Everfree Forest, Zecora's Hut, afternoon.
"No way..." Twilight was currently in Zecora's hut along with Cold Colt with her eyes locked onto the cauldron of magical water. "You actually have this much in here?"
"Certainly, all thanks to Team Rocket's find," said Zecora. "But none of this would not have been possible if the water was never purified."
"Have you done anything with it yet?" Twilight asked.
"Haven't touched it once." Team Rocket shook their heads.
"We have a small Spearow feather to test it out." Zecora pointed over at James holding a Spearow feather. "One drop into the cauldron of magical water, and we'll see what it will bring about."
"Alright then." James slowly approached the cauldron of magical water. With caution, he outstretched his arm, letting it hover above the cauldron. And with a trembling hand, he dropped the Spearow feather into the cauldron before jumping far back.
Everyone else jumped back, hiding behind a table as they had no idea what to expect from the Spearow feather interacting with this fused magical water. Once the feather touched the water, the reaction had begun.
The single Spearow feather had suddenly gained arms made entirely out of feathers as they erupted from the cauldron, startling everyone. Especially with how muscular they were. There were now huge buff feathery arms made out of Spearow Feather's inside of the cauldron with visible veins popping out.
"Look at the beef on that thing!" Jessie gasped.
"Awesome!" Cold gawked.
But, despite how impressive it looked, the muscular feather arms showed aggression as its arms suddenly extended, grabbing Meowth all of a sudden.
"Oof!" Meowth's body was being held by these giants hands as his head looked like it was about to pop from the squeezing.
"Meowth!" Jessie and James stood up, grabbing their friend by the tail. The muscular feather arms were aiming to drag Meowth into the cauldron with it for whatever reason. The arms couldn't exactly go anywhere considering what they were after all.
Team Rocket was pulling hard to try and remove Meowth from the clutches of the muscular feather arms. All the while, Meowth was in unexplainable pain right now with all this pulling and gripping.
"Eve! Psybeam!" Twilight commanded.
"Espeon!" Pitching in, Eve's gem on her head started glowing as a purple beam of Psychic energy was shot out of it. The Psybeam had hit the muscular feather arms, causing them to jitter as the raw psychic power of Psybeam was enough to made muscular feather arms explode.
And that's what happened. They blew up right in front of everyone's faces with feathers bursting out. Meowth was free because of that sudden explosion of feathers.
"Ah..." Meowth fell on his back, relieved that he was saved. "Thanks for that..."
"Espeon."
"Well...that was an interesting first look." Zecora nodded as she sighed. "But perhaps, not the safest first try in the book." She went up to the cauldron.
"It wasn't so safe on our first try too," Twilight said. "That water can either be beneficial or just a problem starter."
"Thought I was a goner there. That thing breeds life?" Meowth stood up, holding his neck.
"It sure is unpredictable. Zecora. If it's okay, can I take a cup of it to experiment back at my lab?" Twilight asked.
"Go ahead, by all means." Zecora nodded. "We'll both be studying it further, so eventually, you may report your find back to me."
"Thank you." Twilight nodded as she grabbed one of Zecora's nearby wooden cups. "This'll be as good as Togekiss and Spike's Axew, right Cold?"
"..." Cold Colt was zoned out when looking at the cauldron as he hadn't responded to Twilight's question. This entire time, he has just been looking at the cauldron.
"Cold?" Twilight narrowed her eyes. She waved her hooves in his face, trying to grab his attention. "Hello? Cold? Are you okay?"
"I kinda recognize that..." Cold suddenly uttered.
"Hm?" Twilight leaned in. "What do you mean you recognize it?"
"This..." Cold approached the cauldron as his horn was glowing, reacting to the cauldron and water as he got closer. Not only that, but his eyes flashed with cosmic energy. "This has Rift magic in it."
"Rift Magic?" Twilight's ears and brain were just now downloading and processing what Cold had said. As well as Team Rocket and Zecora. "Rift Magic?!"
"Espeon?!"
"Yeah." Cold nodded as his horn was glowing aggressively when nearby the cauldron of water. "I can feel it. It's small but it's there."
"Hm." Jessie thought for a moment as she was thinking about Cold Colt, Pokemon Magic, Equestrian Magic and the Rift. From day one, the Rift has always been unpredictable with what it does. And Cold Colt is a creation of the Rift. Not to mention, whenever he practices magic with Twilight, the results are always unexpected.
Once she put the pieces together, Jessie realized that it only made perfect sense that a sprinkle of Rift magic would be embedded in the merged Pokemon and Equestrian Magic. "Oh...That explains it now!"
"Most of it is just Pokemon and Equestrian magic. But a tiny bit of it is Rift magic." Cold explained as his horn was getting more vibrant by the second.
"Oh..." Twilight gawked. "Guess that gives us new information about this water then. But Cold, your horn." She pointed her hoof at his horn.
"Hm?" Cold finally noticed that his horn was flashing uncontrollably, without his own will. He then felt a surge of magic waiting to burst out of his horn as he quickly backed away from the cauldron. But his horn was still flashing. "Oh! I've never felt this before!"
"Is it bad?!" Team Rocket asked.
"It depends," Zecora replied. "Both Cold Colt and the water are made from the same source of energy, so who knows what reactions this will contend."
"I'm sure it's nothing to worry about. Right?" Cold laughed nervously.
"Maybe. But in the meantime..." Twilight scooped up some of the water with the wooden cup. "We'll be putting double focus into both you and the water now instead of just making it separate. First, we have to do something about that horn of yours."
"Cant' you turn it off?" Jessie asked.
"I can't. It won't stop flashing." Cold shook his head. "This is gonna be a real bother at night."
"I wouldn't say that. After all, you're on night-watch with Jade so having that flashing horn can be like a free flashlight." Twilight grinned, showing him the bright side of this.
"Oh. I guess so." Cold touched his horn.
"We'll be heading off now. Thanks for the water, Zecora." Twilight started walking out with Eve and Cold Colt. "Thanks again, Zecora." But before she left, she peered her head through the door, squinting her eyes at Team Rocket. "You too, Team Rocket. But I've got my eyes on you three."
"Toodle-loo~!" Team Rocket let out suspicious grins as they waved goodbye to Twilight, obviously planning to steal from her someday.
"Wobbuffet!"
As Twilight, Eve and Cold exited the hut, ready to return to Ponyville, Cold's constantly flashing horn wasn't seemingly just there for a light show.
Ponyville, Twilight's Lab. Late afternoon.
Twilight placed down the cup of magical water, now having a new source to work on when it comes to the bizarre fusion of Pokemon and Equestrian magic. All the while, Cold's horn was still flashing.
"Is that a bad sign?" Starlight asked, looking at Cold Colt's flashing horn.
"Hopefully not," Twilight responded. "But so far, nothing bad has really happened with it. Seems harmless right now."
"Yeah, right now," Sunset said. "If you're gonna practice magic with him right now, who knows what'll happen."
"Hm..." Twilight thought about what Sunset said for a moment, taking her word into account. "You're right. All that flashing could mean something. If Cold were to use magic now...It's too risky to just try it right now."
"So, are we gonna continue our practice or not?" Cold looked around. "If not, I can just head back to Sweet Apple Acres."
"Well..." Twilight turned around. "We still don't know what all that flashing means...Maybe take a break for a while before we get back into it. Just gonna do some quick setting up in case something destructive happens, ya know?"
"Oh, I gotcha." Cold understood as he nodded. He knew that all this flashing could result in something destructive if magic were to be used. A 50/50 chance in his eyes. "Maybe Apple Bloom's gonna be impressed by this."
"I wouldn't get your hopes up." Twilight shook her head.
"Ninetales?" Ninetales, curious as ever, went up to the table, looking into the cup. Minccy climbed up his head as she also looked down on it.
"Sol." Absol quickly told them not to interact with it because they have no idea what it might do to them. Good or bad.
Cold Colt was going to head over to Sweet Apple Acres for a quick rest while having a large visible flashing light on his horn. Earlier, when he was returning to Ponyville from Everfree Forest, everypony noticed his horn glowing aggressively. But, they didn't think too much of it and assumed it was just fine.
However, before Cold could leave for Sweet Apple Acres, he spotted a snack that he thought he had lost yesterday, but eventually found it, sitting on top of one of the bookshelves. He had unfinished business with the snack.
"Oh, there you are." Cold licked his lips. "Come to papa." Eager to take a bite, he was actually about to use his magic to grab it, despite the warning that had been given. But he's so used to using his magic to grab everything that it just comes on instinct by now.
And once he used his magic, the unexpected did happen. But while it may seem unexpected, in truth, it was something that Cold and Twilight were longing for.
Just as Cold's magical aura surrounded the snack, a booming sound erupted inside of the lab, startling everyone and shattering the windows. Even having enough soundwaves to shatter the PokePark windows as everyone gasped and jumped. And of course, Ponyville heard it too. With a booming sound grabbing everyone's attention, the effects of Cold's magic were about to take place.
On top of the bookshelf and the snack, a gateway had opened up.
The thing that Twilight and Cold were aiming to finally achieve had at long last arrived in an unexpected time due to a fairly mundane scenario.
"A gateway?!" Twilight, Sunset and Starlight each gasped while gazing up at the gateway.
"I-I-I didn't..." Cold backed away, shocked that he was able to just suddenly open a gateway out of nowhere. Even though that wasn't what he was planning. "I was just getting my snack back...!"
"Forget the snack! You finally did it!" Twilight dashed over to Cold. "Great job, Cold!" The young alicorn lifted Cold up, hugging him.
"But where does it lead to?" Sunset narrowed her eyes at the gateway.
"I don't know?" Cold shrugged. "I just did it by accident."
"Accident?" Twilight pulled back before looking at the gateway. She then shifted her eyes to Cold's flashing horn and then over to the cup of magical water and the right back to the gateway. By looking at these three key things, Twilight put everything together. "Oh...I see now."
"See what?" Cold tilted his head.
"Since you and the water are connected to the same source, this flashing light on your horn must be boosting your Rift magic from what it looks like." Twilight theorized. "Does it feel like your magic is being boosted, Cold?"
"A bit yeah." Cold nodded. "I was just trying to get my snack and this happened."
"Well, what do we do now that this is here?" Spike pointed at the gateway.
"Hmm..." Twilight's eyes were in full focus now. "We don't know where it leads to...Cold obviously can't control his magic right now because of all that flashing, and it doesn't look like this gateway will be going anywhere anytime soon. Maybe it's best that we-"
"Did we hear a gateway?!" Suddenly, Nyx came rushing into the lab with Cocoa and Rosestar.
"Ah!" Twilight jumped after the sudden burst in.
"Sure did! Look!" Cocoa pointed her hoof at the gateway that was above the snack and bookcase. "It really is a gateway!"
"Y-You finally did it!" A wide smile graced Nyx's face. Just like Twilight and Cold, she was waiting for this ever since she, Cocoa and Rosestar arrived here. "A gateway at last!"
"But why here of all places?" Cocoa scrunched her face.
"Uh, kinda did it on accident." Cold raised his hoof.
"Accident? So you're unsure of where it leads to then?" Nyx walked over.
"Yeah..." Cold nervously rubbed the back of his head.
"Nopony should go through it yet, alright?" Twilight said. "It's probably the most unpredictable gateway yet. How about we wait until tomorrow to go through?"
"Tomorrow? You sure?" Starlight raised an eyebrow.
"Mhm." Twilight made her decision. "It's already getting pretty late right now. Wherever this gateway leads to, we'll be ready to enter it when the time comes tomorrow."
"What if someone comes through it? Since, ya know, it leads somewhere?" Spike asked.
"Absol and Cold will be here to warn us at night. Both of them and Jade are great as the night watch."
"At least we now have the capabilities to open gateways. You can control it, can't you Cold Colt?" Nyx turned to Cold.
"Uh...Not really." Cold grinned sheepishly. "I mean I got a boost but-"
"Don't worry too much about it." Twilight patted Cold on the back. "Since you can't control your magic with all this amplified power, I think it's best if you went back to Sweet Apple Acres and relax."
"Right. Thanks, Twilight. And I'll keep an eye out!" Cold bowed as he ran off, ready to kick back and relax at Sweet Apple Acres. All the while, his horn kept flashing and the gateway was still open.
As Cold left the lab, everypony else was stuck gazing at the gateway, wondering where it could lead to. Whether it was safe or dangerous. It was unknown. But until tomorrow, they'll have to wait.
Sweet Apple Acres Nightfall.
The night had arrived. And the nocturnal Pokemon along with Jade, Cold, Absol and Krookodile were all keeping watch for the night as Ponyville's Nightwatch.
As for everyone else, they had all clocked out with the lights off. Although, there was only one light prominent at the moment. Cold Colt's horn, which was still flashing. No matter what, it wouldn't turn off. Even for Cold, this was unusual to him.
The little unicorn walked towards Jade, who was sitting on top of a tree with binoculars out, keeping a good eye on Ponyville as always, right next to a Noctowl too.
"Noct."
"Hey, Jade." Cold spoke to her while looking up at the tree.
"Hm? Oh, hey Cold. Still can't turn that thing off?"
"No. I think it's here to stay for a long time. Don't know when it's gonna turn off. Wish I could actually sleep and just wait for it to blow over..." Cold sighed. "But that doesn't always work."
"Don't feel bad, Cold. It'll work out for sure. Something that Pinkie Pie taught me." Jade turned to him before looking up at the starry sky.
"Yeah, you're right." Cold rubbed his eye. "Maybe I can still finish that snack." Wanting to finish his snack from before, the little Rift Pony made his way back to Twilight's lab.
Along the way, he waved at Absol, who gave a greeting back by raising his head. Cold opened the door to the lab gently. But, he didn't need to since Twilight and the others were asleep at the castle instead of the lab. Even the Pokemon at PokePark had the hatch closed so noise could barely travel through it.
Entering the lab, Cold could still see the gateway here as it was constantly shining, lighting up the room as well as Cold's horn. The gateway also made a howling sound that was faint but still there.
And thankfully, thanks to Twilight's Cinccino, the snack was taken off the bookshelf next to the gateway and placed on the table with aluminium foil wrapped around. Nice and neat too. Knowing that using magic to grab it would result in something else unexpected since his horn wasn't exactly responding properly, Cold just decided to casually approach the snack without using magic.
But as the little Rift Pony was approaching his snack on the table, about to chow down on it, the moment his hoof reached for the snack, a whisper passed through his ears.
"Cₒₗd Cₒₗₜ". A voice that was all too familiar to him.
"Huh?" Cold turned around as he noticed that the whisper was coming from the gateway itself. By picking up on the whispers, he recognized them as the Rift. "R-Rift?"
"Cₒₘₑ cₗₒₛₑᵣ." The voice was too tempting to resist. In fact, it was so tempting that Cold Colt's eyes started flashing blue as he was put into a trance by it. With his eyes zoning out, the little unicorn's body was starting to move on its own, approaching the gateway.
"Cₒₗd Cₒₗₜ. ᵢₜ ₛₑₑₘₛ ₜₕₐₜ ᵢ'ᵥₑ ᵤₙdₑᵣₑₛₜᵢₘₐₜₑd yₒᵤ gᵣₑₐₜₗy. ᵢ ₒᵣᵢgᵢₙₐₗₗy cᵣₑₐₜₑd yₒᵤ ₜₒ bₑ ₐ wₑₐₖ ᵣᵢfₜ ₚₒₙy. ₐ ₛᵢₘₚₗₑ fₒₑ ₜₕₐₜ cₐₙ bₑ dₑfₑₐₜₑd ₑₐₛᵢₗy. Bᵤₜ ᵢₜ ₗₒₒₖₛ ₗᵢₖₑ ᵥᵢcₜᵢₙᵢ ₐₙd ₜₒgₑₜᵢc wₑᵣₑ ₐbₗₑ ₜₒ cₕₐₙgₑ ₜₕₐₜ. Yₒᵤ'ᵣₑ ₙₒw bᵣᵢₘₘᵢₙg wᵢₜₕ ₚₒₜₑₙₜᵢₐₗ ₜₕₐₜ ₑᵥₑₙ ᵢ cₒᵤₗdₙ'ₜ ₑₓₚₑcₜ."
"U-Ugh..." Cold groaned as his body was trying to resist the Rift's control. But it was no use.
"ᵢₙ fₐcₜ, ₜₕᵢₛ ₑₙₜᵢᵣₑ ₙₑw ₜᵢₘₑₗᵢₙₑ ᵢₛ ₛₒₘₑₜₕᵢₙg ₒf wₒₙdₑᵣ ₐₙd ₐₘₐzₑₘₑₙₜ. ₑᵥₑᵣyₜₕᵢₙg ᵢₛ cₕₐₙgᵢₙg dᵣₐₛₜᵢcₐₗₗy. ₐₙd ᵢ fₒᵣ ₒₙₑ, ₐₘ ₑₓcᵢₜₑd ₜₒ ₛₑₑ wₕₑᵣₑ ₜₕᵢₛ wᵢₗₗ ₐₗₗ ₗₑₐd ₜₒ ᵢₙ ₜₕₑ ₑₙd. ₐₕ, bᵤₜ, ᵢₜ'ₛ bₑₑₙ ₐ wₕᵢₗₑ ₛᵢₙcₑ ᵢ'ᵥₑ ₛₚᵢcₑd ₜₕᵢₙgₛ ᵤₚ, ₐcₜᵤₐₗₗy. ₐₙd ᵢ ₖₙₒw ⱼᵤₛₜ ₕₒw ₜₒ dₒ ᵢₜ. ᵢ wᵢₗₗ ᵤₙₗₒcₖ yₒᵤᵣ fᵤₗₗ ₚₒₜₑₙₜᵢₐₗ ₜₒ ᵣₑₐₗₗy gᵢᵥₑ ₘyₛₑₗf ₐ ₛₕₒw. ₕₒₚₑ yₒᵤ'ᵣₑ ᵣₑₐdy. Bₑcₐᵤₛₑ ᵥₑᵣy ₛₒₒₙ, ₐ bᵣₐₙd ₙₑw ₛₜₒᵣₘ ᵢₛ ₐₚₚᵣₒₐcₕᵢₙg. ₐₙd yₒᵤ'ₗₗ bₑ ₐₜ ₜₕₑ fᵣₒₙₜ ₒf ᵢₜ."
With great and seemingly unrivalled power, the Rift had manipulated Cold Colt's body, causing the little unicorn's eyes to flash uncontrollably, just like his horn. Cold Colt was gaining multiple visions that were flashing before his eyes.
Visions that involved his first time being created, starting some conflict, losing, becoming a part of the Apple Family, getting captured, accepted by Ponyville and so on. All of it was appearing before his eyes at insurmountable speeds.
After that, the lights had stopped flashing as they had finally faded away, including his horn. With that, the Rift had unlocked Cold Colt's full potential. The Rift had left, returning to its realm as it had taken Cold out of its trance. However, the gateway was still here.
"Mrrgh..." Cold groaned, holding his head as his hooves wobbled around. The Rift had taken away any memory of what had just happened to him at this moment in time, making Cold believe that he had just received a headache.
"Absol!" Absol, who saw all the flashing, came rushing into the lab to see if there were any threats nearby as he was ready to use Night Slash on sight. But, when arriving there, all he saw was Cold holding his head. "Sol?"
"Oh, hey Absol," said Cold. "Did you see anything?"
"Ab...sol?" Absol looked around, spotting nothing unusual. The only unusual thing that was here was Colds horn since it stopped flashing. "Absol." Seeing that there were no problems, the Disaster Pokemon walked out.
"Oh, my horns back to normal. Sweet." Cold touched his horn. "Glad that's over with. My eyes were getting all messed up because of it. Maybe now that it's stopped flashing, I can use my magic normally."
Seeing that his horn wasn't emanating Rift lights anymore, he turned to face his snack, seeing if his magic would be normal and not haphazard and unpredictable like before. Lo and behold, it was normal once more as he lifted the snack off the table.
"Nice." Cold grinned as he opened his mouth, devouring the snack. He was relieved that everything seemed like it was back to normal.
But in truth, it wasn't.
Twilight's lab, Day.
"Alright." Twilight and the others faced the gateway. "We don't know where this leads, but we've made sure to think of every safety precaution there is. I hope."
"Who's heading through it first?" Starlight asked.
"I'll go. Maybe a quick head peek will do." Twilight offered to be the first to pass through the gateway. "If it leads to somewhere dangerous, then we stay far away from it. But if not, then we're free to use it."
With that out of the way, Twilight flapped her wings, ascending into the air. She held her breath in, a bit nervous as she slowly approached the gateway. Everypony held their breath, as well as Twilight's Pokemon, were ready to act if something bad were to happen to her.
But, once Twilight made contact with the gateway, she suddenly hit something hard as she was knocked back, tumbling on the floor. "Ow!"
"Oh! Twilight!" Sunset and the others rushed to her.
"Are you alright?!" Nyx asked.
"Espeon?!"
"Did something hit you?!" questioned Spike.
"Ough..." Twilight's eyes wobbled around. "N-No. Nothing hit me. I think...the gateway denied me going through."
"Denied you going through?" They all said.
"That's what it felt like." Twilight quickly dung into her saddlebag, holding out a Poke Ball that didn't officially have a Pokemon inside of it, so it was empty and unoccupied. Curious to see if the same thing would happen again, Twilight tossed the Poke Ball at the gateway.
And just like the young alicorn, the Poke Ball hit the gateway, getting knocked back as a blue pulse emanated out of it upon contact, landing back to Twilight's side.
"Aha! So it is denying us entry!" Twilight stood up. "I've never seen a gateway or any portal actually even do that before!"
"No entry? Drat!" Nyx stomped her hoof.
"So much for great progress..." Rosestar lowered her head.
"What do we do now? There's just a gateway with no entry just sitting here." Starlight pointed her hoof at it.
"Nothing really. Since it doesn't lead anywhere." Twilight shook her head. "But, there is the better alternative. Cold. Your horn's stopped flashing, but maybe your magic's still amplified. Does it feel like that?"
"Yeah, a bit." Cold nodded. "I kinda feel better than ever actually. Don't know what it really is though but I think my magic's got a revamp all of a sudden."
"Feeling confident enough to keep practising? We can still hope to create a second gateway but this time, with property entry." Twilight nudged.
"Oh, yeah!" Cold grinned. "I'm ready!"
"Great! We'll get started soon. Right after I give the new trainers their starter Pokemon." Twilight walked off.
"Hm. Was hoping we were gonna go somewhere fun through it." Sunset also walked away with everypony splitting up to go on and do their own thing. They were disappointed that the gateway didn't amount to anything.
Little do all of them know, their little unicorn friend is essentially a whole new pony in terms of his magic capabilities. And so does Cold. He himself doesn't know what he's capable of now.
With Cold's full potential unlocked, the Rift itself knows that because of this, events that are bound to be extreme and hyperactive in nature are coming. Perhaps sooner than everypony thinks. And with the timeline being altered constantly with new events, the Rift is eager to see where this will all lead to, as the journey continues.
Chapter 373 End.