//------------------------------// // Act IV: Chaos // Story: Fade Away // by JoeBobWhitney //------------------------------// "Whoa! That's a lot of lightning!" Zeke proclaimed as the Elements stood there, in the middle of town, watching the continuous strike of red lightning hit near Canterlot Castle. Every strike was deafening even from there. Every strike caused great shock-waves to blast. The last one that was delivered almost shell-shocked them all. "What's Cole even doing?" Rainbow questioned, jaw on the floor. "No idea, but Cole doesn't have to use three in a row." Zeke answered, surprising them all. "He can do that three times?" Rainbow's sputtered. "Yup. Don't piss off Cole MacGrath. Oh, it sto- What is that?" The looked to see a large pink cloud release gallons of chocolate milk upon all of them. Twilight's eyes widened and stared into nothing-ness. Zeke waved a hand in front of her face and nothing. As he flicked her ear, everything instantly went to hell. Insane phenomenon happened. Ponies were speaking backwards, some walking on air. Small animals mutated in many ways. Rabbits with long legs, mice of epic proportions. And even Buffalo, dressed in ballet outfits and danced with unbelievable elegance and precision. "The hell?" "Discord." Was all Twilight muttered. "Uh, what?" Something approached, it was red and very fast. A Lightning bolt grabbed onto a building, dashing at it, breaking that building. "Cole! What are you doing?!" Zeke's saw him, a crazy look in his eye and what really made him look odd was the fact that his clothes were gray. Like really gray. "I knew it! Cole-" Twilight began, but he threw a building at them with Kinetic Pulse. They all ducked as the building rammed into another and they exploded into giant bubbles. "Don't talk to me! How dare you lie to me and tell me that you're my friends?" They all were taken back by that, they all thought Cole wanted friends, Zeke thought the same. "Hey, brother. Didn't you want friends?" Zeke asked him, Cole clicked his tongue. "Stay out of this. We both don't want a repeat of the RFI, do we?" Cole stared at Zeke. He saw something in his eyes, pure undoubted hatred. There was malice in his words and Zeke wanted to help, but nothing would help them. He backed off, dropping his magnum on the soft soapy floor. "I always knew I would never be accepted then you go and make it WORSE!" Cole unsheathed the Amp from his back. He activates it, the prong-like ends coming out completely and glowing with the dark red sparks of electricity. "Now, you will pay. With the Elements. Where are they?" "We'll never tell you!" Rainbow stood in front of the group. Cole admired her bravery but it would get herself hurt if she wanted to be the hero. "Listen. I'm not here to hurt you, I just want the Elements." "Never." Twilight declared. "Then, you give me no choice." Cole felt more power return to him, he felt a last Ionic Charge somehow but he didn't question it. He tapped into it and released one of his strongest Ionic attacks. Ionic Drain. Red mist like energy surrounded him and drained power from all nearby beings, except Zeke. He controlled it to absorb the Elements and they fell like Rocks. Cole felt the infinite energy surging through him, he chuckled darkly. He didn't drain all of their life essence, just most of it. Strength, willpower and Magic. Zeke stayed back for his own sake, he felt selfish but this must be done. "Thanks Zeke. For not getting in the way and me not having to kill you." He took off again, leaving them to themselves. He had drained most of their powers, they weren't getting up soon. He bent down to help them. Try, actually. "Discord. I couldn't.. Never mind." Discord had collected the Elements already. With his foot upon the rubble they had created. "They thought that I would think that they would be in Ponyville. Fools." Discord proclaimed, Cole nodded and walked up to him. The defeated Princesses lay there, wings missing feathers and bruised. They weren't in the best of shape, basically. "I finally win. Your precious Elements of Harmony are defeated as are you. All of Equestria will fall asunder to my chaos. And Ponyville will be the capital." He laughed as the Princesses groaned and tried to move but to no avail. Discord then heard rocks and debris move under the sound of footsteps. Cole was walking away. "Where are you going, Cole?" Discord asked, flying up near him. "Oh, just out." Cole charged up his Firebird Strike again. "Cole." He turned his head. "Make sure the Elements don't interfere, you know, go check on them." "Sure." Cole blasted off, leaving dust in his wake. He felt his emotions turn into nothing but emptiness. He didn't care. This world didn't accept me just like Earth. They should join the fray as well. After all, no-one would accept a Conduit. But, what if they did? I didn't even give them a chance. No! All they wanted was to hurt you! I'm pretty damn sure they were better than that. Stop lying to yourself!No! This isn't me! Liar! Cole stopped in mid-air as he neared Ponyville, he fell straight to the ground, holding his head in pain. He landed somewhat okay and dropped to his knees, grasping his head in pain. His internal conflict continued on, pounding inside his head. It hurt like hell. No. They wanted to help you, but you threw them away. Dammit, Cole. Cole ignored the voice in his head and went to help the Elements. Cole dusted himself and ran toward them, hoping they were still okay. As he approached, he saw Zeke trying to help them. Cole ran at him, pushing him aside. Cole rubbed his hands together quickly, then touched Twilight. The electricity waved over the Elements, healing them by giving back all Cole had stored, which resulted in a very tired, after effect. "Ugh, what happened?" Rainbow groaned as she saw the Elements getting up and Cole sitting there. She gritted her teeth and punched Cole right in the jaw. He reeled back in pain, feeling his now (probably) cracked jaw. "Okay, I deserved every second of that." "You!- wait, what?" "I said, I deserved every second of that." "But, didn't you-" "I did, but I was wrong. Discord just... got to me. Made me think..-" "Yeah, I know." Rainbow assured him, sitting down with him. "Brother. It is good to have you back." "Yes, it is." Twilight got up, walking up to Cole. "You can slug me in the jaw if you want." Cole drooped his head, sighing. "I'm not going to. Rainbow was enough. We know how Discord does things." "Thanks." "I..uh...guess we should work on fighting him, huh?" "With two out of six Elements?" Twilight pointed to the not recovering Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie. At least, they were breathing. "I thought I healed them. I guess you guys are too different from humans." Cole rubbed the back of his neck, sheepishly. "They are going to be fine, though." "Good." "So, what do we do?" Cole puzzled, rubbing his chin. "Something. We can't just sit around. Discord is causing chaos!" Rainbow declared, hovering and circling them. "I have an idea. Cole, we need to solve your inner turmoil." "My inner what?" Cole lost Twilight at that. "You are mentally troubled like Luna said. Discord is using that negativity as power - remove it and Discord has no influence to his power." Twilight focused her magic, pulling a book from... somewhere. "What's the bible looking book for?" Zeke questioned. "It's a spell. It will allow me to see inside you thoughts, Cole." Twilight announced, Cole stared at her. "Is... that necessary?" "Completely. Now, hold still." Twilight placed her horn on Cole head and both closed their eyes. Twilight opened her eyes to be in... a city? Yes. A city. A dirty one at that. Walls and buildings are cracked and graffiti is painted over them, posters of Cole with red marker "X"ing out his face. As she stared, she heard Cole. "Welcome to Empire City. My home. Where I was born, raised and turned into a Conduit. In fact, you can see that happen right over there." Cole pointed behind Twilight, she turned around to see Cole riding a bike, carrying a package of sorts. "Cole" pressed a button on a strange device near his shoulder. "It's a phone." He was talking, the voice said to open the package. He refused, but the Voice offered him a large sum of "dollars". Instantly, Cole pulled up to the sidewalk, opening the package. A bright blue sphere was in there, Twilight tried to examine it, but a bright light blinded her. "Ray Sphere. Takes kinetic energy from many people and puts it in one. Me, for example." "This is how you got your powers?" "Yep." "What's so troubling?" "It's later. Hang on." Everything went fast, events and the past flashed across them both before stopping at a dark-skinned woman wearing a strange shaman looking outfit talking to Cole with a strange glowing sphere on a table with Zeke and another woman that she didn't know. "Her. My friend, Nix. The Beast or John had ideas to save the world. You see, after I set off the Ray Sphere, I created the Plague. A very dangerous disease. Since, I decided to not use that device and side with John, Conduits took over. And every human with the plague..-" "Died?" "Yep." He sighed and sat on the ground as the events went forward. It continued towards to one final moment. Cole had successfully taken down Nix, sadly. Then, Zeke walked up. He picked up the RFI and said these words. I gotta try. Cole responded sadly with, I know. Zeke fired that silver thing at Cole. The Conduit staggered backwards and growled. He fired a Bolt at Zeke, he backed up farther. Before he shot again, Cole shot him again with electricity. Zeke fell to his knees, he tried to get up but Cole finished him. He dropped, the RFI hitting the ground. Cole walked up to his body and bent down, staring at his now dead friend. He stood up, unsheathing the Amp. He yelled angrily and broke the device that caused him so much hell. "That's... it." Cole gazed at the ground, thoughts flooding his conscious. "Cole." He looked at her. "You have to stop dwelling in the past. It's feeding Discord and if you don't stop, we may never ever be able to defeat him. The Elements can't just do it alone. You must help, too." Cole drooped his head, thinking. "I don't think I can. I mean-" "Listen to me, Cole. We must move on with ourselves. If we don't, our thoughts and views on the world change for the worse. We are chosen to live in this world under whatever you may believe in. We don't get to choose the things that happen to us, We must live with them. Do you understand, Cole?" "Yeah. I think I do." "Good." "It's gonna be hard." "I know. " "So, how do we stop Discord?" "Well, first. Let's get out of your head. "Yeah." They pulled back away from each others heads, gasping, not from air, but the experience. Cole then sighed and began thinking as Twilight the same. Rainbow and Zeke stood there, dumbfounded. "So.." Zeke started, but Twilight interrupted him. "I got it!" She beamed. "You do?" Cole questioned, Twilight looked at him with confidence. Cole nodded and looked back at their friends. "So, here how it goes.."