Cole watched as the Princess sat back, his story completed. He had told her of his story, from his days as a bike courier to his grand finale, slaying the Beast and killing off the conduit race. He felt tired, older than he should have, but also as if a huge weight had just been lifted from his shoulders. His eyes drifted back towards his arms, where his body had manifested a new set of tattoos, those of the guardian and the avenger. Focusing once more on the Princess, he tried to read her face.

She seemed to have no reaction whatsoever. Obviously, that was a facade. She opened her mouth to speak, closed it, and then began.

"You are a strange one, did you know that? Lesser beings, lesser ponies, lesser men like this Bertrand you spoke of would have fallen to their powers long ago. You kept them in check, and even turned your life to one of good, rather than evil. Although the rest of your kind, you humans, have turned on themselves with greed and envy, you have stayed strong. This is commendable. You have also assisted some of my subjects, and for that, you have my gratitude. However, as a being of great power, I must keep you under watch. For the safety of my subjects - "

As she was speaking, a pony burst into the room. He was a pegasus guard, his helmet abandoned, his mane flopping around his head, drenched in sweat. His wings drooped, and he was panting. But that wasn't the worst. His armor was scratched and dented in some places, his muscles weak. Blood leaked from over a dozen small cuts and bruises, and there were even a pair of moderately severe wounds. He shot off a quick salute, panting.

"Princess... Changelings...in... Stalliongrad... They're fighting... aggressively... Too many... Help us." And he slumped to the floor, blood leaking, barrel heaving, unconscious.

Cole stared at the pony for a split second before jumping to his feet. As he moved, his hands charged with electricity, and he rubbed them together. As he reached it, he leaned down, and he placed both hands on the chest of the dying stallion. He discharged the electricity into the stallion.

The stallion's skin quivered once, and his breathing regulated. His wounds began closing, cells cannibalizing on the surge of energy, multiplying. As the charge dissipated, the stallion's eyes flicked open to the sight of his Princess and some sort of biped standing next to him. Weakly getting to his feet, rejuvenated, he looked at his Princess, and spoke once more, with clarity.

"Princess. Changelings have invaded Stalliongrad, fighting, not just sneaking in. They have overwhelmed the guards there; we suspect that they had replaced most with other changelings, as we have not found any large amount of bodies, but they had just begun the salted earth protocol. They are most likely taking hostages, but we have seen fights breaking out. There are no confirmed deaths, but there may be, as more than one building has been set on fire. We MUST get there as soon as possible." The guards eyes steeled with determination, and Cole recognized the look. Not very long ago, he had the same face, albeit human.

The Princess's face darkened with barely contained rage. Her voice lowered darkly as she spoke, a hardness there that was not before. "Yes. We will send troops out immediately, and we will not hesitate to use lethal force. The changelings were repulsed once, and then given warning. We will not tolerate their presence any longer." She turned to Cole, who remained contemplative.

He spoke. "Princess Celestia... may I join in the rescue? I have combat experience, and more importantly, I have never, in my entire existence, stood aside and let things like this happen."

She was about to ask him to stay out, as this fight was between ponies and changelings, but then stopped for a moment. He was right.

"Yes. We move now." She turned back to the pony. "You, you have just been given a field promotion to the level of First Lieutenant. Gather the best hundred guards you can find, trained in combat. Mobilize immediately." She glared at him once more. "I trust you will use this status wisely. Now GO!" The pony shot off a salute and rushed away.

The Princess looked back at Cole, a fire in her eyes. "From today, Equestria is at war. We have been assaulted by a foe, and we intend to strike back, decisively. Go with him, and take back Stalliongrad. I must set up a council and prepare for war. I trust you will stay on your side?" Cole nodded in return. "Good. Now, I hereby induct you into the Equestrian military. You are now enlisted. Go, and do what you do best."

Cole bowed once, slightly stunned at the quick turn of events. Ponies would go to war this quickly? They must have some sort of history with the changelings. That would be understandable. He got back up and turned around, ready to leave. His mind running, he began to plan. He needed to find out what in the blazes a 'changeling' was, and how they fought. Also, he needed to find out more about this Celestia. She was probably a monarch trying to protect her utopia, but she still could be some sort of overlord. This was probably not the case, as the ponies loved her. Also, she reminded him of his grandmother. Well, his grandmother without the ability to move a star. He also needed to-

His train of thought was broken by a deep purple mist-like thing coalesce in front of him. It formed into a pony of Celestia's size and regality, but dark-colored and adorned with regalia associated with the moon, rather than sun.

Annoyed, he snapped at it. "What are you, some kind of moon-goddess-princess?" As he looked up, he caught himself before he spoke more.

The mare had a confused/bemused look on her face. "Pray tell, what manner of creature are thee? And with such lip? Not a pony since the dark ages has spoken of us as such."

Cole's mouth opened once, closed again, and then he spoke. "I'm a conduit human and I'm assisting Princess Celestia in the retaking of Stalliongrad."

The large mare's face darkened slightly, and her brow furrowed. "Retaking? What has happened to dear old Stalliongrad? Parasprites?"

"No, there was a pony who burst in, saying something about 'changelings'. I was there at the time, and I'm now helping retake it. Celestia also decided that we are now at war with them."

The mare's face darkened even more, and her voice lowered. "Those bugs. How dare they! Well, finally mine sister agrees with us!" She sighed once, accepting the situation, assessing it. "We had advised her long ago to strike, but listen, she did not. Biped. What is thy name?"

"I am Cole."

"Well met Cole, for we are Princess Luna, regent of the moon. Now go and retake our city!"

Cole quickly saluted, acknowledging the presence of the lunar regent in front of him. "Yes ma'am!"

He passed her, heading towards a large group of ponies marching in formation towards the parade. Upon sight, a pegasus called out to him. "Biped! Well met! Get over here so we can get going!"

Cole broke into a sprint, and judging the distance, he pumped his right arm into the sky. A spire of ice burst forth from the ground underneath him, and he soared into the air. Catching the attention of the majority of the troops, he flew through the air, timing his jump perfectly, landing in front of the newly promoted Lieutenant. "Name's Cole. What about you?"

The Lieutenant's eyebrow raised, watching the antics of the Conduit. "Wind Runner. Now, let's get going then, eh?"

He barked out orders, like a seasoned drill sergeant. "Ponies, circular formation, we have no idea what we're in for when we get there. We'll be 'porting straight into enemy territory, so be on your guard. Every pony, civilian or not, might be a changeling, check them all! Weapons ready! Unicorns, activate the teleportation matrix!" Upon these orders, the ponies gathered themselves in a circle, earth ponies at the outside, spears out, with pegasi behind them ,still on the ground, and at the center, unicorns. The unicorns began charging their horns, and the smell of ozone filled the air. Cole pulsed once, and he watched as the ley lines in the earth seemed to curl and twist, warping into a weaving of energy. As it stopped moving, his concentration was broken by Wind Runner. "All ready? GO!"

With a flash, and burst of energy, the entire squadron winked from existence.

And with another, they appeared in the central square of Stalliongrad.

Cole stopped for a moment, staring at the burning buildings and ash-covered snow. Clouds filled the air, and ozone pervaded it even more. Visions of his alternate and true past flashed before him, of the Beast, of the storm in New Marais, of all his moments, of triumph and failure.

His eyes hardened, and his mind steeled. Electricity began coursing along his arms as he prepared himself for a fight.

Cole had arrived.

Author's Note

Hey guys, I'm going to finish this story asap, and I have decided to chain this to another two more stories, but only this one will be inFamous crossover. The other two won't be, but will use characters from each story previous. Like Keth will have a sequel, and a char I have from Keth's will get his own.
Thanks for all the help, and I want to send another callout to I am Memorial, cuz he's like the best 'legit character creator who a person could actually see as human' ever.
By the way, next chapter, this gets a little dark, T rating, like inFamous. Not grimdark, but violence.
Find the cosmere reference and you get a mustache.

Comment as usual, find all my errors!

*EDIT (I swear to God I just read that featured story with Cadence giving her power to Twilight, I did NOT see that "Stay Magic, my friends until after publishing this chapter...)

Stay thirsty my friends.