Chapters Prologue 1.2: The Ice Monitor
Frost walked into an alleyway, the kind people try to avoid for the fear of getting mugged. But he wasn't afraid. He knew where he was going. He pressed the headset. "Hey, where'd you move the entrance to this time?" he asked, looking at a surveillance camera on a wall.
"Go straight, take a right, and tap the blue brick exactly an arm's length above you," said the girl on the other end. Frost walked forward and tapped the blue brick on the wall to his right. The each of the bricks began to vanish like holograms.
"Nice secret entrance." Frost walked through the "door" which sealed up behind him. He walked down a long hall lit up long row of neon lights. He came up to an open door and walked down a flight of metal stairs that followed. As he approached the end, he saw a figure sitting in a rotating chair, facing a three flat-screen computers, typing away. "Y'know, staring at a computer screen for a long time can damage your eyes?"
"Yeah, well then I should be blind by now," she replied. "Besides, how else am I supposed to keep an eye on you when you get in trouble."
"Your not my mom," Frost said jokingly.
"But I'm the closest thing to a big sister."
"Yet, your younger me."
She turned in her chair. She had electric green eyes and her long flowing platinum blonde hair had a blue streak down the right side. She was wearing a white tank top, blue jean shorts, and blue flip-flops. "By a few months." Frost smiled and dropped the box of cinnamon buns on the table next to the computers. "You know I really don't like it when you keep your snacks next to my..." She paused when the scent of the cinnamon buns hit her. Her mouth watered instantly. She turned slowly to face the box filled with rows of buns. Frost smiled as she dove into the box.
"I thought donuts were your thing?" Frost asked.
The girl swallowed the bun in her mouth. "Yeah, but you didn't get donuts... did you?" she asked leaning in. Frost shook his head and she went back to the buns.
"Slow down, Relay. You're gonna get sick," Frost said as he took off his shoes. "Besides, I'm gonna eat some off those," he added, joining her.
About ten minutes later, the box was empty. "So, did you get the parts I asked for?" Relay asked, licking her fingers.
"Yep." Frost walked over to his bag and put it on a table in the middle of the room. He emptied its contents to reveal several cylindrical metal objects, a keyboard, and a 500 terabyte hard drive. "Not sure why you need it, but it must be for something important if I had to steal it from those creeps. By the way, you are so lucky we're still on summer holiday."
"Hey," she said, picking up the components and connecting them to the original set-up, "You're not the only one trying to keep a clean record at school."
"The difference is our reasons. I'm trying to keep people off my back, your a geek being a... well, geek. Or is there a guy involved?" he asked, grinning. Relay pouted and went back to work. Frost sat down in a couch against the wall. "So, what are you working on?"
Relay grinned. "Just something that could save our lives and make working a bit easier." She waved her hand over some of the pieces. They levitated and rotated around her and combine.
"A bomb?"
"NO!" Relay turned around in shock. "I hate those guys, but I am not going to drop to that level." Once she was done, she set the cylinders, now with wires hanging out of and around them, she went back to the computer. "I've been looking for a way to use their info network against them."
"And the cans of solar-irradiated hydrogen you asked me to get from the abandoned warehouse at the docks?"
"Fuel cells. This building's electricity is annoyingly unreliable."
"So... you're not building a bomb?" Frost asked.
Before she could answer, there was a knock on the door, followed by a click signifying the door being unlocked. They looked at the door. Four beefy armed men in black suits walked in, followed by another wearing a white shirt with a black vest, brown trench coat, black trousers and black shoes. His messy gray hair was mostly covered by a black fedora and his bright green eyes shone under the shadow they cast. "Oh, great. Speak of the devil," she said as she hid the canisters behind the row of CPUs before they got into the room.
"Ah. Frost, Relay, how are you two today?" asked the man in a calm voice worthy of a mafia boss, "I was hoping I'd catch you at home."
"What do you want, Capo?" Frost asked.
"I just wanted to know if you had changed your minds about my little proposition. Judging by your tone, I'd say you're still being stubborn."
"You judged correct," said Relay. "What the hell do you even need bombs for anyway?"
"I'm glad you asked. I have a little friend supplying me with enough firepower to out match every other gang in the entire north coast of the city... for a start. The bombs are just a little... insurance policy in case one of us decides to double -cross the other. And before you ask, the only reason you're helping me is because you kids have a pretty... impressive record." Relay frowned. "Oh, c'mon kid. You've got some real skills. Besides, I ain't exactly hunting you for it."
"Hey, if I knew what I was doing, I wouldn't have done it," Relay said, defensively.
"Of course y' didn't know what you were doing. What kinda kid hacks a DARPA database at the age of ten... on purpose?" Relay's face burned with embarrassment. That event made her quite popular among quite a few metahumans within a two city radius from Manhattan. Capo turned to Frost. "And who was it that covered for you when you were dragged out of the frozen remains of your old foster home, eh?"
"Yeah, yeah, you did a lot for us," Relay said, rolling her eyes, "But I am not going to build something that could kill several people."
"They're not innocent people."
"And neither are you, but you're all still people." One of the guards grabbed her head and slammed it onto the table.
"HEY! BACK OFF!" Frost yelled as he charged at the man and punched him with an ice-armored fist. The man toppled back as two others grabbed Frost and threw him against the wall. One aimed a punch at him, but was stopped by Capo.
"Wait," he said calmly. He walked over to Frost, who was pinned to the wall by two of Capo's guards. He looked at him, then looked at Relay, who was holding the side of her head in pain. "Look, kids, I don't want any trouble. I'm just asking a favor. A relatively small one considering that I currently pay for your accommodation, and... other expenses. But here you are, stubborn and unappreciative. So, here's what I'm gonna do..." He pulled a gun and pointed it at Frost's head. Relay turned pale. "I'll give you to the count of three to give me a better answer. One..."
"D-D-Don't." Relay was frozen in fear.
"Two..." Capo released the safety.
"Don't do it," said Frost.
"Three..."
"WAIT!" Capo looked at Relay. She looked up, her expression was blank. "... Yes."
Capo's smiled, Frost did not. "Well," he put the gun down, "I'm glad you've come to your-."
"I'm not done." A smile appeared on her face. "Yes, I'll make your bomb, but on one condition."
"And what would that be?"
"You'll have to kill us both; me, then him."
Capo was confused, but then he smiled. "That can be arranged." He pointed the gun at her. But something wasn't right. It felt like everything was shaking, but not the ground. "W-What's happening?"
"You forgot something. I control technology... and you're in a room... filled with electronics." Suddenly, the computers disassembled themselves and revolved around her. "And I am very pissed off." Capo raised his gun, but it was knocked out of his hand by a slab of metal. Frost took advantage of the thugs' surprise and kicked them away.
"Wait," said Frost as the thugs ran towards him. They stopped. Frost wen to the fridge, filled ice bucket with ice and wolfed it down like it was water. He finished by exhaling frost. "Okay, now I'm ready." He fired a blast of ice at one goon, freezing him solid. The second tried to punch him, but missed when Frost rolled under him. He turned around and was hit in the face by a flying computer screen. Frost grabbed Capo and used the momentum from his roll to through him into the last goon.
"Hey, Frost. Time to bail," Relay said as she brought out the canisters and flung them all over the room. Frost took the hint and ran for the window, supercooling the canisters with cold blasts. They jumped out the window and ran down the metal stairs. Once they were two floors down, Relay looked up. "Later, losers." Her hands shimmered and the lights in the room and even outside flickered, then went off with a flash.
"Hey, who turned out the lights?" asked one of the goons.
"Haven't you heard, I run my own power." She clenched her fists and the canisters activated, exploding systematically in burst of highly pressurized gas. The blast blew off a the windows, sending glass flying. They reached the bottom three floors later and got out onto the street. "Great, now what?" At that moment, a motorcycle pulled up to them. The driver wore a black hoodie, purple, blue jeans, and black boots. She removed her helmet, revealing a black and white Mohawk.
"Hey, I remember you," Frost said, earning him a glare from Relay. "Long story short, we met yesterday at the bakery."
"Very attentive of you, but is reminiscing on that what you want to do?" she replied, pointing at the thugs coming down the stairs. Frost gestured for Relay to get on the bike. Once she did, the woman sped off. Frost followed by skating on an ice trail.
They turned off into an alleyway. Once they were safe, Relay decided to get some answers. "So, who are you and how'd you find us?"
"My name is Zecora, and I tracked you by locating your aura."
"Our aura? Are... are you a metahuman?"
"Yes, good guess. I can manipulate mana for various effects, including attack, defense, and even as a GPS. I've been keeping an eye on you for while, and I must say, you both have an impressive file."
Relay and Frost stared at each other. "You've, uh... seen our files?" asked Frost.
"What are you, some government stiff?" asked Relay.
Zecora chuckled. "No, no. The organization I work for is private to its core. It works for no one, but we work for everyone."
"And what organization is that?"
"Soon, you will see. But for now, it would be safe if you stay with me."
"Uh, are you sure?" asked Frost. "We'd hate to be a burden."
"It's no problem if you are my guests. After what you've just been through, you need the rest."
Prologue 2: The Bright Enigma
Ever since the Rainbow Event, school life got a lot weirder. Certain schools looked for students whose skills could be useful in sports. Some called it cheating, others called it initiative. Sparks Weaver called it typical human behavior. Sparks wasn't Goth, he wasn't depressed, and he was anything but gloomy. He wore a bright blue hoodie over a blue and black sleeveless shirt, dark blue cargos, and blue high-top sneakers; not a Goth, depressed, or gloomy look in the eyes of the world. But he wasn't ignorant either. He knew what was going on and he wanted no part of it, and for a good reason. He never used his powers unless he really had to. His powers were what you called branched: it's a single ability with numerous applications. On a day-to-day basis, he used it to run to school in record time, outrun the few unlucky enough o try to mug him, and hone his parkour skills.
Today was a typical day for him. He wasn't unpopular, but he wasn't the guy everyone hung around at all times. Unfortunately, being in Maneland Academy in Canterlot City, that popular guy was Brick Wall. The red-haired young man towered above the rest of his class by at leas half a head. He was rich, strong; intimidating in possibly everyway, except to a few like Sparks. Today, like every other day he tried to get Sparks to break. He was convinced that all metahumans were monsters, and he really didn't like Sparks. Put two and two together and...
"Hey, Sparky!" Sparks stopped reading his book and looked down from the tree branch he was sitting on. As he did, something wet smacked him in the face, sending him falling off the branch. Normally, if someone fell ten feet, other would rush to his side, but the rules changed when Brick was around. Sparks got up and pulled the hot, wet towel from his face and smiled.
"Hehe. Good one, Brick," Sparks said, smiling. It was the one thing people found odd, besides his messy white hair which he gave a new highlight very other day and his yellow eyes which seemed to change shades; he was always so calm and happy, even when he could've been killed by a prank... literally. "Try using paper towel next time. They usually stick better." He handed Brick the towel as he walked by.
"Hey, I'm not done with you," Brick said, grabbing Sparks' shoulder and pulling him back. Digit slipped out of the grip and kept walking.
"Sorry, got class in thirty seconds and I do not want to be late."
The day ended with little to no fuss. Except for Brick getting in trouble for pranking a bunch of students, Sparks included, everything else was pretty normal. On his way home, he decided to stop by at Joe's Donuts as he skateboarded home. "Hey, Joe," Sparks greeted.
"Sparks, how you doin'?" asked the man with messy brown hair and bright green eyes. "The usual?"
"Yeah. I'll take it to go." Joe nodded and packed a dozen donuts into a box. He waved goodbye as he left the shop. As he rode down the street, he turned off an alleyway he usually took as a shortcut when he was too tired to do the full distance. But today, something was off there. Normally, alleyways like that made you feel like you were being watched, but today, Sparks was positive that he was being watched. As he rode, he didn't notice the tripwire that caught his wheels and sent him catapulting off the board. He flipped and landed on his feet, box of donuts safely in his hand. "Great." He looked around and saw no one. He did, however, feel his knee bend when something struck the back of his leg. He yelped in pain as he fell to the ground. He looked up and saw Brick in his black leather jacket, red shirt, and blue jeans. Around him were three other boys. One wore a black jacket, dark green shirt t-shirt, and black jeans. the other two were twins and both wore gray jackets, light ash t-shirts, and black khakis. "Brick, Juice, Cinder, Ash. Fancy meeting you guys here."
"Yeah," said Brick. "Just thought we'd stop you to say bye on your way home."
"What, have you been stalking me? You could come to me and talk, but we all know I don't swing that way-" as he finished, Brick punched him. Sparks felt the sting and the blood rush to his face.
"You may have everyone fooled," Brick continued. "But me? I know you're a freak!" The twins held Sparks' arms and Juice walked over to a burning bin and picked up a wooden plank. After handing it to Brick, he brought out a camera. "And I'm gonna show everyone, what you truly are." He beat Sparks with the hot rod, swinging and jabbing at him mercilessly, hoping to unleash the beast he heard of and finally show people the other side of their kind, sweet Sparks. After beating him for almost five minutes to no avail, Brick approached Sparks and held up his head. "Come on. Let loose. No one can see you and you can always break Juice's phone."
"Hey, my mom bought this and she'll be pissed if I-"
"CAN IT JUICE!" Juice jumped and kept quiet at Brick's command. "Come on. Just a peek?" Sparks just laughed.
"You think this is a joke?" asked Sparks. "You think that side of me a toy you can turn off when you're done? It isn't. I pull the stings and I can't always be held accountable since I blank out when it happens." Brick was confused by the contradiction. "Confused? Well, you are pretty slow mentally, so that's not a surprise. But if you really want to test me-"
"What? Do I need to hurt your family?" Brick suggested. "Nah, too extreme. They're all freaks, anyway." Sparks froze. "Oh, there's the nerve! The little one. What's her name again? Star?" Sparks struggled to break free, but the two boys holding him were much stronger than him when his powers weren't active. "Now, now, don't worry. I won't try anything funny. But I will drag your clumsy little trick of a sister into this if I need to. Then what do you do? I mean, come on." He hit Sparks with the stick again and took a few steps backwards, picking up the box of donuts from the ground on his way.
Sparks froze. He'd had enough. He'd heard enough. He calmed his breathing and felt it, the surge of energy running through him like an electric shock, the current tracing its way along his back, out to every corner of his body. Then he moved. He slid his arms out from the twins' grasp. He stood up to face Brick. "You want a show?" he asked the stagnant boy. "Fine. But you'll miss it." Sparks flipped him from his legs and struck his chest in mid air. However, the boy remained suspended. Sparks ran over to the twins and placed their arms across each other, their fists in contact with the other's face. He place two garbage where he calculated the two would land.
He returned to his place in front of Sparks. He stretched out his hand and the box was covered in a translucent blue bubble with orange sparkles and as he slipped his other hand into his pocket, the alleyway became a corridor of chaos. A blast of wind tore through the path. The twins sent each other flying and crashing into the trash bags. Brick felt himself get thrown back by an invisible force. Juice just stood there, dumbfounded. Then he hit the record button. He had no idea what happened, but he knew he saw a streak of blue and white light; faint, thin streams, really, but still visible. He stared at Sparks, who was now holding the box and eating a donut with a finger over his lips, making a shushing sound. Sparks gestured over his shoulder and Juice took the hint, running off past Sparks, swearing an oath to forget this whole psycho show in his mind.
A few minutes later, Sparks was back in his peaceful neighborhood on the outskirts of the city. "Friday evening, no sisters, no mom... this'll be fun." He knew he was only 50% sure of that. He loved having his sisters and mom around. He also loved alone time. But sometimes, alone time got boring. But something, once again, was different.
A black sedan was parked about two houses away from where the white-and-blue--haired boy was unlocking the front door to a house. This car didn't belong to anyone in the neighborhood and it wasn't its first time here. The man in the driver's seat had blue hair of varying shades and light green eyes and wore a white and yellow shirt with a blue shield with a pink star in it on the breast pocket, blue trousers, and blue shoes. Next to him sat a young girl with lightly dark skin and purple hair with pink and purple highlights and purple eyes wearing a white shirt with a pink star on it, purple skirt, and purple sneakers. "Is this safe?" asked the girl. "I mean, I know he hasn't had an incident since then, but I also know he doesn't like being watched. Isn't that why Principal Celestia decided to let him out of the containment facility?"
The young man sighed. "You worry too much," he said. "Believe me, I would prefer to watch from a greater distance, but this is what we got."
"We?" the girl asked, cocking an eyebrow.
"Hey, you were the one that wanted to come along."
"Fair point. But recruiting him? I'm pretty sure the whole Manehattan thing is still fresh in his mind, considering that was about six months ago."
"But no one was hurt. Besides, all the branch heads think it's a good idea to at least keep an eye on him. So far so good. But maybe we should stay for another... five minutes?" he said as he set a timer on his watch. "Hopefully, he won't notice us."
"Why do people always think that?" Twilight and the man jumped in their seats at the voice. The man tilted his rear-view mirror to see Sparks sitting in the back seat. "You know, I've said, so many times, that if you want to check up on me, knock on my door, I'll answer, and we can talk like human beings." They were both lost for words. "I see Director Celestia decided to send a different group this time? If you want to talk, come on in. If not, please go away." Suddenly, he vanished, leaving only a fading blue and white trail to the house.
Five minutes later, the three of them were sitting in Sparks' living room. The TV was on and the news was reporting an armed robbery at a bakery that was stopped by an unknown hero or heroes. "Typical Pinkie Pie. Can't help being helpful," the girl said with a light smile.
"So," Sparks said as he walked into the room holding three soda cans, "You know who I am, obviously. Mind returning the favor?" He handed a can to each of them.
"My name is Shining Armor," said the man. "This is my sister, Twilight Sparkle. We're from-"
"MLP. Yeah, I got that." Sparks took a long sip from his can and sighed. "Sorry about the attitude. Rough day."
"Figured," said Twilight.
"How?"
"Well for one thing, the scratch across your face hasn't healed." Sparks touched his face and felt the rough patch of clotted blood. "What, where you cut with a knife?"
"Beaten with a wooden stick, actually," Sparks replied. He scratched at the wound and pulled out a splinter of wood the size of his little finger. "Gah! If only there was no punishment for beating someone from senseless into a coma." He tossed the splinted into a trash can in the corner of the room as the wound closed almost immediately.
"You were what?" Twilight asked in shock.
"Never mind. As you can see, I'm fine."
"There's something else" Shining said, handing Sparks a file. Sparks took it and opened it. "Celestia wants you in."
Sparks froze in shock. "Director Celestia? Wants me in?" He didn't know how to respond. "Did she forget what happened in Manehattan?"
"No. She remembered. You saved a lot of people."
"I was lucky to not have killed a lot of people."
"These will be isolated incidents you'll be getting involved in."
"Isolation can be breached. I speak from experience."
"Your seen as a hero to MLP."
"I'M SEEN AS AN ASSET IN MLP AND A MONSTER TO THE REST OF THE WORLD!" The house rattled at his voice. The TV showed static for a while, the floor and walls shook. A vase fell from the mantle below the TV. Before it hit the ground, it froze in mid air, covered in a purple aura, after which it set itself back on the mantle. The glow on Twilights hands faded, but not the shock on her face. "Look," Sparks said, now calm, "I'd love to help. But I don't want to have to help while being scared if something goes wrong. I got a part-time job, school's... school. I'm fine."
"You're managing," said Twilight. "There's a difference." She walked over to him. "People here make it hard for you, so come somewhere where people will make it easier. You can be yourself and no one could tell you to do otherwise. I read your files and super speed isn't the only thing in your skillset, but you can't use those other skills out here. Not like this. We can help with that."
Sparks stayed silent. This silence echoed through the room for a good minute before he smiled and said, "Have you always been a motivational speaker? Or was this your first try at diplomacy?"
Twilight shrugged. "I have my moments. So, are you in?"
Sparks looked around the house like he was searching for something. "Meh. Why not. My school won't give me a break next week anyway. Let me grab a few things." He ran up the stairs to pack.
"Nice one, Twily," said Shining. "We should make you head of our scout and recruitment division."
"No thanks," she replied, shaking her head. "I like my current place. No need for the extra stress."
Prologue 3: The Regretful Sun
She wanted power. She wanted control. She wanted to prove a point. She wanted it all. She went overboard. Then, she made it up to everyone she may have hurt. At first, she could've gone home anytime she wanted, but she decided to rectify her mistakes here first. After the Battle of the Bands, she had opted for a monitoring project Principal Celestia had suggested for another metahuman they were "containing". Now, she didn't know if she was an immigrant or a prisoner. She lived in a fairly comfortable room. 15-by-20-by-15 feet in dimension, furnished with a comfortable bed, desk and chair, an LCD TV with cable, and a shelves of books, since she really loved reading, and got three square meals a day, not counting snacks she got or the ones in the fridge in the corner of the room. There was a slight hitch, though: she was several thousand feet in the air. She was surrounded by thick everything-proof walls made out of who-knows-what with only one entrance. But at least she wasn't given a bucket for a bathroom.
She got up from her bed and walked over to the shelf. She was done with the current batch. They brought her new books whenever she finished the old ones. She could ask for anything, the could talk to visitors; she just couldn't leave. Sure, it was comfy, but the last person that was in there, the first friend she had outside the other five, now six, girls, made a good point: "A gilded cage is still a cage." She sighed, picking up a book she was done with, but liked. Before she could lay down on her bed, she heard a voice on the speaker hovering above her door. "Sunset Shimmer." Sunset looked up, awaiting the announcement. "You have some visitors," said the voice as the door clicked open. She changed from her pajamas to a pink shirt, orange khaki shorts, and orang flip-flops and walked out to the meeting room. She was glad to have visitors, but the only person that ever really came down to see her was...
"Twilight!" Sunset hugged the girl. At least they didn't have to talk through a glass barrier, but they couldn't leave the spacious monochrome room they were in. It was weird at first, since this wasn't the Twilight from her dimension, but the one from the dimension she was in now. But after getting to know her and an info dump spell from the Princess, this Twilight soon grew close to Sunset. "How have you been?"
"Not bad," replied Twilight. "Do I need to ask?"
"If you did, I'd say bored." They laughed. "So, anything new?" she asked as they walked around the room.
"Well, we stopped a monster attack yesterday. This time it was a giant crocodile with rock-hard skin and jaw strength that could give a hippo-hyena hybrid a run for it's money."
"Hehe. Sounds like it was fun."
"Well, Rarity got mad when it ate her and messed up her hair and punched it so hard she cracked it's jaw, then threatened to make a purse and boots out of it before it dissipated, so there's that." Sunset giggled. "But I also have two more pieces of good news. First off, we just recruited a new metahuman." They turned to face the entrance to the meeting room and in walked a boy with white hair with blue highlights on the right side and pink on the left. He wore a bright blue sweat shirt under a sleeveless gray hoodie, black khakis, and blue sneakers.
"Hey," said the boy, waving.
"Sparks!" Sunset said, excitedly. "You agreed?"
"Well, beats the alternative. Don't worry. She hasn't seen all my tricks yet," he added, gesturing to Twilight.
"But I know them," said Twilight.
"Not all of 'em," he replied.
Sunset turned to Twilight. "So, what's the other good news."
Twilight smiled. "You're getting out."
The words hit Sunset like a cannonball. "Huh?" Twilight only smiled and nodded. Sunset barely managed to contain her joy. After three months that felt like three years, she was finally getting out.
After switching her flip-flops for a pair of sneakers, Sunset followed the other two outside. They now stood on top of the Alicorn , one of MLP's carrier airships, which had descended and was now floating on the ocean. It had been a while since she felt the warmth of the sun and the cool of the breeze. It felt amazing. "So," Twilight said as they walked over to the garage, "What do you want to do first?"
"Where do I start?" asked Sunset, just before her stomach growled. "Hehe. I, um, kinda skipped on breakfast today," she said blushing.
"Then let's take care of that first." Twilight swiped her ID over a scanner and the garage door opened, revealing a fleet of vehicles. But the one that caught Sunset was a black and orange motorcycle with a burning sun motif on the wheels and grinning flames on the side.
"I don't believe it," she said, running to the machine. "They actually kept it?"
"And made a few improvements," Twilight added. "How about you take it for a test run?"
"What about you?"
"I thought I'd just... ride on the back?" Twilight asked nervously.
"Sure. And you?" she asked looking at Sparks.
"I dunno," he replied walking over to another bike with thicker wheels. This one was blue and yellow with hot pink accents. "Maybe this one. It has been a while." He got on and started it. It roared as he revved the engine. "Ready?"
"Wait a minute," said Sunset, "We're on water."
"Which is why they tricked out the bikes... and I did some tweaking myself," Sparks replied. They rolled over to the edge of the carrier, but Sparks didn't stop. He rode right into the ocean below. As it did, the wheels turned 90° and a the bottom glowed as ripples formed beneath him. "Working in a auto shop really give you time to learn a lot about tweaking bikes."
"Sweet," said Sunset as she rode into the water, her bike transforming in a similar manner.
Fifteen minutes later, the three of them were in San Franciscolt, specifically at a bayside eatery, each of them enjoying a bowl of clam chowder and calamari. "O. M. G," said Sunset as she finished, "It has been ages since I had anything that good."
"Well, they weren't feeding you sludge," said Twilight.
"No, but it wasn't exactly an all-you-can-eat buffet."
"But, you could've asked for just about anything, right?" Twilight asked, confused.
"Yeah, well, under those circumstances, you're usually either too scared or too cautious to ask for anything more than a pizza or Chineighese take-out."
"True that," Sparks said, tossing his last calamari into his mouth. "Well, not sure what else to do. Not a lot has happened in two months."
"Why don't we go to the auto shop?" asked Sunset.
"Meh. I have a better idea," Sparks said with a mischievous glint in his eyes. "How about we go on a patrol?" The girls looked at him like he was insane.
"Are you insane?" Twilight asked quietly, so as to not draw attention to them. "We're unsanctioned. Director Celestia will kill us. We've never seen her angry, and I personally don't want to."
"We're bored and taking initiative and she won't kill us," he replied. "Beside," he turned to Sunset, "Some of us could us the opportunity to practice using our powers and fixing up our image... secretly." Sunset shifted in her seat. "Come on. If I'm getting back this quickly after what I did, what's your excuse?"
"I..." She had none. "... Think it's a good idea."
Twilight stared at her in disbelief. "Well, I'm not getting involved in this insanity. You can drop me off at the carrier."
A few moments later...
"This is not the way to the carrier." Soon, they were driving down the streets of San Franciscolt. "We are so dead."
"Come on," said Sparks. "Where's your sense of adventure?" As he finished, there was an alert on the bike's built-in radio. "We have an Everfreed situation in progress in sector eight. Class 5. MLP units in the area, please respond." Sparks picked up his radio. "Command, we are en route." Immediately came the response. "Confirmed. Sending backup and clean-up crew." Twilight stared at him in disbelief. "Well, can't do anything about that now."
"Yes we can," said Twilight. "We can turn back and say we can't make it."
They soon arrived at a park, which had been emptied of people. MLP agents were armed and ready, but there was no sign of the Everfreed. "So," Sunset said as she got off her bike and walked over, "Where's the big, bad Class 5?"
Sparks got off his bike and froze. He had felt it. "It's... beneath us..." Suddenly, the creature burst from the ground and crashed in front of them. They stared up at the 15-foot-tall being. It's gray skin was brightened by a variety of gems which covered its lower arms and legs, spiked around it's neck, and two large ones on its back. "Great. A golem." As the golem roared, Sparks took the first shot, firing a bolt of dark pink energy at it, causing it to topple back and a glowing burn mark to appear on it's chest.
Sunset didn't give it the chance to get off it's knee. She put her hands by her side and golden energy spiraled around her. She flung the energy at the creature, followed by a barrage of solar energy blasts. As she did, Twilight prepared to cast a spell, her hands glowing and sparking with energy. "NOW!" She shouted, signaling for Sunset to back away. As Sunset jumped back, Twilight fired a glowing, purple chain from her hands and wrapped it round the golem, who roared and struggled to break free. "Gah! It's too strong," she said as the rock monster broke the chains, sending Twilight flying back.
"Twilight!" Sunset ran over to catch her and was knocked to the floor in the process. They rolled to dodge a barrage of gems it fired at them. As it approached, Sunset continued firing solar blasts at it, which it deflected by turning the gems on it's arm into a shield. "Great," said Sunset, "This one is sentient." She and Twilight retreated and fired, trying to get to safety, wherever that was. The golem hammered the ground, causing massive cracks and fissures. As it got up, it was hit by a powerful uppercut. It stumbled back and it finally regained it's balance and saw Sparks. This time, his hands were covered in silver energy. It roared and attacked, flinging rocks and gems at him, all of which Sparks dodge or smashed, leaving only a trail of blue, silver, and pink streaks.
"Anytime now, girls," he said as he ran and dodged the attacks. "Sometime this year would be nice." As the golem raised it's arms for another hammer attack, a golden-yellow chain and a purple chain caught it's arms and pulled them to it's side. The girls ran around the creature, dodging the rock pillars it created in their path and using them to their advantage. Once it was tied up, they pinned the chains down. Agents approached as they prepared to finish it off. "Sunset," said Sparks, "If you please." Sunset charged and solar bolt in one hand and magic in another, combing the yellow and teal energies together before firing at the Evefreed, causing a massive explosion. As it struggled to maintain its balance, Sparks walked over to it and touched its leg. An odd ripple appeared round his hand and the creature's leg cracked, followed by the groan and fall of the mighty creature.
"How the mighty fall," said Sunset.
"Are all creatures in Equestria this... savage?" asked Twilight, as they got back on their bikes. "Besides the, well, Equestrians I mean."
"Nah," she replied. "Actually, golems are pretty peaceful there. But manticores, chimera, hydras, cragodiles, and most dragons are something to worry about."
"Most?"
"You've met the other Twilight's Spike, haven't you?"
"Good point."
Back on the Alicorn...
"This was supposed to be an outing, not a patrol session. You were supposed to have fun and relax, not "test your abilities". Do you realize how many regulations you went against in the course of the hour you were out? Not to mention that it was a Class 5 Everfreed you went up against?" Director Celestia was calm, but the three knew she was upset. They hung their heads, waiting to receive the penalty for their "initiative". "Did you have fun?" The three looked up at Celestia in confusion. "Well?"
"Um, yeah. Kinda," said Sunset.
Celestia smiled. "Them I'm glad." Now they were even more confused. "So, you didn't exactly disobey my order to have fun. Plus, you handled yourself well against a Class 5." Sunset smiled. It was pretty much what her Celestia would do, make them worry over nothing with her crazy logic. "As for your... initiative..." They froze. "... Good work."
Sunset grinned as they walked out. "Classic Celestia," she said. "I guess even across dimensions, some things are just constant."
Eight months ago, A massive rainbow blast was seen in Canterlot High School. Two months later, another blast was seen, this time, there was an image of a horse with wings and a tail in the sky. As far as people were concerned, Principals Celestia and Luna Regal's explanation was reasonable: it was a light show for the school events.
However, the blast didn't just cure a student of a dark heart and strip three evil exiles of their powers, it di much more. The blast may have been directed, but the resulting shockwave was strong enough to travel around the planet, carrying unknown energies with it. As is spread, things started to get a little... weird. People were waking up and ripping doors off their hinges, levitating things with their minds, and causing city-wide blackouts just by clapping.
These were the situations MLP was founded for. Working undercover, the Principals were actually the directors of the Metaphysical Logistics and Protection Agency, or MLP for short (don't ask about the A), and Canterlot High School had a secret program to recruit and train students with powers, generally called metahumans. However, their main base of operation is the Alicorn, a heavily fortified airship and aircraft carrier. Their main purpose is to recruit metahumans if possible, monitor or apprehend if necessary. Then there are the Everfreed: creatures thought to only exist in myth that exist in Equestria, an alternate world, and can appear in this world via a dimensional rift. However, Everfreed can be "created" when a creature from this dimension comes in contact with the rift before anything can cross over. Those that cross over dissipate into light and return to their home dimension. Those created in this realm revert back to their normal selves after the unstable Equestrian energy is either exhausted or extracted.
MLP has three containment facilities: the Hold, used to house criminal metahumans, the Zoo, used to house, study, and cure/transport Everfreed, and the Vault, used to store ancient powerful and magical artifacts from this world and others. The location of each facility is top secret and is known by only a few in MLP.
Whereas CHS is the recruitment facility, the training facility is located on a man-made island, several miles of the coast of the continent, known as the Meta Fort. The school, Canterlot Advanced Institute, is located on the outskirts of Canterlot city. The five story boarding house is where the newbies go to hone their skills and learn to be part of society before learning to be part of society's protectors. In these environments, metahumans can learn to use and control their powers without the fear and discouragement of persecution and discrimination. Here, they can learn that they are not freaks or monsters, but are special, but misunderstood.
Now, it has been eight months since the Event, and MLP has not stopped searching for new agents of peace and protection. Some new agents are about to be introduced into this organization, but how many of them will even survive the orientation? Stay tuned to find out.
Monday morning was typical for Sparks... except that it was Summer holiday. He got up, looked at his clock, opened his curtains to let the sun warm his tan skin, then looked back at his clock to see he was late. Luckily, a guy with super speed as one of his abilities doesn't really need to worry. He took a good shower (even with super speed, there are some things you just can't rush), brushed his teeth, and put on a bright orange sweatshirt with holes in the sleeves for his thumbs, a black sleeveless hoodie, brown khakis, and black sneakers. He looked in the mirror and decided to go with pink and orange highlights on the right side only. He put on a pair of fingerless gloves, a pair of goggles around his neck, and looked at his watch. "Twenty minutes. Ten miles. I can so make it." He grabbed his backpack went down the stairs, he dialed a number on his phone. "Hey, Joe? You open? ... Great. Can I have the morning usual to go? Lightning express? ... Thanks a billion." He hit the last floor. "I'm heading out." As he said those words, a bolt of hot pink and orange slammed into him, knocking him to the ground.
"NOOOOOO!" It cried. Sparks looked up to see his 10-year-old sister, Star, looking at him with puppy eyes. She was in a pink tank top, blue jeans, and flip-flops with her ginger hair packed behind her, save for a white streak.
"No.. not the eyes! Anything but the eyes!" He said playfully, feigning suffering. "Nah!" He got up and picked her up with him and walked into the living room, where his sister was standing. "So, you gonna try to stop me too?"
Blaze was twenty and about an inch or two taller than Sparks. She sporting a yellow shirt, blue khaki shorts, and flip-flops with her long ginger hair tied into a ponytail, save for a streak of red which on the right side of her face. "You gonna use your normal hair color anytime soon?" she teased back.
Sparks sighed as he put down Star and ran his hand through his hair. As he did, the white turned to ginger, but the pink remained. "Happy?"
"A bit... Eve."
Sparks jumped at the name. "Please don't call me that. The first time my class heard that name, they thought I was a girl for the first two weeks of school."
"Aw, but it's cute," said Blaze. "Besides, you don't have a problem with mom calling you that."
"That's mom." His watch alarm went off. "Well, now I've got to double-time it. He said heading for the door, until a weight held down his leg. He turned to his little sister. "Look, Star. I have to go. I already agreed to go." There was a knock on the door and Sparks answered, revealing two men in black suits and ties with an alicorn badge on their breast pocket. "Just give me a minute."
"NO!" Star shouted. "Go away! You can't take my big brother away from me again. Her hair flared out and her eyes glowed a fierce orange. The men reached for their tazers at their sides.
"If you even think of tazing my sister," Sparks said, his eyes flaring up, "Don't blame me for what happens next." He knelt to face his sister. "Hey. Stop crying." She tried to stifle her cries as best she could. "Look, I know I went away for a long time before, but this time is different. I chose to go. So this time, I can visit whenever I want. How about every Saturday and Sunday and... any Wednesday I can manage? That way, There's at least two days we can hang out. How's that?" Star wiped her eyes and nodded, smiling faintly, and the tow embraced. Sparks stood up to hug Blaze.
"You know I've still got links at MLP. If you need anything, run it by me and I'll help in any way I can. Okay?" Sparks nodded. "Wow. I'm traveling the world, you're gonna help save it, Star want's to be like you. We're all doing something, huh?"
"Hehe. Yeah." He waved goodbye as he walked down the porch to a black sedan parked outside. He stood next to it for a moment before saying, "Seriously?" He put on his goggles and said, "Did you forget who I am? And that I'm late?" He put on his headphones and said, "See ya... in a few years," before taking off, leaving a gust of wind and a fading, mangled steam of blue, pink, orange, and silver.
The agents got into the car. "Why did we even bother?" asked one. The other just shrugged.
The Alicorn, Atlantic Ocean, 12:00...
Sparks stood at the docks, spying the Alicorn in the middle of the ocean. He reached into his back and brought out his retractable skateboard, which he tweaked the same way he did with the bikes. He hopped onto the make-shift hoverboard and made his way to the airship. As he approached, a platform lowered to receive him and took him to the top, where he was surrounded by jump jets, gunships, fighter jets, and more. He headed for the entrance, waving to agents and pilots that passed him. Once he was in, he followed a series of hallways filled with agents in flight suits and body suits, working, chatting, and going about their lives. He made his way to the main office just a few hundred meters from the brig. The sliding doors had a golden sun motif covering the front. He knocked. "Come in," said a reply from inside. He walked into the bright room. The silver walls reflected the sunlight coming in from the large glass wall behind a mahogany-brown desk. A young woman with flowing hair of pink, blue, and green sat in the chair. She was wearing a light brown jacket over a white shirt, cream dress pants, and brown shoes. "Ah, Sparks. Right on time." She gestured for him to come in and have a seat.
He chose to stand, though. "You wanted to see me? By the way, thanks for the weekend."
"I'm sorry it was so short and we had to call you back so abruptly, but I need your help." Those were words you didn't hear from her everyday. "I'm assembling a new team. I was hoping you would be part of it."
"Sure thing," said Sparks. "I'm always up to help any way I can. Plus, teamwork is my thing."
"I should warn you though," Celestia added, "You may not get along with everyone."
"We'll see about that. So, what's up?"
"The sky." Silence. "Sorry, couldn't help it," she added, giggling. She handed him an MLP ID card. "You remember where the briefing room and armory are?" Sparks nodded. "Then that's where you're headed."
The briefing room was kept simple. It was a circular room with a rather large table in the middle, which was actually a computer. There were several screens lined on the silver, gold, and blue walls. In the room, Sparks and Sunset, who was wearing a white shirt with a sun motif, pink capris, and orange sandals, were chatting as they waited for their new teammates. "I'm just saying," Sunset said, "If you put a phoenix and a dragon in a room, the phoenix is the only thing that would survive. It's immortal, as in, it can't die."
"True," Sparks replied, "But a dragon's scales can only be pierced by another dragon. Beside, dragons breath fire and phoenixes are practically made of fire. There'd be no winner."
As they continued, the door opened. In walked a woman clad in a black cloak, black body suit with white trim, and light gray boots. She had dark brownish-gray hair, orange-brown eyes, and fair skin. She looked around the room, holding a tablet. "So," she said, "You must be Sparks and Sunset?" They nodded. "Hi. My name is Raven. I'll be debriefing you on your mission."
"Cool. Nice to meet you," Sunset said, shaking her hand. Sparks did the same.
"Now, this mission will serve as an orientation test. You won't be sent into a firefight or Everfreed situation just yet... even though you tend to do that on your own." She dropped her tablet on the table and a 3D image of a boy with hair black on the left and white on the right. "Your mission is to recruit this boy. Double Digit. He's 16 years old and a late bloomer."
"Meaning?" Sparks asked.
"His powers didn't appear during the Event, but much more recently. He's a Breakout."
"Okay. So what can he do?"
"Besides having a brain that works like a super computer, he has the ability to self-replicate by absorbing energy to increase the rate of cellular regeneration. Once enough energy is absorbed, it's ejected with the excess cells and is formed in his image. Ease of destruction varies."
"So he's a genius and a multiplier. Anything else we should know?"
"He's stubborn, reckless, and has trust issues."
"Then this should be easy," Sparks said as he and Sunset left.
"Why's that?"
He looked back as he steeped out. "Because you pretty much just described me."
Los Pegasus Outskirts, 13:00...
Sparks and Sunset were in the quiet neighborhood Double Digit was said to be living. "Nice, quiet... I should move here," said Sparks.
"I though your neighborhood was already nice and quiet," replied Sunset.
"Yeah, well, I'm looking for something new." They approach a house and knocked on the door. "So apparently, he lives alone here. His mom's an alcoholic that's usually out most of the time at who-knows-where doing who-knows-what." The door was opened by a teenage boy with spikey black and white hair, divided in the middle and blue eyes wearing a red sweatshirt and blue jeans. "Double Digit?" He stared at them for a while before shoving Sparks into Sunset and darting back into the house, slamming the door behind him. "Well, this just got interesting."
"So, what now?" Sunset asked as they got up.
"Now, we chase."
Manehattan, Private Airfield, Unknown Location, 13:05...
"So let me get this straight." Relay was still trying to wrap her head around everything Zecora had told them. She had given them a place to stay for the weekend and promised she would explain everything once she had "cleared protocol". They were now at a private airfield, waiting for someone. "You're part of an organization that protects the world for metahumans and monsters, using schools and front to look for promising metas and using another school, that I can't find, to train them to used their powers to protect the world AND you existed as a standard peace-keeping organization before all the craziness. Did I just about cover it?" Zecora nodded. "And Frost," she added, punching his shoulder hard, "Was a junior agent who was called in at times he was needed?" Another nod. She looked to Frost. "Study partners, huh?" Frost shrugged.
"He was sworn to secrecy in order to ensure your own safety," Zecora said. Suddenly, her phone rang. She picked the call and walked a few feet away.
"So... secret hero-agent... what do I make of that?" she asked, turning to Frost.
Frost shrugged and smiled. "That I'm awesome."
"You know you could've told me."
"Yeah. But it was safer not to. Just in case the guy didn't go down for good."
Zecora came back and asked, "How would you like to be a part of our training school... for a start?"
The two looked at each other. Relay shrugged. "Not sure if my job or my classmates would care if I went missing for... forever," she said. "Besides, it'd be cool to be able to use my powers without caring who's watching."
Zecora's phone beeped. "Our flight has arrived. Time to decide."
Frost thought for a moment. He had never really used his powers on other metas except when he was called by MLP. "Meh. Why not," he said, finally. "Might as well be part of the whole thing."
Los Pegasus Outskirts, 13:20...
"Dang! This guy can run," Sparks said as he and Sunset chased after Double. The boy may have looked scrawny, but apparently, that just streamlined him. They had left the neighborhood and were now in a forest. Sparks had decided not to use his super speed to avoid getting lost. "Where is he?" he asked as they stopped to survey the surroundings.
"There!" cried Sunset as a blast of teal energy left her hand and curved behind a tree, knocking the boy out from behind it. "Gotcha!" As they approached, the boy's body shimmered, then dissipated into what looked like bright blue pixels. "What the-? It was a clone!"
Sparks looked around. "You can't run forever. Sooner or later, you'll have to fight us off."
"What are you doing?" asked a confused Sunset.
"Riling him up. It's what MLP did to get me out of the plasma shield I was in back in Manehattan. How do you think they got me? Come on! At least show us that you can handle yourself!"
"I CAN!" They turned and saw him standing behind them.
"Wow. You fell for that?" Sparks zipped behind him, cutting off his likely escape route. "Dude, you'll need an army to take on us."
"Don't you know," Double said smiling, "I am an army!" With that, a swarm of copies split from the original and surrounded him.
"Saw that one coming," said Sunset, taking a fighting stance.
"But did he see this coming?" Sparks shot past the swarm, punching, pushing, and jumping his way through the growing sea of clones. Some tried to grab him, resulting in the loss of his hoodie, but he reached the central on and tackled him to the ground. He held him up as Sunset shot a sleep spell at him, which struck his chest. He collapsed on the ground. "Something isn't right..."
"What?" asked Sunset.
"If he was the prime, shouldn't the others go down, having no central command to control them?" They saw the small army chargin towards them, then looked down to see the body they caught dissipated.
"He must be in the crowd," Sunset said, as they fought off the copies. "It's the last place he'd expect us to find him."
Sparks thought as he fought, looking for the one that seemed to keep his distance from the action, but they were all swarming in. Then it hit him. "He's not here," he said, flinging one clone into a group with a kinetic blast. "He's still in the house!"
"Wait... What?!"
Back in the house, Double was packing as much of his stuff as possible into a rather large duffle bag. "First was mom, then the government, now this?! I really need to leave. Actually, I should've left years ago." He picked up his bag and ran down the stairs. As he opened the front door, he was knocked back by an invisible force with a pink shimmer. He was lifted up by another and looked down to see himself wrapped in what looked like teal mist.
"Dude... we just... wanted... to talk," Sparks said between breaths. "Why'd you have to go all killer instinct on us?" The boy remained silent. "Okay, my friend here's gonna put you down, as long as you promise to not run and hear us out... and actually think about what we say. Deal?"
The boy remained silent for a while. Finally, he said, "Deal." Sunset let him down slowly. He didn't run. Instead, he went into the kitchen and grabbed a soda from the fridge. "So, what're you selling?" he asked as he drank his soda.
"If anything, a chance at a better life," said Sparks.
"My life is fine."
"Dude, not to pry into your personal business, but no it's not. It's anything but fine. When's the last time you actually slept in your bed?"
Double looked confused. "What are you talking about?"
"After your powers came up about two weeks ago? The first time people saw what you could do? They came here and tried to attack you. So you used a clone instead and stayed up all night trying to keep it present so they'd think they'd gotten rid of you. Then you'd pop the clone to make it seem like it was over after a few of their raids. But you're still too scared to lie down on it, aren't you?"
Both Sunset and Double looked at Sparks, the latter expressing his shock a bit more clearly. "What, are you psychic? Or have you been stalking me? Bugging my house?" Double said angrily.
Sparks chuckled. "No, no, and no. I've just been in your position. The only difference is that my case was everywhere I went for the next two months after I got my powers. Even now. Actually, I was attacked by my own classmates a few days ago."
"D'you kill 'em?"
"Nope."
"Why the hell not?"
"Because that would prove to them I was a monster and that I didn't have a place here. Plus, it's bad for publicity," he added jokingly. "At least at this new school, I can use my powers without being judged about being different. Plus, I can use them whenever I want... mostly. It is a school."
"If your selling school, I ain't buying," said Double.
"We're not selling school," said Sunset, "I'm not selling anything. If anything, we're telling you that there's actually a place where you won't be seen as a freak by anyone. You'll be... normal there."
Double thought for a while. He was tired of having to hide from mobs and his drunk mother and using his clones to protect himself. He was tired of just managing when he knew there was something better. He was tired of living in a shell. "Where is it?"
"Are you in?" asked Sunset.
Double sighed. "Why the hell not? If it's better, I'll take it from another meta. But if you try anything funny-"
"You'll crush us with an army of you. Yeah, we got that," said Sunset, stretching her arms. "Not a fan of the idea."
"Cool. So, when do we leave?"
"No time like the present," said Sparks. "You've already packed, apparently," he gestured to the duffle bag.
Suddenly, there was a bag on the front door, followed by a loud CRASH . "DOUBLE DIGIT, YOU LITTLE SHIT! HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I TOLD YOU NOT TO LOCK THE DAMN DOOR!!!"
"Crap! It's my mom. And she. Is. Smashed!" Double panicked as the plump woman made her way into the room.
"Boy, who the hell are these?" she asked with a slight slur. "You know what? I don't care. Now get the hell out of my house! I need to speak with my son."
"Um... are you... oaky, ma'am?" asked Sparks. "Maybe you should-"
"YOU TELLING ME WHAT TO DO IN MY OWN HOUSE! GET OUT BEFORE I GET VIOLENT!" She ran to the cupboard and pulled out a hunting rifle, cocked it, and aimed it between Sunset and Sparks. "GIT!"
"Sunny?" signaled Sparks. Sunset whipped her hands up and shot a bolt of magic at the woman. On impact, she slumped to the ground, snoring. "Okay, let's take advantage of this, shall we?" said Sparks as they headed for the door, which was now lying across the ground. "Sorry about your mom," he said to Double.
"Don't worry about it," he replied. "Better than what I would've done."
32,000ft above Sea Level, 13:30...
"We'll be arriving in half an hour," said Zecora. "Till then, why not tell me how you came about your powers?"
"Well," Frost started, "There isn't much to tell. During the Event, I was at home. I went to the fridge and saw the blast from the window. I fell unconscious and when I came to, the ground beneath me was frozen, both my parents were standing over me worried, and my skin felt unusually cold. They took me to a hospital and the doctor said I was fine... except that my body temperature was in a constant state of flux, going from normal to below possible and back in minutes. Next day, I was discharged and everything I touched froze over, so I had to wear gloves for a while. A few days later, we go back for a checkup to see why I keep freezing stuff. Doctor diagnoses that my body emits a unique type of plasma that suck up heat instead of emitting heat. I try to stretch out after the tests, and a bolt of energy shoots out of my hand and freezes the door shut. Took over an hour for them to chip through the ice."
Zecora listened intently to his story, then said, "You must have been scared at the new discovery. How about the recovery?"
"Well, for a while, I was too scared to even leave my room, which had turned into a winter wonderland, and too scared to touch anything... or anyone. But then I saw some metahuman who saved a bunch of people from a collapsing construction sight. It was cheesy, but it gave me the courage to actually get out and try to do something useful with my powers. During a heat wave, I was the neighborhood hero. Then, there was a fire in our neighbor's house. I got in, saved the family, and stopped the fire. Even managed to freeze broken supports so the house wouldn't just collapse. Things just moved on from there."
Zecora nodded. "Many understand what you have felt." She turned to Relay. "How about you? How was your hand dealt?"
Relay sighed. "Well... I was kinda orphaned since I was 5. My parents didn't feel like they were up for the responsibility and they weren't entirely sure about putting me up for adoption. I got gifts and letters from them occasionally, though. Like on my birthday. One time, they sent me a camera. During the night of the Event, I saw the lights and wanted to take a picture of them, but we were a bit far. So I snuck out and took a train to Canterlot City, since it wasn't too far. I attached my camera to a toy drone and hacked a nearby Wi-Fi signal with my phone to try to boost the range." She paused. "Bad, but impressive. So I saw the rainbow, but something hit the drone. When went I picked it up, the blast hit me while I was holding it. When I woke up, I was suddenly able to see into the drone and camera, both of which had gone bust. But the weirder thing is that knew how to fix it and what I needed. Just for amusement, I scavenged some parts from behind a toy store. To my surprise, I was actually able to fix the drone. The next day, I kept hearing odd, high-pitch sounds and I kept seeing these bubbles attached to each other by a series of... streams, I guess. When I tried to wave them off, they expanded into pictures, videos, internet pages... I was freaking out. Many of the kids at the orphanage called me weird because of that. A few days later, our caretaker decided to take me to a hospital. She was nice. Managed with what we had. The doctor ran some tests and said that, somehow, my brain was reading electromagnetic signals. The noise was me picking up the frequency and the bubbles were my brain's way of identifying the signals and accessing them... like a Wi-Fi or central operating system in my head. I was able to use these signals to interact with electronics telepathically; switch on, switch off, download, upload, intercept calls and messages... then came the day when I discovered some of the bubbles actually let me see through electronics with cameras, be it on a cellphone or on a traffic light. I decided to help out the orphanage, so... I sorta kinda maybe took a job working with a growing gang? I helped them hack traffic cams, security systems, and radios to help them with their "business transactions." She sighed. "Not one of my proudest moments, but two good things came out of it."
"And what would these happen to be?" asked Zecora.
"Well, I was able to help out the orphanage and I met Frost," she said, gesturing to the boy. "Two months ago, we wanted out, but the gang leader, Capo, wanted me to help him build explosives; small enough to fit in his pocket, strong enough to take out a house. I said no. He didn't take too kindly to it. I wasn't ungrateful, or anything. I, and some others in the orphanage, were still able to afford to go to school because of the money he gave me for the orphanage, but I already felt guilty. So we left. I got a job at an electronics store... then lost it about a week ago when my jerk-of-a-boss got on my nerves about selling the wrong brand. I blew a fuse... along with all the fuses in the store... and the merchandise... and then he fired me. So I just started a repair service in the apartment we bought with thug money and managed from there."
"You knew what you were doing was wrong, and stepping away from it is what makes you strong. You are both no different from many I've met, so you'll get along fine in the school, I bet. But we'll find out in a while, we'll be landing in just a few miles." The two looked out the window and saw they had arrived at their destination: Canterlot City.
Chapter 2: Meet the New Guy
"So how long will this take again?" Digit asked, impatiently. They waited at a bus stop where they were supposed to be waiting for transport.
"Not long," Sparks replied. "Actually, there's the bus." A bright yellow and white bus.
"The bus will take you straight to the school," said Sunset. "When you get there, look for Principal Celestia."
"Principal?" Digit asked.
"Hey, she needs some kind of cover." They waved as the bus drove off. "Well, that's one down. We should probably get packing."
"We?" Sparks asked, smiling. "I already packed." Then Sunset punched him.
White Tail Woods, Canterlot City Outskirts, 15:00...
"I can't believe you took an hour to pack! You're lucky my sister knows her way around this city," Sparks said. He had kept the orange tank top and khakis, but had changed from a sleeveless to a short-sleeved hoodie, still with the scarf and goggles.
"Hey, I'm not like other overly-self-conscious girls, but I'm still a girl. It's practically second nature!" Sunset had also gone home and changed to a red shirt with white accents and three-quarter length sleeves, yellow shorts, and red and black high-top sneakers. She turned to Blaze in the driver's seat. "Thanks, again, for taking us."
"No problem," Blaze replied as she turned into the woods. They soon came up to a path that led to the school: a magnificent building with a structure that could rival the White House. "We're here."
"Yikes!" Sunset exclaimed. "I knew it was grand, but seeing it for myself..."
"Yeah," Sparks added. They got down and unloaded their suitcases. "Thanks again, Blaze," Sparks said, hugging his sister.
"Anytime, bro. If you need anything, just holla."
"I will."
"And Sunset?"
"Hm?" Sunset answered.
"Please make sure my brother doesn't do anything too stupid, okay?" Sparks playfully punched his sister.
"Yeah. That won't be a problem," Sunset replied. Blaze burst into laughter. "What? What's so funny?"
"Nothing, nothing," Blaze said, stumbling into her car. "Later." And she drove off.
"Well, we're here," said Sparks. "Now what?"
"I think our bags go over there," Sunset said, pointing to a pile of suitcases. "Quite a few new arrivals." They dropped their bags and headed to the schoolyard. "So, do you think we'd meet anyone we know?"
"Probably," Sparks shrugged. "That blast was too big to have only affected a few dozen people."
"True." Sunset's phone rang, and after looking at the message, she said, "You go on ahead. I'll catch up."
"Sure. See ya," he said as Sunset walked off.
Despite his friendly and bubbly personality, Sparks was rather shy, especially around a lot of new people. It had gotten even worse after the Manehattan incident. But once he opened up, he was a different person. But first, he had to open up. He slowed down as he entered the yard and pulled his hood over his head. He thought to himself, "They're just like you... almost. They won't eat you alive... I think. Ho boy." As he made his way through the courtyard, he saw a lot of metahumans, some who looked normal, and others, not so much. As he walked, he didn't the person coming around the statue in the middle of the yard and bumped into her. He stumbled back, but the girl fell over. Side effect of his powers; due to the amount of energy his body generates just from moving, bumping into him was like bumping into a giant rubber wall; painless, but you're the one that moves. "Oh, sorry," he said, holding out his hand to help her up. She was wearing white long-sleeved dress shirt with rolled up sleeves, black trousers, and black flat-sole shoes. Around her neck was a purple scarf and a diamond-shaped hairclip adorned her curled hair.
"Well, I certainly hope you are," she replied with an accent. "Bumping into a lady is a bad way to make a first impression."
"Again, sorry. I didn't see you coming."
The girl looked at him. "That's quite alright. My, my, you have an interesting taste in clothes," she said, looking at him.
"Huh?"
"Well, your clothes are all fairly popular designers, but why the hood?"
"I like hoodies."
"Mhm. Oh, but I love the scarf."
"Thanks. My mom gave it to me. Oh, I'm Sparks, by the way," he said, holding out his hand.
"Rarity Belle," she replied, taking it.
"Charmed," he added, feigning an accent and kissing her hand.
"Nice try," she said, smiling smugly.
"Hey, I tried."
"Come to think of it, what is your full name?"
"Um, what?"
"Well, I told you mine. Its only courteous that you do the same."
"Oh. Um, well, it's kinda-"
"Rarity, give the guy a break," a voice called out in a southern accent. "He only just got here." From behind Rarity came a girl that almost frightened Sparks. He had seen tall girls and had no problem, but this girl was probably his age and was probably taller than his sister! She wore a plaid white shirt tied up in front under a brown sleeveless leather jacket, blue jeans, and brown boots. She also wore a Stetson hat and a thick brown belt with three apples on the buckle. "Sorry 'bout that partner. She can be a bit pushy, sometimes."
"It's fine," Sparks replied, shaking the wonder from his head.
"I just wanted to know his name," Rarity said.
The girl turned to Sparks. "Is that true?"
"Well... yeah," Sparks admitted.
"Any particular reason ya don't wanna tell 'er?"
"Well, I've kinda had a bad experience telling people my name."
"Mah name's Applejack Apple." Sparks froze, forcing himself not to laugh. "Exactly. No one has a perfect name. So?"
Sparks inhaled deeply then exhaled. "Eve Spark Weaver... Eve." He heard it; a snicker. Applejack nudged Rarity. "See what I mean."
"Terribly sorry," Rarity said. "It's just..."
"Eve sounds like a girls name?" Sparks deadpanned. "Yeah, I get that... a lot."
"No, no. It's cute," she said. "Do you... mind if I call you Eve?"
"Yeah, sorry. Only my mom and sisters can call me that," Sparks said. "Family only."
"Aren't we technically a family?" asked Applejack. "Being a community and whatnot."
"Fine. Blood relatives and nuclear family on-"
"COMING THROUGH!" Sparks was cut off by a gust of wind and what looked like a rainbow streak, closely trailed by another teal streak with a yellow streak in the middle, like a lightning bolt. When you can move fast enough, you can process images pretty well. Sparks followed the trail and saw two girls. One had rainbow hair and cerise eyes and wore a light blue tank top under a darker blue sports jacket, black shorts with a white stipe down the sides, and white trainers. She also had on a pair of fingerless gloves, an armband with a cloud and a rainbow-colored lightning bolt, and a necklace with a gold lightning bolt on it. "Nice run, Lightning," she said to the other girl.
"Thanks," she replied. She had golden yellow hair and was wearing a teal sports crop-top, black track pants, and teal and white trainers. Neither of them seemed that out of breath. "I'm gonna go find Spitfire. You coming?"
"Nah," Rainbow said, spotting Sparks and the other two girls. "I'll catch up."
"Okay, later," she said, taking off. The other zipped forward to meet the group.
"So, you must be new here," she said, observing Sparks. "Name's Rainbow Dash, fastest girl alive," she said, pointing at herself.
"Or so you say," added Applejack.
"I guess you've met the duchess and hayseed over here," Rainbow said to Sparks, gesturing towards the other girls.
"Yeah," Sparks said, nervously. "Hey, you wouldn't happen to be friends with Twilight and Sunset, would you?"
"Yeah," replied Applejack. "How'd you know?"
"They told me about you. Good things, mostly."
"That's nice," Rarity said. "Wait, mostly? What about the others?"
"Hey, no one's perfect," Sparks said, chuckling. "So," he said looking at Rainbow, "Apparently, you can run at super speed."
"Yep," she said proudly. "Plus, the static I generate can be amplified so I can fire bolts of electricity; blue is for force, yellow is for paralysis and knock-out, green forms a magnetic field to hold stuff." As she spoke, she cycled through the different colors of electricity, the respective colors in her hair glowing in response.
"Cool," Sparks said. "And you two?"
Applejack went first. "Mah limbs work like pistons. Gives me superhuman strength and a punch and kick with the force of a stallion with hoofs the size of cannonballs. Also, Ah'm a pretty good shot."
"I'm a metamorph," said Rarity. "I can turn into different types of stones, usually gems, and not only become stronger and more damage-resistant, but different gems give different effects."
"Such as?" Sparks asked curiously.
"Rubies for heat resistance, jasper for electrical insulation, emeralds for anti-corrosion, and the list goes on." As she spoke, she shifted to her different armors, each with a unique design.
"Pinkie! Slow down!" They all looked left and saw a girl with fluffy pink hair wearing a pink tank top, blue jeans shorts, and pink flip-flops walking towards them, followed closely by a girl with flowing pink hair wearing a white tank top under a yellow turtleneck sweater with long detached sleeves, blue jeans, and yellow sandals. The pink girl stopped on a dime, and the other overshot her, suddenly turning and revealing that the sweater was almost like a halter top, with no back except for the lower back and neck. "Really, Pinkie. There's a reason you shouldn't eat so much sugar in crowded areas like this. You could tackle someone into a wall... or run into a wall yourself."
"Yeah, but I wanted to meet the new guy," she said, leaning towards Sparks. "Hi, my name is Pinkie Pie! Just call me Pinkie, Pinks, PP... teehee, PP... Anyway, you are?"
"Sparks."
"Just Sparks?"
"It's a long story."
"Is it really?" interjected Applejack.
"I got time, anyway," said Pinkie.
"Nope." Sparks noticed the other girl had practically been hiding behind Applejack and hadn't said a word. "And you are?"
"Fluttershy Gale," she replied inaudibly.
"Ah. Pleased to meet you," he said, holding out his hand. She moved from behind Applejack and shook it.
"You are probably the second shyest person I've met. No offence."
"None taken," the girl replied, almost inaudibly. "Um, who's the first, if you don't mind me asking?"
"Me." They all stared in disbelief. He place her hand on his chest. Fluttershy could feel it; his heart was racing like he had just finished running a cross-continental marathon. "See?"
"Oh, my," Fluttershy said. "You don't look very worried."
"I've learned to hide that. Makes it easier to meet new people without breaking down."
"Wait a minute," Applejack said, "How could you hear her before? She's quieter than a forest animal in the dead of winter."
"Side effect of my powers is that I can hear things better by amplifying the vibrations of particles in the air, making sound waves travel faster so I can hear more clearly. I can do it for myself... or for everything around me." They all collectively clapped their ears like a bug was buzzing next to it.
"Yikes. Felt like mah entire ear just started shaking. So you can manipulate sound?"
"No. It's... complicated. My power is a branching ability. It's one power with multiple applications. I actually just absorb, manipulate, project, and materialize energy."
"Materialize?" asked Rainbow.
"Like I can coat my hands with energy to make my hits stronger, or create an energy wave to for a force field. I pretty much just use the kinetic application of energy to produce more force than heat and vice versa."
"Care to explain how that all works?"
"Nope. I understand and I can explain, but overthinking it gives me a headache. Simply put, it's like giving energy a solid form by absorbing and releasing at the same time to maintain the mass-to-energy ratio so the tangibility remains constant." They all gawked as their brains tried to process what he just said. "Told you. It's better shown than told."
"So," Rarity said, shaking the brain cramp off, "What energies can you manipulate?"
"Kinetic, mainly. But also light," he said as the streak turned to bright ginger like the rest of his hair and the ends instead turned pink, then holding a bright blue light in his hand, "And plasma," a pink energy materialized in the other. "Just superheated particles to change their state."
"Yikes," Rainbow exclaimed. "How do you keep track of it all?"
"Don't need to. Their all the same ability," he said as the light and plasma turned to what looked like silver streams with a faint pink tint in his hands. "Energy. I just need to remember how to apply it. Like applying physics."
"Care to give a demonstration?" inquired Rarity.
"Not here," he said as the streams vanished. "Bad idea. But I can do this." Suddenly, he vanished, leaving a stream of pink, silver, and orange, then suddenly reappeared.
"Whoa," Applejack said, almost jumping like the others. "What was that?"
"I can, in a sense, "ride light". It's like I can follow the flow of light energy to run at super speed to the point that everything almost looks like it's standing still."
"Yeah, I can do that," Rainbow said with pride. "But I gotta know, what's with the pink?"
"Hey, I didn't chose what color plasma should be."
"I meant your hair."
Sparks looked at his pink tips. "What? A guy can't like pink anymore?"
"Well, no, it's just-"
"Relax. I don't know. I just like it. Maybe a side effect of living in a house with at least two girls at a time."
"What about your dad." Silence fell. Sparks' smile died slowly.
"Rainbow!" Applejack nudged Rainbow.
"Sorry, I didn't mean-"
"No, it's fine," Sparks said. "I just don't like to talk about him."
"We respect that," Applejack said. "Don't we?" They all nodded in agreement.
"But what's your mom like?" asked Fluttershy, finally speaking.
"She speaks!" Sparks teased, making her blush slightly. "Well, she's pretty cool. She can't stay in one place, so she's always traveling when she can take us. She also does this to her hair," he said, pointing at the pink tips.
"You must really love her," said Rarity.
"What's not to love? And..."
"Mama's boy," Rainbow mumbled
"Don't hit her for that one," Sparks said as Applejack raised her arm. "I really don't care because I know she's joking."
"How can ya tell?"
"I can hear it in the tone of your voice. It's not a power, unless being able to read people well counts?" Applejack lowered her arm and shot Rainbow a look. "So, how did you guys find out about your powers?"
The five girls looked among one another. "I guess we just sorta... found out," Applejack said. "Ah remember waking up a few days after the Battle of the Bands and ripping mah bedroom door off its hinges just by pulling it open. Then, I was kicking apples down from trees when one of mah kicks took off a chunk of the tree bark. Thought it was termites until I remembered a relative had come over to fumigate the farm."
Rarity spoke next. "I was in my room working on a new outfit and I didn't know what to do to make it more... classy. I thought of using gems, but where was I going to get gems? So I rest my head in my arms in despair and hit my head on something hard; my arms! Imagine my surprise when both my arms were covered in garnet armor. Just as a test, I chipped a piece off, and it grew right back! Next was that it was I was able to see gems in the ground. Twilight says I can pick up on the unique vibration frequencies of gems. Oh, and I also have telekinesis. Twilight says she's not sure, but it might be due to some field my body gives off because of the gems. Either that or I just have two different abilities."
"Oh, oh! Me next! Me next!" Pinkie said, jumping up and down excitedly. "So, I was working at Sugarcube Corner when I suddenly felt hungry, which was odd because I had about ten coffee cakes that morning for breakfast, because I was really hungry when I woke up. So I went to the kitchen and found some leftover cake. Who leaves a quarter of a good cake just lying around, am I right? So I ate it and suddenly felt this burst of energy. I wanted to walk out of the kitchen, but wound up walking out of the shop altogether! So I went home and tried it again. And it happened again!"
Sparks looked on in both amazement and confusion. "So... your power is basically... a sugar rush?"
"Exactly! Well, except the sugar hangover you get after. As long as I don't eat to much or use too much energy, I'm safe. But if I... eat an entire cake in one sitting or run across the city, I can get really, really, really tired. Like sleep-in-the-middle-of-the-road-during-rush-hour tired. So I try to keep it steady... sometimes."
"Pinkie..." Fluttershy said, disapprovingly.
"What?" Fluttershy glared at her and Pinkie pulled a cookie from her hair.
"Oh, oh! Also! Also!" She reached into her hair and pulled out a hammer. Sparks' jaw dropped.
"Apparently," Rarity explained, "Pinkie's sugar level is so high, her hair practically turned into a sort of... super strong, super elastic... cotton candy. Her hair has always been this... puffy, but now it's almost as if there's a pocket dimension in it she can use to store items and can even extend her hair! I believe that qualifies as a branching ability?"
"Yeah," Sparks replied. "What kind of stuff can she store?"
"Reasonably sized items. It's like a door; she can only take it through if it's significantly smaller than her, like how you can only walk through a door with something smaller than the door. So she can hide a pillow in there, but not a bed."
"What of people?"
"Nope," Applejack replied.
"Have you tried?"
"Nope!"
"Then how do you know?"
"Because people are not significantly smaller."
"What about babies?"
"Ee..." Applejack froze and the girls looked among one another. "We... don't know."
"Probably," said Rarity.
"Babies are significantly smaller than me," Pinkie added.
"It would make a kind of sense," Fluttershy added. "Wait, how would it breathe? Is there air in there? Or even space to move?" More puzzled looks as Fluttershy sank back behind Applejack.
"Err, Forget I asked," Sparks said. "Any other surprises?"
"Oh yeah," Pinkie said. She walked over and moved Sparks one foot to the right and stepped back just as what looked like a ball of magma hit the spot where he was standing.
"What the...?"
"I call it Pinkie Sense," she said. "I get these different feelings when certain things are about to happen."
"So... you're psychic?"
"Of course not, silly. I can only predict immediate events, like stuff that'll happen within the next five seconds after I get the feeling."
"Oh."
"Twilight tried to deduce how Pinkie's powers worked exactly," Rarity explained. "She understood the... sugar rush ability, but she couldn't understand the Pinkie sense or cotton candy pocket dimension hair. No one has been able to come up with a logical explanation for them."
"I have one," Sparks said confidently.
"Oh?"
"There is none." They all laughed at the idea. Sparks turned to Fluttershy. "So, what can you do?"
"Oh," Fluttershy said, a bit surprised. "Well, I can mimic the properties and abilities of other animals, like a cat's reflexes or a eagle's vision-"
"Or a bull's strength or cheetah's speed," Rainbow continued.
"Well, there's those."
"What about physical?" asked Sparks.
"I can do some, like a tiger's claws," she said, as her nails extended, but somehow didn't look as horrifying as one would picture, "But I can't do anything that involves a body part I don't have, like growing horns like a bull." She retracted her nails. "I can also communicate with animals."
"How? Do you just talk normally?"
"Sometimes. It depends on the species. I can talk to them normally, but there are sometimes where I have to actually... squeak... like for chipmunks and squirrels. But I usually talk normally, yes."
"How did you find out?"
Fluttershy went quiet. "Come one, darling, Rarity said.
"Well, I was working in the animal shelter and was taking care of a dog who had hurt its leg. As its owner took it away, it barked, but for some reason, I heard, "Thank you." It was really weird. It got even weirder when I kept hearing animals sating, "Hi," to me; cats in trees, dogs walking by, even pigeons that flew down were... asking me for crumbs."
Sparks forced himself not hold back his laughter. "That's adorable!"
"I thought was both adorable, and creepy. I thought it had something to do with hitting my head on my bed when I woke up that morning. Up until I started getting used to hearing animals talk to me, that whole day was terrible."
"How terrible?" Fluttershy kept quiet and turned red. "Never mind. Continue."
"What really scared me was when I fell and twisted my wrist. Good heavens it hurt! Then I saw a lizard walk by and somehow, my brain got the idea to twist it back in a way that wouldn't hurt as much as it did then. So I did and the bone healed and pain disappeared in a matter of seconds."
"Wait, if you can replicate the powers of any animal, can you replicate the cellular regeneration of a lizard? Like losing an arm and growing it back?"
"I don't want to find out," Fluttershy said, holding her arms as if they were the source of her life. "But I can heal from cuts and bruises really quickly... though I try to avoid getting cut of bruised in the first place."
"Cool. Rainbow?"
"Saved the best for last, huh?" the girl said proudly. "First of all, I want you to know that my hair has always been this color, but I don't know why. Doctor said it was some kind of mutation or something."
"Must've been some mutation. And I know it's natural."
"Really?" Rainbow asked, confused.
"Hello? Photokinetic? You just saw me change my hair color. I can sorta see the reflective and refractive nature of objects and use that to tell the natural color based on what colors it should be absorbing and reflecting."
"O...kay..." Rainbow said, still trying to process the explanation. "Anyway, I found my powers pretty basically. I woke up, went about my day like any other, until I realized that I had somehow run all the way to Pinkie's house in about ten seconds... and that was at least a mile away. But there was one problem with my super speed that made it hard to hide the fact that something was wrong from my parents."
"Fatigue and constant hunger due to hypoglycemia."
"Yep. I could eat an entire box of cereal in the morning and be hungry again in the next half hour. So Twilight made me go on a new diet. I have never been so happy to have agreed to such a thing! Diets should be healthy, but for me, ten McBurgers, fifty McNuggets, and three McFlurries is as healthy as a salad!"
"Hehe. Yeah. When my sister said I had to change my eating habits, I didn't know how much I would enjoy it either."
"So, how did you discover your powers?" asked Rarity.
"Well... where do I start..."
As Sparks thought, Twilight walked over to them. "Oh, hi Sparks. Hi girls. I see you've all met?"
"Yes," Rarity replied. "Sparks was about to tell us about how he discovered his powers."
"Well, that'll have to wait. Principal Celestia wants to give her opening speech to welcome newcomers."
Frost, wearing a blue sleeveless shirt, black track bottoms, and white sneakers, sat on the bed in his new room, unpacking his suitcase. Relay, wearing a green shirt with a white power sign on it, black jacket and trousers, and a brown boots, leaned against the doorframe. "Hurry up," she pleaded. "I really wanna see how many people are out there."
"Relax, Re," Frost said, bringing out a stack of clothes and arranging them in his wardrobe. "Just give me a minute."
"You get half," she replied. She saw Zecora walking down the hall to meet her. "Oh, hey, Miss Zecora."
"Hello, Relay," she replied. "Do you like the place? Yay or nay?"
"Yay," she replied. "Definitely yay. It's got everything!"
"And what of you, Frost? Is it worth the cost?"
"Yeah. It's a nice... wait, COST?!"
"WE'RE PAYING FOR THIS?!" added Relay.
Zecora laughed. "Calm down, I only jest. We pay for accommodation and the rest." Frost and Relay breathed sighs of relief. Zecora saw a student coming down the hall and gestured for him to come over. "This is one of whom you will be sharing your room."
"A roommate?" asked Frost. "I'm cool with that." A groan escaped from Relay, followed by a gasp. The young man was about 6'5" and wore a tight fitting white shirt, army green combat trousers, and black zip-up boots. He had blonde buzz cut hair, bright red eyes, and an earing in each ear. "Uuuuh..." Both Frost and Relay were lost for words at the sight of the large teen.
"His name is quite the rep, this is Bulk Biceps."
Frost stood up to shake his hand. "Uh... p-please to meet you."
"YEAH! SAME HERE!" Frost's ear rang from the loud greeting and felt his entire arm would break like ice in a snow cone machine with the force of the handshake. Relay opted for a fist-bump, but felt like she had just tried to punch a steel door.
Zecora's phone rang. She looked at the message and said, "Excuse my hurry, but I have to run. I hope you all have fun. Frost your other roommate will arrive soon. Relay, yours should already been in your room."
"Saw her stuff, but not her," she said. "Whoever she is, she's got a thing for magic tricks and magic shows."
As they made their way across the courtyard, the six girls and one guy passed by many different metahumans. One was levitating rocks, another tensed up and turned his skin to some kind of metal, and another's hands looked like rocks with lava streams. Sparks struggled with himself not to confront him. Soon, they reached the back of the school, which was almost twice as big as the front yard... and with just as many people. "Great. More people," Sparks thought. "This is a terrible idea," he said. "Maybe I should watch from the back."
"Oh, come now, darling," said Rarity. "You did well in meeting us. Why would this be any different?"
"Remember what I said about me being nervous around new people?"
"Yes."
"And you remember I absorb energy?"
"So, what?" questioned Rainbow. "You powers go berserk whenever you get nervous?"
"Something like that. The nervousness make it a bit hard to contain energy my body builds up due to adrenaline."
"Come on. How bad could it be?"
"You had to ask? About a week after getting my powers, I got invited to a party. I was on the dance floor for two minutes when someone bumped into me and annoyed me by making a big deal out of it. Everyone around me got a crash course in flying about a dozen feet."
"Oh..."
"Yeah. Adrenaline is helpful in a fight, not so much in a meeting area... or any crowded area."
"Well, it's just one person speaking into a microphone," said Twilight.
Sparks sighed. "Whatever happens is on you guys." They finally made it to the crowd who were waiting for the Principal to arrive. When Sparks saw the sea of people, his stomach lurched. "Oh boy."
"You'll be fine," Rarity said.
"Gimme a second," he said as he pulled his headphones over his ears. "And yes, I can still hear."
"Greetings students, new and old," Celestia started. "Welcome to the Royale's School for the Gifted. My name is Celestia Royale, but you may call me Principal Celestia. This is my sister, Vice-Principal Luna." She gestured to a younger looking woman wearing a purple shirt with a white collar, black trousers, and black shoes. She had midnight-blue hair and cerulean eyes. She waved at the crowd. "You are all here for different reasons. Some of you felt out of place where you were, some of you were made to feel out of place, some of you just wanted a change fitting of your own change. Here, you will find what you're looking for: harmony. Here, the only difference between you and the person sitting next to you may be your newfound talent... your gift. And in some cases, I'm quite sure they aren't so different." She noticed two people sitting next to each other holding a ball of energy in their hands. She smiled, then coughed to get their attention, at which they stopped and looked back at her. "Many of you saw your new powers as a curse. I founded this school to show you how much of a gift you can be, and not just because of your powers, but what you choose to do with what you have; how you handle the cards you're dealt. Your teachers will teach you many things. They will teach you normal subjects, as well as more... unorthodox ones. They will show you when to use your powers and when you should not. They will show you how to use them."
"What if we already know how to use our powers?" came a question. All the students turned to see a girl with pale blue and white hair and light purple eyes wearing a light blue shirt and skirt, blue stockings and boots, and a dark blue jacket.
"Do you?" Celestia asked, smiling.
"The Great and Powerful Trixie," she rolls the "r", "has already mastered her many talents."
"Well then, care to give us a demonstration?" Trixie wasted no time accepting the offer. She pulled out a cloak and wizard hat from her backpack. She wrapped herself in the cloak and vanished, reappearing moments later on the stage. Celestia moved a few steps back. "Would you need a volunteer?"
"Trixie is humble enough not to ask her principal. Would anyone care to step up?"
A hand went up. It belonged to a girl with mint green hair with white highlights and golden yellow eyes wearing a pink halter top, dark teal shorts, and pink boots and a lyre-shaped pendant around her neck and a red hairband with a flower on it. She got up and headed for the stage. The girl sitting next to her, with blue and pink hair and light blue eyes wearing a blue, shin-length dress under a yellow knee-length hoodie with light blue arms and sweet-shaped buttons, and light blue sneakers, whispered, "You've got this."
"What's your name?"
"Lyra," the girl responded confidently. "Lyra Heartstrings."
"Well, Lyra Heartstrings, just don't feel too bad if you can't handle my powers." She opened her cape and a bolt of energy flew out. Lyra dodged it and spread her arms like wings. The motion produced a burst of sound that faintly sounded like that of a lyre. Trixie disappeared once more and reappears behind the girl. Lyra turned around and found a ball of energy, held in Trixie's hands, hovering in front of her.
"That didn't take long," said Rainbow.
Lyra stood, surprised. She ducked and crossed her arms, aiming to hit Trixie with another sound wave, but the wooden floorboard flipped and sent her flying over Trixie, off the pedestal, and landing on the grassy ground below. The pink and blue-haired girl ran to her side as Trixie took a bow and disappeared from the stage, reappearing at her seat and receiving attention from a number of boys in the crowd around her. "Thank you, thank you. Trixie already knows how great she is, but feel free to rub it in."
Celestia returned to the microphone. "Interesting introduction and good control. But as you can see, not all of us can be as... "Great and Powerful" as others. Which is one of the reasons we want you all to see this as a family, where you can trust and help each other when and where necessary. You will meet your teachers as time goes on. Some of you may have met them already. But we do hope you all enjoy your stay here and feel right at home. WELCOME!" There was a loud applause as she finished with a flourish and golden sparks shot from her hands, creating the impression of wings behind her.
As each of the students left, they took a chair with them and headed for their dorm rooms. "You see?" Rarity said to Sparks. "That wasn't so bad." She patted Sparks on the back, but her hand was thrown back. She grabbed her hand winced in pain.
"I'msorryI'msorryI'msorryI'msorry!" Sparks said, debating whether or not to hold her.
"WHAT WAS THAT?!" Rainbow cried.
"Sorry," Sparks said guiltily. "Guess the energy hasn't died down yet."
"It's... quite alright," Rarity said, shaking her hands. "Like pins and needles."
"Yeah. Again, sorry. Last time someone tapped me on the back when I was edgy-"
"He got crash course in flying?" Rainbow finished.
"No. Different time. This guy got sent flying across a department store. Think it was about a hundred meters or so."
"Can't you control it?"
"Not when I'm edgy or anxious or anything like that. The adrenaline just makes my fight-or-flight reaction a lot more powerful and a lot less... controllable. It's active all over. Sorry."
"I said it's fine," Rarity said.
"You apologize almost as much as Fluttershy," said Applejack.
"Yeah. I tend to do that... Come to think of it, why Fluttershy?"
Fluttershy looked between the girls, who all nodded, confusing Sparks. Fluttershy turned around and from the opened area of her sweater, a pair of wings appeared. They were sleek with yellow feathers. "Oh. Bird wings." She began to beat them, picking up speed until they were blurs as she levitated off the ground. "Hummingbird wings."
"The one power she tends to use quite often," said Rarity. "Mostly because of me."
"Huh? Why?"
"Well," Rarity started, smiling sheepishly, "I have this cat, Opalescence. She keeps jumping into trees and on top of things whenever I want to wash her or groom her and Fluttershy always has to help me get her down. Then she offered to just do the grooming and bathing for me. A true heroine in my book." Fluttershy began to blush and hid her face with her sweater neck as her wings retracted into her back.
"Does it... hurt?" asked Sparks. Fluttershy shook her head. They made their way to the entrance. A large ten-or-so-foot-tall mahogany door stood before them. "Well, this is the start of a new, and hopefully better, chapter of my life." They opened the door and were met by a glorious hall. The floor and walls were all mahogany and a dark blue carpet covered most of the hallway, leaving a few feet from the walls. There were pictures and paintings lining the walls of people, historical events, and objects. At the sides were doors leading to different rooms; the kitchen, living room, dining room, etc. At the end was a flight of stairs, followed by another set of stairs leading it opposite directions. There was a door in front instead of just a wall. Three chandeliers lined the ceiling above the hall. They went up the first flight and found another set of stairs leading in different directions which they took, leading to the dorm rooms. Each of the new student's bags and suitcases was in front of their door. "Well, this is my stop," Sparks said as he found his suitcase.
"Hope you like your roommates," said Pinkie. "Speaking of which, you have roommates. About two or three I think."
"Oh... great..."
"You'll be fine," said Applejack. "Just introduce yourself like you did for us and it should be fine."
"I'm not always that lucky," he mumbled. "Well. Thanks."
"No problemo," said Pinkie.
"If you ever need anything, our rooms are the last two at the end of the hall," said Twilight.
"Just... knock before entering," said Rarity.
"Or I'll knock your teeth out," Rainbow said, cracking her knuckles.
"I live with two sisters and my mom," he said. "You don't think they knocked that sense into me already?" They laughed and waved goodbye as they went their separate ways. On instinct, he opened the door. The room was quite spacious. There were two bunk beds on the opposite ends of the room, to the right and left of the entrance. There was a window on the wall opposite the entrance and a fairly wide desk below it, big enough for two people, one side of which had been taken and had a stack of comic books on it. There was a desk at the foot of the beds, one of which had been taken up by a backpack. There were two wardrobes on each side of the entrance and drawers fitted onto each of the desks. The top and bottom bunk of one bed had been taken, and had a dumbbell and a set of smaller weights at the corner behind it, freeing the top bunk of the other bed for him. "I call top bunk," he said out loud as he tossed his bag up to the top. He noticed the person on the bottom bunk had posters of comic book superheroes like Superman and Shazam from DC Comics and the top bunker had a lot of posters with snowy backgrounds. He rolled his suitcase in and put it into one of the wardrobes, planning to unpack a bit later. "First, let's get a layout of the house."
He walked out and headed for the stairs. "This summer may actually be fun to spend in school... hot damn, I must be losing my mind."
RSG, 16:00...
The girls were discussing the new arrivals and were discussing Sparks. "I think he's quite nice," said Rarity. "He at least had the courtesy of introducing himself."
"And he seems pretty cool," said Rainbow.
"But not as cool as you?" asked Applejack.
"You know me so well."
"But he seems kind of... odd," said Fluttershy. "You could hardly tell he was nervous. But when I felt his heartbeat, it was like he was fighting for his life. But he seems so friendly."
"He is," said Twilight. "He's just had some bad past experiences. He actually went through an identity crisis about a month or two after getting his powers."
Fluttershy gasped. "Really? That's terrible."
"But some of the other's were pretty okay," said Rainbow, "Like the ice guy's sister or friend or whatever."
"They're just close friends," explained Twilight. "But with the amount of time they've spent together, they are practically brother and sister."
"That thing she did with the lights was pretty sweet. And the replicating guy? That guy could win almost any race..." she puffed out her chest, "Almost..."
"Yer fast, we get it," said Applejack. "Besides, wouldn't that technically be cheatin'?"
"My interest is in Sparks," said Rarity.
"Well, well, well. Miss Hard-to-Get's been got," Rainbow teased.
"Don't be ridiculous," Rarity said sternly. "I think we can all agree that Sparks is a code that anyone would want to crack."
"What of Digit?" All stared at Rainbow. "COME ON! You can't say you didn't see that coming."
"Fair point," said Rarity.
Twilight felt uneasy. She wasn't sure whether or how their reaction would change if they new about Sparks. "Maybe some secrets are best left unknown. Curiosity killed the cat... except if you're Opalescence." Rarity giggled.
"You aren't the least bit interested?" asked Applejack.
"I am. But from experience, if someone has a secret he or she is trying to hide, he or she must have a good reason."
"Ah guess..."
Suddenly, Pinkie burst into the room. "Dinner'll be ready in about..." she paused to look at her watch, "Fifteen minutes and thirty-two seconds."
"Wow. When it comes to parties, you are always organized," said Rainbow.
"Of course. Someone has to be. If even one detail is off, the whole party could be a disaster! Then everyone would be unhappy. And what kind of party would it be if everyone was unhappy?" Her hair went wild as if she was being electrocuted.
"True. Good thing we've got you around, huh."
"Yep. Now who wants to help me carry the food out when it's ready?"
So far so good. Sparks had loved what he'd seen so far around the house. Most of the people there were pretty nice. The second floor was where most of the classrooms were. Most looked like actual classrooms, others looked like living rooms. There was a science lab that was well equipped with standard materials for physics, chemistry, and biology. As he walked towards the stairs, he met the six girls he had met earlier. "Oh, hi."
"Sup," Rainbow replied. "Enjoying the house?"
"Yeah. It's pretty much got everything a school should have."
"Glad you like it," said Twilight, "But you haven't even seen the best part."
"The living room?"
"Nope." They went downstairs and opened the door at the landing before the first flight of stairs. Sparks' jaw dropped. He was staring at the largest library he had ever seen. The shelves were over 20 meters tall and almost just as wide. There were several ladders and stairs that led to upper floors filled with even more shelves.
"What...?"
"I know right?" commented Rainbow. "The egghead thinks this is the best part of the house. I mean, what about the-"
"How big is your history section?" Sparks asked rapidly, warranting a look of utter shock from Rainbow. Twilight pointed at a large shelf just behind the one in front. Sparks' jaw dropped even lower.
"Great," said Rainbow. "She got to him. Coolness factor just dropped by half."
They walked out and started down the hall. The door on the right before the first flight of stairs were the living room, which had a wall-mounted 48" LCD TV, three sofas, many beanbags, cable and a PS4, and, somehow, enough space for twenty, possibly thirty, people to stay comfortably. There were desks and chairs and windows lined the walls, letting the sun light up the room with a beautiful golden glow blended with the glazed mahogany floor and walls that made the room look almost heavenly.
There was a door on the wall on the right that led to the next room, which was about half the size, and had a similar set-up: TV, sofas, beanbags, cable, but instead of a PS4, there was an X-Box One. They left the room and were back in the hall. Opposite the first living room was a large, well-stocked kitchen. Next to it was a massive dining hall with two long tables with chairs and chandeliers decorating and lighting the room.
"Okay," Sparks said, "So three of my favorite places are literally a few feet from each other. It's like the architects knew I was coming here."
Next, they went into the computer/game room. There were several computers mounted on two fairly large tables, about ten systems in all. There was a slightly smaller 32" TV in a corner of the room with an empty cabinet. Rainbow explained that for convenience, when they want to have a videogame night, they use this room if it's a fairly small group and a both TV's are in use so as to not inconvenience the others.
They also explored the sports closet and a small study in a room under the stairs big enough for five.
"I'm sold," Sparks said.
"What do you expect when this place is funded by MLP and MLP is funded by both the principals and the government," said Pinkie. "I heard that they're actually the descendant of some super rich family that's practically royalty. I didn't know either of these things till about a few months ago."
"Same here," Sparks said. "The first time she asked what I thought she did with her spare time, I said-" His train of thought was disturbed by the sight of two people: a dark-skinned boy with black hair and blue eyes wearing a blue sleeveless shirt, black track bottoms, and white sneakers and a girl wearing a green shirt with a white power sign on it, black jacket and trousers, and a brown boots walking next to him, apparently just leaving the computer room.
He could hear the girl say, "Twelve Gigabyte RAM! I didn't even know those existed without my tweaking!" Then she gasped. "Mabye I could try tweaking it to sixteen!"
"Yeah, well just don't hog it or break it," the boy said in response. "You'll make a lot of enemies that way." He stopped when he saw Sparks, the girl stopping soon after. The girl looked between the two boys.
"You?" Sparks asked, confused.
"YOU?!" the other said a lot less calm.
"Ho boy," the girl said.
"But why me?" asked Sunset. She was sitting in Principal Celestia's office and discussing a matter she found rather important. "Why am I the one watching out for them?"
"Because I feel you are most capable," Celestia replied.
"Sparks is pretty capable."
"Sparks has... issues. As does Frost. You have a good relationship with Sparks and should get along quite well with Relay."
"I've got not problem with Relay. From what I've heard from you about her, she's fine. But my problem is that you're grouping me with, literally, fire and ice. I don't-"
"There's more than one way to draw a square and a triangle can have more than three lines."
"Wha..." Sunset was confused. "Same old Celestia, never giving a clear answer when you need it most," she thought. "I'm not sure I follow."
"Don't worry. You'll be fine," Celestia said, reassuringly.
"Yeah... I hope so."
"I want you to bring them closer together," continued Celestia. "You're among those I would like to send on missions when necessary. You're among the most experienced but it amounts to nothing if you can't work together as a team."
"I guess..."
"So?"
Sunset thought for a while. She had made friends with Twilight and the others, but that was with their help. This time, she had to make two opposites become friends. But it would be a nice feeling if she did. "Okay. I'll try my best."
"That is all I can ask of you."
Sparks and Frost stared at each other for what felt like an eternity. "Sparks," Frost said coldly.
"Frost," Sparks responded with no such hostility.
"Wait, you two know each other?" asked Rainbow.
"Yeah," Sparks replied. "But not in a good way."
"Damn straight," Frost spat. "What the hell are you doing here?"
"Trying to start afresh. You?"
"What's it to you?"
Sparks sighed and looked at the girl beside Frost. "So, Relay, how's life been?"
"Not bad," she replied. "Still a bitch, but you get used to it."
"I know, right." Sparks could feel Frost staring daggers at him. "Look, Frost-"
"We still have a score to settle."
"Frost, take it easy," said Relay. "You don't have-"
"What score?" Sparks asked obliviously. He saw Frost's hands glow with a light blue misty aura. "No." The aura swirled. "Frost, no. Not here, not now, not ever." His warnings went unheard. A blue bolt flew across the hall and toward Sparks. He put up his hand and a pink plasma force-field blocked the projectile. "ARE YOU CRAZY?!"
"You must be showing your face here," Frost spat. "You were better off when no one knew where you were."
"Frost, RELAX!" Relay yelled.
"Get back, Re," Frost said, stepping forward.
"Frost, you don't want to go down this road. It didn't end well the last time."
"What?" Rainbow was confused. "What are they talking about?" she asked the girls, who were all as confused as she was. Another bolt flew at the plasma shield, then another, and another. Finally, before Frost could let another fly, Sparks converted the energy to a kinetic blast that pushed Frost back.
"Do. Not. Do. This." Sparks said.
"You don't get to tell me what to do." Frost threw a bigger bolt. This time, Sparks didn't react fast enough to stop it. The shield prevented him from being frozen, but not from getting knocked back. He landed at the girls' feet.
"That's it." He got up and zipped over to Frost and pushed him back. Relay moved as Frost flew back. From the ground, Frost fire another bolt. Sparks dodged it, but it hit the wall, forming an spikey ice patch. Sparks ran at super speed, avoiding the following barrage. One stray bolt hit the chandelier chain and froze it. Sparks stopped when he saw it was above the girls. The chain broke and it fell. Sparks ran up the wall and jumped. He caught each chain in one hand and pulled them back together. He melted them back together. However, as he jumped down, a cold blast struck his chest. he flew back and landed on the ground hard. As he got up, he saw Frost drop from above, his fist covered in ice. Sparks covered his hand in plasma and their fists clashed with ground-shaking power, rattling the walls and floor.
Sparks hit Frost with another kinetic blast, pushing him away. His pink energy streams around his hand were now turning silver with a slight blue tint. Frosts hands were covered in a bright blue energy. "What is going on here?" Both turned to see Vice-Principal Luna standing at the foot of the stairs behind Frost. Sparks looked around and notice that quite a few students had been watching. "I did not think it necessary to tell you that fighting is strictly prohibited in this institute."
"Sorry," Sparks said, smiling sheepishly and scratching the back of his head. "Guess I sorta lost it there."
Frost looked at him in disgust. "You have got to be kidding me." He turned to Luna, then back to Sparks, both hands still glowing.
"Frost?" Luna called. Frost hesitantly powered down, the glow dying slowly. "Very good. Consider this a warning. My sister may tolerate such tomfoolery and roughhousing, but with me, this is your first and only warning. Next time, there will be consequences. Am. I. Clear?"
"Crystal," Sparks replied.
Frost was speechless for a moment. But after feeling Luna's glare, he gave in. "Okay, fine. Whatever." He snapped his fingers and the ice patches and spikes in the room shattered and vaporized.
"Fair enough," she said. "Mr. Flash, a word?" As they walked away, Frost turned to shoot a glare at Sparks and slid his thumb across his neck.
Sparks took deep breaths, sighing with relief. "Well, that could've gone worse."
"How?" asked Rarity. "And what was that all about?"
"We... don't exactly have the best history..."
"How bad is it?" asked Applejack. "Ah reckon it's pretty bad, seeing as he was fightin' as if he were trying t' kill ya."
"Yeah. It's pretty bad."
"So what is it?"
"Just a feud," Relay said, joining the conversation. "They fought before and Frost doesn't think it's over. Must be a fire versus ice thing... well, plasma, not fire, but you get the idea."
"But why so serious?" asked Rarity. "What could create such a rift?"
"Well, it's over now," said Pinkie. "So, are we getting the food out or what?" The girls made their way to the kitchen. "C'mon Relay, you can help. You too, Sparks."
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"You've got to be kidding me?!" Frost was livid, confused, and extremely impatient. "Why? How? When?"
"Because he's helpful, Principal Celestia's request, just yesterday," Luna replied blankly.
"And I wasn't told because?"
"Of how you reacted now," she snapped. "That display of recklessness and brashness is utterly unacceptable and unbecoming. Whatever dangerous metahuman you dealt with in Manehattan has been dealt with."
"The dangerous metahuman is in the same school as me!"
"Actually, he's in the same room."
Frost paused to process the statement, then went ballistic. "WHAT?!" Luna eyed him. "With all due respect, Director... HOW COULD YOU PUT ME IN THE SAME ROOM AS HIM ?!"
"Watch your tone with me," Luna snapped. "I am not as patient as my sister. I do not tolerate any form of disrespect. And our reasons for putting the two of you in the same room are our own." Frost grumbled. "What was that?"
"Nothing."
"Good. Now, dinner will begin shortly. You know were to go?" Frost left the office without a word, slamming the door behind him. As he left, Luna tapped the holo-computer on her tabletop and brought up a video chat with Celestia. "Are you sure this is wise, Sister?"
"I asked myself that exact same question when I built this place," Celestia replied. "We can only hope for the best."
"After the Manehattan incident, whatever relationship they had was terminated."
"The keyword in my last statement was 'hope', Luna."
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The dining hall, despite its relatively large size, was almost full. Three long tables lined the hall parallel to one another. In total, there were now almost thirty students, if not a few more, there. Sparks sat next to Rainbow, who sat next to Fluttershy, and Applejack. Opposite them were Relay, Twilight, and Rarity. Soon, Sunset joined in. "Hey guys," she said, taking a seat next to Twilight. "So, what did I miss?"
"Hey, Sunny," Pinkie replied, cheerfully, as usual. "Not much. Just a rumble between Frost and Sparks."
"The term 'rumble' is a bit strong, darling," Rarity said.
"Wait, you two fought?" Sunset asked in surprise.
"Yep," Sparks sighed. "Apparently he's still holding on to the past."
"So, you gonna tell us what happened between you two?" asked Rainbow.
"Nope. Rather leave that story in the past. What I can tell you is that we used to be close."
"What separated you two?"
"This." Pink streams of plasma orbited his hand, then went out with a spark.
"Your powers? He got powers too."
"Look, it's... complicated."
"Did he get jealous?"
"No, not-"
"Rainbow, give the guy some peace, will ya," Applejack interjected. "It's his business and he doesn't have to talk about it if he doesn't want to."
"So-rry," said Rainbow. "Just curious."
"Nosey's more like it."
"FOOD'S HERE!" Pinkie came out of the kitchen door at one end of the hall, vines of hair holding up large bowls and dishes of food. Both arms were full, but she somehow kept her balance as maneuvered her way around the tables, lining them with food. "A little help, people?" Twilight and the others and some of the other students helped take some off Pinkie while others brought the rest out of the kitchen. By the time they were done, all three tables were occupied. Imagine different foods from at least ten different countries. Now make three copies of each dish, large enough for each to serve about ten to fifteen people, and place each copy on a table. That was the spread.
"Despite my hyper metabolism, this is probably doing to make me gain a few pounds," Sparks said, staring in awe at the table of food.
"Nah," Pinkie said. "If you're anything like Dashie and me, you'll be fine."
"Can you please not call me that," Rainbow said.
"Hi." Everyone turned and saw Frost standing behind Twilight. "This seat taken?" Twilight shook her head and he sat next to Relay. "So... not the best first impression. Sorry about that." Sparks was unconvinced, and he was the optimist on the table. Even Pinkie was constantly glancing at Frost.
It was a whole fifteen minutes of silent eating until Rainbow broke the silence. "So, did Pinkie tell you guys about how she saved SSC with some other guy?"
"Oh, yes," Rarity replied. "Very interesting."
"He was the other guy," Pinkie said, gesturing towards Frost with the spoon in her mouth.
"Wait, really?" Rainbow asked, surprised. "You never told us that part."
"Really? When I mentioned ice powers, I thought it would've been obvious."
"Pinkie," Twilight said, "I'm pretty sure there's more than one metahuman with ice powers... or any power."
Pinkie gasped. "Really?! So there could be someone else with the same abilities as me?"
"I fear such a possibility as much as I fear whether or not the universe can handle another such... anomaly."
"Huh?"
"Never mind."
Sparks could feel chills run down his spine. He wasn't sure if it was Frost staring at him or using his powers. "So, you wanna say something or just keep staring," he said, not looking up from his plate.
"I've got nothing to say to you," Frost replied coldly.
"You know, you actually used to be cool. Now, you're just..."
"Just what?"
Sparks struggled to find the words. "I don't even know any more."
"Well, then maybe you should've stayed home where you know the people around you better."
"What is your deal?" Sparks asked, looking up.
"You. You are my deal. You think this is some kind of redemption?"
"If it was, it certainly wouldn't be for your sake."
"Why would I accept anything from you?"
"Because before you met me, what where you?"
"THAT'S IT!" Frost shot up, his hands glowing blue. "You wanna go, let's go."
"Frost!" Relay shouted.
"Relay, stay out of this."
"What is wrong with you?" asked Sparks. "What's with the sudden obsession of wanting to kill me now?"
"This started when your entire family turned into walking time bombs!" There was silence. Sparks' fist glowed a fiery pink, almost red, as his rage built up.
"What... did you say?"
"Oh, I'm sorry. Is your super hearing not working? Or are your ears still ringing from the mini-supernova your sister made?"
Sparks lost it. He jumped over the table and tackled Frost to the ground. "WHAT DID YOU SAY?!" The girls tried to pry the two from each other before the situation escalated. It took the combined strength of Applejack, Rainbow, and Pinkie to pull Sparks away and keep him from incinerating Frost. "SAY THAT AGAIN! TALK ABOUT MY FAMILY AGAIN! GIVE ME A REASON TO VAPORIZE YOUR SORRY ASS!"
"Oh, like you did to the-" He was cut off by a roar from Sparks that resulted in a blast of plasma almost burning his face off. He moved back to avoid the blaze. "There he is," Frost said, staring into Sparks' now blazing pink eyes, the pink tips in his hair turned bright red. "That's the you I know."
"Whoa! Sparks, relax," Rainbow said.
Sparks erratic breathing began to calm down, the ends of his hair returned to pink, and his eyes reverted back to yellow. "If that's who you knew, then you never knew me." He suddenly vanished, leaving a speed trail behind him.
Everyone just stared. Slowly, they all returned to their food. Frost sat down, but received a mighty punch on his arm from Relay. "Ow! Why?" he asked, rubbing his shoulder.
"Why? WHY?" Relay asked, frustrated. "How much more oblivious can you get? How about starting with you being a total jerk? Or is it jackass now? I forgot when you leveled up."
"You're overreacting, just like he did."
"Did you seriously just say that?" She slapped her napkin onto the table and got up. "Girls? Next time Sparks threatens or attempt to incinerate Frost, please, none of you intervene." She stormed off, leaving everyone utterly confused... almost everyone.
"By the way, Pinkie," Frost continued obliviously, "This chicken is amazing!"
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Back in their room, the girls talked about what happened. "So... I guess Frost has a higher villain factor than a hero one, huh?" said Pinkie.
"Does anyone here have the slightest idea what their problem is?" asked Rainbow. "That was the second time in less than thirty minutes. And apparently, they're in the same room!"
"I'd hate to wake up and find an entire wing of this beautiful mansion destroyed over a simple feud," said Rarity.
"Was it just me, or was Frost actually edging Sparks into attackin' 'im?" asked Applejack.
"Twilight? You knew Sparks. What can you tell us?" asked Rarity.
"Well..." Twilight started, smiling sheepishly, "What I know is classified."
"Twilight, Information on your mission in Seaddle was classified," Rarity replied. "Yet, we know every detail."
"Trust me, you don't want to know."
"I would," said Rainbow.
"Ya couldn't stop asking the guy questions he didn't want to answer, and now you want to know his past?" Applejack asked.
"It's because I don't know anything about him that I'm asking."
"Believe me," Twilight said, "Some secrets are best left buried."
"Actually, does anyone know where he went?" asked Fluttershy.
"Back to his room," said Applejack. "Poor guy. Probably had to learn to sleep with his eyes open."
"Learn?" Pinkie exclaimed. "Pfft! I was born with that talent!"
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Sparks lay on his bed motionless, staring up at the ceiling. "Hey there roomy," Frost said as he walked in, but he wasn't talking to him. He was talking to Bulk.
"Sup," Bulk said back. Sparks ignored whatever conversation they were having and fell asleep.
Sparks woke up at 5:00AM the next morning to hit the gym, which was a separate building from the rest of the school. It was rather big and had a boxing ring, an MMA ring, and a variety of weightlifting equipment and punching bags. He didn't like relying on his powers too much, so he practiced gymnastics, parkour, and various martial arts, including kickboxing and MMA. He set a large punching bag on a hook and went to work. As he trained, memories began coming back... but not all good ones. Gradually, his punches got more and more aggressive. A silver stream soon trailed after each blow. Finally, he pulled his arm back for a right hook and his fist and eyes burned with a fiery pink aura. His swing knocked the bag off its hook and ripped it in half, spilling sand everywhere. He was soon able to calm his breathing and saw the mess. "Great," he sighed. He took another bag from the rack and started again.
"That was some swing." Sparks looked at the door and saw Applejack wearing an orange tank top, gray track bottoms, sneakers, and her trademark hat.
"Yeah, I get that quite a bit."
"So, this normal for ya? Hitting it early? Or just tryin' to let off some steam?"
Sparks paused for a moment. "Something like that."
"So what exactly went down between the two o' you?"
"Just... a bad history."
"Care t' share?"
"Nope."
"Y'know, talking about something usually makes you fell better."
"Why does everyone say that. It's not always true."
"You'll never know till ya try."
Sparks swung heavily at the bag and paused on impact. "Look, I just don't want to talk about it, Okay?"
Applejack stepped back. "Suit yerself." She got up and headed for the door. "Whenever yer ready, you can talk to me and the girls."
"What makes you think I'll change my mind?"
Applejack shrugged. "I'm optimistic. Plus, the truth always come out eventually." She walked out and Sparks was left in the gym, hammering at the bags. He hoped his wallet could cover buying new punching bags... A lot of them.
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Sparks spent the rest of the day by himself. He sat in one of the oak trees, on a branch close to the top. It was a good vantage point. He stared over the campus, watching as the student went about their day, talking, showing off their powers, and just being themselves. It made him happy knowing that there was a place where people like him are actually accepted for who they are. It was a bonus that no one knew about his past, so he could start over. He smiled. "Wow." He looked up, surprised, and saw Pinkie hanging upside down from the branch above him. "You have a really cute smile."
"Uh... Thanks." After what the girls had told him about Pinkie, he didn't bother trying to understand how she got up there, exspesially without him knowing.
"So, you gonna come down?"
"Nah. Kinda like it up here. It's... peaceful."
"Hm. Y'know, you seem really nice, especially because you've calmed down after your bout with Frost."
"Been doing that for a while. It's practically a skill now."
"Cool. I've developed a lot of skills involuntarily, like being able to sleep while standing, eating cake while drinking a soda, knowing how people feel... But I was kinda born with that last one. Not sure whose side of my family that's from, but I know it's something I've been able to do for a while. Do you have skills like that? Stuff you just know how to do because you don't?"
"Yeah, I guess," Sparks said, shrugging.
Pinkie stared at him, her smile slowly turning into a blank expression. "Am I... bothering you?"
Sparks shook his head. "No, no. Sorry. It's not you, it's me. Just got a lot on my mind right now."
"I get it. Just making sure. I really don't like bothering people. I just want to be friends with them."
"Me too. Guess it's harder for me," he said quietly.
"Well, I'm off. Told the girls I'd hand out with them today. Though we do hang out together like every day, but I just like to make it official. Friendship and parties have that much in common. They both need to be treated with care and dedication." Sparks chuckled and when he looked up, she was gone.
"Yeah. Well, friendship isn't a cheap luxury for me anymore." He thought for a while and decided to go see if there was anyone else he could talk to. He jumped down, turned, and bumped into someone else. He held his aching head. "Sorry," he said. He looked down and saw Double on the ground, rubbing his head.
"Oh," Double said, looking up at Sparks. "Yeah. Sorry." Sparks helped him up. "Where were you?" Sparks pointed up at the tree above them. "Oh... Okay." They started walking back to the school. "So, uh, I guess I should thank you for bringing me here, huh?"
"Meh. If you want to."
"Yeah, well... Thanks. I really don't like owing people."
"Yeah. You and me both. Consider whatever debt you owe me paid." They laughed. "What of your mom?"
"She's back home, probably drunk as a pirate by now."
"Was she always like that's?"
"Nah. Just after my dad was shipped off with the marines. Got worse after I developed powers."
"You seem pretty comfortable talking about this. Way more than most."
"I've come to terms with it," he said, shrugging. "She doesn't care what I think of her, so..."
"Do you ever feel bad about it? Thinking about her that way."
"Wow. You suddenly got curious, huh?"
"Sorry about that," Sparks said, scratching the back of his head. "Guess I got a bit carried away."
"Nah, it's cool. Actually, now I don't really feel anything. It's not like I don't care about her. That kind of feeling is reciprocal. If she doesn't care, why should I?"
"Maybe she's trying to get you to care so she can."
"Been trying that mentality for seven years. Hasn't worked."
Sparks sighed. He walked on with Digit and headed over to a group of students, each with unique, and sometimes odd, powers. One turned her skin to some kind of stone, another was holding what looked like a blob of jelly in midair, suspended above his hand, while another was juggling what looked like balls of burning or molten rock. Again, he suppressed the urge to confront him about the day before. He looked around, standing practically in the middles for the crowd, but didn't say a word. After a while, he zipped back to the gym and went back to hitting punching bags. He wasn't in the mood, not with all his suppressed anger anyway. He couldn't talk to people. He'd always though he had a screw loose. He was rather socially awkward, always being invited to conversations rather than starting them, he hardly just spoke to anyone for the sake of discussion. His powers didn't help. All he had were his frustrations and a way to get rid of them without hurting anyone... again. He went through another ten bags in less than twenty minutes and hit the showers in the gym, changed into a set of spare clothes he kept in the locker earlier. He walked out, but instantly regretted it. He now wished he had stayed in the tree. In front of him, just outside the gym, was Frost. He was grinning. "So, how's the whole anger management thing working out for you?"
Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter. Chapter 6: Opposing Views
Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter. Prologue 1.1: The Frozen Light
The streets of Manehattan, were busy. Then again, it was Monday rush hour. Everyone was trying to get somewhere. One particular boy was trying to get home... or what he called home anyway. He got off a subway train and made his way to the surface. Then his stomach grumbled. "Huh, she was right. I really do need to eat something," he thought out loud. He walked over to a small, nearby shop and walked in.
"You okay kid?" the store clerk asked him as he entered.
"Great. Why? he responded.
"Well for one thing, it's ten below zero and you're dressed like that," he said, gesturing to the boy. He was wearing a pair of gray sneakers, green khakis, and a gray long-sleeved shirt rolled up to his elbows. He also had a pair of goggles around his neck and a brown shoulder bag that looked and sounded like it was full of metal. His dark skin was a bit pale, like there was a layer of frost over it.
"I, uh, did a lot of running," the boy said, "Hardly felt the cold."
The clerk stared, then went back to work. "Must've been some run. What, did you take a lap around Manehattan?"
He was about to answer when pink-haired girl dressed in a white tank top, pink skirt with blue and yellow stockings, and pink boots came out of the back room. She was carrying a big brown box in each hand and balancing another on her head. "Hey Mr. Cake," she said in a bubbly tone, "where do you want these?"
"Just take them to the kitchen, Pinkie," replied Mr. Cake. "Oh, and we have an order for a dozen double glazed coco cream éclairs."
"Okie-dokie-lokie," the girl said as she skipped into the kitchen.
Mr. Cake looked back at the boy. "Sorry, just opened this branch about a week ago. Still trying to set up while keeping up with orders. My wife and I started this store in a little town a few miles south of here. She's running the branch there now."
"Oh. Well, good luck," the boy said. He walked between shelves, picking up snacks as he passed. As he stood in line to pay, he noticed the headline on the newspaper a dark-skinned woman with a black and white Mohawk was reading: MASKED HERO RESCUES TEN PEOPLE FROM A BURNING BUILDING. "Well, good to know the media sees some of these people as heroes," he said.
The woman turned to the front and smiled. "True. Not many appreciate what they do," she said. "But it must be encouraging knowing there are people who appreciate them like me and you. But the thing is that some are good, some are bad, and quite a few are just plain mad."
"Well, people should learn to tell the difference." The other woman smiled. At that moment, there was a crash as the window behind the man broke.
"GET DOWN ON THE GROUND! NOW!" shouted a man.
"Oh my," said Mr. Cake as he lay down. Five armed men walked into the shop, armed with military-grade weaponry. They were wearing ski masks and wear dressed in all black. Everyone was on the ground in a matter of seconds. One went over to the register and emptied it into a duffle bag, but not before dragging the clerk away from the counter before he could trigger the silent alarm. "This is a bakery. We don't have a lot of money."
"Then we'll take what little you have off your hands," said one as he emptied the cash register. He turned to three others. "You three, check the back room and the kitchen." They split up, two to the kitchen, one to the back room.
The last one went around the room. He picked up the boy's back, ignoring the contents, and said, "Everyone else, empty your pockets and persons of any valuable items." They did as they were told, surrendering their watches, phones, and wallets/purses to the man as he went around with the bag.
One of the men in the kitchen came out, dragging the pink-haired girl the boy knew as Pinkie. He threw her to the floor violentlyThe boy caught her and asked, "You okay?"
"I'm fine," she replied, glaring at the armed man. "Meanie," she added sticking her tongue out at him. "I'm Pinkie Pie, just call me Pinke, Pinks, PP... teehee, PP," she said, drifting off at the thought of the odd nickname.
"Oh, um, pleased to meet you. I'm Frost Flash."
"FF, teehee."
The boy smiled weakly. He looked around and took account of the men. Five goon, all armed. Two SMG's, one LMG, two assault rifles. Guessing the guy with the LMG at the counter's calling the shots. Guys with the SMG's must not be as strong as the others. Either that or they couldn't afford more heavy firepower. Two still out here, three in a different room. The one in the back room would be the last to respond 'cause the door's a lot thicker. Okay.
"You planning a way to take these guys down? 'Cause count me in," the girl whispered. Frost looked confused. How did she know? Did she read his mind? "Don't worry, I'm not psychic. Well, not exactly, anyway. I just kinda got the feeling you were planning something. The same way I have a feeling that you're a metahuman."
Frost even more confused, but on the off chance that she could help, might as well let her in. "Okay, can you deal with the guy with the assault rifle?"
Pinkie glared at the man picking up the hostages' belongings. "Sure. But I really wanna beat that guy that dragged me out," she said.
"Okay. Knock him out. I'll take the guy with the LMG. The noise should attract the others." Pinkie nodded. Frost pulled out a scarf and an earpiece from his back pocket. He put it on and tapped the button on the side. "Testing, testing, one, two-"
"Yes, I'm here, Frost," said a young female voice on the other end. "What did you get yourself into this time?"
"I'm at a place called Sugar Cube Corner on Crescent Street. There's a little... trouble. I need some visual assistance. Can you hack the cameras?"
There was a pause on the other end. "Can I... do you have any idea who you're talking to?" Frost put on his goggles and soon, he was looking at the store from the view of the cameras.
"Wait, is it safe to do your thing out in the open?"
"Yes," said Frost, putting on his goggles, "Yes it is. Especially with you watching my back." The girl on the other end sighed. He ran his hand over his black hair, which was gradually covered in patches of white. He rolled through them; one where they were, two in the back room, and one in the kitchen. He took a deep breath, exhaling cold, frosted air. He looked up to the man with the bigger gun. "So, were you bored, lazy, or too unprepared to rob something other than a bakery?"
The man walked over to him. "What was that?" He cocked his gun. "Couldn't quite hear you." Frost smiled. He held out his hand. The man looked confused. Confusion turned to shock when cold air gathered around Frost's hand, turning to water, then to hail. Frost smiled. "Holy sh-" He was cut off by the hard ball of ice hitting him in the face. The other man turned around to meet a smiling pinkette.
"What the-" Pinkie grabbed his gun, which slipped from his grip while he was still surprised and hit him over the head with it. She looked back and saw Frost grab the other man's gun. Frost trailed across it as the man pulled away. He got free and aimed at Frost.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," said Frost. The man pulled the trigger and the gun backfired, the explosive force sending him into the wall behind him. He looked at the camera screens on his goggles and turned to Pinkie. "Pinkie, door in four seconds." Pinkie went to the counter and picked up a donut. As one of the men came out, he was greeted by a splat of jelly on his face. He doubled back and saw the girl.
"Y'know, my friends told me I need to cut down on sugar," she said as she ate the donut. "You know what I told them?" The men aimed at her with confused looks. Once she finished, she looked at them for a while, until her eyes suddenly dilated wildly as if she was injected with adrenaline. She smiled widely. "I said SCREW THAT!" She jumped at them with unnatural speed. They tried to fire, only to realize they no longer had their weapons. They turned around and saw Frost as he smashed the frozen SMGs together, shattering them. As the men ran towards the kitchen, they were knocked off their feet by a blast of wind. They looked up to see Pinkie holding a frying pan in front of the kitchen door. She stared at on of them and said, "This is for tossing me on the ground like a spoiled muffin!" She smacked him on the head with the pan and stared at the other man. "Meh," she said. She tossed the frying pan and walked away. The man crawled away, only to get hit on the head by the falling frying pan.
The last man came out of the back room, saying, "I think I found the safe, but it's way too heavy. We're probably gonna need to either pick the lock, or blow it off, or..." He stopped when he saw his four partners sitting on the ground, hands and feet locked in blocks of ice and tied up and gagged by what he believed to be multiple streamers. He aimed his gun, ready to shoot at anything that pops up.
"MMMM! MM MM MMMM!" They tried to warn him. When he got the message, he turned around to see Pinkie and Frost standing behind him.
"Oh... crap," he said. Frost simply nodded. He dropped his gun and put his hands up in surrender.
"Smart, but no fun," said Pinkie.
Soon, the police arrived to take away the criminals and question the suspects, all of whom said they didn't see the heroes since they were face down on the ground. As Frost walked out, Pinkie jumped in front of him holding a box. Mr. Cake said I should give you these as a sign of his thanks for saving the store. I'm also really thankful, but I'm not sure what else I can give you for free because we still need to run this place and I don't think giving people stuff for free like this is a good idea for a starting business and I-"
"It's fine, Pinkie," he said, taking the box. He opened it and was hit by the powerful scent of a dozen cinnamon buns of three different varieties. "Whoa, thanks."
"No problem," Pinkie said, smiling so widely her eyes closed. When she opened them, he was gone and there was a $10 bill in her hand. She put it in the register and went over to the woman holding the newspaper. "So, how'd I do? How'd I do? How'd I do?" she asked.
"You did well, Pinkie. We've found another one," she replied. "Let us hope he finds our proposition just as fun."