"Not sure," Sparks answered when Pinkie asked him what gadgets he was going to make. "Maybe an electrified bō staff or a grappling hook," he continued, flipping through the schematics on his tablet.
"Wanna see what I made?" Pinkie asked. Before waiting for an answer, she reached into her puffy hair and pulled out an arm let that reached a few inches past her wrist and had a semi-circular barrel attached to the top of the glove. From the barrel, a cylindrical rod stuck out about a centimeter. "It's a grappling hook/flail/electro joy buzzer/candy dispenser."
Sparks could only stare in amazement at the contraption and how it could be all that in one. "Oh... Wow."
"I know, right?!"
"Careful where ha aim that thing." They turned to see Applejack standing behind them. "Fluttershy was lucky to be petting an armadillo when that thing misfired."
"Wait, what?" Sparks exclaimed. "Do I, er, need to back up?"
"Nah. Pinkie fixed the problem. Turns out the springs were wound up so tight a fly landing on it could set it off."
"Yikes." There was an awkward silent. For like five seconds, all they could hear were tree leaves rustling in the breeze. "So, um... I should get going." Sparks got up and before either of the girls had a chance to so much as think his name, he was gone, leaving a trail of yellow, pink, and silver.
"He's hidin' somethin'," said Applejack.
"Really?" Pinkie asked. Then she gasped. "Is it cake?!"
"Pinkie, ya need to stay away from cake for like a year."
"Well then, might as well just shoot me now."
------------------------------
Relay already knew what she wanted. And she had implored the help of a fellow science genius in making. They sat in her room looking over the possible schematics and arguing which was better. "But if we reroute the power to the signal breaker, we could increase the overall tracking capacity," she argued.
"But if you do that, you risk overheating the system," argued Twilight. "And I'm pretty sure you don't want third degree sunburn on your arm."
"Okay, but if we connect the breaker to the capacitor, the EMP will lose power."
"You're a walking EMP emitter. What do you need another strapped to your arm for?"
"I... See your point. Triple twist it is."
"Errr, am I in the wrong room?" The two turned to see a girl they recognized from the welcome.
"Oh. Hi, Lyra," Twilight greeted. "If you're looking for Bonnie, she's out in the maze."
"Wait, she's where?!"
"Is that a problem?" asked Relay.
"She's got, like, NO sense of direction! She could get lost walking in Walmart!"
"Wow..." Twilight thought for a moment. "Would you like some help?"
Lyra thought for a while before saying, "Yes, please."
------------------------------
Sparks didn't know what he wanted anymore. His current friends are kept at a distance, his "arch nemesis" was constantly trying to relive the worst experience of his life, and he was at constant war with himself at what to do. He sat on top of the building pondering to himself.
"I could tell them and hope for them best...
Or, you could just keep it a secret and hope Celestia can keep it a secret...
Or you could just leave and go back to your sisters...
No, I can't....
Dude, for once, Frost is right...
The world must be ending...
Look, you know what you can do and how dangerous it can be to people around you...
But I can't keep living in fear my whole life..."
"Thinking about your life?" Sparks yelped and jumped. He turned around and saw Luna smiling.
"Er... How did you get up here?" He then realized who he was talking to. "Sorry, dumb question. Um, am I in trouble?"
Luna chuckled. "No. I haven't come up with a punishment for not talking to someone when you need help." At those words, Sparks frowned. He sat back down and looked at his hands. "You're no different from anyone else in the school, or any other metahuman for that matter."
"Have any of them them caused the level of destruction I did?"
"You can't keep blaming yourself for that."
"Then who do I blame? Frost? The punks who tried to jump me? The other gang that tried to gas me for not being human? Because I'm pretty sure God doesn't make people suffer just for kicks."
"Exactly. Think of Job. Do you think he enjoyed his time of poverty? Did his family?"
"Job did not nearly level the entire coast of a city."
"True. But did Green Arrow stop being a hero because the police didn't approve of his methods?"
"He had people that support him," he said, a bit surprised that his stern vice-principal actually read comic books.
"And so do you. Stop hurting yourself over something you had no control over. It doesn't help. It only makes things worse."
"The only way things could be worse is if you hadn't stopped me when you did."
Luna sighed and sat next to him. "Sparks, you have the one thing quite a few metahumans ignore: a conscience. Many use their powers to hurt people or for their own gain. Yes, you slipped. But in the end you saved more lives than you would have taken. If you had let yourself go, what's to say that you wouldn't have done something you would truly regret?" Sparks now buried his head in his knees. "Don't beat yourself up over nothing. You've amended your past errors. If people are too cold to forgive you, then they don't deserve your attention."
"And the other students? I'm pretty sure Twilight and Sunset are the only ones who know and I trust Principal Celestia. How would others react?"
"Have you told anyone else?"
Sparks shook his head. "I'm even scared of how Fluttershy would react."
"Do you see Twilight and Sunset and the others as friends?"
He shrugged. "Maybe."
"If they are your friends, they won't care if you nearly flattened a city or tried to take over the planet. They know you've changed." She got up. "Think of it this way: if you truly do not deserve redemption, would you have taken our offer to come here?" There was a swishing sound and by the time Sparks looked back, Luna was gone.
He knew it wasn't just his actions that kept him at a crossroad. The one person he looked up to, who he wanted to be like; the one who betrayed him. They both knew about that, but neither of them brought it up. He got up and stared at the blue and white painted horizon. He looked down at his hands. A pink, flame-like aura covered them. Then it changed to yellow. Then to silver.
"Maybe.., I should just try being me. Like Luna said, the worst possible alternative has been avoided. So, why should I be worried about something terrible happeneing now? Twilight and Sunset would back me up and Fluttershy is too kind to hold an actual grudge. But... His focus was interrupted by a voice calling his name. He looked down and saw Pinkie, Sunset, and Rarity standing at the foot of the stairs in front of the main entrance. He let himself fall and sent out a pulse of energy that slowed his descent.
"We were about to head on a grocery run," Rarity said. "We were wondering if you'd like to tag along?" Sunset nudged her. "And... We were going to a nearby mall to do some shopping afterwards."
Sparks thought for a moment. He was still uncertain about being around a lot of people. But on the other hand, it may be good to get out every once in a while. He walks did calm him. And so did shopping. "Sure."
"Yay!" exclaimed and overjoyed Pinkie, who pulled him on for an unexpected glomp. And he was okay with it. He didn't freak out or send her flying across the compound. He was... fine.
"Okay, Pinkie," Sunset said, pulling her away. "Let the guy breath."
------------------------------
"So, he did all that, huh?" Bulk was in a state of disbelief. He knew Sparks kept to himself. He knew he was keeping secrets. But this...
"Hard to believe, huh?" Frost said, forcing himself not to grin in delight at gaining this new ally. "I thought he was a nice guy too."
"Did he ever apologize?"
"Nope. He just kept away from me. Thought locking himself up would pay for his crimes."
"There's no justice. What of the people?"
"Oh, no. They were fine. MLP did most of the work, but he managed to swoop in and try to take credit for the saves."
"Sounds like a classic comic book villain trying to run heroes out of business."
"Yeah. Them he gave some story like, 'I don't know what came over me.' Funny thing, though. Celestia bought it." Bulk was now practically in shock. "I mean, sure it's a great gesture. But let's be serious. You can't redeem everyone. A kids show isn't even that unrealistic!"
"Well, at least he didn't cause any trouble here," said Bulk.
"Says who? You know I got sent to the VP's office on the first day because of him?"
------------------------------
After picking up groceries, most of which were hidden in Pinkie's pocket dimension hair to lighten the load, they headed over to a shopping mall just opposite the store. It was fairly big, comprising of three floors, plus a sub-floor for parking. All manner of cloths, shoes, electronics, and other stores could be found here. Pinkie and Sparks went to Hot Topic on the second floor while Rarity and Sunset, reluctantly, went to Nordstrom on the third.
One thing Sparks could relate with Pinke on was that he was a die-hard gamer and fan of any manner of cartoon. Sure, he watched a few crime and detective movies, but one thing he love to do was embrace his inner child! While he scanned a rack of Dragon Ball Z jackets, he noticed a girl who worked there. She was about his age, maybe a bit older, with long, silver hair that flowed down to her waist and pink eyes that practically glowed under the lighting. She wore a Pink shirt with a picture of Rouge the Bat on the front, black slim-fit jeans, black and white Timberlands, and a black sweater with a pink heart with a pair of wings and a tail on the back. Try as he might, he couldn't figure out what it was that was off about her. "Enjoying the view?" Sparks snapped back to reality and realized he had been staring.
"Oh, er, sorry," Sparks said.
"So, what drew your eyes to me?"
"I, er... don't really know," Sparka replied. "Just something... different about you."
"You mean my hair?"
"What? No. Actually, I had white hair a few days ago."
"This is natural," she said.
"So was mine."
"So, you dyed it amber and pink?"
"Something like that," he said, smugly.
She grinned. "Okay, Riddler, riddle me this: what was it that was so intriguing about me that you had to star for like three minutes straight?"
Sparks was about to answer in the same manner, until he noticed it. Every so often, an odd haze surrounded her. Not very noticeable, but when you can manipulate high energy light particles, you tend to pay attention to details like that. He also noticed her eyes seemed to change shade ever so slightly. "Your boots." She looked down at her black and white Tims that reached just a few inches above her ankle. "I've been trying to find them in that color, but no luck."
She looked up and stared at him for a few seconds. "You are a terrible liar," she finally said, grinning.
Now, Sparks was shocked. Lying was not a skill he was proud off, and one he avoided using, but he was good at it. He was a natural at the art of sleight-of-hand. He had successfully fooled many people into believing his magic tricks were all without the used of his powers (whereas only about 1/5 of them involved his powers). The only people who could see past any of his tricks were his mother and older sister and, sometimes, his younger sister. So how could this girl, who he only met five minutes ago, tell he was lying? Or was she bluffing? And why was his heart racing? Why was he worried about getting caught lying all of a sudden? "Better question: are you a-"
"Sparks!" He turned at the sound of his name and saw Pinkie holding up a pair of headphones that looked like cat ears and another that looked like pony ears. "Looook!!!" She then noticed the girl he was talking to. "Oh, hi."
"H-Hi," she replied, forcing herself not to laugh.
"I guess I'm interrupting... So I'm just gonna go over here," she said, backing away and disappearing impossibly behind a pole holding an array of belts.
"Well, that was interesting," said the girl.
"That's one way of putting it."
"So... Sparks..."
"Okay, you know my name. What's yours?"
"Try and guess."
"What do I look like? Psychic?"
"Not sure. Are you?"
"... Scary." Her eyes shot open.
"Wait, who did you...?"
"It's on your name tag." Scary looked down and face palmed. "Don't worry. I didn't notice until now actually."
"Okay. So, any reason your eyes drifted down there?"
Sparks blushed. "I'm... Um... Well, you see, I... Okay, let's start from scratch. I'm Spark Weaver," he said, extensive hand.
"Scary Story," she said, shaking it.
"Nice name."
"Yeah. My old one got boring."
Then, there was a ringing sound and Sparks pulled out his phone. "Well, that's my cue. Nice meeting you."
"Same here."
As he and Pinkie left, Sparks still pondered about what he saw. But his concentration was broken by the stunning sight of Rarity carrying two large bags and Sunset carrying two more. "What the..."
"What?" asked Rarity. "Oh, these? Just some personal materials," she explained, pulling out an elaborate green fabric with teal sequence.
"So, can we go home now?" Sunset said, looking bored.
As the left, though, they saw a group of people on the street outside the mall, holding banners and signs. They all wore white shirts with a black handprint on it. Once he saw this sign, Spark scrunched up his face in disgust. "Great," he mumbled.
"For too long, these freaks have threatened us! For too long have we had to constantly watch our backs and sides to make sure we don't get hit by some rogue flying vehicle or chunks of rubble, or stay away from tall building in case one of them decides to bring it down on our heads! We've had enough of these monstrosities walking our streets as if they're one of us! They don't deserve to have "human" in their name. These Metas... These... Abominations have to go!"
"YEAH!!!"
Sparks could feel his blood boil, his hands heat up. These protesters had cost him more than they know. "You know these guys?" asked Sunset.
"They call themselves The Original Sapiens, some anti-Meta group who are in support of Libra."
"The government organization that watches and detains metahumans they see as a threat?"
"Yeah," he said with scorn. "These jerks don't even see us as human."
"These abominations rob our stores, terrorize our neighborhoods, wreak havoc on our daily lives. Monsters like this girl!" The preacher dragged a girl from behind him and threw her to the ground. She looked about 10 or 11, had long blue hair and eyes, and wore a pink shirt, blue skirt over black shorts, blue and yellow stockings, and blue boots. He stared at her with hatred. "This girl, who singlehandedly brought down an entire house; her own house! With both parents inside!" The crowd gasped and boo-ed in horror and disapproval.
"But... But I didn't mean to," the girl said, crying. "I didn't know-"
"What? That your powers could actually hurt people? You should've killed yourself if you even had a little sympathy."
"But I-I don't want to d-die." Her tears could have formed a river by now.
"So, you'd prefer to live and let everyone aroun you suffer than do the right thing?"
"I say we kill her right here," said a voice in the crowd, followed by cheers of approval.
"What? No!" The preacher grabbed her by her hair and she screamed.
"If the police won't do it and Libra's just gonna watch, I say we take the law into our own hands!" As the crowd cheered, someone pushed through and tore the girl from the man.
"How about you take your hands off this girl and let the law handle this," Sparks snarled. For once, he supported the very law that once tried to put him down.
"What are you? A sympathizer?" Asked the preacher. "Looks like we have ourselves a traitor Jerez!" The crowd boo-ed in protest.
"So, you suggest a innocent girl commit suicide? What kind of father figure are you?"
"The kind that would put his own kids out of their misery if it was necessary to keep the rest of his family safe."
Sparks didn't know whether to talk to the guy, or just blast him across the street. "Well, I'd rather live with an abomination that kill a living being."
"For shame! You betray humanity's for these... these... THINGS?!"
"Humanity betrayed itself! You talk as if you know the answers, yet you defy your own laws! "Do not kill." It's in your Bible, it's in your law books, it's a crime in any aspect."
"Killing an animal isn't a crime."
"In case you skipped science, humans are animals," Sparks said with a grin.
"We are higher, smarter, supe-"
"And yet you choose the most primitive manner to deal with whatever you don't like. You talk about wanting to live in peace, yet you want to piss off the people who can, as you said, drop a building on your heads? You can't go after them, so you attack little kids? You're a coward! You're all cowards!" He now turned his fury to the crowd. They all stood, shocked. Sparks took the girls hands and led her out of the crowd as they tried to land a hit on , but her kept her out of harms way.
"I remember you," said the girl. Sparks looked down, a bit surprised.
"Oh, really? From where?" he asked, smiling warmly.
The girls watched from a distance, amazed at his bravery. Then, Rarity screamed. "LOOK OUT!" Sparks heard a bang as he turned and raised his hands. A pink wall appeared and a spark bounced off. He looked and saw a man holding a 9mm aimed at him and glared.
"Y-You're one of them," the man said, taking aim again. The girl ran to to Rarity and hid behind her.
"And?" Sparks asked, lowering the shield. The man was too stunned to pull the trigger. Sparks stepped forward. You call us monsters, yet we just had a, fairly, civilized conversation." The man aimed at Sparks again. But in a burst of speed, Sparks shot forward and disassembled the gun in the man's hand, leaving a pink, yellow, and silver speed trail. The man shook as his pistol fell to pieces. "You call us monsters, but your the ones who attack us with the intent to kill." He signaled to the girls and they all walked off. Sparks pulled out his phone and dialed a number. "Yo, Relay? Yeah. You see us? Can you see the mass of signals close to us? Purge it of our pictures. Memory and web. Yeah. Yup. Also, please tell one of the teachers or principals that we have a new guest. Thanks a bunch."
------------------------------
However, someone had been watching the whole thing. "So, that's what you were hiding."