Spider in Equestria

by DarkSpider


17. Secrets Revealed

I was walking around the castle, cover off, heading to my usual spot for training, when my spider sense picked up something.

Huh. Wonder what it-

A loud explosion shook me out of my thoughts.

“WHAT THE HELL?!” I screamed, before running to where the noise came from. Upon arriving at the explosion site, I saw a door blown off it's hinges and Pinkie Pie was pinned to the wall with black thorn vines across from the open doorway with a confused look on her face. “Um, should I even ask?”

“I was just trying to welcome your new friend, and then this happened,” Pinkie said. I sighed before pulling out my sword and cutting the vines. When I did, they disappeared, freeing Pinkie. “Thanks Tito.”

“Don't mention it, Pinkie. Just go find Twilight or something.” She nodded and walked away, looking a little sad, while I walked into the room, most of the furniture were in shambles and were covered in a shadowy smoke. Delsin was on his knees, panting and sweating badly. “Hey. There a reason you attack Pinkie like that and why you look like that?”

“PTSD!” He snapped before getting his breathing normal. “I don't take surprises well.”

“Oh...wish we knew that. Any reason you have that?”

“I was captured by griffins in the first five minutes of being Displaced,” he began, “After escaping and freeing the ponies that later became the Akomish, I helped Tia and Luna fight the war so they could deal with Discord. I fought and killed for a year before getting encased in stone by the Griffin King, who was a cement conduit.”

“Huh. Sorry, but...Ako-what?”

“Akomish, a sub-tribe, for lack of a better term.”

“Okay… Any reason that you mentioned that?”

“My Twilight is Akomish.”

“Wait what?”

“And if looks are anything to go by, the conduit and Akomish I got smoke from, Smoke Shot, is one of her ancestors...she looks just like her.”

“Huh. Cool. Speaking of which, how did you get those powers exactly?”

“Smoke, I tried to evade capture, but my chain was pulled and I landed on Smoke. Light, I got from Sora. He was fawning over Stella and when I pried him off of her, I got it. Electricity, I got from Dusk Spark, Nisled’s Twilight. She’s out for his head. Darkness, I got that in a sparring match with Vanitas-Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep Displaced character. Neon, I stopped Streak’s murder streak in Manehatten after her husband's and unborn foal’s deaths.”

“Dusk Spark? Now I can't help but think of Twi’s R63. Also, can you tell me more about Nisled? All I know is he's your moral opposite.”

“He has smoke, neon, video, concrete, and basic chaos magic.”

“So, besides chaos magic, the same powers as in the game.”

“Eeyup. Plus, due to his chaos magic, he is immune to death,” Delsin grimly reported.

“Great…” I said with sarcasm evident in my voice.

“And when we fight him, we need to keep the Bearers of Harmony away from the fight,” he said. My vision was then filled with the images of 5 of the Mane 6 lying dead and mangled.

I immediately grabbed my forehead and leaned towards the wall. “What was that?!”

“What I saw when Dusk Spark gave me her electric powers. Sorry if you get scarred for life.”

I clenched one of my hands into a fist and closed my eyes. “He did that to them?” I asked, growling.

“And when I more officially met Dusk Spark, he tore off the only biological arm or foreleg she had left.”

“Had left? What do you mean?”

“She was more machine than pony by the time her friends were killed.”

When I heard that, I immediately punched the wall, causing a few cracks to show on the crystal. I then opened my eyes and growled again. “I'M GONNA KILL THAT SON OF A BITCH!”

Delsin jumped a bit. “Dude. What's up with your eyes? They’re red.”

That confused me. “What are you talking about? My eyes are brown.”

He extended his hand towards me and a shadowy smoke flowed out of my chest and into his hand. As that happened, my anger slowly lowered. He then looked me in the eyes and said, “Now they are.”

“Again, what are you talking about?”

“Your eyes were literally red with anger. I siphoned off the anger, and they're back to brown.”

“Wait, what? I'm seriously confused here.”

“Things are different here than on Earth. Emotions can affect us differently. I nearly blew up the old castle when Nisled took Dusk’s arm or foreleg.”

“What does that have to do with my eyes?”

He then grabbed my face...and he suddenly had my undivided attention. “Magic and emotions can cause things to happen. Your eyes literally changed and I had more energy to fight with. Put two and two together.”

“So...you're saying my eyes changing is tied to me being angry and some magic?”

He let go of my face and replied, “That's the idea.” His hands then lit up in a blue aura and the room was restored to it’s original looks, door included. “Now, let's change subjects. I don't want to try to give you a concussion while we're both emotionally all over the spectrum.”

“Aye.” Then a thought came to mind. “Hey, what exactly happened yesterday? You just passed out.”

He put his hand to his head, and shook it lightly. “I had a vision.”

“I heard. Of what?”

“A Bringer of Chaos will soon come fast,
That the thought of secrets will be last.
When that what is hidden is brought to light,
Can the Infamous Vulture be sent to flight.”

“Um...what?”

He shook his head again. “Your guess is as good as mine. Those words just...come to me.”

“Okay… Should I be concerned?”

“Don't get too wound up over it. Let's eat breakfast before hitting our heads against the proverbial brick wall.”

I nodded before walking away to the dining room, Delsin right behind me.


(Delsin’s POV)

We walked into the dining room to be greeted with the sight of Pinkie Pie telling Twilight, a drake I assumed was Spike, Cece, and an unknown unicorn about what happened involving the explosion.

“So I threw open the door shouting, ‘Surprise!’ And when he woke up, he saw my party cannon and freaked out!” She explained, waving her arms like mad. “He blew me across the hall, and ruined my party cannon!” She pulled her cannon out of nowhere and pointed at it's now ruined state. “Just look at it! It takes a lot to build one and even more to replace!” She finished with her hair a bit less poofy.

“Next time Pinkie, you shouldn't throw a surprise party for a Displaced,” Tito said. “Stick to a normal one. You never know what a Displaced is capable of.”

“Or if you do do a surprise party, leave the artillery at home,” I told her.

“Kay…” Pinkie said. “You didn't have to destroy my party cannon though.”

“So, what’s to eat for breakfast?” I asked, clapping my hands together.

“Spike made pancakes,” Twilight said. “Want some?”

“Sure, why not?” I said, taking a seat. “And I don't think I got your name,” I said, pointing to the unicorn.

“Oh, my name is Starlight Glimmer,” she said. “Nice to meet you.”

Upon hearing her name, I pulsed my ray sphere pulse nearly twenty times before calming down. Her DNA was clean, thank Karma.

Tito grabbed his head. “Dude! Why did you do that?”

“I was checking her DNA for the gene. Thank all that is green and Holy that she's clean.”

“Did you have to do it so much? I got a headache from that.”

“Nisled’s Starlight Glimmer was a Ray Sphere conduit. She could activate the Conduit gene on anyone...at the cost of hundreds of lives per conduit.”

“Oh… Wait, didn't you say that his version of her, as well as Discord, are the reason he's not as strong as before?”

“Yes,” I answered. “Evidently, she was brainwashed to try and form a Conduit army, but his Mane 6 fought her out of it and she saw her mistakes.”

Tito nodded and just leaned by a wall while everyone was looking between us. “Um, what are you talking about?” Starlight asked.

“How you are different from various versions of yourself through different parts of the Multiverse,” I said. My hand then felt something under the table, and when I pulled it out, it was a cigar. “Is this here in case of a smoke emergency?” I asked Pinkie.

Pinkie nodded. “Twilight told me about what you can do so I found a few things to help you.” She pulled out a neon ‘Open’ sign to prove her point.

Replacing the cigar, I gave her a questioning look. “Is that all she told you?”

“No,” Twilight said. “I wanted to tell the rest of my friends everything else.”

“Smart, I'll give you that,” I commented, while draining the neon out of the sign Pinkie was holding. “When were you planning on telling?”

“In about ten minutes. And I'm hoping you can tell us some more.”

“Okay, I'll greet them in the entryway,” I said, before zooming off in a blur of neon. A few minutes of running through the impossibly maze-like structure, I arrived just as the doors opened.

“Oh, hey Delsin,” Rainbow said, flying in.

“I'm not gonna ask ‘What’s up?’ for fear of you saying that you are.”

She rolled her eyes before she landed in front of me and crossed her arms. “So you're going to tell us more about yourself?”

“When we're in the proper setting and everyone else is here.”

“Great. See ya in the throne room.” She then flew off in a rainbow blur.

“I'm right behind ya!” I began running in a neon blur easily catching up to her. Since I didn't know the castle like she did, I kept my speed close to hers to keep up and react when needed. At one point, she saw me running to keep up and, feeling competitive, boosted her speed and crashed through the throne room door.

“Ow…” She said as she crashed onto the floor.

I ran over to her, flashing some neon around her to ease her pain. Chuckling, I said, “That was fun.”

“Yeah. The only other two I know who can keep up with me without help is Cece and Dark, but they never really feel like racing.”

“Eh, maybe later.” The throne room door then opened. Tito walked in with his hood on and saw us.

“Okay, what was that noise and why is there a hole on the door?” He asked.

“Um, a high speed, and rainbow colored projectile making an explosive strike on the door,” I joked.

He just stared at me, his eyes unknown with that hood. “Seriously?” He deadpan.

“We had a race and it got out of hand,” Rainbow said with a sigh as she sat on the throne with her cutie mark.

Tito shook his head. “Okay then. Anyway, I'll be watching some videos. Let me know when everypony else is here.” He then jumped to the large chandelier and sat on it, pulling out his phone.

I ran up the wall in neon and sat on one of the ceiling supports. “And I'll sit here, waiting for everyone to get here and ask questions.”

A few minutes later the throne room door opened again and the rest of the Mane 6 arrived with Starlight, and Cece as well. I jumped down from my perch and landed in front of the group, no harm on myself from the high fall. “Hello.”

Applejack took a step back, Rarity jumped, and Fluttershy? She screamed and ran to the back. Everyone else just looked at me.

“Who’re you?” Applejack asked.

“Delsin Rowe, the Equestrian Eagle,” I said while using my ray sphere pulse to look everyone over. Everyone, but Rainbow, lacked the gene.

“Okay, can you at least let me know when you're gonna do that?” Tito yelled from his spot in the chandelier.

I lit my arm up in neon and pointed at him. “Deal with it. At least you don't have to sleep through head breaking headaches from visions and accidental mind readings.”

“Dark, you know this guy?” Applejack asked.

Tito jumped off the chandelier and landed next to me. “Yeah. He's a Displaced who turned into a guy that can absorb powers of those with a certain gene. And apparently he's staying here until a certain event happens. I'll let him and Twilight explain.”

“Okay then.” They then all sat on the thrones with their respective cutie marks.

“You're up dude,” Tito said before jumping onto the underside of the chandelier, sticking to it from his back and looking down on us.

“Creepy, but cool,” I commented before turning to the group. “Soooo...the guy I'm Displaced as is called Delsin Rowe. I don't really remember my original name, nor do I really want to. I served in a military position, causing some issues with PTSD. I'm engaged to, no joke, my Princess Celestia. I have smoke, neon, electricity, light, darkness, and some magic at my disposal. And for some reason, I'm craving ramen.” I pulled a cigar out of Pinkie’s ear and continued. “Does anyone have a lighter or something?” Tito pulled a lighter out of nowhere and tossed it at me. I caught it and lit the cigar, no smoke coming from it or my mouth. “Any questions?”

“How about you explain what you found out about Rainbow,” Twilight asked. “As well as what Conduits are so that everypony else understand.”

“Gotcha. So, I'm what is known as a Conduit. A person with something special in my DNA that allows me to control an element or something like that.” I let some smoke flow around my arms to demonstrate. “Now, the gene can be in almost anyone, but it may not be active. If it isn't, they're normal. If it is, then they can do their thing with their element. Rainbow Dash has that gene.”

“Wait,” Cece said. “You're saying Rainbow is a Conduit? How?”

“In order, she had the gene, but it's not active. As for how, the best answer is that there are Conduits all throughout the Multiverse. Most, if not all, aren't aware of it.”

Tito then began to lower himself upside down with a web. “Considering what you said about Sora being a Conduit, that makes the most sense. So no one else here has it?”

“Yes, and for that, I'm rather glad,” I sighed. “If I had to train eight other dimensional Conduits, I'd throw myself off a cliff...not that it would do any good.”

“Wait, you're actually going to train her?”

“At least the basics, and in an environment where we won't get odd looks.”

“I know a great place. The usual spot Rainbow and I spar. It's in a nice field a few yards out of town. Nopony ever really goes by there, so you should be fine.”

“You can show me later. Anymore questions?”

“Yes,” Twilight said. “You mentioned someone named Nisled yesterday. Can you tell us exactly who that is?”

“Yeah, I was hoping to avoid that,” I said, nervously scratching the back of my head.

“Why?” Rainbow asked.

“The description can get a little...gory,” I said.

“Um...what do you mean?”

Tito immediately climbed back up to the chandelier and sat on one of the branches, not looking at anyone. “It's not really a good idea to tell any of you.”

“Why?”

“Short version: a crazy, psychopathic, chaos-high, *worst ever, @#$#@#&, plothole-*”

“Dude, you're just growling now,” Tito said. “Use your words.”

“*What!?*” I suddenly realized that I was speaking Skullcap. “Sorry. I slip into that language when either swearing, upset, or tossing insults. Basically, he's an infamous, sadistic jerk.”

“Okay…” Starlight said.

Tito then spoke up. “Moving on, what Displaced have you met?”

“I've met a few. In one Equestria, there was a mad god of time, alongside an anthropomorphic cat with gambling issues, a book nerd, and a crazy mask guy. Then there was Sora, I got my Light power from him. Then there was Vanitas, who I got darkness from.” I then pulled out Carrow's gold coin, as well as Sora’s and Vanitas’ keychains to show.

They all stayed silent for a moment before Tito said, “Twilight, you're taking notes right?”

“Of course,” she replied.

“Give me the list on those Displaced later. Now, how about you tell us about the friends you have in your world?”

“My friends are Obsidian Shard, Neon Streak, Jet Second, Dusk Spark, Screwball, Princess Stella...Smoke Shot...”

“Jet Second? Don't you mean Jet Set? And wait, Screwball exists in your dimension? Can you...describe her behavior?”

“First off, he isn't proud of being the son of a Descendant.” I saw everyone's confused looks. “An extremist, tribalist gang. Said member is Jet Set...Senior.”

‘As for me,’ a voice suddenly projected. Looking up at ceiling, past Tito’s seat, Screwball suddenly popped into existence. “A child in an adult’s body...or teenage behavior...mixed with gentle chaos.”

When everyone saw Screwball, they were shocked. Applejack, Fluttershy, and Starlight because of the non anthro pony, while everyone else just seemed surprised that she was here. When Cece noticed her though, she pulled a large hammer, about the same size as her, out of nowhere.

“Another one?” Cece said. “You better be nicer than the last one we met.”

“Don't be so antagonistic,” Screwball and I said, simultaneously. We looked at each other briefly before asking, “Where was I?”

“Quick question,” Tito said, looking at Screwball. “What are you doing here?”

“I just wanted to answer your question about me,” she said. She then floated to his ear and whispered something before shooting back, shouting, “TOOTLES!” She then vanished.

“Wonder why she said that…”

“Said what?” I asked

“Something about being careful next time I'm in Manehatten,” he said with a shrug.

“Um...anything else? Or a power demonstration?”

Tito shook his head. “Not now. Now, you should explain what's going to happen soon.”

“You mean the whole ‘banishing Nisled’, or something else that fate decides to drop on my head.”

“The former. They should know what might happen to them if they interfere. But don't show them what you showed me.”

“Alright, when you see someone that looks like me, but has that...aura of evil, don't confront him.”

“Why not?” Rainbow asked. “I'm sure we can all take him.”

“Can you handle suffocation, nasty burns, raging demons, concrete shanks, and/or the magical off-chance of being turned into fried chicken and being eaten alive?”

They all widen their eyes at that. “Well...no…”

“Then try to stay back. He did horrible things that would melt your brains if you knew or found out.”

“Then what are we SUPPOSED to do? Let him wander around Ponyville, hurting or killing innocent ponies?”

“First, we let him wander INTO Ponyville. Somepony will then raise some sort of alarm-” A scream was heard from the town. “-just like that. We then wait for an explosion-” An explosion was heard. “-it's then time to kick him around and out of town.”

Tito then dropped from the chandelier beside me and look to the others. “You all stay here and don't interfere. You too Cece.”

“What? Why?” His sister asked.

“Because I don't want any of you to die. Come on Delsin.” He then put on his cover and ran out in a blue and black blur.

I ignored Tito’s protective advice for his sister. “Get on my back.”

“Why?” She said.

“If he knows of my powers as well as I know of overprotectiveness, he'll have webbed up the castle exit so you wouldn't follow him. I, however, have another way out.”

She hesitated for a moment before sighing. “Fine. Fluttershy, watch Emily and Mike.” She then put on her hood and jumped to my back.

“Hold on tight,” I instructed, before Smoke Dashing both of us into a nearby fireplace and out of the chimney. I let her off my back once we landed on the roof of the castle. “You okay?”

“Yeah. Just...feeling weird.”

“Sorry. Now, where are you, you Vulture,” I said, looking over Ponyville until I saw Tito fighting Nisled in a sword-to-video claw fight. “Anyway that you can give me a boost?”

She pulled out her hammer. “I have one way.”

“That's fine, just watch...the spot, or you'll do more damage than good.”

“Don't worry. Also, this will hurt.” She then slammed her hammer on my back, sending me flying to Nisled.

“INCOMING!”


(Dark’s POV)

I immediately stopped trying to slice this red psycho when I heard Delsin, and the next thing I know, my spider-sense went off and I jumped away from Nisled as Delsin crashed into him in a huge explosion, blowing my hood off. When I landed, Delsin reformed from smoke and Nisled was a few yards away with his back on the ground.

Delsin popped his back and neck. “She was right, that did hurt. But it hurt him more than me.”

“What took you so long?” I said, walking to him.

“Blame your overprotectiveness, and my vision from yesterday,” he said, pointing to the roof of the castle.

I widened my eyes as a red blur dropped to the ground. “YOU BROUGHT HER?!”

MY VISIONS NEVER LIE!!!’ I then heard loudly in my head. ‘SHE NEEDS TO BE HERE!!!’

I shook my head and glared at him. “If she dies, I don't care what your Celestia does to me, I'm going to kill you.”

Nisled suddenly gave a flying kick to Delsin’s face. “Not if I beat you to it.”

I was going to slice at him again when a hammer came flying at him and knocked him back a few feet. Cece then walked passed me and picked up her hammer. “You know, you're not that smart, fighting three super strong Displaced.”

“And you underestimate your opponents,” he sneered before suddenly becoming pixelated and turning invisible.

I just used my spider-sense to pick up on him. Before I could though, Cece’s hammer flew out of her hand and she was sent flying into Delsin, her hood falling off of her head. Both of them went sprawling. Cece seemed barely conscious. Delsin made to get up, but the hammer flew towards him and knocked his head into the dirt.

“Predictable,” Nisled said, as he became visible behind me. I just growled and swung my sword at him. He caught the blade in his hand and gripped it tightly, blood oozing from his hand. “Did I hit a soft spot? Well, to make you glad, at least for now, I won't kill your sister...yet.”

“Burn in hell,” I said, webbing him in the face and punching him in the gut.

“I rule hell.” His hands became pixelated and my spider sense went off. I rolled out of the way as a demon slashed at me. I immediately cut off its head and it dissolved in a bunch of pixels. I then dodged a video claw strike and landed a strike on his arm. He roared out in rage and tried again, but that left him open for another hit, this time on the other arm. His head then became a pixelated demon head with ram horns and he charged me. I jumped to the side before stabbing him in the back.

“Did you really want to do that?” He then flipped himself forward, which flipped me over him. I let go of my sword to avoid getting slammed into the ground. After I landed, I saw one of his arms covered with pixels and the other covered in a red aura.

Before he could do anything, I webbed his feet and pulled, causing him to fall to his back. I then charged him, but the pixelated arm fired a too fast to dodge ball of light that stuck to my chest, knocking me back. Three video swords then appeared and started flying at me. I web-zipped to a nearby roof, barely dodging most of them as they impaled a tree that was behind me, one slicing my side.

“Fire in the East,” I heard Nisled say behind me. I turned, only to receive a bunch of pixels to my chest, launching me into the dog pile that was Cece and Delsin. “Attack in the West.”

I struggled to stand, but Nisled’s hand grabbed me by the throat and lifted me up and cutting off my air. I saw him plunge his hand into his chest and pull my sword out of it, the wound sealing up instantly. “Say goodbye, annoying arachn-” He was suddenly blown away in a wave of warm, humid air, causing him to drop me.

I looked up at where the wave came from and saw Rainbow hovering in the air with a murderous look on her face, her arms glowing a blue color and steaming.

“So,” I heard Nisled say as he stood up. “The bluebird has come out to play?” He pointed my sword at her. “Let’s play!” He charged her and swung the sword. Just as it was an inch from her throat, she vanished in a puff of steam clouds. The steam clouds quickly moved to me and Rainbow reappeared, albeit a little dizzy looking.

“That'll take some getting used to,” she said before shaking her head and glaring at Nisled.

“A Conduit’s first moments with their powers are their hardest...and their most vulnerable.” He charged her again and thrusted the blade. She hardly moved herself, dodging the blade by barely an inch. She then grabbed his sword arm and pulled, flipping him and disarming him. He rushed to his feet but immediately found my sword pointed at his throat.

“Tell me why I shouldn't shove this down your throat.”

“Um, iron overdose?” He tried to joke. He prepped his hands to knock her back, but she pulled the blade back and slammed the sword’s pommel into his face and then beheaded him. His head was blubbering out a bit of nonsense as it rolled, and the body fell, as if dead.

Rainbow took a deep breath before widening her eyes and stepping back at the headless body.

Delsin managed to get on his feet, Cece’s hammer in his hands. He walked over to Rainbow and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. He then pulled a strange sphere out of his pocket and somehow merged it with the hammer, giving it a red glow. He then approached Nisled’s head.

“Well,” the head suddenly spoke. “Looks like I'm getting that job with Gallagher after all.” Delsin then slammed the hammer onto the head, causing it and the body to vanish in a red flash. He then collapsed, unconscious.

Before I was able to do anything, I felt a pain on my side and my vision went black.


(Rainbow’s POV)

My senses were barely registering after what I did. The last thing I remember was seeing that creep choking Dark. Next thing I know, his headless body is on the ground in front of me.

What happened?

“Rainbow Dash!” I heard a somepony say. Turning around, I saw Twilight flying towards me, an annoyed look on her face. She landed in front of me and said, “What were you THINKING?! You heard what Delsin said. You could have died.” She then saw the sword in my hand and Delsin and Dark unconscious on the floor, Cece struggling to get up. “What happened?”

“I-I d-don’t know,” was all I could say before I heard a few ponies coming to us, whispering a few things as they looked at all of us.

“W-what...what's going on?” Mayor Mare asked. “And Rainbow Dash, what's wrong with your hands?”

What's going on...What's wrong?

I looked at my hands and saw that they were steaming and glowing. I immediately dropped Dark’s sword in surprise and stared at my hands. I then looked at Twilight and chuckled nervously. “I guess it's active now…”

“Sorry to interrupt,” Cece said, limping to me. “But can we PLEASE get them some help?” She pointed to Dark and Delsin.

I immediately widened my eyes when I saw a red spot on Dark’s side. I flared up my wings, grabbed Dark, and flew as fast as I could to the hospital. When I arrived, I received a lot of stares, but I didn’t care. All I cared about at this point was his safety.

“Nurse Redheart!”

The pale white earth pony came running towards me. “What is it Rainb-what in the world?” She said, seeing Dark’s unconscious body.

“Not important. Can you help him?”

“Uh, I guess so.”

Redheart called for a stretcher and had him immediately wheeled into the emergency room. I began to pace the waiting room, stopping only to sit for a few seconds and then was back to pacing. The doors to the hospital then opened, all of my friends, including Cece, who was still limping, and Delsin, who looked okay, but exhausted.

“Rainbow?” I turned to see Twilight looking at me with a worried expression. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” I said. “Just a little worried, y’know?”

“How worried, may I ask?” Delsin asked with a grin on his face.

I shrugged. “Honestly, I don't really know.”

Cece then looked at him with a raised eyebrow. “Why are you smiling?” Delsin just gave her a look and Cece just said with a confused look, “What do you mean?” Delsin facepalmed and she pulled out her hammer. “I will use this if you don't explain!” He shook his head and she put her hammer back. “Wait, are you implying what I think you're implying?” He nodded. Cece then looked at me for a moment before falling onto the floor, laughing like crazy. “Oh, that's hilarious. HAHAHA!!” After a few moments, she calmed down and stood back up. “Well then...this'll definitely be interesting.” She said with the same kind of smirk she had on Hearth’s Warming Eve.

“Woah woah woah,” I said. “What are you two talking about? And how are you telling her anything without talking?” I asked Delsin.

‘First off,’ I heard in my head. ‘You will find out, soon enough. Secondly, it's called telepathy.

I shook my head and put a hand on my forehead. “What the hay?”

Delsin looked around with a mock confused look. “I don't see any hay.”

I just glared at him. “If you're done making jokes, mind helping me figure out how to control this?” I said, showing him my still glowing hands.

“Okay, basic conduit training.” He turned towards a vent, but stopped. “Oh, before I forget.” He pointed a glowing blue hand at me and my wings suddenly snapped against my back. “Any pegasi conduits I've trained, I've trained them to work without wings...for if the need arrives.”

I sighed. “Fine. So do we go to the place Dark told you about?”

“Yes, but not by normal means,” he said. “If we were, I wouldn't have bound your wings. Follow me.” He then vanished into smoke through a nearby vent.

“How am I supposed to follow if he does that?”

“Can't you do the same thing you did during your fight with Nisled?” Cece said.

“What are you talking about?” I asked. My vision suddenly blurred and I felt dizzy. I then saw myself in third pony view. My vision self was being rushed by Nisled. My vision self reacted by dashing away in a cloud-like form. The vision shifted, showing me all angles of the scene. My real vision returned and I was on my knees.

“You okay?” Cece asked, stepping towards me.

“Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine.” I let my arms steam a bit more thickly before stopping it. “I think I may have figured it out. Let me know when Dark wakes up.” I stood in front of the vent and thought back on what I saw. I rushed to the vent and I felt myself literally turning into a cloud and enter the vent. It shot me up through a fan on the hospital roof, where I became solid again. I put a hand on my head and said, “That feels so weird.”

“It takes getting used to,” I heard Delsin say from behind me. I turned and saw him smoking a cigar while holding a bottle of water.

“I'll take your word for it. Where'd you get that anyway?” I asked, pointing to the bottle.

“Two words, Pinkie Pie.” I nodded in understanding as he tossed the cigar to the side and dumped the water on the hospital roof.

“So...now what?”

“Brief lesson on limits,” he answered, stamping out the cigar. “Despite being super powered, you will find out that you still have limits. Let's say you encounter somepony that can fire pieces of lead far faster than you can fly. While you can heal significantly faster than a normal pony, if you are hit faster than you can heal, death can be certain.”

“So I can heal fast? How fast?” In response, his hands lit up blue and I felt a slight pinch on my arm. I looked where I felt it and saw a nasty looking cut...or it was nasty, as I saw it healing faster than a normal cut would in less than a minute, but it was sealed up, the only proof was the blood stain on my blue fur. “Was that REALLY necessary?” I asked, rubbing the spot the cut was.

“You seem like one of those ‘learn by experience’ kind of students.”

I sighed. “Okay, what else?”

“Ammunition,” He said. “When a Conduit uses their abilities, they can run low on ‘fuel’ or ‘ammo’. If you absorb your element, you obtain said fuel, as well as heal much faster, and a brief energy boost.”

“Okay...exactly what is my element?” I asked, looking at my hands.

“I have a hunch, but I think it's water.”

“What? What led you to think that?”

“Well, you turned into a cloud to get up here. And what is a cloud made of?”

“Okay…”

“Now that water I dumped, you're going to absorb it.”

“Um, how?”

He pulled a neon sign out from behind something on the roof and pointed his hand at it. The light from the sign then floated into his hand. “Do that physically. Mentally, you want the water, command it.”

I pointed my hand at the puddle and envisioned the water moving into my hand. Surprisingly enough, it actually happened. The water defied gravity and flowed into my hand. It didn’t feel wet, but neither did it feel dry. It seemed to feel like the prank slime I use on occasion.

“That feels weird,” I said, looking at my hand again.

“It’s different from element to element.”

“Okay, now what?”

“Gliding...without wings,” he said.

“Wait what?”

“Watch.” He then ran and jumped high. As he began to fall, neon started flowing from his hands, slowing down his descent. He “glided” to the ground, some distance away. “Try it. And don’t worry if you don’t get it the first time. You’ll survive the fall.”

“Uh, how do I do that?” My vision blurred again and I saw myself again, except leaping off of a rooftop in what looked like Manehatten. My vision self ran and jumped off the roof. In the same way Delsin did, my vision self seemed to cause a ‘jet’ of clouds or steam downward and I floated to the rooftop of a shorter building. I saw all angles before my vision returned. I then put my hand on my head. “What the hay is that?”

“What happened?” Delsin said in front of me suddenly. I yelped a bit, jumping back.

“What the? How did you do that?”

“My neon not only allows me to run really fast, but I can run up walls,” he said. “But that’s not important. You were wondering about something or another?”

“Yeah. I just saw something in my head.”

“What did you see?”

“Just saw the same thing you just did, but with me doing it.”

“Hmm...I’m guessing you’re body is getting used to this. So your mind is just ‘digesting’ what your body can do.”

“That doesn't explain why I'm seeing these things.”

“Your mind is just telling you how to do things.” He stepped back and made to point, but paused. “Where’s yours and Dark’s sparring field or whatever?”

I pointed south. “A little while in that direction. We figured it was a good spot since nopony usually goes there so he can fight without his cover and nopony can know he's a human.” I then let out a sigh. “Don't think that'll be a problem anymore.”

“Public matches,” Delsin chuckled. “1 bit for admissions.” He shook his head in amusement. “Kidding. Stupid Idea. Anyway, glide down.”

I looked down, three stories to the ground. Enough of a height that wouldn’t kill a pony, but break whatever hits the ground first or at least badly sprain said something if a pegasus. I gulped, thinking about my lack of wing ability. I looked into the distance and put out a dead sprint. I leapt up, somewhat higher than I normally could do. I then remembered the gliding vision and imitated the stance and focused on my hands. Immediately, steam jetted out of my hands, keeping my aloft enough for a decent glide...If I wasn’t knocked off balance by doing so.

I yelled out in fear as I flailed about, trying to stop my fall. I saw the ground approaching fast, so I closed my eyes, preparing for impact. When I landed, I felt the landing, but it didn’t hurt.

“Ooookay, MAY need to work on that,” I muttered.

“It was fun though, right?”

“Maybe for you, but I prefer my wings.”

“Once you get that down, it can give you a speed boost when you get your wings back.”

“I'll keep that in mind.”

“Next, parkour.”

“What?”

He walked up to a building, looked at it, and then began climbing. His hands and feet seemed to find holds for him to climb.

I walked to the building and just looked at him. “Seriously?”

“If your powers can help you skip this, it'll come,” he said as he pulled himself up onto the building’s roof.

“What do you mean by that?” It happened again. This time, I was running through Ponyville and came close to a building. A spire of ice then formed under my hooves and launched me up and landed on top of the building. “Is that just gonna keep happening?”

“Whatever it takes to get things through your thick skull.”

“Very funny,” I said, rolling my eyes, the sarcasm in my voice obvious. I focused on my feet and the spire of ice came, launching me up. I landed gracefully on the roof in front of him. “Okay, that wasn't so bad.”

“Now that you’ve got that down, lead the way.” He stepped back and gestured for me to lead. I smirked and launched myself up and began to glide in the direction of the sparing field.