"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.