Infamous

The train ride to Canterlot had been mostly uneventful. Twilight, as expected, had buried her head in a book, and Cole, bored decided to entertain himself by watching the ley lines as they transported from one place to another. Surprisingly, these ley lines began to converge as they closed the distance to Canterlot. Intrigued by this, Cole began to wonder.

"Hey Twilight." She didn't respond, she was still reading her book.

"Twilight." He said a little more forcefully. Still no response.

'This is getting nowhere.' Cole charged up a little bit of a spark on his finger, and flicked it towards Twilight. As the spark impacted her side, she very nearly jumped out of her seat and shrieked, however, she DID pop up a little and jerk her head towards Cole.

"I didn't do anything." He said with a barely-controlled face as he held his arms up in a gesture of surrender.

"Really now? Well, what did you want?"

"I was wondering... can you see the ley lines too?"

"Ley lines? Like the magical energy-filled lines that guide and strengthen all magic on this world? Of course I can, any unicorn sufficiently capable can see them. I suppose you can too, right?"

"Yeah. And I was wondering, did you ever notice how they seem to converge on this 'Canterlot'?"

"Hmm..." Twilight's eyes turned a solid purple and her horn lit up. She turned her head from side to side, seemingly following the ley lines. "Yeah, no, I don't think I've ever noticed that.

"Well, they do. I've noticed the average distance between ley lines from Ponyville to Canterlot seemed to increase until a little less than halfway, and then converge once again." Cole was bored, but the ley lines seemed to be more intriguing than they gave on. On that note, he had drawn energy from them and froze a giant four-headed hydra with them...

"Oh... Interesting..." She seemed to be studying the ley lines, her eyes focused on the invisible. "Well, regardless, we're here. We should get ready to get down."

After arriving at the station, an escort of a few guards and a royal carriage picked up the pair and provided them with covered, hidden-from-outside-view, transport. And although it may seem trivial, this was vital to the safety of the two, as the general populace still had no idea that there were some 'visitors'.

As the carriage pulled up to the castle, another set of guards escorted the pair to the castle and into the vacated throne room.

Cole stepped forwards, entering the magnificent room, eyes bulging at the opulence and grandeur of the castle. The walls were solid, spotless white marble, and inset were multiple windows of perfectly-crafted stained glass, depicting scenes from the history of Equestria. A lush red velvet carpet lay underneath his feet, and it rose slightly to meet a bejeweled throne of gold. Upon this throne sat a pony, whiter than the walls, with a set of extremely large wings (compared to other pegasi), and a lengthened horn, tapering down to a full point. As he got closer, he realized that this pony was also slightly taller than him, and as his gaze drew across her, he noticed the sun on her flank, the ridiculously colored mane, flowing in a nonexistent wind, and her motherly expression towards Twilight, who was now nuzzling her.

Cole broke out of his stupor, and continued his walk forwards. Meeting eyes with the winged unicorn, alicorn, as he recalled, he noticed her expression harden somewhat, then return to what appeared to be a poker face. Oh, he did NOT want to be in a poker game with her.

"So, Twilight." The alicorn, Celestia, spoke first. "I see you have brought the new creature here. Is he intelligent?"

"Yes, Princess, he is. His name is Cole, and he is what his kind call a 'conduit'." Celestia's eyes narrowed slightly, and she spoke again. "Well, Twilight, we should be able to catch up later, I believe we just rotated some books out of storage. I suppose you may want to go and see them, so, why don't you go and check on them?"

Twilight's eyes lit up, and her face changed to that of a little kid in a candy shop. She nodded out a thanks, and then disappeared in a flash of light.

The Princess's eyes turned towards Cole, who now stood in front of her. "Well, Cole..." She spoke his name distastefully. "I suppose I should introduce myself. I am Princess Celestia, co-ruler of Equestria, and regent of the sun."

Cole didn't want to start a fight, however, the tone of her voice worried him. "Princess, nice to meet you. I am Cole. I am a conduit, I am what some call a hero, and apparently, I am also the patron saint of a city..." The Princess's gaze softened slightly at the last few words.

"Really? Welcome to Canterlot, Cole, and welcome to Equestria. I know that you are not from here, and I know that you are not the most peaceful creature in the universe..." She had many more than one hidden meanings behind that statement, Cole realized, and he sighed, his eyes betraying his remorse.

"If it is okay with you, I'd like to know about yourself, and what you've done in your life."

Cole felt his grief coming back to him. All the decisions he made, friends he had lost. He turned his eyes back to the Princess's, as they had drifted with his thoughts. "Sure. But, not all of it is happy and joyful. Also, it's a long story. You may want to sit down...

And so he began.