The Demon of Canterlot City

Chapters

Heaven and Hell part l
Heaven and Hell part ll
Lost in Uncharted territory
Three days later
Painting the town
Magical practices
The CHS Annual Sporting Event Pt. 1- Competitive Cloudstale
The CHS Annual Sporting Event Pt. 2- Revelations
The Freaks Are Everywhere
Hunting Big Game
Birds of a Feather
First Impressions
Half as long...
Questions and concerns
Chasing Rainbows

Heaven and Hell part l

"Activation plus six minutes.
Pulse is forty-five.
Respiration: 10
LOOKING GOOD COLE."
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The morning sun barely poked a fourth of it's head over the horizon, coating half of the cloudy sky in a rich, foggy pink. On the edge of the pink light, was whatever remained of the previous night sky. Stars almost invisible now, only fading darkness stood in their place. This predicament seemingly cutting the sky in half from morning to night. Cars honked as they packed the streets in a rushed, tired hurry. Grumbling citizens piled into coffee shops and fast food restaurants, desperate to wake themselves up.

It was currently 5:15 in the morning, the time for people, (though not as many) to get to work. As they trudged dramatically along the sidewalk, the cold spring wind chipped at peoples' exposed faces, bringing a drowsy mood unto the city; gigantic business skyscrapers towered overhead, casting shadows over the city blocks below, creating even more uncomfortable chilliness. While many were fortunate to have their jobs right in the city itself, some just only lived there and had to drive away from its limits. On their way traveling out down the state highway, the cars drove across to a large open park to the south of the city.

Scorpan Park was a beautiful, almost historical sight to the townsfolk; It's lush forest spreading for a good two miles before reaching the high mountains surrounding the entire town like a protective shield. Though the forest wasn't the only occupant in the park. Deep in the trees, halfway to the mountains, was an old, weathered-down building, seemingly encased in vegetation. Long vines and ivy snaked across it's outer perimeter, breaking through the weak bricks that just barely held it together. Inside was no different.

The building was relatively large, hallways the length of two school buses spread across the entire interior, coming full circle back to what used to be the front door. Each hallway had ten rooms on the left and right, lockers guarding the sides of the doors. Crusty, old white paint and sheet rock peeled off the sides of the walls, exposing the metal and wooden skeleton on the inside. Colorful spray paint appeared on the lockers and trash littered the floor, causing the air to be filled with skunky fumes; This, along with the torn walls and broken windows, gave the building a creepy, haunted vibe to it. Despite being there for some time, the abandoned building soon found itself so disliked because of it's state, that not even the most desperate of persons would consider coming within twenty feet of it.

In the dead center of the building was a large area of space the size of a small house. Rusty, torn benches and stools scattered randomly around the room, a far cry from the neat row of cafeteria tables they used to be. Long lights hanged lifelessly by chipped threads of wires just barely holding onto the ceiling overhead, far beyond repair of any sort. In whatever areas the lamps' light used to touch, shadows swallowed every corner and crevice, creating pitch black hallways. This would be the same case for this room too, but instead, something new had happened.

A lone orange beacon shone brightly in the very center, bringing a foreign light unto the darkness of the warehouse. A gaping, thick, human-sized hole had formed straight through the entire ceiling, the morning sky visible on the other side. Insulation and wood hung down lifelessly, swaying gently from the small breeze coming out through the hole. On the very bottom of the beacon, a 14-foot wide crater dug deep into the weak tile floor, burnt, ashy pieces of roof surrounded the destroyed hole.

Last night, an unexpected storm hit the town of Canterlot, bolts of lightning shot everywhere, so much so that it hindered most of the city mercenaries', the Changlers', plans that night. One lightning bolt had struck the warehouse with such force, that it slammed itself straight through the roof and hit the floor of the warehouse with an almost unnatural power.

Lying inside the crater, was a figure. While the rest of the large hole was burnt and black, it's white form stuck out like a sore thumb. From closer inspection, one could easily define it as the form of an adult man. Seemingly fast asleep at the moment, no movement was made from him, until wet rain residue from last night began to drip off the hole in the roof, falling onto his face.

plink.
Plink.
Plink.
plink.

He stirred as water kept dripping on his face, making him come slowly back to consciousness. He growled irritably and turned to his side, his expression quickly returning to comfort. However, once he sniffed, he scrunched up his face in disgust.

"Zeke, your couch smells like shit."

Sitting there, the man expected his friend to snark back about how HE was the only one who ever used said couch. When no response came, he deduced that Zeke was either A. asleep next to him, or B. somewhere else fighting enemies or whatever Zeke does during his free time. Begrudgingly, he opened his eyes only to see broken tile fill his vision. Slowly arching a tired eyebrow, he scooted his head back to see exactly what he was looking at. Still nothing but tile. Now fully confused, he rolled to his other side and pushed himself off the ground, which to his surprise, found it uncomfortably painful. Every movement he made felt like his muscles were being burned by an invisible fire; grunting, he forced himself to his feet, taking in the scene around him.

He was in a small crater, his eyes scanned the ground and then slowly started to progress upward. He was also in a warehouse of some kind. Huh, okay, not the weirdest thing that's happened to him, probably just got thrown into some random abandonment in New Marias by some enemy. Shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly, he began to walk out of the broken earth.

At least, that's what he planned to do. All of the sudden, his left leg felt like it didn't even exist anymore. With a surprised yelp, he found himself comically face planting on the floor, his head creating a loud "Thunk!". A muffled "Ouch." could be heard before he pushed himself off the ground and onto his rump.

"The hell?" Pulling his knees up to his face, his expression became one of concern. This had never happened before, sure, he'd been hit by many powerful things with painful results, but nothing had so much of an impact that would cause his whole body to be in such a state. Well, with the Beast and the Ray Sphere blast as an exception. So what was going on? Why was he so sore? Laying his arms on his knees, he rewound the clock in his mind. But for some reason, his memory felt fuzzy and painful. Trying to ignore this, he forced his mind to put together any pieces he could.

He remembered an evil "Forced Ice Conduit" general had taken a...blast core? Yeah, that's what it was. He had gained the last blast core from his enemy before meeting up with Lucy Kuo, Nix, and Zeke to discuss what they were to do about the Beast and his cruel ways of curing other conduits. Then it clicked.

The Beast. The RFI. He flipped the switch to cure the plague and kill the Beast. Killing all conduits. Killing himself.

Stomach swirling in ice, his breathing stilled. The RFI was supposed to cure the plague for humanity, but also drain all of a conduit's powers in the process. He could still feel the ghost of the horrific pain when he activated it, the feeling of his energy flowing like a river of venom through his arms and seeping into the blue abyss of a core in the device. He flinched, God, just thinking about it made him cringe.

Mentally slapping himself back to reality, he blinked hard a few times before rubbing his forehead with a shaky hand. Focus Cole. He definitely should have died, no way he could've survived something like that, even with his supernatural healing powers. Bringing his hands up to his chest, he patted his body slowly and softly. He didn't FEEL dead. He then lifted his strong hands up to his eyes, scanning them for anything new or unusual.

Nothing, still the same dirty, tattooed arms with bandages on each finger. He absentmindedly flexed for a few minutes, strong, powerful muscles poking out of the skin. He tried a different tactic, without even stressing his arm, a blue aura began to form around his right hand. The aura lit up into a fist shaped ball of sparks, causing his hand to shake as the energy coursed through his bones. The electricity danced and licked his fingertips, creating a blue light that shined in his face. He still had his powers, so that was good. Dropping his hands down with a baffled huff, he pondered for a moment before an idea came to mind. Lifting one arm up, he leaned his head down and sniffed his arm pit. The cologne from the morning before still lingered, but was fading fast.

He also noticed he still had his brown messenger bag, which slung across from his right shoulder to his left kidney. A heavy weight seemed to be pulling on his back as well. Lifting an arm above his head, he felt a sturdy, metal handle touch his fingers. Zeke had told him that some enemies could withstand simple knuckle busting; so, with some time and effort, Zeke had created a weapon that could withstand hitting concrete and could store electricity at the same time. He called it “The Amp.”

So he wasn't dreaming. Maybe.
And he wasn't dead. Maybe.
And this place sure as hell wasn't Heaven. Maybe.

Noticing the blood in his legs had started flowing again, he pulled himself upright and dusted himself off, brushing his hands across his black pants, flinging dust everywhere. His headache hadn’t subsided though, and it was hurting more and more as the seconds ticked by. Craning his head up, he finally saw the large hole he had made. Whistling loudly, he chuckled nervously and started to walk, albeit slowly and more carefully this time, towards the old half open double doors that lead further into the building coincidentally just in front of him.

Pushing the one closed door out of his way, the man limped weakly into a long, narrow hallway that led to who-knows-what and God-knows-where. To the right, which was closer, the hallway ended in pitch-black, while farther on the left, the blinking light of a lamp could be seen just behind the corner, leading to another hallway. Deciding to take the obvious route, he took a step before his leg once again crippled. Tripping and falling onto his knee, he cursed before pressing a hand onto the wall next to him. His headache wasn’t doing his predicament any favors either, it felt as though his skull had just been run over by a semi. Slamming a fist on the ground in frustration and defiance, he lifted himself up and continued to limp towards the end while leaning on the lockers. Turning the corner, he squinted his eyes at the painfully bright, dangling light before pushing off the wall. Lifting out both arms into the air as if he was reaching for the lamp, his entire body tensed. For a couple milliseconds nothing happened.

All of the sudden, a massive wave of electricity burst through the interior of the light bulb! The rippling streams of blue slammed into the man’s chest instantly, some wrapping around his body like a cocoon. Instead of being pushed back by this, the middle-aged man seemed to be soaking up the otherwise lethal electrical current like a sponge, the headache and soreness in the muscles felt like they were being vaporized by the electricity. Soon the river of blue gradually decreased to small streams, which thinned even more until every last sliver of electricity popped out of the bulb and morphed into his ring finger.

Putting his hands down, Cole MacGrath cracked his neck and continued down the hall, the pain of the limping reduced massively, but still annoying all the same.

Walking down the hallway, he couldn’t help but take in his surroundings. The place was obviously abandoned for some time, due to its poor condition and trash littering every corner and room. For some reason it looked completely different from the other warehouses in New Marias or even Empire city. The interior, though faded, was far too cheerfully colored for New Marias and it was just so... long. Each time he rounded a corner, another hallway greeted him back. Passing by countless doors and torn banners, Cole deduced the building must have been quite the used attraction back in its prime. Passing one room, he stopped when he saw something of interest that stood out from the other rooms that he just passively peered at. The door was torn off it's hinges (probably from old age), and inside was a massive table full of strange drawings. They looked like, kid drawings. So this place must've had children, which made some sense. Harrumphing at this, he turned his head away and kept going forward.

After a couple minutes of walking, his already thin patience began to wear thinner. Did this place have an exit or was it just endless?!

Next window I see, I'm jumping out of it His mind growled lowly.

However, as if on cue, when he turned another corner he saw that up ahead, his current hallway seemed to lead to an expanded space. Letting out a sharp breath of relief, he walked faster towards the new area, slowly turning his fast walk into a jog.

Exiting out of the narrow passage, he saw that the large space was actually a much wider hallway. Trailing his eyes towards the end of the tunnel-like room, he felt overjoyed by what he saw. An open space with two rows of glass double doors leading outside. Fully ignoring his still slightly wounded leg, Cole full on sprinted towards the glass doors, the forest visible through the other side. Slamming his palms into the rusty, metal handle bars, he didn't even look back when he flung himself outside, shoving the doors closed without a thought.

When the doors closed with a hard slam, the interior shook from the impact. A large banner hanging onto the ceiling broke off the hooks that kept it in place with a metallic snap, and swayed softly to the floor. Across its torn, shredded wool, a written sentence in bold could just barely be seen.

"Welcome to Canterlot Elementary School.''
___
Peering in front of him, his eyes immediately laid upon a small dirt pathway that led deeper into the forest ahead of him. Cocking his head to the sides, Cole scanned the area around him for any other routes. He found none, the pathway was the only one there.

He didn't really trust the forest to be a perfect safe haven, but where else would he go? Looking back at the building, his thoughts found themselves in a civil war. The Elementary was the only source of civilization around here. It could provide him shelter and a place to rest and wait for help. He shot down that idea quickly. Judging on it's camouflaged appearance, even if he could be able to hide from potential enemies, just how was he supposed to stay in there without any food or water? The building was too far gone to be a livable space, even for a limited amount of time.

Sighing in exasperation and defeat, he stretched his arms and legs before getting in a running stance. "Yeah, this definitely won't bite me in the ass.'' The electric man grumbled. Quick as lightning, he bolted down the pathway into the woods.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Canterlot City, 7:00 Am

"COME ON MAN! MOVE IT!"

Mi Amore Cadenza flinched at the sharp scream. The owner of the voice followed up by laying on his horn to the car in front of him, intent on making them understand his hurry. Traffic had slowed down immensely on the city streets due to construction, leaving the already dead-tired pedestrians to the mercy of wrathful road rage. Adding insult to injury, the sidewalks were also very narrow, decreasing the distance from people to cars.

The nicely suited woman clenched her jaw as yet another car horn blared in her aching ear for what seemed like the fortieth time in the last hour. Principal Cadenza, otherwise preferred as Cadence, trudged tiredly along the sidewalk, wiping the sweat off her brow. Recently elected principal for the high school Crystal Prep, she was required by the school board to get her new photo ID turned in at the mail office. which unfortunately, needed to be turned in at the worst time of the day. Be positive Cadence, as soon as you turn this ID in, you can go back to Crystal Prep, see all those sweet kids again and help Shining Armor with the printers. As soon as she thought of the school alumnus her pink cheeks blushed bright red. Shining Armor was one of her most trusted friends in the school; but for a long time now, she secretly wanted to be more. He was always willing to help her and anyone else as much as he could. Aiding the students with questions about their classwork, helping the faculty workers with the heavy lifting and basically being the principal's right hand man. Aside that tough-guy exterior, he truly was a genuine softie. She once saw him helping a CHS student with training for the friendship games, her school's (friendly as of late) rivals! He denied it of course, but she knew what she-

HONK! HONK! HHHOOOOONNNNKKKKKK! "ARE YOU FREAKING BLIND!? IT'S A GREEN LIGHT, MOVE YOUR BUMPER BEFORE I DRIVE OVER IT!!!!''

The crazed yell made her nearly Jump out of her skin, snapping her daydream in half. She collected herself before glaring daggers at the cars to her right. Huffing in annoyance, she continued walking towards the direction of the mail office, just two blocks down. Why wasn't she driving you ask? That would be because of the river of profanity to her right side. No way would she sit through that, plus the lack of movement in the line would cause her to be late. Besides, walking helped her stretch her legs after sitting at a desk for an entire week.

Her face contorted into relief once she saw a familiar blue sign stretching itself away from it's host , the words "Canterlot Post Office" written in bold letters for people far and wide to easily find. Cadence quickened her pace into a fast walk, rapidly approaching the house-sized building. Quickly but calmly opening the from door, the bell on the wall jingled as she quietly stepped towards the counter. The interior was a nice little setup, not too fancy, not too plain; Bold, almost demanding, political posters hung in random places and shelves stock full of stamps and printing papers.

Reaching her destination, she instantly noticed that no one seemed to be behind the counter or in the rest of the room around her. turning her head to the right, she lifted her hand and gingerly tapped the service bell on the counter top, creating a loud 'ding' that echoed everywhere.

"Coming!" A cheerful voice called from behind the walls. she waited patiently for a moment before a young girl skidded for the corner and zipped up to the counter. She began to open her mouth to say her designated 'employee welcome' before her eyes widened when she saw just who her customer was. "Cadence!?''

The woman in question chuckled warmly at the younger girl's shocked, happy reaction.

"Hello Gabby. It's been a while."

The 13 year old gasped in joy, bringing yellow work gloves hands up to her mouth. Fluffy sea grey bangs tied in a pony-tail fluttering over her green eyes. Because of the small chill in the air, Gabby sported a comfortable jacket with the same color as her hair, thick grey pants and deep black boots, as well as a pure white turtle-neck shirt poking out the top of the hoodie. Gabby had once been a member of crystal prep high, before her parents took her out of it because of Cinch's increasing pressure to secure the school's reputation.

"I'll say! how's it been at Crystal prep, I heard so many crazy things have happened over there lately more than you normally get in a year! Are you guys really friends with CHS?''

Chuckling once more, Cadence smiled. "Well, you aren't wrong about either of those. We have certainly changed our morals over the course of this year, CHS saw to that." Her smiled broadened, "Thank goodness they did too. The mind can only take so many victories before it gets to them." Gabby nodded in approval before asking her next question.

"I keep hearing that weird things have been happening at CHS for some time now. While I'm delivering letters, I sometimes see people run around the streets saying they saw portals just appear around the school when they walked by, and even more crazier stuff than that!" She threw her hands in the air dramatically when she continued, " One woman started running down the block, flailing her arms in the air, shrieking that she saw some girl at Canterlot, get this, SPROUTED WINGS!!"

Gabby burst out laughing at the memory. Wings on a person, the very idea was completely ridiculous! However, as Gabby laughed off the ordeal like it was the funniest joke in the world, her companion, did not. Small beads of sweat dripped down Cadence's forehead as she bit her lower lip nervously. Should she tell Gabby? Twilight had specifically told her that she wanted her magic powers under wraps when it came to the public knowing about them. Cadence adored the smart girl like a little sister, so she'd rather be caught dead then break her trust. But Gabby was also definitely a trusted friend to her, right? Although, even trusted companions can become victims to accidentally spilling the beans. After all, the only reason Cadence knew Twilight and her friends had powers was because she witnessed it. She made her decision; The less Gabby knew, the better.

Letting out a strained laugh, Cadence waited for the ex-student to calm down. Wiping a forming tear from her eye, Gabby looked at the older woman before her expression became on of concern. "You okay Cadence?" Smiling with hidden fear, Cadence assured her she was fine before stating that she was uncomfortable by the random craziness in some of the city residents. This seemed to be enough for Gabby.

"Yeah, they're definitely crazy alright. Hey, did you hear about the recent disappearances?" That caught Cadence's attention. "Disappearances?" she repeated.

"Yeah, apparently random people who take walks at night in the city get taken away, never to be seen again. What's even creepier is I heard that when the police check out the crime scene, not a single bit of evidence is found. No signs of a struggle, no pieces of clothing or weapons are found." A cold chill burned through Cadence's back. "How long has this been going on?" She asked.

Shrugging her shoulders, Gabby responded, "At least for two years now, the victims don't get taken every night. It happens randomly, about two or three times a month. I feel just so awful for those people. Hope the police catch that monster. I don't know about you, but you'll never see ME out there at midnight" The chill up Cadence's spine increased, she didn't want to talk about this anymore.

"Let's discuss something else. I have this photo ID I need to turn in for the school, it's for my application as the new principle." gawking in shock, Gabby let out a squeal before leaning across the counter top and hugging her friend.

"OMYGOSHI'MSOHAPPYFORYOU! YOU'R GONNA BE THE BEST PRINCIPLE EVER I JUST KNOW IT!" She shrieked, all sense of sadness from the previous conversation gone like a candle flame. The new principle laughed for the third time in the last 30 minutes at her friends antics, who was still congratulating her.

"Gabby, if you don't let me go and turn this in, I’ll be lucky to even be the school janitor!" She jokingly stated.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Scorpan Forest, two miles from Canterlot City

Two hours.

Two hours and he was still running through a forest.

His expression was compressed into a neutral scowl as he made a beeline across the dirt passage. Because he was superhuman, it took a massive amount of energy for Cole to get tired, the electricity in his body automatically healing any aching or exhausted muscles. Allowing him to only take short breathing breaks which were few and far between. Ever since he left the abandoned school, he would emit a sense of electro-waves every so often to help him search for any slice of electricity in the area, because where there was electricity, there was a good chance of civilization. Sprinting over fallen trees and bushes blocking the road, he never slowed his pace as the path zig zagged left and right.

Soon, the path ahead seemed to turn a corner around a couple of trees that blocked the man’s view. Not bothered by this in the slightest, he kept up his current speed and absentmindedly let out another wave of his electro-sense; Until he stopped dead in his tracks as soon as he rounded the corner. He could have sworn he felt…

Unleashing another wave, he only had to wait for a second before he felt the beautiful buzz of electricity call to him in the distance.

Not wasting a second, Cole ran even faster than before, fallen leaves and dirt kicking up a storm behind him. With each step, the buzzing of electricity got louder and louder, he was so close he could almost taste it! Up ahead of him, two maple trees had hung their branches so low, the leaves had conjoined together and blocked the path. Without batting an eye, Cole, still running, lifted up his left hand and shot a large lightning bolt at the vegetation. As soon as the bolt struck the leafy branches, it burned straight through the wood, creating a gaping hole big enough for him to walk through.

Just like the doors leading out of the abandoned schoolhouse, a bright light filled the hole that he had created. To Cole, it was like a bright shining light from heaven was calling to him from the darkness of the shadowed forest, an angel lovingly opening their arms in warmth, housing delicious electricity on the other side.

He shook his head at the sudden thoughts. Wow, I must be losing it.

As the entrance became closer and closer, Cole waited until he was two feet from it before dramatically front flipping out of the hole. He didn’t care if it looked cheesy, he was tired of running and wanted out of that forest dammit! Rolling on his shoulder and jumping to his feet, he stopped completely when his eyes fell upon the sight in front of him.

He was in an open, lush, yet obviously mowed field, people a few yards from his direction, ignoring him completely. Children chased each other all over the place, laughing the entire time. Parents, friends and couples laid under the shadows of trees, having juicy picnics with each other. The dirt path he was on broke into a fork ahead of him, joggers and bicyclists passing each other and continued to forget the world around them. And further beyond, towering over a wall of trees, was a massive, MASSIVE city. Way too big for small town New Marias and more like big town Empire city. Now Cole was even more confused, and starting to get a little nervous. Walking slowly, he started to check out the park inhabitants.

While they obviously looked like everyday people enjoying their time, something seemed, off, about them. Scanning the crowd as he got closer, his eyes laid upon a couple sitting in the shade closest to him. A man and a woman, both older than him, cuddled close as they snacked, obviously savoring their time together. They looked so happy with each other, seemingly immune to the dangers of the world around them. Cole felt happy for them. It reminded him of the days where he and Trish would take walks togeth-

Suddenly a force collided into his stomach, almost sending him sprawling. Letting out a surprised “oof!’’, Cole buckled his knees before taking a step back to compose himself. Unfortunately, the person who ran into him wasn’t as fast, and fell onto their rump. Automatically expecting a fight, he prepared to get into a battle stance, only to look down and found that his supposed assailant was none other than a child. A very young child at that. All defensiveness in his form melted away quickly as the young girl looked up in embarrassment.

“S-sorry sir” she stuttered with a lisp. Forming a calm smile, he stretched out a hand. Lifting her shaking arm up, she latched her hand onto his and allowed him to softly pull her to her feet.

“No problem kid, just be sure to watch whe-“ his sentence died in his throat as soon as he got a good look at the child. If there was one thing Cole hated being, it was a judgmental person, but he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t shocked by what he saw.

Aside from her normal attire, being a teal jacket and a white shirt with a flower on it and even her purple pony-tailed hair, her body was pure yellow. Sure, it was a little faded, but yellow nonetheless. Just by first glance alone, it seemed far too natural to be body paint. Was she some kind of Conduit? Letting out a wave of electro-sense, his vision briefly turned into an x-ray, allowing him to see if she carried any sort of Conduit gene. To his surprise, she held no evidence of being a Conduit, she was a normal person. Looking up at her friends who where right behind her, he also noticed they were different as well. One of them blue skinned, one pink skinned and another, completely white! X-raying the other kids, he found no trace of a conduit gene inside them either. What was going on here?

While Cole was in silent shock, his accidental attacker held the same expression.

Lily Pad was in awe. She was just playing a normal game of tag, and as soon as she turned her head for a split second, she rammed harshly into what felt like a stone wall. Falling down in surprise, she looked up to see an adult man look back at her in equal surprise. The sun was rising on his back, making his features almost impossible to see. It was only when he gently pulled her up however, that Lily was able to get a good look at him. And boy, was he an imposing sight. Giant muscles flexed behind his shirt whenever he breathed, his bright blue eyes piercing into hers. She could also see his bald head and what seemed to be a small scar on his right cheek from closer inspection. Her eyes fearfully trailed across his form before they nearly popped out of her skull once she saw what looked to be a handle on his back, probably for some kind of weapon. He kind of looked like a character out of the adventurous stories she loved to read. Was he a bad guy? She heard the stories about how her babysitter Pinkie Pie and her friends took down dastardly villains so they wouldn’t harm anyone. But if this guy really was an enemy, could Pinkie and her friends really defeat him? He looked tough, ridiculously tough. Like take on ten sea serpents tough.

Noticing the young girl’s face continue to get more fearful rather than calm, Cole quickly decided to let her be on her way before things escalated into something worse than a simple ‘bump’.

“J-just be careful, ok?” he spoke quietly. Lily nodded numbly as Cole brushed past her, her eyes never leaving the Amp on his back.

Walking further, he saw a man his age come jogging towards him. Without a second thought, Cole quickly wiped his hand up and planted it firmly in front of the jogger, halting him instantly. Raising a questioning eyebrow, the sweaty man reached up and popped off his ear buds, signaling the lost hero to continue. Immediately taking his chance, Cole didn’t beat around the bush.

“Hey man, uh, this is gonna sound weird, but humor me. Where am I? What city is this?”

Understandably taken aback, it took the other man a second before responding.

“U-um, you’re in Scorpan Park. You know, right next to Canterlot City.” He said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Which it wasn’t.

‘Canterlot City?’ first of all, what the hell kind of name was that? Second of all, WHERE in the hell was that? It sounded English, and last time he checked, there wasn’t an English city that he knew of named Canterlot. Well, again, Not that he knew of.

"Well, do you know where I can get to New Marias from here?''

Now the jogger seemed even more confused.

"New Marias?" he repeated.

Now it was Cole's turn to quirk an eyebrow. This guy hadn't heard of New Marias? After all the recent events that had happened over the past week: Bertrand, The Beast, the Plague. he didn't hear about ANY of that?

"Yeah, New Marias, you know, 'Party Beach Marias.' It's on the coast, in Louisiana.''

"Louisiana?"

Letting out a stressed huff, Cole tuned him out and thought for a moment. This guy didn't look or sound like he was making this up. He tried again. This time, diving into a sore subject.

"What about Empire City?" Just saying that name out loud made his heart explode into guilt. The city, the people, everything he failed to save.

"I'm very sorry sir, but there's no 'Empire City', 'New Marias' or 'Louisiana' here in Equestria. Well, not that I know of."

E-Equestria?

What the hell?

"I'm sorry, but WHERE did you saw we are?"

"Equestria, the Land of Harmony."

Bringing a hand up to his eyes, the hero silently counted to five. "So are we in Britain or something? I need to get back to the United States."

The Jogger sweated a little, than answered with a question. "What exactly do you think Equestria is?"

Cole shrugged his shoulders. "Dunno, never heard of Equestria, I know this isn't a country, this some kind of like... county?"

The other man stared at him like he was insane. hell, at this point maybe he was.

"That's exactly what Equestria is, a country. Along with Scale, Yakyakistan, Drungar and Griffonstone."

This place sounded more and more like a fantasy land. Cole almost deemed him insane and would've ended the conversation much earlier, if the guy in question wasn't a deep, navy blue with teal hair. He needed more information, and from the looks of it, there were only so many questions Cole could ask the Jogger before things got awkward.

The situation turned worse when the man started to speak to him in a quiet, worried voice. “Sir, are you okay? Do you need help?” The man obviously was coming to the conclusion that Cole was insane, and began to speak to him like he was a scared animal.

The jogger was about to say more, when an explosion rattled the air around them. Stumbling in surprise, the two took a minute to gain their composure before whipping their heads towards the city behind them. A geyser of black smoke could just be seen behind a tall skyscraper. All movement ceased within the park, the air tense like a knife's edge.

All of the sudden, gunfire could be heard in the distance as it ripped through the atmosphere, shortly followed by bloodcurdling screams.

Cole growled lowly, before running past the jogger.

"HEY! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR DOING?!"

Cole never replied.
____
Cadence waved goodbye to Gabby as she exited the mail office, her stress lifted because of the younger girl's bubbly attitude. Walking down the road towards the direction of Crystal Prep, Cadence hummed happily, oblivious to the still heavy traffic. She took one more step before everything fell to pieces.

The sound was deafening.

Shop windows rattled and cars screeched to a halt as her vision blurred. Dropping to her knees, she covered her ears as an explosion set off up on the corner in front of her. Putting her hands on the pavement to steady herself, she panted as the sound of flying concrete and rumbling brick ceased. She could still hear people screaming, feeling the rushed breeze as some of them ran past her shocked form. Panting rapidly, she clutched her heart, which hammered and pulsed in her chest and hand. Forcing herself to gain at least a small amount of adrenaline, Cadence pulled up a knee before stopping.

Aside from the screaming, she could hear something else.

Lifting her head, her blurry vision faded away as the street became more clearer. The front of a bakery store just up ahead of her had exploded, flinging debris and dirt all over the place. People held onto each other, screaming for their injured or lost.

Suddenly, a loud honking noise could be heard from around the corner. Slowly lifting herself up, Cadence saw a house-sized, green army truck slowly lumber from behind the corner like a demon from hell. Small pickup trucks trailed alongside it like pilot fish, each holding ferocious, gangster looking men holding guns, with a taste for blood in their eyes. Cadence just stared at them as they slowly came towards her direction. Terror embedded into her very soul.

Good God.

The Changlers had come. And they didn't look happy.

They looked OVERJOYED.

Heaven and Hell part ll

Author's Note

WARNING:
This Chapter houses gore, violence and what some of you might call dark humor, read at your own risk!

A.C.

Heaven and Hell part ll

“It's choice - not chance - that determines your destiny.”
— Jean Nidetch
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Canterlot City, 7:40

Screaming.

Lots and lots of screaming.

And gunfire. That too.

That was all Cadence heard as bullets whizzed overhead, people pushing and shoving each other out of the way all around her, as the rumbling of a massive stolen military vehicle slowly crept closer. She ran alongside other civilians as she cupped her hands above her head, heading towards the safest place she could think of. Back at the mail office. Changler pickup trucks raced recklessly down the street, playing an evil game of human bowling.

This, is why Canterlot city residents where decreasing in numbers. They were scared out of their minds from the terrorist group known as The Changlers, so they moved as far away from the city as they could. Which was precisely what the Changlers wanted.

For some Faust forsaken reason, they were hellbent on obtaining Canterlot city for themselves. Not afraid to take lives as a sick message to the police and the world, saying ‘’Stay out of our plans and OUR city”. Luckily, they (so far) never struck outside of the city limits, so the neighborhoods and schools where safe from the attacks. Another thing Cadence was grateful for however, was that they didn’t seem to know about the strange happenings at Canterlot High.

A glass window to a store shattered next to her, giving the young woman a message to RUN FASTER. Suddenly, a person to her right fell harshly onto the ground, his screams increasing. Stopping herself, she saw him grab his leg in pain, tears forming in his eyes. Ignoring all the voices in her head telling her to run, she ran over to him, grabbed him by the armpits and lifted him up. While keeping both their heads down, as she sprinted towards an alleyway to the left up ahead of her, his painful gasps echoing in her ear each time his leg bumped on the concrete. Once they reached the alleyway, the shadows almost engulfed them both. Not stopping, she kept dragging him by the arms until they were about 20 feet within the alley. Seeing two large, metal dumpsters side by side to her left, Cadence quickly hid him behind the furthest one, setting him in a deeper shaded area. Whimpering in response, he coughed violently as red started to spill out of his nose in soft streams.

The ground began to shake as the rumbling of the military vehicle grew closer than before. Turning her head in slow horror, she saw people frantically running past the alleyway just a few feet from her, ducking their heads for cover. Some jerked their heads back as they fell to the ground, hard, their screams ceasing as they began to pile on one another. Then she didn’t see anyone run past anymore. For a moment all she could hear was screams from people she couldn’t see off to the left, then the hood of a tank-like car approached the opening to the alleyway. Jumping behind the dumpster, she quickly sat next the man before gently yet firmly slapping her hand over his mouth to silence the coughing. Bringing her free hand up, she faced towards him while putting a finger to her lips. Nodding, he tried his best to contain his coughing.

The military truck continued its slow attack, police fire bouncing off it like a trampoline. Some of their bullets flying into the high reaches of the buildings that made the alleyway, causing tiny flakes of concrete to fall on Cadence and her companion. A massive machine gun laid on the top of the car, firing back bullets that could shred through a person like paper. As it waded over abandoned cars and fallen bodies, (she avoided looking in their direction) it suddenly stopped altogether once it’s middle was squarely placed in front of the alley entrance. Cadence’s breath hitched. Had they seen them? But how? A sick feeling overcame her as her stomach felt like it was caving in. To her horror, a whirring sound came from the base of the gun. Time slowed as the machine gun turned itself towards Cadence’s direction; Cupping a hand over her own mouth to stop her from crying herself, bracing for the worst.

It was more terrifying then she would have ever imagined. All Tartarus broke loose when the air was suddenly filled with ear aching whistles as 10-inch thick bullets destroyed everything in sight. Fist-sized chunks of concrete tore off the two walls of the buildings, spraying everywhere randomly, the solid metal stairs clinging to the sides of said walls rattled and clanged from the pelting, plastic trash bins flew sky-high while barrel rolling. Even the very street wasn’t spared as the bullets pierced through the road, pieces of weak brick and cobblestone flipped out of their places as cracks spider-webbed the ground, signaling this alleyway was going to be scarred for a long time. The two dumpers that provided Cadence and her companion cover were pushed back by the unstoppable force, the other dumper on the far-right side facing towards the entrance took the brunt of the damage. The immense power of the bullets easily shredded through the metal shell, but it was slowed because of the garbage inside. A few bullets managed to go through the dumpster and break into the second one where Cadence was hiding on the other side. but that seemed to be too much for the bullets as they quickly stopped once they reached the other dumpster.

Resisting the urge to scream, she instead pulled her fear away from her mouth and up to her eyes, letting out silent tears as the loud sound of gunfire continued.

For what felt like years, the gun never stopped as she was forced to watch everything around her tear to pieces. One bullet had managed to almost go straight through both dumpsters, leaving a large dent on the side of the dumpster they were hiding behind. Tightening up into a teary ball, she closed her eyes and desperately tried to think of something, anything, that could help calm her down. The first thing that came to mind was Twilight herself; Every moment she spent with the younger girl was a treasure beyond everything else, she never ceased to make Cadence feel warm and happy on the inside. She remembered all the time and fun they spent with each other: Going out for ice cream at sugar cube corner, playing hide-and-seek for two hours straight, (Something Cadence didn’t mind at all) even stitching up Twilight’s plush horse “Fancy pants” when he had taken a rough fall from Twilight climbing a tree without Cadence knowing. One time, twilight had made an adorable painting of herself and cadence holding hands, with the words: "Best babysitter!" written in bold letters on the top, for all the world to see. The memory brought a small smile onto the woman’s face, she still had that painting magnetized to the refrigerator so it would be the first thing she could see when going in the kitchen.

There, was something else. Something twilight had shown her, well, more like taught her. A song, with a fun little dance to it. It was made by the kindergartners to symbolize their never-ending dedication and friendship to one another. Hugging her knees tighter, Cadence silently began humming to herself.

Sunshine, sunshine,

Ladybug's awake.

Clap your hands,

And do a little shake.

finishing the song in a short time, Cadence felt a small, twinge of peace. Though the song ended too quickly for her liking, so she started over.

Sunshine, sunshine,

Ladybug's awake.

Clap your hands,

And do a little shake.

Once again, Cadence felt a small feeling of peace, though it was larger this time. She liked that, so she kept humming the song, each time she ended it, the feeling of peace grew. She must have hummed that song two more times before the gun stopped shooting. She held her breath as the car sat there, looking for any kind of movement. Seemingly satisfied with it’s work, the gun turned its head back towards the street with the same loud whirring sound, as the heavy tires rolled onward to find new victims.

Waiting until the entire frame of the vehicle disappeared behind the left corner of the alley, cadence slumped her back to the wall with a sigh of relief. They both sat there in tense silence as the both breathed heavily. Her companion made the first move to start a conversation, “T-thank you for saving me miss.” She looked back at him, a small smile on her lips.

“I couldn’t leave you there.” She looked down and saw him still clutching his leg in pain, red seeping through his fingers. ‘we need to get you help, come ‘on, I’ll help you.” Lifting herself up, she started to reach her hand out when another sound caught her attention. Whipping her head back to the entrance, she saw a pickup truck reach the corner at a much faster pace, yet slow enough for the occupants to look for them. diving back behind the dumpster, she sat beside the man pressing her finger to her lips. Her grit his teeth and glared ahead of him. Apparently, he was tired of sitting helplessly as his pain grew.

At first, nothing happened, that, Cadence was glad. They didn’t see them, and probably thought the machine gun had done its work on any potential hiders.

Then something happened that made Cadence’s color drain completely from her face.

“Where do you think you’re going idiot?” a raspy voice called out.

“I’m gonna check for people, that’s what” an even raspier voice said back.

“No way, the torrent would’ve taken care of them, get back in the truck before the cops catch you!”

“you ain’t the boss of me asshat! I’m checking this place out, THEN I’ll get back in the truck. No prisoners remember?”

“No way in Tartarus man, if we stay here the 5-0’ll get us, I’m stayin’ with the group.”

The second voice nearly screamed his reply, “Then I’ll catch up with you, geez, get off my tail man!’’

A low growl could just be heard from the pickup’s engine. “Man, you are one dumbass, sadistic, pain in the-“

A car door shut harshly as the car’s engine revved up and continued down the road. “paranoid coward.” The remaining man spat in disgust. It wasn’t long before Cadence heard footsteps walking towards her direction. Fingers digging into the dirty pavement, the woman felt sharp needles stabbing into her stomach. This wasn’t good. They were out frying pan and into the fire. Grabbing the man’s arm beside her, she prepared to make a run for it, the darkness of the alleyway would make good cover for them both. Only to feel said man’s arm yank away from her reach. Looking to the man beside her, she saw him stare back at her with a sad face. “I’ll just slow you down,’’ he whispered, “You need to go, or who knows what he’ll do to you.”

Glaring at him, she hissed. “I’m not leaving you here.” Quickly looking around her surroundings, she tried to come up with various escape routes. She saw the alleyway break into a fork up ahead, so they could easily lose the potential attacker in a calculated run. However, her companion was less then ready for even a short jog, especially a rushed, frenzied run from a bloodthirsty terrorist. There was a concrete patch of stairs leading to a door a shorter way away that they could hide behind, but the terrorist sounded like he wanted to check every nook and cranny in the alley, so they’d both be found out just as easily as next to the dumpsters they were currently hiding behind. Plus, she doubted the occupants of the room the stairs where attached to would have left their door unlocked.

Other than that, she couldn’t see anywhere else to go, at least, not together. Looking once more at her companion, she saw the fear in his eyes, knowing there was no way out for him, knowing the terrorist would catch him, knowing that in a matter of minutes, he would never be able to see the smiling faces of his family again. But there was something else in his eyes, acceptance. He also knew that even though his chances where slim, Cadence herself had a high chance of escaping. She could escape though the other side, away from the Changlers, to freedom. All for what he thought was the small price of his life.

Screw that. She growled in her mind. Taking a seat next to him, she mouthed her plan. They both were going to stay put, hiding as best they could in what shadows covered them. he looked at her in shock, this lady was insane! She needed to get out of here before she got hurt!

Before he could voice his concerns, she immediately silenced him with a look of finality. She wasn’t going anywhere. She didn’t care if it was stupid or foolish, Cadence was never someone to leave a person in need.

“Well, well, well. What do we have here?”

Her mind turned to ice. A gut-wrenching silence followed the rhetorical question. Cadence was still staring at the man on her left, so engrossed in their stubborn argument that neither of them had heard their enemy’s footsteps grow nearer, until they were right on top of them. She gulped a stone before facing their captor.

He was short, about chest high if she was standing, with sickly dark green skin covering his body. But she was sitting on the ground, so he easily towered over her, plus the added bonus of him clutching a shotgun firmly to his chest. Heavy, thick boots clung to his feet like blocks, almost metallic in appearance, like they could snap a person’s bones in half with one swift kick. Camouflage pants were crudely shredded off at the knees, a wide belt holding it tightly to his waist. Trailing her eyes upward she saw an oddly larger-than-needed-be bullet-proof vest protecting his shirtless upper body, rusty, square buckles clipped across a massive tear in the vest’s middle, keeping it together for his protection. Looking further up, she could finally see her attacker’s face. And it wasn’t a pretty sight. Bulky in shape, each feature on his face practically screamed “fear me!” horrid scars cut across his entire left side, the cheek just barely visible due to its current form of mangled flesh. A teal, punk-like, spiky mohawk finned out atop his otherwise bald head, somehow having clean-cut holes randomly dug though the hair. His eyes terrified her the most though; they were teal like his hair, but no pupils could be seen. Just bright lights of blue that bore into her magenta eyes. He looked almost hollow. Almost.

The difference being that instead of seeing, she could feel the intense sadistic animosity pouring out of his eyes and focusing it all on her. Promising her pain and fear on an unimaginable scale. It made her want to shrink up into a ball again and shut out the world around her, like it was all a dream. But the stinging pain from scratching her elbows on the pavement earlier proved otherwise. So, she simply stared back at him, mouth open and body stiff with terror.

The shorter man slowly, almost robotically, turned his head over to the man sitting beside Cadence, who was still clutching his leg, and glaring hatefully at the armed terrorist. He was silent for a moment, before chuckling in a dark, slimy voice. “Well look at you two, hidin’ in here like sneaky campers.’’ Turning his head back to her, he continued. “Kinda rude to just leave your friends out there to fend for themselves.” he said, pointing the barrel of his shotgun towards the street to their right.

Cadence stayed completely silent. What was she to say, what could she say? This man and his friends probably killed hundreds, if not thousands of innocent lives all for the sake of having no one to stand against them. Bringing his gun back, the Changler pointed it back at the man beside her before speaking again. “Why don’t you come and join them.” Putting out a free hand, he motioned for them both to stand up. Cadence almost stood up out of absolute fear, but then her senses quickly came back to her. He was basically going to take them out into the streets, where they murdered innocent lives, people with families, and either use them both as target practice or worse, ransom.

Her fear soon stepped aside as anger took its place. She looked him square in the eyes once more, and once again, saw a man with no conscience, no sympathy, no empathy, no soul. Only a man with a lust for power over others. Fist clenched, Cadence furrowed her brows into a scowl, then crossed her arms in defiance. The man beside her coincidentally had the same thoughts, but unlike her, he didn’t move an inch from his spot, his scowl never leaving, instead it seemed to deepen. Both glared back at their capture.

To their surprise however, his reaction wasn’t a complete tantrum as they expected, instead he raised an eyebrow then whispered in a deadly calm voice. “I’m sorry, is there a problem with us? If so, could you address it please.’’ No answer. “Maybe I didn’t make myself clear, you two left. Them. to. Die. So, I think there needs to be some closure between you guys. If you had the time to save yourselves, then you obviously could have had time to save them. I’m only making your problem less difficult; I mean…” he lent down at the next part. “… You don’t want their avoidable deaths staining your conscience for the rest of your life do you?”

Cadence was furious, she barely had time to save an injured man, there was no way she could have saved anyone else while she was busy helping him to safety. Could she? Could she really have saved those people? Was there enough time to help somebody’s father, their mother, their younger sibling? Did she actually leave thousands of families to fend for themselves just to save one life? Tears started to form in her eyes as she gripped her shoulders tighter, a feeling of guilt beginning to tear up her heart and claw out of her throat.

Spat!

The terrorist’s eyes widened in shock. A red stain had planted on his scarred right cheek, the impact making him freeze. Watching the Changler leer over Cadence and fill her mind with unrealistic guilt, her companion decided enough was enough.

“Screw you, you psychopathic freak.” The man growled in a low voice. “You get shot in the leg by a bunch of cowards holding a stolen machine gun then try and save people who are running over you.”

The terrorist simply stared at Cadence in silent shock. His eyes never strayed from hers, with his mouth slightly open from when he was about to finish his previous sentence before being interrupted. For a moment, nothing happened, at least, not anything a bystander could see. But for Cadence, slowly but surely, she began to see white hot anger and fury start to form in his eyes, ready to unleash at any minute. Then, faster than she could blink, the terrorist whipped his gun around and crashed it square into the man’s face, causing him to fly back and hit the wall behind him with a sickening thud.

Straight on impact, he immediately slumped over to his left side with a groan. Blood dripped onto the cracked concrete as Cadence held both of her hands up to cover her mouth, keeping in a barely contained squeak. Tears formed in her eyes as her friend didn’t move from his spot, instead choosing to lay down and moan in agony. His face was concealed from her view, so she wasn’t able to see the damage that had been done, but she knew by the sound of the impact it was pretty severe.

“Sit up asshole.” The Changler growled animalistically. Bending down and grabbing a wad of his victim’s bloody shirt, he roughly hoisted him back up on his rump next to the terrified woman. Now being able to see her companion’s face more clearly, she spared a quick glance at him to see the damage. His nose was obviously broken, bent in an unnatural angle with a red, wide bloody streak carved across it. That would definitely leave a scar. His right eye was also badly bruised, making him have to squint to ease the pain.

Both looked up to their enemy, who had replaced his previous glare with yet another smirk. Moving his eyes from one to the other, he said nothing as his eyes seemed to calculate something. Then he spoke.

“Cuz that’s my job.”

Both widened their eyes in shock. Was that his only excuse?! Kill innocent people, children even, because it was “his job?!"

He seemed to understand what their minds were shouting out in anger, so he continued.

“Us ‘Terrorists’ as you call us, aren’t just shooting people willy nilly.”

What?

“We’re doing this for a purpose, not for money or fame, but for the sake of the people. Shit, you could say it's for this planet”

What?!

“You just don’t get it do you? Then again, how could you?” Pointing to them both, he continues chuckling. “Look at this city, it's crawling with weakness. Not from it’s roots, but from it’s habitants. Your leaders have been shoving this illusion of peaceful negotiation and war-free ideals down your throats for so long, you've forgotten how the world actually works. No more. it’s time to bring back the original rulers and idealists. Power and strength, not over you, but over the world.”

He drew his hand away from the two and pointed towards the Changler emblem on his vest, snarling.

“ People like us, we do what others are too scared to do: Tear apart any weaknesses that could hold us down and make our enemies quake into submission. But you all, you just try and ‘help’ those who attempt to kill you, try to show them there’s some kind of ‘different’ path. You're neither strong nor worthy enough to live amongst the natural order. So…” he dropped his hand down.

“…we’re here to stomp out the weakness.’’ Firing rounds could be heard in the distance, followed by more screams. “You people are like an invasive roach on a farm...” he sounded like he just swallowed mud with that last word, “… In order for this land to truly have harmony, proper exterminators are required.’’

Cadence was at loss for words. Was this truly the Changlers’ point of view? That people like her where just weak and useless and they shouldn’t even exist simply because they tried to settle things in a none violent way. If she thought she hated the changlers before, she utterly DESPISED them now.

‘’Now walk.”

She was done. She was tired. Hurt, both physically and mentally. She was SICK of these thoughtless bullies pushing them around for so long and she was SICK of them thinking they were all powerful, acting like they could never be touched by punishment. If she was going to die, she sure as Tartarus wasn’t going out in the way they wanted her to. Crying and begging for mercy, therefore giving them exactly what they wanted.

Just as her companion started to get up in defeat, she grabbed hold of his sleeve and held him down. both male eyes turned to her, as her face remained a calm, businesslike look.

“No.’’ she replied simply.

Her companion stood still for a moment, before joining her. The terrorist stayed in his position, face calm, but she could see the familiar fury grow back in his teal eyes. She wasn’t scared. Instead she spoke with an even and calm voice.

“Go ahead, hit us. Break us. Shoot us. Do whatever you want, just know we’re not going ANYWHERE with you. We’ll fight you if need be, but you’re not going to get what you want.’’

The fury grew larger. The terrorist began to numbly raise his shotgun.

“Because sooner or later, maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but at the end of your road, people like you…”

the shotgun started to shake in his hands from rage.

“…. you’ll lose all the power you once had that you’ve never deserved, and still forever wonder, ‘what happened?’”

The Changler’s fingers turned white from gripping the gun too hard. His face however, remained neutral. He then whispered in a deadly voice.

‘’At least we’ll have the pleasure of killing you worthless insects.”

Brushing his hand on the trigger, he aimed the gun straight for her heart with a crazed smile. He didn’t even pull the trigger before a streak of lightning crushed into his temple.
_____________________
Outside of the alleyway. two blocks away from the stolen army truck. Number of Changler forces: 2 pickup trucks.

Oh, how they loved this job. Two pickup trucks packed full of terrorists drove at an even pace just twenty feet from each other, shooting anything that moved. The massive army truck they had apprehended from a VERY successful raid long ago had already done most of the dirty work on the street, now came the easy part. Though panicked, civilians always somehow managed to avoid their first wave of attack, either hiding in basements, inside alleyways, ducking behinds cars, debris, or even trying to blend in with the dead. And the Changlers have to give them credit, they do a fine job of hiding, but alas, human curiosity is both a gift, and a curse. Because once the sounds of firearms cease, people poke their heads out into the firing range to see if the danger is gone, so they can get away.

How foolish.

With all the smoky debris, screams and the shrieking of destroyed brick and metal beams grinding together, it was easy not to hear the less loud thrumming of a pickup trucks’ engine. Just wait for an unsuspecting victim to pop their head out of their hidey hole, put em’ in your crosshairs and pow. That’s that. It was like a game of shoot-a-mole.

BANG!

“That’s one for me!”

Sitting on the pickup’s bed was a long sleeved Changler with an imposing, heavy, bullet proof vest strapped to his otherwise scrawny body. A rifle in his hands was held up high for any signs of life, looking rather pleased with himself. Inside the truck were two other Changlers, one on the driver side, the other on the passenger side with his own rifle hanging out of an open window. The one on the passenger side gained a face of annoyance.

“That’s because you got the best seat in the house, besides, didn’t know we were keeping count.”

“Well I thought we were, though by the looks of it, guess there wasn’t really a reason to.” the Changler on the bed replied with a smirk in his voice.

“And what exactly is that supposed to mean?”

“It means I’m better at your job then you, that’s what.”

The second rifleman growled lowly before biting back. “yeah, sure, just because you’ve got ‘special training’ doesn’t make you the absolute best shot in our ranks, Mr. Ex-army soldier. Give me a minute.” Turning his attention from his partners in crime, he spotted a woman just a few yards away making her get away, bolting down the street in a terrified panic. Aiming his gun in her direction, he found himself having trouble aiming with the trucks’ nonstop moving pace, added to her mad dash to freedom, making it a challenge to keep his scope fixed on her. He could almost feel the stupid smirk on his partner’s face grow larger by the second at his strife. Twisting his face into a snarl, his already small amount of focus faded into oblivion as he pulled the trigger.

BANG!

A loud “Ping!” was heard as the bullet penetrated the concrete wall she was running alongside of. Jumping in surprise, she let out a shriek of terror, but continued running nonetheless, albeit faster this time.

His pupils dilated before the gunman punched the inside of the door in frustration. “FAUST!” Laughing could be heard outside of the car as the sniper in the back double over in hysteria, even the silent driver chuckled a little at his partner’s folly. Grumbling, he shifted his rifle before putting his eye in the scope.

“Man, screw you both.”

Trying to collect himself, the backseat shooter sat himself up before speaking in a hiccupped voice. “Here, let me show you how it’s done.’’ Putting his rifle parallel to his shoulder, he aimed his scope as best he could on the escaping female. She had gone quite a ways away, making it difficult to get a shot at her, but not impossible, he still had time to at least wound her, but not fatally. She was smart too, ducking and weaving around large debris, trying to make herself both invisible and untouchable. Aiming his gun at her, he waited for an opening to present itself as she flew, his breathing stilled as he homed in on her, ignoring the close gunshots from the other pickup truck, who was shooting their own targets with giddy glee.

BANG!

A gunshot echoed through the street, followed by a howl of pain. The woman fell to the ground, out of view, screaming in agony. He had been able to get a shot right under her ribs, it was definitely going to leave a scar, but not kill her. Oh well, take what you can get right?

“And that’s how you do it!” he said with a proud smile. His teasing victim took it more personally then he should have. He shoved his rifle back in the car before reaching for the handle like he was about to get out.

“ALRIGHT, THAT’S IT!”

A hand grabbed onto his teal hair and yanked him back with harsh force. Letting out a cry of pain, the rifleman shouted profanities as the backseat shooter once again fell into a fit of laughter. The driver on the other hand, was less than pleased, gripping the younger man’s hair tighter as a scowl edged across his face.

“Would you two shut the hell up and do you’re job!? Faust, you do this every time. No wonder no one wants to be around you!” His scowl turned into a deep frown before growling. “why in the ever-loving world of Tartarus did she even hire you two anyway?”

The backseat rider stopped laughing and gained a serious look. “Watch yourself Fang, you might have been here for a while and gained her favor, but an unexpected retirement could come early.” He lifted his rifle at that last sentence, and the car become dead silent.

Gripping the steering wheel tighter, the driver said nothing as he continued driving. Smirking once more, the sniper in the back chuckled darkly. “That’s what I thought.” Before sitting comfortably in the trucks’ bed. Fang let go of the passenger side rifleman, forcefully shoving him into the door with an “Oof!”. Sitting back up with a scowl, the rifleman was about to snap at his partners when he saw a bright, blue light form in an alley way on the driver’s side. At first, he started to think it was just a random city light, yet for some reason, something just felt, unnatural about it. he felt memorized by it.

Suddenly, his eyes widened in horror.

“FANG, LOOK OU-“

A massive ball of electricity slammed into the side of the pickup truck with a loud crunch, sending it flying into the tv. store on the other side of the street, instantly killing all three men.

The pickup in the front had heard the commotion. All the occupants turned their heads in horror as their ally vehicle started to catch fire while basically turned upside down inside the store.

“What the hell happened?! What’s going on back there?!’’ The driver screamed in terrified confusion.

“I don’t know!” the sniper on the trucks’ bed screamed back. A loud crackle was heard before a stream of pure electricity flew over their heads and rammed into a heavy light post in front of the car, shredding through the metal like paper. The post gave a metallic groan before it’s weight gave in and toppled over. All the Changlers barely had time to scream before the metal beam crashed into the center of the car, crushing the driver and passenger and flinging the backseat shooter into the air and onto the shrapnel below.

In just a span of thirty seconds, the entire street had gone deathly quiet. Citizens peaked their heads out at the unexpected quiet, gaping in awe at the sheer destruction of what the was once thought invincible Changler pickup trucks. What just happened?
_______________
One block down. Two blocks and three houses down from stolen army truck. Number of Changler forces: 3 pickup trucks, 10 ground soldiers.

BANG!

A middle-aged man fell heavily onto the ground, eyes stripped of life. People, forced to scramble over his body, ducked their heads to avoid a similar fate. A line of Changlers stalked closely behind them, two pickups packed full of riflemen led the charge, ten armor-clad soldiers trailing alongside it like flies, while a third pickup followed as the caboose. Being much closer to the army truck then the others on the previous street, the Changlers needed a strong, outer defense in case of a potential attack from federal forces, who would do anything they could to get the truck out of the Changlers’ hands. This meant a large number of soldiers and trucks needed to form a defensive wall behind their heavy weapons, securing their prized possession. Their goal for today was simple: Make sure the public gets the message to Leave. Canterlot. City. Wasn’t that hard to understand.

The caboose car drove at an even pace behind the soldiers. A sniper and a soldier with an assault rifle in the back were hunched over so they could gain cover behind the short walls of the bed, guns drawn over the edge, ready for action. The man with the assault rifle on the left in particular was scanning for targets when he spotted something interesting.

“Come on Kettle!” A young boy shouted at his little sister, holding her arm in a vicelike grip while trying to run behind the truck. The little girl in question had a hard time catching up with her older brother, her small feet tripping and shuffling as she barely made it to his side. The sniper chuckled at the pathetic display, watching the small duos’ “attempt” to flee. Raising his rifle, he closed an eye and looked through the scope, aiming it square between them in a gap, debating which to shoot first. His mind then clicked as he picked his target.

Shifting the rifle to the left, he aimed it right at the boy’s skull, wanting to make it a clean, quick shot. She’d only get a little blood on her shirt, and maybe in her face.

Suddenly, a white blur flew in front of the two children, blocking them from his scope. Then the object sat up, and the Changler found himself looking at a VERY angry man staring right back at him through the scope. The man didn’t waste a second as he reared his right hand back and flung it forward with a yell.

The changler looked up from his scope with a yell of surprise clawing up his throat as bolt of lightning slammed into his face, sending him sailing into the air. Screaming in agony, the man’s body twitched uncontrollably from the painful surge of electricity, causing his fingers to wrap tightly around the trigger. Time slowed as everyone watched the screaming man fly above them as his rifle chaotically fired off rounds into the open air. Then his body slammed into the back of one of the pickups in front, crashing into the two snipers on the bed and breaking through the back window. His screaming ceased and his body went limp.

The Changlers cries of surprise could be heard as the driver abruptly stepped on the breaks, creating a loud SCREECH!

The other two cars pulled on the breaks themselves, confused and on high alert. Hopping out of the backseat, the two riflemen ushered over to the side of the car as the driver and passenger got out themselves, dazed and petrified. Many of the soldiers aimed their guns in the direction of the attacker, but found nothing but a destroyed road in their line of sight. “It’s the damn cops!” One shouted in anger and nervousness. Shortly after, the sniper that had been sitting next to the shot rifleman spoke up.

“I’m pretty sure cops don’t shoot electricity at their enemies.”

“Electricity? Are you seeing things?!” Another soldier snarked as the four terrorists from the truck pulled the dead rifleman out of the car. Dropping him roughly on the ground, they spared a look at his bloodied though visible face.

“Not bullet holes.” The driver stated in bewilderment.

“Then what just happened?” One of the snipers asked.

“Me.”

All heads turned to see a shock wave of electricity ram into them, knocking the soldiers off their feet as well as flipping over the caboose pickup, causing it to land onto the other two parked trucks, crushing them out of commission. Many of them fell onto the ground roughly, letting out choked gasps and hitched breaths. Before any of them could get to their feet, a swooshing sound was heard and a small ball of crackling electricity, roughly the size of two softballs, dropped to the ground in what could be considered the middle of their scattered state. For a second, nothing happened. Then it exploded.

Shards of electricity stabbed into them as a miniature shockwave blew the downed soldiers into the air, many of them hitting rough slabs of concrete that stopped their decent. For the soldiers who were spared from the grenade, either too far from it or took the least damage, they quickly got to their feet, ready to face the assailant.

What they got instead was a stream of bolts hitting them square in the chest, sinking through their bullet proof vests and frying their skin. While their cohorts wailed in pain, the free soldiers took aim at the enemy, only to be dumbstruck by what they saw.

It was a man their age, bald and wearing a bright, white t-shirt, with some kind of weird weapon hanging of his sling bag. But what dumbfounded them the most was the fact that he was the one shooting electricity at the Changlers. And not from any type of gun, but from his freaking HAND!

Shaking their heads, the soldiers decided to fix the situation exactly how they fixed all of their problems: by shooting it. Aiming straight at his head, the terrorists fired. However, their enemy seemed to already know of the coming attack, quickly ceasing his own attack and diving behind a destroyed car before the bullets could reach him.

Every soldier with a gun absolutely sprayed the downed car with every clip they could use, desperately hoping to shoot through it and hit their enemy. Just who did this joker think he was, attacking them?! the cops’ faces paled just at the sight of their flag, the public prayed to Faust whenever they heard the Changler name, the media announced their names all across the globe and the government considered them a THREAT! And this idiot decided to attack them of all people? Oh, they were going to have some fun with this guy after they caught him. Show him just exactly who they were and why he should fear them, make him BEG for mercy.

Then the man of the hour poked his head out and threw his hand forward, creating a giant ball of electricity and hurling it towards them. They didn’t have time to react before it crashed into them, the sheer power frying their outer bodies and insides to a crisp. Once again seeing their comrades knocked down, the few standing soldiers aimed at the car, preparing to fire. Suddenly, the car shifted, before lifting up in the air by an invisible force. As the car lifted up, they saw their enemy slowly appear from behind it, body crouched in a tense stance and hands raised to the sides with blue electricity dancing around them. Mouths gaped in shock as the car hovered above him, a power current flowing through the air and surging into the car, raising the hairs on their necks. Shifting their eyes down, they looked at him in terror. He smirked.

"Catch."

Then he thrusted his arms forward and their vision was filled with metal.
_________________
One block over. Three houses down from stolen army truck. Number of Changlers: 5 Pickup trucks, 40 ground soldiers, 1 army truck.

“You’re not going to win.” A beaten, yet defiant voice called out, an irritated groan followed.

“Do we REALLY have to keep these idiots’ prisoners? they’re just liabilities, ready to stab us in the back the moment they can.”

Five soldiers stood guard over a row of captives, police and citizen alike. Just minutes ago, the police had done everything they could to get the civilians to safety while distracting the army truck that clearly outmatched them. Their bullets produced the same amount of damage on the truck like an ant on a windshield, and shredded through their defensive barrier of cop cars like it was nothing. It didn’t take long before almost every cop on the field was either captured for ransom/target practice or KIA. So much for the distraction.

Sigh. “I thought we went over this, we may have an army truck, but the feds and cops have things that can take trucks like these down in a heartbeat. The only reason we won today was because we caught them off guard, they’ll be ready next time. So we interrogate the cops, hurt em’ a little, force them to show us where they’re keeping those kinds of tools so we can have an upper hand against them in case they try to take down our heavy weapons, then try and get our hands on more stuff like this.” A Changler whispered to his confused companion as he gestured to the lumbering army truck.

“Just look at what we did today. Imagine if we had a flock of these trucks, or shit, our very own tank! This town would be ours by noon.”

Just recently, the Changlers had strategically invaded a small town off to the far south, which was neighbored to a miniature army base. After a long struggle, the sheer numbers of the Changlers drove the army forces back, allowing the terrorist group to obtain a heavily weaponized army truck. Despite the terrorist’s complaints however, the higher ranks in the group made it official to never use the truck when they brought it back to the base, instead keeping it very hush, hush. That way, no one would truly know of their heavy arsenal, therefore stopping the target on their back from growing. Today however, they had planned to take the City of Canterlot by surprise and capture the law enforcement for info. And maybe a hint of ransom.

As many of the soldiers carried along behind the truck, shooting every person in their sight, they failed to notice a certain individual watching them from atop a building, glowering hatefully at them.

Having just recently woken up inside a strange place, next to a strange city called Canterlot city, Cole didn’t know what to expect. He needed, no, craved answers. So far, the information he had gotten was close to diddily squat, instead he just got looks of bewilderment and confusion.

However, his quest for answers had taken a nose dive out the window once the sound of gunfire and screams filled his ears. Immediately bolting into the city, what he saw horrified him. One street alone looked like something you’d see out of a movie. Bodies lying everywhere, dozens of people doubled over in pain, he was too late for this street, and by the sounds of it, his enemies where getting farther from him. Quickly healing whoever he could, Cole sprinted towards the fray, climbing up a tall building to get a look at his surroundings. Easily finding the attackers from the extensive firing, he made his way towards them in a hurry. His anger bubbling up to the boiling point each time he saw a downed civilian.

Oh, how he absolutely HATED people like this. The ones who lived for carnage, the ones who thought they live above the rules. The ones who made innocents’ lives horrible because they themselves were too USELESS to do ANYTHING remotely productive with their own lives. Images of Bertrand, Alden Tate and Sasha filled his mind, causing his fists to clench with sharp sparks poking everywhere.

Somehow, the RFI hadn’t decreased his powers like he feared. Instead, unlike his first fight with the Beast, which had depleted his powers, he found that all of his previous powers had stayed within him, making it much easier for him. But how that was possible? Not that he was complaining of course, he just wanted at least some kind of answer for today. A loud explosion was set off as the army truck blow up a car with it’s barrage of bullets, lighting a portion of the street with a hellish orange. “Yet another question for later” he thought. Back to the matter at hand.

They had weapons no one like them should ever have, hunting down people like common game. For some people he stopped to heal, he noticed that many of their wounds were in spots that would cripple them for life.

These clowns wanted to play dirty? Challenge excepted.

Time to introduce himself.

As the Changler soldiers kept their pace, the army truck lumbered a far way ahead of them, shooting whatever and whoever it wanted. Suddenly, a shadow had cast over a group of five soldiers. Turning their heads up, their eyes widened in shock as a flaming SUV came hurling out of the sky and barreled towards them.

“HOLY SHI-“

BOOM!

An ear-piercing explosion ripped through the atmosphere as metal chunks of car flew sky high, crashing down on the street below. Not a second later, two balls of electricity rammed into a Changler pickup truck, blue light dancing around it and frying the passengers into unconsciousness. Soon, a cluster of softball sized grenades sprayed all around the soldiers’ feet.

“Move!”

Jumping to the sides, many soldiers managed to escape to explosives, as their unluckier comrades flew shrieking overhead. Shifting to their feet, they aimed their guns in all directions, eyes widened and minds alert. Suddenly, a barrage of bolts rained from the sky, aiming straight at one of the pickups that moved behind the army vehicle. The snipers in the back ducked their heads and jumped out as bolts pelted the car, causing the metal to dent and the glass to crack. As the passengers practically clawed their way out of their seat belts, the lethal electrical current seeping through the metal beams of the car and making its way to the stereo and battery. Black smoke billowed out of the hood as the stereo crackled and popped with burning hot sparks, the dents on the truck crushing the beams on top of the doors, making it almost impossible to get out. The driver began banging profusely against the car door, nearly on the verge of full-blown panic at the sight of the electrical current visibly stabbing into everything it could. On occasion, he felt the stinging, needle-like pain of the current as it phased through his body, causing him to flinch and twitch whenever he felt it.

POP!

Whirling his head around in a mix of confusion and horror, he turned just in time to have the stereo explode in his face, causing him to fly back into his seat with a yelp. Rubbing the debris from his eyes, he blinked hard before his whole world started to shake. The engine rumbled and groaned as its life began to fade.

“Ah, fuck me.” The man mumbled just before everything exploded in his face

The bolts ceased as the pickup and its passengers were reduced to nothing, now focusing on the second pickup’s snipers. All soldiers on the ground began shooting aimlessly at the direction of the enemy fire, shouts from their commander telling them to flank the building and stop whoever it was from firing/finding a way to escape. Soon, the snipers fell off the bed and onto the ground, defeated, and the pickups’ engine fried to a crisp not long after.

The Changlers up ahead had heard the commotion and where rushing like crazy towards their comrades, weapons at the ready. By now, twenty terrorists began firing at the rooftop of the building where their supposed attacker was, while ten more soldiers busted through the building’s windows and ran frantically up the stairs to the roof. Eager to meet this guy in person.

Throwing two grenades off the edge, Cole waited for a moment before the satisfying sounds of soldiers shrieking in surprise followed by two explosions ripped through the air. His previous spot on the ledge was currently being torn to pieces by gunfire, as more and more soldiers piled up on his doorstep. He also caught wind of other soldiers making their way to his location through the building underneath him, and probably up to the roof on the building’s opposite to him. Either way, he needed a new hiding spot, and fast; Besides, he could feel the power inside him start to drain, and there wasn’t a fan or electrical outlet on the roof he could recharge with. Turning his head to the side, his eyes landed on the door leading out onto the roof, with his electro-sense he could tell those pricks were getting closer, as if their heavy ass boots stomping on the stairs wasn’t proof enough. Seriously, how did these guys even move around?!

Tossing another grenade off the ledge for good measure, he walked over to the door, standing about 8 feet away from it with his neutral scowl. Suddenly, the door was kicked open as ten soldiers burst through the door, guns raised and murder beaming in their eyes. Swarming into a cluster right in front of the door, the soldiers narrowed their eyes at him while aiming at Cole’s heart. One man who was in the front of the line aimed straight at his enemies’ head with a crazed grin, ready to pull the trigger; however, instead of looking afraid, the bald man smirked before raising a finger and pointing at something behind them. Confused, he turned his head around to see six crackling, sparking balls of electricity sticking to the concrete wall around the door. The balls exploded, their power and force sending all the soldiers rocketing towards the edge of the roof. ducking underneath them, Cole watched as they flew over him and fell onto their comrades on the street below. “Have a nice flight!’’ he quipped.

Okay, NOW he was really drained. Not wasting any time, he bolted over to a neighboring roof on his right, easily skimming over the gap between buildings. Barrel rolling to his feet, he beelined towards a fan and brought his hands forward. Just like before, a massive stream of electricity shot through the fan like a rocket and slammed into his chest. Feeling the electricity surge through his body, giving him more power, Cole smiled as he quickly recharged for battle. After all the electricity sucked out of the fan, Cole relaxed his arms with a sigh.

Suddenly he was knocked clean off his feet when an explosion set off right behind him. Flailing his arms, Cole flew right over the fan and landed on the opposite side of it, just two inches from the edge. Of course, the explosion didn’t cause him any truly serious damage, his supernatural healing factor being able to dish it out tremendously, but that certainly didn’t mean it hadn’t hurt. Plus, the sheer surprise of the attack was enough for him to be overtaken by the shock wave.

*Cough* “ugh, that’s gonna cost you.” The man growled as he rose to his feet.

Shaking his hands because of the sharp scrapes on his arms, he looked behind him just in time to see two oval-shaped objects get thrown from the opposite edge and land on the roof. Grenades. Whipping around, Cole hopped over the edge next to him without a second thought. Unfortunately, although the edge he jumped off of led to an alley, it was too wide of a space, so his raised hands could only grip onto a window ledge of the building behind the one he was previously on. But instead of climbing the building, he let go of the ledge and fell to the ground with a THUD! Soon as he hit the ground, he flew over to the building to the right of the one he jumped off of.

Although he was strong, there was no possible way he could take them all on ground level. They had the advantage in both numbers and probably experience considering they somehow had high tech military-grade weapons. The only reason he had been able to take down so many of them thus far, was because just like they did with the civilians, he had managed to catch them off guard. He focused most of his attention on the pickup trucks, as knocking those out first would decrease most of their heavy firepower. Sure, he may have had SOME fun with the soldiers, but the pickups were top on his hit list. He needed to be smart about this; After he was done with the soldiers and their pickups, he planned to go after the army truck, knowing that if he attacked the truck first, he’d be pelted with enemy fire, and some of the soldiers would find the opportunity to run. No, Cole wanted to make sure ALL of these bastards where caught. After his ten, long, grueling months of being a conduit, Cole had learned both the easy and the hard way that in order to achieve victory, you couldn’t always face an enemy head on. You needed to peel back their layers, one at a time.

“He’s over here!!”

Cole didn’t even turn his head when about sixteen terrorists rounded a corner with their guns trained on him. Ducking behind a dumpster for cover, he felt the metal trash bin shift and shake by the barrage of bullets that slammed into it. Throwing his hand out, he tossed a rocket of electricity at them. Not to take them all down, but to at least distract them. As the massive ball of pure energy slammed into them, Cole flipped around and jumped onto a metal pipe sprouting out of the concrete back wall of the building.

One of the downed soldiers coughed violently into his fist after the unexpected attack and shakily rose to his feet, sparks of electricity dancing all around his vest and legs. Lifting his rifle off the ground, he aimed it back at the dumpster and prepared to set off another round.

As he prepared to pull the trigger, sprays of concrete and brick fell out alongside the wall from far above his sight and banged onto the dumpster the assailant was hiding behind. Normally, the Changler wouldn’t be bothered by this, knowing better than to be distracted by such insignificance when an enemy was present, if he had not heard a faint “Oof!” come from up above. Confused, the soldier lifted his head up to see what the source of the voice was, only to raise his eyebrows at what he saw.

With grace that would make a mountain goat proud, the Changler watched as the assailant scaled the wall of the building with record speed. Each time he grabbed onto a pipe, crack or window ledge, the man hoisted himself up and easily snagged onto the next ledge without a moment’s hesitation. Mouth gaping and eyebrows still raised, the soldier stood stock still as all his knowledge of logic snapped out of existence; first, this guy attacks them with a somehow unlimited supply of electricity (which came from his body, what the f-). Second, considering he hadn’t seen any of the ten soldiers that tried to take this guy out on the rooftop, he deduced this guy must have downright destroyed about 19 of their best men on this street alone. The bastard was probably the reason why their forces on the previous blocks hadn’t said anything in a while. Now to add to his list, the guy can climb buildings like freaking Spidermane. His stomach churned as he watched the man climb higher, the Changlers were powerful people, they held the cops under their heals like insignificant insects. But after only knowing this new guy for only a few minutes, watching firsthand how he could take down a large portion of them like it was a cakewalk, he couldn’t help but question the Changlers’ power and capability.

Who or what were they fighting exactly?

His musings were cut short when a soldier to the left of him fired at the still climbing hero, his gunshots ringing in the worried Changler’s ear.

Cole moved his hand out of the way just in time for a bullet to penetrate the window ledge he had just grabbed. Taking this as a sign to m a b y e move a bit faster, Cole quickened his pace as the loud PLINKS of bullets penetrating the wall around him got closer with every shot. Some bullets managed to hit his side and back, causing Cole to grip the ledges tighter in pain at the unwelcome contact. Like his ability to fall from great heights and not even feel sprained, Cole’s special healing factor allowed him to toughen out a barrage of bullets like he was being belted with BBs, with a considerable amount of natural, self-healing electricity in your body, it takes quite a hit to knock someone down. But everything has its limit, and his superhuman body could only take so much damage all at once.

Flipping his body over the top on the roof and escaping enemy fire, Cole instantly ran to the other side of the building, facing the street. The army truck was still shooting all it could see, oblivious to the ruckus behind it, while the last three pickups followed behind it like pilot fish trailing a shark. Ignoring the shouts of profanity towards his direction from the ground soldiers, he raised his hands and shot a massive barrage of bolts towards one of the truck’s engine, causing the car to screech to a halt in surprise. As his bolts never ceased their attack, and the occupants of all the car scrambled out, Cole couldn’t help but chuckle at the sight. Nothing looked more hilarious than a squad of blood thirsty freaking out about why their car was being viciously attacked by electricity in the distance. He could almost hear them screeching about their buffed-out ride being destroyed.

Soon the car’s engine gave in and exploded in fire and electricity, sending the hood flying to the far off reaches of the galaxy. As the soldiers flew back from the impact of the explosion, Cole aimed his hand just an inch to the left, thrusted it back, and tossed a rocket towards the second pickup which was behind the first. Once the ball of pure power slammed into the small truck, it skidded across the pavement and crashed into the third pickup riding alongside it.

Just as planned.

Cole grinned as he fired three more rockets at the messed-up vehicles, knocking them further and further to the side as the drivers wailed pathetically when seeing their already downed vehicles get blasted to kingdom come. When the third rocket hit, it pushed the cars into a large, glass window of a store, rendering them unusable. As the stuck cars smoked and popped, the drivers ran over to try and get their supplies, only to have another rocket blast into their backs from behind them. Watching them all fall to the ground in a clump, Cole flexed his fingers. Now that all the pickups were out of the way, he only had a few things to deal with now.

A bullet whizzed by his face as the screams of the ground soldiers filled his ears once more. Peering over the edge, he saw that all 40 Changlers on the street had absolutely crowded around the entire perimeter of his building, generals barking orders to privates, telling them to find some way, ANY way, to get to the roof and unload every clip they had on him, considering the roof he was on had no door, and the outside staircase was broken. No doubt they saw him destroy their last three pickups just now, making them either desperate or down right pissed. hell, some of the soldiers were practically clawing their way up the walls of the building, roaring in outrage whenever they failed to hold tight on a ledge, leading them to fall comically onto their allies.

Flipping a hand, he tossed about ten grenades onto the soldiers below; Widening their eyes, they tried to give the command to run when all of the grenades simultaneously exploded. Each miniature explosion rocketed multiple soldiers in random directions, screaming in fear and rage along the way. Tossing another hand full of grenades down below, Cole watched as the cluster of men tried to scatter, only to have the grenades somehow attach themselves onto the men. Shrieking in surprise, the soldiers batted wildly at the balls of electricity that stuck to their arms and backs, but could do nothing as the grenades exploded in their faces.

Twelve down, twenty-eight to go. He counted in his mind. He tossed another rocket of electricity down below, this one breaking into three separate pieces and attaching to more soldiers, who once again were sent flying into each other. Taking this distraction as an advantage, Cole dove over the edge, hanging onto it in a vicelike grip, and shot forth a barrage of sticky rockets onto the Changlers, knocking them down one by one. That's five more

Suddenly, about five bullets pierced through his sling bag and into his skin, causing him to flinch. Pulling himself up, he was prepared to drain more energy when he found out there was none. Of course. Looking to his left, he saw that the army vehicle was getting further away from him. He needed to deal with these soldiers fast. He tossed to more grenade down onto the furious men, though this grenade was smaller. Nevertheless, the men ran in all directions before it even made landfall. But to their surprise, the crackling ball of electricity didn’t explode in it’s designated blast time, instead it just sat on the ground, it even appeared to shrink in on itself.

Feeling brave mixed in with smugness, a large number of the Changlers walked over to the ball with cruel smirks, some even chuckling at the pathetic little display. So, this guy wasn’t all powerful. One soldier in particular got the gall to look up at Cole’s imposing figure and thrust out his favorite finger, yelling up at him.

“HEY FREAK! NICE DUD!”

Many of his cohorts laughed along with him, ignoring their more alert companions’ shouts at them to get away. Unbeknownst to the laughing terrorists, the crackling ball did indeed continue to get smaller, but as it did, its original smooth shape started to deteriorate, becoming sharp and jagged. The ball spiked and fizzed as knifelike points rippled around it’s body like a soundwave on a computer.

Still laughing hysterically, the Changler who spoke up looked one more time at the ball of electricity before preparing to shoot back at Cole. But something stopped him short: The ball had ceased shrinking, the only movement that came from it now was the honestly, worrying increase of fizzing and spiking it was making.

Before he could speak his concerns however, the ball detonated into a flash of blinding light! Shooting back in surprise and pain, the terrorist instantly brought his hands to his face in order to shield himself from the shockwave and closed his eyes. all he could hear was the screams of both the explosion, the wind and his comrades digging into his eardrums, followed by an immense amount of pain. The sheer power from the grenade hurt like nothing he had ever felt before, the electricity burned clear through his hands and onto his face, it felt as though a million white hot needles were slicing all over him, like they were building the world’s most chaotic quilt. Somehow, the electrical current had found it’s way inside his body, and squeezed his insides together like a black hole, making it painful to breathe. However, this particular explosion felt off.

Something was missing. The one thing he didn’t feel, yet expected to, was the feeling of free flying through the air; Instead, even through all the pain and ringing in his ears, he felt like he hadn’t moved from his spot at all.

Just as soon as it came, the explosion dissipated and the wind stopped. The air felt hot and metallic as he blinked his eyes, hands still covering his face. At least, that’s what he thought he was doing. His vision was blurred like a bitch. Pain still surged through his every being, plus from his waist down he felt surprisingly numb. Luckily, his vision seemed to clear rather quickly. Shifting his hands down, he looked around at the damage. As it turned out, his suspicion from earlier proved correct, as he had indeed not moved an inch from his previous spot, still standing at full height. Looking around, he saw that he was not the only one. A handful of his friends were also standing, shock and pain clearly evident on their face from what just happened. At first, he thought the grenade was exactly what it looked like before, a dud. However, he saw that many of his allies who were far enough from the center had been knocked back a couple feet and were in the process of getting back up.

So the grenade wasn’t a dud, as it had clearly knocked down a bunch of people onto the floor, so, why were they, the guys at the center of the blast, able to stand like nothing happened. Turning to the right, he saw his assault rifle scattered on the floor at a 240-degree angle from him back when he dropped it. Oh right. The bald bastard on the roof. The pain in his body was shoved aside as fury made its way to the console, he was going to make that guy pay.

Bending over to reach his weapon, he tried to grab the handle before his entire body was halted.

He wasn’t being held back by anyone, because he didn’t feel any arms grab onto him, his body just, stopped going forward. Furrowing his brows, he lifted his chest up and brought his hands to the sides, his eyes skimming across his surroundings. okay, did that just happen, or was he just extremely dazed from the grenade earlier? Turning his head down, his eyes once again laid on his gun sitting on the floor in front of him. Greedily gleaming his teeth, he hastily made his deduction: Dazed by the grenade. Bending his top half over to grab the weapon again, he got a mere five inches before his body jerked to a stop for the second time.

If he didn’t know any better, he’d swear it was his waist that hadn’t moved from it’s spot. Come to think of it, he hadn’t felt anything from his waist down since the explosion, it was like he had gone completely numb.

“Holy shit.”

The blatant statement caught the attention of the man, causing him to turn his head around. The source of the voice, another Changler who was in the epicenter of the blast and, just like him, was somehow still able to stand up, had his eyes staring in pure horror at something on the other man’s waist.

Fed up with all of this nonsense, the Changler finally decided to look down and see just what in the world was wrong with him.

At first, he thought he was seeing things, hoping he was scatterbrained from the attack from earlier.

His entire body from waist down was coated in jagged, crystal-like, rock solid ice; And it was gradually clawing it’s way up his body like a blanket. A nerve-numbing blanket.

“Sweet Faust!” He screamed as he reached out for the others. But they were too busy dealing with their own icy prisons. Soon, the Changler could do nothing as his entire body was turned into a massive ice block amongst his friends, once soldiers, now merely sidewalk decorations.

That’s seven. Twenty-four down, sixteen to go.

Tossing another Ice grenade onto the distracted and freaked-out mercenaries below, Cole watched as half a handful of soldiers couldn’t get out of the way as the grenade landed and exploded, freezing them in place. Not as many soldiers were downed as he had hoped, but Cole could work with it. Now that a massive portion of the soldiers were down, he could finally fight on ground level.

Faster than the eye could blink, Cole jumped off the roof of the building, blue electricity crackling under his feet as he scrunched up in a ball. Raising both fists into the air, he smiled as his enemies’ eyes widened in terror at the oncoming human missile.

BOOM!

People, cars, concrete and Changler ice cycles alike flew into the air as the man landed onto the street below with enough force to crush a car into pizza, sending out a massive, electrical shockwave that stretched for twenty feet!

Crouching on his knee in a classic hero stance, Cole lifted his head up slowly as the soldiers got back on their feet, gripping onto large slabs of debris and destroyed cars to help hoist themselves up. Getting up to his feet, Cole simply waited for his enemies to assert themselves, standing tall and opposing when they started to notice them.

Soon, the street became quiet, the sounds of the army torrent, screaming civilians and what was left of police fire fading into the background. Until all the last fourteen men could focus on was each other.

The Changlers: a militia group who constantly terrorized the city of Canterlot for years, tore the police down to the bone and took pride as well as enjoyment in hunting down innocent people just to see them suffer.

And the new comer: A single man who, in a span of one hour, had managed to completely humiliate and destroy a large fraction of the Changler army and a flawless, strategical plan that had taken over three, brutal months to accomplish.

No harsh words were said however, as they continued to stare at each other. They instead communicated with their eyes alone, sending a message to each other that was as clear as day. They just wanted the other gone.

Guns slowly started to raise as electricity swiveled around a strong arm, trigger ready at any moment.

Then all hell broke loose. In a blur, Cole shot forth his hand and blasted one man back with a massive strike of lightning, as the others fired a spray of bullets into the hero’s chest. Yelping in pain, Cole stopped his attack and dove behind a car in front of him, hand raise for protective measures as his chest quickly healed. Bullets plinked the hood of the car as the soldiers themselves hid in order to reload.

In a few seconds, his wounds were healed, making him ready to get back into the fray. Standing up, he thrusted both of his arms out, creating a massive shockwave that hurled the burnt car over to the enemy’s direction. Screams could be made out as the object exploded into them, easily getting rid of two soldiers in the process.

Bolting ahead, he ran towards a couple of soldiers who were trying their earnest to sit up. Bringing his leg back, his foot crackled with blue energy before his slammed it into one of the soldier’s right kidney, who let out a pained yelp before limply falling back onto the ground, defeated. Seeing another soldier ahead of them both trying to get up as well, Cole shot forth a barrage of bolts in his direction, pelting the smaller man with rapid force. Roaring in fury and pain, the soldier could do nothing as every time he managed to force himself up through all the firing bolts, it kept managing to pin him back down.

Finally, all strength left the poor soldier, dropping back down on his stomach, defeated. Immediately ceasing his attack, Cole whipped around just in time to see a butt of a rifle slam into his face.

“Urgh!” Cole growled as he stumbled back in surprise, followed by a spray of bullets penetrating his exposed chest. Lifting a hand up, he shot forth a rocket which broke into three pieces midair and magnetized to his previous assailant. As his opponent chaotically bounced around in all directions from the three bullets exploding at different times, Cole saw four other soldiers quickly hide behind a downed bus to reload, while the other four soldiers tried to distract him.

Quickly tossing two grenades at the “distraction”, Cole made his way towards the reloading terrorists, climbing on top of the bus and tossing two freeze grenades right on their heads. Bullets whizzed by his ears as the last four soldiers shouted a war cry and ran full speed ahead towards him. Hopping off the bus, Cole started to calmly walk towards their direction as well, before slowly descending into a run, electricity crackling in his hands. Raising their guns, the Changlers fired more rounds at their enemy, who just ignored the pain in his chest and kept his pace. One of the four men felt intimidated by his enemy’s even pace, and halted to a stop, his allies however, were too deep in their fury to feel anything else. Closer and closer the men got, until they were barely two feet from each other, until suddenly, Cole shot forth a hand and out of nowhere, a wall of ice spikes seemed to materialize in thin air. Then he brought forth both his hands, and a shockwave was sent out with a massive amount of force, pushing the ice spikes along with it. The Changlers didn’t have enough time to register what had happened before the spikes imbedded themselves into the small men, sending them spinning in the air and landing on the ground in a heap.

All was quiet as Cole bent over on one knee, panting heavily. Not too drained, but definitely in pain.

“In all my years.”

Turning his head up, he saw the last Changler on the street, the one who had stopped running towards him, staring at the hero in contempt and disgust.

“I have served the Changler army and it’s leader for years, committing countless crimes. Bloodshed, torture, vandalism. Which I have truthfully enjoyed and have never before been stopped along with the rest of my friends.”

Glaring at the hero, he spoke in a venomous whisper.

“And I won’t ever be stopped. Not now. Not ever. And sure as Tarturas…”

Dropping his gun, he slowly reached for something clasped to his thigh.

“…not by some freak who doesn’t know his place.”

He pulled out a large, gleaming machete and waved it in front of his face, a look of sadistic glee growing on him. Still staring at each other, both were silent before Cole broke the tension. Chuckling, the conduit rose to his feet and put his hands on his hips, smiling. His enemy raised an eyebrow before asking dangerously. “Something funny?”

His chuckling died down as he stared right into the Changler’s eyes, smirking at the smaller man.

“You really think you’re special? Charmed by power, driven mad by it...”

Lifting an arm up, Cole reached behind him and wrapped his fingers around the handle of his Amp, smirk never leaving. ”...chumps like you are a dime a dozen.” Pulling it out, the Amp started to glisten as electricity sparked through the rubber handle and tip-wired in between the two spokes that stored the power. Staring in awe at the weapon, the Changler’s hand shook before shaking his head to clear his thoughts. Screaming in rage, the Changler lifted his own weapon and charged towards the hero, who copied his movements.

Once they were close enough, the smaller men swung a calculated strike at Cole’s upper left rib, right underneath his armpit. However, Cole smacked the opposing hand away and headbutted harshly into his opponents’ forehead, who stumbled back in pain. Using his other hand, Cole threw the Amp towards the Changler’s temple, but only hit air when the smaller man ducked out of the way. Kicking the taller hero in the stomach to give himself room, he brought his machete up and jammed it towards Cole’s lower intestines. Only to have his wrist locked in a steel grip just inches from his enemy’s stomach. Widening his eyes in horror, he saw that Cole had easily righted himself from the attack and quickly seized the Changlers hand with his free arm.

Suddenly, blue electricity sparked out of Cole’s chest and snaked it’s way down his arm, going straight towards his hold on the soldiers wrist.

Shrieking in pain, the soldier released his weapon as the electricity made its way through Cole’s hand and into his arm, the current going straight for the metal machete. As soon as the electricity made contact with the weapon, it spiderwebbed everywhere, causing the blade and handle to be searing to the touch.

With his weapon out of commission, the hero pulled his own weapon back before jamming it’s spokes into the goon’s chest and stomach. The electricity stored inside it shot out the two spokes like missiles, knocking the opponent on his back, down for the count.

Groaning, the Changler laid in pain as his insides felt like they were being burnt alive. Suddenly, a weight was pressed onto his chest followed by his arms moving on their own, off his stomach and magnetizing to the floor. Widening his eyes, his head whipped to the side to see just what this guy had done to him now. A blue, half ring had encased his wrist, the other half imbedded into the ground, holding him firm in place. Turning to the other side, he saw that both his wrists had the rings clamped onto them, the bastard had cuffed him! Shifting his feet, he tried to struggle and kick, only to feel the exact same tight clamps on his legs. A sense of panic started setting in, so he tensed his muscles and pulled his arms with all his might, hoping to break through the cuffs. As he shifted his chest and shoulders, spouts of profanity coming out of his mouth, Cole simply watched in slight amusement. It was no use, try as he might, the cuffs were quite literally ‘set in stone’, he was completely held in place.

A shadow started to engulf around his body, completely blocking out the sun. Looking up, he saw none other than Cole looming over him, a dark scowl crossing his features. Without warning, he slammed his foot onto the other man’s chest, causing him to let out a choked yelp of pain, electricity streaming along his pants leg and stinging the terrorist’s body. Bending his upper body over, Cole got close to the latter’s face, eyes boring into one another. All sense of bravery and courage blew out of the terrorist like a candle once he looked into Cole’s eyes, the blue electricity crackling in his hand sparked as he spoke in a deadly whisper.

“Question and answer time pal.”

BOOM!

Shifting his attention from the trapped Changler, Cole turned around to see the army truck destroy a car, shredding it to pieces. The Changler could wait. Without even looking back, Cole thrusted his amp behind him and smacked it into his enemy’s head, knocking him out cold. Sheathing the weapon back in place on his bag, Cole immediately ran to the building he jumped off of.

____
One house away from stolen army vehicle. Number of Changlers: 1 army truck

Hopping over the ledge that separated his building from the next, Cole sprinted across the rooftops, getting closer to the army truck with every roof he scaled across. Though some rooftops where higher than others, he had no problem climbing up the walls of the buildings and reaching the roof.

Cole continued to hop and jump over ledges and alleys as he got closer to the car. It definitely was high grade military material, it’s massive, bulky form easily towering over the smaller cars on the street. Just being twenty feet away from it, he could feel the gunshots from it let out mini shockwaves that pierced through his chest and damage his ears. It wasn’t going to go down easily.

Stopping on a rooftop that was right beside the truck, Cole jumped behind a decretive stone slab and examined his target. Purely rectangular in shape, it’s entire vomit green body sported a ridiculously thick, bullet-proof outer shell that could wade through the hottest of fires and crumble enemy bullets to dust. It’s massive wheels taller than a household dresser and thicker than boulder simply walked over random cars, turning them into a fine imprint of the road. Even the windows were a force to be reckoned with, just by looking at it from afar, Cole could see that the interior was heavily guarded by an immensely thick layer of bullet-proof glass. And finally, his eyes trailed to the machine torrent that was mounted atop the sleek vehicle.

Considering the torrent was the main focus of the car, it was also guarded from probable danger, though not as heavily armored as the rest of the car considering its more fragile body. A layer of thinner metal sprouted from the roof of the car and covered the gun’s entire body in a rotatable boxlike cage, with the end of the barrel poking out through a tiny hole in the front.

Basically, his bolts would only dissipate once it touched the armor, it’s bulky surface far beyond capable to withstand them. the most damage he’d do to it is bubble the paint.

Another plan of attack was to try and drain the battery, rendering the vehicle motionless and open for attack. After all, that way the thickness of the car’s armor didn’t matter; If he got close enough, he could drain every inch of power from the battery regardless of the armor.

Looking at the car and the street around it, Cole quickly calculated his route and plan before springing into action.

Allowing the truck to lumber just a few inches further, Cole waited until it was close yet far enough not to notice him before hoisting himself over the decretive concrete slab and falling to the street below. As soon as he landed, he instinctively dived behind a car so he wouldn’t get spotted. Peeking through the window, he watched as the truck calmly made it’s way through the street, ignoring everything except the victims it saw in the front window. The drivers didn’t know in the slightest their supposed impenetrable backup had been dealt with. Good, better make this fast.

Running to the left of the car, Cole beelined for the trunk of the vehicle, ducking and weaving behind any kind of debris he could incase the drivers somehow found out of his presence and aimed the torrent in his direction. Luckily, that never seemed to be the case, as he soon found himself just one foot away from the truck. Tensing his muscles once again, he lifted his hands in the air, commanding the electricity to forfeit itself from it’s current host.

Not even the truck’s heavy armor could shield in the electricity as it seeped out of the trunk and into Cole’s hands, powering him up even more. From every wire and fan inside the interior of the vehicle, blue electricity poured out of them and phased through any solid obstacle in their way, slowly but surely draining the car’s power. The muffled sounds of powering down fans and dry gears could be heard as the already slow car started to decrease its pace, soon pulling to a stop. Grinning, he jumped onto the car, grabbing onto a makeshift ladder and climbed up the sides. Reaching the top of the car, he started searching for any supposed weak points, all the while ducking his head from the torrent; This thing didn’t even have a door, how did the soldiers get in?

After a moment of searching, he saw a handle sprouting out of a corner on the roof. Running over to it, he started to see the form of a latch leading into the interior. Perfect. Immediately, he grabbed onto the metal bar and started pulling with all his might, electricity surging through his arms in hopes of helping him open it. However, the latch wouldn’t budge in the slightest, probably heavily sealed from the inside, it was like trying to pull a boulder out of the ground with just his bare hands. The latch didn’t even make a sound.

Cole’s entire world suddenly went sideways as his right side felt like it exploded. Flying off the car and back onto the street, Cole tumbled onto the ground as his injury started to burn like acid. His rolling came to a stop once he rammed into a downed street pole, causing him to groan in pain as he lifted himself up. Every second that ticked by, the burning in his side grew and spread like a spiderweb, making it hard to stand up. Placing a shaky hand on his side, he felt a wet substance on his palm, encouraging him to bring it back up to his face to inspect. Crimson red stained his entire hand. Confusion etched across his features before the ground around his feet shattered like glass, concrete and granite flying in shreds, causing him to hop and jump; Twisting to the side, Cole hid behind the corner of an alleyway as the torrent continued firing in his direction.

Apparently, somewhere hidden on the cage housing the gun was a surveillance camera, installed for scoping out the field more efficiently when the drivers could not. Obviously, the soldiers inside had felt their armored weapon cease function when the battery drained, making them nervous as well as highly alert for anything out of the ordinary. After all, it wasn’t a normal occurrence for such a war-ready weapon to run out of power just like that; Either something was jacked up in the inside mechanics, or someone had screwed with their weaponry. Soon after, they heard loud clanging and bumping sounds up above them, as if someone were walking on the cars’ roof.

So imagine their surprise when their camera had picked up movement just outside the latch and saw a person trying to forcefully open the latch to get inside. If this guy wanted to get up close and personal, then who were they to disappoint him? Unleashing their torrent right in the man’s kidney, they expected the camera to be coated in gore and entrails, but instead got the view of the man being flown off the car with thankfully only a handful amount of blood covering the car. What caught their attention however, was that after their enemy had been shot point blank with a bullet powerful enough to shred through bone in the blink of an eye and had fallen, rather roughly, onto the street below, he tumbled and rolled for quite a distance immediately began to right himself.

To say that made them nervous was an understatement, nobody should have survived a hit like that, not even with a bullet-proof vest, or any type of gear and certainly not at such a close range! Yet, here was this guy, no type of protection guarding his body. Only a t-shirt, plain pants and a bag with something hanging off the back of it. If they didn’t know any better, without the weapon they’d say he was some everyday citizen.

“Ow.” Cole growled as he rubbed his bloodied side. Well, the shirt was bloodied, his healing factor had already gotten to work on his injured side, which was almost fully healed, but it still hurt like hell. Ok, so there were a few unseen snags in his plan, they had a way to see him, that much was obvious. But did they already know he was coming for them? Did they allow him to gain a false sense of security so when he was able to climb onto the car, they planned to ambush him? Either way, these guys were more prepared than he gave them credit for. Time for a new plan.

The bullets kept spraying the alleyway entrance, blocking any route to the street ahead, not that he wanted to go out there; Turning around, he latched onto a window seal and began his climb up the building, reaching the top in a matter of seconds. As soon as he did, the conduit sneaked over to the edge, hoping not to be seen, and once again surveyed the vehicle. The tip of the barrel ceased it’s firing and was searching the area around it, scanning for any sign of Cole, too bad it didn’t have the option to look up. Trailing his eyes over the vehicle one more time, he quickly formed another plan and immediately jumped off the roof and back into the fray. This time, both of his hands were engulfed in a covering of blue electricity, which he raised to the sides in a pouncing like manner, a mist of blue streaming out of his palms. For a second, his body rose about one full foot in the air, before steadily gliding back down to earth, except his landing spot wasn’t the street. Planting his feet on the torrents’ cage with a ‘THUD!’, he immediately crouched down and clung to the sides of it so he wouldn’t slip.

flipping his legs off the metal box, he stood up right beside the torrent in anticipation, his plan highly depending on this single step; The soldiers below had heard his rough arrival and had begun to panic, manually shifting the torrent around in a full 180 degree in hopes of finding him. As the gun turned around towards his direction, Cole waited for the barrel of the gun to appear in his view before lunging forward. Wrapping both his hands around the barrel in a steel grip, he unleashed a mad stream of electricity down his arms and into his target, the blue energy tightly wrapping around the barrel, bleeding into the cage and, though not visible but clearly audible, burning into the guns’ full body. It didn’t take long until the barrel melted into playdough his hands and the rest of the torrent from inside the little cage exploded, metal shrapnel clanging all inside it and orange fire visibly igniting from the small opening. Muffled shrieks of surprise and terrified confusion could be heard from below as Cole reviled in his victory, now there was only a few more things to do.

Walking over to the latch, he steadily unsheathed his amp, which began crackling with heavenly blueish white energy, and placed it firmly in his hands. Bringing it back with a hitched breath, he tensed up before ramming the spokes underneath the latch’s handle, stopping when they were halfway in. Then, shifting his hands into a defensive position, he started pulling the Amp towards him with all his might, all of his internal power housing into the spokes and dripping into the latch, practically burning the mechanical locks from inside to ash. Channeling as much power as he could into the Amp, he strained every part of his body as he pulled hard on it’s handle, he could hear the latch creak and groan. Then, with one final, HARD tug, the locks underneath exploded and the latch opened up, causing Cole to fly back in surprise!

“Alright you damn freak, you want to come get me, well here I am!” a gravely voice screamed as a gun poked out of the latch. The person holding the weapon, the Changler torrent gunner, narrowed his eyes dangerously as he slowly climbed out of the car with a bazooka. But when he fully rose out of the car, he found the roof to be completely clear, the street all around him seemed to be empty as well. Although, it was a little hard to see right beside the car because of all the dust and dirt it threw in the air from the raid. Turning around to check the torrent, his heart nearly stopped; The barrel had been practically melted right off it’s body, now just a pathetic stain on the roof. He didn’t even need to check the rest of the gun, orange flames licked the opening of the metal box, obviously a sign that the weapon was done for. Gulping nervously, he scooted his feet along the smooth surface and aimed his weapon ahead of him, slowly creeping towards the left side of the truck to see if the other man was hiding beside it.

As he was checking the left side, he failed to notice Cole exit an alley way from behind him and quietly sneak his way up the car. Lifting himself up over the roof, Cole now stood at full height behind the man, unnoticed. Before he made his move on the other however, Cole quickly checked the latch which was still wide open, looking for whoever else was hiding in the car that he didn’t know of. An equally rough voice called out from within the truck, underneath the frontal side of the car near the window.

“Is he there Illa?”

The soldier wielding the bazooka shouted back over his shoulder.

“No, bastard must be hiding somewhere!”

Before he could say another word, a shockwave collided into his back, sending him into the street battered and bruised. Whipping his head in the direction of the latch, he saw three other Changlers trying to scramble up the ladder with all kinds of guns strapped to their backs immediately after hearing the ruckus up above. With quick reflexes, Cole slammed his shoe into the lead Changler’s jaw, sending him sprawling on top of his comrades.

In a single, swift moment, Cole tossed five grenades into the car’s opening, barely having time to register his victims' terrified faces. Instead, he reached over to the latch’s door and slammed it shut, ignoring his enemy’s yells.

“WAIT, WAIT-“

SLAM!

The entire truck rattled and shook like an earthquake as the explosions set off, shaking Cole once again off the car, except this time, when he landed, he ran from the vehicle. The electricity in his grenades had not only instantly killed all of the soldiers, but exploded every technological device inside the car, frying the controls, webbing across the metal floors and walls, and boiled the oil inside the pipes. The intense heat in the car became too much, and the electric gears gave up their harnessed power and the entire interior of the car was consumed in a hellish fire, (It exploded) incinerating every square centimeter of metal and wire it touched.

Luckily for Cole, the damage that was shown on the outside was not a massive explosion that had the potential to harm him; Instead, only the windows, exhaust pipe and hood exploded outward with pitch black smoke billowing out of them, the loose latch from earlier was ripped clean off it’s hinges from the shockwave, signaling that the army truck was now forever unusable. Sitting on his rump from a few feet away, Cole sighed as he reviled in his victory, his shoulders drooping down in a relaxing form.

Then a whistling sound filled his ears as a ball of fire whizzed over his head and crashed into the building beside him. Ducking out of the way from the falling debris, Cole rolled to his knees and glared ahead of him.

‘I’m still here fucker!”

The bazooka man, (Illa) had seen their heavy weapon get obliterated from the outside and had gained a massive bloodthirst. He knew this new guy could probably destroy him in a one on one, after all, he pretty much just humiliated the Changler name in a single day, but he’d be damned if he wasn’t going to at least try to take this guy down. Reloading another shell into it’s holster, the soldier frantically looked up to see the hero speed towards him with an angry scowl etched across his face. Eyes bulging, he hosted the rocket launcher onto his shoulder and fired again, the guns’ kick knocking his upper chest back a few inches. The flaming bullet rocketed towards Cole, who tuck and rolled to the left, nimbly dodging the fireball like it was child’s play. Getting to his feet, Cole continued to sprint towards his enemy as lightning began to form on his arms, his expression never changing. This made Illa furious over his miss.

“I’m gonna kill you freak! I’m gonna blow off your freakin’ head, then keep your stupid weapon as a trophy!” the Changler screamed.

He was full on crazed now, his vision blurring and trigger finger itchy as he quickly loaded in another rocket; Cole quickened his pace as the gun was raised in his direction, firing without a second thought. The prime conduit ran at full speed towards the oncoming rocket, which was about eye level with him, like he was challenging it. Suddenly, he brought both of his hands up and shot them forward with a push, sending out a shockwave which rammed into the rocket; But instead of the electricity destroying it’s circuits on touch, which would normally blow up the weapon, the shockwave’s power caused the rocket to visibly flip it’s course around and head back to where it came from, which was Illa. Widening his eyes in silent shock, the Changler said nothing as his own weapon barreled towards him, only dropping his launcher in surprise and jumping out of the way as the rocket slammed into the very spot his feet were resting. Unlike Cole, his dodge had not been graceful in the slightest and he slammed his ribs into the concrete, hard, as the world around him was filled with dust and the taste of metal.

Falling from his side to his stomach, the soldier brought his arm to his forehead and simply rested on the ground. He was scared, emotionally tired and hurt, all of his squad, not that he cared for any of them, had been defeated and he lay broken on the floor of the destroyed street. He just prayed his death was quick.

Suddenly, he felt a steely hand grab a fistful of his militia uniform and hoist him in the air, bringing him face to face with a very pissed conduit. Before he could even blink, he was pushed into the building wall behind him, Cole’s hands never letting go.

“Your friends didn’t fare so well, so I’m hoping you can do a little better at answering my questions.” Cole growled.

His enemy, who was pulled up to his height, coughed out blood before glaring daggers at the hero.

“Screw you, asshat.”

Cole scowled at that.

“Tough talk shorty, considering you and the rest of your goons just got you asses whooped like a bunch of bratty preschoolers. Now answer my question: Just who the hell are you clowns, huh?”

The Changler spat blood on Cole’s forehead, smirking devilishly.

“I’ve got nothing to say to you freak.”

Cole tightened his grip. He didn’t have time for this nonsense, he needed answers NOW. Cocking a fist back, he didn’t even hesitate a second before slamming it into the smaller man’s jaw, a loud ‘CRACK’ following suite. He then wrapped his right hand around the others’ throat, sharp electricity digging into the terrorist’s flesh.

“I can fry your muscles until they’ll look like barbecued steak, and I’ll do it slowly so you can watch as your entire, worthless body burns into a crisp. You just murdered god-knows-how many innocent people and by the looks of it you’ve done this kind of thing dozens of times before. I’m doing you a favor here.”

Cole brought his face close to Illa, who lost his confident smirk and was sweating nervously.

“Think long and hard about your next move pal, I’m giving you a chance to make this easy on yourself. I’ve got no problems if I need to put you down, I’ll just go to the cops, see if they have anything useful for me. Who knows, maybe I won’t kill you, maybe I’ll just feed you to the civilians. After all, I’m guessing they’re not really the biggest fans of you guys and would love to get their hands on you. All I need to do is turn the police’s attention somewhere else.”

The Changler’s face paled at the mention of the angry civilians. Sweet Tartarus, the mere thought of what a mob of furious and heartbroken civilians would do to him sent chills down his spine. Cole noticed his panic, and took this as a victory.

“Glad to see your reasonable, now tell me: Who are you guys and what the hell are you trying to accomplish? I know this isn’t just some scare tactic on the world, you would’ve known better than to bring out your heavy weapons and shove it in the public’s face like a damn flag, unless you’re as stupid as your costume.”

Illa couldn’t bring himself to snap at Cole for his insult, as the electricity stabbing into him restricted any unnecessary words. This wasn’t in the job description! The Changler was now visibly shaking, his words mumbled and dribbled, until he managed to form a stuttered sentence from his mouth.

“W-we wanted t-t-to capture the police for i-intel or randsom, have them bring us mo-more defensive weapons s-s-s-so we can be prepared in case the g-government has ways to eliminate our we-weapons that we don’t know about. The cops have been ruthless lately, l-like they’ve been specially trained to fight specifically a-against us, s-so we had no o-other choice than to u-use the truck today. Plus, w-we wanted the civilians to be even m-more afraid of us, so they wouldn’t get any ideas and f-finally leave the city.”

When the terrorist ceased his stumbled talk, Cole silently mulled the information over in his head. It actually made sense, just being here for a matter of hours, he could easily tell that this terrorist group and the city had been at war with each other for quite a while. The police were most likely unprepared for the unexpected terrorist group in the beginning; And by the sound of it, the cops were getting wise, they must have started something that molded them to be more equipped with dealing with these sort of people, what it was, the terrorists had yet to find out and retaliate against. So they were forced to bring out the big guns, make the citizens understand they still held the high cards, giving them back their fearful title, as well as capture the police for information.

Hand clutching onto the Changler’s throat, Cole pushed him further into the wall.

“Where’s the rest of your little militia, huh? I think it’s time I go pay them a visit.”

Illa’s pure teal eyes shrunk as his face lost all color, his shaking increasing.

“I-I can’t, I’ve already said too much. She’s already going to kill me, i-if I say anything else, oh sweet Scorpan, who knows what she’ll do to me. I’ve seen what she does to traitors and squealers, the things she does to people. She’ll break me out just so she can get me back for talking. Oh Faust, I’m done for!”

Without warning, Cole hoisted the Changler in the air and held him high above his head, before thrusting his arms downward and throwing the terrorist roughly onto the concrete.

“YOU BETTER START THINKING ABOUT WHAT I’M GOING TO DO TO YOU INSTEAD, IF YOU DON’T START TALKING! WHERE. ARE. YOUR. PEOPLE!” Cole roared.

“She’s gonna kill me, she’s gonna kill me. She’s gonna kill you, then kill the cops, and kill everyone I love. I’m basically a walking corpse now, no one can save me, protect me, not the cops, heh, she’ll just tear them apart like she always does! Lilac. Oh Faust, Lilac. She’ll go after Lilac, just to get to me. Oh Faust, what is she going to do to my daughter! I need to warn Lilac, I need to warn Lilac about her! No, no, no, no, no.”

The Changler was babbling now, tears streaming out of his face as he shook like a withered leaf in Cole’s hands. One look and Cole knew he wouldn’t be getting anymore answers out of him, he was completely past the point of communicating. What the fuck?

“FREEZE!”

Body going stiff, Cole didn’t move an inch as the Changler in his grasp continued his mumbling, a clicking of a gun sounded off behind him as a nervous panting filled the air. Unlike the Changlers’ voices which sounded rough and sickly, this new voice was younger and smoother. Shifting his head to the left, he let out a wave of electro-sense, he immediately knew whoever was behind him was, finally, not an enemy.

“Easy man, I’m on your side. I’m just trying to get information out of him.” Cole spoke warmly over his shoulder, hands raised in surrender. The gun clattered as the man, whoever it was, started shaking his gun, either in fear or exhaustion.

“If I wasn’t on your side, I would’ve already attacked you here and now.” Cole advised. The clattering of the gun continued for a solid minute before it stopped with a sigh.

“I’m going to cuff him now, that okay with you?” Cole asked as the babbling Changler continued to ignore everything that was occurring.

“I’d turn a blind eye if you just kill this waste of space.” The voice growled, clearly showing distain for the terrorist.

“You guys need all the information you can get from him.” Cole replied as he gently cuffed the smaller man’s wrists and ankles. Turning around, he saw the voice behind him to be non-other than a battered police officer with a torn uniform, a pistol hanging limply in his arms by his side. He must’ve been one of the prisoners. The officer limped towards him, until his foot got caught on a crack in the stone and he fell forward without a word, his exhaustion catching up with him. Before his body could make contact with the floor however, Cole quickly grasped him in his arms, lifting the officer up and wrapping his bruised arm around the back of his neck, with his own arm holding onto the officer’s right kidney.

The soldier didn’t even resist as he allowed the hero to hold him upright, the both of them looking down at the Changler who continued to chant his troubles, not noticing his imprisonment in the slightest.

“His friends killed five of my partners. Gunned them down right in front of me and laughed as they did it.” The officer covered his face as he silently wept. “They had families: wives, husbands, children. I don’t know how I’m going to tell them.”

Cole said nothing as he observed the downed villain, instead, he simply kept hold of the wounded man beside him. Looking away, he carefully examined his new found ally, noticing right away he had a multitude of injuries, many of them bloody, looking deep and painful.

But not unfixable. Cole thought as he smiled.

“You’re hurt pretty bad; I can fix it if you want.” Cole offered as he brought a hand up, sparkling electricity lapping his fingers. The officer stared in awe, before shaking his head and contemplating the scenario in his head; He had just met this guy, so there was no telling if he was leading him into a false sense of security so he could to gain his trust. Plus, he had superpowers, powers which had been able to take down an infamous terrorist group in a matter of hours, a terrorist group mind you, that he and the rest of his fellow officers have been busting their necks against for years, and have only recently been able to somewhat defend themselves against them.

On the other hand, however, he hadn’t hurt anyone besides the Changlers themselves. In fact, the terrorists seemed to be the only people he was after; Earlier, the officer had seen this very same guy jump down from a building and head over to an injured civilian. Of course, he was worried for the pedestrians’ safety at first and aimed his pistol at the newcomer’s head, only to see him place his hands down on the injured man’s chest which engulfed him in blue. He was millimeters from pulling the trigger when he saw the civilian start to stand upright in shock! The newcomer seemed to say something to the pedestrian before the healed man ran off in the opposite direction. The newcomer had healed him!

Now this man was helping him up from his wounds and offering to help him, even after he pointed a gun at his head just seconds ago no less! If he was an enemy, then why would he go out of his way to save a pedestrian without any onlookers, and even if the civilian started singing his praise, this guy didn’t seem like the type to wallow himself in fame. To the officer, all he saw was someone who just wanted to do the right thing. He was beginning to believe the other man: If he wasn’t on their side, he’d already be dead.

“Sure, but there’s some people over here that need more help than me. Do you think you can heal them?” The officer asked with worry.

“Well, I’ll sure as hell try.” Cole replied with hope in his voice, before he gently pressed a palm onto the officer’s chest, blue electricity surging through him. However, unlike when the electricity went into the Changlers, which seemed to force itself roughly into their bodies, burning the skin along the way; when the electricity touched the officer’s chest, it seemed to melt into him almost naturally, not burning or stinging in the slightest. Healing everything it touched as it streamed across his muscles like a river inside him. Then, as quick as it came, the electricity dissipated, and most of the officer’s deep wounds quickly healed themselves, leaving not a single trace left behind.

Patting himself all over, the officer stared dumbfounded as he felt the spots where his injuries were, only to feel nothing.

“W-what the hell?”

“Yeah, it’s fast and a little intimidating at first, but trust me man, you’re all good.” Cole said with a reassuring smile.

“Sweet Faust, this is completely out of my field. My boys are never going to believe this. A real life super hero, what has this world come to.” The officer mumbled as his shaking hands kept rubbing the spot of his previous wounds. He was too astonished to even notice he was standing straight without Cole’s help; The electricity having healed his limping.

“You said there were more people that need help?” Cole asked as he fingers started once again sparking. It took a minute for the officer to get his bearing before he looked up at the hero, realization dawning on him.

“What? Oh, yeah, yeah, of course, they’re over here, follow me.” He stated as he began to walk towards the direction he originally came from.

As the two started lightly jogging down the street, Cole looked at his newfound companion, who was now fully running like he hadn’t been injured just two minutes ago, and breathed out a sigh of relief. Finally, he had some sort of ally in this strange place. Speaking of which.

“Hey man, could you tell me what’s going on here? I uh, have quite a few questions that really need answering.”

The officer never turned his head, instead choosing to keep running straight, answering without stopping.

“Sure thing. But, I just gotta ask: Who are you?”

Cole shifted his attention back to the street in front of him, face shifting into a serious expression. He replied with a simple answer.

“Name’s Cole. Cole Macgrath.”

_________
Canterlot City, 11:30

“SHE’LL KILL YOU! SHE’LL KILL YOU ALL! YOU’LL SEE! TEAR YOU BLUE COLLAR DO-GOODERS IN HALF AND PUT YOUR HEADS ON PIKES! THEN SHE’LL KILL YOUR LITTLE ‘GUARDIAN ANGEL’, SET’EM ON A STAKE AND BURN HIM ALIVE WHILE THE WHOLE WORLD WATCHES!!”

The Changler who fought Cole earlier kept screaming his lungs out as the police dragged him and his other interrogated ally towards a SWAT truck, ready to be shipped back to the station for even more interrogation.

One cop who held a firm grip onto the screaming terrorist’s cuffed arm, winced at the harsh treatment of his ears, growling irritably at the insults. An older officer marching alongside him noticed his comrade’s discomfort, and placed a sympathetic hand on the younger cop’s shoulder blade

“Easy son, save your breath for the interrogation.”

While the police practically shoved the still shrieking man and his ally into the truck, two officers observed from a short distance as the handlers slammed the back-double doors in the Changler’s face and the car sped off down the street. As they drove off, dozens of other police officers, firemen and emergency doctors flooded the streets, digging out civilians trapped under rubble, trying their earnest to heal any wounded they could find and anything else under the sun they could do.

The two officers simply watched the scene unfold before them, eyes blank, yet disappointment etched across their faces. The officer on the left sighed through clenched teeth, his broom moustache shifting as he did.

“Well, if this isn’t the biggest screw over in history, then I don’t know what is. They held a torrent, a freaking torrent, right under our nose and they still managed to sneak it out of their little hole, all the way to a public street without so much as one government official seeing them and completely mow us all down! How they managed to do all of this is beyond me Lawbound.”

The officer to the right of him, CCPD police chief Lawbound, turned his head to his deputy and old friend, a tired expression crossing his aged features. His friend paid him no mind as he continued his rant.

“A torrent. A fucking torrent. Faust, Lawbound, we’re not equipped to deal with this sort of enemy and firepower. We stop drug traffickers, murderers, shoot outs. This, this is turning into military grade shit. And of course, those pencil necked government idiots are too cowardly and blind sighted to so much as help us one bit. ‘It’s your problem and city to deal with.’ The nerve of those bastards.”

Lawbound smiled warmly at the deputy, hand placed on his shoulder. “We’re doing the best we can here, you know that.”

The deputy roughly shrugged off the hand, a growing anger etching across his features. “Yeah, ‘our best’, clearly our best doesn’t amount to crud. We lost a lot of GOOD men and women out there today, people who deserved honorary discharges rather than being gunned down by a pack of animals.” He spat out the last word with so much disgust, fists balled tightly at their mention. Then his expression softened. “And the civilians. I don’t even want to think about how many innocent people lost their lives today. We’re supposed to protect them from people like these. They look up to us. And we failed them. We had the tools, the training and the strategy, and we still won by the skin of our teeth, like we always do. Like we always have done.”

The deputy rubbed his tired eyes as he shedded a tear. “15 years. 15 years we’ve been doing this. Fighting Changlers so we can take back our city, our home, only to lose more and more people each fight. People who want nothing more than to protect the ones they love, protect people they don’t even know, in order for those people to see another sunrise. Why? Why us, with all their power, why only attack Canterlot City? What horrible wrong did we commit to earn this? I…I don’t know how long we can keep this up Lawbound.”

The old chief stared empathetically at the deputy, a saddened frown donning his face. Keeping his hands to his sides, he stared back at the carnage before him, a look of anger silently brewing in his eyes.

“Yes, I agree it has been a long and painful war with the Changlers, that in every fight, the Changlers always seem to outnumber us. Their unorthodox methods and soldiers have been always been a massive disadvantage for us in both the field and on the map. Of course, it does not help us in the slightest that the government seems to only think of this as ‘our problem, and our problem alone’.” The deputy drooped his hands down at the statement, until his superior continued with a new tone.

“However, as you have said, we’ve always managed to survive in the end. Even through all their numbers and all their firepower, we manage to pull through. We still stand here today, guarding our city with as much determination and power as before. We always manage to somehow, just barely survive, and that is what interests me.”

The deputy was about to speak in retaliation, when the chief raised his hand to silence him, allowing the elder to continue.

“I am not foolish, I understand completely that we can’t expect to win every fight because of some coincidental ‘winning streak’, nor am I saying that we should get in the habit of believing we are simply stronger than them. I’m saying, that there is something we have or are doing that results in our victory, something, which I have noticed, neither of our teams have yet to grasp and understand. That ‘something’, seems to allow us to win, I think there’s a reason for that. And we need to understand it, to find that reason before our enemy finds it and uses it against us. That, is what I believe, Atlas. How to begin our search however, well, that will be our first step.’’

The deputy, Atlas, seemed to mull this information over in his head for a minute or so, before grunting in agreement. Silence overcame them both for a time, before the chief spoke up once again.

“Besides, haven’t you heard; we seem to no longer be alone in this endeavor.”

The deputy barked out a laugh, his eyes never straying from the medics packing people and supplies into the ambulances.

“Don’t tell me you actually believe in this ‘Electric man’ crap. That’s nothing but a load of bull and you know it. Probably just some group of people trying to get famous, or if we’re REALLY lucky, the governments’ crawled out of their damn hole and are actually doing something for once. Though probably just to scare the Changlers from making a move on them.”

Lawbound turned his head towards his friend, a questioning eyebrow raised.

“A whole city full of policemen lose a battle against an army in a matter of hours, half the city’s civilians held captive for ransom and other unknown horrendous acts; Then out the blue, each of their forces break down one by one, until there’s nothing left but the torrent. Where, might I include, many people, both officers and captives, claim to have seen a man that shoots forth electricity jump onto the truck and destroy the torrent with his bare hands. We even checked the torrent ourselves, and it indeed, was in fact melted. Now, other than exploded stereos inside of the Changlers’ cars and a surprising amount of high voltage encircling the area; That’s an awful lot of people seeing the same exact ‘mirage’ at the same exact time.”

The old officer noticed his partner still wasn’t ready to believe in the superhero, that same disbelieving look clearly evident in his eyes. Lawbound sighed inwardly; For as long as he’d known him, deputy Atlas had always been a straight forward, realistic man, a stark contrast to Lawbound’s more optimistic and hopeful attitude, choosing to instead focus on the facts and nothing more. However, ‘facts’ or not, the notion of an actual real life, comic book superhero was something Atlas just couldn’t and refused to even consider the slightest bit believable.

“Come now old friend, if not the witnesses or the damaged enemy vehicles, surely the tale from fellow officer Copper Bronze gives proof to a newfound ally. He said it himself that he witnessed firsthand the hero heal both him and the captives, and we both know Copper doesn’t lie.”

Atlas shook his head, hands placed on his hips as he exhaled.

“True, but like you said, he had just been held captive by a bunch of deranged psychos, who knows what they did to him even in that short amount of time. We do know he claimed to have been stricken in the head a lot, after so much trauma it must’ve been pretty hard to tell the difference between reality and a trick of the mind. It was nothing more than a medic that did all the healing, its no wonder Copper must’ve viewed whoever it was as some bright, shiny superhero.”

Lawbound hummed at this. A valid point. The chief still firmly believed in this ‘’Cole Macgrath”, as outlandish as it sounded, because he saw the entire scenario as a crime scene, and all crime scenes require to be picked and prodded to the core. And though decoded in a seemingly accidental way, all the evidence pointed towards one insane, yet oddly reasonable conclusion, a superhuman. Except this time, the crime scene had been flipped around. The victims were people both him and probably anyone else could care less about, and the suspect? Lawbound smiled at the memory of a grinning Copper Bronze and nearly a busload of civilians crying tears of happiness as they embraced their loved ones, practically singing praises about a man who had healed them of their wounds and ordered Copper to lead them to safety. He remembered staring in awe at the sight of the destroyed army car, jaw nearly dropping completely off his skull when he viewed the damage. Even the weapon engineers had been astonished, claiming with certainty that there was no bomb or weapon on record with such a unique outcome that could cause that kind of damage.

Nevertheless, it seemed that a larger majority of people, including Atlas, just couldn’t nor wouldn’t allow that conclusion. Lawbound exhaled sharply through his nose, he wasn’t really in the mood for an argument, knowing now was neither the time, nor the place. so the man made his decision; he would humor Atlas and the rest for a while, at least until all of the people had been cared for and the mess cleaned up. After all, they now needed to stay on high alert in case the enemy attacked while they recovered.

But his belief would stay firm. He knew for a fact there was a new ally out there, ready to defend them all from threats. How did he know this you ask?

Although many viewed Lawbound as a wise old man who knew answers no one could ever see, the truth was, he was nothing close to that. In fact, like any living being, over his course of time the old chief had made many fatal and foolish mistakes, some causing him to lose friendships, some making friendships stronger. But one thing Lawbound was exceedingly good at, was defining a bad soul between a good soul.

Besides, he’d rather sweep this occasion under the rug for a while rather then argue with Atlas about it. That man is as stubborn as he is strict, and arguments with him usually last for a full-blown month. Seriously, no joke. Lawbound’s head still hurt from last month’s argument over who broke the coffee machine.

“Excuse me, officers!”

Both deputy and chief turned their heads simultaneously as a woman in a brightly suited vest in high heels gracefully rushed towards them, a cap wearing boy following close behind with a boulder-sized camera strapped to his right shoulder.

“Ah great, it’s Mrs. ‘’10,000 Questions.’’ Atlas grumbled under his breath.

His friend chuckled as he clasped a hand on Atlas’ shoulder.

“One question at a time brother.”

As the news reporters got close, all four failed to notice a figure hopping across the building to their left and vanishing from sight
____________

To say today was a win would be a bit of a stretch. Cole lightly jogged across the rooftops of various buildings, scanning the ground like a hawk for any potentially injured people accidentally left or still trapped in the rubble of the streets. He was almost done, this being the last block to search, the ambulances having nearly picked clean this one as well as all the other streets damaged during the raid. Earlier, as he healed the injured civilians, the officer ally Cole had helped, known as Copper Bronze, had given the confused hero all the questions he could offer. Apparently, Cole was right, these terrorists, known as the Changlers, (What the hell kinda name is that? Who came up with it, a fanfiction writer?) had been terrorizing this same exact city for longer than needed be. The officer seemed to read his mind and answered Cole’s next question before he could even speak.

No one really knew what exactly the Changlers were after, only that it was something harbored exclusively in Canterlot City. The police obviously didn’t know, but were sure as hell not going to let those idiots find it. Aside from their hellbent search for whatever-it-is, the Changlers also seemed to just like tormenting the people of Canterlot for giggles and fun, going out of their way to capture, shoot down and maim whomever they pleased.

Next, he asked about their leader. After all, if their continuous screams about some all-powerful woman burning their heads on a stake wasn’t conformation enough; There had to be some kind of strong head amongst such shaky and crazy shoulders. From what he witnessed, though the soldiers were powerful and headstrong in their own right, they were too reckless and destructive to be doing this on their own. He knew their kind from the core, having personally dealt with people like them all the time back in empire city while he was still a simple bike courier, and thugs like the changlers didn’t work together for very long. They’re macho personalities clashed with their own allies resulting in them basically slaughtering one another in the end. To still be grouped as a team for this long and pull all kinds of stunts like these? Yeah, they had to have some kind of alpha they all looked up to, a person who had the power to get people like the Changlers in line and the mindset to force people like them to agree with as well as fight for their own personal goals. And boy, did they have a leader.

Not only was she a person almost all the Changlers adored, she was also an enigma to the rest of the world. No one in the entire CCPD had a sliver of a lead on who she was. Whenever they interrogated any soldier Changlers all they got were promises of seeing her when she herself dragged them to death’s door. Other than that, there was no actual sighting of her: Not on the field, not on the radio, nothing. The only ways they knew about her were the praises from her minions and when she’d write crude and horrific signs on whatever she could after a successful attack, usually in blood, demanding Lawbound and the rest of the world her attention. One thing was for certain, she always seemed to predict most of her enemies plans before they acted, resulting in near devastating losses for the police. Cole smiled once he heard that information. She would have never expected something like him interrupting her hard-worked plans, she must’ve thought this army truck plan would go without a hitch. Oh, how he wished he could see her face once she heard the news.

Other than that, she was practically invisible. Shame, by the sound of it, he was sure the both of them would HIT it off quite well.

And the government? From what Copper told Cole, the government, as usual, had been unhelpful in everyway so far, only shrugging their shoulders in a damn ‘meh’ way and shooing off their pleas for help like it was the plague. Sounds familiar. Cole rolled his eyes as he watched the ambulances drive off down the road and out of his line of sight.

Standing on the edge of a motel rooftop, he scratched his shoulder blade as his eyes wandered the streets. That was really all the background info he was able to squeeze out on the enemy, well, that and the fact all the Changlers were reported to be, interestingly enough, all dwarfs. All of them just chest height to the average person. Eyes set dead on the ground in search for people in need, Cole continued his walk along the roofs.

He had been at this for a while now, having already healed every injured person on a stretcher and a gurney he could find in the last hour. Unfortunately, there was only so much he could do, as his abilities could heal the deep cuts, bruises and to a limited extent, ruptures, of both internal and outer; But there were some injuries even his power could not fix. Destroyed organs and crushed limbs aren’t exactly fixable by electricity, so all he could do was help the firemen pull people out of the rubble and do his best to be a supportive and calming voice as the lawmen worked on their injuries.

“Damn bastards.” Cole fumed, clenching his teeth as he walked. He couldn’t help those people because he was too slow, and he hated it. That needed to change.

And finally, as for where he was? Shit, his head hurt thinking about it. Apparently, the jogger he met in the forest earlier was right, he really was in some strange new city. Hell, it sounded like he was in some other country entirely! “Canterlot City”, “Equestria”, and just like the jogger, Copper nor literally ANY one else had not the slightest clue about New Marias, the Beast, the plague or Empire City. They didn’t even have a single drop of knowledge about the United States!

A conclusion came to mind, he was in some rural part of a different country, most probably in Europe from the sound of their city names, where they somehow weren’t affected by the RFI nor informed of the problems overseas. Thereby, it made sense for them to not have any idea on the subjects he asked about.

But them not knowing about another country entirely? Well, it wasn’t impossible, just rare, he kinda didn’t know where to go from there, maybe they just weren’t taught about the U.S. But then what explained their rainbow-colored bodies?

To be honest, this whole ordeal scared Cole. For every answer he got, twice as many questions shot back up. He was as much as an enigma to these people, their city, and their country as they were to him, and that meant less help in getting him back home. Back to where he needed to be.

It got him thinking again, just how did he get here? When he flipped the RFI, he should have died, period. It was a one-hundred percent certainty. But yet, here he was, very much alive in a once again very much dangerous place. Was it the RFI that sent him here? If so, why? How? And why did he still have his powers? His fight with the beast had drained him dry, so why should something as powerful as the RFI be any different?

Cole messaged his eyes in stressful anger. All these questions and sudden happenings were starting to drive him insane.

Just leaving the city was an option that came to mind. As far as the conduit knew, he was completely stranded here, no familiar faces had yet to show up and now he had managed to piss off a shitload of apparent psychopaths. Sure, he met a few new friendly faces, but how long would those last. People tended to get wary and paranoid around others with any kind of power over them, he didn’t feel like having another knife jabbed into his back anytime soon. Besides, this whole “Changler” thing honestly wasn’t really his problem, he barely managed to win against them today and had more important things to deal with anyways.

If he survived the RFI, did anyone else? Kuo, Nix, hell, ANY other conduit, were they still alive and kicking? What about Zeke? Worry started to build up in his stomach; How was Zeke faring, going about thinking that Cole was dead? What he wouldn’t give to have his best friend’s advice right now.

Suddenly, his face paled.

John.

If Cole had survived, did the beast? What if the RFI failed? Yeah it was painful, but he was still alive, was that exactly what happened with John?

The urge to leave spiked. After all, it wasn’t hard, all he needed was to gain some kind of map, hop aboard a boat, plane or whatever, and hightail it back to New Marais.

“BERRY!”

Looking down, he viewed the damaged street once more in confusion. Below, he saw a middle aged, bright pink woman barrel down the road towards another limping woman, this one a dark shade of purplish blue, and full on tackle her to the ground, balling her eyes out. The victim of the hug, whom he guessed was Berry herself, didn’t hesitate in hugging the crying woman back. Both began crying tears of joy as they clutched each other like lifelines, ignoring the rest of the universe like it didn’t matter.

Cole’s expression softened. What was he thinking, he couldn’t just leave. These people, they didn’t deserve this, horror and death on an unfair scale, hell no one deserved it. It reminded him of the enemies he faced before, how they forced innocents under their boot and walked over their bodies to reach fame, and the victims could do nothing to stop them. That’s why he did what he did. Because he had been in their place before, helpless and useless, not being able to protect the ones he loved as the enemy drew nearer. Now, he had the power to fight against those forces and stand up for their victims, give the people who earned the right to explore what their lives had to offer a much safer path. He needed to stay here, in doing so would allow him to keep a close eye on the Changlers, as well as be a valuable source of retaliation in case of another attack. He’d been given powers to protect the world and the people in it, so that’s what he was going to do.

Straightening his back, Cole began to ponder his situation. On one hand, staying here would result in him relying completely on himself and the environment around him, basically trying to find food and shelter from scratch. The only allies he’d have were the cops, if he played his cards right.

Eh, not my first rodeo. Cole nodded as he rubbed his chin. On the other hand, not only would he provide a safe shield for the city against the terrorists, with his help, maybe he could give them an edge in completely defeating the Changlers all-together. Sure, it was high wishing, but opportunities like these weren’t hard to come by. And as an added bonus, he could try to find out just exactly where he was in the world, maybe come up with a plan on how to get back once he settled everything out here. Hopefully along the way, he could find a way to contact Zeke again, give him the good and possibly bad news.

As for the beast, well that problem would still be at the same magnitude even if he stayed or not. The thing with John was, he had a way of avoiding literally anyone when things got sticky. He’d appear when he wanted to appear, otherwise, it’d be like playing "Where's Waldo” on god mode. So, as dangerous and terrifying as it was, Cole’s only option would be to wait for John to make his move first, he’d have to keep a constant eye and ear out for him, because as sneaky as the beast could be undercover, the powers he possessed caused his arrival to always be an explosive one.

He continued to watch as the two women sat up and began scurrying off to a safe location, tears still brimming in their eyes, his face etched into a small smile.

“Alright, you win. I’ll stay, for now.” He whispered to them as they escaped his field of view. Ambulances sounded off a few blocks away, carrying more injured people off to the hospitals. Reaching the end of the road, Cole did one last Electro-wave to see if he could sense any type of presence underneath the rubble. He received nothing; The police did a good job here.

Turning on his heal, his eyes trailed off towards the city as the cool, dusty afternoon air nipped at his exposed skin. A tired sigh escaped his lips as he continued his quiet view. An entirely new environment with who knows what to offer. He had so many things to do and didn’t know where to start. His mind immediately began debating with his decision. Should he really stay here? He felt like a minnow in foreign waters, this place just gave him odd vibes.

But leaving would result in avoidable deaths. Swallowing his excitement, Cole tightened his fists as his expression hardened. As long as he was here, might as well learn what he can about the place, and it’s rainbow-skinned people.

“Screw it. Let’s do this.” Cole growled, shaking his head in exasperation. Hopping in place, the hero shook his hands before bolting forward, jumping off the building and landing onto the cracked pavement below. He immediately hoisted himself up and jogged towards another building, preparing to climb up. After a few minutes, he pulled his body onto the roof and continued running, heading deeper and deeper into the new world of Canterlot City.

_______________
Two blocks away, unknown alleyway.

“Well, if this isn’t the biggest screw over in history, then I don’t know what is.” A scraggily voice snarled as wailing ambulances drove by in a fast hurry. The owner of said voice, a shadowy, dwarflike figure crouching behind a dumpster inside of an alleyway, watched the police and hospital staff on the street drag the injured and sick into their cars, intent on getting them to safety. As the small man watched, the fury in his pure, teal eyes grew, his fingernails digging into the metal bin he hid behind.

Never taking his eyes off the police, he gingerly reached behind him and unclipped a rectangular device from the back of his belt. Bringing the device up to his lips, he pressed his thumb onto the side button with a Click before speaking into the bottom.

“Lieutenant Pharynx to Changler base. I repeat, Lieutenant Pharynx to Changler base. I think we have a problem. Get her on the line.”

Lost in Uncharted territory

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Three days later

“Coming together is a Beginning,

Staying together is Progress,

And working together is Success.”

-Henry Ford
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Come on. Come on.

The teenaged ex-unicorn glared hatefully at the hefty book before her, her fingers drumming impatiently on the desk while she flipped through page upon page, hoping to Celestia there would be something in the darned thing that could be of value to her cause.

Alas, the universe seemed to take a certain delight in her stressed state as she finally flipped to the last page in the magical history book.

Sunset groaned in both frustration and exasperation before tossing the textbook into her ever growing reject pile and reaching over for the next one to her right. Grabbing the rock-solid spine of the next book, she dragged it close to her and automatically opened it to the table of contents.

Scanning the front introductory page, she stopped when her eyes laid upon the words Elements of Harmony.

Looking for the page number her desired chapter was on, she immediately flipped across the papers until reaching 145. Once she was through zipping through the paragraphs, she sighed as the book told her the exact same story as all the others she’d read before: how the Elements were the representations of harmony itself, created by the ancient tree of harmony and protected Equestria from evil threats when need be. How little to nothing could withstand their combined powers once activated.

It also told how the parents of Celestia and Luna had found the tree of harmony and, realizing the potential good it could do for the land of Equestria, took the magical gems from the tree and used them whenever trouble arose.

But, like all the other books she’d scoured throughout today, it didn’t tell her how the elements worked.

Rubbing a hand through her bacon-colored hair, Sunset grit her teeth in annoyance as she continued to read, desperate for any types of clues or tips on how the magic artifacts operated.

When she found none, she sighed and tossed the book to her side, the lack of information was hardly a surprise anymore. Technically, the Elements of Harmony were considered one of the oldest, most powerful magic in existence. But they were also the most mysterious, there was so little-known research on the fundamental of their magic that it was nearly impossible to figure out.

Normally hard-to-find information/research was Sunset’s specialty, but when there was a severe lack of research itself, that was a tricky problem.

She looked over once more to her pile, a bittersweet smile slowly forming. She couldn’t have been more thankful for Princess Twilight to send all the books regarding the Elements of Harmony the pony could find, along with a few scrolls of her own copied notes. Whenever the situation called for it, Twilight always did make sure to pull as much weight as she could, it was one of the many, many things Sunset respected about her. However, it just simply wasn’t enough.

After a long talk/experiment months before, she’d made a discovery alongside the human worlds’ Twilight that the magical Geodes they’d found at Camp Everfree were in fact ancient magic relics that stored fractioned power from the Elements of Harmony.

To this day the memory of the discovery still wracked her mind. How could the Elements store pieces their powers into relics without their current wearer’s knowledge, and how could they even do that in the first place? Did Princess Celestia from her original world know of this? Why?

It was all so confusing yet fascinating at the same time, she just couldn’t figure out how it all could be done! She figured that books on the subject of the Elements themselves might’ve had some information, but again, knowledge on the specific inner workings and techniques on them were sorely lacking.

Fiddling with the geode necklace around her neck, she hummed in thought. Maybe it was some form of backup technique to store a percent of power in the geode relics. But how and why would they’ve gone to this world, the human world, to lay low? The humans didn’t possess magic, and the bearers of the Elements only seemed to live in Equestria according to its history.

Sunset sighed before placing the pencil into her chest pocket, puffing a stray lock of hair from her brow as she scooted her chair back and stood to her full height to stretch. The book research wasn’t going anywhere, so maybe some other methods could teach her a few things.

Brushing past empty desks, the ex-unicorn made her way across the science room over to the counter where lines of neatly placed beakers and varying solutions stood ready for testing. Tugging the arms of her white lab coat, she reached over and pulled out an EEG strand from the cabinet before heading to the testing machine to plug it in.

Clicking the small tube into the machine, a screen on the front lit up and she saw a radar pop to life, with a thin flat line showing. The girl smiled before pulling up a chair while snatching a clipboard off the counter, placing it on a desk next to her. Once the clipboard was out of her hands, she twisted her torso around and reached out to grab the handle of her guitar, which lay peacefully on the wall next to a window.

Heaving the metal instrument up and over her lap, she sighed and relaxed it close to her chest, smiling softly as her fingers graced the strings, each time her fingernails touched the wires a low strum sounded off. It seemed to put her in a small trance every moment she’d spent with her guitar, having it for so long it felt as though it was a part of her. For a few seconds she sat there, fiddling with the heavy object until her mind snapped back to reality and remembered the EEG tube still in hand. She sighed before bringing it up to her forehead, the cold, rubbery object sticking to her skin like glue as the radar on the machine immediately sensed the neurologic activity of her brain.

Now certain everything was in place, she brought her attention back to her guitar, continuing to rhythm the strums along to a familiar tune she remembered in her head. As this happened, the radar on the computer stayed its normal course, nothing out of the ordinary seeming to interest it.

For about three full minutes Sunset continued to play, her slow strums keeping her in a calm state, as she kept watch of the radar through the corner of her eye. Soon, her strokes began gradually increasing as the song in her head started to grow a little louder and with more excitement. Showing her teeth in a happy smile, Sunset brought her fingers down harder on the strings and bounced her knee to the rhythm as each thrum echoed off the walls of the room. Closing her eyes, she let out a low hum as the cords grew louder and louder, and her foot bounced steadily to the beat, the rumbling of the active instrument in her arms sending a pleasant rumble into her chest.

The tuned song continued to play loudly through the speakers sitting about a foot from her seat, as she swayed her head from side-to-side and hummed louder, her mind straying further from her objective task and more towards timing the pattern her fingers made on the cords to the silent song.

Unbeknownst to the teen, the EEG tube attached to her head had not forgotten its mission and noticed an increasing change from somewhere inside Sunset, and immediately sent a message to the radar.

Picking up the report, the radar beeped before the wavelengths began to spike higher and more frequently than normal on the screen as her laptop, which was plugged into and sitting on the blocky testing machine, copied everything the radar was detecting inside a hard drive. Sunset had yet to notice this though, as the tune in her mind rattled her brain in an excited tizzy.

Playing her guitar always casted a spell on her she would have never felt were she still a unicorn back in her home world. It was like someone had injected her body with pure happiness, every strum she created sending a shockwave into her chest, through her ribcage, and soaked inside her heart and soul like a sponge.

As she played on, soon an orange hue began to slowly light up from her very skin and through her thick clothes as if she were a lightbulb slowly coming to life, ready to light up the darkness surrounding the world. Instead of halting her progress, the new predicament gave off a feeling that only seemed to somehow excite her more, now with both her feet stamping to the beat while her eyes scrunched, and her grin widened.

This excitement apparently rubbed off on the glowing force within her, as evidence by two little orange knobs beginning to sprout from underneath her fiery locks, and her hair suddenly extending down her back. The knobs on her head grew in size until in mere seconds two furry, soft pony ears sprouted fully from her body and the orange/red hair along her back formed an appearance much like that of a pony’s tail.

However, the teen continued to ignore the surrounding situation and quickened her pace on the strings, the song in her head nearing its conclusion. The guitar blared loudly around the room as she shot up from her seat and jammed on as if she were on stage in front of a concert of cheering people, every one of them chanting her name.

Sunset!

Sun-

“Oooh~ Guess what students, why not have a massive math exam on the same day you have a history project due!? Thanks a lot Mrs. Cheerile."

With a jolt, Sunset nearly dropped her guitar in surprise as the radar machine next to her began to beep loudly, blue sparks popping from its inner vents and the screen flickering with static. The teen clenched her guitar close to her as her breathing quickened, the orange hue around her, her pony ears, and pony tail flickering out in an instant now that her attention had focused somewhere else.

After a few split seconds of confusion, she finally turned her attention back to the machine and fearfully widened her eyes at the sight of the radar’s predicament. Quickly placing her instrument down, she rushed over to the sparking testing machine and desperately began to assess the situation.

“No, no, no, no!” She stressed through clenched teeth, fiddling mindlessly with the radar as the screen switched between her brain wave activity and fuzzy static. She yelped as the keyboard popped hot sparks that stung her fingers, causing her to back away from the machine in surrender as the poor thing continued to shriek in visible pain. Once she backed away, she reached over and disconnected her laptop from the radar, though she could do nothing with the big machine, her laptop could still be saved.

Completely helpless, she groaned as the machine let out one last cough as the screen flicked to static before turning pitch black, signifying its no doubt painful demise.

Huffing, she crossed her arms in frustration as she looked up to catch a glimpse of fellow student Sweetie Drops shuffle past the science lab window with a look of scorn on her face while holding an onslaught of school supplies in her arms.

Once the other girl was out of view, Sunset sighed and hung her head low, her annoyance giving way to disappointment, not daring to peer back at the broken machine beside her. Perfect. Another school appliance destroyed. Principle Celestia’s going to be thrilled to hear about this one.

After she was finished mentally kicking herself, her mind refocused on what had just happened. She’d definitely ponied up a few minutes ago, although she hadn’t heard the radar try and notify her, and for some reason her inner magic had caused her to yet again hear another person without touching them.

It made her want to scratch her head, usually her magic only worked when she’d grab ahold of another person, where she’d get a mind trip of that said person’s past memories. However, on certain special occasions, say when another who possesses Equestrian magic of their own uses it a bit more often than they should, *Cough* R.D. *Cough*, then her powers would somehow “elevate” and cause her to hear other people’s thoughts just by being near them.

Her expression softened once the thought crossed her mind, the word “elevate” causing unhappy memories to return.

Three days ago, when she’d gotten word from Applejack that a family friend of Twilight’s had gotten involved in a Changler terrorist attack early this school morning, and that Rainbow had bolted out of school the moment the bell rang to check up on the spectacled girl without telling any of her friends. Pushing aside her annoyance at Rainbow’s thoughtlessness, she gathered the rest of the four girls and quickly made a plan.

Once they’d gotten a text from Twilight about which specific hospital she was in, Applejack had offered to take Sunset and Pinkie with her in her car while Fluttershy agreed to take Rarity. Sunset had haphazardly tossed her school supplies into A.J’s truck and jumped into the pickup without hesitation, dragging Pinkie in after her by the hyper girl’s shirt collar.

Once everything was settled, they’d sped off down the road with Fluttershy and Rarity hot on their trail. In less than thirty minutes they’d gotten to the city limits, when suddenly Sunset felt an overwhelming sense of gasoline and burnt rubber fill her sinuses. Pinkie must have caught it too, as she’d let both her and Applejack know by shouting out in exasperation from the smell. Even Applejack herself seemed to have caught it, with her face contorting into a worried frown.

The deeper they drove into the city, the quieter they’d all gotten. The streets were littered with debris, flaming cars, and scurrying people, building and stores smashed in and small businesses looted to their bare skeletons. The mere sight was enough to make the fiery haired teen feel sick to her stomach.

In Equestria, the pony world she had grew up in, extremist attacks on the nation were quite rare. Aside from the couple Canterlot newspaper clippings on the feud between the Buffalo and Cowponies from down in Appleloosa, the nation was relatively peaceful.

Once she’d gotten to the human world however, it didn’t take long for her to realize that violence and deadly mayhem were around almost every street corner. Though Equestrians weren’t considerable saints by any stretch of measure, it seemed most humans thrived for power more than anything.

Then again, who in the world was she to judge?

Anyway, after a rather uncomfortable ride they’d made it about ten miles from the hospital when it felt like someone had short-circuited Sunset’s brain.

She didn’t know how or why it happened, all she remembered was looking out the window when out of nowhere, a wave of voices spewed like a river into her mind. Thousands upon thousands of voices from people she couldn’t see but certainly hear shouted and screamed through her skull until her ears felt as though they would bleed.

She shuddered while remembering the buzzing feeling in her brain felt while what felt like the inner thoughts of the entire city of Canterlot continued to crash down on her consciousness. The echoing screams and cries of dying people and terrified families as if she were in a cave packed to the brim with madness.

It hurt. Sweet Celestia, it’d hurt so much that she’d actually started screaming. No matter how hard she’d clawed at her temple, desperate to pry the thoughts out, even more came flooding in through the cracks. She’d barely registered a scared Pinkie’s hands grasping her shoulders while Applejack demanded what was going on, to which neither gave the farm girl an answer.

After what felt like hours, a new sensation began to play in her magic frenzy, a voice that seemed completely different from the thousands of others clouding the nerves of her brain. It was hard to fully focus on though, both because of her already attacked attention span and also because it felt as though whatever it was had been trying to hide behind the screams of the people, almost like it was hitching a ride on the voices.

It felt…dark. Venomous and black. A passing small, sharp mix between a whisper and a scream that sent shivers into her soul. An odd message that told her to watch the shadows, to embrace the light while she could before it burned out.

And just as fast as it came, it left her mind, leaving her to the rest of the overwhelming roars of thoughts. Unbeknownst to her, Pinkie Pie still hand her hands worryingly clasped onto Sunset’s shoulders while Applejack had given up on communicating with the screaming ex-unicorn and had now focused on getting the ever-fearful Pinkie herself to try and breathe.

A tactic that had apparently failed, as Pinkie had let go of Sunset only because she went to grab her phone from her purse in order to call the others over her still screaming friend. Ignoring the driving farm girl’s protests, Pinkie had just snatched up her phone and quickly began dialing Rarity’s number when she started to feel (as she explained later in her words) a tingly, poking feeling in her hands, almost like pins and needles were digging into her palms.

According to the party girl, that same feeling was usually a telltale signal that the equestrian magic within her was about to explode the object in her hand, which usually only happened with bakery sprinkles before. Yelping, the bubbly haired teen let go of the technological devices just seconds before it exploded into shattered pieces, burning her hand and pieces of it hitting Applejack, who began swerving the car in surprise, causing them to veer slightly off road and onto the sidewalk, smashing a public mailbox and just barely missing a planted tree.

Meanwhile, Fluttershy and Rarity stared in bewilderment at their friends out-of-control vehicle from the safety of their own car. The fashionista had pressed herself closer to the dashboard in worry while she watched Applejack’s truck eventually pull itself away from the sidewalk and back onto the road in order to miss hitting a visibly terrified pedestrian.

While Rarity gripped the dashboard, she’d failed to notice her own arms begin to glow pure white as a tense feeling in her muscles forced her hands to automatically close into fists. Next thing she and Fluttershy knew, their vision of the road was blocked as a diamond shield the height of a three-story building burst from underneath the concrete street and rose right in their path.

Fluttershy was quick to swerve her car out of the way just mere seconds before the vehicle could hit the giant magical object. Their victory at surviving was short lived though, as even more giant diamond shields began to sprout from the ground like daisies, causing them to swerve around each and every one of them as if they were in some kind of messed up pinball game.

And if that wasn’t enough, both girls had to steel themselves when Mr. Mumbles, a tabby cat Fluttershy had brought with her from the animal shelter as a source of self-comfort, had suddenly jumped as if he’d been electrocuted and gained a sudden dangerous interest in Gouda, a small mouse who was also from the animal shelter that had slipped into Fluttershy’s backpack without her knowledge, in their already small, little spaced car. A strange thing too, as the two animals were usually tolerable of each other. Worse yet, the small mouse had hidden herself in Fluttershy’s jacket as a form of safety, which of course did little to deter Mumbles from jumping onto the teen and digging frantically in search of the rodent.

Now with a literal cat and mouse chase in their laps, it had become increasingly more difficult for them to weave around giant crystal shields protruding from the earth. Meanwhile, their friends in the other car still hadn’t been in any better of a scenario.

Though Sunset’s screaming had reduced slightly, her ears still burned as the voices continued to flood in, her eyes now brimmed with pained tears as she clutched her head tighter. Pinkie on the other hand yelped in agony while shaking her poor, charred hand as Applejack finally got the car back into place, letting out a brief sigh of relief once she calmed herself.

Not two seconds later, she was gifted with the sight of a diamond shooting from the ground in front of her bumper, causing her to shriek and twist the wheel in order to get the car out of the way. Unfortunately, her attempt to steer the car away from the new threat caused her to accidentally yank the steering wheel straight off its hinges, the Equestrian magic within her increasing her strength tenfold.

With both cars’ occupants busy freaking out over their current situation, they’d all failed to notice a new crystal shield sprout from the ground. The only difference was, instead of being an upward road blockage, this new shield arose in the form of a ramp-like appearance.

Before she knew what was happening, Applejack found her car driving up the shield ramp and flying 10 feet in the air, with Fluttershy and Rarity right following in suite. Time seemed to slow for what seemed like ages, everyone watching with fear as their respective vehicles flew sky high, until gravity finally overtook them and all five were sent sailing back down to the street.

Once their tires touch the ground, both cars automatically flipped over and began tumbling down the street, car parts and inner passengers flying everywhere like ragdolls. After a moment of barrel rolling across the pavement, they eventually stopped side-by-side in a parking lot.

The hospital parking lot.

And just like that, their powers had subsided. No more diamond shields shooting from the floor, no more voices. Almost as if it’d never happened.

Even days later Sunset was still banging her head against the proverbial wall over figuring out just what the actual heck had happened. Was it because Rainbow Dash had chosen to run to the hospital? Was it because of their already fearful anxiety? Was it something else entirely? The ex-unicorn had spent hours upon hours trying to piece together the puzzle, but she still came up with nothing.

They could have gotten someone, or themselves seriously hurt. Each of the girls’ handling on their magic was already a bit shaky. For a while it seemed like they’d finally somewhat gotten it under control, but now this proved they didn’t seem to have any control in the first place. It was like the magic had a mind of its own and only worked when and how it wanted to.

It certainly didn’t help that she still had absolutely no idea how or why Equestrian magic was so different in this world. It was like nothing made sense anymore!

Sunset sighed as the school bell rung, signaling the beginning of today’s class. She’d gotten to school early in order to study her magic, but from the looks of things she wouldn’t be getting any more test results for now.

Pushing the radar machine back to its original resting place, she grabbed her guitar and backpack and headed out the science room door, disappointment clearly written on her face.

__________

Mr. Cranky Doodle’s classroom

“And that kids, is how elections are formed. Now, who can tell me about….”

Cranky continued with a smile, pointing towards the note riddled chalk board on Equestrian politics. Sunset was barely paying attention though, her mind focused instead on her new notes subjected on none other than “ponying up.”

It truly baffled her. Their Equestrian magic appeared whenever each of their most special traits shined through. Rarity when she was being generous, Fluttershy whenever she was being kind, Pinkie pie when she tried to give an unhappy soul joy, etc. According to Princess Twilight, those same attributes where what made the Elements of Harmony, yet they had the magic with them before they gained the magical geodes from Everfree. If the geodes were an extension of the elements, then again, how did they get into this world? Did the geodes somehow know these specific girls?

She rubbed her temples as Mr. Cranky kept talking. Geez, was magic studying ever this difficult back in Equestria?

Just thinking about magical studies made her reminisce the times with her previous mentor Celestia. How the ancient princess had made it her life’s work to teach Sunset all she could on the subject and concept of magic itself, and how magic was part of every Equestrian resident’s soul, be they Alicorn, Earth pony, Pegasus, or Unicorn.

Equestria. There wasn’t a day that went by where she missed her old home, how the sky was packed to the brim with flying Pegasus instead of noisy planes, the studies of magical monsters who weren’t considered as silly children’s myths and the air smelt of clean, woodsy wind instead of car gas and pollution. For the longest while she’d considered going back, almost to the point where she nearly talked about it with her friends back at the Friendship Games. It was getting hard to consider telling her friends about it though, after all, it did hurt to think about leaving them.

But after seeing the whole magical fiasco that was the Friendship Games, and the fact that for a while she’d been personally debating whether or not she actually wanted to go back home, she soon grew a change of heart. In truth, she honestly had more of a family over in this world, whereas back in Equestria there was only Celestia and Princess Twilight waiting for her. That, and the fact that she really wanted to learn how magic worked in the human world. Sure, it was hard and at times incredibly frustrating to understand, but Sunset could handle a tough challenge.

Though this world wasn’t home, over time she found that it was enough. She had friends who cared for her and a new life in a world unnatural to someone of her interspecies background. She’d miss living with other ponies, but nothing a few visits back couldn’t help.

Piff!

Her reminiscing thoughts were halted as she felt something light hit the back of her head. Quickly making sure the teacher wasn’t looking she turned around to see the familiar form of Rainbow Dash sitting behind her, her expression one of concern.

Sunset raised an eyebrow at the other girl in confusion, signaling the athlete to explain the situation. Her friend simply rolled her eyes before jabbing a finger towards the ground below. Looking down, Sunset saw a folded piece of paper sitting on the floor, no doubt the offending object her friend had thrown.

Resisting the urge to scoff at RD’s lack of both timing and communication skills, she nevertheless swiftly picked up the paper and tucked it underneath her desk, out of sight from the professor.

Once again sneaking a glance to see if the coast was clear, she looked downward at the message underneath the darkness of the desk.

Are you okay? You seem really out of it today. If this is about Tuesday, you don’t have to worry about it, I told you I’m fine;)

Sunset smiled as she read the note. Leave it to Rainbow Dash to brush off a major incident and still stand tall. Not wanting to be caught writing notes in class again, Sunset quickly turned her head around and gave her friend an encouraging smile and a thumbs up, to which RD returned.

Rainbow Dash always wore a brave smile whenever things got tough, no matter the situation. It was one of the many things both Sunset and the rest of her friends admired about the rainbow-haired teenager. Unlike most of them, Dash had adapted quickly to her newfound magic, using to her every advantage. The same however, could not be said for the likes of the others, such as AJ and Twilight as evidence by their earlier experience back at Camp Everfree. The two girls specifically had instead grown fearful of their own powers as the weeks progressed after they’d gotten the geodes, with Applejack being afraid to so much as return a high five without breaking someone’s hand with her super strength and Twilight being wary of magic altogether. Coupled with the smart girl’s traumatic experience as Midnight Sparkle, there was no doubt it’d take more than a catchy song for her to “embrace the magic.”

Suddenly a light bulb went off in Sunset’s head, maybe that was why they all had experienced such a dramatic surge of power on Tuesday. They must’ve not been as in balance with their magic as they’d originally thought, what with their ever-growing anxiety and lack of knowledge on the subject. Heck, it was no wonder why their powers freaked out!

She pursed her lips while thinking. Due to school and such, the seven teens hadn’t really discussed the magic situation, instead they all sort of, well, went with it. They allowed the magic to work its course, trying to use it only when it was necessary, (The situation with faking a snow day last December didn’t count. It was a completely justified cause). And after what happened on the way to hospital, it seemed all of them had refused to discuss magic matters whatsoever, which made it increasingly difficult for Sunset to understand what was going on. Especially Twilight, which was even more strange, because while the smart teen was scared of having powers, she never shied away from studying it. Now that Sunset thought about it, Twilight had grown extremely reclusive in the past few days, always seeming to have something deep on her mind.

Perhaps there was a way they could try and get more in tune with themselves, a practice day so to speak. A test to see what their limitations or greatest achievements could be. But where could they try such an event, and when would they even be able to have time for it?

The bell once again rung, signaling out to all students and staff that the school day was done. Cranky seemed to notice this and cleared his throat.

“All right class, that just about settles things for today. Don’t forget that we’re having CHS’ annual sporting event next weekend and you all need to buy your tickets four days in advance. Pack your things and please leave in a neat orderly fashion, and I’ll see you all tomorrow.”

Sunset quickly grabbed her loose papers as she braced in anticipation for the rainbow blur to zip past her and run out the door. To her surprise however, the blur never came, instead all she heard was the normal sound of chairs scooting back and papers being stuffed back into their original folders.

Once again turning around, she saw Dash doing the one thing Sunset would have never expected of her friend. Instead of practically knocking over her desk and bolting out of the room at Mach 7 like she normally did, RD had quickly placed her stuff back in her binder and sat up slowly, tucking the binder under her arm, and walked out at a steady pace.

This led Sunset to balk at the athlete, who simply gave her a small wave and a shy smile. Narrowing her eyes, Sunset swiped her things and jumped from her desk, following the other girl with determination.

Exiting the door, she looked to her right just in time to see Dash scooting down the hall with carefully placed steps. To the untrained eye, it seemed as though she was just simply walking like any normal person, but as someone who truly knew her, Sunset could see that each step, Dash was doing her absolute best as to not move any faster than her pet turtle, with her body stiff and tense. It was like watching a rigid wooden plank attempt to walk, solid and awkward.

Sunset huffed in frustration before striding forward, this had to stop.

“Rainbow Dash?” She called out.

The girl in question flinched suddenly at the mention of her name, before slowly turning around to face the older female, a tight smile on her face that fooled absolutely no one.

“H-hey Sunset! What’s up?”

Crossing her arms as best she could, Sunset’s expression changed into one of compassion as she walked up to Dash, her voice as calm as possible.

“Dash, we really need to talk about what happened Tuesday.”

RD shifted nervously in place, sweat starting to form as her smile tightened even more while letting out a coughed laugh.

*Koff* "W-what, no!? Like I said earlier, I told you guys I’m fine, there’s no reason for you to worry!”

Unmoved by the attempt to sway her, Sunset sighed softly before speaking in a sterner voice.

“Dash, I know you keep telling me that, but I really think we need to figure out what happened.”

The nervous expression on Rainbow’s face morphed into a look of disappointment. suddenly finding the school floor very interesting. Seeing her downcast expression caused a sharp sting of guilt strike in Sunset’s chest, but she attempted to brave it for now. Okay, she may have come on a bit strong, but if there was a chance to fix this then she would take it!

“Look…” she started, only to halt.

Pausing a moment to gather her ideas, Sunset furrowed her brows before placing a hand on her chin in thought. Interested in why the other stopped, Dash looked up at her friend in confusion, watching as Sunset thought for a minute before moving her head to where their eyes once again met.

“...I think I have an idea on how to prepare ourselves for if and when this happens again. But I need your help doing it. Would you be up for it right now?”

The blue-skinned teen seemed to consider her words for a moment, clutching her elbow in anxiety. Sunset stepped forward and placed a hand on her friend ‘s shoulder causing the other to peer back, as the ex-unicorn smiled gently.

“Listen, if you really don’t want to talk about it right now, or even later, that’s completely fine. I don’t want to make you uncomfortable. Its up to you. I just want to find out a way where our friends won’t get hurt.”

Rainbow Dash didn’t say a word as she continued to look the other in the eyes, before chuckling softly and smiling.

“You know I would never refuse you to help Sunshim.”

With a roll of her eyes, Sunset groaned as she facepalmed.

“I didn’t agree to that name you know.”

Letting out a bigger laugh, Rainbow playfully punched her friend in the shoulder, smirking with her usual confidence.

“Hehehe. Yeah, I know.”

Dropping her hand, Sunset smiled back before placing an arm around Dash while giggling.

“Come’on, let’s meet up back at my place. I give you the details along the way.”

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Sunset’s house

“Whoa, hold on a minute.”

With the day almost over, Sunset had decided the best place to convene and express her plan was at her home, a small apartment complex just a few blocks from the school. Currently, the room owner was sitting at her desk with the computer turned on, notes and other magic related books scattered around the desk in a littered mess. Meanwhile her Rainbow-colored friend lay sprawled on Sunset’s couch, looking rather confused.

“So, let me get this straight…” Rainbow started, propping herself up. “…You want all of us to get together and have some kind of magic fest with our powers? Even after they went haywire and nearly got us killed?”

The other occupant shed her jacket off before clearing her throat.

"Uh, yes? I mean no. Kinda.”

Wheeling her chair around she grabbed her notes and began to sort through them while continuing to talk over her shoulder.

“Well, sort of. See, we have no idea what happened last Tuesday and yes, it did almost cause some serious damage. But like I said, I may have an idea on how to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

Turning back towards the other girl, she shuffled through her papers, unconscious about the growing confusion on Dash’s expression.

“We’ve had these powers for over a year, and we still have little knowledge on how they work. What’s their function, what’s their impulse, their drive?”

Walking over to the couch, she sat down and brought forth the notes for Dash to see, who shuffled next to her friend and began reading the past Equestrian’s records.

“After all this time, we haven’t really gotten a chance to try and truly understand our magic. Which is why I believe we had that incident, because our magic may also be emotionally connected with us as well as physically.”

Looking up from her notes, Sunset stared at Dash with an expression of seriousness, her words hopeful and adamant.

“Rainbow, if we were to set a time, maybe even a full day if we’re lucky for all of us to practice our magic and better understand them, with each of us to get in touch with our individual powers, then perhaps things might get better.”

Despite the excitement of Sunset’s face, Rainbow Dash furrowed her brows while bringing a hand to her chin, her tone unsure.

“I dunno Sunset, while I think practicing our magic sounds absolutely awesome, how can you be sure we won’t have another major accident?”

Sunset seemed to take this question into consideration, fiddling with the papers in her hand before looking down to the floor with a down casted expression as she inwardly sighed. Noticing her friend’s distraught state, Dash placed a hand on Sunset’s shoulder as the orange-haired girl mumbled a response.

“I…I don’t know. I have no idea what happened. I don’t for sure know what triggered it. I just…”

Whatever words she was about to say were cut off as she placed the papers down and covered her face with her hands, her body silently shaking. Dash scooted closer and began to rub the other girl’s back in comfort, gritting her teeth.

“Aw crap, I’m sorry Sunset. I shouldn’t have…”

Dropping her hands, Sunset lifted her head while looking back at her friend, exasperation clear in her features.

“No, no, it’s fine Rainbow Dash, I get what you’re saying. I…”

Biting her fingernail, she gave the other girl a fearful look.

“…I just don’t want anything bad to happen to you guys. I want us to be safe. There’s no guarantee that if we so much as use our geodes for even the smallest thing, it might cause a catalyst. But I really, really think we need to at least try and figure out what going on before something even worse happens.”

Standing up off the couch, Sunset stared down at her friend while putting her hands into her pockets.

“Remember what you guys said Monday, how I couldn’t spend my days worrying about magic and just try to understand things as they just went along? How if we worked together things would turn out okay?”

Seeing her friend nod at her words, Sunset continued.

“Well, I know that together we can get things done, and I truly think this might help us. Again, I don’t want to force you all into doing something you don’t want to do, but if we’re wanting to figure this out, we need to stop ignoring the problem and come together to fix it.”

Once she finished, she peered at her friend to await her answer, hoping to Celestia the other girl would agree to the terms. Meanwhile Dash seemed to mull over Sunset’s words, tapping her chin in thought as she turned her gaze to a nearby window.

It took nearly all but ten seconds for Dash to come to a conclusion as she hopped up from the couch and placed her hand onto her friend, a comforting smile on her face.

“It does sound a little risky. But then again, I am all for risks. So if you truly think this’ll help us, then I’m all for it!"

Sunset looked back at the other girl, smiling slightly. Breathing a sigh of relief, she placed her hands onto her hips. At least Rainbow agreed with her, now all they needed was to get the other five to informed of their plan.

“By the way Sunset, I am wondering: what supplies do you need for this whole schtick? Must be some kind of major sciencey stuff.”

Chuckling, Sunset waved her off while grabbing her papers and putting them back on her desk.

“Oh, don’t worry about that, just leave it all to me. I’ll text the girls now, let them know what’s going on. Now we can't do this at the school, we need to find a good place to practice so people don’t get hurt. luckily, I think I know just the place.”

Nodding, Rainbow slumped back into the couch fully relaxed as can be, peering over at the TV.

“Sweet. Now that’s outta the way, what’s say we turn this bad boy on so I can cream you at Equestrian world war lll again.”

Thus, the two friends continued on through the night like they always did, not concerned in the slightest about the emotional discussion they had not moments ago. Playing competitive games, eating junk for dinner and swapping gossip for hours on end. And when the time came for Dash to go home for the night, Sunset said her goodbyes and ended her night. Feeding her pet lizard and climbing into bed, her mind prepped and ready for the next day, wondering what the others would say about her plan.

For a brief moment she considered talking to princess Twilight about the current ordeals but decided against it. For now, things were actually starting to look up.

Unbeknownst to the teen, in their night of fun, she’d accidentally forgotten to turn off her TV in the living room, which still continued to cast its programs despite the room’s occupant having fallen asleep. The late-night talk show currently playing on the screen flickered out and was cut off to an immediate emergency news broadcast, where the camera showed the city police deputy Atlas standing by a podium, speaking out to an offscreen audience as he gave out a warning message.

*Since Tuesday, there has been no official recording or witness of the terrorist extremist group known as the Changlers. For now, it seems they have gone dark. However, we the CCPD strongly insist that all citizens of Canterlot City remain calm and alert, if you are to see anyone looking suspicious or engaging in extremist like activities, you are to seek shelter immediately and contact your local police department. *

The screen switched from the deputy to show cast a picture of a young male with near bald hair, wearing a white shirt and brown messenger bag with a strange short of weapon attached to it on his back walking outside of a building.

*Our records show that this man may be somewhat in league with the Changlers. He’s about 5’11”, and age 26. His name is Cole Macgrath and is considered armed and heavily dangerous. Do not, I repeat, do not approach him. If you see him or know anyone who might know of his whereabouts, please let us know. We as a society will not and cannot tolerate extremist ruining our fair city. Canterlot will not fall to these people. Thank you*

Author's Note

Painting the town

"I already told you, love is a luxury you can't afford. Not anymore.

The Beast is coming, and its ravenous, unstoppable."
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Canterlot City, Larson Square. Friday

The city of Canterlot buzzed with noise. Flashy neon billboards advertised their selective stores, people wandered the streets for work/tourism, and cars whizzed by like flies. It was a perfect day for many to simply relax and enjoy the day. For others, it was a time for celebration regarding the end of yet another stressful week of school.

One such person was none other than high school student Lyra Heartstrings, who had just escaped the grueling clutches of her CHS math exam and was currently headed towards Larson Square in order to meet up with her BFF, the both of them having a whole evening of fun planned just for the two of them.

Humming a catchy tune, the mint-colored girl casually sidestepped the many other pedestrians in her way while skipping cheerfully, her mind already zipping with ideas of what her and Bon Bon would do for the day.

Maybe they could go to the arcade and win a giant prize, or maybe they could go to that new sandwich shop the Crystal prep students talked so fondly about. Oh! Or instead, they could take a nice long stroll through Scorpan park and gaze at the beautiful nature. She giggled to herself, the opportunities were endless.

Reaching a stoplight, she stopped to wait for the signal to cross. After about a minute, she peered away from the light and towards her surroundings, when she eventually looked down the street and saw her.

Sitting on a bench next to the Canterlot amphitheater, was Bon Bon, currently staring down at her phone with a semi-bored expression on her face. Smiling widely, Lyra gasped and nearly toppled over the people next to her as she bolted down the crosswalk once she saw the signal to cross, running quickly to her friend at near light speed.

In about two seconds flat, Bon Bon was beyond startled when a force collided into her. The shock faded immediately once she felt a pair of slender arms engulf her into a bear hug, the familiar squeal of Lyra calming her sudden nerves and causing her to smile.

“BEST FRIEND!”

Bon Bon placed her phone down and turned her torso as best she could in order to return the hug, her face squishing into Lyra as she let out her own squeal of joy.

Ignorant of the confused staring of passersby’s, the two old friends continued to hug before eventually releasing their respective grips as Lyra held out her hand to help pull the other girl up to her feet. Gratefully accepting the offer, Bon Bon grabbed the other’s hand and stood, a Cheshire grin growing ever so wide.

“Guess what!?” Bon Bon began. “I heard there’s this new place next to the dinner theater where they have these new silly strings where…”

Before she could finish, Lyra smiled while blurting out the rest of Bon Bon’s sentence.

“It reminds you of the cake you had on your 12th birthday?”

Gasping, Bon Bon widened her eyes while nodding her head.

“Exactly! Where Pinkie Pie gave me…”

“…Those blue binoculars!?”

“Yes! Just like…”

“That camp party two years ago!”

Both girls exclaimed with excitement, before laughing with joy. Putting each of their respective arms around the other’s shoulder, they continued giggling while strutting away from the bench and down the sidewalk.

“You know me so well!” Bon Bon chuckled.

“You know me so well!” Lyra countered, her mood skyrocketing to abnormal heights. Walking down the road, the two girls made their way to their destination, when they soon passed an alleyway, where Bon Bon suddenly stopped in her tracks, forcing Lyra to hit the brakes.

Raising an eyebrow, Lyra turned her head towards her friend, confused at the other teen’s sudden halt. Bon Bon on the other hand peered at the alleyway, her expression deep in thought, before she looked back at her friend with a smile.

“Hey, I think I know this alleyway!” She exclaimed. “This may be a shortcut!”

Lyra stared back at Bon Bon, before tipping her head to look down the alley. Between the buildings was a lone small street, dark shadows blocking most of the evening sun and large dumpsters laying next to the concrete walls, making it seem rather claustrophobic to the naked eye. At the end, she could see the light on the other end, where she could barely see the street, looking miles away. Swallowing nervously, Lyra looked back at her friend, speaking in a hesitant voice.

“U-uh, are you sure?”

Noticing Lyra’s discomfort, Bon Bon gripped her friend’s shoulder tighter, smiling warmly.

“Hey.” She spoke smoothly. “It’s okay, I know this part of town. It’s pretty docile, trust me.”

Lyra blinked before looking back down the alley, gulping nervously before giving a shaky smile. She trusted Bon Bon with her life. And the cream-colored teen had yet to disappoint her. Shaking her head in affirmation, she walked along with her friend as they turned to walk down the small alley.

Once the two of them entered the tight space, both were immediately covered in the dark shadows as they made their way down. Lyra scanned the surrounding area, nervousness growing.

The seemingly harmless dumpsters seemed so big in the darkness, looking like big mountains instead of metal bins, and the back windows of the buildings appearing tall and imposing. As they pressed forward, Lyra nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard glass crash sound off behind her. Whipping around, she almost fainted on the spot when she saw a large rat scurry from one end of the alley to another, squeaking loudly as it hid underneath a cardboard box.

She stared at the spot where she saw the small mammal silently shaking in fear. Bon Bon frowned at the sight of her terrified friend, before bringing a hand up to the mint-haired girl’s chin, gently pulling it so Lyra could meet her soft gaze.

“Hey, hey, hey, look at me.”

The scared eyes of Lyra gazed into Bon Bon’s, her fear clearly evident.

“It’s okay Lyra.” Bon Bon coaxed. “I’m right here okay. Don’t worry, I’ll never let anything happen to you.”

Lyra’s shaking decreased slightly once she saw the calm protectiveness in Bon Bon’s eyes, making her give an unsure smile. Once she saw the other girl’s fearful expression slightly fade, Bon Bon nodded before turning around, sliding her hand down to meet her friend’s palm in a comforting grasp as she began walking again.

Tightening her grasp, Lyra followed her friend while shuffling close. After a few minutes of walking, before Bon Bon spoke once more.

“Look at that!” The cream-colored girl exclaimed from behind her shoulder. “We’re halfway there.”

Sighing in relief, Lyra smiled as she quickened her pace, ready to get out of this dark, scary place. Unfortunately, it seemed her sudden found happiness was misplaced, as no sooner had Bon Bon spoken, when a shadow seemingly morphed from an unseen corner of the alley a few feet in front of the girls and stood in the middle of the street.

Both teens halted, eyes widening as a gravelly voice broke out.

“Evening ladies.”

Lyra watched in pure terror as the figure walked forward in their direction, a deep chuckle filling the air. Clutching her friend’s shoulders with her free hand, Lyra slowly shuffled backwards, as Bon Bon glared ahead.

“It seems like today must be my lucky day.” The figure, an adult man by the sound of his voice, continued, as he seemed to pull something out of what could only be a jacket. A small shing could be heard as he pulled out a large hunting knife, which appeared large and massive in the dark.

Now fully terrified to even so much as speak, Lyra, not sure what to do, looked back over her shoulder to see the other end of the alley in which they had entered, which now looked very, very far away.

Bon Bon backed up alongside her scared friend, her eyes locked onto the opposing man.

“We don’t want any trouble.” She spoke calmy, yet affirmative. “We just want to get to the other side.”

The man let out a quick laugh, twirling the blade in his fingers.

“Oh, what a shame, because I do. See, there’s a price for crossing this way.”

Bon Bon glowered, bringing a hand back in order to protect her friend from any potential danger.

“Which is?” she questioned.

Coming closer, Lyra watched as he stepped into a spot of light that the sun had set through the darkness, and it was there where she could barely see a portion of his features. He seemed to be sickly pale, with stringy, unkept hair and a stained five o’clock shadow on his chin. What’s more, she could also just make out a collection of deep, big bruises marring his face, almost as if someone had gone to town on him with punches.

Opening his mouth to show a row of yellow teeth, he raised his weapon dangerously with glee before answering.

“A life. You and your little girlfriend’s to be exact.”

Lyra paled as Bon Bon stepped back even further while guarding her friend, bringing up a fist to block any future attack and glaring at the evil man, not daring to show any sign of submission. Lyra closed her eyes as she waited for the inevitable, terrified for Bon Bon’s life, as well as her own. This was supposed to be a day of fun, why did this have to happen now?!

“Hey asshole.”

All three froze at the new voice, two out of relief and one out of frustration. Lyra opened her eyes to see the mugger groan in anger before slowly turning around to face the newcomer, obviously annoyed from being interrupted from his work.

Once he turned, the teens saw a second figure right behind their attacker, his body cloaked in the shadows as he stared down at the other man. Through her fear, Lyra raised her brows. Last she checked, there’d only been just the three of them here, where’d this new guy come from? She hadn’t even heard or seen him approach from behind. Not that she was speaking against aid. Arms folded; the new stranger spoke again in a cocky voice.

“Why don’t you piss off and leave those two alone.”

The mugger in question sneered as he brought his knife back down to his sides, Bon Bon ushering the terrified girl further behind her back while carefully watching the whole ordeal. The mugger growled like a rabid animal and pointed his weapon at the other man.

“Why don’t you go save a kitten in a tree and mind yer own business, boy. Can’t you see I’m busy?”

The newcomer tipped his head to look towards the two girls behind his enemy before bringing his attention back to the attacker and scoffed.

“Yeah, busy, right. I bet you’re real proud of yourself for threatening kids buddy.”

The mugger tightened his grip on his weapon to where Lyra thought he was going to break its handle until he stalked towards his enemy, seemingly forgetting his two other easy victims.

“First that little red-haired bitch, now this.” He snarled. “Can’t a guy get a break in this city? I’m really getting sick of insects disrupting my work.”

The newcomer seemed to let out a bark of laughter, his tone mocking, yet still with a bite of aggression.

“Well, if you suck at this so much, how about you just get an actual job then? How’s about a receptionist? You seem like the type to enjoy people’s company.”

Without warning, Lyra watched in fear as the mugger let out a roar and charged forward, his knife raised over his shoulder while he barreled towards the teens’ supposed savior.

Reaching the other man, the mugger swiped down and was about two seconds away from plunging his knife into the younger man’s skull, when quicker than light, his enemy ducked and sent a defensive knee strike into his attacker’s stomach, causing the sickly man to let of a loud grunt of pain and dropped his weapon.

Before anyone could understand what had happened, Lyra’s savior brought up a fist which began to spark a brilliant bright blue and swinging it towards the back of the would-be mugger’s head, sending him to the floor.

Once he hit the concrete ground the mugger went stock still, going seemingly unconscious. For a few seconds all was quiet. Lyra let out a breath she hadn’t known she’d been holding and visibly relaxed, still clutching onto Bon Bon’s shoulder. Supposedly hearing her, the savior lifted his head to finally look back at the two females, before slowly walking towards them.

Seeing this, Bon Bon unconsciously shielded Lyra again until she heard the man speak.

“Are you two alright?” He questioned, keeping his distance from them to try and ease their current stress. Hearing the concern in his voice, Bon Bon slowly lowered her defenses while keeping an eye on him.

“We’ll live. Thanks for that.” She uttered, close to letting out her own sigh of relief. The man nodded silently, seemingly satisfied with her answer.

From behind Bon Bon, Lyra smiled at the man in gratitude, ready to thank her savior when her eyes widened in shock as she saw the mugger groan and start to lift himself up from the ground, grabbing his knife off the concrete. Bon Bon noticed this too, her body tensing as she shot her hand back up to protect Lyra once again.

“LOOK OUT!!” Lyra shouted as the she witnessed the mugger flip around and bolt towards the other man with a scream packed with rage. Not missing a beat, her savior twisted around and brought up his hand, the alleyway lighting up as a stream of concentrated blue light shot from his fingertips and pierced into the criminal’s chest, tossing him back like a ragdoll and landing him back on the floor.

Once again, the alleyway had gone quiet as the mugger lay on the ground, this time twitching as blue sparks shot from his body. The savior glared at his enemy, seemingly watching for any other sort of movement, before turning back towards the two younger girls.

“Sorry about that,” He spoke. “Was sure I’d knocked him out.”

Bon Bon stared in absolute shock at the sight before her, now completely unsure as what to say. Apparently, her friend on the other hand knew exactly what she wanted to say, as the mint-colored girl gasped and bounded towards the man, her pink shirt over skirt bouncing as she squealed.

“WOW! That. Was. Amazing! How in Equestria did you do that!?”

The man turned towards the teen next to him, chuckling softly when seeing the excitement on her face.

“Eh.” He shrugged. “It’s no big deal. You two trying to get across?”

Lyra nodded extatically while her friend spoke up.

“Yeah, I knew this pace was a shortcut to the new shop in town.” Bon Bon said, before placing her hand on her hips while speaking in a sad, disappointed tone.

“I thought this part of town was easy going, I… I had no idea…”

Turning around and Seeing Bon Bon begin to get upset, Lyra moved away from the man and placed a hand on her shoulder in comfort. She would never blame Bon Bon, and she certainly didn’t blame her for not knowing, she knew her old friend had a good grasp on most of the nicer parts of town.

“Hey kid...” The man’s gruff voice called out, gaining both of their attentions. He gestured towards the downed mugger while continuing. “…don’t beat yourself over this. People like him are a dime a dozen, there’s no telling where they might show up. All you gotta do is always be prepared for next time.”

Bon Bon gave a small smile as the man waved his hand for them to follow as he walked down the alley.

“Come’on, you two made it halfway across. Follow me.”

Looking towards Lyra who gave her that amazing comforting smile which always made her heart soar, Bon Bon took her friend’s hand and followed the stranger down the alleyway, giggling when Lyra stuck her tongue out at the unconscious mugger as they passed him and walked out into the next street.

__________________

As he watched the two girls wave him goodbye, Cole chuckled before turning his heel back down the alley, his mood somewhat brightened. He never really considered himself much of a “kid person”, most of the time finding their overzealous personalities and thousands of questions regarding his powers annoying. However, it just didn’t sit right with him to leave those two by themselves alone after such an intense situation like that.

Reaching the downed mugger, Cole placed a foot onto the man’s spine and aimed his hand down, electricity seeping from his palm and creating cuffs on the criminal’s hands and feet. The stupid dumbass was lucky he’d held back so much; were they alone, and Cole would’ve happily fried him into oblivion.

With the would-be mugger held down, Cole bent over and shuffled through the dirty man’s jacket, fiddling around until he felt the familiar form of a wallet through the cheap clothing. Tearing it out from its pocket, he opened up the small leather pouch and was immediately created with the sight on a good set of cash, obviously stolen, in the folds.

He sighed before plucking it out and placing it in the zipper of his pants pocket. It was dirty money, but he needed something in order to keep himself steady, and what with the cops all but dousing his name, he doubted there would be a job in the nation that would hire him for a single buck.

He nearly let out a groan. Why was it every time something bad happened, people were always quick to point their fingers at him? Sure, okay, he had powers, but he only tried used them on bad guys. And so what if he got into a few illegal scraps with Zeke before from time to time, he sure as hell wasn’t some psychopathic killer zapping every little thing just for shits and giggles. Damn it, why did it always feel like the world hated his fucking guts?!

Sighing, he rubbed the crick in his neck before walking towards the side of the building and jumped onto a nearby wall pipe, scaling upward to the roof. Maybe a little sun would clear his head. Reaching the top in record speed, he pulled himself up before stretching as the rays of the sun soaked into his shirt. He always loved the fresh outside air, it always felt like a stress reliever.

After he was done, he adjusted his bag and pulled out the map from the zipper, unfolding it to see its contents. Once again, he saw the overview of Canterlot and all its glory.

In the days following since both the terrorist attack and his scuffle with the police, he’d hightailed it straight for the location where he witnessed that Rainbow Ring sprout out into the sky. Unfortunately, whatever caused it must’ve immediately vacated the area, because once he finally managed to get there, all he saw was scattered litter and a whole horde of extremely concerned citizens. It didn’t help that when he tried using his conduit pulse to anticipate where the owner of the weird thing went, he’d gotten next to nothing.

Other than those few specks of clues, the case went cold. He considered asking some pedestrians on what they saw, but quickly disregarded that idea once he saw the sheer dumbstruck looks on their faces. Not to mention he was pressed for time as the sounds of even more police sirens could be heard coming his way, and he was almost sure after his hasty escape earlier he was now considered a “shoot on sight” suspect.

With that checked off his list, the hero quickly scoured the city for a place to set up shop before anyone called him in, eventually finding once in the form of a nice, shaded rooftop of so kind of small, flashy dress shop here in Larson Square. After that, he decided laying low for the next couple days, wanting to wait until the supposed heat died down. Which of course was nothing but a pipe dream once he saw the news officially labeling him as a terrorist extremist last night.

Idiot cops.

Whatever, He’d dealt with far worse circumstances in the past, after all he only did this hero schtick to help the people. Screw the cops who hated him, he never actually cared what the people thought, He’d dealt with harsh opinions from others all his life.

Considering it was still an early message, technically there was still time for the next step in his master plan. Looking towards where the map showcased the outer rims of the big city, he laid his eyes on the desired location: Canterlot City Mall.

Even as a conduit, he still needed to eat something, and a mall was the best place to buy groceries as well as a phone.

Although he decided to stay, the man still had no idea where exactly on earth he was, perhaps another state or country? He needed to contact Zeke and let him know that he was still somehow alive. What’s more, how Kuo, Nix, John himself, and maybe all other conduits could still be out there. Luckily, the people seemed to speak English here which would definitely make his tasks far less difficult.

According to the map, he was still quite a ways from the mall, probably about fifteen minutes from his current location. Folding the paper up, Cole put it back in his bag before turning to his right and running down the row of rooftops, hopping over each gap like it was child’s play.

After a solid few minutes, he reached the edge of the rooftop path and immediately jumped off from the water gutter, a five-story drop sat below him alongside unknowing civilians. He paid the otherwise perilous jump no mind as he activated his thrusters, which sent him upward a few feet and gently traversed him to the next building across the street.

In the days after the attack, it seemed all was normal in Canterlot City had gone back to normal once again. Everywhere he looked, life thrived peacefully as if they didn’t have a care in the world, and the strange, warm feeling he’d had when first entering the city only seemed to grow the longer he stayed. The people here were also a real sight to behold. Whereas he expected them all to keep their distance from his rather odd and otherwise abnormal appearance, they were actually incredibly nice. Instead of giving him ugly stares and sneers, the people gave him friendly waves and offered him advice whenever he asked for directions. At one point, a couple of people had even asked about his Amp, wondering what it was and asking if they could take pictures with it. Strangely enough it actually made him feel more relaxed, despite not being much of a social butterfly himself, as opposed to when he was in Empire or New Marais where people tended to keep a twenty foot distance. He was starting to really like it here.

Reaching his arms out, he quickly grabbed the next building’s ledge once he was in range and hoisted his body up before continuing. His jog down the row of rooftops only lasted a few more minutes when he finally saw his target. The Canterlot mall stood separated from the rest of the tightly spaced city, resting in a secluded and open spot, its height similar to a large apartment like what Zeke had.

Jumping off the rooftop, he landed steadily onto the sidewalk, this time noticing the lack of an audience watching him, and immediately bolted towards the building, crossing the empty street and reaching the massive parking lot with relative ease. Passing by families and parking cars, he instantly noticed that the parking lot was packed to the brim with people, which meant it was going to be slightly difficult for him to meander about without someone recognizing him and calling the authorities. He’d have to make this quick.

Reaching the double doors, he slowed his pace to an even strut and pushed them open, gaping the sight that laid before his eyes.

On the outside, the mall looked huge enough, however on the inside it seemed like a whole other city entirely. Shops and restaurants of all kinds lined the walls of the building, while small snack/shopping carts, benches and a small water fountain filled the open area.

Taking in the scenery, he whistled in admiration before walking forward, placing his hands in his pockets while scanning all around him. The roof of the place was made almost entirely of glass, giving him full view of the blue sky above, and large escalators lead up to the second story above. The smell of cinnamon and cleaner spray wafted through the air alongside the sounds of chatting friends and laughing children.

Passing a smoothie stand, he looked around at the surrounding area, searching for some kind of grocery store or food mart. He saw a sports store, a couple more restaurants, hell even a sign pointing to a movie theater, but that was about it.

“COME ONE, COME ALL!”

Suddenly his thoughts were interrupted when a loud voice cut through the air, its volume surpassing the many others of the mall. All nearby heads, including Cole’s, turned to see a sea greenish-blue skinned teen wearing what Cole could only describe as hippy clothing waving his arms like a lunatic showman as he gestured towards a large, makeshift cart packed to the brim with food with a crudely sign labeled “Breeze-feed-machine”.

“Come, have your tastebuds wowed at the magnificent, the astounding, the fresh, Breeze cart! Where I have your every assortment delicious delicacies! From juicy fruit to scrumptious veggie-tables, to…”

The teen paused midsentence before once he seemed to take a whiff of something foul, taking a moment to look over his shoulder back at the cart and squinting at what appeared to be a massive pile of bruised fruit.

“…And whatever this is.” He mumbled while sharply poking it, before suddenly remembering the audience before him and turned around with a tight smile.

“Y-yeah! Come one come all, have a taste! Don’t be shy, don’t ask why, just be…spry?”

Cole raised an eyebrow, was this clown for real? The other people around him thought seemed to think the same way, as many simply rolled their eyes at the young man’s antics and continued on with their day.

He himself was about to do the same, when a second voice called out, authority clear in her voice.

“It’s you!”

Immediately tensing, Cole whipped around in a mixture of surprise and fear, his stomach chilling when he saw the form of a female security guard approach the scene.

As she made her way forward, both her expression and body language clearly showing off signs of aggression, Cole instinctively backed further into the crowd before she continued to speak.

“How many times have we told you this sir!?”

He stopped once she said this, growing confused as to what she meant. A gasp sounded out to his left, causing his eyes to move from the cop and back onto the greenish teen, who seemed to also tense at the sight of the officer.

Cole watched as the frustrated woman passed him without a second glance nd continued walking towards the now terrified teen, pointing a finger at him.

“The mall will no longer allow you authorization to sell items to customers due to your lack of experience and permit. We’ve already discussed this more times to count Mr. Breeze.”

The kid, Breeze, Cole guessed was his name, paled at the approaching officer before seemingly abandoning his post and bolting down the mall aisle with a scream, much to the shocked officer. She quickly placed a hand on her shoulder while speaking into the radio.

“This is officer Peach, I’ve got a runner, male, name is Zephyr Breeze…”

As the cop made her way down the hall, Cole snorted at the sight as he tried to get away from her field of view, hoping she wouldn’t see nor recognize him. Boy, did he feel glad he’d left his Amp back at the rooftop he was staying on. As useful as it was, that thing was a target for good and bad attention.

Apparently, this whole ordeal was a common occurrence, because he saw many of the onlookers laugh at the scene while taking pictures and videos of the chasing pair, allowing Cole to make a quick getaway with some of the fresher looking fruits and snacks on Zephyr’s cart.

Scanning to make sure no cameras were looking, he stuffed the items, about two fresh apples, and an orange in his bag and continued the opposite direction. Passing a corner, he noticed there was a lack of maps in the place. That made it frustrating, perhaps he could ask someone. But who? Everywhere he looked people seemed too busy to talk, rather focusing on calling others on their phones, families dining together, and no workers in sight.

He placed his hands on his hips while gruffly sighing, trying to find something that could help him. Walking down the new corridor, he once again shifted his gaze at the surrounding scenery of the massive store, noticing the glass ceiling from the front lobby had given away to a brightly colored tile with separated glass domes giving him more views of the outside above. Soft music sang through the speakers while he heard the sound of water spraying in the small water fountains that laid at every cross section.

Multiple people passed by him without second thought, instead focusing on which shop to go to next or what food place to eat at. At one point a pair of three young girls all dressed up in adventuring costumes bolted past his legs, screaming thing at the top of their lungs like “Daring Do!” and “Canterlot Movie Club!”

Reaching a small bench, Cole decided to sit for a moment in thought. The place was rather nice, but he was still on a time crunch. It was only a matter of time before someone spotted him and called his ass in, and he still needed to find a phone. So far, there were no directions, and he really wanted to do this himself just so no one would say they’d had a connection to his intentions.

Crap, What now?

_______

Canterlot Mall

“Pinkie, are you sure about this?” The timid voice of Wallflower Blush spoke up as she followed the bubbly pink girl before her, who was practically bouncing off the walls as she led the sweater clad teen down the hallway of Canterlot Mall.

“Abso-tivly-loutly!” The Party girl smiled, wrapping an arm around Wallflower’s shoulder, causing the socially awkward girl to tense. She’d seen Pinkie Pie and her hyperactive nature from afar, often feeling bad for many of her unfortunate fellow classmates getting roped into her antics. Now, she found was rather intimidating at times when Wallflower herself was suspect to the girl’s excitement. After, certain, events, she was now officially under Pinkie’s friend radar, as the pink girl had felt horrible once realizing just how left out Wallflower had been over the years.

That’s not to say she didn’t dislike Pinkie, nor the younger girl’s attempts to hang out with Wallflower and attempt to get the shy teen some more friends who would appreciate her for herself. Pinkie was unironically a very nice person once you got to know her, she just got excited on certain occasions. Like they were doing right now, in the very crowded mall. Pinkie offered the local galleria last time, however the both of them quickly found out Wallflower had accidently gotten too carried away with all the beautiful floral to make friends, prompting Pinkie to practically force her to come here after school ended. Luckily, the two of them agreed the best place to meet people of Wallflower’s taste would be the new flower shop on the other end of the mall.

Currently, they’d just passed a frantic looking Zephyr Breeze running from a couple of security guards, which had honest to god been one of the best things she’d seen all day because of the look on all their faces.

“This is going to be so much FUN!!” Pinkie all but shouted with barely contained happiness. “We could go to the dance floor and bust some moves, or go to the bakery and watch them make a yummy cake, or see that new mold sculpting shop, “Baker family-something”. Oh, or, or, or, we could watch the magic show, which by the way seemed rather unconvincing in the advertisement if you ask me, but hey, I told myself Pinkie, you can’t judge someone by their special effects budget, which is weird because last week Twilight had said…”

As the friends walked by many people along their way, Wallflower continued to try her best and keep up with Pinkie’s rambling, until she eventually found herself slowly tuning out, instead focusing on the decorative floral and trees decoratively planted in the middle of the hallways.

Passing by flashy shops full of clothing and food shops, the two eventually found themselves stopping by to get some fruit smoothies, as Wallflower had gently cut in Pinkie’s talking before they moved past it, and sat at a nearby wishing pond. After a few minutes of talking about random and fun things that came to each of their minds, mostly Pinkie rambling with Wallflower listening, all of the sudden the cotton candy colored female gasped mid-sentence and nearly dropped her raspberry drink in her shock.

Jumping from her seat, Pinkie’s eyes gleamed as she looked towards her friend.

“Oh. My. Gosh!” She exclaimed, “I totally forgot, someone I totally know someone who you should meet! And if my intellectual clockwork is correct…”

Placing her drink on the top of her scalp, Pinkie lifted up her free wrist which held a “party watch”, (What she used it for Wallflower had no idea. And she for some reason felt like she shouldn’t ask), and gleefully pointed to it before continuing.

“…Her shift is taking a break in right about…Now!”

Without another word, Wallflower gasped as her newfound friend grabbed her hand and the pair whisked down the hallway.

“Whoa! Pinkie slow down! Stop, Halt, Heel!”

Pinkie laughed as she dragged the green-haired girl alongside her, who was doing her absolute best as to not drop her own drink while they barreled down, nearly running at a speed similar to Rainbow Dash. In what felt like two seconds flat, Pinkie skidded to a halt and nearly dropped a very shaken Wallflower Blush who was hanging onto the other girl with their interlocking elbows.

Wallflower lay limply beside the pink girl, her eyes spinning, and her mind confused on what just happened. Pinkie on the other hand seemed to not notice the mossy green girl’s predicament and instead lifted her drink to gesture at the business before her.

“Ah-ha! Here we are!”

The response to her enthusiastic exclamation was a simple groan from below her feet. Dropping her skin splitting smile, Pinkie looked down in confusion before finally noticing the drooping girl sitting at her legs, who from this stance looked as though she was five seconds from face planting.

Letting out a guilty chuckle, Pinkie bent down and grabbed Wallflower’s shoulder and gently began to pull the shy girl back to her feet. Shakily latching onto Pinkie’s closest shoulder, Wallflower felt her legs wobble slightly before giving her friend a half glare, who returned it with a sheepish smile. A tenseness shortly hung in the air before to Pinkie’s surprise, the other teen dropped her glare as she busted out laughing.

The pink girl watched in confused astonishment for a little bit watching as Wallflower clutched her stomach continued to laugh out loud, which after a while got Pinkie to giggle along with her because of the hilarity of it all. Pretty soon, Pinkie found herself letting out a full-blown laughter. For a minute they laughed, with Pinkie at near tears and Wallflower clutching the other’s shoulder just so she didn’t fall over.

“Oh, man!” Wallflower giggled, “Sometimes Pinkie, I wonder if you had magic even before that princess came to town. Cause one things for sure, you certainly know how to make an impression.”

Pinkie on her end giggled even more, smiling widely before propping her body straight like a spring.

“Yyyyep! I’m pretty good at that!”

“Pinkie Pie?”

Both girls looked to their left to see a new girl head towards them, this one wearing an expression of joy. She was a lighter color green as opposed to Wallflower’s dark mossy color, with long glasses adorning her face and a worker vest over her normal shirt, indicating she was an employees of some kind.

While Wallflower peered at the stranger, Pinkie smiled and gave out a friendly wave.

“Hiya Juniper! We just came to see you!”

The female, who Wallflower assumed was Juniper, shyly adjusted her glasses while stammering.

“M-me? O-ok, cool. What can I do for you?”

Once again, Pinkie quickly bent down and grabbed Wallflower’s shoulder and pulled her close, gesturing her hand towards the gardener.

“Juniper Montage meet Wallflower Blush, she’s a friend of mine back at CHS.”

Both respective girls looked at each other, with Wallflower giving a small wave and Juniper replying with a smile while Pinkie continued.

“I thought you two would make a perfect pair! Both of you want to make friends, both you feel bad about…” Pinkie clamped her mouth shut before she could finish, immediately switching her eyes to the two girls who both gave the party girl a bemused look, causing her to gulp.

“Hehe…” She sheepishly fidgeted, “…Sorry, no offense.”

The other two smirked slightly before turning to face each other once more, with Wallflower shyly breaking the ice.

“So, I heard you’d worked on the set of the Canterlot movie studio.” She started, “Um… what was that like?”

Juniper seemed to beam at the question, adjusting her glasses while smiling.

“Oh, yeah! I was my uncle’s gofer during the sets. Usually, I helped by getting him drinks and helping with film shoots, stuff like that.”

Wallflower gave her own smile as she stepped forward, her interest growing.

“Really, you helped the director set up the sets? What was it like watching them film? I’ve never really gotten into Daring Do or other adventure movies.”

Juniper chuckled as she walked over to Wallflower and Pinkie, gleaming at the newcomer’s sudden interest while gesturing them to follow.

“Girl, have I got some stories to tell you. Come’on, since I’m on break I was headed over to the deli to get some grub.”

Pinkie Pie and Wallflower followed closely behind, with the pink party girl giving Blush a thumbs up. The three walked for a few minutes with Wallflower and Juniper spending the time discussing their respective hobbies, with Pinkie gleefully watching the two, until they eventually came to a cross section and stopping.

Standing in the lead, Juniper looked around at the separated hallways, pausing from her conversation with Wallflower. Pressing a hand to her chin, she hummed in thought while looking down the mall for a solid minute before finally sighing.

“Man, I really hate that they removed the maps for reconstruction, this place is way too big for its own good sometimes.”

Her other two companions noticed Juniper’s confusion and decided to peer around themselves, hoping to find the familiar sign of the deli restaurant. Eventually Pinkie’s eyes scanned away from the hallways and into the giant room she and her friends were currently in, before her attention passed over a man sitting on a nearby bench. For normal people, they’d see nothing out of the ordinary, but in a girl like Pinkie Pie’s eyes, she saw that the man looked rather down struck. His shoulders were sagged and his expression a mixture of both annoyance and slight panic.

In other words, it simply would not stand!

_________

Resting his arms on his knees, Cole once again scanned around the room one more time, growing frustrated as the time passed. There seemed to be no end to this mall, which should have meant he’d have passed some kind of technological store by now. If he were an Apple store in a mall, where would he-

“Hiya!”

With a yelp, Cole flew backwards as his peripheral vision was bombarded by a shrill voice and a wall of pink. Grasping onto the handlebars of the bench to steady himself, he edged his head back to see a young teenage girl standing right in front of him, bending over so her face was mere inches from his, her teeth filled smile so wide he was surprised her head didn’t split in half. He didn't even hear her coming, so how the hell did she get so close to him without his noticing? Once she was satisfied she’d gotten his attention, the girl backed her torso up and stood straight, that way he could see the rest of her features.

She wore an attire that would seem to belong to a modernized clown, with her large purple-pink skirt and bright t-shirt adorning a heart shaped insignia which covered most of it. As for the rest of her, Cole was certain he’d never seen so much of the color pink in his entire life. Her skirt, her hair (to which he was surprised a neck could hold that amount of tuff) and dear god even her damned skin was coated in the color. How she managed to walk around public without burning holes through people’s retinas he honestly had no idea. Clutching his still rapidly beating heart, Cole caught himself flinching as the girl before him shot out a hand while speaking, clearly not noticing his initial surprise.

“I’m Pinkie Pie, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you around here before, what’s your name?!”

He blinked a few times while his brain cogged back to life. Pinkie Pie. Of course, because what in the hell else? Whatever parents lived in this place must’ve all had a collective sense of humor. Realizing that the female before him wasn’t any sort of threat or otherwise, Cole rolled his eyes before eventually lifting himself off the bench and standing up to his full height. Easily towering over the 17-aged high schooler, the conduit lifted his own hand and firmly met hers with an annoyed scowl.

“Cole.” He greeted simply.

However as soon as he grasped her hand, she almost tore it clear out of its socket by shaking it like a soda can rather than a human appendage. Before the conduit was almost certain he’d lose his shooting arm to a hyperactive high-schooler, she released her grip and tucked her hand behind her back while continuing to gleam up at the man, who was now rubbing his sore wrist, speechless. The young girl took a moment to check out his appearance, her eyes instantly traveling to his sling bag and parkour shoes.

“I like your outfit!” she giggled. “Do you practice parkour, cuz I know someone who would totally enjoy that too! Actually, now that I’m thinking about it, she probably already knows parkour. And speaking of your clothes, you really need to wash them, they look like you’ve been rolling around on the floor. No offense. Hoo boy, Rarity would flip if she saw this, I tell you!”

Was this kid on something? Her eyes looked as though they could pop out of her skull any minute, not to mention she was practically bouncing at the hip like a toddler on a sugar high. She could definitely give even the particularly possessive fangirls back home a run for their money, which in turn made him feel unsure whether to be concerned for her health or extremely unnerved. Before his mind could comprehend anything further, he watched as the girl seemingly blurred from sight, leaving only a comedic outline of her body in kicked up dust and felt a pair of hands pull down one of his arms.

“Wow! These are really cool! What kind of stylist do you go to? You know, a friend of mine actually considered getting a tattoo, but then saw how it was made and totally denied it afterwards. Which is fine by me because those things look like they really hurt.”

He swung his head to the left as the kid held out his wrist and gazed in awed wonder at the many tattoos displayed on his skin. It took him a minute before he swiftly yanked it back from the offending teen with a growl, unused to having a stranger this close to him.

Cole’s eyes narrowed, to which Pinkie returned with an innocent smile. “Is there something I can help you with or do you greet every random stranger like this?” he replied gruffly.

To his growing horror, that question seemed to only excite her more, her laughter ringing in his ears.

“Oh, no, I’m perfectly fine, thanks! I should be asking you that silly!”

For a second her gleeful expression actually seemed to tone down, if only a little bit, as she gave him what he guessed was a soft and understanding look.

“You seemed pretty upset. Are you lost? I could help you with that you know. My friend over there works at the movie theater over there, maybe she could help you!”

He inwardly groaned at the girl’s offering, ready to forge his mission altogether and just go back to his rooftop hideout. He never had a problem with chipper people, but he was having a very bad week already and this kid was bouncing on his razor thin line of patience like a trampoline.

However, he felt himself pause for a moment. As erupt and strange as she was, the girl wasn’t wrong, as he was in fact lost and in need of assistance. Peering back down at her from behind his palm, his unamused frown met her curious gaze, contemplating his options. She certainly did look like she wanted to help, and come on, what more did he have to lose? Plus as a bonus, that way he could actually get her to go away.

Relenting to the rather unwelcomed plan, he sighed before opening his mouth to speak, only to stop on a dime when he felt something inside him stir.

The new feeling, whatever it was, made him look at her, really look at her. She was definitely strange, that much was clear, but there was something else. He felt the supernatural senses inside him begin to twitch and spark with agitation, obviously in response to something he couldn’t see. Yet this time he was prepared, he forced his powers back down like bile, as to not let it explode out to a whole lobby full of people.

Did this girl have something to do with the strange senses he’d been having? No, that couldn’t be. Could it? He felt his eyes unconsciously trail down to the necklace hanging by her chest, something tugging at his subconscious.

Suddenly, two other girls came running up to him with their focus dead set on Pinkie. One of them, a girl wearing what had to be an uncomfortably embarrassing employee’s outfit quickly grabbed Pinkie’s arm and pulled her away from Cole, giving the man a knowing and regretful look.

“Sorry about that sir.” She stumbled once getting a good view of him. “Our friend here is just…. Easily excited to meet new people.”

Cole blinked, nodding slowly before looking at the newcomers. He felt a similar aura radiate off the other two as well, only their “scent” seemed to be much smaller and vague. Noticing that their stare fest was quickly starting to get awkward, Cole coughed into his fist and looked away before clearing his throat.

“Uh, no problem. Hey…” Looking towards the female in the employee outfit, he asked with precaution, “…you’re an employee here right? Do you know where I can find some kind of technology store, preferably one with phones?”

The girl in question seemed to shrink slightly at his annoyed and slightly edged tone, forcing her memory into hyper-drive.

“Uh, yes!” She said while fidgeting with her skirt, before pointing to the hallway. “Down that way to the right, you can’t miss it.”

His head turned the direction in where she was pointing, until eventually looking back at her and giving a curt nod.

“Thanks” He simply replied before strolling past them, ignoring the inner senses within him screaming in protest and rather focusing on his deteriorating rational side begging him to escape before things could go south. Although he paid the three still staring teens no mind while trekking away, he felt the strange aura in the air grow tighter and more constrictive the more distance he made from them. Almost as if something was telling him not to leave.

He ignored it regardless.

____

Seeing the strange man leave, Wallflower broke from her stupor and looked to Juniper with bewilderment.

“What just happened?”

The theater worker returned with a shrug, unsure herself as what to say. Pinkie on the other hand continued to watch the stranger as he traveled down the mall corridor before disappearing behind the left corner, her smile turning into a frown. Perhaps she’d gone just a little too far that time. Sunset and the others had always warned her before that some people wouldn’t take her excitement the same way her friends did. But she always just assumed her friendliness was a one-way ticket to making a new buddy.

Feeling a slight nudge on her shoulder, she turned as Wallflower gave her a reassuring smile before gesturing her to follow in the opposite direction, to which Pinkie Pie nodded thankfully.

She had yet to notice her necklace, which housed her Equestrian geode, was glowing bright pink.

____________

Cole held his head down as he trudged away from the three, hands deep in his pockets and body deadset on walking as far away from the trio of what had to be highschoolers as possible.

“Well, that wasn’t awkward at all.” He grumbled lowly, eventually reaching the left turn the young employee had told him about. His mind rehearsed what had just happened not five seconds ago, replaying the situation from the eccentric girl getting in his personal space, Pickle spry, or something like that if he remembered correctly, to him straight away having a near heart attack from the amount of irritation his conduit senses had stirred inside of him.

What just happened?

Call it crazy, call it superstition, but somehow, he knew those girls were connected to whatever was hiding in this town. Most notably the pink girl, as she’d radiated a far stronger sense than the other two. But how? He hadn’t sensed the conduit gene in her, but what in the hell could explain the weird ass behaviors? Perhaps she had a way of hiding it from him.

Cole shook his head. This damn place must’ve been getting to him. What was he thinking? She was just some random, overly friendly teenager, nothing to get worked up about. Whatever was out there must’ve just been messing with his mind in order to steer his train of thought in the wrong direction. Well fine, two could play at that game.

Staring ahead, he saw what had to be the mall’s technology store, with its large signs and advertisements on the latest phone product. Letting out a sigh of relief, Cole picked up his pace before entering the large opening of the store, almost taken aback at the sight of all the brightly lit technology.

Rows of phones large and small trailed down wooden table aisles, and massive, big screen TVs stood tall in the larger sections of the room. he smiled as he soaked up the feeling of electricity in the air, already feeling his stress begin to slightly waft out of existence.

Reaching on of the tables, he overlooked the grand selections of cell phones and other calling devices, peering at their sizes and costs. A cheap phone would have to do, all on account him only needing to use it for calling. A small phone would also be preferable, as it would be much safer for the weak device and easier for him to keep it tightly stored in the phone pouch on his sling bag strap. Having a cheap and small enough phone would be an absolute jackpot.

Unfortunately, the phones on the table seemed to all be the newer models, with prices ranging from understandable to inconceivable. He huffed before walking down, noticing that the models ranged down in age and price the further he went. But their sizes only seemed to consist of one far too big for his bag pocket.

Walking alongside the rows of tables, he passed by many other customers who conversed amongst themselves. He mostly ignored their conversations, more focused on his objective then them. However, he did manage to overhear some separate sentences that almost gave him pause.

“Did you hear about the terrorist attack earlier this week?” he heard someone say from behind him.

“How could I not, the whole city is up in flames about it. I heard the Changlers had a stolen military vehicle with them.” Another voice hushed.

“No, no, but did you actually hear what happened? Some people say some group of civilians stopped them! Like a resistance group!”

Soon, a third voice joined the fray.

“That’s not what I heard. I heard someone say it was the government who stepped in. Maybe they’re finally deciding to help.”

“As if! My friend’s sister was there during attack and she said she actually saw an angel come in and save a little girl and her brother!”

“Didn’t your friend’s sister have a few drinks that day too?”

he rolled his eyes and continued his search, moving away from the conversation. However, even more reached his ears as the crowds of shoppers walked by, their words now barely gaining his attention.

“It’s said that the terrorists are now in hiding, probably embarrassed they lost their new toy.”

“Even so, you never know when those freakshows might turn up again.”

“Did you know that those two Changler prisoners kept going on about some guy? Someone clearly made an impression on them.”

“Everyone’s talking about the Changlers, but have the cops even focused on those disappearing? I’m afraid to go out at night.”

“Why do the Changlers even want to be here? We didn’t even do anything.”

“Faust, what is this city coming to?”

“Berrypunch said one of her brother’s coworkers stopped coming in about two weeks ago and no one has seen or heard of him since.”

“And what’s with those mafia gang sightings down by Larson Square, don’t we have enough to deal with?”

“Willow said she saw a major freak accident by the hospital, yet she refuses to talk about it-“

“I was in the attack, and at one moment I saw this guy jump off a five-story roof and land without a scratch, I couldn’t believe it!”

“Hey Willow, did they ever say how Camp Everfree was recovering?”

“You think that’s crazy, I saw this girl at the park grow wings, no joke!”

“Are they really going to have another Friendship Games after the last one? I would’ve they’d cancel the activity altogether.”

“Have you seen those seven girls. Weirdest. Bunch. Ever.”

“Do you think that guy from the news really had anything to do with the attack, I passed him on the street that same day and he seemed like a pretty chill dude.”

“Did you know that a few of the students from that high school downtown claimed to have some kind of demon girl? Kids these days.”

“I heard that CHS is cursed. I don’t know about you, but I’m steering clear away from that place.”

“Good lord, did you see that video of the giant monster girl last year, someone needs to teach me how to cosplay like that!”

“That high school was weird before, but now with all those weird sightings, many people are wanting the place closed down.”

“I saw we book it out of this valley before something really bad happens.”

Ah-ha. Cole grinned once he passed by a small phone resting on the table, its size just about right and the price a measly 110 dollars. Which was much cheaper than all the other devices in the place. Reaching into his pants zipper pocket, Cole brought out the wad of cash he’d ‘borrowed from the mugger and also pulled out his wallet.

With the bills in his hands, Cole took out the money from his thin wallet’s sleeve and shuffled it together with his other money, flipping through them as he scanned the amount.

20, 20, 20, 10, 10, 5 and six ones. Oh no.

His smile sunk as he counted the money. That can’t be right. Shuffling them back together, he recounted the money in his hands, this time looking as closely as he could through them.

No use, ninety-one dollars was all he had. The superhero gulped as he peered back at his wallet to look inside the sleeve, making sure it was fully empty. When nothing but empty leather met his gaze, he shoved the wallet back down in his pants pocket and reached into his leg zipper pouch, fumbling around for more cash.

Shit.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

“Damn it. God-damn it.” He silently cursed, glaring back down at the small, desired device. Now what? He couldn’t just pocket it and leave. The store owners would catch him right away, what’s more, he’d already stolen enough things as it was.

Begrudgingly putting the cash in his zipper pocket, he looked around the store, hoping to find another phone that had a lesser price. Luck it seemed, was not on his side, as all other devices in the room only went from 100 to up in cost, with no telling on the tax.

Great. He rubbed the bridge of his nose in frustration while letting out a barely contained sigh, how in the hell was he supposed to contact Zeke now, through telegraph?

His thoughts were interrupted for what felt like the 40th time that day when he heard a small, barely audible gasp. Peering from over his hand, he was granted a sight that nearly made his blood freeze to stone. A young employee stood horrified in the room, her eyes dilated in pure fear. What’s worse, was that she was looking directly at him.

Oh. Crap.

He moved not a muscle, his eyes locked on her as she slowly began to pull out her phone from her breast pocket while not wavering from her gaze. The other shoppers and workers in the store had yet to notice the two frozen people, as they continued their activities as normal.

Cole kept looking at the woman as she shakily unlocked her phone and began to access her calling screen. Meanwhile, the conduit drooped his arms tiredly, already making up his mind on what to do.

Before she could type in her desired number, she watched in shock as the man before her whipped around bolted clear out the exit, brushing past others as he made his escape at a speed she could only dream of catching up to.

Practically flying out the store, Cole went the opposite direction of where he came, hopefully to avoid meeting that pink teen and her friends again and began searching for a detour. After a few minutes of turning corners and hopping over obstacles, he finally saw a sign attached to the ceiling labeled with a big red Exit.

Eventually, the sight of the double doors greeted him as he all but rammed into the mechanical handle and tumbled out of the building and into the parking lot. He didn’t stop there though, as he quickly made his way back to the other buildings ahead of him where he planned to make his getaway.

Well, so much for shopping here anymore, maybe there was someplace else he could find a phone. But as for now, he just needed to get as far away from this place as possible.

Author's Note

I'm back in the groove! Expect the next chapter soon :pinkiehappy:

Magical practices

"Eveything is hard before it is easy."

-Johann Wolfgang Van Goeth
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Cluck, Cluck! Cluck, Cluck! Clu-

In one swift motion, a hand rose out of the fort of blankets and gently placed itself onto the button of the chicken-shaped clock, silencing it immediately. Letting out a loud yawn, the lone occupant of the room pulled her arms outward and stretched from underneath her cocoon of warmth, before grabbing the blankets and yanking them off her body. Swinging her legs to the side and off the comfort of her mattress the occupant, a young female in a full blue onesie, stood up and sighed with happiness before walking over to her shaded window, a thin trail of sun peeking out from the crack.

Grabbing the cloth, she flung the shades aside and opened her window before being immediately greeted with the crisp morning air, coupled with the intoxicating smell of apples. Peering outside, she looked down from her window to see the chicken coup below, with the soft warmth of the sun barely coating half of the small animal house. On the roof of the coup was non other than Rocky, Sweet Apple Acres current rooster, sound asleep as the sun had not reached far enough to stir him.

She chuckled lightheartedly before bringing her fingers to her mouth and whistling loudly, the sound startling the chicken awake while blinking his cute beady eyes in confusion. After a split few seconds, the rooster seemed to regain his train of thought before letting out an equally, if not louder call, which echoed off the house and around the rest of the farmland, awakening almost every other resident in the vicinity.

Nodding in approval, the teen moved away from the window and towards her dresser, ready to change from her sleep attire. Shuffling in the clothes, she picked out her chosen outfit and quickly began dressing herself.

Today was going to be more work hardy than usual, so she’d decided on a pair of working jeans and a regular t-shirt with an apple insignia on the front. Almost finished wiggling the shirt on, a loud knock echoed through her room, slightly startling her as a voice spoke from the other side of the bedroom door.

“You up an at ‘em missy!? You better not be snoozin’ ya hear, it may be a weekend but that don’t excuse you from yer chores!” The sound of her expectant grandmother called out as she continued rapping on the wooden door frame.

She silently sighed at her elder relative’s impatience, before cupping her mouth and calling out from over her shoulder.

“Don’t you worry none Granny, ah’m almost done! Just a few more minutes!”

Fitting on her boots Applejack fiddled her sun blonde hair into a neat bun before walking over to her closet and fishing out the broom in the corner, a smile on her lips. First things first.

___

“Granny Smith, why does Applejack get to go to Everfree while ah’m stuck here at the house all morning on a Saturday?!”

Applebloom huffed and crossed her arms, semi glaring at her older sister from across the table who was focused more on her breakfast omelet then answering. To the right of the young girl sat an elderly woman who simply tutted at her granddaughter’s question, giving her a look.

“Perhaps it’s because Applejack here spent the whole of yesterday cleaning up that there mess you made in the kitchen while you were fiddling around with your friends at the mall.”

Hearing this, the youngest of the Apple family residents groaned before placing a hand on her cheek and poking her own food. Applejack scanned her eyes upward at her downcast sister, almost half a mind to give her own two cents about the absolute chaos the young Bloom had caused in their otherwise pristine kitchen but decided against it. Instead, she moved her head to glance at the clock hanging above their fridge. 8:15. Good, that gave her enough time to add a few more chapters in her book.

Over the past couple months, the farm girl had gotten a sudden passion for literature writing, her source of inspiration being that Little House on the Prairie series Twilight had requested. Reading about the life of young Laura Wilder encouraged the apple picker to start her own story on how her experience had progressed from a normal farm life to a downright spiral of crazy ups and downs in the snap of a finger. Of course, that didn’t stop the likes of RD to playfully tease at her every chance she got, often calling her “egg-head apples.”

Scarfing down the rest of her eggs, Applejack hopped up from her seat and shuffled towards the sink, turning on the water and scrubbing the caked gunk off before shoving it into the dishwasher. Once she was finished, AJ scurried passed her dining family while giving them a smile.

“Thanks for breakfast Big Mac!”

Her older brother, a young man in a red farmer’s jacket, gave his sister a thumbs up before going back to his own breakfast. Granny and Applebloom watched as the middle daughter ran back up the stairs, one wearing an expression of confusion while another one of proudness.

“I wonder how Applejack’s doing on her story.” Applebloom wondered aloud. Granny Smith gave a lighthearted laugh.

“Oh, Ah’m sure she’s doing just fine deary. Ah know ah for one ah’m as excited as a horse in a hayfield to see what she’s written.”

Seeing that her sister was out of sight, the youngest sibling finally turned to the other relatives, finally speak the question that had been on her mind for a while.

“Do you think she’s gonna write about all the weird magical stuff that’s been going on with her friends?”

This time she heard Big Mac let out his own laugh, who set down his fork and brought his glass of apple juice up to his lips.

“Eyep.” He chuckled.

Applejack closed her door gently before walking over to her desk, which housed her rather large computer and keyboard, and pressed the button to turn it on. Hearing the soft thrum of the machine’s circuitry come to life, she cracked her knuckles as the blue screen lit up and gave her full view of the desktop where many of her chosen tabs where housed. Immediately clicking the “notebook” tab, AJ watched as it pulled up a screen show casting all of her work made from the year before. She let out a smile before dragging her hands to hover over the top of the keyboard, before she felt her mind suddenly going blank.

There had been a whole slew of things to write about from last year, all the way from her rekindling with her childhood friend Rainbow Dash, to her and Twilight finally getting back at those no-good swindlers the Flim Flam brothers at the Harvesting festival. There was also the Canterlot Annual Sporting Event next week, which meant there’d be plenty of things she could work with.

But for now?

For a while, the start of this specific year had at first been very uneventful, what with them finally being somewhat in tune with their inner Equestrian magic. Although there were the occasional freak incidents, what with the second floor of the Carousel Boutique mysteriously falling back in December as well as Rainbow Dash’s dramatic speed run through town, of which no doubt cost the city tons in electric damages.

At first she’d heavy debated writing about those moments, as she knew those had been far different experiences than their regular adventures. However strangely enough, both the fashionista and the athlete had encouraged AJ to write about the scenarios anyway; something about keeping the readers on their toes and what-not.

All that was left was one specific situation that came to her mind, and this time she really was unsure whether to consider writing about it or not.

You see, to a person like Applejack, writing was a way to clear her mind of thoughts. To rid her conscious of the many memories, experiences, ideas, wishes, and personal thinking that swarmed her mind on a daily basis. Over time, writing about all the crazy/wacko Equestrian magic incidents that’ve happened to her and her friends pretty much felt therapeutic. Because while she indeed had friends who she could talk to and know that they understood, there wasn’t really any other alternative route to venture on.

Her family, while certainly supportive, only knew so much about otherworldly powers, and it wasn’t as if there were any major experts to console. That and coupled with the fact that telling this to a doctor might just end her up in the wrong type of hospital.

In truth, she… tolerated her powers. They certainly had their advantages, as she could now lift a full-sized semi-truck with nothing but her bare hands without breaking a sweat. And lord knows how helpful it’s been around the orchard, why now she could so much as rap on one of her trees with her knuckles and the apples would come flying off their high up stems.

On the other hand however, she had to be very, very aware of herself. It seemed like everything and everyone around her was made of glass. Lockers tore off their hinges if she were so much as startled, and she could see flinching whenever she firmly grasped their hands. Then again, if AJ was being honest, she also sorta had that particular problem even before the geodes. Farming at its finest she supposed.

To make it simple, her powers scared her. To have that much otherworldly strength contained in her fingertips to fight monsters like Gaia Everfree, all the while making sure she didn’t break any of Applebloom’s bones just by a hug alone. Ugh, the very thought haunted her subconscious in her sleep. In all honesty, she often found herself wondering if things would’ve been better to not have powers in the first place.

Luckily, if she could call it that, it seemed as though she wasn’t the only one having a hard time coming to terms with it. Twilight herself constantly kept her hackles raised whenever they used their magic, even for something as harmless as Ponying up. Thankfully, both Applejack and Twilight had the encouragement from their friends to keep them going, although the apple farmer could tell that they too had some inner doubts as well.

And it seemed like Monday was what finally broke the straw on the camel’s back. Because after their little “freak-out” as Sunset called it, any and all mention of magic was kept extremely hush-hush followed by each of the seven girls becoming very cautious with their surroundings. That was until Thursday night, where Sunset had texted that they all meet after class on Friday in the music room, and it was there that both her and Rainbow Dash revealed their plan to the group on having some sort of test on each of their magic.

Although many were skeptical of the idea, Applejack found herself automatically agreeing with the gesture, speaking up to the rest of her friends on how they were barely staying afloat in the metaphorical pond as it was. Being a farm girl of a proud family, she was raised to fix a problem whenever it needed fixin, no matter how tough or nerve wracking the situation. Plus, she had a sneaking suspicion in her very soul that mother and father would’ve been tossing and turning at the mere sight of her seemingly ignoring the problem for over a week. After listening to her two friends declare their idea it gave AJ hope. Maybe this magic practice was the perfect way to start on the road towards betterment, where they soon wouldn’t have to constantly fear about not being strong to face beings from other worlds or their own powers themselves.

It could just be considered a pipe dream, but for Applejack it was worth it.

And that’s when they all collectively agreed to have it on Saturday, today, at 10 o’clock all the way at Camp Everfree. That way there would be an open space for plenty of movement so no building, cars, and worst of all, pedestrians. After a quick call to Gloriosa Daisy, the camp Director, it was made official, and each girl was welcome to bring a set of their own things to test themselves out.

As for Applejack, she agreed to bring a box of her home tools for Twilight to juggle with, a couple of heavy weightlifters from Big Macintosh, as well as some home-made cider for their break time. She just hoped that was enough for the day.

However, even after all that was said and done, there was still a deep pit in her stomach filled to the brim with nauseating doubt. They were all nearly killed during that car ride to the hospital, what could possibly help them control something capable of causing such a disastrous mess?

Ping!

The noise caught AJ slightly off guard, who quickly retracted her arms from her keyboard and looked to her phone, which sat beside her computer, as its screen lit up. Recognizing the name, Applejack opened the phone to her messages and read the incoming text from Rarity.

“Don’t forget to pack only the essentials dear!”

She playfully rolled her eyes at the comment. Ironic, because according to Rarity bringing the whole entire bed to the outdoor forest for fancy-pantsy picnic time counted as “essential.” Curse that Fashionista and her otherworldly obsessions.

AJ sighed before halfheartedly texting back with a “Sure thing. Although the same goes for you too missy. No privacy screens or gigantic pillows ya hear!?” before setting the device back down, content with going back to her writing.

However, her hand barely grazed the keyboard before another alarm set off from her phone. Confused, Applejack reached over as an all-new message was given by her other friend Fluttershy on the group thread.

“I know that Camp Everfree has all kinds of cute little animals, but would you girls mind if I bring Mumbles with us? Maybe we could see if our magic scared him.”

She held back the sudden urge to grimace at the name of the tabby, the memories of both Fluttershy’s cat and mouse scurrying all around her truck, scratching and clawing everything in their wake, clear as day. She had no ill will of the small critters, she just wished they would’ve chosen a better time to agitate each other.

Regardless, the other girls were quick to respond, already sending texts of their own urging the animal lover to do so if it helped their cause.

Placing the noisy phone back down, this time pushing it a little ways away for good measure, Applejack turned back towards her device with a hint of impatience. Now, where was she?

Ping, Ping, Ping, Ping!

Normally she wouldn’t consider looking back at her phone, but today’s situation was serious and whatever the girls had to say was important.

“I’m bringing marshmallows and smores!”

“You know we won’t be staying there that long, right? It won’t be night by the time we’re done.”

“Should I bring my chapeau or perhaps my new sunblock scarf. Oh, or both!?”

“Marshmallows are for anytime silly :p”

AJ sighed, her friends had to be the strangest people she ever had the pleasure of knowing. but enough distractions, she had a story to-

Beep! Beep! Beep!

Suddenly a new sound broke through the air as her phone buzzed and rattled on her desk, making the situation all the more annoying. She gritted her teeth before quickly snatching up the little device and glaring at the hinderance before her eyes went wide at the notification. It was the alarm informing her of the time, 8:30. Camp Everfree was almost an hour and fifteen-minute drive from her home, and if she wanted to be there by ten o’clock while avoiding heavy traffic then she needed to leave early.

Silencing her device, Applejack placed it inside her pocket before staring at her untouched computer screen. After a split few seconds, she brought her forehead down and landed it onto her desk with a thud, her frustration reaching its peak.

So much for writing.

_____________________

Camp Everfree

Birds chirped peacefully as the cool spring wind blew throughout the forest, rippling through the trees as the morning sun soaked into the atmosphere. Even the calm rustlings of leaves could be heard as the normally energetic wildlife camp lay silent, almost giving it a heavenly appearance. Due to the camp strictly being a summertime event, the place was closed during the spring leaving only the sole two owners to be left in charge. Which in turn meant the grounds where free range for practice without any sightseers.

Stepping out of her car, Applejack gazed out at her surroundings while smiling, breathing in the strong smell of pine and wood that wafted heavily through the air. Ah, how she absolutely loved the woods, the idea of being out in the pure bare wilderness with nothing but the small resources at your disposal to carry on with even the smallest of tasks. Foraging for your own supplies and hiking through vast terrains home to dozens of exotic creatures you’d never find in the suburbs or her farm.

The apple farmer eventually looked away from the sights of the woods, instead scanning the campgrounds for her friends. It was ten on the dot, so that must’ve meant her friends should be here. But so far, the only person she could see was her, so where were they?

“APPLEJACK!”

A familiar voice screamed out as the farm girl felt a hefty force collide into her, a pair of slender arms wrapping around her body in a constricting grasp and a squealing face pressed against hers. Not deterred in the slightest, Applejack chuckled while pulling out a free arm around the newcomer in a one-armed hug.

“Heya Pinkie.” She giggled.

Her friend in response simply squeezed her grip tighter, nearly cutting off AJ’s blood supply.

“This is going to be so. Much. Fun! We’re going to rock these powers out of their world! Well, I guess our world since technically they’re from a different world, but in in the metaphorical since it could be their world though our worlds are connected, or maybe rocking them out of both our worlds, though that doesn’t really roll off the tongue as well…”

“I think she gets the idea Pinks.” A new voice spoke up, halting Pinkie from her onslaught of word vomit and causing both girls to peer to the left. A sight of rainbow-colored hair greeted them as Dash herself walked over, a smirk on her face.

Pinkie seemed to agree with her athlete friend before finally letting go of AJ, who could just barely be heard letting out a weak cough as the air returned to her previously captive lungs.

“Whoa nelly.” She wheezed. “I’m glad to see you’re feeling better about this whole ordeal Pinkie Pie.”

This earned a short laugh from the party girl before Rainbow Dash placed a hand on her friend’s shoulder and gestured a thumb over her shoulder.

“The rest of the girls are in the dining cabin, Timber and Gloriosa are about to go over the schedule in a few minutes, so you have time to bring in your supplies if you want.”

Applejack hummed in thought before clicking her tongue, waving her hand while nodding.

“Nah,” She exclaimed. “…. better leave that junk in the car, no sense in dragging it all the way to the cabin only to bring it back out here.”

Dash seemed to accept this, patting her farmer friend on the back and waving the two to follow her. Finally regaining some air into her lungs, AJ fixated her hat before eventually trailing behind the athlete with Pinkie at her side. As the three girls made their way towards the cabin up ahead in relative silence, each of them taking a moment to once more glance at the scenery of the area, their jittery nerves calmed by the slight chilly wind and the sound of loose dry dirt shuffling from underneath their feet somewhat relaxing. As the birds overhead chirped, the youngest of the three friends, Pinkie Pie, began to whistle, her tune not far off from the melodic chirping.

Almost nearly halfway to the destination, Rainbow Dash took the comfortable silence as a sign to speak up.

“Do you guys really think this will work?”

Applejack brought her attention away from the forest to Rainbow as Pinkie ceased whistling. Their athletic friend looked back at their questioning stares, her expression uncommonly soft and gentle, yet with a hint of underlying nervousness. Noticing their confusion, she continued.

“I mean, I trust Sunset with my life, but how do we know this whole ‘practice session’ won’t turn into some kind of screwed up fiasco like last time?”

Both Applejack and Pinkie turned to glance at each other in silent communication, before AJ smiled and shuffled up towards her old friend.

“Ah think we’ve got nothin’ to worry about as long as we don’t take this whole thing for granted. Like you said, Sunset is our friend, and we need to trust her on this, and if somethin’ does go bad…”

Wrapping an arm around Dash, the apple farmer gestured towards Pinkie Pie as the excitable party girl bounded towards into AJ’s welcoming arms.

“… Then we take it on together. It ain’t called the ‘magic of friendship’ for no reason.”

Feeling a tightening grip on her shoulder, Applejack smiled as Dash chuckled softly underneath her breath.

“Good.” She whispered. “I was just wondering.”

“Does that mean I can finally go back to cooking my marshmallow-jam surprise with sprinkles now?”

*Sigh* “Yes Pinkie Pie.”

Pinkie giggled before her happy expression quickly switched to worry on a dime, grabbing both her friends’ collars and yanking them along as she began bolting towards the cabin.

“What are we doing standing around, we’re going to be late!”

The two other girls barely had time to register their situation as they found themselves dragging alongside the excitable teen, dust and dirt kicking up into their clothes as they made their way to the dining cabin.

“HEY!” Dash yelled. “PINKIE, SLOW DOWN, I’M GETTING DIRT IN MY POCKETS!”

____

“Thank you so much for your hospitality Gloriosa darling.”

The normally excitement-filled cabin was rather calm and peaceful as the six occupants in the room chatted peacefully amongst one another. In the corner of the large area were two people, one being a stylized, beautiful fashionista teen giving her companion, a purplish pink skinned 21-year-old woman in bright earthy clothes, a kind and thankful smile. The camp owner, Gloriosa Daisy, gave the young girl in front of her a small wave of her wrist while chuckling.

“Oh, it’s no problem Rarity, after all it’s the least I could do.”

Rarity placed a hand on her friend’s shoulder, her other palm pressing to her heart while giving the counselor a knowing look.

“We realize how much Camp Everfree means to you, I promise we won’t do anything to harm it.”

Gloriosa once again smiled, nodding her head in agreement before grabbing for more grape soda.

Meanwhile, on one of the dining tables, Twilight sat alongside both her small dog Spike and Sunset Shimmer, an open book from the Princess Twilight from Equestria laying on the counter as the three of them overviewed it.

“Ok, I may have a good idea on how this is going to work.” Twilight spoke up, pointing to a specific paragraph on the page before her.

“It says here that the best way to enhance a pony er- person’s skills in magic is to stress your body and mind in order to really create an effect.”

Beside the book-smart teen, Sunset nodded in affirmation, her previous knowledge of magic from her studies in Equestria resurfacing. Taking note of this, Twilight continued on, shoving the book aside and looking towards her friend and interlocking her fingers, giving her appearance that of a very serious tone.

“So, considering the high amounts of stress we had on Tuesday, I’d say it’d be a pretty good idea to stress ourselves both physically as well as emotionally today.”

Sunset placed a hand on her chin for a quick moment, giving it her best thought before turning back towards Twilight.

“Sounds like a good plan to me.” She hummed in approval.

Twilight let out a barely noticeable sigh of relief, until she sat up abruptly, clapping her hands together.

“Great! Now all we need is Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash and Applejack, who should be getting here any minute.”

CRASH!

Speak of the devil. Sunset smirked as the blurred form of her pink-haired friend busted through the double doors of the cabin, dragging alongside two very stunned AJ and Dash.

“Wait! AJ’s here, don’t start without us!”

An abrupt silence filled the large room, with all eyes on the three new arrivals. Suddenly, a boy dressed in counselor gear cleared his throat in an attempt to gain everyone’s attention, specifically Gloriosa’s, as he waved his hand in his sister’s direction, signaling her to begin. Gloriosa perked at the sign, letting out a small “Oh!” before standing up from her seat to speak up.

“Um, well! Splendid, now that everyone’s here, we can begin!”

Pinkie quickly ran over to the nearest table and plopped her two ragdoll friends to the seats beside her, with Applejack appearing as though she’d just been dragged around by a speeding vehicle and Rainbow Dash giving a withering glare at her friend’s direction.

“To start with…” Gloriosa began. “…for the time being, due to some rather unforeseen weather conditions, both the Lamar Trail and the Coyote trail near the pond are closed. And this is the type of season for poison oak, so if you’re going to be hiking, I recommend you put on some protection.”

Looking towards the boy, her younger brother, Timber Spruce, she waited until he gave her a slight nod before she continued.

“Other than that, Camp Everfree is free for you to do whatever you want. Both me and Timber agreed that if you need to, you are all welcome to some of the camp’s supplies for your practice.”

Timber took her words as a quick opportunity to speak his own mind, walking over and placing a palm on Gloriosa’s shoulder while talking.

“As for us two, we’ll just be sitting nearby, ready to help in case you guys need us.”

The group of teens before them seemed to understand this, each of them equally nodding with a few “No problem”s and “Gotcha”s here and there. Seeing their approval of her terms, Gloriosa took her brother to the side as Twilight sat up and began to walk over, dragging behind her a rather large, double-sided easel board.

Soon standing in the counselors’ place, she adjusted her glasses slightly and brought up the small piece of chalk in her hands. Written on the easel board was a map of schematics and a small overhead view of the entirety of Camp Everfree, with specific pinpoints circled on the sections of the map. With everyone’s attention now focused on her, Twilight lifted her hand in a stern, teacher like stance.

“Thank you Gloriosa and Timber. Now, as we discussed before, each of us will be doing separate things today, by which I mean we’ll both be practicing our own magic as well as watching over each other for safety reasons. Now for starters, we’ll be separating into teams...”

Bringing her hand to the board, Twilight quickly wrote down a graph of each girls’ initials, before slicing a line in between them.

“Ok, first me, Sunset, and Applejack will be positioned in the picnic area next to the pond. I will be trying to use my magic to lift some supplies while AJ progressively adds much more heavier objects into the mix. After that, we’ll have Applejack try and constrain her strength by holding fragile equipment. Thank you again Fluttershy for volunteering we’d use your car as part of the practice. And as for Pinkie Pie and Rarity, you’ll be over by the cabins. Rarity will be using her diamond shields and attempting to meditate, while Pinkie’s job is to every now and then try and distract her. You know, startling her into loosing focus.”

Hearing this, Pinkie herself turned to give her fashionista friend a small, apologetic glance, which was quickly returned by a gentle hand wave as a signal of no harm done. Regardless, Twilight continued.

“As for yourself Pinkie, you’ll be in the dining cabin trying to cook one of your famous recipes without the sprinkles exploding. All the while most of us will be right by you for encouragement. Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, you two will be in the forest today. Both of you will take separate hiking trails than each other so one won’t accidentally bump into the other. Dash, you’ll be speeding through the much longer, more advanced path, while Fluttershy will be hiking in the denser, less traveled areas, thankfully Gloriosa and Timber have already placed markers on the trails, that way you won’t get lost.”

Fluttershy nearly squealed in excitement, the thought of communicating with the exotic wildlife felt like cotton candy brewing in her stomach. Dash for her part gave a confident thumbs up along with her signature smirk.

“And finally, Sunset Shimmer.”

Before Twilight could finish, Sunset spoke up from her seated position on one of the tables.

“Considering how when we all use our magic more often than usual, there’s no doubt I’ll be experiencing other people’s thoughts without even touching them, so my job is to try and keep it under control, see if there’s a way I can distract myself from them.”

Twilight nodded, backing up a hair and readjusting her glasses once more.

“Ok. So, what does everyone think?”

Once the question was asked, the other six friends looked towards one another in the eyes, each sending a silent signal to the other before they all turned their gazes back to the purple teen.

“Sounds good to me!”

“We’ll do our best!”

“Of course, Darling.”

“Ahm up for it.”

“You betcha!”

“I like it.”

Letting out a sigh of relief, Twilight pushed back her board and stepped forwards, gesturing to the watch on her wrist.

“Great, it’s currently 10:30 right now, so if you girls are ready, we can start right away!”

Hearing this, the other six girls each sat up and walked towards their smart friend, arm around one another’s arms before Pinkie bounded up and placed a hand in the middle. Almost automatically, each teen placed her own hand onto the pile, smiling widely.

“We’ve got this girls! One!.” Pinkie began.

“Two.” Dash responded.

“Three.” Sunset finished.

“““““““PROTECTORS OF EQUESTRIA!””””””

_______________________________________________

Picnic pondside area.

Twilight considered herself a smart and mentally strong girl for her age. Not to toot her own horn, but she was pretty sure there were few scientists, much less young teens, who could count down Einstein’s hardcore math equations while stopping power hungry forces from other worlds. However, that didn’t stop her from feeling human emotions like fear and slight paranoia every now and then, especially when it came down to her own plans. After all, everyone makes mistakes. It just so happened that hers could be potentially dangerous.

Such as now, as she was currently watching her friend Applejack lift a body-sized toolbox over her shoulder and a 40-pound weightlifter tucked underneath her other arm.

Needless to say, she was refraining from chewing a hole through her bottom lip as AJ dropped the supplies in front of her with care. Next to the farm girl was Sunset Shimmer, who was currently carrying a gigantic container of water alongside her hip. Plopping the container on a nearby picnic table, the redhead then walked over to a large, filled black trash bag, grabbing the rubber lip to drag it near their testing ground. As her head was turned, the young Einstein heard Applejack speak up.

“If you’d like, Ah made sure to get lighter weights in case it gets a touch too difficult for you Twilight.”

She turned back towards the farm girl with a welcomed smile, nodding her head as Sunset spoke.

“Ok.” Sunset began while taking out more supplies from the plastic bag. “We’ve got a couple text books here, some flashcards, pillows, Dash’s old keyboard, and a basketball. That’s about it for the light stuff.”

As Sunset listed the objects off, placing them in a pile on the ground, Twilight folded her arms behind her back and hummed in approval, until looking over to the much heavier supplies at Applejacks feet.

AJ clicked her tongue and peered down at her own set, kicking them with her boot.

“And as you can see, Ah’ve got some weights, my own tool assortments, rocks from the quarry, and the camp’s toolbox.”

Sunset seemed to be crossing off checkmarks on an invisible list inside her head, as she nodded and scanned each and every tool at their disposal.

“Alright, other than the water jug I’d say we’ve gotten everything we need.” She concluded. “All that’s left is you Twi. We’re ready whenever you are.”

The sound of her name being called out shook the teen out of her stupor, glancing at the redhead who was now turned towards her direction. Suddenly, she felt a small sensation brush up against her lower leg, causing her to look down. The big emerald eyes of her small puppy Spike greeted her as a comforting smirk formed on his muzzle, then he suddenly spoke up to his owner.

“I don’t see why you’re so worried.” He chuckled in his usual confident tone. “You’ve got this in the bag remember? You’ll be a natural.”

Silently shaking away the looming inner thoughts, Twilight coughed into her fist and brightened with a look of pure determination.

“You’re right Spike. I’ll be fine, I’m sure of it.” She bent down and lovingly scratched behind one of his ears, already feeling a tad more confident in herself. She then stood back up and beamed at the other two teens I front of her.

“Ok….I’m ready”

Spike nodded and gave her yet another warm nuzzle before running into Sunset’s arms, and all three of them stepped back a few feet. Closing her eyes, Twilight let out a calmed sigh before her hands began to glow a bright purple and she slowly lifted them outwards to her sides. As if on command the many scattered objects on the floor, most notably the flashcards, tools from AJ’s own small toolbox, textbooks, and keyboard, lit up with a similar purple aura blanketing their forms and ever so gently lifted off the ground.

Twilight opened her eyes as she calmly flicked her wrists to her inward direction, causing the objects she was lifting to inch towards her while in midair. Once in arms reach the floating objects began to lift upwards into the sky in a tail-like formation, until reaching a certain point in the sky and circling back down to the earth. However, before they could hit the ground at Twilight’s feet, the objects once again circled back up and into the air.

Concentration strained on Twilight’s face as she juggled the many loose supplies with her Equestrian magic, careful not to lose focus. After a few minutes, she looked back to the two girls in front of her and smiled.

Applejack took this as a sign and bent down to grab two of the smaller weight plates before gently tossing them both in the other’s direction. As the objects came close to her, Twilight narrowed her eyes and consciously twitched both her palms in a grabbing fashion, which in turn halted the metal plates midair before they too joined the trail of mismatched, juggling supplies.

Seeing how the two metal weight plates caused such a little effect, AJ once again nodded at Twilight’s approved look and bent back down, this time grabbing two more slightly heavier and larger plates and tossing them forward.

Only deterred by this just a little, Twilight caught the two new incoming plates with ease and added them to her juggling pile. As the minutes went by, Applejack would gradually increase the number of objects in Twilight’s magical hold, with Sunset off to the side giving words of encouragement and refills of cool water. Soon, almost all the loose plates and extra supplies on the ground were gone, leaving only the massive weight dumbbells, some significantly sized boulders, and the giant toolbox.

Twilight inwardly gulped at the sight, having been already dreading this inevitable scenario since earlier this morning. She knew both Sunset and Applejack would watch over her for any incidents, but that still did little to halt her worries.

But at the same time, she knew she absolutely needed to do this. People’s lives, including her friends’, were at stake here! They could not let another accident like that happen again no matter the cost, and if her dreams were any confirmation that trouble was not far away then she didn’t know what was. Not to mention what Cadence had told her about…

“Twilight?”

She shook at the sound of her name, the juggling objects in her magical field shifting slightly at her surprise. Looking over at Sunset, Twilight noticed Applejack was currently holding the large weight and one of the boulders in her arms ready for her. She smiled sheepishly before clearing her throat and giving a confident gaze.

Applejack stepped up, weariness clear in her eyes but still grinning nonetheless.

“Alright.” The cowgirl spoke up. “On three Ah guess.”

She fidgeted effortlessly with the normally extremely heavy objects before counting down.

“One. Two. Three!”

In an instant she chucked them both simultaneously at her friend, who widened her eyes and opened her palms outward. For a split second everything she was currently holding stopped midair as her magic grasped the large pieces once they got into arms reach. Sunset, Spike, and Applejack froze at the sight of their friend’s distress, near seconds away from running up to help, only to stop once they collectively saw Twilight’s expression calmly soften and she straightened her back.

As if on command, the weight and the boulder inched forward into Twilight’s little juggling circle before gradually following in line in the trail of random objects, following in suite as she began juggling them as well.

Her three friends let out collectively relieved sighs, smiling in confidence as Twilight continued. Meanwhile Twilight breathed in deeply at the sight whilst she juggled, ignorant of the bead of sweat dripping down her forehead.

“O-okay, I think I’m ready for the rest.”

In response to this, Applejack reached out to grab another waist sized boulder and the second weightlift, holding one over her shoulder and the other dangling in her palm while she stood waiting for affirmation. Twilight simply nodded, and that was all AJ needed before she tossed the weight first, -watching as the purple-haired teen once again slightly strained herself to catch it, all the while keeping the dozens of loose objects afloat in the air with her magic.

This was immediately backed up with AJ throwing the rock off her shoulder and into the fray, causing both Sunset and Twilight to instinctively gasp. This time, the current objects in Twilight’s grip faltered even more so, shaking and wobbling as she once again grabbed her oncoming assailant mere inches from where she stood. Letting out a shaky breath, Twilight felt the sweat start to run down her face while she dragged the massive stone closer, her already strained physique and muscles aching in contentment.

For a few minutes, the boulder held itself in midair shaking like a leaf, alongside the many other objects in the large circle form in front of the girl. The boulder, neither the objects, moved anywhere else, only staying straight in the air while shaking, waiting for their master to puppeteer them into place.

She didn’t need to tell her friends to stay back, because even though they were struggling to stay put and not help her, they knew just as much as Twilight did that she needed to handle this on her own. Though that sure as heck didn’t stop either of them from clenching their teeth at the sight of her struggles.

Soon, after a few tense seconds, the boulder ever so gently came over to her, as she juggled it alongside the others, albeit much more slowly this time.

“Now *Huff*.” Twilight breathed. “T-the toolbox.”

Sunset and Spike looked over to Applejack with nervousness, who returned it with her own worried frown.

“U-um. Twilight, are you sure that’s a good idea?” Sunset stammered, weary of Twi’s now noticeably tired exterior.

“The toolbox, NOW!” Twilight stressed.

Gulping, AJ finally turned to the last item left, picking it up awkwardly as to not spill the inner contents and hoppled closer to the juggling teen, and tossed it for her friend to catch.

Which was originally the plan, but unfortunately for the three of them, once Twilight attempted to grab the flying kit she let out a small whimper at the stinging pain in her skin and immediately dropped both her arms and the toolbox. As she did this, the rest of the items in her hold shook even more before the purplish aura around them vanished and they all fell to the ground. Twilight widened her eyes and jumped back as the junk she was currently juggling rained down to the floor, barely missing her feet by mere centimeters.

As the stuff dropped and laid lifelessly on the grass, the small group stood in silent shock with their mouths agape, unsure as what to say. Twilight for one clasped a palm over hers, now uncomfortably aware of the sweat dripping down her face and back, as well as the painful strain in her bones and muscles.

Okay, so she might have gone a bit overboard at the end there.

Luckily for her, Sunset was the first to break the ice.

“Alright.” She chuckled. “I think that’s enough for right now.”

She couldn’t help but agree.

___________

Tripper Trail, Camp Everfree.

Like any outdoor campground, Everfree had it’s far share of arranged trails and spots for the dwellers to visit at their pleasure, whether it be in a nice, large sunny field, or the calm and relaxing shadow covered creek, or even the thick inner most parts of the forest.

However, if a person where to really want to get in touch with nature, to stray as far from human civilization as they could, then they’d have to take none other than Tripper Trail. Settled square in the middle of Everfree, all you could see were waist high bushes, towering trees with vines as long as a forearm snaking up their trunks, and scattered rock formations at every other turn. This of course was where most of the forest’s animals liked to stay, as not many camp dwellers came onto this certain trail in large groups as opposed to the more publicly used ones.

But as for the few that did take this specific trail, well, it’s safe to say that they wouldn’t find a place any more peaceful and quieter in Everfree. And specifically, to a quiet, introverted girl like Fluttershy, it was like taking a stroll through Eden. Humming a thoughtful tune, she practically skipped across the trail as the sounds of high up birds chirped excitedly and the squirrels chattered amongst the ground. As part of her practice for today, Fluttershy’s job was to try and communicate with the cute little animals of the forest, all the while being prepared in case her magic attracted a massive horde of them. Usually, she had no problem being the center of nature’s attention, except that got a bit awkward and hard to explain whenever she would be walking down the streets of Canterlot with a massive pack of lovesick strays following her every move.

As if on cue, she stopped in her tracks once she heard the bushes next to her ruffle, small footsteps barley made out through the dense foliage. Peering over, she inched towards the bush as a small coyote creeped from the leaves, curiousness clear in its dark eyes. Resisting the urge to squeal, Fluttershy settled for a massive smile as she carefully bent down to the canine’s level before speaking in a soft tone.

“Why hello there cutie.” She giggled. “What can I do for you?”

The coyote nudged its head forward, sniffing the teen before it and gently licking her outstretched fingers. Her smile split even wider across her face, laughing gently as the canine curiously studied her, feeling at ease with the human’s kind demeanor.

Soon, the small mammal inched closer to Fluttershy, placing its furry head deeper into her palm while she began to smoothly rub and scratch its forehead. This sent an immediate sense of pleasure through the canine, who steeped even closer to her and sat down on its lower haunches.

She never knew what it was that allowed her and animals to always have such a special connection, magical powers, a nice smell, or just the fact that she seemed to understand them as much as regular humans, but Fluttershy would never complain. Creatures of nature where sometimes so underappreciated, they had so much they could teach yet people barely paid them a second thought. Well, their loss!

The coyote laid its chin on the leg, obviously deeply at peace with the attention she was giving, its tail wagging happily while panting. Fluttershy giggled once more, she could be like this all day.

Suddenly, she felt a strange disturbance from within her. A pulse so to speak, that radiated something akin to an alarming signal. Freezing slightly, she took her hand off of the canine’s forehead and pressed her palm to her heart, nervousness building as the strange feeling slowly spiked with every second.

Before she could speculate further, a sound similar to a speeding car could heard just about a mile from her location as the trees rustled due to the picked-up wind. Fluttershy blinked when she noticed the magical geode/necklace hanging around her throat start to feel warm as it glowed a bright yellow. Rainbow Dash, it seemed, was closer to Fluttershy’s trail than she realized.

The thought of her old childhood friend sent a nervous tick through Fluttershy’s stomach. The athlete had been uncharacteristically quiet the passing week, which of course hadn’t sat well with Shy at all. RD was always the first to speak in a situation, with Pinkie barely a step away, but now it she always seemed to have something troubling on her mind. In fact, so far it was as if a dark cloud had befallen everyone. She hated it.

Having magical powers from an entirely different world could definitely be stressful and downright terrifying at times, but that didn’t stop them from trying to live their lives as normally as they could, and whenever a problem arose, no matter what, they all promised to take it on together. She knew that things would be just fine as long as she stood by her friends. So why did the situation from the hospital feel different? Why did her geode hurt and feel as though it wanted to melt in agitation?

While she was thinking, the coyote at her feet seemed to notice her discomfort and drastic change in attitude, because it huffed in exasperation before lifting its head off her thigh and turning tail back into the brush.

It took a second for her to shake off her zoned-out stance before she finally realized the canine leaving before motioning out for it with an outstretched arm.

“W-wait a minute! Come back!” she cried.

Unfortunately, her pleas went unheard as the mammal soon disappeared into the forest almost as quickly as it had come. Frowning sadly, she lowered her hand as she found herself once again all by her lonesome, with nothing but the birds chirping and tree leaves rustling accompanying her. Darn it.

Sighing in defeat, Fluttershy stood back up to her feet, brushing off the dirt on her jeans and looking forward on the path ahead. Wrapping her arms behind her back, she breathed in the fresh air. Oh well. she mused, there was at least two more miles left in the trail, so who knew what else she’d find.

However, as she began to continue pressing on, she couldn’t quiet shake off the lone feeling in the dark corners of her mind. It nagged at her conscious, trying to tell her some secret code, but there was no way to decipher the message, so she walked regardless.

_____

Recreation Cabin

Smiling softly, Rarity exhaled as she breathed in the cool air, filling her lungs with the pure oxygen as the sun shone down on her. Luckily, she remembered to bring her sun hat to protect her face from the heat; Mascara needs protection just as much as skin you know.

The grass tickled her exposed legs and she sat crisscross in the grass, her arms loosely outstretched as pearly white aura coated her palms. Her eyes shut tight with her expression slightly scrunched in a concentrated way as she forced the five magical, floating crystal shields circling around her to move along in a peaceful pattern. No sound could be heard, other than her slow breathing and the distant chirping of birds in the far-off trees, and honestly, the normally city-centric fashionista wouldn’t have it any other way.

As much as she blatantly appalled the very idea of the sheer dirt and grim the woods provided, she had to give it the benefit of doubt when it came to a peaceful place to rest. Cars could be so distracting and costumers/bosses a tad stressful, none of which would ever set foot near Everfree.

So far things were going pretty good on her end, with only slight hiccups here and there. What made it better was the absolute gorgeous sight that was today, the sun wasn’t particularly sweltering, and the wind carrying a gentle breeze that cooled to the touch. She resisted the urge to smile, only so that she wouldn’t lose focus on the task at hand, she had to be prepared after all.

“Poke!”

Rarity nearly squeaked when she felt something hard and rough dig into the soft spot of her back that housed sensitive nerves, her body suddenly going ridged as she sucked in a breath. Giggling suddenly erupted from behind, causing the teen to promptly roll her eyes while she refocused her thoughts.

“Good one Pinkie” She stated dryly.

The younger female behind her, who had begun giggling louder, twiddled the large stick in her hands and snickered.

“Hehehe, almost got you that time.” The party girl chuckled from behind her fist.

Rarity simply shook her head before closing her eyes once more, intent on keeping the five crystals around her moving at an even pace. However, not a few seconds into her focused stupor she felt the stick once again pierce her backside, this time a tad harder. Gritting her clenched teeth, she chose to ignore it, only to inwardly sigh when she felt it poke her neck this time.

Eventually bringing the stick back, Pinkies placed it beside her and sighed while striking a thoughtful pose to ponder her next move. So far their progress had been going on a steady pace, with most of her efforts at disrupting Rarity from her focus only simply hindering the fashionista slightly. Now with minimum ideas left, she was starting to get a little bored. Who know progress could mean less excitement?

She wouldn’t dare get Rarity’s clothes messy, that’d just hurt her feelings. Maybe toss something at the shields? Nah, she tried that already with a couple pebbles and a cupcake. Oh, what about talking about the mystery of the new dessert she planned on making for work. (Spoiler: it’s called a CherriChanga, an absolute genius idea gifted to her by a special friend of hers.) Hmm. No, she still had a few kinks to work out on it before she could tell anyone.

She frowned and placed a palm on her cheek, pursing her lips. Something distracting. Something distracting. Something distracting. Something distracting. Something distracting. Something distracting.

A light switch flipped on inside her brain as her eyes bugged out into saucers. Wait. Idea.

Without a word Pinkie jumped up and sped off, past a confused Rarity and towards the recreational cabin in front of them. For a minute Rarity was left alone, blinking dumbly as she watched her blurred friend disappear behind the cabin doors. From her spot in the grass, she could hear the sounds of stuff (most likely boxes, and furniture?) being moved around within the cabin as Pinkie gave out the occasional frustrated grunt. It was obvious she was looking for something, but what exactly, she had no clue. There always was no telling what that little ball of pure energy was up to.

Eventually, a loud cry of victory could be made out before the sound of the cabin’s backdoor opened from the other side. Something clattered against the wood cabin’s side as Pinkie’ grunt more prominent until to Rarity’s horror, she watched as Pinkie climbed up from her ladder and onto the roof, smiling innocently while crouching over the stoop and onto the edge facing her friend.

“Wha…What are you doing?!” Rarity all but yelled as she gawked at the pink girl, who simply waved back down at her.

“Distracting you, silly!” Pinkie called down, cupping her mouth with her free hand. Although she didn’t have her glasses, Rarity noticed that Pinkie in fact had something tucked in her other arm. A lot of somethings, as she struggled to keep them from slipping out of her grasp and off the roof. Biting her lower lip, Rarity narrowed her eyes while calling back up.

“Pinkie darling, get down from there this instant!”

The teen in question only seemed to brush off the demand, instead lifting her torso up, albeit very wobbly, until she finally stood to her full height.

“I can’t hear you!” She shouted, “I’m busy helping!”

She followed up with grabbing the tucked objects from her armpit and laying them out in her outstretched hands before she flipped one of them upwards. After, she instantly followed up with thrusting the other objects into the air as well, juggling them with relative ease. Although to most, the scene would appear rather impressive, it did nothing to sooth Rarity’s increasing worries, especially with the fact that even without her glasses she could plainly see Pinkie Pie’s legs wobble from the angled shingle roof.

While she watched the younger teen continue to mingle atop the rickety shack, she herself had yet to notice the crystal shields surrounding her frame begin to pick up in their pace in faster fashion. A growl arose from within her throat as Rarity once again called up to her friend, a stronger hint of authority seeping through her voice.

“Pinkie Pie, get off that thing! You’re going to hurt yourself, and I’d rather not take another trip to the hospital again any time soon.”

“What was that!?” Pinkie yelled from afar, “You think I should try my new dance move too!? Okay, if you say so Rares!”

Once again to Rarity’s growing horror, she could do nothing but stare as Pinkie Pie began to hop around and twist her legs to copy some kind of practiced dance move, except her steps could only come off as janky and wobbled due to the slanted area.

Rarity grit her teeth as the sickening pit in her stomach grew when Pinkie just barely recuperated from a slip of her foot, causing her to unconsciously inch closer to the edge of the shingles. The crystals surrounding Rarity shook like tremors, who still didn’t realize her powers’ new reactions.

Pinkie seemed to not notice this either, as she began to quicken her pace with the dancing while thrusting her juggling objects into the air with more tenacity than before. Pinkie giggled loudly when she eventually kicked out one of her legs and reached for her shoe, somehow without screwing up her juggling, and pulled out what had to be a deflated red balloon hidden underneath the tongue.

Bringing the rubber opening to her lips, Pinkie breathed in as she brought her arms back to juggling the objects before blowing with all her might.

What could she say? Being an entertainer for babysitting kids certainly had its advantages.

For almost two full minutes her friend continued the ridiculous act, appearing to not even render the current dangerous predicament in the slightest. Although, inwardly she had to admit that it was rather impressive once the party girl blew the balloon into the shape of a puppy without so much as touching the thing with her hands.

Suddenly to Rarity’s horror, one of the shingles underneath Pinkie Pie’s feet shifted slightly in agitation, although it was hardly noticed by the other teen, as she applied more weight to her left foot and lifted her right leg out as she began hopping like a kangaroo.

Hop.

Hop-

*FWIP!*

“Whooooaaaaaaaahhhh!!”

Pinkie shrill scream echoed as the loose shingle finally snapped out of its socket and sent her tumbling down to slanted rooftop, forcing her to drop everything in her hands while she flailed like a maniac. Feeling her shoulder slam hard into one of the shingles, Pinkie Pie sucked in a breath as she felt gravity finally pull her body down off the edge of the gutter and towards the hard ground below. This was really gonna hurt.

SWISH!

As she fell, she heard a sound rip across the field, slicing clean through the air, and head straight towards her. Before she knew it, the wind in her ears abruptly stopped and her bottom landed on something smooth, halting her fall midway.

Prying open her eyes, Pinkie peered down to see one of Rarity’s massive diamond shields holding her in place while suspended in air and protecting her from the fall. Drooping her hands down to the sides, she sighed and looked back to her friend in thankful relief, only to feel her heart clench in guilt. If looks could kill, Pinkie would’ve been melted to a bubbly puddle and dumped into a glass vase. On the other side of the field, she could practically feel the heated glare Rarity was giving her, the statement clear that considering the stunt she just pulled didn’t kill her, now her friend would.

Suddenly feeling the blood in her ears begin burn in embarrassment, an awkward chuckle escaped Pinkie’s throat as she brought her arms up to form a half-hearted shrug while her savior steadily lowered her to the floor. Once mere inches from the ground, Pinkie slid evenly off the diamond and straightened, brushing the stray dirt off before tucking her hands behind her back and hanging her head low, still feeling rather small underneath Rarity’s heavy gaze.

Rarity waited for pinkie to stew a few minutes until she slowly cooled down her gaze from melting magma to a simmering fire, before she sagged her shoulders and let out a deep sigh. The diamonds surrounding her quickly dissipated into a baby blueish mist, until their particles scattered into the air as Rarity uncrossed her legs and stood to her feet, placing her hands on her hips while staring back at her friend.

The false smile on Pinkie lips edged downward as she shuffled towards Rarity until they were merely three feet from one another, the younger girl still hanging her head low and bringing a hand up to awkwardly rub her neck. As Rarity stood before her, she felt a small pang in her stomach at seeing Pinkie’s downcast expression, the entire scene similar to that of a guilty little sister awaiting her older sibling for a heaping of scolding.

Eventually she felt her expression soften as she placed a hand onto Pinkie’s shoulder, causing the other teen to lift her eyes up. A soothing smile etched across Rarity’s face, signifying forgiveness, which in turn caused Pinkie to form a smile of her own.

Oh well, at least there was a hint of progress made.

_________

Camp Everfree Parking lot

Applejack grunted when she pulled the backside of Fluttershy’s Beetle upwards, the normally two-ton weight of metal and slew of mechanical parts having no effect against the powerful Equestrian magic coursing through her bloodstream. Why, to her it was as if she were picking up something as simple as a household kitchen chair. Although kitchen chairs were slightly less expensive to buy, not to mention it belonged to one of her best and oldest friends.

Bending her torso downwards, AJ slowly edged her body until she was right square underneath the car before repositioning her arms and lifting the entire vehicle up into the air over her shoulders with as much care as she could muster. As she eased it above her head, she blew a stray gold lock from her face when Twilight and Timber Spruce walked over to her.

Behind the two, the fiery-haired form of Sunset Shimmer could be seen just barely tagging along with Spike still nestled comfortably in her arms, her eyes occasionally darting from side to side. Every few seconds she seemed to twitch in agitation, almost like she was being spooked by some invisible force. AJ frowned, the poor girl’s mind must’ve been automatically hearing their inner voices again due to all the magical commotion around camp.

Suddenly she heard Timber clear his throat, causing her to swivel her head to the right. The young camp counselor gave an uneasy smile as he shuffled up to her front, his eyes unconsciously glazing over the full-bodied automobile hanging high above the girl only two years older than him, before speaking in his usual confident tone.

“Wow, pretty impressive Applejack.” He whistled. “Bet you catch a lot of eyes back home.”

Blinking dumbly, it took a split second for the statement to fully form inside the farm girl’s head before a hint of a blush marred her freckled cheeks, before shaking it off and forcing out a chuckle.

“Ha! Yeah right, if anythin’ it makes the fellers more fidgety than a chicken in a fox den. Ah mean honestly, from the way people stare at me you’d think I was some kinda unhinged bull ready to pounce.”

Her expression suddenly shifted to an annoyed frown, her next words small and painfully bitter.

“Had a bad date turn out that way. Ah swear ah’ve never seen a man so scared of someone just trying to help.”

Noticing the quick negative change in the topic, Timber awkwardly cleared his throat again and puffed out his chest.

“Well in any case, try not to show off around here too much. Camp Everfree already has a pretty awesome counselor to protect her, can’t have anyone else stealing all the ladies’ gazes, if you know what I mean.”

Rolling her eyes, AJ just simply smirked before attempting to shrug her shoulders at him, that was until Twilight clapped her hands to signal everyone’s attention.

“Alright everybody!” She shouted, “Let’s get to work! Sunset, would you please get into position over by those trees over there?”

Giving her friend a halfhearted two finger salute, Sunset set Spike back down to the floor, jogged past AJ and ran towards a set of Pine trees on the other side of the lot. Now, it should probably be noted by now that Camp Everfree, despite being a large outdoorsy ground usually packed to the brim with activity and loose items, was almost always in a pristine, clean condition. Which is to be expected when owned by a passionate director and strong-willed counselor.

However, as of now the Camp parking lot’s current state of affairs was anything but. All around the ground, spare car tires formed a sort of makeshift ladder, and large barrels stood loosely around the area, alongside several lawn chairs. The entire scene looked to be some kind of makeshift obstacle course.

Applejack seemed to just now notice the lot’s new decor, prompting her to peer at Twilight who was currently pulling out her signature stopwatch.

“Uh, remind me what we’re doin’ again?”

Glancing up from the timer, Twilight gave AJ a questioning gaze until realization clicked and she gave a reassuring grin.

“Oh! Well, that’s pretty easy. See, as previously stated back at the cabin, we agreed that you wanted to practice more on handling your everyday objects without accidentally breaking them. Specifically, things that are extremely important. For this example, we’re using Fluttershy’s car.”

She pointed towards the arranged assortment of supplies on the ground, adjusting her glasses with her other hand.

“What we, or rather I mean you, are going to try and do is complete this obstacle course we have set up here in the quickest time you can manage, all the while keeping the car in your grip. While you’re doing this, me, Sunset, and Timber will take different jobs; such as timing you or rearranging most of the stuff.”

Mulling the information over, AJ ignored the noticeable strain in her arms and nodded at Twilight. All in all, it sounded pretty foolproof to her.

“Ok, ah think ah can manage that.”

The answer causing Twilight to beam in pride, the younger girl straightened before pulling out a makeshift notepad from seemingly out of nowhere with her other free hand.

“Great! Then if you’re all for it, I’d say we’re ready to go!”

Turning on her heel, Twilight looked towards Sunset Shimmer and cupped her mouth.

“Sunset, are things good to go on your end!?”

On the other side of the lot, the two girls could just make out Sunset waving a thumbs up at them, signifying the go ahead. With that, Applejack stepped into position, a lengthy tree branch horizontally placed at what had to be the ‘start’ of the course, before giving Twilight a confident gaze. The bookworm gave her own nod and brought up her stopwatch, thumb barely grazing the button.

“Alright then, on three.” She began. “One. Two. THREE, GO!”

No sooner had the words left her mouth, Applejack jolted forward down the makeshift track, careful as to steady the car held above her head and keep it from tipping too far over. Although not as fast as she normally could, the trio of teens watched slack jawed as the farm girl weaved and dodged around the rain barrels and lawn chairs with a relative quickness. However, they did have to catch their breath every now and then when the car would occasionally shift to the side or wobble whenever AJ made too sharp of a turn.

Applejack for her part felt rather tense as she jogged across the parking lot, nervous beads of sweat rolling down her forehead as she just barely caught herself from accidentally tripping on what had to be a large crack in the ground. While most people would praise her for making something as crazy as this seem easy, she had to admit it was a heck of a whole lot harder than it looked.

Twisting her hips at an even angle to weave past a large barrel, she sputtered with a mix of panic and frustration when she bumped into the rain-filled, rock-solid wood, immediately feeling the massive vehicle in her arms buckle slightly. The car itself wasn’t abnormally off balance, but the amount of mass that weighed down on its side once it began tipping was enough to make Applejack gasp at the sudden strain. After all, superpowers or no, the thing weighed a couple tons, and there was a major difference between lifting things and keeping them in place.

Luckily for everyone, years of experience cradling buckets of well water and chicken feed over her shoulders provided AJ with acute focus. Yes, this particular scenario was vastly different than anything she’d ever done at Sweet Apple Acres, but all in all, balance was something she at least worked with before.

Pushing past the wooden containers, she continued to jog ahead until she stepped up to the part where she’d been dreading. The tire ladders.

She stopped in her tracks, her confidence suddenly taking a nosedive as she stared at the rubber rings in front of her. While to an outsider’s view, the ladder itself appeared like something that could easily be a walk in the park for a person like Applejack, she never necessarily jumped off the ground when she held massively oversized objects.

Her friends seemed to quickly catch on to her abrupt worry, with Twilight nearly about to stop the timer and Sunset, (who was now only a few feet from Applejack), stepping towards to her, arms outstretched in a vain attempt to help the farmer but stopping herself short when realizing that it would be useless.

“Applejack, is everything alright?”

She heard Twilight speak up from behind her, yet still kept her attention on the obstacles in her path. Suddenly feeling her throat turn dry, AJ gulped while fidgeting with the car in her hold before glancing up at the approaching Sunset Shimmer. The girl in question noticed AJ’s look and understood immediately, expression softening from worry to empathetic.

“Hey…” She spoke softly. “…It’s alright AJ, we’re all here for you. If you need us to step in, just say the word.”

It was obvious her words began to stew inside the apple farmer, who managed to stomach her wounded pride and smile back at Sunset in thanks. Then she breathed in deeply and straightened, settling on glaring at the makeshift ladder in defiance. Sunset sighed in relief before looking over and nodding at Twilight, giving her the message to keep the stopwatch going.

Although her initial nervousness was still very much present, AJ did have to admit she felt a little better due to Sunset’s reminder. After all, Twilight had telekinesis which at its best could lift even the heaviest of boulders. She just hoped Twi still had some strength left over to halt such an object.

But now was time for action! Sucking in a few breaths, Applejack bent her knees in practice before hopping forward, her right leg aimed straight for the first tire hole she could get through. Much to her relief, her boot slide cleanly through the circular hole like a glove, her sole hitting the solid ground at an even angle; She nearly cheered in excitement, she did it!

There was no time to celebrate though, as she felt the car above her tilt at both the jump and her now uneven stance, instantly spelling out to her that she needed to keep going if she wanted to keep it steady. So, she brought her other leg up and aimed it towards the next hole, her boot sliding through the tire hole just as easily as the first. Unfortunately, the car wobbled even more at her newfound set of movement, prompting her to shift her hands to keep its hood from tipping over her head and nosediving to the ground, before forcefully pushing it back up and aiming her next foot forwards.

For what felt like hours, she hoppled from one tire to another, left to right, carefully minding exactly how and where she placed her steps as she went along. It was almost crazy how her initial worries made this seem like that big of a deal, maybe she shouldn’t have been so scared in the first place. Curiosity forced her to pull her eyes from her feet and quickly glance at her progress, finding to her surprise that the finish line was only three steps away!

Speeding up her pace, Applejack quickly reached the end in no time, resisting the urge to sigh in relief when she brought her foot from the last hole and heard Twilight yell “TIME!”. Lowering her arms, Applejack shifted the car towards the side and gently laid it down on the dirt road, careful as to not get a single scratch it, and suddenly felt a hand grasp her shoulder.

Looking over, she locked eyes with a beaming Sunset Shimmer, who without hesitation lifted a sparkly water bottle up to her friend in understanding. Applejack thankfully took the reward and unscrewed the lid in a flash, downing half the bottle of pristine liquid in a millisecond and welcoming the intense chill cool her drying throat.

Taking the lid from her mouth with an audible ‘smack’ she handed it back and brought both her hands up to her face, clenching and unclenching them to rid herself of the slight burn in her muscles. Beside her, Sunset placed the bottle down and laughed.

“Seems like you’ve already got the hang of this AJ.”

She winked and brought a fist up to bump the farmer’s shoulder playfully.

“And here I thought we’d be giving you a challenge. If they add something like this at the Sporting event next weekend, I almost feel sorry for the other team.”

Applejack grinned at her friend, bringing her arm up and ruffling Sunset’s yellow and red hair in a sisterly fashion as the both of them chuckled. Soon she heard footsteps approach them as Twilight came up with Spike at her heels, her eyes peering down at her notepad.

“Nice job AJ…” She spoke up. “…about two and a half minutes total, minus the extra few seconds back at the tires there. I’d say we’re at a pretty good start so far.”

Applejack smiled brightly as Sunset took a swig of her own water, Twilight scribbling down her notes before finally looking up at the both of them.

“For round two, you’ll begin on this side instead. So, whenever you’re ready to start, so are we.”

Applejack hummed in response as Twilight nodded and walked back to the other side of the obstacle course, Timber on the other end repositioning most of the supplies for her. Watching her go, Applejack stretched her arms to the side before turning and heading back to the car for her next round. Only to stop when she passed Sunset and out the corner of her eye she saw the ex-unicorn bring a hand up to her head, massaging her temples and squinting her eyes shut. Fully looking at her, AJ frowned as Sunset fought off what looked to be a massive headache, her mouth etched into a tight grimace as she moaned in pain.

“Sunset? Are you alright there?”

Once hearing her name, Sunset shook her head slightly and waved her off.

“Yeah, yeah I’m fine. Fit as a fiddle.”

Raising an eyebrow, Applejack placed her hands on her hips in disbelief.

“That’s quite a fiddle.”

Not bothering to respond, Sunset ushered another nonchalant wave of her hand before walking off, probability in an attempt to clear her head. However, AJ didn’t have any time to dwell on it, as she heard Twilight yell.

“Are we good to go on that end!?”

Applejack bent her body down and grabbed the underneath of the beetle once more, carefully shifting her hands as to get a much better grip on the underbelly made of hard pipes and metal wires, and slowly lifted the car off the Earth once more.

Trudging back to the ‘finish’ line, she once again positioned herself as Twilight raised her timer into the air, counting down for the second round.

“Ok, on three! One….Two…THREE!”

Applejack growled as she dove her leg forward, jumping into the first tire with relative ease before hopping into the next. However, she grunted in surprise when she suddenly felt her foot twist awkwardly to the side as she stepped on an unseen root growing from the dirt. Wincing at the pain, she lifted her other foot as the gravity pulled at her body due to her uneven stance, and quickly thrusted her free leg out to catch her from falling.

In her haste, instead of her foot going into the hole it landed on the tire’s outer rim, screwing up her balance even more so. Applejack yelped as her tipped to the side and brought her sore foot out from its hole before attempting to jump into the next tire, instead landing on its outer rim as well. What a bad way to start.

With the heavy vehicle in her hands looming over her and the stopwatch breathing down her neck, AJ huffed in indignation before hopping to the next tire, this time intentionally aiming for its rim. Once she landed on it, her boot taking a moment to steady itself on the curved angle, before she jumped over to the next.

Well, it wasn’t exactly how she was supposed to ‘climb’ the ladder, but it at least kept her at an even balance for now.

With one last jump, she pushed off the last tire and landed back on solid ground, ignoring the strained muscle in her foot, and shuffled down the rest of the course. Passing by the multiple other objects in her way, Applejack hopped over a small haystack and glanced at the finish line, which was getting closer by the second.

Curiosity got the best of her, and her eyes left the finish line, automatically scanning the area to glance at her friends.

Twilight held the stopwatch in one hand while she squinted at the notepad in her hand, supposedly comparing her notes from the first run to this one, while Timber was proudly giving AJ a respectable thumbs up. As for Sunset…

Applejack felt herself mentally pause when she finally looked back at the red-haired girl. When they talked just moments ago, Sunset seemed to have been struggling with a sort of headache, yet still managed to press on the believed fact that she was fine. However, now it seemed that her headache was growing into more of a problem. The ex-Equestrian currently stood a couple ways away from the trio, her eyes still shut and finger massaging her temples in a feeble attempt to calm down whatever was bothering her, yet to no avail.

Before Applejack could process it any further, she watched as Sunset gasped in either shock or a sort of surprised pain and hunched over, clasping her fingers around her entire skull while stumbling over her feet.

Suddenly, Applejack wasn’t in Camp Everfree anymore. Instead, she was in her car on her way to the hospital, listening as the backseat exploded into a flurry of crowded noises. Pinkie Pie’s terrified ramblings halted AJ from getting in a word edgewise, and Sunset, by Faust, her echoing bloodcurdling screams sent haunting chills down AJ’s spine that would last forever. She was unsure what was worse, being so caught off guard by Sunset sudden, out of nowhere screaming, or being forced to bear through it while driving.

She gripped the steering wheel tight, so tight she was certain she’d cut off circulation, as Sunset wailed in untold agony. She should stop. Stop the car. Stop the car and hold her friend, tell her that she and Pinkie were there and that everything would be alright.

But she couldn’t, something stopped her from doing so. The muscles in her arms constricted, forcing her hands to be glued to the wheel and her foot pressed to the gas pedal, like she was being puppeted against her will to keep going and ignore her clearly distressed friends.

Why? Why was Sunset crying? Why did this always have to happen to them? To her? They were good people, Sunset was a good person, they did good things to help their loved ones. Just why? Why. Why. Why. Why. Why. Why. Why!

“APPLEJACK!”

She sputtered in surprise and shock when her stomach slammed straight into one of the barrels, causing her to let out a choked cough as the solid wood knocked the wind right from her lungs, before it tumbled down to the ground. She quickly attempted to right herself, only to have her confused legs get caught around now fallen barrel, causing her to stumble even more. Now completely uneven, she soon felt her body’s natural reaction to tip over to the floor, which in turn .

It was too much, with the gravity pulling it at full force mixed with her already stunned state, the teen could only yelp in terror as the car tipped out of her hands towards the ground.

Suddenly, she felt something familiar pick up in the air, causing the geode around her neck to glow as a flurry of objects flew over her head at lightning speed towards the car. Meanwhile, something tickled the hair on the back of her neck, like electric static from a balloon, and she found herself halted midair.

Lifting her head up, she stared in both relief and shock at Twilight, who had all but tossed her supplies to the floor and activated her geode, causing a dark purplish aura to surround her body. That same purple aura was also now covering Applejack as well, suspending her safely from falling

What she did not expect to see, were the new forms of Rarity and Pinkie Pie standing right next to Twilight, with the fashionista’s arms outstretched and body glowing a blindingly white hue as well.

It was then Applejack eventually peered upward, and her jaw nearly dropped to the floor. Like her, Fluttershy’s Beetle was also being kept midair by Equestrian magic, only this time by a blanket of crystal shields surrounding both the front hood and underside, leaving it tilted as though the car was slanted down some kind of hill.

Rarity flicked her hands down, her shields lowered to the ground at a slow pace, before they carefully touched the ground and evaporated into thin air, gently leaving the Beetle on the parking lot like nothing had ever happened.

The purple glow around Applejack began to straighten her too, settling her back up on to her feet. Once she was back into the right position, the purple aura dissipated and left her, the warmth in her geode fading away.

“Thanks Twi. You too Rarity.” She breathed, placing her hands on her hips while the fashionista dropped her arms before waving with an overdramatic huff.

“Honestly, it’s as if I can’t go a second without any of you getting into trouble.”

Applejack resisted the urge to scoff herself, instead focusing on controlling her rapidly beating heart. It wasn’t long before footsteps approached her, and she heard the frantic voice of Twilight speak up.

“Applejack! What happened!? Are you hurt?”

The farm girl winced at the high volume, before turning around to face her friend, who she could instantly tell was one step away from freaking out. Forcing out a smile, AJ pulled up both her hands in a calming manner.

“Whoa there sugarcube, ah’m alright. See?” She gestured her right hand over her unscathed body. “No injuries here, just got the wind knocked outta me, that’s all.”

“Then what happened to you?” The cautious tone of Timber Spruce broke out, forcing AJ to close her mouth shut. For a few seconds she said nothing, her mind still in a tizzy after the little mind trip, until she cleared her throat and looked towards the concerned faces of her friends.

“Ah, uh, just got a little distracted, that’s all.”

Though many of their expressions softened, she knew they still had their doubts. But there was no need to get worked up over her!

“Now, now.” She spoke up in her more authoritative voice. “There’s no need for frettin’, Y’all here! My mind just took a step outta its pen, nothing else.”

Though obviously still skeptical, Twilight visibly relaxed before repositioning her glasses.

“Well, if you’re sure you’re ok…” she began, only to pause for a moment until changing the subject. “In any case, I think now’s a good time to take ten. We’ll try this again for another hour or so, then help Pinkie Pie with her test.”

AJ nodded, thankful in the change in topic. Giving her several pats on the shoulder and comforting glances, Twilight, Pinkie, Timber, and Rarity turned and walked over to the ice chest and water jug, preparing for break. However, instead of immediately following behind, Applejack stood there for a minute, letting out a frustrated sigh as she massaged her eyes.

More footsteps approached her, this time only being one pair, and a hand grasped her shoulder. It was Sunset, who had somehow shaken herself out of her own troubled mindset and had witnessed AJ’s near disastrous fall.

“Hey, are you sure everything’s okay Applejack?”

No, it’s not. “Yeah, ah’m sure.” She sighed, hoping her friend would get the message that she wanted this scenario to be over already.

Luckily, Sunset seemed to get the hint and gave the country girl one last comforting pat before heading over to the rest of the teens, her movements a tad sluggish. Applejack gritted her teeth as the memories began flooding back, reminiscing all the pain and horror in all their sinister glory. She growled as her subconscious shoved the unwelcome thoughts away into the deepest pit of her mind, hoping to Faust that they would stay there, before fixing her Stetson hat and walking over to her friends.

She could do this. She had to. After all, she had the magic of Friendship by her side, there was no obstacle she, or any of them couldn’t overcome.

Right?

___________________________________

Canterlot City, Larson Square.

There it was again. Cole snarled as he dropped the unconscious mugger to ground, not caring for the hollow thud coming from the punk’s skull once it dropped unceremoniously on the concrete. Ignoring the screams of the thief’s would-be victims who were now tumbling their way out of the alleyway and back into the street, probably more scared of the ‘town’s most wanted terrorist’ rather than some random thug, he bent down to pick up the stolen money.

He had a slight hunch that the money’s original owners weren’t coming back anytime soon, so might as well make the whole scenario worth his while.

All day he’d been on edge. Something was going on and it riled up his insides like a tornado, unseen signals that only he could hear wafted alongside the city air that just screamed for attention. Could it be, whatever it was, calling for him specifically?

It made him anxious and fidgety, like an animal who accidentally wandered into another’s territory. Therefore, ever since morning the conduit had scoured almost the entirety of Canterlot City, searching high and low as best he could to find the source, from the city’s tallest skyscraper to nearly entering the outer suburbs, only to have his search end in failure. Then again, why was he even surprised, life never could give you a straight answer.

Which lead him to here, taking his frustration out on an unsuspecting criminal while probably scarring a couple for the rest of their lives. But hey, at least now he had a whole lot less steam to pent up. Sheathing the Amp back into its strap, he pocketed what had to be a good set of Twenties before jogging to the closet drainpipe and scaling upward in no time flat.

Once he managed to grab the shingles and hoist his full body onto the rooftop, Cole twitched when he felt another strong wave of unseen power rush into his head, small bits of electricity automatically dancing out of his skin while the sense brushed by him. Normally he’d be able to track supernatural activity without any problem at all, but unfortunately for him the entire city itself was already coated with some kind of untold aura, which seemed to meld with whatever this new sense was, making it even more impossible to track.

Rubbing the forming bags underneath his eyes, Cole sighed before walking towards the edge of the roof preparing to jump off to the next, only to stop abruptly when his eyes looked got caught at the sight before him. Once again, he felt his brain go blank at the brilliant colors and feeling of the soft, calm tone that thrived within the strange city. It always seemed to automatically freeze him right in his tracks.

Cole’s tense shoulders sagged in relaxation, breathing in before suddenly finding himself unconsciously bending over to sit down, his legs dangling off the roof while continuing to gaze out. It was mesmerizing, the bright neon colors of the various clubs, the pureness of the carefree citizens, as well as the brilliant orange sky. Empire City never looked this peaceful, even in its prime.

He paused when he felt the sense once more, the mysterious signal wafting past as though it were trying to yank him by the ear and get his attention. The courier grumbled as he tried to ignore the message, desperately enforcing his agitated mind that to go out and look some more would only be a wild goose chase, nothing but more of his time wasted.

Instead, he looked down at the people below, watching as they mingled with one another and went about their daily lives. As couples chatted and kids bounced from their parents’ arms, everything seemed so at peace; No psychopathic fascists, no backstabbing government officials grasping at people’s lives for control, and best of all, no Beast. For now, anyway.

There were dangers still at large, that was for certain. The Changlers were still out there, no doubt planning their next move, John was still out there planning God knows what, and many other problems he’d have to deal with. But as of this moment, there was mostly nothing but the sweet sound of silence, something Cole could honestly say he missed most of all in the last two months.

He closed his eyes as the stress finally eased to a simmering heat, fatigue quickly replacing into his system. How long had it been since he had a day, a full day, to just relax and be himself? To be Cole Macgrath. Not the superhero ‘Electric Man’, or the ‘demon terrorist’, but instead just the nobody bike messenger who pissed off his dad for a living and carried around packages instead of bombs on his bicycle.

He brought up a hand, blue sparks seeping out of his fingers and illuminating the orange, crisp afternoon air. Except he couldn’t, he couldn’t be that nobody bike messenger, not anymore. No matter where he went, no matter what he could do or who’s lives he saved, he would always be a conduit. A superhero. A terrorist. A freak.

And that was fine, because he made his peace with that fact long ago.

Drooping the hand back down to his sides, Cole twitched again as the air thickened with the strange sense and irritated his conduit insides. He resisted the urge to sigh, instead settling for placing a hand on his chin in thought, narrowing his eyes into focus. There had to be something he was overlooking, a clue that could point him in the right direction, and at least explain some of the crazy happenings in this valley.

But where? Where could he find such a clue, or a trail to follow? Maybe there was someone else who knew something, because come on, there was no way he was the only person in this city who felt as though things here were weird. There had to be some other person or people who could tell something was off, maybe even talked about it, perhaps conspiracy websites, blog posts, reports, or…

Wait.

His eyes shot open as previous memories from days past resurfaced. Quickly shuffling his sling bag off from his back, Cole undid the zipper and shuffled his hand underneath the hard metal of the Amp, before he eventually found the stolen article.

Yanking it out of the bag’s pocket, Cole repositioned his backpack before looking back down on the paper. The familiar black and white picture of some kind of colored blur greeted him, forming an uneasy knot in his stomach just by looking at it. His eyes skimmed over the title once more.

“Strange occurrences grow as scientists struggle to identify source.”

He smiled. Looks like he had a clue after all.

_________________________________

Camp Everfree, dining cabin

Sunset winced as yet another voice passed through her head, this time being Rarity’s, interrupting the short peace and quiet of the wilderness. With all seven of them out practicing their magic to their full potential, it didn’t take long for Sunset to hear all of her friends’ inner thoughts without even touching them. And not just them either, there were some moments where she could hear both Timber and Gloriosa’s thoughts as well, making the situation all the more awkward.

Luckily, she came prepared today, bringing her headphones from home, as well as a handful of books Twilight had loaned her just yesterday. One of which she was currently attempting to read right now; An Equis Science book her friend no doubt borrowed herself from CHS’ science teacher, Prof. Igneous. She never truly cared much for mineral science in itself, often finding the studies of rock formations and weather affects on soil uninteresting. After all, why focus your attention on rocks of all things when there were so many unanswered questions on formulas and solutions?

Sunset waited as Rarity’s inner voice floated around in her own mind for a few seconds before eventually leaving, the fashionista inwardly ranting about what Sunset guessed was all the splattered goo covering her dress. If you asked her, maybe Rarity should’ve thought better on her attire when going to an outdoor summer camp. Then again, arguing with Rarity about her taste in clothing was like pulling the teeth out of a ticked off Manticore. Nevertheless, the ex-Equestrian could do nothing but roll her eyes and continue back to her reading.

“Chapter 8…” She spoke aloud. “…Theory of Plate Tectonics. Plate Tectonics is the theory that Equis’ lithosphere is divided into tectonic plates which move around on top of the Asthenosphere. Before we begin on what causes tectonic plates to move however, we must first start with discussing tectonic plate boundaries...”

The teen hummed in thought while skimming through the various pages of the textbook, her interest neither growing nor increasing as she read more. Page after page of how much the tectonic boundaries depended on how the plates moved relative to one another, or whenever the rocky surface of said plates were heated, they tended to expand and rise to Equis’ surface.

Already finding herself entering chapter 9, Sunset anxiously tapped her fingers on her leg when something in her brain lurched, causing her to drop the textbook out of her hands and grasp her skull.

It hurt, it hurt a lot, as if somebody suddenly injected a syringe full of poison into her brain and it slowley began eating away on the inside.

This wasn’t the first time either, ever since they started hours earlier, she’d been having episodes where something in her head would act up and hurt her like this. What’s worse, was the fact that it felt familiar, so familiar it scared her. At the beginning she chalked it up to random Déjà vu, that was until Applejack’s session, where it had gotten so bad to the point where it was noticeable.

Even before meeting up with the farm girl, Sunset was already struggling with her overpowered magic to begin with. It was difficult, but not unbearable, as she was used to hearing multiple thoughts at once, not to mention they were her friends’ thoughts. However, the real issue started in AJ’s second lap through the obstacle course, where right in the middle of it all Sunset felt the very same pain inject into her brain.

It caught her off guard at first, to the point where she audibly gasped at the pain and clutched her head. That’s when she heard it, a voice that was different then that of her friends, that dark, mysterious mixture of a whisper and a scream which clung onto her subconscious. Drifting by like a passing fog, before disappearing in a matter of what felt like both seconds and hours. After that was a blur, while she was dealing with whatever had found its way into her head, she could hear something going on in the background, most notably Twilight’s anxious voice calling out for Applejack, coupled with what sounded like objects falling over and surprised shouts from both Timber and AJ. Finally, she managed to open her eyes as the dark substance drifted away, only to wish she hadn’t.

Apparently Applejack had somehow tripped during her run and fallen down without catching herself, dropping Fluttershy’s car in the process. Luckily Twilight had caught the cowgirl in time, holding the teen up with her own purple magic, but then what about…

She then suddenly heard Rarity speak up from the side, prompting her to look up and notice the fashionista’s signature crystal shields holding the large vehicle in place. A collective feeling of relief filled the air as both Rarity and Twilight righted their respective rescuees, before Sunset narrowed her eyes pulled her attention back to her mind.

That voice, she heard it before, on the hospital drive last week. The whole reason she was here in Camp Everfree now.

But why did it return now of all days? Last time, it was when everyone’s respective powers went crazy, but that wasn’t happening here as far as she could tell. It worried her, perhaps it only came when magic in itself was involved?

Before she could contemplate more, she quickly noticed the group crowding Applejack and questioning the strange turn of events, continuously asking if she were okay. To which the cowgirl responded in her usual confident tone ‘to not worry about it.’

After, everyone seemed to simultaneously agree to take a ten-minute break and trudged off to sit down. As for Sunset, she instead when up to Applejack, not entirely convinced that her friend was okay as she claimed. That suspicion proved even more so to be true when she managed to talk to the farmer, getting a heated reassurance that she was okay and to leave it at that, to which she hesitantly did.

Once the hour passed, it was decided that AJ would be done for the day, thus finally making it Pinkie Pie’s turn to practice her magic. And that was why everyone else, minus Dash and Fluttershy, was currently inside the Camp Everfree dining room, cheering their pink friend on as she tried to bake one of her most famous cupcake recipes without making the sprinkles in her hand explode. As for Sunset, she decided to sit outside of the cabin on the porch as to not get Twilight’s books soaked in oily batter.

(That and so she could actually have some sort of chance at thinking straight, because a noisy room of exploding food mixed with having the loud inner thoughts of other people rummage around in your head can be very stressful.)

A loud bang echoed from behind her, signaling that another one of Pinkie’s attempts at cooking just exploded again, causing Sunset to wince in sympathy. They’d been at this for how long now? She reached into her jacket’s breast pocket and pulled out her phone, clicking the power button and gazing at the clock on the lock screen. Almost an hour and fifteen minutes.

She had to admit, as zany and childish as Pinkie could appear, when she had her mind set on something that girl was relentless. She couldn’t help but feel a bubble of pride emerge in her stomach, all of the girls had pitched in today and given their absolute all, despite obviously being uncomfortable with the whole situation, and in return they’d at least gotten some good results.

But inwardly, she knew that just one day of practice wouldn’t be enough. They still had a ways to go in order to figure out just what exactly happened on Tuesday, therefore more and more practice sessions would be needed. They wouldn’t be able to do them after school, there was too much of a concern for them getting caught by other people and gaining unwanted attention.

That in particular had always been one of Sunset’s worst fears, accidentally gaining the attention of authorities or even the government. No, no she’d be caught dead before one of her friends, her family were placed in some kind of cage and subjected to prying scientists or power crazed people. She made a promise to them, to princess Twilight, to herself that nothing would happen to any of them, and that was a promise she intended to keep.

Another loud “SPLAT” hit the window of the dining cabin’s door window, as noises continued from inside. Feeling the pain once again fade away, Sunset looked back down at the book she’d dropped, contemplating to herself.

Eventually, her boredom and curiosity got the best of her, as she picked up Twilight’s textbook, placed it on the small table beside her before standing up and turning towards the cabin’s front double doors. Gripping the handle of the right side, she clicked the knob and pushed it inward, stepping into the chilled room of the cabin.

Only to widen her eyes in shock as she just barely dodged a flying chunk of batter which bolted past her face and out the door. Covering her face, Sunset, peeked her eyes over to the large kitchen table in the middle of the room, where she saw most of her friends.

Twilight, Applejack and timber stood right beside Pinkie, each and every one of them rubbing off the splattered batter on their accessories (Glasses, Stetson hat, beanie, ect.) and holding specific cooking items, obviously in the middle of helping Pinkie with her cooking. Meanwhile she saw Rarity over by the kitchen sink desperately checking her body for any stains, although the large apron and bouffant hat atop her head no doubt put her in the clear. To the far left corner of the room, she could see the little form of Spike huddled underneath one of the shelves, licking the batter out of his purple fur while making sure to keep himself out of the line of fire.

As for the current girl of the hour, Pinkie was glaring at the platter of destroyed cupcakes in seething, betrayed anger, as if she were asking them why they would hurt her like this, ignore her love and spit in her face for no reason at all.

Huffing in frustration, Pinkie’s head suddenly became a blur as she shook the gunk out of her hair like a dog before her back went ramrod straight.

“Sparkle!” she barked, startling the teens beside her. “Frosting, STAT!”

Fumbling with her glasses, Twilight let out a surprised squeak at Pinkie’s unusual commanding tone and rushed over to the plastic tube on the other side of the table. As her friend bounced off to get the recipe, Pinkie turned to Timber and AJ, who froze once under the pink fury’s gaze.

“Applejack, Timber, I want the baking powder and vanilla, and I wanted it yesterday!”

Not needing to be told twice, Applejack nodding quickly and Timber lifting his hand to give a shaky salute, both teens practically flung themselves towards the bags of ingredients and placed them right beside the batter-filled bowl Pinkie had pulled out of nowhere.

“Rarity! I need you to check that other batch in the oven, if my Pinkie senses are correct, we have precisely ten minutes for those tasty cakes to be done.”

Rarity, who jumped slightly when Pinkie pointed to her, managed to recompose herself and dashed away from the sink to the oven, peering inside the glass window. While she was busy, Pinkie grabbed a second bowl and began whisking together a handful of butter and sugar, creating more thick, fluffy batter.

After she was done, the party girl automatically thrusted her hand to the side as Twilight handed her egg after egg, allowing Pinkie to stir them in as well. As Pinkie continued to beat up yet another batch, Sunset heard Rarity call out in affirmation.

“Why, you’re right Pinkie, these do in fact only need ten more minutes!”

A satisfactory smile formed of Pinkie’s face as she finished whipping the batter, pawning it over to Timber for him to mix in the ingredients from both bowls as well as the buttermilk. For the next few minutes, Sunset watched in amazement as each person rushed here and there around the kitchen, stirring together the batter or dipping it into the muffin pans to be ready for the oven, until finally the high-pitched beeping of the timer screeched through the air signaling the cakes were finished cooking.

Quick as a flash, Pinkie whipped her body around and pulled open the oven door, scooping out their creation and bringing it up to her face, her nose catching a nice whiff of the sweet aroma and causing her to momentarily shudder in delight. Licking her lips, Pinkie then turned back to the table and placed the muffin pan down, spotting Twilight in the corner of her eye holding the frosting in between her hands.

Looking over to her purple haired friend, she nodded to Twilight for her to begin the process. Smiling, Twilight moved up and graciously poured on the sugary topping onto the undecorated cupcakes, as Pinkie then focused her attention back on the final batch. Still wearing the oven mitts, she gently picked up the other batter filled pan and watched as Rarity opened up the oven, before quickly placing them inside and setting the timer for another twenty minutes.

Meanwhile, Twilight, alongside a now appearing Applejack, had just finished decorating the already made cupcakes, signaling to their temporary leader.

“Pinkie, we’re ready for it.” Applejack spoke, although even from her place by the door, Sunset could clearly hear a good amount of hesitance in her words. As for Pinkie, she actually froze on the spot, her determined demeanor wavering slightly. quickly noticing the sudden change in atmosphere, Rarity grasped onto Pinkie’s shoulder in a comforting manner, causing one of her oldest friends to shake free from her trace and finally notice the dress maker’s kind smile.

Though it was obvious Pinkie was clearly having doubts, Rarity insisted on giving her a well needed pat while speaking softly.

“It’s going to be okay darling, I know this is difficult, be we believe in you. You can do this, I know you can!”

Still unsure, Pinkie nevertheless gave Rarity her own small smile before standing straight, brushing off the stray batter on her clothes, and nervously inched towards the pan of ready-made cupcakes. In her eyes, they already looked splendiferous and delicious, with their crisp and toasty bread body topped with a hairdo of glistening, sugary coated frosting they were practically begging to be eaten. All that was missing was the final touch. The cherry on top.

A nice dash of uber delicious sprinkles.

But that was just it, the sprinkles were the whole problem. Everything worked out perfectly, the bread, the ingredients, the cooing, the frosting décor. It was just the sprinkles that caused her issues.

Imagine building a beautiful batch of cupcakes with scrumptious frosting while trying to add sprinkles, only to have those little flakes of sugar explode like individual bombs and turn your hard worked creation into a pile of yucky, mushy slop. It defeats the whole process of the fun!

At the beginning, Pinkie had found her new Equestrian powers to be amazing and honestly really funny, after all, exploding sprinkles made for great pranks! However, she quickly understood that while silly in a party, sugar explosions weren’t necessarily the right type of ingredient for originally solid deserts.

And it wasn’t just the food that got ruined, sometimes while with friends she’d find herself automatically reaching for the can of sprinkles while getting cookies prepared, then accidentally flinging sticky batter all into other people’s hair and clothes. Now that wasn’t a very funny scenario to be in.

Gulping down her nervousness, Pinkie Pie shuffled her hands before finally reaching over to the small can of sprinkles and shyly holding it up, her eyes glancing down to look at the plastic container’s interior. With the lid unscrewed and placed aside, there was no barrier to hold them in place, allowing her to see the small sugary pieces in their full glory. From here, they appeared so harmless to her, as of now they were simply desert decorations waiting to be used instead of potential hazards to herself and her friends.

All around her, Pinkie felt her friends try and get as close as they could, despite their better judgment, and each began to speak to her in their own comforting ways.

“We’re here for you Pinkie, you can do this!”

“It’s gonna be alright sugarcube, you’ve got this.”

“You’re a pro at cooking, this is nothing to you!”

She smiled as the group continued to chant her on, until her eyes suddenly passed by the cabin’s doors, and she finally noticed Sunset Shimmer, who gave the party girl her own smile and an encouraging thumbs up.

The edges of Pinkie Pie’s eyes watered, a warm spark igniting in her chest before she wiped them dry with her free forearm and breathed deeply, her expression once again becoming one of determination. Hand twitching, she reached her hand outward to where the sprinkle can was right over the frosting covered cupcakes and ever so gently began to tip it sideways while midair.

She could do this, she could do this.

Calming her breathing, Pinkie tapped the side of the can with her finger, causing three or four sprinkles to lazily roll out of the opening and fall towards their destination. Everyone held their breath as the small sugar toppings landed square on the whipped frosting, immediately sinking into the crust on impact.

….
….

Nothing. That was good, but there was still more to do. She tapped the can with her finger once more, this time a bit harder, which caused a larger number of sprinkles to fall from their home and onto the cupcakes below. When they fell onto the small cakes without so much as a fizzle, this time Pinkie could just barely hear Timber breath a small sigh of relief and a prayer to Faust, to which Applejack promptly elbowed him for. Pinkie breathed in deeply once more, holding it for a few seconds until letting it out, the small gesture somewhat soothing her nerves, and steeled herself. Time for the main course.

This time she hit the can with two of her fingers, creating an audible thump, and about a dozen sprinkles poured out onto the undecorated cupcakes further down the pan, neither of them exploding either. This was going great, greater than her last segment anyway! She just hoped it could do this for the rest of the cupcakes, she didn’t want to make even more of a mess in Gloriosa’s kitchen.

While she was thinking, she absentmindedly thumped the can again and this time could see a hint of the sprinkles glowing a bright pink as they hit their target. She really hoped it was just a sudden trick of the eye and that her inner anxiety was only making her seeing things, but that hope faded quickly when she felt the teens around her flinch as well at the sight. She narrowed her eyes, she just needed to try harder then, therefore she instead shook her head clear of anymore thoughts and dumped on more of the sugar.

The bright pink she saw before was gone, luckily, as she continued to decorate the cupcakes alongside the pan, her smile slowly etching more and more. Even her friends had gotten less and less tense, instead, getting closer to the pan and watching in astounded amazement as she continued dressing up the deserts.

This is what Pinkie missed most of all. Again, cooking with exploding sprinkles could be silly and insanely fun at times, but there were moments in cooking that required calm and precise work, otherwise the delicious food wouldn’t be at it’s total potential. A soufflé for example, needed to be stylized and neatly formed in order for the tasters to get the most out of their experience, therefore she had to be extra, super-dooper careful with her cooking.

To be perfectly honest, it wasn’t just her cooking she was worried about. She could still feel the others’ gazes around her, certainly not judging but still very much weary about the whole predicament. Pinkie didn’t want to disappoint them, they all seemed pretty adamant about taking more control over their powers and made it plainly clear that they needed her help in doing so. She couldn’t fail when all her friends were counting on her! No. She would so this, she would make them proud and not screw up this time. not again, not like she always did-

SPLAT!

All five backed from the table in horror, (apart from Sunset who instead winced), as one of the last few muffins exploded into shards of batter and sugar, its force completely ruining it neighboring muffins as well as the surrounding area.

Rarity let out a barely contained shriek as the batter slapped her straight in her face and sent her tumbling back, grabbing AJ by the collar and yanking the cowgirl down with alongside her. Twilight covered her face so the batter wouldn’t smudge her glasses again and Timber quickly ducked behind the purple teen for cover.

Just as soon and it happened, the explosion quickly ceased, and the kitchen was once again quiet, only this time a thick layer of tension filled the air, many of them unsure what to say at the moment. As for Pinkie, the party planner just simply stood in her designated place in front of the table, baffled. Her eyes cast downward at the destroyed pastries, a mixture of emotions swirling in her stomach and burning up to her chest. She screwed up, again. She’d been doing this for almost two whole hours, and she was still failing. Then again, that was to be expected of her. She felt the edges of her eyes water as dark memories began to resurface, ones she struggled relentlessly to shove down. Foolish girl, making a mess of things as usual!

Her thoughts were interrupted as an arm wrapped around her shoulders, causing her to swivel her face to see a batter-soaked Applejack peering at her in comfort.

“Well, uh…” She seemed to struggle with her words for a minute. “…Ah certainly do think that was the closest you’ve to finishing those suckers so far.”

In response to her words, Pinkie Pie brought her eyes back down to the tables, a hollow chuckle escaping her lips as she whispered a silent “Yeah” before folding her arms. Applejack obviously noticed her usually bubbly friend’s disheartenment and patted her other shoulder, unsure how to respond, with no help from the others who had begun fidgeting and finding the ground suddenly very interesting.

A high-pitched beeping rung through the air as the oven interrupted the silence. From beside Twilight, Timber awkwardly chuckled.

“Well, sounds like the next batch is done.”

He immediately shut his mouth when all five heads turned towards his direction, their heated glares boring into his soul.

_____

Camp Everfree, Gazebo area

Dust, rocks, and forest debris kicked up from underneath her feet as Rainbow Dash bolted out of the forest trail and back onto the level ground of Camp Everfree’s main area. Huffing out a wheezy breath, Rainbow Dash pulled the collar of her t-shirt up and dabbed her sweat-soaked eyebrows, her chest heaving in and out.

“Ho-boy…” She breathed. “…Note to self, watch out for tree roots and holly bushes next time.”

With her eyes dry, RD flicked her sore foot and slightly hoppled over to one of the camp benches before practically melting into the seat. Letting out one last sigh of relief, Rainbow pulled out her half empty water bottle and guzzled down the now lukewarm liquid until it was completely empty, though not near enough to help her sandpaper dry throat.

Lifting her arm, she stared at the clock on her wrist, the time reading 4:30 on the dot. If she remembered correctly from the text messages, Five o’clock was around the time they had to leave the place, which in turn meant she had thirty minutes to spare.

Speaking of which, she wondered how the rest of the girls were doing with their practicing. She hadn’t seen any of them so far, and the place sounded awfully quiet. Without missing a beat, Dash pulled her phone from her pants pocket and brought up the first contact number, Applejack, and was about to press the call button before stopping herself.

Just before they’d started today, each of them made a promise as to not call one another on account of them risking one of them to losing focus during training, which would create a big problem for everyone. If she called AJ while she was right in the middle of bench pressing Fluttershy’s vehicle, she’d never hear the end of it!

So instead she rolled her eyes back and stuffed the phone deep into her pockets before wrapping her arms behind her skull and leaning back, therefore her eyes were cast towards the dimming, cloudless blue sky. Closing her eyes as a nice calm breeze wafted by her face, Dash silently wished she’d brought her shades if she’d known she’d have time for a break today. Were they not here for the intention of working, this would’ve been the perfect day and place to kick back and relax, the lack of beating sun coupled with the cool breeze made it the cherry on top.

A sound echoed off to her left, what sounded like footsteps and someone pushing through bushes made their way to her before a very familiar sneeze caught RD’s attention. Not opening her eyes, she grunted.

“Hey Fluttershy.”

A small “eep!” could be heard as the new arrival finally noticed the only other occupant in the area, possibly ruffling her dress in embarrassment at being so caught off guard before inching over to the resting athlete. Rainbow Dash felt the bench creak slightly as Fluttershy sat next to her, noticing RD’s state of comfort and chose to keep quiet. For a solid 10 minutes, the two laid in comfortable silence, basking in the lukewarm glow of the sun as the day slowly began to set, Fluttershy fiddling with her dress while humming a soft tune, of which seemed to lull Rainbow Dash almost to sleep.

“How do you suppose they’re doing?”

Rainbow Dash lifted a noticeably heavy eyelid to peer over at her childhood friend, who had stopped messing with her clothes and was staring off towards what RD guessed was the direction to the kitchen-something cabin where everyone else was, her eyes obviously full of worry.

Closing her squinted eye back shut, RD waved her hand nonchalantly while scoffing.

“Eh, I’m sure they’re doing fine, it’s Pinkie Pie’s turn right? If anything, I’m surprised they hadn’t finished early with how determined she can be sometimes.”

Fluttershy giggled into her hand, looking back over at her old friend with heart melting warmth etched all over her features.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. she does have a way with surprising us.”

Rainbow nodded before laying further back into the bench, content with nearly falling asleep again. Truth be told, she was actually a bit worried for them, for the whole entire day too. Despite AJ’s earlier pep talk from the morning, something just left a big pit in her stomach that refused to go away regardless of her attempts to stomach it down. She knew the girls could handle themselves with minor magical problems, that much was obvious, but what about when something major happened to them and Dash wasn’t there to help? She shuddered at the mere thought, she’d never forgive herself if they got hurt and there was a chance she could’ve done something about it.

Ugh, images to horrible to describe had plagued her mind throughout her runs in the forest, making it difficult to focus on where she was going and trying to not get lost. Sometimes her only saving grace being the bright trail markings on the trees made by Gloriosa and Timber. Luckily, her magic seemed to be in a good mood today, no super crazy, unstoppable hyper speed power boost thus far, which counted as a big win in her books! Of course, there was the occasional trip or weird ‘pushes’ of her magic that seemed to ramp up her speed a bit, otherwise things looked up all things considering.

Once again without opening her eyes, Dash spoke up to ease her stewing nerves.

“So, uh…” she forced her tongue to work. “…How did it go?”

Fluttershy grimaced at the question, nervously chewing her lower lip while moving a lock of pink hair away from her eyes.

“Oh, you know… i-it went well I suppose. I mean, there were a few bumps here and there and I did almost... n-no, what I mean is…”

With her stammering getting increasingly worse, Rainbow opened both her eyes this time to see the animal lover now anxiously pulling at her hair while desperately trying to get a comprehensive sentence out. Eventually she stopped midsentence and sighed before turning her head bck to face her friend in the eyes.

“What I mean is, it went fine. I had a little trouble, but I’m fine.”

RD in turn raised a skeptical eyebrow, obviously unconvinced by the statement, to which Fluttershy immediately noticed and began to smile in her best way possible.

“Really…” she pressed. “…It went well. I’m fine.”

Still suspicious, RD nevertheless conceived to her statement, shrugging her shoulders and looking back up at the sky.

“What about you? Did you have any problems?”

Oh joy, there it was. Holding back her own grimace, Dash settled for smirking broadly while looking back to the teen.

“Heh, please, I coulda done this whole shindig with my eyes closed. Ain’t nothin’ keeping this girl down!”

Fluttershy let out a small laugh this time, putting a hand up to her mouth and scooting closer to RD, wearing a rare smirk of her own.

“Oh really?” She smiled.

Dash scoffed as the question.

“Yeah! Of course, why else would I be this early? Figured I’d let you guys didn’t need to wait around for me to finish.” Her hand retracted from behind her head and rested on her stomach. “Cuz I don’t know about you, but this girl needs some chow!”

Fluttershy giggled into her hand some more before bending her torso down and resting her head onto Dash’s shoulder, her childhood friend following up with draping an arm around her own neck. For another ten minutes or so, the two sat in silence, listening to the birds and the soft rustles of the pond hitting the shore as the sun began to set lower with every minute.

Suddenly the comfortable peace was interrupted as a voice called out from behind them.

“Rainbow Dash! Fluttershy! Is that you!?”

Fluttershy sat herself up and turned towards the source of the voice, grinning as she waved over the new arrivals.

“Yes! We’re over here Twilight!”

Rainbow didn’t bother turning her head as a herd of footsteps shuffled towards her, signaling that all ten of the sole people at Camp Everfree were now once again all together. A little ways away from Twilight, Dash also heard AJ cough into her fist while speaking up.

“Ah see you’re done with your little jog there, Rainbow Dash.” She chuckled. “Surprised all we heard were just little shockwaves.”

The rainbow-haired athlete rolled her eyes at the comment, closing her eyes and sighing.

“I’m surprised I didn’t see Fluttershy’s car go flying in the air earlier.”

“All right, everyone play nice.” Gloriosa’s own voice blocked Applejack retort, earning RD a win for this round. A flurry of purple burst out of nowhere and rocketed into fluttershy, the quiet girl huffing in surprise as Spike snuggled deeply into her chest. The poor guy must’ve been whooped.

RD rolled her head back, feeling her neck pop and groan at the movement as a yawn stifled her words. Guess he’s not the only one. Suddenly Sunset Shimmer was before the both of them, standing in front of the bench with a satisfied smile gracing her lips. With closer inspection, Dash noticed that she was in fact looking at all of them, and not just the two on the bench.

“Well…” Sunset began, causing the gang of teens to silence and look towards her. “…After what I’ve seen so far, I have to say today went pretty good!”

Unbeknownst to the other, Rainbow released a breath she didn’t know she’d been holding as she watched their de facto leader continue to speak.

“Despite some…uh…issues, you all managed to try and work through in figuring out your magic even though you were hesitant. And even though we did still have a few problems today, that didn’t halt us from making good progress.”

Sunset paused, as if struggling to come up with her next choice of words, before placing a palm on her heart and giving her friends a toothy smile.

“I know you all are scared, I am too, but I can’t tell you how proud I was when you agreed to do this today. I know this isn’t easy, and I feel responsible for that, none of this would’ve happened if I didn’t come to your world. But now I know we can work this together, no matter what happens.”

Amongst the beaming teens, Rainbow Dash felt pride swell from inside her. She did it! She was making progress!

Twilight cleared her throat to gain everyone’s attention, forcing most to snap out of their happy thoughts.

“Of course, that doesn’t mean this is over though.” She concluded. “It’s true we made progress here, but there were still many things we could’ve done better at, which also means we’ll have to try this again soon.”

All of them nodded simultaneously, suddenly growing serious. Sunset herself straightened and placed her hands on her hips.

“She’s right, while we did a fairly good job, we still obviously have a lot of work to do. Next weekend is Canterlot High’s Sport event, so we won’t have time to do anything then, maybe the weekend next if that’s good with all of you?”

Some, like Pinkie, Dash, Gloriosa, Timber, and Twilight, all nodded once again in approval. Meanwhile the rest: AJ, Rarity, and Fluttershy, seemed hesitant at the request. Rarity placed a hand under her chin in thought.

“Hmm, well that does sound quite dandy darling, however, if I recall Mrs. Hemline requested I finish one of my many new designs for that week’s sale. Therefore, I might not be able to come. Though I will certainly try.”

Applejack righted her hat while pressing her memory for more her inner schedule.

“Ah also may have some work to do both at the farm and at the smoothie stand, though hopefully it won’t be too much of a hassle.”

Sunset processed the newfound information, placing one hand on her hip while the other under her chin, deep in thought. Eventually she conceited and glanced back up.

“Alright, we’ll keep that in mind, we may have to find another day. Now if that’s all, then I think it’s time we quite for the day. Who wants to eat?”

A chorus of “me’s” echoed throughout the air as Sunset felt a chuckle escape her throat before she finally turned to the camp’s two sole owners.

“What about you two, you guys wanna come?”

While grateful for the offer, Gloriosa opened her mouth to decline when Timber suddenly clasped an arm on her shoulder and quickly halted her words.

“I think that’d be a great idea, after all, what’s a little break, huh?”

Gloriosia gave her brother a sideways half glare, prepared to snipe back, only to stop abruptly when seeing his pleading look. Sighing in exasperation and defeat, the workaholic slumped her head and shrugged.

“Well, I suppose a break wouldn’t kill me.”

Timber beamed, thankful that his sister finally would step away from her paperwork and cleanup, and quickly ushered her towards the cars, the massive number of teens following behind them.

“Great! I heard Sugarcube corner has the best snacks.”

“Really, I was thinking more along the lines of burgerphile.”

“Don’t be silly, Sweet Snacks Café has the best food!”

“You can’t just say that because you work there Pinkie.”

“It’s true though!”

As they all walked towards the cars, discussing where and what to eat, Sunset simply trailed her eyes while she watched them pass, her proud smile faltering a little. They made progress today, but again, this was only the first time each of them had actually done something like this before. They’d never pushed themselves as far as they did today. At least they never tried. It would take a lot, and she meant a lot of work to get their powers under control as to not have such a disastrous catastrophe happen again.

What’s worse, from what she’d been hearing over the news, things were getting bad up in Canterlot City. The Changlers had really gone too far this time, and though they’d been stopped, there was also supposedly some rumor that one of them was actually on the run inside the city now.

If that Changler ever saw them using their powers out in the open… Sunset visibly shuddered, she didn’t even want to think about gaining those wacko’s attention. Because no matter how much she wanted to take them down, she knew that even with her friends together, the seven of them had a snowballs chance of leaving unscathed, much less alive. That sole thought was what had often kept her up at night, knowing that there were people out there, practically living right next door to her, that she had the potential power to help yet had no idea how.

She brought magic into their world, powerful magic that from her home could stop both a fully adult dragon and an aircraft carrier in mid run, and yet here she was barley understanding how to control it. How pathetic was that?

She clenched her fists into her palms, feeling her nails dig into her skin while she glared at the now empty camp. They had to get their magic under control, the fate of peoples lives depended on them now, and she was going to make damn sure they’d be there when others needed them.

_____________

He paused. Looking up from the paper, he scanned the now darkened city, eyes narrowed suspiciously as he glanced at the surrounding area. It stopped. It was gone, he could feel it now. The lack of tenseness in the air was immediately noticeable, as was the calmness returning to the wind, causing his body to finally relax and the irritable itch in his skin now fading away.

He huffed in annoyance, half thankful for the welcomed peace and irritated at the massive amounts of questions now bombarding in his head. Instead, he lifted the newspaper once more as his other free hand began to spark with blue, allowing him to finish reading the article in his hands.

Whatever, he’d find the source soon enough. All it took was a little more patience.

As his eyes scanned through the readings, skimming through pointless rambling claims of shocked civilians and desperate scientists, one particular sentence suddenly caught his attention.

“In regard to the strange occurrence, reports of similar tales have been spoken by people living inside the suburban areas just outside the Canterlot metroplex, where many fingers, including Principle Abacus Cinch of Crystal Prep Highschool, have pointed towards Canterlot’s second high school CHS, although these judging claims have yet to be proven.”

The CHS Annual Sporting Event Pt. 1- Competitive Cloudstale

"This year, things are gonna be different!"
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The week following their Everfree practice run had gone by much smoother than anyone could’ve predicted. Aside from an accidental trip here and a sore muscle there, any magic related issues had thankfully remained at an all-time minimum.

That realization in itself seemed to brighten most of the girl’s spirits immensely. It looked like practice really did make perfect!

However, despite the encouraging state of affairs, that didn’t mean the problems were over entirely. The amount of unknowns weighed heavily on each of them, which resulted in a simultaneous agreement amongst the seven to try the best they physically could to resist the urge to use their geodes for even the most minimal reason.

That would perfectly describe Rainbow Dash’s mood as she harshly bucked the soccer ball with all her might into the field’s net, barely noticing the flames licking at the sports ball’s curve.

Today was CHS’ Annual Sport Event: where each spring her school would compete with another in standard athletic activities for fun. It was like the Friendship Games, only slightly smaller game-wise and with schools further out from Canterlot. Each event’s location was random, therefore the students wouldn’t get to know exactly where they were going to play until a week in advance, that way the highschoolers who volunteered for the event at least had enough time to pack.

This year, they’d be having the event here at CHS. Today.

And no way was RD gonna let CHS down on her own turf, not after finally (somewhat) winning the Friendship Games last year.

Huffing out the strain in her lungs, the young athlete hopped over to the next nearest ball in her makeshift line and punted it hard with extra force into the goal. Ever since Sunday the young sports captain had been slaving herself away at practicing the announced events they’d be having today. Racing, Soccer, Hoofball, and Blitzball. Naturally she’d signed up for all four, although the rest of her friends had signed up for no more than two at a time.

That was fine. She learned long ago they weren’t nearly as competitive as her. But that still didn’t mean her friends, as well as all of CHS, weren’t counting on her to win this event. Magic or not, Dash was the school’s head sports captain which meant heavy expectations from everyone, so she absolutely needed to be on her A game before the events started.

Nobody told her restraining from using her magic would be so difficult though. Yeah, she’d been hammered over and over by the girls to be more “calm and collective” with her powers before all this, but after a whole entire week of being incognito she’d begun to feel something stirring up inside. It was like her very soul was annoyed from the lack of action coming from the magic settling within her, as if the magic truly was a part of her very being. Not to mention both the principles’ very forward rule on “No Magic Allowed” during the contest was another clear reminder to keep herself in check.

She, unfortunately, didn’t need another Twilight lecture to understand how hard restraining it during the contest was gonna be. Which was one of the many reasons she’d come to CHS’ soccer field at 6AM to practice all around the school’s field. A sight no one in the history of ever would’ve thought to see the (dim) light of day.

POW!

The last of the soccer balls in her arsenal soared like a rocket down the lawn, however her trajectory must’ve been a little off, because instead of hitting inside the net the ball flew into the pole holding it up, a loud ping echoing across the empty field, and it went flying past the teen into the parking lot.

“Darn it!” Dash groaned in frustration. Kicking up dirt, she trudged over to the goal to pick up her things and start over when she felt a light rhythmic tap on her shoulder.

Instantly halting in her tracks, she spun around to see her childhood friend Fluttershy smiling at her with a coffee in one hand and a paper bag in the other. The exasperation within her simmering down, Dash returned her own smile before snatching both goodies from the animal lover’s hands.

“Thanks Fluttershy, as always, you’re the best!” she hurryingly exclaimed, ignorant of her friend’s shocked expression.

“U-um, actually Rainbow, that coffee is-“

She couldn’t even finish her sentence before Dash guzzled down nearly half the cup and already began fishing into the paper bag.

“…mine.” Fluttershy huffed.

Pulling out a cinnamon roll, Dash felt the coffee in her hand get yanked away by a reasonably annoyed Fluttershy, who she gave an awkward shrug of apology to while biting down on the sugary treat.

“I don’t mean to bother you Rainbow…” The animal lover spoke underneath her drink’s lip. “…but don’t you think you’ve been taking this a bit too far? I mean, I know how excited you are for today and that you’ve been practicing really hard this week. However, wouldn’t it be better if you took a little time off from all this?”

Swallowing the remaining roll, Dash cocked her head and laughed while turning on her heel.

“Break? With the Sports Event in just a few hours? I don’t think so! I need to be all kinds of prepared for this afternoon, who knows what kind of competition Cloudstale Academy is going to bring.”

With that said, she twirled one of the soccer balls in her hand while glancing proudly at her work. Fluttershy held back a playful eyeroll as she watched the other teen pounce into her original practice position, only to be stopped once more when Shy grabbed her shoulder.

“Yes, but you don’t need to overwork yourself Dashy.” A significantly more cautious expression formed on Shy’s face, making Dash pause for a moment. “It’s been hard enough for us to try and get you to take some time off this past week, but considering today’s the day, please try to not tire yourself out before the Events even start.”

RD for her part seemed to ponder the statement, eyes narrowing down at the ground while rubbing her neck.

“I don’t know…”

Seeing her growing defensiveness, Fluttershy panicked and brought her hands up wildly.

“Oh, nononono, I didn’t mean to discourage you from practicing altogether, I just meant…well…”

She drooped her hands back down while her mind dashed, contemplating the correct choice of words.

“What I mean is…” She began again, “…is that there’s no reason you shouldn’t want to feel prepared for today. However, we just don’t want you to overwork yourself to the point where you’re too exhausted to play at all.”

Her childhood friend thankfully appeared to understand with a nod of her head, wrapping her own arm around Shy’s neck.

“It’s okay, I see what you’re saying, and I understand. But really Shy, you guys don’t have to worry about me, I know my limit, and this is nothing close to it. I wasn’t made captain of all CHS’ sports team for nothing!”

The enthusiasm and determination of the sports captain seemed to visually ease some of Fluttershy’s initial worries, who sighed in defeat and returned with a happy smile.

“Alright, if you say so.” She conceded. “I for one can’t wait to see you play, I bet you’re team’s going to be amazing!”

Another confident smirk etched across Rainbow’s face as she let go of Fluttershy to stretch, yawning while she did so.

“You’ve got that right! Today’s gonna be awesome!”

Once she was down, Dash peered back at the school towering above them, the sun now significantly brighter over the horizon.

“Welp, I’m gonna keep practicing until first period starts; that should keep me warmed up until the Event.”

RD then turned to Fluttershy. “What about you? What’s your plan for right now? After all, it’s about two more hours until classes start.”

The caretaker paused for a moment when regarded the question.

“Nothing planned so far. All of my critter friends back home have already been taken care of, and as for the others…”

In one swift motion Fluttershy unzipped her backpack as random pairs of rabbits, a tabby cat, and a squirrel burst out like ants from inside a hill, spilling out both onto the grassy floor and climbing onto her shoulders. Seeing this, Rainbow gave a neutral eyebrow raise coupled with a shake of her head. Same old Fluttershy.

Bending down to their level, Shy gazed up at Dash while scooping her arms around the fuzzy little creatures in a hug-like hold, keeping most of them from scurrying off.

“…they needed a little more outside time before I go to school. If you want, we can watch you play until class. That is, if you don’t mind.”

Dash’s eyes practically lit up at the statement as she tossed the ball out of her hand and began bouncing it evenly on her knee.

“No problem here, I need someone to keep track of my scores anyway.”

Fluttershy giggled as she picked up her furry friends and stood, giving RD a faithful pat of the shoulder while walking over to the bleachers. Watching her go, Rainbow waited until the other girl was out of earshot before letting out a sigh of relief. She was glad Fluttershy had given in, despite how worried they were, her friends just didn’t seem to understand.

With or without magic, she needed to show everybody that Rainbow Dash could still keep strong, help CHS off the ground and be the one others looked up to. That meant going to the absolute limits her body could take in order to be there for her friends in times of need.

Fine then! If she had to fight against her own magic until she dropped, then so be it. She’d show Cloudstale, her friends, even all of Canterlot, just what it looked like to challenge her in a contest of wills.

With that, she cocked her knee further back and punted the ball higher before flying her heel up to boot it up over her head, across the yard, and smack into the goal.

___________________________________________

CHS playing Field (11:00am.)

It never ceased to amaze her how at one minute the field outside of CHS was normally a quiet, peaceful setting with just a few students playing during free period. However when CHS had some type of scheduled tournament like today, thousands of kids would pour out of the school doors and flood the area like a plague in the blink of an eye the next minute.

Shouts of excitement and mishmashed sentences echoed across the yard as dozens of students chatted amongst one another. Giant bleachers etched around the field’s perimeter, more than enough to hold students from both schools, as well as any other parents, teachers, or friends willing to watch the whole thing. Outside the playing field dozens of snack stands and club advertisements lay in wait, even a small stand where the student bands could play for those waiting on the event to start.

Meanwhile, the squared-off field where the actual action was set to happen currently resembled a mix of sports. Around the edges of the yard was a long, paint lined track for the foot racers. Then in the middle was a neat square area of grass for the last three activities: Soccer, Blitzball, and Hoofball. It was an easy enough area, not too big for the school to require construction like they did during the Friendship Games, and not too small where it would seem claustrophobic.

Sunset breathed in the smell of fresh cotton candy and grilled food, it was akin to being in the yearly carnival. Up ahead she could see the group of CHS players practicing hard as their coach reigned them in, all of them wearing looks of determination.

She herself hadn’t signed up for the racing or soccer part, only Blitzball and Hoofball. Blitzball in itself was something the ex-unicorn was fairly familiar with. However, she mainly signed up for Hoofball due to the feeling that Dash would need all the help she could get out there. The crazy athlete had signed up for all four events!

Speaking of her, it wasn’t that hard to find RD amongst the players, (Rainbow’s colored hair can be both a blessing and a curse) who bore that same look of fierce determination Sunset had come to admire. Beside the huddling group she could see Fluttershy sitting comfortably on the bench next to the water container while watching intently.

She couldn’t help the warm smile grace her lips. No matter what Rainbow Dash was doing, there was always a high chance Fluttershy would be somewhere beside her, cheering the athlete on in her usual quiet manner.

Strolling over to the bench, she made it halfway before Fluttershy appeared to sense her incoming presence, as she immediately looked over in Sunset’s direction and waved timidly. The Equestrian gave her own wave when approaching, eventually finding herself sitting down next to her younger friend as Dash continued listening to the coach.

Taking this as her cue, Sunset cleared her throat.

“So, how are things looking so far?”

Evening out her dress, Fluttershy glanced up at Sunset with hope.

“It’s been…good. Dash is still really insistent on winning the contest no matter what, so far I’ve barely seen her stop moving.”

Sunset felt her eyes roll back before the sentence was even finished, sighing while combing her hair with her nails.

“Yeah, that sounds about right.”

The coach had ceased his instructions and was now demanding the kids to take five. His words must’ve even encouraged RD to sit down, because she too moved out of the field and was headed towards Sunset and Fluttershy’s direction.

Once she got closer, Sunset immediately took notice of the strained look on Dash’s face. Its wasn’t one of fatigue or exhaustion, but instead one of immense dedication. No sooner was she lost in her own thoughts, when Dash plopped down on the seat beside her and began guzzling down the water in her pitifully small sports cup.

Sunset smirked while leaning over.

“So, what do you think miss hotshot, had enough practice yet or do we need one more extra hour?”

Crushing the cup in her hands, RD dunked it into a nearby bin and turned with a challenging grin.

“I should be asking you that. Saw you having trouble with Hoofball practice.”

The ex-unicorn simply shrugged, rolling back onto the bench.

“Hoofball’s not something I’ve ever been too interested in. Forgive me if I’m still a little stale compared to the rest of you guys.”

“We need better than stale.”

“Ok girls, let’s not argue. We’ve got a really big day ahead of us.” Fluttershy spoke up, hoping to simmer the growing heat. After a shared look of apology, the collective decision of sitting in silence was made as they watched the noise carry on around them.

“Any word on the Cloudstale students?” Rainbow piped up, not moving her gaze from the field. Sunset responded almost immediately, pressing a hand to her chin.

“Not really. Aside from the buses coming in a few minutes ago, they’ve pretty much been lying low. Probably getting ready for the games.”

The given info must’ve lightened Dash’s spirits, who perked up with a glint in her sparkling eyes.

“They’d better be! Wonderbolts don’t go down easily!”

Fluttershy shifted her legs while fiddling with her pink hair, expression hopeful.

“I wonder what they’re like. I sure hope they’re nice.”

Beside her, Sunset crossed her arms and huffed out.

“Ahem to that. Competitiveness is one thing, but I’m getting really tired of dealing with jerks .”

“Guess we’ll have to wait and find out.” Dash concluded. “Won’t change the fact we’re still gonna smoke ’em!”

“That might be harder than you think!”

As if on cue, the trio looked up to see a familiar pair of uniformed girls across from their location, each sporting a smirk or half smile. Sunset easily recognized them on the spot. Ever since the last Friendship Games, CHS’ longtime rival Crystal Prep Academy had formed a much more stable relationship considering the retirement of Principle Cinch; more accurately, regarding the relationships between the students from both schools.

With passing time, gone was most of their burning animosity with each other and instead remained what could be called a friendly, competitive affair. Moments such as the Camp Everfree fundraiser where Sunset and her friends worked together with this group in particular, the Shadowbolts, to benefit both schools further solidified their newer peace.

Although the Sporting Event normally had CHS compete against schools who weren’t Crystal Prep, the students from CPA had made before a routine to watch the games whenever they could in hopes of gloating the loser for their failure. Guess it was time to see if they’d still carry that tradition after all that’s happened.

Fluttershy peered at the incoming three girls and decided to be the first to greet them.

“Indigo Zap, Sugarcoat, Sunny Flare! I haven’t seen you since the music video contest.”

One of the girls addressed, Sunny Flare, casually flipped her hair in her usual posh manner while grinning.

“After the Maritime Spring Dance, things have been pretty quiet on our end. Shame too, Indigo here has been looking forward to some action lately.”

Beside Sunny, another more athletic girl puffed out her chest.

“That’s right! Things have gotten pretty boring what with all the crappy school tests coming up, that means there’s less and less major events at our school than simple practice time.” She then waved her hand to point towards the three CHS students.

“No offense to the rest of our classmates back at CPA, but nothing beats you guys when it comes to competition. So there’s no way we were about to miss you guys going against Cloudstale!”

Rainbow smirked at the comment, no doubt proud of the praise given from her past rival while Sunset for her part relaxed her posture. It had taken her a little longer to forgive the Shadowbolts of their previous years of mistreatment of Twilight, not to mention their cheating ways during the music contest even after that. For a while it was like they never truly felt sorry for their actions, so she didn’t always know what to expect from them. Then again, she had to remind herself from time to time that she was once on the exact same boat as them.

Sunny placed a hand on her hip as she tore her gaze away from the girls and out to the racing track, her eyes widening slightly.

“Wow…” she whistled. “…your school really goes all out for these events don’t they? Guess they really aren’t afraid of the whole… you know.”

Sunny waved her hands in the air, gesturing broadly. Understanding the rest of the unspoken statement without a hitch, Sunset brought both hands up.

“Don’t worry, we’re doing everything we possibly can to make sure no magic gets into the games. CHS doesn’t want to introduce itself to Cloudstale this year through what they’d assume is cheating.”

Keeping her gaze off of Sunset and her friends, Sugarcoat lazily trailed her eyes around the surrounding setting, taking note of anything and everything before finally speaking since her arrival.

“That’s good to hear. If more accidents like those keep happening, there’s a good chance CHS won’t be able to participate in community games anymore. Not to mention the amount of unwanted attention you’ll receive.”

A new tension quickly settled over the group as the information was processed. Rainbow and Sunset in particular, with Dash gritting her teeth and Sunset shifting uncomfortably in her seat as sweat began to drop from her forehead. The former seemed to recover faster, evidence by her letting out a strained scoff.

“That’s not going to happen. With Sunset here keeping watch on all things magical, and me shredding the playing field, I think the only thing we need to be worried about is how scared Cloudstale should be!”

Indigo coughed into her fist while shuffling her feet awkwardly, looking as though she wanted to say something, yet for whatever reason held herself back. Unfortunately for her, it didn’t go unnoticed by the three teens before her, who gave a shared look of confusion at the Shadowbolt’s hesitancy. With that, Sunny Flare put a hand on Indigo’s shoulder.

“That’s… partially why we came over to talk to you guys.”

Another shared look of curiosity from the three Wondercolts was all the confirmation Sugarcoat needed to answer them herself.

“Considering all of you haven’t actually met or been to Cloudstale, we thought we should warn you about them. Considering our own past rivalry with them and all.”

Indigo finally seemed to find her own words, stepping up while placing her hands on her hips.

“What we wanted to tell you was just how hardcore these people are sports wise. Even Principle Cinch herself felt intimidated by them whenever we competed against them.”

Fluttershy audibly gulped as RD crossed her arms, her eyes quirking in interest.

“Strictly speaking, they’re pretty much more of a physical school than an educational one. I don’t think there’s a kid there who isn’t enlisted in some kind of major activity up until graduation. Their stamina is on a completely new level!”

“Which is why…” Sugarcoat interrupted. “…we also wanted to let you know that while they have plenty experience, so far Cloudstale Academy is still fairly new to the concept of playing Blitzball, considering most schools are still getting into the habit of creating their own league, unlike CHS who was first.”

Despite the previous discouraging information, Sunset didn’t have to see the growing grin etching across Rainbow Dash’s face to know it was there. Not missing a beat, the athlete pumped her fists together as she chuckled.

“These sound like my kinda people!” She exclaimed. “Dang it, now I’m really ready for this thing to start.”

Suddenly, a loud, shrill sound cracked across the yard, startling everyone as Principle Celestia’s voice spoke over the intercom.

“Attention everyone, the first event of today will begin in 10 minutes, please head to the bleachers.”

With that said, the intercom clicked off and the already thinning crowd began to disperse. Watching them go, Sunny chuckled while beckoning her two friends.

“Welp, that’s our que. Come’on girls, I think we’ve bothered them enough.”

The two in question nodded in agreement, with Sugarcoat giving a small wave while Indigo and Dash exchanged a thumbs up and salute.

“Good luck you guys, see you on the field!”

Giving her own short salute, Sunset watched the three girls leave until out of sight before she heard Fluttershy chirp from behind.

“That was nice of them. I’m glad they’ve decided to watch today.”

The former Equestrian herself grinned at the statement, crossing her arms.

“Yeah, me too.”

The bench shook as Dash hopped back to her feet, stretching her arms outward and rolling her neck.

“Enough chat, we’ve got a game to win! I need to get back with AJ and the rest of my group before it starts.”

She fastened her headband as Fluttershy handed her one last cup of water, patting the athlete’s hand when she went to grab it as a sign of encouragement.

“Good luck Rainbow, you’ve got this.”

Sunset exclaimed as she and Dash exchanged a quick fist bump before the latter flew off towards her team. Standing up from her seat, Sunset brushed off the dust around her pants before turning to Fluttershy, jutting her thumb towards the bleachers.

“We should probably get going. The girls saved us seats, but I doubt the crowd’s going to be any less merciful.”

However, Fluttershy gave no inclination of hearing her friend as she kept her eyes forward, her gaze aimed to where Dash had just run off to.

“I’m worried about her Sunset.” The animal lover whispered without looking away. “She’d already been working herself way to hard lately, and then this week, well, you saw how she was. Ever since that day, at the hospital, she’s been acting… different.”

A heavy clump sat in Sunset’s throat as she listened intently, eyes casting downward while memories of the recent passing days began to resurface.

“I know she can take it…” Fluttershy continued, nevertheless. “…She always did try to push herself to be the best she could, and I always wanted her to know I supported her. But now I don’t know.”

The two sat in silence for a moment after, with neither moving from their respective spots. Soon Fluttershy wiped her eyes before turning to look back at her older friend, a guilty look crossing her face.

“I-I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be so negative…I’m probably just imagining things.”

Her apology was cut short from Sunset who brought up a hand.

“No, no, no, I get it. She has been acting very strange these past few days, I guess I just didn’t think too much on it before now. I just figured it had something to do with the CHS Event considering that’s all she talked about.”

Placing a finger to her chin, she narrowed her eyes while flurries of thoughts pooled into her mind. Fluttershy wasn’t wrong, Dash seemed pretty determined about something that looking into context, sounded like more than a highschool game. But what?

Loud cheering caught her attention, pulling her away from the growing theories and back to the present. Letting out a huff, Sunset placed a hand on Fluttershy’s shoulder while giving the animal-lover her best empathetic look.

“How about we make sure to talk to her about it once this whole event is over, that way she’ll have nothing else to focus on and we can get some straight answers. For now though, let’s focus on cheering her on today.”

Shy appeared to process the given info before smiling and nodding her head in affirmation, sitting up from her seat and soon following towards the bleachers.

As she kept her pace, Sunset couldn’t help the small quake of nervousness that stirred in her stomach. She’d promised principle Celestia and vice principle Luna that she would do everything in her power to keep magic away from the games this time. So far things had been going off to a great start, but considering her past luck there was still a chance things would blow up in her face. If magic was brought into the equation, people would think CHS was cheating, and what if Cloudstale actually found a way to keep them suspended from playing anymore? The thought of her friend’s crushed expressions, of the principle’s disappointed expression flashed through her mind, causing her to flinch.

No! She inwardly berated. Not this time, we have a hold on the magic now. We are control this time!

Funnily enough, she almost believed herself for a second there.

____________

“Welcome everyone, to the beginning of our Annual Sports Event. Our first event for today will be foot racing, where each of the four group of contenders from both Cloudstale and CHS must lap around three times to win! As you know, the winning contender will then have their respective school receive a winning tally for this game, and whichever school who wins the most tallies of the four qualified games wins the Event.”

Cheers erupted through the air as students, parents, and others clapped in joy once Vice-Principle Luna spoke over the intercom. Kids of all ages threw their hands into the air when the contenders from both Cloudstale and CHS jumped out of their respective bases and raced towards the starting line, some of them posing energetically for the ecstatic crowd. Meanwhile, a select few of them simply gave out a shy wave before hurrying to the track.

Amidst the many racers, a certain blonde glanced up at the roaring crowd in the bleachers, wiping the sweat off her brow while smoothing out the creases in her CHS uniform. Rarity “insisted” both she and Rainbow Dash keep the homemade outfits somewhat clean by the end of today, and she could practically feel the fashionista’s watchful gaze from the bleachers. As to why Rarity would even expect something else than her getting dirty today, Applejack didn’t know, but when regarding the pleading look on her friend’s face, it was near impossible to not promise.

“Consarn-it Rarity.” AJ grumbled as she fiddled with the shirt’s collar. “The things Ah do you.”

Footsteps scurried from behind as a figure appeared at her side, messy locks of Rainbow-colored hair and bright blue skin exploding dramatically into the fray past the two CHS students on the left and to AJ’s right.

“Alright, first event! You ready for this AJ!?”

The farm girl cracked a sly grin as she looked over to see Dash beside her, the sheer energy coming from her athletic friend not unlike a rip-roaring farm stallion, just itching to be let out of its cage.

“You bet yer bottom dollar Ah’m ready. Only thing Ah’m worried about though is you having trouble catching up with me, considering you ain’t got no fancy ‘cheats’ with you today.”

Narrowed eyes met hers, the familiar challenging gleam boring into the farm girl.

“Oh it’s on now cowgirl.”

Their rivalry was soon cut short when a handful of newcomers suddenly stepped up to the starting line, most of them wearing expressions of determination and oozing confidence. Peering over, AJ noticed the girl closest to RD fidgeting awkwardly. Doing so, the farmer caught a glimpse of the bold writing on her uniform, CSA.

Dash quickly noticed AJ’s distracted look, turning to see none other than the new students now prepping at the painted line. Without missing a beat she posed herself tall before the young girl to her right and held out a hand, all the while putting on a welcoming expression.

“Hey there, name’s Rainbow Dash!”

The girl flinched at RD’s sudden introduction before realizing the gesture and recomposing herself, bringing up a hand in return.

“H-hello.” She spoke softly as she shook RD’s hand, her wary smile growing at the blue skinned girl’s friendly smile and Applejack’s courteous nod. “My name’s Vapor Trail. The pleasure’s all mine.”

To Vapor’s right, her fellow Cloudstale companions must’ve noticed her and Dash’s greeting, because another Cloudstale student poked his head out and gave a cheerful wave, his voice laced with a northern accent.

“Nice to see you guys again. It’s been so long since we’ve competed against each other!"

Seeing this, Applejack felt a sense of relief wash through her body, knowing now their competition was of the friendly sort. That always made the games even more enjoyable and competitive. Dash seemed to thrive off the easing tension, her grin widening as she placed her hands on her hips.

“I know right!? You know, Crystal Prep says you guys are pretty solid at this kind of stuff. I’m willing to try and put that to the test!”

The boy next to Vapor Trail chuckled at the challenge, already in the middle of a pre-stretch.

“Crystal Prep’s pretty well known for their intelligence, you sure you wanna test fate?”

As expected, RD merely shrugged his words off with her own while she tied back her hair into a ponytail.

“Fate shmate, all that counts is technique and experience. And buddy, I’ve got plenty to spare.”

A girl with darker blue skin and smoothed back hair further down the track ceased her warmup jog and finally looked over to the chatting group.

“Then today should really be interesting, it’s always a much better play when your rivals are willing to go the extra mile. You guys really seem determined for this.”

Applejack felt herself grin while bending over to stretch, careful not to bump into the fellow CHS student on her left, before speaking over her shoulder.

“Eh, that’s just the competitiveness speakin’ for us. In truth, we’re honored to play against you.”

“If you’re so honored to play against us, how about you put a cork in it before I lose focus with all your chit-chat.”

A new voice grumbled, turning both Applejack and Rainbow’s attention away from the three newcomers to the fourth and final Cloudstale attendant for the race standing lazily at the end of the line. The boy was an even darker shade of blue, with bright teal hair and mixed expression of boredom/annoyance on his face while he gazed out to the track.

“Thunderlane, Nightglider, Vapor Trail, stop yakking with our opponents and get ready. We’re about to start.”

“Sure thing Sky.” Vapor mumbled sheepishly, casting both RD and AJ apologetic looks. Before Dash could say anything, indeed the loudspeaker crackled loudly overhead followed by Cloudstale’s current principle, Honorable Valiance, gravelly voice.

“Now, if our contestants are ready…Racers, on your mark…”

Hearing this, Applejack began rolling her arm as Dash hopped up and down, the crowd’s roars growing with each second.

“Three…”

To her right, Dash saw in the corner of her eye Vapor Trail and the other two swapping and practicing their many exercise techniques, while at the far end the wise guy simply yawned nonchalantly. What a jerk.

“Two…”

Bending her knees, Rainbow bent down alongside the other five contestants in common racing position. Ignoring the still uneasy feeling that had been growing in her chest ever since early that morning, hoping to Faust it was just a sudden spike of anxiety. To ease her discomfort, Dash turned her head to Applejack and exchanged a nod.

“Try not to fall too far behind me cowpoke.” She smirked, immediately met by an eyeroll alongside a sigh.

“Keep tellin’ yerself that Rainbow.”

“One…”

She turned her head once again towards Vapor Trail who, to Dash’s initial surprise, appeared to be sweating bullets. Using her free hand, RD lightly tapped onto the other teen’s shoulder who then peered at her in question. As best she could over the screaming fans, Rainbow spoke in a comforting tone.

“Hey, Goodluck to you. May the best racer win.”

Her remark was returned with a thankful dip of the head before both girls glared out at the track.

BANG!

Then just like that, all eight racers catapulted away from the starting line like a snapped spring, bolting down the track as countless people cheered them on.

Right on cue Rainbow Dash and Applejack passed both their fellow two CHS contestants and rushed down the track at full speed, feet moving so fast it looked as if they didn’t even have any, the Cloudstale students right on their tails. Considering she’d known Applejack almost nearly as long as Fluttershy, both girls practically spent most of their childhood years competing against one another in everything imaginable. Therefore without Dash using her speedy magic, it didn’t take AJ a whole lot to match the sports captain in racing.

Scurrying as fast as she could, Dash glanced up at the passing bleachers to scan for her friends, instantly finding them up high on the top row all together in their familiar group, with Pinkie holding up a massive decorative sign signed by the others while reading in big bold words: GO WONDERBOLTS!

She couldn’t help the sudden warmth spreading through her heart at the sight, a gradually increasing wave of boldness and determination following suit. Somehow her friend’s encouragement always added fuel to her fire.

The observation was suddenly cut short when a third figure flew by and passed both her and AJ in mere seconds.

“And it looks like Cloudstale has managed to have taken the lead for now! Sky Stinger has passed Canterlot High and seems to be making his way down the track at record speed.”

Peering ahead of her Dash saw none other than the teal-haired schmuck from earlier indeed racing across his lane at a speed she’d never seen any normal person go before. Eyes wide, she gawked at the sight. Both her and Applejack had been running at a speed most would expect from a try-hard pair like them, not putting everything they had into their jog as to not immediately tire themselves out by the first lap, but enough force to keep them ahead of the game.

As any confident racer, Stinger’s posture was posed up tall and proud, but even from her position a few feet away, Dash could tell his movements and thrusts looked abnormally strange. Almost as if his body’s actions were given an extra layer of caffeine boost. Suddenly, she felt a sharp twitch nag in her stomach, one she instinctively understood.

No. I promised everyone I wouldn’t. Not today of all days.

Forcing the sensation down deep, she narrowed her eyes and began to add more and more force to her legs, causing her to slowly inch away from Applejack and the ever closing in Thunderlane from behind. Not noticing AJ’s perplexed look, Dash pressed herself forward and sucked in a deep breath as she picked up speed, eyes laser focused on the boy in front of her.

In second she began to creep up on him, holding back the urge to grin when he was mere feet away. Her rising victory was cut short when Sky Stinger in some way appeared to notice the approaching girl, turning his head over his shoulder. She’d expected him to look shocked or in the least glare daggers at her.

Instead she felt her brain go numb when the jerk simply winked at her before continuing, this time even faster than before!

She barely had time to sputter in surprise when the annoying loudspeaker spoke for the situation itself.

“And Cloudstale takes the first lap with Canterlot coming in at a close second, however, can CHS catch up?”

It was at this time RD took notice of the starting line passing by her, followed by a rising feeling of both disappointment and bubbling anger. They lost the first round already?!

From behind she could see Applejack scurry by the line, with Thunderlane, Vapor Trail, and one of the other CHS contestants in suit. AJ was closing in on Dash, with Vapor right beside the farm girl, visible beads of sweat rolling down her brow as the younger girl attempted to catch up with the rest of them.

She growled lowly and glared back at the sight ahead of her before pushing herself forward even more. Now way was she going to lose to this guy! Soon the excessive chanting of the crowd and the roaring wind faded as the young girl tore down the track after Sky, ignoring the ever-so growing sensation of aching in her legs. Meanwhile Sky Stinger for his part seemed to be doing just fine making his way around the bend.

With her speed increasing, once again Dash found herself gaining on the boy, eventually nearing his side in no time. He too seemed to notice this, him barely giving her a heated glance as he kept running. It was a shame she’d missed the boy’s reaction when she managed to finally pass by him, holding the instinctive response to send him her own ‘respective’ gesture for publicity’s sake as the person behind the loudspeaker cheered her on.

Not to mention the ever so subtle warmth glowing from within her necklace.

However she didn’t have time to celebrate, as she could still see Sky Stinger just out the corner of her eye hauling tail. Jeez, the Shadowbolts weren’t kidding at all, these people really were serious. The familiar stir coming from both within herself and the geode below her neck was starting to get denser.

I’m serious about this too. She glowered, gritting her teeth as the starting line came into view. The roars of her fellow classmates from the stand echoes through her head as she stepped absentmindedly over the line, giving them a brief glance.

“With her speeding past Sky Stinger, Rainbow Dash from CHS has won Canterlot the second lap, earning us a temporary tie for this tense event. And right behind her and Mr. Stinger, CHS student Applejack, and Cloudstale’s Thunderlane and Vapor Trail are neck n’ neck, neither backing down from their designated spots…”

Tuning out the rest, Dash refused to look back as Stinger inched up on her, his expression curiously unreadable. This was it, the final lap! She did her best not to stew on it too much, because other figures began to approach her field of view, the most noticeable being Vapor Trail. To her left, RD saw Applejack pop into frame with her usual stubborn vigor, her loud huffs signifying the farm girl’s approaching stance. Good thing too, the finishing line was right across the field, ripe for the taking.

“Hey Rainbow Dash!” a voice called out from her far right, turning her attention towards a now smirking Sky Stinger looking straight into her eyes. Over the sounds of a blaring loudspeaker, the cheering, heck even the heaving pants of the runners surrounding her, the next words that came out of Stinger’s mouth drowned them out like a lit match inside a thunderstorm.

“Gilda told me to send you her regards!”

Both her legs turned to paste as she tripped over her own feet, causing her to flail haphazardly while also desperately attempting to not stumble in anyone else or their specified track. She barely had time to register AJ’s stunned reaction as she rapidly began losing speed, knocking her from second place straight down to fifth place in less than half a second.

Struggling to even her frantic self she instinctively placed her hands out in front as her torso’s weight dragged the rest of the teen’s body down to the floor, her palms landing onto the smooth gravel before she pushed back upward, thankfully saving herself from a full on faceplant. Forcing her muscles to cooperate, she steadied her swaying legs into a more consistent jog as earlier. Rapid pants poured out of her chest while the students ahead began to move farther and farther away, none of them aside from that previous glance from Applejack giving any indication of noticing her absence. The hidden otherworldly entity inside her seemed to react to the new emotions swirling in her brain, thrashing irritably.

For once, the nonchalant reactions and sudden turn of the tides weren’t the current source of the mixture of thoughts racing through Rainbow Dash as she watched them go. A far off yet familiar sickness sprouted within the pits of her stomach.

Gilda. A name she hadn’t heard in years and preferred to keep it so.

How did Sky Stinger know her private history, more importantly, did She and Sky Stinger know each other? Dash took a moment to stare at the boy’s direction one more time, taking note of his energetic swagger and carefree appearance. Well, he definitely acted like someone Gilda would’ve wanted to hang out with, and she was someone who Dash knew kept a tight leash on the people she really talked too.

Wait…Dash felt a sudden shiver crawl down her spine. What if those two didn’t simply “talk” to one another, could Sky Stinger be implying…

Eww, gross! No way! She mentally shouted, holding back the bile in her throat. Gilda had a taste, and Sky Stinger was not it.

Her inner monologue was cut short when the announcer called out the very thing RD had dreaded to hear this early into the games.

“With Rainbow Dash now unexpectedly taken off from second place, Cloudstale’s Vapor Trail has rushed in to fill the void as Sky Stinger rushes in first place towards the finish line. Ladies and gentlemen, it looks like Cloudstale has this first event in the bag!”

The whirlwind of thoughts concerning Gilda faded a little when the announcer finished, leaving RD in her state of dismay. Movement to her right caught her glancing at the second female Cloudstale contestant NightGlider, who gave Dash a sideways nod before refocusing back to the race at hand. Turning away from the other teenage girl, the Rainbow-haired athlete took one last look at the sight just a couple more painful feet in front of her. Applejack hurryingly pushing up to Vapor Trail with Thunderlane practically breathing down the farm girl’s neck. Meanwhile in front of those three was Sky Stinger not breaking a single sweat, as if he didn’t notice the seven other trained athletes he’d just smoked.

A new surge of frustration bubbled in her chest from witnessing the scene. She imagined all of her friends from the stands: Sunset, Pinkie, Shy, Rarity, Twi, all watching in what was previously excitement to now probably growing disappointment because she’d lost the first event right from the start. The thought made her chest tighten like a rope, sucking out most of the air from her lungs.

As she pictured her friend’s disheartened faces, it created a flood of adrenaline which pumped through her veins like an injection shot adding more gasoline to her tank. Before she knew it, Dash found herself zipping up the track faster than ever, passing Thunderlane and a reasonably baffled Applejack until she was right behind Vapor Trail as she fiercely tried to add everything she could to the increased adrenaline.

It seemed Sky Stinger was also reaching his limit, his speed slowed by now to the point where Vapor Trail was mere feet away, followed immediately by Dash. And lo and behold, a couple meters away from Sky Stinger was the finish line in all its checkered glory.

The sight of the end line sparked a shared link of urgency throughout each of the incoming contestants and a sudden burst of speed was added behind all their steps. But none more than hers, as she desperately attempted to pass by Vapor and make it to Sky, who seemed painfully far from someone only feet away.

Come on, he wasn’t that far, she could still win this! Grunting, she shoved the image of Sky Stinger aside to instead focus more towards the girl in front of her and how to pass her by. Deepening her breathing in order to steady her hammering heart, she concentrated all her energy into speed and fixation, ignoring the rest of the world around her.

With each millisecond she began gaining on her rival, while something hidden within the corner of her mind counted down each measurement between them.

3 feet…

30 inches…

2 feet…

18 inches…

11 inches…

By now Dash could reach out her hand and pat Vapor on the shoulder if she wanted to. So close, so close to passing the other girl and then Sky Stinger was next. Oh, the look on his face when she’d beat him was too tempting to pass up.

8 inches…

6 inches…

5…

4…

3…

2…

Just a few more measly steps and she be back into second place and win CHS the first event of the day! Suddenly the crowd cheered louder than before, confusing her before the noise of the loudspeaker over the deafening noise coupled with Sky Stinger’s triumphant expression snuffed out the adrenaline.

“Ladies and gentlemen, with that Sky Stinger has won Cloudstale the racing event of the day with Vapor Trail in second place and CHS’ Rainbow Dash in third!”

Her feet ground to an abrupt halt as she passed the checkered line, calves aching in stress as she bent over to pant. However, the dull throbbing in her lower body was nothing compared to the nagging feeling of discouragement and failure weighing down on her shoulder like a ton of bricks.

She failed. On racing. How was that even possible, she’d been the fastest person in all of CHS for years, and that was without her magic! Crap, she must’ve looked so pathetic.

To her left Dash looked over to see a vastly more winded Vapor Trail bending down as well, panting and wheezing with sweat dripping down her face. Grinding her sore pride into gravel, Rainbow sighed and placed a hand on Vapor’s upper torso, causing the other teen to gaze questioningly at the CHS athlete.

“Hey.” RD coughed. “Good job back there, you really held strong.”

It wasn’t hard to see the huge blush grow on Vapor as she sheepishly averted her eyes, her nice smile widening.

“O-oh, t-t-thanks, I can’t believe I was able to keep up! Sky always said I had great potential if I kept practicing.”

Speaking of which. An arm wrapped around Vapor’s neck as Sky Stinger plowed into Dash’s field of view, his happy-go-lucky smirk sending fiery sparks down her spine.

“And where exactly has my amazing teachings brought you now fellow grasshopper?” He snickered barely out of breath, eyes lazily reaching Rainbow Dash’s as if he didn’t know she was already there. To her credit, her anger was cut short by Vapor’s beaming expression.

“That’s some energy you’ve got there.” Dash spoke up while crossing her arms. “You stayed in first place the entire three rounds against all of us. Not to blow my own horn, but being a sports captain myself, I know for a fact that’s pretty difficult to do.”

Sky immediately released Vapor Trail and laughed, merely shrugging in return.

“What else can I say? I guess some people are just born naturals. Don’t take it personally, but there just aren’t many people who’ve beaten me at my own game.”

She narrowed her eyes further, voice low and carrying a warning.

“Especially when you pry into their personal lives during the middle of said race?”

For a second, Sky’s self-satisfied smile faltered into a more tense gleam, a sudden tension beginning to grow in the air. Vapor Trail didn’t seem to notice it though, because no sooner had the stare down begun the smaller teen grabbed Sky Stinger’s arm and dragged him over to the rest of their fellow teammates to celebrate together.

Still glaring holes into the back of Stinger’s head, Dash had yet to see Applejack coming in on her right. wiping away the sweat on her brow AJ placed a hand onto the blue-skinned girl’s shoulder snapping her out of her glare.

Gazing at the farm girl, Dash had to fight down the incoming apology crawling up her throat when instead her old friend softly bumped her in the arm with a fist, her expression though obviously hiding worry and fatigue, was also filled with pride. Rainbow Dash blinked at the given expression. Why was Applejack happy, they lost! Behind AJ’s shoulder she could see the other two CHS competitors plop down on the grass in exhaustion.

“That was one heck of a race!” AJ grinned. “You gained on him the whole way, and even when you had that there slip up, you bounced right back.”

“But…” Dash groaned. “…We lost because of that. It cost us the game.” She glared at the floor. “I should’ve been more prepared.”

Suddenly she felt two strong arms yank her other shoulder around until she was fully face-to-face with a very frustrated cowgirl.

“Now you listen here. Ain’t yours or anyone else’s fault we lost. We can’t always be prepared for somethin’ like that to happen okay, it just happens. You did yer best and that’s that! This is only the first event remember? We’ve got three more to go and you’re gonna do just fine.”

As the words molded into her, Dash felt her previous disappointment fade away a little. AJ was right, so what if she’d lost that only added more to the stakes, and stakes always made things like these more interesting. Let the next game begin!

Still, a nagging feeling kept poking at her. “Gilda told me to send you her regards!” the words echoed through her mind like nose in a cavern. If that jerk really did know about her past that much, then that’d create some issues. She needed to have a talk with him when the chance arrived.

______

CHS Soccer field (1:30pm.)

If you’d ask any student what sport Rainbow Dash best excelled at, chances are 80 percent of CHS would tell you straight away it was soccer without a doubt. It was basic common knowledge. Sure, the sports captain had plenty of other favorites she enjoyed, but practicing soccer was always one of the first major impressions you’d get from her.

Which meant it made no surprise to anyone when she was among the contestants who jogged onto the field right as the event began, already huddled up with her fellow teammates to discuss their strategy. Right below the towering bleachers one could see dozens of cheerleaders from both schools prepping for the inevitable game, both with choreographic dancing and singing.

Though their initial conversation was hushed, a loud clap was heard as Dash stood up from the huddled group with her voice raised and head high.

“Alright, we all clear on the plan!?”

A collective “YEAH!” responded back resulting in her pumping her fist into the air.

“Then on three! One..”

“Two…”

““Three, GO WONDERCOLTS!!!””

Each player cheered before they all sprinted into different directions with the captain herself heading to the middle of the field. Even from the center she could hear the sound of Pinkie’s cheering over everyone else, earning her a smile. Both the school’s head party planner and Fluttershy were currently stationed with the rest of CHS’ cheerleaders, though obviously Pinkie had taken a moment to pause from practicing when she’d noticed RD.

She’d make Pinkie proud this time.

Unlike the event before, this time none of her friends volunteered for soccer as most weren’t as familiar with the sport like her. Therefore the rest of her teammates consisted of kids she’d previously known and trained with before.

Stretching her legs out she absentmindedly glanced at the rival team in front of her, quickly taking notice the mix of students Coudstale had to offer. Some were fit, some were really fit, others were lanky yet definitely experienced from the way they carried themselves, and all held a fierce level of competitiveness in their eyes she couldn’t help but admire. That didn’t mean she was gonna go easy on them though.

“Well look who we have here!”

Scratch that: Definitely not going easy on them. She ground her teeth together when that unfortunately very familiar voice snapped her mood into pieces.

Walking up to her was a well fit, teenage boy wearing that same ugly smirk she’d been consistently tortured with ever since first grade. Not even bothering to hold back an audible groan, Rainbow scoffed before returning to her stretching.

“Nice to see you too Dumbbell.”

Suddenly her vision was blocked when Dumbbell closed in on her personal space, his smirk replaced with a sneer.

“Did I say it was nice to see? Cuz’ I didn’t, I. Don’t. Like. You, Rainbow Crash!”

Still just as brilliant as always. Already long accustomed to the nickname, she resisted the urge to shove him backwards, instead stepping away from the jock to regain her space while absentmindedly waving him off.

“Cut to the chase Dumbbell, what do you want? Can’t you see I’m a little busy here, SOME of us actually want to use our skills win today without cheating.”

Right on cue she could see a bead of sweat forming on his brow, adding insult to injury with her victorious grin. He seemed to shrug off the comment quickly and glared at her while crossing his arms.

“HA! Like you’re one to talk Rainbow Crash, what with your freakish little abilities. Remember your stunt last month at the mall?”

A surge of anger, guilt, and remorse all rolled into one shot through her esteem like an arrow, the memories of the accident flashing through her mind further agitating the mix of negative emotions in her chest.

“Well maybe if you’d lay off from pushing me every now and then…” she glowered at the boy defensively as he brought his arms out dramatically.

“And that’s precisely why I came over here, to make sure your testy little emotions don’t ruin today for me. Watching your whole school see you flunk this game without your dumb cheat will finally prove to everyone the real flop you are.”

She was about five seconds from forgoing all rules to pop him straight in his nose when she felt another burly arm laze over her neck, a new, scratchier voice interrupting.

“Guy’s gotta point Dash, with dweebs like these on your team I’d say stopping yourself from cheating is gonna be the toughest challenge you’ve ever faced.”

As the words breathed over her shoulder, she felt her whole body stiffen when that raspy laugh echoed right into her ear. The arm wrapped around her shoulders loosened as a burly figure overfilled her vision, nearly blocking Dumbbell out completely. Wincing at the gut-wrenching hole punching into her heart Dash flicked her gaze over the girl before her, trailing up a finely muscled body any tomboy would kill to have, to a face riddled with scarred injuries both familiar and new. Narrow silky white/purple-tipped hair jutted broadly outward, although not enough to shade the pair of golden, eagle-like eyes glaring down at the captain not unlike a predatory animal.

Ignoring both her initial shock and conflicting emotions, Rainbow Dash crossed her arms with her own daring glare.

“Hello Gilda.”

To her credit, Gilda hardly seemed fazed by the curt greeting, instead smirking wider than ever.

“Sup loser. A little birdie told me you’d be here, can’t say I’m surprised.”

“And miss this throwdown? You’d have a better chance putting me in a princess outfit.” Rainbow huffed.

Once again she was caught off guard by Gilda laughing out loud, showing a row of her oddly pointed teeth while whipping her bangs away from her face.

“That’s the Rainbow dash I know! Good to see you’ve got some decency left.”

Ignoring Dumbbell’s annoyed mumbling hidden behind her, Gilda glanced down at the smaller female with what was either pity or a hint of sadness tucked underneath their steely exterior Dash could brutally say she didn’t know.

“Shame to see you’re still sticking around this dump though, what with all these sappy dweebs always holding you back.” Gilda grunted, earning a frown from her old friend. “Kinda sad to be honest.”

Any feeling of guilt/sympathy she had towards Gilda was immediately stomped on, shot, and burned alive as a wave of boiling hot redness overrode her senses. Now Dash remembered why she ditched Gilda back then. True colors were really something, huh?

“They are my friends. They make sure to always be there and support me. Not just so they can look cool in front of others.” Dash growled lowly.

The slits in Gilda’s eyes narrowed further before Dumbbell finally pushed by the taller girl to voice his own opinion on the matter.

“See? I told you this was going to be useless Gilda, all Crash here wants is to waste her time with these losers hoping for some miracle. If that’s what she wants then fine, more wins for us!”

Gilda switched her glare from Dash to Dumbbell, nearly making the smaller boy whither in sudden fear before she closed her eyes and shrugged him off.

“Heh, sorry Dash. Guess I’m still a little disappointed even after all this time, but can you really blame me?”

Once more Gilda looked at RD with that same look of pity and/or sadness, only this time it was significantly more the former rather than the latter.

“You’re the one who chose them over me.”

Rainbow honestly couldn’t tell what her expression looked like, but whatever it was seemed to satisfy Gilda, who simply smirked before glancing at the other Cloudstale students getting into position.

“Well anyways…” Gilda sighed. “…looks like I’ve gotta split, pleasure seeing you again captain. Dumbbell, go get your butt into position before the captain tears you a new one.”

With that said Gilda rushed back into the field, leaving the other two alone in an awkward silence. Unfortunately Dumbbell was the first to speak, breaking the blue-skinned athlete from her stunned trance.

“Never did understand why she looked up to you.” He sneered nastily. “Too bad she didn’t realize just how much of a trainwreck you are when choosing between the important stuff and your own precious little needs.”

“Stop.”

He almost stopped when he heard that low, dangerous voice coming from the girl beside him, now fully aware her glaring eyes were boring into his soul. This time it was her turn to get in his face.

“You don’t know anything about me, about what happened, and you don’t know what she did to my friends.”

Her voice turned from dangerous to straight hate with venom dripping down each word.

“Stop. Pushing. Me, Dumbell.”

He gulped, desperately trying to claw back at his dignity.

“If you don’t like being pushed, then stop always pretending you’re something special.”

With that, he pushed away from the smaller girl and stalked off towards his group, his obviously resentful mood practically steaming from his very body. Watching his retreating form with a glare hot enough to vaporize even the sun, Dash felt her fists clench and unclench as her world began to turn red.

What a bunch of jagoffs.

Can’t believe I ever saw her as a friend. As she stood there, festering in anger, she hardly noticed the newcomer reaching the other side of the field’s center circle. No doubt Cloudstale’s captain. She was about Dash’s age, if not a year older, with bright green skin and yellowish cut locks. Upon arriving the new captain stuck out her hand with a welcoming expression, simmering RD’s previous anger.

“Sup, I’m Emerald Mystery.”

Internally shaking off her irritated mindset and replacing it with her best usual sportsmanship attitude.

“Rainbow Dash. I-I mean hey, hi. Hello.” She winced at the babbling words forming from her now sandpaper dry mouth.

Their introduction was abruptly cut short as the referee made his way to both of them, hushing most of the field. Standing between the two girls, the ref nodded to them as he pulled out a quarter from his pocket gesturing it out.

Instantly Dash blurted out. “Heads!” as he tossed it high into the air before gravity overtook it and it plopped down onto the grass forcing all here to bend over for a visual.

Sweet!

Fist bumping both her rival captain and the ref respectfully while they left, RD looked outward at the fanned party racing through her strategy once more.

This is for you Canterlot. Faster than anyone could blink she sent the checkered sphere sailing directly towards the enemy goal, before bolting forward when Gilda appeared out of nowhere to parry it.

Let the game begin.

______(Twenty minutes in)____

“Fleetfoot, over here! I’m open!”

Zipping past one of her rivals, Rainbow Dash inched as best she could into a position that would hopefully suit right for the older Wondercolt for the pass. With dozens behind her heels she narrowed her eyes when the white-haired teammate eventually picked up the courage to thrust the ball outwards to Rainbow’s direction.

The score was currently tied, 1-1. If she wasn’t so preoccupied at the moment, she would’ve been overwhelmed with encouraging pride. It seemed CHS had come a long way since the Friendship Games, because for what had to be the second or third time that day Dash found herself agreeing with Indigo Zap’s statement.

Cloudstale was ridiculously competitive, so much so even she was struggling to keep up at certain times. Not that she’d let anyone else know that.

Well fine! Maybe they just needed to switch up the team’s positions. It’d take more than competitiveness to wear this Wondercolt down.

Fleetfoot bucked the ball out for RD to catch, leaving the rest to the captain. Sliding in front of the Cloudstale student to block them, Dash easily took the ball from her teammate and began edging it outwards back towards the enemy goal.

Maneuvering left and right to steer away from the dozens of students attempting to steal it from her, Dash was already prepping her kick when a blur of brown and white flew across her vision, mere inches from brushing the tip of her nose.

Just as quickly as it came, the blur vanished and her vision cleared, leaving her momentarily confused. What just-

Suddenly she noticed kids who were previously tailing her had vanished, as well as the distinct lack of a soccer ball at her feet. Grass kicked up as she slid to a stop, twisting her head to see non other than Gilda making her way towards Dash’s goal with the ball with a speed rivaling that of a cheetah.

How did she do that?

Shaking it off, Rainbow ran after the girl in hopes of catching up. Gilda was already closing in on the enemy goal which gave the sports captain more need to speed things along, pushing by student after student to reach her rival before the tie was broken in Cloudstale’s favor.

Another body covered her vision, although this time she could see who it was. Blocking her intended route was Dumbbell, who seemed more focused on her than protecting Gilda from the CHS students homing in on her. She knew this because the jock was looking over his shoulder straight at her with that damn gleam in his eye.

Growling in frustration, she attempted to move over only to have him copy her actions. She tried again, this time in the other direction. He copied in suit.

Urgh, she didn’t have time for this!

She slid to the left one more time, taking note of his attempted imitation before using her trained lightning reflexes to switch to the right mid-step and race past his stunned self.

It mattered not, because no sooner had she escaped Dumbbell the Cloudstale crowd cheered in victory as Gilda rocketed the ball by the goalie and into the net. Just in time for the bell to ring signifying half time.

Standing slack jawed in the middle of the field, Dash watched as Gilda bumped fists with another students while making her way to her team’s break chairs.

“Nice play, Crashy.”

The snide remark from Dumbbell did nothing to ease the rapid thrumming in her ears as her necklace glowed in pure agitation. Without thinking she absentmindedly flicked the round decoration harboring the otherworldly geode before trudging over to her huddled teammates.

“Alright everyone, listen up!” she exclaimed loudly while clapping her hands, signaling their attention.

“Ok, so Cloudstale has us two to one, big deal. We’ve faced tougher games, and like before we’ll show them CHS means business and get back our event’s tally. To do that, I say we switch some things up position wise.”

Many of the reactions she received were raised eyebrows and curious looks, prompting her to feel even more confident.

“You guys previously on defense, we’re gonna switch you to midfield and offense because there was some pretty shaky resistance back there. Offense team, vice versa. I’m gonna follow in defense this time, that way we can give Cloudstale more of a challenge.”

The entourage of fellow nods of approval/thumbs up was enough to fuel the fire still burning bright in her tank, patting her squad on the shoulder as she gazed up towards the bleacher. Scanning the many heads in the crowd, she finally found her friends once more, who were all looking right back at her with pride and excitement.

In what felt like mere seconds instead of minutes their half time ended resulting in the announcer calling the students back into the game.

As discussed before, Dash made her way towards the small defense position in front of the goalie as Cloudstale prepped themselves.

Even from her position she could see Dumbbell and another taller girl with light blue skin line up in the attacker location, both eyeing straight at her. She felt the warmth burning into her ears as she glared back at them. She couldn’t explain it, but somehow she felt as if the girl’s glare was personal. Not to mention she had a strange nagging feeling that she’d seen her from somewhere before.

Before she knew it the game was on, with Cloudstale’s own captain kicking the ball off towards CHS’ side of the field followed immediately by the Wonderbolt’s offense scrambling for the steal. Already moving her feet at the sight of the closing in players, Dash skipped by the students beside her and beelined for the ball calculating her planned trajectory on where to send it.

However, her defensive action was interrupted when something heavy slammed into her side, sending the teen sprawling to the sidelines as the ball whizzed by her, past the goalie, and square into the net. Experience allowed her to catch herself before gravity could overtake her, and she took no time looking up to glare at the person responsible for her missed kick.

The tall girl she’d seen next to Dumbbell from earlier gleamed at Dash, a noticeable amount of mischievous pride on her features while admiring her handywork before running off to join her group. What was her problem?

Rubbing her new sore, Dash peered at the referee in hopes he’d seen what transpired, only instead to receive a whistle signifying Cloudstale’s next win. She forced away the disappointment before getting back into place, all the while glaring daggers at the retreating form of the girl who’d bumped into her.

The whistle for the next round broke through the air as her team kicked the ball out of the circle. She jumped into the fray in an instant, this time eyeing for any incoming attackers.

Up ahead she watched fellow CHS teammate Cherry Spices making her way towards the goal with the ball under her feet weaving past other students with passionate grace, just like how Rainbow taught her. Unknown to Cherry however, the towering form of Gilda burst through a wall of Wonderbolts like they were toy soldiers before yanking the ball away from the smaller girl’s shocked expression while she tripped over something.

With Gilda storming towards her at Mach 7, Dash couldn’t help but feel a little intimidated. The bigger female’s normally stubborn golden eyes carried a raging, feral sensation RD had never seen before. And they were boring through her.

Biting her tongue, Rainbow Dash nevertheless pushed on face first to the oncoming jock. This action apparently excited Gilda more as she picked up a significant amount of speed, grin widening. Feet turned to inches as the distance between the two closed with each step, until they could practically touch one another with their arms outstretched respectively. That’s when Gilda saw a small yet noticeable smirk on Dash’s face before the smaller teen became nothing but a blur whipping around Gilda’s side. Her confusion quickly switched to aghast when she looked down to see the ball missing from underneath her, aghast then being set aflame with pure rage standing on its ashes.

The contagious smile on RD’s face kept as she set down the field towards the enemy goal, watching the incoming Dumbbell intently. When she saw him prep his shoulder forward, like he was going to ram into her like the previous girl did, she twisted her body to the side just in time to watch him stumble against his own weight and tumble onto the grass in a heap.

The enemy goalie took notice of Dash and held her arms up as the CHS captain ducked from an incoming Cloudstale student before slamming her foot into the ball, sending it sailing.

There was no way for anyone else to reach it due to them all being far behind her, and it was far too fast for the goalie to reach. It was a perfect hit.

At least that’s what she thought until everyone witnessed in collective shock as a figure tore horizontally across the small gap in-between the ball and the net at impossibly high speeds, headbutting the projectile back towards enemy territory.

The crowd exploded as Dash watched the same girl from earlier throw her hands up in unison when the ball landed onto the floor, dozens of students gunning for it. Pushing aside anyone in his path, Dumbbell was the first to take control of the situation and ran like a maniac with Gilda guarding his backside.

A heavy amount of sweat was pooling down Rainbow Dash’s body when she mustered up the courage to charge after him, hurrying as fast she humanly could to catch up.

Both Gilda and Dumbbell were fast, far faster than she’d ever seen them before. Not to mention how aggressive they were over the ball. Even from her standpoint Dash could see Dumbbell roughly usher aside any person getting near him, with Gilda making sure they stayed in the back lane.

Weariness burned through the athlete’s system while she tried to close the distance between them, running up to Gilda’s side as the two of them glared at one another. In an instant Gilda ever so slightly moved in Dash’s direction, pushing the smaller teen to the side with her burly shoulder. Eyes widening in shock, Rainbow balked at her former friend.

“Hey! What do you think you’re doing?!”

Instead of responding, the enemy contestant only glared at her with a callous look as she pushed further into RD, edging towards the field’s perimeter. She was going to push her out of the game!

Fear had overridden her senses, causing Dash to try and move out of the way so she could gain better ground. Dodging another push from Gilda that would’ve surely knocked her out of the white line bounds, Dash slid around the bulkier girl’s frame from behind to jump back into the field.

She was too late. By the time it took to escape her captor Dumbbell had already passed the ball to a fellow player, who’d scored Cloudstale yet another point.

By this time exhaustion from both fighting to give CHS any kind of score coupled with the out of nowhere aggressiveness of the enemy teammates was starting to weigh on her. This might’ve been one of the most intense soccer games she’d ever played in her life.

Wiping her brow Dash jogged back into defense position as the ref brought the ball out of the net. The game was going to end soon, and by the looks of things CHS would have to be darn lucky to win. How was this happening, she’d never lost this badly before!

Was she really losing her touch?

A powerful feeling erupted in her chest that nearly made it hard to breathe, almost like something was forcing the muscles within to constrict in reaction. Peering down she saw her necklace glow brighter than before, so much so she instinctively covered it with her hand as to not attract attention. The magic radiating into her palm akin to a burning lightbulb, only with the aura of something purely alive.

_________________

CHS playing field (3:00)

“ALRIGHT GIRLS, WHEN I SAY GO, YOU SAY COLTS! GO…”

“COLTS!”

“GO…”

“COLTS!”

Pinkie Pie grinned manically as she dropped the bullhorn to her knees. The sheer amount of immense pride from watching her fellow cheerleader’s formation and passion bloomed like a flower in her heart. They’d all come such a long way from being a group of shy, yet eager, beginners, to bold and fearless hardworking team players. It was enough to bring a tear to her eye.

Plucking the bullhorn onto her belt, Pinkie placed a hand onto her hip while still holding her gigantic smile.

“Excellent work everyone! You’ve all practiced so well this week, now who’s ready to show Cloudstale that CHS owns this town!”

Loud cheers responded as she clapped her hands alongside them while they ushered out towards the bleachers, Pinkie preparing to follow in suit before hearing a soft yet noticeable ‘ahem’ from behind. Turning around to see Fluttershy approaching, she immediately stopped in her tracks. Although the older animal caretaker had been the newest addition to Pinkie’s cheering club, (founded and co-founded by Pinkie of course for three super-tastic years), it was reasonable to say Fluttershy had improved the most out of all of them. Being the most timid of the group by far, she watched as Fluttershy worked extra hard to gather the courage to cheer on CHS’ best players in their public matches despite being so much out of her comfort zone.

It just took some at home practice, pep talks, and a butt-load of self-confidence and encouragement. And it was all worth it too, Pinkie knew a star when she saw one.

“That was great Pinkie!” Fluttershy said, holding her hands behind her back. “I’m sure we’re going to lift Canterlot’s spirits for the Blitzball game.”

Nodding her head in affirmation, Pinkie couldn’t help but agree. The soccer game had slipped from CHS’ favor, enough so to bring an anxious mood over everybody’s heads, the distraught look on Rainbow Dash’s face afterwards still bringing knots to her tummy. But she was certain her cheering would lighten the mood, it always did!

“Shy’s gotta point.” The athlete of the hour sauntered into view, Blitzball outfit already on. “I could hear you all the way from the bleachers, no way is Cloudstale’s group ever going to be able speak over you guys.”

As per usual, Rainbow still carried herself in confident stride while walking up to the two girls, however, looking closer they could see the hidden emotions peeking behind her gaze like band aid on a scratch. It was hard to notice with the way she carried herself, a fact many people would easily overlook, but they knew better.

Both Pinkie and Fluttershy shared a mutual gaze before they forced a smile towards the incoming captain. Perhaps it was best to not question it, as to not risk hurting Dash’s feelings.

“Aw, thanks Dashy!” the party girl giggled. “Like I always say: When in doubt, cheer on to make it count!”

Whatever hidden negative emotions in Rainbow Dash’s eyes eased as she laughed alongside her energetic friend, the trio sharing a joined moment of happy chuckles.

Suddenly, the pair ceased their laughter when they heard a noise coming from their left. It sounded like somebody else was laughing a little ways away, only when listening more carefully, there seemed to be a toned edge to it. Almost sinister like.

Each of them faced into the direction just in time to witness none other than Gilda, Sky Stinger, and that same girl with yellow hair who appeared to have a mean affiliation with RD exit from a corner of the CHS building, all of them collectively snickering under their breathes. The yellow-haired girl was the first to notice the three staring teens, nudging both her partners in the ribs to shut them up before giving a wink to RD as the other two sneered at the mere sight of her.

Watching them go, Pinkie raised an eyebrow in curiosity while Fluttershy audibly gulped in fear.

“Huh, I guess Gilda’s still a bit sore after last time. But who’s that other girl? Do you know her?” Pinkie remarked, glancing at Dash for feedback. The poison daggered gaze on RD’s face was enough to make Pinkie shy away from her question.

Fingers digging into her palms to the point her knuckles began turning white, Rainbow ground her teeth not unlike a wood saw as she stepped towards the three bullies.

“Attention everyone, the third event of today, Blitzball, will begin in just a few minutes. Please head to the bleachers when you can.”

With the announcement blaring across the courtyard and distracting the angry captain for a solid half minute, she looked back to see her rivals had disappeared without a trace. Probably off to their team to get ready.

Letting out a deeply frustrated sigh, Rainbow swallowed the overwhelming amount of disappointment, anger, and confusion down.

“Somethings going on with those guys.” She muttered, mind automatically replaying the previous events that’d transpired in the last two hours and a half. “And I’m gonna figure out what it is.”

“What if it’s nothing though?”

Fluttershy walked up to the brooding athlete, expression retaining a hint of firmness.

“What if nothings going on with them, and you’re stressing yourself out for no reason at all?” Fluttershy continued, earning a look from her childhood friend.

On cue the necklaces around each of their necks began to glow bright in their signature colors. Pink, yellow, blue, followed by a respective feeling of muscle panic.

Dash winced in a mixture of annoyance, Fluttershy let out a shocked “eep” of surprise, and finally Pinkie turning into a pink-colored blur as her entire body began pouncing up and down like an out-of-control human spring. Temper flaring again, RD reached up to clasp her geode necklace within her palm, turning her glare towards the small object.

“Jeez, you’d think have a magical geode would be less of a headache. This thing has been bothering me all day, its messing with my progress!”

Holding her chest tightly Fluttershy glanced worryingly at the two others, fear growing in her eyes.

“You too? I-I just thought it was only me. I wanted to talk to Sunset about it, but after everything that’s happened, I was worried I’d bother her.”

Pinkie’s jittery hopping ceased, the young teen’s pupils marbling around her whites while holding her head.

“Samesees, my little geode’s been worked up like a jellybean these past few weeks. I’ve tried everything too, from cooking endlessly, overworking at my shifts at the Sweet Snack Cafe, I even fed it some cheese-snaps Maud suggested. And Maud knows everything about rocks! But I’m still getting the doozie shivers, but I have no idea if it’s going to be good or bad.”

Clasped within her palm Dash felt the strong sensation radiating off the Equestrian artifact fade off into nothingness once more, the same happening with Fluttershy and Pinkie who equally relaxed. Releasing it, she locked eyes with Fluttershy, internally freezing once witnessing the alarm etched all across the caretaker’s features.

Stifling her own growing fear, Dash coughed into her fist before straightening to appear tall in front of them, voice regaining its confidence.

“Okay, we’ll just have to talk to the others about this once Blitzball is done. I’m sure our geodes are just, um, miffed that we’ve gone a whole week without using them. I mean come ‘on, this is something we’ve never tried before, ignoring our magic. Once today is over and we find a day to let loose, I can guarantee things will go back to normal. Simple as that! It’s us after all, this should be no problem!”

Pinkie clapped enthusiastically and the hesitance in Fluttershy visibly eased more, earning it as a win for Dash who grinned while gesturing towards the now noisy playing field.

“That’s more like it, now let’s get out there and show Cloudstale the big finish!”

___________

Meanwhile, in Canterlot City

Cars honked loudly in the crowded street as people busied all around, desperate to return to their homes after a long day of work.

In one particular car stranded amidst the chaos was a very tired, very grumpy old man, his gaze hatefully turned towards the stupidly slow tow truck in his front.

“Well this is just great.” Cheery Monsoon growled, fingers tightening on the steering wheel. Screw this job, screw their stupidly late hours, and screw that pristine rump-kissing excuse of a boss who was always sucking up to even bigger screwheads in the higher ups.

And of course, there was his lovely GPS, who ever so kindly decided to give up on living leaving him lost in the middle of this accursed city with no idea where to go.

With the truck not going anywhere, Monsoon took this time to peer at his surroundings hoping to find any sign or signal for his intended drop-off location. Suddenly his eyes trailed across a street sign far off to his left and his brain stopped.

Dillwood street it read. And if he recalled correctly, that’s where the drop-off point was! Without looking, Monsoon smiled manically as he ripped away from the right lane and into the left, ignoring the loud honking and screeching of tires from behind.

He landed into the left right on time too, the arrow was stillon the traffic light. (Albeit yellow, but he was too preoccupied to care.)

Slamming on the pedal, his work van roared as he turned. Finally this day would be over more quickly.

What Cheery monsoon didn’t expect was for his entire world to rock like a tambourine as a thin line shredded square in the middle of the intersection and opened wide like a gapping maw, almost as if the very fabric of reality had torn before his very eyes.

As if that wasn’t enough, he watched in sheer horror as something actually barged out of the hole and slammed like rocket into his vehicle. His vision in the front mirror swirled for a few seconds, cups, packages, and other loose items flying up and down, some hitting him in the head and others spilling into the radio. His throat betrayed him, leaving the man dumbfoundedly quiet he wondered if the swirling would ever stop.

Whether fortunately or unfortunately, it finally did. However, one would consider it unfortunate because the next thing Cheery saw was the upside-down visage of a massive semi headed straight for him, the sight not unlike a demon coming to collect its dues from his mesmerized state before the world round him drowned in shredding metal.

Author's Note

Side note: Let it be known that it's been approximately nine years since I've stepped foot onto a soccer field, much less played.

The CHS Annual Sporting Event Pt. 2- Revelations

"Today I will do what others won't, so tomorrow I can accomplish what others can't."

- Jerry Rice
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“And with that ladies and gentlemen of Canterlot, CHS has now scored higher than Cloudstale, at a tense Four to Eight! One more and they’ll have won the first half!”

Wiping away the sweat pooling around her eyes, Rainbow Dash grinned maniacally as she watched Flash Sentry shoot the ball into Cloudstale’s net, earning him a combination of roaring cheers and approving pats on the back from his teammates.

To everyone’s surprise Canterlot’s Blitzball team, The GlitzyBlitzers, had completely turned the tables on Cloudstale’s winning streak from the very get-go. Despite their best efforts, no matter what move the Cloudstale team made CHS was always one step ahead to steal back the point and keep them in first place.

Rainbow wasn’t surprised though. Ever since she’d started her own team last year, Blitzball had been one of the most popular sports CHS practiced in upmost passion, and that wasn’t even accounting for the sheer amount of love Dash held for it.

The same apparently could not be said for the Cloudstale Washouts. Despite their near unnatural energy from the previous two events, it seemed their overall initial teamwork/strategy was severely lacking. Blitzball in itself was all about partnership and voiceless communication between teammates, even more so than soccer or Hoofball in many ways. So when Gilda, Sky Stinger, or anyone else on their team took control of the ball, they acted just like last time, running with animalistic fury and determination towards the goal.

But pure, raw energy can only do so much for a fully tactical game like Blitzball. While the enemy students could definitely take a hit, it didn’t take long for RD and her team to realize that they didn’t exactly have a sound strategy when playing.

They were too obvious with their shots and trajectory, too out in the open and away from fellow teammates to defend the ball, which practically made it a cake-walk for Dash, Sunset, or anyone else to swoop in and steal the ball for a win whilst being surrounded by CHS students to protect them.

What made it even better was the sheer look of primal fury growing on the faces of Dumbbell and Gilda with each score the GlitzyBlitzers made. Whether it was irritation, embarrassment, or a mixture of both, she didn’t care, Dash just couldn’t help but feel proud over her team. They’d all worked so hard to earn this.

Beside her, the yellow-haired girl from earlier glared daggers into the captain’s head, clearly just as upset as her own team at the sudden change of events. Dash barely paid her any mind though when seeing the others now jogging away from the goal, straightening her jersey before clapping her hands together for attention.

“Alright GlitzyBlitzers, huddle up!”

As all seven players bunched together in a tight circle Rainbow proudly pumped her fist up.

“Great teamwork everyone, that’s exactly how professionals like us get it done! But I wouldn’t start counting your checks yet, we’ve still got a whole ‘other round to go after this so listen carefully. I say we finish this first half off with a bang. Now, it’s the Washout’s turn to run with the ball so Soarin I need you to try and steal the ball this time, once you get a shot I want you to throw it towards Sunset. Flash, Forest Thunder, you two guard her while me and Twilight try and keep Cloudstale in the dust, cool?”

Met with affirming nods and woops, she was seconds from giving the go-ahead when Sunset quickly spoke up.

“What happens if they manage to get past Flash and Forest Thunder? I think it’d be better if one of us was ahead of me, just in case.”

Dash nodded enthusiastically.

“Good idea, then Twilight how about you take front while I keep Cloudstale busy. That sound like a plan to you guys? Great! Now let’s go finish this GlitzyBlitzers!”

Spreading out into the field, Dash watched as her team ever so slyly sneak themselves into position, with the Cloudstale team none the wiser through their frustrated state. That however didn’t stop them from expressing their emotions towards Dash and her friends, because no sooner had she placed herself when the yellow-haired girl from earlier stood beside her. Obviously wanting to defend her own team from RD as soon as the whistle blew apparently.

What the captain didn’t expect was for the newcomer to actually start speaking to her.

“You know, I never did introduce myself. Name’s Lightning Dust.”

Somewhere deep in Rainbow’s mind she felt a gear turn. “Lightning Dust”, why did that name sound familiar?

“I’m Rainbow-“

The other girl waved her hand in the air, cutting her off.

“Rainbow Dash, yeah, yeah, yeah, I know who you are. Now how about you zip it and listen…”

Before she knew it, Dash found Lightning Dust up in her personal space, a nasty scowl adorning the other girl’s face.

“We both know you and Gilda hate each other’s guts, and frankly, I don’t blame her for wanting to ram her fist down your throat. But for the sake of the game I’ll go ahead and play peacemaker, so here’s the deal…”

Pointing out towards her fellow players, Dust shifted her gaze to draw the other girl’s attention elsewhere.

“…If you switch yourself out with someone else on your team right here, right now, then I’ll make sure our captain switches out Gilda so you two can go for each other’s throats on the sidelines and quit messing up both team’s focus. It’s hard enough losing to you people, only then having to keep her from strangling Dumbbell.”

RD snorted while mumbling under her breath.

“Sounds like an improvement for him honestly.”

Lightning Dust rolled her eyes with a huff, crossing her arms impatiently. “So do we have a deal then or not?”

Clamping her mouth shut Dash took a second to scan around the area, drinking in the sight of the crowd, the irritable Cloudstale students, and finally her friends, who had all turned their heads towards the captain when noticing her distraction from the game. All it took was the cautious glance from Sunset to make up her mind.

“No deal.” She answered with a note of finality.

The hidden gleam of excitement behind Lightning Dust’s own glare could barely be seen as she smirked.

“That’s what I expected. Can’t say I at least didn’t try though.” She sighed before returning back to her position, waving her hand up over her shoulder. “Best of luck to ya, not that you’ll need it.”

Watching her retreating form, Rainbow Dash felt a mixture of emotions begin to stir as the referee signaled for the competitor’s attention. Once all eyes were on him, he brought up the whistle and blew, the noise echoing throughout the arena as both teams flew into action.

As expected, the person chosen to start off with the ball, one of Dumbbell’s old buddies named Hoops, didn’t bother to pass it over to one of his open teammates and instead charged headfirst towards the CHS goal fully exposed. Noticing an incoming Flash, he instantly jerked away in an attempt to lose him only to have the ball slip from underneath his arm in the blink of an eye as Soarin swooped in from behind for the steal. With Hoops stuck in his baffled state, it made it all the more easier for both students to leave the jock in the dust as they bolted towards the opposite goal.

Sunset waved her arms for the catch, thus RD took the opportunity to quickly get in-between her friend and one of the other Cloudstale team members, another familiar friend of Dumbell’s named Score, before he could snatch the ball midair. Brushing past Gilda, Soarin was able to dribble the ball three times (the common rule of Blitzball before a pass) and weaving by the desperate Washouts while passing it right by Dash into Sunset’s arms .

With all the attention now on her, Sunset turned heel and ran as fast as she could with the others tailing behind her while Twilight ran in the front. Forest Thunder and Flash jumped into action, forming a makeshift shield around the red head as RD and Soarin backed down to block their competition.

Feeling a sharp push from behind, Rainbow turned her head slightly to see Sky Stinger desperately trying to escape his newfound containment by attempting to weave through the gap between her and Soarin. Because her other teammate was already struggling to hold back his portion of the enemy team, RD decided to ever so subtly scooch herself over until she was directly in Stinger’s front, causing him to grunt in surprise before stumbling to the side.

Up ahead Sunset was already inches away from the goal with Twilight in front of her and Forest Thunder and Flash flanking her behind, their sheer numbers overwhelming Score, who was struggling to keep up. The plan was working!

Dash nearly toppled over as something train wrecked into her shoulder and rocketed past, looking up through her daze to see Gilda running as fast as she could to catch up with the other students in order to keep her team from losing the first round. Although even from in the far back RD could tell it was too late, even with her current speed Gilda wouldn’t be able to reach Sunset before the ex-unicorn spiked the ball in the net, and that wasn’t accounting for Twilight holding point. Still, did she have to be so brutal about it all, even the best Blitzball players knew when-

Suddenly Rainbow Dash felt something else ram into her, hard. She topples to the ground in an instant, clutching her right shin because she’s sure she’s been shot with a bullet. Sky Stinger just barely manages to mercifully jump over her crumpled form as the whistle blows out for everyone to stop. Rolling on her back Dash looks up to see none other than freaking Lightning Dust beside her, that same hidden glee behind her eyes as she speaks in that obnoxious faux voice.

“Oh crap! I’m sorry Rainbow Dash, it was an accident!”

The pained howl clawing up her throat halts her from retorting, so instead the sports captain settles for a death glare as she clamps her mouth shut while holding her leg.

Faust what did she get hit with, a sledgehammer!? Her nerves screamed in agony as both her coach, teammates, and the ref huddle up close to her, each of them spewing questions a mile-a-minute. She barely paid them any mind instead shifting her gaze back over to Lightning Dust who’d by now backed away from the huddle with a fake worried expression.

As she’s lifted off the grass with the help of Flash and Soarin, the heat growing on her face is nothing compared to the white-hot lava that pools in her chest when she sees Dumbell bump knuckles with Dust.

______

Half-time.

“Ouch! Not so rough okay!”

Holding Dash’s leg in place, Applejack sighed in agitation.

“Well, if you would sit still for half a second Ah just might be able to fix you without havin’ to hold you down.”

The seventeen-year-old girl groans loudly as she lays back down on the bench, crossing her arms with an indignant huff.

“This freaking sucks so hard. you guys know I’ve dealt with worse right?”

Propped up on the bench with Dash, Twilight rolled her eyes while wiping her brow with a sweat towel.

“Rainbow Dash, your shin just got slammed with a pair of cleats, you should be thankful all you received was a massive bruise.”

“Exactly!” Dash threw her arms up. “Which is why I should be out there returning the favor to that little priss!”

She felt a palm rest on her shoulder, causing her to look up at Fluttershy who wore that serious, yet undeniably pleading look which Dash had always hated.

“You’ll be doing no such thing. That won’t make this any better, besides the last thing you need is to hurt yourself more.”

Craning her head up to the sky, Dash fixated her displeased groan towards the clouds above, ideas of delicious revenge already swarming across her vision.

Pretty much the only thing that made this disaster better was the fact that they’d won the first round. While Lightning Dust had been screwing around with Rainbow’s shin, Sunset had passed the ball to Twilight and scored before the whistle blew, technicality help CHS win the round.

Of course, that didn’t mean as soon as she was able to walk Dash wasn’t ready to go over and pound Dust into a pile of, well, dust. Although in her injured state, and much to her embarrassment, it took way less effort for her teammates to hold her back from doing so, thus keeping her imprisoned on this stupid bench for half-time.

She felt her leg shift as AJ finished her inspection before gently placing it down, tilting her hat while humming.

“Oh, it’s definitely bruised no doubt, but not broken.” She concluded. “Ah would recommend staying outta the rest of today’s games however. Only because if ya don’t, you’ll just end up making this harder on yourself!”

Having been stopped before she could interject, Rainbow Dash drooped her hands back down and glared at the floor. The gnawing sensation of bitterness in her stomach further added salt to the wound nearly making her nauseous.

“I can’t just sit here for the rest of the day…” She spat. “…I’ve been ready for this event all month, and now we’re finally evening the score! This is our chance.”

“And you’ve done an astounding job so far darling.” Rarity pressed, looking both prideful as well as sympathetic. “But you won’t be doing anyone any favors putting yourself in harm’s way over something that’ll be next year’s bridle gossip.”

“Yeah, think about all the other cool stuff we’ve got planned for the rest of this month!” Dash nearly jumped as Pinkie Pie popped in from behind. “You can’t let a big meanie like Lightning Dust make you miss out on more than you have to.”

Hearing her name made RD felt her fists clench while turning her gaze outwards to the other side of the field, immediately locking onto the huddled form of the Cloudstale students and their captain. Only she paused once realizing the absence of a certain blue-skinned Washout. The field wasn’t that far apart so even from her end she could see the rival team perfectly, but no matter how hard she looked Dash couldn’t see Lightning Dust anywhere. Maybe she was behind someone out of view, gone to take a drink?

Actually, the longer she stared the more students she could see were missing. Dust, Gilda, Dumbell, Hoops, Sky Stinger, all five had completely vanished.

“-ash, RAINBOW DASH!”

“Ngah, what, what?!” She flinched when the shrill voice ripped her away from her thoughts.

“I was saying…” Twilight huffed. “…That as our team’s captain, it’d be best if you decide who’s going to replace you for the next half.”

RD felt her jaw touch the floor, giving her friend a look like she’d just been asked to glass a city. Shaking her head Rainbow Dash nearly pushed herself off the table while waving in defense.

“Are you kidding me right now?! No, no, nonononono, I am finishing this, and that’s final. I have to!”

AJ pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed, before being elbowed in the stomach by Rarity while the fashionista brought her hands up in hopes of calming the newly growing tension.

“Now, now Rainbow Dash, I really think it’d be best if you thought about this a tad more-”

“NO!”

All six girls backed away in surprise at the sudden outburst as RD glared defiantly, though whether or not it was directed at them was still in question, that didn’t stop the normally haughty teen from looking rather scary with the amount of crazed determination bleeding through her eyes. Sitting ramrod straight, she refused every instinct to curl herself up into a ball when the geode around her neck had suddenly exploded into a flurry of emotions right as Rarity began her sentence. Aside from initial surprise, the one thing that caught her off guard the most was the sheer amount of pain radiating off the Equestrian artifact and stabbing invisible thickened needles through her muscles towards her very heart.

Regardless, she’d rather be caught dead then curling up like a meek, cornered animal in front of all her friends, especially considering the brewing anger she held for the current situation. So, being Rainbow Dash, she did the next best thing her instincts told her to do, to defend herself.

Except there wasn’t anything to be defended from, there were no enemies or potential threats. Just her very safe, very worried friends. Taking note of the pain subsiding, Rainbow felt her stomach drop ten feet at the surrounding sight of her friend’s initial intimidation before she cleared her throat and reshaped her chosen features to more of a stubborn look than one of anger.

“I. Can’t. Quit. Not now, not here.” She stressed, praying they’d get the gist. “CHS is counting on me to beat these guys, especially considering the Friendship Games…”

She internally slapped herself. One mere glance in Twilight’s direction was all it took for a wave of shame to wash over her as the bookworm visibly shrunk. Ignoring the scornful looks, RD continued in a more softer voice.

“…Considering there never was a clear winner since the Friendship Games, CHS is still waiting for a big victory. You know, where we can show everyone we can win things without the help of magic! How can I do that if I let some stupid bruise get in the way of everyone’s hopes, or have me leave you guys out there to do all the work?!”

“But you’re not, Rainbow.”

With the athlete finished with her tirade, all eyes turned away from RD to focus on the new speaker. That being Sunset Shimmer who stepped up from behind the group to meet the other’s gaze.

“We understand what you’re saying, but we can handle ourselves out there. And no one is looking down on you because of this.” Sunset indicated. “If you really want to keep playing, then we’re not going to force you, but please, please, trust me when I say the last thing we need or want is for you to get hurt trying to prove yourself for something we already know you’re best at.”

Head beginning to fill with thousands of backup mile-a-minute responses, Dash bit the inside of her cheek and looked around at her friend’s faces. Some sympathetic, some frustrated, but mostly overall hopeful. The pain in her chest was getting worse by the second, and if she was starting to question if her geode was the sole reason behind it.

“She’s right…” Fluttershy wrapped an arm around her old friend’s shoulders. “… we won’t force you, that’s not what friends do.”

Instinctively squeezing Shy’s offered hand, Dash tore her eyes away from the others and back towards her injured leg, desperately wishing the burning scowl she was giving it would somehow magically fix the broken skin and hammering pain in the shin bone. Alas, fate was once again not on her side today as she was forced to lift her head up to the six teens. This wasn’t how this day was supposed to go, this wasn’t how she was supposed to look in front of them!

Swallowing the bile scratching up her throat, Dash groaned on last time before finally giving in.

“Fine, I’ll stay out of this one halftime. But after that, I’m going back in for Hoofball.”

The sudden yet massive shift of ease that sprung through the air made her question whether or not they heard the last bit or not, however it did feel nice to see them all visibly relax. Sunset was the first to talk.

“Thank you Rainbow, I…I know this is unfair, and I know how much this means to you.” The look on Dash’s face made it clear that the ex-unicorn did, in fact, not know just how much it meant to her, but she let the older girl continue nonetheless. “I promise we’ll win this round and make you proud.”

Applejack seemed to catch something off the corner of her eye, because all of the sudden the farm girl balked before jumping back into the line of attention.

“Not to ruin this or anythin’…” she began. “…But it seems as though your coach is gatherin everyone up for a huddle.”

Everyone peered behind Dash, (who in turn had to twist around for her part), to indeed see the CHS coach whistling for all Blitzball players, probably ready to inform them on the new replacement for their captain. RD merely rolled her eyes, motioning her head towards him when Sunset and the others looked at her once more, as if inquiring clarification.

Watching them go, she tried her best to ignore the sympathy eyes and hugs, instead grinding her teeth together while tightly clutching the collar of her shirt. Taking a shaky breathe due to the growing strain in her chest she mumbled lowly.

“It’s not about you making me proud.”

“What was that?”

She froze. Crap, she’d forgotten Fluttershy was still here. She was sure she’d gotten whiplash with how fast she’d turned to face the caretaker, although she resisted the pain to flash an all too flashy grin.

“N-Nothing! Hey, what say we go get another drink huh?”

Despite her initial surprise at the quick response, Fluttershy composed herself and nodded eagerly.

“That sounds like a good idea, would you like some help standing?”

Waving her off Dash smirked and pushed away from the bench, hating how the increased weight on her sore leg caused her to nearly buckle over. “Nah, I’m good. It’s not that far anyway.”

Of course that didn’t stop the hands wrapping both her shoulders and one under her arm to steady herself as her leg buckled again. Flashing an awkward grin at her friend, Dash mumbled another “Thanks.” While trying to steady herself again, she managed to edge away from the yellow teen so she could stand alone without any help. Lifting her leg up as to not push any weight on it, she hissed before trudging towards her team’s nearest drink cooler, Fluttershy trailing close behind.

She was halfway there when suddenly she stopped, much to Shy’s confusion. It seemed as though the athlete had frozen in place, the only indication of movement coming from her being her labored breathing. Curious, and a bit intimidated, Fluttershy investigated.

“Rainbow, are you alright?” she called out, only to be interrupted when Dash swung a hand up and shushed her. Clasping a hand over her mouth, the caretaker stayed quiet.

Over the roaring sounds of the stadium beside them, there wasn’t much else to be heard. The streets next to CHS were always usually calm, even in rush hour, so there was no traffic.

Wait.

She strained her senses, hoping to find whatever RD was supposedly hearing. Was that, laughter?

She didn’t get a chance to question it because Rainbow had already taken off, hobbling without a word in the opposite direction from the stands and trailing down the long side of the CHS building towards the sound. Already caught off guard Fluttershy spluttered before following, the older teen continuing to ignore her frantic calls.

The further they walked alongside the building away from the crowd, the more eerie things seemed. As the loud chatting of fellow team players and excited fans faded away, both could hear the distinct laughter more clearly resulting in a heavy sense of awkwardness to hang in the air the closer they got. Rainbow furrowed her eyes when she suddenly stopped mid-step, holding out a hand to stop an anxious Fluttershy from tripping over her in surprise when Dash mutely pointed a finger towards the corner in front of them. It wasn’t just laughter, someone was having some kind of conversation, although with the sheer volume they were using she’d have guessed someone was having a separate party.

With a now a scared Fluttershy clinging behind her back, the athlete could only suck in a breath before tiptoeing towards the corner and peeking out to see what the fuss was all about.

Sitting in a circle next to what she assumed was some kind of CHS power conduit was all the Cloudstale students she’d noticed missing from earlier.

Sky Stinger, Gilda, Dumbbell, Lightning Dust, and another girl she doesn’t recognize are too busy laughing their butts about something Dumbbell said, to which she didn’t hear or care, as Hoops digs his hand into a school bag off to the side.

“You’re not serious?!” Lightning Dust gasped between breathes while setting down her water bottle.

“No I swear it’s the truth!” Dumbbell chuckled beside her. “Wish I could’ve seen that punks face when he figured out what was really in the package.”

“That’s sick man.” Sky Stinger balked, leaning against the wall. Sitting across from him Dumbbell merely shrugged.

“Hey, I told the idiot what would happen if he tried anything funny. He practically asked for it.”

A crinkling sound was heard before a crushed soda can flew in the air, banging into the side of Dumbbell’s head and earning a quick “Hey!” As Gilda spoke up.

“Speaking of which…” She groused. “…Just so we’re clear, your little girlfriend wouldn’t happen to know about this would she?”

All sense of ease dropped when the bigger female fixated a stern glare on Sky Stinger, with a closer look Dash could also see the hidden aggression behind some of the other kid’s features too as all eyes turned on the dark blue male. Shifting nervously as if he were on trial, Stinger cleared his throat and glared back at Gilda.

“I already told you Gilda, Vapor Trail doesn’t know. And she never will, so why don’t you lay off her for once?!”

The burly teen huffed at her friend, rolling her eyes and putting her hands up defensively.

“Chillax Romeo, nothing wrong with being cautious. I just don’t trust doormats that’s all.”

Her “apology” barely seemed to faze Stinger, who growled under his breath. Still hiding behind the corner, Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow in confusion. “Vapor Trail doesn’t know.” Know what? What were these guys even talking about? Fluttershy’s tightening grip agreed with her, she had a very bad feeling about this.

“Yeah, whatever. Hey Hoops, you gonna bring the stuff out or not?” Sky Stinger turned to his head towards the right, Dumbbell’s old school buddy head deep in his bag while waving Sky off nonchalantly.

“I’m hurrying, I’m hurrying, jeez.”

That said, it took half a minute until Dash heard Hoops audibly exclaim something, although it was largely muffled, and he dragged his upper lanky body out from the zipper. As Hoops turned around both girls could clearly see two small hand-sized boxes clutched in his hands, but the label was too tiny and far away for either to see.

That’s when Hoops ripped open one of the boxes to reveal a set array of thin, ghastly needles which he plopped down next to Lightning Dust with little care. Then he opened the second box. Dumping into his free hand were two miniature containers filled to the brim with a yellowish-blue substance.

“Psst, Shy.” Rainbow whispered behind her back. Fluttershy, frozen in a state of either fear or repulsion, failed to answer. Rolling her eyes, Dash whipped her head around with a hiss. “SHY!”

“Y-yes?”

“You still have my phone?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Give it to me!”

Reaching into her pocket Fluttershy pulled out the device and quickly handed it over, her friend nabbing it without hesitation. Once in position she instantly pointed the device towards the group of teens as Hoops took one of the stray needles and jammed its tip into the container’s thin lid, resulting in a loud crack. Thumbing the plastic plunger up, Dash felt sick to her stomach as the needle sucked up the container’s gross substance until the liquid was practically pooling over its cylinder top.

Seemingly satisfied, Hoops yanked the needle out to show the rest of the group, chemical formula still leaking out of the metal tube.

A whistle was heard when the unnamed girl saw the object. Gilda groaned impatiently.

“Yeah ooh, aaah, looks just as dazzling as the last hundred times you’ve shown us. I’m swooning over here. Hand me it already.”

Hoops turned to her with a glare, snarling.

“You know how much this stuff costs? I had to sneak off with my old man’s favorite watch just to get the last dosage! For that, you’re getting’ last.”

He then sat down in the group while rolling up his sleeves. Beside him Gilda snorted.

“Dick.”

Then to RD’s disgust she watched as Hoops dug the sharp metal into a vein in his lower arm while pressing down on the pump, releasing the agent into his body. Behind her dash could hear Fluttershy cover her mouth to hide a gag.

“Are you sure this is still legal?” The unnamed girl piped up.

“Meh, still legal, just not for this type of use I guess.” Hoops shrugged, stopping once the syringe was empty and passing the container over to her. She grabbed her own syringe in turn while Hoops wagged a finger. “Remember, the rush only acts for about an hour, and this is the last bottle left. So you better make this count Rolling Thunder.”

The unnamed girl, now classified as Rolling Thunder, waved him off while injecting herself.

“Okay mom. Can’t believe how hard CHS kicked our butts earlier, you think they’d give up by now.”

“Don’t worry it’ll be short lived.” Gilda crossed her arms with a smirk. “Speaking of which, what the hell Dust? You know I was the one who was supposed to take down Dash, we discussed this a thousand times earlier.”

Attention on her, Lightning Dust looked to her friend and chuckled.

“You snooze you lose Gil. Don’t you remember you were too busy sittin’ all the way in the back to do anything? Relax, you’ll get plenty more chances today.”

Clenching her fists until she could feel the nails digging into her palm, Rainbow held her phone steady while trying not to burst from out of cover to nail both Dust and Gilda over the head to avenge the pile of mush that was her ego. So they’d actually planned to hurt her?! Sure, she’d guessed it might’ve been a spur of the moment thing where they were angry from their new loss, but this had been planned before the games? Man that was a new low.

I really had crappy taste back then.

“You guys were right though, that Rainbow girl really knows how to hit back.” Sky Stinger hummed in thought, a small mix of admiration caught in his gaze while recalling the last few hours. “I had a hard time keeping her in the back from the track race, and we nearly lost with soccer. Gotta admit it’s pretty cool she’s been able to catch up with us at all today, even with this adrenaline on our side.”

“She’s not catching up.” Gilda sat up straight, narrowing her eyes into slits. “Dash has always been too stubborn for her own good, just doesn’t know when to quit. But that doesn’t mean she’s about to win over us.”

Rolling Thunder coughed into her fist. “You know I never asked, what your deal with her anyway?”

Letting out a dry laugh Gilda shrugged while being handed the chemical container.

“Oh you know, basically what you’d expect. We met all the way back in the 4th grade, she’d gotten me out of a rough spot, and I was one of the only people who could match her crazy. We were pretty much glued to the hip as kids. You couldn’t go a mile down our town without seeing some kind of public misdemeanor or tagged property me and her left behind.”

The wistful look on her face fell. “Then all of that changed when her folks had to move. Didn’t see her for another two whole years, and other than calls and emails I had no way of communication. That’s when Grandpa Gruff needed to fetch some supplies over here and offered to take me with him, he never offers much of anything so I took it without hesitation. As you can guess, I couldn’t really care less about whatever it was he wanted to show me, I was just too hyped to see my friend again.”

“Once we found each over, it was like nothing ever changed. Racing, picking fights with the neighborhood jerks, the usual. There hadn’t been a happier time in my life that week.”

As the rest of the group leaned forward in interest, Gilda’s expression suddenly darkened.

“Of course Dash had made some more friends while she was away, although her taste apparently seemed to have taken a nosedive. I needed to bend over backwards to set a schedule with her because she was so booked with those freaking dweebs. Jeez you guys should see them, they’re like, the most cheesy, weirdest group of spineless morons you’d expect from a little kid’s show. And when I knew it was time for me to go and for her to decide…”

The burly Washout trailed off, her dour expression shifting into multiple kinds of anger, contempt, and grief. But most of all, almost everyone could see the clear sadness eventually win against all fighting emotions.

Holding back her breath, Dash felt her mind buzz with past memories racing across her vision. Gilda wasn’t being fair. Yes, Rainbow had made her decision back then and still could admit she made the right choice, but her ex-friend was leaving out more than she was letting on.

How she bullied Fluttershy out of jealousy behind Rainbow’s back. Or when she tried to cut out Pinkie from Dash’s schedule while stealing RD’s phone in the process. And she’d never forgive the other teen for straight up getting Applejack into a near fatal accident landing the famer in the emergency room.

Gilda may have been a good friend in those earlier days, and maybe they both weren’t the best role models for each other, but if anything it was her who’s taste in human decency dropped a few miles back home.

“It’s not your fault Gilda…” Lightning Dust put a hand on her friend’s shoulder in sympathy. “…It was hers. She pushed you aside in favor of people she just met, people who didn’t know her as well as you do. I mean come on, looking back it’s no wonder she didn’t have many friends back then!”

“Crash has always been a klutz, never mattered if it were about friendships or overall not sucking at the things she claims she’s good at.” Dumbbell sneered as he watched Dust finish injecting herself and eventually the last remaining measurement over the Gilda.

“Most of the time it takes a couple bruises and a bloody nose for her to gain a general sense of what she’s doing. Find it hard to believe a drop out like her made it this far without a handful of cheats along the way.”

Everyone nodded in unison, an awkward silence beginning to grow. Rolling Thunder put on an optimistic grin.

“Well, at least you have us now! A-and we promise not to leave you.”

In response the older girl chuckled humorlessly under her breath as she watched the liquid drug drain from its cylinder enclosure, through the syringe, and into her bloodstream.

“Charmed.” She deadpanned, flicking the medical device away carelessly with her thumb. With the adrenaline now gone she tossed the bottle overhead to Hoops, giving the yellow-haired girl beside her a very heated glare.

“Anyway, half time’s ‘bout over. Since she’s injured Dash won’t be able to join the last round, but that doesn’t mean she won’t force her way into Hoofball. So the plan hasn’t changed. We smoke CHS in Blitzball this time, that’ll officially win us the event; Hoofball will just be us spitting on the wound. That’s when I end this, I’m going to make damn sure that backstabbing bitch won’t be able to stand on her leg more than 10 seconds for the rest of her life. Any of you try anything without my permission, then I’ll find you after the games.”

Dash was sure she’d split her tongue with how hard she was biting it to keep herself from saying anything. Fluttershy’s firm grip on her shoulders to keep her still also might’ve played a part in her forced silence. Some unknown voice whispered tempting solutions through her head like a riled earworm, granting her visions on how to get back at the bullies. Smacking that constant forsaken smirk off Dumbbell’s face, wrap her hands around Gilda’s throat, but most of all sticking one of those syringes up Lightning Dust’s…

Suddenly The camera disappeared as Fluttershy’s phone flashed to life with a mixture of lights and sounds, a picture of Sunset Shimmer on screen with the traitorous message of an incoming call. Her internals turning to ice, Rainbow nearly chucked the phone to hyperspace while futilely attempting to shut the thing up. However the damage had already been done.

In an instant Gilda shot her head up, perking like an alert predator when she noticed the noise coming from the corner. Ignoring the questioning gazes from her group she brushed past them to barrel towards the side wall, whipping around to catch her supposed eavesdroppers.

What she saw instead were Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, mad dashing back towards the field with their phone in hand. Stomach boiling in hate at the sight of her two hated nemesis, her hackles raised as she prepared to give chase, only for lightning Dust to stop her.

Whipping her head around, Gilda seethed at the person who dared touch her.

“What the hell are you doing!? They’re getting away!”

Poker-faced, Lightning Dust only rolled her eyes in response.

“Calm down juggernaut. We can’t be spotted yet, besides, with that leg how far can she get. We’ll catch up.”

“But..” Gilda began to protest, to which Dust quickly cut her off.

“I said don’t worry, I’ve got a plan. But first…” Waving a commanding gesture to Hoops Lightning Dust addressed the rest of the teens. “…We need to hide the evidence, now let’s go people!”

As the rest of them scrambled, Gilda instead stayed put, her violet gaze never leaving the far-off stands were the two CHS students disappeared. Her frown slowly lifted into a sinister smirk.

I’m gonna make this right, I have to. You hear me Dash? No one strikes me without paying.

________________

“Rainbow, wait up!”

She could barely hear her friend’s frantic calls over the steam blowing through her ears, the words from Gilda and the others replaying in her mind like a broken record. How could they do this? How could they hurt her like this and blame her for things they weren’t even there to see? She didn’t do anything wrong!

Fists clenched tight by her waist, Rainbow fought back the bitter tears threating to spill as she roughly shoved past anyone who stood in her way. Each step she took caused another spike of pain to soar up her leg, which only allowed her face to redden more, although from what specifically she didn’t know or care really. It did nothing to quell the utter betrayal that was ultimately burning in her soul.

“Rainbow please slow down!”

When the voice got far too close for comfort, Dash instantly found herself whipping around to face a very anxious Fluttershy.

“What!? Why did you stop me, didn’t you hear what they were planning on doing?”

She hated how obvious the crack in her own voice was. Momentarily taken aback, Fluttershy desperately tried to regain her composure while nervously brushing aside frazzled locks to actually see.

“W-we need to s-show Principal Celestia the footage fast, if they play the next round with that…that…Stuff inside them someone else might get hurt!”

RD snorted. “You bet we’re gonna show Principal Celestia this. Oh this is rich, some supposed hardcore players they are. Bet they wouldn’t have been able to win a single one of these games without cheating. When I get my hands on them- ”

“Hey captain!”

Cringing at the new intruding voice, Rainbow turned around to see a boy her age jog up to both girls. Recognizing him on the spot, only half due to the GlitzyBlitzer outfit he sported, she forced a half grin at him.

“What’s up Forest Thunder? Little busy here.”

Fixating his shirt’s collar the boy jutted his thumb back towards his team group.

“Coach wanted me to ask you if you’re up for competing in the rest of Blitzball instead of having Fleetfoot take over for you. Although with how you looked with your injury, I guess he just wanted to get your confirmation on the switch.”

Fluttershy really shouldn’t have not expected Dash to go stock still at the question, her face indescribably poker yet obviously inwardly arguing between reasoning and a vengeful ego.

Fluttershy also really should have expected Dash to tilt in her direction, making it seem as though she was honestly asking for her friend’s permission.

Fluttershy really, really should have expected Dash to ignore her shaking head and any other clear sign the caretaker could possibly make to say NO.

“Actually, tell the coach to hold off on that replacement. I’m still in.”

“Sweet!” Forest exclaimed. “Then you need to follow me, coach is calling a huddle.”

With him taking off, Rainbow whipped around to face her childhood friend, trying to ignore both the distraught look on Shy’s face and the sinking feeling of betrayal ebbing through Dash’s body.

“Here.” She placed the phone in Shy’s palm. “I need you to hand this over to the principle while the game is going.”

“….”

Rainbow swallowed then placed a hand on Fluttershy’s shoulder. “Hey, think of it this way. With me playing in-game, they’ll too distracted to notice you actually have the evidence.”

“It’s not the evidence I’m worried about.” Although it was barely a whisper, Dash could hear it clearly, resulting in her pulling Fluttershy in a tight hug.

“I’ll be fine.” Rainbow Dash breathed, noting how the slimmer arms wrapped around her body grew tighter. “But I need you to do this for me okay? Please Shy?”

They eventually pulled away as the younger girl thumbed her phone, hesitation still evident.

“Okay, I’ll do it.”

A broadened grin etched across the captain’s face.

“I knew I could count on you. I’ll make sure to get most of their attention while you try to keep out of sight, now let’s make CHS proud.”

Dash gave another quick hug before hurrying to the huddled team, her limp seemingly less apparent. Pocketing the phone, Fluttershy settled her nerves and put on a brave face. Dash was right, the Washouts were hurting people and they needed to stop them, no matter how much the mere sight of Gilda still sent a wave of nausea crashing down on her stomach.

A bright light beaming from the bottom of her vision made her look down to her geode necklace sparkling brighter than she’d ever seen before. Her distracted confusion grinded to a stop when a loud bell rang throughout the air, signifying the game’s second round.

_______________

The blaring airhorn coupled with screaming cheers from fans when the game began did nothing to cool her jumbled nerves as she trudged through the massive crowd. Pushing into whatever gap she could make between fellow students, parents, or teachers, Fluttershy urgently scanned the area for any sign of the principal. A task proving to be much more difficult than she’d originally prayed, evidence by the fact she could hardly see through two feet in this anthill of an event.

Deep breaths, calm down. The announcement stand should be close by now.

Aside from the anxiousness of the situation biting at her heels, she still couldn’t shake the lingering feeling of disappointment after Rainbow’s quick change in the plan. Was returning to the games really going to help their state of affairs? If anything her going back into Blitzball only furthered the Washout’s chances in getting what they wanted: Hurting Rainbow more.

Ugh, Fluttershy held her stomach and felt herself gag. That was an image she’d rather not focus on. ever.

Worse yet, due to the hastiness of it all she hadn’t been able to contact the rest of the girls and inform them on what was going on. With half of them busy competing and the other half too far to meet, almost no one besides Rainbow and her knew what was really going on.

“WOOO! GO CANTERLOT!”

Fluttershy gasped when a particularly enthusiastic adult fan flailed frantically causing their backside to barrel straight into the highschooler right behind them, sending her sprawling to the side. Next thing she knew she was flat on the ground as the loudspeaker announced what she guessed was another win for CHS’ GlitzyBlitzers.

“Oh…” Fluttershy sucked in a retort as she hoisted herself back to her feet, the excited parent too oblivious to the game to notice her. That’s when she noticed the area surrounding her was clear, she had been pushed out of the crowd and into a portion of the field strictly reserved for school faculty!

And that meant…

She never thought the sight of the announcement stand could ever bring her such joy, yet here she was ready to burst with joy. Even though it was still a ways away, just the mere sight of her principal was enough to add a great spring to her step. Hopefully the evidence on her phone was enough to stop this whole nonsense.

Her beeline was cut short however when she nearly slammed into the body that’d come out of seemingly nowhere to block her path. Skidding to a halt, Fluttershy’s initial confusion melted into terror when realizing who was standing in her way.

“Hello, Klutzershy.” Dumbbell sneered nastily, the fiery hate in his eyes melding perfectly with his maniac grin. “Long time no see huh?”

Gulping, she instinctively backed away from the boy, who responded in kind by edging closer to her, grin still crystal clear. Unwanted past memories began flooding her mind like a plague, washing away any confidence she previously had.

“H-hello Dumbbell.” She hoped her bluntness hid the panic threatening to seep out. Unfortunately, her childhood bully could see through her attempts as always.

“Quite a day huh? After a whole afternoon of losing who would’ve thought a school like yours could actually start to pull through? Strange world indeed.”

“Well, w-we Wondercolts do make an impression.” She half-heartedly laughed while attempting to stomach her fears and move. “Anyway, it w-was nice to see you again, but I’ve got to… do something… uh… over there.”

Not waiting for him to say anything else, Fluttershy weaved around him and continued to walk faster towards the stands. Please don’t follow, please don’t follow, please don’t follow, please don’t follow.

Her trajectory was once again stalled when he sprung back into her view, his sinister look not unlike a doped-up feral cat ready to pounce.

“What’s the rush Klutzershy? Too excited on blabbing to the teacher instead of settling things yourself for once?”

Shifting her hand down towards her pocket, she glared at Dumbbell in defiance. There was always something about him specifically that made her lose confidence like water in a colander.

“N-no. I-I-I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

In half a second his expression shifted.

“Give me the phone klutz.”

That was all the confirmation she needed to widen her eyes in horror before sprinting by him at full speed. Her head-start was short lived when an offending arm latched out at unnatural speed to tightly grab Fluttershy’s wrist. Trying to yank her captive arm free, she turned to face a very angry Dumbbell.

“I know you saw what happened. Give me the phone before you regret it.”

“Let go, you’re hurting me!”

“Then stop fighting!”

She pulled away again, resulting in him gripping on tighter. Meanwhile he watched apathetically as she struggled against him. Sighing in annoyance he bent down to her level, making her pause while he spoke in a syrupy sweet voice.

“Listen, how about we make a deal then? We both know how much of an embarrassing pacifist you always were and as much as I’d normally love to, I actually have better things to do than deal with you right now. So, here’s how this is going to play: You give me the phone, and I leave you off scot-free this time for old time’s sake.”

Seeing his free hand droop down towards her, gesturing hastily for the device set off something harsh inside Fluttershy. Clenching her teeth at the pain ebbing through her captive wrist, she inhaled deeply to soothe the rapid heartbeat hamming against her ribs and narrowed her eyes at the bully.

“No Dumbbell. I can’t let you hurt her.”

The inner nerves inside her screamed when the bully’s previous grin became skin-splitting.

“Oh, I was hoping you’d say that.”

_______________

“OOF!” Rainbow huffed when her body toppled to the soggy ground before instinctively covering her head and neck as a horde of oncoming cleats ran past her. Luckily most of them took mercy on her and either stepped to the side or were forced to jump over her body, however that didn’t stop a select few from actually managing to getting in some hits.

Wincing at the feeling of harsh kicks delivered into her stomach and shoulder, Rainbow groaned in pain as the crowd of players finally dispersed once the whistle was blown. Pulling herself to her feet, she sighed contently when the familiar spike of pain from her leg protested against her. If it was bad before, it definitely was worse now.

After returning back to the GlitzyBlitzer group and informing the coach she could still take another round in the game, Dash didn’t need to see it to know what kind of looks her friends were giving her. That was fine, she’d deal with their frustration later, every decision had its consequences after all, no matter how much her heart ached at their disappointment.

But this was more important, Cloudstale needed to be stopped, and magic or no magic Rainbow Dash was going to make sure she’d put them in their place. She was the one they were after, everyone was counting on her to win the day.

What she didn’t expect was how hard her stupid leg was gonna make every possible achievement. She wasn’t sure what she despised more, the fact that running was kept limited at a set pace, nabbing the ball away made her trip over her own feet, or…

A wall of burly muscle slammed into Dash’s side causing her to fly back and stumble. Struggling to keep herself from falling back down she glared ahead to see Gilda smirking at her from over her shoulder. Seconds later a new form rammed into her right shoulder as Sky Stinger flew by, pain ebbing down her back from the hit.

Oh yeah, considering she’d caught them with their pants down the Washouts had made extra sure to put in their two cents all game with each chance they got. Right under the ref’s nose too it seemed, cause none of them had been called out. It also really didn’t help that her body was currently in the process of shutting down on itself, after so much straining and beatings throughout the past hours it was apparent her muscles had quit, like she was working with melted rubber.

A loud ping sound came from the field’s score holder as the Washouts plummeted the ball into the goal. She felt her stomach plummet as they all high-five, Gilda and the others slyly giving Dash a knowing look from their group before positions were once again placed for the next round.

Pain from her leg wasn’t the only thing keeping her out of the game, her geode was also traitorously playing a major part in this sucky half. It glowed obnoxiously and somehow magically scratched into her chest violently to the point where there were times she checked to see if it’d drawn any blood. About that time she had begun to notice those very same effects on her friends.

Each of them seemed just as much in distress as she was, whether from their plainly distracted expressions or forced concentrated façade that they weren’t in pain.

How could this day get any worse?!

Dash was barely able to keep back a cry of pain when Rolling Thunder managed to bring her cleat over and heel the lower section of her shin. Shoving the offending girl to the side, RD backed off as her enemy rushed to aid her teammates with Sunset who’d now grabbed the ball and was high tailing it to the enemy goal.

What kind of help are you? Letting yourself get beaten while they do all the hard work. With or without magic, all you are good for is making a mess in which others will have to clean. The voice was back. That same voice which plagued her mind ever since her accident on the way to the hospital. In a snap that dark cloud resurfaced to snuff any and all confidence she held in herself.

NO! She mentally berated herself. She was good enough, she’d show them, cloudstale, CHS, her friends. She’d show them all!

Lightning Dust finally managed to steal the ball away from Sunset, the rest of the bully’s fellow cronies already overwhelming the redhead and was currently taking off down the field. Watching her intently, she let out a huff and forced her body to move, taking off after the offending rival as a multitude of other students followed in hot pursuit.

Despite the pleading pain protesting throughout her whole entire being, Dash used those very sensations to add fuel to the raging fire and pressed on much faster than she’d expected. Having still not noticed her, Lightning Dust could only stare in pure bewilderment as a rainbow-colored blur swooped around and nabbed the ball right from her palms.

She got it, she actually stole it! RD smiled at the twinge of happiness weaving through the pain when she maneuvered by very stunned/pleased students and made her way towards the finish. Only now the trouble was that the other team’s goal was way too far for her to handle alone.

Overhead she could hear the crowd chanting her name while footsteps followed dangerously close behind. Gilda, Lightning Dust, Sky Stinger, and Rolling Thunder, all four closing in on her. Gilda in particular was shoving aside her partners until she and RD were side-by-side.

It was payback time.

Even with the increased adrenaline, Dash’s body was far too weak to move any faster. Oh, where was Fluttershy already?! The game should’ve been called out minutes ago by the principal and the cheaters caught, had she gotten lost or something?

Frantically she altered her attention away from the oncoming bully towards the stands beyond the field, hoping to catch some sort of glimpse of her friend. The surrounding area was empty, save for the two school’s heads sitting in their special bunk, and they didn’t appear to be halting anything anytime soon. Maybe she was caught in the crowd?

Wait… THERE!

Just a few feet away from a group of people near the stand she saw a blink of yellow and pink flash move. There she was, but what was she still doing over there and not…

The question answered itself when she saw Fluttershy was accompanied by none other than Dumbbell, who had his hand gripped around her friend’s arm while she was trying to break away. Looking behind, Dash panicked, how could she have not noticed sooner that Dumbbell wasn’t in the game!

She could tell the two of them were in the middle of a heated argument with how close he was getting to Shy’s face. No doubt demanding what she witnessed. Despite her best efforts it was clear the younger girl wasn’t getting away anytime soon, his determined hold on her preventing any available means of escape.

Time slowed down as she watched in pure horror when Dumbbell, deciding enough was enough, brought his free hand above his shoulder and swung it down, slamming it straight into Fluttershy’s face. Within an instant her friend dropped to the ground in pain helpless to handle the larger boy kneeling down to straddle for the phone hidden inside her pocket.

A new sensation began to flood inside Rainbow Dash, horror quickly burning away, replaced by nothing but unadulterated anger.

She had no control, it was like a rubber band snapping. One minute she was still on the grassy field beside her school’s rivals, the next she was ramming her shoulder into Dumbbell’s side with otherworldly force, sending him rocketing into a nearby concession stand splitting it in half.

Not a word was spoken throughout the entire court field, the crowd instantly shutting up and the announcers going quiet. The only sound being the slight wind and far off traffic.

Dash didn’t care about them, because immediately after pushing him off she’d brought her attention down towards Fluttershy who was gawking in surprise. Without missing a beat RD kneeled and latched both hands around her friend’s shoulders, gently lifting the other girl’s torso up until they were eye level.

“Fluttershy?” Her words were far shakier than she’d expected. “Are you okay?”

Despite the glaze covering her eyes, the caregiver thankfully seemed to shake herself out of her stupor.

“Y-yeah, I think so?”

That was plenty confirmation enough for RD to wrap her best friend into a tight hug as tears threatened to spill out. The feeling of the other following in suit only furthered the heaping pile of guilt and self-betrayal building in Rainbow’s gut more.

“I’m sorry.” She whispered. “ I’m so, so sorry Fluttershy. I’m such an idiot, I-I should’ve expected this and listened to you when I had the chance.”

“It’s not your fault. I was the one who agreed to help you follow through with this. If it’s anyone’s fault it should be mine."

Gently pushing away from each other, Dash extended a hand to lift the fallen teen back to her feet when the noticeable feeling of watching eyes caused them both to turn towards the paused audience behind them.

“Oh, right, oops.” Dash could feel her cheeks burn at the awkward attention.

Sky Stinger, Hoops, and a couple more students rushed towards their fallen comrade, all the while maintaining a wide girth from the two girls, as Dumbbell groaned in agony from his defeated stature. Realization hung over Fluttershy’s head, and she gasped.

“Wait, Rainbow, what about the game? They for sure won’t let you play now.”

Rainbow’s jaw slacked and flailed her arms in frustration.

“Who cares about the game, you just got punched!”

“Argh, get off me you bunch of bozos!”

Dumbbell’s angry voice cut through the conversation as he roughly shoved his worried teammates off him before stomping towards both girls, popcorn and cotton candy dangling from his hair and jersey. Anger resurfacing tenfold, Rainbow swiftly maneuvered her hand protectively around her friend while her old rival closed in on her personal space.

“What the absolute hell, Rainbow Crash?!” He seethed with his face turning bright red. “Are you trying to kill me or something!?”

She scoffed. “So does that make you the pot or the kettle? I should knock your teeth out for so much as touching her, you cheating jerk!”

“What’s that supposed to mean, freak!?”

Now merely centimeters apart, both students were forcibly yanked away as teammates from either side rushed over to pull them back. Dash barely registered Sunset rushing in-between to separate the two as Dumbbell continued screaming profanities and insults even with Sky Stinger desperately trying to quiet him down.

“ALRIGHT, THAT’S ENOUGH!” Applejack’s voice boomed over the noise, silencing everyone. Keeping her glare on Dumbbell, Rainbow Dash loosened her straining against the people holding her back, prompting them to in turn relax their grip. Taking the silence as an opportunity, Sunset glowered at the captive Washout while speaking with all the venom she could muster.

“Now I’m only going to ask this once, why did you hit Fluttershy?”

“Because we caught evidence of them cheating!” RD blurted out, earning another stern glare from Sunset before the redhead turned back towards him.

“Is this true?”

Dumbbell for his part snorted in exasperation while gesturing to the forming crowd.

“Are you all seriously not going to acknowledge the fact that she has powers?! Her friends too, this whole school is a minefield!”

“He’s right!”

It was Lightning Dust’s turn to step up, crossing her arms while glaring in disapproval at the oncoming CHS coach.

“How is it fair for us to compete against someone like her, we had no choice but to ‘cheat’.”

RD thrusted her arms out with a growl.

“I never even used my powers this whole time, you would’ve seen it otherwise. Besides that doesn’t disqualify the fact that your buddy punched my friend!”

Weaving through the students, Gilda sneered with contempt.

“Maybe she needs to learn how to pick better friends then.”

Red was beyond the things clouding Rainbow’s mind as more students began to push Gilda back into her side of the crowd. Foaming at the mouth, the blue-skinned athlete spat.

“Oh get over yourself Gilda! You really wanna know why I left you, it’s because you’re a selfish, whiny, possessive jerk who’s not afraid to seriously hurt people over something as stupid as my attention span!”

The smirk on her ex-friend’s face snuffed out like a light, before quickly being replaced with a death defining snarl, her golden eyes increasing the feral look as she screamed.

“ SCREW THIS, I’M GONNA KILL YOU!”

Multiple things happened at once. Dozens of students frantically kept Gilda from lunging at Dash while AJ and Sunset stood protectively in front of the rainbow-haired athlete before an explosion unlike anything rocked them all off their feet. Once they’d regained their bearings though, screaming filled the air followed by an unearthly howl which sent chills down everyone’s spine. Picking herself off the ground, Rainbow Dash blinked away the blurriness in her eyes before witnessing a sight she was sure would haunt her forever.

Half the gate surrounding the school’s makeshift stadium was gone, reduced to nothing but destroyed concrete and dusted wood. A grilled food truck had toppled over, gas leaking out like crazy into the bright green grass ruining its texture. She could see people frantically trampling over each other while making their way off the bleachers as the speakers urged them to find safety.

And above it all, standing square in the middle of the Blitzball field was what looked to be some cross between a goat and a gorilla. Easily six stories in height, shaggy hair, but most notable was the single solitary eyeball adorning its massive face.

It was looking straight at her.

Author's Note

WOOOHOOO

Tenth chapter is out! We're in the double digits ladies and gentlemen, and trust me it gets more ridiculous from here for these characters I can tell you that much.

Thank you tremendously for all the awesome comments and likes, and keep well in mind that I still have no idea what I'm doing even after I jumped in this rabbit hole. Hope I'm still keeping some of you entertained after all this time regardless of my inconsistency☺

The Freaks Are Everywhere

"There are some corners of the universe which have bred the most terrible things. Things which act against everything we believe in. They must be fought."

The Second Doctor (Doctor who)
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Somewhere in the high Northwestern mountains of Equestria

A small artifact lay gently in his mighty palm, gold coloring shining like a star in the otherwise grim, grey crevasse. Using his massive thumb he overturned the object in curiosity, the large horns atop the golden statue’s head making it slightly difficult to move with merely a thumb. Bringing it closer to his face he inspected it intensely with his one massive eye. Though small by his standards, it being palm sized, the pricey artifact was quite large by those of…smaller stature.

A couple shuffling peering at its every nook and cranny was all it took for him to give a toothless grin. Yes, this prize would suit well in his collection. The small creatures, yaks as he recalled them being, had been most vicious during his assault. Yet as all others before them, their efforts were simply in vain when compared to his great might! He’d made sure of that once reducing their pathetic hobble to dust once he’d claimed what was now his. Besides, if they were foolish enough to try and stray far apart from their mountainous kingdom it should have come to no surprise an attack of any kind bigger than their small group would appear eventually.

Shifting a leg to right himself, he snarled at the sharp pain from his armpit. One of the yaks had managed to hit a soft spot just below the boney shoulder. Of course he made sure to trample the tiny insect shortly after. But that did little to dull the sheer embarrassment he could feel.

Immediately, voices of fellow kindred drifted into his mind with thousands upon thousands of familiar and unfamiliar faces laughing and sneering down upon him.

“What a deluded young fool” he’d hear one say. “Taking after that greedy old goat as if he were some form of royalty.”

He angrily slammed his large hand to the side as if he were hitting someone else, only to feel a rock wall hit his own flesh instead.

“As if our kind didn’t have enough trouble with Arimaspi, now we have this little lost rat trailing behind him.”

The statue in his hand shook as he clenched his fist around it, eye narrowing forward.

“Such potential wasted on thievery those two.”

“Arimaspi is as sharp with his words as he is boastful, no wonder that poor boy fell for his delusional views.”

“ENOUGH!” a loud roar echoed across the canyon as he stood to his full height, body defensive as if he were ready to fend off attackers. Only, aside from the birds he was the sole being there.

How dare they, Arimaspi was like a brother to him and taught him many things the rest of his kin were too soft or old to realize. Arimaspi was many things, but a fool he was not. “It is by nature’s will the strong overcome the weak. And, if the weak wish to create things solely for themselves, then it is our purpose to remind them of their place.” hewould always say.

And he was right. If weaker beings wished to make beautiful artifacts and other bountiful trinkets it was only fair the strongest got to claim it for their own as a reward for their survivability. Arimaspi held that idealism to his grave when attempting his greatest theft yet, rushing for the Idol of Boreas head on against the Griffon army. A shame he was too weak to fulfill his goal. Once hearing the news about his found brother’s fate, it was honestly rather quite more disappointing than saddening to say the least.

But Rameses was no Arimaspi, he would not fall to those beneath him. He would prove to all that Cyclops were beings meant to be both respected and feared. He would steal and rob whomever he pleased, be it yaks, griffons, ponies, or even the great dragons he’d heard of up north.

Even if his own kind refused to believe him, there’d be no stopping the great Ramses. He would find the most treasured artifact of all Equis and take down any who stood in his way!

His thoughts were interrupted once he felt a presence overcloud him, as if the very sun were being shadowed and the mountain air turned colder. On instinct he clutched his prize and gazed around in bewilderment, hoping to find the being or source of such a change. A warning began to rise in his throat, yet quickly died down when the sounds of unknown whispering flowed through his ears, as an unspeakable fear drifted through his body causing his thick fur to stand on end.

Until, before his very eye he saw a thin line cut through the air in front of him, as if by an invisible blade, then a bright light shone through the thin rip causing him to shield his vision and drop his precious trophy.

“What… what trickery is this?” he gaped. Suddenly, the whispers inside his ears slowly became less muffled to where he could hear what they were saying.

“Rameses.”

His heart nearly stopped as he whirled in absolute shock. It couldn’t be.

“A- Arimaspi?”

The voice in his ears paused just for a moment, before speaking again.

“Rameses, go. Go.”

He continued to whirl around, eye searching wildly.

“Arimaspi? Arimaspi is that you? Go where?”

The voice, dark and mysterious yet still undeniably his brother’s, spoke louder with more authority.

“Into the light brother. Show the world who you are, who you are meant to be”

Instead of questioning once more, Rameses peered back at the brightened rip with wonder. He was to go in there? But why? The voice did not answer his thoughts, so instead he walked towards the otherworldly crack, hand extending towards it. It was spell bounding. He peaked at the mountainous terrain around him, snowy peaks in the far horizon barely visible through the clouds.

Yes, something inside him told his brain, do it. he looked back to the crack and his expression turned to one of resolve. Very well then.

Huffing in a great deal of air, the Cyclops opened his mouth with a mighty roar and barraged into the rift, the source tearing open on command as he ran through.

“Go brother, go.”

The voice whispered faded as the frozen winds of the mountains washed away to a bright sun-kissed area, nearly blinding him once again. However his momentary blindness was interrupted when something hard smashed directly into his forearm, causing him to roar out in frustration as what appeared similar to be an odd shaped wagon flew away from his great strength and into a row of other wagons, followed by fire and shattered metal.

Blinking in confusion he stumbled as plenty more of the odd shaped wagon-like things zoomed by and across his legs or stopping to a halt. What gave him more confusion was when many of the small wagons’ doors opened and strange creatures jumped out to gawk at him. They looked like no other creature he’d seen throughout his entire life, their upright statures and lack of any accessories besides that of skin and cloth.

Some of them raised their hands with tiny devices while others simply fled in terror. Snorting Rameses looked away from the smaller life forms and towards his surroundings. Towering structures of hardened rock and glass lined both sides of each pathway he saw, as he was currently standing in some sort of middle square connecting the smooth pathways. The air reeked with gas and other unsatisfactory smells making him snarl aloud, causing a few of the meager beings below to panic, though he paid them no mind.

However, something else caught his attention. A whiff in the wind familiar and enticing. He gazed back down at the beings at his feet, and he felt a mixture of pleasure and pure excitement grow within his heart.

He understood now, either Arimaspi or perhaps another force saw the true potential in him and thus has brought him here, to this new and unexplored world, for him to gather prizes and prove his brother right: That Cyclops could and would conquer or take whatever they pleased! Now it was solely up to him to find out just where his righteous trophy was in this pathetic little city of ugly creatures. He would make his brother proud.

A grin split across Rameses face and brought up his giant arms over his head and let out the most powerful roar he possibly could, echoing throughout each and every building as the petrified weaklings watched.

This city and all its treasures belonged to Rameses now.

Canterlot City, earlier.

“And you’re absolutely sure of what you saw?”

Amongst all of the many parks within Canterlot, Wind Whistler was undoubtedly one of the smallest and equally quietest, its body sandwiched in-between two massive office towers. It also was well known to be unoccupied most days.

Therefore, if you were to go deep enough into the park’s solitary trail you’d find an unexpected sight. Seated on a bench underneath a giant maple tree was Canterlot’s current terrorist in hiding, Cole Macgrath himself, sitting comfortably next to an elderly woman, who in turn expressed no signs of fear.

“Ah’m as sure as Mr. Buttercream when he spots a good place to hide away all my sowing yarn, sonny!” The elderly woman looking up at him, Goldie Delicious, responded right away with a knowing smirk.

Nodding silently Cole pressed a finger to his chin, deep in thought. The new article discussing the power outage alongside other various strange occurrences happening throughout the city could only provide so much, thus Cole eventually found himself doing the second-best thing, contacting witnesses reported in said articles.

Trouble was, people often weren’t too keen on having a one-on-one interview with a “terrorist”, following up with an unsurprising amount of doors slammed in his face and cop calls. He was nearly about to declare it quits and find another solution until he finally found someone who’d either not read the news or was too focused on other issues to realize who he was and accepted an invited meeting.

That said witness being the woman beside him, playfully massaging a golden tabby in her hands.

“Ah usually never venture to that mall in particular when Ah can. Its bit too noisy and energetic for little ol’ me.” She continued not taking her eyes off the pet laying in her lap. “But Ah was desperate for finding the right kind of food for Lemon Squeezy. And like just Ah said, Ah was headed out the front door before seeing none other than Granny Smith’s girl over to the side talking with her friends. Such a fine group of youngsters those girls, did Ah ever tell you about the time their band played at-“

Cole sucked in a breath while pinching the bridge of his nose as the lady continued. Nobody said first time journalism was going to be easy.

“You started off earlier with one of the girl’s friends acting strange right? could you please tell me more about that.” He interrupted, causing her to pause for a moment mid-sentence before brightening up.

“Oh yes! one of Applejack’s friends, uh, Rainbow-something was arguing with this boy, feisty one that girl Ah tell ya, then next thing Ah know she’s actin like a wound-up sprinter preppin’ to take off. That’s when Ah new flew off my feet when she burst off down the road faster than my poor soul could catch. Ah thought Ah was near hallucinating when Ah saw just how fast she was going. But turns out other people saw it too, so there went my fears of another session with the doctor.”

“Okay…” he began, lost in thought. “…And you said one of them was a granddaughter of a friend of yours, Granny Smith was it?”

“That’d be correct.” She spoke jovially. “But Ah’d be cautious around Granny, she’s not always open about family with young journalists like yourself.”

Clearing his throat Cole hopped off the bench’s head rest, now standing as he pocketed the small notepad.

“Don’t be worried about me miss, I’ll be careful with my words. Sweet Apple Acres right?”

“Right again.” She smiled as he walked turning to the opposite direction.

“Alright.” He hummed, waving to her. “Thanks for your help, I’m sure everything’ll turn out just fine.”

Barely glancing at her fading form as he trudged down the trail towards the park’s exit, he fished his hands into his pockets with a sigh. Alright, that went far better than he’d expected. Journalry was far from something he’d ever so much as attempted to pursue career-wise, therefore he’d proudly say this was pretty much his first and last exercise of the practice for the entirety of his life.

The rumors were becoming more and more true. Whatever was causing havoc in this city wasn’t some supernatural force, it was a person, multiple persons at that. Conduits, and pretty damn powerful ones too.

He kicked a stray rock while exiting the outer gate of the park, resting a palm on his face. God, situations like this never dragged this long back home, at least Zeke or Kuo, hell even Moya had his back picking out the right clues on where to go and who to approach.

A sour feeling dulled into his chest. He’d find them, he’d find them and end this nightmare.

Suddenly he stopped, body freezing like a statue. It was quiet. The city block before him was empty, save for a couple birds flocking away overhead in a hurry. Something was wrong.

Summoning the untold power inside of him, his brain gave out an invisible pulse through the air, when catching nothing of interest he began sprinting forward further down the road, sending out another radar pulse which echoed across miles of buildings. Lifting his arm up to tether the top of the highest building he could find, Cole was lifted off his feet as the grapple pulled him up five full stories until he was close enough to grab the edge of the rooftop with his hand.

Clambering to his feet, he could now see the miles of rooftops etching across the city for a much better view. Finally something prodded at his Radar pulse this time, causing him to hop towards the direction he felt it was coming from. Although the signal was faint, it was undoubtedly familiar to him. As if his conduit abilities were picking up on…

A deafening explosion followed by what looked to be a small car currently on fire sailing in the air from a hidden block two streets away was plenty to confirm his suspicions.

Danger.

And not just any danger if the agitation his conduit senses were telling him were anything to go by, this was a certain type. Another sound of crushing concrete and an ear-piercing roar boomed towards the heavens immediately causing him to approach further. Through the heavy amount of concrete buildings blocking his path, one object underneath his radar plipped so to speak, demanding his attention with reddened fury.

Enemy.

By the time he stepped onto one of the rooftops overlooking the street below evoking with chaos, he jerked back in surprise as a police officer flew over the opposite edge of his current rooftop screaming in terror. Reacting quick Cole whipped around and aimed his hand towards the flying officer as gravity began to take him back towards earth, a thinner version of his tether leaping out to wrap over the officer’s torso before yanking him off course and sending him to Cole’s direction instead.

Opening his arms the conduit struggled from tripping as he caught the oncoming officer in his arms stumbling back a little before settling the petrified cop down to the floor before returning his attention back to the street. Running to the edge Cole looked down to see many things he’d seen a million times.

Cars lay strewn about in every corner, (that being literally considering most of them were shredded or torn to pieces), terrified citizens scurrying away the best they could as police desperately multitasked with keeping said civilians safe as well as rapid firing at the enemy. That’s when Cole shifted his gaze and nearly choked.

With its body halfway inside a store, a massive frame covered in thick blue fur stood midway through the street as police continued to open fire. Whatever it was seemed to have had enough of the interruptions and finally stuck its massive head out from the store’s destroyed entrance. Massive, curved horns erupted from its goat shaped skull as it glared down at the humans with undignified disgust, more interesting was the litter of gold piercings and blindly bright gemmed necklaces wrapped around its throat. Within its beefy hands Cole could see costume jewelry and broken mannequins, recognizing that the creature had currently been shuffling through a jewelry store.

The whole ordeal of a massive hulking beast committing robbery was almost enough to make him chuckle until the thing roared in fury when one of the officers brought out a shotgun. When it seemed to actually hurt the creature it practically dropped its stolen prize and raised a fist in the officer’s direction.

Electricity sprouted from his arms as he thrust a hand forward shooting forth a pure stream of blue lightning that slammed into the creature’s face fully catching it off guard. The creature stumbled backward and fell into the side of another building which caused it to drop most of the stolen jewelry. The cops seemed to be caught by surprise too because the sounds of gunfire ceased as the beast shook its head and gazed up to locate its new offender. Once finding the source it glared threateningly at him.

Waves of electricity surged throughout his body as excitement grew in the form of a wicked smile. Finally, after weeks of stumbling around blindfolded, looped back to dead ends, and overall painstaking disappointment kicking him in the balls again and again.

…….Finally, he had something to let his frustrations out on and what better than the blue furry gigantic one-eyed monster standing before him.

Smirking he eagerly jumped from his vantage point and slammed to the ground with electricity exploding from underneath his heels and pushing away everything near him. Standing to his full height Cole still had to crane his head all the way back to see the face of the approaching monster. It was also grinning as it dropped its treasure to square off with the much smaller challenger with a heated glare and bared teeth.

“Alright you ugly ass yeti…” Cole chuckled darkly, singlehandedly taking out his amp. “…let’s do this.”

___________

Rameses snarled at the puny being gazing up at him with a challenging aura. So this must be this city’s guardian. It was speaking to him in an odd language that he could not understand. A different type of power he had never seen before radiated from the lower being. A power foreign from the likes of Equestrian magic, how intriguing.

It mattered not, if this puny creature dared to attempt to challenge him, then he’d in return accept with pride. With a roar Rameses brought a fist up and swung it towards the small being who moved quicker then he’d expected dodging the punch and returning fire with a barrage of lightning bolts striking the cyclops in his temple. With a grunt Rameses yanked the hand he had attempted to punch the small being with out of the hard rock ground thrusting it out and raining a hailstorm of debris and dirt onto the puny challenger.

The challenger was slightly caught off guard as he deflected the debris. Rameses attempted to slam his other palm down on the challenger. But he caught on too quickly as he dodged and rolled sending a large ball of fiery electricity into the cyclops’ shoulder. A surge of anger ignited in his chest as Rameses held both his hands high in the air before crashing them down on the guardian’s location, who dodged from the brunt of the attack yet flew backwards due to the sheer force. Regaining his footing the small creature added another barrage of attacks, this time in the form of larger balls of lightning.

Bringing forth an arm to shield his face and solitary eye the cyclops growled in fury before charging forward ignoring the pain each time the electricity singed his fur and skin. With a sweeping blow he finally managed to backhand the insect sending him sailing.

His glee was short lived however, as the small creature appeared to recuperate from the attack mid-air and thrust out both hands. Blue energy sprouted from his palms keeping him afloat above the ground. Unfortunately that was not all that the small guardian could do. He quickly brought a hand up to unleash a sprinkle of small pellets. Dodging the pellets as best as he could some of them still landed on Rameses fur and exploded, causing him even more pain.

In a fury Rameses charged once more, witnessing that the guardian’s abilities did not allow him to exactly fly as much as float ever so slowly to the ground. When close enough he jumped outstretching both arm and palm to grab his enemy. However, with one outstretched hand of his own a string of blue was flung from the guardian’s hand to tether him to another building. He pulled away just milliseconds before Rameses could grab his racing feet. Rolling to the floor Rameses gazed back up to see the creature climb swiftly onto the rooftops and send a glare his way while waving a single arm as if beckoning him.

That worthless little imp dared to mock him! Bringing his hands up Rameses pounded his chest with a fierce roar and picked up a particularly hefty wagon and tossed it towards the guardian. While the guardian was distracted, Rameses jumped high to grab onto the roof. His torso and shoulders were over the roof as his claws dug deep visible marks into the surface. Dangling over the side of the building his legs were scrambling to catch hold of the side of the building so he could pull himself over the edge. Once his was finally pulling his frame up onto the roof he looked out to see the guardian meters away on a separate roof standing next to a metallic box thrusting his small arms towards it.

As if on command, streams of blue electricity exploded from the metal box and into the being’s hands until he apparently supposedly depleted it of energy as the streams dispersed. An unwelcomed feeling of fear stirred in the cyclops’ chest. By his ancestor’s names, this creature fed his power through the very veins of this city!

Another earth-shattering roar and Rameses took off like a rocket, full speed towards his fleeing enemy.

______

So far things had been going surprisingly well. At least the massive creature appeared to be harmed by his attacks as opposed to Bertrand’s mole things back in New Marias with their thick shells. Although those didn’t seem to share the concerning amount of intelligence hiding behind this particular monster’s eyes. The monster radiated an energy source familiar to the one in the city, yet obviously more stronger. Meaning it wasn’t this place’s average pest problem.

However the main thing Cole found concerning was the amount of people still on the streets, and if that thing’s powerful blows were anything to go by, a lot of people would eventually end up injured or killed if caught in the crossfire. Enough playing around! He needed a tight and secluded space to trap this thing and end this. The cyclops’ eye was obviously the most vulnerable spot on its body, but it seemed pretty used to others aiming for that spot as evidenced by its well-aimed defensive blockage of Cole’s strikes. So, if not the eye then maybe aiming for the neck would help, if he were to get close enough.

And as luck would have it, a couple of yards before him the road split leaving a horizontal gap far too thin for a normal street. An alleyway, perfect! And a closed in one too.

He jumped just in time to avoid three nine-inch claws from shredding him to pieces as the cyclops/goat/gorilla thing roared from behind. He prayed there weren’t any homeless people in this alleyway ‘cause their small space is about to get way tighter than usual.

________

Bashing a thin brick chimney out of his way Rameses howled as his quarry continuously evaded his grasp. The large gaps in-between the buildings surely didn’t help either, as they drove them further and further apart from one street to the next.

Suddenly the guardian halted his cowardly running in favor of dropping down to a smaller street where the buildings blocked it off. Ah, he’d sealed his fate now!

Scampering to a stop Rameses dove in after the smaller being feet first as his shoulders followed, their massive girth scraping against the walls making it hard for him to inch downwards. Inside the narrow path it was dark and full of trashy debris, the guardian having no trouble though hopping over the small metal bins and litter while turning to face him. Narrowing his one eye Rameses reached for the smaller foe, only finding himself attempting to do so as the concrete walls sandwiching him disallowed and further movement.

He growled and shoved his arm once more shredding some of the rocky wall yet not enough to move his appendage from beside his hip. He tried again, this time with the other arm. Same result. He attempted to lean his entire torso forward, opening his jaws to snap at the miniature figure below only to move mere inches.

He was stuck!

His foe seemed to have taken notice and raised a glowing arm, to the beast’s horror he noticed the guardian was aiming straight for his eye. Closing it Rameses panicked began swinging his head side-to-side while desperately attempting to force his arms free. Slurs of ancient equestrian cursing the shrimpy little insect were exploding from his tongue. The guardian appeared to have predicted this outcome as he maneuvered his glowing arm towards the left and blasted the wall next to Rameses. A shower of rocks and dust hit him in the face. Before the cyclops could spit out the grinding sand in his mouth another blast of power connected with the wall on the opposite side further spraying him with debris.

Eye and mouth full of grime Rameses could only sputter a roar as he continued to struggle free. This could not happen, he would not fail, especially to such a cowardly, pitiful being such as this. Speaking of, once noticing no more balls or rockets of electricity had yet to be fired upon him Rameses paused only slightly to peer at the ground below.

It was gone! Only an empty path lay in front of him, with no traces of life to be seen. Though his movement was stunted, he could still crane his neck up to gaze at the sky above, almost beckoning him to rise. Whatever made the guardian disappear he’d figure it out later. As for now he needed out of this damn trap!

Rameses felt a new sensation, not a whisper in the wind nor the dark sounds of his brother’s calling, but a physical sensation of something on his back.

His curiosity was interrupted by two pinpricks poking into the back of his neck, until the next thing he knew scorching lightning seeped through skin and into thick neck muscle. In a flash he once again started to panic despite the pain, bucking his head back and shouldering his way into the concrete walls. A particularly powerful buck finally managed to release the two pinpricks as his foe stumbled down his angled back.

With every ounce of strength he had, Rameses flung his arms up, releasing him from his prison and allowing him to twist towards the fallen guardian on the ground. Instantly he slammed his palm down on the smaller figure’s frame, supposedly knocking the wind out of him as Rameses brought him towards his mouth. A quick shock into his exposed gums halted him from placing the imp in-between his teeth and instead sent him hurdling down the narrow path with a powerful throw. The guardian slammed like a ragdoll into a building in front of the alley’s exit.

Using his horns, Rameses flew headfirst into the building crushing the rock and glass with ease due to his incredibly thick skull. His horns did not touch however as the small being immediately dropped from his position before he could receive such a blow, stepping onto the ground safety and aiming for another blow. That’s when one of the insect’s rockets slammed into his exposed yak-induced injured pit, causing a new surge of aching pain through his body. Without even thinking about it, Rameses swung his injured arm around backhanding his foe and sending him far into the front of a parked wagon before grasping his already bloodied injury roaring in agony.

_____

So the big guy had an extra weak point.

After being slammed into the concrete floor by a palm his body length, then immediately tossed into a building structure with his lungs already regenerating, he began to think this might’ve been a much bigger problem then he’d originally anticipated.

His powers were obviously hurting the monster, with its roars of rage and smell of singed fur enough of a clue, but it was a far cry from fully stopping it. This thing just kept coming no matter what! His neck idea had flunked terribly, in fact it only seemed to make the creature more pissed off than ever before.

He narrowly avoided becoming paste when it charged, dropping from his vantage point as fast as he could when his blurry vision saw the thing charging. It was then underneath the asshole his vision glanced by a certain crimson red spot in the monster’s armpit and damn it all if it wasn’t worth a shot.

The fact it resulted in him flying, (Again for the third time), straight into a vehicle proved his point. The ugly bastard seemed to recuperate from his initial shock and turned with a seething look of hate. Yeah, right back at you freak.

Ultimately noticing the car he was currently sitting on, Cole made a quick glance inside for passengers. When seeing none he gleefully held out both his hands as a burst of electricity surged through the vehicle, both the car and him atop floating a couple feet in the air until he thrust his hands forwards sending the car flying towards the cyclops like a bullet.

Screeching in fury the creature swatted it away, until an idea seemed to form in its head and dug his claws into the hard earth beneath. Cole barely had time to stop it before the monster hoisted a mini house-sized chunk of broken street and pipes above its head.

Screams could be heard from behind, causing him to peer back and see a couple dozen petrified citizens meters away and scared stiff. Were he alone he’d dodge the rock no problem, hell even tank it if he had to. But with citizens this close, the damage would be deadly.

“Get out of here or get to cover, now!” he ordered not taking a second look as the monster hurled the twenty-ton rock at breakneck speed towards the man.

Searching every corner of his body, Cole sucked in a breath as electricity burned brightly across his body, the streams trailing up into his palms which were placed against his chest. Closer and closer the body of rock came, until it overshadowed both him and everyone else.

With a growl Cole unleashed both his forward sending out a massive shockwave that instantly sent the oncoming boulder away in the opposite direction, straight back to its original thrower. The cyclops attempted to catch it, but it seemed as though the amount of power he’d put in his shockwave must’ve internally shredded the rock to pieces. Because when the monster got its hands on it, the boulder immediately broke down into scattered pieces of road, dirt, pipes, and debris.

A dull headache nagged in his head. He was drained, he needed a new power conduit and quick. Seeing a stoplight a few feet away, Cole instantly ran over to wrap a hand around it, feeling the sweet tingles of electricity replacing all he’d previously spent.

His current sparing buddy hasn’t having any of that unfortunately, as it began charging again. Bringing up a free hand he blasted the creature only to have little effect. The civilians were still here dammit, he needed to find a solution.

Letting go of the pole and fully recharged Cole found himself sprinting head on to his foe, until they were close enough for the cyclops to raise an arm for an oncoming blow as Cole raised his own. When the monster threw his fist down Cole instantly shot another rocket at the arm, only instead of it bursting with electricity, once connecting with the giant’s fist it exploded into a massive trail of ice, freezing the monsters entire forearm in seconds.

While the cyclops bewildered at the sight of its frozen hand, luckily Cole notices it was the same arm as his bloodied underarm injury to which he promptly threw a grenade at, this one also exploding into ice on contact.

Howling in fury the cyclops brought its frozen fist down towards Cole, who expertly dodged with ease as the ice shattered to free its hand. However the creature immediately started to pull at the ice stuck to both its wound and fur, screeching in pain. See, the catch was, it was truly ice but also still had multiple currents of painful electricity surging through it. With the cyclops distracted he tethered at its exposed shoulder, climbing onto the bucking beast who in turn was trying to multitask in getting both him and the ice off it.

Shimmying across its back until reaching the place in-between its shoulders, Cole stopped by gripping on tightly to the thickened fur and stopped. He couldn’t reach the head, it was too easy for him to get grabbed. This would have to do.

Using his amp to pierce the monsters back, therefore helping him balance, Cole dug his hands deep into the shaggy fur until feeling its skin. From there he could feel the inner waves of neuro electricity settled within, although not as strong or plentiful compared to the creature’s brain, of which he’d have no chance of reaching considering the cyclops’ rather fast recovery.

“Refreshing as this was, I think it’s time we end this.” He muttered.

Digging his fingers into the monster’s body, like a vacuum his body began to attract the neuro electrons from inside massive nerves and drain into Cole’s very hands. This particular technique could be surprisingly quick if he’d grab a hold of an enemy’s head, sucking out electricity from the brain which held the most neurons meant a quick end to the fight. Although that certainly didn’t mean the process wasn’t painful to said victim.

Therefore it didn’t take long for the cyclops to pause from ripping the burning icicles from its fur first in confusion, then changed to anger, and ending in a screech of pain as it bucked and thrusted with furious desperation. Swinging its arms out the monster tried to reach behind its back and grab the smaller human, but its efforts were betrayed by its own physically curved body structure.

When it eventually figured it couldn’t grab Cole, it stood up and back peddled into a nearby building at full speed. The connection hurt like a bitch, but the conduit simply shrugged it off and continued draining. Seething in agony the cyclops rammed its back into the building again and again to no avail.

By this time it was truly panicking, abandoning the now crushed apartment and reeled its clawed arms to and fro punching and slashing everything it could see while its roars reverberated throughout the city street, slamming, and bumping as Cole held strong.

He couldn’t blame the poor bastard. Draining neuro electricity from the brain was a type of pain none ever dared to consider, at least it lasted only seconds followed instantly by sweet demise. This however, he was being forced to drain the creature’s body of electricity from a place which required time to gather all neurons. Strictly speaking, the cyclops was currently enduring an awfully slow, excruciating death.

Soon its movements became sluggish and from what little skin he’d seen was paling, its enraged roars developed into choked, breathless groans as it kept thrashing and refusing to give in. From up high he could sense the uneven and wobbly steps it was taking, just a little more time.

He nearly fell off the beast’s back when an unseen force in the air abruptly slammed into him, resulting in blue electricity unconsciously dancing all over his entire body. It was one of those signals again, the ones he’d been chasing, only this time it was stronger, and much, much more powerful than before. Ignoring his insides curdling in agitation he narrowed his eyes as the cyclops ceased its thrashing to become still as well. apparently he wasn’t the only one who sensed it.

Something different followed seconds after, however his concerned interest in the second sensation was immediately replaced with a feeling of intensified fear. Unlike everything he’d experienced or felt thus far, said sensation being either an arguably playful punch to the gut or a soft gust blowing by his face, what he was currently sensing was a presence of pure ice-cold bloodlust. As though it were clawing through the atmosphere with a razor leaking a poisonous trail behind.

It was enough to make Cole Macgrath shiver slightly when it fazed through his body, a feeling of loathing emitting from it, and he had a sneaking suspicion it was for him specifically.

He must’ve been so distracted he’d lost grip with the amp, the metal weapon dropping from the cyclops’ back and drooping to his side. Shaking his head to regain focus, Cole was about to return to his original task when he was suddenly flung off the monster’s back with an unprecedented amount of strength, hovering high in the air till gravity took hold.

Nearly hitting the ground Cole was swiftly nabbed and brought to the creature’s face, its one eye was glassy and bloodshot, as if zombified compared to its previously lively appearance. He didn’t get the chance to mull it over however because the monster casually flung him up in the air like a baseball, before he could use his thrusters to guide him though the creature had already brought its hand back to punch him midair with the strength of a full train, of course flying him across the street and bashing into a construction building.

Watching the distraction disappear inside the newly built hobble, the cyclops paid no second glance as he huffed out a growl and climbed the nearest building, gazing at a certain area in the distant horizon with determination while letting out a roar of anger. Hopping down back to the street he brushed aside another oncoming vehicle and started charging towards it intended destination, apathetically leaving a broken, destroyed city block behind.

…

Groaning Cole pushed a wooden beam off his shoulder, brushing his now insulated/wood splintered clothes while settling to one knee. Punching his chest to cough out sawdust and blood he ignored the dumbfounded construction workers in favor of glaring out at his fading enemy.

“Okay, that was a dick move.”

_________

CHS, Present time.

Rainbow Dash had a split second to dodge the tossed hotdog sausage, zipping out of the way as it bashed into the brick side of CHS, scraping it with little damage. Afterwards taking a step back she narrowly avoided a massive sweeping palm twice her size skidding across the dirt in effort to grab her. Standing on its four legs the beast, almost three full stories, let out an ear shattering roar both she and everyone left on the ruined field winced at.

Growling she shook off the pain in her ears and instead rushed forward, zooming towards the monster who went for a palm slam only to miss as she swept underneath its belly. While it was distracted Dash witnessed Applejack come from the right to slam shoulder first into the monster’s lower side leg, causing it to buckle off balance.

Mouth open to congratulate the farmgirl, she was cut mid-sentence when the monster quickly recuperated and swung a clawed hand at her slower friend. Picking up speed Rainbow felt the gigantic palm brush the back of her ponytail as she hoisted Applejack to safety before skidding to a stop next to one of the furthest bleachers. Placing the heavier teen down they both leaned in to catch their breath

“So...” Applejack spoke breathlessly. “…What exactly is our plan here again? Cuz so far all we’ve been doing is angering him more!”

Bringing her hands to her knees Dash huffed. “No idea, guess just keep distracting him until Sunset and the others get everyone out of here. Then we try wearing him out.”

Beside her Applejack hummed in agreement. “Ah agree, fella already looks like he’s about to keel over any minute, wonder what’s got him so injured.” Casually as it could be told, the farmer glanced at the wreckage once being CHS property laying around them. “What a mess.”

Dash could only grunt in response. Faust she was so tired, he whole body was threatening to give any minute. The monster’s infuriated roar grasped both girl’s attention. It was true, the big guy had scratches and fresh burn marks littering his entire body, yet somehow his determined bloodlust kept him from slowing down.

Then dammit all, neither was she. Truth be told, she wasn’t in the happiest of moods right now so an ugly monster face begging for a nice clean punch was just what she needed.

“You keep it busy, and Ah’ll try and-“

AJ was interrupted as another cart sailing sky high began to fall towards them. Dash grabbed her friend’s shirt and prepared to dodge them both to safety when the cart stopped midair, covered in a purplish aura.

Yards away was Twilight Sparkle, sweating bullets with her hands out as purple magic glowed from both gemstone and palms. With a yelp she swung her hands back, sending the cart off to the sidelines away from her very thankful friends, although her victory was stumped when the cyclops then turned its stare towards her instead. Angered he ran over and swung a closed fist down towards her, yet was suddenly met by a crystal-shaped shield forming out of thin air and protecting the young teen overhead with a resonating thud.

Snarling his teeth the cyclops grabbed the shield with both hands and yanked it out of the way only for the small prey beneath him to disappear in the form of a rainbow blur.

Another girl in white raised her hands to form two massive crystal shields sending them barreling towards the massive monster who in turn gratefully took the attack head on, shattering the pieces of magic with its horns and charged towards the three.

Rarity huffed indignantly, brushing a few strands of hair off her shoulder as her necklace glowed bright. Thrusting out her hands multiple small crystals sprouted from under the soil, placed in-between them and the rampaging creature. To their horror the cyclops merely shattered through them with his shoulders and horns, continuing his assault. With Rarity busy Rainbow quickly turned to Twight gesturing wildly.

“Can’t you…I dunno…lift this guy up in the air or hold him still!?”

Her friend turned away from the advancing creature and gave Dash a heated glare.

“Oh sure Rainbow~” Twilight smiled through a faux grin. “Why didn’t I think of that sooner, gosh your such a genius! After all it’s not like I haven’t lifted a building before, much less a bloodthirsty yeti-thing trying to rip off my head every five seconds!”

“Um darlings, perhaps we can discuss this some other time?” Rarity interrupted, gaining both their attention. The fashionista had begun sweating while continuing to propel her magic at their enemy, who hardly seemed fazed by the assault.

Rainbow Dash grinded her teeth together, returning her narrowed eyes at Twilight.

“Oh, forget it!”

That said she took off headfirst with the world going in slow motion, making it far too easy in dodging an oncoming swipe as she took a risk, jumping until the bottom of her shoes pressed against the cyclops’ oversized forearm and leaping again towards its face, bringing a leg up to plant a heel into the jerk’s eyeball.

Her plan worked, because the monster immediately screeched in pain, placing one palm on his eye while the other appendage swung violently.

All over her she could see nothing but wreckage and destruction of what once was a sports arena. For weeks she’d planned for this day in particular, to show CHS, the world, and her friends what she was capable of without magic. Then Gilda and her posse of cheating showoffs just had to come back, bring past memories up best left far behind. And before they could finally settle whatever issue they had with each other this freak came in, completely thrashing everything in sight not opposed to an overdosed monkey. When Fluttershy desperately attempted to talk it out of its tantrum the creature in return almost bit off her old friend’s upper body if it weren’t for Dash yanking Flutters away.

Rarity’s shields had proven ineffective earlier when attempting to contain it, both through its animalistic frenzy and Rarity’s struggle keeping the magical containment from collapsing. Sunset, Pinkie, and Fluttershy were currently busy making sure both students and staff evacuated the area to safety. There were still a whole lot of trapped bystanders, therefore it was up to her, AJ, Rarity, and Twilight to keep it at bay until a plan was thought out.

Drastic measures needed to be taken, and despite its injuries this thing sustained it made quick work in taking each opportunity to maim or otherwise kill them. She couldn’t lie to herself, the paled look on its face sent shivers through her very core. Behind the bloodlust, a feeling of emptiness and helplessness crept through its feature every now and then, as if it wasn’t fully in control of its own body.

Unfortunately they didn’t have time to inspect the weird monster, on account of it constantly reaching for any chance to get its claws around them. whatever it was, whatever it wanted, it was dangerous, obviously had a killing intent, and ruined an already terrible day. It needed to be stopped one way or another.

Watching it take its palm away from its eye to glance downward, Dash grinned. Using the same technique she bounced one leg off its furry body and this time slammed a shoulder into the cyclops’ cheek. Despite the dull pain in her shoulder from hitting a bone twice her size, it was surprisingly effective as he yelped and stumbled off balance.

Rolling onto the grass, she steadied herself for another go when the cyclops fell to his stomach in surprise. Confused as well, Dash looked to see none other than Applejack easily holding a huge hooved leg tightly in her arms giving the athlete a thumbs up.

“What are ya waiting for Dash!? Get him!”

Smirking RD nodded before cupping her mouth towards the right side of the field.

“Rarity! I’m gonna need a ramp!”

Not waiting for affirmation Dash rushed towards the captive, happy to see bright flat crystals rip from the ground in an angle elevating her trajectory. Jumping she braced her muscles for the impact as the smaller teen bashed into the monsters lower hanging jaw shoulder first with all the power she had as a loud POP reverberated through the air. A gnarly howl followed where she watched her enemy hold his awkwardly hanging chin, telling her she’d basically dislocated it. Sparks of sick enjoyment arose in her chest seeing its painful expression when a whistle shouted out.

“Atta girl! Come on, give it to him one more, you’ve got this Dash!” AJ hollered once more while yanking the beast’s leg back. Mixtures of emotions flowed within her, mainly excitement coupled with burning rage. Placing her knuckles on the grass colorful rivers of magic licked at her heels and hands, and in that moment her pendant glowed brighter than that of a star as she sped like lightning back into the battle, closing a glowing fist while zooming up a make-shift ramp of other magical property.

What she didn’t expect was for the cyclops to pop its jaw back into place, pulling its hooved foot free from AJ’s grasp then slamming it back into the farmer’s small frame therefore kicking her out of sight, then using its hand to block her path. she was too late to stop and crashed helplessly into a wide-open palm which instantly gripped tightly around her body. Squeezing her like a hollow dog toy he never broke contact with her newly terrified expression before thrusting her away, where she felt her body connect with the brick wall of CHS with gravity dragging her back down to the ground.

Soon as she hit the grass her entire frame went limp with her vision snuffing like candlelight.

_____________

Fluttershy had a lot of things on her plate right now. First she had to deal with a handful of people she’d wished none of them would ever see again all day, only to eventually end up desperately pulling Rainbow Dash towards her in order to keep as much distance as possible between her friend and Gilda’s murderous rampage. That was until the school was met with yet another Equestrian issue in the form of a massive goat-like creature with one eye appearing from out of nowhere, instantly attracted to said friend.

Luckily most people dodged the creature’s initial lunge for Dash, however when it began to go crazy destroying property and still struggling to get its jaws specifically around either of the seven girls, including herself, that’s when things began to get serious.

Ignoring the nauseating fear boiling in her stomach, she’d attempted to gain it, or rather his, attention, desperately trying to calm him down and ask what the matter was. All over him she could see burn marks and bloody spots, which alone somewhat helped calm her nerves into that of saddened horror.

Was he scared, perhaps being hunted by someone. The thought alone made her heart drop for the poor creature, obviously coming from the magical land Equestria into an unknown world chocked full of people who’d want to either sell his living body/remains or kill him off for safety.

However her initial feelings of sympathy and remorse were hitched once looking into his eye. Though he for some reason refused to speak, what she saw through his gaze told her everything she needed to know, and it was enough to feel as though her soul had just been ripped out. Otherworldly or not, Fluttershy knew animals, a trait Pinkie Pie called her “Flutter sense” long before superpowers ever came into the picture. The prospect and attention made her blush every time, but Pinkie did have a point. Since she was a little girl her every desire was to make friends with each woodland creature she came across.

Volunteer work at the animal shelter and special visits to zoos further enhanced her line of communication with furry creatures. Harry the bear from the zoo across town always perked up more whenever they saw each other.

This creature, however, was a completely different story. He wasn’t a nice one, she could tell by his prideful garbs and initial haughty stature. But in her effort to soothe the maddened creature, once they locked eyes she found no prideful glee or snide remarks to be said, no, all she saw in that lone, paled, and bloodshot iris was an unfamiliar and unrelenting darkness yearning with hunger. Hunger for death, her death.

For a split millisecond she began to believe she was going crazy after all there was no way on earth any creature could hold such evil intent, and it was then she witnessed it, the soul beyond what appeared to be a shell of a body pulsed. It screamed for help, for control, a body being puppeteered by a force so powerful the soul inside could do nothing but play along.

She could count herself lucky Rainbow was able to yank her away from an incoming bite she’d yet to notice through her frozen state.

Even still, the hole within her heart grew the more she witnessed the girls attempts at stalling it while she, Sunset, and Pinkie quickly scrambled to action, pushing, and shoving the already petrified crowd away from the scene.

The whole ordeal had only taken close to thirty minutes and even now she could see the obvious exhaustion plaguing most of her friends opposed to the increasing anger of the cyclops. Rainbow Dash looked worn to the knub, no doubt partially due to her extreme lack of self-care during the Sports Event, Rarity and Twilight had done everything they could to hold him back from gaining attention on fellow classmates, teachers, as well as other innocents. They’d fought magical villains before, but nothing could compare to this moment.

Sunset seemed to be taking it the hardest, her expressions and movements solemn as she rushed the people away. It was as if a part of the otherwise strong-willed ex-Equestrian had been swallowed whole, ultimately leaving a guilt ridden, broken girl holding herself together by thinning strings of self-hope. She was blaming herself for this whole ordeal, and it in turn was killing Fluttershy that she couldn’t reach out to the girl.

Pinkie was arguably better fortunately, anxiously forcing a consoling smile while the party planner spouted words of optimism to her friends in-between the screaming and crying crowd. Left and right injuries were getting worse the longer the cyclops continued his rampage. Equipment and many other heavy object were constantly being tossed and thrown about, causing both her and her friends to shove people out of the way more than once. One glance at the ‘fight’ was enough to tell thew girls were struggling severely to keep the beast from tearing them apart, much less focusing on saving anyone caught in the crossfire.

As the crowd thinned, Fluttershy let herself breathe deeply knowing close to all civilians were safe when Trixie tripped, falling to the ground while the crowd rolled over her huddled body. Without an alternative, forcing herself through the many people Fluttershy managed to grab her fallen classmate, dragging her out from the trampling stampede holding her by the underarms. Gently helping Trixie back to her shaking feet, Fluttershy attempted to brush the dust of the other’s jacket when the magician slapped her offering hand away, the glare on her classmate’s face piercing through her soul.

“You guys just have to ruin everything, don’t you.” Trixie seethed.

Unable to come up with a response, Fluttershy was silent as Trixie shoved by to join the escaping people. Not keeping her eyes off Trixie, the young teen paused, taking a moment to regrettably look around at the mayhem. Was this really their fault? True in their past experience with magic they’ve always managed to defeat it together, but it did happen rather often didn’t it? Everywhere they went, bad magic followed always resulting in awful consequences.

Were they ever helping the situation, or unknowingly always somehow tacking on additional issues to deal with immediately after?

Small claws gently wrapped over her shoulder, causing the young caretaker to turn over and see a small red bird gazing at her with excitement written in his beady eyes.

“Hello there Hubert.” Fluttershy murmured weakly, tensing a little once seeing a hint of worry in his expression as well. “Is something wrong?”

The small bird began chirping in response, each otherwise indescribable sound causing Fluttershy to widen her eyes in horror. Glancing at the fight undergoing the school’s lawn she trailed her vision to where Hubert was motioning for, far to the right where a few surviving bleachers remained from the crossfire. Underneath the lower deck of the metal steps a small, grey jacketed frame could be seen clinging tightly to both a grassy ground and under metal seats.

An entirely new sensation of fear grew in her stomach when noticing the fighting between Rarity/Twilight and the cyclops was getting closer to the specific bleacher, that including the trapped little girl in hiding.

With a thankful smile Fluttershy patted Hubert away and made for the bleacher. Sunset and Pinkie appeared to have the civilians handled for now, she could do this.

Careful to avoid any detection, (either from their enemy or risking being a moment’s distraction for her already stressed girls dealing with a rampaging behemoth on their literal tail’s), she snuck around the courtyard to make her way towards the bleacher, the small frame of the child squeezed tightly under where Fluttershy herself couldn’t reach was too familiar to not recognize.

“Scootaloo? Is that you?”

A twitch, whether out of fear or something else was uncertain, but nonetheless stayed still. She tried again, louder this time cupping her mouth over the noises of the battle mere yards away.

“Scootaloo, it’s me, Fluttershy.”

Finally the younger freshman jolted in response, twisting her torso best she could to glance up at the older teen. From here Fluttershy could see the tear stained look on the tween’s face, grass and mud covering both the smaller female’s pinkish hair and jacket. When seeing her, Scootaloo’s petrified face widened in a mixture of surprise and happiness, her voice croaked out as she unfurled her arms.

“F-Fluttershy?”

Nodding gently the caretaker knelt further under the bleachers extending an offering hand to who she could’ve considered a younger sister regarding a long, affectionate history shared throughout most of Scoot’s life. Despite the fear still current on her face, Scootaloo reached out her own hand grasping Shy’s as the older girl carefully pulled her out. Upon doing so, the younger rushed in for a bear hug, of which Fluttershy recuperated as the freshman began to cry softly in her arms.

“I-I fell under the bl-eachers when everyone ran down, I wasn’t w-with Apple Bloom or Sweetie Belle at the time. where are they? Are they okay?!”

Scoot’s tone quickly changed, no longer fearful for her own life but instead of her friends. Releasing her grip Fluttershy looked down with a soothing voice, holding her younger friend close.

“I’m sure they’re okay, right now we need to get you out of here.”

A roar interrupted them both, causing them both to watch from a distance Rainbow Dash begin hopping off the creature’s forearm and slamming into his face, making him stagger in anger. Applejack was holding one of his lower legs captive, allowing Dash to recuperate with yet another powerful knock into the cyclops’ jaw.

She didn’t to be facing Scootaloo to notice the younger girl’s sparkling eyes, watching her hero continue punch after punch.

“She’s so cool.” Scoots gawked. That she is. Fluttershy mentally agreed as her old friend went in for another powerful strike.

Awe transformed into horror when the beast appeared to slam his foot into AJ’s stomach, discarding her and swinging his hand up over a crystal ramp to nab Dash mid-hit. Without a spare of pity he swung his hand back and tossed the helpless athlete away, far too fast and close for either Twilight or Rarity to catch the sports captain as she slammed like a rock into CHS’ brick side.

Falling limp to the floor, a shared sensation of frozen shock flowed through everyone watching. Twilight and Rarity ceased their own attacks while Sunset and Pinkie gaped numbly at the fallen girl. Fluttershy’s mind went blank, no movement at all from Dash as she laid in the grass, back turned to everyone else.

Seeing this, the cyclops lifted his head high and bellowed, banging his chest in gleeful victory as Sunset and Pinkie ran over to the downed teen. In his victory, the monster slammed the ground akin to a gorilla, barreling towards a distracted Twilight and Rarity, who dodged just in time. Realizing too late he’d missed his prey after slamming into the bleacher, he gruffly pushed it off its anchored hinges devoid of effort, leading the entire thing to topside. Right over Fluttershy and Scootaloo.

The child in her arms screamed in fear, and in a split second of thought Fluttershy grabbed the younger by the torso and hoisted her far away, (stronger and farther than she ever thought she could phisically manage), tossing the freshman to safety before a roof of metal plating fell atop the caretaker’s head.

She resisted the urge to cry in agony as one of the lower benches crushed into her exposed calf and thigh, its force digging her body further into the ground. clenching her teeth Fluttershy got on her elbows to lift herself up, but it was no use, the heavy weight pressed down on her lower half was far too powerful compared to her meager strength. Nerves inside her body screamed as an aching pain delve into her calf, oh Faust she hoped her leg wasn’t broken.

Scrambling feet caught her attention as Scootaloo appeared back into frame, maneuvering under the tight spaces to get a good look at Fluttershy. Grunting, the caretaker waved the younger girl off frantically as the roars of battle and fury became louder.

“No Scootaloo!” She gasped through the pain. “You-*ugh!*-you need to get out of here!”

Upon being told so, the freshman gaped at her as if she was crazy. Maybe she was, thinking such a introverted, closed off wallflower like herself could make anything good come out of unstoppable situations like these, with or without powers.

“No way!” Scootaloo all but shouted defiantly, brushing by to grip her fingers under the overturned metal seat, grunting while attempting to lift it by herself.

Fluttershy couldn’t ignore the swell of pride that huddled next to the overbearing fear inside her. Rainbow Dash was right, Scootaloo had an unbreakable determination. With her smaller friend busy, she urgently began moving her thigh upwards, hoping to help lift what felt like ten solid tons of pressure moving against them.

More earthshattering howls of fury. She hoped the others could stop that that thing without any further loss.

And by Faust’s name did she pray Rainbow was okay.

_________

Twilight hardly had time to recognize the oncoming monster just in time, yanking both her and Rarity to the side as it slammed into an unfortunate bleacher while sending it topside in anger. She did however manage to see the thing throw one of her best friends into a wall, as well as the snidely pride it took in everyone’s utter horror. Sunset and Pinkie had abandoned their post, although their job was pretty much already done with, to check up on Dash. she couldn’t catch a glance because of the hulking goat-thing still trying to rip her in two.

Flinging her hands, a spray of debris flew into the monster’s eye by her command, as she turned to Rarity.

“Go help them check up on Rainbow dash!” She found herself commanding, nudging towards the others. “Let me and Applejack take care of this thing while you get her out of here!”

Rarity looked as though she wanted to argue but nodded nevertheless and retreated back to join the other three. With her gone Twilight glared at the beast towering over her, its expression unnaturally furious. A spike of anxiety raced across her nerves, the sudden realization that she was as of now currently alone weighing down on her. Applejack was out of sight, so it was up to her to hold this monster back from the rest of the group.

Hand glowing brightly with powerful magic, she thrusted her arm in a swinging motion as pieces of dirt ripped from the ground by her will, spraying straight into the cyclops’ eye who growled in surprise while holding its face in pain. Now that it was distracted she moved to the right, waving her arms as the creature rubbed the debris from his blurred vision.

“Hey! This way stupid!”

A rumble of fury signified she’d gotten her wish, dodging a row of mangled teeth as she continued to uproot soil, aiming it at the cyclops’ exposed face. Another direct hit!

Although it wasn’t as distracting the second time, evidence by him merely shaking his burly head and chucking its left open palm to grab her. Luckily for Twilight, Applejack leapt in from behind to release her own closed fisted punch at the mass of calloused muscle intended for the other. The shockingly stronger force of Applejack’s hit easily swung the offending palm back, although considering the ferocity in the farmer’s eyes told Twilight she was far from finished.

Stetson hat missing, AJ screamed as she charged onward, utilizing all her strength to jump and slam into its opposite arm, a painful crack emitting from unnaturally thick bone structure. Shrieking in agony, it scrapped its claws through the dirt, sharp edges missing AJ, yet the force alone was plenty to send her airborne.

“NO!” Twilight yelled, instinctively concentrating all the magic she had on stopping the older female from another grueling knockout. She did manage to catch her friend mid-air, both to said friend’s safety but at a cost to her own. Now preoccupied, she was defenseless as the cyclops raised both fists high and brought them down in a thunderous crash onto the earth, creating a shockwave knocking Twilight off her feet thus dropping her hold on AJ.

Hitting her back hard, Twilight gasped as the air escaped her lungs causing her vision to dim. Propping up on her elbows she blinked once noticing her overturned glasses, lifting up a hand to right them and almost fainting when seeing her enemy slowly making his way towards her.

Scuttling back she desperately began to look around for help. There was nothing of use beside her, and Applejack appeared motionless. As the creature advanced she tried once more throwing chunks of dirt at him, to which he simply pawed away in annoyance. Fear gaining her composure, she shuffled across her elbows and feet as he limped closer, each weakened attempt at catching him off guard failing both due to a lack of strong equipment and a newly thick weight of exhaustion suddenly holding down on her power. Even the glowing coming from within her geode was sufficiently dimmed.

“Twilight!”

She felt herself being yanked backwards just in time for a palm to slam the area she’d previously been sitting. Noticing the arms wrapped around her own, Twilight lifted her head up to see Sunset grasping her by the underarms and proceeding to shuffle the both of them away from another missed strike. At one point Twilight noticed an overturned food truck with one of its oil canisters sprawled out from its truck, oil ruining the soil. Right as an idea struck her, Sunset had tripped resulting in Twilight falling in the other girl’s lap under their enemy’s looming shadow.

Lifting her gaze as best she could to Sunset, she directed her palm at the canister before speaking.

“Better cover your face.” She warned.

“What-” Sunset questioned questioningly until the younger girl in her lap grunted while motioning her hand forward. Sunset’s answer came in the shape of a metal barrel flying through the sky straight towards the cyclops.

Of which he caught with his good arm, unfazed. A shared feeling of horror was etched across the two fallen teens’ faces as the cyclops brought forth his broken arm, regardless of pain, and stood to his full height heaving the flammable container over his, as well as their heads.

Neither of them found any words to say, instead, Twilight felt Sunset curl her arms and to some extent a part of her body further around Twi’s torso, as if preparing to cover her from most of the oncoming damage. As for the younger, she simply gripped onto her best friend tightly, choosing to hold her hands up in hopes of holding him back somehow. His roar hurt her ears.

Suddenly he paused, more like flinched. Something had hit his back, something blue and fizzling with power. She loosened her hands slightly, had Rainbow Dash recovered. Something in the creature’s eye sparked with anger at the interruption, a glare of familiarity.

“Behind you, dipshit!”

Twilight could see the cyclops’ glare harden downward at her before (reluctantly?) turning around, canister still above his head. At their current angle, both Twilight and Sunset had the opportunity to glance around the monster’s side to see a man a mere couple yards away from the three, hands down by his sides while fixating on the creature in front of him.

“Hey there shithead, forget about me?” the man sneered, and she swore the cyclops began to visibly shake with indignation. “Because I sure as hell don’t recall us being finished.”

For a brief minute, the newcomer seemed to finally notice the two, narrowing his eyes even further before beckoning his enemy. Surprisingly, the cyclops began to take a couple steps towards the man, seemingly forgetting about the girls now far behind him and rather growling a warning. Was this guy suicidal?! She wanted to yell or scream out to him, beg him to run before it was too late, however something held her tongue

“That’s right, get your wimpy ass back over here ugly.”

Raising his burly hands the cyclops was ready to finally toss his stolen weapon, but the man was faster. Her mind went blank as an array of bright blue magic, electricity it appeared in the form of, sprouted from the stranger’s open palm followed by a ball of solid blue power rocketed towards the monster. Supposedly hitting him square in the chest, the cyclops could only howl in pain only to be interrupted as the barrel bonked him on the head spraying oil all over his fur.

The blue electricity still evident on his chest eventually made contact, and it was only a matter of time until orange and yellow flames engulfed the beast’s body, first climbing up his neck and face, then trailing down his arms and chest.

Inhuman sounds erupted from the monster’s throat as it thrashed and flung aimlessly, pounding his fists helplessly onto the ground which caused the already oily ground to gush into flames as well. Trails of it went everywhere, burning chairs, flags, into bleachers, and…

She gulped, noticing a particular tail of fire had started heading their way, no doubt towards the broken truck right next to them. There might’ve been more of those canisters in the truck, if the flames reached it, they wouldn’t need a monster to end their lives.

Sunset should’ve started pulling them further back by now, except one glimpse at the older girl’s expression told Twilight she was tranced or captivated by what was happening. shifting herself from her friend’s hold Twilight nudged with urgency.

“Sunset, we need to get out of here, quick!”

No response. Sunset just continued to gape, watching the shrieking aflame creature and the man who’d temporarily saved their skins, his body still glowing with electricity. Moving an elbow, she prodded the other girl in the stomach, causing her to snap out of whatever charm she’d been under and stared at Twi with curiosity.

“The truck Sunset!” Twilight insisted, pointing outward. “The truck!”

Following her indention, Sunset’s eyes widened in realization, scampering back to her feet and lacing the fallen girl’s arm around her shoulders as they simultaneously headed for the exit. The others with RD were missing, and the smoke was climbing higher, they might have gotten to safety.

“Let’s grab Applejack and then get out from the other side” She insisted. Sunset merely hummed in response, ever so often shifting her gaze back at the scene slowly being covered by the smoke.

“Twilight…” Sunset began, her words cutting off. She could only quicken her pace, giving Sunset a poor excuse for an empathetic glimpse while the pair made their way to AJ.

“I don’t know Sunset, I really don’t.”

_____________

Having tracked the bastard for miles, Cole had to admit he was stumped. How in the hell did the cyclops manage to grow some balls and gain the energy to resist a bio leech despite obviously nearly dying was questionable enough, although he had some theories.

More importantly when it appeared to have an upper hand on him, why did it leave? All the way out of the city boarder and into neighborhood territory no less, and with a great amount of determined speed too. Nevertheless, he followed behind best he could, having never reached the neighborhood outside of Canterlot himself in the past. Fortunately the creature hadn’t harmed nor killed any civilians while train wrecking through small streets, only a hell of a lot of insurance issues and therapy requests.

To think a monster of that size would roam all this way to trash a high school was another question entirely.

Upon arrival, the place was already a mess. Looked as though they’d just been in the middle of some kind of special occasion, what with all the decorated attire and concession stands laying in a heap of rubble. So far he’d seen most of what had to be the school’s occupants forming a barely contained crowd across the street, away from their ruined courtyard.

It was then Cole understood. That sensation, that source of power, it bled all over the school like a coated blanket. He had to force his conduit senses back into focus considering just how heavy everything felt when simply standing next to the building, this wasn’t the time for another ‘stunned silence.’ People were in danger, kids no less, he needed to stop this.

CHS. A whisper here, a rumor there, considering what telltale stories he’d heard about the place, it definitely had some sort of reputation. Interviews with witnesses in the papers and previous sources argued seeing kids ‘sprouting wings’ or ‘having an odd feeling to it.’ The sole reason he’d yet to check anything out personally was due to the fact of how far outside the metroplex it was, resting deep in the neighborhoods where a person such as him would be spotted or interrupted much faster than in the city.

Was this high school really the source all along? As ridiculous as it sounded, (and for certain prideful reasons he’d inwardly begged it not to be so considering how long he’d been searching that whole city inside and out only for it to be all the way out here in a fucking high school), the evidence was staring him square in the face for now.

He could rest easy once seeing that the school itself was fundamentally untouched, allowing him easy access to climb over the roof and view the courtyard below. From up on his vantage point he could tell his former enemy was pissed about something, so when he jumped off the two-story building and landed he immediately directed another shot towards the bastard’s shoulder; Better him being the center of the monster’s rage once more rather than some helpless innocents.

As luck would have it, the idiot was currently holding a very much leaking and very much flammable canister above his head, ready and waiting to throw. With his arrival vocalized, the cyclops veered his ugly mug with an almost annoyed growl, that black aura still emitting from his body. That’s also when Cole caught a glimpse of the two girls now behind the giant, presumably his intended targets before being interrupted.

If he shot that canister there and then, chances were those two might’ve been in danger of the flames. That’s why he’d decided on goading the thing back towards him, which thankfully appeared to have worked. Soon as he felt the distance was safe enough, one easy rocket and the bastard lit up in flames like a torch with the grass burning alongside him. The cyclops was still weak from their fight earlier, making its movement sluggish even as the fire licked at its exposed skin while waving its massive arms around in an awkward motion, one swipe indenting a three fingered claw mark in the school’s side, other than that a minute and a half later the bright flames on its body subsided as smoke rose high above them both.

The overwhelming smell of burnt flesh and oil was nauseating, but it ultimately didn’t matter. Barely able to stand, the injured cyclops crumpled to the ground in a heap, pained gasps of air replacing shrieks of rage. Behind him the two teens had disappeared as well, leaving just him and the downed beast for now.

Electricity ripped through his arms as he began marching towards the fallen monster, who could only return a fearful expression behind his exhaustion. The black aura surrounding the cyclops was gone, only leaving a beaten and battered creature that attempted to desperately claw away from the stalking conduit. Cole felt a hint of pity at seeing the poor bastard’s state, and a part of him considered simply leaving his foe be, but his rational side cut that idea out. This thing had the sentience to take pleasure in killing and maiming, it was simply too dangerous to be left alive.

He stopped. What was that? Eyes still locked on target he concentrated his power to create another invisible pulse, feeling the limited resources of electricity within the area. However, two individual impressions caught his attention. His stomach turned upon realizing that both he and the cyclops were in fact not the sole beings left in the courtyard after all.

He peered to his right where an overturned bleacher was currently laying, the thin line of flames heading towards its direction followed by blackened smoke. Even still, when listening closely he could hear screaming coming from its direction, was someone trapped under the rubble, or were they simply behind the bleacher trying to hide?

A low moan garnered his attention back to the cyclops who’d gotten halfway up and was already shuffling away from the scene. Cole snarled, raising an electrified fist to stop his escaping foe. This time he for sure heard a distinct call for help from the bleachers as smoke began covering its frame, meaning the fire was gaining on whoever was shouting. The cyclops was picking up both speed and distance, gradually lifting to its full height and limping away best he could manage.

He didn’t have the power for a lightning storm, so knocking out the ugly beast while simultaneously saving whoever was under the bleachers was out of the question. Releasing a frustrated sigh he took a step forward only to have his own internal feelings chain him back.

If he let the cyclops go and freed the victims, he’d be sparing two souls for the price of multiple others. On the other hand if he ended this here and now he’d be saving future innocents, yet once again have the weight of knowing he’d let someone die for the ‘greater good.’

Which meant more, the life of one, or the lives of many?

He narrowed his eyes, decision made.
___________

Fluttershy couldn’t breathe. The fire trailing alongside the grass had finally reached the bleacher, creating a bloom of black smoke which began to coat every inch of light visible. Whether it was by pure chance or not, the fire had yet to actually reach her skin, although that didn’t mean it wasn’t about to become a possibility.

She could feel the increasing heat from burning metal breathing right behind her back, a gut-wrenching wave of incoming nausea and fearful sparks of adrenaline caused her to look back up at Scootaloo, still persistently trying to pull the overweighted metal off the older girl’s trapped form.

“Sc-scootaloo..” Fluttershy coughed, the smoke wafting through the air holding back a good portion of her cracked voice. “…pl-please, you need to run!”

The younger girl narrowed her eyes, grunting loudly as she desperately tried to lift with all the strength she had left.

“You’re crazy if you think I’m just gonna leave you like this!” the child yelled over the roaring fire and screaming of the titanic beast just out of view. She pulled her leg as best she could, but the metal beam holding her still was far too heavy, no matter how hard either oof them attempted to escape. Tears struggled to form in her eyes, as she watched the child before her stubbornly try to save her. whether it was from the equestrian powers or just her genuine knowledge, there weren’t any fellow critters or general people available to help them both. She gripped the dirt underneath her fingers, clawing holes in the soil as a sick feeling of anger burned brighter than any fire could possibly create,

Rainbow Dash was fallen, the whereabouts of her other friends was unknown, and now because of her she was about to get her childhood friend’s near adopted little sister killed. Why, why was she even given these powers to begin with? Sure she couldn’t ask for a greater gift to actually communicate with animals, but she was far from a combatant like the others.

But all that didn’t matter right now, Scootaloo’s life was at risk, and she wouldn’t let Rainbow Dash down like this. As the freshman beside her continued to push Fluttershy scrapped the ground while trying to claw her way to freedom with all the energy she could muster, despite feeling the tickle of flames now licking at her shoes.

A shape busted through the black smoke landing right next to Scootaloo, and Fluttershy widened her eyes in fear for her friend’s safety. However as the shape came closer she saw a man in white walk next to scoots who jumped in surprise at the newcomer. Fluttershy didn’t waste any time.

“Please, *Cough* h-help us! I’m trapped!”

Without a word the man gripped the bar alongside Scoots and lifted, and to both teen and preteen’s surprise the metal bleacher began to rise high from the freshman’s grasp. Amidst her shock Fluttershy felt the weight on her leg release, although that didn’t stop the numbness now clearly evident seeping through her thighs.

Holding the bleacher over his shoulder the man grunted out to her.

“What are you waiting for? Move!”

Scrambling with her arms and palms, she tried to stand only to instantly fall back down to her face. It was no use, the pain mixed with the lack blood within her lower body made it impossible to move, leaving her crawling desperately. Thankfully their savior noticed this as well, turning his head towards the young girl beside him.

“I need you to get over there and help her! Quick!”

Scootaloo shook off her own astonishment and rushed further into the fray, grasping Fluttershy’s extended hand while further dragging her out until they both passed the man, safe from the metal contraption and brimming fire.

When they settled to the ground, the man immediately shrugged off the otherwise incredibly heavy metal his shoulder and went to bend down, scooping up Shy with a squeak of embarrassment. Holding the teen bridal style he nudged at Scootaloo while picking up speed.

“We need to get out of here, come’on!”

Not waiting to argue the freshman followed suit as the three made their way across the backside of the yard until reaching the exit gate. Holding onto her savior’s neck for dear life, Fluttershy peered back to the yard now far behind them, noticing the Cyclops was nowhere to be found, as well as her friends.

Somewhere outside the exit gate, the man stopped before looking square in Fluttershy’s eyes.

“Are you okay?” He asked, this time with a much calmer tone. Slightly caught off guard by the Heightened adrenaline and tension from his peirceing gaze, she could only croak through an already dry throat.

“I-I can’t feel my legs.”

Nodding in affirmation, he bent down to drop her down the grass much to her and Scoot’s dumbfounded curiosity. Once her entire body was placed on the ground he lifted both hands, placing them together as a sudden spark of sparkling blue energy formed from his hands. Again caught off guard both students watched in amazement until he leaned said electric sparkling hands towards Fluttershy, to which Scootaloo immediately placed herself in between the two protectively.

Notably expecting this, he backed up slightly holding his hands back.

“Its okay, I’m going to heal her.” He spoke calmly. Hesitant, Scootaloo looked back at Fluttershy, as if asking for permission. Seeing this from the ground, the caretaker switched gazes from freshman to stranger, once again noting the care etched across his face she gently placed a hand on her friend’s shoulder.

“Don’t worry, it’ll be fine.” She coughed. Still uncertain, Scootaloo nevertheless stepped to the side as the man brought his bright blue hands to Shy’s stomach.

“Hold still, alright?” he encouraged as the sparks made contact. Rapidly a surge of electricity burned through her both, automatically causing her to clench her teeth as a wave of warm blood washed away the numbness in her lower torso, burning away the pain alongside it as well. The man grunted in surprise when a bright yellow light shone through the geode wrapped around her neck, a wave of yellow mixing with the blue and soon crawling up his hands and around his body. He stepped back in shock, holding his temple as if gaining a headache.

Scootlaloo was the first to reach her, helping the taller teen back up to her feet once the other tried. Watching them both, the stranger stepped forward offering to help, to which Shy graciously took as he placed a comforting arm around her back as they made their way to the crowd across the street.

“Fluttershy!”

Flying across the street, the form of Pinkie skidded to a stop next to her, quickly taking control of her friend’s trajectory out of Scootaloo’s and the stranger’s grasp. Wrapping a hand around her old friend, Pinkie gave the two helpers a thousand splutters of “thank you’s” to which Scoot waved off as she rejoined her own friends, while the stranger watched the pink girl warily.

As Pinkie began taking her friend over to where the rest of her friends thankfully stayed beside the hysterical crowd, Fluttershy widened her eyes when seeing the still prone form of Rainbow Dash laying underneath Rarity’s lap. An idea sprung to life as she whipped around and gasped at the stranger who was currently preoccupied glancing at a different direction. He appeared ready to leave.

“Wait!” she shouted, gaining his attention.

“Our friend, she-she’s hurt! Please help her!”

Raising an eyebrow, the stranger breathed in before eventually following her, traversing through a crowd of students and teachers until the pair reached their shared group of five teenagers. Expressions of happiness surrounded her when the rest of the girls saw them, AJ and Twilight coming over to examine Fluttershy.

Smiling at them, she walked over to Dash noticing the barely labored breathing and an ugly rip in her uniform, crimson leaking across her shoulder. A shadow cast over them, and all six gazed at the man watching them with curiosity, while Flutterhsy gestured to her fallen friend resting against Rarity with a desperate expression. Taking note of the many stares, he stepped forward until bending down to the two inspecting the blue multicolored girl before bringing his hands upward with more sparks of blue emerging from his hands.

Many gasps followed as most notably AJ, Sunset, and Twilight took a threatening step in his direction with Rarity holding the prone girl closer to her chest. Gulping Fluttershy stood in their way before things got ugly.

“I-Its okay!” She stammered. “He won’t hurt her, He healed me!”

Similar to Scoots, they all were hesitant, yet once seeing the sincerity in their shared friend’s expression the tension lifted. Noting this as his chance, he placed his hands on the rainbow-haired girl, blue lightning sparking all over her frame causing the unconscious girl to twitch. Weirdly no lights came from dash’s geode, therefore no incoming energy trailing back towards the man.

After a few seconds or so of tense waiting, they watched in astonishment as the gash across Dash’s arm closed by itself and her quiet breathing turned to hacking coughs, consciousness reawakening. Excitement got the better of her, Fluttershy sat right next to Dash, holding the back of her head as her friend’s eyelids fluttered.

Sunset watched them with a surge of happiness blossoming through her heart. The situation with Dash had been more terrifying to see from afar, so watching her from up close covered in gnarly bruises and blood was enough to make her sick. The only thing overcasting that fear being the realization Fluttershy was nowhere to be seen. Both her and Applejack were rearing to head back in the blackened smoke field when Pinkie seemed to have spotted her amongst freshman Scootaloo and…him.

Sunset found herself unable to speak her mind alongside Twilight, who turned pale at the mere sight of him.

When he headed for RD, arms burning with electricity, her initial reluctance shifted when her and a collective few others moved in for the aspect of another fight. It was only because of Fluttershy’s intervening that stopped their potential annihilation at the hands of a much more capable being, as he seemingly sparked a breath of life back into Dash’s body.

Watching one of her best friend’s slow recovery the sound of sirens burst through the air, wailing closer and closer. finally, the police. Hopefully they’d brought an ambulance as well.

She looked in his direction, only to find that he’d disappeared. Gawking Sunset jumped to glance over many heads. None of which were a shaved head coupled with a white shirt and weapon attached bag. A feeling of someone standing beside her gained her attention to see Twilight, also noticing the missing man.

Dammit, this was all her fault. All these people, her friends, the cyclops, hell maybe even that man, all on her. She couldn’t look at the scurrying people wadding for the multiple red and blue vehicles in need of help, she just couldn’t.

There was no excuse to be made, simply a single solitary facture. She needed to fix her stupid past mistakes once and for all. Too many had been hurt for too long now.

“Sunset, what do we do?”

Facing both the bespectacled teen as well as the others, Sunset frowned folding her arms with determination she spoke with certainty.

“Get ready girl’s, we’re going hunting.”

He examined his hands. Even now he could still feel that strange unknown power mixing within his muscles and bone, as if it were struggling to get comfortable underneath his very skin. Thank God it didn’t itch or burn, like when he attempted to use the transfer devise with Kuo which felt so long ago. Nevertheless, it was an unwelcomed sensation no matter how comfortable it was.

He’d seen the necklace on the yellow girl’s necklace burn bright as soon as his powers made contact, the explosion of non-conduit related powers spiking into his brain still made him twitch in irritation. Now that he’d thought about it, when he’d returned her to what he assumed were her friends, including that overly eccentric pink kid from the mall, each of them wore necklaces undeniably related to one another.

He expected the same effect when healing the unconscious multicolored blue girl yet was stumped when nothing happened. Although he did manage to bring her back fortunately. That good fortune took a nosedive when he heard the sirens, taking his advantage to slip away unnoticed before the cops found him.

The cyclops was obviously far gone now. No doubt skulking towards cover, more careful to not attract attention, though he shouldn’t have gone far. Had he really made the right decision.

The very question made him peer from the alley to watch the dozens of people being taken care of by medical experts. He’d saved two lives, now he’d lost the real danger.

No.

The sight of the kid stuck under the bench with a smaller girl trying to help was too much to deny. he’d made a promise, after…for her. He wouldn’t go through that again, anytime, anywhere he’d help whoever needed it no matter what. He’d find that oversized bastard, it just took time.

A pulse went out, allowing him the entirety of electrical and neuroelectric to showcase before him. Only when he did so, a new feeling rushed into his brain and before he could question it, a yellow hollow outline of what had to be the cyclops could be seen limping away from the school a couple yards until dissipating.

He stood, jaw dropped until pulsing again, getting the same reaction. His psychic vision had returned! But he’d lost that power amongst others the first time he’d battled the beast, how in the hell…

The girl. Whatever she had, it’d given it back to him. That had to be it!

He grinned ferally. Oh yeah, he’d find the bastard, no problem at all.

Author's Note

Good Karma action: Trish's Legacy +100

Hunting Big Game

"Following the glowing footprints! So convenient."

-Bucket (Evolve, 2015)
__________________________________________________________________________________________________

She held a breath as her gaze lingered, curls and knots constricting her chest which kept her rooted on the spot. Normally walks alongside the cityscape were a great tradition of stress relief, a test too strenuous or a certain Pie’s over eccentric attitude grating on your nerves? Canterlot had a wonderful remedy being an almost unnaturally peaceful town, that is when civilians weren’t plagued with paranoia or under the influence of danger, (Dark magic or otherwise).

The darkened woods looming before her expressed a completely different impression, every shadow so visibly thick it felt suffocating just to look at. No birdsong, not even the chirps of crickets echoed from the grass, as if all indication of life had ceased to exist in Scorpan Park, swallowed up in a black hole.

And their friend was inside.

Sunset didn’t twitch when shoe soles scrapped against the concrete, closing in until a hand clasped onto her shoulder as Applejack stepped into her side view. The other girl held a more unreadable expression compared to Sunset undoubtedly haunted look, more fuel to the fire of burning insecurities restricting the red-head’s movement. From somewhere behind them Twilight spoke.

“Are we all still caught up on the plan then?”

A triage of affirmations followed before the rest of her friends stepped beside her to face the forest. Even with her attention averted Sunset could still feel a thread of concerned gazes nervously examining her every move. Eventually someone broke the ice, the slow, methodical voice of Fluttershy cutting through tense air.

“Sunset, are you alright?”

Although she’d yet to turn at the sound of the voice, Sunset stiffly jerked her head up and down eyes continuously glued to the spectrum of blackness coating the nearby tree line. Oh, she was far from it, however honesty would only result in more panic, and they were running deathly short on time. Fifteen minutes was more of an eternity considering the time it took to jog several blocks down to Scorpan Park, it was a miracle they’d all arrived together. Going head-on into the fray two at a time would be costly.

How she wished her body would cease its nauseating alarm bells, to be in control of the distracting static filling her mind just so she could deal with the billions of fallout theories and concerns screaming for attention. But again, now was not the time, whether Princess Twilight got her message or not wasn’t important now either, all they needed was for Dash to be safe and this monster dealt with.

A thundering roar too close and too familiar made nearly everyone wince, before six sources of varying light caught their attention downward. to their amazement, every one of the girls’ geode necklaces were glowing vibrantly. A static in the air made their neck hair stand on end and fidgeted as sharp invisible sparks danced across bare skin, Sunset looking over the foliage in time to see what had to be a bright blue aura flash faster than light followed by another unnatural yowl.

“Yeah, let’s go.”

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

Cole grunted as a branch twice his size collided onto the spot he’d previously been standing, immediately summersaulting just in time to avoid a paw strike intent on carving him to pieces. Easily regaining his footing the conduit unleashed a rocket into his foe’s forehead, momentarily stunning the beast, clutching its head in a stunned confusion.

Right as it did this, wind picked up around the both of them as a blur pounced out of nowhere to deliver a swift yet harsh rebuttal to the Cyclops’ injured side. This new action drifted their mutual enemy’s train of thought to grasp at its bloody spot, allowing Cole full range to aim square in its sole eye. Enraged the monster blindly lounged in the man’s direction, who dodged again via ice launch as it tumbled through bramble and thickened forestation. The investors would’ve had to pray for a miracle for this park to reopen ever again, it was practically a dirt filled meadow now what with all the tree roots and bushes overturned.

Helping himself to a better position, Cole watched the manic creature try to swing wildly at everything in its path whilst covering its eye, crimson blood leaking from between its fingers covering the pupil. He let out a sigh of relief, the poor bastard really was at the end of his rope. Just a few more well-placed attacks now.

Tossing a smaller grenade, the fizzling energy exploded under the cyclops’ hand instantly encasing its appendage in ice, allowing his newfound partner to drive her heel into the exposed orb once more. Ignoring the earth-shattering screams, the young girl expertly bounced across the uneven plain until casting off into another sprint outside of the battlefield.

Judging by their past, if extremely limited, meetings Cole had no doubt the girl would be a pain in the ass to cooperate. However, to his surprise she’d seemed to take his criticisms and tactics to heart, now only engaging in combat once he provided a swift opening. She was still obviously enjoying the fight a bit too much, not that he blamed her in any way, though he was thankful for one less setback.

That of course was one of the very few reasons he’d begrudgingly allowed her aid, her determination and desire to take vengeance on the monster who’d hurt those she cared about all too familiar to simply ignore. Didn’t mean he’d let her run into battle only to lose more than consciousness. Watching Rainbow Dash was like watching a mirror, and by God if that didn’t threaten his with the world’s worst migraine.

“He’s not slowing down!”

To his surprise, he turned to find said teen standing right beside him, too stuck inside his own thinking to realize. She was right too, they were hurting him, but the ending result only seemed to further piss off the beast more rather than gain an advantage. It usually took him a while to finish off the more supernatural enemies before, either their exhaustion or injuries a major advantage compared to his abnormal healing. The conduit didn’t feel tired by any measure, however his enemies doped up levels of fury was starting to get him concerned. It no longer moved like a cornered animal, more of a massive wall of pure destruction currently foaming at the mouth with an unclear purpose.

He hated it, the uncomfortable warning of danger prickling at his skin almost like his instincts were demanding retreat. That and there was a kid currently in the line of fire.

“Everyone’s got a limit, if we can’t exhaust him we’ll find another way.”

Scanning the ruins surrounding them, his gaze landed on a tree split in half with needle sharp spokes jutting from both sides. He faced the smaller girl jutting out a thumb for her to trace his intention.

“I’ve got an idea, try and get his attention over there in that little opening, once he’s there I’ll take over.”

For a second Dash looked back and forth between him and his direction, head rotating in stiff clockwork as his plan began to reveal itself in her head, evidence from her cheeks slowly turning a shade of green.

“Uh… A little brutal don’t you think?”

“You got a better idea?”

“……Fair point I guess, but still, gross.” She cringed before speeding off without another word, speeding across the field in no time until her tiny frame was near within arm’s reach of her much larger enemy. Hands on her hips, the young teen shouted something to the Cyclops, who glared back down with such a seething hatred Cole almost found it comical.

“Hey big guy, too bad your aim sucks as much as your smell!”

CRASH!

“Too slow! Not so tough without your cheap shots!” Dash called behind her back whilst being followed close in hot pursuit. Twisting over and around the debris with ease, she’d entered to area her ally had motioned for in seconds before jumping out of the way to avoid two rows for sharpened jaws clamp loudly in her place. Proficiently side stepping whatever untethered throws were sent scrapping the edges of her dirt-stained hair until she rounded his hooved feet to catch him flailing off balance.

Unfortunately the Cyclops didn’t have the mindset to process the electric rocket crashing into his cranium before it was too late, completely eradicating his momentary stability resulting in his feet giving under the weight of sixteen tons as gravity dragged him downwards.

Dash covered her ears at the sound of tearing muscles and creaking wood which echo across the park and most surely into the deepest delves of her future nightmares, the following silence so tense it made her wonder if they’d finally won. Not that she was too worried of throwing up upon confirming her suspicions, the local “terrorist” evidentially held nothing to say either.

That was until a bloodcurdling scream almost gutted her hearing, whiplashing to watch the Cyclops try desperately to wiggle free from the jagged root penetrating through its left kidney. She held her breath to hold herself from inhaling the bloody odor as Cole darted towards the fallen beast once realizing it was not yet down, a simple wave of the conduit’s hand showering his foe in dozens of fiery balls of electricity.

For a moment the screaming increased as smoke arose to obscure the horrific scene, the floor beneath her threatening to send her sprawling as she tightened the hold on her ears, although her eyes refused to tear away. The screaming had stopped, slow at first sounding as if the mouth had been full of marbles before sowing into an array of moans. Moans turned to silence, despite Cole continuing to toss grenade after grenade clouding the area of dust and charred grass.

Seemingly drained of energy, Cole ceased his attack too, though kept his guard stiff. From a few feet behind RD could hear his ragged panting whist he glared at the area where the Cyclops laid. Somehow silence was worse than enraged roars, minutes akin to hours of her holding in a breath and feet aching to move in the chance of a surprise attack.

Taking a hitched step backwards, Cole kept his eyes forward as he backpaddled to her side. Looking up at him RD felt a shiver run down her spine when seeing his expression. Stoic, yet deadly, a cold promise of death she was thankful wasn’t aimed towards her. despite herself, Dash forced her grimace into a grin, combing her fingers through her hair as she shrugged nonchalantly, meeting his gaze.

“Eh, he could’ve been tougher-”

Suddenly her vision is blocked as Cole steps up to guard right before a massive shape explodes from the smoke like a demon from her nightmares arms raised and teeth open to devour them both. In the same moment a white light arrives out of nowhere to slam into the Equestrian monster’s face.

Releasing her grip on Cole’s shirt, (When had she done that?), Rainbow swallowed the rest of her sentence in place of a quiet breath.

“Good shooting.” She congratulated while they backed away. Instead he narrowed his eyes further, darting around skeptically on edge.

“That wasn’t me.” He grunted, guarding her between his arms as pearl white gem shields began pushing the injured monster away. The hairs on her neck stood as unknown energy began to expel from the man’s body encircling them like a defense, fascination growing within her excitement. It felt nothing like the magic from Equestria that she’d been exposed to dozens of times before, this new energy far more aggressive yet subtly hidden in comparison. Though if she recalled correctly, the Equestrian magic they’d dealt with thus far were mere fractions of the copious amounts back in their home world.

“DASSSHHHYY!”

RD didn’t have time to glance in the familiar voice’s direction before she’d been scooped into a bear hug full of energy and blinding amounts of pink. Over her friend’s frantic sobbing Dash could hear their new ally groan in irritation when the rest of her group scrambled over.

That said, most of them froze in response to the noise a few feet away from them, some giving looks of skepticism while others were more focused on the massive creature currently throwing a tantrum. She did not dare miss the side glares Sunset, AJ, and Twilight sent her way, she shuffled her feet while peering down unable to match their eyes.

Sunset stepped up to settle the confused tension as compensation to regain their main focus, looking up at him with determination.

“Ok, we have a plan, if you’re willing to hear us out.” Sunset gestured as a sign of peace, Cole rather glancing between the Cyclops and Rarity standing to the side holding her glowing necklace wearing a terse expression. Folding his arms across his chest, the man nodded.

“Let’s make it fast.”

Too focused on the severity of the situation for all of them to sigh in relief, their de-facto leader cleared her throat in order to keep her from fidgeting under the pressure.

“I’ve got this power, it… lets me see things, people’s memories. When I make contact with others I can see who they really are or where they’ve been.”

As they awaited his response, he hastily mulled the information in his head, brushing aside any ‘rational’ thoughts quick to ridicule the concept while piecing together the puzzle on his own.

“You want to see how he got here.” It was more of a confirmation than a question, one she confirmed by looking in RD’s direction once more.

“Rainbow Dash was going to fly me up to his head while Twilight and Rarity held him down, are you still up for that Dash?”

The athlete finally looked away from her feet, disappointment and fear still lingering in her older friend’s expression, though thankfully stunted by the burden of the current scenario.

“Yeah. Yeah I’m game.” She confirmed flashing two thumbs up in response. A grunt of frustration garnered their attention to Rarity who wiped her forehead, her body shaking in a worn-out manner as her glowing geode faded. Loud thuds trailed by glass-like shattering alerted them the Cyclops had broken free of his containment, yet strangely had not yet come barreling over to greet the group.

Snapping back into action, Cole motioned towards Rarity’s prone form, practically calling over his shoulder.

“I’ll keep him busy, give your friend there time to breath until she’s ready.”

With that said he was off, already trading blows with an opponent five times his size who was desperate to crush him into paste. Indeed the cyclops’ progress differed vastly contrasting to the way he carried himself prior, muscles straining like weights the more he tried to catch the smaller man. Seeing him stuff his hand tightly against a concealed wound on his side, blood spilling in-between fingers and down his fur earning the six newcomers a shared queasiness; Fluttershy in particular covering her gaping mouth in her palm, unsure what to make of the sight.

Sunset whipped to face Twilight locking the other’s gaze with silent affirmation, nodding in unison before Rarity returned to her focus. Kneeling hunched over the grass the fashionista busied herself trying to calm her rugged panting whilst Applejack hovered above watchful as ever. Dragging Rarity further into the fray would be guilt ridding, but they were short on time and already there were so many people hurt, they needed to finish this.

“Rarity…” Sunset eased, her voice soft yet strong enough to earn her audience. “…Think you can still help us end this?”

Though she had to heave a lungful of air, her friend stood up, (Albeit with the help of Applejack’s influence), fluffing the out of strand hair loosening from her bun and returning a smirk.

“Ready as ever dear.”

Speaking of which, Sunset focused on her last remaining object of importance, Rainbow Dash. the normally egotistic teen was standing on the outer rim of their huddled position making herself as small as possible, similar to how a child would behave in the aftermath of their parents’ scolding.

Resisting her more prevalent disappointment, Sunset mutely walked over until they were nose and nose patiently awaiting the younger to look up with a visible grimace. Now she could see the bruises and cuts aligning Dash’s faces up close and personal, burning scraps staining her healthy blue cheeks in sync to the bloody split on her upper and lower lips. Though the question was obvious, she found herself asking anyway.

“Are you ok?”

Rainbow apparently hadn’t expected that type of question, eyes widening full of surprise for a second before rushing back into a fraction of her signature cockiness. Hands on her hips, Dash flashed a thumb and smiled a smile full of teeth.

“Yep! Just say the word boss, I’m ready to kick some butt!”

She didn’t know whether to feel disappointed or comforted RD was so quick to switch her personality back to brashness. Both applied perhaps, they could talk after, no matter how much the latter hated opening publicly with her hidden feelings. Resting a gentle hand on Dash’s shoulder Sunset returned her own determined smile before motioning her to follow behind, wordlessly signing the others to their rehearsed positions.

She pretended to not see the way Fluttershy backed away when RD subtly attempted approach the other supposedly out of everyone’s view, feeling the crushing look on Dash’s expression. She couldn’t help but feel the same.

___________________________

Cole, you utter Goddamn moron.

Trusting strangers usually landed him in shitty situations, the likes of Moya and Kuo seeing to that. He wasn’t stupid though, Cole knew he wasn’t the most tactful when it really came down to it, preferring to rely on his on-the-spot thinking to pull him out of a situation by the skin of his teeth more often than not, despite having been shown the hard way it wasn’t the best strategy in response to certain events. He’d been betrayed by his own choices more times than anyone alive.

Cut to him questioning his sanity for abnormally following blindly behind a group of high school students decades below his age in desperate hopes they could end this nightmare of a fight. Jesus Christ he was such an idiot.

Sidestepping a thrown object, the conduit snarled as he froze the monster’s blocking forearm before sending a wave of electricity at its clutched wound, burning the covering hand. It still did nothing to deter his enemy who waved his claws in Cole’s direction, the speed stunted enough for the human to dodge easily.

Whatever hellish energy was giving the cyclops the energy to continue fighting was wasting its resources, the monster was falling apart by the seams, he was practically battling a walking corpse now. That was supposed to be good news, why did he still feel that unwanted nagging instinct that something worse was right around the corner?

A row of blindingly white, sharpened gemstones cut through the ground like serrated knives splitting the two foes apart in equal shock. More accurately they were closer to the cyclops who was right in the middle of another uncoordinated swing, shins tripping and cutting themselves over the odd weapons as the foreign creature belly flopped onto hard soil. As the air flew from its lungs, the cyclops had no reaction time for a purplish hue to engulf its hands locking its movement in place.

Two smaller frames rushed to both his sides, the glasses kid and the shield girl each with their hands outstretched, different colorful hues fitting their individual selves igniting the skin over their arms. As their enemy barely reacted to the new ploy, other than muttering a choked whine, Cole barely raised his own offending hand before something caught his attention overhead. Sure enough Rainbow Dash and butterfly, (Or something similar which his memory refused to recollect), came swooping in from below the trees with Red, (as he’d temporarily decided on calling her), between each arm hovering by…

Wings… They had fucking bird wings on their backsides, were those always there? When working alongside Dash he’d thought for a moment he’d seen wings trailing behind the younger girl whilst she was speeding in and out of battle, although initially chalked that up to him simply seeing things.

By God this place made Empire city look normal.

When the cyclops motioned his ugly head too much for comfort once the two flyers drooped closer with Red only a couple feet from the mass of furry backside, Cole sent out a spray of electricity from his fingers startling the two beside him. Squaring the monster straight in the forehead, it let out another gurgled whine as its body uncontrollably twitched under the countless fiery currents frying its brain.

More of a warning shot on Cole’s part, worrying an offensive attack might trigger a much more dramatic retort endangering their plan. With as much gentleness possible for holding your friend five feet above an extraterrestrial monster, Red was dropped from her perch landing split-legged over the massive spine, much like one would sit on a horse, steadying herself by holding her palms on the sides.

During said action he was certain the pair froze for a split second, Red going ramrod straight as her eyes flashed an abnormal shade of pure white following in their mutual enemy also stiffening into a state of hypnotic shock. Were the scene dragged on any longer than one to two seconds he might’ve been weirded out, however upon recognizing the physical contact with the small human, the cyclops shook itself like a dog with a seizure throwing Red off in a yell of surprise from all parties.

Glasses beat him to the punch, switching her hold onto the monster’s arms to Red’s, yelling out her name as she moved the girl covered in purple aura away. Predictably sensing the newfound lack of restraint holding him back, the cyclops stumbled to his feet, trying to regain balance from the rapid fire of iced electricity and materializing crystals.

Stepping in front of the last remaining girl by his side, the former courier leapt back into the tiresome fray with the farmer kid on his heels.

_______________

Twilight grunted as she dragged the limp form of her stunned friend away from the heat of battle, luckily Sunset still had the instinctive mentality to aid in their struggling escape. The hairs on the back of her neck spiked as crackling blue lightning ripped through the atmosphere, making her wince at the unfamiliar energy.

One miniscule glance at Sunset was all the young genius needed to confirm whatever vision the ex-equestrian had just witnessed would definitely be a harrowing revelation. Though right now they simply needed to move.

She’d made a point during their earlier conversation, one the other girls would eventually come to realize too. Even if they managed to finish this without any more bloodshed, they needed to question that man, people with massive amounts of equestrian magic tended to be a danger whether consciously or not, it was only a matter of time before it exploded in everyone’s faces. She would know after all.

Over Sunset’s head Twilight couldn’t tear her gaze from the gruesome sight. Each of her friends continued bouncing back and forth from offensive to defensive, fighting between the fear driving them to the sidelines and sparking determination rooting their feet into the fray. Thankfully their new ally made constant attempts to keep the monster’s focus, however she could see he was more sluggish than normal. Perhaps running low on magic?

Before she could ponder more, a surge of cold unlike anything the group had ever felt carved through the atmosphere, stabbing into them like needles in a pincushion. Instantly the seven girls backtracked in confused horror, not sure where to look, while lightning began igniting around Macgrath body in defense as he planted himself firmly on the spot. Even the cyclops faltered in his mindless rage in response to whatever had introduced itself.

The sensation increased to unbearable levels until grinding to an unfathomable conclusion as a thin line sliced through the cool night air a few feet from the monster’s back, as if someone ripped a tear into the very fabric of reality. She felt hypnotized just by looking at it, a tension in the air so thick you could choke on it. No one dared move, nor breath, all too fixated on the logic defying power source now piercing their very souls.

Have you ever stared into the abyss before? Many theories and ideas of what the abyss is have been passed down and rumored about for as long as humanity has existed, but the universal agreement being that it was a void of untethered shadows. Once you dared to meet its soulless eyes, only your gaze and your gaze alone would be its sole concern waiting patiently until you mistakenly blinked.

Despite the near pitch darkness engulfing the forest, Twilight could still see whatever was just barely poking out of the portal was blacker than any night sky could ever dream of being. It was like getting a real-life glimpse of a black hole, where any and all light had been suffocated alongside any hope of life. A flickering bulb caught her eyes half narrowing down, noting in terror that her geode was seemingly trembling under the crosshairs of this unspeakable source. The darkening night sky grew worse as six other equestrian geodes began to waver of their normal vibrancy, unfortunately their hosts were far too focused on the sentient claw mark staring them all down.

Her fears were confirmed as the power behind the strange portal appeared to visibly fuel the Equestrian-born monster’s depleting energy, and a familiar dark aura clinging to the cyclops’ fur, once previously fizzling out of existence, returned with a broad vengeance.

Collectively grimacing at the loud roar which followed, the cyclops bolted merely two steps forward, arms raised to strike the exposed humans below. Twilight felt the world turn slow, stomach turning sick at the sight of applejack and Rarity’s eyes widening under the giant shadow eclipsing the moon.

Uncontrolled she thrusted both her arms up, otherworldly energy screaming inside her body like an agitated roar of her own. Much like her open palms, a purple glow hovered over the darkness engulfing cyclops’ and his movements went stiff, although that didn’t stop him from quickly recognizing the situation and struggling to escape her grasp. Sweat beaded off her brow as she tried shifting him towards the portal, hooves marking deep trails into the weakened soil whilst she continued dragging his unwilling body away from her friends.

She could lift plenty of things using her magic with ease, as long as it was within reason. So far her greatest challenges resided in camp Everfree, where she needed to rid her and her friends from massive objects three times their sizes, boulders primarily. She’d come a long way from being terrified of the very notion of powers, refusing to give into Midnight Sparkle’s hate-filled whispers and sickening leers whenever she so much as thought about anything Equestria related. Further strengthening her resolve after defeating Gloriosa on that fateful day.

However, this was much, much worse than any oversized rock or car. Obviously being a living being opposed to a simple piece of earthy material, Twilight could honestly say never had something fought against her magic before. And certainly not to this level.

It was like pushing against an opposite moving bike or struggling to fight against a falling bookshelf. Ignoring the burning sensation in her hands, Twilight let out a noise from her dried throat whilst leisurely maneuvering her captive closer to the target. He screamed, he writhed like a feral animal, clawing and biting at purple magic making her grow an unwanted gnaw of sympathy. His battered state was awful to look at even from this distance, Twilight was sure she’d have nightmares for days, and now she’d be hand feeding this broken beast to some unspeakable evil that undoubtedly thrived beyond their fabric of reality.

Said reality also came back to haunt her mind; Memories of countless screams for help, raging fires ruining things built for fun. Worst of all, Rainbow’s fallen form, Fluttershy’s injured state, even Sunset’s empty eyes upon the situation crashing down on the ex-equestrian burned brighter than any other memory.

The cyclops meant to cause harm, he meant to hurt her, he meant to hurt the girls. And it was time for him to go back home.

Immense Aching within her body only fueled the angered adrenaline now overstimulating her senses, Twilight forced the spiking energy coursing through her veins into an airtight focus. Almost a year’s worth of restrained magic happily letting itself break free from it makeshift bonds as her geode burned brighter than she’d ever seen, until the glowing around her hands spread to cover the rest of her body. She barely noticed her wings sprouting proudly, the feeling of materializing skin pulling against skin too familiar to be distracted by.

The bright aura combating the darkness illuminating over the cyclops’ fur grew excessively adding more force against the monster’s vain attempts. In less than a second his backside was brushing the portal opening, sole eye widening in what clearly was a sensation of unadulterated horror. She felt a sickening tingle of satisfaction at the sight, somehow watching his normally haughty/feral expression finally falter into something more deserving of the treatment he’d bestowed on others granted Twilight small relief.

This sensation unfortunately didn’t aid her against the mass amount of stress suddenly overtaking her psyche, as if her temporary adrenaline rush was still too weak to take on the strength of a building-sized monster all alone and her body too weakened to withhold any more power than necessary. Struggling against the weight of thousand-pound invisible sandbags roped over her neck and arms, Twilight grew fearful as the powerful magic inside her clearly began slipping from her grasp. Either back into the confines of the geode or not, it certainly was no longer under her control, spelling doom for her group.

Thankfully their new ally appeared to recognize the danger, lifting his hand up with strange precision before a needle thin line of electricity zapped into the cyclops’ open eye, causing the beast to momentarily loosen his opposing struggle against her magic to cover his injured face. A fatal mistake on his part, as Twilight used the last remnants of her wavering strength to propel the monster into the portal with a disgusting squelching sound echoing across the forest as his body slid through the gap easily. Soon as the body was through, on command the portal closed, and the darkness seeping out from its cavity wafting through the air dissipated like smoke.

_______________________

Unlike back in the Equestrian mountains just a few hours ago, when he was forcibly dragged into the portal Rameses was sure his skin tore against the thin edges of the newly opened rift, emitting an atmosphere he almost considered labeling as furious. Opposed to his last encounter the rift did not seem to want to open, rather accepting his presence begrudgingly more than anything. However that was nothing compared to the torturous agony which followed after his entire body finally entered a different dimension.

He only stumbled for a moment in his blindness, (Damn that guardian to the pits of Tartarus), before succumbing to the deepest depths of pain he’d ever felt. Whether it be his gravely injured eye or the dimension itself, all Rameses could see was total darkness while something immediately began eating away through his skin at rapid speed. He tried to scream, yet his throat felt tight binding any semblance of a word deep in his mouth, so he settled on blindingly batting at his chest in hopes of finding the cause of his pain. An impossible feat when you can’t even see your own chest or arms.

As his body floated in the darkness, Rameses mind broke into flurries of emotions and regrets. Anger, horror, sadness, betrayal, the cyclops could hardly hold onto a single emotion whilst his muscles and bone were gnawed and torn like paper. Rameses wanted to call out to his mentor, to anyone, yet someone else beat him to the punch.

Before the unseen force reached his very soul, the cyclops froze despite himself, too focused on the form in front of him. A form that was very much not Arimaspi yet spoke in that horribly identical tone.

“Such a disappointment, but admittedly foreseeable.”

With that, Rameses fell silently screaming into the maw of the Void.

___________________________

A pregnant silence hung in the air as they watched the portal close with the cyclops’ frame disappearing into the blackness, like water droplets into a murky pond. So many questions blared in his mind, yet each word died in his gaping throat, leaving Cole just as thunderstruck as the seven kids surrounding him.

Fortunately or not, the settling acceptance of one major obstacle now dealt with came with the remembrance of one other, Red’s eyes sharpening on his position before hopping to her feet and marching closer. Her sudden action attracted the rest of the group who in turn followed her source of assiduity. Standing toe-to-toe with him, Cole lowered his gaze to meet hers while she defensively raised her hands to her hips.

“Who are you?”

So much for subtlety. Her voice is stuffed with exhaustion and labored fear, visible stress pulling at her eyes which nearly gives him a feeling of pity if not for her pissed off expression. Despite her demand, he watches the others shift in the background, mixes of distrust, anxiety, and wonder bundled together, reminding Cole he’s currently dealing with a bunch of scared teenagers who’d just fought a beast from fantasy land.

“If anything I should be asking you that question.” His smirk startled some of the others, particularly the farmer and glasses girl, though he was hoping his nonchalant tone could more or less ease the tension. Cotton candy, (Pinkie, her name was Pinkie), perked up at him no doubt ready to burst into whatever tangent she’d cook up upon seeing him again, yet when their eyes briefly met the message was clear to keep her excitement down.

“You know what I mean.” Red huffed crossing her arms. Seems she really wasn’t in the mood for games. Good, neither was he.

“Haven’t you watched the news lately?” He folds his arms lightly returning a glare not fully intended for his current audience. “Apparently I’m a wackjob terrorist, someone you probably shouldn’t be seen with, might damage your image. Although if we’re being honest, you kids have been doing a damn fine job at that on your own.”

Collective winces of realization fall amongst the more timid of the group, Red’s gaze faltering in what he automatically recognizes as guilt. Said emotion floods his consciousness and Cole loosens his glare, frowning whilst tiredly rubbing the bridge of his nose, biting his cheek for his unintended harshness.

“Look…” he responds more cooly, returning their attention as he struggles his boiling irritation to a simmer. “… why don’t we let’s start this other. Something tells me we could really use each other’s help.”

That lightens up the crowd more, farmer girl even stepping down from her defensive stance from right beside Red. Slackening her shoulders, Red opens her mouth mid-sentence before a blinding light encompasses the blackened forest.

While the girls raise their hands in defense, Cole lets the electricity flow down his arms on instinct until a familiar sound of moving gears/engines and a blaring microphone send a chill down his spine.

“THIS IS CCPD, PUT YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR! WE HAVE YOU SURROUNDED!”

Aside from the heli, Cole notices several blinking lights racing in their direction from the forest edge giving him a clear inclination of what’s about to go down. waving his hand around, Cole shoves Red in the direction of her friends, shouting at their bewildered expression before aiming.

“GO! I’LL KEEP THEM OFF YOU!”

He doesn’t see them leave, too busy running into the direction of danger and sending bolts towards the chopper. It doesn’t take long until gunfire echoes out and he feels a spiking heat dig into his shoulder.

_______________

Approx. One hour later

Fluttershy holds her mouth from screaming when she thinks she hears another gunshot in the far-off distance, the many patrol cars they’ve hidden from and choppers flying overhead certainly add a deepening sickness to her stomach she’ll never recuperate from. Normally she found solace in the officers of Canterlot city, but now she wanted to crawl in the darkest hole… actually scratch that, bad comparison.

Sunset and AJ mainly led the way silent and reclusive, only speaking when it required the group to move from ally to ally in hushed whispers. She felt as though she were in one of Rainbow’s old spy movies, where the protagonist hid from corrupt agents or murderous goons. But these were no evil villains, these were well-meaning police searching for supposed criminals, aka them.

Ultimately they decide on venturing to her house of all places, with Zephyr temporarily living in an apartment downtown and her parents on a well-deserved vacation on a yacht for the next two days. Perfect seclusion and privacy.

Cue her unlocking the backdoor like any normal teen arriving late from a party, seven shabby teens flooding inside like a spluttering hurricane before lining up to collectively collapse in her living room, enjoying a long moment of relieving quiet while nothing but the sounds of slowing pants filled the silence. Choosing to lean against a photo ridden wall, Fluttershy watches her friends melt into her couch and rug as awareness of the situation begins to dawn in the form of a looming vapor cloud, fearfulness and silencing recognition brightening in every widening pair of eyes.

She can’t help herself from standing despite the protest in her still sore body, making her way into her kitchen and ignoring the many worried glances sent in her direction before they disappear behind the counters. Settling out seven cups from a nearby cabinet, she began filling the glasses to the brim with cold sink water off to the side whilst keeping an ear out for any source of conversation. When none follows Shy has the incentive to feel dread in regard to the girls thoughts on the matter, even Pinkie hasn’t spoken a whisper since leaving the forest.

Footsteps catch her attention, leading her to meet Rarity’s gaze at the kitchen entrance. A silent pact is made as the older female moves to collect several of the drinks until both are walking shoulder-to-shoulder back to the group. Rarity’s presence is comfortingly welcome, yet Fluttershy’s hackles are still raised.

Together they give each girl their beverage, murmured “thank you’s” and smiles of gratitude all that can be energized until the silence is back.

Applejack currently lays between the youngers of the group Pinkie and Twilight on Shy’s couch, a sort of protective guard still radiating from her posture as she holds pinkie’s mud hand for comfort while Twilight sticks close via shoulder. Rarity chooses to sit on a cushioning chair next to the coffee table, eyeing Rainbow who is scrunched in a tight ball making certain not to look any of them in the face. Perhaps Fluttershy shouldn’t have allowed her frustration to consume her thinking, not sharing a single word with her childhood friend since the escape, only maintaining eye contact to ensure they all were together. Sunset is furthest from them all, by an older chair Fluttershy’s grandfather usually resides on during holidays and special visits, her eyes burning into the wall with untapped intensity.

They looked horrible, those of whom attended the sports event had their jerseys in tatters, Rarity worked so hard on them too. Mud and grim painted most of their skin and in their hair, she would definitely be using extra conditioner to remove the filth out. Many bruises marred her normally healthy yellow body, thankfully not sharing some of the worse cuts and busted lips her friends were suffering, she’d be retrieving the med kit as soon as her exhaustion wore down.

It isn’t until Pinkie’s expression explodes into something that isn’t excitement, and Shy prepares for the worst.

“Sunset, your geode’s gone!”

Reaction time was instantaneous, five jolting upright while the girl in question immediately patted her collar for clarification. Pinkie was right, Sunset’s geode was nowhere to be seen. Multiple voices spoke up in an attempt to solve their problem, speaking over one another in a frantic mess.

“Perhaps it broke off in the forest dear, we’ll check tomorrow.”

“Ta Tartarus with that! That place’ll be crawling head to toe with police come mornin’ and we for sure ain’t needing more attention. We probably lost it somewhere in the city.”

“No, no, no, no, this can’t be happening. this can’t-“

“As that would make things any better Applejack!”

“We-we could use our other geodes, maybe they can connect with each other. Like a GPS!”

“Alright, alright, everyone cool it!” RD got up in the group’s middle center, cutting off the others as she took on several glares. Though she soldiered on despite, a solution clicked in her head, and she obtained a hopeful smile.

“You know what? I’ll bet he found the geode for us, you probably lost it after that monster shoved you off his back Sunset. We can just find him again and ask him to give it back!”

Sunset looked frozen, as if processing the theory over and over in hopes of her athletic friend not being right. From the corner of her eye Fluttershy could see Twilight place both hands on her hips to further display her surfacing irritation.

“Sure thing Rainbow, let’s go ask the town crazy guy to give us back an all-powerful Equestrian artifact.”

Dash scrunched her face, confusion and apprehension leaking into her tone.

“What do you mean? He’s not crazy, he helped save our butts!”

“He set fire to CHS, not to mention whatever business he’s got with the Changlers! All he’ll bring us is trouble and attention, not that you’ve done any better!”

“And what’s that supposed to mean!”

Both girls were dangerously close, several of the group stepping up in preparation as Applejack wedged herself between them.

“Alright now, that’s enough!” The cowgirl growled, matching their glares. “Now Dash, many of the things you’ve done today rank up as some of the stupidest decisions ah’ve seen you make; And that’s saying a lot. However, you’re right about him taking Sunset’s geode, we need to get it back sooner rather than later before it’s long gone.”

Rarity perks her own voice above the crowd, wary on the heating tension currently boiling over thus preserving her voice into a cooled timbre.

“But how in the world do we find him? Are we even certain he lives in the city? If we ask the locals we’ll appear skeptical.”

Backing off from AJ and Dash, Twilight rolled her eyes whilst beckoning at the front room window and scoffing.

“A bit too late for that. The police saw us with him, I’ll be surprised if our families don’t see us on the morning news tomorrow.”

“Twilight…” AJ warned. “…That’s not helping our situation.”

“Good! It’s not supposed to!”

“Will you all just settle down for one second so I can think!”

They all went quiet at the exhausted voice shouting over them, looking over at Sunset Shimmer furiously rubbing the bridge of her nose. Although many still continued to stand, the ex-unicorn continued resting on her chosen seat as she concocted whatever plan was slowly coming to life. Against her better judgment, curiosity got the best of Fluttershy, keeping her voice high enough this time for the other to hear.

“Sunset, do you know who he is? Could he be another person from Equestria?”

Whether their foreign friend had fully pondered the inquiry or not, it was hard to tell due to her stoic yet drained face. Sighing Sunset leaned further into her chair.

“I don’t know. If I remember correctly, during my time studying extensive student teachings with Princess Celestia, neither ponies nor the creatures in the lands beyond were recorded to have the abilities in harnessing electricity, certainly not to his extent. The sheer amounts of volts and currents were always too risky for prolonged exposure, even the princesses were known to be wary on utilizing that kind of power.”

Her audience held a multitude of reactions, mostly nervous with the exception of Twilight’s slightly peaking in interest.

“AJ’s right too, we’re laying low for now. We’ll just have to find out on our own if he lives nearby.” Sunset shrugged, hoping it’d remedy the argument and allow them to decide a strategy.

“Why of course he lives in Canterlot sillies!” Pinkie cheered with a forced smile. “After all, I met him in the mall just a couple days ago!”

A collection of groans and self-inflicted slaps on the forehead resonated around the room.

“What!?” Rarity spluttered. “Why didn’t you say anything!?”

Placing a hand on her chest, Pinkie let out an overdramatic scoff.

*Gasp* “I have a life outside of you, Rarity!”

“And you weren’t at all concerned about him bein’ a supposed terrorist and all?” Applejack groused in frustration. To Pinkie’s credit, her faux expression turned sour at the words.

“Hey, he’s not a terrorist.” Her uncharacteristically provoked tone made her audience blink in surprise. “Sure, he may be a little grumpy, but that’s probably because everyone’s been so awful to him! He just needs some friends to help him adjust.”

Twilight fixed her glasses, this time lowering her tone in a much less aggressive light yet maintaining her signature skepticism.

“Still, he said it himself remember? If we’re seen together it’ll bring more suspicion to the police as well as Canterlot as a whole. People are scared, they won’t be hesitant to rat out any suspicious activity, even if the people their reporting happen to be familiar.”

“That’s exactly right. We’ll wait until morning, if news arrives regarding us specifically, then we’ll figure something else out. If not, then that gives us more time to begin our search without distraction…”

Fluttershy suddenly felt like tuning them out, sitting by her windowsill to glance into the darkened night. Hours of constant movement and activity were gaining on her, tired eyelids threatening to drive her into unconsciousness, voices in her background muddling into white noise.

That is until a greyish, feathery body with a bright green neck dashed into her viewpoint. Blinking, Fluttershy craned her head back to see a small pigeon fluttering around outside, his beady eyes patiently awaiting her. Uncaring whether she was caught or not, Shy unlatched the window for her little friend to happily fly in and cling to her extended two fingers, cooing loudly almost immediately. Sweating at the noise, the young teen desperately tried to sooth him.

“Shhh! Shhh! It’s okay Gabriel, I’m okay, but you’re going to have to slow down!”

With a giggle she lightly pinched his beak between her fingers, displaying a silent message before releasing him to allow the bird to speak.

“Away for too long. Forest home was attacked. Could hear you and other friends yelling. Was scared, are you alright?!” He chirped in his own speech.

Her heart melted at the concern of her little friend, nuzzling his forehead affectionately while she reassured him.

“Oh Gabriel, we’re alright. There’s nothing to be scared of anymore, you and your forest friends are safe now.”

If she didn’t know any better, she’d say a glimpse of sarcastic disbelief crossed his expression, nonetheless, Gabriel chirped again.

“Forest is shaking. Something bad still lurks. All friends are scared back home.”

A knot grew in her stomach. “Something still lurks?” What could that mean? They’d stopped the Cyclops, wasn’t that the problem? Fluttershy gulped, half aware she was still under the presence of company. If there was still a threat, and she didn’t feel it, then they needed to find some way to uncover this mystery.

Or perhaps…someone.

Gabriel apparently caught o to her pursed look, flapping his wings and pipping up for the scoop. Though glancing bac down Shy made a sympathetic face.

“Oh, it’s nothing my little friend…” she coaxed. “…I just had an idea is all.”

He still persisted, intent of discovering what was causing his human friend such a complex expression. Though she momentarily scanned his frame, a wave of guilt held back her growing plans.

“No, no. You’ve already gone through so much, there’s no right for me to place anything else on you.”

This time Gabriel puffed himself up in an attempt to look daring, and she laughed proudly at the pigeon’s display of bravery.

“Alright.” her warm grin morphing into seriousness. “There is something I need you to do….”

__________________________________________

Somewhere Else

If there was one thing Cole didn’t miss in large cities, it was their damn sewage systems. As he carefully lifted the lid, he graciously took in the sweet night air while darting his eyes back and forth for cars. Trusting his limited gaze, he pushed the heavy metal lid off and planted his feet on the lip, letting the sewer cap to easily slid down his back and cover the opening like nothing had happened.

This street seemed completely empty, though he wasn’t going to take any chances either. Hastily jogging into an alleyway, careful to avoid any source of lamp light, Cole made his way through the darkness calculating he trajectory by key points. How lucky he was to have studied the map detailing said drainage systems, after days of practiced exploration, (when he’d nothing else to do with his time), the experienced courier could mark key points both underground and topside in order to reach his destinations in more efficient ways.

Reaching the ladder attached to the building’s backside the conduit shimmied up until he could hoist over the roof. Being attached to one another the boutique was provided with a welcomed layer of shade next to the taller building it neighbored.

Unclipping his bag to toss it off to the side, Cole melted into a ratty recliner once meant to be tossed out by unhappy storekeepers. Leaning backwards he massaged his face unable to hold back a long overdue breath.

“Christ.” He mumbled. “What I wouldn’t do for a drink about now.”

His many broken bones and bruised muscles would surely heal overnight, it was the ass load of material he’d be forced to mull over that’d be the death of him, (second death, or whatever he supposed). In honestly he’d figured himself prepared for the inevitable meeting with whoever’d been poorly concealing their powers around here, guess he overestimated himself. Having previous encounters with other conduits limited only either to happenstance or those sent to kill him.

So what in the hell was he supposed to do with a posse of scared kids? Yes, they presented themselves as confident and strategizing in times of danger, but their body language cried of self-doubt. This wasn’t some ego-driven bureaucrat or vengeful pack of psychos, these were just a group of confused teens who didn’t understand their situation.

On that he could perfectly relate.

Alas it would be better for both teams to stay separated, him being spotted near them would cause more harm than good. And as for the forest, considering the ruckus Scorpan Park would be closed for investigation, a hinderance to any future returning exploration on his part.

Laying himself further into the chair, the conduit gazed into the stary sky to relieve his stressful thinking, pausing when he noticed a small object sitting on the telephone wire above. Blinking several times, he saw the object ruffle its feathers with a silent coo, almost feeling those beady eyes burning straight through his skull. Cole found himself chuckling for an unknown reason, memories of winged messengers from familiar times flashing through his mind as the pigeon took off into the night.

Author's Note

Me finishing this then realizing it's taken me thirteen Goddamn chapters for the main characters to officially cooperate:

Birds of a Feather

"If you want to identify someone's character, examine the friends he sits with."

- Imam Ali.
______________________________________________________________________________

Gently closing the back door, Fluttershy releases a breath once she’s certain she’s out of earshot. Last night was brutal and painstakingly slow, it took longer than necessary for her to eventually lose to her urges and fall asleep. As her eyes dipped, she could still clearly remember seeing Sunset watching over all of them like a silent guardian, a testament to the unspeakable, yet undeserved guilt their resident ex-unicorn was struggling with.

She doesn’t need to squint her eyes as she looks towards the city in the distance, the sun barely edging over the horizon. The air is cool against her exposed skin, bringing about a calmness she’d sorely missed.

As if on que, she hears the faint sound of flapping wings before she automatically raises her arm for Gabriel to perch on her index. Tips of her mouth quirking upwards, she lifts her finger and nuzzles against the pigeon, laughter rising from her chest.

“Good morning Gabriel! It’s good to see you too.”

Her response is a melody of chirps, until she raises the kit in her opposing hand.

“Okay, are you ready?”

Though his facial expressions are limited, the telltale affirmation in his eyes gives her all the clarification she needs.

“Then let’s do this!”

____________________

Canterlot City.

Her city is bustling with people, normal for the end of a weekend. It does nothing to squash the butterflies in her stomach with each passing pedestrian in either car or on foot. The sun hat is too big to wear right now, and she doesn’t feel right covering her eyes with shades, so all she can do is sunk further into her seat each time she thinks she’s being observed.

Sitting in the passenger side of her car, (more accurately on the headrest), Gabriel guides her through the streets of Canterlot towards their target. Although he’s not used to ground level, he’s able to make do as best he can.

Eventually he has her park on the side of the road near an alley, which doesn’t help her mood. Her hand stays on the keys, heart steadily increasing its pace as she focuses on the area. Perhaps this wasn’t the best plan she could’ve made.

Gabriel coos, causing her to look him in the eyes as he notices her anxious presence, though she quickly waves him off by smiling and petting him gently. She’d have to be brave, the girls were depending on her. Even if she failed to inform any of them where she currently was.

Grabbing her hat and the kit on the floor, Fluttershy pushes open her car door and struts up to the building-side. Clenching the handle of the med box until her knuckles whitened, she reached the edge of the shop until it curved into the alley before stopping. She slammed her back against the brick wall as her breathing quickened.

What was she thinking?! This was ridiculously dangerous, what if someone recognized her? Or worse… Could she really rely on her magic to get her out of this situation? What would the girls think?

A small weight on her shoulder briefly brings her back to reality, her pigeon friend watching her nervous breakdown with fear in his eyes. Placing a palm on her chest, Fluttershy sucks in a few deep breaths, allowing the storm to fester, if only slightly. It was too late, she was here now and trusted her instincts enough to prove the others right. What was it Pinkie said? “He just needs some friends to help him adjust.”

Taking in another shaky breath, Fluttershy scrunched her expression into her best ‘brave face’ before bouncing off the wall and turning into the alleyway; Only to shriek when a hand grasped her shoulder. Instantly a hand flew up and hastily clamped her mouth shut, fueling the caregiver’s terror. However, it doesn’t take long to recognize the newcomer’s arm.

“Sunset?”

Her words are muffled, yet thankfully the statement is recognizable enough for the unseen newcomer to drop their opposing hand and step into view.

“Hey Shy.” The older girl’s expression is sheepish, guilty for the unintended scare.

“W-what are you doing here?” The anxiety on Fluttershy’s face simply causes Sunset to raise a brow. “How did y-you know? How did you find me?!”

Folding her arms, Sunset’s guilty look turns stern, causing Shy to flinch.

“Shouldn’t I be asking you that? Although, something tells me I already know the answer.”

During the last bit of her sentence, Sunset looks down at the med kit in the other girl’s hand. As if on que, Fluttershy attempts to hide it behind her whilst making certain to avoid eye contact. Sunset sighed and palmed her face. Was it natural to have another headache this early in the morning? She certainly didn’t think so.

“No offense Shy but what are you thinking?!”

She bit the inside of her cheek when her last words were forced out through gritted teeth. It’d do nothing to take her frustration out on the other girl, but the sheer absurdity of the situation already had burned through most of her battered patience.

“I’m fairly certain the plan to meet him was intended for all of us to be together. We’re supposed to be laying low anyway, what if someone recognizes us?”

True, it was still up in the air whether or not the CCPD caught wind of them playing a part in the battle against their newest enemy. Plus they were both in decent disguises, Sunset sporting a baseball cap and different jacket. However, there was always a chance…

“I know.” Fluttershy sighed, looking at the ground like a scolded child. “But I also know that-”

“WAIT!”

Both ex-equestrian and human jumped a good three feet in the air when a voice called out, echoing across the mostly emptied street. In awe and horror, they witnessed the trunk of Fluttershy’s car lift open as a blob of pink plopped out, face-planting on the concrete in front of them.

Recuperating as if nothing happened, Pinkie sprang up like a makeshift spring and jogged over to them both, wearing her own disguise.

“P-Pinkie!?” Fluttershy gaped, not quite sure what to say or expect. “How the- when did-”

“Oh that’s easy! When I saw you talking to that cute little birdie last night, I’d figured you were planning on doing the exact same thing I wanted to do!”

Pinkie giggled as she reached into the pocket of her hoodie and pulled out what looked to be a fist-sized cupcake. It was decorated in blue and white icing, topped with yellow sprinkles and a red candle, perfectly preserved.

“I wanted to write something on it, like ‘welcome to Canterlot, by the way thanks for saving our lives’. Unfortunately, I didn’t know what kind of flavor he might prefer, so I figured as an introduction I could give him some good ol’ vanilla as a start. Hopefully, after that I’ll know what flavors he likes after he tries it!”

Her beaming smile could not have possibly been bigger, though it inevitably shrinks into a more sympathetic one once it aims towards Sunset.

“Please Sunset? We’re already here, not to mention Fluttershy went through all the trouble to spy on where he lives so we can surprise him with gifts in a totally non-stalkery type of way!”

The innocence in Pinkie’s voice did little to ease the horrified recognition of just what Fluttershy was doing, scrunching into herself with guilt written all over her features as the reality of the situation settled in.

“Plus…” She added, oblivious to the reactions her words were producing. “…Maybe it’s better that it’s just the three of us. There are a lot of us after all, so who better formally introduce him to Canterlot then the few of us he knows best! Aside from Rainbow Dash, of course. I knew I should’ve woken her up.”

Sunset opened her mouth to object yet stopped. That… actually made a lot of sense. Cole had saved Fluttershy from the fire, his previous meeting with Pinkie was obvious, and then there was her. Someone the girls counted on as the de facto leader of their group ever since Princess Twilight left. But could Cole really be trusted to handle meeting them this soon?

She remembered his demands for answers, had the police not arrived there’d momentarily been a chance for her to finally get some clues on what was going on with their powers. She gave the two a once over, contemplating the ordeal in rapid pace, desperate for a satisfactory conclusion.

Despite his reputation, Macgrath was quick to protect her friends and herself from danger. He’d visibly healed Dash and Shy without hesitation and stalled for time to get them all away from authority eyes. Perhaps if they played this right, he’d be willing to communicate more openly. Friendships came in all shapes and sizes according to Princess Twilight’s teachings, maybe Pinkie was right. Maybe that was all he truly needed: Friends.

Hanging her head, she sighed. “Okay. BUT-” Her finger pointed out to the other two, who were right on the cusp of celebrating. “Why don’t you let me stick to the talking first.”

Fluttershy’s quick approval was overlooked by Pinkie’s pout, yet ultimately an agreement was made before they entered the alley. It was dark, obviously, though thankfully not very grimy. Though it was a far cray from what you’d expect a superhuman to call home. It actually made her feel guilty, to think someone who spent all his time and resources helping people had been pushed into the dark cracks of the city, all because everybody feared his powers. Memories of her time spent at CHS after the fall formal resurfaced, countless eyes constantly watching her every move, with harsh whispers and teasing following close behind.

At least she had a reason for being an unwanted outcast.

Someone nudged her shoulder, looking over it to see Fluttershy point upwards at a ladder. With Gabriel on her shoulder, the bird must’ve followed Cole up there Wait a minute…

“This… This is Carousel Boutique.” Sunset balks, recognizing the frame of the building even on it’s backside. “N-no way.”

"Ooooh, you think he takes inspiration from Rarity?” Pinkie squeals. “He does look pretty flashy!”

While their friend is busy laughing at her own pun, Sunset clears her throat and cups her mouth.

“Hello? Mr. Macgrath? It’s-” She pauses. In the miniscule time they’d had, she’d forgotten to introduce herself. “We met in Scorpan Park when we fought alongside to stop the Cyclops.”

No response as expected. She gestured to Pinkie and Fluttershy.

“There’s just three of us; You know Pinkie, and you might recognize Fluttershy? Please, we just want to talk, that’s all. You said you had questions you needed answers, and we can give them to you.”

Still nothing. That was until someone unseen from the rooftop kicked the overhanging mechanism, sending the rest of the ladder down with a rattling thud. Though Fluttershy and Pinkie gasped in surprise behind her, Sunset bit her tongue as she walked over and grabbed the bottom of the ladder.

“Okay then, I’ll take that as a sign to come up now.”

She glanced at her friends, her voice hushed and stern.

“Be prepared for anything. Stay close.”

Her hands were shaking as she steadily shimmied upwards, keeping her eyes locked on the roof’s edge until she was clambering over it. Once in place she made a quick note of the lack of audience before making certain the other two safely made it over the side. All together again, the three girls took in their new surroundings.

Because of the still early morning sunrise, most of the area was clouded in shade. Well, most of the areas that mattered anyway. There was an old recliner nestled against a short wall, beside it a small table littered with newspapers and a wooden bucket filled with small amounts of packaged foods. Other than that, not a soul to be seen.

“Hello?” Sunset tried calling out again in vain, nervously approaching the table. As she did, something caught her eye on the front of the paper, encouraging her to pick it up as until she heard a sound to her right.

“Pinkie!” She hissed. “Get off of that!”

Said girl whined as she lifted herself off the chair, brushing dirt flakes off her jacket.

Ack! “Actually, I change my mind! Instead of just treating him with yummy deserts, how about we take him shopping for better furniture. And food for that matter, I can tell a bunch of these were stolen!”

She tutted whilst glancing at the ration displayed before her, shaking her head disappointment.

“Hey now, not all of us can be so lucky.”

Once again Sunset and Fluttershy found themselves nearly jumping out of their skin, Pinkie looking upwards in the direction of the voice with pure glee. Leaning against a chimney, Cole watched the three from his standpoint on the neighboring rooftop.

The two he’d scared were more bashful at being caught then Pinkie, who looked as though she was next to bursting. Cole resisted the urge to groan. He could’ve ignored them while they were still in the alleyway, left their unwanted presence to themselves until they eventually caved and retreated back to whence they came from. Sadly, he’d find it difficult to lie and say they hadn’t peaked his interest, not to mention simply ignoring them could ignite their outrageous determination to the point where there was a chance they’d try more intrusive methods to gain his attention.

“You’ve been researching us.” Red states, lifting the news article with a very recognizable rainbow on the front.”

“Can you blame me?” He shrugs. “Like I said, you and your friends aren’t great at being subtle.”

Dropping down off the roof, as he landed Red backed up alongside Fluttershy in caution. Placing his hands on his hips he surveyed them carefully.

“Ok…” He hummed, noticing how Red watched his every move like a hawk. “…Aside from that med kit your friend’s got there, you said you’ve got some questions and answers?”

She nodded, earning him a smile.

“Okay then. For starters, I know them…” He pointed to Pinkie and Fluttershy before gesturing back to Sunset. “…But I don’t know you. What’s your name kid?”

“Sunset. Sunset Shimmer.” She began, extending a hand. “It’s nice to meet you. Officially, under better circumstances I mean.”

“Tell me something I don’t know.” He sighed, taking her hand. “Alright Sunset, mind if I start-”

His vision is blocked by a blur of pink and a beaming smile, followed by a million questions in the span of seven seconds.

“Hi! I’m Pinkie Pie, but you already know that I guess! How long have you been in Canterlot Cole? Do you like it here? There are so many fun and exciting places we can take you, that is if you’re comfortable with crowds! Do you like parties? What kinds of deserts do you like? Do you like cupcakes? Here, I made you one as a thank you for all you’ve done for us!”

An actual cupcake comes from nowhere straight into his face, barely registering him time to back up as she continues her spastic talking. Thankfully, Sunset pulls her away by the arm with an apologetic look. As his brain momentarily restarts from the overload of events taken in such a small amount of time, one of them actually verbally apologizes before he’s functionally fit enough to annoyingly glare at Pinkie.

“I’m so sorry about her.” Sunset weakly grins, clasping a hand over Pinkie’s mouth. “She… has really been looking forward to seeing you again for some reason. Please, continue.”

Shaking his head, Cole nods.

“Right, anyway, let’s cut the crap and get to it: How long have you had your powers? You and the rest of your group I mean.”

Sunset bit her lip, off the gate it was a big and personal question. He sure didn't beat around the bush did he? She wouldn’t dive deep into specifics, for the sake of the others.

“I don’t know, a year, maybe a year and a half by now?” She shrugged. “Why? What about you?”

He’d placed a hand on his chin, as if considering something she’d yet to understand.

“Almost a full year. Does anyone else in this city or region have powers like us?”

Memories of countless adversaries pulled from the back of Sunset’s consciousness, and she shook her head.

“Not that we know of. There were a few in the beginning. But we…” Fluttershy and Pinkie met her expression with shared optimism. “…We had to stop them from hurting others.”

“Nice.” She notices a glint of recognition in his features, though ignores it for the sake of the fast conversation.

Fluttershy suddenly gains the courage to walk up towards him, holding out the kit in her possession as worry plagues her expression.

“Are you alright? Last night when we separated I heard- I heard gunshots, and thought… and especially after the fight…”

She looked like she was about to cry. Cole steeled himself, suddenly unsure what to do in this situation. He wasn’t the absolute best at comforting others, but remembering how banged up she’d looked under the bleachers was sure to urge him to try. Bending on his knee, he looks the teen in the eye whilst lowering his voice to a much softer tone.

“Hey, it’s okay. We all got away safely, that’s what matters doesn’t it?” He motions to his body, hoping she wouldn’t see the stitched-up bullet holes. “I’m good, kid. But thank you anyway.”

She seemed hesitant to accept his insistence, though he stood above her regardless to ruffle her hair, earning a blush. Pinkie giddily sat on the ground next to the table, pulling out a couple pillows from bumbfuck nowhere for her and her friends to sit. As the three got comfortable, Cole began pacing back-and-forth. He needed so many answers, and it frustrated him to no end knowing these kids seemed just as confused as he was.

“Let’s make this simple and keep doing what we’re doing. I ask a question, then you. We each answer one another truthfully.” He proposed, folding his arms. “I know we’ve just met, and on an ordinary day I bet we’d each like to keep most of our secrets to ourselves. However, these days an ‘ordinary’ day sounds like wishful thinking doesn’t it?”

He tried chuckling to ease the tension, though knew his efforts were fruitless. They appeared to agree with the memo fortunately, thus he looked at the leader.

“Sunset, got anything for me?”

Narrowing her eyes, the teen looks at her hands for a split second until popping the question.

“Are you from Equestria?”

Cole pauses, actually taken aback. Obviously not, however regarding the rest of Canterlot’s blatant ignorance to the rest of earth he wondered if his answer would even be deemed sane.

“You mean the country we’re in?”

“No.” She shakes her head, raising a hand to stop him. “I mean are you from the magical world of Equestria? The place where our magic comes from.”

He takes a minute to process the words he’s just heard, thinning his lips into a narrow line.

“What?”

That’s all he can muster. Suddenly Pinkie raises her hands to uncap the top part of her pendant, much to the other two’s horror, as she proudly displays it in front of the conduit.

“You know, where these babies come from!” The rock inside is glowing brightly, radiating the air with familiar energy. “They come from Equestria, like all other magic! Well, most of it anyway.”

While her friends were busy silently berating her for such an info dump, Macgrath felt a chill race up his spine.

“You’re not conduits.”

It wasn’t a question, it was a statement. A concrete fact solidified by the confusion in his audience’s eyes.

“What’s a conduit?” Fluttershy inquired, nervous about his change in attitude. He takes a deep breath before continuing, audibly more terse in his wording.

“Someone born with their powers; Powers that can only be activated after a certain age, or through a Ray Sphere blast.” He explains, already knowing full well they won’t get it. That’s fine, it simply further proves his fears.

“What are you talking about?” Sunset demands. “This world doesn’t have ‘conduits’, at least I don’t think so. And there’s never been any records of those people in Equestria-”

“You keep mentioning that. This… other ‘Equestria’.” He interrupts her, settling himself down on his chair. “Tell me more about it.”

Sunset doesn’t look like she’s willing to tell him, instead full-blown panic written all across her face as though she hadn’t expected this. She shuffles in her seat, eyes on him yet mind swirling for answers.

“W-wait. This doesn’t make any sense.” She stutters, looking back at her palms. “I’ve never heard of conduits in my entire life! If you didn’t come from Equestria, through the portal, t-then…”

She places a hand on her forehead, desperately trying to calm herself down as Fluttershy pats her back. When she’s finally able, Sunset meets the older man’s gaze with uncertainty.

“Sorry, I- what was the question again?”

Witnessing her momentary breakdown made him hesitant. If this was bad, how would she react to his full story? One little thing at a time he supposed, judge their reactions to test out if they would be of help this way, or better off with them separating.

“This different version of Equestria.” He tried again. “Start off with that, kid.”

“Okay…” she’s tentative, he notices the restraint in her words. “… Like pinkie said, it’s where our magic is naturally born. I-I’m not entirely sure how, but the magic from there, from Equestria, is somehow constantly leaking out into this world. So many people have come into contact with it, but as I said before, it tends to be… misused.”

As he mulls over the information, she looks at him suspiciously.

“How did you know we weren’t conduits. I mean, we aren’t, but you seemed pretty sure of yourself.”

Cole says nothing until reaching over the armrest to grab his bag, unfolding the zipper, and pulling out none other than Sunset’s pendant. Despite her understandably shocked expression, he tossed it over to her.

Instantly she unlatched its lid to see her geode sparkling with life. Upon contact, Sunset could feel the energy return to her body like one big stress reliever; A piece of her soul returned to fill a missing gap. Half of her was tempted to be angry at him for taking it, although a larger part wanted to thank him for returning it. Or in the very least keeping it safe.

“I found it after you kids managed to escape last night.” He shrugged. “Figured when one-eye bucked you off his back, it must’ve fallen off your neck. Was wondering when you were gonna mention it.”

Cole watched as she hastily applied the necklace on, all the while keeping his eyes glued to the hidden geode.

“Whatever that thing of yours is, I’ve never seen anything like it. Sure, conduits can manipulate stuff around them, but a magical rock alone isn’t a regular find.”

He raised his hand, sparks igniting from his fingertips. After his shocking discovery, he’d tried connecting with whatever energy the small object held, yet all it did was agitate both power sources until he gave up. It felt as though he was doing it wrong.

Sunset pondered the statement, flexing out his words. When crossing realms, Equestrian magic typically stores itself through random devices, or the ancient, magical Equestrian artifacts fall through the cracks themselves. Thus far, never before has pure magic automatically clung to a person from this world. His explanation of his people added an entirely new factor. With age your powers were presented? That or something called a ‘Ray Sphere blast’ brought them to light?

In her state of confusion, Pinkie took this as a sign to start her own questions.

“So, do you like parties? I bet you’d be amazing at fireworks, imagine your zippity-zappity lightning with my explody sprinkles! It’d be all like: Pew! Pew! Boom!”

“Yeah, not gonna happen.” He rolled his eyes, baffled as to why of all the people in this world, she had the misfortune of being able to explode shit. “Speaking of which, what are the chances that cupcake of yours blows my head off? I think I’m starting to prefer that instead.”

Ignoring their conversation, Sunset cut through their conversation with her next question.

“If you’re not from the world of Equestria, or even from this world’s country version of Equestria, then where are you from? Why did you come here?”

“Wasn’t on purpose, I can tell you that much.” He replies bluntly. “Nobody else in this city recognizes the landmarks or cities I come from, so I don’t have much hope either of you will.”

She hums, tapping her fingers impatiently on the table. “Try me.”

…

He mulls her challenge over, leaning his face on his palm.

“Earth.”

The girl blinked multiple times, finger under her chin as she mulled over the blunt answer. In doing this, she failed to witness the dread hiding skin deep under Cole’s otherwise stoic gaze. As the minutes ticked by, the increasing tension did not go unnoticed by her and her friends. She was interrupted by Cole abruptly standing from his seat and walking away towards the edge of the roof.

“Wait, where are you-”

“Out.” He growled, looking down off the edge. “I need a minute. Clear my head and shit. Go home before anyone recognizes you.”

“What?!” She gulps before standing alongside the other two. “Please, don’t leave! I-I have so many questions, and we just got here…”

“I SAID-” He bites his tongue hard to shut himself up. Yelling won’t do anything, but right now he needs to move. Be anywhere but here. He sucks in a breath and places his hands back on his hips, struggling to come up with a solution.

“Maybe…” A small voice perks up, driving the company’s attention towards Fluttershy. Blushing under the spotlight, she forces her stage fright down to continue. “…If it wouldn’t be too much trouble, perhaps we could come back with the rest of our friends later today. That way with all of us together, we might help answer some more of your questions.”

She’s still openly anxious under his gaze, yet she’s hopeful he’ll come to trust them.

“If that’s fine with you, u-um, of course… We promise not to tell anyone where you are.”

“Yep!” Pinkie salutes, doing some weird movements with her hand tracing over her body. “Cross our hearts, hope to fly, and stick a cupcake in our eyes!”

The offer is sound, he’s tempted to take it despite the risks.

“Three o’clock sound good?” When they nod, he turns back around, speaking over his shoulder. “Meet me back here. Until then, keep yourselves hidden.”

With a wave of his hand, a long string of electricity fires out and contacts with a building on the other side of the street. As the tether yanks Cole off his feet, the three girls quickly run to the spot where the conduit had just been standing, watching him disappear.

“WAIT!” Pinkie shouted, yet to no avail. “Aww man, he didn’t take his cupcake.”

What could have made him leave like that? Was it something she’d said? Sunset scrunched up her face as she replayed the last few minutes, wondering where she went wrong. Fluttershy must’ve noticed her inner turmoil, clasping the older girl’s shoulder as reassurance. Though she’s thankful, Sunset can’t help but feel like they’ve uncovered something a tad out of her depth.

This’ll require expert help.

_______________________

Elsewhere.

In truth, Cole’s life as a conduit has been relatively short as opposed to fortunate people who’d learned to flesh out their powers through time and age; However, through a mixture of pride and brutal honesty, Cole could also say he’d dealt with more crazy shit in what others would consider a short amount of time compared to anyone else.

He’d thought himself ready to face any challenge no matter how inane, where any sane person would begin to question their mentality and beliefs upon witness. Monsters, superhuman freaks, titans bringing about cataclysmic destruction. All under the span of one year total.

Hell, Kessler himself traveled back in time without the use of any aiding technology. Just simple, raw, untethered power of a grieving conduit clutching to desperation. Cole often did his absolute best not to think about the old man whenever he could, yet the revelation still came back to haunt his nightmares every so often. It seemed the world couldn’t offer more surprises.

Now the word ‘world’ didn’t even feel right.

He sneered, keeping up his pace as he ran, and ran, and ran across the rooftops. Color him fucking surprised, the rainbow-colored people of Equestria and their ‘magic’ weren’t conduit related. He’d desperately tried to make heads or tails of Sunset’s geode, studied its every angle, and tried tapping into its power with his own. Only to be outright rejected by it, like oil against water he’d been denied merging with whatever energy was stored within it. Unlike when he’d healed Fluttershy and had gained his radar sense back.

As if it required both parties to willingly cooperate for any form of conclusion.

But he did get one definitive answer though: This places’ magic was an entirely different breed compared to anything he’d seen before. So where was he?

The lack of geological understanding, knowledge about anything remotely close to the Americas or any other country across the globe, their wacked out history, and the final nail in the coffin: Sunset’s obvious ignorance to the simple word of earth.

The implication was simple: He. Was. Fucked.

Whether the RFI killed him or not no longer mattered, now he needed to know how it seemed to transport him to another Goddamn planet entirely. Even the mere thought made Cole want to put himself in a psych ward.

He wouldn’t be contacting Zeke. John’s status would be left up to the imagination. All conduits’ lives would.

Why? Why did he have to be alive? And why was he brought here? At least he was familiar with the concept of death. Perhaps this was retribution for attempting to bring every conduit with him to the grave.

The electric man felt his insides boil with rage and fear, he wanted to leave this damned city and never look back. To clear his head and rethink a plan.

Unfortunately, fortune was never a part of Cole Macgrath’s charm. No matter where he went, crazy was sure to follow like a cloud. He was a natural disaster, bringing chaos to himself and those around him. Besides, he couldn’t just leave those kids like this, scared, and stuck in a city clearly riddled with problems they couldn’t handle alone. Besides, they could all still help each other out.

If world traveling was a common occurrence here after, perhaps getting back home wasn’t as hopeless as it sounded. Gliding along a livewire, Cole followed the noise of the city and its people. Cool breeze fighting against the storm inside him.

_______________

???

No matter how many times she went through, Sunset would never get used to the portal. Groaning, she blinked away the messy splotches in her vision as a figure steadily approached.

“Sunset, are you alright?!”

The voice was familiar to a certain scientist back in the human realm, yet distinct enough to notice a difference.

“Just peachy.” She drawled. Nothing like feeling your body stretch and bend like taffy with a blinding light searing into your eyeballs and all. Not to mention the portal had a nasty habit of literally spitting out its traversing occupants as though they were bad food.

Lifting up her appendage, Sunset felt her hoof wrap around the others in order to lift her up. Despite being naturally born as a unicorn, the extended length as a human often had her desperately rewiring her instincts to get used to the four sets of hooves she now repossessed. Shaking her head, Sunset looked up to see Princess Twilight Sparkle; The alternate version of her human friend, and self-diagnosed mentor.

Princess Twilight was beaming, instantly enveloping Sunset into a tight hug. Once they were finished with their greetings, the younger equestrian seemed both ecstatic and concerned.

“So, how are the others?! How’d you defeat the cyclops, I was almost going through the mirror when you wrote to me.”

Despite herself, Sunset cringed at the memory, gulping before rubbing the back of her mane.

“Oh yeah, that...”

Her expression became serious, doing little to ease Twilight’s intrigue.

“…You’re going to want to sit down for this one.”

Twilight waved her off with a raspberry, although complied nonetheless.

“Pshaw. Way ahead of you, I’ve prepared enough notes to understand this plenty!”

{Ten minutes later}

“WAIT! I ran out of room- SPIKE!”

Sunset rolled her eyes as Twilight screeched, a young dragon bursting through the double doors of the library carrying more scrolls in his little arms. Flying across the room he dropped the scrolls at Twilight’s hooves before setting off again as fast as his wings could carry him.

Sunset emphasized with the knowing look on his face, noticeably unbothered this was nearly the fifth time he’d been called. All around the princess were piles of notes and frantic scrawlings dedicated to the information she’d been given. Nearly quadruple the number of written spells and research Twilight had done upon hearing about the monster attack originally, via initial message through book.

Sunset was thankful she’d managed to finish her story, that way it allowed Twilight more leg room to complete her scribbles in classic hasty fashion. Clearing her throat, Sunset smirked.

“You finished?”

“Finished?!” the princess balked. “We barely just begun! We already discovered more portals between our worlds aside from the CHS statue, but now that it’s actively sending creatures out instead of just magic is astounding! And incredibly hazardous, as we’ve seen.”

Twilights horn glows to drag over a tossed scroll rechecking it before speaking. “And this human you speak of, saying he’s capable of controlling electricity and ice? Amazing!”

“The ice part is only what Rainbow Dash told me.” Sunset shrugged, taking a sip of her water provided to her earlier. “Twilight, I’ve never in my life seen or heard of anyone within our borders who possesses what he does. There’s not many Equestrian artifacts I can think of either.”

“You mentioned he has a weapon.” The alicorn spoke again. “Could that be the source?”

She places a hoof under her chin. “No. I wouldn’t rule it out completely from being a possibility, but even without it he could still utilize his magic. It seemed to come from himself.”

“I see. And you said he talked about ‘people like him’, these ‘conduits’. He thinks you’re one of them?”

“Not anymore.” Sunset shook her head again. “After he found my geode, he claimed he’d studied it, and that he’d never seen anything like it before. Same with our own magic, he’s just as confused about us as we are with him.”

Twilight nodded, pulling out books from high shelves with her magic to rest near their sitting frames.

“And you plan to meet him later today? If it’s alright, mind if I send you off with a couple of my own questions?”

“You’ll have to be careful with what you ask.” Sunset scoffed. “He tried explaining where he’s from, yet when I didn’t know he stormed off all angry.”

“To be fair…” Twilight hummed. “…It sounds reasonable. From what I gather no one else in your world knows the places he’s mentioned. What was it again?”

“Earth.” The orange unicorn muttered. “He called it earth. I also heard he mentioned places like America, New Marias and such. Have you ever heard of those places?”

The princess mulled over the question, narrowing her gaze towards an invisible problem. Suddenly, Twilight’s eyes widened, as though she’d just found a possible solution. Instantly she sprung up and ran over to a nearby shelf, darting through the countless manuscripts until eventually finding the right one.

Sunset perked up as Twilight set a large hardback before them both. It was old, withered, yet well maintained enough to be used. She recognized it, although her memory was slightly fuzzy on most of what it entailed: It was a book once kept in the library inside the castle of the two sisters.

More specifically, it was dedicated to research in regards to magic outside of Equestria’s borders, as well as the possibility of magic outside of their world in total. In human terms, it was the theoretical sci-fi book amongst the other non-fictional works, one many a pony took as a joke. However, the two sisters always seemed intent on keeping it no matter the lack of respect it received. Sunset watched Twilight with curiosity, noting her friend’s newly uncomfortable expression.

“Tell me Sunset…” Princess Twilight began. “…Have you ever thought about our shared universe? How easily we’ve managed to brush aside that two worlds are connected through magic and travel purposes?”

Sunset felt her body freeze before the next words left the princess’s mouth.

“What if I told you, we’ve been connected to more than two.”

Author's Note

Anyone see the latest episode of deathbattle?

First Impressions

"...If we have an angel in our pocket like this guy, it's hard to imagine losing ."
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Sunset Shimmer licked the insides of her dry mouth, keeping her eyes trained on the group of people in front of her. To describe the current air between them all as “awkward” would be the worst understatement possible.

Almost all of her friends shift under their respective company’s gaze, Applejack already a leg and a half between Fluttershy and Macgrath. He wasn’t necessarily glaring at them, but the calculating look within his sharp blue eyes was enough for Sunset to know the wheels were turning in his head. Like a hunter carefully observing a group of animals with their hackles raised, waiting to see who would take the first move.

Honestly, she wasn’t quite sure what else she’d expected. Every encounter between the group thus far had been nothing other than tense and stressful. Mercifully, the man cleared his throat and walked out of the shadows he’d been relaxing in, apparently deciding it was up to him to officially start this.

“Nice to see you all are still in one piece. Looks like you’re better at hiding than I thought.”

The conduit smirks.

“You must be used to escaping from your messes.”

She feels a response bubbling up to the surface, along with the heat rising to her cheeks. Before she or any of the others can retort though, Rainbow beats them to the punch, meeting Cole with an equally cocky grin.

“Just like you must be used to cleaning up messes. That already makes us perfect for each other.”

A collective wince was shared by the remaining six teens, having to hold back any potential disapproving glares towards their resident athlete in turn for watching the conduit’s reaction. Sunset sucked in a breath so deep it hurt.

Cole blinks at the response, lips thinning slightly as he keeps his eyes trained on RD.

He shakes his head, a pacified laugh echoing out as he steps forward. Ignoring the way a few of them once again tense at his actions, Cole leans over the backrest of his chair and dropping most of the piercing edge in his gaze.

“Very funny. Now, like I told your friends earlier this morning…”

Sunset, Fluttershy, and Pinkie shift again as he nods to their direction whilst continuing talking to the last.

“... We all seriously got off at the wrong foot what with that school catastrophe. Let’s try this again. I’m Cole.”

Applejack, Rarity, and Twilight Sparkle respond with their respective names, each blunt and hesitant. Something Sunset doesn’t blame them for, although a flicker of pride burns brightly inside witnessing the clear steps being made towards progress, of which she was determined to keep for the duration of this meeting.

This whole encounter was up to her after all, she needed to get this right. Every decision, every question and answer were crucial. Even if most of them didn’t realize it yet

“Well Mr. Macgrath, if you don’t mind, I was wondering if we could continue where we left off regarding where you’re from. If you’re okay with it, that is?”

Seeing how he’s awaiting wordlessly; she takes the sign to go ahead and pulls out a small notepad from her jacket’s pocket.

“Okay, just to reiterate, you’re from a place called Earth?”

When he nods Sunset peers down at her paper. Step-by-step process, simple.

“Can you describe it for us? You said you’ve been trying to get people to remember certain cities, maybe you can explain those places further?”

“What, is something like this a regular thing for you?”

The grip on her notebook tightens. “No. Mainly our experience with inter-dimensional travel has just been from here to-”

“Equestria, the fantasy land version, I know.” He answers for her with a shrug. “Honestly, Earth isn’t far off from this place structural-wise. Usually normal everyday human activity for the most part. Canterlot here reminds me of a smaller Empire City, with an equally…”

He pauses to think over his answer.

“… well, a bad reputation we’ll call it. Lots of violence and gangs, similar to your town’s terrorist infestation. New Marais too. Otherwise, mostly same civilization and technology.”

How interesting. Sunset jots a few things down on her papers; Now she knows why it took him a while to figure it all out, if their worlds were so easily parallel. Rainbow’s voice breaks from the sidelines.

“And you took them all on by yourself?”

Looking at the athlete, he makes a noise with his tongue.

“More or less. I had help as much as I was alone.”

His answer causes Dash to nearly squeal, her expression not unlike her last trip to the latest Daring Do convention. Sunset almost wishes she had the same level of her friend’s delight in this situation to even out the less emphasized feelings currently crawling underneath her skin.

“This is so freaking cool! We’re actually teaming up with a superhero from another world!”

Ah right, the very revelation that had the other girls briefly questioning Sunset’s sanity not two hours ago; including Princess Twilight’s for that matter, considering she was the one who’d suggested the idea in the first place. It had been a long, strenuous talk until finally she’d somehow convinced the rest of them what she was saying was actually very possible.

The only reason Princess Twilight herself couldn’t arrive in person was because of something else that surprisingly taken up her schedule at the moment. In a way, it was probably for the best after witnessing the alicorn hold herself back from bouncing off the walls of her castle with thoughts on what questions Sunset could provide in her place.

Inevitably, the other girls found themselves, somewhat regrettably, swallowing the facts Sunset had held bare before them. She hardly wanted to accept the conclusion herself for a little while, but what else was there she could do?

Equestria was vast, every day they earned new discoveries about magic and its variety of uses. Only a short time ago, the lands both the princess and her pony friends ventured to during the Storm King’s raid had been completely undiscovered by Pony-kind. Crazy was the base definition of Sunset’s homeland. Even the existence of this human world wasn’t too far-fetched considering all the similarities both neighboring realms withheld.

However, travel from world in the outer cosmos had been easy to laugh off originally. Like something you’d see from a cheesy movie or fantasy story.

And yet here they all were again, wool pulled from their eyes as if the universe found it hilarious to further add more irrational craziness onto their over piled plates.

“Yes. About that” Rarity bowed, nerves taking enough of a step back for her mouth to work again. “Another world now? I consider myself an open-minded lady considering all I’ve witnessed; however, you’ll have to forgive me for being a tad skeptical. Even with dear Sunset’s vouch, it sounds to me as though there isn’t quite enough proof aside from your word alone.”

Cole scoffs with a roll of his eyes.

“Yeah, I know. But if you’re looking for me to do something that’ll somehow magically change your mind, that’s not going to happen.”

Rarity shakes her head again, looking sheepish.

“Quite right. I suppose I should have corrected my wording: We’ve established our worlds similar. However, perhaps you could provide us with some unique aspects about your home which might jog our imagination. It may still simply be words, but… what is it you believe makes us so different?”

It was a fairly obvious, yet admirable question. One which required some thought.

“Okay, not repeating any city names, I’d say some of the more prominent differences I’ve seen are the year dates. Last I checked it was the middle of summer in 2011, but now I’m hearing it’s what, the year three thousand?”

“Two thousand, forty-nine” Sunset corrected with a cough, avoiding his dry look.

“Exactly. That, and I’m not trying to be offensive here, but people didn’t naturally sport every color on the visual spectrum where I’m from.”

Those were honest answers. Maybe no further proof aside from his physical appearance, however it’s quite clear how limited their options were. Rarity seemed satisfied, though tilted her head in curiosity as she trailed a finger subconsciously through her violet locks.

“Speaking of such, I do applaud your choice in attire. Simplistic as it is, it fits surprisingly well with your… array of specialties. Although if you’d like, I have a few additional options for you to consider.”

… He doesn’t know how best to respond to that; therefore, he decides against the decision altogether, observing Sunset instead as it’s his turn to ask a question.

“You mentioned earlier you’ve all faced threats before. People who had powers like you. Did theirs come from little rocks too?” She peers at her geode before responding.

“Not necessarily.” Memories and past faces flash through Sunset’s vision, enough to give her fond and not-so fond nostalgia. “Well, I mean yes and no. Generally, they obtained their magic through ancient Equestrian relics lost to this world. Whilst a select few had their magic born with them, though overall, mainly the former over the latter.”

“Born with?”

“The world of Equestria is full of natural magic, most of which we- I mean the inhabitants are born with.” She bites her tongue. There’s no reason for him to know about her identity, not yet. “It’s more spell work honestly. Telekinesis, teleportation, all of it tamed with skill and useful for everyday life. However, there are always certain limits to an inhabitant’s capabilities; think of it like loading a water gun. Too much and the user can be overwhelmed by the raw energy.”

“And that’s where the artifacts come in handy.” Cole places a thumb under his chin.

“For a conduit, from all I’ve experienced, it’s almost never too much for the person to control after a certain amount of time, at least when their capabilities are naturally given rather than forced. It’s never a magic trick or spell, just superhuman genes waiting to be coaxed out.”

“It has to be more than that!” She shakes her head. “I remember how well you handled the cyclops; you must be at least familiar with monsters. Don’t tell me where you’re from a genetic can turn someone into-”

“A conduit’s abilities aren’t limited until they’ve been activated.” Cole interrupts her. “It’s obviously not always pretty, but I’ve seen damn near everything. Again, no spells or artifacts, only what limits and experience a conduit has with their abilities.”

She’s writing down his explanation word-for-word, tongue sticking out from habit. Limitless possibilities stored within genetics? If the rogue Equestrian magic had been hard for her to understand in this world, understanding this was a whole new breed.

RD appears as though she can’t hold herself back any longer, pushing herself up to him with that same excitement never leaving her features.

“Alright first off, I just wanna say fighting alongside you was beyond awesome! You handled that guy like a pro with your prod-thingy!” Dash grins. “You gotta tell us what else you’ve faced. Monster? Demons? Supervillains?!”

Their company freezes for another moment as he contemplates his answer. His expression becoming more vulnerable and hesitant to answer.

“Yeah, I’ve seen things like your monster friend before. Plenty of things which could rip people to shreds within the blink of an eye. That’s why they usually should to be dealt with as quick as possible, no fooling around; Monster or human.”

Rainbow’s expression wavered slightly, once again taken off guard by his rather blunt direction of action. Sidestepping Applejack, Fluttershy looks Cole in the eye with a poised, albeit nervous tone.

“But not all of them might be evil. There’s always a chance they might not know what they’re doing, and they need help.”

“Is that going to minimize the damage they do first?” The courier counters, furrowing his brow. Her eyes and facial expression spoke volumes of what he assumed was experience regarding redeeming lost souls. However, wasting time in battle with comforting words would only result in higher stakes for the people around them.

“You don’t always have to end your enemy to win a fight, but to save lives you need to be prepared for any option available.”

Fluttershy meditates on his answer, though obviously still troubled by. Behind her, Applejack places a hand on the younger’s shoulder as a sign of comfort, whilst Dash continues the conversation in the caregiver’s place.

“It was you, wasn’t it? the Changler attack in Canterlot center, you were the one that stopped it!”

Sunset blinks, a large part of her wanting to kick herself for never connecting the dots. She’d been so preoccupied by their whole magic problem that she’d barely paid mind to the literal terrorist attack only a few miles of she and her friends. She narrows her eyes and folds her arms, news broadcasts she’d originally only paid a side-eyed glance to reminding her of one very notable detail.

“Then why did the police label you as a threat? Surely, they must’ve seen all the good you’ve done.”

Cole weaves around his chair to rest onto the seat, resting his chin on his knuckles. “Lemme answer that question with a question: Why haven’t you shown the mass public your magic?”

He had a great point there. Fear. Paranoia was a everyone’s weakness in times of great desperation, only few outside of CHS walls were trusted enough knew about their powers. Seeing how this man had managed to wipe out a squad of extremists with electricity leaking from his fingertips, as well as the added bonus of undoubtedly holding no ID or knowledge about this place considering he was from a different world entirely? Now it could be fair to assume some miscommunications were held at the time.

“That’s such crap though!” RD’s voice raises. “This town should be holding you over their shoulders! Throw you a party or something, not try and toss you into a jail cell.”

The courier holds back further laughter despite the athlete’s sour expression and waves her off with a snort, unenthusiastic conformity lacing his words.

“You get used to it. Doesn’t make it any fun I mean, but you take the good with the bad. You protect the ones you care about, and suffer the consequences of any mistakes you make along the way.”

Fluttershy fiddles with her dress as she re-enters the discussion, clearly unhappy with every response he’s given thus far.

“That still doesn’t justify labeling you as a monster.”

Casually shrugging the title off once again, Cole chooses instead to do a once-over of their pendants, and switches topics.

“You’ve mentioned experiencing your own fair share of trouble, and apparently handled it well enough. But you also make it sound as though this magic of yours isn’t really under control. You seriously just have random objects filled with energy sprawled randomly allover your country?”

The red-haired girl bites her lip as his words sink in. Try the planet as a whole. Portals randomly lying about to who-knows-how-far on this planet’s surface, artifacts she’d read in museums as a filly found in a rando’s thrift store. Frankly she tries not to think about the looming potential of her recent newspapers raving about a foreign government overseas gaining ground with her world’s magic.

“We… we don’t know. Most of the time we’re caught off guard, and barely manage to clutch in a win by the end of it.” It’s surprising the amount of information that flows through her mouth. “The magic in this world is not the same as Equestria’s. For some reason, it’s all, I don’t know, out of balance. It’s unpredictable and confusing, like its mere existence here overwhelms the environment.”

Cole reflects on her distressful explanation in peaked curiosity. Clearly not everything was under their control, they were just kids after all. Shouldn’t there be someone helping them? If this magic kept getting booted off into this world, wouldn’t the inhabitants be a little interested?

“And the people from Equestria? Where do they fit into all this chaos?”

He notices a subtle change in her body language, stiffened and defensive; as if she was unsure how much she wanted to tell him. Whatever justification she’s concocted still leaves him suspicious.

“They help.” Sunset stresses. “But they’re just as confused as we are. That and there can be, um, complications with the more that arrive in this world.”

Bullshit. He holds his tongue and lets her finish her speech. There was something else going on between the other world’s inhabitants and their role in cleaning up this mess, but he’d give her the benefit of the doubt and not pick at the answer for now.

Still, if these kids were truly on their own in containing this magic from potential threats, then he had to hand it to them for staying alive for this long. It was easy to lose your sanity in situations where ever sense of the word normal is butchered, or place your sense of self into question.

“Sounds like you need all the help you can get.” Cole hums.

Something freezes within Sunset’s chest, mentally tearing his sentence to pieces then placing them back together bit-by-bit. A response said so casually, yet the weight of potential was undeniable. A flip that was switched inside her brain, slapping her upside the skull for an idea in she’d been glazing over in plain sight.

“You don’t mean you’re going to…”

He raises his hands to stop her. “Right now, kid, I can count on my hand the number of ideas I have for getting back home. Much less anything that won’t most definitely get me into another big fight I may not come out of.”

The man groans as he rubs his temple, averting their separate gazes and grumpily fixing a stare at the floor.

“At this point, I’ll take anything that’ll give me some form of hope.”

They all fall silent for a while, most unsure what else to do or say out of sympathy. Sunset fidgets with her notepad, tapping it anxiously with her pen, and traveling her eyes towards the backpack hanging on her shoulders. Inside she can feel the weightiness of Princess Twilight’s book, a constant reminder of their talk just an hour before.

Breaking her streak of long silence ever since her introduction, Applejack speaks up with a newly relaxed, yet simplistically formal tone.

“Well, ah myself ain’t got much to say, other than thank you for saving my friends here.” Applejack places her hands on her hips looking the conduit in the eyes calmly. Even grabbing the tip of her hat and dipping it.

“And our school for that matter. Ah’m just glad it’s over and done with is all.”

Pinkie Pie all but jumps onto his chair arm, trying to further the praise.

“Yeah! We really needed it. That sure was a doozy, especially once that meanie had the upper hand until you arrived. I’d say I’m surprised that our school is still standing, but at this point I think it’ll be more of a challenge to see who manages to do CHS in!”

She giggles like the event was merely an afterthought and not just yesterday, poking her cheek and eyeing him in sheepish regard.

“By the way, you technically didn’t say no the first time, so can we pretty please throw you a welcome-to-our-world-as-well-as-totally-saving-our-butts-from-being-dinner party?”

It made him uneasy, seeing how unaffected or nonchalant most of these teens were holding their status as this town’s protectors. That wasn’t to say they surely didn’t doubt themselves behind closed doors, but if one big animal the size of Bertrand’s Devourers was too much for them to handle together, then they were less in tune with their “powers” than he’d originally thought. Especially if only two to three took this seriously.

Raising a brow at the teen laying on the arm beside him, the prime conduit leans away from her until he’s at a comfortable distance.

“Then let’s try to keep it that way. And to make it clear this time kid, no.”

Observing Pinkie, Sunset couldn’t help a miniature smile that graced her lips. Although a major part of her felt sympathy for the man, it was a telltale sign he was tolerating them for this long to not leave or cause them any harm that almost everything the news told them was false.

But where did that leave them in this scenario? Rainbow Dash had nearly been hospitalized, countless injured or worse. She knew the next few days at school would be nonstop expressed doubts and constant reminders of their failure to keep things under control as promised, it was hard enough to make the rest of the CHS body swear not to film or expose their secrets to the outside world. Situations like yesterday were what any common sensed individual would describe as “the tipping point.”

Macgrath didn’t need to spell it for Sunset to understand where he was going with these questions. As experienced as they all were, they were still a far cry from being in their depth in the long run.

Sounds like you need all the help you can get. The sentence has been repeating through her mind ever since the words left his mouth, formulating something akin to a plan which made her sick to her stomach, yet equally delighted for the potential results.

Cole was definitely proficient, with him by their sides the risks of any more casualties would lessen, heck maybe with him by their side they could have a better chance at finding artifacts before another unwitting soul comes across it!

And perhaps, if convinced, maybe he could help them with their magic itself. Sure, he wasn’t familiar with it, but as someone who had more time under his belt opposed to their year of back-and-forth uncertainty.

“Why did you save us?”

Everyone simultaneously looks in the speaker’s direction. With her hands clasped together by her waist, Twilight doesn’t pay any mind to the crowd she’s drawn, rather uncharacteristically staring at Macgrath with an unreadable fixed expression behind her glasses. Noting the shared confusion, she chooses to elaborate.

“At the soccer field, when you set fire to the oil tank. You had the monster weakened, right where you wanted him, yet chose to stay behind for our sakes, despite the fact you knew leaving it alone would give it time to escape. Why prioritize us over a bigger threat?”

Sunset blinked once, then twice. What was Twilight getting at? The others were likewise caught off guard by the enquiry, maybe even offended. Although in a way her question made sense; Did he save them only because he saw they had magic, because they just needed someone to help, or was there really another reason behind it all?

Cole manages to respond relatively quickly, his gruff tone softening as he meets Twilight with a sudden look of empathy and acknowledgement.

“Yeah, I had plenty of time to take him down and finish what he started. But I made a promise to someone I cared very much about, and that was to protect people’s lives no matter the cost. Was it the right decision? I don’t know, but I can’t say I would’ve chosen differently if we rewound the clock.”

A mixture of emotions falls over the crowd, many showcasing awe, mounting respect, and gratitude. Twilight’s features change, not soft nor hard, but it’s clear the answer satisfies a hint of her curiosity before returning to silence. She doesn’t pay mind to any lingering eyes, and Sunset considers probing the younger about it later, though decides against the idea. Readying her pen back down to her notebook, Sunset hums.

“If I recall, you say you’ve only been here for a month, and that you didn’t arrive here by choice. Do you remember what might have happened to bring you to this world?”

Cole isn’t keen on replying right away, shifting himself in his seat and taking a breath. She sees his fingers tap the available arm of his chair. A nervous tick?

“It was during a nasty fight. I think I got myself wiped out, and woke up in the forest outside of town. Nothing that contained magic I can guarantee that much. Why?”

“Well, if you didn’t fall through a portal or actively try to cross dimensions… There must’ve been something that brought you here, we need to find that out.” She answers for him.

He’s quiet for a second.

“As I said, I arrived here after I was injured during a fight. Am I seriously the only special-case you’ve had?”

There had been a scenario with one of Princess Twilight’s friends, the Equestrian version of Fluttershy, where she had also gone missing in the aftermath of a battle against a particularly horrible enemy. Two months had Princess Twilight spent searching, knowing her friend was still alive, just far, far out of reach from them.

Only for the Pegasus to reappear at her castle’s doorstep, changed in many ways.

Equestria was connected to more places than one, yet unlike how both her home world and this one could be travelled between by a mere step through a portal, the others… were unorthodox. They were few and far between, with little to no telling how or why they were even connected in the first place. Only that these worlds existed, period.

Sunset knew more than anything he wanted to return home, her chest aching with empathy. She too knew that feeling well, once upon a time; the desire to find a place to belong. However, the sheer lack of knowledge and ability her people obtained for his circumstance specifically was overwhelmingly low. There was no known spell to ponykind which could transcend someone out into uncharted locations within the vastness of space, let alone the specific world they came from. You might as well punch your own ticket.

She remembered the sting from a pair of wings ripping through the muscles of her backside, and the fear in everyone’s eyes as they gazed up at her newly horrific demonic form. Only to experience that exact same feeling of helplessness as three furious sirens circled her group, eyes and teeth gleaming. Twilight’s painful cry before her own transformation into Midnight Sparkle wasn't so easily forgotten either, nor was the memory of being surrounded by Gloriosa’s suffocating vines. Her own found family once unable to recall a sliver of her redemption all thanks to a dumb magic rock in the palms of a suffering, misguided outcast.

Now the scorching heat from CHS’ burning lawn, coupled by screams of innocents and crazed monsters would echo through her dreams for the following few months. More reminders of her failure added to the growing list.

In short, Sunset was done playing this game by her contender’s rules.

Considering how well he’d reacted to learning the truth about his new fate to start, maybe the truth wasn’t the best option. Or at least, the full truth.

“Well, not exactly. You see, we just might have the means to get you back to your world, but our friends in Equestria need to do some digging. It’s the least we can do, after everything you’ve done for us so far.”

The conduit seemed enlightened by this revelation, his stoic composure relaxing as the barest hints of relief allows itself to show. He is starting to take the bait, so she uses this time to introduce their share; give him room to understand this as a transaction.

“In the meantime, I was hoping you could help us with our own situation as well. Because you’re right. We do need all the help we can get.”

Walking up to the small table in front of his chair, Sunset unzips her bag and pulls out a newspaper and plants it flat on the surface. As Cole leans over to inspect, Sunset folds her arms and backs up whilst growling.

“Five innocent people killed, more than twenty injured. And we only knew about that monster after you stopped him from terrorizing the city and he made his way to CHS. Were it not for you, more lives would’ve been taken and we would’ve still been participating in that stupid sports event.”

She glances out at the lit buildings beyond their roof, imagining all the people inside each floor continuing their daily lives as best they can with the threat of danger lurking around every corner. Knowing the ceiling over your head won’t be enough to save you from whatever her home world might drag here without warning or explanation.

The only things this town had as its current saviors until now were seven young girls who barely held sway over their own powers. It was high time for a change.

“With you by our side, we’d be able to lessen that count. If you help us find these Equestrian artifacts, teach us how we can better defend our own home, we could stop these situations faster than ever before!”

Cole stays silent, bouncing his gaze from the newspaper, to her, then to the rest of them. After a minute he stands and makes his way to her, hands on his hips whilst looking down at the teenager.

“Are you asking me to teach you how to fight, or how to use your magic instead? I don’t know the lengths your powers go; I may not be the first, or even third option.”

She shrugs whilst pursing her lips. “Yeah, but we obviously don’t really have time to go back and forth with Equestria, waiting in line to find a mentor and leaving this world vulnerable. If we leave at any amount of time, then who else is going to keep this city safe once you’re gone?”

Macgrath is complacent with her answer, raising a brow as he thinks to himself. He hums thoughtfully.

“Alright, so what I’m hearing is this: I teach you how to handle yourselves better, and in return your sources find me a portal back to Earth?”

“On the money.” She grins despite the taste of filth growing in her throat. “Although in fairness, we wouldn’t just leave you alone here regardless of your answer. Can’t just hold you captive here, can we?”

The longer her words stew, the more Cole actually finds himself convinced. It sounds absolutely horrific, essentially gearing up teenagers for war, so in return he can go home. At the same time however, this kid had openly admitted to them struggling to maintain balance long before his arrival. If John was still alive, Cole needed to be ready for his return. Hell, at this point who knew what Earth was experiencing after he’d activated RFI.

To be brutally honest for a minute, as much as Cole held no qualms aiding the people of this world, like it or not he did not belong here. Conduit genetics and literal magic were two separate entities from what he’d come to grasp, and despite perhaps through sheer luck alone they were capable of coinciding, (His returning psychic vision after healing Fluttershy in mind), Cole had a feeling some natural order must be currently glaring down at him indignantly.

At the same time, if he was going to be stuck here for longer than he'd pleased, might as well put himself to use right?

“You’d have a hard time doing so regardless.” He smirks before approaching Sunset with an open palm. “You’ve got yourself a deal kid.”

He doesn’t miss the rest of the surrounding teen’s equal representations of surprise for Sunset’s decision on their part, although nobody calls her out on it either, especially after a victorious fist bump followed by a muttered “Awesome!” from a certain individual in suite. The speckled girl, Twilight, side-eyes Sunset with a strange intensity, one the latter is completely oblivious to.

“You won’t regret this. I promise, we’ll do everything we can. When do we start?” Sunset nods enthusiastically as he releases her hand to pocket his.

“As soon as possible. I need to see what you can do, your skills, your individual powers, get an overall sense of what I’m working with here.”

“Tomorrow’s Sunday. We’re free then, right girls?”

As she looks towards the others with different unspoken opinions hidden beneath their conflicted features, Sunset hopes they’ll understand the big picture she’s trying to specify here. Yes, it was completely unfair for her to place them all on the spot straight out of left field like this, however weariness and self-assuredness aside they needed this. Needed someone to train them where she’d failed so spectacularly.

No more extended waits searching for an enemy’s weakness, or stumbling blindly to solve a magical power problem. They would learn to be prepared so nobody else could get hurt. Some respond with subtle nods, others with more enthusiasm. Rainbow Dash raises her hand high with an excited grin.

“There’s an old warehouse me and a couple of my old friends used to explore when we were kids on the far-left side of town. It’s next to the railway, and though I haven’t been there in a while I’m sure it’ll be perfect for training.”

Meeting a bunch of kids in a ruined building for training? No matter how you sounded it, nearly everything within that statement was wrong in one way or another. Too bad Cole had a hard time remembering anywhere else in this town that was a better substitute. Applejack looked like she had something to say, yet kept her mouth shut.

The conduit closes his eyes, rubbing a hand over his face.

“Listen, all of you, I’m not exactly a pro teacher, and what you’re asking me to train you for? It’s not all just about having flashy powers; it’s about making tough choices and living with the consequences. The work I get myself involved with is different kinds of dangerous, not just monsters, but people too. As I said, it’s not always necessary to end your opponent’s life to save the day, but there will be a point where you have to decide which would benefit those you care about.”

“Besides, sticking with me is a certified way of crumpling your futures into paste. Your city considers me a terrorist. Any of you get caught by my side and you’re done, no more college, no nothing. You want to be a vigilante? You need to know it’s not nearly as fun as your comic books before committing.”

Now that he’s successfully scared the shit out of them, the conduit awaits their decision as they collectively turn towards each other for individual answers.

“There’s nothing wrong with walking away from this. No shame or judgement.”

When he speaks again, it’s soft, an attempt to get them to understand this was a choice. Sunset knows she’s not the only one who feels more offended than thankful. A choice? No, nobody here was given much choice after what she did. What she brought to this world in her selfish quest for ambition. Equastrian magic was forcing its way into the natural balance, a force which trampled innocents underfoot during its mindless expansion.

So many within Canterlot had been affected already. What’s to say about the places beyond their borders? She knew her girls, knew they wouldn’t stand for anyone, regardless of position, to take advantage of others using her world’s “gifts”. And she’d be damned to charge headlong into a confrontation she knew would end in their deaths because they weren’t ready.

“We don’t want to be caught off guard anymore.” Sunset stares at the older man with unshakable resolve, one the others share with her. “We want to be ready, even if that means working hard for it. Whatever it takes to keep our families safe.”

Macgrath’s expression of newfound admiration sends a flurry of joy that puts a bit of her conflicted mind at ease.

“Meet me at this warehouse of yours tomorrow at nine in the morning. Until then, I want you all to go home and think about this. Rest, if you can. I know I need it myself.”

When she reaches the end of the ladder and joins her group in the alleyway, it doesn’t take a genius to recognize the silent demand for an answer. Despite wordlessly agreeing with her official deal with Macgrath, there was still the overarching fact that she’d spoken for six different people without asking for their approval. And right on the spot too.

Facing them like they much deserved, Sunset rubs her arm in an attempt to soothe her nerves and find the ability to speak. Thank Celestia most of them aren’t immediately addressing her with suppressed anger now they’re out of earshot. Just silently waiting with patience she doesn’t feel she’s earned.

“I know what you’re thinking, but please hear me out.” She loathes how rushed her words sound first. “Every time we’ve been fortunate to win and save the day, but there’s always a chance there will be something we normally wouldn’t be cut out for. Not without his help.”

Sunset chews her lip. “However, I truly am sorry I made it seem like none of you had any say in it. You still do, I should’ve confided with you all first.”

“That would have been helpful, yes” Twilight huffs, her tone not raising, but certainly not getting any less firm. “But you’re obviously committed to this plan, so I doubt backing down from this now is going to happen. What I’m curious about is whether or not you were planning this deal behind our backs beforehand.”

Sunset shakes her head profusely, eyes widening and subconsciously stepping forwards.

“No! No, not at all! Look, after everything that’s happened over the past few weeks, we all agreed progress needed to happen, and even then, despite our efforts we still barely made it out alive last night. He made a suggestion that we could use the extra pair of hands, and I figured we’d take advantage of our best option available.”

“We only had one day to train!” Twilight protests. “Besides, what makes you think anything this guy says is true? You said it yourself, Equestria doesn’t have much knowledge regarding places outside of our two worlds. I can’t be the only one here who’s considered the possibility that he’s lying about who he is, and just wants to use training as a front to potentially take our powers!?”

“Now, now, let’s all take a quick breath.” Rarity weaves into the conversation before anything can get too heated. “Although a cautious eye or two certainly wouldn’t be too overzealous of an action, I have to admit the odds are simply not in our favor here regarding our current state of affairs, Twilight. Considering our position, would it not benefit us to work alongside someone who has more experience in battle?”

Twilight gapes at the fashionista before rubbing her temples to ease her nagging anxiety.

“Is it true then?” Applejack interjects, incredulously raising a brow towards Sunset. “Can your people in Equestria actually find a way to take him back home?”

The latter takes a gander at her notepad and pockets it.

“It’s going to take time. I’m not sure how long exactly, as I said this type of situation is less frequent than a blue moon. But that doesn’t mean it’s impossible. From what I’ve heard, Equestrian magic has been evolving more and more since I left, we’ll be sure to do our best. In the meantime, we’ve got to use what little time is left to be ready for another worse-case scenario.”

AJ isn’t as sold by Sunset’s words, and the latter has to remember she’s trying to convince someone who’s specialized in catching every conceivable gap in a statement without the need for magic. Around her, Sunset feels each girl’s atmosphere rife with uncertainty in spite of their resolved faces.

RD breaks the minute-long silence, shrugging with a guilty frown. ““Okay, yeah, Sunset should’ve thought before acting. And yeah, totally pot calling kettle here. But that’s the perfect example. Sure, he doesn’t hold back on much and can be a bit of an uptight jerk, but the guy isn’t a villain.”

“How do you know?” Twilight pressures Dash with a low growl in her throat. To Rainbow Dash’s credit, she doesn’t flinch at the demand, instead straighten herself with a barely contained wince.

“Because I was…well I… He’d placed himself in harms way for me more than once out there. I wasn’t the easiest partner, but Cole made sure I was safe regardless. That has to count for something!”

Watching Rainbow curb her ego in favor of Cole’s favor, a feat not so easily given, Sunset uses this rare occurrence to her advantage.

“He was also right about another thing…” She begins. “… This is still a choice for you, not a demand. I’m not asking you to trust him, to put yourselves in further danger for aligning with him. But I do want you to know that I believe having someone like him on our side, at least for now, could provide safer results. He stopped The Changler’s army, and helped us stop the cyclops. If anyone doesn’t want to come tomorrow, there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s your decision, and I will keep in touch once I get to the warehouse.”

It's unfair. So unbelievably unfair for her to say any of this and Sunset knew it. she wants what’s best for them, just as much as they do for her. Was there ever a problem one dealt with that the others never immediately jump in to help with?

Sunset bites her lip and stomachs her remorse. Nobody said the road to progress was easy, nor ever without doubt. From the expressions on their collective faces, she knew instantly words were not needed to deduce the group’s shared decision.

______________

Watching the group of seven vacate, Cole groans in either exhaustion or frustration, he doesn’t have the heart to care for overthinking as he struts towards a little cooler hidden from the sun. Pulling out a drink, he grabs and unfurls his city map alongside the newspapers Shimmer left behind.

Tracing the sketches along the paper until finding the railroad, oddly enough the outside perimeter of the warehouse they’d suggested was there. But was it really outside of public eyes? He didn’t need those kids’ powers exposed through the internet the very same day.

Christ, everything about this plan was… well he was pretty sure the lovely list of following adjectives would be so long he’d get bored barely halfway through. Was this the best way of making sure those kids were safe from getting themselves into trouble? Probably not. Were they safe on their own without any real guidance regarding their powers and the attention it’d bring regardless? Also no.

He was stuck. Both groups required the other if they wished to survive long enough, worse yet was how shaky their alliance already presented itself. Withholding information sounded like suicide to an outsider perspective.

However, there was much Cole honestly wasn’t sure he had the guts to tell them. Did they need to know the device he’d used was designed with lethal intentions? Neither the First Sons nor Dr. Wolfe had shown any acknowledgment of worlds beyond Earth that mirrored sentient life, no matter how advanced their technology was compared to the rest of the government.

Surely it wasn’t the RFI that sent him here, perhaps a rift made by whatever higher power governed this place. What held him back from giving them the straightforward answer was that fact alone. Damn, that actually sounded stupid when actually thinking about it.

Then again, he noticed many of them were equally hesitant in grating certain information, especially about the other Equestria. Aside from countless negative stories in his name, and only an hours’ worth of working alongside him, he still didn’t blame them for being scared.

How sure could one be that all of them would arrive tomorrow?

The case of such a possibility earns him a fresh idea. If travel between one Equestria to another was so common, then CHS had to be their point of communal travel. Breaking inside was a tempting thought, though probably a tactic saved for another time, preferably after he’s made dealt with any potential cameras and waited out leftover faculty.

Cole hums as the last of his beer cools his throat. Perhaps something around the school’s exterior could provide him with helpful information.

Unknown location.

Another yelp echoes out as the captive feels another rib crack, his assailant dragging the bat back in preparation for another swing. The shackles holding him tight like a puppet on a string have all but numbed the feeling in his wrists, many attempts at escaping proving futile.

“I’m telling you the truth!” He spits a wad of blood onto the filthy tile, trying to muster the strength to breathe. “We have no idea where that thing came from. No scans, or warning. It must’ve come out of the ground, I don’t know!”

The soldier readies another swing when his superior halts the action with a commanding wave of his hand. Merciful, if not taunting.

“A monkey the size of a building doesn’t just pop into a town square without some sort of warning. Canterlot isn’t some frontier town in the middle of nowhere with no security or guard watch. Surely you’re not telling me this thing popped out of thin air are you?”

Their captive shakes his head repeatedly, desperate to avoid another blow. Pharynx sneers.

“Then what did your superiors tell you?”

Coughing, the agent grits his teeth and glares.

“Nothing! They said they were covering it up using you as a front, that’s it!”

How quaint. The terrorist rolls his eyes.

“Well then, I’m sure you people have plenty of drones and cameras peaking about the city. Considering you haven’t been putting them to any good use as of late, surely you wouldn’t mind helping us tour through your camera feed?”

The injured man huffs and hangs his head low, mind scrambling for an answer which might appease his captors.

“Y-you want access to the city control centers? Even if you manage to pull it off, it’ll only give you more attention- AGH!”

With a mere snap of his fingers, the lieutenant has his all-too-eager subordinate cut the response short. Although not hard enough to break anything this time, it serves more as a warning.

“The only attention you should be concerned about is our interest in you. It’s the only thing keeping you alive after all.”

His captive looks into cold, teal eyes, and Pharynx resists another roll of his eyes when hesitation returns. Instead, he turns his gaze to the soldier on the right and smirks.

“Get creative, just don’t break anything that’s important. We need him to still walk and talk after all.”

Closing the door to muffle sounds of agony and grunts, Pharynx strolls down the corridor of the long-abandoned office building. Barely paying mind to either the working, or lazing men scrambling to pretend they’re doing so upon his mere presence, he instead settles for rubbing the headache growing through his skull.

Their new ground of operations was well fortified and hidden, miles outside of the city in a town quickly lost to their power. Most of the heavy trucks and artillery were scattered throughout their various other camps encircled around Canterlot’s valley, thus the loss of the Crystal Camp’s vehicles, including their newly stolen tank, was a great annoyance at best. It would be foolhardy to show their whole deck for one simple failed scare tactic.

He can already feel the air grow thick when climbing the stairs to the second floor, rapidly switching to suffocating as Pharynx nears the double doors of his superior. Several soldiers straighten and synchronize in allowing him entry. Their faces show it all.

Ah, so this is going to be one of those days.

In replacement of an audible sigh, the Changler takes a sharp exhale through his nose before entering. The noise of stock footage echoes in his ear, and the smell of metallic copper fills his nose whilst walking deeper into the chamber. What had once been a conference room now lay gutted and refilled to the brim with boxes of shells and guns. Steadily he follows the source of light from the projector until taking in her appearance.

Sitting comfortably in a chair, her eyes never leave the screen displayed, gaze normally sharp enough to make the bravest man bury his head in the sand, now were filled to the brim with more intrigue than the lieutenant had seen in years. Their projector continues rolling footage Pharynx would’ve expected from a cheesy kid’s flick, not an actual event caught by city news just yesterday. How the government hadn’t been quick enough to shut down the channel from publishing this was beyond him, although if only it further served as a reminder to their incompetence.

He knows better than to address her when she’s like this, rather standing ramrod straight at two arm’s length to the sideline until he’s rightfully earned her attention. More screams from the camera roll until a bright blue light makes his eyes squint, an animal roaring out in agony overlapping with anything remotely human.

“Fascinating, isn’t he lieutenant?”

Although her gaze does not fall on him, Pharynx feels the great weight of her attention fall upon his shoulders much like every other interaction. As if granted permission, he looks at the film alongside her, taking in every detail down to the last grain.

Fascinating yes, but also quite amateurish. Giant monsters weren’t an everyday occurrence, Macgrath’s technique wasn’t as stellar as those made him out to be. The man was impulsive, lived for the thrill of the fight, and was not trained in militaristic fashion both from early reports and what the soldier was currently watching. However, light-show not taken into account, the vigilante at least had the brains to quickly pinpoint the creature’s weaknesses other than its sole eye, keeping it from causing greater civilian casualties all the while.

“He’s efficient for an amateur.” Pharynx hums.

A husky chuckle escapes her throat as his leader leans her chin onto clenched knuckles, lazily smiling.

“On the contrary, he seems well adjusted to such a bizarre situation. Watch his form more closely, the way he switches his tactics. What else do you see?”

Without hesitation he peers back at the film, trying to pinpoint what had caught her interest. Attempting to trap the creature underneath concrete, effectively climbing across its fur to attack more visceral areas. Slowly the realization dawns and he sucks in a breath.

“He’s fought more like these before.”

Another hum, this time of approval, she sits up and reaches for the projector. Fingers skimming the top, the footage begins speeding up to skip a half-hour long fight until she reaches whatever timestamp she’s wishing to show him. By the end of the fight, when it appears Macgrath is winning, Pharynx thinks he’s seeing things when a blackish aura appears to suddenly fog over the monster’s fur coat.

In a matter of seconds, Cole is sent flying as the cyclops all but races in an odd direction neither towards the forest nor into deeper city sanctions. Why would it head for the suburbs?

Of course, his unverbalized question is answered when she skips forward again and reveals none other than Canterlot City Highschool surrounded by a sea of fire on its lawn. Miraculously the building only received a few scrapes as firefighters worked tirelessly to get the heat under control. Leaving the video paused on the final frame, Chrysalis keeps her smug expression as she finally turns to her lieutenant.

“So the creature was after the children this whole time?” Pharynx mutters as his leader brushes by him to inspect a nearby pinned map of Canterlot.

“Exactly. It knew the exact location of the children, who were on the opposite side of town. Yet was completely caught off guard by Canterlot’s resident hero. Intriguing isn’t it?”

All the more to handle him before anything else could progress.

He growls. “So if he followed that thing to CHS, then they must’ve met. If they haven’t already.”

“Precisely.” Using a black marker she begins tracing lines from the city square, to CHS, then to Scorpan Park. “The creature made its way from the suburbs to the forest on the edge of town. No further recordings of the fight were taken, just video evidence of the aftermath with no bodies found, and I know it wasn’t just Macgrath who took care of the beast.”

“Commander, if I may…” He grits his teeth. “… We’re already walking a thin line in keeping the government out of our business, and the agent we’ve caught has just revealed we are being held responsible for this attack. The longer we stay observing those seven from the sidelines, the more chances they’ll be granted outside protection. Especially if Macgrath is involved with them, and we still don’t know where he even came from.”

Chrysalis waves a finger over her shoulder, tutting whilst steadily walking alongside the array of posters and maps aligning the wall. A swift tug and she yanks a picture of Macgrath to inspect closely.

Ever since his first appearance in taking out their assault, Chrysalis had been completely invested in the mysterious newcomer. Cole’s abilities were off the charts, and hadn’t been anything close to what the group of girls at CHS possessed. The latter were children, perfectly capable of handling themselves sure, but vastly unprepared for the attention they’d sprung upon themselves.

Cole Macgrath on the other hand chewed through their numbers with enough ferocity to match a military squadron. If he was protecting their targets, they needed to step up their game quickly.

“Wherever those girls go, Macgrath won’t be too far behind now.” She speaks, eerily calm while placing the photo onto another table. “He’s not one of them, therefore you are correct in this regard lieutenant. We must deal with this quick and effectively. I want more eyes on the children; follow where they go, so they can lead us to him.”

He nods stiffly. “Understood. And the children themselves?”

“The order remains the same. Keep your distance and do not engage under any circumstance. They will play their part soon enough.”

He raises his hand with a firm salute before turning a heel and making his way out.

“Lieutenant Pharynx.”

Ten steps towards the exit and he stops to turn back to face her. In his rookie days, he might’ve jumped upon seeing she’s somehow made it this close to him without knowing, warm breath grazing his face. Unlike his pure teal eyes, his commander bores her viper-like pupils into his soul, honey sweet expression hiding the starving mantis behind thin glass.

“Tell me, how is your dear little brother?”

“Just fine ma’am.”

She cocks her head to a point it almost seems unnatural. “I hear he’s climbed our ranks rather quickly. He’s quite the shining engineer, I must say. I believe it suites him better than being a common front soldier, always making certain our equipment is in top shape.”

He resists the urge to swallow bile.

“Thank you ma’am. It is under your command he’s risen to show his talent.”

Whether she veiws his comment as a compliment or simple fact is uncertain, continuing to silently hum yet again as she observes him. She hadn’t changed much during the years, age appearing to not have an effect on her presence. Mossy hair flowing down her shoulders akin to a river stream matching well with her dark skin tone. A finger traces the skin below his crimson colored hair, barely enticing a shiver.

“Do send him my regards won’t you? I’m afraid I have much to attend to.”

He doesn’t feel himself nod, only knowing he’s done so by the pleased expression she gives.

“Good, dismissed.”

Feet pulling him away from the teeth and claws, Pharynx manages to leave the maw in one piece. It’s only when her eyes no longer fall upon his shoulders, does he hasten his steps.

Author's Note

Half as long...

The room was small and pitch black, about the size of a child's bedroom. Freezing air seeped through the concrete walls and clouded the inside, giving off a horribly dry, dusty smell.

At first glance, one would think that even the brightest of lights would be swallowed up by the dark instantly. Which would definitely seem so, if there wasn't a mid-sized lamp illuminating a fourth of the room, standing on an office desk. Resting square in the middle of the vacant space, the desk, littered with all kinds of maps and blueprints, sat peacefully and quietly. However, it was not the only occupant there; looming overhead, a figure stood, panting and wheezing, his eyes glowing a faded yellow in the darkness. Wrapped in a white cloak, the massive figure continued to glare at the desk, his panting and wheezing echoing around the otherwise darkened room, looking as though he was silently debating something in his head.

Eventually he seemed to sort out the silent conflict and calmly placed his aged hand onto the phone sitting to the left of him. The device paused for a moment, then began to ring loudly, cutting out the sound of the man's frequent noise. For a few seconds the ringing continued, until a click was heard. A voice from the other line spoke:

"Hello?"

The figure simply stood there for a couple of seconds, before speaking in a gravely, almost deathlike voice.

"MACGRATH?"

"yeah, who's this?" the voice on the other end said questioningly. The figure slowly looked away from the phone, turning his attention to the other object on his desk, a round, basketball sized, sphere shaped metal object that started to glow a bright sky blue through the holes on it's sides. The figure's cloak shifted, a flash of silver could be seen for just a second, a hand came up to the sphere and when it connected a small clank was heard. A strong, powerful metal arm took hold of the sphere and lifted it up to the old man's ashy face.

"Look man, I'm kinda in a rush right now, do you need something or not?'' the voice on the phone griped. Still gazing longingly at the sphere, the figure finally said with a smirk.

"THERE'S SOMETHING I NEED YOU TO DELIVER FOR ME."
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

New Marias, 2011

Screams could be heard from every corner of New Marais, the very air was filled with sharp, weightless debris and the clouds thick with a rust like appearance. Explosions in the far-off distance could be seen as people ran for their lives towards any type of safe space they could find. The apocalypse had come.

The sky roared as jets and helicopters rocketed overhead, unleashing seas of gunfire at their enemy. Missiles shrieked from their posts, and tanks trampled over any debris in their path. At a time like this, some people would rather hold their loved ones close and pray for the best or drink up every last bottle of scrumpy until their bowels exploded, but there are the brave few that take the chance to go down fighting.

Footsteps hammered the rooftops of two and three story buildings as a middle aged man ran like the devil was on his heels. But if this were the case, then he'd be heading straight for the devil himself. Wearing a snow white T-shirt, he carried a sling backpack which held an interesting tool; a staff-like weapon with grooved metal spears separating themselves from the handle. Speeding through the roof, he did not show any sign of fear or nervousness on his facial features, but instead held a look of pure, raw determination. As the edge of the roof drew nearer and nearer, the man kept his speed at a regular pace, unfazed by the lack of ground rapidly approaching. Then, with a massive leap, he jumped off the roof, fell to the earth below...and landed with a thud onto the street. Barrel rolling to his feet, the man seemed to shrug off his supposed "death leap" like he had just jumped off a small boulder.

Of course, any regular person would have certainly become a road decoration from the stunt he had pulled, but he wasn't just some regular person, he was a conduit, a person with extreme natural powers. And he wasn't just any conduit, he was the Prime conduit. Over the course of his life, he's been called many names by friends and foes alike: "The Electric Man", "terrorist", " Patron Saint of New Marais" and "the Demon of Empire City", however, he prefers the name that's been stuck with him for all of his life: Cole Macgrath.

Selfless and kind, Cole enjoyed helping the helpless from the evil that slunk in the shadows; It disgusted him really, the savage and sick-minded people he had encountered on his road to being a savior. After seeing their horrifying personalities and appearances, he swore on his deceased lover, Trish Dailey, and to himself, that he would die trying to protect others. He was about to complete that promise too.

Racing towards the giant chapel in the center of the town, Cole grappled onto one of the windows, and quickly began to climb up the building by grabbing hold of any ledge he could get his fingers on. Before he got his powers, New Marais used to be his own personal play ground, challenging himself to climb tall houses, leading him to be able to scale even the steepest of skyscrapers. Now, Cole wanted to make sure it would continue to look like it's old self in the future. Hopping over the spiked appendages guarding the sides of the rooftop, Cole then grappled onto one of the above bell towers with his Lightning tether, which in turn, pulled him up roughly onto the tower. In the small space sat a device called a "substation", it's job was to recharge the powerful object known as the "Ray Field Inhibitor" otherwise known as the RFI, which held the capacity to take away the powers of super humans known as conduits. A stark contrast to the power giving Ray Sphere, the very source that had once unlocked Cole's powers just months ago. Wasting no time, he unclipped the RFI from his belt and began to charge it with the device. Turning on his walkie-talkie, Cole spoke.

"Alright Zeke, its fully charged."

Zeke Jedediah Dunbar, Cole's best friend, called back on the radio. "Alright brother, just hit it when you're ready."
Cole paused for a moment, then spoke once more to his childhood friend, "Zeke, I just wanted to tell you one last thing. It's been a hell of time having these powers," He paused once more, then chuckled "both good and bad. I know this hasn't really been a walk in the park for us both, but thank you, For being there for me until the end." If he were in any other circumstance, he would've made fun of Zeke for just barely letting out a shaky breath on the radio.

"We've always had each others backs man, Its what we do. Damn, I'm sure gonna miss you."

"See ya on the other side man." Cole whispered.

"See ya brother."

THOOM!

Jolting upwards, Cole whipped around just in time to see a shadow cast itself over thirty square blocks, blocking out what was left of the sun's rays. Standing at about fifty-stories high, a creature towered over the small town of New Marais. Humanoid in shape, it looked as though it was something that came from a nightmare's nightmare. Burning, rock-like skin covered it's entire body, with bright cracks webbing across the creature. It walked at a fast pace towards Macgrath, plowing through any structure that stood in it's place. Growling, Cole felt the immense electrical current course through him from the RFI, making him feel more and more powerful with every spark. He continued to glare daggers at the monster, furious that this thing, who was once his friend. A man named John White, a Conduit like Cole, who wanted to save all other super humans from a disease only known as the Plague, but in doing so, "required" killing everyone who didn't carry the Conduit gene. Millions of lives wiped out, for the sake of thousands. A deed that Cole would not stand for.

Watching his former friend lumber menacingly towards him, Cole looked back at the device in his hands before snarling, "No, not just yet." Clipping the RFI back on his belt, he leaped off the bell tower with a war cry and used his Static Thrusters to boost him high in the air. Barely reaching the height of the Beast's midsection, Cole let loose a barrage of explosive electrical bolts, smashing painfully into the monster. Shrieking in pain, the Beast swung wildly at his attacker, trying in vain to swat away Macgrath as each bolt ripped away house sized chunks of flesh. It felt gratifying, as equally horrifying, to hear John's cries.

Soon, John's agony became too much and fell to his knees, defeated and tired. Landing just to the side of him, Cole took a minute to catch his breath as the electricity buzzed harshly in his hands. Panting, he once again unclipped the Ray Sphere from his belt, albeit more slowly this time, and prepared to finally set it off.

"Do it."

Whipping around, he saw another Conduit that he was all too familiar with. A woman his age limped up the steps towards the chapel, sobbing and coughing painfully into her ice powered hands. Moving fast, Cole caught the woman before her body gave up and collapsed. "I...I'm sorry. I was just...j-just s-so scared." Lucy Kuo whimpered in Cole's arms. Pulling her up to her feet, he rested Lucy onto a large slab of debris. Despite her attempt to kill him just moments ago in fear of sacrificing her life for the rest of humanity, Cole's expression was not one of anger or betrayal, but one of forgiveness.

"I am too." he said soothingly. Walking away from the coughing woman, he stood just in front of the still pained Beast while he held out the RFI. Glancing at Kuo one last time, Cole began reminiscing his life, his allies, enemies, the in-between.

Lucy, Nix, Laroche, Moya, Harms, Amy, Zeke, Trish.

Without hesitation, he flipped the switch.

And his whole world went white.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Too bright.

The covers of the bed shifted as the morning rays of the sun lit up the room. Groaning in annoyance, the lone occupant flung the covers over her head, hoping to rebel against the ever nearing light. Ahhh, much better. the girl thought as she felt sleep rising back into her body.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

Son of a...

Shoving the covers off her, ex-unicorn Sunset Shimmer stumbled groggily down the stairs to her bathroom, muttering along the way. While brushing her teeth, she took the advantage of seeing what type new hairstyle the bed had graciously made for her. Flaming inferno with a side of drool. Fitting for a Monday. Spitting out her toothpaste, she walked over to the kitchen and opened up her pantry to pull out a simple box of Wheatie-Needies. Bringing out a bowl, she absentmindedly dumped out nearly all of it's contents, spilling gallons of Wheatie-Needies, milk and whatever cheap surprise toy came with the box all over the table. Ignoring the ever-growing pile of sugar that was once a bowl, Sunset stopped pouring and slowly began to eat. as the time went by, her eating became slower. slower. sloower. and slooower. and sloo-

SPLAT!

Until she numbingly fell face first into her cereal bowl, the sleep from earlier coming back with a vengeance. She could almost feel the warm embrace of dreamland coming towards her, the soft hugs of Mr. Teddy wrapping comfortably around her soul. However, the universe had other plans, and one can only stay confined in a bowl of milk for so long.

Gasping for air, Sunset pried her milk-drenched fiery locks from her eyes and turned over to the clock on her kitchen wall. Then nearly did a double-take. 6:45.

"Holy- NO!"

She shouted. Zipping over to her wardrobe, she quickly nabbed her bag (Which she ingeniously already put all of her schoolwork in from the previous morning. A chore she forgot to do too many times for her to mention.) and donned her casual attire, jeans, baby blue dress and her leather motorcycle jacket.

"ByeRayseeyoulaterhaveagreatdayloveyou!'' Sunset yelled to her pet gecko Ray as she bolted out the door.

...

Huh, I wonder why she wanted to leave her food. thought Ray as he stared at his owner's abandoned lunch bag on the kitchen counter from his tank.
___
Bolting down the street, Sunset dodged and weaved obstacles left and right, hoping to get to her school on time. Jumping over a bench, she zipped through the crosswalk, narrowly missing the green light signaling for cars. Hurrying down the sidewalk, she could almost see her school, Canterlot High, in the not-so-far distance.

Just two more blocks! She silently cheered.

"PLEASE!"

Stopping dead in her tracks, Sunset whipped her head towards a distant sound from an alleyway straight to her left, trying to listen for what she prayed she didn't just hear.

''SOMEBODY PLEASE HELP ME!" A women's voice could just barely be heard deep within the pitch-black passageway.

Any thoughts of school all but forgotten, Sunset turned and ran down the alleyway with great speed. Someone was in trouble, and she'd never forgive herself if they got hurt. As she continued down the dark path, Sunset felt the air grow increasingly colder, to the point where her body started to shiver. "...JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!" The voice sounded closer now, but their tone indicated there was someone else in the alleyway with them. This caused Sunset to slow down her pace as the voice grew nearer, now deciding to investigate the situation.

"Shut up you old bag. Unless you want more facial surgery here and now, I suggest you keep quiet!"

Hiding behind a trash bin, Sunset peeked over and saw a hooded figure, probably a middle-aged man, pinning an elderly woman against the back of a building, with a glittering object positioned right next to her neck. It was a gun. This 40-something year old man was threatening an elderly lady with a gun. Nearly gagging on the bile that rose in her throat, Sunset growled and rose to her feet, ready to make herself known before things escalated.

"HEY!"

Caught off guard by the newcomer, the figure whipped around just in time to see a size ten boot impact his face, sending him flying onto the concrete in surprise. Running over to the woman, Sunset asked worryingly "are you alright ma'am?".

Gently putting her hand on the women's shoulder, she received a silent nod from the shocked lady. "Good, now I need you to get out of here and, if you can, call the police." Nodding once more, the still scared old woman muttered a scared "Thank you sweetie." and took off like a bullet.

"Nice hit kid." a voice snarled from behind her. The man's dark eyes gazed at her from within his hood, a demonic smile creeping up his features. ''Real nice. Shame you won't do it again."

"What do you think you're doing?! You can't just attack an elderly woman, who do you think you are?! " Sunset snarled back angrily.

Once again caught off guard by the teenager, the man paused for a moment, before chuckling deeply. "Heh, looks like you need to be taught a lesson about reality, Girly." Lowering his weapon, the man tossed it aside before speaking once more. "Besides, what fun is there in using a gun to payback for a kick?''

Staring dumbly at the man in front of her, Sunset was beyond stunned. This man was crazy! "W-Wha-" before she could finish, the man ran towards her at break neck speed, arms sprung out towards her throat. Jumping to her right, she dodged the assailant and got in a fighting stance. When coming to the human world, Sunset Shimmer had quickly realized her previous magic from being a unicorn in Equestria had not stuck with her new body. Seeing that her primary source of self-defense had left her, she chose to attend multiple martial arts classes over the years to prepare for situations like these.

Hands raised, she glared at man with absolute concentration, deducing her plan of attack. Flipping around, the assailant dashed towards her once more, prepared this time. Swinging his fist with excellent precision, Sunset narrowly dodged her head from the attack before jabbing her hand into the man's kidney. Growling, he flung his knee at her exposed face, only to be blocked by her other hand. Pushing him off her, she stumbled back and regained in her stance. This time it was her turn to attack.

Swinging a kick, she prepared to swipe him across the face. At least, that's what she planned to do. Catching her leg, he flipped her over his body and slammed her on the ground. Gasping in pain, she shot her foot into his thigh, causing him to yell. Back-rolling to her feet, she threw her palm at his neck, causing him to choke on impact. Swinging another karate chop, the man dodged and rammed his fist into her stomach, making her loose balance for a moment. Before she could regain her attention, his fist slammed into her face.

The force of the impact sent her flying, and landing her in a puddle. While trying to get up, a hand coiled around her neck in lightning speed, pinning her to the ground. Struggling desperately, Sunset weakly kicked and punched the man in vain to free herself from his grasp. But the lack of oxygen in her body from his tight grip on her throat held her from doing any damage.

"You fight good kid," The man said while smiling, "...I'm sure gonna remember you. But there's no one better than good ole' Zsasz.'' Smiling gleefully, he raised his fist above him, preparing to strike.

All of the sudden, a rainbow-colored blur came out of nowhere and rammed into Zsasz, flinging him off of her and skidding him across the pavement. Head still hazy from her attacker, Sunset slowly lifted herself off the ground, just in time to see the rainbow blur take the form of another teenage girl and harshly pull Zsasz from the floor, pinning him to a wall. Then without warning, the newcomer began to rapidly punch the attacker in the face, each fist nearly invisible from the amount of speed and strength she put in them.

As the girl did this, she screamed in Zsasz's face. "DON'T. EVER. TOUCH HER. AGAIN. YOU. CREEP!!!!"

It was disturbing how much he could endure before one of the girl's hits finally knocked his lights out.

The second teenager, sporting an athletic white t-shirt and tight gym shorts, panted and huffed while wiping the sweat off her brow. Atop her blue skinned scalp was a mangle of Rainbow colored that Sunset thankfully recognized immediately. "R-Rainbow Dash?" The girl in question looked to her right, eyes widened in horror, seeing her bruised friend struggle to get up. "SUNSET!" Rainbow Dash shouted before running over to the other girl. Picking her up, she bombarded the fiery haired girl with every question she could muster.

"What happened? What did he do to you? Did he hurt you? Are you breathing? Is anything broken?"

Her rambling was cut short when Sunset threw herself onto her friend, practically on the verge of tears. "Thank you Dash! Thank you,thank you,thank you!" she sobbed.

Surprised by the reaction, Rainbow Dash stood there for a moment before hugging her back, "I was on my way to school when this old lady ran into the street and started yelling about how a girl had saved her from a crook and was distracting him. After I heard that, I had to help whoever it was fighting him back. I had no idea it was you." she replied in a worried tone.

Chuckling between hiccups, Sunset pulled away from her friend and smiled gratefully at her. Then they both looked back at the unconscious crook sprawled in front of them.

"Mondays suck." Sunset said bitterly.

"Amen." Rainbow replied.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Canterlot high, lunch time

The cafeteria buzzed with excitement as students chatted and ate, eagerly finishing their foods so they could have time to talk with their friends. Many were still in line to get lunch, jealously looking at the kids leaving with food in their trays. One of such people was a teenage girl named Pinkie Pie. Wearing a white t-shirt with a heart on it, a blue over-shirt, and a blasphemous amount of gigantic pink cotton-candy like hair, she certainly lived up to her name.

Unlike the other students who lazily walked to random tables, Pinkie pie skipped excitedly passed others with an expression so bright, to an outsider of CHS it would look as though she had just won the lottery. Humming along the way, she came closer to a specific table she always took, soon catching a full view of her best friends already seated. Her smile growing wider, she skipped faster, but when drawing nearer, she noticed that a strange aura was luring over them. She also took note that one of her friends, a certain rainbow haired athlete, was in the middle of sharing an exciting story with the other four. Judging by the pure enthusiasm in her voice and the expression on her face, Pinkie hoped she was sharing one of her amazing stories such as Daring Do's previous adventure, or one of her awesome tricks at the skate park. However, the compilation of horrified looks on the other girls' faces immediately shot those theories down.

"...and then, just when you think he's had enough, BAM! Out like a light!'' Rainbow Dash announcedproudly. Her audience stared at her with different expressions, a farm girl with a button-up white and green shirt, donning a stetson hat on her golden hair looked infuriated,

A shy, faded pink haired girl with a white tank top and green dress with a butterfly on it stared worryingly at her friends,

An elegant, fashionable girl with beautifully styled up purple hair as well as a dashing white shirt and purple dress bore a look of disgust,

And a girl dressed in a formal school attire along with purple-pink-plum like hair and glasses looked absolutely mortified.

"B-b-but, wha-I-I-I, just-WHAT!?" the fashionable girl yelled, "What kind of pig-headed, uncivilized, low graded-RUFFIAN, would attack an elderly lady and a young girl? And smile while doing it?!" taking a breather, Rarity composed herself before she could make a scene.

"When ah get my hands on that creep..." The farm girl, Applejack, growled under her breath, Red-hot anger steaming off her so much, her apple juice started to condensate faster from it's box.

"S-Sunset?" the Plum haired girl with glasses next to Applejack asked quietly, "Are-are you alright? You've been awfully quiet."

Sitting straight across from her was her red haired friend, although she ignored the question. Attention not focused anything particular, she seemed to stare off into space, her face contorting into a look of concentration. "Sunset?'' The plum haired girl tried again. Still no answer. Overhearing the conversation, Applejack's anger subsided for the moment and decided to take a full look at the scene for herself.

Seeing Sunset in her stiff state as well, Applejack was immediately concerned for her friend. Leaning over to her side, she brought her muscled hand up to sunset's eye level and snapped her fingers. This caused Sunset to jolt in surprise, as though somebody had just shocked her.

Shaking her head, her emerald green eyes focusing on her fellow friends. ''Huh? oh, sorry girls," Sunset apologized sheepishly,"...didn't mean to scare you, I've. Just been thinking."

Simultaneously looking at each other, the other six girls shared a look of confusion before turning their attention back to Sunset, silently urging her to carry on. "A-are you sure you should be here at school instead of resting? You looked horrible when you walked in this morning." A meek voice called out next to Rarity. Turning to her right, Sunset smiled kindly to the speaker.

"I'm doing alright Fluttershy, thank you again for helping me to the nurse's office this morning." Blushing slightly, the shy teen nodded.

"I-I couldn't stand there while Rainbow brought you in. I had to do something." Eyes turning misty, Fluttershy blinked back tears at just the memory of seeing one of her best friends walk into school battered and bruised with Rainbow Dash barely holding her up. Before she could start to cry, an arm wrapped comfortably around her shoulder. Pinkie Pie sat next to her old friend with a reassuring smile.

Looking at the others, Sunset sighed sorrowfully. True, she was hurting from the previous actions this morning, both physically and mentally. However, there was something else entirely that was bugging her. "To be honest, it's, not the attack from this morning that's bothering me.''

Now that REALLY got their attention. All eyes turned for the third time, once again full of curiosity and concern. Peering back at them from her locks, she felt nervous. No, on a normal basis, the mugger would be nothing but an slight problem of hers and hers alone to worry about.

"This wasn't the first time something like this has happened. And I'm not talking about me." looking over to her elegant friend, she continued. "Rarity, you told us that last month when you were working at Carousel Boutique, the second floor suddenly caved in, nearly toppling all over you and the customers."

Cringing at the memory, Rarity nodded her head in agreement. "How could I forget? If it wasn't for those gorgeous diamond shields, I wouldn't have been able hold the debris without those poor people getting hurt. Although, I admit, it did become quite difficult to hold all of that once beautiful art after a while, thankfully the authorities arrived just in time. On the bright side, the looks on their faces was entertaining to say the least.''

"But if they didn't, you wouldn't have held it back and someone could've been seriously hurt." Sunset pointed out worryingly.'' gesturing in Rainbow Dash's direction Sunset began. "Dash, two weeks before Rarity's accident, you ran so fast, Canterlot city's entire power grid shut down for seven whole hours."

Laughing sheepishly, Rainbow blushed. "Hehe, yeah, didn't really pay attention to how fast I was going. I just wanted to see how fast I could go."

"It's alright, you tried to help in any way you could, but it still could have caused serious consequ-''

"DO ME! DO ME!"

Pinkie pie laid herself across the table, waving her hand excitingly as if to be picked for next to ride on an attraction.

Taken by surprise from the eccentric girl Sunset sputtered. "J-Just three days ago, you were ordering a drink at Sugercube Corner when your drink exploded the moment it made contact with your hands, getting it inside the slushy machine, nearly causing a second explosion!''

As fast as it came, Pinkie’s smile vanished from her face immediately, replaced by a sad frown. “Yeah, that wasn’t very fun at all, poor Mr. and Mrs. Cake were covered from head to toe. I helped them clean up, but I just felt so awful for that. Although, the looks on their faces WAS pretty funny!” Pinkie giggled, trying to suppress her laughter.

“This is what I’m talking about girls,’’ exclaimed Sunset, “…in just the past month alone, half of us have already had worse problems with our magic than when we first got them! At this rate, now I-we have to anxiously wait for Applejack, Twilight and Fluttershy to have an accident and when it happens, it may not be something they can walk away from so easily! OR WORSE!’’

The cafeteria grew silent as Sunset nearly screamed the end of her rant, earning awkward stares and mean smirks from the other students.

Popping her eyes open, Sunset blushed before clearing her throat and muttering a small “sorry.’’ After a few tense seconds, the students went back to their business. The cafeteria become noisy once again. Exhaling, the teen brought up a weak hand and rubbed her face stressfully. “Sorry girls, I…I just want to make sure you're all okay, if something seriously bad happens, I…I don’t know what I’d do. Sure, we have SOME control over our new magic, but that doesn’t mean we can save the day every time.’’ Glaring at her lunch, she chuckled humorlessly, “And here I thought I was done being constantly worried about magic.”

Feeling an arm wrap around her shoulders, Sunset looked up to her left to see Rainbow gazing back at her with a soothing smile. “I know you feel responsible for all of the magic that came here from Equestria, and yeah, I do kinda feel like you are partially responsible.’’ Stunned by this information, Sunset stared at her friend with a shocked gaze for a straight three seconds, before her face relaxed and became one of understanding. “But maybe you’re stressing out a bit too much on this, maybe this magic really is here for a reason, for us, for this world, I don’t know. In fact, I don’t think we’ll find out until a long time. But what I do know, is that we’ll come through it, all of us.” Rainbow gestured her hand towards the group of girls. “like I said before, we’ve gone against rogue magic more than twice, and we’re still sitting here eating lunch at school! So if anything or anyone else wants to take a shot at us, I say bring it!!’’ Each girl put on a proud face hearing this. It was true, even before they gained magic of their very own, they had still faced down enemies with God-like power and still took them down, together.

“Magic can be a complicated thing Sunset,” Applejack cut in, “Ya may think you need to work harder on understanding what the magic will do and what will the future will hold. But yer missing something, you can’t spend your days worryin’ about what MIGHT happen, ya need to relax and focus. Sure, it’s great to plan ahead, but don’t let it consume you Sugarcube. And even if we don’t win against the next obstacle, we’ll give it our best shot. Like Dash said, we’ll always face it by each other’s sides.’’

Turning her gaze to the group, Sunset found herself surrounded by reassuring eyes and warm smiles. These six were willing to go through Tartarus and back for each other, not fearing what Equestria or any other world decided to throw at them. For the first time that day, Sunset genuinely smiled, she felt so lucky to have friends-No, a family like them. They were right, she shouldn’t constantly worry about what might happen, she just needed these six beside her and whatever problem decides to rise in the future, they can handle it.

As the lunch bell rang, everyone picked up their trays and headed back to class. Dumping her tray, Sunset watched as her friends started to head further into the building. As they left, she felt a mixture of emotions. The speech from earlier had calmed her down for a while, but she was still worried. A hurricane of questions flooded her mind; Why was magic constantly here and there wherever they went? Would they ever be able to fully control it so no one got hurt? What if something actually did come along and be too much for them to handle? What if something happened to princess Twilight- Stopping herself before things could escalate, Sunset closed her eyes and decided to try a technique that Twilight had recently taught her. Bringing a hand up to her chest, she exhaled, then calmly brought her hand back out as though she was pushing an invisible force, breathing out. She did this a few more times, just to ease the storm inside.

A feeling of relaxation came over her. A small amount, but a noticeable one. Her head held high, andquickly made her way back to the others, ready for the rest of the day.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

CHS: after school

Brushing the hair from her face after another gust of wind, Sunset kept nodding as the girl next to her continues her exposition.

“...And did you know that Celestia owns a Colycampthifius flower in her garden, it’s absolutely beautiful! Those are quite rare in this country, probably hard to buy here too, I wonder where she got it?”

Sunset chuckled as the girl beside her, Twilight Sparkle, gushed about her new job as the garden care taker for CHS’ principle. “That’s quite a mouthful.”

The two girls were walking along the sidewalk towards their homes, the bright midday sky turning a crisp dusk. Though their houses were on separate sides of the neighborhood, Sunset decided to take the long route just so she could catch up on what’s been happening lately with her friend. Passing tall street lamps next to a quiet road, it seemed as though they were the only souls outside.

“It’s a native Griffinor poisonous flower, grown specifically in rocky areas. It eats insects, yet leaks out toxic liquid when animals eat it. Though you can’t really blame them for trying, with its sun spotted bud and foot long purple leaves sprouting from the sides of the insect-catching tube. I would give up my telescope for one of those!”

‘’Wow, you've really gotten into botany lately, huh?’’

A pink blush formed on the science girl’s cheeks, her eyes shifting to the right. “W-well, it gives me something new to study. Though I’ve always enjoyed getting my hands dirty with chemistry, learning about Botany will defiantly aid my knowledge when I get to Canterlot College!” chuckling lightheartedly, the two friends continued their walk in silence until Twilight spoke up once more. “Besides, my mother, Twilight Velvet, had a small tomato garden in our backyard. Shining and I loved to run around and play in it. Pretending the fruit was hidden treasure and all of the rabbits and raccoons were Pirates and evil ninjas.”

“Oh sweet Celestia, now I wish I came to this world a lot earlier so I could see THAT adorable picture!” Sunset laughed jokingly.

Blushing an even deeper shade of pink, Twilight puffed out her cheeks in annoyance and jabbed the other girl in the ribs. “Sh-shut up Shimmer.”

Once again walking in comfortable silence, the two continued down their path as the chilly spring wind nipped at their exposed faces, a flowery smell carried with it.

“I still see her, you know.’’

Turning over to the younger teen, Sunset looked at Twilight questioningly, only to immediately understand what she meant when looking at the other’s face. “Midnight Sparkle?”

“She’s not as aggravating and common like before. But yes. She’ll appear in my dreams, though it hasn’t happened many times lately, laughing as she dissolves everything around me. But, sometimes…” Grimacing, Twilight held her breath for a moment, as though she was scared to give out information. “Sometimes I’ll see her behind me in the mirror, just, staring at me, no emotion on her face. It's almost like... Like she's silently judging me”

Frowning, Sunset continued staring at the younger teen with worry. Though many would consider Midnight Sparkle an overrated concept, the rest of the six knew better. Becoming a monstrosity of magic left painful, knife-deep scars in the bearer’s soul. Scars that took a long time to heal. A hundred thoughts of reassuring words and sentences whirled in her head, trying desperately to find something that could help her grieving friend.

“You don’t have to say anything Sunset; I know I’m more powerful than her. I just wish she would go away, disappear. Forever.”

Putting her arm protectively over Twilight, Sunset spoke as softly as she could. “I see my past everyday as well.’’ Peering up, Twilight turned her eyes back to the fiery-haired teen. “My Demon version I mean, sometimes when I walk, I can, I don’t know, FEEL her wings tearing out of my back. But when I look over my shoulder: Nothing.’’ Putting a hand over her shoulder as if to double-check her back, Sunset silently remembered the harsh memory. “It never truly leaves you. It just, stays. You just… have to move on.” Smiling empathetically at Twilight, the older girl continued. “Trust me, I’ve been through the exact same thing. I know what you’re going through because I went through it.”

Twilight smiled a small, grateful smile, before nodding silently. Though not super convinced, nor happy, she still appreciated the never-ending support from her friends. The peaceful moment was quickly interrupted when a loud siren sounded off in the distance. Looking back at the sidewalk behind them, both saw chain of flashing red and blue lights flare wildly in the far-off distance of Canterlot City.

“Changlers.” Twilight said aloud.

Sunset Shimmer hadn’t heard of the Changlers until recently, well, who they were exactly. Apparently, they were a violent, bloodthirsty gang of terrorists that had inhabited Canterlot City long before she or even the sirens came to this world. In her past when being on this planet on her own, she had caught glimpses of Changler trucks being pursued by or pursuing police cars through the streets. But she was too busy running away to really see what was going on. Before, if they didn’t bother her affairs, she wouldn’t bother theirs. Now? She wished she could go and give those creeps a piece of her mind, and maybe a small bit of her foot. But who was she kidding? She was by no means a soldier, and it would take more than average martial arts mastery to take down a mercenary brute with years of military training. And even with all six of the girl’s magical Equestrian powers, they were still completely overmatched by that kind of enemy with massive amounts of experience and firepower.

It felt... sickening, to know they were still powerless to do anything.

“Sunset...” Twilight's tone held a word of warning, as if reading the other's mind; Despite Sunset having the telepathy and all. “...Don't even think about it.”

“Not today, not tomorrow, but someday Twilight.”

Turning back to their previous route, they walked away from the direction of the loud, distant city. Continuing deeper into the neighborhood, they talked about all the things any best friends could talk about, until coming across Twilight’s house.

Coming to the front door, they turned to face and bid one another goodnight. “Have a great night Twilight.” Sunset said kindly.

“You too Sunset, see you tomorrow.’’ Twilight replied. She then leaned over and gently hugged her best friend, who was quick to do the same before walking up the steps and closing the door, giving Sunset a final wave goodnight.

Now alone in the dark, quiet neighborhood, Sunset turned and continued her way home. Taking this time to herself as an advantage, she began looking around at her surroundings. Earth was such a fascinating world to her; unlike Equestria, it held no magic, had it’s own natural order instead of having ponies do the work for it and had only one main sentient species. Yet it prospered just as well as her own world, a fact she respected immensely.

“Princess Celestia would be in complete shock at this place.” She chuckled. Frowning slightly, her expression of peace took a small, sad turn. Celestia. Sweet Faust, did she miss her old teacher. Though she rekindled with her former teacher from the whole ‘Wallflower mind erasing fiasco’, she still missed her. At least her feelings were put at ease when she thought about what her teacher had said to her last they spoke.

“Goodluck Sunset Shimmer, I’ve heard about your friends back on that world, and I know you’ll take good care of them. You are determined, talented, strong, kind and caring. Of which, is why I took you under my wing. I’ll miss you dearly, but I will rest easy knowing you will be safe. If you ever need anything, ANYTHING, do not be afraid to write.”

Walking with a better spring in her step, Sunset smiled and trekked on until her house come into view. Opening the door, she tossed her schoolbag onto the floor right beside the door and turned on the interior lights.

“Ray, I’m home!!”

The air paused for a minute, before she saw her yellow lizard companion lazily open his eyes from his enclosure, smiling a half-baked welcoming grin before slowly taking his time crawling off his branch. “Come on little guy.’’ Sunset giggled, opening the latch to the roof of his tank and waiting patiently for him to crawl up her arm. His sticky hands grasped onto the teen’s skin and began to gradually crawl up her arm. Lifting her arm up to her face until the two of them had direct eye contact, she spoke softly to her scaly friend.

“I missed you.’’

Bringing her other free hand up to him, she gently began stroking his small head with her index finger. “you would NOT believe the day I just had.” She half joked. As if understanding exactly what his friend had been dealing with, he lovingly licked her hand he was sitting on. Giggling, she continued to pet him like he was the most precious thing she’d ever seen in her life. On cue, the sound of sirens wailed in the distance. Peering over to the right, she glanced at her window, the blue and red flashes blinking uncontrollably in the distance. Walking over to the glass, both her and her small, bumpy companion stared out at the far away city that seemed to glare right back at them as even more police seemed to pour into the town like ants. Disappearing behind the tall buildings.

Sighing tiredly, Sunset continued to watch the scene unfold quietly, eyes never drifting away.

plink!
plink
plink

It took her a moment before registering the new sound coming from her window. Shaking her head to get her thoughts back, she looked closely at the window, before realizing that small water droplets were pelting it. Turning her gaze from the drops, she finally turned her gaze up to the sky above the city. Pitch black clouds had formed a roof over Canterlot city, flashes of lighting snapping inside it like an angry monster. What's more, it was heading towards Sunset's side of the neighborhood.

Arching a brow, Sunset Shimmer stared at the forming clouds before mumbling under her breath.

"Strange, no one said anything about a lightning storm coming in tonight."

Author's Note

Greetings horse fandom! my name is Amadeus Cancer, professional super villain and not-so-professional brony. For years I've watched this show, and as you all know, it's easy to fall in love with, (even for me!). So, I thought that it was time to join the fandom (you guys!), and see what all the hubbubs about!

Now, some of you might be wondering "why Equestria girls?"

No doubt, the mother series mlp fim is outstanding to me, Equestria girls holds a bit of unique charm to it that draws me too it. which is why we are here right now.

*cough* Sunset is best pony! Cough*

Ok, with introductions out of the way, I want all of you to know that this is in fact my first ever Fimfiction story, so please, allow yourselves to give me a shout out to any pointers, tips, strategies and criticism you may have to make this a story for all to enjoy!

the Demon of Canterlot City: opening credits song

Questions and concerns

"Concern should drive us into action, not into depression."
-Karen Horney
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

BBBBBRRRRRRRRAAAAAAKKKKKKOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWW!

"WHOOOOOOOOAAAAAA!"

Rainbow Dash screamed bloody murder as her entire body was propelled forward at such a speed, light itself would throw a tantrum.

The entire world around her blurred into splotches, making her stomach feel sick as she felt her eyes sting from trying to focus on what exactly she was seeing. Her arms flew almost lifelessly behind her like a trailing tail, her shoulder bones screaming in anguish and frustration at the awkward angle. Silencing her scream by clenching her teeth in a vice-like way, she closed her eyes as the forming tears evaporated from the fast wind before they even left her lids. Why was this happening!?

Like everyone else in the entirety of Canterlot, Rainbow Dash was well aware of the terrorist attack from the Changlers. Earlier that morning, she was struggling not to fall face first onto her desk after a boring lesson about... about... something, Mrs. Cheerilee fished out of the garbage, when what could only have been similar to a missile busting down their classroom door snapped her out of her sleep deprived state, and the form of Shining Armor nose diving into the room, yoinking Twilight out of her seat and leaving with a slam of the door filled her field of view.

Although her exhausted brain had yet to register what exactly had just happened, Rainbow had attempted to follow the two in in both curiosity and rising worry's sake, when she was stopped midway out the door by Cheerilee, who was sure to make it abundantly clear Rainbow wasn't going with Twilight and her brother.

A startled gasp caused her to turn her head. One of the students had ignored Shining Armor and was looking out the window, gaping at a billowing, black, smoke cloud rising from the far-off city in the distance. Her pupils dilated as the teenage girl almost immediately understood the situation.

When Rainbow Dash got her powers, there was not a single doubt that she felt like the luckiest and most powerful girl in all of Equestria. Everywhere she went, she'd use her speedy magical powers: Going to the mall, going to school, going to grandma Thin Streak's house, going to the bathroom. If it required using her legs, speed was key. After all, why waste such an awesome gift given to you by another freaking world full of magical pony princesses and dragons!?

It made her feel almost invincible, like she could finally do everything she couldn't before. She was a superhero now, no matter who said differently. It excited her! She'd be like Daring Do, protect the innocent, beat up the bad guys, go on awesome adventures! There was almost no downside to this.

But like every superhero, there was always one thing that consistently haunted them. And unfortunately for Rainbow Dash, her obstacle wasn't an equally powerful enemy.

Every so often, her mind ventured back to memories of the past: The Fall Formal, the Battle of the Bands, the Friendship games. Back then, when she first laid eyes on the Sirens, Midnight Sparkle and worst of all, Sunset's demon form in all their evil glory, she had resisted the tempting urge to grab her friends by the backs of their shirts and run for cover. They looked like something straight from her nightmares. Seeing people turn into absolutely terrifying beasts like that, monsters that could do untold amounts of damage, lets just say it had been quite the hassle to keep her legs from shaking like leaves, which nearly made her fall over at times.

And if SHE was scared, there was absolutely no doubt what the other girls felt like. Back at the battle against the Sirens, when the three hags shed off their teenage girl disguises and tauntingly flew around her and her friends like predators circling prey, Rainbow had caught a glimpse at Fluttershy just in time to see the younger girl grow sickly pale with tears in her widened eyes, chattering her teeth like a gag toy. The athlete had never seen her childhood friend so mortified. Later that evening, when the girls were busy celebrating their victory, it finally clicked in Rainbow's head like a dark light bulb.

Rainbow Dash was always viewed as the tough girl of the group. The one person who faced danger straight on and was never afraid to chew the largest piece. But in those earlier memories of terror, when the monsters she had believed she could laugh in the face of, had nearly scared her to the point of faint, she realized that she wasn't as strong as she thought she was. That time and time again, she was forced to the sidelines, watching Sunset or Twilight save the day just by the skin of their teeth. The bad guys and their size did matter, and that there would be times when her friends would be in danger and she wouldn't be able to do anything other than stand to the side.

At that moment, she had never felt so small in her life. So less-awesome, so weak, so... useless and scared.

Every now and then, horrifying images of unspeakable "what if" scenarios swarmed back into her mind, scenarios of her being too slow to save the ones she loved. Those of which caused her to have appalling nightmares and anxiety attacks. She shuddered whenever she recounted the amount of times some of the girls nearly caught her having silent crying fits while they weren't looking. Faust, for them to see that would have been torture. For many, many reasons.

But when she first slammed into that cabin wall way back in Camp Everfree, when she realized she could run at the speed of sound, the rainbow haired girl couldn't have been happier. What were the chances!? She could save lives, be a famed hero, teach bullies a lesson. No more fearing for her friend's lives, no more hiding behind Sunset or Twilight; Now whenever a bad guy decided to abuse good Equestrian magic, they'd have to watch out for Rainbow Dash too!

Knowing that her friends also had been given powers made Rainbow feel even better. Now that they all were superheroes, baddies like the Dazzlings probably sweated bullets in fear. And they had every right to do so, together all seven of them were undeniably unstoppable. There wasn't a single enemy they wouldn't be able to defeat.

That initial thinking had been tested today.

Today was one of the days that Rainbow Dash despised with all her being. A day that showed her that even with all her powers, she as a person, was still weak.

As a kid, Rainbow loved everything about Canterlot city: It's pristine colors and exciting scenery, the beautiful parks, fun attractions, and most of all, the smiling, happy people. It had all the awesomeness to it that just felt right to the young girl.

Then the Changlers came in and ruined everything.

In those dark days, she remembered being in her room in the suburbs, watching the billowing smoke that would flow from the distant city. In those first few years, her parents didn't even let her out on the front porch without either one of them glued to both her sides. Much less hang out with her friends.

Luckily, throughout her life, the rainbow haired athlete, as well as her friends, were always safely far away whenever the Changlers decided to attack the people. But in the back of her mind, a lingering thought silently clawed at her subconscious every now and then. What would happen when her little lucky streak broke, when there'd be no option left and she'd finally have to face actual terrorists? What would happen, if her childhood friends fell into said terrorists' hands'?

Her stomach felt sick at the thought. As tough a girl as she was, the teen always struggled not to think of the absolute horrors the people of Canterlot went through every time the terrorists attacked them. Your whole world seemingly blissful in one moment, almost like a peaceful picture, and in the snap of a finger the painting shatters like glass. The world shaking and crumbling as shrieking gunfire obliterates concrete and brick. The feeling of ten thousand hungry eyed killers gunning for you and those around.

The feeling of a cold, unfeeling metal barrel positioned straight towards your heart as you lay petrified on the broken floor.

Even before she got her powers, Rainbow Dash promised to herself that she would never, NEVER, let that happen to the ones she loved.

Although that was easier said than done. Speedy powers had a wide abundance of uses, but it required more than legs to fight an army. Although for a while, that information took a while to process in her mind. The rest of the girls had told her exasperatedly that she was in no way capable of taking down a Changler soldier, no matter how small those jerks were. She just wasn't skilled nor experienced enough. This was something Rainbow silently realized over time yet hated with every fiber in her being to know.

Even with superpowers, her life and theirs' would constantly be in jeopardy with the Changlers.

And now one of Twilight's family was attacked this very morning. Waiting hours for school to end (even though the principle had canceled the rest of classes after lunch just to be safe.) had been brutal for her. As soon as she heard that glorious announcement over the speakers, her feet were out the front doors in no time. Although she might've flung a few classmates on their backs due to her high velocity and the closed space of the hallway on the way out.

But there was no time for apologizing! When she escaped the double doors, she immediately called Twilight, asking the book smart girl where she was going. When her friend had informed RD that she was headed towards the hospital, Rainbow Dash sped off towards her destination. After settling a large debate in her head on whether or not she should tell the rest of her friends what she was doing and where she was headed off to, Rainbow had settled for catching up to Twilight first, her mind in too much of a panic to deal with that particular scenario. She knew she'd get quite the talking too from Applejack and Sunset Shimmer later, but she could take it. It’s not like those two didn't mother her enough.

The young girl bolted past people and trucks as she made her way to the hospital, the world around her turning into slow motion while her speed increased. Although she wanted to get to her destination as fast as possible, Rainbow made an effort to fight back her nature and not to push her limit now. She had learned the hard way that pushing her powers, while it brought fun and awesome results, also brought consequences to both her and the many people around her.

Last month, during a weekend hangout at the mall, her old bully Dumbbell had decided to inform her that even with superpowers, she still wouldn't be accepted into Wonderbolt College, because she was too weak minded in her ideals. That her rule breaking habits would stick with her forever, and she'd always amount to nothing. Although she was certainly fast, Rainbow's control on her powers was wonky and uncoordinated, as was her control on everything else. His words, not hers.

But worst of all, the jerk had guts, the absolute gall, to say straight in her face that she was too reckless, too weak, and too brain dead to save the day from bad guys because she'd just run face first into the ground or a tree. People would be looking for a savior, and she'd be too busy trying to look cool, ending up tripping over her own feet in the process. What's more, he also brought up that Rainbow was still considered slow, and that she didn't have the skills to get herself to "superhero level". That when the chips were down and everyone was counting on her, "Rainbow Crash" would be too slow to save her friends.

Oh, after hearing those words spill from Dumbbell's lips, her friends nearly took the laughing jock's head off right on the spot. At one point in an actual literal sense. But as the girls were busy prying an enraged Pinkie Pie's hands off Dumbbell's neck, Rainbow herself had separated from the crowd, taking refuge alone at a deserted picnic table. Ignoring the others, the teenage girl, after a moment of internal struggle, begrudgingly allowed Dumbbell's words to float in her mind, replaying themselves over and over.

Rainbow knew Dumbbell well enough to define him as a selfish, childish, envious and stereotypical jockey bully through and through, a definition no one disagreed with her on. He took an almost unnatural enjoyment in other people's distress, watching people's struggles like a funny TV show. Or a comic book, like he said. She guessed he liked that idiom because he probably couldn't read anything without pictures in it.

But the longer she sat on that picnic table, the more his words embedded into her mind. As much as she hated her old "friend" and did her best to ignore almost every insult he spouted from his trap, that one day his words actually held a little value.

For one thing, he may have been right about her not having control, both for present and future's sake. Well, just not in the way he had said. Ever since she gained her powers, like earlier stated, she used them on a day to day basis, which meant her steering had improved greatly over time. But as for controlling the powers themselves, that Dash would admit later (but only to herself) she struggled with. She loved to push herself, it was her nature to do so. But she often pushed herself too much to where the line between when to stop and when to keep going blurred to nothing.

So as for her speed, Rainbow thought she was unstoppable, that nothing could beat her awesomeness. But as Sunset had warned her about before, that thinking could lead to her and/or her friends getting in danger. A situation she'd find herself in soon enough.

But her not being able to save her friends? Her? HER!? Then fastest girl in Equestria not saving her friends because she was too slow? Despite her doubt, anxiety scorched her stomach as she sat there, both Dumbbell's repeating words and more horrifying images plaguing her mind. Her nails ceased scratching the wooden tabletop, curling her hand into a tight fist. Her friends. Getting hurt. Because she and her powers weren't good enough.

While she certainly used her powers whenever she got the chance, Dash did often feel like she wasn't pushing herself to her absolute best. Like she still had more miles to go. And now that Dumbbell had brought it up, it might as well have been spelled for her, clear as day. She made a promise to herself that she'd always be there for her friends, that she'd never let anything bad happen to them. And she was going to keep that promise with all her will and mind.

Puffing her cheeks with a determined look in her eyes, Rainbow challenged Dumbbell, telling him straight in the eyes that when the time came, she WOULD be fast enough to save her friends and she’d prove it to him. As soon as she was satisfied with the confused look on his face, she marched out of the mall and out onto the sidewalk. Ignoring the shouts of initial protest from her friends, Rainbow, with her mind full of many, many emotions, flexed her legs and bolted down the street, determined to push herself to her absolute limit. Increasing her speed with every step, it was safe to say RD had gone the fastest she’d ever been that day

In doing so however, the amount of speed and force she put into her run had created a very visible rainbow colored EMP blast that had made such an incredible force, it had instantly shut down Canterlot’s power grid for days. She would never forget the look of rage on all her friend’s faces when she made it back. But oh, did she savor the stupid look on Dumbbell’s face, replacing his once smug smile earlier.

Snapping her mind back to the present, the rainbow haired soccer player once again surveyed her situation. She was getting closer to the hospital now, the smell of gunpowder, burned concrete and a strange static in the air filled her senses, making her eyes tear up and teeth clench as it got stronger the deeper she went into the city.

With worry growing in her stomach, she felt in need of a little reassurance and couldn’t help but look over her shoulders every so often to see and chuckle at the bug-eyed expressions on the civilians’ faces as she passed them. It never failed to get a laugh out of her seeing other people’s silly reactions to her powers, her speed causing the world to go in slow-mo only adding to the hysteria. Feeling better, Rainbow Dash let a small smile as she carried on down the twisting streets of Canterlot, trying her hardest to ignore the broken buildings and thousands of ambulances she passed.

Now just only three blocks away from the hospital, the teen had felt glad her little trip was almost over, the dreary atmosphere creating a very uncool feeling inside her. But as she turned a corner, her eyes automatically shifted to the sidewalk and found on something she’d likely wouldn’t ever forget.

A family running towards what she assumed was the hospital, frantic clear in their eyes. A mother, a little girl, and a father with a young boy cradled in his arms.

The obviously terrified mother was basically dragging the little girl behind her, as the smaller was doing her best to keep up, her sweet innocent face full of confusion and worry.

The father on the other hand, wore the same expression his spouse had, his eyes widened in fear with his skin an almost deathly pale. The only difference was a spot on his chest closest to the young boy resting against him, a thick, splattered damp spot that made his dark, navy blue shirt deepen in color. Looking down, Rainbow scanned her eyes over the man’s body, past the weird splat on his shirt and towards the boy. Though she couldn’t see much, the athlete saw through the father’s stained arms and noticed that the young boy’s black hoodie also seemed overly deepened and wet, much, much more than his father’s attire. She also noticed he wasn’t moving an inch despite the rather harsh speed his dad was going, and that his face was the whitest pale she had ever seen in her life.

Hold on a sec, “stained arms?”

Switching her attention from the boy and back to the father, Rainbow peered at his arms again, before doing all she could not to vomit on the spot.

Though his natural color was a sunny yellow, the father’s arms and face were caked in a thick crimson, some of it getting close to his eyes and mouth, not that he seemed to care. Rainbow Dash’s blood froze as her dilated pupils locked back onto the boy, her mouth starting to feel like sandpaper. It didn’t take a genius to know what that color was, nor who it was coming from.

No words could describe how exactly she felt at that moment, heck, she might have not been feeling anything at all, she genuinely didn’t know.

The image of the boy burned into her mind; she couldn’t help but wonder what he was doing before receiving such a horrendous fate. Was he playing cops and robbers with his sister? Buying groceries with his mother? Helping his dad pick out fishing supplies at the Trot Pro shop for their future vacation? As the questions clouded her mind, she offhandedly felt something stir inside her, yet couldn’t put her finger on quite what it was, nor did she realize it slowly started growing.

Soon, red hot, burning rage and defiance began to replace her cold shock. This wasn’t fair, this wasn’t fair at all. How old was he?! At least 6 or younger, he was just a child for Pete’s sake, A CHILD! A bright, little innocent soul who had done nothing to deserve such a twisted punishment. Her eyes flashed as she thought about the people responsible his wounds, for the whole entire mess that was today. The Changlers, a bunch of egotistical jerks who took a sick enjoyment in tormenting civilians, children too apparently. Oh, how she hated them. How she loathed them.

What kind of person finds that fun? Harming someone in an inhuman way, making them suffer just to satisfy some kind of sick lust. To watch as a person’s life and soul leave their eyes, their last thought thinking they’d never see the ones they love again, or the future they had planned for themselves.

While the bitter thoughts swirled in Rainbow’s mind, her body had started to spaz and blur, she hadn’t taken notice she was still running throughout the entire experience, the clothes on her becoming hard to see. Although she was far too distracted with her anger to realize it.

The Changlers had ruined Canterlot City, a place that was meant for peace and prosperity. The worst part was no one could stop them, not the people, barely the police, and much less she and her friends. Those terrorists knew it too. Every time someone stood up to them, no words could describe the punishment they’d suffer from the Changlers’ grubby hands.

As her expression darkened, the spazzing and buzzing of her body increased, making her face feel tingly and the hairs on her neck stand up.

What she wouldn’t give to get her hands on the monsters that would dare toy with the lives of so many. To stop them for good, Faust, it’d be amazing. She imagined standing over them, their weapons destroyed, their bodies bruised and battered, the once fiery, proud look in their eyes snuffed out like a match. All of them seeing their once disgusting, hard earned work crumble before them. Years of comrades’ lives lost for the sake of their ultimate win over her people, only for all their sacrifice’s and plans ruined by a young girl defending her hometown-

And just like that, Rainbow’s powers forfeited from her control. Next thing she knew, as soon as her foot contacted the ground, the teen was rocketed forward by an invisible force, an explosion of rainbow-colored energy exporting from her body. The force of it knocked back every living and nonliving thing within a 2-mile radius from her as it gave off a loud, headache inducing roar. The suddenness of it all nearly gave her neck splitting whiplash. No warning, no control, just boom.

She was too distracted with her predicament to notice the massive rainbow ring scraping up the buildings and into the sky.

Completely caught off guard by the unforeseen, crazy reaction of magical power, Rainbow let out a startled scream as her legs carried her through the streets of Canterlot, the world around her starting to splotch and blur.

So now here we are, a teenage athlete running at supersonic speed across a hurt city, with a girl sized, sparkling rainbow tail following behind her, carving her trail into the gravel road. With each street she passed, trash cans, newspapers and people jerked as the strong wind created by Dash slammed into them.

Her body strained from the increasing, immense pressure as it pulled her skin backwards, almost to the point where she felt as though it would break. She scrunched her eyes shut as she struggled to take back control of her powers, tensing her muscles as she desperately tried to slow down her moving legs. But judging from the freezing magic seeping through her veins, making her waist down feel numb, she quickly realized any and all control had completely abandoned her.

Squinting her eyes, she instead focused on a different problem her predicament brought upon her. If she couldn’t control her speed, she could at least try and direct it. Running into a concrete wall or a car at Mach 1,000 didn’t necessarily sound appealing, so a nice clearing or a lake was on her list of places that might be safe for her.

The problem was, it was hard enough to open her eyes due to the high wind drying them up rather quickly, she could barely see anything, the only sense of direction for her was the splotchy outlines of the buildings and street turns.

Terror burned in her chest as the speed seemed to increase, what was she going to do? If she didn't stop herself soon, she'd either turn into a human spaghetti noodle, or crash into something that most likely wouldn't be a fluffy air mattress.

“OKAY, THAT’S ENOUGH! YOU CAN STOP NOW! YOU HEAR ME?! I’VE HAD ENOUGH, PLEASE STOP!”

Rainbow screamed at the magic, in hopes Equestria would have mercy on her soul and cease this horrifying experience.

The only answer she received was more splotchy vision and force pulling her backwards, the feeling in her legs almost non-existent now.

Petrified tears continued to form, her mind a bundle of thoughts. So, this was it huh? This was how it all ended for her? Rainbow Dash, the fastest, most awesome girl in Canterlot, taken down by her own speed. The irony of the situation would have made her choke on her own laugh if she could.

In a dark corner of her mind, a voice spoke out.

You deserve this.

She blinked as her brain registered the sudden, bold thought. What?

Again, the same voice whispered again into her ears. What’s the point of fighting this? You never could control your powers. Too abrasive, too reckless, too focused on being cool than the mission that’s actually important. It’s a wonder this didn’t happen much earlier. Rainbow’s mind went blank at the harsh statement, her stomach slowly starting to churn with tension. Where was this even coming from? The voice took her silence as a sign to keep going, like a dark cloud in her mind slowly becoming bigger with every word.

Denial automatically took the reins, her brows furrowing. “Shut up. You don’t know me.” She inwardly snarled. Though faint, she felt a small whoosh skim edges inside her mind, like the voice was scoffing.

This is your punishment, your deserved fate. It’s a perfectly fitting end for you. An egotistical brat never gets a happy ending. You never deserved such powers; They belong to someone else.The voice spat the last sentence as if it were cud, making her wince.

“I said SHUT UP!” she screamed aloud. Each word cut deep, almost to the bone. She wanted to ignore it, tell the voice it was wrong, but something continued to retaliate her defiance. The words just felt, right.

A splitting headache added to her stress, making it harder to think and even harder to resist. Maybe she really was weak, maybe it was time to stop the stupid tough girl act, after all, what was the point of it? It wasn’t really helping anyone, much less the people she cared about.

Who was she kidding? She couldn’t save her friends from danger. They needed a truly fearless hero to come to their rescue, someone who could face incalculable odds in order to save them. Meanwhile she was just a sports captain, if she had barely been able to stop a mad driven gloriosa at a summer camp, she’d be destroyed going toe-to-toe with someone like as Midnight Sparkle or the Changlers. How could she hope to save the people she loved if even after all this, she still wasn’t strong enough? The voice seemed to revel in her inner plight, it’s words darker and more spiteful.

You’re weak, you’re useless, you’re selfish. You are and always will be an insolent speck. Who do you think you are, stealing magic like this from them?! Foolish girl, you think you’re impressive with something that does not belong to you?

With her body and mind tired, she could do nothing but submit to the voice.Feelings of self-loathing and spite boiling in her as building upon building zoomed past her. With a gulp, she realized the voice was right, her powers didn’t belong to her, they belonged to Equestria. She didn’t even know how to really use them.

Sunset Shimmer, Gia Everfree, Midnight Sparkle, you could do nothing against them, what makes you think you will make any difference next time?

Tears spilled from her eyes as all her emotions continued to beat her to the ground. Due to the high wind drying her mouth and eyes, her tearful crying turning into more of a choked sob.

You cannot save them.

The voice growled lowly as the dark cloud expanded. Her sobbing continued to the point of her throat starting to scratch.

“I’m sorry girls.” She whimpered.

But as the claws of the voice engulfed her mind, in a flash, a memory rose from her subconscious. Of her and Fluttershy at a booth advertising the animal shelter. It wasn’t a life changing memory, but a peaceful one. Suddenly, the claws of the voice shrunk back. Intrigued by this, Rainbow pulled out another memory.

The time when she stood up to Blitzball coach/ex-player Comet Chaser, challenging his all boy team against her all girl team. She had never felt so proud of herself when her team won. She had stood up for what she believed and hadn’t backed down in the slightest. The claws shrunk further back as she suddenly began to feel… better.

Smiling, she wiped her eyes and searched her subconscious for more.

Thoughts of her life flashed before her eyes, of happier times with her friends. Times she now wished she could transport herself too.

The first time she and Applejack met back in elementary school. The farm girl helping Rainbow Dash fix her broken skateboard, before the apple farmer herself tried to ride it. (with Dash’s permission of course.) The sight of Applejack waving her hands in the air like a blow up airdancer while accidentally doing a perfect kickflip never failed to gain a chuckle out of Rainbow.

The time when Dash and Rarity had gotten lost in the forests of Camp Everfree. Rainbow loved her fashionista friend to death but being stuck with a girl who shrieks at the smallest scampering mouse, it got old after 30 minutes. However, in the 1 hour they suffered alone in the dark forest, the two of them finally had the chance to have a heart to heart with each other, something they hadn’t done in a long time.

Or when she, Sunset and Pinkie had an overnight camp out on her trampoline. The three of them nearly stayed up all night jumping, telling spooky stories and eating candy while watching the forming stars in the sky.

With each memory that filtered through her brain, it was like a nice warm towel had been laid on top of it; Erasing the stinging cold thoughts once plaguing it seconds before. As the memories played like a movie projecter, the tension in her stomach decreased. It made her feel, happy.

An image of her and Scootaloo chatting outside of Canterlot city mall on a nice summer day. Suddenly, a car bursting out of the parking lot at top speed filled her, vision, followed by it slamming into a light pole right next to the two girls. Within seconds the metal underneath the pole split, and the entire thing groaned as it began to fall.

At a moment’s notice, Rainbow had scooped up the little 6th grader in her arms and quickly zipped her to safety. While trying to slow down her rapidly beating heart, the teen received a tight, bear hug from her younger friend as a thanks.

So what if she wasn’t very experienced now? Inexperience meant harder training, and training was Rainbow Dash’s middle name. she’d show the voice, she’d show it! She’d prove herself! She wasn’t some weak, scared little runt, Rainbow WAS a valuable part of the team. After all, there are times when team members get stranded from the group, thus the world wouldn’t end on her watch. She would make herself prepared for that coming day, she wouldn’t allow anyone to get hurt. She wouldn’t allow her friends to get hurt.

Narrowing her eyes, she visibly and inwardly shook her mind to clear any and all thoughts. It was time to focus. She narrowed her eyes as she took in her surroundings, mainly towards the buildings. The concrete towers in question had gotten noticeably smaller, which Dash had no doubt in her mind meant she had far since past the hospital and was getting closer to the outskirts of the city. She clenched her fists; it was time to end this.

She’d been gifted powers, and she was going to use them.

Gritting her teeth, she strained with all her might, trying to get the feeling back into her legs, attempting to pull her muscles to get them to stop or slow down. No avail, her legs were completely and utterly numb. No matter, back to plan B.

She switched her concentration back to the road, trying to see if there was some way through the splotches to direct her path with. Unfortunately, that also proved futile what with it being next to impossible for her to get a clear view on what she was looking at.

However, she did notice that the colors and blurred shapes still stuck with whatever objects were in front of her, such as cars and people. Trying to scan the world around her, she found herself looking straight ahead and instantly noticed a lengthy horizontal black and greyish blotch slowly coming into view. Squinting her eyes, she strained to get a decent look at what she was seeing, only to feel goosebumps raise on her neck once figuring it out.

She was headed straight for a road turn, and she had yet to control her steering. Growling in frustration, Rainbow Dash continued to try and get the feeling back in her legs while also switching to gain control. This back and forth of switching tactics went on as time skipped past, with neither of them working and the corner street turn drawing ever so nearer.

“Come’on Dash, you got this, don’t give up.” She encouraged to herself as she strained her leg muscles even harder, but the blood just wouldn’t go to her feet!

All the sudden, the splotches in her vision decreased making her eyes go wide in surprise. The world around her getting clearer, Rainbow could see the outlines of the city buildings and the road in front of her. It was still difficult to fully see, as only a portion of her vision had begun to recover, but that didn’t matter; Her vision was coming back!

But why? Why all this suddenness with her magic? Why were her powers all over the place? They were starting to calm down almost as fast as they riled up earlier. Did she do something she wasn’t supposed to, did something trigger it? She had absolutely no idea, her mind packed to the brim of so many unanswered questions that burned into her curiosity. She shook her head, questions later, she had an opening, so she needed to take it.

Glaring at her path, Rainbow observed the street corner, noticing it’s right turn and heavy traffic. So far, she’d been lucky not to run full speed into a moving or non-moving vehicle through her uncontrollable speed burst, and she wanted to keep it that way. She did acknowledge that the sidewalk on the corner was relatively clear, although there was the risk of the other side of the building being inhabited, so she made the only decision available.

A warm feeling began to trickle through her legs, the numbness slowly decreasing from the muscles like a case of pins and needles. Her face brightened instantly, so this whole scenario wasn’t going to play on forever!

“Thank Faust.” She muttered.

With the street corner just one mile away, the teen curled her fists and shoved her upper body to the right, hoping the force of her chest area would help direct her legs into a right turn. However, the feeling from her waist down was still dominated by cold paralysis, she’d be surprised if her shoes didn’t start to melt at any given rate.

“Come’on, come’on, come’on, please.” She chanted as the corner grew closer and closer.

She continued to pull her body to the right as her legs began to shift slightly, but they still stayed in a straight direction, there was no turning on they’re part.

She scrunched her eyes shut as cold sweat dripped down her face, her mouth forming a nervous grimace. More images of her life flashed before her eyes, memories of her whisking her fellow students to safety from the out of control plant vines made by Gloriosa, to her zipping through the streets of Canterlot a few months before, a much happier and relaxed run compared to now. Back then, the world was ripe for the taking, the day was beautiful, school was ending, and her friends were too busy with other things to hang out. It was a perfect day to go for a run.

And boy did she run, she sped past cars, hopped over a semi-truck like a superhero and even saved her friends from near accidental disasters. She had been at her best that day, her powers had never felt more a part of her, it was like she’d had them her whole life. Yes, that day was one of her favorites.

She had always been a brave, adventurous girl. She practically worshipped challenges, they were almost in her blood. Rules? She laughed in their faces. They wouldn’t stop her from reaching her goals in life, no one would. No parent, no principle, no villain, no voice. While some were good, certain rules were like chains, and she’d be struck by lightning if she ever allowed chains to hold her to the ground, unable to fly and reach her full potential high in the sky. No matter how strong the metal was, she’d always break free. She was born to break free.

Break free.

Rainbow blinked. Break free.

She smiled.

Break free.

Eyes narrowed even more; She kept her smile as blue electric magic sparked off her shoulders.

Break free.

“I was born to break free.” She whispered as the surging magic on her shoulder fizzed more erratically. Before she could blink again, the muscles in her legs exploded and her vision cleared, like someone just snapped their fingers and feeling came as quick as it left. The suddenness almost stunning her into shock when she felt control immediately being shoved back to her, her hands automatically waving in the air as she bent over yelping.

The corner was right in her face now with a truck blocking her view, and she had only a flash of a moment to move.

Thinking quick, Rainbow hauled her entire body to the right, turning her legs to the side as easy as she could. As much as she wanted to, she couldn’t stop too abruptly, or she’d skid across the concrete. Reacting to the force she put in her turn, her body obeyed her command and she turned right, almost hitting a scared civilian on the other side of the building corner.

Her eyes widened as she realized she’d passed the turn, her mouth forming an “o” shape. It quickly crept into a full-blown smile as she pumped her hands in the air.

“YES!! THAT’S WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT! TAKE THAT VOICE! GO RAINBOW! GO RAINBOW!” Dash cheered as she began a little dancing jig with her hands.

While she was distracted, she had yet to grasp she was still in fact running, unconsciously this time, and she was beginning to veer off the sidewalk and onto the street, right into traffic. Still dancing, rainbow continued chanting when a loud car horn blared in her ears. Opening her eyes, she saw the front of a small red car entering her path.

Gawking at the metal mood just centimeters from her, she nearly forgot how to breathe as her face paled to a ghostly white.

“AAAAAAAAA!”

Screaming, Rainbow Dash hoisted herself to the side as her shoes just barely grazed the car’s front light. Now in the air, she fell forward and toppled back onto the sidewalk, rolling on the floor like a less than majestic tumbleweed flurried with arms and legs between pedestrian legs while letting out a couple “Oofs!” and a “Ows” along the way. After tumbling for about a minute, her rolling was cut short when she hit a metal trash bin blocking her path. Her back slammed into the railed, dirty metal with force, making her choke and gag at the sudden pain spiking through her spine.

With her entire body halted, her legs sprawled out onto the concrete as her arms fell limply to the sides, her heart thrummed in her chest like a pounding drum. Ignoring the stares and passerby’s, she sat there, head swirling around dizzily as pain entered her back and warm feeling poured into her legs.

“Ow, ow, ow, oooowwww.” RD drawled as she massaged her swimming head. The pain didn’t leave however, as it surged through her back and into her now aching/sore feet.

It was official: Today sucked.

She groaned miserably as stars danced mockingly around her forehead, making her sport a headache. Slowly shaking her head, she grit her teeth and tried to collect her thoughts.

What in Equestria just happened? She didn’t know, and she was too sore, terrified and tired to try and understand what had made her powers go off the fritz.

Sitting on the dirty sidewalk for a few minutes, massaging her temples, she waited for her head to stop swimming and the muscles in her legs to fully wake up when she finally stood. Grabbing the lip of the trash can with a shaky hand, she pulled herself up, with her other arm holding her now queasy stomach. Once fully up, she smiled confidently as she moved her hands to her hips.

“I-I th-think that w-went pretty well.”

Then she whipped to the side and retched in the trash, her body halfway in the cylinder dumpster.

Once she was done spilling her guts, she gently lifted herself from the trash, wiping her mouth while speaking her mind.

“Ya know, maybe next time I’ll just take the bus.”

Twilight ran through the halls of CHS, her footsteps clacking across the hard, cracked floor. Taking a quick look over her shoulder, she surveyed the dirty, abandoned halls behind her. Only emptiness greeted her, the hallways were devoid of any life.

Seemingly satisfied, she brought her head back while keeping her pace. Hopping over a scattered, stray backpack, Twilight fidgeted with her glasses while looking ahead, instantly seeing the hallway form a two-way fork approaching her path. Without hesitation, she automatically took the left route, all the while keeping an ear out for danger. Speeding down the unstable, dark hall, she lifted her head up to examine the surroundings of her once favorite school.

The walls, once pristine and pearly white, were now a muddled mess of dirty tan and ugly cracks, some of the areas with the tiles gone revealed stringy wires and wood poking out of the holes like bones. The ceiling was completely torn apart, with the broken lights flickering randomly and giant lengthy curves pierced across the top ceiling tiles exposing insulation and the attic, making it look like something had raked it with massive claws.

Gulping, Twilight continued her trek, ignoring the other claw like gashes on the student lockers and the creaking doors of empty, pitch black classrooms.

The shadows of the hallway certainly didn’t offer any comfort to her distress, she avoided them like they were fire, as if she was afraid they’d burn her. The floor for the most part was clean, except for a few scattered shoes and notebook papers. Everything felt so stuffy and claustrophobic, like she was deep underground, but that couldn’t be it. Could it? She huffed out a breath, sweat beading down her forehead as the shadows began closing in on before her very eyes. Whimpering, Twilight picked up her speed and bolted forward down the corridor, eyes widening in fear.

The hallway seemed endless, with no end in sight, causing her already high anxiety to escalate. The shadows now engulfed the walls, making her entire surroundings pitch black. Her only source of comfort being the ceiling lamps, which only gave off dimming balls of light through the blackness.

Petrified, Twilight ran while scrunching her eyes shut, afraid of what would befall on her. Tears threatened to burst from her eyes as her breathing more panicked, when she suddenly slammed face first into something hard.

The surprise of the impact startled her, making her let out a squeak as she fell to the floor with a thud. Clutching her rapidly beating heart, she opened her eyes to see just what she’d ran into, fearful of what she might see.

A tiled wall stood before her, it’s appearance like all the others she’d seen throughout this horror of a school. Quirking an eyebrow, she turned her head to the right and saw that the slab of concrete led to a dimly lit up hallway, just like the one she was in before. Her face morphed into confusion, the brilliant, logical scientist in her screaming for answers to this absurd predicament.

Suddenly, she felt a dark, sinister chill crawl up her back, making her breath hitch. Deciding to leave the scientist guessing for now, Twilight hopped up like a spring and flung herself down the only possible route left.

As she ran, a familiar aura sank into her, like she was being told something. Then it clicked. She was in the corridor of CHS that housed the music room!

Letting out a small smile, Twilight recounted the path to the room in her head, easily dodging past torn down lockers and open doors. Her logical mind raced with a million thoughts, straining itself to the point of cracking while trying to figure out what was going on. What happened to CHS? Where were all her friends? Were they safe?

A sick feeling burned in her gut, almost making her nauseous. No, Faust no. They had to be okay, those five always got out in the end. Nothing could hold them down for long, they were way too stubborn to go. Right?

Slowly but surely, the music room approached her view, making her heart swell in excitement. Thrusting out a hand, she latched onto the rusted knob and shoved the wooden door with her shoulder, hard.

Nothing happened.

Confusion visible on her face, she brought her body back and slammed her shoulder into the door again. It didn’t even budge. Her breathing quickened as she tried once more. Still the same result. Icy terror began building in her, as she slammed even harder into the door, pain aching in her shoulder.

TWILIGHT.

She froze, her body stiff as a board. Turning her head to the side, she peered back at the hallway. Nothing was there, just the same dimly lit and destroyed corridor as before. The air stilled in deathly silence, the doors ceased their rickety swaying, now just hanging out wide open in the hall. The only sound she could hear was her own shaky breathing as she stared, hackles raised for the impending threat.

Then, the light far on the other end shot out, leaving the far portion of the hall pitch black. Seconds ticked by, tenseness in the air as Twilight gripped the door nob tighter, her knuckles turning white. Suddenly the light next to the one that popped broke, causing the blackness to engulf that portion as well. After a couple seconds, the third light went out.

Twilight’s breathing increased even more, to the point were someone would think she was hyperventilating. Swinging her head back, she slammed into the music room door harder than last time, ignoring the searing pain in her arm. She rammed into the hard wood harder and harder each time, letting out grunts of pain and dread every so often as more pain surged through her, but the door stubbornly held its ground, not even letting out the tiniest of squeaks.

One by one, each light burst with a mocking pop, with the shadows swallowing up the portion of the hall every time. She continued to hit the door, desperateness making her ramming more sloppy and unfocused as the darkness drew nearer. Tears trickled down her cheeks as she began whimper, near giving up on her escape.

With the last of her energy, she heaved her shoulder into the door, her body screaming in painful protest.

But with her last hit, the door burst open, breaking the lock and sending her sprawling onto the floor of the room. When she landed, Twilight coughed as her sides took the brunt of her fall before she realized her luck. Jumping to her feet, Twilight quickly slammed the door shut and turned to study the room.

The music room was arguably the liveliest place in all of CHS, it was were she and the girls usually hung out or played music. It was were they used their magic the most, the magic of “Ponying up.” Because of the extra magic released from the pony version of Equestria, whenever the girls played music together, they gained pony ears, wings and tails, just like a fantasy story. She often wondered why the other kids in the school didn’t have that ability, though Applejack had told her it was because the seven of them had “the magic of friendship.” Which wasn’t technically an answer in her book, but she had accepted it.

Now, the room didn’t look so lively anymore. The walls were cracked and broken, with even more claw marks skidding across them. The ceiling looked half decent, not appearing to have any claw marks or massive pieces taken out like the rest of the school. She looked down, covered her mouth with a hand, gasping.

Their instruments laid destroyed all over the ground, with Rainbow Dash’s guitar broken in half, Fluttershy’s tambourine jingles torn off the frail instrument as well as Pinkie’s drums sporting large busted in holes.

Then she heard something from behind her. Whipping around, she studied the door before she realized that the door didn’t have it’s lock any more, which meant whatever was on the other side could easily get in now. Hurryingly, Twilight grabbed all the girls’ instruments and hurled them in a pile right in front of the door, ending with tossing her microphone on the cluster. Backing away from the door until her back bumped against the window, Twilight chewed her bottom lip as she waited intently, rubbing her arms as a sense of comfort.

All was quiet in the room, her heart beating slowly and quietly like it knew about the danger. Few a few minutes of tense silence, Twilight brought her hand to her chest and breathed out a sigh, her shoulders loosening in relief.

TWILIGHT.

She immediately went on alert, eyes darting back to the door. The instruments held firmly on the ground, with no movement coming from them. Was someone on the other side?

BANG!

In a split second, the door jerked forward, sounding like someone had hit it with a sledgehammer. She jumped at the sound, before the banging began again.

BANG!

she jumped once more, her body now visibly shaking. Someone was breaking down the door.

BANG!

The hits were getting harder now, she could feel it, feel the amount of force being added to it. Gritting her teeth, Twilight pressed her back more firmly to the window. There was nowhere to hide in here. Whoever it was on the other side would surely catch her as soon as they broke down the door.

BANG!

Wouldn’t be long now. She could swear she saw a hinge fly off the wooden barrier. Folding her arms together, tears spilled out of her eyes as the banging continued, each hit harsher than the last. What would they do when they finally got in here? What would they do to her?

BANG!

Was this really how it ended for her, alone in the darkness without her friends, left to rot in this horrible place without anyone able to find her. Forgotten and unwanted.

BANG!

“LEAVE ME ALONE!” she screamed with a cracking voice.

….

She waited.

And waited.
....

Nothing.

….

Nothing but silence.

Unfolding her hands, Twilight eyed the door warily, scanning for any kind of motion. More seconds ticked by as she waited eagerly, never straying her eyes for a second.

She dared not speak, keeping her breathing quieter than the smallest whisper, afraid that if she were to make any sound, the person behind the door would finish what they started on the poor wooden barrier. So, she stood there, waiting. Listening. Watching.

Her foggy breath huffed into the air, the dead silence starting to make her itchy.

YOUR FAULT.

She withheld a startled shriek when a breath of chilly air brushed across her neck, making her hairs stand on end, words housed in the air far from gentle. Her heartbeat with rapid force as she stiffened straight, her hands clenched to her sides as her face went pale.

The air turned freezing, almost like she’d been dumped into a picnic cooler full of thick ice. Widening her eyes in surprise, she winced at the cold air nipping her skin, before closing her eyes and gulping down a tidal wave of fear. With a cautious step, she ever so slowly turned her front around towards the window, terrified by the thought of what she’d find.

Keeping her eyes screwed shut, she took the last twisted step, her front now fully facing the window. Breathing in deeply a couple times, she mustered up her courage and opened her eyes.

Then she screamed.

A cold fog spiderwebbed across the window frame, making it hard to see anything on the other side, while icy air bled through the glass, the breeze stabbing into her exposed arms like knives.

But her mind was far from interested in fogginess.

Standing behind the glass, was Midnight Sparkle.

Twilight couldn’t speak, she couldn’t think, she couldn’t breathe. She just stared, petrified, at the monster that ruined her life, the creature that was with her in every step, and every dream. The monster she’d became not long ago.

Each day was a nightmare for her, for when she went to sleep, Midnight Sparkle emerged from the dark corners of her mind, filling her vision and digging deep cuts into her soul. At first, she seemed to take enjoyment in tormenting poor Twilight, taunting her for past mistakes, assuring the teen she’d return one day to exact revenge on her and her friends.

Days turned into weeks, which soon turned into months; Months of endless tormenting and taunting, with little to no way for Twilight to fight back. She tried everything she could to stop the nightmares, but nothing helped. Incense? Worthless. Dream catchers? Really?

It was only until the school field trip in Camp Everfree did the nightmares finally stop. After getting some supportive help from her friends, Twilight prevailed against her evil counterpart in a battle of wills, expelling the demoness from her mind forever with all her might. After that, Twilight was sure she hadn’t slept better in years.

After a while, it seemed that everything was finally somewhat going back to normal in her life.

Oh, how wrong she was.

Midnight Sparkle returned only weeks later, clouding Twilight’s mind once more. But it was different this time. Gone were the taunts and jeers, now Midnight Sparkle quietly haunted the young teen wherever she went. Much to Twilight’s surprise, her counterpart didn’t speak a word, not a word. Instead, she trailed Twilight like a dark shadow, standing unmoving in reflections while giving off a harsh, judging glare, making the purple haired girl feel uncomfortable and fidgety whenever their gazes met. The Midnight Sparkle she knew was a loud and boisterous villain that reveled other’s suffering, she wasn’t a silent, watchful stalker.

Twilight herself was beyond unhappy with this new change, often finding herself debating whether or not she wanted the old Midnight Sparkle back. She’d see her in almost every mirror and window that passed her view, mostly in her house, and even on several occasions when she was out with her friends in public. But in all those times, not one peep was made from either side. What was there to say really?

She was prepared for the day when Midnight Sparkle got bored of this silent routine and decided to just snap. This whole thing was probably just some sort of test, and Twilight Sparkle never shied away from tests. Why Midnight Sparkle was doing this, she didn’t know, but what she did know was that the when the snap finally came, it was most likely going to be absolute torture for Twilight. Midnight would probably go to extreme lengths to prove whatever point she was trying to make, and considering the type of vile person she was, those lengths looked quite far. Knowing this, Twilight had gathered all her mental strength and kept it in a secret storage deep in her mind, saving it for the day her evil counterpart let loose.

Fine, she’d play Midnight Sparkle’s little game, but Twilight would be prepared for her this time. She was scared yes, but also a bit angry.

And now, just like all the times before, Midnight Sparkle stood there, stock still while giving off her signature glare at Twilight from behind the glass. Though the fog would make any other persons’ vision of her hard to see, Twilight could see her old self in all her evil glory just fine.

Her shining white/blue eye liners and horn lit up like blinding lights, towering above Twilight. Her deep purple skin glowed inside the darkness of the other side, making her the only living source in the mirror. Twilight suppressed a wince when she saw her massive, owllike wings stretched outward, only half of them visible through the edges of the window. She remembered when those wings sprouted from her back, the wing bones popping into existence and attaching to her shoulder bone like a forced puzzle piece.

Whereas before, Midnight Sparkle’s eyes were once full of mischief and mayhem, now her eyes looked plastic and hollow, with deep dark bags underneath them. her mouth was etched into a clenched frown, almost as if Twilight had committed the worst possible sin upon her.

The both of them stared down each other, with Midnight not moving a single inch and Twilight shaking in fear and the increasing cold.

Twilight waited for her alter ego to make the first move, but like every other time, Midnight Sparkle stayed in her place, not even breathing. Mustering what little courage she had left, Twilight cleared her throat gently, afraid any movement she made would set the other off.

“Y-y-yes?” she just barely murmured.

Suddenly, the door behind her swung open, the sound of instruments being thrown out of the way and the handle slamming into the plaster wall filled room. Nearly fainting on the spot, Twilight whipped around to see who had burst in, terrified of what she’d find.

The door was wide open for her to see through, with the band instruments scattered uselessly all over the floor. Her breathing turned into short gasps as she peered at the opening of the door. Instead of some imposing monster like she expected, nothing but darkness and smoke flowed from the opening. But other than that, nothing else could be seen through the door. Gulping, Twilight watched the doorway for any sign of movement.

It seemed as though there was no threat at the moment, taking a breath, she remembered the other threat and turned around.

Midnight Sparkle was gone.

All she could see was pitch blackness on the other side of the mirror, with no sign of her evil counterpart in sight. Rubbing her arms again, Twilight took a meek step forward and began to inch closer to the window, keeping a watchful eye and ear out for anything. Stepping up to the glass, she cocked her head to the side as she inspected, scanning for any sort of explanation. She couldn’t see a thing beyond the window, nor around it, everything seemed as it should be.

Cautiously, she placed her shaking hand onto the glass. It was freezing to the touch, it almost hurt. What was going on?

Before she knew it, hands burst through the glass, grabbing onto Twilight’s shoulders in a tight grip. Spluttering in surprise, Twilight wriggled in the hand’s grasp. And just like that, Midnight Sparkle was in her face, with no glass holding her back. The teen struggled not to scream as Midnight’s hands constricted into the other’s biceps, pain shooting through her arms like a rocket. Midnight Sparkle simply watched as Twilight fought, giving off the same glare as before. Through all her struggling, Twilight felt her energy start to deplete, causing her to panic and flail uncontrollably.

“LET ME GO! LET ME GO, LET ME GO, LET ME GO, LET ME GO!” Twilight screamed as she shoved her alter ego. Rather than retaliate, Midnight Sparkle simply continued her glare, before bringing Twilights' face centimeters from her own. Noticing the new scenario, Twilight stopped her struggling and looked Midnight right in the eyes, her face full of fear and paranoia.

And for the first time in months, her alter ego spoke.

YOU BROUGHT HIM HERE.

Furrowing her brows in confusion, Twilight could do nothing as Midnight pulled her upper body back and dragged the purple teen with her through the window.

The last thing Twilight heard was her own screaming as she was pulled into the void.

---0---0---0---0---0---0---0---0---0----0-----0----0----0-----0--- OoO ---0----0----0---0----0----0---0---0---0---0---0---0---0---0---

“NNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

Twilight shot up from her chair while screaming bloody murder, rapidly wiping her body with her hands as she kicked her legs in the air.

Quickly ceasing her yelling, she latched her finger onto the arms of the chair, letting out deep heaving breathes as her eyes darted around the room.

The portion of the hallway she was in was empty, having all the people inside the closed rooms working. Looking to the right, further down she saw doctors and nurses running frantically from room to room, much too far to notice her freak out. Beads of sweat rolled down her forehead as she slowly took off her glasses and caressed her face, her body trembling like a leaf.

Her mind went blank as she processed her surroundings, easily taking notice of the posters and musky smell of the hospital. She stayed on high alert for a few minutes, keeping a watchful eye on every moving thing and wincing at every sound near her.

Soon as she understood there was no threat, her shaking drifted away as her breathing calmed, allowing her to relax.

“Ugh, what a dream.” She uttered as she scanned her body for any sign of unfamiliarity.

Seated in her chair just outside the room Cadence resided in, Twilight looked over her shoulder to the door, noticing it was still closed. Shining Armor must’ve still been talking with her, so she’d be out here for a while longer.

Everything seemed ok now, the hospital, of all places, radiating a much better aura than the broken, desolate CHS she was in earlier.

Putting both her hands into her lap, Twilight took notice of her still rapidly beating heart and decided now was a good time to practice that breathing exercise Cadence had taught her.

In.

Out.

In.

Ou-

“HEY, WHAT ARE YOU DOING!”

Popping her eyes back open, she jumped in her chair as she turned her head back to the right. The doctors and nurses looked agitated about something, as evidence from their shocked looks and pointed fingers.

Next thing she knew, Applejack, Rarity, Sunset Shimmer, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy barreled from across the corner and hauled their tails towards Twilight’s direction. Skidding to a stop just a couple feet from her, the five of them simultaneously collapsed into a heap on the floor, panting for breath. Twilight looked closer and noticed that they all appeared disheveled, with Rarity appearing close to faint, Sunset clutching her ears with a pained expression, Pinkie shaking her hand as if it were on fire, with closer inspection showing a portion of her hand was charred black, and Futtershy was sprawled on the floor, pale as can be. Seemingly unbeknownst to the yellow teen, a small mouse peeked his tiny head out of her messy hair, curious and confused.

Unsure of what to say, Twilight simply watched her friends as they caught their breath, laying on the ground of the hospital.

After waiting a few seconds, Twilight opened her mouth to say something, when something else beat her to the punch. Hearing the sound of shuffling feet, Twilight looked up to see Rainbow Dash appearing from behind the corner, face drenched in sweat while shuffling her feet across the ground in a flurry. Quirking a confused and admittedly amused eyebrow, Twilight watched as her rainbow haired friend desperately tried not to lift her feet off the ground, instead “fast walking” to the pile of friends that lay in front of her.

Once she reached the group, she too dropped to her knees, turning over on her back while staring at the ceiling. Twilight sat in her chair, watching her friends as they ignored her and the bewildered bystanders, instead focusing on cooling themselves off. Looking over them all, Twilight cleared her throat and said the only thing she could in this certain scenario.

“What happened?”

Instantly, all heads snapped towards her direction, an annoyed expression on each of their faces.

""""""DON'T EVEN ASK!""""""

Author's Note

This well absolute hell for me to write. Enjoy anyway!

Chasing Rainbows

"Magic came into this world when I stole Twilight's crown. It's taken a lot for me to earn everyone's trust. If we have to forfeit the games because I can't think of a way to keep it under control..."
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CHS: aftermath

Charred smoke and coppery iron. Not a combination any logical human would prefer as their day-to-day greeting on the job.

For detective Hard case, unfortunately, he’d grown accustomed to it far too long ago from his rookie years. The same however, could not be said about whatever sight he’d be greeted to upon exiting his cruiser, a nice long cigar always packed for these types of days.

Of fucking course it just had to be a damn high school. What next, someone’s preschool daycare?

Surveying the twisted sight like clockwork he bitterly sighed through gritted teeth, inhaling as much of his drag as possible. He’d remembered when Canterlot used to be such a peaceful town, crime was expected as with every city, nothing the best of the best couldn’t weed out. But now? Terrorists, kidnappings, panicking civilian rumors, and… ugh, his old ribs were still bruised from landing on the concrete.

Any who, where was he? Oh yes, CHS.

After their elementary closed down due to legal fees and something personal revolving around one Luna Selena, it shut down until years later a high school was built by a woman named Celestia, marked with the same name. After all the heat died down concerning her younger sister’s notorious little cry for attention, the two seemed to make it work regarding their new business. Place had a good rep, charity organizations for various hospital and other wazoos regularly held under the principal’s name, it wasn’t long until the place became one of Canterlot’s most treasured landmarks.

Now as he stood before the school yard, firemen stomping out whatever trickling flame still lingered and medical staff rushing from one injured child or staff member to the other, an old icy wave of despair tried to claw its way up his chest. He shoved it back down with well renowned practice, yet the anger remained. There just wasn’t enough room for nice things anymore was there?

The more he stared at the carnage the more his stomach turned, an accidental school fire was one thing, but this was unlike anything he’d witnessed during his entire life. Overturned benches that normally weighed several tons, scratched indents scarring the school’s brick walls and dug up dirt, imagination was a deathly thing.

Another prominent quirk about CHS was its knack for getting caught under the thumb of rumors and mass conspiracies. Not a day goes by without the city stations picking up frantic calls regarding some type of psycho babble the school was involved in, only for them to finally show up finding no evidence.

He’d tried convincing the others it was probably just some punk’s idea of a regular prank, however they went along with it anyway. “No matter issue, whether seemingly implausible or dare I say laughable, CCPD has the ability to aid those in need, and we will continue to uphold that promise no matter what.” Were chief Lawbound’s exact words.

Hard case turned to the pair of principals behind him trying their hardest to ease the furious crowd of parents, he’d almost felt bad for them until realizing that a much worse sea of media vultures were reportedly on their way from the destruction downtown.

As he walked up to an exhausted looking Celestia finishing an unproductive conversation with one last screaming mother, he regarded her downcast expression empathetically.

“Penny for your thoughts?”

Twisting around in a pace he was half worried would give her whiplash, the younger woman eased slightly at the sight of him before groaning, brushing a palm over her bagged eyes.

“Make it a dollar, that way it might give me the illusion I’ll even stand a chance against all the lawsuits.”

The detective huffed a curt laugh as they glanced around, almost as if checking toe see if the coast was clear.

“Have you sent any men after it?” She half whispered, folding her arms with a rare fiery glint in her eye. He plucked the cigar out and puffed out a small cloud whilst emitting hollow chuckle.

“What? No cover story this time? I’ve been waiting to hear more about those pesky construction problems your building’s been having.”

She leaned in, now glaring with dare he say murderous intent.

“Someone showed me the videos of downtown just minutes ago, that thing actively sought out my students.”

A growl came from deep within his throat.

“Kid, it’s a heartswarming miracle you didn’t receive any casualties. We’ve got dozens of crushed men, women, and children back in the city. Speaking of which, mind taking me to your little group of star students?”

Surprisingly Celestia’s expression dimmed moreso, as if exhaustion was threatening to overweigh her hidden fury. Suddenly he felt a headache coming on.

“I can’t.”

“Celestia, this is not the time for…”

“You don’t understand, they’re…”

“Kids, I know, but if this is your version of keeping themselves safe then they’ll end up having more people coming after them as time goes on.”

“You think I don’t know that?”

“Then take me to the-“

“THEY’RE GONE!”

He didn’t back away from her outburst, instead curling his fists inside his jacket as the younger woman shut her eyes to mentally calm her heaving breathes. Both ignored the stares aimed in their direction as he waited for the principal to recollect herself before he spoke in a calm, yet stern tone.

“What does that mean?”

“….”

“Celesti-“

“I tried to stop them…” Came a whispered reply. The twisted feeling in his gut curled into a blackish knot, she wiped a couple tears while choking out the rest of her sentence.

“…I tried to keep them with me once we all got out, kept them from running off anywhere after the thing had left but, there were so many other kids. Ditzy was having a panic attack, Lyra had her leg broken, Luna looked as though she was going to fall apart. Next thing I know, I turn my back and they’re just…gone.”

He chewed the cigar in his mouth, pieces of it hitting his tongue. Bad wasn’t even close to describing the situation, he settled for glaring.

“Where do you think they’re going?”

She gripped the sides of her arms he was sure her nails began to draw blood.

“Where else?”

Taking his piece from his mouth Hardcase swore, spitting out the residue into the grass. This was going to be a very long day, he checked his watch from the corner of his eye.

5:30pm.

There was a game on right now, figures. Taking the drag back into his mouth he placed a hand on her shoulder causing the woman to regain eye contact.

“We’ll find them.” He swore with as much certainty leaking through his voice as possible. “We will find them before they get caught in the crossfire, but the station’s main focus will be on that bastard. So the extra search party’s going to be thin.”

A hopeful smile graced her lips and once more Hardcase saw the bright young woman who’d stepped up to city hall with all the courage in the world, declaring her idea for a chance at another school filled with hopes and dreams. One of the last few decent officials in Canterlot he could respect.

“Detective Sergeant Hard case!”

Upon hearing the familiar harsh voice, his along with a couple noticeable officers jumped into a ramrod straight position. Deputy Atlas made his way across the field until reaching his intended target, standing before Hard case and Celestia with authority clear in his posture.

“Have you finished with your investigation?”

“Hard Case removed his drag a third time and nodded, albeit stiffly.

“Yes sir. Got all the answers I could out of these people, nothing too concrete but we’re guessing the creature’s attacking things at random. When it arrived here it damaged one of the concession’s fuel tanks before quickly catching on fire, probably by loose wire or spark plug of some kind.”

Celestia ignored the side glint from Hard Case’s direction, as Atlas nodded.

“We’ve got choppers in the air tracking it now, the city’s on lockdown. With most of our best people chasing this damn thing, that provides a golden ticket for crime. I want you and a group of officers on neighborhood watch until then. If you do see the creature, try not to approach, and call in any sightings. Lawbound wants this animal contained yesterday!”

“Yes sir!” Hard Case affirmed as his superior gave Celestia a sympathetic nod before marching off, rounding up a handful of officers alongside his retreating form.

Laxing himself, Hard Case sizzled the fiery end of his precious piece onto the concrete ground before shuffling his coat, ready to leave. Not before giving his younger companion one last promising look.

“Please, don’t be too hard on them. They already blame themselves for everything.” She begged. The detective in turn snorted, shaking his head as though he were remembering a faded memory while turning to follow his commander.

“Good, responsibility is one bitch of a lesson.”
_____________________
Canterlot city, downtown.

Sunset wasn’t sure what else she was expecting. The wreckage once resembling shopping centers and crossroads etched for miles, as if it’d just been under the influence of some unspoken natural disaster. If only that excuse would’ve been believable both by her and the hundreds of people who’d been present at the epicenter.

Hugging her chest the young woman held back the anxious swarm of self-deprecating thoughts trying to cloud her concentration. How? How could they, could she, have not seen something like this coming? Magic from equestrian had been constantly leaking into this world for so long, how could she not expect an actual creature to eventually fall through some random portal sooner or later. Ugh, she was such an idiot. They should’ve been prepared for situations like this from the get-go.

Taking a miniature glance down at her pendant, a new, horrifying theory came to mind. What if they had been going about this the wrong way? Memories of Dash’s accident to their treacherous hospital ride resurfaced and grotesque bile threatened to burn upwards into her throat. Had their magic, their geodes been warning them this whole time? That blackness, once a speck in the corner of her consciousness fully engulfing around the monster from earlier, she just knew they were connected.

Wiping her dewy eyes Sunset sniffed, unable to stare any further at the carnage while police filled the streets for survivors. It’s taken quit the difficult task to contact Princess Twilight herself once she and her friends were safe from Celestia’s gate, if anyone knew what to do it’d be her after all. While Sunset prided herself in magic practice and spell work, ancient, almost cryptid-like animals weren’t necessarily her specialty back in Princess Celestia’s school.

Celestia… Abandoning their principal at their first chance weighed heavily on all the girls, the older woman probably wouldn’t trust them for a long time, neither would all their classmates for that matter.

Faust, when did she become such a repetitive failure? She’d promised to keep the Equestrian magic under control following the Friendship Games, and ever since then her promise insisted on repeatedly bashing her own lying teeth in.

Ahead of her, Sunset could see Twilight, their human version, scour the outskirts of police tap for clues as though she were some form of detective herself. They’d even tried talking to a couple officers earlier, but you know, limited information is key to protecting concerned citizens and all that. When the officer wasn’t noticing she’d attempted to latch her palm on his forearm.

Nothing directly helpful, just that it was revealed the Cyclops had been in the process of robbing some jewelry store, (One of Rarity’s favorites, the headache following that conversation was surely something she’d be looking forward to), before the beast had been intercepted by non-other than the man who’d saved Fluttershy and Dash’s lives.

Another situation entirely that one. Pictures and warning signs of the guy had been posted nonstop all around Canterlot for weeks, CCPD insisting he was some sort of mole or collaborator for the terrorists. At the time both she and the rest of her friends hadn’t been too concerned, moreso focused on their uncontrolled mishaps. But now…

She was once the prize student of a monarch who surpassed all her professors’ tests and trainings, Sunset Shimmer could spend days recalculating the hardest math problem to the most pretentious potion’s required ingredients. Here, it’d taken weeks to even provide a simple theory on why her pony ears grew upon playing a regular electric guitar.

Why did these girls put so much faith in her, she was so bucking useless.

Oh, human Twi’s heading this way. Better put on a fake smile.

“Any theories?”

Ugh, she could hear her own shakiness bleed through her words. Twilight to her credit seemed to ignore it and opted for rubbing her temples in exasperation.

“Only the same amount of theories and speculations as everyone else. The big guy came, started tearing everything apart, got interested in the jewelry store before he came in and distracted it so everyone could get away. From what I heard this isn’t the only block caught between the two before he started making a beeline for CHS.”

Sunset hummed in affirmation, letting out a hefty groan while sinking into her palms. Twilight nervously adjusted her glasses awkwardly shuffling her feet, clearing her throat and pointing to the shot wave radio strapped to her belt.

“We still clear on the plan right?”

Sunset straightened with a stern look replacing her features, nodding. Upon escaping the school yard all seven simultaneously made their plan, splitting up mostly into groups with Twi and herself surveying the downtown aftermath in search of their target. At first both Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash had received immediate fretting on the group’s part, where the caretaker insisted she was perfectly fine with most of her major injuries having been healing in a literal flash, and RD of course refusing to be left behind.

Once they’d cornered the Cyclops again via Twilight’s telekinesis and Rarity’s gems, Fluttershy would try and calm it down the best she could. Oddly enough the caretaker had been hesitant about her assigned task at first blush, although then again ever since leaving the school she’d become twice as silent.

Should that not work as planned, either Shy or Rainbow would fly Sunset up to a safe position and use her magic to peek into the beast’s mind, hoping to pinpoint where exactly their unwelcomed guest came from. Another portal must’ve been close by in Canterlot.

Yet another whole can of parasprites, first the CHS statue, a random sand pit on some lonely island in the middle of the ocean, now somewhere here. The prospect of thousands, upon millions of portals to Equestria lying around in plain sight sent chills up her spine. Who knew what ponies, people, or things fell through them on a daily basis!

“You know what this means, right?”

Sunset didn’t feel like responding, the answer clear in her mind.

“Trust me Twilight, I know. And we’re going to figure this out.”

Her friend gave a look telling off her promise. Instead the younger girl waving her arms around whilst glaring in a harsh whisper.

“It knew Sunset. It left specifically just so it could kill us. Even if we manage to get rid of this thing, there’s still him! You saw what he did, what he’s capable of, and apparently he’s been running around Canterlot for weeks and we ignored it until it hit us in the face. How much longer until something even worse rears its head and we’ll have our back turned when it kills us! These powers are, no, we’re putting ourselves and everyone around us in danger. All because of these…these…”

Cupping her geode to further articulate her point Twilight’s expression became one of distain. Sunset wasn’t dumb, she knew the younger harbored a reasonable fear of the magic from Equestria, often opting to use her own as little as possible. But if what they discovered about their geodes being pieces of the Elements themselves were true, then Sunset was hard pressed in believing they’d been gifted the harbors of magic for a reason no matter how little in strength they compared to the ones back home.

The magic leaking into this world couldn’t possibly be solely triggered by the geodes, there had to be something more at play. They’d find the explanation, Twilight shouldn’t need to feel all this guilt that belonged more on Sunset’s shoulders. She’d fix this, for them.

“I’ll try and contact Pinkie, you try Rarity.” Sunset grumbled while detaching her radio, changing the subject before the sizzling tension rose any further. Wordless Twilight followed suite, taking a couple steps back as the ex-Equestrian sighed.

Her friend was right though, they’d completely ignored the warning signs until it was too late. Sure they’d practiced at Everfree, but all in all that was just so they would be more prepared for their own mishaps, not watching out for potential threats.

*Pinkie, you there?*

Silence for a couple seconds, until her device crackled to life.

*This is CookieCrumber003, who is this? Over.*

Sunset blinked. She could hear Pinkie clearly, was her voice not coming through?

*It’s me, Sunset.*

A pause, then the voice on the other end, while remaining cheery, held a tinge of sarcasm she immediately caught.

*I’m sorry, you must’ve called in the wrong frequency, although I am awaiting a call from my friend KetchupMustard, who’s well known for her addressing me correctly. Over.*

Biting back a snarl, Sunset tried breathing through her nose for a few seconds before starting up the radio once more, her voice syrupy yet incredibly tight.

*This is KetchupMustard, calling CookieCrumbler003 in regard to any sightings of the monster.*

*My friend KetchupMustard is also well known for sticking to radio rules, such as finishing her sentences with over. Over.*

Her deep breathes became sharp intakes as she struggled not to let her colorful brimming thoughts verbally erupt, face palming with a long drag over her eyes as Sunset mentally cursed her swirling anger. She was a hair’s length away from arguing with Twilight, so stuffing Pinkie’s own jacket down her esophagus certainly wasn’t going to result in any productive means.

*This is KetchupMustard, calling for CookieCrumbler003, have you found anything? Over.*

In a much chipper tone, Pinkie responded almost instantly.

*That’d be a negative KetchupMustard, looks like this side of town is meanie free! Although AngelLover is insisting we head north. Even though CoolestGirl is already over there. Over.*

Sunset winced, whereas Fluttershy had turned more tight-lipped then normal, Rainbow had been silent as a grave for the past hours. Only responding with blunt, short responses. The injury on her head was healed to, the source later explained to her upon her reawakening, of which somehow resulted in an unreadable expression permanently painted over her face from then on.

She knew it was a bad idea to set her off on her own, however RD simply wouldn’t have it any other way. It was like she was running on autopilot, except instead of a dull expression she looked…well, a singular word couldn’t truly explain it, none of them had ever seen her like this. Her eyes were narrowed, muscles tense as though there was some sort of invisible enemy constantly standing before her, yet her words and movements were slow and calculated. Like a hungry fox amongst a group of chickens, searching until it found the best one to finally let loose. Its was sickening, seeing her friends suffer for her own faults.

Others worried she was still under the influence of her head injury, however Sunset held her suspicions of both previously injured friends in a different regard. The terrorist, Cole…something or other, had used his powers on them, to heal her friends. Through both mannerisms and visible sight alone the offers appeared genuine, though now she was cautious on where to place her full trust. Had he come over from her Equestria, or was he another person of this world gifted them via unknown sources from her home? Whose side was he truly on?

Throughout her years Sunset Shimmer had met many people: Some good, such as Princess Twilight, her girls, Celestia. Some not, like the Dazzlings, like herself once. Then there were the misunderstood people, the grey areas who needed guidance and support. This man? Too soon to tell, more often than not media can be misleading and full of bull. After they finished with the Cyclops, she’d make it her personal mission to question him later.

And she wasn’t taking no for an answer.

__________________
Somewhere on the North side of Canterlot

Kicking a stray pebble from underneath her sneakers, Rainbow surveyed the surrounding towering buildings around her with caution. Normally a day in the big city was one of fun and untold money spending, now everything looked downright creepy with how utterly empty the place looked. Every twitch in the corner of her eye had her jumping into defensive mode, only finding lost newspapers or agitated alley cats in response.

The skyscrapers, another attraction she often found mesmerizing and full of life, now appeared moreso akin to looming mountains of concrete that were steadily closing in on her, as if she were witnessing the world’s biggest set of prison bars.

Airplane noises from above as well as leftover music coming from the city speakers helped, albeit in a smaller way. Not that she could blame the citizens, after all two ferocious attacks both from unnaturally bloodthirsty forces would have nearly anyone packing their things and ditching.

Nearly everyone.

Although her wings and ears had dissipated, Dash could still feel the magic flowing inside her body, every muscle, every bone was absolutely webbed in the stuff. It was like a comforting shield promising to protect her until the end. The geode hanging from her necklace and resting over her shirt glowed, as though reading her thoughts.

She’d broken her promise. Used her magic at the games and lost CHS any chance of a good reputation, and worse yet, no doubt attracted fugly mcgee to their school. Fists balled in her pockets, and she scowled deeply, stomping down the empty sidewalk with haste.

Her pride hurt more than any head injury she could fathom, had she put in a fraction more into her final punch then that jerkwad would’ve been knocked out cold without a doubt! Then she would at least be able to look her fellow students in the eyes after all the damage and pain he’d caused.

Only then he decides to throw in a cheap shot and next thing she knows she’s waking up on the grass with the monster having fled the scene, her friends too focused on being worried on her account to stop him. She’d made a mess, then held everyone back from rectifying it.

Whilst eternally thankful towards whatever merciful God under the sun that was out there for the rest of her friends miraculously staying in better condition, (Upon hearing Futtershy’s incident she’d nearly passed out a second time), the revealing explanation of her own healed injuries had been…For lack of a better term, unnerving.

Similar to the rest, news of the supposed terrorist hiding in their city had most neighborhood families and friends on edge, her own parents nearly returning back to their old ways of sheltering her from venturing into public outings or without serious protection. As usual she’d tried insisting she’d be fine, she was seventeen for crying out loud, and had magical powers. Some punk looking for a fight would think twice when approaching her, that is what her mind tried at convincing over the small patch of compulsive fear gripping at her heartstrings.

So when being told this particular guy had apparently been the one that’d sent the cyclops running, as well as saving both Fluttershy and herself, mixed emotions were bound to crop up. True, she of course hadn’t seen the event unfold due to her being too busy making out with the pavement, however their obviously unnaturally healed wounds and new scars provided proof.

If Equestria had finally decided to send over someone who wasn’t a total wackjob then she’d breathe easier. However with the much bigger issue still skulking around, Mr. electro would have to be placed second on her hit list for now.

She would not let that monster best her a second time, she would fix this problem of hers. She wouldn’t be the chain holding everyone back in their times of need, but rather the one to fly them towards victory!

She turned her trudge into a light jog as she made her way down the street, glancing left and right for a flash of blueish-grey hair, or a massive eye. Alley after alley she searched, each corner and every opened parking garage, nothing. But she knew he was close, she could feel it burn through her element.

“ARGH! How hard can it be to find one big stupid monster!?” Her words left her mouth raw and wavering, feeling her ears burn with embarrassment and hysteria combing her thought process.

Wait a minute. Her geode. A new thought clicked in her mind.

Her powers were the reason that thing had arrived in the first place, perhaps if she could lure him out. No, she’d already made that mistake once and dozens of people had paid the price, doing so now might result into a worse situation. But if not, he’d probably manage to reach the forest of the outskirts of town, then they’d never find him.

Shaking her head, RD pressed on with a determined scowl. No, probably best not to risk it, even if it was a tempting solution. She almost smirked, it was like Sunset had placed the thought in her mind rather than Dash herself. Still didn’t mean she was going to be the last one in finding this thing.

Suddenly she grinded to a halt square in the middle of some rando intersection. Blinking hard to make certain her eyes weren’t deceiving her, she felt a smile edge across her cheek at the sight in front of her.

Atop one of the building’s sides, three human sized claw marks had shredded the edge of the roof. Still careful as to not give herself away she continued to jog normally from the intersection until passing the wounded structure looking up to see a pattern of indents and metalwork having been crushed under impossible weight. She swore she could see marked blood smeared in handprints on certain areas, just momentarily causing her to feel sick.

Soon a harsh, yet distinct smell of something that’d been burned reach her nostrils, and her excitement began to wane towards nervousness. Even if he was injured, everyone knew a cornered animal was at its most dangerous once given left with little choice.

The athlete stopped in her tracks again, this time she nearly forgot how to breathe. Sitting in between two concrete scrapers, the gigantic mass of hair and massive arms was unmistakable. Putrid stench of charred hair and blood made her desperately want to gag if not for the fear of being seen.

Like a deer caught in a car’s headlights she felt her entire body freeze watching her enemy cradled in a fetal position, balled together as his singular glowing eye hid underneath burly forearms marred with visible scars and burns. He’d yet to recognize her, evidence from the pitiful throaty moans of indescribable pain mumbled from his swollen jaw. Instead focusing on rubbing the soreness around his body.

Acid gnawed her stomach away, reaching to her heart upon witnessing the sight. This wasn’t the same bloodthirsty monster that’d terrorized CHS hours earlier, more like an abused animal hiding from the rest of the world. Her expression softened as conflict swirled her initial plan into a mixed mass.

He’d tried to kill her, her friends, anyone who got in his way. Running around a city of innocents like it was his own playground, he’d needed to be stopped. But this? Was this going too far?

Her muscles froze upon realizing that glowing eye was staring straight into her soul now, half hidden from his arms. Seconds seemed akin to hours the longer they remained eye contact, neither moving an inch, statues frozen in shared terror and anger. What was she doing? She should be radioing the others, she’d found him! She’d…

Be bringing them into danger, danger she’d caused in the first place. A dark look shadowed her features, it was time to finish her mistake.

Faster than she could react the Cyclops jumped two stories into the air, latching onto the rooftop of the building on his right before hoisting himself out of view.

“Wha- HEY!” She sputtered. ‘GET BACK HERE!”

Curtesy of Equestrian magic, she could easily jump over obstacles as tall as a cookie cutter house roof, with a running start that is. And a five-story tower was a bit out of her skill set. Running around the front she could see the Cyclops glare down at her with a fraction of that hatred from the CHS field before he propelled from his current roof onto a neighboring one, the structure shaking and cracking under his hooves.

It didn’t take long for her to recognize the situation, though with a surprising amount of speed he’d already gone three buildings down. Fine, he wanted to play cat and mouse, she’d be more than happy to oblige.

Grasping the geode in her palm, she embraced the warmth it spread through her body and ignite into her soul, and no sooner had her foot stretched out to connect with the pavement the world blurred.

___________

Miles away

His target’s echo bolted from rooftop to rooftop at breakneck speed, impressive after being damn near cooked alive. Cole hopped over a large gap between buildings as the yellow vision stumbled in an awkward fashion, the monster obviously not accustomed to modern structure.

Blood stained many things around him, air conditioners, pipes, whatever had the leisure of standing in the cyclops’ path of escape all utterly demolished. Again, quite the feat getting this far, adrenaline was one hell of a drug.

News caught on quick after their first brawl, it was refreshing to see most of the city was devoid of anyone save for the mass waves of police searching high and low. Less chances of casualties, now if only he could somehow lure the creature into a place where there’d be no people period.

When his target’s echo eventually seemed to give in to exhaustion, sloppy movements becoming dragged feet until he finally had discovered a spot believing no one would find him in. Big mistake. Silencing his footsteps, the conduit peered over the edge to his relief seeing his target hunched with his back facing Cole. The monster was horrendously scarred, hair melted away to reveal pink flesh.

He almost felt bad, seeing him like this.

However sympathy faded away to anger as memories of the creature eagerly tossing innocent civilians away like chew toys and damn near killing a group of teens for shits and giggles reminded him of just the type of monster this was. Blue electricity danced around his arms as he stood up, his enemy still unaware, seemingly caught off guard by something out of Cole’s peripheral vision.

Suddenly the monster had leapt to his feet in such a rush the conduit had to momentarily step back in defense, watching as it dashed off from across roofs in a terrified frenzy from some unknown source.

“HEY! GET BACK HERE!”

A small voice below caught his attention, Cole glancing down to see the same multicolored haired girl he’d been asked to heal from earlier, now very much conscious and pissed off. He narrowed his eyes. Just what in the hell did she think she was doing? Abruptly he felt his body quake with uncontrollable energy, electricity popping out of his body in fits of agitation.

His question had been answered when in the mere blink of an eye, the girl was gone, replaced only by a makeshift stream of a rainbow which tailed behind her. Mind blank, he wasn’t sure the words that left his mouth were really words at all, as he gawked at the brightly colored streak chase after his intended prey.

Well, guess that explained the rainbow ring. Some part of him was surprised, another irritated it’d taken this long to finally locate the source. Leave it to his dumbass self not to immediately take notes on the literal mop of rainbow-colored hair.

With a wave of his arms the angry electricity sunk back into his skin, watching the two gain further distance. No way was he gonna keep up on foot at this rate.

Without hesitation he jumped off to the left, angling his trajectory until his shoes slammed onto the metal wires of the city telephone poles, fiery sparks igniting upon connection thus pushing him forwards. They were going way too fast, even at this pace he needed to thrust out his arms to further boost his momentum.

The monster kept going in a straight line, one Cole had a hunch led towards the forest on the end of town. He could work with that, cityscapes weren’t the only location the electric man could tussle in. The real problem was the girl, he’d need to be especially careful with her now added to the mix. In most instances civilians’ involvement in aiding him during fights only resulted in more chances of casualties.

Conduit or not, the kid didn’t belong in this situation.

Speaking of, the big bastard finally noticed his young pursuer, tossing chunks of gravel and whatever he could get his claws on towards the girl in hopes of slowing her down or landing a hit. For her credit the teen easily dodged most of the miscellaneous before openly mocking him. During which a ruined electric box was tossed, beelining straight for her head, no doubt a killing shot should it hit its mark. Using both hands he sent out a shockwave which ripped the metal box into a different direction as though it were weak foam in the wind.

She hadn’t noticed either, still picking up speed as the Cyclops continued trying to shake off its unwanted tail, apparently not even noticing Cole. He grit his teeth while blasting apart another thrown piece of brick wall that surely would’ve crumpled her skull upon impact, large chunks raining over the road.

Either this kid thought she was invincible or had a death wish. Neither a good choice.

Just his luck, the street split off into a T shape, with the cyclops easily hopping the gap and continuing onwards whilst the girl bolted down an alleyway without hesitation. Having to jump as his source of transportation ended abruptly Cole glided hastily towards the buildings as both his targets began to disappear.

Grabbing an outward jutting windowsill, he scrambled upwards until pushing himself onto the building’s roof, just in time to see the Cyclops already half a mile away with the teen nowhere in sight. Frustration threatened to release as he started running, praying he could catch up before he could fail another innocent.

__________

CoWaRdCOwArdcOWaRD

Rameses felt his muscles scream with every movement, yet they did not hold a candle to the infernal red-hot fear and humiliation scorching his soul. Eye tracing back and forth from his pursuer and his pathway, the cyclops tried to quicken his steps, familiar smells of pine and tree bark towards the distance a heavenly presence compared to this stone and glass filled tomb of a city.

There were no words to ease the rapid beating of his heart, said thing threatening to spill from his ribcage.

Could it even be considered his at all?

As the horrible Guardian began to drain his life away, Rameses had tried everything. Bucking, punching, swaying. But it was all for nothing, his own body betrayed him as an unwelcomed sensation of pained exhaustion overtook him. Were he of better thought process, he wouldn’t been enraged to be given such an undignified demise, alas it seemed as though fate was against him.

Or so he thought.

Mere moments before his eyes could close, a new sensation overwhelmed everything. Whispering of ice-cold words and claws dug bone deep through his fur and straight into his heart, a power far greater than that of the Guardian. He’d tried screaming despite his initial exhaustion, yet found his throat refusing to work, as a matter of fact his entire body stiffened as the agonizing pain of invisible blades hiding beneath his skin sliced through layers of meat and into each tendon and bone.

His mind grew hazy as though a dark cloud had engulfed his brain into a suffocating hold as his vision literally bled into blackness.

Everything’s a muddled mess after, his body is running, moving quickly yet he is no longer in charge, a living puppet. Colored blotches are later seen in an area filled with green and silver, and somehow he feels the presence controlling him shudder in vengeful rage when certain splotches continue to reappear.

There’s pain, fighting, until there are things laying below his feet as his arms are held up with something odd in his palms. A weapon of sorts?

Suddenly the back of his skull is struck, and a familiar voice calls out for attention. suddenly Rameses feels his own personal feelings begin to take wane on the dark force, (or perhaps loosens its grip for the sake of curiosity?), and he can see a tad clearer. The Guardian is beckoning him, Rameses excepts the challenge.

In seconds his body is lit aflame, the fire seems to repel whatever force was holding his body hostage, however he is far too busy howling in agony to concentrate. After what feels like a millennia the last of the oil on his body flickers out and he collapses onto muddy grass in a heap.

When he is ready, Rameses opens his eye to find himself in a field of sorts, metal work and food filling the air as he lay beside a solitary building. Hoisting to his feet, he let out a yelp when one of his arms buckled, it had been broken? With the fire turning grass to ash and his enemy momentarily distracted, Rameses retreated as fast as he could muster.

Entering the city again had been taxing in regard to his injuries but he’d finally found a decent spot to rest. The panic inside his chest did not cease, mind erupting with questions and body aching in pain. Never in all his life had the cyclops undergone such pain, the brutal punishments given to him by his own kind due to his troublesome actions were nothing to the sensations he’d undergone. What was he to do?

That’s when his eye landed on her. A youngling of the creatures that lived here, just as frozen at the sight of him as he was her. He felt it, the power radiating from her very essence. A fraction of a power from his world log thought to be a myth, and with her arrival, the darkness returned threatening to overlay his vision.

Therefore, Rameses did something he’d sworn never to do no matter the cost, he ran. He ran for his life with no intention of coming back.

She was following close behind, and it frightened him more. No matter what he tossed her way, the youngling with the powers of a god was unwavering.

“Rameses.”

He let out a growl as his hands slipped and he fell to the ground with a thud, jumping back into position to keep running.

“Rameses. Cease yourself.”

“No!” He gasped, shoving aside some form of flashing car with his non-injured arm. “No brother I cannot, there is something here! Something terrible-“

“Rameses, go back.”

He pulled himself up onto another structure, the female jumping after him only to be momentarily held back by the debris.

“Brother, please-”

“You are weak Rameses. You will not disappoint me like this.”

The forest was in sight. In one jump he’d crossed yet another gravel road to land on soft grass with the trees opposing his wide shoulders, although he continued running. She was still there.

“Go. Back.”

He kept running. Running, and running, and running, when his body suddenly went stiff on its own accord.

______________

Sprinting across the alleyways, over dumpsters, pushing aside flying newspapers, RD listened out for her target as he made his way across building to building above obscured from view. Vaulting over a chain-link fence she had to take a hard right so to not ram straight into an alley wall.

With super speed everything around her usually slowed, therefore it lessened the prospect of tripping or running into things. At her top speeds it was truly like watching the world through slo-mo, unfortunately she couldn’t seem to get that helpful tactic to work today, probably something about her injuries or whatever. All the more reason to issue some long overdue payback.

Still, she was fast enough to dodge his attempts at throwing crap in her direction, considering how easy it was to weave and duck under every projectile, his eye must’ve also been damaged. That or his aim sucked more than the punks who’d tired going after Daring Do.

Her heart lurched at the thought of her friend’s faces reacting to her current actions. They’d promised to call each other once the big guy had been spotted, but the guy took off like a rocket, how else was she going to keep up pace!? They’d understand, right after she bagged this sucker!

Upon entering another street the Cyclops had slipped up and rolled down off the rooftops to her level, where she tried to use her new advantage into getting a hit. Too bad she missed him by a mile, only getting showered in chunky brick and dust instead as he monkeyed himself back to the rooftops.

The impact left her backpedaling, hitting the concrete floor with a thud, and knocking some air from her lungs in a sharp gasp. Pushing herself off the ground she watched as the monster sauntered into Scorpan forest. Panic swelled, if he got far enough there would be no way she could find him again!

The magic swirling inside seemed to agree with her, more power being forced into her steps. Yes! just a little faster, ducking her head Rainbow neared the edge of the forest before using her momentum for one powerful jump, the Pegasus wing on her back gliding alongside the wind as her hair kicked up in waves of color.

When her feet finally touched the grass she rolled and continued to dash after the monster now just a couple feet from her. He still held his back to her, perhaps if she hitched a ride she could somehow….

Her planning was interrupted as the Cyclops suddenly screeched to a halt mid run. Her eyes widened to the size of dinner plates as she instinctively tried skidding to a stop as well, her speed betraying her as the teen slammed full body into a hairy back leg.

RD grunted at the stinging pain exploding across her bruised face and ribs while she plopped onto her butt. Holding her reddened nose in pain, her pupils shrunk as the hulking beast towering over her, once facing the opposite direction, slowly turned in the most serial killer-esc vibe possible to eventually train one hazy bloodshot eye onto her exposed form.

Any form of a retort died in her throat as a coat of inky black engulfed the Cyclops’ once healthy bluish hair, as it silently raised both curled fists up and crashed them down around the teenager.

Who in turn felt her heart sink into her stomach, the realization finally dawning on her that she’d made a very terrible mistake.

______________________

Somewhere near downtown.

“Whooohoooo! Mr. Cyclops~”

Fluttershy continued to stay silent despite Pinkie Pie practically yelling in her ear as they strolled, or skipped in the latter’s instance, further down the street towards the center of Canterlot. Although originally stationed towards the west side of the city, Fluttershy was confident in her decision to switch directions. Thankfully Pinkie had been completely willing to follow along with their new plan, perhaps seeing the promising certainty in her older friend’s expression had sealed the deal.

Silence was something pretty much everyone combined with the caretaker, her chosen perception of comfort either in a quiet room drinking tea with close friends or in a room stuffed to the brim with all types of creature comforts.

However the silence currently consuming Canterlot was vastly separate from being tranquil or peaceful. Instead the air felt suffocatingly tight with a shared sensation of danger wafting around, her skin prickled in alarm, as if she knew the Cyclops was nearby somehow.

“Heeeellloooooo~ We promise we’ll be nice as long as you don’t try to eat us again! In fact, I have much better foods you can try! Sugary cupcakes and milkshakes are way better then nasty little people!”

The ever-purifying presence of one Pinkie Pie helped dampen the unpleasant mood hanging over her mind, one she’d been eternally grateful for after so many years. Something whistled in her ear, and Fluttershy took a sharp right around a corner, her caboose trailing behind without hesitation.

A pit of worry, anxiety, and worst of all self-disappointment kept her mouth from making a noise beyond a whisper. Holding it back from the rest of the girls was wrong, they deserved to know. Yet at the same time how could she tell them when she didn’t even know what she was experiencing?

To further clarify the situation, when her wounds had been miraculously healed by the man baring electrical powers, newly odd sensations continued to tickle her soul, an itch she couldn’t scratch. Her geode burned with excitement as she could feel the magic inside her body writhe alongside something else, the Equestrian magic was wrestling over dominance with another foreign power.

Was she supposed to feel scared, horrified even? Strangely enough the implication to react in such a way didn’t seem to fit with her, because whatever separate source of power that’d entered her body gave an instinctive sensation of good will. The blue sparks had mended the open cuts over her body inside and out after all, as they had RD.

Was she experiencing this as well? Poor Rainbow, the scene of her best friend hitting the hard wall of CHS with such force replayed through her mind like a mantra. She almost prayed Pinkie’s calls wouldn’t track the Cyclops’ attention. His gaze haunting her memories with every blink.

Back to the matter at hand though, something was tugging her body towards a location she’d yet to see, pray to all the gods in existence she wasn’t leading herself and Pinkie into a trap. No birds tweeted in the sky, nor any squirrels squeaking to each other in the trees stationed around the sidewalks. Hopefully they’d been hiding alongside everyone else with the creature out here.

While her eyes strayed to the floor, she nearly swore she could catch a glimpse of yellow streaks waving a hair above the pavement like a fog. She tried shaking her head to clear it, which only resulted in a strange static sound emanating from somewhere inside her brain.

Pinkie’s gasp caught her off guard, causing Fluttershy to yelp and turned to gaze at the other in question, who was staring wide eyed at something else now behind her. Against her instinct she traced Pinkie’s gaze to stiffen herself in shock. Amongst one of the buildings in the intersection she’d apparently unconsciously led them to was scratched with painfully obvious claw marks, however there was another point of interest at play.

An acute buzzing in her brain made her squeeze her eyes shut as whatever was overwhelming her natural senses began to finally un-shroud itself. Finally gathering the courage to open them, Fluttershy found she couldn’t close them again as yellow streaks of foggy streams snaked across the street. From them the outlines of people walked along the sidewalk beside them both, as if she were watching a replay of the street hours before the state it fell into.

Backpedaling straight into Pinkie she looked at the other girl, in high hopes her friend was seeing the exact same as her. Pinkie’s worried stare confirmed she was indeed alone in that regard.

Was she going crazy? Why was this happening to her? Sunset was always the master when it came to Equestrian magic, she’d know what to do. Or Princess Twilight, hopefully she’d get their call for help soon before that Cyclops could hurt anyone else.

On cue, the yellow shadows of the past people faded and replaced with a colossal shape moving at a fast rate across building-to-building startling her in Pinkie’s hold. Said girl’s voice could barely be perceived through Shy’s muffled hearing as the shape, detailing itself to be non-other than the equestrian born animal when it moved past her gaze, one of its hands grazing the roof side right on its scratch mark.

Apparently the two powers inside of her had ultimately decided to play peacemaker, because not only could she see an electric yellow outline of their enemy, but she could hear him as well far off in the distance.

A surge of newfound confidence compelled her to snatch up her radio and click on the team’s channel.

*This is AngelLover, can everyone hear me?*

Wow, even the confidence in her voice made her briefly stunned.

*KetchupMustard here. Over.*

*FashionChic tuning in, over.*

A moment of pause that lasted too long, Rainbow Dash didn’t answer. She felt sicker as the silence grew, deciding to follow the moving echo while the others waited.

*CoolestGirl, you there? Over.*

*Rainbow? Is this darn thing not workin?!*

Her chest ached as sweat poured across her body, standing still as a frozen statue when a new echo appeared out of thin air.

*Girls… I…* She bit back a hiccup, desperately trying to ease her screaming nerves.

*I found where the Cyclops is heading, and Rainbow Dash is following him.*

___________________

Scorpan Park

The Cyclops held up a forearm to block an oncoming kick. At its velocity it would’ve surely knocked a regular human’s head clean off their shoulders, but for it the result was merely a skin deep scratch. His lack of pained emotion seemed to further enrage his competitor who dodged a barreling fist in order to gain distance again, weaving around the forest pines out of reach and circling the monster.

In a flash the teen girl bounced off one of the trees like it were made of rubber and rocketed back to the bigger foe. She nearly succeeded in landing a hit on the monster’s jaw, however he moved at a speed unrealistic for his size, ducking low to avoid her punch. Rolling once, her feet touched the ground she sped off again, circling around in an attempt for another strike, growling ferally upon realizing the beast had yet to move from his planted spot.

If this was his way of taunting her, then she’d make him sorely regret it. Still training its eye on her the beast tensed itself as she misseled towards him full of killing intent. Suddenly upon breaking several feet between them the Cyclops raised an arm and swiftly backhanded a tree next to him causing the trunk to split in half as the burly end landed right in her path. It was too close, and she was going too fast to jump over skidding to her back just before it could crush her, afterwards not having a second to spar as one fist after another came thundering downwards onto the earth. Crawling to her feet RD felt the wind and mud hit the backside of her CHS jersey when the massive hands crumpled the ground where she’d just been sitting.

Another tree was flung overhead until it landed in her front, so she bolted to the left before a closing maw filled with rows of jagged teeth could devour her whole.

She’d vastly underestimated her situation, her whole body was running on vapors at this point, each step more a hindrance rather than an added boost to her overall performance. Her enemy however couldn’t’ve been in any shape. Calm and collective opposed to his previous self. Like the eye of a storm patiently waiting for her to tire herself out before unleashing hell while she was vulnerable.

Rage seethed her mind once understanding the situation, how dare he consider her in such a punkish manner!?

That very rage was the only source of adrenaline that’d kept the girl alive this long, unfortunately she was far too exhausted and furious to see that particular fact. Pushing herself to her limits, RD increased her speed and the Cyclops was momentarily caught off guard, not sure which shoulder to look over. That’s when she made her move, changing direction at a ninety-degree angle and using her momentum to jump at an astounding height and breakneck velocity.

With her shoulder at the ready she connected into the stunned monster’s sides, probably his kidney’s considering she was low below the ribcage. As soon as it happened two results followed:

The Cyclops let out a sound that combined together with gasping and shrieking in agony.
In doing so, it swayed allowing the teenager to tumble off her shoulder, over its spine and around its back, then falling flat onto the floor.

She bounced a little, landing a few feet away from the monster as she tried standing. Bad idea. She yelled as her formerly numb arm began to burn, tiny white-hot pins and needles scalding nerve tissue causing her to stumble to her rear.

Despite their magic coming from the same source, apparently each of Her’s and her friends powers were far different from one another than once theorized. While her geode provided the athlete with speed and a good amount of strength, she was no Applejack, and still very much human.

Compare her fleshy body with the amount of speed and power behind her strike, she was more than thankful to receive a more than likely broken arm rather than being a stain on the Cyclops’ fur. Her eyes damn near popped out of her skull when said monster’s angry growls reached her ears. Despite herself Dash started to run, only to find that her legs were merely limping along in the process, a problem she’d not the time for concerning over when she was swept off the grass entirely.

In one fell swoop she was slammed against a large boulder that’d been laying nearby, but the palm wrapping around her torso and waist didn’t release. Instead she wheezed as all the air left her lungs from both the force of the connection and the claws tightening their hold into a crushing grip.

Forgetting her arm Dash stared up at the silent beast with its shadow looming over her, its one eye still crazed. As she began to question if the unblinking stare down was one of glee, anger, hunger, or all three of the above, the titan further squeezed its palm. Dash let out a cry as ten-ton muscles constricted her organs and ribcage, even her wings felt the strain of offending forces threatening to crush them to dust. Wriggling wasn’t doing the trick if anything it made her more tired. Heart pounding through her chest Dash watched tried to think of something, anything, to get herself free until hopelessly glancing upwards to see her foe lean his open mouth, hot, disgusting breath washing over her dirt-stained face.

Suddenly a blur of bright blue and white entered her vision, something constructed of metal and copper wire linking between the Cyclops’ horns and yanking his mouth away before it could close on her head. During the panic, it’d taken a minute for Dash to realize she’d been unceremoniously dropped altogether in favor of the monster furiously struggling to shake the newcomer off.

With her bruised lungs finally receiving air, her sight muddled into blurs as the combined sounds of demonic screeching and sharp snaps of light illuminated the darkening forest. Cracking tree branches, flying rocks, the battle was slowly being driven away from her location, but she needed to move anyway.

Ignoring her aching body and left arm Rainbow Dash rested her back against the boulder she’d previously been cornered on and tried rubbing her eyes with her free palm to regain her sight.

Upon opening them to see her vision filtering out the blurs, her jaw dropped at seeing her near unstoppable foe getting his furry butt handed to himself by him. The man was dressed in simple clothes, though like her made for heavy sports action, and a sling bag you’d typically see from either mailmen or hardcore athletic teachers.

The weird looking weapon sparking with electricity currently embedded into the monster’s skull was just the cherry on top. One of the Cyclops’ elbows hit the man, who elegantly recuperated by dropping to the floor and sheathing his weapon in favor of letting loose a barrage of electricity into the other’s face.

When the attack was merely brushed off the man quickly stopped to try a different tactic, blasting a ball of ice to freeze the Cyclops’ arms in favor of shooting towards a spot in a lower armpit. That seemed to really make him mad, as the Cyclops’ sprinted towards the supposed terrorist head on horns at the ready.

An attack the electric man expertly dodged by jumping up with a slab of ice spiking from the dirt in an instant in time to glide over the monster’s head as it bull rushed into the frozen sickle smashing it to pieces. Thus earning the ugly beast another couple rounds of electric rockets to the back of the head, each hit echoing out into the forest

It was without a doubt completely, utterly, incomprehensibly, undeniably awesome.

Like she was going to miss out on this action all the way over here. Squatting, RD inspected her critically injured arm, a nasty blue and yellow bruise snaking from her upper arm to the elbow making her huff once moving it a fraction. It wasn’t broken, (She had her fair share of those to understand one from a mile away), but it sure as heck wasn’t going to be much of anymore use during this ordeal.

Leaving it to her side she continued watching the pair struggle against one another, every hit the electric man gave was received by another twice as forceful. Glaring she fidgeted while waiting for the right time to strike on her own, an opening that’d provide her a chance to catch the Cyclops off guard then on turning the fight on their side. However the chances of the Cyclops accidentally making a sloppy mistake was thinning fast, considering his speed just about matched the terrorist’s in terms of parrying strikes.

The man acted like a true professional in the way he utilized his powers, each offending or defending blow calculated with practice. How long ago had he’d gotten them, and where? There weren’t any geode necklaces or magic wrist bands he was wearing, perhaps his magic was stored in his oversized tuning fork.

Everyone slips up, especially professionals. So it should’ve come to no surprise when the man made the mistake of being too distracted in firing at the oncoming Cyclops to not see the fallen tree, (the same tree that’d almost crushed her), tripping his feet.

Catching his off guard enemy the monster grasped the human in his palm, growling at the feeling of his captive electrocuting his palm thus tossing him away until he bashed into the bottom of a tree. Dash’s eyes widened in horror just as the man was rising to his feet ready to face the monster charging at him full speed.

In a split second she sprinted towards them, using both her arms to straddle the older man by his waist and tumble their way out from the creature’s path of destruction. Stopping on a dime Dash let go of the man as she winced from the pain seeping from her bruises, legs giving out and sending her downwards. Suddenly an arm wrapped under her chest to keep herself from hitting the dirt as Cole, freed from his stupor, glanced at her in worry laying eyes on her injured arm. Wordlessly he pressed a palm onto her shoulder ignoring the young teens grunt of disapproval at the added weight, until electricity zapped from his hand and seared into her wounds healing most of the bone damage.

As if a surge of shared adrenaline had been gifted to her, the young teen shrugged herself from his hold in a sharp gasp before looking down at her arm. It still hurt badly, but the worst was over.

As she looked up at him Cole turned to the sound of his enemy getting to his hooves, prepared to charge once more.

“Stay hidden, I’ll handle this.” He grunted not waiting for her shout of protest as he ran off. She gawked at his retreating form, swiftly bringing the Cyclops’ attention back to himself as the fighting restarted.

What, no “Hey thanks for saving me” or “Gee, this’d probably go a lot quicker if we teamed up”?! He really expected her to just sit by and not get payback on the guy who’d just tried to kill her whole school, did he think she couldn’t do anything of use because of a stupid injury?

Anger swelled into her shaking fists as she watched them, she’d show him what Rainbow Dash was capable of.

Dodging another fist, Cole opened his palms to shockwave the giant creature back for some breathing room and muster up the strength for a rocket as one-eye flexed his claws. Both were interrupted by a multicolored streak separate the two and a voice calling for the Cyclops’ attention.

“Hey ugly, this way!”

Scowling the Cyclops turned its attention away from Cole and back to Rainbow Dash who beckoned him to follow. Not wasting time the monster gave chase as she sped off bouncing corner to corner too fast for its eye to track. Seeing as it was distracted Cole tried blasting its temple with a rocket, and right as it reared its head two pairs of sneakers slammed down on its cranium.

Backing away from its swaying body Cole threw an ice grenade to avoid getting stepped on, the Cyclops roaring in untold fury at being ganged up on. Throwing more bolts aimed at the weak points Cole tried to get a clearer shot towards the eyeball, another hit was thrown by his ‘partner’ across the creature’s cheekbone. This time he visibly saw her stumble on the ground clutching her injuries before running off again.

Narrowing his gaze the electric man attempted returning its attention towards him as she encircled them, until heading back in to add her own two cents. Something changed in the Cyclops’ stare, one Cole didn’t like and he prepared for a heavy hit in defense of whatever their foe was planning.

He tried to block the heavy fist aimed at him in incredible speeds, only halfway easing the force sending him flying backwards as the monster swung his claws in a jumping RD’s directions. To her luck the tip of his palm only hit her feet, but still launched the girl head-over-heels in a sloppy fashion downwards for a mouthful of grass.

Spluttering she looked at the gigantic face closing its distance before Cole was practically standing on top of her, shooting a wave of electricity now filled with rows of ice spikes into the opponent’s head. Getting to her feet Dash tried to take off when an arm held her close, a line of blue escaping his outstretched palm. The lightning grapple caught on something, and she was lifted off her feet gliding easily away from the source of action.

Once the end of the grapple had been reached he held her close to stop gravity from betraying her, before steadily rising. She wrestled once more out of his grasp and glowered at the taller, who met hers with an equally displeased frown.

“What are you doing? We were winning!”

He didn’t immediately answer instead choosing to scan her some more until finally speaking in a gruff tone.

“So it’s true, you do have a death wish.”

Her rage flared dangerously to the boiling point, stepping towards him while gesturing to the Cyclops far away.

“What are you talking about, we had him!”

The older man placed a hand on his hips, rubbing his eyes to ease the headache forming.

“You’d be dead three times over already, discounting just now. You’re not in any condition to fight, physically or mentally for that matter.”

Red painted her face as steam poured from her ears, gnashing her teeth together to keep herself from screaming as the anger trampled over the thousands of other humiliating and self-deprecating judgments threatening to unwound her psyche.

“And what’s that supposed to mean! I don’t know who you think you are, but I’ve dealt with plenty of monsters like this guy before, I can do this!”

His look suddenly turned dangerous, blue eyes boring into magenta before an idea clicked.

“Really?”

Without warning he grabbed her upper arm, the injured one to be exact, and dragged her forward. Once he was certain of this being the best spot he shot out a bolt towards the searching Cyclops, the hit earning them its focus rather than doing any real damage. Once noticing them it let out a roar of fury and barraged towards them, knocking trees and rocks out of its path.

Despite this, the man planted firm in his spot while the girl started to panic, struggling to break free from his hold.

“W-Are you crazy!?” She called out, although he refused to look her in the eye as he spoke.

“What’s the matter? You said it yourself, you’ve taken on plenty of big monsters before, this shouldn’t be any different.”

“W-Wha…”

This time he looked down at her with a stony expression, eye to eye.

“I can take a hit from him, a full fist to the face and still get up like I’d just been slapped by a glove. You on the other hand, can barely walk after what I’m guessing was a stupid attempt at a shoulder punch, not to mention I found you lying on your ass unconscious the first time we met. But by all means, let’s see how well you take it a third time.”

Sweat poured down her face as RD glanced between him and the oncoming Cyclops, mind struggling to cope with the reality of the situation. This whole ordeal was hers to rectify for the sake of the girls, for CHS, for herself. She needed to prove herself to them!

But, at the same time he was right. Twice now he’d supposedly healed her of wounds far too painful to carry on the fight, all she’d been doing was getting more and more hurt while that monster continued to get more powerful.

She’d really screwed this up.

Her expression seemed to carry the message onto Cole, who softened his gaze and restructured his hold into bridal style much to her embarrassment and shock. As he ice-launched away from the beast far over its head Cole glided them safely away from its reach, where they hid behind a boulder. Setting her down Cole noted her down-cast expression and sighed to himself, getting her attention as he tried to settle with his own self disappointment.

“He’s after you, isn’t he?”

The tears in her eyes confirmed it all, making his stomach twist with anger and sympathy. She wasn’t going to stop because she felt responsible, it was a dilemma he could relate towards. Together they provided a unique edge in the battle, but the way they’d been doing things thus far was all wrong. Maybe if there was an alternative where she could still participate, yet have a lower chance at getting hurt…

“Can you still run?”

His question earned him a confused look, until realization dawned upon her, and she steadily shook her head yes.

“If I can distract him, get him in a vulnerable position, do you think you can target his weak points without getting hit?”

The kid seemed to mull his question over, however the sparkle in her eyes was obvious what her answer was. He hung his own head low, questioning why he even thought this was a good idea in the first place before rubbing his hands together.

“Alright then. Try and aim for the eye and the right armpit, he’s got an injury there from wherever he came from, I’ll keep his attention and give you the signal when to strike. Sound like a plan?”

Determination in her gaze she nodded again, fists raised to her chest like an excited child. Guess that’s because she was.

“Yeah, okay, let’s do this.”

He smiled patting her shoulder before looking in the direction of their foe, still confused as to where his prey had gone. Stepping beside her Cole’s arms crackled with electricity as he began to make way, stopping himself to peer at the young highschooler one last time.

“What’s your name kid?”

With a confidence he’d only seen in a few certain people, she puffed out her chest with a proud grin.

“Name’s Rainbow Dash. Coolest and fastest girl in all of Equestria.”

Smirking, the electric man let out a chuckle.

“Well then Rainbow Dash, start running.”

Author's Note

I've had this idea in my head since my first chapter, Cole chasing RD via electric cables as she bolts (heh) through the streets in a much quicker fashion. It reminds me of Alex Mercer, without the nonchalantly trampling bystanders and crushing cars part.