Fade Away

by JoeBobWhitney

Act VII: Locality

"Ugh... My head." Cole groaned as he awoke. His eyes bolted open at the sight of a house that looked like a tornado ripped through it and left it there for the fucking comedy. Confetti, streamers and ponies lay strewn about. Spilled soda, chips and other... questionable fluids pooled along the sticky flooring. Cole rubbed his head, feeling the hangover ram it's fist in his head. He carefully waded his way over the wave of pony to reach the Amp. It was lodged into a wall. Which had a gaping hole in it. Cole simply stared at the destruction, mouth agape. He reached for the Amp, pulling out of the wood, he sheathed it once more. He again carefully stepped over bodies and pushed open the door. Light instantly blinded him.

"Gah! Son of a bitch!" He cursed at the brightness of the sun. He swore he heard Celestia laughing at him as he covered his eyes. "Fuck you, Sun." He raised his middle finger at the sun and walked towards Gold Oaks Library, stumbling every so step. After about three minutes, he arrived. He loudly knocked on the door, Spike answered the door. He rubbed his eyes and jumped at the sight of Cole.

"MON- Oh wait, you're Cole right?"

"The one and only. You're Spike, right?"

"Yep. Twilight's upstairs, by the way."

"Cool." He closed the door behind Cole, running back up the stairs to Twilight. Cole sat down on the couch and stared at the wall, rubbing his temples. Hearing the sound of hoofsteps, he turned his head towards the approaching tired Twilight Sparkle. "Hey sunshine. Sleep well?"

"Yeah, I guess. You kept half the town up." Twilight groaned as she started making Coffee.

"What? You weren't at my party?" Cole joked with her.

"I was. For a few hours, then I turned in. Some ponies have things to do, you know." Twilight yawned as she continued the process.

"Sure." He said sarcastically but jokingly. Cole laid his head back on the couch, sighing. He closed his eyes and enjoyed the silence for as long it would last. "So, what happened last night because I can't remember shit."

"First, while you still sober, you arm-wrestled both Applejack and Rainbow. Won against both of them with Applejack getting close to beating you. Rainbow tried hitting on you, but you turned her down. But, she was really drunk by that time. Zeke and you both put at least one gallon of alcohol down your throats. And the rest I didn't see as I was gone by that point." Twilight explained, Cole chuckled and continued staring at the ceiling.

"Oh yeah. I remember now. It was awesome, though. First party I've had in a while." Cole sighed and smiled.

"Yeah, Pinkie doesn't throw too many of THAT magnitude. She throws many parties, but that... was big. Even for her." Twilight claimed as she took a big drink of her coffee. It was silent for a minute then Cole said the darnedest thing.

"Hey, you think Rainbow really likes me in that way?" Cole questioned, Twilight almost choked on her coffee.

"Why?"

"I'm not interested in her, honestly."

"I'm sure she didn't mean it. Just off her rocker from the cider."

"I mean, I don't think she's ugly or anything. I'm sure in this world, she is probably to die-for. But, I don't think I want to start dating equines."

"Trust me, Rainbow was just being stupid. It'll be fine. And if she does, I'm sure you can tell her that you're not interested."

"Yeah. I just hope that she's not the I-don't-take-no-for-a-answer type." Cole closed his eyes again and he faded to sleep once more. He opened his eyes to see more blackness, but he knew he was living this time. Must be my subconscious , He thought.

"Yes. It is." He heard a feminine voice behind him. It was a midnight blue princess with a mane of the stars themselves.

"Princess Luna. To what do I owe the pleasure?" Cole bowed lightly, holding his right arm out and his left arm folded under his stomach.

"No need for the formalities, Cole. And please, call me Luna." She gestured, Cole nodded.

"Okay, Luna. What are you doing here, then?"

"As the Princess of the Night, it is my job to make sure our subjects have well dreams. If they have nightmares, I help them overcome said fears."

"Oh, so you can go into dreams?" He asked with a smirk on his face.

"Yes, why?"

"Oh, nothing. Just thinking of something from my world." He thought of Inception. "Say princess, what would happen if you were dreaming inside of a dream while in a dream inside a dream?" Luna stared blankly at him, looking like she was counting something on the top of her head.

"Er... what?" She mumbled. Cole laughed at that, he fell on the floor ripping his sides a new one.

"Oh, you should see your face. Priceless!" Cole finally calmed down after Luna stared at him with confusion.

"I... don't get your humor." Luna looked at him while he sighed.

"It's a inside joke. Anyway, WHY are you here? I know why but why me?"

"Because, we- I mean, I want to talk. You know, get to know each other. I am still new to society here."

"Ah. The whole Nightmare Moon thing, right?"

"Yes."

"So, what do you want to know?"

Hours passed as they talked, Cole shared some information from his world that he kept from the Elements for reasons and Luna in turn told him some things about herself. After sometime, it turned into juicy gossip. They each giggled at the little secrets they shared.

"So then, Celestia told her guards to leave the area for a few hours. I walk in after I hear her moaning and she's stuffing her face with red velvet cake!" They both fell on the black ground and laughed their asses off. "She was covered in head to hoof with vanilla frosting!"

"Really? That explains the-" He made a circular motion with his hands and pretended to pull to a train whistle. Luna snickered and laughed once more. "This... was nice. It's nice to see someone who has good humor. I certainly got some of my own."

"It was nice talking with you, Cole. I believe you are going to have some time of peace for a bit. Enemies only like Discord attack only so many months and years." Luna bid him farewell and she left, waking up Cole.

"Have a good nap?" Twilight asked as he woke up.

"Oh yeah. Luna was hysterical."

"Is that so? Well, you were smiling so I wondered what was going on." She smirked coyly.

"Hey, it wasn't like that. She visited me in my subconscious and said Hi and started talking and that moved on to gossip." He snickered and held in a laugh.

"Alright then. Hey, I got a idea for you. Why don't you meet the locals? I'm sure they would like to really know their 'hero'." Twilight announced, Cole nodded as she completed her statement.

"You know, I'm going to do just that." Cole got up, cracking his neck and knuckles. He went over himself, checking for everything. "Amp? Check. Useless phone? Check. Still a conduit? Check." He chuckled at that last one. As he opened the door, Twilight stopped him.

"Here's an idea of ponies to go to. Lyra, Vinyl and anypony else you want. You'll find Lyra most likely with BonBon around the park. Vinyl works at her store, selling records and the sorts." Cole nodded and headed out. He felt the air blow around him, cold air. He shivered but kept moving. He looked up to see clouds forming as he walked forward. He decided he would go to Vinyl's first. The name sounded familiar but he didn't know. He finally made his way to a grey building with a window showing some records and electronic stuff. He opened the glass door and a small bell rung above him.

"Hang on!" A mare spoke out. She sounded kinda like a tomboy but he didn't pay too much attention. Seconds later, a white mare with a crazy electric blue mane walked out of the door behind the counter. "S'up. You must be the human Lyra was talking about."

"The one and- Wait, never mind. There's two of us here."

"Yeah, the one with lightning that comes from his 'hands', right?"

"That one."

"What can I do for you, then?"

"Actually, I came over as I wanted to meet some new ponies. I only know the Elements and Twilight told me to go say Hi. So - Actually, I have a question."

"Shoot."

"How do you have records? But, you have a Dubstep system right there."

"You know 'bout it?"

"Uh.. duh! Humans use it for music!"

"Humans? I wonder who got it first?"

"I don't know. What year is it here?"

"7013."

"The hell?"

"What?"

"It's only 2011 where I come from!

"Whoa! And you already have that? What else do you have?"

"Phones." Cole removed his phone and placed it on the counter. She stared at it with confusion. "It allows you to talk to people over great distances at the same time. Rather than letters."

"That is awesome. How's it work?"

"It needs a radio tower. Long pole about four hundred to six hundred feet into the air. It turns electric power into radio waves and vice versa. I can't really explain the Radio waves, honestly. I'd need Wikipedia for that."

"Wiki- what?"

"Place of knowledge. Tells you everything. It's on the Internet."

"What's that?" Cole sighed at told her everything about the Web. It took about a hour, honestly.

"And that is the Internet." Vinyl's mouth was agape, staring off into space. "You okay?" He moved around her, poking her in different ares. Face, belly, forelegs, back. He even poked her mane and tail. "I think I broke her." He said to no-one. She finally took off her glasses in a slow manner revealing her magenta eyes.

"Mother of Celestia..."

"Uh... yeah. That's the... uh... internet. So, I'm going to leave you to your... wubs. Later." He walked out the door, he closed it behind him. He exhaled loudly and moved on to the park. If they aren't there, maybe I can chill there anyway. He took his time but neared the park. He looked around for thirty minutes but didn't find them. He then noticed a park bench and sat on it, exhausted somewhat.

"Nature. Ain't it nice?" Cole said to himself, he heard something gasp and something took a seat next to him. Cole looked over to see a mint green unicorn staring at him and sitting like him. "Isn't that uncomfortable?"

"Nope!"

"You're Lyra, right? I wanted to say Hey, but I didn't see you around."

"I was getting a smoothie." Cole stared at her like she just said heresy. "What?"

"They. Have. Smoothies. Here?"

"Yeah. Over there. Why?" Lyra then saw him run off to the stand, he got himself a pink smoothie and walked back over. "What flavor?"

"Strawberry Banana. Absolutely Delicious."

"I know, right? You should try the Blueberry Pomegranate. I had it and it was like sipping pure Love."

"I thought ponies didn't have stuff like that."

"Are you kidding? The best of the best is the cold stuff. Milkshakes especially."

"You said it, sister. So, why'd you sit with me?"

"Isn't it obvious? You're famous and you're a human. Well, Conduit. But, still."

"What, they have newspapers here?" He was then handed a newspaper cloaked in a golden glow because of her horn. "Huh, I keep finding out more stuff day by day." He looked at the main article. "Newly arrived Human slash Conduit saved all of Equestria from certain peril. Huh, I guess I am." He smiled as took another sip from his divine cold beverage. "Wait. What about the human part?"

"I had a dream once. I saw a bunch of you... thingies walking about on your streets. It was so cool! I've always wanted to see one for real. BonBon kept telling me that it was just a dream. But..."

"I'm here. I see. Well, you're dreams are correct. We do exist and we do live amongst the stars." They both sat there, admiring the nature. Shortly, Lyra looked up at the sky and her pupils shrank.

"Sorry. I have to go! Bye!" She jumped and took off. Cole waved goodbye as she did. He stood up, cracking his back. He made his way back, happy that he knows some other ponies rather than the Elements. His thoughts were interrupted as he heard someone calling to him.

"Hey!" He heard a mare call to him. She was on a ladder, which made Cole realize even more that this world was alike. Her coat was a light yellow. Her mane was a magenta-violet with a light violet streak going through it. Her eyes were a light green like the stem of a plant.

"Yeah?"

"Can you please hoof me that pot down there?"

"This one?"

"Yes, please."

"Here you go." He reached up and gave her the pot with a Aloha rose in it. She carefully grabbed it and placed it in the window sill.

"Thank you kindly. Hey, you're the human slash Conduit, right?"

"Yup. Cole."

"Roseluck."

"By your... mark, I guess you're involved with flowers."

"Yes, I own the flower shop. Along with my sisters."

"Hey, actually. I want to get a bouquet. - No real money. Crap."

"Who's it for?"

"A few mares that are my friends."

"I can help you with that. Follow me." Cole followed her into her shop. The smell of flowers hit his nose within enter. He coughed lightly but ignored it. "What are they like?"

"One is smart, loves books." She nodded. "One is rowdy, likes sports. The next is hardworking, works on a farm actually. Then, the next is really hyper and always up for a party. Finally, there is the elegant one. Higher class one but still lives here. And the last but not the least is shy, likes animals."

"Alright. I got the perfect ones. As I know who you're talking about." She turned around and opened the door behind her. She retrieved a special bouquet of assorted flowers. The colors matched the Elements precisely.

"Wow. That should be perfect. What do I owe you?"

"Need a job?"

"Yeah, actually."

"There you go. See you Tomorrow at ten." She handed him the flowers and he bid her farewell. He made his way back to the Library, flowers in tow.

"Guess who's back?" He opened the door to see all the girls there and staring at him. "I got presents. Twilight for you, Aster. Rarity, Iris. Applejack, Marigold. Pinkie, Petunia. Fluttershy, Daffodil. Rainbow, Morning Glory." He dusted off his hands from the flower pollen. "So?"

"Cole. These are marvelous!" Rarity beamed.

"Where did you get these?" Twilight asked.

"Roseluck. I got a deal. I also got a job in the process."

"You're lucky I'm in a good mood today or else I would of not taken this." Rainbow announced, Applejack nudged her shoulder. "Whatever."

"It's a special occasion, I guess." Cole rubbed his hands together. "So, I have a idea. How about tomorrow we go out to eat?"

"Where, darling?" Rarity asked.

"Someplace nice. I got work tomorrow and well... I decided we should do something nice."

"Sounds good." Twilight noted.

"Yes, It's been some time since we've gone out, hasn't it girls?" Rarity asked, the group nodded and agreed. "Then it's settled. Cole, we will take you up on that."

"Sweet, later guys! Hey, have any of you seen Zeke?"

"Not since this morning, why?" Rainbow answered.

"I hope he's okay."

END OF ACT SEVEN

Author's Note:

FUCK CONTROVERSY FROM VINYL'S EYES. THEY ARE FUCKING NOT RED (Sadly). THEY ARE MAGENTA. MAGENTA! THAT WAS PROVEN ON THE END OF THE SEASON 2 FINALE. MAGENTA! NOT RED. Ahem, excuse me. I must of got something stuck in my throat. I think it was hate, I don't know. Anyway, meet Cole's new friends. They will not serve greater importance later in the story. They are just for humor.

EDIT: I liked this chapter. It was funny. WHOO!

Comments

[ValenceWubs]

3291590 And that is?

[JoeBobWhitney]

3293227 What you just said. I've already formed many thoughts. How I will execute will be most intriguing.

[ValenceWubs]

3293251 .........YES.......Awesome.......

[Dat monster hunting pony]

Fuck you sun!

I lost it there!