King Sombra. The evil ex-ruler of the Crystal Empire. He ruled the empire with a wrath of incomparable measures. In Celestia's eyes, he was pure evil. And he was. He was the embodiment of evil and hate. He tortured anyone who went against him and because of that, he struck fear into his "subjects." But, one day, Celestia banished him from his kingdom.
Then, years later he returned. But, he was stopped again by the hands of a infant dragon and a princess of love. He hated every moment of defeat and he had tasted it. Now, he had returned once more. However, he would not fail as he produced the perfect scheme to bring back the Empire to his rule again. The Conduit would not be able to stop him or the Elements or the Princess or even Cadence.
"Cole, darling. What brings you here today?" The beautiful Rarity greeted our hero.
"The Elements are going to Canterlot. Aren't you a Element of Harmony, Rarity?" He crossed his arms.
"Yes, I am. I am the Element of Genorosity. But, why are we going?" She asked, curious.
"That 'date' I promised you girls?" He notified Rarity.
"Oh, that! Right! Yes, let me get ready then." She walked off, fetching one of her dresses to go to Canterlot. He chuckled and sat down on a nearby chair. He picked up a magazine and began reading it to pass the time. Moments later, Rarity came back out holding a bejeweled violet and black suitcase.
"Fancy.." He whistled and stood up.
"Thank you. Now, may we go? I have already told Sweetie I will be gone for the night."
"Yep, the Elements are ready." He opened the door for you and headed out. The air was chilly but not uncomfortably cold. The brisk air brushed against their faces and made leaves rustle. Cole stared off at the setting sun, it lowered slowly in the horizon. The sun sent it's golden rays across the darkening sky and thus it became varying shades of purple. A beautiful sigh to behold and Cole always got a good view of the sun every day. They got to the train station fairly quickly and left for Canterlot.
"So, the Princess has booked us a nice hotel to stay in. Really fancy, should suit your style Rarity. So, we get our rooms, unpack and prepare for a good night. Sound good?" Cole explained. He received several "Yeps" and he laid back in his seat.
"This is going to be nice. Luckily, I still have leftover bits. That house was actually pretty cheap. Only one hundred and fifty leaves me with one hundred and that's enough to eat out. And not to mention, I'm a 'hero'." He chuckled and closed his eyes, listening to the sounds of the train.
"What do you mean, Cole?"
"I don't consider myself a hero for saving Equestria. I beat Discord, so what?" He scoffed.
"So what? Cole, you saved Ponyville and even Equestria! That's a hero in our books." Rainbow declared.
"Sure." Cole turned his head and stared out the window, admiring the rising moon. They arrived to Canterlot hours later and the city was still active. They stepped out and noticed this. "Why are a bunch of lights still on?"
Rarity gasped. "It's because Hoity Toity is hosting a big event downtown! I totally forgot about it. Cole, we must simply go there first." She pleaded and put on her best puppy-eyes face.. He sighed and smiled at her.
"Fine." He chuckled. They all headed to their hotel. They were sent in immediately and they went to their own rooms and unpacked. Well, the Elements did. Cole packed a suit and that was it
"Cole, I think you should leave your "Amp" here." Rarity suggested, pointing to his weapon on his back.
"Why?"
"One, because you're not going to need it and two, the brownish-orange color will clash with your black suit." She pointed out and he chuckled again at her worries.
"Okay, I'll leave it here." He took off the sheathe and placed it on his bed. "I'm not using my suit though. I'm putting on something normal." He went back in and minutes later, he came back out with a familiar outfit to him and a new outfit to the girls. A yellow jacket with black highlights along it and dark faded green pants. He wore black fingerless gloves to complete the outfit.
"So? I always like this outfit. It definitely is a classic." He patted off the dust on the jacket and cracked his neck. "Shall we?" He walked along the Elements towards the event that this "Hoity Toity" was hosting. "So Rarity, who is this 'Hoity Toity'? He has a weird name, that's for sure."
"He is major representative of the fashion world from Canterlot. He only chooses the best dresses in the world for his line of models. I was chosen for that very reason. Many designers are lucky to be even near him. So, I expect that this is a fashion show. It should be good." Rarity explained as Cole sighed.
"Great. You're lucky that I agreed to this or else I'd be miles away from here. Don't we need tickets?"
"Not if you been chosen by Hoity Toity before, no."
"Oh." In his head, he was sad. They made their way to the event and there was a long line of ponies trying to get in. Rarity went first and explained everything. The Elements made their way in but the bouncer stopped Cole.
"Sorry, no animals allowed." Cole just stared at him while the Elements stared slack-jawed.
"Animal? Animal, huh. It's funny 'cause you-" He stopped himself. "Do you know who I am? I am 'COLE MACGRATH'." He got up in the bouncer's face.
"Oh. Terribly sorry. Go right in." He smirked. Cole walked and he slammed the door on his face. 'You know the- Ack!" Cole shot a bolt of lightning at his face and the bouncer dropped.
"Fuck you." He walked in, ignoring the now most likely pouring in line of ponies
"Ah can't believe that they didn't know it was you." Applejack stated, confused.
"Whatever. Got in, anyway." He looked back and scoffed at the memory. They found good seats and sat down. Cole sighed once more as he sat in the tiny chair. "This better be good." The lights dimmed all around and everyone stopped talking. Stage lights flashed on and the curtain was pulled aside and the event began. Hours later, they were done and the designer of the line of dresses and Hoity Toity came out and bowed and they were applauded.
"Uh, Toity. Who is that?" A fashion designer pointed to the giant bipedal ape in yellow siting next to the mare he remembered as Rarity.
"I have no idea. Let's find out." He grabbed a microphone and a overhead light focused on him. "Rarity darling. Glad to see that you came." He smiled. But the smiled dropped quickly. "And so, who is beside you?" The light focused on Cole.
"Cole MacGrath. Why?" He looked unamused.
"I thought that a-"
"I swear to fucking CELESTIA, THAT YOU SAY THAT ANIMALS AREN'T ALLOWED IN HERE, I WILL END YOU!" He stood up and electricity surged around his body. "I DARE YOU." He gritted his teeth and awaited his response.
"I...I... Never mind." He walked offstage quickly and Cole sat back down, sighing angrily.
"Cole darling. Are you okay?" Rarity asked the unusually angry Conduit.
"No, Rarity, I'm not. Zeke is gone, I've been called a animal and it will continue unless I do something about it." He exhaled and inhaled deeply to calm himself down. "I need to vent. Humans are violent and the same goes to some Conduits. I... I'm leaving. I really need to go hit something or I'll hit someONE."
He stood up and left, knowing that everyone was staring at him. He pushed open the doors and walked into the cold air. He found a bench and sat on it, looking up at the night sky. As he stared, he felt something inside him to tell him to hit something quickly. He looked around and noticed nothing he could hit. He looked back up at the sky and saw a storm rolling in. Not only that, he saw things flying with the storm.
They didn't look like pegasi either. They were black and had glassy aqua wings. As they went over him, they came down with great force aiming for the building. Cole jumped on top the building by using his Lightning Tether and aimed at the descending oddities.
As they neared, he blasted them with a Kinetic Blast, sending them backwards into the ground. He jumped down and used his Arc Constraint on them, keeping them to the ground. "What the hell are you?" He questioned the weird insect-like creatures. They hissed at him and tried to escape but it was futile. Rainbow walked out, looking for Cole and saw the creatures.
"Changelings! What are they doing here, Cole?"
"No idea, I just found them flying overhead and stopped them. They were aiming to hit the building and constrained them. What are changelings, anyway?"
"Creatures from the Badlands that feed off of love." She explained.
"Really? Fucking A. What do we do with them?" He asked her.
"Get the others and contact the Princess, Luna, in this case. I'll get the girls, keep them like that." He nodded and she left, leaving him the tiring Changelings. He chuckled and bent down to their level.
"You ain't getting out. That there, is pure lightning. I know because I use it." He stood back up and sat back on the bench and stared at them. He looked away and one Changeling escaped. It ran at Cole, kicking him away. He hit the ground and looked up to see the Changeling smirking and aiming it's horn at him. He kicked it away and blasted it with lightning, putting it out for the count. Two escaped and ran after him. He side-sweeped one and kicked the other in the body. He hit them with a few bolts and that finished them. Three escaped and all charged their horns. He used a Scythe Bolt, knocking them down. He hit them with Pincer Bolts and finished them. The last one escaped and began flying away. He used his Precision Bolt and hit it successfully. As that one hit the ground, the others came out and saw the sight.
"Sorry, they got out." He chuckled. "And got beat." Cole picked up their bodies with Kinetic Pulse and they headed for the Castle. Thirty minutes later, they arrived. Night guards stood by and noticed the Changelings lighted up by the lightning surrounded them. They were led straight to Luna who was in the Throne room.
"Well, its nice to see again, Cole." She greeted him.
"Yep. Hey, we got Changelings." Her eyes widened at his statement. Cole dropped them and she walked up to them.
"How did they get here unnoticed?" She questioned.
"It was dark and they came in with the storm." Cole stated, Luna nodded and sighed.
"We will put them in cages and wait for my sister to do with them. That's not my job to question them, at least not now anyway. Thank you for bringing them to us."
"Yeah, girls. We still have to eat out, correct?" Cole reminded them. He received many "yeah's" and they headed out, they all said their goodbyes and that was that. "This is going to be a long night." Cole mumbled.
