Cole sat in the small hut with Zecora. She was brewing up some stew for Cole and herself to enjoy. Cole’s stomach began to growl as his own hunger grew. “Hey Zecora, is the soup ready yet? I’m starving.” he said from his seat.
“This stew is not just for me and you.” she told him.
“Who else is it for?” Cole asked her. She turned away from her pot to add a few ingredients; berries, a few roots, and some green leaves. “A friend from Ponyville is coming here soon, we have until noon.” she said. Cole laid back and relaxed, his fingers interlocking behind his head as he thought of what the princesses had told him, ‘There is no New Marais here in Equestria.’ He was worried at what might happen while he’s gone. These unpleasant thoughts stayed with him until he fell asleep.
His dreams were filled with The Beast destroying New Marais, the civilians running from it as it slowly killed each and every one of them, including Zeke. The nightmare went on as every building was smashed and everything destroyed, as Cole witnessed this he began to get angry at himself for not being there to stop it. He woke up because he heard screaming and bolted upright. “What’s wrong?” he searched the small space and saw only a lavender unicorn that was staring at him in horror. He stood up, towering over her, and walked over, she backed up as he got closer. He looked around and couldn’t see Zecora; when he turned back to the unicorn her horn was glowing but he couldn’t see what she was carrying. She was trying to look brave but he could see she was scared, “What have you done with Zecora?!” she demanded. Cole walked closer to the unicorn and was about to say something but a yawn interrupted him, her pupils began to shrink when he yawned-revealing his fangs.
Cole scratched the back of his head, “I have no idea. Maybe she went out.” he said, stretching his arms. She tried to speak but couldn’t form the words; Cole took another step towards her and regretted it as she soon would. Her horn discharged, sending a blast of magic energy into Cole which sent him into Zecora’s pot. The contents drenched him; he started grunting as his body surged with lightning, the red bolts striking everything from the bottles on the shelves to the walls and the floor, scorching everything. The lightning swarmed, surrounding Twilight, she tried to avoid them, teleporting and moving as quickly as she could but there was too much to avoid completely. A single bolt struck her side and more did so after. Cole watched her fall to the floor and used what strength remained to walk past her and out of the hut; the lightning still streaming from his body had dried the stew and stopped.
He fell to his knees and looked up to see if he could get lucky by a thundercloud. The sky was crystal clear, he knew he could wait and he’d get better or he could take the life force straight out of something. He turned to Zecora’s hut and the passed out unicorn and shook his head to get that thought out of his mind. The bushes rustled and Cole raised his arm to fight; lowering it when Zecora walked through and dropped the flowers she was holding. “Cole MacGrath! Have you brought somepony’s wrath?!” she sounded as angry as she was concerned. Cole shook his head, “No... Well maybe, I’m not sure. A unicorn threw me into your stew. Water and I don’t mix.” He pointed his head in the direction of the hut, “She’s still in there.”
Zecora galloped into the hut and he heard her gasp, he knew why. There were large scorch marks in the hut and much of the glassware was broken and the contents spilled across the floor and an unconscious unicorn with burnt fur along her sides and flank. “What caused this? There is something amiss.” she brought her hoof along Twilight’s side; the unicorn mare flinched as she touched the burns. Zecora sighed in relief before walking out to speak with Cole; she could see that he was struggling to stay awake. She galloped to him and found no injuries on him, she was going to ask why but he interrupted her. “The Pegasus control the weather right?” she nodded, “Can you go find one and ask them to bring a cloud here? Please hurry.” he said. Zecora was going to deny him but she heard growling and saw several eyes in the brush. “Damn, I can’t hold them off for long.” Cole said as he raised his arm to defend himself. Zecora galloped as fast as she could through the forest.
Zecora galloped out of the forest and searched for the nearest Pegasus to help. It didn’t take her long to find Rainbow Dash, who was sleeping on a cloud. “Rainbow Dash!” She called up. Rainbow Dash just rolled over, snoring as she slept. Zecora said something in her native tongue before running off to find another Pegasus. She ran into town and asked for a Pegasus to help her by bringing a cloud to her home. She answered their questions that surfaced with “We have no time to chat. We may be too late for that.” All the Pegasi of Ponyville, sans Rainbow Dash, each grabbed a cloud and they followed Zecora, leaving the clouds above her home. They were going to go down but witnessed something they had never seen before. The clouds they bunched together all shot a bolt of lightning that collected together into a singular giant bolt and converged at a single point beneath the trees. The flash was seen for miles, turning the blue sky white.
Cole had a few scratches on him by the time Zecora had returned, he shot back a Timber wolf before throwing a grenade towards the glowing eyes the creatures were thrown away as it exploded in a shower of sparks. She told him that they had the clouds above the trees; he thanked her and told her to step back. She did as he said and her eyes widened as she saw the giant lightning bolt strike him. Once the bolt stopped Cole stood with his body undamaged by the bolt, it had closed up some of the wounds the animals had inflicted. He grinned as he ran towards them and used Shadow Storm to catch a Manticore and bit into its neck. Its eyes widened in horror and pain but they rolled back into its head as the last few drops of blood were drained.
Cole wiped his mouth dry and watched the eyes disperse from him as they had before. None had actually seen him use his powers aside from stunning them with lightning. He turned back to where Zecora stood and saw Pegasi surrounding her in fear, shaking as he approached. He cracked his neck and they shrunk in his presence, besides Zecora since she was stunned that he had been struck by a lightning bolt of that size and survived. When he was a few steps away from them he looked into the hut and saw Twilight with singed fur. He ran and jumped over the Pegasi and into the hut. He put his hands over the singed fur and used his Vampire sense to watch her heartbeat; it was normal or as normal as Zecora’s. He put his hands together, red lightning surrounded them and he brought them down on Twilight’s body, Zecora tried to stop him but his hands had connected.
As soon as he made contact he pulled his hands back. The lightning shot through her body, making her body spasm before her eyes opened and she sat up, rubbing her head with a hoof. She winced when she felt the burns on her side; she looked at them and saw the burns then she saw Zecora. “Zecora! You’re safe!” she shouted, a smile spreading across her face as she sighed in relief. Zecora approached as she stared angrily next to Twilight, “What did you do!? She did not need more burns from you!” she shouted. Twilight turned to see Cole standing there with a frown on his face, she backed away. “I was just helping.” he told her, crossing his arms. The Pegasi flew away to tell of the monster that nearly killed them.
“Help?” she started yelling in a different language. Cole looked at the floor and shook his head before raising it, “Look Zecora, do you think I haven’t done this before? I’ve done this plenty of times, sometimes because someone spilled their drink.” he told her, she was glaring at him. “I do not want you in my abode. Leave before you make my anger explode!” she shouted at him. Twilight was watching them shout at each other, looking from one to the other until she told him to leave. He didn’t say anything and just walked out; leaving Zecora and Twilight alone with the former looking over the latter’s wound. She put a salve that she had recently made on the wound to stop it from irritating before wrapping it up, “Does it hurt Twilight? Are you alright?” Zecora asked. Twilight responded with a smile and a nod, “I’m fine Zecora. But can you tell me what that thing that was in your house was?” she asked, looking at the door he had just been at.
Zecora looked into the forest, “That was Cole MacGrath. The creatures of the Everfree fear his wrath.” she said before walking over to her-now empty-shelf and sighed, “I must recover my herbs; you are welcome to stay until you feel superb.” Zecora stated before grabbing her saddlebags and walking to the door, “Hey Zecora, the last thing I remember is him falling into your soup and I remember seeing lightning coming from him. How did he do that?” Zecora looked off into the woods, “I don’t know what he can do, but stay away it’s best for you.” she left Twilight with that thought. Meanwhile Cole was watching from the top of a tree he had climbed, he was wondering if the unicorn was alright, he would’ve asked her but Zecora told him to leave and he decided it was best to ask when she left-since he had inadvertently destroyed all of her ingredients.