Conduit, Not Monster

An Unlikely Mix

A few hours after they teleported back to Zeke and Cole’s place, Fluttershy was almost done with healing the wounds on both James and Cole. Even though they both had regenerative abilities amongst themselves, the two enemies were healing at relatively the same pace. Everyone was silent and would stay that way until one of them woke up. Suddenly, Pinkie Pie jumped up and shouted, “Guys! Cole’s about to wake up!” And right when she said that, Cole did wake up. Needless to say, everyone was surprised. They knew that the blast couldn’t have given her the power to see into the future. Pinkie just bounced towards Cole with an innocent look on her face.

“Somebody mention my name?" he said dizzily.

Pinkie Pie immediately jumped up and greeted him. "Hi there Mr. McGrath!! It's nice to finally meet you! I heard so much about you! How does it feel to be an electric man? How do you go to the bathroom without shocking yourself?" she said in one breath.

Before she could say anymore, Twilight put her hand over Pinkie's mouth and said, "Some questions are better left unanswered." Then, Pinkie Pie shape-shifted her mouth into a zipper which she zipped shut.

Cold finally managed to pull himself together, so Fluttershy could focus her efforts on James. "Two things. First, anybody get the license plate of the truck that knocked me out?" he said while gripping his head. "And second, why the hell are we helping the guy that tried to kill me?!"

Spike spoke up. "Well, the name of that truck is Pinkie Pie."

Pinkie then tried to say something but they couldn't understand her on account of her zipped mouth. She then unzipped her mouth and said, "That's my name. Don't wear it out."

Then, Applejack was the next to speak. "And we're helpin’ him because he ain't evil. He's just misguided."

"How can you tell?" Cole asked.

"Ah got an eye for things like that. He wanted to kill you to get revenge for something, not bloodlust."

Twilight suddenly got an idea. "If we can find out what he wanted, then maybe we can help him get it. Well, without killing you of course", she said to Cole.

He nodded in agreement. "Well, I'm not taking any chances." He then fired up his lightning and looked like he was about to finish James off.

Rarity stepped in. "Pray tell, Cole. What on Earth are planning to do to him?"

"Don't worry. I'm just gonna restrain him in case he wakes up and still wants my head", he replied.

"You can do that too?" Spike suddenly chimed in. He then showed Cole his fire. "I've got an idea, but it's pretty risky. How about we combine our powers?"

Everyone looked at him as if he were crazy. But, Cole suddenly smiled at the idea. "I've always wondered what would happen with that. Let's give it a go."

Cole and Spike readied themselves while Pinkie Pie turned into an eight foot thick steel wall, which everyone else was hiding behind. They both counted down and did their thing. To everyone's surprise, their powers actually mixed! They created a stronger restraint coursing with electricity and green fire around James' entire body. Without a word, Fluttershy went back to work. Everyone else couldn't help but let their jaws hang down.

"I never thought that was possible!" Twilight exclaimed.

"That was SO AWESOME!!" Rainbow shouted.

"Y'all did a purdy amazing job!" Applejack said proudly.

"Absolutely flawless!" Rarity retorted.

"I want cake", Pinkie Pie said absentmindedly.

Cole gave Pinkie Pie the most confused look that he could muster. Then, Spike put his hand on Cole's shoulder and said, "She tends to do that a lot so you might as well get used to it."

While they were waiting for James to wake up, they all introduced themselves to each other and quickly starting to become friends. Spike, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy were the last. Spike had his mohawk dyed as green as his eyes were, and also wore a green T-shirt covered in a fire pattern, purple jeans, and black Converses. Pinkie Pie was wearing blue jeans, a pink T-shirt, and hot pink sneakers. She explained that her hot pink hair was bouncy because of the explosion itself. While they all questioned this logic, they were reminded of the fact that they were all Conduits and left it alone. Fluttershy was wearing a light yellow shoulder-high sweater (which was unusual since it was 95 degrees outside) with a white undershirt underneath, a long green skirt, and pink wedge shoes. Her hair was colored a lighter pink than Pinkie’s, but it somehow complemented her look. Since they were all Conduits (except for James) Twilight, being as OCD as she was, made a list of all the different powers that they all had.

Twilight and Rarity: Telekinesis, Teleportation, Telepathy

Rainbow Dash: Wings/Flight, Super Speed

Applejack: Superhuman Leg Strength

Pinkie Pie: Shape-Shifting

Fluttershy: Wings/Flight, Healing Abilities

Spike: Pyrokinesis

Cole: Electrokinesis/Electromagnetism

James: Shape-Shifting/Self-Weaponization, Superhuman Strength

“Why do you think that we were given these powers in the first place?” asked Spike.

Twilight just shook her head. “I don’t know. But, for whatever reason, it can’t be a coincidence. All reasoning and logic points to this not being an accident. We all met at the same place, at the same time, and met the same person; Cole McGrath.” They all then turned to Cole, who was just as confused as they were.

“Don’t look at me. I was just a guy delivering a package. I had no idea that…whatever it was that caused that giant explosion would…you know, cause a giant explosion.”

“He’s right”, Applejack chimed in. “If he was responsible for all this, then he woulda gotten outta town before that bomb-thingy went off.” Everyone nodded their heads and agreed that there was someone or something else that worked them all into this web of super-humanity. Sooner or later, they had to find out who was behind all this. But, for now, they had to wait for James to wake up and stop him from killing Cole.

TWO HOURS LATER

To pass the time, Zeke went to one of the only bars that were still open. Everyone else was just sitting around on the rooftops. The boredom was shattered when Pinkie gave the signal that James would wake up soon. He opened his eyes and shouted all kinds of profanity. This went on for several minutes. When he finally regained his composure, the first thing that he noticed was his unusual restraints. He couldn’t break free from the strange mix of fire and lightning no matter how hard he tried. The second things that he noticed were the familiar faces and the new ones. One of the familiar ones being Cole McGrath.

“I’m gonna kill you, you bastard!! You’re gonna pay for making these people suffer with your damn bomb and your damn plague!!”

“Easy there, cowboy. You’ve got your facts all mixed up. First of all, you should be grateful I didn’t kill you while you were passed out. Second, the explosion wasn’t my fault. Third, the plague wasn’t my fault. So shut your mouth and listen.” Needless to say, James was confused. Cole went on to explain everything about what had happened. To make sure that the two understood each other, the others chimed in when they felt it necessary to back up Cole’s story. As this went on, Spike and Cole took away James’ restraints to help him relax. When Cole finished, everyone else introduced themselves like they had to Cole.

“So what you’re saying is that you’re all working to cure the plague and help people that you never even met before?”

“Well, when you put it that way, then yes. You wanna join up?”

“Hell no. You may say that none of this is your fault, but I wouldn’t trust you even if was true.” He started to walk off as he kept talking. “So, whatever it is you got going on here, you can count me out.” He went to the edge of the rooftop and turned his head to face Cole. “I’ll be watching you, McGrath. And the rest of you too. Be careful about what decisions you make or not. Make a wrong one and you’ll be sorry.” And with that he jumped to the next rooftop, picked up speed, and glided away.

“Well, so much for a good first impression”, Cole said.

“I hope he’ll be okay”, Fluttershy mumbled.

Applejack put her hand on Fluttershy’s shoulder and said, “Don’t you worry none, sugarcube. He may not be a good guy or a bad guy, but he can take care of himself.”

Rainbow Dash stepped between the two. “Yeah, what Applejack said. He’ll be fine.”

Rarity looked at them with disgust. “Don’t tell me you’re actually concerned about the well-being of that brute!”

“I’m sure they have their reasons Rarity”, Twilight assured her.

“Oh well. If anyone needs me, I’ll be watching TV,” Pinkie Pie said. She then plopped down on the couch and tried to turn the TV on. Cole noticed this and gave its batteries a shock. Pinkie thanked Cole and immediately turned to the Boomerang Channel to watch Tom & Jerry. Suddenly, Cole got a call on his phone from Zeke.

“Hey man. You’ve gotta get over to the bar. Something’s happening down here that I can’t really explain. I think it might have to do with someone else having powers. And you might wanna hurry. Things might get out of hand here pretty quickly if you take your time.” With that Cole hung up, said goodbye to his new friends, hopped on a power line, and sped off.