain operations were set up to prepare for if the threat level was at critical. He was going to step closer, but then overheard about the possibility that the troops on the ground would request for air support. This, in tune, got Shawn thinking.

If he were to sabotage those helicopters, Delsin and company would not get pounded by missiles and heavy firepower. Plus, it would send a much needed message to Roman. He was beginning to like this plan. A lot.

“Oh this is going to be fun.” He told himself, just as he turned into a blowing gust of snow. Using his form, he placed a series of mines that were attached to the engines of the air vehicles. Within that timeframe, the DUP official soon got the call for Air support, only for them to have that support blow up in front of them as he slipped away. The explosion, in turn, caused Roman to get on the intercom and start screaming bloody murder at his men.

“What the bloody hell happened down there!?! Get off your asses and get moving!! Archer Team needs backup!!!” He roared, furious at his troops. During the Chaos, Shawn stole a radio from a guard post and listened in on the conversation at hand. Listening to their communications as some of them ran to their convoys and rolled out. Intimidated by what just happened.

Now, with the limited amount of troops on the outside, It was now time for him to continue moving. He stopped though, just shortly after he realized that the section that he was in was only a hangar bay. Now, he was looking at the real thing from outside and boy… was it big.

“Well, I’ll be damned.” Shawn cursed to himself. “I had heard that this place was big, but hell, it’s a lot bigger than I thought it would be.” Curiosity set in as he noticed the guards standing out front and an air vent to the far left of the two of them. Slowly, he dashed in a blur of snow, thankful to not get caught as he traveled through the vent to end up on the other side of the door. Now, he found himself in another deep and long hallway without any guards present.

But that still didn’t mean that he wasn’t going to cause any trouble. In fact, he was bringing trouble to them. All he needed to do was find the right place to get started. He could hear some other voices from farther down and carefully walked over to where he heard the noise. It was a pair of soldiers talking amongst each other.

“Man, this just sucks… Everyone else is being sent out to fight off against a bunch of conduits and we’re forced to do guard duty. I’ve been waiting for the past six months to go on one of those missions and the first chance I get, the boss tells me to stay here and guard the facility!”

“Calm down, Forrester.” One of the other guards insisted. “Our job is just as important as theirs and you know that. I didn’t get the chance to go out there and you don’t see me complaining.”

“That’s because you’ve been able to go on missions before Roman became the one in charge.” Forrester shot back. “Ever since he became the leader of the DUP, he’s had only a series of troops go out on missions while he leaves those who have had experience before like us stuck doing guard work. There’s nothing to even guard here besides the base.”

This… provided an opportunity for Shawn. Both of them were not aware of his presence at all. If he could knock them out quickly, then he could pass through without any problems. They were right next to a Janitor’s supply closet as well. The perfect place to hide two unconscious bodies.

Quickly, he used his powers to form a small ball of snow and tossed it in between the guards. When that small snowball was noticed, it went off with a powerful shockwave, throwing both of them into the wall next to the closet. Quickly, the snow conduit pushed both of them inside and closed the door. Locking them inside.

“I better keep moving.” He told himself. “I just hope that Delsin and the others are okay.”

“Smokes, you got DUP’s coming in on your right!”

Delsin was quick in order to heed Fetch’s warning as he spun around and smacked a few incoming DUP pawns into a wall with his chain, all while controlling his Neon powers this time around instead of Smoke. They’ve been fighting for close to fifteen minutes and now, the group is them was starting to get a little tired. Delsin though, felt like it was all too easy. That was. until his chain was starting to pull him away.

“What the hell-?” Before the Conduit could properly react, he was pulled away from his allies and thrown into the air. The assailant that was attacking him was the conduit of the DUP named James Murray. Otherwise known as “Jack”. His powers were polarity based and that allowed him to pull metal objects towards him like a magnet. Hence, Delsin’s chain. However, seconds before Fetch, Vinyl or the others could react, something else happened that surprised all of them.

A huge blast of hardened glass slammed into the side of Delsin’s attacker, breaking him free of his magnetic pull. “Okay, who or what was that-?” The person that dropped down though was soon noticed by Lyra and Vinyl as both of them had seen her before.

“Can somepony explain to me what the hell is Queen FREAKING Chrysalis doing here!?!” Vinyl shouted, only to have her look back at the DJ with a serious glare.

“I’m here because Shawn gave me a second chance.” She snarled. “If I help you, then I can be able to go back home like the rest of you.” She then looked at Delsin, who was getting up on his feet.

“Well, uh… Thanks?”

“Don’t mention it… We’re nowhere near done yet since there’s more on the way and they have another conduit with them.”

“Wait, how do you know that?” Delsin asked.

“I can see reflections from off of glass windows, which allows me to see things from far away before they approach me.” Chrysalis spoke, before using her powers to make a glass perch on the wall. “We don’t have time to wait around anymore. They’re here.”

“Aww crap.” Delsin cursed internally. “Eugene, how far are you on cracking that thing!?”

“Delsin, this process takes time. I need another fifteen minutes or so to extract everything we need.” The Video conduit told him over comms. “Breaker got back here earlier and is trying to use his powers to set up roadblocks on the street to buy us some time. But if that Magnetic Conduit gets anywhere near them, he’ll tear them to shreds.”

“So I need to take care of our friend here to buy you two some time?”

“Basically.” His friend replied. “Hey, have you heard anything from Shawn?”

“No, why?”

“I have not been able to reach him at all. His phone’s signal is off the cellular grid.”

“He must be inside Curdan Cay then,” The Akomish answered, just as he dodged another pair of bullets. “Remember how we were cut off of Cell service when we freed the prisoners locked up in there three months ago? It must be the same thing.”

“Damn, I just hope he’s alright.”

“Don’t sweat it, Pixels.” Fetch interjected. “Shawn’s got home field advantage with Curdan Cay being up in the mountains. I think he’ll be just fine on his own.”

Seconds after Shawn had supposedly felt that he was safe, something caught him by surprise. Originally, he was investigating a tunnel in which a door was blocked off and sealed tight. He originally thought that it was some sort of secret passage that led up to Roman’s possible location, but upon entering, he soon realized that this wasn’t quite what he had in mind. Apparently, train tracks were established underground to deliver food, supplies and weapons to the DUP. Now, he was trying to run for his life in order to not get hit by the train. Around the same time that happened, a familiar voice was back in his head again.

“Hey, Shawn. Dear buddy!! How are things?”

Shawn mentally sighed as he continue to try and outrun the speeding locomotive behind him. “Now is NOT a good time, Discord!!”

“Why not? Anytime is a good time for me to talk to you. I even have some ponies that wanted to say hi!”

“That’s good and all. But right now, I’m running for my life because THE POLAR EXPRESS IS TRYING TO KILL ME!!!” The Snow Conduit yelled, seconds after he emerged from the tunnel and out of the way of the train. To his surprise, that chase from the train lead him to a new area that was previously unexplored by the conduit. It looked almost like an open arena, which was a lot different than the one Fetch had described earlier to him. Bits and piles of snow could be seen at different points while no one was inside. Hanging above them looked like a big box with red like lighting.

“Okay, now that I’m not being chased by a death train, what’s up?” He asked mentally, only leading to a collective sigh as I heard multiple voices inside my head.

“Is he always like this, Sugarcube?”

“Not entirely, Applejack.”

“Wait a second… Twilight? You made it back to your world?” Shawn asked, surprised by the voice of the Magic Conduit being heard now. “It’s good to hear that you and the others are back safely.”

“Thanks. Can you just explain to me what exactly is going on?” She asked. For a few minutes, The snow conduit had to give a lengthy explanation as to what is happening. Mostly having to explain why he wasn’t with Delsin on the front lines.

“So, do you think Delsin and Fetch can handle this on their own? I know they have Vinyl, Lyra and Doughy, but are you-.”

“You’re forgetting someone.” Shawn interjected as he began to look at a ice covered wall underneath the “Press Box” that looked over the arena.

“Who would I be forgetting? …… Oh no… You can’t be serious.”

“I am Twilight.” Shawn spoke, sternly.

“You helped CHRYSALIS!?! Are you out of your mind!?!!” Twilight shouted back at him mentally, making the snow conduit feel that his eardrums burst.

“Hey, if you were in the same position that I was in, you wouldn’t let her die in front of her now, would you!?” Shawn shot back mentally. “Besides, I told her that if showed herself as an ally, then she can be able to go home back to her hive if she didn’t attack anyone else besides the DUP. She needed something to redeem herself and I gave her that chance.”

The snow conduit soon redirected his focus as he inspected the wall. It was strong enough not to simply be broken, so it might work with the next part of the plan that the conduit had in mind. Using his powers, he created a pair of small climbing picks like he remembered Lara Croft using in the reboot of Tomb Raider to climb up the frozen wall, pulling himself upward with each movement. He wanted to get high enough where he could get a view of the entire fortress that was Curdan Cay. Shawn doubted that Roman was in his office. Matter of fact, he thought that with being of the commander of the DUP, the wire conduit would want to make his way to the war zone that was currently downtown Seattle.

His suspicions were confirmed the second he say him walking out to a Helipad and was going to call for a helicopter. “Oh hell no. You’re not getting away this time.” From the wall, Shawn blasted himself forward in a head first dive towards the commander. As he inched closer, Roman noticed him, trying to swing a wire at him with an electrical current. That though, allowed the teen to try his new powers as he manifested into broken shards of mirror before reforming behind him and giving the wire conduit a necessary punch to his smug face.

“You have got some nerve to think that you can just walk away after what you did.” Shawn snarled, his hands conjuring snow around him.

“I’d say,” The DUP head spat. “You have some nerve with infiltrating my facility and destroying DUP property-.”

“Cut the bullshit,” The Snow Conduit interjected. “You know exactly what you did wrong and before I kick your ass, I just want to hear one thing.”

“What are you expecting, Kid?” Roman growled, tossing his broken glasses away. “An apology?”

“No… A reason.” The Snow Conduit retorted. “Tell me your reason behind why you killed them. What did my parents do to deserve death by your hands?” By now, Roman was laughing to himself a little. Surprised, but amused by the teen’s demands.

“A reason? Oh god, that’s too subtle. I honestly thought you would be wanting some sort of revenge or vengeance. Maybe a mixture of the two-.”

“ANSWER THE GOD DAMN QUESTION!!!” Shawn barked, having Roman get back to what he was thinking about.

“Kid… My reason for doing it is simple. They were at the wrong place… at the wrong time. Do you honestly think of yourself as a hero. A protector of the weak? The people may see you as such, but in the eyes of the law, you’re nothing more than a punk vigilante with a set of powers. After what happened with Augustine, the government had to scramble in order to retain control of everything because the public was in an uproar. They needed someone to uphold the law… and that’s where I come in.”

“You don’t uphold the law,” The teen snarled. “You abuse it to the point where you think you’re above the law. That ends today.”

“Well, aren’t you so confident… Very well… If you want to try and strip away everything I worked for… Come and take it.” With that, both conduits stared each other down, just as they raced towards each other to make the first move.

No matter what Shawn felt like he was up against, he knew that he was going to put an end to all of this.

Once and for all.

End Chapter 19

Chapter 20- Once and for all

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

Chapter 1- Angel

Mission Valley Mall, San Diego (Friday, Early evening)

“All Units, please respond! We have an armed robbery in progress at the Target store in the Mission Valley shopping center. Shots fired! I Repeat. Shots have been fired!! Suspects believed to be heavily armed and have a Conduit assisting them. Evacuate all surrounding civilians and No One call the DUP unless the situation is out of our Control!”

6:00pm

That single message on the Radio of the Western Division of the San Diego Police Department had all the cops in the entire county on high alert. Within minutes, ten or more Police cars showed up with about twenty or so officers establishing a perimeter around the store on the West end of the mall. In half an hour, four times that plus Ambulances with doctors treating those shot or hurt during the panic to get out of the store. Inside the two floor building was the armed felons and the hostages they have taken. No one could see anything except the self-barricaded doors and the bullet holes that already shattered parts of the glass on the doors.

As the Last car showed up, an officer of African-American descent that was in his late 40’s with a black goatee and an almost bald head because of his military haircut, was right now behind the line of cops holding a megaphone. All were in standard uniform and wore bulletproof vests to accommodate with the current situation. As for the officer with the Megaphone, he turned on the speaker and pointed the device towards the barricaded doors. Squeezing it’s trigger, the officer began to speak.

“This is Lieutenant Daniel Rivers of the Mission Valley Police Department Special Response Team. I’m hear to listen to you and to try to make sure that everybody stays safe.” His voice was firm, but calm. For being on the force for a long time, he had always taken his job seriously. He had handled Hostage situations like this before.

Only difference was that this situation had a Conduit. Conduits were Humans that had powers because of a special gene in their body. But many saw them as “Bio Terrorists” because of the DUP (Department of Unified Protection).

Back to the impending situation, no response came to the Lieutenant. Due to the Circumstances, he would have to continue his job. That’s when he heard the last police car door open. A very familiar face across the force stepped out and walked over to Lieutenant Rivers, who was still honestly surprised to see him.

“Lieutenant…”

The officer turned off his microphone and saluted the man. “Chief Kingston-!”

“Easy there. I heard the situation over the com-line.”

Chief Nicholas Kingston. An American around 45 with a clean shave, short brown hair and blue sapphire eyes. He was an honest man that cared not only for his job, but for the people he met and also his teenaged son.

“Permission to speak, Chief?” The Lieutenant asked.

“Granted.”

“The Captains of the Western Division are waiting at the mobile HQ they set up over there.” The Officer pointed out the vehicle that resembled a Medium sized RV. The Chief nodded as he walked on over. The light from the sun was beginning to set, interfering with his vision. But nevertheless, he persisted.

Soon, he arrived at the Command Center, where Blueprints of the store’s first and second floors. Four other captains were there, talking to Teams of Special Forces and trying to figure out any details on the current situation and acquire information they did not have already. Information that was crucial to the situation at hand.

“Greetings, Chief.” One of the captains named Thomas Grimden spoke as all four of them and the Special Forces officers saluted simultaneously. “We’re glad you’re here. Wished it would be on better circumstances though…”

“I agree. So what do we know so far?” The chief asked, praying for good news.

“So far, Not much…” A Special Forces Captain interjected. “All we know is that there are hostages and the one leading them is a damned Conduit.”

The Term “Bio Terrorist” was never used on the Police Force. Bio-Terrorist was used for public Propaganda by the DUP, but it was never used by any member on the SDPD. It was the same for most police officers across the country since they were the ones who encountered Criminal Conduits the most.

However the news that the conduit is the one leading the group caused Nicholas’s stomach to sink. “Anything on what he or she is capable of?”

“Your guess is as good as mine, Sir.” Captain Grimden replied again. “We’re working on setting up a communications line and also obtaining security feed from the camera’s in the building.”

“Thank you Kindly, Tom.” Nicholas replied, pulling out a leather covered notepad. When he flipped the cover, the opposite side had a photo holder that held a family photo of his wife and son. That was noticed by a few of the officers on his branch and one of them (which was a friend of the Chief) decided to speak.

“Hey Chief…”

Nicholas lifted up his head, looking at one of the Captain’s of his Division. “Yes, Davidson?” He replied, addressing the officer by his last name.

“I don't mean to be rude, but didn’t you get a call from your son earlier about going to the mall an hour ago?”

Then, it hit him. He did call earlier… Maybe this could help turn the situation around. Taking out his Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphone, Nicholas unlocked the phone with his personal passcode and went into the calls he recently received. There he found his son’s number.

He pressed the Dial button as the chief set his phone down on the Table.

”Chief! What’re you-?!”

“You’re right about my son calling me earlier. In fact, he’s going to help us right now.” The chief smiled as the phone began to connect. “I told all of you that my son is special. I mean that in more ways than one.”

Inside the Store on the top floor, the security room was inside the wall to the back corner of the building. Of course, there was only one in this room at the time the fiasco was going on and it wasn’t the security guard that was on duty. Instead, it was a teenager around 15 years old with black hair that was medium length and combed, light blue eyes, around 5 ft 6 in tall and wore a Wonderbolt Jacket and DJ-PON3 headphones that you could find at Hot-Topic, a plain Cyan V-neck shirt underneath, Jeans, and size 12 Nike Air sneakers in black. This kid was sitting on the floor underneath the deadbolt locked door with his headphones around his neck. Waiting…

There had been enough surprises for him already. So the last thing he expected was a phone call from his father and hearing the Bass Drop of “Ultimate Sweetie Belle” by Alex S. for 15 seconds.

Knowing that the room was mostly sound proof, the teen answered the call, not scared for if anyone found out about what he was doing.

“D-Dad?”

“Shawn, I hear you. The rest of the department is with me and I have you on speaker.” He heard his father’s voice over the phone. “Where are you?”

“Target. In the Security Room. Ran in during the panic while others tried to get out.” Shawn could hear other voices on the end of the line, but he had absolutely no idea what they were saying. Ignoring that, he focused on his father’s next question that the Chief told him.

“Can you see the security feed inside the room? If so, what can you see from the camera?”

Shawn hesitated a little as he looked at the security screens. There were sixteen screens in total. Four outside the building, six on the first floor, and six on the second floor. However, he wasn’t familiar with how they operated. So, Shawn had to learn on his own for how they worked. It was trying to teach yourself how to play a game without a tutorial.

Nevertheless, he soon was able to figure it out and find out what he needed to know. “There’s five of them.”

“Five of what, Shawn? Talk to me.” Nicholas’s voice asked him over the phone.

“Five Crooks, first floor. One set up a makeshift barrier by the west end of the building and armed it with what appears to be a possible homemade explosive the size of a barbasol can.”

“Good work, Son,” His fathers voice calmed the teens tense feelings, helping him focus. “What weapons do they have?”

“These idiots are actually packing a lot of heat.” Shawn continued. “All of them have some kind of body armor and their weapons mean business. Out of all of them, the shortest one has two revolvers and keeps twirling them likes he’s from the old west. Another one has a sawed-off shotgun. Two of them have SMG’s and the last one in the back used a makeshift cover by the produce department for sniping with a hunting rifle.”

Again, more voices. This time though, they sound surprised. Another new question came in for Shawn, but this time from one of the squad leaders instead of the chief of police.

“What about the hostages and the conduit?”

‘What the Hell? There was a conduit here?’ Looking back at the screens, he noticed both the hostages and the individual he assumed as the conduit. Top and bottom floor.

“Hostages are by the pharmacy, behind the counter, to the right when you come in the East Entrance. The conduit is the top floor and he’s made a mess of the place. Pushed anything that was bound to the floor against the wall to create a huge open space. Looks Filipino or Mexican heritage but not quite sure. Besides that, he is bald, has a clean shave and has tattoos on his arms. Looks like something showing his reputation with the locals.”

“You’re doing great son. Just stay calm and-.”

“What the hell!?” Shawn cursed, now noticing something new on the monitors.

“Shawn, what’s wrong?”

“This conduit… he has a hostage of his own.” Shawn said. “Looks like a young girl. Hair resembles a midnight blue, eyes are the same. Wearing a small skirt dress and… oh dear god.”

“Talk to me, son! What’s wrong?”

“He has her in handcuffs… but the handcuffs… There are pieces of glass attached to them. He’s torturing her!!”

“Oh my god…” His Father cursed.

Others swore along with him. For a few moments, Shawn didn’t hear anything. He didn’t know if the call was broken up or they were all stunned by the shock. The Teen even thought that the call ended on accident. This silence was really putting him in a state of anxiety. Then, he heard his father speak to him again.

“Son, I know what you are thinking right now and I have something to tell you.”

“Yes dad?”

“Go for it.” The Chief told him.

“D-dad!? Are you serious? What about the DUP’s? You told me-.”

“I remember what I told you, son. But this changes things.” The father told him, sighing over the phone like he was looking for an alternative way to say what came next. “Do you remember what the first two words are on the police badge?” This was a no brainer for not only him, but also for Shawn. The slogan is “To Protect and Serve”, and since it’s on all the police badges, he could figure it out immediately.

“To Protect?”

“Right.” His father replied, sighing due to what he had to say next being the hardest. “You might be a conduit, Shawn. But I still love you no matter what. You’re still my son… Just with powers and a tendency to watch ponies every Saturday morning.”

“Pfft…” Shawn chuckled a little, humored by his dad’s comment. “Did you seriously have to say that to the entire department? I can see a few of your men laughing about it right now.”

Even the officers hearing this were surprised. Not just because the chief’s son was a conduit, but by knowing what they were doing at that moment. “How the-?”

“You seem to forget the cameras along the sides of the building.” The conduit pointed out. “There are four of them and one is pointed directly towards where you are.”

“I know that.” The Chief replied. “Still though, out of the two things I mentioned about you, one was obvious and the other is what I believe will define you. Let us take care of the ground floor, you go protect that girl. Be her Guardian Angel.”

“Yes dad. I’ll do my best!”

“Make me proud and teach that criminal what happens when you hurt children!” With that, the call ended and Shawn hopped to his feet, Cracked his knuckles and stretched his muscles to loosen himself up. It was time for him to go to work.

Quietly, the deadbolt was unlocked on the door to the security room as Shawn slowly crouched near the floor, shutting the door behind him quietly to not make any noise. He was now in a two direction hallway that allowed him to go left or right. To his left was the way to the girl, while to the right was one of two water fountains that was operational (The other had a DON’T USE sign taped to the head of the fountain). Stretching his hand out the the right, the water began to flow out of the faucet and crystallize halfway through, and restore the conduits energy as snow.

You see, Shawn’s conduit powers were on conjuring and manipulating snow. He could even concentrate hard enough to create different forms of Snow like ice, a mini blizzard, and hail. Of course though, finding snow in sunny surf territory is like next to impossible if your powers made you a walking ice cube. However, at Big Bear Lake four months ago (The same place where he discovered his powers four years ago), Shawn figured out that he could drain water and his powers would convert the liquid to snow.

Back to the task at hand, Shawn slowly walked out of the hall and into the wreckage that was the main room. Clothes were scattered all over the place and the top half of the store looked completely vandalized. From there though, he could also see the girl and her captor. The eyes of the girl widened as she stared at her, wanting to say something, but Shawn used a small sign to tell her to stay quiet. As he walked, the footsteps he made could be heard by the other conduit. He turned around and noticed the new person that was in the same room.

“What the hell? I thought we encountered all the prisoners and had them be under guard.” The shirtless bald man grunted in disgrace. He went to reach for a handheld radio that was on an empty shelf, but Shawn destroyed the communication device with two piece’s of hail the size of a golf ball, turning it into broken plastic and electronic parts.

“You missed one.” Shawn bluntly noted, looking at the destroyed radio before focusing his gaze on the mystery man without a shirt.

“So, a fellow conduit I see?” The man said. His tattoo on the left side of his face had one meaning that really disturbed the teenager when looking at him. Not to mention another tattoo that showed a cobra around a barrel of explosives on his right arm. But the tattoo on his face was different. It was a teardrop. Despite it looking so innocent, his father told him that it meant something else entirely when he gave him a tour of the police station on the day of a big drug bust. Something very disturbing that would make you think otherwise.

Tears meant that he had killed someone before.

Not to mention the face of another tattoo being on this man’s left wrist. It was a watch. Again, watches meant another sign in prison terms.

Watches meant that he had did time in Jail.

All of this made Shawn assume the worst as he snarled a little. “Fellow? You honestly think that I want to be associated with a criminal who tortures children!!?” The snow conduit shot back at the man, pointing at the handcuffs on the girl and the small amount of blood that had began to drip and stain the floor. Shawn was now concerned for her and worried that she might be dying due to the glass being so close to her wrists. Either that or blood loss at some stage.

“Well now, mi amigo. They’re just a… What’s the American word again?” He walked around in a loop with his finger tapping his head, trying to think of the words to say. “Ah yes, a necessary precaution. precaución necesaria-!”

“BS!! Or should I say it as Mentira for clarification? Because that damned thing is making her bleed to death, monster!” Shawn snapped. He didn’t know much spanish, but that was not the focus right not. The Snow conduit personally had enough with this lunatic and wanted to walk towards his hostage. He was worried that something would go wrong if she wasn’t attended to soon.

The unknown conduit though sighed. Then, he moved his hands to grab something within his pockets while Shawn began to make his way to the child. Something reflective caught his eye, forcing the teen to look in the direction to see what this man was holding. At first, he thought the lunatic pulled out a gun. What he pulled out though was different… and also what confused him.

‘Bullets…? but he doesn’t have a gun on him… So why would he be holding bullets?’

“It seems that we have reached an impasse. However, I have a better reason for this.”

Twisting the bullets off the caps and tossing them aside while he threw the cartridges into the air. A black powder of the gunpowder in those chamber began to form in the air as he held out both of his hands. It wasn’t until Shawn saw what this man was doing that he couldn’t stop the maniac.

“Para sobrevivir.” To Survive.

In seconds, the gunpowder that scattered into the air was pulled in like a vacuum and absorbed into his hands and breathing through his fingertips.

This conduit can drain and control Gunpowder.

“My name is Pablo. But I’m known by my compadres as “Powderkeg” Pablo. What is your name Amigo?”

“Shawn. Shawn Kingston” came the Snow Conduits reply.

“Well Shawn, you have no other choice but to fight. Show me what you can do. No me decepciones.”

Don’t disappoint me.

Immediately, without warning, Pablo attacked first. Having his hands resemble finger pistols, the Mexican bombarded his opponent with a wide spray of Gunpowder bolts. Instincts kicked in for Shawn as he dodge rolled to the right and formed a protective barrier around himself and the girl, using it as cover. ‘That should keep him occupied’ Shawn thought as he switched his priorities from Pablo to the child he put the handcuffs on. With another blast of hail, The Teen got the cuffs off the little girl’s wrists and used his snow to heal any cuts or wounds she had. Her wounds weren’t severe since the glass wasn’t sharp or rough enough to cut deeply into her skin.

“Stay here, Okay?” Shawn requested. “I’ll take care of this guy quick.”

She nodded as The Snow Conduit dispersed into flowing snow. Shawn now began to fight back, working on countering the gunpowder bolts with his shots of Hail. The difference? Shawn used only one hand while Pablo was using two. Shawn’s other hand was forming a white sphere of cold energy. In preparation for whats to come next.

Without warning and completely catching his opponent off guard, the snow conduit threw the ball of snow. Well, less like threw and more like pitch since it came out like a fastball at a baseball game. When Pablo hit it with one of his attacks, the sphere dispersed into a cloud of snow and also hit his with some shards of ice. The shards gave some cuts along his arms as The Mexican just got angrier at his opponent. The only problem though? He couldn’t see a damn thing.

“Oooh… Strike 1!”

“Blasted-. Dónde diablos estás!!?” The conduit shouted in anger and fury.

“Uh, English?” Shawn asked, even though he kind of already understood what it mean partially. Something like ‘Where the hell are you!?’ or something like that. He didn’t have time to use a translator app on his phone to figure it out.

The Glacial Bomb he tossed was suppose to be used as a diversion. What went through the teens mind was that if there was anything he could use that would be useful. His eyes dawned on an Aluminum baseball bat that reminded his of when he use to do tee-ball when he was in elementary school. It was by his feet.

“Not FUNNY, Hail-face!!!”

‘Times up on thinking!’ he thought. ‘Seems like Nike’s model of “Just do it” follows me wherever I go.’

Grabbing the bat, Shawn got himself ready from what came next. Pablo began to conjure more energy into his hands and released a lineup of TNT Missiles. Shawn dived back behind a shelf of sporting goods equipment to find that the bat he had was starting to overheat. Thinking quickly, he lined the bat with a thin coat of ice and looked over the shelf to see him.

The teen didn’t have many options on how to plan this out. So, he thought that with the weapon he had, there was only one crazy idea that could possibly work.

‘Treat it like batting practice? Oh, this was going to be fun.’

Jumping back out into the fray, he got up as Pablo aimed his hands and launched another Missile in Shawn’s direction. Turning to his side, the snow conduit swung and sent the missile back towards his opponent. It made the Mexican jump for cover as it crashed into the wall and dispersed into smoke.

“Wow…” Shawn gasped, relieved a little bit on how his theory turned out. “I can’t believe that actually worked.”

That’s when he noticed more incoming missiles and began to dodge, dive, and hit back the projectiles. This continued for another couple of minutes until one of them actually was able to hit Pablo in the chest, making him fly backwards into the nearby wall. Now he was really beginning to tick.

“That one went over the fences.” Shawn chuckled as he tossed the bat aside.

“This isn’t funny, you piece of-!”

“Whoa, hey! We got children here. Watch your language!”

“Damn it kid!!” Pablo cursed. “Treat this like a game and you’re going to get killed!”

“Well it’s not my fault that you decided to pick a fight by the sporting goods department, baldy.” Shawn teased. What he didn’t know was that calling Pablo “Bald” was like sentencing yourself to death. It was the one thing that made him tick and caused his emotions to go overboard. Almost like when you call Marty McFly from Back to the Future “Chicken”.

“Okay, THAT’S IT!!”

Pablo’s anger ran out of control. The gunpowder conduit began to muster all of his current energy into an incinerating warhead. A warhead that was aimed directly at Shawn and was coming in at speeds of 120mph. Giving no time for the Snow conduit to react or even move.

“Oh Sh-!”

The warhead’s impact blast was nearly close to killing him. In fact, the explosion from the warhead served as the signal for the bottom team to neutralize the threat. Besides the fact that it made a thirty foot wide hole in the floor and the impact could be felt from outside. The fire alarms were triggered because of the flaming wreckage and debris that Pablo’s attack left behind. Water was now being drenched everywhere and Pablo couldn’t see a damn thing due to the Smoke left behind from his Warhead attack.

“Hmm… Where are you?”

For Shawn, he was lucky. The smoke allowed him to hide on the floor behind a stock shelf. He was lucky to disperse into snow and dash out of the way at the last possible second, but he still got hurt from the explosive impact. ‘Thank god my clothes aren’t in shredded pieces.’ he thought.

“Where are you?”

Pablo’s menacing tone now strangely reminded him of Scorpion in Mortal Kombat. Maybe it was the pitch of the voice or the edge, but that doesn’t matter. What he did pay attention to was the sprinkler system from the fire alarms going on and the water being sprayed around the room. He smiled, almost wanting to chuckle because of his opponent’s sheer stupidity. ‘Now’s my chance!’

Immediately after catching some air, the snow conduit answered his opponent’s question by giving him three jabs to the stomach and a right hook across the face. This threw Pablo backwards as he saw his opponent still standing.

“Strike Two.” Shawn told him, holding two fingers like a peace sign.

“Heh… Even though you survived kid, I can still-.” His sentence was cut off when he looked at his hand and wondered why he couldn’t drain the gunpowder he expended from his attack. He began to panic in disbelief. “Qué demonios!?!”

“Tsk Tsk Tsk…” Shawn waved his index finger from side to side in a taunting manner. “You must’ve forgotten that gunpowder isn’t effective when it’s soaking wet. You’re an idiot to be setting off fire alarms.”

“Grr…”

Pablo was furious. With his own powers not working, he tried to attack his opponent by picking up the baseball bat that Shawn set aside. This only led to him being disarmed and a foot to the face that sent him flying. The Gunpowder conduit collided into a wall, knocking him out and having Shawn breath a major sigh of relief.

“Strike three… You’re out.” He said confidently. ‘And thank god for the Self-Defense classes Dad had me go to.’

Using his powers to freeze Pablo’s outstretched hands, the Conduit first attempted to drag the Mexican across the floor. But after about ten feet, he was forced to give up on that plan. Why? Well, he was way too heavy for him to pull (Not to mention being unconscious doesn’t help him either). So Shawn redirected his focus on something else instead. Well, less like something else and more like someone else. Someone who he needed to make sure was okay.

The girl.

Walking his way back over there, he got on his knees to be at the girls level in height. She looked okay. Not too many scratches or unexpected bruises. But still, it would be polite to ask. After everything she’s been through, he was concerned.

“Hey, are you okay?”

She nodded. “Y-yeah, I’m okay.” The child spoke softly “Thank you… for saving me.” That’s where her eyes lit up and handed Shawn something that she was holding onto. His phone.

“You almost left this behind.” The girl told him a quiet and calm voice. “It fell out of your pocket shortly after you freed me.”

“Oh thanks!” Shawn replied, bending to his side so he could clip it back to his waist. “I was wondering where that… went?”

Out of surprise, the teen looked up to find the girl he saved had vanished. Gone. Without a trace. She didn’t even know about him and just… ran off? That was odd. ‘Could she be a-?’

Then, a small “Yay!” went off on his phone, signaling to the teen that he received a text and also directing his attention elsewhere.

Bottom Floor is secured. Is everything okay?

Shawn chuckled at his fathers message, pressed a few keys, and sent another message back to him.

All under control. The girl is okay and possibly heading back to her parents. Conduit is contained as well. Be careful, he can manipulate gunpowder and use it as a weapon.

Quickly, his father replied to him.

Good job. I’m proud of you son. Happy Early Birthday!

Some time had passed since the events that had transpired hours ago and now, the same girl from the Target store was seen in the shadows of an underground parking lot. She looked around her cautiously, hoping to not find anyone here this late at night. Then, she calmly began to take deep breaths as a mystical midnight purple colored mist swirled around her and illuminated around her fingertips. As the mist began to fade, so did the child that was once there.

The young girl was now seen as a young woman, supposedly in her mid-thirties. Her hair was a darker shade of the previous color and longer in length, though her eyes still remained the same. Her clothes had also changed. She wore a Dark purple collared T-shirt with buttons only to the shoulder level of the body as well a pair of dark brown khaki’s. She also wore a pair of fancy work shoes and looked like she was the assistant of a boss for a major company. The only thing that was different though was that these assistants don't have a patch of a crescent moon on their sleeves.

Back to the Woman, she looked around instinctively once again to make sure that no one was following or had followed her. When she thought that she was in the clear, the woman's right hand went into her pants pocket. She drew out a cell phone and fumbled around a little bit to unlock the puzzle she had set up for a lock screen.

Once solved though (after almost two minutes of frustration), she went into her contacts and dialed one of the only two numbers that she had in her cellular device as of right now. It took some time to connect, but she was able to reach her caller.

“Hello?”

“Sister, it’s me.”

“Where were you?!” The female voice on the other end asked in a demanding, yet concerned manor. “I was worried sick when you didn’t come back-.”

“I think I found someone that could help us.”

The worried voice on the other end of the line stopped. Only to speak again with a sigh of relief. “Really?”

“I believe so…”

“Thank the stars!” The other voice said again in a relieved tone. “Was it the boy with the jacket that you saw at that “shopping center” today?”

“Yes it was.” The woman replied, looking around the lot some more as she moved across the lanes of cars and trucks. “His name is Shawn Kingston. He’s also what this society calls a Conduit.”

“The human figures that have different powers?”

“That’s right, sister.”

“Interesting.” The voice on the other end now sounded curious. She wanted to know a little bit more. “What was he able to do?”

The individual holding the phone took a deep breath as she told her sister on the other end of the line. “Snow Manipulation. He can use his hands to harden Snow into different densities like hail, conjure snow into different forms and channel water to turn into snow to heal himself of injuries and anything that could physically harm him.”

“Interesting… I didn’t think something like that would be possible given this world being in the season of summer. Come back to where we first arrived, Luna. We have much to discuss. I believe that this “Shawn” figure could be important, but we need to talk on this first before we ask him for help.”

“Yes, Sister.”

With that, she stopped the call as the night princess locked her phone, used her powers to turn into a Mystical Raven and disappeared from sight. The only thing left behind was a feather that slowly disintegrated into clear dust.

End Chapter 1

Author's Note

Conduit Corner-
Name: Shawn Kingston
Age: 15 (Turning 16)
Alias: Snow Angel
Powers: Snow
Background: Ever since he was young, Shawn felt like he was always the odd one out. Despite everything that he did during school, he felt isolated from the people that cared for him most and even considered himself as a freak. Four years ago though, on a winter trip to big bear lake, his life changed when he discovered that he was a conduit with Snow Powers. Despite his discovery though, the teen was scared for his life. He saw how the DUP treated those who had powers. They saw them as criminals... terrorists... animals... He never asked to be this way, but now he was one of them.

A month after the discovery of his powers put him into a depressive state, Shawn one day came across the show named "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic." After seeing the colorful characters and the clever storytelling the show provided, the teen was able to get out of this slump and actually do something with his "gifts". With the help of his father, Shawn created a training room in the basement of his home and over the past few years, has further developed his powers to where he could drain water as a way to restore his energy.

Authors Note: On a starting point, writing a story that takes place in San Diego is fun since that's my home town. I will add more information as the story progresses, but don't expect the chapters for this story to be updated as frequently as my other ones.

Location Reference:
http://media.utsandiego.com/img/photos/2014/11/18/Target_exterior_1_r620x349.jpg?75d51d0aea2efce5189afce216053cbc530c46a8

I would like some feedback on this since I've been working this a long time and have been doing multiple edits. What do you guys think?

Chapter 9- My heartstrings come undone

National City, California (11:45am, Sunday)

So far today, Shawn had been enjoying his day so far. He had spent most of his time with Rainbow Dash, Soarin, and the Princesses as they finished one of his favorite movies and also spent some time enjoying each others company. His father now understood the situation that they were in and how he was going to help them; which he was personally thankful for because the snow conduit knew that the thought of trying to hide four conduits was beyond impossible. Especially with the fact that his dad can tell whenever he tried to lie. It was just as obvious like when Applejack got “Discorded” during the season two premiere before the spirit of chaos got reformed.

Now though, both he and his dad were going south down the Interstate 5 Freeway. One of his fathers friends that was part of the National City Police Department wanted to meet up with the Chief of Police to catch up with him.

National City was the second oldest city in the San Diego County and it also considered as an “Immigrant Sanctuary”. Individuals of more than eighteen different racial backgrounds resided here, but the majority of them were of Mexican and Filipino descent. Over twelve thousand families live here in more than fifteen thousand households. This along with the condition of the city had many believe that this city was one of the poorest in the county and that it was a sanctuary for illegal immigrants.

In fact, most people only remember the town because of the “Mile of Cars”. A mile long strip of road that was known as one of the first ever Auto Malls in the world. As in the name suggests, car dealerships of both new and used vehicles were on both sides of the road and anything beyond it mostly consisted of auto repair stores and body shops.

Shawn and his father had just entered through the Mile a few minutes ago and now have reached the other side. The two of them proceeded a little more passed the city’s library and then reached an Intersection between National City Boulevard and East 12 street. Parking on the side of the street, both father and son stepped out of the car and onto the sidewalk.

“So, who exactly are we seeing?” Shawn asked his father as he locked the car using his keys.

“Didn’t I say we were meeting a friend?”

“Well, you need to be a little more specific when you mean that. You have many friend in the Police Force given your position.”

Shawn was right about that. Many family friends of the Kingstons either had previous experience in the Police, Military, or just met when they were younger. But Nicholas knew exactly who they were meeting. In fact, he was at the street corner to where they were parked at.

The individual that they were going to meet was Ian Blakeese. Head of the National City Police Department and also one of the few people who knew that Shawn was a conduit. He promised though not to say anything so that way he wouldn’t lose his job or ruin his reputation. Physically, he reminded the snow conduit of the actor who played Jesse on the TV show “Burn Notice” based on his physical appearance. He was of samoan descent and was around 6ft 2in with a lot of muscles in his legs and arms. He wore a sleeveless top and a pair of shorts, but his shirt revealed the tattoo’s that he had on his upper arms. One represented the years he served in the marines while the other represented his time on the police force. Talk about being dedicated to your country.

“Nicky!!” He hollered, getting the attention of Shawn’s father with one of the many nicknames the chief had gained over the years as they walked on over to him. When they got there, Nicholas responded with a soft punch in the shoulder.

“How’ve you been Ian?”

“Extremely Well, Nick.” Ian replied. “How are you, Shawn?”

“Alright. How’s Sonya?”

“She’s doing great. Her birthday will be coming soon.”

Sonya was the name of Ian’s eleven year old daughter. She was very kind and sweet, but also was very timid. It reminded the Snow Conduit a lot of Fluttershy since she really liked animals and also spoke in a whisper like tone.

Around now, Nicholas told his son that he didn’t have to stand around and can go on a walk. Taking his advice, Shawn started to walk down E 12 street towards a building named ARTS, which meant A Reason to Survive. It was an afterschool arts center where kids from elementary to high school could go to hang out and also take classes in arts, crafts, music and storytelling. Shawn knew a few people there and had taken classes there before during the days that he didn’t have school. Right now, he was on Summer Break and was glad to be free as a bird right now.

As he approached the door though, he heard some parents talking to each other. He didn’t really care for what the subject was at first, until the conduit heard something that caught his attention.

“Are you sure about leaving your children here on your own? The community had a small scare earlier in the week about a possible Bioterrorist sighting in Kimball Park.”

Shawn’s ears twitched under his jacket hood as he heard the second parent respond. “Small Scare? How is anything with a Bioterrorist a small scare.”

“I heard that the police were looking into it, but they didn’t have enough information on the case to continue it, so they thought that the person who called them in was pulling a prank.”

The Snow Conduit didn’t stay around long after that. Behind the ARTS center was Kimball park, the location of the supposed sighting of the conduit that caused the “small scare”. But the only thing that he did not have was a lot of information on the person. But, as it turns out, the subject of the conversation had already spread like a deadly infection.

“You heard about the Bioterrorist scare?”

“You mean the one last friday? I heard that they were looking for a strange girl that had gold eyes and mint like hair. Possibly from hair dying.”

“Didn’t she have some kind of patch or mark on her clothes?”

“Yeah, one of those ancient greek instruments?”

“Like a Harp?”

“No, you dumb***. That’s Celtic or some Sh*t like that. It’s that instrument a cupid would carry. Like a Lyre.”

“You calling me a Liar!?”

Shawn himself moved away from there as soon as possible due to the possibility of the conversation there getting violent. Now he had some details. The supposed Conduit was a girl, possibly had mint colored hair, golden eyes, and some kind of Lyre marking. He assumed the mark was something sewn onto her clothes.

Taking out his phone, he began to dial someone he thought would possibly help him with putting all the pieces together. Soon, the caller on the other end picked up.

“Hello, Shawn.”

“Hey Luna. I was thinking that you could possibly help me out with something.”

“Sure. What do you need help with?”

Shawn sighed a little. This was not going to be easy. “Well, I’ve been hearing a lot about a possible conduit in a local park not far from where my dad and I are. My current assumption is that she might be related to you guys.”

“Oh? How so?”

“The only details I were that it was a girl with a mint colored mane and gold colored eyes with a lyre as some kind of mark. Does that ring a bell?”

“I’m sorry, I don’t follow.”

Shawn sighed. He forgot that since Luna and the other Equestrian Conduits were from a different world, they might not understand figures of speech. “I mean, do you remember anyone within the parameters of that description?”

“Hmm… Mint like mane… Gold eyes… not sure if I-. Hold on…” Shawn was puzzled as he heard Luna stop talking for a moment. He stopped walking along the pathway in the park. The teen could hear talking in the background, but he couldn’t make out who was talking. Then, Luna came back on the other end of the phone.”

“I’m having Soarin continue this conversation. He says that he might be able to help you more than I can.”

Another brief pause of silence, followed by a new voice.

“Okay, so I just talk and it comes through to the other end?”

“Soarin, I can hear you.”

“Oh, my apologies.” The Wonderbolt grunted, clearing his throat. “So you say that there is a possibility of a conduit where you are that’s a girl with a Mint like mane and golden eyes? Along with having a Lyre as a mark of some sort?”

“Yeah, that’s right.” The snow conduit replied. “Why? Do you happen to know her?”

“Actually, yes and personally, I’m a little worried for her. Her name is Lyra-.”

“Wait, Lyra? As in Lyra Heartstrings?”

“That’s right, and from what I remember from talking to her and her roommate Bonbon, she believes in humans. It even go to the point where she tried to make “Hands” out of Paper Mache.” Shawn now began to try and picture what Soarin told him inside his mind as the snow conduit sat down on a nearby bench.

“That… could be a problem.” The teen said with a concerned edge in his voice. “People that have obsessive traits or personalities might become alone or victims of bullying.”

“I’m more worried about what her powers might be.” Soarin replied over the phone. “I saw her using some unique magic back home that might be a problem if it turns out to be what her powers are. Lyra can use her magical energy to form any object that she can imagine with her mind. What she thinks is what she could temporarily create.”

Now that sounded awesome inside Shawn’s mind. It reminded him of Green Lantern from DC comics (and not the movie with Ryan Reynolds. Ugh…) in which Hal Jordan can use his own Willpower to form anything he could picture with his mind. Still, a power like that would somehow have drawbacks. Especially if it’s left unchecked.

“Okay, I have to admit, that sounds really awesome!”

“Uhh… Really?”

“No, I mean as in fighting alongside her if we are in a certain situation, not-.”

BOOM!!

“-Against her.”

The explosive sound was followed by a few juveniles in saggy pants and street clothes running for their lives in fear as Shawn went towards the sound of the explosion. Upon arrival, the smoke was beginning to clear up as Shawn began to see who was the one that somehow caused this.

It was a Mint haired girl with Golden Eyes and had her hair tied in the back like a ponytail. She wore a light green shirt with a lyre patch sewn on the right side of the shirt across her waist along with some shorts and closed toe sandals. From her position on the ground, she looked at Shawn with a scared expression on her face and a bleeding hand.

“P-please don’t hurt me… I-i don’t want to h-hurt anypony else…”

At that moment, the sounds of the worried Wonderbolt over the phone were drowned out in Shawn’s head and replaced with the words of the scared girl. In the middle of it all, he only said one word to Soarin as he told him to put the phone on speaker. “Listen.”

The Conduit now sat down in a folded crossed legs position, which frightened the girl.

“I’m not here to hurt you… I just want to talk to you.”

“What’s your proof?” The girl asked in a scared tone. “Everypony who has seen me so far wants to capture me?”

“Why?”

“They… wanted to turn me into some… “DU...P?” I think… because they think I’m a… Terrorist?” Lyra’s emotions began to get worse as she began to shed a few tears. Being scared was affecting her emotions, her thinking and her speech. Shawn himself held back a sigh to show some sympathy. Doing so, he asked his next question.

“Was it because of your powers?”

She nodded softly. Looking at her hands before looking back at Shawn, she asked him something. “You… won’t turn me in… will you?”

“Of course not…”

“But why?” Lyra asked. “Many of your kind think I’m a freak!!”

“No you’re more than that, but not a freak.” Shawn told her. “In fact, you’re just like me.”

Showing his hand, specks of snow began to swirl around his fingers as he healed the injuries to Lyra’s hand. Her eyes widened. She had not come across anypony else who had powers like her.

“I once thought the same way until I found friends that helped me. Speaking of friends, one of them wants to say hello.”

With that, Shawn put the phone on speaker and said “Go ahead”. She did not know what was going on. Lyra even thought that the snow conduit was talking to a thin brick.

That is… until she heard a familiar voice.

“Lyra?”

“S-soarin? Is that you!? Oh dear Celestia, it’s been ages!!!”

The mint girls expression changed from scared to overjoyed in a snap! What was once her scared persona had now been tossed aside. Replaced by an overjoyed smile of happiness. Just one question remained.

“Did you turn into a brick or something?”

Shawn could hear Soarin sigh over the phone. “You know the telephones that are being set up in Manehattan and across Equestria?”

“Yes?” Lyra replied. “What about them-?”

“Think of this as their version of that, just portable. I’m back at Shawn’s house with Rainbow Dash and the Princesses.”

“Wait, who’s Shawn?”

“That would be me.” The snow conduit said, answering her question. “Just hadn’t got the chance to introduce myself.”

“Oh okay. Cool jacket by the way.”

“Uh thanks?”

“Anyways………” Soarin interjected in between the two of them. “I’m letting Shawn take you to us. It’ll be safe there. I promise.”

As the phone call was winding down, Shawn could see some sort of reflection of light bounce off the ground. It was odd. This kind of reflection would only happen if light bounced off some sort of…

Mirror…

Oh god, no.

Turning around, the snow conduit hung up the phone and saw what he had personally feared. A self created mirror and someone stepping out of it like Bloody Mary. The figure was sleek, but Shawn could not tell if it was male or female because of the black jacket hood that covered it’s face.

“I don’t believe I can let you just take any lost Conduit you can find, Snow Angel.”

Shawn’s powers now came to life in his hands. This individual fitted the exact description Celestia had told her the other day. “You’re the one who’s been kidnapping those Equestrians, aren’t you!?!”

“On the contrary. You see boy, I don’t do anything unless I have a reason to do so.” The conduit shot back. The shards of a broken mirror now formed around the hooded individual’s hands. It looked like this one wanted to fight.

“Okay then. Just who the hell are you!?”

“Ho ho… Silly boy. That’s now how you ask the mirror that knows all.” The sharp feminine voice retorted.

With that, more shards of broken mirrors began to charge violently around her hands. It looked like she was going to fire a barrage of shards as she lifted her hands towards the two of them. Lyra was pleading for Shawn to do something in order for him to protect himself and he did so, but it wasn’t something that she (or the Hooded Conduit for that matter) expected.

He did not prepare an attack or prepare some kind of defense.

Instead, he asked a question.

“Mirror mirror, I wish upon a star… For you to say who you really are.”

To Lyra’s surprise, the tactic actually worked. It was based on a mental observation from the Snow Conduit on one of the lines that the Mirror Mistress had said a few moments ago about being a mirror that knows all. Reminding the teen of the the mirror in Snow White and the Huntsmen, Shawn gambled on the belief that asking the assailant a question in the same fashion would get him some much needed answers out of her. The broken mirror shards fell to the ground as the cloaked figure grinned.

This boy was smart. But she honestly didn’t think he would figure it out so soon.

“Clever little sneak.” She said, “I can’t tell you my name te because it’ll ruin all the fun. But if you want an Alias to call me back, Janus would be fine.” She pointed her hand forward again, but showed four fingers held upward.

“I don’t have all day, so I’ll only answer four more questions.”

‘Damn,’ Shawn mentally cursed. ‘And I thought I had her.’

The conduit coughed and cleared his throat. Trying to summon the rhyme for his next question like he was performing for an on stage recital.

“Forgive me if my speech is slacking.

But my knowledge in rhymes is severely lacking.

So Mirror Mirror, with this mission of yours.

who has been sent here and will you bring more?”

Again, the mirror conduit was impressed by the words as well as the question. She cleared her throat a little and then began to explain.

“I only bring those that I see to have powerful talents. I don’t need the Elements of Harmony or some solution to fix all problems. I just look for those that have a special talent to be explored. To be able to discover more about.” The Hooded figure then pointed a finger at Lyra as she began to speak again. “For example, Lyra’s materialization based magic back where she is from allowed her to have ESP and Energy Creation powers.”

Lyra raised an eyebrow; testing the theory by concentrating the same way she would concentrate when casting her magic back in Equestria. Within seconds, the Lyre that she was thinking about based on her cutie mark formed in her hands from a mint green colored energy. For Shawn, his thought of her powers being based on Green Lantern were confirmed based on what just happened.

“As for the second part,” Janus continued. “there isn’t a need to be bringing anyone else. I already have enough people here. The hard part for you will be finding them.”

Shawn saw that statement as a clue that lead up to his third question.

“Mirror Mirror, I will dare…

To ask about who and where.”

“Well, who they are, you need to find out for yourself. No need to spoil the fun.” The Hooded girl retorted again. “As for where… Well… They can be anywhere. Different Towns, Different States, Different countries. It all depends really. Sometimes, not everyone stick together.”

‘Damn it.’ Shawn mentally cursed to himself. He didn’t get anything useful from that last question. Now he had two more questions to ask and he did not know how to start. Before he could say anything though, Lyra jumped the gun as she formed a question in her head before the snow conduit had time to think.

“Mirror Mirror, with this being the fourth question and such…

With the ponies you brought here, can you say how much?”

Upon realizing this, Shawn noticed that the Mint colored girl brought up a very good point. No one… or nopony for that matter, knew how many were brought here by this conduit. But the question seemed like one that he wasn’t sure that Janus would answer. But nevertheless, he prepared himself just in case she did.

Turns out, she was more than willing to answer that question.

‘Oh crap. Seems like a Seattle trip is on m our future.’

Once again, Lyra spoke the final question.

“Mirror Mirror, since this question is our final hour.

Can you please tell us about your powers?”

Janus sighed, smiling. Showing the sharp pieces of mirror glass, the conduit made them levitate and glimmer with a bit of sunlight Shining around her. Instantly, Multiple mirages of Janus took form in front of Janus and around both Shawn and Lyra, surrounding them and cutting them off from any possible exits.

“Mirrors are my powers as they are doorways. But the reflection is also important. Just be glad that today, I’m letting you two live. However, it shouldn’t be me that you’re worried about.”

Before Shawn could say anything, she disappeared in a bright and blinding flash of light. When he and Lyra could see again, all that was left was a mirror shard with an attached note.

“Your fire of hope will no longer burn

as the Wheel of fate begins to turn.

For you now, conduit of Snow,

there is one thing you should know.

You need to be worry, not about me,

but more about the DUP

Someone will soon intervene

and let loose the one called Augustine

Shawn was stunned by the note, which acted like a prophetic doomsday message, but put it away once he felt Lyra tapping his shoulder. “Uh… We got company.”

Shawn looked up at what the fellow conduit was talking about. personally though, he was relieved. “Don’t worry, that’s my dad.”

The moment the flash went off, the Chief of Police came running into Kimball Park. He was already done with meeting his friend and was now looking for his son so they could go home. However, he did not expect a mint colored girl to be with him either.

“Shawn, what happened? And who is she?”

“Dad, this is Lyra. She knows Soarin. As for what happened, we need to get back home.”

Nicholas raised an eyebrow. “Why-?”

“We’re not safe out here. I’ll explain on the way, but right now, we got to head back. Celestia needs to hear about what happened.”

End Chapter 9

Author's Note

Originally, this title was going to be called something Cliché like "The Girl with the Lyre Tattoo" or something like that. But when I heard this song on my Pandora station, I thought it would fit just right. Also, the ARTS center is actually a real location that I go to in National City. It's a great place to learn and improve upon many different forms of art. Check out the link below for more.

http://www.areasontosurvive.org/